Draft Priorities, Part 2

Inframike posted a comment to the previous post on the draft priority system:

But... Shadow Priests and Discipline Priests have very different priorities :(

Exactly! That is why this system works. The mages/warlocks spend all of their picks on damage gear, while priests need to split their picks between damage gear and healing gear (can't let those uppity paladins get all the good stuff).

So what will end up happening is that the mages/warlocks will get the lion's share of damage gear, but priests will have priority on a few pieces, enough to treat them fairly.

Remember that the alternative is that mages/warlocks get priority on ALL damage gear, and priests get none. That's generally what happens now in priority-based loot systems. Free systems don't need to set priority rules, and wouldn't need to draft.

As an aside, I don't believe that there is such a thing as a Shadow Priest or a Discipline Priest. There is a Priest who is currently specced Shadow, and a Priest who is currently specced Discipline. People change specs, and thus need different gear for different situations. I was Retribution[1] yesterday, and today I'm Holy[2]. I still collected healing gear when Ret-specced, and I'll still bid on damage gear now that I'm Holy.

[1] 5/11/35 - Extreme damage (for paladins, anyways).

[2] 32/11/8 - I like to think of it as my Improved Seal of the Crusader build.

Draft Priority

I don't really agree with restriction-based loot systems. However, if you do think that priorities are necessary, here's a system I came up with a long time ago (but never actually posted about):

Have your class officers draft the items in the instance.

In a random order, each class picks one item. That class gets first priority on the item. Continue drafting items (use switchback so that the second pick goes in the reverse order). The second class to pick an item gets second priority on that item. Continue until all the non-class restricted items have a first and second priority.

Each class now has an equal number of priorities. The focused classes will probably get first priority on the very best stuff, but hybrids should be able to score some decent second priorities.

As well, it sets up little rivalries between classes who do not normally compete, such as mages and warlocks, which helps them understand what it feels like to be a hybrid.

Plus it's a fun game, and you could turn it into a guild event where everyone provides "advice" to their officer.

Restrictions and Skill

If you've read my posts, you know that I'm a pretty strong proponent of no restrictions on talent specs or loot distribution. I feel that such restrictions are inefficient, and in the long term will be detrimental to the raid. One of the major reasons that I think restrictions are bad is that they interfere with developing skill.

I'll start with a definition:

Skill is the ability to make good decisions.

A person who makes better decisions is more skilled than someone who makes poor decisions. In a raid, this can be decisions with positioning, or skills used, or timing of abilities. For a healer it can mean deciding who lives and who dies. But it can also be decisions on how to spec, or what gear to take.

Skill is not absolutely innate. It is learned. As you use your abilities you learn how to make better decisions, and thus you become more skilled.

Restrictions on gear and spec make the decisions for you. Thus you cannot truly improve your skill so long as those restrictions bind you. If you are prevented from speccing Shadow, you will never learn exactly how Shadow limits you in raids, and that knowledge is valuable for future decision-making.

I believe that a Holy/Disc priest who has tried Shadow is a more skilled priest than a Holy/Disc priest who has never gone to the dark side. A skilled paladin will have tried the different options, and makes a decision based on the knowledge gained.

This even extends to loot. If you are prevented from taking loot that you think will help your character, you will never learn how to value loot appropriately. I have an Unstoppable Force, and it is seriously annoying me. It's next to impossible to keep a Judgement stuck on a mob. The lesson learned is that I don't like really slow weapons, and they are ineffective for my playstyle.

Of course, the problem is that sometimes we only learn by making mistakes. And occasionally that will mean spending DKP on the "wrong" loot, or using the "wrong" talents. But if a player is prevented from making mistakes, how can they learn?

Choice is intricately bound to skill. Anything that interferes with a player's choices also interferes with a player's skill development. A guild that is truely interested in having skilled players would be best served by allowing members to make their own choices, understanding that this means that sometimes members will make mistakes.

Odds and Ends

I haven't had a lot of time to post lately. Here's a quick round up of what's going on.

The Guild

This is not going so well. I haven't really been able to get past the 10-person mark in recruiting. So I've decided to merge with another guild on my server. They run MC with about 30 people, so the 5 or so people in my guild will be a good addition to them. I doubt I will be able to make their raid times, but at least my guildies will land in good spot. Hopefully it makes sticking with me for the last three weeks worthwhile.

I attended part of an MC raid with the prospective guild. They're pretty good. We did Garr with 30 people and 2 'locks, which impressed me. I've seen a lot of guilds not even try Garr with less than 4 warlocks. I'm not so much impressed with the kill--you should be able to kill Garr with 30--as with the willingness to actually try the fight with a non-optimum raid.

Plus their loot system is amusing. It's Fixed-Price DKP, only the price is a percentage of your DKP. Person with the highest DKP gets the item. So a piece of Tier 1 costs 25%. It's pretty crazy, and I'm still pondering the ramifications.

45-man Baron

I tried a 45-man Baron run for the first time on the weekend. It's a lot of fun. We didn't make it, but we gave it a good shot. We fought a couple of groups that we could have skipped, didn't really balance mana usage well, and had a bit too much downtime.

And honestly, me healing with my crazy 5/11/35 spec probably didn't help. I really need to get some gold and respec. :)

But still, it was crazy fun, and I'm really happy that Blizzard put it in. It's a solid, worthwhile challenge for 5 people.

Alterac Valley

I hit Exalted with AV over the weekend. Got my [The Unstoppable Force] and [Don Julio's Ring]. I'll probably pick up [The Immovable Object] when I get some cash.

This is the first reputation I've gotten to Exalted. Personally, I loathe grinding, so I never get anywhere with reputations.

Lightforge complete!

Also, I went on Strat Live run on the weekend and Lightforge Boots dropped. So I got the last piece of Lightforge that I was missing. Technically, I have 5/8 Lightforge, and 3/8 Soulforge, but it's all good.

The line between casual and hardcore raiding

Xias and Doeg asked about casual and hardcore raiding a couple posts ago.

Personally, I think that a guild cannot be all things to all people. You have to choose what you want to be. This means that occasionally you will have guild members leave your guild as they seek out things you cannot provide. If half the guild wants something and the other half wants something different, you need to pick a side.

If I was the guild leader, I would pick the option that I personally wanted. If you pick something that you are unhappy with, it will manifest in how you run the guild and poison your efforts. So in the case of the guild split, I would be proactive, choose someone to run the other side and split the guild into two. Being up front about everything allows you to maintain good relations with every one.

As to real life relationships, it's very common to have a husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, or family in the same guild. So you do have be careful. Kicking a spouse will probably result in the other partner leaving. If you are fair and even-handed though, people will respect the decision you make.

Personally though, "not skilled enough" is not a kickable offense, in my mind. I think that, for the most part, innate skill is overrated, and you can always teach people to improve their play. Far more important are qualities like reliability, and low-drama.

But that's just me. I've never actually been in a guild with players who did not have some skill. I have been in guilds with people who went afk all the time, constantly asked questions about loot, or refused to buy Greater Blessing of Salvation.

On the scale of problems a guild member can have, being unskilled is a long ways down the list.

But that's just my opinion. Wanting to be in a guild with a lot of highly skilled prima donnas is another option. Honestly, you'll probably progress faster, if you don't blow up first. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me though, but it's your $15/month.

So You Want to be a Raider? Part Two

Are tradeskills other than First Aid useful?

Yes, all tradeskills are useful. Cooking gives you buffs, smithing allows you to make resistance gear, etc. However, the requirements I listed above are more important. If you have a choice between getting your Onyxia key or getting 300 Blacksmithing, go for the Onyxia key.

How do I find a raiding guild to join?

Join the GuildRecruitment channel, and watch for people advertising in the major cities.

On your WoW realm forums, there is usually a guild progression thread listing the guilds involved in endgame. Most of these threads have links to the guild websites.

As well, keep an eye on the realm forums, and check out the Guild Recruitment forum. Guilds often post to the forums if they are looking for people.

Participate in pickup groups. You may group with a raider, and she may tell you if her guild is looking for people.

What should I look for in a guild?

First, make sure that you can attend their raids. There's not much point in joining a raid guild when you can't make the raids. If the guild doesn't have their raid times listed, ask a member of the guild in game.

Second, make sure you like their loot system and rules. Loot is one of the major reasons for going to the trouble of raiding, so make sure you can live with the system the guild uses. Most guilds do not use the built-in rolling systems, but rather DKP or point systems.

Third, see if the guild is recruiting your class and if you meet their requirements. There's no harm in applying to a guild if you don't, but you are more likely to be successful if you are what the guild needs.

Try and make sure the guild is a good fit, personality-wise. This is often harder than it appears, because you don't really see the true face of the guild until you join. Don't join a guild if you dislike some of the guild members or have had bad experiences with them. You'll be spending a lot of time together, and it can get frustrating at times. Don't be afraid to leave a guild that isn't working out for you. Epics are not worth being unhappy!

How do I apply to a guild?

Most raiding guilds will have an application forum on their website, where you will find a list of requirements and an application template. Fill out the template to the best of your abilities.

Do not lie on your application. It's much better to be truthful, and lying will only create bad blood. If you seem to fall short of their requirements, it's much better to acknowledge it, rather than dance around the question. Also, if a guild asks you about your previous guilds, do not badmouth your old guilds. Be honest, but be classy.

Often, an application will ask you about your gear. It's useful to create a profile at a site like CTProfiles. This way, you can just put a link to your profile on the application.

Finally, only apply to one guild at a time. Most raiding guilds frown on people who apply to multiple guilds. Apply to one guild, and wait a couple days for a response. If they don't respond, contact them in-game and ask politely about their application. If you do decide to apply to another guild, post a response to your first application saying that you are withdrawing it.

I got into a guild, and am going on my first raid! What should I know?

Congratulations! Here are some quick tips to help you on your first raid:

1. Show up on time and prepared. Show up at the instance enterance a few minutes before the raid starts. Make sure you have all the gear you need, and that everything is repaired.

2. Have a stack of heavy runecloth bandages, 5x Major Health potions, and 5x Major Mana potions if you are a mana-user. You should also have enough reageants to last you the entire run. I usually bring twice as much as strictly necessary. It's better to have too many than to run out.

3. Follow instructions from the raid leader. If you don't understand something, speak up and ask a question. Also, it's a good idea to choose an experienced player of your class and follow her lead. Be careful here, because sometimes the experienced player can get away with riskier moves, so try to err on the side of caution. However, watching how the other player positions herself will often help you understand the fights.

4. Try and read up on the fights beforehand. A good source of information is WoWWiki. You never truely understand a fight until you experience it first hand, though. But reading up on it first can help a lot.

5. Don't go Away From Keyboard during the run unless absolutely necessary.

6. You probably won't get any loot from your first run, because you'll have less points than the other raiders. Don't expect loot, and don't bombard the raid with questions about loot. If you have questions or concerns about how loot is handled, ask after the raid.

7. Try to show up to all the raids, especially the learning ones. Don't expect a spot in a very cutting edge raid, because you will generally be outgeared by the other raiders. However, show up and be prepared to jump in if the raid needs you. Let the raid leader decide if you are geared enough. It's very important to show up to both the raids with a lot of wipes AND the raids with a lot of loot.

8. Have fun! Remember it's a game, so don't get so caught up in everything that you forget to have a good time. Blizzard has put in a lot of work into their raid dungeons, and it's worth taking the time to enjoy them.
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Okay, I think that's everything. Post if you see anything missing or that should be added.

So You Want to be a Raider? Part One

What is this guide?

This is a guide to help new players prepare for raiding in World of Warcraft. This guide is aimed at players who have never raided before, but are interested in joining a raid guild and seeing this side of WoW.

What does this guide not cover?

This is not a guide to joining a high end raid guild currently working on an instance like Naxxramas. Following this guide will not get you into Death and Taxes. The advice is aimed at players looking to join a raid guild working on Molten Core.

This is also not a guide to turning your current guild into a raiding guild. For more information on that topic, I would suggest asking in the WoW Guild Relations forum.

Finally, the Burning Crusade expansion will be coming out fairly soon, and may make parts of this guide obsolete.

What are the endgame instances in WoW?

Currently, the non-raid endgame instances in WoW are (listed in rough order of difficulty):

Blackrock Depths (5-man)
Lower Blackrock Spire (tuned for 5, can do with 10)
Dire Maul (5-man)
Scholomance (5-man)
Stratholme (5-man)
Upper Blackrock Spire (10-man)

All of the above instances you can do on a regular basis without joining a raid guild. Simply look for pickup groups in the LookingForGroups channel.

The raid instances are (again, in rough order of difficulty):

Zul'Gurub (20-man)
Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj (20-man)
Molten Core (40-man)
Onyxia (40-man)
Blackwing Lair (40-man)
Temple of Ahn'Qiraj (40-man)
Naxxaramus (40-man)

These are the instances that you join a raid guild for. There are also several world bosses (Kazzak, Azuregos, Emerald Dragons) wandering around which require a raid to defeat.

Why do I need to join a raid guild?

Structure and Numbers. Raiding requires the cooperation of a significant number of people. Currently raids are made up of 20 or 40 Level 60s. Getting 20 or 40 people to work together for several hours at a time on a regular basis requires a specialized structure for support. As well, in addition to sheer numbers, raids need a balance of classes.

Most levelling guilds lack the structure, numbers or class balance to field raids on a regular basis. Therefore, if you wish to raid, it is my advice to seek out and join a raiding guild.

Why should I raid?

1. Loot. Raid instances offer the best loot in the game. Part of the fun of this game is making your character more and more powerful, and at level 60, loot is the means by which character progression is expressed.

2. New experiences. Raiding is a very different experience than the rest of the game. There is a thrill which comes from coming up with a plan to defeat the boss, and then executing that plan successfully.

3. Killing dragons is always fun.

What's the difference between raids and other instances?

Raid boss fights are much more intricate than fights found in other instances. Each boss fight is like a different little puzzle which your raid has to figure out. In my opinion, the pre-60 fight that is most like a raid boss fight is Archaedas in Uldaman.

Am I skilled enough to raid?

I'll let you in on a little secret: Raiding is not that hard. If you can do the 5/10-man dungeons, you are more than good enough to raid. The vast majority of raiders are just as skilled as you. They just happen to be in raid guilds.

There are other qualities which are as important as skill. A good raider is also dependable when it comes to showing up for raids, keeps her cool when wiping and getting frustrated, and is willing to follow orders.

What do I need to start raiding?

Each individual raid guild will have their own requirements. Here are some guidelines that should prepare you for most entry level raid guilds:

1. Level 60 (Purchase all your skills!)
2. 300 First Aid
3. Attuned to Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, and Onyxia
4. Decent gear for your class role
5. Download and install the CT_RaidAssist, CT_BossMods, and Decursive mods
6. Download and install Teamspeak and Ventrillo

Why do I need to be level 60?

All raid instances are tuned for level 60 characters. It is easiest to level to 60 and then start raiding.

Also, it is important to purchase all your skills. You never know when you might need a specific skill. I was once in a raid guild with a paladin who refused to purchase Greater Blessing of Salvation. That was very annoying.

300 First Aid?

Yes. Being able to bandage yourself is a huge boon for the healers, as it provides healing for no mana and no effort on their part. Get 300 First Aid, and keep a stack of Heavy Runecloth Bandages on you. Your healers will love you, and impressing the healers is a good way to stay alive.

As well, it's fairly easy to get to 300 First Aid. All you need are a few stacks of cloth.

What are attunements?

To enter Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, and Onyxia, you need to complete quests found in the 5/10-man dungeons. You should seek out and complete these quests as soon as possible.

You also need attunement to enter Naxxramas, but that is expensive, and is not an immediate concern.

What sort of gear do I need?

You generally should be geared mostly in blues from the 5/10-man dungeons. The best pre-raid gear is found in those instances listed above. In particular, Dire Maul is a good place for gear.

For most classes, Dungeon 1 set pieces (Lightforge, Devout, Shadowcraft, etc.) are good enough for early raiding. The major exception is the warrior class. A Warrior needs tanking gear (+def, +sta, +dodge/parry/block, high armor) as her primary role in raids is that of a tank.

Blues purchased off the Auction House tends to be very expensive. You can purchase greens to fill out your collection, but for the most part, instance blues will serve you better. The one exception is Abyssal Cloth/Plate/etc. Those are very good.

You do not need your Dungeon 2 set to start raiding. However, getting the first three pieces of Dungeon 2 is fairly easy, and they provide solid upgrades.

Don't go overboard trying to find the best gear possible. Epics found on raids will replace your gear eventually. Just try and put a decent set together before you start raiding.

The last element of gear to keep an eye out for is resistance gear. In raids, you will need fire/nature/frost resistance gear for certain fights. Try and accumulate such gear while you are collecting your regular gear. Again, don't go crazy, the best resist gear tends to be found on raids in any case, but anything you can collect will help.

Why do I need mods?

You don't absolutely need these mods, but a lot of guilds require them. As well, they make raiding life easier. Download them and try them out, but make sure you can play without them. Don't rely on them to play the game for you.

Why do I need Ventrillo/Teamspeak?

Again, these programs are not absolutely necessary. Most guilds find that voice communication allows for easier coordination of the raid. You don't need a microphone, but you should able to listen in.

If for some reason you cannot use Vent/Teamspeak (perhaps a physical disability), let your guild know, and most of them will do their best to accommodate you.

What should my talent spec for raiding be?

There are many strong opinions on what talents a raider should take. Every class generally has one talent tree, or several talents, that are specifically designed for raiding. You should be flexible, and willing to respec if needed (note that on your application to raid guilds).

That being said, I would advise attending a raid or two before respeccing. You have your current spec for a reason. Respeccing with an understanding of why you need to change will serve you better than choosing spec X because the internet said X was the best spec for raiding.

As well, sometimes it is important to see what the raid needs, and use that to determine what spec you should take. For example, if none of the other paladins have Improved Blessing of Might, maybe you should consider a spec which incorporates it.

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Alright, I'm tired of writing. That's Part One. I'll try to write Part Two later this week, addressing finding a raid guild and what to do on a raid.

If you have any questions that should be answered, post them, and I'll work them into Part Two.

Updates

I've started my guild, and have been recruiting. I did manage to recruit a few people, and so the Winter Court is up to about 5 60s. I've gone on UBRS with a couple of them, and am actually very happy with the quality of members. If we can get 35 more like them, we will do extremely well.

On the down side, I think I've made a couple of mistakes already. First, I changed raid dates. There's a very interesting discussion in the comments of the previous post, and I agree with the side that says you should have fixed, predictive raid dates. Yet I switched my raid dates from Mon/Wed/Thurs/Sun to Mon/Fri/Sat/Sun. Basically, real life interfered. My work hours will be unpredictable for the next little while, so focusing around the weekend will allow me to be present more often. As well, it is fairly early in the guild lifespan, so it shouldn't have much of an impact.

The second mistake was recruiting a few non-60s. I've been thinking about this a lot, and while the non-60s are good players, they are playing a different game than the rest of us. There are two games in WoW, levels 1-59, and level 60. I think a guild needs to focus on the game it is playing, and have players that share in that goal. Rather than recruiting 50s early, it may be better in the long run to wait until they hit 60 and realize that they are playing the second game.

Of course, I'm going to keep my current non-60s. It would be terribly unfair to boot them. However, I think I'm going to make being level 60 a requirement of joining from now on.

The Winter Court

Well, I think I've finished a lot of the basic structure for my new guild, the Winter Court.

Now all I need is actual members. :)

Any critiques or comments regarding the charter, raiding rules, loot system, or application template would be appreciated. I'm pretty sure I've missed something important.

Crossroads

I think I'm going to leave off examining Burning Crusade changes until after things settle down. The Protection tree has already gotten more changes since my last post.

In the mean time, I decided to spec Retribution. I'm now 5/11/35. It's amusing, but not really that different from the other builds. Somehow, regardless of what talents I take, it always feels more or less the same. The only talent I really miss is Spiritual Focus. (Please, Blizzard, move it back to Tier 1!)

In other news, I'm not having much luck with my search for a guild. I really don't want to apply to an MC or starting guild. That kind of sounds bad, like I'm only in it for the loot. However, I'm scared of joining an MC guild, getting up to Ragnaros, and then watching the guild implode. I've already done that twice now.

The problem is that, in my opinion, most starting raiding guilds have deficiencies in structure that lead to the implosion. The officers are generally new to raiding, and while they are doing their best, they lack experience. Structural mistakes are often subtle, and look good at first glance. A great example is a very fair DKP system that proves too complex for the officers to handle. Administration overhead is one element that is too often overlooked by raiders.

And it's not like I can walk in to a guild, and tell them that they are doing X wrong, and that X should be changed. I'd resent that if it happened to me.

But then, if I believe that I do know what a good structure is like, I need to put my money where my mouth is. To that end, I'm starting a raiding guild.

The big problem though, is that there's currently a grand total of one member in my guild (well,proto-guild, I still have to get signatures for the charter). And I have no real idea how I'm going to recruit. I don't really know any unguilded people, so it's going to be pure selling to strangers, which is really hard for me.

Oh well, it should be interesting. If anyone on Skywall Alliance wants to join the Winter Court, feel free to look me up. :)

(I'll post a link to the webpage when I finish it.)

Burning Crusade Paladins: Protection

Blizzard has released some of the new spells and talents in the expansion. I'm going to take a look at each tree and give some thoughts on the new spells and talents. I'm going to start with Protection.

Spells:

Righteous Defense
Come to the defense of a friendly target, commanding up to 3 enemies attacking the target to attack the Paladin instead.

The AoE taunt. Looks solid. Pretty good for our role of "protectors of the cloth". If you enable Target-of-Target, it will be trivial to use to taunt a specific mob as well.

Seal of Justice - Rank 2
Fills the Paladin with the spirit of justice for 30 sec, giving each melee attack a chance to stun for 2 sec. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time.

Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy for 10 sec, preventing them from fleeing and limiting their movement speed. Your melee strikes will refresh the spell's duration. Only one Judgement per Paladin can be active at any one time.

The new Seal of Justice depends a great deal on what "limiting their movement speed" means. If it's an out and out reduction in speed, like Hamstring, this is a great boost. However, it's also possible that it just means that you can't use speed boost abilities to increase your speed past 100%. In that case, it's a small boost, but may be useful with your own permanent speed increases like Pursuit of Justice. Hopefully the side effect of being immune to Fear while affected by Judgement of Justice has been removed.

Talents

Stoicism
Increases your resistance to Stun effects by an additional 10% and reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by an additional 30%.

This is a decent 2pt PvP talent. Nothing amazing, but the anti-dispel is nice as purge-happy shamans are annoying.

Improved Resistance Auras
Your Resistance Auras also reduce all spell damage taken by an additional 5%.

This is an all-star talent. 2pts for 5% less damage is really good.

Improved Divine Shield
Reduces the cooldown of your Divine Shield spell by 1 min and reduces the attack speed penalty by 100%.

LOL. Sometimes, I love Blizzard. Everyone complains about paladin bubbles, so they give us a talent that makes them even better. Again, much more useful in PvP than PvE.

Ardent Defender
When you have less than 20% health, all damage taken is reduced by 50%.

Now this is an intriguing talent. The paladin boards seem to disdain this talent, but I think it may be good for tanking. The key to this talent is to ask, if I am tanking, when will I be at less than 20% health?

Given that most bosses do steady dps and additional spike damage in the form of special abilities, if you drop to less than 20% health, it probably means that you were just critted by a special ability. In that case, Redoubt will proc and combined with Holy Shield, means that you probably push criticals off the combat table, meaning the next few attacks will not crit. So blocks and half damage should be enough to buy your healers the few seconds they need to complete their big heals.

However, I'm not really sure how this will work in actual play, and it will be very interesting to watch. In PvP, I don't think it will help all that much. It might buy you one or two seconds, but I don't think it will be worth the 5 points for a primary PvP'er, give that you might get dropped from 30% to 0% quite easily, and this talent will do nothing to help.

Weapon Expertise
Increases your weapon skill with all weapons by 10.

Decent talent. Reduces the number of glancing blows and misses against end-game bosses, which will help a lot in generating threat. Again, mainly PvE.

Avenger's Shield
Hurls a holy shield at the enemy, dealing 270 to 330 Holy damage, dazing them and then jumping to nearby enemies. Affects 3 total targets.

The Captain America move! If this talent has a half-way decent animation, I am probably going to spec Protection. This is everything a 41-point talent should be. Fun, unique, and stylish. And it dazes people! Which means you use it to slow runners.

Actually, let's be honest, I'm going to be using this whenever the cooldown is up. About the only downside is that you can't use it to pull. Although you are a Protection Paladin, so pulling 3 mobs at a time isn't that big a deal.

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My final verdict is that the new Protection tree is very good. The mid-level has been fleshed out with useful talents, and the end talents are solid. Plus you get to throw your shield at people! The only real downside is that the first tier of Protection is still a little lackluster, especially compared to Holy or Retribution.

Patch 1.12 Experiences

I haven't had a lot of time to play WoW in the last week or so. I did take a quick look at some of the new things in the latest patch.

• World PvP - seems interesting. Probably will be a lot more fun on a PvP server. Nothing much was happening on Skywall when I checked in. In EPL, the Alliance had already capped all the towers. It's going to really hard for me to complete the 'Capture the Towers' quest at this rate.


• Cross-server Battlegrounds - Awesome. Wait times have plummeted Alliance-side. I hear it's a little buggy, but it seemed to be working well enough.


• Battleground Improvements - The automatic raids is really nice. I'm actually seeing some leadership from the highest ranked people in the BGs, and that is a vast improvement. And I don't have to worry about healing or Blessing of Sacrificing non-raid members.


• Scrolling Combat Text - Pretty good. Looks like a nice, clean implementation. The one item of info I really miss, however, is the amount you healed someone else for, with the overheal separated out. That was a really useful piece of information.


• Seal of the Crusader - SotC is currently bugged like crazy. It's giving me slightly more than double the amount of bonus Attack Power that it gave pre-1.12. I think that it is adding some +AP bonuses twice. Ah well, should be fun until Blizzard fixes it.

All in all, it was a pretty small patch. Maybe this means that the expansion is not far off.

Options for Raid Guilds

A lot of existing raid guilds are worried because the new raid cap means that they will have to change their structure to meet the new requirements. Here is a listing of the options as I see them.

1. Stop recruiting and let attrition reduce the guild size.

All guilds suffer attrition. People leave for real life or other options. During the levelling from 60-70, you'll probably have some natural attrition, decreasing the numbers in the guild. This might leave you at the proper size, and it might not. If it doesn't, you'll have to use one of the other options

2. Cut the weakest people in the guild.

Identify your weakest players and cut them. This gets you down to the required size, and preserves the strongest part of your guild. However, it's painful to have to leave your friends. As well, this decision is ruthless and may cause a lot of drama.

3. Recruit more and run two raids.

If you recruit a few more people, you will have enough to run two raids. However, running two raids is a lot of administrative work. Splitting people up into an "A" Team and a "B" Team may also cause bad feelings, as people on the "B" Team will feel slighted.

This might be interesting in a winged dungeon, though. Team A could work on one wing, and Team B could work on another wing. The two raids could swap strategies as they defeat bosses, making it easier for the other team.

4. Introduce rotations.

Instead of each person raiding 5 nights a week, each person raids 4 nights, allowing everyone to raid, though at a lesser rate than previous. The advantage is that everyone remains together. Some people may dislike sitting out, though. Progression will also be much slower, as it will take longer to gear everyone up and for everyone to learn the encounters.

5. Set up an Guild Arena PvP team.

Take 4-10 people who like PvP and set them up as an Arena team. While the rest of the guild raids, the Arena team goes out and PvPs. Then when a PvP season ends, the Arena team takes their new toys and is folded back into the raiding team, and a new PvP team is set up.

Advantage is that the people who are not raiding are doing their own thing. They are upholding the guild name and reputation on the battlefield. As well, it provides a nice opportunity for people to experience PvP as a solid team. It gives people an opportunity to mix things up. Hardcore raid for a while, then hardcore PvP. There may be a hiccup in guild quality at the end of each season as people come back to the raiding group, as you have to gear and train the PvP'ers.

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Personally, I think I would go with a mixture of attrition and PvP Arena teams. I think it would be the easiest, depending on the length of a PvP season. It gives people an opportunity to try different things and get different gear. Also, it'll give your raiders a chance to go off-spec, and indulge their inner Shadow Priest/Feral Druid/etc. to their heart's content.

As well, I am quite partial to the notion of having a team specifically carry the guild banner in PvP. A good guild has to maintain a certain reputation after all.

Thoughts? Any other ideas on what a raiding guild should do?

25-Man Raids

Time to take on the current hot topic in WoW circles: the new 25-man raid cap.

Unsurprisingly, I think this is a good idea. I have always maintained that the single hardest thing about raiding is the transition from levelling guild to raiding guild. Reducing the number of 60s required is a great help for a new guild to achieve critical mass. I think this change will go a long way to seeing more people trying out the raiding scene, and I think that it is a good thing.

Raiding is fun, and I would love to see more players get a chance to realize that.

Secondly, I don't think the current raiding ecosystem is healthy. Maybe I've just been unlucky, but it doesn't seem like raiding guilds are particularly stable, especially ones that are not on the top tier. There's been some research that beyond 50 people, guild cohesion drops dramatically. I think this is true. Smaller guilds are more tightly knit. Even the top tier guilds seem to be constantly recruiting.

Also, this division into raiding guild and levelling guild is not healthy either. When I levelled my warlock, I deliberately turned down guild invites. I wanted to raid, and I didn't want to join a guild and then leave them at 60 for a raiding guild. Realistically though--unless I was incredibly lucky--that is probably what I would have to do. I think a game that forces this choice on people is flawed. Ideally, I should be able to join a guild, level with them, and move into raiding together. With 40-man raids, I do not think this is truely possible.

However, there is a price to pay for this change, and I don't think that we should make light of it. The current raiding guilds are going to have to change, and maybe make some painful decisions. And I do feel bad for them. It will really suck to have to reduce your raiding force by 15 members, or attempt to juggle 2 raids. Hopefully, guild churn during the expansion--either attrition while levelling or older players coming back or people rolling Blood Elves/Draenai--will lessen the magnitude of change needed.

In my view, though, the new cap will result in many more guilds and players attempting and using raid content, and so the price is worth paying.

A Bad Explorer

Continuing the discussion of Bartle Player Types.

I think a bad Explorer is one who hoards knowledge, and delights in seeing other people fail because they lack it.

Blood Elf Paladins and Faction Imbalance

It looks like I was wrong about Horde Paladins and Alliance Shamans being a joke. Too bad. While this move does solve the mechanical imbalance between the two factions, it does so in the least elegant way possible. (Not to mention that the whining has already started about racial abilities.) I'm kind of disappointed in Blizzard, and I still think that making the two sides less unique is a bad move in the long term.

However, a more interesting question is whether this move (and Blood Elves/Draenai in general) will solve the more pressing problem of numerical imbalance. In many ways, the Horde's biggest problem in raiding is lack of numbers. The Alliance has a much bigger pool of recruits to sustain the raiding guilds, and high end Alliance guilds have the option of feeding on lower guilds. But why is there an imbalance in the first place?

If you look at this article at PlayOn, you can see that the Alliance:Horde ratio stays fairly steady. However, there is a significant difference between server types. On PvE/RP servers, the ratio is 2 Alliance for every 1 Horde. But on a PvP server, the ration is 1 Alliance for every 1 Horde. Why is there such a difference?

I think the explanation lies in the Bartle player types. Killers are far more likely to roll on a PvP server. After all, their entire reason to play is to challenge and defeat other players, and PvP offers far more opportunity for that than PvE. So the difference in Alliance:Horde ratios can be explained with the theory that Killers are more likely to roll Horde than non-Killers.

This sort of makes intuitive sense as well. The Horde races project power. They are larger and more brutish. While not precisely evil, they are more likely to be the 'monster' races in other games. So it's kind of natural that a Killer would gravitate towards the Horde.

So why don't the non-Killers like the Horde? There are several possible explanations:

1. Alliance has better PvE racials that attract the Achiever. While this is true, it's very subtle, and really only raises it's head at level 60. As well, the ratios are very steady, and if this was strictly true, we should see the ratio for Alliance rising as more Achievers switch over. Instead, the steady ratio indicates to me that new players are making characters at the same ratio, before they really understand the mechanics.

2. Alliance races are prettier and do not project power. Perhaps non-Killers prefer playing prettier races. In the case of the Socializer, it may be deliberate to get away from Killers.

3. Non-Killers prefer to play the 'good guys'. Maybe a greater amount of people would prefer to what are normally the good guys, rather than the bad guys. As well, the Alliance has Paladins, which are viewed as extremely good characters.

It could also be a combination of things. As well, a lot of people simply follow their friends, so one person who feels strongly about race could influence the choice of a whole bunch of people. My first character was Horde, and I made it because an Achiever friend was playing Horde, and he made his because a Killer friend insisted on playing Horde. One Killer made a choice that dragged multiple Achievers and Explorers along.

But in any case, the important question is 'Can Blood Elves attract a greater portion of non-Killers to the Horde?'

I am not too sure of the answer. Blood Elves are clearly a 'pretty' race, so that may hold a greater attraction. But their racials appear to be more PvP oriented. And a greater mistake may be that they are evil in the mythos. They have paladins, but the paladins are 'evil' paladins (torturing an angel/Naaru and whatnot). If the motivator to play Alliance is to play the good guys, the Blood Elves don't help in that regard.

The problem is that it is fairly obvious why the Horde is more attractive to Killers. But it is less obvious why the Alliance is more attractive to non-Killers, and that will make a huge difference in whether the expansion numerically balances the two factions.

Personally, I would have made the Blood Elves an obviously 'good' race, and if they had paladins, to make the paladins truely good paladins. (The Lore, as Blizzard has proven, is fairly easy to manipulate.) At the same time, the Draenai could have been left as their original evil-ish selves. That way, the people who want to play the good side end up on Horde, in addition to the people looking at mechanics and racial looks.

Bartle's Players Who Suit Muds

I'm working on a rather long post, and I find that I need to provide background information. So rather than trying to work it into the post, I'm talking about it here. Plus, it's an interesting topic in and of itself.

Dr. Richard Bartle wrote a paper, Players Who Suit Muds, back in 1990. Though taken from old-school text muds, a lot of it is still relevant today.

In his paper, Dr. Bartle divides players into four categories:

Achievers - people seek to beat the game, by amassing loot or gear or killing bosses.

Explorers - people who try and find out as much about the game as possible.

Socializers - people who's main interests are in interacting with other players.

Killers - people who seek to defeat other players.

Of course, this is a bit simplistic, as most people have elements of each of the four player types. But usually one style is dominant.

For example, I'm pretty close to pure Explorer, as I'm pretty sure most of my posts have demonstrated. I get my enjoyment from learning about the game, doing new things, and seeing what makes things tick. I do have a bit of Achiever, as I like getting new loot, but I'm pretty far down on the Socializer or Killer scale.

Also, none of these archetypes are inherently good or bad. Your awesome raid leader is an Achiever, the guy who comes up with useful new strategies or advice is an Explorer, the guildmaster who holds the guild together is a Socializer, the best PvP'er in the battleground is a Killer. Loot whores are bad Achievers, drama queens are bad Socializers, griefers are bad Killers. I'm not entirely sure what a bad Explorer would be, maybe someone who refuses to help with old content.

Dr. Bartle's paper is a very interesting read, as he describes the different types in more detail, and the effect each type has on the others. I found that I could look at the personalities and arguments in the game in a different light. Of course, since I am an Explorer, this is the kind of stuff that appeals to me. :)

So which archetype are you?

Ninja!

I had my first real ninja yesterday. I was on a Strat Live run, and [Pattern: Truefaith Vestments] dropped. As there was no priest in the group, we decided to free roll it. After the roll, which I won, a warlock looted the pattern and hearthed.

So I contacted an officer in his guild. It turned out that it was the warlock's brother who was playing the character, and the real warlock sent me some gold in an effort to make up for the ninja, which I shared with the other group members. It's possible that he could have been lying, but I didn't really care.

Apparently the warlock was a tailor, and the warlock's brother learned the pattern for him, which amused me greatly.

All in all, it was an interesting experience. In my mind, it just reinforces the notion that the whole "pass on blues and epics and discuss" is a bad idea. Need/Greed takes care of the vast majority of cases.

As another random observation, the group was really competent for a pickup group. I think dropping the instance cap to 5 has done a lot of good for people's skill levels.

Nefarian, Lord of Blackrock Spire

I've been killing a lot of new bosses these last couple days. Yesterday we downed the Prophet Skeram in AQ40, and got in some attempts on Battleguard Sartura. Today we blew through Blackwing Lair, one-shotting every boss up to Nefarian. Nef himself took two attempts, but he went down nicely on the second one.

Of the new fights, the Nefarian fight was probably the best, followed by Skeram. Vael was pretty interesting, but I got Burning Adrenaline fairly early and died. I was sad that Vael did not do the "Forgive me Coriel, your death only adds to my failure" line, as I probably died too close to an earlier death. But still, it's a neat fight, and I always like fighting dragons.

As for Nef, it's fun being a paladin. I don't have an Onyxia Scale Cloak, but I survived the Shadowflame with a bubble. Also, the paladin class call is a joke. So we stop fighting for a few seconds, it's not that much of a problem. Nef should Hammer of Justice the main tank or something. That would be funny.

Also, I got to melee-heal a fair bit in the last half of BWL: Ebonroc, Chromaggus, and Nefarian. Meleeing on Chromaggus in particular is very helpful, as JoWisdom helps keep the mana up for Cleanse. We had the Timelapse/Corrosive Acid breaths. I really wish I had a single point in Lasting Judgement, though. It would make keeping up Judgements so much easier.

So far, my verdict on BWL is that it is extremely melee-friendly for paladins, as is Skeram and everything up to Sartura. The Sartura fight itself, I'm not so sure about. Paladins meleeing with Seal of Justice, and HoJ rotations might be a good idea, at least on Sartura herself. The AoE from the adds may be too much. Most strats I've seen keep the rogues off the adds, and if the rogues don't go in, it's probably a bad idea for the paladins to. In any case, I think it was only the guild's second attempt at her, so we were basically just learning how the fight works.

Of course, I predict responses saying that paladins should not melee in anything beyond Sartura. It's amusing how the "Paladins Should Not Melee" parts of this game always coincide with the parts I have not done yet. :)

Ah well. It's been a fun couple of days. Hopefully I'll get a chance to kill Ragnaros sometime soon.

Ossiran the Unscarred

I got into an AQ20 run with the prospective guild today. They had already cleared the first couple of bosses, so we pretty much went straight to the final boss, Ossiran the Unscarred. Ossiran is a really cool fight.

There are these crystals which weaken him which spawn in semi-random places in the room. You have to have someone find the next crystal, then the tanks drag him to it, and activate it before he goes into supreme mode and wipes the raid. Everytime you weaken him with a crystal, he becomes extra vulnerable to a specific type of damage. (There are also whirlwinds flying around, but I'm not really sure I understand what that was about.)

It's a cool fight because there is a lot of running around. The raid is constantly trying to keep themselves between Ossiran and the next crystal. It kind of reminds me a bit of Warsong Gulch, and the way you need to heal the flag carrier as she runs past you.

Quite honestly, I love the 20-man zones. Blizzard really outdid themselves here. If the expansion was all 20-mans, with this level of quality, I think this would be the perfect game. It's especially good for hybrids, because there's a lot more opportunity to shift roles. I did some judging, some melee, and some healing (though mostly healing on Ossiran).

Oh, and I got epix! Ossiran dropped [Mantle of the Horusath], and I won the roll! I love getting loot the first time I beat a fight. Somehow it makes it more special.

Honestly, these days are what make WoW fun. An interesting fight, the thrill of victory, and mad lootz. What more can you ask for?

Influence of the Lead Guild

One of the interesting things about Skywall, at least compared to the other servers I have been on, is that the endgame guilds do not have spec requirements. They also have very low gear requirements. Additionally very few of them have extensive loot restrictions. The majority that I've looked at have open loot, but frown on passing on set pieces, or will force people to take them.

This is very different than many of my previous servers. Off-specs, like feral druids or shadow priests, are disdained, and many guilds require people to have a certain spec. Additionally, high end guilds tended to have very high gear requirements, especially when it came to resistances. Finally, class restrictions on gear were the norm, especially when it comes to dps vs hybrid gear.

So why is Skywall different? I think it's mostly due to the influence of the lead guild on the server. The lead guild, or the guild that has advanced the most in the end game, is a guild called Rebirth. Rebirth believes very strongly in the viability of off-specs in raiding. Additionally, their gear requirements are pretty low, though they are very discriminating in actually guilding people after trials. And they don't seem to have loot restrictions.

The lead guild, in many ways, sets the tone for the server. A classical economist might say that this is because of competition. A lower guild cannot set higher requirements than the lead guild, because that would drive better players towards the lead guild.

I'm not sure that is quite right. A lot of guilds have spec/gear/loot restrictions because the guild believes that it is necessary for progression. They get the idea that it is necessary from the lead guild. An appeal to authority, as it were. If the lead guild requires specs, than we probably should as well. People try to imitate people who are successful.

On Skywall though, Rebirth serves as a counter-example. Guilds that want to be successful on Skywall try to imitate Rebirth, and that means that they tend to avoid spec/gear/loot restrictions.

One interesting area where lower guilds do not follow the lead guild is loot systems. The fact that a lead guild uses a specific loot system doesn't seem to influence the lower guilds. Each guild seems to come up with it's own system, and what the other guilds do has less impact. Every server I have been on displays this pattern.

My guess is that the loot system is evaluated on fairness as well as progression, and people feel more able to evaluate fairness than progression. If you ask, "Does having off-specs help us to progress?", you can point to the lead guild for evidence. But if you ask, "Is this loot system fair?", the answer hinges much more on the internal structure of the loot system than what the lead guild does.

In conclusion, the lead guild has a lot of influence on progression-related matters. If a question relates to progression, very often a guild's answer will be the same as the lead guild's answer. However, if the question moves away from progression, the lead guild's influence lessens dramatically.