Cataclysmic Raiding

Alright, so we all know that Raiding is harder now right? Right.

Well, because of this I want to refer you to some different things you can do to get ready for raiding.

Tankspot.com is awesome for detailed boss overviews.
Go to youtube.com and look up BlueXephos and any bosses name, quicker boss overview.

These are both free services so there really is no excuse for not taking advantage of them.

I expect that most if not all people in a raid will take the time to look up the fights. I am happy to go over boss fights but I reserve the right to end a raid if no one or very few people have taken the time to research what we are doing. it takes 10 minutes and you are wasting the other 9 peoples time if you don't take the time to get ready before the raid starts.

People should bring their own flasks and buff food. We have several cooks and a couple of alchemist in teh guild. If you don't want to buy through the AH talk to them and see if you can buy/or get them to make you the stuff you need.

As always, please listen as I don't want to repeat a fight several times. Take all critisism constructively and if you give critisism keep it constructive. I play or have played most of the classes, so I have a general knowledge base but by no means do I know or pretend to know everything. Unless you have 10 80's of every class with every spec, I assume you don't know everything either. Feel free to give advice or fill in blanks I miss, but don't expect someone who has played a lock (not a specific example) since vanilla to know less then you.

At times I will ask for specific requirements. (Dps numbers or GS) this is not because i'm a cruel horibble person that lives life by the numbers. If you have been in a raid I have led you know this isn't true. However, since I only have 10 slots to fill in a given raid, I have to go by the things that show the most work towards raiding or experience so people have a chance to be successful. I will switch people up as much as possible, but if you don't make a raid one or two weeks in a row it's not because I don't like you, or that I think your not suited for raiding. It's because i am doing my best to be fair, and because i'm human I will make mistakes and might not always be. If you have an issue or want to always make a raid team, I am looking for a second raid leader so we might have more options. Feel free to volunteer.

Other reasons someone might not be my first choice could be if they have signed up for things, but consistantly don't show. Yes I realize real life happens and by all means I expect it to come before a raid. But if you know you might not make it, sign up as tentative and whisper me when I get on and I will put you as one of the first alternitives if I need to fill a hole. Also, if you have more then one 85 in the guild... please only sign up with the one you want to go on.

I expect everyone to be on and ready to go at the posted time. I will wait no more then 5-10 minutes to fill a hole as 9 other people are waiting and you are wasting thier time if you are not there ready to go. Which means, if you are 10 minutes late, you have wasted roughly 90 minutes of play time between the other people.


I expect everyone to be civil in a raid with each other as well as in guild. I know things get frustraited,and sometimes you want to in explict detail call someone out for being a horrible brainless person who after 6 years hasn't figured out that standing in fire inevitably kills your character, but if you must say something, make sure it is polite and to the point. I don't believe that in two years or raid leading, and people doing those thing constantly, anyone in this guild has ever heard me call someone out in a derisive manner for not playing well or doing similar things. I don't believe I ever will.

I know I might come off as Harsh and even a little Elitist in this post. I am not that strict a person and i'm fairly laid back. However, I want there to be no misunderstandings over the expectations I shoot for. I believe that in two years I can count on one hand the amount of raids that were canceled because I wasn't there and ready to go. I am here for you, and I take my commitment to lead these things seriously. I know you depend on me to be there on time and ready to go for you, I ask you to show me the same courtousy.

Sincerly,

Ben (aka, Lag, Mystborn, Pyreknight, Bricken, etc...)

I found this info on a different website that gives a good overview of increasing dps, heals, etc if you feel like you need it. I had a much longer intro written and then when i posted it, I got some error message. The information contained isn't perfect but its a good starting point for general info.

This is a very friendly and helpful guild, so I've found pretty much anyone is willing to help out with advice. However, sometimes how someone plays isn't how I might play, but it does give a good overview of some of the best ways to do your toon.

I'm always willing to help out on rogues, mostly mutilate right now. Also on Prot/Holy paladins, though I know nothing about Ret, and very little about pvp for either class. Other toons I don't know enough about, but might be able to provide general information. We have so many players though, someone will be able to help out if you want it, just ask!

If you want advice on interface setups and addons, I might also be able to help there. I like a very clean and uncluttered interface. I think I will try to post some general pictures of different encounters and stuff later in another thread.

Some good places to look for:
Elitist Jerks
WoWHeroes
Wowpedia
BlueXephos on youtube
MaxDPS.com
Wowpopular

Zalkor/Smithey

Quote :

I've heard many guildies lately saying that their dps just is not where everyone else's seems to be this far into Cataclysm. It's not just the level capped toons, either. In general, WoW is a pretty detailed game and those who play casually, and some who play more often, just don't know where to look to make sure they are getting everything out of their toon as humanly possible.

This week, we wanted to cover the basics to checking your character in order to make sure you are getting the most out of your game play. We managed to cover a variety of points in this show, including character knowledge, gear, primary and secondary stats, gems, enchantments, reforging, reputation rewards, and more. It was our goal to point out the finer things to look for when you are trying to squeeze out that extra dps from your toon. This information translates over to healers and tanks as well, you just have to know what you are looking for.

As a player, you need to do your research. These are the main areas we feel you should be focusing on in order to find that extra damage output hiding within your toon:


1. First, you should do your homework on your particular class. If you have played the game for any length of time, you should know what abilities are available to character in each spec. You probably have played with a number of others who play a similar class and spec, also. Take a minute and search them on the armory or on other sites to see how they are geared, specced, glyphed, and gemmed. Even if you don't have the time to do some in depth research on your toon, maybe they do and have done all the work for you. Try to find where they get their damage output from and put it to work for you!

2. Not every spec is the same. Some may be better suited for a particular style of gameplay. Be sure you are in the correct spec for the situation. Specs change from time to time after patches and content changes. Be sure you are up to date.

3. Be sure you are getting the right gear and the most appropriate gear. Be sure you are getting gear that contains stats which benefit your class. Primary stats for your class should be:

Melee DPS (Rogues and Hunters) - You should be looking for gear with stamina and agility primarily. These will boost your health and your attack power.

Melee DPS (DK's, Warriors, Palidans) - Your primary stats are strength and stamina. Intellect is a bonus for Pallies. Strength will boost your DPS and the intellect for pallies will boost your spell power.

Caster DPS (Mages, Warlocks, Priests) - You should be looking for Stamina (locks especially), but intellect is your primary stat to be on the lookout for. Most pieces may also have spirit, which is sought after by healers, but can't hurt for mana regen. Most times, you aren't stopping you casting, so you don't benefit from the regen, but it's not bad to have. Secondary stats on pieces are usually what you need to really look at.

Secondary stats are an important factor for all classes. The most important stat you should be looking for when it comes to secondary stats is hit rating. Boosting your hit will increase the frequency that your attacks make contact with an enemy. Higher hit ratings will raise your sustained DPS. Depending on preference, the stats to seek after hit rating are critical strike, haste, and mastery....generally in that order. If you get critical strike on most pieces, but have little hit rating, you may want to consider visiting the reforging NPC in order to increase your hit. Most melee classes should have a hit rating of about 1175-1200 before hitting the heroics or raids. Caster DPS should be somewhere around a spell hit cap of 450, or 17% in your tool tip in game. Once you get there, you need to look for haste or critical strike. You will get some hit rating while in groups from Dranei or Arcane Mages with Precision or Arcane focus, too, so don't panic if you aren't maxed out. You can get maxed out based on who is in the party even if you yourself only have 275 or so. (Yes, it is confusing sometimes and I wanted to try to keep it as basic as possible for everyone...)
Haste will reduce your cast times, crit will increase the change of some bonus damage. Remember not to over stock on hit, since you get some diminishing returns on anything over the cap. You are better off going for another stat at this point.
Reforge any stats that you haven't maxed out yet. Sacrifice some critical strike or mastery if you haven't gotten your hit cap to the maximum. It seems strange, but you want to make sure you hit every time before you shoot for anything else.

4. Enchants, Gems, and Glyphs are there to boost your stats and your damage output. If you want to maximize your output, you have to gem, glyph and enchant. These items can boost your DPS by up to 25% or more, depending on your setup. Don't take them for granted. One great place to visit is www.wow-heroes.com to find out what gear you have and what enchants and gems are available for that item. You can check out some of the best glyphs for a particular class and spec at WoWPopular . You can find some of the more popular setups for both glyphing and talents here. Do your research and you will be surprised what DPS you can squeeze out.

5. Talent trees all have some great opportunities for increased DPS. They also have a few talents that will do nothing but eat up a point that could be better spent elsewhere. Check other players and see what they pick as talents. Don't use a point to increase your run speed if you can take a point that increases the damage output of a particular ability by 2%. Remember, every bit of damage you can do makes a difference. Go to WoW Popular to see who is putting talents points where. There are several builds and you can find the most popular ones there without much trouble.

6. If you don't have time to run dungeons for gear, you may have to buy some good pieces. Do your research, too. There may be certain dungeons that only drop certain items you are looking for or need to upgrade. Don't waste your time in ones that don't have gear you can use. If you can't find an item, you may need to buy it on the AH. Trinkets are sometimes hard to get, as are weapons at times. Find out where to get the best gear with the least investment of time.

7. Reputation with certain factions will open up the opportunity to purchase gear and enchantments. WoW Heroes is a great place to find out what shoulder and helm enchants you can get from certain factions. Once you know what you need and where to go, you can really increase some damage with these unique enchants. Check the quartermasters to see what they offer for sale. You may want to prioritize your leveling of reputation based on what gear is available to you.

8. Finally, learn your rotation. Each class and spec have a unique rotation of abilities you can use that provides high, sustained dps throughout the encounters. You should be able to easily search Google for "Warcraft, Fire, Mage rotation, 4.0" and come up with a decent rotation to use. I did some digging and found two for my rogue specs. I spent a little time researching hunters for Faylynn and Darkmayor a few weeks ago when their dps wasn't top notch.

Just take a half hour and do your research before logging into the game. You will be surprised at how much info is out there. Remember to keep track of your current DPS output and compare it to the DPS after you tweak things. See exactly how much you are improving. Use the target dummies, too. They are not the best base for gauging DPS, but they do help. Keep in mind that your DPS output also changes based on the type of encounter...single target vs. multiple target or even boss encounter. If you want to gauge your DPS performance, be sure to do it with similar events so you can see if things really changed for you.

the website,

http://www.crusaderscoliseum.com/

gives really good write ups on the different boss fights. It even includes ideas for tanks, heals and DPS to use.

Dros