Wow, the slacker finally gave us part 3 of this “guide”. Psh, how can he even use that word? If you missed the first or second installment I’d recommend starting there.

Anyways on to the final part.

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Why do you play the game?

Is it for loot? For fame? For the joy of learning new things, experiencing new content?

All of us can identify with each of those new goals. We all get excited when new gear drops, or when we finally manage to up our dps or take down that boss that’s been taunting us. We all like moving forward and seeing content that we’ve never seen before, of facing bosses we never thought we’d reach.

But all of those are fleeting pleasures. You get the gear, and as soon as you come down from your burst of adrenaline and glee – almost immediately you find yourself dreaming of the next boss, the next big item.

You can actually play the game for a long time with nothing but loot as your goal. Unfortunately, that’s a not a motivation that can last for very long. The gear ladder of this game has many rungs, but it also has an end, a point where there simply are no more upgrades.

Then what do you do? Reroll and play the game again? Wait for the expansion to come out? Dream about new content, new goals, new bosses?

Most often you do none of those things (or you do them until they too grow lackluster and stale). You burn out. The game loses its sparkle, its draw. You don’t spend all day thinking about the next time you can log in anymore. Instead you log in only when you have to, for raids that you’re only paying halfhearted attention to.

Before long, everyone can see that you’re moving on. Whether to a bigger guild that can offer you more excitement, or you’ll drop the game. The only question is whether you’ll tell anyone, or if you’ll just…disappear.

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While reading this blog, one may often come across the phrase “Main Assist”. You may have even read the lovely articles written on this subject by our very own Vonya. We know what a main assist does: he or she picks the target for the other dps and the tank to focus their aggressions on, making everyone’s job easier, even the healers’ (two wounded mobs do more damage than one healthy mob). But is that really all there is to it?

No. The mantle of MA isn’t one that can be assigned arbitrarily. Not only must you consider class factors (do the mechanics of this person’s class require them to switch targets often to apply CC or other effects), but you must also consider the ability of the player. The tank and other dps rely on the MA to provide them with a primary target in a timely, intelligent fashion. The job of being MA can be just as difficult and nerve wracking (and fun) as tanking or healing. Just like a bad tank or bad healer can ruin an otherwise good group, a bad MA can turn hard pulls into wipes. A good MA plays a large part in pulling a group through difficult battles and large pulls, and in concert with a good tank, creates order from chaos, allowing the team to do things that the average player would consider improbable or even impossible without being ridiculously overgeared. Raid icons, while handy, are no replacement for a skilled MA that can adapt to changing situations.

Not all mobs are created equal. Some are far more dangerous than others, designed specifically to ruin your day, and most of them have some kind of trick up their sleeve. One key component of what makes a good MA is the ability to recognize high threats and prioritize targets so that the most dangerous enemies - which can vary wildly depending on the composition and overall skill of your group compared to the composition of the pull - are taken down early, before they can cause a wipe. Sometimes it’s as simple as “kill the casters first”, but more often it’s not.

In our travels together, we’ve found that not only is the concept of the MA completely alien to many players, but so are the dynamics of prioritizing targets beyond the most rudimentary of guidelines. Further, many of those that do understand the concepts fail to deliver once the pull is engaged - they talk a big game, but fall to pieces when the pressure is on. This is who the MA system is designed for. One skilled player takes on the workload of the entire dps team so that the rest can focus entirely on dealing damage, and all they have to worry about is assisting properly and watching their threat.

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My intention on posting this is for the replies to be similar confessions of either ignorance (I did not know it worked that way, I swear!) or simply forget mistakes (mine will be the example there…trust me) or what have you. Shall we begin?

*Red faced and all* So we are going to run Uldaman once more to complete the gems of power quest. While waiting for my group mates to finish their preperations, I decided to see if I could solo Revelosh. It took me a few tries, some learning and tactics (kill the little healer first and fast, use War Stomp to interupt his heal, then focus on the boss next he hits harder than the other melee mob you get) and those learning trips meant some deaths. (druids still cannot vanish). We clear Uldaman and much fun is had by all. The consensus after is to move to ZA and since its moderately late we decide to just kill and not worry so much about quests.

The juicy part…

We have no trouble at all through the instance, even clearing the graveyard in one continuous pull (Vonyas mana regen stacked with an innervate is something to behold). Now we come to the temple. And maybe when the mobs at the bottom spawn I get a little cockey and pull ahead of time. And maybe we get them ALL and barely survive due to expert playing of my three comrades. And maybe we med up and the second waves of mobs spawn. And maybe I pull again…and again get them all. Only this time all does not go smoothly and we have a wipe fairly fast.

*sigh* Nope, that is not all. In fact it is not even the reason for the red face (hard to believe, I know).

We run back and head back to the temple. We finish clearing the trash between us and the bosses (lost our shot at finishing that quest, QQ). Bosses down and I charge in with a “but they aren’t even elite!” feeling in my head. And I die. FAST.

*Musters confidence*……..*Prepares admission* I never repaired from playing around in Uldaman…Who knows just how long gear had been breaking. I died so fast on the non-elites because my armor was at a grand total of 2% (per DurabilityFu). Needless to say that when I told the group a great many good deep laughs were at by everyone…well, everyone else at least.

Oh yes, it’s that good.

Posting a moral at the end as instructed by Vonya. No matter how long you have been playing and no matter how skilled you may be you, too can be a noob. Or Only you can prevent noob-fires.

Well friends, it has been some weeks since the inaugural (no I did not misspell Arugal just there) Warlock leveling post. I am sure some of you have noticed Zasp has been trying to steal my thunder by writing on the topic of leveling a combat rogue. Well I won’t have it. Or I tried not to have it. He was to be tied up, set on fire, followed up with being kicked and stuffed into a closet. But, what can I say, he is a rogue and seems to have vanished from my local vicinity for the time being.

Back on topic! Shall we? Yes!

As we learned together in the aforementioned previous post, leveling with an affliction build is a breeze!. But guess what, once you reach the summit, its not all down hill for a warlock. There are other options friends, yes there are and today I intend to address that which I feel is not only most viable but most fun to boot (in this case the usage of that phrase does not mean “to kick” but feel free to give a Rocket Kick, its fun).

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Lets go back to the basics, shall we?

Hunters are ranged dps. We have a pet, which also contributes to the dps we output. As BRK illustrates every time he talks about huntering, a hunter and her pet are not two separate entities. We are a team. We work together and the combined might of our contributions is more than simply the sum of our dps.

But when you’re just a baby, starting out, you don’t know any of that.

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Continuing the post on my preferred leveling build, I hereby present the second installment of the 3 part “guide”. If you missed the first part, I’d recommend starting here. A little reminder, this is about combat leveling. It talks about using Sinister Strike and no other attacks along the lines of Backstab are discussed.

With that, I remind you that the Brain Melt Warning light has been turned on, please enjoy your flight.

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It is highly recommended that you read Part 1 before continuing here.

Like a fish flailing in the sand, I unabashedly bare my vulnerability to you in the interests of self preservation with part 2 of this article. Don’t worry, that mixed emotion of pity and amusement with a slight tinge of horror that you’re feeling is perfectly normal.

Last time, I railed about Blizzard creating a tank shortage with their misguided attempts to make every tank class feel needed and special, while at the same time making every tank class feel useless and impotent on a regular basis, as well as making the job of tank recruitment and gearing 3 times harder than it needs to be. I also promised to offer solutions that would equalize the tanking classes, without turning them into the exact same class with differently colored icons, as well as offering them some non-tanking ability without overpowering the other two specs or ousting other classes entirely. So lets do that then.

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Or sharing our Twitter tweats. Or what happens when we speak crazy and post it for public viewing.

We now have twitter on the side bar. It’s at the bottom. You like it.

Ego checked this. She has verified it is 100% lie free.