The Death Knight Tank and You: Your UI

“No Munch, do not touch that, I have been working on this for…*zap*! [Censored]!!! What in the Hell was that for!?” says our Death Knight Hero with some quite complicated equipment…

Good day students, how goes the journey into Tankhood? Excellent, so now that we have talked about Specs, Gear, Stats, Caps, Rotations, and how to play a Death Knight (basics mind you), you are ready for a bit more personal lesson in Tanking. No, I do not need any tissues, what we are talking about is your User Interface, or UI for short.

Disclaimer

As with Death Knight Tanking, there are many choices to pick through, and each should be carefully chosen.  What may be the best UI since sliced bread to me, may be unethical and down right impossible to work with for others. Is there anything that we can all mutually agree on, possibly, but for the most part mine will look much different from yours even if we have the exact same addons.

That being said, how about we set some ground rules for what a UI should do for you, in my own opinion!

Ground Rules

• List additional information that Blizzard does not already (or does not easily) show in the base UI
• Condenses bars and information into a more viewable space
• Clears the center of the screen to allow a more viewable area of your character (allows you to see fire/aoe/circles of doom/ect.)
• Better Raid Frames
• Changing the look of the Blizzard basic UI

The Basic Blizzard UI is not THAT bad, unless of course you are trying to do something in-game. As a Raider, we need to be able to see how much Threat we are pulling, what is our DPS like, and of course Raid Frames. DPS is downright impossible to calculate without an addon to do so, and Threat is only accountable when you have the boss on top of you without an addon as well. As for Raid Frames, sure you can take the ones that Blizzard provides as a base, but generally we want something that is tailored to our needs, and catches the eye for when we need it.

Another problem I have with the Blizzard basic UI is simply that the Bars are all over the place and are far too big for my eyes, I like a small and condensed space that does not take up most of the middle of my screen. During any Raid, quite af ew bosses will throw down AoEs and the like, we want to be able to see these things easily, so how does one do that? We need the center of our screen free of space is how, so sorry Blizz, it’s workable for pretty much very low levels.

Will the Blizzard UI work for Raiding?
Sure, but for me it is the difference of using a bike with two wheels or a unicycle, you will get to your destination in the end, but one is significantly easier and more sought after than the other. In this case, a custom UI is the Bike, we are not all robots that can suffice with the same UI as everyone else, so we may have to get creative and create our very own UI.

Elnoriah, show us “the money”!
First of all, I based my current UI heavily off of Lore’s from Tankspot.com, but of course with a few more “tweaks” to better suit my wants/needs.

Do note, I am going to tweak the View Ports and such to look much more appealing than just two large black bars. Also, that large black space on the bottom is where Omen should be, and it will pop up when I am Raiding and not just being a Tool in the middle of Dal.

It is efficient, I can see any major mechanics in a boss fight, and it is simple to perform as a Tank. The only time I ever need to look at my action bars is when I am doing something nutty with my Engineering, (Jeeves, Wormhole, Mailbox, Goblin Switch Blade of Rezzness) or mounting up.  To me this is a simple, but pretty UI, I like seeing Elno all punked up and ready to kill on my Unit Frames, and I love the Skinner Addon, it is simply delicious!

Pros

• Because of Skinner, I have a workable UI with widescreen viewing ability. It is a bit of work to set up, but certainly worth it! Think of it as viewing a movie in widescreen, you actually see MORE of the film around you, and the exact same goes for my UI.
• It is easy to Tank with. I can move around and view the rest of my group with ease (look at the top left corner for Grid)
• It is appealing to the eye, which to me is a big factor when going through my UI, I want to be able to have a bit of appeal when I am playing. Hey, I am an artist at heart! (Despite the fact that I’m not good at art)
• My diseases and procs are easily kept track of do to ClassTimer (the addon to the left of Elnoriah). It can keep track of my buffs/procs as well as diseases that are on the target. Although I use Death Knight Info Rune/Diseases for disease tracking, it stands out much more, making it easy for me to glance at the diseases.
• Runes, RP, and HP are easily viewed. I have Death Knight Info Runes above my Player/Target/Target of Target frames, and large frames for Elno to be viewed in. Damn straight that is some kung foo text!
• My buffs are at the top-right of the screen and are exactly how I like mine!

Cons

• It needs something on the top portion of the screen, that black chunk between useless abilities/food and the screen is certainly annoying. I am thinking of putting FuBar on there to list my Gold/Repairs and some other useful bits of out of combat information.

Basically, this bad boy presents everything that I want and need out of an UI, thus making it appealing and kickass for my tastes. It is not completely wrong of you to disagree with my thoughts on a UI, after all it is YOUR game, not MINE.

Addons Used

Each of the addons that I use can be found from the Curse Client, or even Curse.com. Yes, I am a lazy bastard!

Chinchilla Minimap- A simple minimap with a clean feel to it, also has great amounts of customization.
Skinner/View Ports- Changes the basic Blizz UI to whatever your heart desires. View Port comes with Skinner and allows you to change your views of the WoW screen. (For example, my widescreen mode)
Pitbull Unit Frames 4.0- Unit Frames, EXTREMELY customizable. Highly suggested!
Omen Threat Meter- Displays TPS/Total Threat of the Raid/Party members on each individual mob.
Recount- DPS Meter, can view more than just DPS/Damage done though.
MikScrollingBattle Text- Scrolling text that shows how much damage I do, if an ability comes off of C/D, Healing Received, if the Target Avoids the attack,ECT.
Prat 3.0- Easily organizes chat, will show the class color and level of every player chatting.
Quartz- Cast bar and swing timer
SatrinaBuffFrame- Buffs and Debuffs
Dominos- Action bars, comes with 10 regular Action Bar, a Pet Bar, Vehical Bar, Roll Area, and a Cast bar (not used).
DBM- Basicly reminds me of the encounter, yells at you if you are in fire, and warns you of incoming special abilities that bosses use. (DXE and Bigwigs work as well, if you Raid you NEED one of these).
DeathKnight.Info Runes- Runes and Diseases
ClassTimer- Shows a timer of procs/diseases/DOTs/Pet Abilities (Customized to your liking)
Button Fascade- Prettier Buttons
Grid/GridManaBars- A Raid Frame that is HIGHLY customizable, easy to set up and highly recommended.

If there are any other questions about my Addons feel free to leave a comment or drop me an E-mail!

"ENERGY LEGS" Macro caused some win in /2

What does a UI do for Tanking?
In my case, clearing the middle of the screen of useless crap allows me to view the boss fight, as well as Skinner’s View Ports in the sense that my wider screen lets me see much more of the game than the basic settings. Tanks need to be on their feet, we have to see everything that is going on around us, or else we will not be able to react successfully towards it. I also like to view a bit more information than the general Blizzard Frames. It is a bonus for me to get alerted when key abilities are off CD, and when they are currently on me when I am getting wailed on. If I know what is and isn’t available, I can act MUCH quicker and more efficiently than searching my bars for something that is or is not on a C/D.

When I Raid Lead, addons like  Recount can give me a basic idea as to who the problem can be/is in a Raid. Correcting a problem is 1/2 the battle, because let’s face it, not very many people like to “fess up” if they did something wrong, so if I can physically see this out of their DPS/Combat log I can correct it. Omen does a bit of the same thing for me, although more useful as a Tank, I can call out if someone needs to slow down on the aggro for a couple of seconds, rather than not knowing and letting the group burn and crash.

Efficiency and being able to evaluate your raid are key qualities for Tanks and Raid Leaders need to have, Addons just make these qualities easier to use.

Conclusions

Do remember, your choice of addons/UI is yours to make, I will not go all Dictator on your sorry asses if you still use the Blizz UI. If you are extremely comfortable and efficient, that is your choice to make, NOT mine. If you want to critique mine, or want me to critique yours, feel free. This is a relatively new setup for me, so some criticism would be ideal. Either way, go toy around with some addons, class, you can’t judge until you tool around for a bit!

Return around the same time next week for more knowledge of the Death Knight Tank!

Happy WoWing!
-Elno

P.S. If the site blows up within the course of the week it was not because Aifel/I were touching the layout, no sir!
P.S. x 2  Sneak Peak of Aifel’s Avatar!

In all his badassery

The Gladiator: The Specs

The Arena, a place of gore, death, but most of all, glory. One must take everything, ‘lest he wishes to lose everything he has worked hard for in this life.  Do you have what it takes, Death Knight?

PvP or Player verses Player is a hit or miss for most people, but as a Death Knight I have found it to be one of the most fun things I have done in WoW. The Gladiators will be a regularly updated mini-guide (much like The Death Knight Tank and You) to inform all of my PvP loving pupils on how to reach the top and kill many.

As with anything you will do in WoW a spec has to be chosen, but in PvP especially you must be very comfortable with this specific spec. You should know your build inside out, better than you would you own child. Why? The answer is very simple, PvP is INTENSE you are getting nuked by some Mage, then out pops his buddy, what buttons do you hit?

I don’t know, I just took the spec for teh Ghoul! *dies*

In PvE you have some sort of warning when to pop OH SHI- buttons, whether it be knowing the boss fight or some mod like DBM, you generally have a good idea on when to pop your buttons to help you live. Sadly, you generally will have little to no warning of when to smash those buttons in a PvP environment, you are playing against real people, they do not have a set amount of damage or an ability that only goes off every 30 seconds on the second.

As a Death Knight any of the specs are viable, although some are much more popular than others, they all work perfectly so long as you know how to play them correctly.  One important detail that you will be noticing when speccing for PvP is that you can be quite a bit more creative, there is no “best spec” per-say, merely some talents that you like and those that you do not. Of course there are essentials that would be down-right idiotic to not snag, but for the most part you can be pretty lenient with what you choose, so long as you know what you are doing.

Unholy 0/17/54

One of the leading PvP builds is currently the Unholy 0/17/54 build, this is designed to give you the best of two worlds, the burst of Unholy coupled with the very basics of mitigation in the early Frost Tree. This is the spec that I am fond of for a few reasons: you are VERY difficult to defeat, there’s the ghoul permanent pet (3 sec stun), gargoyle, diseases that are a pain in the ass, and of course ridiculous amounts of burst.

Let us take a quick look at the two pets you receive as Unholy, first is your perma ghoul. Think of him as a gimped Rogue, he can ninja jump onto your opponents from afar creating some bad ass distractions as well as a 3second stun every minute. Plus, he does some delicious amounts of damage so he is a great thing to keep alive, besides Pets are some of the most annoying things to have to ignore while PvPing, they can be deadly as sin because they just do not stop kickin’ your ass. The stun that I mentioned earlier should really be used only when needed, I like to hit my opponents up with it after they have used their trinket either on my Resto friend’s Roots/Cyclone or Aifel’s Sap/Frost Trap (3.5, seriously)/Kidney Shot/Gnaw (oh wait). Using your abilities at the correct time in the Arena or just BGs in general can make or break the fight, so just bind that pretty stun to a key and use it when it is necessary.

The Gargoyle is probably one of the worst things you can throw at your opponent, it ROCKS them like they were a baybeh. Basically all it does is fly around and throw “Wrath” spells at your opponent for 30 seconds. The only downside is the 60 RP lost in order to summon it and the 3min cool down, the Gargoyle should only be used when you need an extra 300-500 DPS thrown at your opponent when bursting them down.

The reason Unholy DK’s tend to stay alive for so long is the amount of burst that we can throw out, I mean honestly I am pretty damn squishy for a guy wearing Plate, but if I can get you to focus on your own self-preservation and not taking me down, you’re dead. We have 3 diseases, and the 3rd (Ebon Plague) from the talents increases Spell Damage used on the target by 17% and 30% more disease damage taken. Yes, it is ridiculous, and I like it that way.

To sum up the Unholy Build, “The best offense is your best defense”, it is so true in this case! All you have to do is out burst your opponent and keep yourself alive with your OH SHI- buttons, if you can do both of those at the same time, you win at playing 0/17/54.

So, Munch, the lettuce stalks are down! *cymbal crash*

I have seen a few variations of Blood, and the most successful one seems to be the 51/0/20 build. Blood is known for its heavy amounts of survivability in PvP, as well as some support it can offer to the player’s partners via some abilities. Do not fret, it does plenty of damage to hold its own in PvP, but the more memorable thoughts of your fight against the Blood DK will be how LONG the battle was.

A great chunk of their survivability comes from their self-preservation (healing) via Death Strike, Rune Tap, and of course Vampiric Blood (the blood-exclusive OH SHI- button focused on increasing HP and receiving more Healing for 10 seconds). Couple your Rune Tap with Glyph of Rune Tap and your friends get 10% of the amount healed as well, which takes a great chunk of stress off of your healer, or just allows you to function better without a Healer.

Comparatively to Retadins, Blood is also very strong in supporting their partners on the field of battle. While Retadins can bubble, hand of freedom, and heal their comrades to cheat death and live to fight another day, Death Knights merely cause more death and destruction. Abomination’s Might is a perfect example, the talent works off of Heart Strike/Blood Strike/Obliterate/Death Strike, and when it is procced via one (or more) of those abilities, every comrade within 45 yds of you is granted 10% more AP for 10 seconds. Not a bad burst, eh?

Hysteria is arguably the Blood Death Knight’s BEST use of support in terms of blowing stuff up. Basically you pop Hysteria on a comrade or yourself and get to do 20% more damage for 30 seconds, exceptional for a time when burst is needed, and needed FAST. However, with most things in life, there is always a price for doing so, that price is 1% HP every second for the duration.

But hey, when your team is taking a beating your Healer (or lack of one) can not fix, pop your Rune Tap for quick heals and maybe a Mark of Blood on an enemy. For 20 seconds, or 20 of his damaging strikes, the target of the abuse is healed for 4% of their total HP. Not a bad trade-off!

How does one summarize Blood? “The best defense is your best offense” Sure, the Unholy bastards have you beat in terms of burst, but your team will be a TON stronger than theirs thanks you. So if you’re a guy who enjoys getting in peoples faces while helping your team mates, pick blood!

Frost 0/53 /18 and 10/54/7

There are two ways to play Frost in PvP, you will either DW if you have really good 1H weapons, or you will rock the 2H. Either way, you are going to be a complete menace, and certainly a pain in the ass. In a basic perspective, Frost is sort of the “middle man” of the three Talent Trees (PvP wise of course), it has excellent burst, good survivability, and a heavy helping of CC. Comparatively speaking, the burst is amazing, but Unholy may actually have it beat by a little bit (depending on your weapons of course), the survivability out of Blood is probably a decent-amount better, but Frost is certainly nothing to scoff at.

CC however is very, VERY delicious, it really is the only Tree with any sort of “CC” on its own. The permanent ghoul gives a 3second stun, but as Frost you pop your Hungering Cold and freeze everyone around the Death Knight for 10 seconds. Now do remember, like a Hunter’s Frost Trap, any damage done to a frozen target will break the CC, so make sure your partners are not complete idiots.

As far as survivability goes, you have Lichborne to pop out and become immune to fear/charm/sleep effects. Remember that Warlock problem you used to have? Oh wait, you never had one because you were immune to all of their bullshit for 15 seconds with AMS up, oh yes, that red puddle WAS the Warlock “problem”! It does not even stop there, Fridgid Dreadplate gives the Frostie a 3% chance for attacks used on you to miss. Think of it as extra avoidance really. As an added bonus count Toughness as a Frost Talent and you are a frickin’ Tank, delicious Armor, plus the 30% reduced duration on movement slowing effects.

The burst, do I even need to explain it? Killing Machine + Rime = WIN, Frost Strike crits = WIN, Obliterate crit? = Where’d his health go?

Feel like being the middle-man? Think you have what it takes to control rediculous amounts of crit-age in your hands? Frost will be your friend!

And we are letting this fine piece of steak out of her bindings, why?

Conclusions

As I stated earlier, each of these specs can be catered to your needs, there is no set-in-stone way to spec for PvP, but it is generally best if you follow the spec’s outline. IE for the Unholy build go for 0 talents in Blood, 17 in Frost, and 54 in Unholy, but these can be in whatever place your little heart desires! So go out there and make me proud, team, or come back laying on your shield.

Note: It will take much time until you find your perfect build, so try a few out, and do not be afraid to tool around with a new Tree, sometimes the best way to learn PvP is starting from scratch.

“Death Knights… can’t use… shields, idiot…”

They best not fail then,

“Damn straight…”

Death to the living!
-Elno
P.S. The avatar on the top of the page is going to be posted on each of the posts that I write, Aifel will also have his coming in the near future. Now you can distiguish who is writing what instead of going on a wild goose hunt!

The Post in Which I Bump Down Craig’s.

Yes, I’m surrendering to the meme. May God Neptune have mercy on my soul.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?

Aifel, Mutilation (51/13/7) Rogue.

What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

Raids, usually. I try to do arena when I can, which lately hasn’t been at all. Sowwy Craig.

What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?

This might sound silly, but Cloak of Shadows. I cannot tell you how many times I would’ve died if I didn’t have this ability, both in PVP and PVE.

What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?

Shiv, probably. Its just bad.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?

Aside from being (arguably) the best melee DPS in the game right now, a good Rogue can also avoid lots and lots of outgoing raid damage through smart usage of Feint, Cloak of Shadows, and to a lesser extent Sprint.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?

Just starting to raid and not knowing that Feint reduces incoming AoE by a very sizable chunk, and then getting WW’d by Naxx trash and dying. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?

Depends on the fight. If its Ony, well, Fan of Knives + Focused Attacks = lots and lots of energy. And constant 100 energy means more FoK. And, well, you get the idea. If its single target…

1. Start up HfB. If there’s someone else in the raid with bleeds wait for them to get to the boss first. Otherwise, do what I do (Mut twice and Rupture. Then use HfB.)

2. Start up Slice and Dice however you like.

3. Is Rupture up? If not, Rupture. Rupture at 4-5 combo points only.

4. Is Slice ‘n’ Dice about to fall off? If so, Envenom. Try to keep the Envenom buff up as much as possible, and try to Envenom at ~60 energy and at 4-5 combo points.

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?

Frost Death Knights or Enhancement Shamans. Windfury/Imp. Icy Talons is fun in the sun.

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?

Anyone bad who ignores advice.

What is your worst habit as a dps?

Not getting mad when we wipe. I guess its because I have too much fun raiding. Fuck.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?

People who criticize you for doing something they disagree with, people who constantly link DPS/healing meters, and the guy in Onyxia’s Lair with heirloom shoulders.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?

Yes, though I think Combat might be a bit ahead at this point in the game. Also, I want another cooldown; Cold Blood and Vanish + Overkill just don’t compare to the awesome of Blade Flurry, Killing Spree and Adrenaline Rush.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a dps?

Recount, Recount and Recount. If I perform well, I figure out what I did well and keep on doing it. The opposite applies too.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

Don’t really know; I don’t get a whole lot of complaints from my groups.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?

Knowing what stats are most effective, learning to keep up Slice ‘n’ Dice, knowing that you should Envenom as often as possible, knowing that you should always keep Tricks of the Trade off cooldown… The list goes on.

What dps class do you feel you understand least?

I think I have a pretty good understanding on all of them. I probably understand Retadins the least though, with the part I don’t understand being why they’re still playing one.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?

Clique (right-clicking on a raid member on Grid to put Tricks on them is always useful), OmniCC, Dominos, Recount, Rogue Power Bars, and a few more I can’t think of right now.

Agility over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?

Well, this is a silly question, now ain’t it.

Hit (before spell hit cap) > Exp (until dodge [26] capped) > Agility > Crit > Haste > ArP > AP. Keep in mind this only applies to Assassination; Combat EPs are basically the same, except Exp is worth less and ArP is worth more, once you have an ArPen trinket.

I <3 Elitist Jerks.

Memes How I Love You So!

Hinenuitepo tagged me in their newly-formed DPS Meme based off of the most current Circle of Healers Meme to give some self reflection about yourself as a DPS. I was going to do it from a Mage perspective, but I do not think I can honestly do it yet. Seriously, he’s 63!

Do not worry though, I will force request my co-patriot and partner in crime, Aifel to go all Roguie on that Meme! So stay tuned for more Memes by the end of this week.

Gravity over at Pwnwear, however decided to let me in on some of the kickassery athat is the ‘How do I Tank’ meme. Death Knight Tanking is what I do. Hell I tried to DPS for a bit and just got too bored with it. Actually that pretty much sums up why I never touched Death Knights again until around 3.1, I just can not stand to play melee DPS. So, without further adieu, I present you my little piece of meme!

 

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary Tank?

Elnoriah the Death Knight Tank of Frost-like hell. Seriously, it is my favorite part of hell!

To let you all in on a little secret, Elnoriah was the name of this imaginary superhero friend I had when I was little. He kicked major ass and served justice to all of my enemies in my younger days, so it just seemed fitting for me to create a Death Knight under that name.  (Yes, I had a screwy childhood)

What is your usual tanking environment?

10 man Raids and some Heroics, I have Tanked VERY few 25m Raids. Although mostly this is because my computer would lag far to much for me to be a reliable Tank in a 25m, I still would prefer the tightly-knitness of the 10m Raids.

What is your favorite encounter to tank, and why?

I really love Tanking Twin Val’kyr! The whole encounter is a blast, but Tanking them just feels surreal to me. The mechanics have everyone enjoying the fight because there is always some sort of thing to collect, some damage going out, some aura to change, you have to be quick and focused!

What is your least favorite encounter to tank, and why?

Kael’Thuzad, he’s annoying to begin with but it is just a bland fight to Tank in my opinion. Although the first phase is hilarious to Death Grip the Abombs!

What do you think is the biggest strength of your class, and why?

The biggest strength of the class are our cool downs, we have quite a few of them and they are always up when we need them the most. Kora’s slamming you down with some lava fists? Pop that Icebound Fortitude and tell him to hit a little harder next time! Then you get to use it in 2min and laugh at him even more because he still has failed to kill you!

and weakness?

We have a weakness? You disarm us, we keep on hitting you with spells. Or try and silence us! We still hit you with our abilities. Even when we are dead we leave a preasent in the form of diseases for you to remember us by <3.

Nice try, but we still win!

What is your favorite thing about the class you chose for your primary Tank and why?

The creativity as a Tank, I have 3 specs to choose from that all are completely viable to use, and to top it off I can still be very flexible with where I put talents into my spec at that point.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel is the best tanking assignment for you?

Give me something that is interesting? Adds, the boss? Who cares, just give me the job that you do not want to do and I can Tank that like a pro.

What tanking class do you enjoy tanking with the most?

Bear, I have been thoroughly enjoying Tanking with a Bear buddy of mine. They are just so interesting and amusing to me. Besides, when whelps go amass I have his back, and when something big comes to chomp on me he can fight me to rip it off.

What? You didn’t think I would let him take it, it’s MINE DAMMIT!

and the least?

Other DK’s, you guys are either full of yourselves or down right idiots. There is room for only 1 idiot in this Raid, and it is certainly not going to be you.

What is your worst habit as a tank?

Some times I forget to switch Frost Pres on when switching specs or after being Mind Controlled. Seriously, do not toy with my Presence you damn Priests in H ToC 5m.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while tanking?

Idiots that either pull the boss before me, or unleash every nuke they have in their arsenal while I am positioning the boss. Let me do my job and I guarentee yours will be cake!

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other tanks for PvE tanking?

I can not complain to be honest, we are in a good spot right now. Sure we have some downsides, but doesn’t every Tanking class?

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a tank?

Omen and Recount, I want to see what spells are hitting the hardest and I want to be able to pull enough TPS that no DPS will even think of pulling off of me.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your tanking class?

That we can not Tank. Jesus christ, I figured you people had gone away, we CAN Tank, just because we do not have a shield or a Bear form does not make us not viable to be Tanks. Should I be telling you that Spriests can’t DPS because they are “meant” to be Healers?

What do you think is the toughest thing for new players of your class to learn about tanking?

What stats/caps should be your top priority. Honestly, when I used to heal I saw too many people just stacking STAM and not even thinking about the DCap. But what happens after you hit 540 and can successfully balance it?

No, if you keep stacking Drating because “it gives a bit to avoidance” you are doing it wrong. You need to know your caps and be able to balance them, not drown in them.

If someone were to evaluate your tanking ability via tools like fraps, recount, and World of Logs, what tendencies would they notice?

They would notice that I totally jump around too much like a pansy-elf. Generally I can’t think of any bad habits I have that would be noticeable and somewhat threatening.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your tanking stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

Balance is key, I generally pray to the STAM gods, but everything is taken into account when changing a peice of gear or regemming/enchanting.

What Tanking class do you feel you understand least?

As silly as it sounds probably the Warriors. Bears are a close second, but I’ve never played a Prot Warrior and honestly have no intentions of doing so.

Addons for tanking?

Skinner (to give me a wide-screened view to see a bit more around me), Omen, Prat (organize chat), Dominos, Mik’s Scrolling Battle Text, Grid, Pitbull, and a few others that I will probably remember later.

 

Here’s the FUN part, who else gets tagged by me? Well, how about any one that reads this and has not gone through this ordeal, because I think every Tanking Blogger that I read regularly seems to have done this already. Go for it, you will learn a lot about yourself through this.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary Tank?

Generally I have two answers here. Fistly when Gravity was very actively raiding Ulduar 10/25 and secondly for my future, when my re-roll DK Industry is geared.

My first Death Knight, named Gravity, is on a Euro server and doesn’t get as much love as he deserves because I’m moving back to Australia, in transition now. Gravity was my main since WotLK, and I prepared for it many months in advance. I recently started levelling a new DK to tank with on an Oceanic server, he’s called Industry (hoping the guy on my server with the name Gravity will accept my 200g offer to delete his character).

I have a long-term view and will be playing WoW through Cataclysm and beyond, so wanted a local timezone server to tank on. I wish you could transfer EU -> USA servers.

In Ulduar 25, I was spec’d blood tank with a DPS 2nd spec that varied (dual-wield frost most recently). Currently frost tank.

Hoping I’ll get to raid properly again, even if it’s lower tier content, on Industry from mid to late December.

What is your usual tanking environment?

I prefer 10-mans. More camaraderie, less logistics. I did enjoy the 40-man raids too, though I healed or dps’d then.

What is your favorite encounter to tank, and why?

I really liked Mimiron because of the focus required, with its variety of tank jobs in each phase and how even after doing it a few times, I’d still need to be on the ball. I used to stuff up on the bomb bots though; attacking them rather than using chains of ice.

What is your least favorite encounter to tank, and why?

I like tank/spank bosses like XT, some would put him as least favourite. Tough question. Probably least favourite would be Auriaya because fear is just an annoying mechanic. (Least fav instance? Sunken Temple. I hate that place).

What do you think is the biggest strength of your class, and why?

Versatility. Snap AOE agro in Frost, sustained AOE in Unholy and self-healing in Blood. I can respec a DK tank into any role required within a tank corps.

and weakness?

Being silenced can be devastating.

What is your favorite thing about the class you chose for your primary Tank and why?

The runic resource system. I hated mana, which is why I swapped from my old maintankadin to a DK tank. I enjoy the versatility and the lovely flow of actions you can get into. I like how active it is to tank. Pallys are more rhythmic to tank 969, whilst DKs are more stabby.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel is the best tanking assignment for you?

A DK is the swiss army knife of tanking, so really the player should pick the niche that’s missing in the tank corps and spec into it.

For example, if you’ve a pally tank buddy who’s still happy to mop up the AOE, a DK can go blood tank for single-target pwnage. If the pally is sick of being pigeon-holed into AOE, DKs can spec into Frost instead to smash up the aoe mobs.

So the best assignment therefore is the one you’ve spec’d into. We’re flexible (just don’t like silence much and warriors are much more mobile with intercept and charge), so we can fit in with the corps.

What tanking class do you enjoy tanking with the most?

I loved in my old UK guild when Aleona (pally), Keryth (warrior) and I were the tanks. Covered all possibilities, and shield tanks just look damn cool. I wish I could wield a shield for looks.

Maybe I’ve a soft-spot because they’re friends too. Our superb druid tank Bix only recently went back to bear after being resto to help out with a healer shortage, so didn’t really get to tank much with him.

and the least?

A bad DK tank. I hate bad DK tanks who refuse to improve and don’t have a clue what they’re doing. Seriously, they ruin the reputation of the class.

What is your worst habit as a tank?

Probably tweaking my UI too much. I sometimes break things (like not being able to see my fellow tank’s debuffs) or my FPS goes to crap because of some bloody unidentified addon I just installed. It got so bad I was de-installing and testing them to isolate what was stuffing me on Razorscale, never worked it out really.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while tanking?

People not learning the fight either before we go in, or worse… not learning during. Doing the same mistake. Not understanding instructions yet not admitting to it. Failing to play well, and also failing to communicate about it, really shits me.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other tanks for PvE tanking?

I’d like more threat against a non-melee boss, where currently we are the weakest. We don’t have an attack-power debuff but I don’t think we need one to be considered a balanced. I don’t read many legitimate complaints about our balance other than threat.

I think Blizzard have an extraordinarily hard job to balance the three tanking trees within the DK and then between DKs and other classes. I would not be surprised if Cataclysm gives up on Unholy as a tanking tree and gives it a pvp and utility bias (buffs/ debuffs) in the same way Frost mages are (currently, but that’s changing) more PvP oriented. That could simplify their balancing act.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a tank?

Lots. I like Skada or Recount, the former being less CPU intensive and has a better UI but it’s death log analysis isn’t great like Recount. Worldoflogs (or WWS earlier). TPS parser. Sometimes I fraps myself to watch replays on new fights. Omen.

As raid leader, I also use Debuff Enough, RaidBuffStatus, Ensidia Fails.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your tanking class?

That we’re squishy. Maybe DKs used to be, when the class was highly geared to cooldowns and you were squishier in between them, but now we’re fairly balanced in terms of mitigation and flat damage reduction.

A bad DK, however, can still feel squishy. If they don’t use their cooldowns (even on 5-man trash), particularly common for new tanks is to not use AMS enough and to forget their interrupt (to stop damage hitting you); badly played this way, a DK can take more damage than they should.

What do you think is the toughest thing for new players of your class to learn about tanking?

Often, it’s how to tank in the first place. Many, many DKs have never been tanks and found it a pretty easy way to level one up. So you get young padawan tanks learning the craft of tanking.

Getting past that, assuming the questions of ‘defence 540′ and so on are handled.

Next is learning to play without constantly looking at the action bars and rune bars. You need to look around you, at the boss, at the adds, and not the complicated series of buttons you need to press and deciding whether to use runic power or not.

That’s the hardest thing. Making the mechanics of being a DK second-nature, so you can then focus on being a tank and broaden your view to the whole game field and your own health bar.

If someone were to evaluate your tanking ability via tools like fraps, recount, and World of Logs, what tendencies would they notice?

A weakness of mine is moving constantly and handling the finger-mangling combination of DK attack buttons. Veneretio posted on this topic once. It can be hard to strafe or move around whilst banging out the threat, and my TPS dips on that kind of fight (eg. Hodir).

Avoidance, Mitigation or Stamina and why?

Stamina. It’s the best in the current and 3.3 game mechanics. Gear gives you enough of the other two. Disretionary spend is on stam. Philosophically I’d prefer to say avoidance, just it doesn’t work out well.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your tanking stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

Balance, but I bias stamina.

What Tanking class do you feel you understand least?

Bears. My druid only ever healed really.

Addons for tanking?

Listed a few earlier. Others include: Shadowed unit frames, TankPoints, Tank Totals, I might re-install Elkano Buffbar and Mik Scrolling Text (had disabled them while looking for my FPS-destroying addon), Dominos, OmniCC, Fortress, Quartz (for a GCD spark), Rating Buster, Outfitter.

I have macros for rune strike on everything, and I have used Dominos to bind actions to shift-key combinations and other letters around my ESDF movement keys. Like shift-1 is blood tap (one rune reset), shift-2 is ERW (all rune reset), z is DnD, b is strangulate (interrupt), x is mind freeze (interrupt), h is howling blast (aoe).

The Death Knight Tank and You: Hit and Expertise

DEATH KNIGHT SMASH!

“My precious, so beautiful. Swordy, you have a scratch on you! WHO TOUCHED MY SWORD!?” Screams a VERY pissed-off Blood Elf…

Greetings students, now not too long ago I posted a little something having to do with two stats called Hit Rating and Expertise. Once you have enlightened yourself with that post on the basics of the two, we may continue on with our lesson today!

Finished? …No!?
“…Think they… can read… any slower?”
How about we do not find out the answer to that question.

Hit Rating

As you have read, the “Hit Cap” is the amount of Hit Rating we need to not miss anymore with spells and abilities. Completely untalented and not taking any buffs into account, the melee Hit Cap is 8% chance to hit, or more commonly known as 295.11 Hit Rating. Said melee Hit Cap ensures our ability to always hit with our melee abilities, such as Obliterate, Scourge Strike, Death Strike, Plague Strike, RUNE STRIKE, ect. As the Death Knight Tank, it is a good goal to have to reach the Melee Hit Cap. Think of it this way, every time you miss, you do not gain the amount of TPS that you could have off of that specific ability, and less TPS gives the DPS a greater chance to pull off of you.

The spell Hit Cap works the same way, except it takes quite a bit more HR to acquire this cap, a 17% chance to hit, but as an exact number it is commonly known as 445.91 Hit Rating. Yes, Death Knights actually do use spells, and depending upon your spec you may be using more or less of them. Every spec has Death Grip, Pestilence, Blood Boil, Death Coil, Icy Touch, and Dark Command (Taunt). If you are a bad ass Frosty like myself, Howling Blast is included into that list, so pretty much anything that you can use while disarmed, but not while silenced is simply classified as a spell.

445.91 and 262.32 HR are our targets as any Death Knight, so how is one going to reach the cap? There are a few variables that will come into play, if you are an Alliance player and are confident that you can get a Space Goat to tag along on every Raid that you will be doing, you can shoot for 1% LESS Hit, as they constantly give this to their group as a passive bonus.

Shadow Priests and Balance Druids also have spells that they can use to boost the Raid’s chance to hit, Misery or Improved Faerie Fire will give the players attacking the target affected with this debuff a 3% more chance to hit said target with their spells.

As a Death Knight, the only buff we can contribute to the two mentioned is possibly the 1% Space Goat hit. In turn, how will we be able to boost our own Hit Rating without including gear, which is our goal here as both Tanks and DPS?

Virulence is a Talent available on the 1st Tier of the Unholy tree, with 3 Ranks in it you will gain 3% more chance to Hit with spells. Just from taking 3 simple ranks you have knocked the 17% spell cap to 14%, not including Raid Buffs!

For those of you who bothered to level Cooking or can manage to mooch off of a friend of alt, you can grab some Snapper Extreme to boost your HR by 40 which is about 1% chance to hit with melee and 1.5% (abouts) to hit with spells, not bad at all.

So on a good day with Virulence and Misery/Imp FF (not including food buffs) it will take 11% spell hit to cap up, which is approximately 288.53 HR. Yes, that is a few HR more than the Melee cap, so in turn it is not as  hard to cap up with your spells with a decently-balanced Raid. Just make sure that your Spriest/Druid is reliable enough to keep on top of those! (Although for the Spriest it just works off of VT I think, and if they are not casting that, they need to reroll)

Elnoriah, what the Hell? How come 11% spell hit so close in HR to 8% melee hit?

Great question! They actually scale much differently, which is damned good or else it would be a hellish nightmare to even think about getting spell capped. About 32.79 HR is required to get 1% of melee hit, whereas it only takes 26.23 HR to acquire 1% spell hit. Thus proving that even though they are 3% off from each other, the numbers are not that far off.

Tanks: Do we need it CAPPED?

It is a great goal to get the Hit Cap and not miss as a Tank, but to be honest, we are already stacking so many other stats it can be pretty damn tricky to get capped. You want to be as close as you physically can be, so I would still recommend snagging Virulence, because regardless of the fact that some Tanks may be using more spells than others, we ALL need to Taunt. Taunting is a SPELL it has a chance to MISS, and we certainly do not want to be missing with one of our Taunts. Plus, we get a frigate-full of TPS the more we are able to Hit, seriously, who wants to argue that TPS is a bad thing to have?

So the verdict, no we do not have to be capped, but that does not mean that we should completely neglect in trying. We are here to take the damage, but in order to do so, the boss has to be pretty pissed with us and target us as the “most threatening” player in the raid. Yes, we are able to Tank decently without being capped, but in the end our job just gets that much easier the closer we are to the cap.

Expertise

In my professional opinion, the Expertise Soft Cap of 26 is the most important secondary stat we have as Death Knight Tanks. Despite the fact if you are HC’d or not, mobs/bosses still have an ability to Dodge your melee abilities and white damage attacks (AKA weapon damage). Once you have acquired the Soft Cap of 26 Expertise bosses will never be able to Dodge your blows any more.

Sadly, they can still Parry, but that is a different story!

As a Tank we want to at least reach the Soft Cap, but generally it is not advised to go searching for the Parry cap because that is about 56 and you would be severely lacking in the Tank avoidance/Dcap/HP departments in order to do so. To a Tank Expertise (HR as well)  is a “secondary stat” meaning you should only be getting these stats subconsciously or only after you are completely finished with your primary goals, which of course are 540 Defense/More HP than your body has room for/Delicious amounts of avoidance.

Now that I have crushed your hopes and dreams of being a Hard Capped (unable to be parried) Tank, I can give you a physical number to shoot for. 26 – 30 Expertise is the goal as a Tank, but once again do not speand your hopes and dreams on reaching these numbers, focus on being a Tank first.

“Oi, idiot… are there… any ways… to help get this… Soft Cap… without gear?”
For you Munchy, there is no hope, but for my pupils, damn right there are!
“Oh snap… I’m going… to cry to my mother!… Oh wait… you’re technically… my mother…”
Sadly I lack the body parts required to be your “mother”, besides this lesson is on Hit and Expertise for Tanks, not “The Birds and The Bees”.

Every Talent Tree gives a Talent that gives either 5-6 Expertise depending on the Talent, thus lessening the amount we need to go for to hit the Soft Cap by the respected numerals. Of course those damned Blood Tanks will be getting the 6 Expertise with the Veteran of the Third War talent, allowing them to only require 20 Expertise to hit the Soft Cap. Our friends from Frost and Unholy will receive 5 Expertise when speccing into either Rage of Rivendare or Tundra Stalker making our respective Soft Caps need only 21 Expertise from gear/food.

Also, take into account that some specific races get a +5 bonus to Expertise when using a specific type of weapon. As an example, Orcs that use Axes get a +5 to Expertise with them, so not a bad trade-off at all! So, a Blood Specced Orc Tank using a 2H Axe will only need 15 Expertise to get Soft Capped. Holy shit…

Let us just say this is very, very, VERY easy to achieve. Now a days Expertise can be found practically anywhere we turn, so let’s go and snag a ton of it, hoard it to ourselves, and yell at the clothies!

Conclusions

Both of these are very important to us as Tanks, as I have said earlier (and will keep repeating until I forget to do so) the more attacks that successfully hit a Boss/Mob, the more Threat we create. Threat is a very good thing to have, and it is almost as important as being able to receive the damage that we will be receiving in turn of having so much Threat on our target. Still, just remember that even though both of these caps are very helpful, your Defense/Avoidance/HP are still your most important Stats as you gear up.

Happy Wowing!
-Elnoriah

Information on HR was found at Skeleton Jack.com

Why I Hate WoW.com.

Yes, you should use a Hunter statstick for physical DPS (Feral Druids excluded).

From their Lichborne: Blood, blood! article.

Blood DKs have “less Howling Blasts and Killing Machine style magic damage, less pet management, less reliance on shadow damage (although it should be admitted that most DPS blood DK’s go up to get Necrosis and Blood Caked Blade) and more stacking physical damage buffs and unrelenting self healing.” That’s why they’re better.

Now, just ignore the numerous typos, grammatical errors and other unprofessional errors and just take in the absolute stupidity that is wow.com. The guy who usually writes Lichborne is bad enough, and this new guy is bad enough to make me think that his writing is supposed to be a joke.

Yes, the key talents of Frost (Rime/KM) and Unholy (ghoul management, an abundance of shadow damage) won’t be present in a Blood build. No shit. Its like the writer just had to pull reasons out of the air as to why Blood is “better”, and  just put down that garbage instead. Why not mention why Blood may be worse than Unholy/Frost? Why not reemphasize just how good Hysteria is? Why not state that Blood’s single-target DPS is really good, but has very sub-par AoE damage? Because he’d rather insult the reader by assuming they’re incredibly stupid, and he’d rather make an ass of himself.
<3 wow.com

Also, maybe a podcast this week! :O

Also…

Stoneskin Gargoyle, We Use It Because We Can

We find our Death Knight hero perusing his favorite weapons at his home, the Ebon Hold…

It came to me the other day, on the 14th of November WOTLK turns 1yr old. To top it off, the Death Knights that were extremely unbalanced at release are now pretty much as stable as the rest of the classes in WoW. I bring up the 1yr anniversary because around now it really hit me that this “new class” (Death Knights) were going to be able to use 2h weaponry to Tank.

What… the… hell?

This made no sense to me, using a 2H weapon is just a stupid idea you would get no Defense or avoidance that you would from “Tanking Weapons” and shields, so why bother!? Runes were the answer, and they still are in fact. The Death Knight class, as you know, has a special skill exclusive to themselves somewhat like the old Rogue poison skill. This skill is Rune Forging, the ability to put a Rune onto a weapon of your choice, and some of which are exclusive to either 1H/2H/or are interchangeable.

As a 2H Tank you would be insane not to be using Rune of Stoneskin Gargoyle, 2% more Stamina is a great bonus, but 25 Defense (skill not rating) is frickin’ amazing. It makes up for our lack of shields and THEN some! This single Rune was what allows us to Tank with a 2H weapon, and it feels great. Hell, a free Enchant and it can be changed around with another anytime I want for free? Sign me the hell up!

Dual Wield Tanking is an interesting concept, and Blizzard has been trying their hardest to make it a viable to Tank with, which so far has been successful. The problem with this is that you will generally lack a bit more Drating than the 2H Tanks because of your lack of Stoneskin Gargoyle, but this really is not a huge problem, all you have to do is switch a few gems around. In turn of not using this Rune, you are able to use Rune of Swordbreaking on both weapons, giving you 4% Parry and 100% reduced disarm time.

There is in fact a 2H version of  Swordbreaking, but 2H Tanks tend to stay clear of that due to the fact that losing 25 Defense would force them to use most of their gem sockets for Defense. Is 4% Parry really worth a lack of 6-8 STAM gems? Hell no, but due to the amounts of Drating on Tanking weapons, the losses for DW are not even close to the amount 2H would be losing.

That should be easy enough to see the point, basically both use different Runes because DW Tanking lacks a Rune of Stoneskin Gargoyle 1H version. Though, just as the Red Dragonflight have our backs in Eye of Eternity, Blizzard has swooped in to saved the day in 3.3! Yes, this is correct, Death Knights now have a Stoneskin Gargoyle 1H Rune, IE. a 1/2 strength Stoneskin Gargoyle Rune that you may put on both weapons. (1/2 + 1/2 = 1)

Death Knights

• Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.
• Talents
  • Unholy
    • Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
    • Scourge Strike: Redesigned. The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease the death knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadow damage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.
    • Unholy Blight: This talent now deals only 10% of Death Coil damage as a damage-over-time effect on the target.

Yes, see right off of the WoW Community site’s 3.3 Patch Notes for those of you non-believers. Besides me squealing at how little they changed Death Knights, let us view our major focus at this time, the fact that 1H weapons now have their own version of Stoneskin Gargoyle.

I miss that worm!

How is this such a big deal? For starters, DW do not need to suffer from a lesser amount of Defense (and crippling some enchants/gem sockets towards being used for Drating). They can now be on-par with the 2H Tanks in terms of not having to switch out gems in order to hit the DCap. However, this would force them to not use Rune of Swordbreaking. They would lose a huge edge they had over the 2H Tanks, 4% more avoidance, and honestly, this was worth the 2k HP that is generally sacrificed by switching between the two.

Luckily, we do not have to choose one or the other to use as a DW Tank, there are multiple combinations you can use in order to get the most out of your Runes/weapons. How about we check out some predictions I have for what will be plausible next patch for DW Tanking Rune combos?

Predictions on how this will be used to get the most out of your Runes.

Some people may find it in their best interest to stay the same and not have a few sockets/enchants in order to keep the 4% Parry and 100% less disarm time from Rune of Swordbreaking. This still is not a bad way to go, because that much avoidance can seriously be worth the amount of HP lost.

Now there are two things that I can see these use for, the first being a creative thought of using Stoneskin Gargoyle on one of the 1H weapons, and Swordbreaking on the other, giving you a mix of Defense/HP and 2% Parry. Essentially you do not have to sacrifice any Enchants/Gem sockets, and you still get a good portion of  avoidance. I dub that, “the best of both worlds special”, you basically get two great bonus for a very limited sacrifice of stats. This would be used if you are wielding 2 Tanking weapons, with at least 1 of which having a bit of Drating on it already, otherwise this may not be in your best interest.

Remember back to what we discussed earlier, that Stoneskin Gargoyle was created so that 2H weapons which had no Drating would be viable to Tank with. Are there not really frickin’ good 1H DPS weapons that have no Drating on it either? Yes, I said it, we can get away with Tanking with 1H DPS weapons. Think, these weapons are generally slow which is what we WANT but 1H Tanking weapons generally are fast as hell. The only downside with this is that you would be losing any of the Tank stats that are found exclusively on 1H Tank weapons (Avoidance/Defense Rating, but the Drating is made up for by Stoneskin Gargoyle!).

By using 1H DPS weapons to Tank with, we would get higher Threat because their only purpose in life is to increase your DPS. More DPS = More Threat! Plus it is much more common to find a 1H DPS weapon with Hit/Expertise than a 1H Tank weapon, which in turn makes it easier to get to the Hit Cap and Soft Expertise Cap. The possibilities are ENDLESS!

In Short, Blizzard is giving us many more choices to chew over as DW DK Tanks. Just changing Runes around can affect your entire play style as a DW Tank thanks to the new Rune of Stoneskin Gargoyle.

It’s times like these when I sort of which that I was still a DW Tank.

Happy WoWing!
-Eld

P.S. Rouges/Enh Shammies, we’re stealing your weapons

This is Halloween, This is Halloween!

Hey there everyone, today is the day where we get children begging for candy in a cute and effective way at our doorsteps. Of course there are also those teenagers that just want free food, but nonetheless today is the 31st of October which means it is Halloween! Have a safe/good one!
-Elnoriah

This is a video I think all of you will get a chuckle out of, basically it is the life of a pumpkin in the perspective of the pumpkin. My English teacher showed the class this and I have not laughed this hard in a long time.

The Death Knight Tank and You: Finding a Home

Home is where the DEATH KNIGHT is!

“Well, it looks like we are moving in Munch! Let’s hope our neighbors do not have annoying little brats,” says everyone’s Death Knight with a moving box in his arms…

Greetings class, it is good to see you all again! How about we give you a break from the “norm” of things, although this lesson has quite a bit to do with a Tank, it will not directly improve your ability as a Tank. Guilds, how do you find a good one, what is a “good guild”, and what are some suggested steps to take towards figuring out if they are indeed good enough for you. This indirectly effects a Tank quite significantly, because with a good guild you SHOULD be able to clear a lot harder content as opposed to the PUGs which most likely will not.

Harder content + Tight-knit group of individuals that push you to your limit = Development of better Tanking skills, and better gear

Let us start out with my definition of a “good guild”, be forewarned, this is assuming you are looking for a guild that is Raiding either Hardcore or Casually.

A good guild is a guild which does the content you are specifically looking for (10/25/hardmodes) on a schedule that you will be able to make without having to change real-life commitments. This guild should be able-bodied and allow you to raid on a regular basis, and may make you “try-out”/apply for the guild position as well.

Every person is different, some of us prefer to do 10 man content, 25 man content, or a mixture of the two. When one is searching for a guild you need to clearly understand what you personally want as a player. There is no right or wrong answer, this is your $15.00 a month so find something that makes you want to login on Raid Nights and have some fun.

For me, I prefer a serious, yet casual guild that mostly does 10 man content. Since I am still in school I need to have hours that will not keep me up past 11pm in order for me to pass my tests and what not, because as I said earlier you should not be changing real-life commitments in order to Raid. The end of the week gets hectic in my life, so I do not want to let the guild down because I will not be able to be on 100% (almost) of the time. Using this template I was searching for a guild that would do Sun-Weds 8-11pm or 7-10pm (3 hours is more than enough for one night in my opinion), and one that did 10m content for the majority of the time.

Simply put, a guild is dubbed “good” or “bad” by a person’s perspective. If you want a specific thing at a specific time and said guild produces said thing, that is your definition of a “good guild”.

“ELNORIAH WAIT!”
“What is it, we were just about to move on!”
“What is this trying out/applying business? How does that make the guild “good”!?”

Excellent question, trying out and applying for your dream guild can be extremely time-consuming, so how the hell IS that a good thing. If a guild is serious about Raiding and progressing through the content available they will only hand-pick the cream of the crop, the best of the best. In order to do that they must analyze serious offers and players, so seeing them in action or reading up on the proposed player will give them an idea if you are as serious as they are about Raiding.

If you are not picked and you filled out an app/tried out then you were not what they were looking for, and honestly this is a good thing. If they just invited you, and you were not what they wanted, you would be benched during Raids and would leave regardless. They are doing you a favor by analyzing you before hand! Plus, as I just stated, a serious Hard-Core (even just serious casual) will want to learn about you, so in fact, this is an easy way to find out how serious the proposed guild actually is.

“All set class?”
“No… you damned… elf”
“Munchy, good thing you’re cute!”
“I… HATE… You!”

Vivek, are you sure you don't want to be cut down? I have this awesome Axe to do it with...

Finding  Guild Suitable for YOU!

Sorry friends, this can take some research, but in the end it will work out for you. Finding a good guild can be as time-consuming as you would like it to be, if you want to spend 2 min perusing the WoW Forums and pick whatever comes up first, be my guest. Hell, you may find something spectacular, but chances are you most likely WILL NOT. The amount of effort you put in will usually reflect the amount of payback you receive in this scenario. So, what are some suggestions I have for you?

1) Browse the Realm Forums, many serious guilds will be advertising on any of the servers listed (yours included!) , so take a browse through it, maybe you will find something you like. Although this idea is not completely accurate, the basic idea of who is on your server and recruiting is a great start. Plus, observing what others are doing as a guild may help you fine-tune your requirements for your dream guild. A great start, but may not be the wielder of your end result depending on how many guilds actually recruit on your Server’s forum.

2) Watch Trade Chat, if the ANAL jokes do not kill you, you may come out with “a diamond in the rough”. Most guilds that are currently recruiting will macro guild recruitment information on your city’s Trade Chat Channel, this information may be what they are currently completing as a guild, specific classes/roles that are being recruited at this time, dates and times of events, or ways to contact Officers/the Guild Leader (via Whispering or a website). Honestly I would use this after you have checked up on the guilds you looked into that were advertised on the Forums. However, this certainly is much more “up to date” with what guilds are recruiting at that moment in time.

3) The best guilds I have been with (I Chaos Theory I and Colour Blind) were found by PUGing with them. When a guild does not have a specific role that they need to complete a Raid, they will have to PUG a few people. If you are picked as their PUG, this will be an excellent indicator to you that they may need your role in their guild, so if they are good enough for you and vice-versa you may want to think about joining up. In both of those guilds I was just a PUG/a friend PUGed with them, and obviously it worked out spectacularly for us. The only problem someone would have with this is that there is no selection, you have found what you are looking for, but if there is nothing to compare it with you may be missing out on an even better opportunity. There is a risk you are going to have to take, keep searching and keep them in mind, or join on the spot. It is up to you!

“Elnoriah, what made those two guilds the ‘best guilds you have been with’?”
“Interesting question, luckily this easily transitions us into our final topic! Your life is spared, you are welcome!”

Hail to the Pumpkin King!

Do They Really NOT Suck!?

When you are searching for any guild, there are going to be amazing choices, horrible choices, and mediocre choices. Why settle for anything less than amazing if it is available to you? Searching for a guild is ridiculously easy, but making sure these are the guys you want to spend hours of your life with can be the most difficult part of this ordeal.

1) Do they post their scheduled on the In-Game Calendar? Planning ahead and organization reveals that the Raid Leader/Guild Leadership is focused upon Raiding and desires to start and finish at a pre-determined time. Setting a time-limit gives you a chance to kick your Raiders into gear, if we only have 2 hours to down Naxx the Raid will limit “screwing around” and complete the Raid with limited amount of mistakes.

2) Before you join, you may want to ask to do a “Trial Run” with the guild, if they desire you enough, they will undoubtably let you join them. This allows you to get to know the people you are working with before actually joining, and it also allows you to evaluate their performance. Some questions you may want to ask yourself are, “If we wipe, how does the Raid Leader take it? Is he cool and understanding, or does he jus yell and point fingers?”, “Are they trying content that is challenging?”, “Are they tightly knit and do not make you feel socially awkward?”.

3) Are they easy to work with? It should not be a struggle to receive information (or where to get said info) from guild mates, and it definitely should not be a grimacing expedition into a Raid. When you are in a Raid with your guild, they need to have standards, they need to be polite, be proficient, and have a plan to kill EVERYONE they meet. Seriously though, most likely you are looking to have fun, but also get something done on Raid Nights, the guild should be able to do both!

As a Tank, it definitely helps to be with a group of people who you know and are comfortable Raiding with. You all know your limits, as well as who you can count on to do a specific task in an encounter. PUGs are generally a hit or miss, people PUG for gear, not to teach some player how to Tank the Raid, and even then you can not always be sure of what you are working with in a PUG. Being in a guild has so many more advantages, the tiny disadvantages can almost be completely disregarded.

Students, make it possible, you know what you need to do to find the guild that you want, and if you are not already in it, there is no reason to not search for that guild. Although it may be a bumpy road, everything gets smoother at some point, right?

I will see all of you next week!
Happy WoWing!
-Eld

A Quick(ish) Update!

Okay you caught me!

“I demand a tux! If I am going to do this “news broadcasting” business, I am going to do it with some CLASS!”, exclaims a very fidgety elf.

Alight, this is not going to be completely focused on Death Knights, so I will come clean with that early. Honestly this is more of a preview of what is to come soon to a blog (this one) near you!

First off let me hand this to Crando, eccentric Mage of Fire and Brimstone!

If I was an ice cream, do you know what flavor I would be? Who cares!? Level 60 on the Mage is better than ice cream! Since I decided to pick the Mage back up again I have gotten quite a bit of help from Rozjin over at the Reputation Grind. Arcane is one of the top two current “best specs” for a Mage to be End-Game, and to me it seemed like a very fun kind of Spec. The rotation is very simple, but there is quite a bit going on regardless, there are many choices to be made even at Lvl. 60. “What is most Mana efficient?”, “This procced, what spell do unleash!?”, ect.

In a way it is just like Frost Tanking, you have a simplistic rotation, but there are quite a few key factors that you have to watch out for in terms of procs. Rime, for instance, a free Howling Blast is godly by itself, but you do have to time it correctly in order for it to be as useful as possible to you. Generally I either wait until my diseases are about to fad and/or will pair it with a Killing Machine proc for a free 5k crit without having to spend a rune.

Honestly, playing the Arcane Mage has been a blast (no pun intended), it is fresh and exciting. Although I still prefer the Death Knight Tank, the Mage will be an excellent way for me to escape Elnoriah for a few minutes and play something new for a change.

Yes, you will hear about my adventures as Crando Mage of Fire, Brimstone, Penguins, and Death in the future.

All I need is some Leather and we're in business!

All your arena points belong to ME!

Alright, so Aifel my buddy/co author has decided to spend some time in Azkaban for killing more Gnomes than Blizzard will allow in two hours. Sadly he will be incapacitated until late November-Early December, and no he was not banned!

How the hell am I supposed to do 2v2 without my Rogue!? Well, a Real-Life friend of his has a Druid and was interested in doing some PvP Resto to see what it is all about. I have never in my life played with a Healer before in Arena so THAT was an experience and a half. Luckily he is skilled and competent, I generally do not even need to ask for any CC, he just does it!

Although I still miss the DK/Rogue combo, the Druid/DK is strong and a good #2 until Aifel get’s his ass online again! 5-5 this week, which brought us to 1015 rating, yep enough to buy Furious Gladiator Chestpiece!

What does this mean!? What I have been hoping to do is to write-up some strategies that we use, and of course how to PvP as a Death Knight! We can only go up from here!

Is that all?

Yes…

Surely you can’t be serious!?

Yes, and stop calling me Sherly!

Snoop around here Thurs/Friday for a new Death Knight Tank and You addition, because once every other week is just not enough!

Happy WoWing
-Eld