DK Tanking - Initial Thoughts

About a month ago (may be longer) I promised 2 friends on Twitter that I would do a post on DK tanking. It's been a while but I've started to make some progress.

You have to remember that I'm a tank noob. No, really, even though I played a warrior prior to Deme, I'm a tanking noob. Yes I feel your burning hate and I hang my head in shame.

Deme has 2 pieces of T9 tank gear now, to complement the mis-match of heroic, emblem and pieces of off-spec gear from raids where no one else wanted it, but I'm still working on the gems and enchants, as I mentioned somewhere else on the internetz. Her def rating has finally broken the 500 barrier though and is up to a whopping 512. Still some way to go, but when you have a healer to run with you who gives you 'god mode' I've got a bit of leeway. It also helps when they are sitting in the same room as you.

Last night I ran a couple of normal dungeons just to try out my tanking skills after a hiatus and I've got to say it's kinda fun so I'm hopng to have a bash at an 'easier' Heroic this weekend and see how I get on. Then I suppose it's off to farm for more emblems for more gear. Once I've got a better handle on it all, I'll post up some kind of advice/gear/stats rammel for those who want a guide. It's fair to say thought that so far I'm finding DK tanking fun, full of aggro and a fresh challenge to boot.

Deme the Dodger

It's CPS not DPS that makes a guild.

Deme has a new home! Hoorah and oh the relief. After close to three weeks in the wilderness, I finally took the plunge and placed my little DK in a new guild. I'd looked at 4 in total, including my previous home, but in the end things weren't going to be the same there as they had been so I realised it was time to move on.

One of the things that convinced me to move was the steady stream of whispers I received from those still in my old guild, stating that the guild chat was very quiet now I'd gone and that they missed my CPS. CPS means Chat Per Second.



In your guild there is bound to be someone, maybe a few people, who spam guild chat with random silliness. Those are your CPS people. I hadn't realised until I left the guild how many people actually read it or thought I was being funny, to my mind I was just typing crap and having a giggle or rant when something happened, either in game or in RL. These guildies whispered me and said how quiet it was, that they missed reading my little pieces of spam. These guildies weren't just made up of the others who'd spammed with me, but also of some quieter members who I'd just assumed weren't interested in what I was saying. Turns out it wasn't the case, they were quietly smiling or chortling along in their own space. Not everyone feels compelled to type 'lol'. That CPS I was churning out though, that was giving that green text flavour, humour and heart.

So if you have someone in your guild who spams the chatter box, it's just possible that their bringing more to the table than green text, consider what it might be like without those little punctuation points to your WoW experience. And then tell them you like reading it. Afterall, when their gone, who'll fill the silence?


Deme, Queen of CPS


*A big thank you to Moreaulf for creating the acronym CPS and to all my ex-guildies for the fun and laughs. Just because I'm not 'there' doesn't mean I'm not 'here'. x

There's No Place Like Home

My previous two posts have been on the unravelling drama surrounding my home guild's proposed merger with a guild who could be considered its sister guild. I stated that I'd been watching from the side lines if you like, as it all came tumbling down and caught a few people in the rubble.

It's been a little over 2 weeks since I left my home guild and a little over a week since the biggest chunk of drama. Things appear (at least from what I can see) to be settling down with the two guilds continuing on as they were prior to any proposal and for the most part, no hard feelings. There, of course, will always be those who chuck a spanner in your spokes, but hey, that's what helmets and pads are for right?

Now comes the question I've been dreading. I've had this time away from my home guild, during which I've stated clearly that I'm taking a break and plan to return. However, I now have to ask myself if I want to and the honest answer is, I don't know. Whilst I've been guildless, other friends have invited me to their guilds. I've told them I'm not looking to join a guild at the moment but thanked them for the invite and told them I'll consider it when I am ready to see the green text again.

As some of you know I spam twitter a lot, and you may have seen, I've placed two low-level alts with guilds, one on ally, one on horde. This has been a stress-free, peaceful and enjoyable way to part-take in a guild again. And boy is it great to have that green text, even if it's not pouring achievements at me or spamming butt jokes or virtual food fights, it's nice to know it's there.

BUT, these chars are alts. That little DK at the top of the screen is my main, for a reason. I can not say enough how much playing a death knight rocks my socks. It's just too much fun, like a really good night out when you get a little bit messy, dance a bit too hard and finish the night on smokey whisky, yes it is that good. It's time to find Deme a new home.

I've not ruled out a return to my 'home' guild, but I have other options and I'm investigating them. I'm not in a rush, I don't want to make a hasty decision and chuck all my eggs in the wrong basket. It may be the guild I want doesn't exist, in which case I may have to compromise and decide what I want most from the game and go with the guild that offers that. Of course I could set up on my own, but the name of that guild would have to be D I V O R C E.

Deme clicks her heels together and says "There's no place like home".

Guilds - Who'd have one - Part 2

In my post yesterday I talked about the guild merger I was witnessing and had been assisting with, if assisting is the right word. After a failed attempt last night to move things forward between the two guilds the merger has been called off. This would have been fine and all could have moved on and everyone gone about their business happily, as we thought we would last night, but for all out war breaking out on the forum.

There is a heavy sadness in my heart and an anger and venom on my tongue. I'd intended to write a rant in this blog but to be honest it would only make matters worse and then I'd be no better than anyone else. So I'll save my fire and brimstone for private quarters where I can let it all boil over with no fear of anyone taking offence because they know me well enough to know that once I've spewed it all out, I'm over it and I calm down.

The sadness I feel won't leave me so easily. My long time guild isn't representing itself in it's best light I'm afraid. The lovely people I know are there feel too afraid to speak up, or are far wiser and just don't see the point of getting involved. The second guild, where a lot of old friends are, have been left in a difficult position and feel let down and are thus trying to defend themselves and protect their members and guild from further damage.

My heart breaks to see it happening. I won't step in any more. I played the diplomat for a long time and I tried to get things to change but in the end, it was costing me too much. If you give everything out, there is is nothing left to draw on for yourself.

To that end, my DK (and all my random alts) will remain guildless. Raiding, which I have loved, will take a back seat once I have met my obligations this week. Arthas will have to wait. I'll still be there, just not in exactly the same spot I was in before.

I hear the battle ground calling. I hear me screaming "God I hate those fucking-horde-twatting-aholes!" as I get pwned time after time and then GY camped. I hear a lot less chatter and maybe a few less laughs, but a lot more peace. In a battle ground I hope to find peace. Irony anyone?

Deme the Demolisher


*To the hordies reading, I <3 you really, without you I'll never learn PvP will I?!

Guilds - Who'd have one?!

Guild mergers and alliances can be hot beds of trauma. The guild I‘ve belonged to for a year has been through 2 failed mergers and is currently on the brink of a 3^rd failed attempt. This makes me sad. Although I’m currently taking some time away from the guild, I’m still emotionally involved and friends with all the people there.

It’s a great guild with a lot of lovely people and good opportunities for all to experience Azeroth as they wish. There are 6/7 10-man raiding teams raiding current and older content and a recently reformed 25-man team who raid twice a week, plus plenty of alts for levelling with, lively social banter on the chat and lots of skilled friendly players to do BGs, run HCs with, give advice and so on.

The incoming guild is a raiding guild who are looking to build a stronger 25-man progression team and want to use our players to do so, working towards a 4-night 25 man programme, which would clearly offer all those not able to raid the current 25-man schedule the choice to do so. They also contain a healthy number of players who have been long-term members and/or friends of my guild, so they know the strengths and weaknesses of both guilds.

Both guilds are home to sane, reasonable people who want to make the most of their time in Azeroth and achieve their goals.

The merger/alliance (no one seems clear which it is at the moment) should be a smooth, graceful amalgamation of two of the best guilds on the realm. Unfortunately, it’s not been that way. A vocal contingent of my guild were not interested in the merger at all and when guild2guild was implemented, a certain number of them muted it, thus ensuring they didn’t even get to know the other guild prior to anything going any further. The silent majority who had qualms, but did not speak up for fear of rocking the boat, have been drifting along with the merger. Those of us who want the merger to work, have been left feeling embattled and worn out by trying to assuage fears and lay down the benefits of the merger for all.

Now, largely due to too much talking about the wrong things and not enough action on the important things, the merger is on the brink of collapse and with it, the strong possibility that at least one guild could fail, if not both. I don’t want to think about the bad blood that could emerge.

Whilst this makes me sad, I have effectively done little to stop it or assist in a smooth merger. My /gquit of just over a week ago was not a sudden decision, but I felt I had no other option. Having vented my frustration and feeling that change was too slow to come, if it ever came, I’ve taken myself off into the wilderness.

Whilst I’m still hopeful that the merger will progress as planned, I want both guilds to flourish and I’m enjoying raiding opportunities with both, the friends I've made are still there and we still have a good time (heavens, they keep me sane!), this wilderness has a strange and alluring emptiness to it.No obligations, no requirements, no expectations, no drama.

Deme the Deserter.

*Disclaimer - this is just my PoV and shouldn't be construed as a guild PoV. I speak only for myself.

Unholy DK DPS Stats, Gems and Enchants

Edit - Jan 2013 - This post dates back to Feb 2010 - That's almost 3 YEARS OLD. I'll do an up to date version soon but in the mean time go to Icy Veins. 

A few weeks back I wrote a DK DPS blog for the best unholy spec in 3.3. It seems logical to compliment this with a blog about which stats to stack, the best gems to drop in those pretty slots and the enchants to charm your gear into eeking out the best results for you. Now bare in mind this is just a guide, but it's serving me well in ICC 10 (occassionally in 25) so there's no reason it can't do the same for you. If you're lucky enough to be in the hard modes though this won't be for you. I'm not that great. Yet.



Stats
Let's start with the stats. As damage dealers, your key role is to hit stuff, if you ain't hitting it, it's not going down. For. A. Very. Long. Time. Hence, hit rating is one of the highest priorities. For DPS specced DKs, you want to look for 8% to reach your hit cap. That's about 262 rating. Right now, Deme is well over the hit cap and this is something I'll be looking to sort with some dungeon grinding to buy some gems with emblems.

I say that hit rating is one of the highest priorities because it's pretty much on a par with strength. Like warriors our attack power increases 2:1 per strength point and attack power comes in very handy on a fistful of our attacks. You can't over stack strength and we'll come on to how get more of it in the gemming section.

Now, recently, the next stat you decide to stack has slightly switched depending on the content you are running. Enjoying ICC? Stack ArP (that's Armour Penetration - I always forget what it stands for), if you're running older content, go for crit rating here. Then, which ever one you didn't stack first, you can stack next. Let's make that a little clearer.

Running TotC (or older) = Hit > Strength > Crit > ArP
Running ICC = Hit > Strength > ArP > Crit

Following those first 4 stats, it's equal placing for haste and expertise with agility last. Agility isn't a fabulous stat for DKs as a rule so don't worry about it, if you happen to have some, good for you.

GemsOk, confession time. At the time of writing, Deme's gems are pretty sucky. I'm saying this upfront because I've learnt whilst writing this post that I'd been playing around with stuff and I'd made a mess. I'm sorry mum, I promise to head off immediately and spend all those EoTs on new gems. Instead of that new tank set. Essentially I have the wrong meta, and a couple of Ametrine's of the wrong sort.

Basically, for DK DPS, go for Bold Cardinal Ruby or Inscribed Ametrine. These are both strength based gems and the only time you'd think of using another one is if you're not at hit cap. Check out the gems page on WoWWiki for a full listing of all the gems available by colour and stats. Very handy.

Now onto that shameful Meta gem. Now I've read the bits at Elitist Jerks and they recommend the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond or Relentless Earthsiege Diamond. Neither of which Deme is using. More to do with me not reading things on time than anything else. But! Ah ha! She does have the Nightmare Tear in place so that's one thing to tick off, but boy have I messed her up. Now EJ do a great job with all the maths and kudos to you if you can understand it all, but I'm too tired to take it all in so the above is the plan I'll be following with Deme. I'll let you know how I get on.

EnchantsWhat little pieces of magic are going to help you eek out a for more killer points on that vanity dial Recount? You remember grinding all that rep don't you? So you could get all the best enchants?? Well this was why.
Head - Arcanum of Torment - you'll need exalted with Knights of Ebon Hold in Icecrown. These are your brothers and sisters, you should know them! Go see Duchess Mynx in the Shadow Vault.Shoulders - Master's Inscription of the Axe - what's that? Not a Scribe? Oh well sorry you'll have to take Greater Inscription of the Axe then from those Sons of Hodir. Deme has yet to get exalted with them simply because she's never had to.Chest - Powerful Stats - find a friendly enchanter and get him/her to "buff" your chest. Accept no substitutes.Cloak - Greater Speed - remember your stats? Agility was last so grab some haste and make it snappy.Bracers - Greater Assault - 50 AP, simples.Gloves - I can haz more hit cap? Sure you can, whack yourself a Precision enchant if your still looking to hit that magic level. If not, get some Major Strength, another one Deme needs to sort out.Legs - flash those sexy legs at a leatherworker for some Icescale Leg Armour. It's your only option.Boots - Again you add some hit cap here with Icewalker or go for Greater Assault if you've already got your hit sorted.

Remember, every time you upgrade, you need to enchant and gem again. It helps to have a list of all the mats you need for your enchants handy.

Next time, I'll attempt a gear guide, not a BiS, but a "get from dinging 80 to raiding fast" kind of gear guide. Or maybe I won't. We'll see what WoW throws up as ideas.

Suffer Well!

Deme the Doofus.

Further Reading
Elitist Jerks - should be your go to spot, even if you can't understand 1/2 of it, if you get 1 new thing there each time you read, you'll grow as a player. For Unholy DPS, this page is especially great.

How the Noobs Got on.

Last week I posted about noobs and how we all need to remember that we were noobs once too. I even said I was putting my money where my mouth is and leading a nooby noob raid through 1 qtr in Naxx, not a bad way to spend a Saturday evening.

I planned the group to include a few experienced players too, one per role ideally and this seemed to work well. The group composition looked like this:

1 nooby warrior tank and one experienced warrior tank
1 nooby rogue and 2 experienced DKs
1 nooby Boomkin, 1 experienced Warlock,
1 nooby disco priest, 1 experienced resto shammie and 1 uber geared tree who switched between dps and healing as needed (but we didn’t tell the tanks that, till now).

So all in all, there were more experienced players along, but what can you do, the purpose of the event was still there.

As it was an “introduction” to raiding, we stuck to doing just one quarter and choose Arachnid. I believe as a starting point for raiding you can’t go far wrong with Arachnid, I mean who doesn’t love squashing spiders?! With 3 bosses, trash between the bosses and some interesting mechanics, it’s a great learning ground.

Anub Rekhan in these days of ilevel 245 emblem gear, is pretty simple, no one bothers kiting him and as long as you have a sound Off-Tank to pick up the adds and can all run from Locust Swarm, you should be in a position to drop him. Which we did. 1st time. Hoorah.

Now on my first run (and every one since) on Grand Widow Faerlina we’ve beaten her up good and proper by dropping all the adds first. I had no idea until this weekend that this tactic was the “achievement” strategy. We did talk through the strat and even as the fight was taking place, pointed out when we would have dragged a mob over to sacrifice on Faerlina’s soft enrages. Again though, this fight was smooth and she went down with no issues. The cherry on top was the nooby raiders all getting [Momma Said Knock You Out].

The merry bunch made our way towards Maexxna with a little over 40 minutes gone. Not at all bad considering we were talking through all the strats, pointing out roles and making sure everyone knew about buffs, gish* and the like. The big spider dropped first time although we did loose one player to the webs. It's not a raid without one death though right? Oh. Well there is The Undying. Maybe we'll go for that this weekend.


*Gish = Fish, blameama.com