Ailis in Hunterland

My mage hit 80 roughly a week before 3.3 dropped so, I’ve been spending a LOT of time in the new random LFG system emblem farming to gear her up.

(Protip: group with a tank or a healer before queuing up.  It goes a lot faster.)

In my travels through the system and meeting folks from other servers, I’ve come across several things that I thought I would share with you guys.

1. Cheap buffs are perfectly fine.  Some folks have no issues using their reagents on the full awesome party-wide buffs but if you want to conserve instead of using reagents every 20 minutes or so, that’s completely okay and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
2. Gear judging is not your job.  You may snicker at the hunter wearing a spell trinket or the ret pally wielding a sword and board, but to comment on it and make them feel like a total loser doesn’t help.  Yes, you guys will probably never see each other and what you say is simply a passing comment but keep them to yourself unless you are of that class in the group – pally to pally, hunter to hunter.  Otherwise, you just come off as an obnoxious know-it-all elitist.
3. For the love of pete, greed on the stupid frozen orbs.  No one “needs” them anymore.  Period.
4. Speaking of loot (and here’s my huge thorn in my side), the new need before greed/disenchant system is nice.  It has a couple of hitches such as treating greed and disenchant rolls equally.  So the days of needing for main spec and greeding for offspec are gone.  Most groups have adopted a “need for both specs” attitude which I have no problem with IF the person that is needing for offspec waits to see if anyone else needs for main spec before rolling.  Twice yesterday I watched people need on an offspec item against someone who was needing on it for mainspec, win, then drop group or argue as to why they “deserve it” when I said something.  One argument presented to me was “Well, that is normally my MS.  I’m in here in my OS.”

   Fantastic.  How are any of us supposed to know that’s your offspec and you’d like to roll mainspec on drops when there is obviously someone there that needs it for the mainspec they are running AT THIS POINT.  *shakes fist*

   The other argument I hate is “It’s just a heroic.”  Well, yes.  If this were any heroic under Trial of the Champion or the new ICC 5mans I wouldn’t even open my mouth.  But seeing is how ToC drops 219 gear on heroic and the new 5mans drop 232 gear on heroic, it’s a bit of a bigger deal.  People trying to gear up quickly to raid need this gear more than anything that will drop from any other heroic.

   My point is this – if you’re in LFG for both your specs and the random system asks you to go in on your offspec but you’d like to roll need on mainspec, say something to your group.  Don’t steal loot from your tanks or your healers because that’s exactly what it looks like.

All in all, the random cross-server LFG system does not give you permission to be a total douche to everyone you meet.  Just because you will likely never see them again doesn’t mean karma isn’t a bitch.  Run your heroic, do your job, say hi, be fair with loot rolls, and leave.  I’ve seen personally and heard from guildies more and more asshats showing up in heroics.

Maybe we’re all just unlucky and get the local nuts but maybe there’s more to this and people need to just pay a little more attention to how they act.  And, if you witness something like this – unfair loot rolls or someone just being a prick to someone else – say something.  You don’t have to do what I did and really lay into someone (to be fair I’m pregnant and a bit pissy nowadays – my poor husband) but speaking up briefly will help over time.

Enough folks speak up on a regular basis, the better it can get.

Ah, gear.  The subject of much controversy and debate and hording and ninjas and raid drama and bragging rights.  Don’t get me wrong, I love new gear as much as the next person.  I also fully stand behind the desire to have great gear with optimal stats for your character.  Stack that AP/Agility/SP/Stamina.

However.

When gear becomes the focal point to the exclusion of everything else, I have an issue.

Gear Without Skill

We’ve all seen it.  People hollering in LFG or Trade looking for raiders with a particular gear score, a specific AP/SP/HP, or whatever.  How many times do those same people stop to think about skill?  I’m sure most of them just figure that if someone meets a certain mark then they know how to play their character, right?  Eh, maybe.

We can all agree that gear is stupid easy to get at the end-game. If you have a bit of cash, time to grind some heroics and get lucky in a Vault run or two, you can be in full purples within a couple of weeks of hitting 80 with your hit/expertise/ap/agi/crit/hp/sp/etc/etc at their optimum levels for your spec.  Two weeks.  Does that mean you know how to raid with your toon properly?  Does that mean you possess the skill and knowledge needed to be a part of a team and you know your proper role in each fight?  Not necessarily and we all have run across “that guy” who doesn’t know the first thing about his toon despite having 3/5 T9.

Skill Without Gear

The flip side of this issue is one that I actually see more of lately and it somewhat saddens me.  Good players thinking they aren’t good enough or they can’t be better because they don’t have “good gear.”  How many times have you run across this?  ”We don’t have the gear for this.” or, even worse, “I don’t have the gear for this.”

We’ve become so conditioned as players to equate great gear with great healing/dps numbers, that anything below that arbitrary bar is seen as not good enough and therefore not worth trying to improve.

Before you protest and say that you DO need great gear to do great things, think about the number 1 or 2 guild on your realm.  The guilds that get the server firsts.  Maybe even the guilds that get the world firsts.  When that guild got your realm’s first downing of Algalon-25, that was, what, 5 weeks or so after Ulduar was released?  Maybe not even that long?  So 25 people (assuming it was the same 25 from start to finish) went through Ulduar-25 5 or so times.  3-4 drops a boss, assuming everyone got really lucky and pieces for main specs actually dropped all the time, you’re looking at the group having 1-3 pieces of Ulduar 25 gear apiece.  Mix that with some crafted pieces, a couple of badge items (this was before heroics dropped Conquest emblems, mind you) and the rest is, remember this, Naxx25 gear.

And they downed Algalon.

Go watch the video for Ensidia’s world first downing.  You will see Warglaives and a Thunderfury.

It’s not all about gear.

I have seen players in a mix of purples and blues pump out more dps than someone in the same spec fully epic’ed out in the latest and greatest.

Skill Trumps Gear

None of this is to say that gear has no place in the measurement of your character’s ability in any given fight.  It is definitely on the list.  But it’s at the bottom of the list.  Skill, attitude, attention, build, glyphs, gems, enchants, THEN gear.

This is something that, as a guild leader, I try to communicate to my raiders when we’re up against something particularly challenging.  It’s easy to get frustrated and say that we can’t do it because of gear level.  ”We can come back after we get some more gear.”

Well, yes, we could.  But will we do better because we upgraded someones chest piece from 232 to 245?

I realize there is a mental component that goes with it.  We equate great gear with great performance, therefore, when we have the gear, we do better inherently.  I want us as players to move past that and move away from it.

Always try to better your raider through research, build tweaking, rotation tweaking, and, yes, even gear.  But, remember, while you will inevitably do better with better gear, don’t forget that you are capable of doing great things with the clothes you have on your back.

This is definitely a topic that has been brewing in my mind for some time now and I’m curious to hear your thoughts on it.  How much importance do you HONESTLY place on gear?

Warcraft is a global phenomenon.  Some may roll their eyes when they hear anything having to do with the game and yet others may immediately start regaling anyone who will listen with tales of raids, rewards and wipes.  WoW has permeated a vast majority of the facets of our culture and has become (intentionally or not) a standard by which other MMOs are measured, an ever-raising bar, and a game that millions of people complain about yet still play relentlessly.

If you ask any WoW player what the game is to them, you will get a wide variety of responses.  It’s a social medium, it’s a place to relax, it’s a place where I don’t have to be so shy, it’s an escape, it’s a challenge, it’s a place to keep in touch with long-distance friends, it’s a place to stretch my creative legs, etc.

The one phrase that will, however, incite some sort of reaction is: “It’s just a game.”

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who can, with a straight face and total believability, say that and truly, honestly, sincerely mean it.

Monopoly is just a game.  Scrabble is just a game.

Now, I’m not saying that WoW is a new form of life itself (although some may see it as so) but it has transcended the phrase “just a game” into something more – even for the most casual of player.  There is an attachment that grows.  Even people who have left the game for one reason or another will have a story or two they will never forget.

I was thinking about this aspect of the game as I, my husband, and our friends build this guild and attempt to lead it in a fun and fair fashion.  Sometimes you have to, as a leader, take a few steps back and try to see how your guild members see the game.  It’s not just a game to them but what level are they on?  Having this knowledge or, at the very least, attempting to understand this knowledge helps tremendously when it comes time to ask your members to do or not do something.  How will they react if you ask them to save a certain Raid ID for a guild run and then the guild, due to unforeseen circumstances, doesn’t get to go?  Does any potentially negative reaction keep you from asking in the first place?

In our guild, no.  We ask, and then if something happens, we deal with it as best we can.  But some guild leaders may hesitate.  There is a fine line between playing WoW to have fun and playing WoW because your guild is a job.  Some leaders may not want to turn the guild into a job for any of their members – do this, this and that; but don’t do that, that or this – because they fear that they will be seen as dictatorial.

Honestly, you’re going to be seen that way by at least one person any time you make any rule that someone doesn’t agree with.  My advice?  Make your rules but keep them simple, succinct and easy to follow.  And keep the list to a minimum.

WoW is more than a game to most everyone who plays it, even on the smallest level.  As a guild leader, figuring out what level(s) your members are on is key in effectively and fairly running a guild; and making sure that you have the right members in your guild.

I wanted to take a moment and expand on a subject I touched upon briefly in my previous post outlining the new changes coming next year with Cataclysm.  I realize we have, at minimum, a year to wait for the new expansion and there’s a couple of raids in between now and then; however, I wanted to attempt to get a discussion going because I’m honestly curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.

There was a blue post a few days ago that caught my attention regarding the stat changes and the accusation that it was over-simplifying everything:

I find many of these arguments to be elitist. This is not a “catering to the casuals” issue. This is an issue that even some of our most educated and math-savy players could not make gear decisions without the help of external tools. We’re much less concerned about more casual players because the specific choice of upgrade will mean less for them (skill outweighs the contribution of stats for all but the absolute best players) and they often choose pieces based on things like art over stats.

I’m talking about very hardcore raiders who no longer could eyeball a piece of gear with any degree of authority. I might believe that some very few of you are so proficient with the math as to be able to eyeball the stats, but I think you are vastly overestimating the number of players who can or do. Remember, the formula to convert armor penetration into damage was so complicated that we had to take the unusual step of actually spelling out how it was calculated.

With this change will you still have to make hard choices about upgrading? Absolutely. Will there still be quasi-religious debates about which neck is best in slot for a given spec? Of course. Will you still need to understand the mechanics to make the best choice for your character? We think so. One of our overall design philosophies for WoW (and Blizzard) is to be simple but have a lot of depth. Some people mistake needless complexity for depth.

Meanwhile, we think there is a lot of benefit of getting rid of problematic stats like defense and accomplishing things like letting casters improve by focusing on throughput over mana pool.

Here’s the breakdown.

After Cataclysm, there will be multiple things that will effect your output as a tank/dps/healer:

1. Gear (and, with that, Gems, Reforging and Enchants)
2. Build (with Glyphs)
3. Professions
4. Mastery
5. Path of the Titan

Right now, you can go to any number of popular websites and find THE build and gear setup for your particular class that will make you the best you can be.  If you follow X template, you are the best.  Period.

I think this has led to the issue that the Blue mentions above when they say that players are getting to the point where they memorize a list of BiS and go for those items to the exclusion of everything else because someone told them it was the best.  It’s taken the thought out of gearing and balancing.  I realize a lot of this had to do with the vast number of stats we have to balance to achieve and optimal level of performance, thus the “over-simplification” of stats in the upcoming xpac.

Does this mean cookie cutter specs and BiS lists will go away with Cataclysm?  I don’t think so but my hope is we’ll have a couple of lists instead of one list.  Something like:

“If you went with X Path of the Titan and Y Mastery, then here’s a BiS gear list for you, but this is purely dependent on your reforging and profession buffs.”

And so on.  This means a helluvalot more theorycrafting coming from the think-tanks, which is all well and good and, yes, I will still read it all.  But here’s my hope.

I hope that, with the vast number of combinations of Paths, Mastery, Builds, Reforging, Gear combinations, Gems, Enchants, Profession Buffs and more, people will start to make their own choices.  The simplification of stats allows for this and even encourages it.  There is a whole new glyph system with your chosen Path; a whole set of Mastery tools for your build; possibly new Profession buffs to correlate with the stat changes; and more.  What I’m hoping is that, instead of Cookie Cutter Spec A being used by every Enhancement Shaman in a progressive raiding guild, you’ll have something more akin to the “Top Ten Enhancement Shaman Systems.”

But I want to know your thoughts on it.  Do you think we’ll still have set in stone cookie cutter specs for everyone or do you think a significant change is coming?  Is this good or bad?