When I first started tanking, I knew that I was going to have to take on more responsibility than other members of the group. After all, the main reason I started tanking was because I didn't want to trust other people to do it competently. I knew that this decision would result in the majority of boss fights being stressful for me even if they're relatively relaxed for others, and I accepted that.
Anybody who has raided enough in Ulduar to have experienced the Thorim fight knows that it's relatively hectic. Particularly if you're left in the arena - which, as a Paladin tank, I am - to deal with wave after wave of adds coming down. It's tense and exciting and can be incredibly draining.
The key to success is learning to keep track of everything; something I assume most tanks did a long time ago. What you have available to pick up adds at range at any given time, what adds to expect next, what adds you currently have to deal with, who else in your group has aggro. It's certainly not easy, but there are things to make it easier.
A couple of tips:
1. /console cameradistancemaxfactor 4 should allow you to see the whole of the arena and pick out the important adds immediately when you zoom right out.
2. Save your ranged cooldowns. Exorcism and Avenger's Shield are useful for additional DPS when you're tanking at melee range, but you never know when you'll need one or the other for picking up an add because you have nothing else off cooldown.
3. Have your group stack on top of you in the centre of the arena, and keep consecration up at all times. This should be sufficient to keep threat on the smaller, inconsequential adds.
Saturday 30 May 2009
Friday 29 May 2009
The Observations of Ulduar
I will admit that my experience of Ulduar is not as extensive as that of others, but I've downed six bosses and attempted two of the others. By the end of this week, I should have hopefully downed ten (or more) of the Ulduar bosses.
So this post can be considered to be one or two observations of Ulduar (mainly in comparison to Naxxramas) so far.
It's considerably more intense. Learning raid content can be pretty exhausting, especially when you've been at it for awhile. Learning Naxxramas wasn't anywhere as exhausting as Ulduar is, and I suppose that's to be expected. It requires a lot more work from everybody in the group, and that's not a bad thing at all. More frustration when you wipe, but also more satisfaction when you don't.
Offtanking Naxxramas was dull. There was minimal effort required to pick up adds, and if you were slow on picking them up it wasn't a huge issue. Not to mention that a lot of Naxxramas bosses were simply pick up and stand in place. If you had a tank that wasn't that great, not a problem: just have them offtank, and it doesn't really matter.
As a tank in Ulduar you have to be on the top of your game, regardless of whether you're main or off tanking. If you're lax about anything there's a real possibility that you'll wipe your raid. More kiting to be done, more situations where you may have to taunt a boss off of the other tank, more adds to be picked up (and they have to be picked up a lot faster), pretty much more of everything that made certain bosses in Naxxramas actually interesting. Even trash is more exciting; the tank and spank tedium of Naxxramas replaced in places with the necessity for crowd control, movement, positioning or tank switching.
Tanking raid content is actually FUN. My enjoyment of previous raid content came purely from the emblem/loot rewards, I'm now enjoying Ulduar for entirely different reasons.
So this post can be considered to be one or two observations of Ulduar (mainly in comparison to Naxxramas) so far.
It's considerably more intense. Learning raid content can be pretty exhausting, especially when you've been at it for awhile. Learning Naxxramas wasn't anywhere as exhausting as Ulduar is, and I suppose that's to be expected. It requires a lot more work from everybody in the group, and that's not a bad thing at all. More frustration when you wipe, but also more satisfaction when you don't.
Offtanking Naxxramas was dull. There was minimal effort required to pick up adds, and if you were slow on picking them up it wasn't a huge issue. Not to mention that a lot of Naxxramas bosses were simply pick up and stand in place. If you had a tank that wasn't that great, not a problem: just have them offtank, and it doesn't really matter.
As a tank in Ulduar you have to be on the top of your game, regardless of whether you're main or off tanking. If you're lax about anything there's a real possibility that you'll wipe your raid. More kiting to be done, more situations where you may have to taunt a boss off of the other tank, more adds to be picked up (and they have to be picked up a lot faster), pretty much more of everything that made certain bosses in Naxxramas actually interesting. Even trash is more exciting; the tank and spank tedium of Naxxramas replaced in places with the necessity for crowd control, movement, positioning or tank switching.
Tanking raid content is actually FUN. My enjoyment of previous raid content came purely from the emblem/loot rewards, I'm now enjoying Ulduar for entirely different reasons.
Do you have the achievement?
A couple of weeks ago, while trying to put together a group for the 10-man version of Vault of Archavon, I experienced something interesting. I had a whisper from a DPS (I think it was a Paladin, but I can't remember), who we'll call Bob.
Needing extra DPS, I invite Bob to my raid group. The first thing he says isn't "Hi" or "Thanks for the invite" it's "Ask for achievement next time." Apparently he wants me to ask people whether or not they have the achievement for killing Emalon before I invite them to a raid to kill Emalon.
So I discuss this with Bob on the raid channel, and explain that I don't think having the achievement is the only indicator of being capable of killing him (I certainly didn't have the achievement BEFORE I killed Emalon for the first time, but I was capable of doing so). At this point, we get revelation number one: Bob doesn't have the achievement himself. So he wants me to apply a standard to the other members of the group that he wouldn't meet himself. Interesting.
After discussing this topic for awhile, we move onto the subject of gear. Back before joining my current guild, I ran the majority of the 10 man content with a Warlock and a Mage, plus whoever else we could get from our old guild or by pugging. Both the Warlock and Mage are good at what they do, so they can generally make up for one or two slightly undergeared people in our groups. It is at this point that I actually decide to check Bob's gear, and we get revelation number two: Bob's gear isn't fantastic. A handful of blues and a couple of level 70 PvP items along with level 80 epics.
I've done a fair bit of raiding with all kinds of people. I've played with well geared bad players and reasonably geared good players enough times to know that gear isn't everything. I've also dragged poor players through enough raids to know that having an achievement for killing a raid boss doesn't mean you were particularly productive during the fight.
Unless you're the raid leader, only worry about yourself. Your gear, your achievements, how you're playing. I'll worry about the group as a whole, and I'll kick people if they don't perform when required - I won't kick people or refuse to give them a shot simply because they don't have the best gear in the game and the achievements for killing every boss.
Needing extra DPS, I invite Bob to my raid group. The first thing he says isn't "Hi" or "Thanks for the invite" it's "Ask for achievement next time." Apparently he wants me to ask people whether or not they have the achievement for killing Emalon before I invite them to a raid to kill Emalon.
So I discuss this with Bob on the raid channel, and explain that I don't think having the achievement is the only indicator of being capable of killing him (I certainly didn't have the achievement BEFORE I killed Emalon for the first time, but I was capable of doing so). At this point, we get revelation number one: Bob doesn't have the achievement himself. So he wants me to apply a standard to the other members of the group that he wouldn't meet himself. Interesting.
After discussing this topic for awhile, we move onto the subject of gear. Back before joining my current guild, I ran the majority of the 10 man content with a Warlock and a Mage, plus whoever else we could get from our old guild or by pugging. Both the Warlock and Mage are good at what they do, so they can generally make up for one or two slightly undergeared people in our groups. It is at this point that I actually decide to check Bob's gear, and we get revelation number two: Bob's gear isn't fantastic. A handful of blues and a couple of level 70 PvP items along with level 80 epics.
I've done a fair bit of raiding with all kinds of people. I've played with well geared bad players and reasonably geared good players enough times to know that gear isn't everything. I've also dragged poor players through enough raids to know that having an achievement for killing a raid boss doesn't mean you were particularly productive during the fight.
Unless you're the raid leader, only worry about yourself. Your gear, your achievements, how you're playing. I'll worry about the group as a whole, and I'll kick people if they don't perform when required - I won't kick people or refuse to give them a shot simply because they don't have the best gear in the game and the achievements for killing every boss.
An Introduction
Welcome to my World of Warcraft blog. I play a Protection Paladin named Cardolan on the Ravenholdt-EU server.
My aims for this blog are pretty simple; to discuss aspects of the game that interest me, to comment on aspects of the game that annoy me, discuss raid progression and (when available) provide boss strategies for raid content. All from my point of view as a player and as a Paladin tank.
My aims for this blog are pretty simple; to discuss aspects of the game that interest me, to comment on aspects of the game that annoy me, discuss raid progression and (when available) provide boss strategies for raid content. All from my point of view as a player and as a Paladin tank.
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