Monday, August 29, 2011

Transfering to New Hunting Grounds?

Today's post is just a quick one to let you all know I'm still here and working on some neat stuff for the upcoming weeks, but lately I've been rather busy. So as a helpful person, here's my experience of the last couple of months and how a server transfer can be more work than you originally thought.

When I first started the transfer I made sure that I had enough mats and gold to see me through some lean times, and believe me, when you cold transfer to a new server there will be lean times. Make sure you have all the BoA's available to you, especially your guild rep tabard if you were high enough in guild rep. (oh yea, get those mounts too).

Once the transfer is complete, there is one major decision you have to make. Which is more important, guild rep or leveling a mats toon. In most cases, the rep will take precedent, after all those guild perks make life very easy, and with the Renowned Guild Tabard, your rep climbs incredibly fast. So (ugh) dailies become necessary again.

As for your alt, you have a number of choices. DK's are pretty popular, with the high starting level, but I find that a good gathering alt is either a mage or hunter. Being a hunter main though, this might seem redundant, but here me out. First, being very familiar with the class, it will level extremely fast. Second, your abilities give you the ultimate miner/herbalist/skinner in the game. Finally, I now can experiment on builds, reforging, and gearing without any ill effect to my main, (or have a strictly pvp toon).

These are some of the things to consider when transferring, but there are allot more which I will cover later. As a gift though for this rather small post, here is a video I threw together, that shows you how to run Alysrazor's tornado effect with 100% success. Enjoy!


Monday, August 22, 2011

Raid Management: The Keys to Success


I have been raiding for around 4 years now. In my time I’ve been part of 4 different raid guilds. I speak regularly to friends of my previous guilds who still play on Khaz’goroth, and naturally we discuss our progress with our respective guilds. Whereas my stories are generally those of success and progression (Firelands cleared and working on heroics), my friend’s stories are those of despair and anguish. I care for my previous guildies so I try to give as much advice as I can, but the more we talk the more I realise, the problem does not lie with the strategy but with the raid group itself.

So why are some guilds more successful than others, even though their goals are the same? I posed the question to my fellow writer Quadilious and after only a few minutes we were repeatedly using the same terms: Attitude, Communication, Organisation, Discipline, Research, Leadership...in two words Raid Management.

What about Gear and Skill?
So let’s look at what you need for a successful raid. When I originally spoke with my friend about the difference in success between our guilds, her first comment was “Well you are much better geared than us...” No, gear is not required for a successful raid. It helps but it is not required. Being better geared may have helped at the start of Firelands, sure, but everyone’s gear levels were the same for BWD and BoT. As I see it, gear is a bi-product of a successful raid. And also if successful raids require good gear then how did Paragon get world first kills of end bosses and even heroics only a few weeks into this expansion?

At this point I expect to get the “Yeah, well, Paragon are super-skilled players...” Again, that’s not the difference between success and failure. I see plenty of talented players in Ultima Ratio and have seen skilled players in GOAT and Incursion as well, so what excuse will they use? Skill is most often not the problem. And what do people mean by “Skill” anyway? If I don’t die to fires on the ground, or can successfully navigate through tornadoes, does that make me skilled? I think, that just means I have good awareness. What about using tricks, like jump-disengaging, etc? Again, that just means I heard about a trick, read up about it and practiced it. I think the term “skilled player” gets used a little too loosely at times. Skill comes from experience and research in my opinion, and any player can become “skilled” with a little effort and - key word – Research.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

You're Standing Where?

MOVE OUT OF THE DAMN FIRE NOOB!

This is what most hunters think of when you mention "positioning", and yes, not standing in fire is very important, but there is a much more subtle meaning to the term, one which top hunters know and allows you to truly maximize your DPS.


When it comes to setting yourself up for a boss fight, there are a couple of questions you have to ask yourself:
Are the things that make me move predictable? (ie: is the position the pop up on preset, like Ragnaros' Sulphuras Smash or random like Magma Traps)
If they are predictable, are they static or mobile?
The main goal is to try and keep out of Aspect of the Fox for as long as possible by keeping your movement to a minimum, and this is what the first question is for. Most abilities are predictable in knowing when they're going to be cast but not all are positioned in a constant way. For the unpredictable, bite the bullet and hope it is in between casts so you aren't interrupting one. The predictable static ones though, here's a hint: stand on the edge. A good example is Valonia's Deep Breathe (DB) in the BOT V&T fight. This is a good example of predictable events and where to stand. Near the wall, not good, it's easy to get caught too far in and then breathed on. Find a spot near the edge of the flames that would be thrown down in the center ( either side will do) and wait. If you are closer to the entrance here's what will happen. DB on entrance, step 1 or 2 steps forward, Center, 1 or 2 back, and exit, no worries. If you watch videos of boss encounters you will see that most ground effects that are predictable and have a sweet spot to stand in that will require very little movement on your part.

Other things to consider are do we have to stack or spread? Where are my healers? Am I close enough to launch my traps as needed? The trick to these questions are look to see where you are at the START of the fight and what the group as a whole are going to do during the encounter. Once you learn how to read raid groups quickly, positioning will come quickly and naturally.

Some tips for when you have to move.:
Macro in your Aspect of the Hawk to your signature shot (ie Chimera),arcane, and serpent sting because these are all shots that don't need AotF to fire on the move.

When you know you have to move, try and time it so you don't have to switch aspect at all and you can keep up ISS (if you're a MM)

Finally, make sure you're pointed in the right direction if you have to move.

Good luck and I hope this helps improve your game. :)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

My first video - Soloing Slabhide

It has been a hectic few weeks and as I understand it Quad has been extremely busy himself. In between raiding, working, sleeping and looking after my family it doesn't leave much time for blogging. My previous job was perfect as I was able to write all my stuff at work and then upload it when I got home. Not so now. But nonetheless I have a post. Over the past few weeks I have been playing around with FRAPS and making WoW videos. And here is the first result a quick 4 minute video of my first attempt at soloing Slabhide. I also had a video of soloing the scorpions and turtles in the Firelands, but with the recent patch that video is now obsolete - didn't matter anyway I never got a drop. Sadface! But back to Slabhide....