Welcome back my followers ... er ... follower. Been away from the game for awhile and only in the last few weeks gotten myself to 85 and started the pain staking process of the heroic grind to gear up. On top of that the last 6 weeks have been basically filled with helping form, an upstart guild on Earthen Ring - US and only to have my computer completely fail on me. So here I am refreshed and ready to do those previously mentioned heroics.
Tanking. The title of this blog does leave some thinking that needs to be done on my part. Mostly I have been doing almost none of it. With my computer woes being the first issue and the second being I'm not very good at it. My guildies can attest to that. :( So with that said I believe I shall be practising my fury dps rotation in hopes of actually becoming good at this game.
So I hope to be able to post a little more often for myself. No followers. Just to get back into the swing of things and hopefully get this show on the road.
Showing posts with label Tanking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tanking. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Oh Yes, Its Coming
The grind is fast approaching, and with it comes needed rep, emblems and cash for gem/enchants. This will all have one result, new content.
My guild is just 1 week shy of being done with Naxx from a gear perspective. Most of us are past the gear level required to bother running that raid. Most of us agree its time to start on Ulduar and maybe even jump to 10-man ToC for phat loots. With 3.3 around the corner we need to be working on the 5-man Ice Crown instances (like ToC 5man, was to get into Naxx) in preparation to get into 10 man ICC.
With all that in mind from a tanking perspective I think I need to start watching video on some of the encounters before its time for me to start flailing around on the trash and add from whatever bosses we first come across. From what I read 10 man Ulduar is the harder of the 2 most recent raids for a guild to wrap their heads around, yet it is older content then ToC. A little odd for a patch right before the find push to take down Arthas aka the Lich King. But with anything new comes confusion, many wipes (haha see what i did there, many whelps ?!?) and big repair bills as we all learn the fights.
I myself have been dying to go into Ulduar because it to me seems like a big place and I would rather see the inside of that before we see ToC 10-man, simply because of the order the content was released. I never got to do a since raid in either the classic or TBC eras of content as I was late to the punch with getting into the game. At that point I was lvl 70 in like March or April of 2008 and was never really able to do even 5-man content due to a poor schedule at work. So I won't be letting that happen again.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tanking Aint Easy
So it has been a while since my last update with lots to share of course.
Over the last 6 weeks or so I have been either raiding Naxx as my DK and more recently my recent to 80 Warrior. Naxx is a challenging instance to a new tank I must say. I've done more quarters as an off tank then I have as a DPS so I have a decent understanding of most of the boss fights and think I really only struggle with AoE on the Warrior.
I do have alot more fun on bosses with the warrior, because the rotation is more reactive and less wait for cool downs. Basically in my own opinion I do believe a warrior is a better tank over all then a DK, simply because of the versatility. With the exception of the AoE group threat I'm struggling with on the Warrior, I just have so many different tricks up my sleeve. We got sunders on the mobs for reducing armor to increase dps of fellow melee dps'ers. We got a few different stuns coming from Shockwave, Concussive Blow etc, making the mobs stop whalen on me while I gain a pile of threat on them, 20 sec cool down on that. Plus we got a few taunts. Taunt obviously, Mocking Blow for an melee range taunt as well as my favorite with Challenging Roar, that I believe taunts everything in either a 10 or 20 yard range. Very handy after I was rooted or stunned to get those mobs back. I think a Warrior is the best with interrupts as well. I forget the names of them already, but one is Shield Bash. I think our Pallys lack this.
We have no other DK or Druid tanks. Just my DK and Warrior at present. But I am alright without competition. I enjoy tanking more then dps'ing. So I am cool right now with not having to worry about losing my job.
I Can say for sure that I need to learn how to handle targeting better, runners heading for the dps and healers are tricky. Tho I can see them running if there is alot of trash mobs around the targeting is a tad bit tricky cause I have to click on there nameplate. I have an add-on called Tidy Plates that does a good job of showing threat by color, with either a DPS or tank setting. So I can clearly see whos running, but amongst the clutter of them becomes difficult. But I guess its all a matter of practice and maybe I have to learn to tab target *sigh*.
I also have plans to bring up a Druid to tank as well. But with no plans to bring up a Paladin just yet, as my guild is chalk full of them. Two of them being our guilds main tanks. So a Druid is the next logical choice, but I think I will wait for Cataclysm and roll a Druid. Worgan of course. He will be my leather worker / skinner just cause they can't use anything above leather. Which could also benefit a Rogue, should I ever make one.
But to try and get back to raiding, which is what I wanted to do with WoW in the first place. Naxx is an interesting animal, 4 quarters and then 2 end bosses. The spider wing is a breeze and blind one armed monkey can do this just his face to mash the keyboard. I don't know the names of the quarters. But the hardest for our guild and myself is the quarter with the Safety dance. God I hate that wing as lag is a major factor in there and I seem to never be in the right quarter. I'm aiming to get through that cause that is my main downfall it seems, just can't just where the line that separates the quarters are. Blah. The Military quarter with the death knights and the guys with the to adds you control with those crystals is pretty fun. I like when then make us use different mechanics during a fight. Except Oculus, f%^& that place. We have yet to down K'T and thou I have my suspicions as to why we have not been able to get past him for the 2nd week in a row, I'm sure we will be able to get past him once we get the ice block situation sorted out.
But in conclusion I like Naxx but would rather gear up and get onto newer content. Course my gear aint ready for anything above Naxx and I think my skills need improvements. Of course I'm sure my guildies will tell me what I'm doing wrong, that i know the loud mouth bastards.
~ Kin
Over the last 6 weeks or so I have been either raiding Naxx as my DK and more recently my recent to 80 Warrior. Naxx is a challenging instance to a new tank I must say. I've done more quarters as an off tank then I have as a DPS so I have a decent understanding of most of the boss fights and think I really only struggle with AoE on the Warrior.
I do have alot more fun on bosses with the warrior, because the rotation is more reactive and less wait for cool downs. Basically in my own opinion I do believe a warrior is a better tank over all then a DK, simply because of the versatility. With the exception of the AoE group threat I'm struggling with on the Warrior, I just have so many different tricks up my sleeve. We got sunders on the mobs for reducing armor to increase dps of fellow melee dps'ers. We got a few different stuns coming from Shockwave, Concussive Blow etc, making the mobs stop whalen on me while I gain a pile of threat on them, 20 sec cool down on that. Plus we got a few taunts. Taunt obviously, Mocking Blow for an melee range taunt as well as my favorite with Challenging Roar, that I believe taunts everything in either a 10 or 20 yard range. Very handy after I was rooted or stunned to get those mobs back. I think a Warrior is the best with interrupts as well. I forget the names of them already, but one is Shield Bash. I think our Pallys lack this.
We have no other DK or Druid tanks. Just my DK and Warrior at present. But I am alright without competition. I enjoy tanking more then dps'ing. So I am cool right now with not having to worry about losing my job.
I Can say for sure that I need to learn how to handle targeting better, runners heading for the dps and healers are tricky. Tho I can see them running if there is alot of trash mobs around the targeting is a tad bit tricky cause I have to click on there nameplate. I have an add-on called Tidy Plates that does a good job of showing threat by color, with either a DPS or tank setting. So I can clearly see whos running, but amongst the clutter of them becomes difficult. But I guess its all a matter of practice and maybe I have to learn to tab target *sigh*.
I also have plans to bring up a Druid to tank as well. But with no plans to bring up a Paladin just yet, as my guild is chalk full of them. Two of them being our guilds main tanks. So a Druid is the next logical choice, but I think I will wait for Cataclysm and roll a Druid. Worgan of course. He will be my leather worker / skinner just cause they can't use anything above leather. Which could also benefit a Rogue, should I ever make one.
But to try and get back to raiding, which is what I wanted to do with WoW in the first place. Naxx is an interesting animal, 4 quarters and then 2 end bosses. The spider wing is a breeze and blind one armed monkey can do this just his face to mash the keyboard. I don't know the names of the quarters. But the hardest for our guild and myself is the quarter with the Safety dance. God I hate that wing as lag is a major factor in there and I seem to never be in the right quarter. I'm aiming to get through that cause that is my main downfall it seems, just can't just where the line that separates the quarters are. Blah. The Military quarter with the death knights and the guys with the to adds you control with those crystals is pretty fun. I like when then make us use different mechanics during a fight. Except Oculus, f%^& that place. We have yet to down K'T and thou I have my suspicions as to why we have not been able to get past him for the 2nd week in a row, I'm sure we will be able to get past him once we get the ice block situation sorted out.
But in conclusion I like Naxx but would rather gear up and get onto newer content. Course my gear aint ready for anything above Naxx and I think my skills need improvements. Of course I'm sure my guildies will tell me what I'm doing wrong, that i know the loud mouth bastards.
~ Kin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)