Another Nerf on the Raid

Ok so Blizzard has announced yet another nerf, 

After each region's maintenance this week, raids will no longer lose attempts on wipes in Normal mode for Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. There will still be limited attempts in Heroic mode.


We will continue to monitor developments in Icecrown Citadel in the future, especially since the Heroic difficulty has been unlocked by a significant number of raids.

         -Daelo

I personally have not completed ICC. Very few people have. I have made my attempts on Putricide, and that is where my raid group currently is. Many hard core raiders, although they have not downed the Lich King, are frustrated by this change. One of my friends, who is in one of the top five raiding guilds on our server, is really annoyed with this nerf. I know many raiders, just like him are frustrated with how easy this entire expansion is. 


Has Blizzard made this entire expansion too easy? Where it is puggable? and doable by any casual raiding guild? I suppose that is why they introduced hard modes. Since many people haven't unlocked the hardmodes in ICC yet, it is too early to tell if the hard core raiders will be satisfied. I like being able to go into ICC, as more of a casual raider, but I don't like all of the nerfs. I like working hard for a long time to achieve something, and I didn't mind the attempts in normal mode. It creates a challenge, and players can truly feel a sense of achievement. I wonder if players who are even more casual than myself are excited about the nerfs in raids. For me I like the counter because it creates a goal. To down the bosses with so many attempts left. This is truly the expansion for PuGs, and I am interested to see if Blizzard plans on releasing more challenging content, that is not puggable so easily, in the next xpac.

Gear Score=DPS?

Have you noticed that any 80 running around Dalaran, from any non recognizable guild can have a pretty awesome gear score? Well I definitely have, and I love to inspect them and see what all they have equipped. Awesome gear from ICC? No, not even close, not even gear from ToC. Just gear you can buy from the vendors. Although I was annoyed when Blizzard made awesome gear available to everyone, I have come to realize, just because the gear in Dalaran has an awesome gear score, does not mean it is better gear and equals more dps. I think mostly, it is not people's fault that they don't understand, you would think if it is a higher ilvl it is an upgrade.

When I run with people who don't typically raid, but have high gear scores, I can definitely tell in their dps. Why is it that this person has 245 items and mine are only 232, but my dps is much higher? Probably the stats are better on the gear I choose. The 245 gear from vendors is not as good as getting your tier 9 set, on most classes. (I don't play all classes so not sure for all) And just because the cloak for frost badges is the cheapest thing available does not mean you should buy it. I mean I am talking about dpsers here, and the cloak has Mp5 on it! Why not get your tier gear first? Or at least the belt which is super awesome? Ya I know, the tier gear is only 251 ilvl, instead of 264, but many of the 2 piece set bonuses on tier are awesome. I only dps on a shaman, mage, and feral druid, but I know these are all worth it. I know that a boomkin is worth it as well. So research and find out what people of your class are saying about t10 set bonuses. O and btw, the triumph badge trinkets suck! Ok, I have one on my shammy because I had absolutely nothing else from raiding, and I hate using it, but if you have something else you should definitely be using it. Equip/Equip trinkets are almost always better than Equip/Use.

I have a great story that illustrates my point. There is a mage in my guild, who is a decent player who could not for her life figure out why her dps was lower, much lower, than mine when my gear score was much lower than hers. Well I inspected her, and freaked out! Her haste was really low, her gear was all bought, and her trinket was the hit trinket, when she was waaay over hit cap! So I proceeded to ask her if she had any other trinkets. She did, but they were both ilvl 200. She had in her bags Embrace of the Spider and Abyssal Rune. So I told her to switch out her awesome ilvl trinket, and switch out most of her gems. There were a few pieces of gear I told her to go grab. Including finishing off her t9 set bonus, instead of those juicy 245 helms, and shoulders, etc. from the Dalaran badge vendor. We had done a test on the IF dummy, and yes I realize how this isn't the best way to gauge dps. Her dps before switching out gear, was around 3k. Her gear score was well over 5k at this point. After she did the recommended upgrades/ilvl downgrades, we did a re-test. Her gear score was then 4700. Yep I forced her to lower her gear score. So the re-test. The conditions were the same, her dps was over 5k. WHAT!? But doesn't gear score mean everything? As any skilled raider will tell you, no! Also, to further my point, she went from doing 4k on tank and spank fights to doing up to 7k!!! Pre- heroism! I mean wow, what an improvement.

This doesn't come from people being stupid about the game, it would just seem like a better gear score equals higher dps, and maybe it should. But it absolutely does not. If you are serious about improving your dps you really need to learn what stats are good for your class. If you are unsure about gear there are so many people willing to help you, so ask them. People ask me all the time and I am happy to help. It doesn't help that people in Dalaran are requiring a certain gear score to go to a certain raid. I realize there has to be a cut off, but gear score does not equal dps.

Shaman Post 3.3.2

Ok, so I was able to do my ICC ten last night to see how the change affected my dps. This week I am starting ICC 25 as well, so I will be able to see how I compare with other ele shamans. So I have really only been comparing myself to myself. As far as I could tell, my dps was an improvement. For Lady Death whatever I had been doing around 4500 and last night I pulled around 5k. Gunship I was doing around 4500,  which before I did 4k. This could mean absolutely nothing because the raid make up was different, and of course there are always other variables to consider. But overall it seemed on each fight I did a little more dps than I did last week, and the week before. (Except for Marrowgar, I did the same amount of dps b/c I died) I didn't get any new huge upgrades in b/w so I am guessing the buff definitely helped. Also last week I had an arcane mage and last night I didn't, hmm... with a mage my dps could be incredible! I also ran Patchwerk last night for the weekly raid quest on both my shaman and my mage. Yay! A good way to compare the two on a tank and spank. Soo.... ya, my mage def kicked butt on that and yes her gear isn't as good as my shamans. So, mages still kick butt, although I was much closer to her than before. Shammy pulled a little over 7k dps, and mage was hovering around 8k.

So the point of the day is, don't play toons just because they are OP at the moment, Blizzard does care and does attempt to improve the classes that need it. Stick with the characters you love to play. O and gratz to the locks for your buff as well, even though you hate my mage, I don't mind you and your little angry imps.

Patch 3.3.2- Thank you Blizzard

So the patch notes, as always are found here. It is a small patch, except for the release of the Lich King of course! Also a new VoA boss to get extra loot chances, awesome. But the change I was looking forward to the most, and the only one that affects the toons I play?

• Shamans
• Talents
• Elemental Combat
• Shamanism: This talent now provides 4/8/12/16/20% extra spell damage to Lightning Bolt/Chain Lightning, up from 3/6/9/12/15%, and 5/10/15/20/25% to Lava Burst, up from 4/8/12/16/20%.
• Tier-10 Elemental Shaman 4-Piece Set Bonus: Redesigned. Successful Lava Burst casts now increase the duration of Flame Shock on the target by 6 seconds.

YAY! I was starting to really worry about my poor little shaman, when all I read is that ele shamans were among the lowest dpsers in game. It seemed as though I was doing okay in ICC, but my mage was doing much much better, so I could definitely tell what people were talking about. My shaman was main spec resto, but since my guild has so many awesome healers, it was more useful for me to go dps as main spec. Since I am starting ICC 25 soon, this change comes as a big relief. At least Blizzard is recognizing the problem and trying to fix it. So for once, I am really excited that my class received a buff and looking forward to seeing how it affects me in ICC. So thanks Blizz!

The AFK Five Man Trend

The new looking for group tool is very useful in many ways. It has also created some major issues. It may be shocking to discover, but people from other realms really don't care about others when there is no one from their own realm in a PuG. The first trend I noticed was that people would queue specifically for the new five mans and drop when they didn't get the loot they wanted. I mean seriously? That jerk of a tank got me into this and now I am saved, with no way to finish. I personally have NEVER done this because it is so wrong imo. When I bring a toon in I stick around for the whole thing, regardless of what boss I want loot from.

The newer, just as annoying trend, is for the dps to queue up and go afk. Ok so this isn't so bad, because the queue will find a new dps within seconds. But what is going on with dps who port into the instance and then go afk. What!? O and when they are gone for five minutes you still can't vote to kick them out. Ya, guess what, the genius lazy dpsers in the game have figured out just the amount of time they have to afk until the option to vote to kick is available. It is really frustrating to run with someone who purposely was gone for as long as they possibly could be gone. Really smart dps, go into the instance and put someone on follow. Of course it is much harder to notice you are afk when you are following someone around and not doing any damage.

So I implore all of the dpsers who queue into a random. Don't be a jerk, do your job, and actually, like hit something or eventually, the group will click the vote to kick button enough until it actually works.

OP Mages: Really?

Ok, so I love how people like to throw around the fact that other classes are so overpowered. I mean what does that even really mean? Does it mean awesome players excel at this class more so than normal powered classes, or does it mean that even a moron can excel at this class? I am not really sure which one is the correct definition but I would like to go through both scenarios.

So, when someone who is an A mazing player plays multiple classes and one class does 10k dps, and the other does 7k. Does that mean that this class is overpowered? It likely does, I mean I have a kitty druid, ele shammy, and arcane mage, and all are around the same gear level. Who wins in a boss fight? Arcane mage, cmon obviously. Right now my arcane mage beats out. I now how to play all three toons. But my arcane mage just has awesome dps right now. I think when looking at overpowered classes in this sense, we have to realize that this type of overpowered is just a phase, it changes all the time. In Ulduar my druid kicked my mages ass. This type of OP, when individuals are balanced in skill level, and gear, changes frequently, no one stays overpowered for too long, (except ret pallys of course but they don't count). People like to complain about OP classes, but the argument is useless, because class make up changes all the time. Don't be one of those people who plays the class who is OP at the moment. Play what you enjoy, and realize you can't always be on top.

If people think of overpowered in the terms, that this class can be played by a monkey, then people are definitely wrong about arcane mages. If mages are so easy to play, what is with all the low dps and deaths? Being a mage isn't complicated rotation wise, but staying alive is the biggest challenge for a mage. They are the biggest wimps of any class. Think about it! The locks with all of their hp, and the SP with their ability to heal. Don't tell me that isn't a way to keep yourself alive, I heal myself as an ele all the time when healers seem stressed. Using the things in a mages arsenal to keep themselves alive requires thought and skill. Ice block timing, using frost ward, and fire ward, thinking about helping the raid with amp magic (what people use that?), blink!!! Again it isn't that difficult if you are a skilled player. But being quick about moving out of crap, and picking up dps again is essential as being a mage. I have seen many mages just be fail. If OP is this, then mages are not OP. I don't play a ret pally, but everyone I know who does, tells me that they literally hit whatever button is shiny. So ya, mages are doing awesome dps right now, but it still takes skill to play one so don't get caught up in what is "OP" right now. Every class has times when they are excelling over others. I have experienced it myself within my own toons. But play what you enjoy, and don't worry about what other classes are doing. You know you didn't mind when you were OP =P

Most Important Role in ICC: DPS

I have been working on ICC now on two of my toons. Running on my mage and shaman, sometimes druid. One group I run with is quite awesome with no problems clearing up to Saurafang and beyond. The other group I run with is a group of awesome people, but is having issues with Saurafang. The more I run ICC, I realize that this place is all about the DPS. Every fight seems to be a dps race of some sort, and if the dps is low then you struggle through the fight. Many fights can be run with two healers, and the tanks don't have too complicated of a job. I am allowed to say this because I have healed these fights as well. Healing in ICC is a bore compare to Ulduar. I mean don't get me wrong, it isn't completely easy, but in Ulduar every fight seemed like a healers fight. In ICC it is time for the dps to shine.

Now when you have a bad tank, maybe a good healer can compensate, when you have a bad healer, the other healers work harder and can compensate. When there is dps who isn't up to par, unless one dps is incredibly awesome, it is sort of hard to compensate on a dps race. Point being: DPS, pick it up, study your class, this is really the first place I have been in, where the fights are so DPS dependent. This is especially true in ten mans, because in 25 mans there is always more room for compensation.

When putting together an ICC ten man raid, consider the dps, the most important role. Pick people you know are skilled players. Require a certain gear level, and try your best to balance the raid. Any dps increase is desired. Shaman totems, arcane mages, druid's crits (which don't stack with the shaman crit no?), unholy dks for those casters, and so many classes provide a buff to the dps. Use these classes wisely. Balance the melee and ranged, because many fights require some melee (Lady Death&Decay), but in some fights (Saurafang) a melee heavy group can be a downfall. So choose wisely, raid make up and dps skill can really play a huge role in ICC success.