How many melee in a 25 man?

[Foolishness]

So I have started my own guild, and i only need a few more people to make up the numbers for a solid 25 man team.

Problem is, I keep getting apps for melee DPS, and almost nothing else. They are great apps and look like great players and raiders, but I already have 6 full time (2 rogues, druid, pally, warrior, shaman). Am i able to cater for more than 6 melee dps in a 25 man raid?

In BC, i never would have taken more than 5, but with the addition of deathknights im starting to wonder whether the encounters are designed to be more melee friendly?

[sevve]

The only place stacking melee is a problem at the moment I'd say is Kel'thuzad.
I have the same problem as you, only melee people applying for my guild.

Yesterday we ran our first Naxx25 clearing spider, abo and construct. We had 8 melee dps + 3 tanks, and it was no problem.

I think that balancing classes is still the way to go though, just not to the same extent as previously. At the moment that means going with 22 people for my guild though.

[Shadevarr]

Melee players will need to be constantly aware of any aoe the boss is going to do. Their DPS is balanced on the assumption they won't have 100% DPS time on the boss due to moving about. Even in TBC with how melee unfriendly it was, I ran kara with 5 rogues and a kitty and we did a 4 hour clear pre-patch. If they are skilled your not hurting yourself by stacking melee and they have the added bonus of providing awesome melee buffs for eachother more than ranged does.

[Kedearian]

That's true and it's not. Most fights are a lot easier with only 1 melee group from my experience. When doing naxx25 the other week we ended up with 2 melee groups, a healer group, a tank group and a ranged group. Any positional fight took a lot longer because melee dont move properly or get into a front cleave or just stand in the wrong place (IN THE FIRE). We eeked through it but it was much less fluid than our run with 1 melee group (2 tank, 1 ot, 2 melee dps) 3 ranged and 1 healer group. This is even counting that the melee was higher dps than the ranged, they just ended up dying to much. This could be bad raiders but it still does put more of a strain on your raid.

Get ranged dps when ever possible, your healers will thank you.. you wont be at 14:56 when you kill saph because people stood in the blizzard and ate cleaves.

Ked

[Omok]

Take as little melee as possible, to a minimum of one group. You'll just have way too many headaches with cleaves, tail whips, aoe, etc.

[Philistine]

Take as little melee as possible, to a minimum of one group. You'll just have way too many headaches with cleaves, tail whips, aoe, etc.

You are quite unfairly lumping all the melee into one general group here.

The answer is that you have to give them a try to know if they are any good.

If people are applying to your guild then get 4 guildies together and invite the prospective member along for 3 or 4 heroics.

Try them out on something like an heroic HoL where the ability to pay attention to whirlwinds and getting into and out of position quickly is easy to see.

[Geth]

I have a major melee problem. We take ten to twelve melee, plus the tanks. I guess the good news is, it's not a problem anywhere UNTIL Kel'Thuzad. It's hairy on Kel, to say the least.

To be honest, melee dps are very strong at the moment. TriSpec or Unholy DKs, Fury Warriors, Ret Paladins, and Mutilate Rogues are all capable of huge DPS, especially on gimmick fights like Loatheb or Thaddius.

Just make sure you have an Enhancement Shaman or at least a Blood DK. I don't and it makes me cry with double digit melee numbers in a 25 man.

So, yeah, stack on the melee. Just be sure you have CoH priests with itchy trigger fingers for Kel.

[gryffyn]

The biggest problem you guys are having with melee is that the ones who get tail swiped and cleaved are morons. I can bet they were re-rolls from ranged mains who wanted to try something more than mash one button from 35 yards.

Oh I just love the ranged who pull agro all the time, don't move out of the blizzard, get hit by shadow fissures...wait...didn't you say that was only the melee?

Its not the class it is the person behind the toon.

Biggest problem I always had with the huntards and mages is that they cannot seem to be able to move and shoot. They were usually the first to die with Supremus or blew up the raid fighting Solarian because they had to get in one more cast.

I've noticed that the old prejudices agains melee still carry over into Wrath. What makes my blood boil is when ranged do stupid stuff time after time after time and never get an ass chewing because the R/L and the officers are mostly the same class. I belonged to a guild where a huntard never knew or learned how to kite, died mutiple times in MH from one mob, let his pet pull bosses and split dps. Why did he get invited to every raid? The GM was a huntard.

[Othugg]

The biggest problem you guys are having with melee is that the ones who get tail swiped and cleaved are morons. I can bet they were re-rolls from ranged mains who wanted to try something more than mash one button from 35 yards.

Oh I just love the ranged who pull agro all the time, don't move out of the blizzard, get hit by shadow fissures...wait...didn't you say that was only the melee?

Its not the class it is the person behind the toon.

Biggest problem I always had with the huntards and mages is that they cannot seem to be able to move and shoot. They were usually the first to die with Supremus or blew up the raid fighting Solarian because they had to get in one more cast.

I've noticed that the old prejudices agains melee still carry over into Wrath. What makes my blood boil is when ranged do stupid stuff time after time after time and never get an ass chewing because the R/L and the officers are mostly the same class. I belonged to a guild where a huntard never knew or learned how to kite, died mutiple times in MH from one mob, let his pet pull bosses and split dps. Why did he get invited to every raid? The GM was a huntard.

I would argue that you have the same prejudice against ranged dps that others have against melee. Good ranged dps can easily do the same dps as a melee class (actually, BM Hunters and Frostfire mages are second only to bugged HaT rogues) while requiring less attention from the healers.

Many fights are not melee friendly. Fights like Heigan, Grobbulus, Kel'thuzad, etc are difficult without heavy ranged dps, however you can compensate if the melee dps is good. I would agree with previous posters, so long as the melee classes who are signing up are good don't hesitate to take a few extra.