I took Kikidas into a few heroics yesterday (Thank you, Boon!) and watched as her DPS on bosses climbed from approximately 1400 to about 1800 as I got an upgrade here or there.
Granted, as a mostly affliction warlock, my overall DPS still needs some help... but my DPS on bosses was actually pretty nice. I find myself all nostalgic about the good old days.
My rotation on trash is to slap Corr/CoA on them all and then SB spam until I need to reapply.
My rotation on bosses is currently UA, Corr, CoA, SL, SB until I need to reapply. I think this needs working on. I have improved SB, so I may try to hit SB first to apply the debuff before I apply the others. And with the loss of SL coming soon, I will soon be able to start SB spam far sooner. I think I need to go back to the training dummy and smack it around a bit until I'm sure I have the best rotation I can get out of my hybridized spec.
One of the things I took OUT of my talent build was Dark Pact. I love it and I miss it, but with a pet that sometimes winds up dying in boss AoE/Splash damage, I can't rely on it.
So I'm having to be more conscientious of my mana bar than I have been in the past, in terms of when it's safe to life tap and when I may need to drain life or if the healer has the time to spare to catch me up.
Either way, having fun! And.. given that my guild seems to have way too many melee DPS and no ranged DPS, hopefully in a bit I can be an alternative DPS for when we just can't swing another melee'er into the group.
Showing posts with label damage meter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label damage meter. Show all posts
Friday, February 13, 2009
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Moardots! Increasing DPS and Damage Done
No, I didn't respec UA, don't get your hopes up.
However, based on what I reviewed earlier, about spell rotation and the website I had found, I made a few changes to my casting rotation.
I removed Immolate. I added CoE. I slapped up Corruption and Siphon Life and then I SB spammed until it was time to slap up Corruption and Siphon Life again.
Due to this, not using improved CoA... I wonder if I should respec slightly, since the only reason to use Amplify Curse is on Curator for CoD and for CoA. I shall have to ponder.
What I noticed is that instead of about 35% of my damage coming from SB, it jumped to nearly 50%.
I also noticed that I was getting more use out of the Improved ShadowBolt debuff, as I was able to almost always hit the mob with 4-5 SB's by the time it wore off.
Now true, some of my increase in damage tonight in ZA was due to shamelessly gleeful use of SoC. *nummy* But one fight where I wasn't AoEing, I topped 1k DPS. *squee*
What doesn't help me is that every so often in a boss fight, I have to just stop casting. I'll have already used soulshatter, and I'm still passing the tanks on Omen.
Just imagine what I could do if I didn't have to stop casting. Or just imagine what I'd have to NOT do if I didn't have salvation and subtlty on.
Love. Warlock.
By the way, I switched to Recount. I really do like it. Not only does it tell you what your overall DPS is, you can select current fight, overall information AND if you select your name, it breaks down what abilities you use for the damage... and if you select an ability, it breaks it down for you in terms of hit, crit, miss, resist, etc.
So, just a friendly reminder kids... even if you think you're already doing the most awesome and the best and there's nothing you could possibly change to do better...
Yeah. You probably could do something better or different or tweak yourself just that extra little bit. Sometimes the difference between a boss dying and a boss living is a holy night elf priest using Starshards everytime it's up. (See, tweak! It isn't very many of the night elf healy priests that use Starshards whenever it's available. It's a skill that now costs no mana to use and is no longer channeled. So, unless you're having to spam heal your tank (which is sometimes what is going on!)... why not use it?)
Grow and evolve. Provide moardots. Make your raid leader happy. Make yourself happy!
There's a lesson in life in this too. This doesn't apply only to the game. Now, naturally, you can't really cast Starshards on your boss, as much as you wish you could... but in every aspect of your life... there's always room for improvement, even if you're already awesome. :)
However, based on what I reviewed earlier, about spell rotation and the website I had found, I made a few changes to my casting rotation.
I removed Immolate. I added CoE. I slapped up Corruption and Siphon Life and then I SB spammed until it was time to slap up Corruption and Siphon Life again.
Due to this, not using improved CoA... I wonder if I should respec slightly, since the only reason to use Amplify Curse is on Curator for CoD and for CoA. I shall have to ponder.
What I noticed is that instead of about 35% of my damage coming from SB, it jumped to nearly 50%.
I also noticed that I was getting more use out of the Improved ShadowBolt debuff, as I was able to almost always hit the mob with 4-5 SB's by the time it wore off.
Now true, some of my increase in damage tonight in ZA was due to shamelessly gleeful use of SoC. *nummy* But one fight where I wasn't AoEing, I topped 1k DPS. *squee*
What doesn't help me is that every so often in a boss fight, I have to just stop casting. I'll have already used soulshatter, and I'm still passing the tanks on Omen.
Just imagine what I could do if I didn't have to stop casting. Or just imagine what I'd have to NOT do if I didn't have salvation and subtlty on.
Love. Warlock.
By the way, I switched to Recount. I really do like it. Not only does it tell you what your overall DPS is, you can select current fight, overall information AND if you select your name, it breaks down what abilities you use for the damage... and if you select an ability, it breaks it down for you in terms of hit, crit, miss, resist, etc.
So, just a friendly reminder kids... even if you think you're already doing the most awesome and the best and there's nothing you could possibly change to do better...
Yeah. You probably could do something better or different or tweak yourself just that extra little bit. Sometimes the difference between a boss dying and a boss living is a holy night elf priest using Starshards everytime it's up. (See, tweak! It isn't very many of the night elf healy priests that use Starshards whenever it's available. It's a skill that now costs no mana to use and is no longer channeled. So, unless you're having to spam heal your tank (which is sometimes what is going on!)... why not use it?)
Grow and evolve. Provide moardots. Make your raid leader happy. Make yourself happy!
There's a lesson in life in this too. This doesn't apply only to the game. Now, naturally, you can't really cast Starshards on your boss, as much as you wish you could... but in every aspect of your life... there's always room for improvement, even if you're already awesome. :)
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
DISCOVERY! K has discovered Groups of Words!
This is one of the beautiful thing about blogs and reading other people's blogs. Occasionally, you find something great.
Or at least involving hot engineer sex (and truly, that's what made me go read! Who could pass up hot engineer sex?... though I must ask, is it hot sex (as in the room is a sauna) or hot sex (as in romance novel quality shagging) with an engineer, a hot engineer (as in cute) or a hot engineer (as in, his (or her!) internal thermostat is set at 100 degrees) sex? So many permutations of that phrase!)
Yet again, I find myself wishing I could write blogs the way that Bremm or Groups of Words do. More put together rather than my rather rambly method.
At least I can enjoy reading them.
Anyway, Groups of Words recently posted a few things dear to my heart. Namely damage meter spam, group roles and end content raiding.
Let's start! It's Tuesday - I have tons of time to spare. (housework? What's that?)
Given that this is technically a warlock-blog, damage dealing is what I do. And I'm pretty decent at it. I'm also bad at screen shotting and the ability to host and link pictures, so I have no proof other than what other people report in writing on my blog (do you hear that, Owaru and Boon, tell these lovely people that I'm a good dps'er!).
I will admit (oh so embarassedly! (that's a new word)) that in the beginning days of my getting good gear and raiding, I was an avid viewer of my damage meter. I'd usually only spam it if the other DPSers in the group and I were having a contest. Given that I usually ran with friends, this was frequently. In fact, this past-time gave rise to the K Game. (I just posted a link that goes to my own blog! I am teh aw3s0m3!!1!) How much damage can I put out without pulling threat from the tank? This served two purposes.
1: I started to evaluate my own cast rotation, spells, etc. I became a better player.
2: The tanks I ran with had to up their own abilities at holding aggro and pushing to their limits to enable the DPS to play the game.
3: (I lied about there being only two purposes) I learned a lot about tanking against people like myself.
However, I've stopped using the damage meter as a point of pride and I've started to use it to make sure I'm doing my job. Based on what my damage meter reads, I know if I'm slacking, or if I'm kicking ass. It enables me to evaluate changes in my gear or cast rotation.
Our guild, Knights of Utopia (and Groups of Words posted about guild names too... to be fair, I didn't name the guild!) doesn't care as much about damage meters as anything but a raid utility. We use it to evaluate if our newer 70's (or even established 70's!) are ready to hit Karazhan with us. When someone says 'post the damage meters!' we reply 'get your own' and 'no public posting'. Now, on officer channel, we're posting and comparing and saying 'Wow, given his gear, he should be doing MUCH better!'. But that's the perogative of officers. :)
Enough Damage Meters! Onto group roles! As you can see, I've got a bad case of altisms disease. But what this means is that I can typically fill whatever role my group is needing. This makes it very handy for me to be able to do whatever I want. Now, granted, if I want to get a DPS item out of an instance and they need a tank, it doesn't always work quite like I planned, but at least I can get to go.
What's even nicer, is that several of my friends that I group with on a regular basis also have a slight case of altisms and between the four of us, can put together any group we need, so that I can get that DPS trinket one time, or put together a group so someone else can go after that same DPS trinket.
K: DPS, Tank or Healer
Owaru: DPS, Tank or Healer
Boon: DPS or Healer
Absitively: DPS or Tank
I think you can easily see how given the four of us on at any given time (or even just one or two of us), making a group becomes a lot easier.
(Eventually, Neshura will join that list, but right now, she's DPS, DPS or DPS.)
I didn't make a healer though, or a tank, because I felt it was a role that needed to be filled. I did it because I have altisms. Hello, aren't you paying attention?
However, a lot of people do make an alt to fill a percieved role. This is all well and good, unless said person isn't very good at that role and it frustrates them. Now, every role has a learning curve and WoW, of almost any game I've played, does an awesome job with letting you learn as you advance in levels. (and this is mainly one of my chief problems with purchased accounts, other than it being against the EULA. If you BUY your end-game protection warrior and have never been a warrior before... you're going to suck. And it's false advertising to be walking around in your T5 or whatever armor when you suck that badly.)
Now, I do admit I have a few biases. DPS classes that can't Crowd Control are one of them. I don't like them and I'll try to avoid having them in my groups as much as possible. My perception is changing slightly, given that I'm going to be doing a DPS Paladin in here soon, and uh... yeah. Anyway.
DPS Warriors, Enh/Ele Shaman, DPS Paladin and in most instances, DPS Druids.
Now, considering that they do have the abilities and the talent trees that lets them be DPS, have at it. But they need to understand that sometimes, they will be looked over for a class with more consistent crowd control abilities. Especially in Heroics, where sometimes appropriate Crowd Control is the difference between a wipe fest and a successful run. One non-CC DPS in a group is probably doable, but if the entire group is made up of a tank, a healer, a warrior, a paladin and a shaman... uh, I hope the paladin and the warrior are okay with offtanking, because that's the only form of CC that they have! (And I still maintain that OT is a form of CC. Sometimes harder to do than other times, but still a form of it.)
But I digress, as I often do.
Last but not least... end game raiding. As Groups of Words stated, there are various levels of end game raiding. KoU is in EndGameA. I'm guilty of guild-hopping with Kikidas. I will, however, say in my defense that when I guild-hopped with Kikidas, I was way ahead of the curve of the guild and I didn't leave as they were trying NEW content, I left as they were wiping on OLD content that they should have been able to mop the floor with. After that, I didn't guild-hop as much as simply keep trying to find a new guild that wasn't on it's way out! I think, as long as Resolve stays around, that I'm there to stay. I like the people and I'm content with the raiding that I'm able to do with them.
With the new management of KoU, we've managed to mop the floor with Karazhan. In fact, we managed to do it when 8 of our "core-raiders" left the guild. What does that tell you? Tells me that it wasn't an issue of we couldn't do it, but for whatever reason, wouldn't do it. Anyway...
KoU, at it's heart, is a social casual raiding guild that is casual about all things, but raiding. When we raid, we're serious, we have the gear, the know how, etc. The difference is that we raid once or twice a week instead of 4-5 times a week.
Additionally, being in Resolve has opened up a new avenue for a few of our KoU members. Based on what Resolve needs, I can get our better geared and able KoU members into their raids, letting them see some new content without needing to leave. Now, granted, I'm not talking SSC, BT or MH, I'm talking Gruuls and Mags. More than KoU could ever manage on its own, given that we have probably 13-15 able 70's that are never able to be on at the same time! :)
Where was I? This is what I mean by my inability to write a blog that is anything but rambling!
Oh yes, end game raiding. We have Kara on quasi-farm status now, though we're still having to pug one or two people per raid. And I hope that KoU's next step is to see about venturing into Zul'Aman.
We shall see. Thank you, Groups of Words, for a few blog ideas. Maybe I should blog about each thing separately? But what fun is that?
Or at least involving hot engineer sex (and truly, that's what made me go read! Who could pass up hot engineer sex?... though I must ask, is it hot sex (as in the room is a sauna) or hot sex (as in romance novel quality shagging) with an engineer, a hot engineer (as in cute) or a hot engineer (as in, his (or her!) internal thermostat is set at 100 degrees) sex? So many permutations of that phrase!)
Yet again, I find myself wishing I could write blogs the way that Bremm or Groups of Words do. More put together rather than my rather rambly method.
At least I can enjoy reading them.
Anyway, Groups of Words recently posted a few things dear to my heart. Namely damage meter spam, group roles and end content raiding.
Let's start! It's Tuesday - I have tons of time to spare. (housework? What's that?)
Given that this is technically a warlock-blog, damage dealing is what I do. And I'm pretty decent at it. I'm also bad at screen shotting and the ability to host and link pictures, so I have no proof other than what other people report in writing on my blog (do you hear that, Owaru and Boon, tell these lovely people that I'm a good dps'er!).
I will admit (oh so embarassedly! (that's a new word)) that in the beginning days of my getting good gear and raiding, I was an avid viewer of my damage meter. I'd usually only spam it if the other DPSers in the group and I were having a contest. Given that I usually ran with friends, this was frequently. In fact, this past-time gave rise to the K Game. (I just posted a link that goes to my own blog! I am teh aw3s0m3!!1!) How much damage can I put out without pulling threat from the tank? This served two purposes.
1: I started to evaluate my own cast rotation, spells, etc. I became a better player.
2: The tanks I ran with had to up their own abilities at holding aggro and pushing to their limits to enable the DPS to play the game.
3: (I lied about there being only two purposes) I learned a lot about tanking against people like myself.
However, I've stopped using the damage meter as a point of pride and I've started to use it to make sure I'm doing my job. Based on what my damage meter reads, I know if I'm slacking, or if I'm kicking ass. It enables me to evaluate changes in my gear or cast rotation.
Our guild, Knights of Utopia (and Groups of Words posted about guild names too... to be fair, I didn't name the guild!) doesn't care as much about damage meters as anything but a raid utility. We use it to evaluate if our newer 70's (or even established 70's!) are ready to hit Karazhan with us. When someone says 'post the damage meters!' we reply 'get your own' and 'no public posting'. Now, on officer channel, we're posting and comparing and saying 'Wow, given his gear, he should be doing MUCH better!'. But that's the perogative of officers. :)
Enough Damage Meters! Onto group roles! As you can see, I've got a bad case of altisms disease. But what this means is that I can typically fill whatever role my group is needing. This makes it very handy for me to be able to do whatever I want. Now, granted, if I want to get a DPS item out of an instance and they need a tank, it doesn't always work quite like I planned, but at least I can get to go.
What's even nicer, is that several of my friends that I group with on a regular basis also have a slight case of altisms and between the four of us, can put together any group we need, so that I can get that DPS trinket one time, or put together a group so someone else can go after that same DPS trinket.
K: DPS, Tank or Healer
Owaru: DPS, Tank or Healer
Boon: DPS or Healer
Absitively: DPS or Tank
I think you can easily see how given the four of us on at any given time (or even just one or two of us), making a group becomes a lot easier.
(Eventually, Neshura will join that list, but right now, she's DPS, DPS or DPS.)
I didn't make a healer though, or a tank, because I felt it was a role that needed to be filled. I did it because I have altisms. Hello, aren't you paying attention?
However, a lot of people do make an alt to fill a percieved role. This is all well and good, unless said person isn't very good at that role and it frustrates them. Now, every role has a learning curve and WoW, of almost any game I've played, does an awesome job with letting you learn as you advance in levels. (and this is mainly one of my chief problems with purchased accounts, other than it being against the EULA. If you BUY your end-game protection warrior and have never been a warrior before... you're going to suck. And it's false advertising to be walking around in your T5 or whatever armor when you suck that badly.)
Now, I do admit I have a few biases. DPS classes that can't Crowd Control are one of them. I don't like them and I'll try to avoid having them in my groups as much as possible. My perception is changing slightly, given that I'm going to be doing a DPS Paladin in here soon, and uh... yeah. Anyway.
DPS Warriors, Enh/Ele Shaman, DPS Paladin and in most instances, DPS Druids.
Now, considering that they do have the abilities and the talent trees that lets them be DPS, have at it. But they need to understand that sometimes, they will be looked over for a class with more consistent crowd control abilities. Especially in Heroics, where sometimes appropriate Crowd Control is the difference between a wipe fest and a successful run. One non-CC DPS in a group is probably doable, but if the entire group is made up of a tank, a healer, a warrior, a paladin and a shaman... uh, I hope the paladin and the warrior are okay with offtanking, because that's the only form of CC that they have! (And I still maintain that OT is a form of CC. Sometimes harder to do than other times, but still a form of it.)
But I digress, as I often do.
Last but not least... end game raiding. As Groups of Words stated, there are various levels of end game raiding. KoU is in EndGameA. I'm guilty of guild-hopping with Kikidas. I will, however, say in my defense that when I guild-hopped with Kikidas, I was way ahead of the curve of the guild and I didn't leave as they were trying NEW content, I left as they were wiping on OLD content that they should have been able to mop the floor with. After that, I didn't guild-hop as much as simply keep trying to find a new guild that wasn't on it's way out! I think, as long as Resolve stays around, that I'm there to stay. I like the people and I'm content with the raiding that I'm able to do with them.
With the new management of KoU, we've managed to mop the floor with Karazhan. In fact, we managed to do it when 8 of our "core-raiders" left the guild. What does that tell you? Tells me that it wasn't an issue of we couldn't do it, but for whatever reason, wouldn't do it. Anyway...
KoU, at it's heart, is a social casual raiding guild that is casual about all things, but raiding. When we raid, we're serious, we have the gear, the know how, etc. The difference is that we raid once or twice a week instead of 4-5 times a week.
Additionally, being in Resolve has opened up a new avenue for a few of our KoU members. Based on what Resolve needs, I can get our better geared and able KoU members into their raids, letting them see some new content without needing to leave. Now, granted, I'm not talking SSC, BT or MH, I'm talking Gruuls and Mags. More than KoU could ever manage on its own, given that we have probably 13-15 able 70's that are never able to be on at the same time! :)
Where was I? This is what I mean by my inability to write a blog that is anything but rambling!
Oh yes, end game raiding. We have Kara on quasi-farm status now, though we're still having to pug one or two people per raid. And I hope that KoU's next step is to see about venturing into Zul'Aman.
We shall see. Thank you, Groups of Words, for a few blog ideas. Maybe I should blog about each thing separately? But what fun is that?
Monday, December 3, 2007
The "Tank Hater" Build
Owaru has dubbed my new spec 'Tank Hater'.
We just ran heroic Blood Furnace with my shiny new spec. I'm in love. And I think, considering that Owaru wasn't pulling a lot with his shield of justice thingbob, due to sap being one of our forms of crowd control, that he held aggro wonderfully. I just need to be aware that I'm critting more often and for quite a bit more than I was previously, and be a little more careful about when I start shadowbolting.
On average, my shadowbolts appear to be doing about 200-400 more points of damage. My crits however, I have never ever seen my screen show a number that high, unless it's how much damage I was being one-shotted for. I think the highest was in the 5000+ range. It brought a tear to my eye. No, seriously. I had a tear. Even my immolate and shadowburn were critting.
I was in Gruul's Lair last night, and I was (according to my damage meters, which admittedly could be off, though I was synched) 3rd on the chart. Highest was a frost mage. Then was a rogue. Then was me. Considering the company I was in, I was very pleased with myself.
Which is hard to imagine, I know, me being smugly pleased with my damage output. :) What can I say. Every day I discover new ways to kick ass, take names, and make the tanks cry.
I should post on the K-Game sometime. It's fun and with infinite numbers of variables.
(Oh, and by the way.... I got to do my faaaavorite thing to Boon tonight. He got MC'd by The Maker in BF. Guess what I did? DEATHCOIL!)
We just ran heroic Blood Furnace with my shiny new spec. I'm in love. And I think, considering that Owaru wasn't pulling a lot with his shield of justice thingbob, due to sap being one of our forms of crowd control, that he held aggro wonderfully. I just need to be aware that I'm critting more often and for quite a bit more than I was previously, and be a little more careful about when I start shadowbolting.
On average, my shadowbolts appear to be doing about 200-400 more points of damage. My crits however, I have never ever seen my screen show a number that high, unless it's how much damage I was being one-shotted for. I think the highest was in the 5000+ range. It brought a tear to my eye. No, seriously. I had a tear. Even my immolate and shadowburn were critting.
I was in Gruul's Lair last night, and I was (according to my damage meters, which admittedly could be off, though I was synched) 3rd on the chart. Highest was a frost mage. Then was a rogue. Then was me. Considering the company I was in, I was very pleased with myself.
Which is hard to imagine, I know, me being smugly pleased with my damage output. :) What can I say. Every day I discover new ways to kick ass, take names, and make the tanks cry.
I should post on the K-Game sometime. It's fun and with infinite numbers of variables.
(Oh, and by the way.... I got to do my faaaavorite thing to Boon tonight. He got MC'd by The Maker in BF. Guess what I did? DEATHCOIL!)
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Top of the DPS Chart!
As a DPS class, everyone knows all that matters is that you're the top person on the DPS chart. Who cares about aggro! It's the tank's job to keep it off of me, not MY job to keep it off of me! Pfft.
Now, to some extent this is true. There is nothing worse to a high output DPS character than to have a tank that doesn't generate good quick strong aggro.
On the other hand, a GOOD DPS class isn't just all about the output. It's about aggro management and staying alive. Which is something that poor DPS shaman's had such an issue with for a while, though I hear with the new patch, Blizzard made it a bit easier on the poor poor shammies. Most (not all) other DPS classes have some way of dropping aggro. Poor shammy's really only have death to drop their aggro. (Did I really just spell shaman in three different ways? Why yes. Yes I did.)
Today I was in Shattered Halls with some guildies/mixed pug. I've posted before what happens to my DPS when I'm in a 'normal' instance with good DPS. We had a BM hunter, an elemental shaman and myself. Things were dying like.. things should die! It was lovely. But the shaman was out DPSing me. Now, this shaman has been in Karazhan with me, where I'm way out over him on DPS usually. Granted, he's updated his gear quite a bit since our last Kara run together, but he was still quite shocked about matching me for DPS in the instance. Myself, I was dismayed at my performance. After a little bit of finangling with what I was casting, I caught up.
And bonus, he didn't die! Which is grand. I died more often than he did -- PUG healer was very very good, but probably not expecting the amount of hate that I tend to pull. I died two or three times before the healer learned -- the warlock is going to tank more than the tank sometimes. Gotta watch her! In those cases, it was a bit of me and a bit of the tank not doing what we should. Live and learn! I gotta remember when I'm not with my faaavorite tankadin, Owaru with my faaavorite healadin, Boon, I need to be a good little warlock and not play with Seed of Corruption and multiple dotted targets.
Anyway... I won't go on again about how in longer lived mobs and bosses I tend to be high on the DPS chart, because I've already talked about how in longer lived mobs and bosses, I tend to be high on the DPS chart. And there's no need for me to reiterate that on longer lived mobs and bosses, I tend to be high on the DPS chart, since this isn't about how on longer lived mobs and bosses, I tend to be high on the DPS chart!
Later on, I was asked to go into Zul'Aman for the last boss, because the raid leader wanted some good DPS. I was #4 on the charts -- but, the last boss of Zul'Aman has a phase where you CANNOT DO MAGIC. This is, I think, entirely unfair.
Not only do melee DPS have no mana to watch (excepting hunters), but then you make a boss where you can only do melee DPS? I mean, the boss in normal Mechanar is bad enough in the whole 'melee, magic, melee, magic' switcharoo, but at least the melee have to stop DPSing for a time too. This boss -- no magic. It was a very sad sad time for me. I had to sit and watch others do all the DPS. I was a very sad panda. A very sad warlock panda.
Anyway, the point of this is that I tend to be too focused on the DPS meters. I hate seeing myself not in the top 1 spot. Seeing myself down at #4 or #5 is even more hideous, but something I need to get over, because at times, when I'm crowd controlling (see previous post on why the warlock is the premier crowd control class! :), or saving the butt of the healer (deathcoil FTW!), or trying to stay alive after I pulled aggro from five mobs at once... my DPS isn't going to be so hot, but that's okay... because I have more important things to focus on other than merely being the top of the DPS charts (though it's nice to be there, anyway.)
I'm a good warlock. I'm a good DPSer. But I'm not the best. No where CLOSE. But I'm still pretty dang good.
Now, to some extent this is true. There is nothing worse to a high output DPS character than to have a tank that doesn't generate good quick strong aggro.
On the other hand, a GOOD DPS class isn't just all about the output. It's about aggro management and staying alive. Which is something that poor DPS shaman's had such an issue with for a while, though I hear with the new patch, Blizzard made it a bit easier on the poor poor shammies. Most (not all) other DPS classes have some way of dropping aggro. Poor shammy's really only have death to drop their aggro. (Did I really just spell shaman in three different ways? Why yes. Yes I did.)
Today I was in Shattered Halls with some guildies/mixed pug. I've posted before what happens to my DPS when I'm in a 'normal' instance with good DPS. We had a BM hunter, an elemental shaman and myself. Things were dying like.. things should die! It was lovely. But the shaman was out DPSing me. Now, this shaman has been in Karazhan with me, where I'm way out over him on DPS usually. Granted, he's updated his gear quite a bit since our last Kara run together, but he was still quite shocked about matching me for DPS in the instance. Myself, I was dismayed at my performance. After a little bit of finangling with what I was casting, I caught up.
And bonus, he didn't die! Which is grand. I died more often than he did -- PUG healer was very very good, but probably not expecting the amount of hate that I tend to pull. I died two or three times before the healer learned -- the warlock is going to tank more than the tank sometimes. Gotta watch her! In those cases, it was a bit of me and a bit of the tank not doing what we should. Live and learn! I gotta remember when I'm not with my faaavorite tankadin, Owaru with my faaavorite healadin, Boon, I need to be a good little warlock and not play with Seed of Corruption and multiple dotted targets.
Anyway... I won't go on again about how in longer lived mobs and bosses I tend to be high on the DPS chart, because I've already talked about how in longer lived mobs and bosses, I tend to be high on the DPS chart. And there's no need for me to reiterate that on longer lived mobs and bosses, I tend to be high on the DPS chart, since this isn't about how on longer lived mobs and bosses, I tend to be high on the DPS chart!
Later on, I was asked to go into Zul'Aman for the last boss, because the raid leader wanted some good DPS. I was #4 on the charts -- but, the last boss of Zul'Aman has a phase where you CANNOT DO MAGIC. This is, I think, entirely unfair.
Not only do melee DPS have no mana to watch (excepting hunters), but then you make a boss where you can only do melee DPS? I mean, the boss in normal Mechanar is bad enough in the whole 'melee, magic, melee, magic' switcharoo, but at least the melee have to stop DPSing for a time too. This boss -- no magic. It was a very sad sad time for me. I had to sit and watch others do all the DPS. I was a very sad panda. A very sad warlock panda.
Anyway, the point of this is that I tend to be too focused on the DPS meters. I hate seeing myself not in the top 1 spot. Seeing myself down at #4 or #5 is even more hideous, but something I need to get over, because at times, when I'm crowd controlling (see previous post on why the warlock is the premier crowd control class! :), or saving the butt of the healer (deathcoil FTW!), or trying to stay alive after I pulled aggro from five mobs at once... my DPS isn't going to be so hot, but that's okay... because I have more important things to focus on other than merely being the top of the DPS charts (though it's nice to be there, anyway.)
I'm a good warlock. I'm a good DPSer. But I'm not the best. No where CLOSE. But I'm still pretty dang good.
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