World of Warcraft Raiding 101 (or how to become hardcore!) Part 2
The Character
The single most successful way to increase character effectiveness is to focus on enhancing the character itself. This means choosing a purpose and then getting the various character aspects – talents, skills, equipment, buffs – synched so they properly support said choice. Essentially you figure out what you want your character to be able to do and then you set them up with the best options available.
It’s fine to play a character any which way when soloing, but if you want to raid, all the other people are counting on you to be the best DPS/tank/healer you can be. Lets just say they feel let down if not all the raid/group members are carrying their weight (read: yelling, cursing, mocking, condescending, gently prodding, kicking out of raid, no return invitation, and banning – you get the point!)
The whole purpose really is to maximize your characters effectiveness. To do so the various aspects of the character need to be dissected, analyzed and modified.
Fine-tuning a character to become its most effective has become more and more complex, thankfully there is also much more information available online. Though sometimes I slog through all the online information only to end up determining that no one really seems to be able to agree on a single best solution. Just pick one option that seems fun to you and go from there. You can always change it later. =)
Points to focus on:
-Get your character to the maximum level. Most raids aren’t even available to you until you are the maximum level.
-Decide what sort of contribution you would like to make, tanking, damage (DPS), or healing. Depending on the class you play some of these options aren’t really available.
There are varying reasons why this is important. One being that to run a successful raid usually requires that there are a certain amount of people to fit each roll. It also determines what sort of equipment that you are eligible for on the raid.
-Make sure you have all of your skills purchased. Also know what they are so that if you are asked to provide a specific function you understand which skill to use for said purpose. (At least know where to look it up!)
-Talents; choosing talents has been the most agonizing feature of character building for me. Picking the correct talents is a huge amount of what makes a character viable for raiding, thus the difficulty. Different talent builds are incredibly role defining, as they can take a healing priest and turn her into a DPS machine.
Thankfully there is now so much information online about what talent builds are the best for any given situation, that with a little bit of online searching everyone can find information to fit their class.
Oh and lets not forget that for a thousand gold (and level forty) you can give yourself double the agony by opening up an extra set of talents. Only one can be active at a time, but it allows classes to not be so completely locked into a single role. I’m very happy that everyone gets that option now, but picking two sets of talents is not for me.
-Glyphs are the newest needle in the veritable haystack that is character fine-tuning. These are player made items that in effect modify your skills and talents. Once you have chosen your talent build, finding the appropriate glyphs to compliment it should be relatively easy.
Look to the auction house for all your glyph needs, or train your inscription.
-Equipment! It’s hard to even know where to start with this one as WoW is such an equipment dependent game; the better your equipment; the better your character.
This will be the most time intensive research part of the whole character. Part of that is because if you are actively trying to upgrade your equipment you will be trading pieces in and out often. Making sure all your stats still add up properly can be quite frustrating.
A good place to start is to upgrade any item that isn’t purple (that means their name is written in purple colored letters). Start there. Then, depending on what sort of character you are playing (tank, DPS, healer) you will need to focus on different stats that each pieces of equipment will bestow on your character. For tanks its usually defense rating, while for DPS it tends to be hit rating. For healers it’s usually more about spell power followed closely by spell haste.
Clearly this is a vastly deep topic that has quite different outcomes for most classes and talent builds. This is especially true as things like hit rating and defense rating have a soft cap, which means that once you reach this magical number any amount gained above it gives diminishing returns. Then its time to focus on the next stat and the whole thing goes round and round. =)
Oh one more thing is that you can turn on equipment values in the interface. This allows you to compare the general item level to your current equipment. It usually is good to aim for the higher item level, but its vital to keep stats in mind. You want to make sure you maintain your to hit cap and your defense rating cap.
-Enchants and Gems; the story just goes on and on.
Gems and enchants are a great way to get a few bonus stat points that you might be missing. Depending what sort of gear you have, your to hit might not be as high as it should, or you need more haste. There are plenty of gems and enchants out there that will boost a stat that you need. And don’t worry, if you ever don’t need that particular stat anymore you can just replace the gem or enchant with a more appropriate one.
Our guilds general rule is blue items get blue gems, purple items get purple gems (that not being the color of the specific gem, but the gem item level). My general rule has always been blues don’t get enchanted or gemmed since really I should be working my ass off to get a purple item for that slot.
One thing that should be mentioned is that all your items that can be enchanted should be, same with gems. Every little bit helps, so make sure all of your available slots are filled.
Something a little more specific if you are playing in Northrend, the current best helm and shoulder enchants are from different factions around the zone. So make sure you find the best one for you and get in good with the faction that sells it.
-Tradeskills now have benefits if you max them out. So make sure to get two major tradeskills to (currently) 450 to reap the bonus reward. Remember, every little bit helps.
-Food, bandages, potions, oh my.
Food and potions are another great way to give your character another little boost in a stat area that they are lacking. The buffs that the food and potions provide only last a little while so make sure to bring plenty. Also the buffs have stacking issues with various other things, plus amongst themselves.
Cooking and first aid (the tradeskills that produce food and bandages) are both easy to learn and since they are a minor tradeskills, they do not conflict with the major ones (which are limited to two per character).
Bandages are a must for any sort of small healing. Have a stack on you at all times. Self-healing is quite a boon for plenty of classes. And the healers will thank you!
Most of the time I do not use potions and food, but if you are going for super hardcore, keeping your character buffed up with potions and food will give you that extra edge to brag about. =)
There is really a huge amount of stuff to think about when dealing with your character (and they just keep adding more!) For me it really helped to have a person to talk to about all this. If all this is super overwhelming (like it was for me) see if you can find yourself a mentor. Always helped me to have a real person who can answer all my silly questions. (When you’re a newb, there tend to be a larger number of silly questions!)
<3 TFG
Helpful links:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml
http://www.wow.com/
Class Roles:
http://www.wow.com/2009/06/03/wow-rookie-tanking-for-beginners/
http://www.wow.com/tag/wow-healers/
http://www.wowwiki.com/Damage_per_second
Too many class specific sites to list, but look them up!!
Talents and Glyphs:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/talent-index/
http://www.wowwiki.com/Glyph
Professions:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Profession
http://www.wow-professions.com/
http://www.wowhead.com/?spells=11.171 alchemy
Gear:
http://www.wow-heroes.com/
http://be.imba.hu/
http://www.armory-light.com/
Etc:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Enchantments_by_slot
http://www.wow-gem.com/gems.aspx
http://www.wowwiki.com/Gem
Did I miss any? Let me know!!
