Dril made a really good point in his comments yesterday – I am using a warlock build that is optimized for AoE damage, and it’s affliction / demonology based 38/33/0 which is for most an ‘odd’ build. Typically people will either put at least 51 in affliction, or go the other way and put at least 51 in destruction. The important part is that this spec works for me, and it works really well. No, I don’t compare to raid geared people but they also don’t completely blow me away either. I’ve already had to justify my play style once and I find it really amusing. Someone in an instance asked me why I was bothering to use my mana drain spell because it ‘does nothing’ to the mob. Well, I was at 0 mana, and the healer was almost out of power, so instead of siphoning my health away and creating more of an issue I slapped some dots on the mob and mana drained. They laughed at me for it.
Last I checked, I’m the one who pays for my account, and thus I’ll play however I want. There’s nothing people seem to want to do more in WoW then tell you how to play your class because of COURSE they can play it better then you. One person told me in a random regular dungeon (before level 80) that I was a fool for rolling on an item with mana regen on it (even though they, the healer, already had said item. I rolled with a mage and if myself or the mage had not rolled on it the item would have went for greed). Their comment stuck with me so much that I stopped rolling on everything all together, even if it was an upgrade. You can NOT let other people tell you how to play the game.
I did a lot of instances yesterday. I completed Heroic Nexus, Gundrak, The Violet Hold, Halls of Stone, Trial of the Champion, and Halls of Lightning. I obtained enough shards to purchase a really nice wand, as well as a piece of set gear – Gul’dan’s Gloves of Conquest. I have almost 300 stone keeper’s shards, and I’m working towards my second piece of gear which will either be a robe or pants. I’m thinking pants since mine are quite abysmal. It’s 50 shards for the pants, and the robe. 30 for the shoulders I want which will give me my four set bonus which is not too bad. The helm I’ll be getting from another merchant, for 75 shards (it has a meta slot, but no set bonus). Instances are finally not stressful for me as a warlock instead of a priest. I feel like I’ve found a great class that suits my play style, and I’m really enjoying myself.
I managed to work on my engineering some yesterday as well, and it’s sitting at a comfortable 281. My mining still has quite a ways to go, 101 and I haven’t bothered to work on it. It’s nice to be out of the level grind, and work on things at a slower pace, and goofy achievements.
I hope everyone enjoys their long weekend! Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.
@Endelon – the warlock is 1.5k on single targets in heroics, 4k or so on 2 targets, and 6k-13k+ on 3+ targets for heroics. With a gs of 3.6, no enchants, and one piece of T9.
I’m interested in playing the game, and having fun. I don’t care if I’m at the top of the list, the bottom of the list, or some place in the middle. I’m not sure I’m interested in raiding at all, but I do have a guild of 8 others who raid 10-25 man raids casually (twice a week mostly icc). There are wrong and right ways to give advice, and I really wish people would learn the ‘right’ way.
I come across lots of people who 1. don’t heal very well or 2. don’t dps very well. I may say these comments to myself, and my friends in whispers, but I am never outright rude to the player. Perhaps they have reasons that I am unaware of that influence their playing. etc.
@Endelon: theorycrafting can only get you so far though. Whilst, yes, those people have numbercrunched the best spec for something, it’s the something that matters, not the spec. A lot of the math is very situational and relies on assumed variables to find a given value/weighting for any particular stat or talent. Furthermore, pretty much everyone there is a raider, and all the discussion centres on raid build with min/maxing, usually in a 25man environment as well. Along with that, the sole aim is normally to maximise dps, not to provide utility or allow for unforeseen circumstances.
As a example, my resto shaman was mainly gemmed with intellect and mp5. Stupid, right? Well, I can tell you that in every pug raid I did, the healing meters (and I realise they’re not a great measuring stick but they’re not bad either) had me as second or first on healing, and last or second-last on overhealing. Conversely, another Shaman in one raid who went for full haste and just roflspmmaed chain heal was third on the healing meters and top of overhealing. I know it’s not dps per se, but the idea stands that theorycrafting is not always the best thing to just blindly follow.
Apparently I forgot to edit out my last line. Oh well, the idea still stands :P
I’d be interested to see your damage meters for various instances since you’re using an unconventional spec. (genuine interest, not being a sarcastic ass heh)
I do have to say, a lot of the reason people are so pushy about telling others how to play is because this really isn’t a game where you just put points into talents you think look good and go with it. There really are “top specs” for each class which gives the maximum DPS and have been heavily researched and parsed through lots of complicated math equations by people who have way too much time on their hands (check out elitistjerks forums for some the level of math people put into testing builds!). I’m sure the majority of the people saying things about your spec and playstyle are being obnoxious…but there might be one or two who are just trying to help.
They’ve done a decent job of bringing the various DPS specs closer together so, if you REALLY love playing an Arcane Mage (even though Fire does slightly more damage) you can still continue playing as Arcane unless you’re in a guild doing hard modes that requires absolute maximum DPS out of your character.
Good luck in Azeroth, looking forward to your first raid post once you get some gear (I’m sure it’s going to be super stressful lol :P)
I suppose in the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter as long as you’re enjoying your time playing
@Kaozz – I know that it is for healers over dps. No healers were rolling on it, and it was a LOT better then what I was wearing (also had crit on it and spell power). Calling me a fool for wanting an upgrade is the wrong way to go about things. :)
It’s the mentality in the game, it’s not fun and lighthearted.
If you don’t have a decent gear score, build, dps and so on you will get called out and picked on. Do they have the right to? No, but it won’t stop them. If you’re going to keep playing learn to ignore people and not let them affect you.
BTW Mp5 is for healers over dps, you don’t want that on your gear you want crit, hit (if you need it) stuff that benefits you more so.
Star , add me to friends list on Firetree, name is Rumbarr =)
Yup , I agree . I no longer run pugs, no random dungeons etc . In the 6 years I been playing, I don’t even have 1 friend on my list . Those I did know, quit after TBC expansion and right now I’m just messing around on a trial account not interested in subbing at this time . I gota say though I’m actually having a good time in the low level areas and do an occasional battleground . I’m gonna make a character on Firetree and play with Star maybe her presence can convince me to resub hehe .
Early on, I hated on WoW. It was fashionable in some circles. Then I wised up and I realized that any perceived issues with WoW were NOT because of the game, but because of the COMMUNITY. Well, certain aspects of the community. That these s$$hats are enabled to perpetuate their a$$hattery through systems like gearscore only makes things worse, but like any system, it’s inherently neutral. It’s a player’s decision to abuse it that’s at fault, which leads back to the player.
I’ve been lucky so far (knock on wood) that since I’ve been back to WoW I have had decent dungeon groups with minimal fuss. I expect that will change as I grow in levels, where the gear and such plays a more important role in people’s perception.