Right then, time to get down to something serious and deadly. In my guild, Unholy DKs are not the norm. Blood has made a big impact and it's hard to argue with it on occasion. Blood is a very powerful spec, with a rotation not dissimilar to unholy as it goes. Even looking at both cookie cutter specs since 3.3 you can see that all the talents in the top blood and unholy specs are split between these too talent trees, and blood can whack out some serious numbers. But unholy will win out.
Prior to 3.3 I had been struggling for a while with unholy, but I remained defiant. I've been unholy from the get-go and I love the playing style. I didn't think I could ever change it, even though the talent point resets and the constant tweaking can be annoying, it was too much fun to dump. 3.3 hit and I waited a couple of weeks for all those with the skills to run the numbers and work up the best rotations and gear suggestions. I admit that this patch has been the one time I have seriously considered dumping unholy altogether and bowing to peer pressure.
I'm not one to change something I love so readily though so I went off and read all the updates on 3.3. Once I started reading across the class forums, the leading guild sites and the usual suspects like Elitist Jerks, it was clear that unholy was the top spec in the end game instances. It was also clear that I need to upgrade some gear, tweak my spec, glyphs and rotations. So I did. And what do you know, it rocks to be unholy.
If you are just respeccing, or trying out unholy for the first time, here's a few points. Keep your diseases up (IT, PS). Your diseases are powerful, IT slows down your adversary and PS inflicts shadow damage over time. Even if you aren't able to hit your target, if you get feared, frozen, stunned whatever, your DoTs are there. They are doing damage. The reworked SS is the corner stone of unholy again, but you'll get the most out of it if you've got your diseases up.
Single target raid DPS
Providing you are running with this spec and DO NOT have any T10 or ICC gear, then your rotation is going to look like this:
IT – PS – BS – SS – BS – DC – HoW – SS – BS – SS – BS – DC – DC
I've used this spec as it's what I'm running with. For more options check the list below.
I still have some work to do, but I'm getting there. Few more EoT and I should have the T9 chest, which will stick with me for a very long time. Those EoF are much harder for me to grind and I'll need a small bank full to upgrade my legs.
For further reading
Ensidia
Good stuff here.
Elitistjerks -- seriously, probably every answer to basic DK stuff you could ever want.
deathknightbuilds.com -- does what it says on the tin
thestoppableforce.net -- DK blogger with UI and add on tips and ICC advice.
Suffer Well!
Deme
Editted cos my guildie found the Ensidia link I couldn't. Thanks @woodstonewow
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Raid Boss Puzzles
Last week I asked, "Why do you raid?" and I mentioned why I raid. I also asked the question of my guild mates. The answers followed a general theme, following the lore of the game, working with a group of friends, downing bosses, getting cool achievements. There was one answer which stood out to me and it was something I had not thought about before.
One of my guildies said "I like puzzles. Each raid boss is a puzzle and so my primary reason for raiding is to solve the puzzle." He went on to say that the fact that to solve the puzzle he has to work with 9 other people brings in "interesting social dynamics, that with the right combination of people, can be very rewarding." For me this is a very fresh look at why people raid and one which could provide some great insight into why my own raid group is not progressing as fast as I would like.
I'm now thinking about how I can solve these puzzles and which ones I have enjoyed most so far. Apart from the astounding geekgasm I had when we dropped the evil Emporer Twins, I think my most enjoyable win was dropping Gluth. We'd wiped twice and I was "kiting" the zombies. Except I wasn't. I was just holding aggro and standing there getting hit. When we went over the strat again, it clicked. I'd been so focussed on keeping them from Gluth I'd forgotten to move! As I wandered round the back of the room, spamming DnD, and busting all my tank spec cooldowns, I wasn't even watching Gluth fade to a big dopey dead doggie. Our raid healer who was with me and I were both caught by surprise when the shouts went out on TS. OMG! He's down! That little penny dropping in my head made all the difference on that fight. That's how puzzles work. One moment of inspiration can solve it in a flash.
Would love to know who your favourite "puzzles" have been, do leave me a comment.
Till next time,
Deme the Puzzler
One of my guildies said "I like puzzles. Each raid boss is a puzzle and so my primary reason for raiding is to solve the puzzle." He went on to say that the fact that to solve the puzzle he has to work with 9 other people brings in "interesting social dynamics, that with the right combination of people, can be very rewarding." For me this is a very fresh look at why people raid and one which could provide some great insight into why my own raid group is not progressing as fast as I would like.
I'm now thinking about how I can solve these puzzles and which ones I have enjoyed most so far. Apart from the astounding geekgasm I had when we dropped the evil Emporer Twins, I think my most enjoyable win was dropping Gluth. We'd wiped twice and I was "kiting" the zombies. Except I wasn't. I was just holding aggro and standing there getting hit. When we went over the strat again, it clicked. I'd been so focussed on keeping them from Gluth I'd forgotten to move! As I wandered round the back of the room, spamming DnD, and busting all my tank spec cooldowns, I wasn't even watching Gluth fade to a big dopey dead doggie. Our raid healer who was with me and I were both caught by surprise when the shouts went out on TS. OMG! He's down! That little penny dropping in my head made all the difference on that fight. That's how puzzles work. One moment of inspiration can solve it in a flash.
Would love to know who your favourite "puzzles" have been, do leave me a comment.
Till next time,
Deme the Puzzler
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Four noobs. One world. The World of Warcraft.
In early 2009 four people were drawn to a world. A world like no other. The World of Warcraft. Four plate wearing noobs, 1 Pally, 3 Warriors. 1 short arse dwarf, 3 ‘creative choice’ humans. 1 girl and 3 boys. This is the story of how they met.
Gnolls in Redridge.
They had ventured far and wide into this new world, criss-crossing each others paths but some how always missing each other. Until one fateful day, when they found themselves in the forge, or in the inn or on the bridge at Lakeshire and in need of help. Some how those gnolls, that had been running wild on the River’s Edge in Elwynn and were trying to take over Westfall, were now up to their evil shenanigans in the Redridge Mountains.
Having been duped into thinking that Hogger was a normal adversary at an earlier age, these brave knights were more wary of this new foe. To go into battle alone would be certain death. ‘But how to find others willing and able to venture into battle?’ pondered one of the warriors as she walked towards the bridge.
“CAN ANYONE HELP ME WITH GNOLLS?” bellowed the Fearless Warrior.
Nothing. No reply. But there was a strange ginger chap in the forge, would he help? Maybe one more shout before I try asking him though the warrior.
“Can anyone help me with gnolls?’ A little more polite this time.
“Sure, I will”. It was non-other than the ginger haired chap from the forge. ‘Just let me finish smelting this copper’.
‘Great thanks!’ said the Fearless Warrior, thinking ‘Smelting copper?? What the hell is he talking about? This bloke is clearly bonkers.’
‘Maybe we should get some more people’ said the Ginger Chap. ‘I can tank but we might need some more’.
‘Ok, how about that guy over there?’ Fearless Warrior pointed to the other side of the bridge where a guy was doing funny things to some green, finned fish things with a big hammer. The Ginger Chap agreed and off they went to ask Hammer Guy. Hammer Guy also had to go and investigate the gnolls and was frankly glad of the break from hitting the vicious, green, finned fish things.
A quick stop at the inn for supplies and the band of three headed up the hill away from the town.
“Wait! Wait for me!” The Fearless Warrior, Ginger Chap and Hammer Guy turned to see a funny little squat man running up the hill behind them. “I too am on the great quest for gnolls, can I join you?” He was rather muscular and looked very strong for such a small man. Something about him told the group that he would bring a certain x-factor to their expedition. So the group of three now became four. Fearless Warrior, Ginger Chap, Hammer Guy and Shortstuff.
They’d not been walking long when suddenly a bolt of lightning hit the back of Fearless Warrior.
“YEEEOOWWW!!” she squealed as the knights all pivoted to see where it had come from. 3 tall, fat, ugly ogres were advancing up the hill behind them with a mean look in their eyes.
“Stand back fair maiden!” ordered Shortstuff, “I will protect you!”
“You won’t! I will!” snapped Ginger Chap.
Fearless Warrior calmly strode in front of the arguing knights and swung her sword at the first Ogre.
“Stop arguing and come help!” She yelled over her shoulder. Which was a mistake, she turned back to see the Ogre’s shield coming hard at her head.
Hammer guy watched as Fearless Warrior got slammed to the ground with his heart in his mouth. Green, finned, fishy things flashed through his mind and he could vaguely hear the dwarf and warrior arguing with each other.
“RAWR!” He let out an almighty cry and ran towards Fearless Warrior swinging his big hammer over his head and eye-balling the ogre who had shield-smashed her.
The noise shook Shortstuff and Ginger Chap out of their argument and they finally realised what was going on.
The hammer struck the ogre’s shield and it shattered into small pieces around Hammer Guy. The ogre was not happy but Hammer Guy was in the zone now and he just kept swinging. Another swipe and the ogre took a smashing blow to the head, Hammer Guy heard the bone crack under his might and he knew the ogre was losing. One more powerful swing and his foe sunk to the ground like an over-bloated blue balloon.
Ginger Chap had moved in to the second ogre, the one who had cast the lightning bolt at Fearless Warrior. The ogre was doing something with his hands and Ginger Chap could see something black and fizzing forming in the space between them. Before the ogre could cause any more damage Ginger Chap charged and sliced up with his sword. In one stroke he took off the ogre’s left arm. The ogre had a look of disbelief and horror on his face as he watched the blood pump out of his arm. He decided not to stick around a made to make his escape.
Shortstuff appeared from nowhere and vaulted onto the back of the fleeing ogre. In one clean motion he lifted the ogre’s head and slit open it’s throat. The ogre crumpled and Shortstuff bounced off him and ran back to the group.
Ginger Chap looked round to see that Shortstuff had already killed the third ogre whilst he had been in the midst of battle. Looking back to Shortstuff he must have looked incredulous because Shortstuff said,
“Never seen a dwarf fight before laddie?!”
“I’ve never seen anyone fight like that before!” marvelled Ginger Chap.
“Stick with me, I’ll see ya right.” Shortstuff grinned as he walked past Ginger Chap to where Hammer Guy and Fearless Warrior were.
Hammer Guy began murmuring some words under his breath as he looked down at Fearless Warrior.
“What’s he doing?” Ginger Chap mumbled.
“Ssshh lad, he needs to concentrate” replied Shortstuff.
Seconds later a soft glow began to come from Hammer Guy’s hands as he moved them along and above Fearless Warrior’s body.
“Urrghhh, what happened?” Fearless Warrior came round and asked.
“You got shield slammed lassie” replied Shortstuff.
“Oh. Then what woke me up?” Fearless Warrior felt surprisingly well for being shield slammed and whacked with a lightning bolt.
“I did” said Hammer Guy.
“But how?” asked Ginger Chap, “You’re a warrior just like us and we can’t do that”
“No, I am a paladin. I can heal you.”
After the exertion of the fight, this last revelation was big news. The four had a bite to eat to recover their energy and discussed how they had all come to be in Lakeshire and on this great quest. It was getting late so they decided to move off the road slightly and make camp for the night. Who knew what adventures lay ahead for them.
This is just a little tribute to my three noob friends on our WoW Anniversary. One husband and two brothers. Love ya guys.
Gnolls in Redridge.
They had ventured far and wide into this new world, criss-crossing each others paths but some how always missing each other. Until one fateful day, when they found themselves in the forge, or in the inn or on the bridge at Lakeshire and in need of help. Some how those gnolls, that had been running wild on the River’s Edge in Elwynn and were trying to take over Westfall, were now up to their evil shenanigans in the Redridge Mountains.
Having been duped into thinking that Hogger was a normal adversary at an earlier age, these brave knights were more wary of this new foe. To go into battle alone would be certain death. ‘But how to find others willing and able to venture into battle?’ pondered one of the warriors as she walked towards the bridge.
“CAN ANYONE HELP ME WITH GNOLLS?” bellowed the Fearless Warrior.
Nothing. No reply. But there was a strange ginger chap in the forge, would he help? Maybe one more shout before I try asking him though the warrior.
“Can anyone help me with gnolls?’ A little more polite this time.
“Sure, I will”. It was non-other than the ginger haired chap from the forge. ‘Just let me finish smelting this copper’.
‘Great thanks!’ said the Fearless Warrior, thinking ‘Smelting copper?? What the hell is he talking about? This bloke is clearly bonkers.’
‘Maybe we should get some more people’ said the Ginger Chap. ‘I can tank but we might need some more’.
‘Ok, how about that guy over there?’ Fearless Warrior pointed to the other side of the bridge where a guy was doing funny things to some green, finned fish things with a big hammer. The Ginger Chap agreed and off they went to ask Hammer Guy. Hammer Guy also had to go and investigate the gnolls and was frankly glad of the break from hitting the vicious, green, finned fish things.
A quick stop at the inn for supplies and the band of three headed up the hill away from the town.
“Wait! Wait for me!” The Fearless Warrior, Ginger Chap and Hammer Guy turned to see a funny little squat man running up the hill behind them. “I too am on the great quest for gnolls, can I join you?” He was rather muscular and looked very strong for such a small man. Something about him told the group that he would bring a certain x-factor to their expedition. So the group of three now became four. Fearless Warrior, Ginger Chap, Hammer Guy and Shortstuff.
They’d not been walking long when suddenly a bolt of lightning hit the back of Fearless Warrior.
“YEEEOOWWW!!” she squealed as the knights all pivoted to see where it had come from. 3 tall, fat, ugly ogres were advancing up the hill behind them with a mean look in their eyes.
“Stand back fair maiden!” ordered Shortstuff, “I will protect you!”
“You won’t! I will!” snapped Ginger Chap.
Fearless Warrior calmly strode in front of the arguing knights and swung her sword at the first Ogre.
“Stop arguing and come help!” She yelled over her shoulder. Which was a mistake, she turned back to see the Ogre’s shield coming hard at her head.
Hammer guy watched as Fearless Warrior got slammed to the ground with his heart in his mouth. Green, finned, fishy things flashed through his mind and he could vaguely hear the dwarf and warrior arguing with each other.
“RAWR!” He let out an almighty cry and ran towards Fearless Warrior swinging his big hammer over his head and eye-balling the ogre who had shield-smashed her.
The noise shook Shortstuff and Ginger Chap out of their argument and they finally realised what was going on.
The hammer struck the ogre’s shield and it shattered into small pieces around Hammer Guy. The ogre was not happy but Hammer Guy was in the zone now and he just kept swinging. Another swipe and the ogre took a smashing blow to the head, Hammer Guy heard the bone crack under his might and he knew the ogre was losing. One more powerful swing and his foe sunk to the ground like an over-bloated blue balloon.
Ginger Chap had moved in to the second ogre, the one who had cast the lightning bolt at Fearless Warrior. The ogre was doing something with his hands and Ginger Chap could see something black and fizzing forming in the space between them. Before the ogre could cause any more damage Ginger Chap charged and sliced up with his sword. In one stroke he took off the ogre’s left arm. The ogre had a look of disbelief and horror on his face as he watched the blood pump out of his arm. He decided not to stick around a made to make his escape.
Shortstuff appeared from nowhere and vaulted onto the back of the fleeing ogre. In one clean motion he lifted the ogre’s head and slit open it’s throat. The ogre crumpled and Shortstuff bounced off him and ran back to the group.
Ginger Chap looked round to see that Shortstuff had already killed the third ogre whilst he had been in the midst of battle. Looking back to Shortstuff he must have looked incredulous because Shortstuff said,
“Never seen a dwarf fight before laddie?!”
“I’ve never seen anyone fight like that before!” marvelled Ginger Chap.
“Stick with me, I’ll see ya right.” Shortstuff grinned as he walked past Ginger Chap to where Hammer Guy and Fearless Warrior were.
Hammer Guy began murmuring some words under his breath as he looked down at Fearless Warrior.
“What’s he doing?” Ginger Chap mumbled.
“Ssshh lad, he needs to concentrate” replied Shortstuff.
Seconds later a soft glow began to come from Hammer Guy’s hands as he moved them along and above Fearless Warrior’s body.
“Urrghhh, what happened?” Fearless Warrior came round and asked.
“You got shield slammed lassie” replied Shortstuff.
“Oh. Then what woke me up?” Fearless Warrior felt surprisingly well for being shield slammed and whacked with a lightning bolt.
“I did” said Hammer Guy.
“But how?” asked Ginger Chap, “You’re a warrior just like us and we can’t do that”
“No, I am a paladin. I can heal you.”
After the exertion of the fight, this last revelation was big news. The four had a bite to eat to recover their energy and discussed how they had all come to be in Lakeshire and on this great quest. It was getting late so they decided to move off the road slightly and make camp for the night. Who knew what adventures lay ahead for them.
This is just a little tribute to my three noob friends on our WoW Anniversary. One husband and two brothers. Love ya guys.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Why Do You Raid?
As the title suggests I want to know why you raid. There was a rather heated debate on our guild chat channel the other day about people not wanting to raid Ulduar 25 man because they didn't need the loot. This was swiftly dismissed, with most people agreeing that the achievement and the pleasure of playing with 24 other like minded people was incentive enough. As often happens to my brain when I'm reading guild chat (on this occasion over my spousal unit's shoulder) I started wondering about people's motives to raid.
What makes you want to raid? Are you a phat lewt and purps demon? Do you lust for the thrill of the fight and the "whoosh ding" of the achievement? Do you just want to play with a like minded group of players, take out some more difficult bosses and have fun? Perhaps you are driven by seeing the inside of all those amazing instances and following the lore.
This may pique your interest into why I raid so here's my reasons.
I'm a wee bit ashamed to say that Deme is still effectively in Naxx. Sapp and KT are proving to be a bit of a bugger for us. We really should be facerolling it because we're overgeared for the instance so there's something wrong somewhere. Anyway, the point is, we're there because we want to do it. We want to say we pwned that stupid undead floating dress and his bony pet lizard. There is very little loot that would be of interest to most of us. Even as a relatively casual raid group, we spend most of our time enjoying other aspects of the game and so our gear is mainly from emblems, we certainly don't need stuff from Naxx particularly.
We also wanted to do it to bond as a group of 10 people before we moved onto the harder raids. We've had people come and go and had to replace a few members here and there so that hasn't helped. However I'd say we are now settled and have a great team who all know their roles. The raiding has helped us bond and learn to trust each other to do the role required.
I must confess though, for me, I am addicted to the "whoosh ding". I've even grown to like the little one you get when you complete a random dungeon. I adore the noise, the sense of pride, the shared sense of achievement with 9 other people and most of all, the cheers that go out on TS and the over guild chat. I also get a kick from downing bosses. My biggest geekgasm to date has been from downing the Twins in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. I'd spent a long time wiping on them a few months before and for some reason we never mastered them. This time we did and boy did it feel good! Better even than downing that horrid big green bag of pus Grobbulus. Loot? What loot?! I was level 80 and this was a level 60 instance! We did have a level 60 drood with us who loved it, but for me, I wasn't bothered at all. Not even if it was pretty. I just grinned from ear to ear for dropping those bitch slapping brothers.
Do tell what makes you go back again and again to those raid instances.
Deme the Under-Achiever
btw I know I'll never see that mace, but damn is it sweet.
What makes you want to raid? Are you a phat lewt and purps demon? Do you lust for the thrill of the fight and the "whoosh ding" of the achievement? Do you just want to play with a like minded group of players, take out some more difficult bosses and have fun? Perhaps you are driven by seeing the inside of all those amazing instances and following the lore.
This may pique your interest into why I raid so here's my reasons.
I'm a wee bit ashamed to say that Deme is still effectively in Naxx. Sapp and KT are proving to be a bit of a bugger for us. We really should be facerolling it because we're overgeared for the instance so there's something wrong somewhere. Anyway, the point is, we're there because we want to do it. We want to say we pwned that stupid undead floating dress and his bony pet lizard. There is very little loot that would be of interest to most of us. Even as a relatively casual raid group, we spend most of our time enjoying other aspects of the game and so our gear is mainly from emblems, we certainly don't need stuff from Naxx particularly.
We also wanted to do it to bond as a group of 10 people before we moved onto the harder raids. We've had people come and go and had to replace a few members here and there so that hasn't helped. However I'd say we are now settled and have a great team who all know their roles. The raiding has helped us bond and learn to trust each other to do the role required.
I must confess though, for me, I am addicted to the "whoosh ding". I've even grown to like the little one you get when you complete a random dungeon. I adore the noise, the sense of pride, the shared sense of achievement with 9 other people and most of all, the cheers that go out on TS and the over guild chat. I also get a kick from downing bosses. My biggest geekgasm to date has been from downing the Twins in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. I'd spent a long time wiping on them a few months before and for some reason we never mastered them. This time we did and boy did it feel good! Better even than downing that horrid big green bag of pus Grobbulus. Loot? What loot?! I was level 80 and this was a level 60 instance! We did have a level 60 drood with us who loved it, but for me, I wasn't bothered at all. Not even if it was pretty. I just grinned from ear to ear for dropping those bitch slapping brothers.
Do tell what makes you go back again and again to those raid instances.
Deme the Under-Achiever
btw I know I'll never see that mace, but damn is it sweet.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Winter Veil and 1 Year On
Christmas is finally upon us! Last night I had the pleasure of saving Metzen and chasing down a certain snowman with 1/2 my raid group after we'd had a quick excursion into VoA. We're 2/4 in there on our first attempt having had WG start up whilst we were at Koralon. It was a much needed break from Naxxramus which I think we may well drop over the festive season and bash in a few heads elsewhere.
This is also the time of year for reflection and to think back on those achievements. For my World of Warcraft journey, I will reach my first anniversary on 3rd January and it seems a good time to think back over what I've been through in my time in Azeroth so far.
The single biggest thing that has made Azeroth such a great place to be has been joining the guild I am now in. A large, social/raiding guild (yes they do exist!), I've learnt so much about this game that I would never have learnt in my first guild. From not understanding group mechanics, to leading a raid team and being a member of the guild council, I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much without the people in the guild and I certainly wouldn't have got this far. So to all of you in The Monkey Tree, /salute. Thank you.
The second thing that has changed my outer world if you like, has been meeting more like-minded people from across the globe who blog and chat about their adventures in Azeroth, from the RP-ers, to the PvP-ers and the guy who xrealmed to join TMT after joining us for our birthday party. From the likes of you have grown this little green blog. I thank you too.
I'm off now to eat mince pies, venture into new territory, and take one step close to that pretty violet proto drake. On Dasher! On Dancer!
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year From Deme x
This is also the time of year for reflection and to think back on those achievements. For my World of Warcraft journey, I will reach my first anniversary on 3rd January and it seems a good time to think back over what I've been through in my time in Azeroth so far.
The single biggest thing that has made Azeroth such a great place to be has been joining the guild I am now in. A large, social/raiding guild (yes they do exist!), I've learnt so much about this game that I would never have learnt in my first guild. From not understanding group mechanics, to leading a raid team and being a member of the guild council, I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much without the people in the guild and I certainly wouldn't have got this far. So to all of you in The Monkey Tree, /salute. Thank you.
The second thing that has changed my outer world if you like, has been meeting more like-minded people from across the globe who blog and chat about their adventures in Azeroth, from the RP-ers, to the PvP-ers and the guy who xrealmed to join TMT after joining us for our birthday party. From the likes of you have grown this little green blog. I thank you too.
I'm off now to eat mince pies, venture into new territory, and take one step close to that pretty violet proto drake. On Dasher! On Dancer!
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year From Deme x
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
A Death Knight Beginning and A Lich King's End
I rerolled a DK on an alternative server a few weeks back to enjoy playing through the starting area again now that I'm not such a noob and have some idea of the lore behind the characters I met there first time round. This just happened to coincide with a little thing called Patch 3.3 a.k.a. Arthas's Doom, or the official Blizzard title, Icecrown Citadel which will arrive in mere hours. Whatever you want to call it, the Lich King is gunna go down. Oh yeah!
Considering where I am with Deme right now, this is great timing, we're off to bash in KelThuzad tonight. If we just put Ulduar to one side it feels as though I am right in the middle of the Northrend battle, smack in the middle of the beginning of the Lich King's demise, with one eye on the horizon and the inevitable final goal.
Looking back on the death knight starting zone, I definitely took the phasing for granted in the past and I'm very glad I had the chance to run through it again. The quest I remember most is rescuing Koltira Deathweaver from the extremely annoying High Inquisitor Valroth. When I first tried this quest I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to kill that stooopid cloth-wearing squidgy, failing and then having to wait for Koltira to kick the bucket and the room to 'reset' as it were. This time round I think it still took me 3 goes to beat Valroth's head in.
I took great pleasure in taunting Noth with 'Where's Heigan?' especially since I was in the midst of wiping on Heigan a lot on Deme (for the second time) and spotting Gothik and thinking, 'You're not so tough! We one-shotted you!' was extremely satisfying. All in all, spotting the bosses that my raid group had recently slaughtered in Naxxramus was a real giggle. I also spotted a few people who I wondered about. Who the hell are these princely brothers? What happens to Orbaz Bloodbane after the Battle at Light's Hope?? Shamefully I've not met Bloodbane in Ice Crown yet and although I've bopped Prince Valanar in the Last Rites quest, I'd no idea at the time who he was. Having re-met him, I did wonder if he would appear in Icecrown Citadel and lo and behold, him and his dastardly brother are in league with Taldaram, yet another cheeky monkey who has popped again although we've all slaughtered him umpteen times in Ahn'Kahet. Maybe killing the Lich King is like killing the Sire of the Vampires, you kill the sire and all the others die too?
Whatever way the fight goes down, I'm just as excited as the rest of Azeroth.
Considering where I am with Deme right now, this is great timing, we're off to bash in KelThuzad tonight. If we just put Ulduar to one side it feels as though I am right in the middle of the Northrend battle, smack in the middle of the beginning of the Lich King's demise, with one eye on the horizon and the inevitable final goal.
Looking back on the death knight starting zone, I definitely took the phasing for granted in the past and I'm very glad I had the chance to run through it again. The quest I remember most is rescuing Koltira Deathweaver from the extremely annoying High Inquisitor Valroth. When I first tried this quest I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to kill that stooopid cloth-wearing squidgy, failing and then having to wait for Koltira to kick the bucket and the room to 'reset' as it were. This time round I think it still took me 3 goes to beat Valroth's head in.
I took great pleasure in taunting Noth with 'Where's Heigan?' especially since I was in the midst of wiping on Heigan a lot on Deme (for the second time) and spotting Gothik and thinking, 'You're not so tough! We one-shotted you!' was extremely satisfying. All in all, spotting the bosses that my raid group had recently slaughtered in Naxxramus was a real giggle. I also spotted a few people who I wondered about. Who the hell are these princely brothers? What happens to Orbaz Bloodbane after the Battle at Light's Hope?? Shamefully I've not met Bloodbane in Ice Crown yet and although I've bopped Prince Valanar in the Last Rites quest, I'd no idea at the time who he was. Having re-met him, I did wonder if he would appear in Icecrown Citadel and lo and behold, him and his dastardly brother are in league with Taldaram, yet another cheeky monkey who has popped again although we've all slaughtered him umpteen times in Ahn'Kahet. Maybe killing the Lich King is like killing the Sire of the Vampires, you kill the sire and all the others die too?
Whatever way the fight goes down, I'm just as excited as the rest of Azeroth.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Key Binders Versus Mouse Clickers
My friend and esteemed guild leader, Verde, placed a video on the guild youtube channel of his raid group downing Yogg. A really great achievement for our mainly social guild. Along with a few positive comments, he also got a slew of trolling about the fact that he is a 'fail clicker rogue'. This seriously makes me ask, can you really accuse someone of being 'fail' if they're killing tough end game bosses?! Verde has posted on his feelings on his blog and I thought I'd follow on from this with a slightly more in depth view.
I asked via twitter and via our guild forum whether people play as clickers or key binders, or indeed if there were some hybrids. I wasn't surprised to find that the majority of people who replied on twitter were binders. My experience is that people who use twitter are generally more computer literate, adding the fact that most of the respondents are also bloggers, I felt that they would be more au fait with setting up a keyboard to make their lives easy. This isn't a scientific test by the way so don't leave me comments about it not being a representative study ok?
My fellow guildies were quite a mix and this is where I got some interesting information. A mix of pro key binders (to the point of having those special gaming keyboards), avid-clickers with programmable mice and a lot of hybrids like me. A few stating that it depends on what class they are playing, that on some chars they play with a macro heavy set up and on others it's clicking all the way. I wanted to know why they played this way, for the binders it seems to be that they were used to this play style from all the RTS, FPS, and RP games they played before. For those who click, it's pretty much how they started playing WoW and if they change now, all sorts of problems occur in their raid teams.
Us hybrids are in an interesting position. For my own part, I really didn't get all the 'wasdftw' stuff until very recently. Then I realised that I hadn't key bound anything, I was just pressing the buttons WoW's standard UI told me to. Other hybrids range from those just beginning to start binding to those who use keys and the mouse and are raiding the very latest content. There were a few people who commented that for melee classes especially, key binding was a definite advantage, but not a necessity and then there was our trusty guildie who plays with no add-ons whatsoever and no clue about the terminology of clicking versus binding.
So if you do click, does it really make you a 'fail' player? Well I go back to my original remark, if you're downing tough end game bosses, then how can you be a 'fail' player? In this particular case I know that the player can knock out the high level DPS needed for these end game raids. I also know that the player isn't being carried by his team, this team works hard and works together. Personally I can see that key binding has definite potential. I haven't bound any of my keys further than the WoW standard so far, but having had this debate on the forum and having seen Cynwise's PvP set up I am inspired to make some changes. I don't know what impact the changes will have or if I'll stick with them when I make them, I will obviously keep you informed.
Essentially, as with all things in this World of Warcraft, if you're enjoying it, keep doing it. If you aren't enjoying it change it or stop doing it and leave everyone else to enjoy their game. Simples.
I asked via twitter and via our guild forum whether people play as clickers or key binders, or indeed if there were some hybrids. I wasn't surprised to find that the majority of people who replied on twitter were binders. My experience is that people who use twitter are generally more computer literate, adding the fact that most of the respondents are also bloggers, I felt that they would be more au fait with setting up a keyboard to make their lives easy. This isn't a scientific test by the way so don't leave me comments about it not being a representative study ok?
My fellow guildies were quite a mix and this is where I got some interesting information. A mix of pro key binders (to the point of having those special gaming keyboards), avid-clickers with programmable mice and a lot of hybrids like me. A few stating that it depends on what class they are playing, that on some chars they play with a macro heavy set up and on others it's clicking all the way. I wanted to know why they played this way, for the binders it seems to be that they were used to this play style from all the RTS, FPS, and RP games they played before. For those who click, it's pretty much how they started playing WoW and if they change now, all sorts of problems occur in their raid teams.
Us hybrids are in an interesting position. For my own part, I really didn't get all the 'wasdftw' stuff until very recently. Then I realised that I hadn't key bound anything, I was just pressing the buttons WoW's standard UI told me to. Other hybrids range from those just beginning to start binding to those who use keys and the mouse and are raiding the very latest content. There were a few people who commented that for melee classes especially, key binding was a definite advantage, but not a necessity and then there was our trusty guildie who plays with no add-ons whatsoever and no clue about the terminology of clicking versus binding.
So if you do click, does it really make you a 'fail' player? Well I go back to my original remark, if you're downing tough end game bosses, then how can you be a 'fail' player? In this particular case I know that the player can knock out the high level DPS needed for these end game raids. I also know that the player isn't being carried by his team, this team works hard and works together. Personally I can see that key binding has definite potential. I haven't bound any of my keys further than the WoW standard so far, but having had this debate on the forum and having seen Cynwise's PvP set up I am inspired to make some changes. I don't know what impact the changes will have or if I'll stick with them when I make them, I will obviously keep you informed.
Essentially, as with all things in this World of Warcraft, if you're enjoying it, keep doing it. If you aren't enjoying it change it or stop doing it and leave everyone else to enjoy their game. Simples.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)