TankSpot - Blogs - veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/ en Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:23:44 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg TankSpot - Blogs - veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/ <![CDATA[Why can't 10-man players craft gear too?]]> http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2842-why-can-t-10-man-players-craft-gear-too.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:49:26 GMT
Quote:
@veneretio I bet the blacksmithing stuff will make me grump again. No one tosses any crafting bones to 10-man raiders. :/
That's what 10-man raider, Kadomi had to say in regards to my excitement regarding the new, awesome crafted gear I noticed will be dropping in Icecrown.

She's got a point.

Why shouldn't patterns drop in 10s?

Now my immediate response to this used to be that it didn't make sense for 10 man raiders to have all ilvl 232 items dropping and then a boss randomly drops an ilvl 245 pattern. It'd be kind of silly after all if the first boss in Ulduar could drop a pattern for better gear than the final boss in Ulduar.

But, why does it have to be this way?

Why can't there be a set of 25 man level patterns and a set of 10 man level patterns. Wouldn't it make sense to have say 25 man level leg patterns and 10 man level wrist patterns? You could even make it so the mats were 8 of the "super iron" for the 25 man and 2 of the "super iron" for the 10 man loot. Naturally, "super iron" would be much more scarce in 10s than in 25s, but since the requirements for the patterns would be lower, it'd all balance out in the end.

Even better still, 10 man raiders could save up to craft 25 man gear overtime. Sure, it would take a while, but they could do it. And even if Blizzard didn't want that happening, it's not like they couldn't create "almost super iron" for 10s that was usable for crafting only the 10 man gear. Force 25 man raiders to actually do the 10 man if they want to craft 10 man loot.

Seems fair enough to me.

What do you guys and gals think? ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2842-why-can-t-10-man-players-craft-gear-too.html Achievements: Mission Accomplished http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2805-achievements-mission-accomplished.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:49:21 GMT When Achievements first came out, I thought they were a waste of time, but I figured, to each his own.

Yesterday, I intentionally wiped on Razorscale in order to complete an achievement. Weeks before, I've intentionally called wipes on kills because we weren't going to get the achievement. I've spent money. I've spent time.

...to get achievements.

What the hell happened to me?

I'm enjoying it too.

Shut up, no. No, you're not.

Where did this all go wrong? At some point in time doing ridiculous things for points became fun.

I have another theory.

I remember back at 60 spending hours learning how to 2 man Scholomance. Carefully calculating our way through each room. Skipping packs we knew were unkillable. I can remember having the guts to take on the silly gargoyle and the disappointment when it all fell apart with only a few percentage points to go before he was dead.

I can remember jumping off the top of Stormspire, using my rocket helm and ultimately, falling to my death when it wore off.

And I laughed and laughed and laughed.

And then I hit 70 and I raided more and I still ventured into Scholomance and I still died on occasion from ridiculousness, but I wasn't really challenging myself anymore.

What does this have to do with Achievements?

Blizzard is teaching us to have fun again. Showing us how to challenge ourselves again. Yes, this entire process has been guild damaging, guild altering and guild ending for many, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been a good thing.

It really hit me when a raider said in my raid the other day, "This guy's a lot more fun when we're doing the Hard Mode." But what I didn't realize until now is not what was said, but instead what the other raiders didn't say. They didn't say it was a waste of time. Even the people that used to say it was a waste of time, don't say it's a waste of time. In fact, now our Sundays are really just about getting achievements and people actually show up.

Farming is boring. Yes, you get loot, but there's no challenge. Blizzard has given us an excuse to challenge ourselves again. Given us a reason to do the ridiculous.

Beyond Fun

Achievements really are the new epeen now and I think we've all finally accepted it. Gone are the days of Naxx where someone could say, "Ya, I could get that achievement too, but I think achievements are lame."

That excuse doesn't fly anymore. If you're in a premium guild and you're not going for achievements then you're not actually in a premium guild at all. We don't even care who gets regular world first kills anymore. We care about Hard Modes, but we also care about weird, challenging achievements with no real reward like Earth, Wind and Fire.

Acceptance

Achievements aren't going anywhere. They give us a reason to have fun. They give us a way to show off. They even give us a way to throw together a competent pug.

You got me, Blizz. You win.

I like Achievements. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2805-achievements-mission-accomplished.html <![CDATA[Balance and it's effect on Leading]]> http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2784-balance-s-effect-leading.html Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:20:05 GMT As a leader, your mood has a rather massive impact on not only the success of the run, but also how enjoyable that run is. The tone in which you speak and the atmosphere you present will determine whether your raids are fun or feel like work. Misery loves company, they say. Well if that's the case then happiness creates company.

Balance. The ability to manage your real life and your virtual life I find is one of the biggest factors. Like it or not, people have a hard time escaping reality and as much as many of us may use WoW for that when it comes to leading, it really doesn't work.

Leading requires a little too much structure. A little too much compromise. It's just a little too close to real life to be a real escape.

Basically what I'm saying is, if you're having issues in your real life, don't expect raid leading to solve them nor even distract you from them. If anything, you'll instead find those issues seep into your raids and corrupt them leaving you with this feeling of "everything is going wrong". The key to leading well is being well. Leading isn't a therapy session for you and frankly, it's pretty bloody selfish if it is considering there's 9 or 24 other people having to put up with you.

So, what I'm asking is before you consider leading in the virtual world that you first figure out your real life.

Find the balance then fight the boss. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2784-balance-s-effect-leading.html <![CDATA[It's about Action.]]> http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2734-s-about-action.html Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:30:31 GMT I'm like a lot of people, I talk a lot about what would be the best way to do things. I create these wonderful concepts and ideas. I make promises. I make excuses.

...and then...

I'm like a lot of people, I talk a lot about what would be the best way to do things. I create these wonderful concepts and ideas. I make promises. I makes excuses.

...and then...

I do it again and again and again.

And Never actually DO anything

It's about Action. Concepts, ideas, promises, excuses, words, wisdom, whatever... they're all empty air.

Do you want to know the big secret? The reason why the person that's ridiculously unqualified is your boss? Why the person that's illiterate has a booming business? Why your stupid, ugly, cruel friend has a girlfriend and you don't?

Action.

They did something. You talked about things. It really doesn't matter how qualified you are. People don't want people that can figure out stuff to do. People want people that DO stuff.

At some point in time as a person, you have to realize that there's a lot of really smart people. There's an endless supply of people willing to come up with ideas all day and let someone else do the work.

The way you make your way in this world is through action. Your actions are what matter. The hours you put in equal the returns you get. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2734-s-about-action.html Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2659-two-roads-diverged-yellow-wood.html Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:45:10 GMT ...and I

I took the one most traveled by...

...and on that road I died.

For innovation is oxygen and the echo chamber of ideas ultimately deafens us, drowns us, suffocates us.

In the sleep that is death I reflected back on the path less traveled and saw hardship. Saw pain.

Saw sacrifice.

Those that exited that path hobbled through torn and bloodied. Unrecognized, but alive. They met one another. Mutual respect given. And shared their experiences with one another.

Except one.

One saw them, turned and walked back down the road he'd came. He shared his experiences with those that had followed behind him until eventually unable to walk he died.

Just short of exactly where he'd started.

And in doing so those that found themselves at the crossroads of the wood saw him, lifeless. They rushed to him. Rushed down the road less traveled in hopes of saving him.

But he couldn't be saved.

So, they took the road less traveled to learn his story and in time the road less traveled became the most.

Inspired by The Road Not Taken ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2659-two-roads-diverged-yellow-wood.html The Best Casual 25 man Approach in 3.2 http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2619-best-casual-25-man-approach-3-2.html Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:38:24 GMT I recently had an epiphany in regards to how we will likely handle Patch 3.2. I'll lay out my dilemma for you first though and see if you come to the same conclusion.

1. We're a casual guild that raids 25 mans. We raid 2 nights/week for a total of 6 hours, never more.
2. We've killed General, but have yet to get to Yogg with enough time to do anything with him.

So, it's very possible when 3.2 hits that we'll be half way to a Yogg kill or less. Which begs the questions...

What do we do?

Where do we go?

(This is where the epiphany comes in. Drum Roll please)

We do Both.

There's 2 very cool things about 3.2 for us. Coliseum appears to be a short instance that we'll eventually be able to clear in a single raid day. More importantly though, they're adding the ability to extend Raid IDs. So, here's the plan once 3.2 hits:

1. Clear Ulduar Week 1
2. Extend Ulduar's Raid ID
3. Day 1 Week 2 - Coliseum
4. Day 2 Week 2 - Yogg progression
5. Rinse and Repeat until Yogg dies

Now of course it's not all sunshine and pixie dust. Obviously the guild is going to have to be on board for us to do this. If people really don't want to do it, I'm not likely going to push hard for it. (they may want to be able to pug the early bosses in Ulduar every week instead on our non-raid days) I also wonder if it's even possible to extend a Raid ID for like 5 weeks in a row. I'm hoping it is.

/crossfingers

edit:
Apparently it's only possible to extend a Raid ID for 1 additional week. Not terribly surprising, but disappointing for the plan. The new plan is likely going to be:

1. Clear Ulduar
2. Do Yogg all week
3. Kill or No Kill, move on

-or-

We'll head straight to Coliseum. Hopefully, we've just got Yogg dead at this point and the decision is easy. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2619-best-casual-25-man-approach-3-2.html If patience were my virtue... http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2388-if-patience-were-my-virtue.html Tue, 26 May 2009 21:01:13 GMT I'd have 1 more virtue than I have.

If there's something that I've learned over the years as a raid leader it's that patience is directly tied to expectations. I know I've talked about managing expectations here before, but I'm going to say it again.

Manage your Expectations.

Which isn't to say, don't dream big, but it is to say be realistic with what is acceptable. You'll not just be a happy raid leader, but also a much more effective one if you dream big, but expect very little.

Why is that?

Tone of Voice. What you say, but more importantly how you say it is massive. I can't emphasize it enough. Yesterday's raid, we walked into Hodir and we 2 shotted him in a less than pretty fashion. Let's take stock of this.

Was it a 1 shot? No.
Was it pretty? No.
Were we able to move on in a timely fashion? Yes.

Be happy.

We started our progression on Thorim25 which is all about the balancing act of the Gauntlet and Arena teams. Our Arena team really struggled and as the Gauntlet tank it was really frustrating as a leader.

If you're leading this encounter, do yourself a favour and tank in the arena. The Gauntlet is important and needs to be fast, but it doesn't require much management. The Arena is bloody chaos and trying to lead it without seeing it is an exercise in frustration. A recipe for bad expectations as you continually get so close to completing the gauntlet only to fail and then have inefficient information to fix it.

Which is where I failed

I realized early on that the challenge was in the arena, but my team's experience was with myself in the gauntlet and the other tanks in the arena so I put them there. That was a huge mistake.

Your raiders don't know what you're looking for as a leader. They don't have the same mindset as you in terms of what to watch for. They're doing their job. This means that if you don't put yourself in a position to gather the necessary information then you're destined for a frustrating night which is what I got.

And it's my own fault.

And it led to me losing my tone of voice and ultimately, realizing that I needed to call the run early. I've learned long ago that once my attitude gets bad and I get tired that there's a dozen other players in the raid that are just as annoyed and tired. It's true we could power through it and sometimes we do, but if I always try to push them then I'm just going to get depressed raiders not having any fun.

If you're in a "casual" guild that raids...

No Fun = No Attendance.

Where this all started...

...was during a trip down memory lane. I remember how much more patience I had on Gruul, in SSC, in TK, even in Hyjal. Or at least, I thought it was more patience, but it wasn't it was different expectations. In BT and Sunwell, I had different expectations and right now, I have different expectations too.

My assignment for myself and for any other old leader like me is to remember what your expectations were like before and learn to recapture that naive spirit. Because as naive as you and I once were, we also were really motivating too.

Beginners aren't lucky. They just have the right attitude and expectations. Attitude and Expectation are infectious. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2388-if-patience-were-my-virtue.html The Virus Test http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2338-virus-test.html Thu, 14 May 2009 20:17:58 GMT Today, my computer is out of commission from a virus that I "fixed" yesterday. Suffice to say, I'm welcoming the day off, but I'm anxious. It's times like these you really get to see how good of leader you are. People always say that:

a [raid] is only as strong as it's weakest link

...to which I like to add...

a [raid] is weak if it cannot function without it's strongest link

Will we function as strong as when I'm there? Unlikely. I'd be thrilled if we did, but unlikely. Will we falter though? I hope not. I expect not to and if we do, it's me who has failed, not them. Which is my point here to all leaders both new and seasoned. If your raid colossally fails when you aren't present, it's not them failing.

It's you.

Which isn't to say, you're failing by not being around. We all have lives. It's going to happen. How you are failing is by not preparing your raid for you not being present. Your raid doesn't have to be amazing when you're gone, but it has to be functional. It's just a fact of life that no matter what, everyone misses a raid eventually. To which I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes...

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2338-virus-test.html My Best Choice for Leading 25s http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2289-my-best-choice-leading-25s.html Wed, 06 May 2009 14:43:44 GMT ...was leading 10s.

It's unbelievable the massive advantage that you gain by seeing the content before you have to explain it to your 25 man raid. While it's true that sometimes the 25 man's abilities aren't quite handled in the same manor as the 10s, that still doesn't change that having seen the abilities first hand gives you a totally different level of information that neither videos nor the written word can possibly transfer.

Refining Your Core

Even better still is having that core group with you and downing the 10 man bosses before the 25 man even sees them. Those other 9 people are going to offer a level of support that blind raiders never could have in the past especially when you consider that they've already experienced your strats in action.

Where it can Fail

What is tricky to manage though is the expectations of your core. They've already killed these bosses. They're executing the fight flawless that much sooner than they otherwise would and as a result, are waiting on the other raid members to catch up that much sooner.

Which can breed resentment pretty quick.

But, not if you manage it and make your core aware that doing 10 man content with 25 man gear means you grossly outgear it and as such, it's a lot easier. You don't have the same massive advantage on a 25 man level. And most importantly, don't breed the resentment for them. If you're saying anything along the lines of...

"Come on guys, we already downed this on the 10 man, it's not that hard... focus!"

...then you are failing at leading. Never forgot that while a single person can often be to blame for a wipe that you as the raid leader are also always to blame. It is your job to lead that person, to train that person, to teach that person. If you don't think you should have to...

Then you aren't leading.

Anyone can yell at people, read strats someone else wrote and excel personally at their role.

Leading takes something more. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2289-my-best-choice-leading-25s.html Remembering what is was like... http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2186-remembering-what-like.html Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:50:15 GMT ...to not worry about breaking a site. I remember when TankingTips.com was still in that stage and while I'd never want to go back to the site's infant stage that doesn't mean I don't enjoy having another site at that stage again. It's just really nice to have the freedom to do whatever I want to a site and not have to worry about letting down a large audience's expectations.

The TrulyBored.com Tournament has really been a fun experience the last while with me getting my hands dirty adding some cool images and features to the site. Now that we've started writing again, I doubt that I'll have much time to do much design work anymore, but it was nice while it lasted.

We've launched 8 teaser posts from the initial 32 votes that made up the tournament's brackets. It was nice to be able to pick and choose the 4 stories I wanted to write (you're welcome to try to guess which ones I did of the 8 posted) because from here on out the choices will be limited. Thankfully, my partner in crime has a different comic/fantasy background than myself and we generally seem to be pretty good about not wanting to write the same stuff. (or more to the point not wanting to avoid writing the same stuff)

Overall though, I can't help, but ask myself, would I have took on this project had Ulduar been released months ago? Probably not. Am I glad I did though? Most definitely. If there's one thing WotLK has done, it's allowed me to get a better balance on my life than I had in TBC. I won't deny that I miss having more excuses to hang out with my guild members on vent for hours, but I am also really happy where I'm at right now with the people I hang out with in that crazy real world.

Let's hope I can maintain that balance come Ulduar... who knows ;) ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2186-remembering-what-like.html <![CDATA[You can't regret A+ nights]]> http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2142-you-can-t-regret-nights.html Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:26:38 GMT ...and yet, you still can't help, but wonder what would have happened had you made a different call.

We've had quite the journey so far in the expansion clashing with attendance issues like many others once everyone had farmed the content numerous times. This in particular has affected our Sartharion25 progress.

We've downed him with 2 drakes up numerous times now, but only a few times would I consider these kills especially pretty. It's getting closer every time though to looking more farm-ie.

3 drakes on the other hand, we've done only a couple of nights amounting to around 8 or 9 attempts in total. We're hitting the DPS minimums, but we're just dieing to all kinds of random silliness once Tenebron goes down.

Which is why on Monday with a team heavy on healers, but more to the point a team with more new and weak raiders than usual, did I make the call to just do 2 drakes.

It was our cleanest, fastest, best kill, yet. The raid night ended before it could even really start as Vesperon died with everyone alive. I couldn't help, but be shocked. Where did this random A+ game come from? How did so many new folk immediately get "it"?

Why didn't I do 3 drakes?

But, you can't ask yourself that. You walk into a harder encounter and the outcome is going to be completely different. And sometimes, you just get bloody lucky. Sometimes, the new people even when they have no idea where to go are just exactly where they have to be. Sometimes, your weaker players never even have a blue circle of death underneath them for the entire encounter.

Luck happens.

Which isn't to try to downplay or make excuses for succeeding with a less experienced raid group, but it is to be realistic about what had happened and what would have happened. 3 drakes probably would have ate us alive. We had a few people we'd have even had to replace had we'd wiped even a single time.

You don't get your first 3 drake kill under those circumstances.

That being said, I've known that the 3 drake kill was there for a long time. We've really just needed the right combination of folks to show up under the right conditions. We set that up this week. We pumped up a lot of people's egos this week and gave a lot of folks the confidence to walk into 3 drakes knowing that we can do it.

2 Drakes was the right call. Succeeding quickly doesn't necessarily mean you picked too easy of challenge. Sometimes, it just means you picked exactly the right challenge and your team stepped up their game.

I'm definitely looking forward to next week. Attendance will be better than ever. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2142-you-can-t-regret-nights.html Re-releasing TrulyBored.com http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2120-re-releasing-trulybored-com.html Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:41:04 GMT TrulyBored.com was the home of my original start to the blogging world. It covered my life, acted as my bookmarks for cool flash games I found and was where I wrote any miscellaneous fiction/fantasy that I just felt like writing about. One especially popular project that I never finished back in the day was "The Tournament of Champions" which basically pitted different heroes and villains from various comic and gaming genres against each other.

The readership (lol me, my fellow co-writer and our 20 friends and the 1 or 2 random folk on the net that found the place) would vote in polls each week to determine who won the different match ups.

We threw a twist in it by having it be not quite a popularity contest and instead used the number of votes to determine the range of a random roll. Thus, the more popular did have the better chance, but upsets were possible.

Suffice to say, Robin beat Superman and much hilarity ensued as we struggled with how exactly to write such an outcome. Anyway, Trulybored.com is back with it's focus being solely on continuing the tournament storyline with "The Tournament of Champions 2 - The Awakening". If you're a fantasty/comic book-type, you should check it out and see if it's your kind of thing. (don't be afraid to throw a vote or two out there even if it isn't!) ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2120-re-releasing-trulybored-com.html <![CDATA[I hope that there isn't Immortal again]]> http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2117-i-hope-there-isn-t-immortal-again.html Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:15:54 GMT ...and it's not because I think it's unrealistic. I think it's a fantastic achievement and frankly, it deserves to be in the Ulduar equivalent of Heroic: Glory of the Raider.

That being said, I really hope it's not. I never really knew where as a casual guild that does a lot of raiding that we drew the line. Then we went after Immortal and I saw us cross that line.

The spirit of the achievement just does not align with the spirit of our casual atmosphere. I expect maximum effort from all of my raiders when we're playing, but in the pursuit of Immortal... I see the casual atmosphere disintegrating.

There is no other achievement that immediately will cause the raid to:

1) Blame the tanks for stray adds,
2) Blame the healers for lack of heals,
3) Blame the lone dpser for dieing.

It creates an atmosphere of tension. An atmosphere of ultimate accountability. It forces everyone to really focus for an entire raid. It forces everyone to be terrified of being the one that dies. It forces everyone to simply not enjoy the game.

The achievement is the pinnacle of hardcore in my opinion. It is truly an achievement. What we'd expect achievements to really be... something bloody hard. Something you'd like to say you Achieved.

And, that's great. I love this achievement for what it is, but I'll never have my raid go for it. Sure, some days I'll be envious of not having done this true test of perfection and in another time, in another guild... I know I would have accomplished this.

But...

Not in my guild. We're casual and now I can tell you why. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/2117-i-hope-there-isn-t-immortal-again.html How Role affects Raid Leader http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/1965-how-role-affects-raid-leader.html Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:01:41 GMT I was pondering, how myself being a Tank affects how I implement raid strategies. Here's how things seem to play out in my raid.

Tanks: Are given very logical jobs that are often a more challenging way of doing things allowing strong tanking to compensate for weaker play by the other roles. Overall though, tank distribution is very accurate in terms of how many tanks are required to do a given task and what tasks are best suited to what class.

DPS: Have no say. Generally speaking, I'll often do thing in a less ideal way as long as it puts people I can trust in the important role. This results in our kill times often being slower than they could be because of having more dpsers stuck doing an important role that doesn't allow them to maximize their dps or dps not being in an optimal setup for their maximum dps in order to make the other 2 roles easier.

Healers: Always want WAY MORE healers than they need. I generally find myself giving them a number of healers that I consider the right amount slightly edging towards too many with them believing I'm giving them the right amount slightly edging towards too few. In general, I have compliment them, a lot on how well they're doing with so few healers when in reality... I believe they could often pull off the same encounters with easily 1 or even 2 less healers. Basically, I rarely stress them if I can help it.

So, I asked myself...

What if a DPS led the Raid?

Tanks would be having to focus far more on Threat than anything else resulting in more tank deaths which are blamed almost entirely on healers. Adds that are unable to be bursted immediately by dps are tanks fault for lack of threat. In general, the whole environment is focused on, "How can we kill stuff the fastest?" It also seems like the environment is much more receptive to DPS meters and that raid invites could even go so far as to be influenced by a player's performance in this area. I think this raid would be more likely to play the blame game than any other with a lot more stress going on the healers due to tanks focusing more threat and a lot more stress going on the tanks due to the option of dps having to wait a bit not being an option.

This is pretty close to many raid environments I've experience where DPSers lead them.

What if a Healer led the Raid?

Now initially, I thought... this would result in a lot of raids where there was way more healers in the raid than was necessary. Tanking assignments would be based on how the Tanks would take the least damage and dpsers would be expected to stay below them on threat and that pulling aggro would be seen as the dpsers fault. AKA, I took it very much as an environment similar to my own just with less logical Tanking assignments and easier healing.

However, when thinking on one of my healing friends that's a raid leader. I'm inclined to think that perhaps I've under-estimated what that Raid Leaders competitiveness would be like.

How does being Competitive influence Raid Leaders?

It makes Tank raid leaders give Tanks optimal, yet difficult tanking jobs. It makes DPS raid leaders give DPSers optimal environments for putting out maximum dps. It makes Healing raid leaders try to do a fight with the least healers possible so as to show that the individual healers were stronger than average healers.

So, what if a Healer led the Raid #2?

Tank assignments would still likely be setup in such a way for them to take the least damage as would DPS positioning as well, but this would be needed to be done in order to allow for smaller heal teams to accomplish what should be being down with more healers. In general, it's like the DPS raid leader environment in that it'd have fewer healers than a Tank raid leader environment, but the difference is it would actually be setup for this to be realistic. Tank deaths would be seen as a failing on the healers themselves, it's possible eventually tank gear could come into question survival wise, but dps death would likely be seen as a need for them to play smarter and have more health.

Thoughts on the 3 environments

I think the Tank RL ends up using the most healers, but has the best tank assignments. DPS doesn't get an optimal environment to dps necessarily and b/c more healers are likely used... this type of RL probably isn't going to ever get the fastest kill times. That being said, I think it's likely that this raid is going to kill any boss that doesn't have an aggressive enrage timer sooner than RLs of the other roles.

The DPS RL ends up really creating a lot of pressure on the Tanks and Healers in order to ultra optimize the DPS. They'll get the fastest kill times so aggressive enrage type encounters are going to come very easy for this raid, but execution style fights will likely be far harder than they should be and as a result, take longer to accomplish.

The Healing RL creates an environment of flawless-ness. Tanking is setup to maximize survival as is dps, so it's far from optimal to maximize. Survival style fights this team will have the least trouble with, but aggressive enrage style fights they'll likely have the most trouble with as their tanks and dps likely haven't been pushed enough to accomplish this.

Wrap Up

Obviously, I'm stereotyping to a certain extent, but I'm curious to see how far the apple falls from the tree here as I think I've made some fair assumptions about human nature. Let me know what your Raid Leaders are like based on the role they play in a raid. If you yourself are a raid leader, do you see yourself in these individuals I've described? I'm especially interested if you've changed roles throughout your Raid Leading career and seen yourself adjust your strategies as a whole as a result. ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/1965-how-role-affects-raid-leader.html Hybrid Unbalancing http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/1951-hybrid-unbalancing.html Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:22:35 GMT Warrior, some fights DKs > Paladins, but that ultimately all tanks can do ANY fight. WAKE UP. THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT EQUAL OPPORTUNITY. THEY'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT CLONING. I mean come on. I'm a Warrior too and perhaps I've got an advantage over you because I've immersed myself in the tanking world for many years now in a way that very few people do... but COME ON. Honestly, I get that you're trying to sound all logical and shit, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret. You're basically trying to deny Women the right to Vote. That's all this is. You're terrified of having some crazy other person having the same shot as you. The same opportunity as you... Because I mean... why the hell would anyone be a man when being a women you get to have boobs and get to vote!? And I get that this is perhaps offending you or sounding childish, but frankly... who's the bigger villian here... me, who's disregarding the feelings of 1 individual or you who's disregarding the feelings of MULTIPLE COMMUNITIES!? ...and you may have not even realized this, but I have an advantage being a Warrior and not being able to heal. You see... no ones going to ask me to respec and heal. I don't want to heal and the game prevents me from healing. Druids do not have this same luxury nor do Paladins. Ask a Druid or Paladin that truly loves tanking how much they love being asked to respec healing b/c their guild has been too lazy to recruit more healers. You see... there's Paladins and Druids that wish when they created their toon that they could pick their spec and it be tanking and that the game will only allow them to do that. They envy Warrior's ability to not heal. (Just as there are women who envy men for not being able to have children) And, yes it's bloody selfish, but it's a game. At the end of the day, it's suppose to be fun. (...and if you can really look past the ridiculous levels I've taken this debate to you might just realize that perhaps it's this way because this is both the way life is and the way we wish life was)]]> For those of you just tuning in this is going to be in response to the following Blog entry, feel free to go read it:
http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs...balancing.html

Okay, welcome back. And away we go!

Dear Guy or Girl,

You're wrong. Your game would be inferior to the current game. I know I'm right b/c your game has existed before and failed while this game still exists and is the most popular game in the world.

See, you're missing the point of Blizzard's Equality. You're interrupting it far too literally. You're assuming that being equal means being able to do everything while Blizzard is assuming that being equal means being able to do anything. Let me repeat that.

You think = equals Everything.
They think = equals Anything.

You think = means that every fight if you're a Druid or Paladin you'll be just as good as a Warrior.

They think = means that some fights Druids > Warrior, some fights DKs > Paladins, but that ultimately all tanks can do ANY fight.

WAKE UP.

THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT EQUAL OPPORTUNITY. THEY'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT CLONING.

I mean come on. I'm a Warrior too and perhaps I've got an advantage over you because I've immersed myself in the tanking world for many years now in a way that very few people do... but COME ON.

Honestly, I get that you're trying to sound all logical and shit, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret. You're basically trying to deny Women the right to Vote. That's all this is. You're terrified of having some crazy other person having the same shot as you. The same opportunity as you...

Because I mean... why the hell would anyone be a man when being a women you get to have boobs and get to vote!?

And I get that this is perhaps offending you or sounding childish, but frankly... who's the bigger villian here... me, who's disregarding the feelings of 1 individual or you who's disregarding the feelings of MULTIPLE COMMUNITIES!?

...and you may have not even realized this, but I have an advantage being a Warrior and not being able to heal. You see... no ones going to ask me to respec and heal. I don't want to heal and the game prevents me from healing. Druids do not have this same luxury nor do Paladins. Ask a Druid or Paladin that truly loves tanking how much they love being asked to respec healing b/c their guild has been too lazy to recruit more healers.

You see... there's Paladins and Druids that wish when they created their toon that they could pick their spec and it be tanking and that the game will only allow them to do that. They envy Warrior's ability to not heal. (Just as there are women who envy men for not being able to have children)

And, yes it's bloody selfish, but it's a game. At the end of the day, it's suppose to be fun.

(...and if you can really look past the ridiculous levels I've taken this debate to you might just realize that perhaps it's this way because this is both the way life is and the way we wish life was) ]]> veneretio http://www.tankspot.com/forums/blogs/veneretio/1951-hybrid-unbalancing.html