SV Respec Kit for Dummies, Part 3 of 3

In our previous posts, we learned how to respec and build a spell rotation. But, the hardest part of SV isn't trap dancing or getting to range or managing your pet.

The absolute worst part about it is that none of your CDs match up. None of your procs match up. Everything, and I mean everything, is asynchronous. So, you're constantly facing shifting spell priorities -- not so much on a tank-and-spank -- but in any "real" fight, because certain phases and movements and buffs and debuffs will always be throwing off your spell rotation. The spell rotations worked out in previous discussion are fragile things, and it's an easy thing to get flustered when all of a sudden your carefully practiced rotations are boogered up by Web Spray or a polarity shift.

Three simple add-ons can give you a minimal proc-and-CD tracking setup that will let you do the very-respectable DPS that SV can bring, even as a beginner. If you are a master of DoT timers and other add-ons, by all means, go ahead and figure out a simple setup. 

GOAL 1: To know when Lock and Load procs and how long you have to get your extra Explosive Shots out (ie... can you drop a full GCD between each one, or do you have to count two seconds and fire?)

GOAL 2: To know when Lock and Load is on internal CD, so that you don't waste a 30 second trap cooldown trying to proc it with 0% chance of success

Proculas: The single most difficult thing about SV and the default WoW UI is knowing where Lock and Load is on its internal CD (the 2nd goal above). You can see when LnL procs on the default UI, but you can't see the CD. Proculas is an add-on that "discovers" your procs and their associated cooldowns for you. More recent releases allow you to set a specific CD time (30 seconds for LnL) to a discovered proc. You only need a minute at a target dummy and it will discover Master Tactician, Expose Weakness, Lock and Load, etc.

Once you have it installed and all your procs discovered, go into the interface and DISABLE everything except Lock and Load. For Lock and Load, you want to find the option that lets you set a manual CD time, and change this to 30 seconds. Now you won't have to do the dumb thing I did, which was to drop a trap on a target even when Serpent Sting had just proc'ed LnL on the target 10 seconds previously. You can move the Proculas bar around to a place on your screen that you find convenient, and use whatever signaling or colors or whatever work for you. 

Power Auras: Technically, not a simple add-on. I use Power Auras to do two things. The first is to track when LnL procs and to display an icon over my character while LnL is active. The second is to pop up another icon when Serpent Sting is NOT active on the target. I have it set up to make a sound AND shake the screen when LnL procs. It's hard to miss that. I also have recently added two more auras that pop up "Explosive Shot" in text when Explosive Shot is ready, and "Aimed Shot" in text when Aimed Shot is ready, as a sort of poor man's spell priority list. (I recently specced into Aimed Shot for high movement fights, but it makes for a fairly complicated spell priority list, so I'm not going into any detail on this.)

NeedToKnow (optional): I use this lightweight and very simple add-on to track the Serpent Sting DoT. A simple green bar shows up below my LnL cooldown bar and counts down. Easy to install and configure. Theoretically, I could move this functionality into Power Auras, but I like having two cooldowns of similar length counting down side by side. You could easily expand this to add your trinket cooldown.

Please note: You probably don't need to track the CD of the Explosive Shot DoT itself. It's two seconds. Say "One one-thousand, two one-thousand" aaaaand you're done. You also don't need to lick your finger, put it up, test for wind shear, and then try to account for shot travel time. If you are 30 yards from the target, yes, it will take a half second for the shot to get there and start ticking. No, that doesn't add a half-second extra, because the shot after it will ALSO take a half second to get there. You'd be surprised at how this question comes up with LnL discussions. Fire, count out two seconds, and fire again. 

Because these add-ons have changed in their configuration options a couple of times, I'm not going to post specific detailed configuration instructions -- they'll likely change again, and the main thing is that you know where you can go to get the add-ons that you need.

That's it! Don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions (neshura@gmail.com), and that's it for this series of guest posts on SV hunting.

-neshura

SV Respec Kit for Dummies, Part 2 of 3

In our previous post, we discovered just how easy it was to accomplish steps one through four in our quest to become an effective end-game raiding SV hunter with minimal fuss.

The next step is, necessarily, a little more complicated, but I am going to break it down for you with some exercises that you can try out at a training dummy. Normally I wouldn't stoop to a dummy...but I decided to get a non-exotic pet and respec SV only hours before a raid, and so I was forced to practice in Ironforge just to avoid being laughed out of the raid. Ever since then, I've taken to practicing regularly on dummies to refine my rotation and keep my skills sharp.

STEP 5: LRN2PLAY

If you've been Beastmaster from the start, understand that you'll need to learn some shots beyond Steady Shot. (I know, I know. Gone are the days of putting a drinking duck to work mashing the steady shot key. I miss those days...)

Your goal as a SV hunter is to use Explosive Shot as often as possible, while keeping your DPS presence high. That is, you should always be casting something, but you want to be casting the right thing at the right time.

Exercise 1: Building Your Basic Shot Rotation

We start simple. You will fire Explosive Shot, then you will fire three Steady Shots. Then you will fire Explosive Shot again, followed by three Steady Shots. But wait! You're glyphed so that Steady Shot is buffed by having Serpent Sting up, right? Indeed. Interweave Serpent Sting, but use it to replace a Steady Shot, NOT an Explosive Shot.

Opening Rotation: ES / SSting / SS / SS / ES / SS / SS / SS / ES / SS / etc.

Go practice this rotation on the heroic training dummy in one of the major cities. Don't worry about your pet spells or buffs or Hunter's Mark, you're just trying to get comfortable with this rotation. What happens if you screw up your rotation? Well, it's true, there is a cut-off point where it is better to delay a Steady Shot and just do nothing until ES comes off of CD. BUT!!! That delay is relatively small. A rotation of ESx1+SSx2+(wait) is lower DPS than ESx1+SSx3, despite the fact that ES comes off of CD partway through firing the third Steady Shot. If ES is not off CD and you are suddenly brain-fogged as to what key to hit next, when in doubt, just hit Steady Shot again, even if there is only half a second left til ES comes off of CD. Don't ever stand around doing nothing. I do this sometimes, but I'm a terrible role model.

Your goal: Maximize your DPS with 100% uptime on Serpent Sting. If Lock and Load procs while you are doing this exercise, don't panic! Ignore it! Bring up your damage meters, fire til you go out of mana, and check your dps. Then do it again. Compare your uptime and the percentage of damage on your different shots. Once you feel comfortable with this rotation, move on to Exercise 2.

Exercise 2: Switching Shot Rotations on the Fly

Lock and Load will not proc unless you have Serpent Sting up on the target OR if the target gets a trap put on it. (This is going to change in 3.1, but you may as well learn how to use the trap trick now.) When Lock and Load procs, it gives you 10 seconds to use 2 mana-free cooldown-free Explosive shots. When Lock and Load procs, I will give you two choices for spell rotation, and you pick the one that is more comfortable for your play style.

Option 1: ES / .5 sec wait / ES / .5 sec wait / ES / (back to basic rotation with SS x 3)

Option 2: ES / Multi-shot / ES / SS / ES / (back to basic rotation with SS x 3)

Don't be a dummy like me and just spam ES as it comes off the GCD. I did this for at least a week. Here's why: ES is a DoT that ticks for 2 full seconds. The GCD is 1.5 seconds. If you spam all your free Explosive Shots in a row when LnL procs, you overwrite the final ticks of your ES DoTs and ruin your DPS.

Here's how to practice your alternate rotation:

1. When Lock and Load procs, it will show up as a personal buff. Figure out where your buffs show up, and watch that area.
   
2. Now, leave the heroic training dummy and find a lowbie dummy.
   
3. Take up a position roughly 15 yards away and use your freezing arrow to put a freezing trap smack dab on top of that dummy.
   
4. When that trap goes off, you'll see Lock and Load proc.
   
5. Immediately start one of the two rotation options I just gave you. (For now, don't put Serpent Sting on the target. It has a chance of proc'ing LnL when you aren't ready for it!)
   
6. Once you've finished the LnL shot rotation, move smoothly back into your basic shot rotation of ESx1+SSx3.
   
7. Run through your basic rotation a couple times, then leave combat

Your goal: To practice doing the LNL shot rotation and then to slide OUT of it back into the basic rotation without getting befuddled. If you have to count shots to yourself, do it.

Try this exercise a few times. Don't hurry it. When you're ready to move on to the bonus round, start the exercise again, but once the trap comes off of cooldown, use Freezing Arrow to drop another trap on the target and re-proc LnL. Conveniently, the LnL internal CD is 30 seconds, same as your trap CD. Stay in combat and try to move smoothly INTO your LNL shot rotation as well as out of it. But don't practice this too much, because you won't be using Freezing Arrow to proc LnL on raid bosses.

Exercise 3: Sniper Training

Guess what? If you are at a boss that has an AOE debuff, you are in luck! You might not know this, but if you look at your spec closely, you probably have some points in Sniper Training. This means, simply by staying at range, you do extra damage. How far away is 30 yards? Well, one way to tell is to simply run out of range (you can tell by the fact that your ES button should look "disabled" when you are far enough away). Then, step in a yard at a time til your ES button re-enables. Congratulations! You're now a sniper.

First try this: Run out til you are at Sniper Training range as described above, then stand still and fire at the boss with your basic rotation, keeping Serpent Sting up. Keep a damage meter up and keep an eye on your dps.

Next, run halfway back to the training dummy, which will put you at about 15 yards. Stand still and fire at the boss with your basic rotation. Notice any different? Hey, you might not. Crits are random, remember. Just be assured, standing 30+ yards away = free DPS!

Exercise 4: Trap Dancing

Better seen than described, but if you've done exercise 2, you won't be too surprised.

With this exercise, you're going to use a trap that DOES proc LnL on a boss most of the time. This means that, if you are lucky and don't get any trap resists, you get 2 free Explosive Shots every 30 seconds. 10 free ESshots on a five minute boss fight? Outstanding!

Here is what you do -- try this on a lower level dummy so you can guarantee the proc for now.

1. Before starting combat, step into melee range of the dummy.
2. Drop your Immolation Trap and immediately strafe sideways or step backwards to get out of melee range. Not too far, you're just trying to get to where you can shoot.
3. As soon as the trap goes off, watch your buff area -- LnL should proc immediately.
4. Begin your alternate LnL shot rotation, then transition smoothly into your normal shot rotation.
5. As you notice your trap coming off the 30 second CD, make your way towards melee range without losing too much DPS time -- a few steps during a GCD here and there should do it.
6. When the trap comes off CD, drop it again on top of the target dummy. I usually wait half a heartbeat after the CD is up just to guarantee that LnL is off CD as well. (Keep an eye on your ES CD, but don't worry if it's less than halfway through CD when LnL procs. You have 10 seconds once LnL procs to get those 2 extra shots in.)
7. Step quickly out of melee range, either by strafing or moving backwards, and continue with your LnL shot rotation
8. Rinse and repeat til you are out of mana.

Your goal: To keep LnL proc'ing every 30 seconds, while keeping Serpent Sting up 100% of the time and filling in with Steady Shots every time Explosive Shot is on CD.

Congratulations! You're trap-dancing.

You may be able to combine this with Sniper Training, but I've never had any luck with that. I just use the strategy that's best for the boss at hand. If I need to be at range, I stay at range, and if I can get within melee, I trap-dance.

Just don't take a Hateful Strike from Patchwerk while dropping your trap...

Exercise 5: All Those Cherries on Top

What about Kill Shot? What about Kill Command? What about Rapid Fire? Heart of the Wild? Trinkets?? Oooh there's so much to manage, and Lock and Load procs are already making our head hurt! The short answer is, try to stack them intelligently, and macro the ones you don't need to think about.

Rapid Fire: This is actually your opening spell on a boss most of the time. But, if the Raid Leader says, "Save your cooldowns for 30%", yes, that includes Rapid Fire, so for that boss, you save it. With an unmodified 5 minute CD, you're best off just popping this manually.
Heart of the Wild: Same situation as with Rapid Fire -- and stacking them is a great burst of DPS.
Kill Shot: Doesn't use a GCD. Macro it in front of every spell in your rotation. That way it always goes off when it comes off CD.

Kill Command: 1 minute CD, and you don't want to bother thinking about this one either. Combine it with one (or all) of your shots in a macro.

#showtooltip Explosive Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/cast Kill Command
/cast Kill Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/cast Explosive Shot

I combine KC and KS with both ES and SS in two separate macros. Do what you feel comfortable with.

Trinkets: Depends on the trinket, you'll just need to use your best judgment as to how to best weave it in to your rotation. If your trinket increases speed, try to stack it with an effect that increases AP or crit. If your trinket increases agility or armor Pen, stack it with, for example, Rapid Fire, or a Lock and Load proc.

To be continued...

SV Respec Kit for Dummies, Part 1 of 3

PVE and end-game raiding as a SV hunter is not hard. It's a little tougher than BM, with more movement, but if you want to do some respectable DPS, AND have fun doing it, survival's a great way to go. Many people have told me they find it intimidating, particularly if they've been BM or MM all the way. Why is this for dummies? First, because I did all the research before I respecced, checked out every talent, planned my gear, practiced, modified my macros, and STILL made a ton of mistakes along the way (yes, I'm still making them even now). Second, because you will be using not just dummies like me to learn, but the training dummies in capital cities.

I'm going to summarize what I learned, slough off all the unnecessary stuff, and give you some exercises -- yes, homework -- that you can use to practice and get better very quickly. You can vary the directions below with excellent results if you are willing to take the time to understand what you are doing, as with anything. The best way to learn however, is to simply jump right in and start exploding things with DoTs. Still intimidated? Fear not, hunter friend, the barrier to entry on SV is lower than you might think.

Here's a quick plan to get you going right away on SV. I have simplified many of the SV concepts; most of them are more complicated under the hood, but I don't want to scare you off, so here you go.

STEP 1: RESPEC

Pick 1-18-52 or 6-14-51 . If your haste is above 10%, pick the former, below 10%, pick the latter. Don't agonize, you can always respec again for refinements.

Once you've respecced, retrain your skills. I can't emphasize this enough. I raided with Explosive Shot rank 1 for many weeks, maybe even for months. You'll prefer to have Explosive Shot Rank 4.

STEP 2: REGLYPH

Your majors for the majority of raid situations: Glyph of Steady Shot, Glyph of Serpent Sting, Glyph of Improved Aspect of the Hawk. Your minors stay the same.

STEP 3: CHECK YOUR GEAR

Hey, awesome! You're wearing hunter gear! Congratulations, you don't need to change anything.

More extended discussion: all the same things that were important as MM and BM are important as SV. Hit rating and getting to the hit cap is the most important thing. Do you read BRK? Did you know that your pet's hit rating rounds DOWN to the nearest whole number? Yeah... that means, if you have 262 hit rating and no points in Focused Aim, you may have 7.99% hit, but your pet has 7.0% hit.

Your gear will transfer smoothly between specs, but the difference is the stats that you will come to see as "frosting". That is, you should be stacking Hit and Agi, and don't forget Int. Regardless of your spec, 3/3 Careful Aim means you skip the rogue gear and put on hunter gear! The "frosting" on your hit/agi/int cake for SV contains a delicious creamy mixture of haste and crit. Sure, I still equip the Incisor Fragment because I haven't gotten anything better for my second trinket slot. Armor Pen is good frosting, but it's the lesser imitation vanilla kind.

Most people get why crit is important, but why stack haste? The short answer is, Explosive Shot and Steady Shot are like oil and water -- they don't mix, they don't play well together. When you stack enough haste to bring the speed of Steady Shot down to the GCD, you get a perfect emulsion, a mouthwatering vinaigrette of ESx1+SSx3 that dresses a boss salad like nobody's business.

In summary, you don't have to make any changes immediately, especially if you've taken 5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk. But as you go, consider a haste gem here, an Agi-instead-of-AP enchant there, a sidegrade piece of gear that gets extra haste or crit.

STEP 4: CONSUMABLES

Your flask stays the same for a raid. You might prefer to switch your food buff from a Feast (or other AP) to Agi food. Your pet food buff stays the same.

To be continued....

Raiding Checklist - The Reprise

Apparently it's time now to redo an old checklist that I had written for raiding back in the prehistoric times that were Burning Crusade. It was merely a checklist to make sure you were ready for the Karazhan raid that was starting in 30 minutes.

Now, we've migrated to the WOTLK. Replace the word "Karazhan" with "Naxxramas" and you've got the same sort of checklist. Now in a new, improved WOTLK flavor.

Food - You need an appropriate buff for the class (and role) you're going to be playing. As I'm sure most of you already know, many of the statistics and categories in the game have been blended. There is no +healing food (curse you Golden Fishsticks). Now, you'd eat some kind of spellpower food to raise your healing. Consider eating foods that buff your hit rating (review the hit rating caps for your class and expected raid composition), Spellpower, Attack Power, Haste, Mana Regeneration, Critical Strike rating, Armor Penetration and so forth. You should know what is going to help your class most. In the spirit of WOTLK, be aware that there are "feasts" now that many people can eat from (think of a Vegas buffet) and get a well-fed buff. If you're not the one on the hook to provide the feasts, make sure you have some of your own personal food. It helps you get the buff back if you go wild and pull aggro and die.
Water - Next on Mazlowe's Hierarchy of Needs is water. Yes, I know. Rogues, warriors and death knights won't require this. And most raids will have a mage to make a handy refreshment table. But, always be prepared for the eventuality that your raid won't have one. Bring enough to last you.
Potions - Health potions are usable by everyone. Mana potions are usable by those classes who also need water. And don't neglect the special use potions that give a (usually very powerful) buff to something your class/role cares about. These buffs usually last 15 seconds, but can really be a lifesaver. You shouldn't need quite as many mana or health potions as you did in BC since you can only drink one per fight. However, if you bring too many, they won't spoil in your bags before your next raid.
Elixirs/Flasks - These are very important. You can be under the effect of one guardian and one battle elixir OR one flask. The flasks will persist through death and is generally what I drink for progression content. Deaths happen when you're learning and it can become quite pricey.
Ammunition - Mostly this is for the hunters. However, warriors need it to pull, rogues might need it in fights where melee is forbidden, and so forth. Nothing screams huntard more than needing to be summoned back after the first half-dozen pulls because you need more bullets or arrows.
Pet Food - Again, mostly for hunters. The amount of pet food you'll need may decrease drastically from BC based on the pet talent trees. Some trees allow your pet to gain happiness based on them attacking. This is a good thing. I wouldn't suggest more than a stack (if that) of normal food for pet happiness. Do, however, look into the pet buff foods that can be cooked. Are you paying attention warlocks? This affects you too. And, here's a question, how about DK ghouls. Can they benefit from this cooked food?
Reagents - Candles, dusts, symbols, nuts & berries, ankhs, corpse dusts, shards and poisons. Get them. They allow you to do things like buff your party, bring yourself (or someone else) back to life in battle, prevent a wipe by Divine Intervention, make warlock "candy" (healthstones), make soulstones, do more damage, and so forth. There aren't many profession specific mats you might need, but it doesn't hurt to take a few stacks of herbs (if you can make on the fly potions, elixirs or flasks) for those who don't follow this checklist. Also remember to bring your goblin jumper cables (or the new Gnomish Army Knife) or a repair bot if you're an engineer.
Enchants & Gems - Please don't come to my raid with an empty gem slot. Just. Don't. As for enchants, nearly every piece of gear can be enchanted or enhanced somehow. Helmets can have an arcanum put on them, shoulders get inscriptions. Pants receive armor kits, embroidery or threads. There are some nifty new "enchants" that are specific to professions. Leather workers can make some fur linings & what-not. Engineers can enhance gloves, cloaks & boots. The only items that are not enhanceable at all are: amulets, off-hand items, and trinkets. Specifically important is the existence of a belt buckle to be applied to your waist armor. It holds a gem. It's a shame to not have a gem slot filled at all or a completely unenchanted piece of gear. It doesn't have to be the "best in slot" gem or enchant, but PLEASE have something.
Durability & Bag space - This is more of a what you don't bring rather than what you do. And the things you should ALWAYS leave at home are broken or damaged armor and full bags. Repair and clear bags before you step inside.
Inscriptions - While most of this list has been a re-hash, from here on out it's all new baby. You should have every inscription slot filled. Even if it's not the absolute best for your class, have something that will help out in the spot. No. SRSLY.
The "right" pet - Yay. More hunter love. Please don't bring your tenacity pet to a raid to offtank. It's not your role in a raid. If you bring the wrong type of pet, you're gimping your own performance. With the advent of 3.0 and WOTLK, different pets bring different buffs. Some of these pets can fill buff & debuff holes you have in your raid composition. Got no warrior to sunder - bring something that puts an armor debuff out there (like a wasp). The pet families all have special abilities. Learn what your raid needs and fill that hole in if you can.

So, that's the list. There's only one more thing to bring. And this has been around since the days when Molten Core and Onyxia were the only end-game. Bring your research on the fights and your ability to follow the raid leaders directions. Leave your argumentative, combative attitude at home. It'll be a lot more fun for, for the raid leader, and for the entire group.

Good luck and Have fun!

The Kill List

I was having a conversation with Baby the other day about healing, and the term he offered up was determining the "Kill List." Since his new blog is about all things mage, I don't think he'll mind if I steal this topic from him.

I don't care if you're a priest, shaman, druid or paladin. If you're healing, you've got to have a pretty good idea of the kill list. "But Bremm," I hear you cry, "the DPS kills. I just heal."

Well, sunshine, we're not talking about that kind of kill list. I'm talking about you setting the order that your own team will (be allowed to) die in.

As a healer, you're a subset of the group or raid. In five-mans, you may be the only healer around. As such, you'll need to make some instantaneous decisions about who gets the heal when too many people need it. Under the best circumstances, you'll never use this list. But in the event that some bad stuff starts going down and someone is going to die, you can often let the "right" person die and save a wipe.

If someone on the kill list must be expended, they'll quite often say "You forgot to heal me." I never forget to heal you; sometimes I decide that you must die for the greater good.

My kill list goes something like this (From Most Likely to Least Likely to be allowed to die):

1. Pets (except in the rare circumstances where they are tanking). Sorry hunters, you're beloved animal buddy is going to bite it first. It costs nothing but a rez and a piece of food to get them back in the game. Pets never have to repair, thus they can die.
2. Damage classes who have a means to dump threat (feign death, feint, soul shatter, etc.) and are not performing repeatable crowd control for this pull.
3. Damage classes who do not have a means to dump threat and are not performing repeatable crowd control for this pull.
4. Damage classes who have a means to dump threat and are performing repeatable crowd control for this pull
5. Damage classes who do not have a means to dump threat and are performing repeatable crowd control for this pull.
6. Other healers
7. Me
8. Tanks

There seems to be a nasty clump in positions 2 through 5 where it's hard to see who is whom. Lets look at the classes and expound

Category 2 - classes who have a means to dump threat (feign death, feint, soul shatter, etc.) and are not performing repeatable crowd control for this pull.

Hunters, (shadow) priests, rogues and locks have some means to dump threat. Of these, only hunters (freezing trap) and priests (mind control, shackle) have repeatable control. If you're not doing this things, kill em in this category.

Category 3 - classes who do not have a means to dump threat and are not performing repeatable crowd control for this pull.

Druids (apart from cowering), mages (invisibility takes too long to cast), paladins, shamans and warriors have no threat dump. Only mages and druids (hibernate, cyclone, eventually entangling roots) have repeatable crowd control. If you're not doing these things, kill 'em.

Category 4 - classes who have a means to dump threat and are performing repeatable crowd control for this pull

See Category 2. Kill the crowd controlling hunters and (shadow) priests here.

Category 5 - classes who do not have a means to dump threat and are performing repeatable crowd control for this pull.

See Category 3. Kill the crowd controlling mages and druids here.

And that's the whole kill list. And having this available, makes explaining your choices that much easier.

Loot Distribution

There are two generally accepted theories about how to distribute loot in raids. Granted, leaving the loot set on Group Loot will be a way to distribute (roll if you need, pass if you don't, one enchanter roll greed for DE purposes) will work. But you're going to hurt peoples' feelings if that's how you choose to do it.

So apart from the chaos that erupts from Group Looting, the choices are either a DKP system (of some sort) or a loot council. These each have their advantages and disadvantages. As you begin running 10-man dungeons, it may not be necessary to make a selection about how your guild will hand out loot; however, by the time you hit the 25-man content, this had better already be decided.

DKP and such systems result in a quantitative approach where "points" are awarded at determined times (usually start of raid, after bosses are downed, end of raid, and perhaps after some amount of elapsed time) which can then be used as currency. Systems exist where only points matter and the loot is bid for auction style. Another popular method is a method to add your "points" to a random roll. The amount of points each person in the raid has is well known (usually posted on a website) and raiders can generally gauge their "purchasing power."

The qualitative analog to DKP is a loot council. This usually consists of the raid leader and some guild officers having a conversation about where dropped loot should go. The loot council can make microscopic adjustments to reward attendance and make sure the loot does the "most good" for the guild as a whole.

In the end, a decision needs to be made about whether your guild prefers a qualitative or a quantitative approach to loot. I'm a big fan of DKP systems. With everything out in the open as far as everyone's purchasing power, raiders can form a reasonable expectation about loot they may get.

However, and this is potentially the controversy, you shouldn't fiddle around with the system and put restrictions on it. Such reasonable requests as limiting the number of items that can be won in a single instance or preventing non-guilded raid members to participate in looting can be very detrimental to the DKP.

A Story - In this story there are only four characters. You must use your powers of imagination to see how this would work for 25 players. Additionally, the loot would not be beneficial to every member of a raid (like it is here), but here you must use your imagination as well, I'm afraid.

Once upon a time there were four characters, Throm, Tigerlily, Beamline, and Crouton. Of them, the first three are in a guild together that uses DKP. Crouton is not in the guild but is sometimes invited to their raids to fill a spot and has built up some DKP. The particular system they use allows the entire DKP total to be added to the roll. If (and only if) the roll is won, half of the winners DKP is subtracted from their total. Going into their raid, Throm has 20 points, Tigerlily has 200 points, Beamline has 15 points and Crouton has 50.

Tigerlily has raided for several months with no gear rewards. In the meantime both Throm and Beamline have received a few upgrades and they spent their DKP on it.

The intrepid four tackle a new boss they've never downed but have a good strategy for finally putting the boss in his place. Lo and behold, the boss finally dies yielding up his treasures. He has three things that everyone in the group wants. The bidding begins on the first, and the tally works out like this:

• Throm rolled a 45 plust his 20 DKP for a total of 65
• Tigerlily rolled a 13 plus her 200 DKP for a total of 213
• Beamline rolled a 90 plus his 15 DKP for a total of 105
• Crouton rolled a 9 plus his 50 DKP for a total of 59

Tigerlily, who has not received any upgrades in months, finally wins an upgrade. Even though she feels a bit guilty she announces her intention to bid along with the other three for the next item. The tally works out like this:

• Throm rolled a 9 plus his 20 DKP for a total of 29
• Tigerlily rolled a 1 plus her 100 DKP (100 were used winning the first item) for a total of 101
• Beamline rolled a 79 plus his 15 DKP for a total of 94
• Crouton passes, saving his DKP for the last item.

Tigerlily wins AGAIN. This time she loses 50 DKP - one half of her current total. Bidding for item 3 opens. The tally works out like this:

• Throm rolled a 35 plus his 20 DKP for a total of 55
• Tigerlily passes. She is beginning to feel guilty and wants someone else to receive something tonight. Isn't she nice?
• Beamline rolled a 90 plus his 15 DKP for a total of 105.
• Crouton rolled a 57 plus his 50 DKP for a total of 107.

Crouton barely edges out Beamline and wins the last item, losing 25 of his DKP in the process.

There are a couple of salient points in there. Tigerlily could quite easily have rolled and won a third item here. She has the same DKP as Crouton in the example, who has the most DKP of any of the rollers. Note also, that even though Crouton is not part of the guild, none of the guild members got upset with him for using his DKP. They all know that Crouton only gets to fill in when they need extra people, thus has limited chances to increase his DKP total. Even though none of the guild members got the immediate gratification of a new item, they know their turn is coming around again. Especially since the boss was defeated once, they can look forward to a string of kills.

I don't want this post to get too much longer. But if there's interest, I can write up something about the opposing viewpoint or give more examples.

Posting on Weekends?

I know you all don't normally look for a post from me on the weekends, but special circumstances call for special posts.

I think the picture below speaks for itself.


Number one on damage meters (thanks for the spec, BRK) and gratz me on the Dragonspine Trophy!

Raiding as a Caster - Spell Hit and DPS

Today we're talking only to the offensive casters in the raid group. So listen up mages, warlocks, shadow priests, elemental shamans, and boomkin. This post is for you. Hunters, rogues, warriors, elemental shamans and healers can have the day off.

In the world of raiding, you're going to have a set of "goal" numbers to get into Karazhan which is probably about +600 spell damage, 9000 Mana, 7500 Health. These benchmarks are set up this way because it's what you need to succeed at Karazhan. Luckily, as you are busy succeeding, you're getting gear drops. Each of those drops is hopefully making you a little better at turning mana into dead bosses.

At some point, you'll be heading off to the 25 man content. Your raid leader now may expect some things out of you that you're unused to dealing with. I think most raid leaders want to see consistent DPS out from all damage dealers at around 800-850 DPS. Damage meters will run and data will be collected. If for some reason you don't measure up, you'll have to work out why. Here is a list of potential pit-falls arranged in the order of easiest to hardest to correct.

1. Did I do everything in my power to self-buff? Did you eat your +spell damage food? Did you have one flask or two elixirs? Did you put Wizard Oil on your weapon? Is everything enchanted with suitable enchants? Did I ensure I had all buffs? (The number of Paladin buffs you have should be equal to the number of paladins in your raid. Unless you are running in some bizarro world with 15 paladins.) Did I use my self-only buffs as needed? These questions all address one 0f the best ways to get yourself ready for a raid. Eat appropriate food, use appropriate elixirs or flasks, and ensure you have buffs. However, after doing just that you may still be falling short of your goals.
   
2. Was I in the appropriate raid group? This is completely beyond your control. However, being in a group with a Draenei caster is always appropriate. Their racial increases your spell hit rating by 1%. While it's nice to have healers in groups with elemental shamans, it's often more appropriate to split them up amongst your casting groups. Totem of Wrath gives a +3% spell hit to group members. Alliance really lucks out here in that all of elemental shamans give +4% (racial + totem) to their groups. Warlocks may lose out here in that their imps often provide stamina buff to primarily tank/melee groups. If so, try to make sure those warlocks are affliction locks. (See Question #3)
3. Is my spec built for end-game raiding? We all like to do some grinding, daily questing and PVPing. However, depending on your class there are some talents you must absolutely have to avoid misses.
   • Druids - Balance of Power (Balance Tier 6) increases spell hit by 4%
   • Mages - Elemental Precision (tier 1 Frost) increases fire and frost spell hit by 3%. Arcane Focus (tier 1 Arcane) increases arcane spell hit by 10%.
   • Priests - Shadow Focus (tier 2 Shadow) increases shadow spell hit by 10%. There is also a talent buried deep in the discipline tree that affects spell hit for some spells. I haven't listed it because I don't think there is a reliable spec that hits both of these. If there is, I'm sure an astute reader will find it.
   • Shamans - Three separate talents increase spell hit:
   • Elemental Precision (Elemental Tier 6) Increases spell hit by 6%.
   • Nature's Guidance (Restoration Tier 3) Increases spell hit by 3%
   • Totem of Wrath (Restoration Tier 9) increases entire party spell hit by 3%.
   • Warlocks - Suppression (Affliction Tier 1) increases affliction spells only by 10%.
   It is definitely worth a respec to check it out and see if you can't up your DPS just by not missing.
4. Do I need spell hit gear? While your gear may have been perfectly fine for Karazhan, if you're missing on spells, you're sacrificing DPS. There is some very nice spell hit gear for casters in Karazhan. Also, consider giving up a spell damage enchant (you do have one of those, don't you) on your gloves for Spell Strike for the +15 spell hit rating. The amount of gear with +spell hit you need can be as much as 202 (for no talent/no buffs). Consider also Great Dawnstone (yellow) or Veiled Noble Topaz (yellow/red) to give yourself a +spell hit rating buff.

After you've worked your way through this list of items, you should be seeing a significant boost to the DPS you're doing as a caster. Don't get complacent though, you still need to keep your +spell damage as high as possible, keep enough stamina to not die to environmental effects, manage your threat and do everything else you've learned.

As we progress WoW becomes more and more of a thinking person's game. I hope you brought your thinking cap.

We're Getting There

Neither of the guilds I've been in since BC have been capable of staffing a 25-man raid. My current guild has enough players to go in an cream Kara whenever we want. And if my hunter needs to swap out for the priest so that someone else can bring a warlock for a piece of loot and the healing druid has to tank for a while, it's do-able.

The problem we've been having is not enough distinct players to staff it all. However, as I logged on last evening to do a little PVP, I got the "BREM! We need you" call from the guild. They were just a few positions away from hosting the second simultaneous Kara run. So, like a good guildie, I jumped in and did it.

Group Two didn't go too far; we had some folks with time constraints. It was also completely (well, mostly) unscheduled. It just gives me hope that if we can staff one planned and one impromptu ten-man raid that we're getting much closer to staffing one planned twenty-five-man raid.

And let me tell you, it's about time. Most of the members of my guild are going to have every single drop from Karazhan they need. I'm afraid once we do get this train moving, it's going to run over raid bosses. I can't imagine that Gruul or Mag will cause us much problem. And then we'll be into SSC and we might finally have a challenge or three.

At least that's what I'm hoping!

So, well done Schadenfreude! I look forward to us kicking some 25-man butt!

/readycheck

You dinged 70. Gratz. You did the four instances required (Shadow Labyrinth, Steamvaults, Arcatraz and Black Morass). You're ready for Karazhan, right?

Probably not.

I have a friend whose guild is knocking on the door of having enough folks at the appropriate level of heading into the world of raiding. He knows they are not ready as a guild, but doesn't feel he has a good argument for why. He was asking how he would know they were ready so they could evaluate themselves.

This started a rather longish debate which I soon realized was a blog topic.

While I'd like to break this down by each class and spec, it's not practical to spindle and mutilate each stat for a number of possibilities.

At the minimum a guild beginning to think about the Kara raid needs to have a group of 2 tanks (preferably one that can also fulfill another role), 3 healers, and 5 DPS. I know there are guilds who farm Karazhan without this makeup. But I'd almost guarantee they didn't start raiding it with whatever mutant makeup they use now. Make sure your tanks are specced to tank and your healers are specced to heal.

Each of your potential little raiders should have the majority of their equipment be blue (or above). Some greens in some slots are nearly unavoidable. I know my hunter wore the Duro Footgear quest reward for just about forever. What we're looking for here is that green items are the definite minority.

Now, run each of them through the BeImba site. It should be smart enough to look at specs and decide what they need. Pay special attention to enchants, gemming, and low gear. The site is awesome sauce enough to recommend different gems or enchants if it's done improperly. It will also recommend enchants or gems for pieces that aren't enchanted or have empty sockets.

As a team building exercise, you may want to suggest your group of potential raiders work together to kit one another out. Perhaps a grind for a static drop enchanting recipe is in order. Maybe someone needs the reputation to buy a glyph for their helmet. Also some classes might need help with a group quest to get a much needed gear upgrade. Also don't forget to suggest they do Heroics as training for Karazhan. The team that can take apart any Heroic Instance you throw at them is a group that goes far in Kara.

Finally have each of them check out the raiding checklist on this here site. It might not be a bad idea for them to also review which of their own cooldowns belong to the raid. There may be things on the checklist that can also be farmed while you're doing team building.

And when the dust settles, if your group has listened and done the things you asked, you won't have to answer whether they are ready. Because they will know they are ready, and you won't have to question that knowledge.

Assignment: Healing

No. This isn't some bizarre game where I give you homework. Instead I want to talk about healing assignments for raiding. I'll look at why you need to do this, some ideas about what makes sense as far as assignments and why you should start the moment you touch a raiding situation.


A story

Once upon a time a raid group went into Karazhan with 2 tanks, 5 DPS and 3 healers. Since this is a fairy tale about healing the healers are Crouton (a priest), Tigerlily (a druid) and Throm (a paladin). If the raid leader isn't aware of healing assignments here's what will happen. Everyone heals the people who need topped off. Inevitably, this means that Throm who can spam flashes of light with almost no impact to his mana will heal everyone as quickly as possible. Tigerlily who's faithfully staying in treeform and healing with her super-powered druid HOTs is also healing as needed. She's also keeping lifebloom stacks on the tank(s). Throm, having read priest blogs before, is using his POM like a pro and casting greater heals on needy targets. Our intrepid band of adventurers moves on to Attumen, and after several attempts ending in wipes, the raid leader calls a five minute break to let the trash finish respawning before their final attempt of the night. During the break, Crouton looks at his healing meters and sees his overhealing is running around60%. He's a little depressed because he knows he's not wasting that much mana and he's feeling like it's his fault they are wiping. Tigerlily also looks at her meters and sees she's also overhealing. She's not as overcome as Throm, because she expects to overheal some. But her overhealing number of 45% feels a little high to her. Throm, on the other hand, begins sharing in the healer channel what his numbers show and how he is singlehandedly outhealing the other two healers combined. He's quite proud of himself and his contribution to the team. The raid re-assembles and the raid leader asks for a debrief about what's going wrong. Hesitantly, Crouton asks if maybe the healing responsibility for the tanks shouldn't be split between he and Throm and have Tiger pick up the raid heals. The raid leader immediately agrees and assigns Crouton main tank healing, Throm off tank healing and Tiger to pick up the raid. They clear again, engage and kill Attumen. The healing meters now show that while there was still overhealing, it was in the 20-30% range and the distribution of healing overall was more equal. Additionally, only one of the healers needed to drink a potion, and the innervate is available for later.

So, what can we learn from Throm, Crouton and Tigerlily? Probably lots of things, but let's start with:

• Paladins have a short casting time heal that can cause other healers to overheal. There's a reason they are considered the best single-target healer.
• Druids should expect overhealing higher than other healers. In tree form, they live on HOTs and HOTs can tick once the recipient is at full life. If druids are casting the longer direct heals, they can land huge heals, again increasing the overheal.
• Priests should expect some overhealing due to Renew and POM.
• Not determining healing assignments exacerbates the problem of overhealing. Additionally, it's more costly to healers (at least some of them) in terms of raid consumables.

Did the raid leader assign the healers correctly? Probably. While it's probably an entire post on its own, healers have things they do best.

• Paladins - Single target heals, cleansing, nearly limitless mana supply. Excellent main tank healers.
  
• Shamans - Multi-target heals. Totem love. Some cleansing. Good raid healers.
  
• Druids - Heals over time. Innervate. Battle Rez. Good raid healers.
• Priests - Not best at any one thing, but most versatile healers. Good tank healers.

But, why does it matter who heals whom in a stupid ten-man instance? It might not. Having healing assignments is almost always more mana efficient. And if ten-mans are where you stop, you can quite possibly get away with never doing assignments.

However, mana conservation and proper healing becomes more prominent later. If you or your guild has any thought of moving past Karazhan, it makes good sense to get into the habit of assignments now. It's sort of like house training a puppy. If you correct bad habits early, you're not stepping in it when the dog is full grown.

Saving My Cool Downs

Everything I know about managing resources really came from me playing Magic: The Gathering. Back in the day, I was a big fan of saving my bombs for exactly the right moment. Unfortunately, I found that sometimes I was stuck at the end of the game with a handful of cards that could’ve come in useful when I was still alive.

To some degree the same principles apply in WoW. We’re all used to resource usage. You have a finite amount of mana, rage or energy. There are only so many reagents, bullets and potions you can carry. There are whole discussions in the blogoverse about it’s better for healers to have a larger mana pool or a greater rate of mana regeneration. And warlocks are constantly faced with the decision about conversion of one resource type (life) to another (mana).

But we all have at our disposal another resource type – time. I’m used to time as a resource as far as potion timer goes. If I drink a mana pot early, I’m likely to be able to drink another in the later stages of a fight. At first it was counter-intuitive to drink a potion when I didn’t really, really need it. But it turns out that this is quite often the best solution.

Of course, this article isn’t really about potion timers either. It is really more about abilities we all have that have a longish cool-down. I’m talking things in the 3-6 minute range rather than the cool downs that are more easily measured in fractions of hours.

I’ve always been a big saver of cool downs. For instance, I only tend to pop my Rapid Fire on bosses. However, I think I’m playing wrong. I should be popping that skill each time it comes up as long as it’ll also be available for the upcoming boss.

I think the thing that needs to be kept in mind is that these abilities have a cool down because they are very powerful. More powerful abilities tend to have longer cool downs. So as long as you can use the cool down and still have it available for key fights, you should. You’ll have better luck knowing when you can use cool downs on bosses that you’ve cleared before, but for the most part it’s never “Surprise! Here we are at a boss!”

I tried to follow my own advice on the guild Karazhan run and I noticed some improvement in my overall performance. Of course, I don’t recommend this for key abilities that more appropriately belong to your raid leader than you (battle resurrection, enervate, and the like). Good luck out there!

Raid Symbols & You!

Does everyone recognize those 8 symbols over yonder?

Good!

Now tell me what each of them means?

This is where things start to fall apart. Not each group uses them to mean the same things. I admit, I'm biased about what these things mean because I'm often the group leader in charge of marking. So I've decided what I think they mean, but let me tell you it is NOT universal.

Pretty much everyone uses the skull to mean "we kill this first." So far so good. Quite often the X (or cross) means the tank will hold this one and we'll kill it next. In the case where there is an off-tank, that's usually his or her symbol.

Next is the blue square. To me (and apparently a lot of other folks) it looks like an ice cube and invariably is assigned to the hunter.

Now, some real disagreement begins to set in. While the first three symbols are (becoming) standard, the other five are not really at all. Perhaps, the most consistent, is using the moon to designate sheep. I've used it that way from the beginning and I've begun to notice other groups doing the same.

The yellow star is sometimes used as the sap symbol. I like the alliteration of star=sap.

The orange circle (or condom or nipple) is what I usually mark patrols with. Strangely enough, I also use it to designate a mind control target.

The purple diamond belongs to warlocks in my mind. I think it is because of all the symbols it looks the most like a heart. And a seduced target has hearts rising up from its head. I know, "Bremm is a weirdo."

Lastly there's the green triangle (or panties as Owaru told me). I generally reserve this as a spare symbol in case I have more than one of a class that can CC (the second sheep, the second ice trap) or for the second warlock target if we need enslave and banish. In cases where I need to mark a patrol and mind control, or there is more than one patrol, I'll also use this.

I'm not sure how common my usage is, but I thought I'd share.

Note: Although these are called raid target icons, they are also used a lot in instances. In fact, I will often use them when duo-leveling just to highlight where things are. Don't be afraid to use them, they're not just for raiding anymore.

How to be a Bad Raid Leader

Fresh idea from the Google top searches. Eleven ways to be a bad raid leader.

1. Be Steadfast in your understanding of Group Composition - Blizzard designs raid encounters to work with a very focused group. If you absolutely need a rogue for a particular encounter, please do not let your raid sway you into putting something else into that position. Clearly as the raid leader you have a better understanding of the encounter and know that another DPS class won't work there.
2. Make sure people follow their Classic Raid Roles - Priests, paladins & druids heal, warriors tank, everyone else provides DPS. It worked in Molten Core--it works now too.
3. Stick to your Loot Distribution Scheme - The loot rules were written ahead of time and shouldn't be altered arbitrarily. Who cares if you are sharding a serious upgrade for a shaman? If he doesn't have the DKP, it gets sharded. Besides, it'll help the guild bank.
4. Punish Bad Performance - If someone isn't cutting it in their assigned role, kick them from the raid. If you have the power, you may want to kick them from the guild as well. It'll make a leaner stronger guild in the end.
5. Take control of voice chat - Please don't let your raiders chitchat on voice chat. Voice chat is a tool for successfully executing a raid. You don't play around with serious tools. If they can't comply, use your power to mute them. Besides shouldn't the raiders want to listen to you and only you?
6. Be strict about time - If people can't show up on time for a raid, start typing /gkick. In the end, you'll have a core of serious folks who will better be able to succeed now that the dead weight is gone.
7. Call out offenders by name - Nothing fixes poor performance like a little public humiliation. You'll be surprised how quickly your team turns around.
8. Use Profanity - They're all adults right. Nothing fosters good will like calling someone an "Effing Idiot" or a "Gee Dee Moron" or even better a "Stupid Em Effer." They'll rectify their ways so as not to be the target of this right quick.
9. Keep them in the Dark - They don't need to worry about the upcoming fights. They just need to keep doing their jobs and let you worry about the boss fight. Especially don't ask for input. You're the raid leader, that's your job. Their jobs are to do what they're told.
10. Take the Best Stuff for Yourself - Being a raid leader is a thankless job. You should get first pick of the loot. It's the only way you're getting paid for your raid leadership.
11. Don't Give Breaks - Your raiders should be prepared to perform you commands at a moment's notice for the length of the raid. They shouldn't need breaks. If they "make their own breaks" by being AFK, kick them. Additionally, don't use a readycheck. They should be ready without you asking
    
    AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
    
    
12. Ignore Everything in this list - There is not a better way to lose your entire raiding staff than following the first eleven points in this list to the letter.
    

Yay for Us!

So, a couple of my guildmates went with a friendly guild last night to Zul'Aman. I think you can see the results of our visit!

We only cleared to the one boss and were clearing on towards the second when we ran out of time and energy.

I'm very happy with our performance and a hunter from my guild got the oh so lucky drop of [Pauldrons of Primal Fury]

He's just lucky I was on my priest or I'd have totally won those shoulders!

All your resource are belong to raid.

Several classes have skills, abilities or cool-downs that will help them level. And for 70 levels, these things have belonged exclusively to the player to use, abuse, misuse or forget to use at his or her leisure.

However, with your entry into the world of raiding, you should definitely get out of the mindset that these abilities intrinsic to your class are yours. Most raid-leaders definitely believe these choices are not yours to make but belong instead to the raid. Here's a short list:

Soul stones: While it's nice to be able to self-resurrect after a bad pull, in Karazhan and beyond your soul stones no longer belong to you. The raid leader should indicate who should be soul-stoned. Remind the raid leader when the cool-down is up as he or she may wish to change the target.

Battle resurrection: Druids, please do NOT use your resurrection if there's anyone else available to do it. Since yours is on a longish cool down, it's better to have that available to fix a set of unfortunate circumstances on a boss.

Pets: Hunters and warlocks may be expected to sacrifice pets to achieve a particular goal. While not true for hunters, warlocks are often expected to summon a pet to fit the current fight. Don't get attached to your imp!

Divine Intervention: I'm listing this only for completeness. Most paladins aren't in the habit of using this except to prevent a wipe. Since the target of the DI is immaterial (as long as he or she can resurrect the rest of the raid), you should just be ready to pop it on anyone who can rez that's in range.

Enervate: If you're a restoration druid, your enervate may actually still belong to you. However, if you're feral or moonkin, please do not use your enervate until the raid leader calls it out. He or she may be relying on that enervate landing when it's called for. So don't use it unless asked for.
Self-resurrection: This applies both to a recipient of a soul stone and shaman using an ankh. You should likely know whether you're meant to use the resurrection upon death or if you are to quickly get the raid back up after wiping. So make sure you're not wasting the chance by resurrecting before you should.

That's about it. If you keep these things in mind, it'll help you not look like a n00b and keep the raid leader getting what he or she expects. Good luck in your raid!!

Cooldown

Last night was kind of busy and I wound up staying up WAY past bedtime. So, in light of the post from yesterday I'm sort of feeling like the blog is on cooldown.

A few highlights so this doesn't turn into a post just to keep this thing daily.

• Successfully ran an Arcatraz key-frag run for new 70 warrior (which we desperately need in our raid groups).
• Successfully ran a Black Morass for same warrior.
• Took same warrior into Karazhan for his first time ever (Moroes & Attumen)

Rants

• What's so freaking hard about giving a tank a few seconds to get some solid aggro?
• Why were our shackles breaking on the Moroes adds so often? Sometimes as little as 2 seconds. And no, there were no dispelling adds unshackled.
• Why won't the Mongoose enchant EVER drop for us for just one lousy guildie?
  

Raiding Checklist!

So you think you're ready to raid? Let's take a little quiz:

1. Do you have enough flasks and/or elixirs to survive for how long you're going to be at it? Please take into account that flasks last two hours. If your raid is scheduled to run for three hours, you're going to need more than one. Flasks are expensive but don't have to be reapplied after each death. If you opt to go for the less expensive elixirs, have enough to reapply after EACH death for the length of the run. Also make sure you're using both a guardian and a battle elixir. Yes. Both.

2. Do you have enough food? Any buff food is good, but a spellcaster eating attack power food is worthless. I wrote a blog post about food for raids. Please have the right food on-hand to reapply any time you die. If you absolutely cannot cook it yourself, make sure you have someone who cooks it for you before hand or who can cook it right before the raid. If you go for the latter, please bring the cook the needed materials for a fire.

3. Is your gear enchanted? Anyone's gear that fits in the following slots can be enchanted: Cloak, Chest, Wrist, Gloves, Boots, Shield, Sword. If you are an enchanter, you can enchant your own rings. Please do not show up to a raid with gear not enchanted. If you absolutely must get an enchant right before the raid, make sure the enchanter is carrying his or her enchanting rod and that you bring the right materials for the enchant.

4. Are you carrying enough weapon enhancers? Here I'm speaking of Mana or Wizard Oil, Poisons, Sharpening or Weight Stones. These little enhancers may seem trivial but can be very important.

5. Do your shoulders have an inscription? Does your helmet have a glyph? Is there something in your pants? Inscriptions come from your Aldor/Scryer factions. Glyphs are for sale by most quartermasters at both honored and revered levels. And I wrote a post about pants.

6. Is your gear gemmed? Please, please, please don't walk into a raid with open gem slots. You'll just look foolish.

7. Do you have enough health and/or mana potions? This is kind of a no-brainer, no?

8. Bullets or Arrows? Rogues, Hunters, Warriors please have enough. For rogues or warriors, a stack (or two) is fine. Hunters should be prepared for anything.

9. Do you have any situational items? Think about second gear sets for an off-role. Repair bots for engineers. Resistance gear or potions might make sense too.

10. Enough bag space to loot? Mostly a joke, but with everything else you've brought make sure you've got some slots to receive your phat lewtz.

Hope you enjoyed the quiz. And you better have passed -- with flying colors.

*edited*

Oh. There's two more...

11. Do you have pet food? If your pet is going to die (and it likely will at some point) have some food to make him happy. If it's a bear and will eat mage conjured food, you're lucky, if not have something else. And don't forget sporeling snacks (or in 2.3 the new pet foods) to give your pet a food buff too.

12. (And this one is mighty important) BE ON TIME AND BE REPAIRED. Do I really need to expound on this one?

WoW Web Stats - Demystified

You absolutely MUST go read Ego's post on her site.

And if anyone from my guild wants to start running raid logs, I'll be happy to be the designated log mangler.

Karazhan - WowWebStats

Here's the raid report from WowWebStats for Sunday's Karazhan attempt(s). I'm not an expert, but I think my hunter did well with 0 misses. Does our tank need more +hit? I think most of the rest of us are okay, although I think maybe +spell hit on the mages? I'm a big noob when it comes to WWS. If only BRK would read the blog maybe he could tell me what I'm not seeing. :o)