Smores over Felfire

For my raid team, there are only two fights that we’re working on: Yogg-Saron and Faction Champions.

Granted, we haven’t been working that hard recently due to a number of real-life problems that have accosted us, but they are still two fairly intense stumbling blocks. It’s gotten to the point where two of my 3 healers are not even willing to go into Faction Champs due to our PvP configuration. We could continue the raid in Ulduar, but honestly, the only real upgrades we get are from General and Yogg, so we choose to farm the badges for Conquest upgrades instead.

With that, our only real “progression” fight is in TotC 10man.

And the Faction Champions are our Achilles heel.

Most of, if not all, raid content from 3.0 on utilized very little CC. In fact, most fights that DO use CC (such as Gluth, Noth, and Faerlina) are simply initially and, as gear gets better, become trivialized (ie: with Faerlina and Noth, adds are simply tanked with the boss and burned down). Faction Champs not only functions as 6 high-HP enemies, but they are also much more potent then the horsemen due to the lack of an threat table. So we, as a raid, will have to use the one thing we’ve almost forgotten about: Crowd Control.

I will admit that though we have the capability to CC, we also have a surprisingly small amount of it at our disposal:

Our healers have psychic scream (which is a last-resort to get rid of melee attackers), a pally bubble (which dumps agg elsewhere), and a tree (which, unless I’m mistaken, cannot cast cyclone or entangling roots while in tree-form). Thus their CC is useless (especially since they’re concentrating on keeping us alive)

Our tank is a prot warrior, who can spell reflect, and interrupt, but can’t do much else.

Our DPS is, honestly, our only viable way to CC people, though they should be more concerned with getting rid of the horde’s damned healers. With each person who takes 5 seconds to find, CC, and then re-target the original enemy, that’s 5 seconds where said enemy is healing himself/his allies.

Bottom line, this requires more coordination than any previous fight.

I feel lucky, as I can summon the succubus and CC an enemy by myself (especially if I can banish the damned felhound which, oddly, likes to attack me more than any other squishy PC in the arena) through alternating seduction and fear, hopefully giving the diminishing returns a moment to reset itself. However, as I am completely tied up in dealing with a rogue, that means I give little-to-no damage for the main target. Yes, I can occasionally throw a dot or two his way (tongues and unstable affliction specifically), but if my target starts running around, them the raid as a whole is in big trouble.

Personally, I have a grudging respect for this fight as it is vastly different than any other PvE raiding fight, primarily because it’s a PvP fight. We have to think differently and, frankly, we needed the jolt. Each fight from AQ 40 up to TotC 10 have had reused mechanics from other bosses. This is fine, as each fight gets gradually more difficult, but there is a lot of rinse-and-repeat. This is something completely different and requires a lot of attention. And though it currently is a major stumbling block to my raid, I know we’ll win eventually.

And lo, that will be a great day indeed.

I know it’s a tall order, and sounds a lot like one of those “too good to be true” self-help books, but the answer, though simple, is not an easy one to execute.

Be. A. Professional.

“But what does that mean?” Cries the noob.

Among it’s many definitions, is this:

Professional:(n) an expert player, as of golf or tennis, serving as a teacher, consultant, performer, or contestant; pro.

Simply stated, being professional is playing the game as an adult. I’ll say that again, except this time with bold tags for emphasis: being professional is playing the game as an adult.

When Tiger Woods screws up a putt, he’ll shake his head, mutter something to himself, maybe drop a club in exasperation, but he does not throw said club into the stands, scream at his caddy, and/or stomp off the green.

When you’re cut off by another car on the road, you’re annoyed with the moron (which can manifest in shaking your head, muttering something to yourself, or maybe honking), but you don’t smash your car into theirs, berate them, or assault them.

Raiding, being in a group, or BGing should be similarly played. If you have a problem with the strategy/another player/etc, bring it up to the lead in a whisper. Do not broadcast it over the common channel. If you’re tired/frustrated with the raid and want to stop, tell the lead and replace yourself. Do not ragequit. If you are having trouble with a particular boss and aren’t progressing, either change the strategy, try an easier mode, or move on to a different boss. Do not continue as normal and then wonder why nothing is working.

This one is one of my favorites: Voice chat is a communication tool for the group, not your toy. I’m sure your puppy/baby/significant other did something very cute and we should all be quite jealous, but Yogg-Saron just killed a tank because you were talking over their increasingly-desparate “tank needs heals… tank needs heals… tank needs heals!” Trash is usually a good time to talk, as it’s straightforward, usually done to death, and likely is a good relaxation-time for the raid. Being a professional means you use voice chats wisely (which, by the way, can also mean not using it… as silence can in fact be golden from time to time).

Show me a professional that doesn’t show up to work, and I’ll show you another placeholder in the unemployment line. The guild calendar is a tool completely integrated into the WoW client. As such, it works and will never display information that was not prevously entered in by a guild member. Therefore, when your name has the “accepted” text next to it, it’s assumed that you have agreed to be present. Do not agree and then disappear. If real-life problems show up, inform someone.

Lastly, and most importantly, I think we can all pick up a lesson from Baron Rivendare: “Conserve your anger. Harness your rage. You will all have outlets for your frustrations soon enough.”

You died in a fight. Someone pulled off the tank. Someone’s standing in a fire. Someone IS the fire and stands in the middle of the raid.

Breath in, breath out. Then get on vent and calmly inform the offending individual of what they’re doing wrong. I can count on one hand the times where constructive criticism came from a player screaming/cursing at someone on ventrilo. I cannot, however, count high enough to accurately estimate how many times they show up on youtube. Acting like a child will get you ridiculed/gkicked at best, and publicly humiliated at worst.

Yes, it’s a game.
Yes, I know this works.
No, I don’t think the vast majority of WoW players are capable of this.
Yes, I want you to prove me wrong.

Previous to 3.2, you may have noticed I made a prediction concerning Abyss Crystals dropping in price considerably due to the 5-man TotC and its propencity for dropping epics.

Now, with 3.2.2, That drop is going to be reversed, though only slightly.

The Onyxia patch will be introducing a new recipe for enchanting called Abyssal Shatter, which disenchants 1 Abyss Crystal into either Greater Cosmic Essence(s) or Infinite Dust(s). As a result, Abyssal Crystals will be in higher demand as players will take the Crystals from TotC 5 man, get them shattered, and use the recovered reagents for non-abyss-crystal enchants. As residual effects, the price if Infinite Dust and Greater Cosmic Essence will drop, though I don’t anticipate by much as the jump in Abyss Crystals will keep the market from bottoming out completely.

For enchanters, this means that your profit margin per enchant will be getting cut. This may be offset by a larger quantity of enchants being served (ie: 5 enchants/week at 10g profit apiece = 50g profit VS 10 enchants/week at 7g profit apiece = 70g profit). It all depends on how you are getting your cut.

Speaking of “cut,” I find that the best practice of making money off enchanting is like the cuts Jewelcrafters have: they supply the materials, I impose a 5-10g “enchanting fee.” If they ask you for mats, charging a little more for the convenience is fine, but most people bring their own materials nowadays.

So what does this mean for the enchanter right now? It means buy up an extra stack of abyssal crystals now (but only one, don’t want to get too greedy) and wait for the patch to drop. You then can either sell them back at an increase, or disenchant them and increase your personal material stores. Either way, you will benefit if you act prior to the patch. For maximum profits, I would suggest buying up the crystals a day or two before the expected patch day, as crystal prices tend to keep dropping as long as this patch is the most recent. On my server, crystals went for 125g during Ulduar, 120 after 3.2 dropped, and have been sinking ever since. Right now, I believe the going rate is 50g.

For Leatherworkers and Scribes: start stockpiling Heavy Borean Leather, Jomungar Scales, Icy Dragonscales, and Snowfall ink. The new profession-based buffs (Gift of the Wild, Blessing of Kings, and Power Word:Fortitude) will be spiking the price of the materials for about a week or two, so you might as well get in on the money while you can.

Engineering, Tailoring, and Blacksmithing: sorry to say you will not be getting anything from 3.2.2 (though Tailors may be getting a little love as infinite dust prices effect the price for imbued frostweave, but only slightly).

First of all, let me inform you all that I fully intend to roll a Worgen Druid. Druids are the only class that I have not played to at least level 40 yet, and they are far too useful (as they can be tanks, healers, ranged, and melee) for me not to play around with.

Not to mention the concept of a wereWOLF turning into a cat, cheetah, and/or bear is too funny for me to pass up.

But in regards to the game, the concept of a Worgen, a human that has been cursed with…. well… worgenism… as an acceptable race/class combination is downright laughable. Humans have a reasonable relationship with the Night Elves because, frankly, they’re better than the Orcs. Humans have populated Dustwallow (a swamp), Silithis (a warzone) and Ungoro (with a camp). While it’s true that humanity has completely “civilized” and/or ravaged the land in the Eastern Kingdoms, that isn’t the Night Elves’ problem. Ashenvale and the Warsong deforestation…. THAT is a Night Elf problem. Additionally, the track record for humans isn’t that great… as (prior to Cataclysm) there was one human who was trained by the Keldorei to become a ranger/hunter… and that guy got turned to the Forsaken. If that weren’t enough, might I remind you that the forsaken are all humans-turned-undead who have, quite recently, been convicted with making a plauge to kill the living… so that can’t look good for humans as a whole.

Now, after the world has been ripped apart, you’re telling me that the bloodthirsty, ruthless, and cruel human-worgen-things that came from another world have somehow been diluted/medicated enough to not rip your throat out sooner than greet you. Furthermore, they have somehow convinced the Keldorei that they are the ideal candidate for learning sacred druidic knowledge.

That makes even less sense than the Trolls (who hate dem elves… See Zul’jin and Zul’Aman).

Regardless, because one of Cataclysm’s big pulls is a broadening of race/class restrictions, the most exclusive class, druids, will be expanded beyond Tauren/Night Elves. Unfortunately, because all the Alliance races are very “sophisticated” as oppose the the more “primal” horde races (with the exception of the Blood Elves), there really aren’t many choices for WoW to choose from Ally-side. Humans, Dwarves, and Gnomes are too “technical” and the Draenei have been tapped as shamen, making them druids would seem silly (as they are still trying to cling to the whole “holy race” thing they’ve got going for them).

Bottom line: Because Trolls will be getting a shot at being druids, and because the QQ on the forums would drown the interwebs with tears, Worgen will be getting their own tree-hugging class in the name of balance, if by a bearly feasible reason.

PS. Yes, that last typo was intentional. Yes, I know it was horrible. No, I don’t care.

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