A blog about the game behind the game™.
Many articles or features were originally posts from Wowhead.
About the author: Arideni, a veteran of World of Warcraft, now contributes often through freelance writing at the Wowhead database. Usually found pondering the meaning of life, Arideni's unique perspective allows for insightful conversation.
His current projects include a weekly forum discussion, "Topic of the Week," which can be found reposted here as well as his own opinions & theories, and two guides maintained for the Wowhead Warrior Forums.
Many articles or features were originally posts from Wowhead.
About the author: Arideni, a veteran of World of Warcraft, now contributes often through freelance writing at the Wowhead database. Usually found pondering the meaning of life, Arideni's unique perspective allows for insightful conversation.
His current projects include a weekly forum discussion, "Topic of the Week," which can be found reposted here as well as his own opinions & theories, and two guides maintained for the Wowhead Warrior Forums.
What's it take to be a great DPS?
Posted 01-15-2009 at 03:21 PM by Arideni
If you could recommend one piece of advice to a damage dealing class (DPS) in a group, what would it be? What does it take to be a good DPS?
I'm curious to learn what exactly your opinion on this subject is. Remember, keep it short and concise - I want the one thing which makes a good DPS stand out among the thousands. What is it? The way they carry themselves? Their methodical mindset which allows them to stay objective? What about initiative or valor? Are they passive or aggressive? Boring?
I'll start off.
I think it takes patience. Knowledge and understanding are great virtues, but experience and prowess comes from but the fruit of one simple tree: patience.
Your turn!
I'm curious to learn what exactly your opinion on this subject is. Remember, keep it short and concise - I want the one thing which makes a good DPS stand out among the thousands. What is it? The way they carry themselves? Their methodical mindset which allows them to stay objective? What about initiative or valor? Are they passive or aggressive? Boring?
I'll start off.
I think it takes patience. Knowledge and understanding are great virtues, but experience and prowess comes from but the fruit of one simple tree: patience.
Your turn!
Total Comments 8
Comments
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Awareness - Knowing what the hell is going on around you at all times.Posted 01-15-2009 at 04:00 PM by Horacio 
- Balance! In all things...dps, agro, survivability, etc. I don't dps very often, but I continually rate the performance of every dps-er that I tank for.
Good numbers in the dmg meters is probably 3rd-4th in my overall rating of a dps class...
Attitude is always first. Are they willing to learn or try things different?
I would put "group before self" mentality as a close second. Are they willing to eat a death if it will save a healer and prevent a wipe?
Tied with actual dmg output ability is threat management. Can they hold their load long enough to see the first thunderclap go off, or do I have to charge just to get to the mobs before they do?Posted 01-15-2009 at 04:20 PM by Saent - Awareness and Attitude.
It pisses me off when people just can't comprehend the concept of "get the heck out of the fire/green stuff/red stuff"Posted 01-15-2009 at 07:49 PM by Ferim - Versatility - A good DPS needs to know his rotation and when to change it to a situation, a great DPS needs to also know when to scatter shot mob A so it doesn’t pwn the healer or Curse of exhaustion mob B so the tank has time to pick it up again. I have purposely left mobs out of my AoE rotation before just to see if the DPS had the smarts to change target when they were getting close to the threat cap. Strangely enough both our Guildies changed targets, the pug didn’t and got a repair bill for it.
This is defiantly someone that has declined with 3.0. People seem to just think that Threat is a none event now and they don’t even need their omen open. I don’t know the last time I saw a hunter FD.Posted 01-15-2009 at 10:28 PM by Irat - One piece of advice for a DPS class in a group...
Hrmmmmm...
Watch Omen since I'm probably not bothering to mark..
(and join me on vent. I've ran this instance 10+ times, I'm liable to fall asleep unless you come chat with me)Posted 01-16-2009 at 12:04 AM by Vistigoth - Agreed, Survivability. I have some DPS int he guild who push 3k... but I take the 1600 DPS over them because they survive blizzards in Saph.
Posted 01-16-2009 at 03:46 AM by Glomgore -
Expanding on survivability; don't expect heals all the time. Healers are usually focused on more important things so don't be afraid to take a step back and bandage yourself up if possible.
To tie everything together I would suggest intelligence :P. Knowing what to do and when, what's happening around you, how to bust out some big numbers and not pull aggro.Posted 01-16-2009 at 04:13 AM by Thuragor -
What's a great dps? A dps that shows up every raid. ow now, I know you're gona go on about that terrible player you want to loose but just is always there always on time.......just doesn't know how to play.
But if I had to choose between two very good players, I'd choose the one most loyal and there to stick around even if he's a bit lower then the other player.
Also I always take into account mechanics: some classes/specs just can do less dps then other classes/specs even when the player behind the keys is a better one.Posted 01-16-2009 at 04:49 AM by orcstar 
