COME ON!

Everyone always talks about tanks and healers. The tank isn't defense capped for the raid/heroic? Kick 'em. The healer is in greens and only has 13k mana? Kick 'em.

What about the DPS?

Four Pieces of Gear:

Infantry Assault Blade
Woven Steel Necklace
Screeching Cape
Boots of the Portal Guardian

Nice gear, right? Guess who was wearing all 4 when I joined a group for Heroic UK?

Go ahead, guess.

Yepp, you guessed it. A hunter.

Why should I put up with this as a healer? This guy is wasting gear and wasting my time by showing up for an instance like this. I don't even want to get started on how much he needs to learn about being a hunter. To put into perspective his awefulness, we had a feral druid tanking, and a protection paladin in the party (WTF did I get myself into....we did clear the place but jeez). On the second boss fight, the Protection paladin did 1130DPS, and Mr. Defensewearinghunter did a wonderful 938. IN A HEROIC! Check out BRK. Please.

Then, I get a VH group going with the same protection paladin and druid, and the same Titan's Grip warrior (who did 2000dps and definitely held is own) from the UK run. We pull in a mage in mostly epic gear, with enchants, and some pieces of his T7. He does 1350DPS. Why is that acceptable? It isn't. If you are running heroics, and especially if you are in epic gear, you need to focus and do some strong DPS. 1500+ is not unreasonable to ask for. The more DPS, the faster the fights, and less time you give me to run out of mana or someone else to die. If you are new to heroics, just getting your feet wet, I can understand if it takes time to gear up and such. But this guy clearly had experience, and definitely ahd the gear.

DPS....please do your job. Just like you don't want a sub-par tank or healer making things difficult, we don't want sub-par DPS making our jobs more difficult. Everyone should be held accountable for what they are supposed to be doing, not just the easily blamable, "point your finger at this guy" healer or tank.

/endrant


//EDIT//

On a happier note, please enjoy New Year's Eve, however you choose to spend it. Be safe, have fun, and enjoy the festivities tonight, whether it be in Azeroth, NYC, or at home with family and friends. Happy New Year.

Tier 7? Yessir....

Well, I was helping my Guild Leader get a group together for 10 man Archavon, because we finally had Wintergrasp when some of the guildies were on, and I got a whisper from a Death Knight that he had a group going and had extra people from his guild. We decided to merge together, and we did the 25 man version.

The Heroic version is a flat out DPS race, because the boss enrages after 5 minutes and one shots everyone in about 5 seconds flat. We wiped the first time with Archavon having 87k health left, and then downed him on the second try literally one second before he enraged.

And, luckily for me (being the only holy paladin in the raid group), I went back home to Dalaran with the shiny new Valorous Redemption Gloves. I slapped some spellpower on them and bought a nice gem to get cut, but I just cannot find a JC on my server that cuts Royal Twilight Opal. It's frustrating, but who CARES! Tier 7 baby....can't complain.

And, I have decided to save up my Emblems for the T7 chestpiece, which is a killer 80 Emblems of Heroism. But, it will all be worth it when I get there, and I already have 42 saved up. Who doesn't love when Gundrak is the Heroic Daily and you get 7 badges from one run, plus a nice little achievement? Great fun.

W.A.T.W?

Where.
Are.
The.
Warlocks?

I have to be honest, I have never been fond of playing one. My highest one is 20, and its an alt on a different realm than my main server.

But honestly....have they all died out? I can't tell you the last time I grouped with one...it was definitely before the expansion. My friend played a warlock at 70 and even got into some 25 man raiding with it after the "lolpatch" nerf. But, after getting it to 73, he's essentially done with it, and leveling a DK through Outland. I had one in my Naxx group last night for about 3 minutes, but he left after he realized we weren't going to be raiding for 4+ hours.

Is something wrong with the class? Last I knew (which wasn't much), they were getting this cool new Metamorphosis spell that turns them into a demon! And now...when I do a /who warlock when I log in at night, I get maybe 10 results. Maybe it's just because my server is low pop, but I dunno.

Anyone else experiencing this? What's the reason?

Naxx 10.....

Well, when I logged in last night to get ready for Archavon, we didn't have control of Wintergrasp (which is of course necessary for entering the raid zone). So, while I waited for the next battle to start, I flew out to Sholazar to farm some saronite. I am working on my Wyrmrest rep now, after getting exalted with the Argent Crusade, and need to get some money to buy me one of those awesome red drakes. Sholazar is literally a gold mine. If I fly around the zone for 30 minutes, I pick up almost 50 Saronite ore, which nets be somewhere between 60-75g on my server, not counting the titanium I pick up if I am lucky. If you mine, get out to Sholazar and mine your heart out.

So, I tried to help win back Wintergrasp, but the Horde were there in incredible numbers (they outnumber us 3 to 1 on the server I believe), and they successfully defended it. My guild run was nixed, but I convinced my guild leader to give Naxx 10 a shot. We had 5 guldies in the run, picked up 5 good players, and headed into the Arachnid Quarter. It was awesome to see Naxxramas. We only downed the first two bosses, and it took some time because everyone in my guild was brand new to the place (and my brother, who was off tanking, had never raided before at all). Maexxna was bad on the first attempt, but after that we picked up the strategy.

Now, this boss is annoying to me. The web isn't so bad when she isn't enraged, and the resto druid we had with us was tremendous at keeping up his HoTs. But, when she is enraged, it becomes damn near impossible, as we found out, to keep the tank up during an 8 second incapacitate (which I can't even bubble out of!). We failed over and over, and it became too late for anyone to want to keep trying. We are going back soon (maybe tonight) to give it another shot.

Anyone have any tips for this boss? It seems the DPS just has to destroy her before the web comes, because when it does, healing is impossible and she destroys the tank. Maybe Vault will be available to us tonight and we can give that a try.

Busy Day....

Well, today was sort of a day off for me, and I had a ton of time to play. I ran a few heroics, and also did 25 man Sartharion with a guild from my server. It was a great experience. Two pally tokens dropped, but I rolled my usual 25 on both and lost terribly. What did I get for loot today?

[Sabatons of Erekem] from Heroic Violet Hold (we got the easy bosses this time). No spell crit, but 31 mp5 is hard to argue with, along with the other stats and the socket.

Also, with all these heroics I was running, I FINALLY got to exalted with the Argent Crusade, and picked up two epics!

[Helm of Purified Thoughts] and [Signet of Hopeful Light], both of which were huge upgrades for me.

I have reached 1500 spellpower, and my crit rating is around 28%.

I thought Sartharion was a cool fight, and we only wiped once before people learned how to avoid the flame waves. I lead the fight in healing, doing almost 2400 HPS, which far outhealed the second healer, who did about 1700. Beacon of Light and Judgement of Light in a 25 man raid makes for a lot of healing, which I'm sure some of was definitely Overhealing, but the 2400 HPS looks pretty good to me.

Tomorrow, my guild finally breaks into some raiding of our own (with some PuGs as we wait for everyone to reach 80). We are doing 10 man Archavon, which is a pretty easy encounter that I have done before. But, I will be Raid Leader from this point on, so I have to be sharp. Any tips for this fight and being a raid leader in general? Anyone have experience?

WHAT?!

Well, over the last few days, I have managed to gather up enough Emblems of Heroism for a nice epic shield, which I am really excited about. It was the first piece of "Emblem" gear that I was looking to get, and now I will probably save up for the T7 chestpiece, which is a whopping 80 Emblems. I would go for the gloves, but I got some great spell crit gloves from Heroic Nexus. Yesterday I ran Nexus again, but lost the roll on the epic mace to a balance druid that claimed to be resto for his main spec. It hurt a little, but it IS just gear, and what is the use of arguing with the guy over some in-game mace that I can just get the next time I run it with my guidies? It's not worth it, and congrats to the guy that got it.

I have broken over 1400 healing, which I have heard is what you need to start doing Naxx 10. There was a group going yesterday evening, looking for a healer and some DPS. I had a Ret pally and my frost mage friend in a group already, and asked the guy if he wanted us to join in and help out. I know this guy, not in real life, but from my very first Karazhan run, in which he, as a holy pally with exceptional gear and a great attitude, lead a PuG we had to a full clear, all 11 bosses, only wiping twice. It was a great experience, and I really had a lot of respect for this player. But yesterday, he saw that I was friends with another player in the game, and apparently had some "major issues" with that player from a real life situation, and flat out told me that I couldn't come because of my association with this person.

Now, was a really bummed out about not being able to get into Naxx? I'll admit I was, it would have been great. But the part that got me is why. Apparently, because I know this person in a GAME, and he did something to this guy in real life, I am just as bad of a person. He was judging me because of this, which I just couldn't believe. I don't know this other player outside of the game. I don't know ANYTHING about this apparent situation. And yet, this guy wouldn't have anything to do with except for trash talking me and calling me out. Needless to say, the respect I once had for him as a player is now gone.

This is a game. Keep your real life issues where they should be: in real life. There is no place for this high school bullshit in this game.

Personally, no love lost here. I won't be grouping with the guy, and I am damn sure he doesn't want to group with me. And, like I said, missing out on Naxx was a bummer. But the way it happened is what really got me. It does, however, make you appreciate the good people you have met in-game, and the friends you have made through it. Keep those people around, because there just might be an ass-hat waiting around the corner.

Happy Holidays

Whatever you do with or without your families today, I hope you enjoy it. It's a great time of year, and make sure to let the people in your life know that you care about them in some way.

Oh, and don't forget to log in for just a couple of minutes to pick up your present under the tree!

Enjoy the day everyone.