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.

This is a truly awesome article on gear pollution and the problems inherent with Wrath’s current mode(s) of raiding progression.  Give it a read and lend your thoughts!

http://wowhats.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/gear-pollution/

In Ailis’ world, all instance groups know what they’re doing, what their assigned job is from start to finish, and do it flawlessly and without any trouble.  The tank does his tanky thing, the DPS rocks the meters and the healer keeps all those green bars topped off without any problems or deviations from the set course through said instance.

Unfortunately, Blizzard refuses to make a server called Ailis’ World so we’ll have to deal with the folks that either honestly don’t understand their role in a group or just don’t want to or think they can do more than they are actually capable of doing.  If you’ve spent the vast majority of your levelling career going solo then I understand if you don’t fully grasp the role you are to play in a group.  I can condone that and merely ask that you learn what your role is and strive to perform the tasks assigned to you to the fullest of your ability.

To the rest of you…

The ideal dungeon crawling party consists of a tank, a healer, a melee DPS, a ranged DPS and some sort of hybrid.  There are many variations to the dungeon crawling party but that’s my first choice.  Your hybrid can be ranged or melee and their combinations can be any form of tank/heals/dps as long as they are smart with their off-heal/tank/dps.

Tank

A good tank is a wonderful thing to find.  I know a couple of exquisite tanks who have done their jobs so well, they have earned a devotion from me that’s akin to blind faith.  A bad tank can turn the easiest dungeon crawl into the most hellish nightmare.

As a tank, your main purpose in life is to stay center spotlight and taunt, jab, charge, and smack the mobs into such a fury that they are focuses solely on you and don’t even notice the rogue stabbing their butts.  You are not here to DPS.  If you want to be at the top of the DPS meter, turn this toon into your bank alt and roll a hunter.

A tank also excels at watching the threat meters and knowing what classes can do what to drop aggro.  Hey, crit happens.  I’ve been in many situations where suddenly I’m staring at the mob’s face rather than their backside when all I did was Stormstrike them.  A good tank watches for that possibility and knows what to do to stave it off.  Calling for a hunter to feign, a priest to fade, a rogue to vanish, or yelling at me to switch targets is part of being a good tank and a good leader of a dungeon crawl.  However I do not expect a tank to put up with having to call that out more than once or twice in a run.

A tank knows how to not only use marks but follow them.  For the love of pete, if you mark Skull, X and Moon then the kill order is Skull, X and Moon.  Your DPS absolutely loves going after skull just to find out you went after Moon then changed your mind and remarked it Square for the hell of it.  If you don’t use marks, communicate in either vent or chat which mob you’re going after first.

So, whether you have a big bear butt and wear leather or run around in plate, your job description is simple: keep the mobs pissed off at you and only you at all times.

Heals

A good healer is also a rare thing.  A good healer doesn’t just mash buttons and hope that everyone stays alive.  A good healer knows exactly what their skills do and uses them in such a way that it maximizes their efficiency and mana consumption all the while keeping everyone alive.

A healer does not fight.  If you feel the urge to pew pew or stab stab, then respec Shadow or Feral or Enhancement or Ret and be done with it.  Your job is to stand in the back and watch all the little green bars, including your own.  You make occasional notes of your surroundings, but you are pretty much entirely focused on health bars.  

Things can and will go wrong in a dungeon.  You are not expected to heal stupid people.  If the DPS pulls aggro and doesn’t shut it off, and you get the mob’s attention because you healed them, not your fault.  If the tank doesn’t follow his own marking and you get smacked by a very angry mob with a skull above their head, not your fault.

DPS

Be it melee or ranged, your job is to blow up the mobs without them knowing it was your fault.  All of us DPS constantly battle for the top of the meter – we like seeing our name next to the #1 position.  However, keep in mind that is simply bonus or you just happened to suck less than the other DPS in the group.  More often than not, it’s the latter.  Sorry.

There is such a thing as AGGRO.  If you suddenly see your health drop and you’re staring at the dripping mandible of a spider boss instead of his spider-web shooting back end, you have AGGRO and what do you do when you have AGGRO?

Stop DPS’ing.  Yes, stop your never-ending climb to the top.  Stop mashing buttons, clicking macros or whatever the hell else you do.  Just stop.  Feign, Fade, Meld, Vanish.  DO NOT RUN.  Running just makes the angry beastie follow you and suddenly, you have a tank following the angry beastie, the rest of the angry besties following the tank and you and the tank getting out of range of heals so the whole group wipes because the healer has to run after your aggro-pulling ass.

If you ever cause this type of a situation and then have the balls to ask if anyone has a rez, you will be punted from my group.

As pure DPS, your job is also to note the kill order and dutifully follow the tank through the established kill order.  If your tank breaks the kill order, reserve your curses for if you make it through the fight and target off him.  That is the best way to salvage that situation.

Hybrid

As a hybrid, be it tank/heals, dps/heals, or dps/tank, your job is to make your “off” abilities known to the group and be extremely adaptable and flexible to every situation.  Boss fight taxing the healer?  Step back and toss a few heals to the group.  Stray patrol surprise the tank?  Step in and grab aggro on the patrol until the tank can come take them.  You are there for the group as a whole and never for yourself.  You are a jack of all trades, master of none and get used to it.

There may be many times that your off abilities are never used and you are able to be pure dps or whatever.  But always be prepared to pop out and throw some heals or corral some beasties.  A good hybrid knows what’s going on at all times with every member of the group and keeps the other eye on the surroundings.

Basic rules for a basic dungeon crawl.  Know your role and stick to it.  You are a member of a unit – not solo.  You are here to help just as much as you need help from the rest in your group to achieve the overall goal.