The consequences of impermanent death is something I stole from Mystic Chicanery.
It's an interesting concept. If you pretend that Azeroth is a real world, with real people, what is the impact of never being afraid of death? Death plays a huge role in our current society - we fear it, we revere it, we eat cake and casseroles over it. We don't do things because of it and we do things out of fear of it.
So, what would it be like if you knew all it would be is a 5 minute corpse run and a few bucks to sew a new seam in your clothes? Read his/her blog on it. It's very good and I don't feel up to repeating all of it. :)
And then there are other things as well... if you could turns things into sheep? If you could really summon demons? If you could transform into a cat? Holy shit. I could be a cat.
PH34R TEH KAT!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Linkylinks!
25 useful warlock tips -- some are PvP related. Some I know. Some I didn't.
Tip #26 (a K original): If you're using your succubus to seduce something and you get mind controlled, you can click the succubus' seduce button and she'll seduce you and keep you from doing something stupid like howl of terror'ing the group. :)
Yet Another Warlock Nerf - new blog that I found! Or rather, I followed the address at the bottom of a comment and then found it through that blog.
Mystic Chicanery - hi! Thanks for the comment you left. As a reward, I'm going to list you. If that's okay. If it isn't... sorry! I'll stop! I swear!
The Shadow Compendium - I sat there and said 'I've done that. And that. And that.'.
Altitis - I have altism. He has altitis.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Spell hit, spell penetration, spell damage -- know what they mean, because they aren't the same.
The other day, I overread a discussion about spell penetration vs. spell damage. I was saddened to hear someone telling a warlock that spell penetration is better than stamina, without adding any qualifiers.
"Spell penetration will increase your damage.".
I cried, just a little, inside. And outside. Great big tears rolled down my face.
Now, spell penetration is great for PvP. And to a certain extent, if you are being resisted a lot whilst leveling, a little spell penetration will help you out. From my research (via WowWiki mainly), it seems to me that there's a certain amount of resistance that a raid boss or PvE mob will have that spell penetration will not overcome. Then there's a certain amount of resistance that spell penetration would overcome if a boss had it. However, a vast majority of raid bosses and PvE mobs don't have a vast amount of resistances that you have to worry about overcoming.
Quote from WoWWiki: "For example, A level 70 player casts a fire spell at a level 73 raid boss with no innate resistance. The level difference is 3, so the raid boss has effectively 15 resistance to all schools against the level 70 caster. No matter how much spell penetration the caster has, his spell's resist check will always be done as if the target had 15 resistance."
That is something that simply cannot be overcome. No matter how much spell penetration you stack on your gear. It's perhaps a subtle clue on WoWWiki (and maybe WoWWiki is biased, but oh well) that none of their information on the various raid bosses include information about their resistances that need to be overcome. (I didn't look at ALL of the raid bosses on WoWWiki, but those I have seen do not mention resistances that need to be overcome or dealt with.) The subtle unspoken idea, at least to my eyes, is that this is because spell resistance on raid bosses is so little as to be negligible.
On the other hand, spell hit is something that we do need to worry about. As a warlock, you're given suppression so that you can up your spell hit by 10% if you want. Now, if you read and look and ponder and do some simple math (and reading, since it mentions the amount you need right there.) you'll see you only need to have a spell hit of 15% to cap yourself for PvE at level 70. There's a nifty little chart that I wish I knew how to link or duplicate that tells you what spell hit you need to have, given your abilities. For a warlock with 5/5 suppression, you need to have additional spell hit of 76. Anything over that and it's wasting a gem spot or a talent spot.
Now, I've run with a few really really good warlocks and what they always said to me was 'gem out your spell hit for now, so you can use those points in suppression somewhere else. Don't worry about it. In the higher instances, you'll get gear that has enough spell hit on it that you can slap in damage gems.' (this is, obviously, a paraphrase)
Right now, Kikidas is overhitting and I need to decide if I want to regem a few things or respec. Given how expensive respeccing is, I think I'm just going to regem at the moment, given that any change in gear may mean I lose a gem spot that gives me my 15% and I'd have to re-respec.
For anyone interested, at all, in raiding, read this stuff over. If you're putting spell penetration on your cloak because you're trying to 'up your spell damage' then.. I don't know, because I'm a nice warlock, but by my fuzzy little imp Ruptik, do some reading. If you're putting in spell hit that gives you a 20% chance to hit something, then you're wasting your money, gems, enchants.
Once again, there is my caveat: I am not the end all, be all, know all of game mechanics, nor even of warlocks. But I do know SOMETHING about it. And what I know about it tells me that if you're raiding and trying to boost your power for raiding and PvE, you're better off putting in spell hit and spell damage in some combination. A fair warning, spell critical strikes depend on your spell hit. It seems like that's relatively obvious, but magic users roll 'twice', so to speak. Once to hit. Once to spell crit. Apparently, melee crit is evaluated differently.
In which case, arguably you want to make sure your spell hit is high enough to not be missing all the time, then go ahead and put on some spell crit gems/gear/enchants. Read the end of the link I included. Eh, I know people, ya'll are lazy.
Quote: "When choosing between equipment with higher spell critical strike or higher +spell damage, there are some things to consider:
"Spell penetration will increase your damage.".
I cried, just a little, inside. And outside. Great big tears rolled down my face.
Now, spell penetration is great for PvP. And to a certain extent, if you are being resisted a lot whilst leveling, a little spell penetration will help you out. From my research (via WowWiki mainly), it seems to me that there's a certain amount of resistance that a raid boss or PvE mob will have that spell penetration will not overcome. Then there's a certain amount of resistance that spell penetration would overcome if a boss had it. However, a vast majority of raid bosses and PvE mobs don't have a vast amount of resistances that you have to worry about overcoming.
Quote from WoWWiki: "For example, A level 70 player casts a fire spell at a level 73 raid boss with no innate resistance. The level difference is 3, so the raid boss has effectively 15 resistance to all schools against the level 70 caster. No matter how much spell penetration the caster has, his spell's resist check will always be done as if the target had 15 resistance."
That is something that simply cannot be overcome. No matter how much spell penetration you stack on your gear. It's perhaps a subtle clue on WoWWiki (and maybe WoWWiki is biased, but oh well) that none of their information on the various raid bosses include information about their resistances that need to be overcome. (I didn't look at ALL of the raid bosses on WoWWiki, but those I have seen do not mention resistances that need to be overcome or dealt with.) The subtle unspoken idea, at least to my eyes, is that this is because spell resistance on raid bosses is so little as to be negligible.
On the other hand, spell hit is something that we do need to worry about. As a warlock, you're given suppression so that you can up your spell hit by 10% if you want. Now, if you read and look and ponder and do some simple math (and reading, since it mentions the amount you need right there.) you'll see you only need to have a spell hit of 15% to cap yourself for PvE at level 70. There's a nifty little chart that I wish I knew how to link or duplicate that tells you what spell hit you need to have, given your abilities. For a warlock with 5/5 suppression, you need to have additional spell hit of 76. Anything over that and it's wasting a gem spot or a talent spot.
Now, I've run with a few really really good warlocks and what they always said to me was 'gem out your spell hit for now, so you can use those points in suppression somewhere else. Don't worry about it. In the higher instances, you'll get gear that has enough spell hit on it that you can slap in damage gems.' (this is, obviously, a paraphrase)
Right now, Kikidas is overhitting and I need to decide if I want to regem a few things or respec. Given how expensive respeccing is, I think I'm just going to regem at the moment, given that any change in gear may mean I lose a gem spot that gives me my 15% and I'd have to re-respec.
For anyone interested, at all, in raiding, read this stuff over. If you're putting spell penetration on your cloak because you're trying to 'up your spell damage' then.. I don't know, because I'm a nice warlock, but by my fuzzy little imp Ruptik, do some reading. If you're putting in spell hit that gives you a 20% chance to hit something, then you're wasting your money, gems, enchants.
Once again, there is my caveat: I am not the end all, be all, know all of game mechanics, nor even of warlocks. But I do know SOMETHING about it. And what I know about it tells me that if you're raiding and trying to boost your power for raiding and PvE, you're better off putting in spell hit and spell damage in some combination. A fair warning, spell critical strikes depend on your spell hit. It seems like that's relatively obvious, but magic users roll 'twice', so to speak. Once to hit. Once to spell crit. Apparently, melee crit is evaluated differently.
In which case, arguably you want to make sure your spell hit is high enough to not be missing all the time, then go ahead and put on some spell crit gems/gear/enchants. Read the end of the link I included. Eh, I know people, ya'll are lazy.
Quote: "When choosing between equipment with higher spell critical strike or higher +spell damage, there are some things to consider:
- Spell damage increases dps by a flat value, and as such the less of it you have, the more adding one spell damage will (relatively) increase the damage you deal – in other words, at 100 +damage adding 1 spell damage will have a larger relative effect than if you have 1000 +damage. Spell crit scales with overall dps, thus one rating has the same effect on your overall dps no matter your spell damage – that is, adding 1% spell crit will raise your dps by the same relative amount whether you have 100 or 1000 +damage. With increasingly high spell damage, spell crit's absolute value rises dramatically.
- Some classes have abilities or talents which proc off of spell critical strikes, as do some items.
- Spell crit can lead to more unpredictable damage. As such, it can be powerful, but unreliable.
- In a group, a string of spell crits can lead to pulling aggro off the tank (and possibly a dead caster).
- Many spells, particularly DoTs, cannot crit. Spells that have a direct damage component and a DoT component (e.g. Holy Fire) are able to crit on the direct damage component but not the DoT. "
This one is a little more wavery for me. I'm a warlock. I do many DoT's. I do not, however, do only DoTs. About 35% of my overall damage comes from Shadowbolt. This is why my spec is not UA, but I'm dark pact/ruin instead. Arguably, and I do admit this, on long enough fights, a UA warlock will most likely out DPS me with comparable enough gear. However, I tend to do a lot of 5-mans, at which point I usually do NOT dot up the target, since it dies before any of my dots are half-done. For me, I have a rather high spell crit chance than probably most warlocks outside of destruction/PvP warlocks.
I do not consider myself, as I said above, the most knowledgable source on things in the game. But I do a fair amount of reading. I know my class relatively well. And when I see someone who is not a warlock telling a warlock that spell penetration is the way to go... or telling any mana using DPS class that's going raiding instead of PvPing that they should stack spell penetration...
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Anyway, this cake is great. It's so delicious and moist.
Has anyone played The Orange Box, specifically the game Portal? If so, have you heard the song 'Still Alive'? That's the song playing in my head right now, mainly because I drove home in the ice and snow with it on repeat.
Some of the lyrics I can't make out. But the part about cake always makes me laugh.
But I digress.
I'm still alive, though I haven't posted in a while. I've been playing my druid and my paladin for a bit. My druid is feral tank>dps. My paladin is RETRIBUTION. No seriously. She is. Stop laughing. I'm not kidding. Quit it!
I'm having fun with it. I'm going to see if I can succeed where millions of others have failed and see if I can truly make her a successful DPSing paladin. I already have two tanks. I have a healer. True, I have melee DPS and ranged DPS and spell DPS, but oh well. I like the challenge. :) I've figured out, thus far, that seal of command works well if you can stun frequently, but overall you want seal of righteousness on with a fast two hander. Consecration is nice, but not mana effective right now, at least for single mobs. I'm a bit at a loss if I should focus on attack power for straight melee attacks or spell damage. Some of the ret abilities seems to be for melee attacks, others of it for spell damage. I suppose that's the crux of the matter for the class though. You just have to have the right mix, I suppose.
I need to rework some of my skills again. Keeping the same basic talent distribution (I'm talking Kikidas now), but my spell hit has gone up, so I don't need as many points in suppression now that I did before. They can be slapped into something else. What else, I don't know yet. I haven't played with how many points I need to keep in suppression. I worked the numbers out one time, but I forgot, silly me, to keep that piece of paper, so I have to do my number crunching over again. :)
Anyway. I'm still alive and when you're dying I will be still alive and when you're dead I will be still alive.
Heehee.
Some of the lyrics I can't make out. But the part about cake always makes me laugh.
But I digress.
I'm still alive, though I haven't posted in a while. I've been playing my druid and my paladin for a bit. My druid is feral tank>dps. My paladin is RETRIBUTION. No seriously. She is. Stop laughing. I'm not kidding. Quit it!
I'm having fun with it. I'm going to see if I can succeed where millions of others have failed and see if I can truly make her a successful DPSing paladin. I already have two tanks. I have a healer. True, I have melee DPS and ranged DPS and spell DPS, but oh well. I like the challenge. :) I've figured out, thus far, that seal of command works well if you can stun frequently, but overall you want seal of righteousness on with a fast two hander. Consecration is nice, but not mana effective right now, at least for single mobs. I'm a bit at a loss if I should focus on attack power for straight melee attacks or spell damage. Some of the ret abilities seems to be for melee attacks, others of it for spell damage. I suppose that's the crux of the matter for the class though. You just have to have the right mix, I suppose.
I need to rework some of my skills again. Keeping the same basic talent distribution (I'm talking Kikidas now), but my spell hit has gone up, so I don't need as many points in suppression now that I did before. They can be slapped into something else. What else, I don't know yet. I haven't played with how many points I need to keep in suppression. I worked the numbers out one time, but I forgot, silly me, to keep that piece of paper, so I have to do my number crunching over again. :)
Anyway. I'm still alive and when you're dying I will be still alive and when you're dead I will be still alive.
Heehee.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Dreadsteed of Xoroth
I recently had the chance to revisit this quest line. First, I helped a total stranger do the quest, then I helped a guildy do the quest. For those who are unaware, any warlock that hangs onto the last three components, 'J'eevee's Jar', 'Xorothian Glyphs' and 'Black Lodestone', can use them for any warlock that's actually on the quest The Dreadsteed of Xoroth. Any warlock who actually has these items and doesn't hang onto them probably has a screw loose, or is stupendously rich. That's about close to 300 gold worth of materials in those three little items.
The first time (other than when I did it myself) that I did this, I asked him if he knew what to do and where to go. He said he did.
We get to Dire Maul and ... he didn't know anything. He didn't know what section of Dire Maul he needed to be in. He didn't know you had to destroy the pylons. He didn't know you had to kill Immol'thar. He didn't know how to summon the dreadsteed. He knew nothing.
I had to rely on memories that were probably close to a year old and a brief skim through on WoWWiki. I had people going off and doing the stupidest things (like attacking Tendris Warpwoodand when the patrols were still around) which would typically get me killed.
This, to say the least, was frustrating.
The second time, I helped a guild member go through, with several other guildies. This was quite enjoyable. :)
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm discussing the level 60 warlock epic mount quest. You have to do a lot of running around and buy a lot of expensive materials. Then after a brief jaunt through Scholomance, you head to Dire Maul. At the end of the quest, you create a massive summining circle. Imps and fel guard types spawn in numerous numbers and you need a warlock with the black lodestone to keep the summoning circle going (you need about 10 extraneous soulshards to do this, so don't go in with less than that.)
Doing this with a normal group was quite ... intense. I did it when I was in my low 60's, with my healadin husband and a few other guildies. Now that I'm 70, going in there was quite fun fun fun. And the summoning fight, while still intense, is rather more enjoyable than frantic. I remember the first time going 'Oh dear lord, when is it going to end? Aieeeah!'. Now I was going, 'Wait, did it end already?'
I have a good friend, Byouki (aka Owaru), who needs to do the quest. He's on the step before Scholomance, I believe. I keep telling him that he needs a fireyspikeyhorse, but he 'mehs' at me.
On a side note, my husband objects to me calling him a healadin. He says that compartmentalizes him and all others like him. He says he can tank and dps too. He wants to know if I want to be known as a dpslock. I said 'yes', and forebore to tell him that warlocks are also compartmentalized, we're affliction, demonology or destruction. So, rightly, I'm an afflock. ... which is not like Affleck. If Ben Affleck was a warlock, he wouldn't be affliction. He'd so be destruction. Probably destro-demonology, with demonic sacrifice for the extra damage.
The first time (other than when I did it myself) that I did this, I asked him if he knew what to do and where to go. He said he did.
We get to Dire Maul and ... he didn't know anything. He didn't know what section of Dire Maul he needed to be in. He didn't know you had to destroy the pylons. He didn't know you had to kill Immol'thar. He didn't know how to summon the dreadsteed. He knew nothing.
I had to rely on memories that were probably close to a year old and a brief skim through on WoWWiki. I had people going off and doing the stupidest things (like attacking Tendris Warpwoodand when the patrols were still around) which would typically get me killed.
This, to say the least, was frustrating.
The second time, I helped a guild member go through, with several other guildies. This was quite enjoyable. :)
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm discussing the level 60 warlock epic mount quest. You have to do a lot of running around and buy a lot of expensive materials. Then after a brief jaunt through Scholomance, you head to Dire Maul. At the end of the quest, you create a massive summining circle. Imps and fel guard types spawn in numerous numbers and you need a warlock with the black lodestone to keep the summoning circle going (you need about 10 extraneous soulshards to do this, so don't go in with less than that.)
Doing this with a normal group was quite ... intense. I did it when I was in my low 60's, with my healadin husband and a few other guildies. Now that I'm 70, going in there was quite fun fun fun. And the summoning fight, while still intense, is rather more enjoyable than frantic. I remember the first time going 'Oh dear lord, when is it going to end? Aieeeah!'. Now I was going, 'Wait, did it end already?'
I have a good friend, Byouki (aka Owaru), who needs to do the quest. He's on the step before Scholomance, I believe. I keep telling him that he needs a fireyspikeyhorse, but he 'mehs' at me.
On a side note, my husband objects to me calling him a healadin. He says that compartmentalizes him and all others like him. He says he can tank and dps too. He wants to know if I want to be known as a dpslock. I said 'yes', and forebore to tell him that warlocks are also compartmentalized, we're affliction, demonology or destruction. So, rightly, I'm an afflock. ... which is not like Affleck. If Ben Affleck was a warlock, he wouldn't be affliction. He'd so be destruction. Probably destro-demonology, with demonic sacrifice for the extra damage.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
The genesis of names...
What's in a name? People name themselves after things, phrases, ideals. They name themselves after people, places or acronyms.
I've seen people who add extra letters to an already taken name so they can have something similar. IE: Drizzt, Drizztx, Drizzta, Legolas, Legolasx, Ligolas, Sephiroth, Sefiroth, Sephirothx, and any combination thereof.
I make my names up, with very few exceptions. I create them, sounding them out in my head until I have a name I like the sound of.
For me... my own personal names have to start with a K. If I'm writing a short story, I just pick a letter and go from there.
Some of my names have quite a bit of history behind them.
Kiya is a shortened form of Kiyamvir, a villain in a Mercedes Lackey novel, whom nontheless has an awesome name. I would have taken the full name, except I've stopped plagerizing a few years ago.
Kava is a name that I made up, which I later learned is an actual word. It's a sweat lodge/spiritual lodge in some Native American language. She's a rogue. She's a rogue because I also used the name in a story that I was writing a while back where the main character was an assassin named Kava'Ashen.
Edit: Kava is a drink. I had another character on a roleplaying game named Kiva, and THAT is the sweat lodge.
Kikidas is a name that I also made up. A long while ago, I was playing online text based RPG's. A character there I named Cryshal Kikidas. I like Kikidas especially because taken by itself, it's not very gender specific. Kikidos I suppose would be more masculine. But then you get to be called Kiki. And how cute is that?
Kathe is one of the few names I've seen by the WoW name generator that I took. It's Kay-the, not Kah-the! :)
Keyami is another of my RPG names transferred over. I played a laboi (Star Wars alien). She had a second name, but I forget what it was.
I remember her name. It was Keyazi Yumani. Obviously, Keyami is a hybridization of that name.
Kiljara is a name that I made up with a former roommate. I was trying to hook my roommate into playing WoW. So I sat down with her and I typed in a K and let her help me make a name. I also let her help me design the character, which is why the character is so very purple.
Kvasira is based on the name Kvasir. Kvasir is a godlet in Norse Mythology, a bard who is accredited with being wise.
Karika is another name I made up on the spot. No history.
Karitei is a japanese demon/god. It used to eat children, until it's own children were eaten. Now it protects children. Talk about turnaround!
How do I make names? The sound. I sound it out in my head. I have, you may have noted, a good imagination. I also like vowels. And the K, Y and Z letters. I put them together on the spot. I fix, mix, match until I get a name that sounds good to me.
I write fantasy novels, so I've had lots of practice making up fantasy sounding names. I've also made up races, religions, magic rules, worlds. It's fun. I highly encourage you to try it.
But to get back to the main point of this post. I was playing with a rogue named Leiaangel.
That got me thinking. Leia. Luke and Leia. Parents are .. Padme Amidala and Anikin Skywalker. Friends are Obi Won Kenobi, Qui Gon Jinn. Wedges Antilles. Biggs Porkins. Lando Calrissian. Han Solo. Mon Mothma. Bail Organa.
And their names are Luke and Leia.
How prosaic.
I've seen people who add extra letters to an already taken name so they can have something similar. IE: Drizzt, Drizztx, Drizzta, Legolas, Legolasx, Ligolas, Sephiroth, Sefiroth, Sephirothx, and any combination thereof.
I make my names up, with very few exceptions. I create them, sounding them out in my head until I have a name I like the sound of.
For me... my own personal names have to start with a K. If I'm writing a short story, I just pick a letter and go from there.
Some of my names have quite a bit of history behind them.
Kiya is a shortened form of Kiyamvir, a villain in a Mercedes Lackey novel, whom nontheless has an awesome name. I would have taken the full name, except I've stopped plagerizing a few years ago.
Kava is a name that I made up, which I later learned is an actual word. It's a sweat lodge/spiritual lodge in some Native American language. She's a rogue. She's a rogue because I also used the name in a story that I was writing a while back where the main character was an assassin named Kava'Ashen.
Edit: Kava is a drink. I had another character on a roleplaying game named Kiva, and THAT is the sweat lodge.
Kikidas is a name that I also made up. A long while ago, I was playing online text based RPG's. A character there I named Cryshal Kikidas. I like Kikidas especially because taken by itself, it's not very gender specific. Kikidos I suppose would be more masculine. But then you get to be called Kiki. And how cute is that?
Kathe is one of the few names I've seen by the WoW name generator that I took. It's Kay-the, not Kah-the! :)
Keyami is another of my RPG names transferred over. I played a laboi (Star Wars alien). She had a second name, but I forget what it was.
I remember her name. It was Keyazi Yumani. Obviously, Keyami is a hybridization of that name.
Kiljara is a name that I made up with a former roommate. I was trying to hook my roommate into playing WoW. So I sat down with her and I typed in a K and let her help me make a name. I also let her help me design the character, which is why the character is so very purple.
Kvasira is based on the name Kvasir. Kvasir is a godlet in Norse Mythology, a bard who is accredited with being wise.
Karika is another name I made up on the spot. No history.
Karitei is a japanese demon/god. It used to eat children, until it's own children were eaten. Now it protects children. Talk about turnaround!
How do I make names? The sound. I sound it out in my head. I have, you may have noted, a good imagination. I also like vowels. And the K, Y and Z letters. I put them together on the spot. I fix, mix, match until I get a name that sounds good to me.
I write fantasy novels, so I've had lots of practice making up fantasy sounding names. I've also made up races, religions, magic rules, worlds. It's fun. I highly encourage you to try it.
But to get back to the main point of this post. I was playing with a rogue named Leiaangel.
That got me thinking. Leia. Luke and Leia. Parents are .. Padme Amidala and Anikin Skywalker. Friends are Obi Won Kenobi, Qui Gon Jinn. Wedges Antilles. Biggs Porkins. Lando Calrissian. Han Solo. Mon Mothma. Bail Organa.
And their names are Luke and Leia.
How prosaic.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Being a Leader: Pros, Cons and Overall
My history of being a "leader" began so far back in time that ... dinosaurs walked the Earth.
It began in my original guild, Dragon Society. It was a guild run (and is still alive and doing well!) by a druid named Lizzy and her dad. Boon and myself, in some various incarnation or another, were officer's in the guild. We'd, together with our friends, do things together. To be honest, I don't recall if I was the one who organized instance runs or not.
When we left Dragon Society with some of our friends, we formed the core group of the Guardian Knights. This is when I believe my leadership learning took place. I KNEW the instances. I could (and did) write guides for them for our guild website (without being online). I knew what strategies worked well, what groups worked well, what to do, when to do it, what order to do it in. I knew what level you had to be, what loot dropped, quests that you could do. I knew all this without the benefit of Atlas Loot. I did my research on Allakhazam. I wrote my own strategies of each instance, the bosses, the loot, overall tactics. I wish that I had saved those, since the original website is long since gone and my hard work gone with it.
More than just the knowledge, I started the groups. I gave the orders (not always followed, but I was talking, anyway.). I found the people to fill in the groups. This persisted all the way up to the 10-man of UBRS/LBRS. I would organize 5-man LBRS, but not 10-man. I did assist others in forming UBRS runs. I knew UBRS well. I knew the fights. I knew where to go, how to do it. I simply didn't feel I had the playability and the charisma to lead 9 other people.
Unfortunately, the GK never progressed past those low-60 instances. I never did Molten Core, or Onyxia. I never downed Ragnaros. I never ventured into Zul'Gurub or An'Qirag.
At the advent of the Burning Crusade, I had a whole new set of instances to learn. New quests to learn. New skills to try out. New gear to puzzle over. I learned the new instances the way I learned the old ones. Ask some of the people who party with me regularly. I'm like a living strategy/quest guide. I don't claim to know the best strategy for EVERYTHING, but I do a damn good job of knowing a good quantity of them, for various group makeups. Likewise, I don't know all of the quests, but plop me back down in the middle of any zone I've quested in and I can probably tell you what quests you should/could do, what order you may want to do them in and what, if any, chain quests you need to consider.
What does that have to do with being a leader? Nothing much. I was just rambling.
No, I jest. What that means is that a leader isn't just the person who says "we'll do it my way", it's the person who knows, who understands, who considers, who adjusts, who listens.
I didn't spring, fully formed, as a group leader of various instances, knowing strategies innately. I began my career as a group member. I listened and watched other group leaders. I learned not just from the successes, but from the failures as well.
A leader also isn't just the person who knows the strategy. A leader encompasses so much more than that. Anyone can log into WoWWiki and look up an acceptable strategy.(Not everyone does, as evidenced by how often you have to explain a fight to someone.) A leader, a true leader, has that somewhat elusive spark to make people listen, to help them understand the strategy, to make them do what you say and to do it all without stepping on toes, egos, personalities or friendships. (I may or may not be such a leader. I am sure I am not as perfect as I describe above, but I do have to admit that in my conceit, I don't believe I'm all that terrible of a leader, either.)
True, not all leaders do that. Some say 'do it this way because I said so', and people do it because it works. I have always preferred being the type of leader that says 'do it this way because if we kill X before Y, then X can't heal Y.'. This way, not only do they understand WHY I'm doing it, but when they, in turn, someday, lead their own group, they'll know why they're doing it (or not doing it, conversely). They'll know why I sheep that person and not that one. They'll know why I advise a LOS pull as opposed to a straight pull. They'll KNOW. And in knowledge lies power.
Now, this is all my not-so-humble opinion (please, keep in mind my previous post about hubris), so if you don't do it this way, don't take any offense. But you suck.
I jest!
The pros of leadership... the heady sense of accomplishment that you get when your plans work right. The warm fuzzy glow inside when you see a group of people working together towards a common goal. You occasionally get people saying pretty little things like 'K is the best instance leader I've ever seen and a master tactician. Not only that, but her hair is absolutely stunning and I don't think I've ever seen anyone wear the Frozen Shadoweave set quite so gracefully.'.
The cons of leadership... if it fails, it's your fault. If you can't succeed, it's your fault. If three hunters want to go and you only have room for one hunter, it's your fault. Everything that does go wrong, will go wrong, and it's your fault. If people complain, it's to you. If people complain, it's ABOUT you. When people complain about you, it's never to you, but it's behind your back. If a mouse farts in Cleveland, which causes a butterfly to flap it's wings in China, which causes the healer's router to drop him in that crucial instance... it's your fault.
What this means overall? You need, as the leader, to be the best. You lead not just with words, but with examples. If you want everyone to do what you say, then you need to do what you say. If you want people to bust their ass for gear, then you should be doing that too. If you don't want to be a group leader of loot mongering rapscallions, then you need to be magnamious, generous, polite and respectful.
(Yes, eventually all groups and raids degenerate into name calling, dirty jokes and good natured teasing, but I speak in general more about an initial meeting of a group of strangers.)
If you do it this way... Will you be taken advantage of? Most likely.
Will it happen regularly? Most likely.
Is every leader like this? No, not really.
Is this the One True Way? Hell no. This is my way (meaning this is the best way, but not, by any stretch of the imagination, the only way.). Not yours. Go get your own way! Mine! Mine mine mine! My own. My preciousss...
Uh..
To continue my rambling... leaders need to be able to get their thoughts across clearly, with minimal fuss, muss and bloodshed. As a leader, your group expects you to be competent, eloquent and to let them know what's going on where clarification is needed. You set the pace. You set the tone. If it's going too slowly, talk to whomever is holding it up, do it in a way that doesn't hurt their feelings and do it in a way to get results.
Tricky, no? No wonder I don't like leading.
And remember, if you're in a group of strangers, you can't take for granted that everyone knows what way you typically do things, what marks you typically use and how you play, so communication is vital and frankly, expected. But at the same time, you don't want to offend people who probably know the instance as well as you do, so you have to gingerly feel them out as to what they do and don't know.
(I really don't like leading. I do it because I don't trust other people to do it right. There are a few I do trust to do it right. But I'm also somewhat controlling. If it isn't being done my way, I'm uneasy. If it isn't someone I know being leader, or someone I trust, I'd rather be doing the leading and marking, because this way I know I won't die because someone else is an incompetent nincompoop. I'll have died because I'm an idiot. Biiiig difference. Trust me.)
Anyway, for someone who claims to be a leader, and also claims leaders need to be eloquent and get their point across in a timely manner... I do tend to ramble.
However. This is my blog. I can ramble if I want to.
I do have my flaws. Oh boy do I. I tend to let others talk over me if they're louder or more insistent. I do this because I do not like confrontations. This leads to contention and confusion. I let bad playability linger on because I don't want to hurt feelings instead of stepping up and saying 'You're doing something wrong. I'm not sure what it is. Here's the problem. Let's fix it.'
My biggest problem, IMHO, is that once I find a good strategy, one that works, one that I like, I usually avoid deviating from it. Even if someone else in the group says that they do it well another way. Especially if it's a way I've seen not work so well in the past.
For instance, I was in an allied Karazhan run, sub-leading (in my own head) by talking with the raid leader in whispers about what I would do in the given situation. Their method of doing the Curator is to stack on Arcane Resistance gear, stand on the tank (literally, stand on the tank. Not a few feet behind, but right there!), and do it that way. It worked once we realized what was going on and how to adjust our play style to the strategy given. I still think it's an odd strategy. I can see the benefits of it (no running after flares, no pivoting to find them, etc), but there are a lot of detriments to it as well. You lose (at least in my case, and probably others) damage in order to gain resistance. Everyone being where they were, a lot of spells took longer to go through because of being interrupted by the chain lightning. This makes healing also an issue as the healer not only has to heal lots of people being hit all at once, but has to do it while being interrupted. If you don't have good arcane resist gear, this will likely result in wipe after wipe.
Now, so saying, it works for Angels Wrath. I haven't done it that way in my new guild, and the one time my previous guild did an all-guild-no-allies Curator downing was with the more standardized horseshoe strategy.
The cons of that strategy are pivoting, melee damage may spend some time running and people moving out of formation when they're being hit by an astral flare. So saying, in a guild of disciplined people with good gear, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
What does this all boil down to? You may think you're leading. But you can't lead if people don't follow. Whatever you are, whatever you do, whatever other people attribute to you, you do it all with other people. You don't know best. You don't know all. No one does. Keep that in mind. Adjust. Adapt. Learn. Respect.
It began in my original guild, Dragon Society. It was a guild run (and is still alive and doing well!) by a druid named Lizzy and her dad. Boon and myself, in some various incarnation or another, were officer's in the guild. We'd, together with our friends, do things together. To be honest, I don't recall if I was the one who organized instance runs or not.
When we left Dragon Society with some of our friends, we formed the core group of the Guardian Knights. This is when I believe my leadership learning took place. I KNEW the instances. I could (and did) write guides for them for our guild website (without being online). I knew what strategies worked well, what groups worked well, what to do, when to do it, what order to do it in. I knew what level you had to be, what loot dropped, quests that you could do. I knew all this without the benefit of Atlas Loot. I did my research on Allakhazam. I wrote my own strategies of each instance, the bosses, the loot, overall tactics. I wish that I had saved those, since the original website is long since gone and my hard work gone with it.
More than just the knowledge, I started the groups. I gave the orders (not always followed, but I was talking, anyway.). I found the people to fill in the groups. This persisted all the way up to the 10-man of UBRS/LBRS. I would organize 5-man LBRS, but not 10-man. I did assist others in forming UBRS runs. I knew UBRS well. I knew the fights. I knew where to go, how to do it. I simply didn't feel I had the playability and the charisma to lead 9 other people.
Unfortunately, the GK never progressed past those low-60 instances. I never did Molten Core, or Onyxia. I never downed Ragnaros. I never ventured into Zul'Gurub or An'Qirag.
At the advent of the Burning Crusade, I had a whole new set of instances to learn. New quests to learn. New skills to try out. New gear to puzzle over. I learned the new instances the way I learned the old ones. Ask some of the people who party with me regularly. I'm like a living strategy/quest guide. I don't claim to know the best strategy for EVERYTHING, but I do a damn good job of knowing a good quantity of them, for various group makeups. Likewise, I don't know all of the quests, but plop me back down in the middle of any zone I've quested in and I can probably tell you what quests you should/could do, what order you may want to do them in and what, if any, chain quests you need to consider.
What does that have to do with being a leader? Nothing much. I was just rambling.
No, I jest. What that means is that a leader isn't just the person who says "we'll do it my way", it's the person who knows, who understands, who considers, who adjusts, who listens.
I didn't spring, fully formed, as a group leader of various instances, knowing strategies innately. I began my career as a group member. I listened and watched other group leaders. I learned not just from the successes, but from the failures as well.
A leader also isn't just the person who knows the strategy. A leader encompasses so much more than that. Anyone can log into WoWWiki and look up an acceptable strategy.(Not everyone does, as evidenced by how often you have to explain a fight to someone.) A leader, a true leader, has that somewhat elusive spark to make people listen, to help them understand the strategy, to make them do what you say and to do it all without stepping on toes, egos, personalities or friendships. (I may or may not be such a leader. I am sure I am not as perfect as I describe above, but I do have to admit that in my conceit, I don't believe I'm all that terrible of a leader, either.)
True, not all leaders do that. Some say 'do it this way because I said so', and people do it because it works. I have always preferred being the type of leader that says 'do it this way because if we kill X before Y, then X can't heal Y.'. This way, not only do they understand WHY I'm doing it, but when they, in turn, someday, lead their own group, they'll know why they're doing it (or not doing it, conversely). They'll know why I sheep that person and not that one. They'll know why I advise a LOS pull as opposed to a straight pull. They'll KNOW. And in knowledge lies power.
Now, this is all my not-so-humble opinion (please, keep in mind my previous post about hubris), so if you don't do it this way, don't take any offense. But you suck.
I jest!
The pros of leadership... the heady sense of accomplishment that you get when your plans work right. The warm fuzzy glow inside when you see a group of people working together towards a common goal. You occasionally get people saying pretty little things like 'K is the best instance leader I've ever seen and a master tactician. Not only that, but her hair is absolutely stunning and I don't think I've ever seen anyone wear the Frozen Shadoweave set quite so gracefully.'.
The cons of leadership... if it fails, it's your fault. If you can't succeed, it's your fault. If three hunters want to go and you only have room for one hunter, it's your fault. Everything that does go wrong, will go wrong, and it's your fault. If people complain, it's to you. If people complain, it's ABOUT you. When people complain about you, it's never to you, but it's behind your back. If a mouse farts in Cleveland, which causes a butterfly to flap it's wings in China, which causes the healer's router to drop him in that crucial instance... it's your fault.
What this means overall? You need, as the leader, to be the best. You lead not just with words, but with examples. If you want everyone to do what you say, then you need to do what you say. If you want people to bust their ass for gear, then you should be doing that too. If you don't want to be a group leader of loot mongering rapscallions, then you need to be magnamious, generous, polite and respectful.
(Yes, eventually all groups and raids degenerate into name calling, dirty jokes and good natured teasing, but I speak in general more about an initial meeting of a group of strangers.)
If you do it this way... Will you be taken advantage of? Most likely.
Will it happen regularly? Most likely.
Is every leader like this? No, not really.
Is this the One True Way? Hell no. This is my way (meaning this is the best way, but not, by any stretch of the imagination, the only way.). Not yours. Go get your own way! Mine! Mine mine mine! My own. My preciousss...
Uh..
To continue my rambling... leaders need to be able to get their thoughts across clearly, with minimal fuss, muss and bloodshed. As a leader, your group expects you to be competent, eloquent and to let them know what's going on where clarification is needed. You set the pace. You set the tone. If it's going too slowly, talk to whomever is holding it up, do it in a way that doesn't hurt their feelings and do it in a way to get results.
Tricky, no? No wonder I don't like leading.
And remember, if you're in a group of strangers, you can't take for granted that everyone knows what way you typically do things, what marks you typically use and how you play, so communication is vital and frankly, expected. But at the same time, you don't want to offend people who probably know the instance as well as you do, so you have to gingerly feel them out as to what they do and don't know.
(I really don't like leading. I do it because I don't trust other people to do it right. There are a few I do trust to do it right. But I'm also somewhat controlling. If it isn't being done my way, I'm uneasy. If it isn't someone I know being leader, or someone I trust, I'd rather be doing the leading and marking, because this way I know I won't die because someone else is an incompetent nincompoop. I'll have died because I'm an idiot. Biiiig difference. Trust me.)
Anyway, for someone who claims to be a leader, and also claims leaders need to be eloquent and get their point across in a timely manner... I do tend to ramble.
However. This is my blog. I can ramble if I want to.
I do have my flaws. Oh boy do I. I tend to let others talk over me if they're louder or more insistent. I do this because I do not like confrontations. This leads to contention and confusion. I let bad playability linger on because I don't want to hurt feelings instead of stepping up and saying 'You're doing something wrong. I'm not sure what it is. Here's the problem. Let's fix it.'
My biggest problem, IMHO, is that once I find a good strategy, one that works, one that I like, I usually avoid deviating from it. Even if someone else in the group says that they do it well another way. Especially if it's a way I've seen not work so well in the past.
For instance, I was in an allied Karazhan run, sub-leading (in my own head) by talking with the raid leader in whispers about what I would do in the given situation. Their method of doing the Curator is to stack on Arcane Resistance gear, stand on the tank (literally, stand on the tank. Not a few feet behind, but right there!), and do it that way. It worked once we realized what was going on and how to adjust our play style to the strategy given. I still think it's an odd strategy. I can see the benefits of it (no running after flares, no pivoting to find them, etc), but there are a lot of detriments to it as well. You lose (at least in my case, and probably others) damage in order to gain resistance. Everyone being where they were, a lot of spells took longer to go through because of being interrupted by the chain lightning. This makes healing also an issue as the healer not only has to heal lots of people being hit all at once, but has to do it while being interrupted. If you don't have good arcane resist gear, this will likely result in wipe after wipe.
Now, so saying, it works for Angels Wrath. I haven't done it that way in my new guild, and the one time my previous guild did an all-guild-no-allies Curator downing was with the more standardized horseshoe strategy.
The cons of that strategy are pivoting, melee damage may spend some time running and people moving out of formation when they're being hit by an astral flare. So saying, in a guild of disciplined people with good gear, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
What does this all boil down to? You may think you're leading. But you can't lead if people don't follow. Whatever you are, whatever you do, whatever other people attribute to you, you do it all with other people. You don't know best. You don't know all. No one does. Keep that in mind. Adjust. Adapt. Learn. Respect.
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