Remember that time before The Burning Crusade launched and things just felt… what’s a good way to say it… routine? Or maybe you were only around for the BC to Wrath of the Lich King transition. Regardless, a number of things have struck me as odd as of late… some good and some bad.

First the bad. Ulduar is still where many guilds are working through content (and I’m focusing on the 10-mans here), but with the loot available in ToC and from Emblems of Triumph/Conquest there really is no point in running Ulduar unless you’re one that just wants to see the content (thankfully I fall into this category). Further, the gear disparity between Tier 8 and Tier 9 seems huge, and the multiple versions make it confusing for some players to figure out where they need to go to get what.

I can’t help but feel a lack of desire to work through the new content. The first couple of encounters in ToC are easy enough for us to complete, but then the “PvP” encounter is like hitting a brick wall repeatedly. Don’t get me wrong, I love a challenge, but going from smooth sailing to suddenly making absolutely no progress isn’t exactly the way levels of progression should work in my opinion.

Granted, a lot of this could simply be related to <devnull> not being interested in PvP-type play as a whole, and I’ve heard many grumblings surrounding a feeling of resentment for being forced to play that type of encounter. I can understand the feeling well even if I don’t completely agree with it, but I do agree the “bull****” factor is there when the NPCs do not have diminishing returns on their crowd control abilities but we do, and ours seem to start with roughly half of their typical length.

However, the good outweighs the bad significantly. Once you have a couple of level eighty characters things tend to seem monotonous, and running the same heroics/raids for gear over and over gets old. While this is the opportune time for many to take a break, Blizzard has certainly provided a number of alternatives for those interested in taking part.

I play the game for the social aspect and for raiding, generally speaking. The achievement system has its merits for getting me to do other things as well, and for the most part I have no gripes with the achievements as designed. Currently <devnull> is struggling a little on the first two points, and I can see where my desire to log in and play is curtailed a little as a result. However, I still enjoy logging in and playing around with one of my numerous alts (especially my Blood Elf Paladin), and while my time may be quite limited I still want to log in even though I, quite often, end up not getting near as much time to do so as I plan.

Great, but what does any of this mean to me? Simple, this is the type of situation that makes a lot of people take breaks. I have no doubt <devull> is going to be at a serious disadvantage when Icecrown Citadel finally lands, but compared to destroying morale by trying to get people to sign on and fight through an encounter they really don’t even want to face… well, I’ll take the disadvantage in gear any day.

A lot of the changes made with patch 3.2 were certainly for the better, but some of those changes aren’t panning out as well as I hoped they would. My desire to try to gear for Icecrown isn’t really there when comparing pieces of loot yields very little difference, and in my mind a small enough difference I can overcome the deficit with skill. Granted, we’ve lost a few players recently as well and are back to barely having enough for 10-mans… fighting that cycle gets to everyone eventually.

I hope this is a temporary issue that works itself out before too long. We’re going on a few weeks now with these types of issues though, and honestly I’m curious if recovery will occur or if this spells the end of our progression raiding for a while. In the meantime, maybe it’s time to finally do some of those other achievements, like Obsidian Sanctum leaving all three drakes up?

There is much debate over how to measure a healer’s performance. Some utilize healing meters, some go by the old adage that “if no one dies the healer must be good,” some actually attempt to run prospective healers through trials and see how they fare, and some don’t even bother to think twice about it. Obviously there is not a clear, concise test that can objectively be applied to any healer and gauge their ability. How, then, can a healer be measured?

Step One: Forget About Healing Meters

Typically a druid or holy priest, and occasionally a shaman, will top the healing meters. This is due mostly to the nature of their abilities, and being able to quickly put out a lot of healing energy. While meters can be useful, and often encourage friendly competition among healers, they cannot provide an adequate idea of how a healer will perform.

As an example let’s examine a basic raid (25-man) with five or six healers. A druid could do nothing more than toss Lifebloom as much as possible in between Wild Growth cooldowns and easily be at or near the top of the healing meter. In fact, if their sole responsibility is raid healing this might even be the method used. Does this necessarily mean they are a good healer, or even that they adequately performed their duty? Not necessarily. Certainly they contributed a significant amount of healing to the raid, but at what expense? Were the other healers feeling pressure to heal as a result? The meter alone does not provide us with any answers.

Take the same scenario to a ten-man raid with two healers and the results may vary significantly. There is much less room for error, and a single lifebloom or wild growth may prove to not be anywhere near enough to heal the members of the raid.

Step Two: Don’t Forget the Value of Mitigation

Discipline Priests often get snubbed by those lesser-versed players who think meters matter most, or by most anyone who does not understand what the spec brings and then looks at healing meters. Fairly simplistic, but think about it in terms of damage absorbed equals healing done. Although it is not really a direct correlation, it gets the point across. On fights where large amounts of damage are being absorbed and healed through (think fights like Patchwerk) or fights where mana conservation is of the utmost importance (think fights like General Vezax), a discipline priest can make a significant impact on whether a group is able to complete the encounter smoothly by lessening the strain on the other healer(s).

Step Three: Situational Awareness. Situational Awareness. Situational Awareness. Situational Awareness.

I cannot emphasize this point strongly enough. It is the same value that contributes to making good tanks and good damage-dealers. If a healer does not pay attention to their surroundings and stays in the “big circles of hurt” that are prominent in so many encounters then they are not a good healer.

I do want to mention an exception to this particular one, however. There is one trait that relatively few healers, or at least those I have been exposed to, possess: self-sacrifice for the survival of the group. If a healer dies to an environmental ability due to a decision to get that extra healing out to a party member in order to finish an encounter, knowing that they will not be able to escape the damaging ability in time and will subsequently die, I can support that decision. Sometimes it happens. However, if the healer constantly dies doing such an act they need to reevaluate their healing style and adjust to not be constantly in such a situation.

Step Four: Observe Reaction Time.

Any healer should be able to swap assignments on the fly in a raid situation. They may not be best suited for the change in assignment compared to someone else, but they should still be able to adjust quickly to the situation as it unfolds.

In <devnull> there have been numerous times where our healers have had to adjust, and even times when our tanks have had to pull off some pretty miraculous saves working in conjunction with our healers. That type of synergy will obviously not be present in random groups, but in groups that run content together often it is a wonderful thing to see, and it is directly a result of adaptation and reaction time.

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While there may not be a clear-cut method for measuring a healer’s performance, it is easy to see where simply the knowledge and application of some basic concepts will produce good healers. Over time those that apply that knowledge and adjust to find what works best for them will be the healers people remember.

Great healers are an entirely different story, and one that I’ll address soon… ish… probably… *grin*

No Words Necessary

It has been a while since I requested input regarding changing my interface yet again, and I have finally tweaked my UI to a point that both provides a good view of everything going on, is fairly minimalistic, and provides me with all of the pertinent information I need across any character I play. Read on for the details:

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! – Click to enlarge.

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! – Click to enlarge.

My goals were simple in reconstructing my UI: I like to see the game instead of having a screen full of information that blocks my view of what is happening, I wanted everything to mesh well together aesthetically, I wanted to be able to completely customize any aspect of the UI as time progresses, and I wanted to be able to use the exact same setup among any of my primary or alternate characters. In looking at various packages I found things that I liked, but then in practice I would find minor annoyances (such as blocking just a little too much of what I could see, or with one class or another having some unnecessary information), and eventually settled on taking individual addons and constructing an experience that met each of my goals.

The Addons

Bartender 4 – Anything I use regularly is bound to a key press, but I still like having the option of mousing over an ability or using a mouse click in the event I have some reason to do so. I’ve been using Bartender for a long time to achieve these goals, and the ability to customize visibility, bar changes based on any number of factors, and relocation of the bars however I see fit is ideal. (Note that I use ButtonFacade in order to customize the appearance of the buttons to ensure it meshes well with the UI.)

ag_Unitframes – I like minimal unit frame cluster on my desktop, and ad_Unitframes allows complete control over which frames are shown and when they are shown. Again, ideal for meeting my goals, and the look of the unit frames meshes well with the other UI elements present on screen.

DoTimer – It took a while to figure out how to customize DoTimer the way I wanted. I have one “anchor” for general buffs, one for debuffs, one for cooldowns, one for the targets of any spells or abilities, and one for specific self-buffs that I need to watch (like Savage Roar, Horn of Winter, Berserk, etc.). Not all of these are visible in the screenshots above, so I’ll try to remember to grab a screenshot while on my Druid that shows the way the target frame and associated timers behave.

Grid – I have long been a proponent of using Grid because of its sheer customizability. Again, it will take a while to configure (especially if new to using the addon), but having such a wealth of information available at a glance, and in such a minimalistic fashion, is ideal for my use and preferences.

Parrot – The benefits of showing scrolling combat text shouldn’t be overlooked, but having all of that text on the screen constantly is extremely annoying. Parrot allows the customization of not only how long the text stays, but whether crits should be shown differently, what direction any aspect of the combat text should be displayed (such as the way I have it set up, where heals go to the right, damage to the left, and cooldowns/procs/etc. go up) and what size text should be used. Another huge win in the customization department, and it fits well with the overall look and feel of the interface.

Decursive and Clique – I try to reserve keybindings for things I use all the time, so the ability to customize keypresses plus mouse clicks allows me the flexibility to have quick access to those things that are needed at a moment’s notice, but not always used. In addition, adding Decursive to the mix means I do not have to use precious keybindings or key plus mouse combinations for cleansing.

There are, obviously, more addons in use. The above are the central addons that comprise my UI however, and the driving forces behind what is presented onscreen at any given time. By all means ask if there is an aspect of my UI you are interested in that I did not cover!

Disclaimer: Normally I refrain from things that I classify as “PTR news coverage,” but there are a good many things I have jumping around in my head that I would like to toss out and get feedback on. Note that this is not a news post per se, but an analysis of the changes and what my idea of what they mean is as a result.

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Contents:

1. Emblem Changes
2. Raiding Progression
3. Raiding Lockout Periods
4. Tier Nine (9)
5. Future Changes
• Faction Changes
• Ramifications of 3.2
• Expansion (?)

Emblem Changes

In light of recent news announcements, the emblem changes make more sense than they did when first looking at the patch notes. I still feel that the change should be to have Emblems of Valor drop in all content prior to Ulduar, and Emblems of Conquest drop in Ulduar 10/25.

Many have mentioned the nature of small guilds not seeing anything beyond Heroics, and so these changes provide them an opportunity to obtain some of the gear from content that they may never actually get to see (some have mentioned alt gearing as well, which I’ll address momentarily). While I understand that such problems do exist for a number of guilds, including those that actually have more members than would traditionally be classified as small, I do not think this should be the basis of anyone’s support of the emblem changes.

I should clarify: <devnull> is a small guild. We do consistently have ten people online to raid now (although we’ve struggled with not having enough to fill a ten man for various time periods ourselves), and some time ago we found a guild that was also small to partner with in order to run 25-man raids. We’ve seen the issues with not being able to fill out a raid and get into content firsthand, and we found ways to overcome that hurdle.

With that in mind, simply being able to obtain better gear due to problems associated with getting into raids I disagree with. I do recognize it is a problem, but it is a problem that can be worked through. Gearing alts is something I can definitely understand the changes for, especially from the perspective of those with limited time to play, and something I will certainly take advantage of myself. It still feels, however, like a change that is going just a little too far toward trivializing current content (and I want to make the distinction here, I specifically mean the difficulty of the encounters as designed for the average player, and subsequently the challenge of an instance/raid as intended. I do not mean any type of trivialization of a raider’s achievements.).

Raiding Progression

This is starting to look quite interesting. <devnull> is certainly not ready for the new content (to give an idea of our raiding progress you can view the pugchecker data for Byaghro assuming the armory is actually up), which is a very good thing. I prefer to have content I haven’t seen yet waiting for me than to be finished with what is available and waiting on something new to come along. Having this much coming relatively shortly after the release of Ulduar, though, makes me really curious about how close we might actually be to the next expansion after all, or if this is just a new trend Blizzard is trying to adhere to.

Raiding Lockout Periods

This change I absolutely love. For a guild our size the ability to continue in an instance more than the two nights we currently have is great, and it is not at the expense of anyone else. We currently raid two nights a week for roughly three hours, and as of this past week the plan is to spend both nights in Ulduar to work on progression. The ability to extend the lockout by one more week means we might actually make progress through the instance even with our inability to commit more days to raiding in a week. While some may balk at the thought of being able to do such a thing, I challenge anyone to give me a reason why this ability could be perceived as bad in any way.

Tier Nine (9)

This pretty much goes hand-in-hand with my thoughts on progression. Byaghro only has one piece of Tier 8 thus far, and if I remember correctly only two other guildmates have any T8 yet. This does make me feel like T9 is coming too quickly, but it also means I look at the emblem changes from a different perspective now as well.

The one thing I do like, though, is that it appears the T9 tokens are no longer slot specific. This is something that I truly wish all tokens were changed to embrace. With group compositions being so varied anymore (our typical group for 10-mans is actually quite… odd) we could go for weeks without having a usable token drop (defining usable as one that someone could use that didn’t already have three of the same token due to our luck with loot… we literally have a Paladin that has three sets of T7 because no one else that was on the token was present, and no other tokens dropped for a period of time).

Needless to say, this change is extremely welcome.

Future Changes

I’m not going to go into each one individually quite yet. I want to hear what people think of these upcoming changes:

• Faction-Switching Availability
• Ramifications of 3.2 Changes
• Do you think this signals an expansion soon?

There is an interesting discussion that seems to be building momentum (I caught wind of it in Saresa’s post entitled In Response To Vonya: 10s VS 25s!, which is a response to the post 10 vs 25 : Ego Rattles Some Cages by The Egotistical Priest) regarding the way the “heroic” and “regular” raids are perceived by people.

Difficulty?

Personally, I know I can slack off in a 25-man raid without there being any negative effect on the run as a whole. There is a certain comfort level associated with knowing there are backups available, and that as long as enough people stay alive things will be fine. In a 10-man I have to bring my best game with me, because I’m personally carrying much more weight than in the corresponding 25-man version. Does this make the content any more or less difficult? No. All it means is that the abilities of those involved impact the raid much more directly than they would in the “heroic” version

Management?

This seems to be the point that many seem to make, but even this I have to disagree with. Is coordinating 25 people more difficult than 10? No, not really. It seems more daunting, but let’s be honest: if you run with 10 people or 25 it doesn’t matter, a PUG is a PUG and running with guildies is running with guildies. Either you have a group that stays on task and keeps focus or you don’t, period. There is no difference at all between the two here, because the same issues will arise in both depending on group composition.

Viability?

The thought from some is that the variation in the two, and hence the greater reward in the 25-mans, is in order to facilitate their survival. While I can agree with the premise of the argument, let’s look at it slightly differently: if Blizzard has to do something to ensure that 25-man raids continue, then are 25-man raids worth keeping?

Let’s be completely clear, I prefer the dynamic of 10-man raids because I have to be better in those than I do in the 25-man versions. To me that means I have to bring more to the table, and as a result have to be a better player. If I’m stupid and die because I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings there aren’t two or three other healers available to pick up the slack. Just like in 5-mans, it is much more noticeable when someone is not pulling their weight.

I also, however, enjoy having 24 other people working with me to beat an encounter. It isn’t about a difference in difficulty, or a difference in loot, it’s about camaraderie and teamwork. It’s about that screenshot at the end, where 25 people show that they pulled together to get the job done.

Conclusion

5s, 10s, 25s… they all present their own sets of challenges. Raids are designed (supposedly) to be more difficult than dungeons, but any raid is no more or less difficult than it’s larger or smaller counterpart. The people make the difference in both. If you think I’m a worse player because of my choice in raids you really should turn off your computer and go outside. Look at the world, look at the choices people make day to day. Is one person better than another because they choose to do a particular job in a larger organization than another? Because they choose to live in a larger city than another? Because they live in a larger house than another?

First and foremost, Merry Christmas and Happy Winter’s Veil to everyone!

I’m posting an extra post today because the next few days I’m not going to be available much, and I would normally have at least one more post in a week. Enjoy!

I started to post this comment on another blog, and as it grew longer and longer I realized I needed to form this into a topic of its own.

It is no secret that there is quite a divide among players regarding the level of difficulty in Wrath of the Lich King. Time and again someone posts an argument for or against the perception that things are too easy/too hard. It is an issue, regardless of which side of the debate you stand.

I agree to the premise of an introduction to raiding. I also hope that the way raids scale will be similar to what people seem to cling to as a matter of fact, when in actuality it is more hope and speculation that lends credence to the thought that this will be the case.

Neither of those thoughts debunks the theory that current encounters in Wrath are too easy. What it does provide is a “scapegoat” reason for not having some scale of difficulty brought to what we encounter in Northrend as of now.

I’m not, in any way, trying to say that things should be pre-nerfed KZ difficult.

There are plenty of heroics in Wrath. All of them can pretty much be approached with the same lack of thought or preparation (with very few exceptions, such as the Oculus and, to an extent, the Halls of Stone/Lightning). That does not teach anyone about raiding. If anything, with a decently geared and competent healer/tank combination, the current state of the encounters in Northrend breeds horrible raiding habits.

My long-winded point is simple:

Yes, there should be a solid entry-level raid. I’m in complete support of a scaling difficulty level for raids and dungeons. As it stands there is no concept of any strategy other than “run in, AoE tank, AoE damage, toss quick heals on tank, AoE heal DPS.” There should, however, also be heroics that teach core grouping concepts such as crowd control, aggro management, strategic pulls, and even how to work together on the timing of abilities.

No, not *every* group can do that right away. Fresh 80s, especially those who did not start out at 70 with decent gear, can have a tough time if the rest of the party is also comprised of members in “fresh 80 gear.” The current state of heroics (and please note I’m more concerned about their level of simplicity than I am any of the current raids) does nothing to teach the “Wrath Generation” about grouping, or raiding, or even something as simple as kill order.

This is the argument, at its core: having content accessible is great. I am completely supportive of such an endeavor. Accessible does not mean the content should be thoughtless in strategy, or easily overcome by “powering” through based upon gear that is easily available by the time level 80 is reached.

For those who say to make the content more difficult by doing the achievements, or by creating new ways to make the current content challenging, I only have one thought: we do not have any way to make the content easier for those who want things to be easier, why should we make things harder instead of having one or two encounters specifically designed to be more difficult? Seriously, let’s get over the double-standard. It is not like I’m asking for everything to be more difficult.

The real problem is that things are being approached from the view that “everything” should be the same. People seem fixated on the thought that either it is all more difficult or it is all less difficult, when there has to be a variety of both. Yes, this means some people will never see the content. I’ve been on that side of things, and I agree it can suck when you really want to see the end-game. Fine, make the end-game accessible to everyone. For the love of Elune, though, find something to give me to strive for that is challenging as well.

/end rant… I think.

In the Blog Azeroth chat yesterday a post by Nibuca of Mystic Chicanery was brought up, and spawned a discussion that proved insightful. Not too long ago our guild went through a reorganization of sorts ourselves, and so the topic was one I thought I could also write about. You can view the post that spurned this one here: Evolution of a Loot System.

 

Part one provides a background on the guild, which is really necessary to see why we chose to start off the way we did. Part two describes how we used to handle loot, primarily because we haven’t had a chance to work with our new policies (they were implemented post 3.0). Finally, part three details where we plan to go from Wrath’s launch day forward.

Part One: Background

Devnull was originally founded by a handful of people who worked together. Over time the guild grew to include friends and family members of those founding fathers. Just recently a fellow guild of adventurers, whose principles match our own, elected to merge with us too, creating a very strong guild of like-minded individuals.

I came onboard late last year, returning from one of my longer hiatuses, and transferred my characters from Stormrage to Hellscream to join the guild. Since that time my position within the guild has grown to encompass a good many things, and I currently serve as an Assistant Raid Leader and Executive Officer.

Devnull was founded as a casual guild, and one of the challenges we have faced has been on how to best retain that casual, fun, friendly atmosphere while also fulfilling the desire to raid. Only a couple of months ago we finally decided on a path that, hopefully, suits our group best. This is what we came up with:

TLDR Version:

1. Members can elect to be casual members or raiding members. Both groups can see the same content, be on the same runs, etc., raiders just get priority and a couple of perks.
2. Guild Leadership (or a loot council if you will) determines who gets loot using guild progression and attendance as key factors, among other things.
3. Main spec upgrades are first and foremost. Off-spec will be allowed after all raid members pass.

Full Version: PDF Of The Original Articles

Excerpt:

devnull: Articles of Organization

Preface

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”

– Henri Louis Bergeson

World of Warcraft. The Burning Crusade. Wrath of the Lich King. Every iteration has brought with it new challenges, new adventures, and new directions. After careful consideration, these articles were drafted in order to provide a structure and organization that devnull members are not only proud of, but to include rewards and incentives for those whose dedication to the growth and development of the guild are displayed time and again.

Purpose

• To preserve the fun, casual atmosphere we all enjoy.
• To provide the challenges and rewarding experiences we all desire.
• To reward dedicated raiders and provide incentive to participate.
• To maintain complete fairness to all.
• To formalize devnull’s guild structure and promote guild events.

Guild Structure

Overview

Devnull members will be able to decide which of two paths to pursue. Both paths will provide similar benefits, though one will have extra perks due to requiring more investment from the player. The structure will, as a result, appear as follows:

Guild Leadership
Member Group —– Raider Group

Rank Structure

• Guild Master
• Executive Officer (XO)
• Treasurer
• Officer / Raider —– Officer
• Member / Raider —– Member
• Initiate
• Probation

Loot Policy
Although the “most needed upgrade” approach works well, with the implementation of these Articles of Organization some changes must be made to devnull’s loot system. The following guidelines will be utilized when the guild leadership passes out loot on raids:

1. Guild progression will be a driving factor in deciding who receives upgrades first.
2. Raiders will receive first priority on main spec upgrades.
3. Members have full loot rights after raiders pass.
4. In the event two raiders need the same piece of loot precedence will be given to the raider who has contributed more in attaining guild progression as determined by the guild leadership. Attendance will be one of many factors looked at for these determinations.

There is an Addendum as well, and an accompanying email, but really I think that is far long enough of a post, even by my standards.

 

Part Two: How Has It All Played Out?

To be honest we really haven’t had a chance to put the revised policies in play, but it isn’t far off from how we were doing things before. Prior to these changes we took the same principles, but used a “least geared gets loot first” approach. With Wrath we knew this wouldn’t work nearly as well, because we wouldn’t have people over-geared on the raids to pull the lesser-geared folks through. Realistically, that was part of what prompted the changes (in addition to trying to find a way to provide an incentive to those who really showed dedication to progression and getting their own gear taken care of).

All said, it is quite doubtful we’ll have any issues. One of the benefits to having a small group (I think we have twenty-eight or so actives total) of people who have grown really close is, quite simply, that we all want the same things for each other. We all help out as much as we can, often at quite an expense to ourselves. In the long run this means we’ll do well together, as long as we don’t start any type of open recruitment (which we are all opposed to anyway).

 

Part Three: What Is Next?

We have a few people that have been around since launch, but most of our guys didn’t really play with the intent of getting into any end-game content. In a lot of ways expansions really help motivate people, because we all get, for the most part, a fresh start on an even playing field. With Wrath our goal is to consistently do end-game 10-Mans. I’m certain we’ll do some 25-mans, but honestly those are just a pain in the arse to organize and lead, and for a casual group of people it just gets old.

Devnull has a bright future layed out, and a framework set to grow and evolve to meet any challenges that come out way. As we get to really test our loot policies and see how, if at all, they need to be changed I’ll be sure to revisit this post. Until then, if you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to share.