http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/ en Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:08:24 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/ http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/2014-why-we-not-equipping-1-3-daggers-again.html Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:40:04 GMT So 60-70% of boss fights are now infinite rage scenarios; devastate's damage has been nerfed substantially and none of our other attacks are based on weapon speed (i.e. normalization will not impact them).

Why are we not all Librarians?


Librarian's Paper Cutter ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/2014-why-we-not-equipping-1-3-daggers-again.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1897-i-think-ive-figured-out.html Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:34:25 GMT For a long time now, a few of our priests would get discouraged when they'd check out the WWS after a raid. "The trees are so OP lol, why am I a priest again?" one or two were even rolling druids. As a tank, I've never really known why but always felt the best situation was a holy priest winding up a 20k gheal, a tree dropping hots on me like a warm cozy sweater while the shaman's earth shield is spinning and chain heal is topping everybody up at once.

Too much of one thing just feels like mono-culture to me. So it was always really bothersome when my best friend holy priest would IM me after a raid "why do I bother? Bliz hates priests - the trees are totally pushing numbers way bigger than I ever could."

I've figured out the trick. After I post WWS, I find the max gheal a holy priest dropped in the raid, and link that right after the WWS URL: "holy cow, 21k gheal! priests are OP!"

I don't want to say it fixes everything, and I can't say I understand everything about the priest class, or say with a certainty that priests aren't underpowered... but ... try it sometime.

WWS always makes the trees and shaman look good - especially now that priests lost the ability to spam circle of healing. Even the smartest most dedicated holy priest needs a bump every now and again after seeing the wws/recount onslaught every night.

So bump your holy priests ego: link a max gheal today. ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1897-i-think-ive-figured-out.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1745-sapph.html Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:26:15 GMT http://wowwebstats.com/s5oqdgsnh1vr3 16 attempts, no kills. OK the four wings of Naxx were pretty much a week each for this little league... http://wowwebstats.com/s5oqdgsnh1vr3

16 attempts, no kills.

OK the four wings of Naxx were pretty much a week each for this little league guild, raiding three nights a week. We were killing pretty well a new boss every night, and not slipping either cruising through stuff with no problem. Grobbulus seemed to trip us up for a little bit, but nothing like this.

Sapphiron!

Ah well, I'm sure we'll get her next time. So far though, our strategy seems to be "swap in a fourth healer".

The tanking wasn't too hard, though the more WWS I read the more stupid death to blizzard, death to frost bomb I see and know I need to look out for. ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1745-sapph.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1709-thugs-tanking-guide-mandarin.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 02:20:41 GMT OK so this is my latest tanking guide, this time to an IRL raid known as the Mandarin, at least in the Toronto server. I think on other servers it... OK so this is my latest tanking guide, this time to an IRL raid known as the Mandarin, at least in the Toronto server. I think on other servers it goes by the names Old Country Buffet or The Sizzler, and strats here may apply to Bob Evans, Machine Shed or Cracker Barrel with some retuning. It all boils down to "don't pick up the carbs".

OK so zoning in can be important. First; if there are lots of people around at the summoning stone this is a good sign; unlike many other raids this one is best when there is a queue. Trying to attack this raid when you are the only group there is a bad idea - there is an aoe damage caused by the meals being too far in to their cooldown, that combined with a stacking debuff called "yesterday's grease" will eventually wipe the raid.

So you don't want to summon too near the garbage bins. The sight of what comes out of the raid when you are done may reduce your stamina by 200, which just won't leave you with enough effective health to finish the raid. If you have to go back to the summoning point, to grab your cell phone or some change or your wallet, this will double every time you pass the garbage bins so beware.

OK so you've zoned in. Walk directly to the group of mobs standing by the little podium with the microphone. Talk to one of the girls there and she'll ask you if you want normal (2 man) or heroic (4 or more man) version. I suggest the 2 man or four, finding enough seats for a 6 party raid in one of these places can take a while; increasing your risk of the food cooldown aoe damage.

When you make it to your table, the waitress will ask what you want to drink. Now - this may seem simple, but believe me this has wiped many a raid later in to the dungeon. Do not order pop. Order green tea, or just stick to your water. Pop slowly causes you to loose effective stomach as the night progresses - and not only that, but the goal is to eat as much high dollar value meat as possible to increase your ratio of money spent -> value of food eaten - and that pop is 2.75 or something like that. You'd have to eat three plates of crab legs or three slices of prime rib to make up that value.

OK general notes; at some point one of the cloth wearers will ask you to watch their bag - this is OK, you have to keep the party together and ensure the safety of everyone on the run. Also if the cloth wearers are like my wife^h^h^h^h raid healer she might try to take food off your plate - in this raid I think it's acceptable as it only causes you to walk more which actually increases your effective stomach.

The first pull on my server is the curried chicken / kung pao chicken combo. Remember to pick up as little rice as possible - too many carbs! Or even skip these two all together - if you make a wide circle over by the ice cream freezer it is possible to not do this pull at all. Top it off with some pork ribs if you want.

Now we're moving fast - to the vegetable round. You want to do as little of this as possible, just for nutritional value really. Now don't get the fried rice with peas, stick to the garlic broccoli or garlic green beans. No more than two broccoli or four beans. Some people would tell you to skip this round, but my guild does it. Who knows, really, I think the veg round helps you keep coming back.

Once your done with the curried chicken/kung pao chicken (cc/kpc) and the veg round head on over to the all you can eat seafood. Remember to take as much of the crab legs, lobster tails, high count (large) shrimp as you can and avoid the baked salmon. While the salmon technically higher value than the cc/kpc, while you're working on the seafood table you really want to focus on shellfish as these are where you are going to make up the largest portion of your food value intake/gold spend ratio. Now you're going to notice as you pick these up that Mandarin hasn't made it too easy - they didn't peel or deshell anything! You're going to have to develop good shelling and peeling skills; you might not make it all the way through on your first raid as the blistering shellfish sores will form on your fingers if you aren't careful in your selection and with your rotations. Shrimp luckily do not cause the finger blister sores, so you might want to stick to these if you are a newbie but trust me, you can't make it all the way through on shrimp alone; the higher gold/food value ratio in the crab is stock in trade here.

Get a good rhythm going shelling the crab, and see if you can do three whole pulls. I know this sounds like a lot, but remember the shells are deceptive - three pulls might only make up 60% if the gold value you put in at the start. It's better if you can do four or even five pulls at the seafood table.

Now the end boss: the prime rib table.

First of all - it's always going to seem like you want to ask for two slices. This is not the best way. See the first slice is good - trim, good cut, cooked how you like it. But if you ask the cutter for a second slice they know your trick - and they will call you every time. They're not going to hand you another tender tasty slice of beef! The second helping on your first pull here will be 90% fat. Your effective stomach is going to plummet here, and your gold/food value ratio will be totally sunk. You'll never make it.

What you have to do is take one piece only, and go back for repeated pulls, much like the seafood round. Now while you do this, the mashed potatoes are going to come at you like a freakin hurricane of tasty high carb goodness. Dodge that (high avoidance is key for this round) , dodge the sausage , dodge even the grilled chicken. You want to focus completely on the prime rib.

"But thug, you say take one piece and ignore everything else, my plate will be 80% empty!!"

Don't be tempted noob. You can't handle more than one pull at a time, I don't care what your healers tell you. Stick to the plan! One prime rib per attempt maximum. Repeat this as necessary, but I'd say to go back to the prime rib table only twice or three times. There is just too much chance you're going to pick up something really low value like corn or pork dumplings, or even the dreaded awful buffet pizza or even worse buffet sushi. I mean, there isn't even any fish in the sushi! And the pizza looks like your three year old made it. Stick to the value here and you will soon be your guild's MT.

Now, for the last round - the desert table. This is almost literally a cakewalk. Remember - if your favorite desert comes in little 1inch by .5 inch squares, just get four or five of them. You're out of the woods now, and you can just take what you want. If your favorite is not out there, just wait - fortune shines on the patient raider. Now this is the only point in the night where it's OK to pick up rice - the rice pudding is awesome. Avoid the low sugar tables, avoid the ice cream (too much work, you're going to be tired after the seafood shelling), but really at this point you can just take whatever you like.

That's it! Hopefully if you stuck to the "just tea and water" routine at the ordering point, you remembered the "no drinks" rule - because your waitress is going to throw you one last curveball at the end - offering you coffee while you have your desert. Stay vigilant! This coffee is going to bump up the bill at the end, throwing off your gold/food value ratio once and for all.

As a final reward, the waitress will bring the wet lemon smelling microwaved facecloth to wash the garlic and rib sauce off your fingers. If you have any thing left in you, walk back to the summoning stone and hearth out victorious! ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1709-thugs-tanking-guide-mandarin.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1479-thugs-new-cookie-cutter.html Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:14:37 GMT Discuss! http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=LAZhLZVItMgczibIzsGo Discuss!

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=LAZhLZVItMgczibIzsGo ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1479-thugs-new-cookie-cutter.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1478-mocking-blow.html Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:57:06 GMT So Mocking Blow has gotten some love in WotLK. There is a glyph that makes it like a taunt; there is another glyph that makes it do 25% more damage -... So Mocking Blow has gotten some love in WotLK. There is a glyph that makes it like a taunt; there is another glyph that makes it do 25% more damage - it now does weapon damage, still forces the boss to focus on you, and can be used in defensive stance.

Wow.

It went from a barely used "oh noes, taunt is down and that trash mob will eet my preest" talent to something you have to really think about. I've put it back on my talent bar.

But ... it still does not do mega damage. Most tanks will be swinging 1.6ish speed weapons; so at the end of the day an "instant" attack, even one with a 25% damage buff, isn't that great from a threat perspective. Most bosses will be immune to the glyph'ed taunt effect, so it just becomes a threat rotation item - and it's just not as cool as say the new concussion blow at (.75*ap).

It still has the benefit of not being nerfed by a silence however. So, it has become "situational" again?

I'm thinking so. ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1478-mocking-blow.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1461-qq-moar-noob.html Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:53:59 GMT There are some people who think that anyone who doesn't agree with them is an asshole. They're wrong, they're mean, they're uncool. "Oh my god, did you hear what that guy said about my class being fine lol? He is obviously a noob."

Get over it. People disagree; what is good for you is not good for me. Quit worrying about what others think and do your job to the best of your ability.

Don't like your job? Have the guts to quit and pursue something you believe in. Failing at that? Good. Learning comes from failure. Take it in stride, suck up your ego and get the **** back on the horse. ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1461-qq-moar-noob.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1423-anybody-got-updated-formulas-stuff-80.html Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:59:03 GMT Anybody got updated formulas for stuff at 80? I sat down to compare two pieces and ended up trying to put together a spreadsheet that computes the... Anybody got updated formulas for stuff at 80? I sat down to compare two pieces and ended up trying to put together a spreadsheet that computes the EH, ETP, and avoidance% - and I can't seem to find good numbers.

For instance, when I go to read the latest walls o' text at EJ, I come away with a headache: http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t29453-c...gs_level_80_a/ and when I read wowwiki.com and run that, I get numbers that don't agree with the tooltips at wotlk.wowhead.com for instance.

I'm pretty sure my DR figures, as well are off; because apparently with 5 piece T7 + Crygil's Discarded I end up at 80% DR against an 83. I mean, that's not realistic.

Or is it that the numbers just aren't any good yet? I did read somewhere that the armor formulae had not been updated; but it's difficult to believe what you read on the Interweb, especially in times of change, difficult to see if you have the most recent data.

So? Is there a one stop shop yet for all this stuff? ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1423-anybody-got-updated-formulas-stuff-80.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1369-wotlk-stats-you.html Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:15:35 GMT The new number one stat:

Defense. Until you hit 540, of course, at which point its just contributing to on miss not just crits. Tanks don't get 20 defense free from talents; and defense in my experience on Murmur, is just harder to get. Defense was always a killer stat; it was just that before it was plentiful and you didn't need as much of it to be awesome. Over 540, defense is still worth much less than say, dodge.

Stamina / Armor. Enough said, no changes here. Just like "540 def or fail" is still a boolean "true/false" must have thing - enough effective health for the fight you are doing is also a "true/false" thing. If you can't soak a 20k hit you can't tank Gruul. Dodge will only save your butt for a few swings. If you can't take a 20k hit you can't tank Faerlina.

Strength. This is the biggest change. In the past, agility was the only hybrid stat* - it gave you crit and dodge. Agi is still awesome - but now with WotLK, strength gives you significant block value and attack power - and more and more of your attacks benefit from attack power: revenge, thunderclap, shockwave, mocking blow (no kidding!), devastate always did of course as did heroic strike and your white damage. AP is nice; BV is nice - but strength is KING. Scales with kings, scales with vitality, scales with shield mastery - keeps you alive (blocks more damage) and keeps the boss on you at the same time. Oh my god suddenly the tier gear with all the str/agi makes sense. Lots of sense. Here's a WWS like parse of a fight against Anub'Rekhan - the first boss in Naxx - notice that my top two damage dealers are Shield Slam and Heroic Strike. Both are buffed by strength now! Get more of it.

Expertise and hit are still pure awesome: reducing the number of dodges, parries and misses. I'm not sure what the new soft caps are; but they're likely higher than the 23/46 that they are in live so go get as much exp as you can get for now. Hit to 9% so your specials can land is still the bar.

Dodge is still the most effective avoidance after you hit 540. Parry is all over the blue gear just like it was on the BC blues; but it is still less avoidance point for point and not great threat.

Block rating is no longer useless as we are no longer spamming shield block constantly; and now that our block values are more tightly integrated. Granted, a block only reduces the incoming attack by a given amount, so its usefulness is more limited than say dodge, but it's a good stat again whereas during BC it was considered wasteful. To think about it's real value; Faerlina while enraged will hit you (hit, mind you) for 15,000. Your block value in blues/pvp purples will be, say, 1,000. This means you took about 7% out of that hit; but against more normal bosses will be hitting you for more like 6k - so that's more like taking 16% out of the damage. Much nicer; but still not a dodge or parry.

Attack Power has slightly more value than it did now that all your tanking abilities make use of it. Strength is so much better though. SO MUCH. Take attack power over block value, but take strength over both.

Crit helps more than it did - now that thunderclap and many other abilities can crit. Agility is much better - scales with kings, gives you dodge.

Armor Penetration and Haste: still likely to be useful. Not much number crunching going on with these. Since Incite gives you 15% chance to crit with heroic strike, and haste increases heroic strike speed, haste is probably slightly better now than it was with a fast weapon.

Block value is now a fairly rare, and also fairly poor stat. It only helps shield slam, where strength helps nearly all your threat attacks.

* There is an argument for expertise as a hybrid stat; and sure, it's true, but the main reason to get expertise is to land more shield slams. The "back to back parry" instagib was rare outside of dual wielding bosses. Agi and Str are now always protecting you in a viable, non-situational way. ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1369-wotlk-stats-you.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1353-spec-tuning-wotlk.html Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:47:42 GMT So I've been tanking on Murmur for a bit now, done mostly five mans on normal or heroic, and a bit of Naxx. Lots of time recently I've put in to Wyrmrest faction quests, but I've hit a wall here - just the daily 350 from now on to get me to revered, so back to tanking and farming wintergrasp for enchant materials.

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=LAz...VItMgczibIzsho

I've noticed I didn't miss Vigilance, though it was nice. When the DK's take aggro, they stay alive pretty well - or at least, they should be able to. The mages and others have gotten used to the new threat system and stay under it.

I did miss concussion blow however, and spam the hell out of Improved Spell Reflect - must haves.

Armored to the teeth is going to AP instead of BV, though it's getting a buff. For now I will ignore it since it no longer provides block value.

Improved charge for warbringer (which I love). With it, Tactical Mastery for the Defensive stance, charge, shield block, berzerker stance, big huge shield slam crit" move without waiting as long for rage.

Impale I find has huge synergy with Incite.

Everything else seems so "gotta have it" that it's not worth discussing almost. I like the defensive stance enrage, so I'm keeping it- 5% crit from cruelty is sooo nice, I love it that weapon throw silences and the 10% SS damage in Gag Order is not to be missed, I'm a believer in critical block for sure (though Damage Shield might be nice ). ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1353-spec-tuning-wotlk.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1352-dps-wotlk.html Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:06:48 GMT So I'm very used to taking off my tanking set and my shield slam pvp set to get any decent DPS.

Right now on live, a good shield slam set nets me about 900 dps, but devastate spamming with two good weapons can get me to over 1,000 with no problem - and I've put equal work in to both sets.

I won't theory craft here or list my stats on Murmur, but let me just say that in basically premade gear I am doing about 1,500 dps sword and board and about 900 dual wielding with devastate.

Say what? ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1352-dps-wotlk.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1325-naxx-raiding-round-two.html Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:09:57 GMT So I jumped in a pug last night and finally dropped the first boss in Naxx. I have to say it felt pretty good. I think I've realized though that to keep doing this I need to either gquit (at least on Murmur) or run in pugs all the time, which is a painful idea.

I've noticed there is no recruiting forum for the betas - how do you end up in a guild in beta then? ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1325-naxx-raiding-round-two.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1319-thugs-starting-blues-shopping-list.html Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:22:59 GMT http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=37872 - BV trinket! http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=36993 - need defense... http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=37115... http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=37872 - BV trinket!
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=36993 - need defense...
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=37115
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=43353
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=43203
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=44362
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=41114 or http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=41357
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=37186
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=36961
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=44201 Wyrmrest? O Hai!
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=36969
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=37107

The astute reader will note I'm focusing on defense this time around. The 540 defense goal for uncrittable looks fairly difficult. While I am uncrittable via resilience, 10% flat dodge and 10% flat parry from the premade pvp gear is just not enough. I'm up to 13% dodge 13% parry thanks to the neck, the wrist, and a L73 shield.

I'm sure as soon as I hit 540 I'll be focused on either hit or EH after that; but for now uncrittable is this bare minimum before I'm going to feel good tanking. ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1319-thugs-starting-blues-shopping-list.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1308-naxx-how-i-came-learn-i-noob.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:38:03 GMT There isn't any content in BC that I don't swagger in to these days with at least a base level of confidence. I tank KZ in my PVP gear for fun, feel good about ZA, Gruul, Mags, TK, SSC, Hyjal - and feel my gear is appropriate for more - and I feel my knowledge of "when to do what" from a general tanking sense is very good. When to build threat faster, when to avoid more, when to strap on EH gear etc.

So anyway, me, our guild's founder and the current GM decided on a lark Sunday night to swagger in to LFG on the premade server and start inviting people to Naxx. We didn't tell anyone we were new to the content, but I think we'd all been in there once before and had maybe two attempts on the boss together.

It did not go well. I didn't know when to kite him, where to kite him, how far out on the edge to kite. We wiped a few times. People were mad, zoning out, flipping attitude. I felt like the lowest scrub 70 tank in leveling greens and blues - the one that doesn't know where his buttons are. We never even got the first boss down in the spider wing.

I got to wondering; how did we fare against, say Moroes the first time? I mean Moroes was more respectably challenging than Attumen and Midnight for instance

- The trash was rougher (for Attumen), and the timers were nastier
- The fight took a bit to figure out a strategy for (Moroes), but it wasn't terrible once we remembered shackles etc
- There were strategy guides online if we wanted to cheat
- We were full guild, this was 70% pug

So far, the sites I visit have been fairly mum on "how to" style guides on the new WotLK content, and I can respect that the game isn't even out yet, but it means I'm learning on every attempt, just picking up what more veteran types would offer me before dropping group.

One thing has struck me so far:

KZ was mostly about "OK this fight is a kill the adds, then kill the boss" raid, with a few gimmicks. I think Naxx is going to be a much more challenging KZ than KZ was.

HKM was Moroes on speed; Mags by time I got there was tank and spank with some clicking, Gruul was "lol EH is nice", SSC and TK were more KZ style fights until the two end bosses, which were more challenging but very gimmicky.

Maybe I'm just remembering wrong; maybe I'm just feeling shaken after putting two hours in to one boss and having half of Murmur tell me I'm a noob fail raid leader. I dunno. Or maybe they've tuned the trash to be easier, but the bosses are going to be harder.

One thing is for sure, I will yell "*** yeah!" really loud once we finally kill that noob bait spider. I won't care one bit what it drops, so long as it hits the floor. ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1308-naxx-how-i-came-learn-i-noob.html http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1299-oculus.html Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:49:09 GMT Wow... I have to say, the Oculus is really something special. The usual suspects don't have much on it, so I won't throw in a sploiler though I am so dying to. I just have to say - this is really something new.

Nice work Blizzard.

Now, stupid move of stupid moves; I didn't check - there's a quest that has a protection warrior piece as a reward for this dungeon and I didn't pick it up. :/

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?quest=13128

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=44341 ]]> thugthedum http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/thugthedum/1299-oculus.html