Posts Tagged ‘Questions’

Heya guys!!  I missed you.

I’ve been writing this blog for quite some time now and it’s seen it’s ups and downs.

From when it started off as an unknown site with less than 100 hits a day to when this site blew up up doing nearly 100k hits on its biggest days…  I’m still blown away by that.

But out of 5 years of hardcore gaming in WoW, this past year has been shaky at best.  And that has been reflected in my website as well.

So this is the time where I open up and share.  Some of this stuff has been mentioned, alluded to, or hinted at before.  And some not so much…  But instead of continuing to care about the sensibilities of those who have impacted me…

It’s story time.

Skeleton Jack in Gaming

I was introduced to “gaming” when I was 10 years old.  One day at summer camp one of my cabin mates started running a table top RPG named Gamma World and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Conventions, LARP’s, RPG’s, console gaming, boardgames, collectible card games, pc gaming, online gaming, lan parties, etc…  The list goes on and I’ve pretty much done it all.

So while it goes without saying, I’m saying it anyways.  I’m a gamer.  Always have been, always will be.

Skeleton Jack in World of Warcraft

A recap on my history in WoW for perspective.

Original WoW

I started playing WoW over 5 years ago.  I was a hardcore City of Heroes player converted over to the dark side by my Super Group (a guild)…

My first toon was Elorien, a Fury Warrior born to dps yet fated to tank by close minded idiots.  /facepalm

But even forced into a role that I didn’t want, I had a blast.  I got to clear Molten Core, Zul’Gurub, Black Wing Lair, Ahn’Qiraj 20 and 40, and even Naxx40 Spider Wing before BC released.

It was an amazing experience and I still have my old 8/8 T2 Wrath set on Elo with an Ashkandi!  I still smile just thinking about it.  :)

BC WoW

With BC and the release of Shaman to Alliance I swapped mains to Bigeasy, a Draenei Shaman.  I did PvP as Enhancement and PvE as Elemental.  And I lit shit up like a Christmas tree!!

I cleared all BC content, even killing Muru pre-nerf, and got to be part of a server rank 1 guild.  It was awesome!!

Ending BC knowing that I had actually done “everything”, including perhaps one of the most difficult boss encounters ever designed, still makes me feel proud to this day.

But at the end of BC I learned of Death Knights and Skeleton Jack’s rebirth was soon to come…

Skeleton Jack’s Birth

I remember when I was playing Ever Quest way back in the day…  I was the Karanas and I saw a system wide message from a GM named Skeleton Jack go out…  My exact thoughts were:

“OMFG!!  Coolest name ever…  One day, I’m going to have a character named Skeleton Jack!”

No, the name wasn’t chosen because I love A Nightmare Before Christmas.  Though I do <3 that movie for getting me to 2nd base with a girl for the first time as a teen close to 20 years ago, heh.

I chose that name because I saw someone else use it and thought it was the best thing since sex.  (kind of lands the idea better than saying ’sliced bread’ if you ask me)

Humorously enough it wasn’t until years later that I even made the connection that the GM probably took the name from the movie.  *sheepish grin*  Even I have blonde moments…

Skeleton Jack the Death Knight was my 3rd inception of SJ.

The first was as a NPC in my table top RPG campaign world.  Skeleton Jack was an intelligent undead skeleton created by an ancient lich named Al’Ren, an infamous prophet in our game world.

He went on to become one of the most beloved NPC’s by our players and has been used by multiple GM’s in our gaming circle.  He’s that cool.

The 2nd was as a Storm/Gravity Controller in City of Heroes.  Honestly this was a black mark on the name.  Even I can come up with bad ideas…

The 3rd was Skeleton Jack the Death Knight and my online persona here at http://www.skeletonjack.com/

LK WoW

LK would be the expansion that broke the camel’s back for me sadly.  Things were just never the same.

I quit WoW twice during this expansion.  And even though I’ve done pretty much all of the content in this expansion (shy of just H LK himself and the last dragon boss release), these past 2 years do not feel as amazing or as fantastic as myprevious years spent playing WoW…

So the natural question is, “Why?”

What went wrong with WoW for SJ?

At the top of the list I can think of 3 major turning points.  While other factors did play a part as well, these three things were the “nails in the coffin”.

Number 1: Guilds

I started off on the Bronzebeard US server and joined Category 5, a casual raiding guild, for almost 1 1/2 years.  But before BC released I went to Sleepless Knights and stayed there for 3 years.

From SK I joined Paragon for a while, until my new job forced me to look off server for a guild with different raid times.  That was when I joined Insurrection on Dath’remar US.

Insurrection then merged with Severed and formed Heretic just weeks after I joined, shortly before I quit WoW again…

Category 5

The GM of Cat5 gkicked me actually.  I didn’t quit.  I got booted.  I was very vocal about my displeasure with how poorly things were being run back then and the GM didn’t like that.

I caught multiple infractions where the officers had cheated on DKP, giving bonus DKP on their runs, and less than required on runs they didn’t go on.

Runs the GM went on would suddenly award items that could be sold for gold without spending DKP as well.  Meanwhile other runs that the GM was not on had to turn in all of those items to the guild bank…

The list went on regarding the shady things that were being done and I didn’t like it.  Also, apparently, the GM didn’t like me telling everyone about it…

In the end, being kicked from Cat5 was one of the best things to happen to me in WoW.

I wasn’t happy there, the officers didn’t really understand the mechanics on the class and talent structure (but then most people didn’t understand back then), and I was tired of tanking everything when I could out dps epic geared toons in my blue armor…

Two weeks later I joined SK and had a blast!

Sleepless Knights

Why SK you ask?

I was sitting in Ironforge in vanilla WoW in 8/8 T2 Wrath armor with a Maladath and a Buru shield without a guild tag.  I was in tell spam hell for 2 weeks.

Everyone was trying to recruit me and it was a pain in the ass honestly.  But this one guy from SK started talking to me one day and never said a word about recruiting…

He just chatted me up and asked me to join some pre-made BG’s with SK peeps.  I was down.  It was PvP…hello?!  I LOVE PVP!!  ;)

A week later he mentioned I should app if interested, and I was.  SK was the only guild that just asked me to go out and have fun when everyone else just wanted to nab the untagged geared out tank…  That said a lot to me.

I loved being in SK, but don’t get me wrong.  It wasn’t all rainbows and bunnies…

Not that I like rainbows and bunnies being a Death Knight and all…  Uhm…  o.O

DEATH TO BUNNIES!!!!

Moving on…

I was originally recruited as a tank, but they had 4 tanks already who had been in the guild far longer than me.  So things didn’t start off too well at the beginning of BC.

I didn’t have the gear to dps, their DKP system didn’t support gearing out toons in off-spec gear, and I would get sat often due to too many tanks.  It was frustrating.

Later I was even pressured into taking dps gear even though I wasn’t being brought to dps.  Subsequently I couldn’t win any tank items because I got pushed so far back on DKP that SK actually restructured the entire DKP system to support off spec gearing.

Pretty awesome right?!

And that was where SK started showing how it could shine.  Their ability to adapt.

In addition to reworking the DKP system for the guild, they also supported me rerolling to Shaman and being a dps.

Finally!!  People online would let me fucking skill shit!!!  FINALLY!!!! It only required me giving up my main character to do so… *wry smirk*

The first two years rocked.  There were issues of course, but when is everything picture perfect?

SK became kind of my “online home”.  I looked forward to talk to my friends there, playing with them, and just hanging out.  It was a lot of fun.

But as with all things in life…things changed.  It started during Sunwell in BC, but didn’t become a problem until LK.

The GM of SK was taking on far too much responsibility and many of the old guard “core” members of the guild started falling to the wayside…

The officers in SK never really did all that much to begin with, and it only got worse.  I still don’t understand why they never put together a new Officer Core, but I wasn’t in charge…so no idea.

Regardless, this lead to our GM being stressed out to all hell and back again.  Which meant that a lot of things were not really being run well.

Don’t get me wrong.  Our GM had been running the guild for years and is one of the best GM’s I’ve ever met.

But when you pile enough crap on top of one person and they don’t get the assistance they need, they will begin to crumble under the stress…  It doesn’t matter how awesome they are.

Then add into that other issues…

I was saving DKP because I had no idea how to spend it with the new normal and heroic difficulty loot tables.  So my numbers dropped in meters while everyone else geared out and I banked my points.

So while my performance was there, I didn’t have the gear to back it when we were entering Ulduar Heroic content in my Naxx gear.

And I got judged on the basis of my new dps numbers in Ulduar.  My previous performance and history in the guild for the past 2 1/2 years didn’t seem to matter and that really pissed me off.

In addition to that there were several guild members “coming into power” whom I did not like, nor did they like me.  That didn’t exactly add to the “fun” factor of WoW.

SK was having a lot of turnover as well, with new members and new cliques.  Which only helped create divisions and fracturing that sense of community that had been there for so long that I loved.

It just didn’t feel like “home” anymore…

When I left SK I was number 1 on DKP and could have won multiple items and still stayed in the top 5.  I still left anyways and didn’t stick around for epics before I left.

Loot was never why I was in SK, but there were people who still thought that even after I left without using any of my DKP.  /sigh

Paragon

Paragon was the 2nd ranked guild on my server at the time and I knew some of their old members from way back in the day during original WoW.  So I figured why not join Paragon?  I liked them before…

Big mistake.

There are some exceptional people in Paragon from both sides of the coin.  Some of their members are very cool people.  And others are some of the best players I’ve ever met in WoW.  But that was not the standard, only the exception.

It was eye opening and shocking to me to see massive drop off in player skill and knowledge joining Paragon.  I was raiding with people where I knew more about their class than they did.

And spending nights wiping on encounters and struggling to learn tactics and strategies when I was used to my guild picking them up in just one or two attempts was painful at best.

This lead to me quitting WoW the first time during LK.  A lot of it was due to burnout from having played for so many years already and spending so many hours each week on both the game and my website.

But the shock of dropping down to such a lower standard of performance on top of everything else just made the game unbearable.

However a few months later after a much needed break I came back.  And with a fresh perspective drove right back in!

I adjusted/altered my mindset and got back into raiding on a more casual basis.  The people in Paragon were cool and they were still clearing nearly all of the in game content.  So I decided to stick it out.

So my routine was back, things were good, and I was enjoying the game.  What could go wrong?

Nothing.  Things went right!  I got the job I had been after for over a year…  Woot!!  :D

However the new job also meant new hours and no more raiding during prime time US hours…

Insurrection

I eventually realized I had to find a new server.  And Oceanic was looking like the best choice since it’s raid times were not ever during prime time US hours, which is when I work.

After some in depth research I settled on Insurrection.  And it was awesome!!

The people were awesome, the sense of community rocked, the skill level was amazing, and I felt like I had found the home that I had been missing for so long!

But the new found happiness was short lived.  After being in the guild for only 2-3 weeks they informed us that we were guild merging with Severed (Horde side) and transferring Horde side.  /facepalm

First off let me state up front that I told them in my application that I was *not* even looking at Horde guilds because I did not want to play Horde…  Fucking shoot me.

So there I am in a new new guild named Heretic.  Severed and Insurrection together, the two top ranked guilds on our server.  What could go wrong!?

Hmm…everything?

The new guild leadership was utter crap.  Within two weeks they had managed to alienate or lose a ton of players.

Among them were about 5 players who were quite possibly the best players I’ve ever met in WoW.  No seriously.  Like in the top 20 players I’ve ever met.  Among them, two of the best I’ve met at planning and designing strats for raid bosses and also the best healer, hands down,  I’ve ever seen in WoW.

How stupid do you have to be to not be on top of players like that in such a massive transition?  And that’s not even all of it.

The officers from both guilds had obviously not bothered sitting down and working out the differences between the two guilds until we were actually in raids.  So divergent instructions, strats, loot policies, and more were all becoming issues during raid time.

We had more people than we knew what to do with, and the methods of swapping people in and out were not working well.  Some of the best players I’ve ever met in WoW moved on or quit.  Major issues were not addressed.  There was no raid leader who actually did their homework and knew what we were getting into before we entered raids, etc…

It was a huge cup of flaming fail. (Read a big ol’ cup of shit set on fire and placed in front of your face…yum!)

And on top of all of that crap, then there was my sleep issue as well.

4 nights a week I was interrupting my sleep to make raid times.  It wasn’t possible to even get a full 6 hours of sleep before or after raids.  So 4 nights a week I was basically getting two long naps.

At first I didn’t think it’d be an issue.  However after several weeks I realized it was a HUGE issue!

I was grumpy and irritable, snapping over minor things.  The second time I snapped at someone in raid because of not getting enough sleep I realized that this wasn’t working any more.  Not even counting being irritable at work.  Which was far worse of a problem and had to be fixed.  End of story.

So what happened?  I just kind of walked away from WoW…

Number 2: Blizzard

But Blizzard is who makes WoW…how can they be the problem?  They made the game you love!

Yes.  And no.

In everything that follows you need to keep 2 things in mind. 
STOP SKIMMING AND READ THIS PART.

1) There is what I want from a game.

2) There is what Blizzard can change to make more money as a business.

I am aware that #2 is a driving force behind Blizzard’s decisions.  But as they make smart business moves to gain more consumers, they risk alienating those who loved what their product used to be (that’s me fyi).

Hardcore vs Casual

Who hasn’t heard some version of this debate, discussion, argument, yadda, yadda, yadda…

The definition of “hardcore” has sadly been diluted by this point.  Hardcore means so many different things to so many different people that you can’t actually stand on that one word anymore to describe an aspect of play style.

But the title “Hardcore vs Casual” does convey a rough idea of what I’m getting at here.

WoW is easy now.  It just is.

You can go look up on the web exactly what gear to pick, what spec to use, what rotation to follow, which mods to get, etc…

That aspect of discovery, personal testing, and player skill that would set the great players apart from the average players doesn’t exist anymore.

This isn’t just about the game, but also the community.  I would even be part of  that “problem” telling people exactly what to do without them having to discover it for themselves.

But that’s not all, it ties into the mechanics of the game as well.  Many class/spec rotations have moved towards “easy mode” where player skill level means far less so long as someone told you the proper rotation to follow…

/sigh

What is easy or difficult is subjective.  What’s easy to me may be ridiculously difficult to someone else.

But this is about me.  And WoW has moved to the casual market imo and has lost that more difficult and challenging aspect that made me love it so much!

But what about Heroic content?

What about it?  It’s fucking stupid and lazy.

Yes, from a business standpoint is sheer brilliance.

Blizzard can make encounters really difficult for the more skilled, or “hardcore”, players while still having easier versions of the same encounter for everyone else.  It’s genius!

They get to double dip, using the same resources for the 2 major factions in their player base.  They not only save money, but get to share their content with the entire player base.

I cannot fault this movement by Blizzard from a business perspective.  It’s like printing your own money.

But as far as me the player, it’s horseshit.  I don’t want to do encounters twice.  I don’t want to go into a raid learning encounters and doing it on normal and farm gear to then turn around and do it all over again on the same damn bosses, but just more difficult.

Do I have “STUPID” written on my forehead?  I already did those bosses.  Give me some new ones.

If I wanted to play through Normal, Nightmare, and Hell difficulties then I’d go play Diablo.  But I’m not.  I’m playing WoW.

And while Diablo makes that concept work really really well for some reason, it fails miserably in WoW.

Raid Content

Blizzard’s become really greedy if you ask me.  And since you’re reading this, you asked me.  It’s my personal opinion!  :P

They pushed out less raid content in LK than in BC (counting just bosses), and appear to have no plans to change this new model.  *shrug*

I always felt like I was working towards something new in BC that I wasn’t ready for yet.

But in LK I felt like I was always farming old content waiting for the next patch to release a new raid.  How is that fun?

Would you rather be working on content and know you have another raid waiting for you on the horizon?  Or would do you like to farm old content while you wait for the next raid to be released?  Fuck that.

5 Man Dungeons

5 man dungeons, something I love, are just meaningless and watered down shadows of their previous glory.

I love dungeon crawls!!  But all they are now are short, dumb, and annoying daily requirements in order to get my “insert correct name” badges…

The gear is meaningless, and that’s just fucking stupid.

If a boss can be skipped, just to get to the end of the instance boss quicker, then we do that.  Just so we can be done and get what we’re really after.  The quest reward.

How is that a good design?  It’s stupid.

I’m not saying 5man loot should be equal to raid loot.  But why not close?  Or comparable?

Blizzard is obviously aware of this concept, just look at the 3 5mans released with ICC.  Why not design tiered 5man dungeons in a similar fashion as those?

They drop loot that is better than some raid loot.  Why not design dungeons to follow the raid model?  Progression in both difficulty and reward?

The majority of 5man runs have nothing of value to offer you once you get into raiding (outside of trinkets, and that’s a totally different hell).  Note that the daily quest is what people actually value, or rather the reward.  The dungeon itself offers the player nothing on its own.

F&F Alpha/Beta

Yeah, I’m still fucking bitter about this one.

Blizzard:  Oh noes!!  Skeleton Jack?!  He writes a blog about WoW!  We can’t let him in, he might be bad!  Take him off the list.

Assholes…

Blizzard’s Target Audience

Long story short, it ain’t me.

They are revamping WoW for a new generation of players.

Cataclysm is just nice way of saying, “Hey a lot of our starting content for new players sucks.  We need to change this to remain a driving force in the MMO market.”

Smart decision again, don’t get me wrong.  But Blizzard’s new targets are not the old school gamer like myself who has been playing for years.  They are going after new blood.

For new players this was pretty much a necessity.  Low level WoW sucks.  But what about people who already play WoW?

I realize there is some small minority of players out there who enjoy leveling new toons up.  To you I say shut up and sit in the corner.  Disclaimer done with…

Who in the hell actually *likes* leveling a new toon?!

I’m not asking you who likes to have multiple alts, or play multiple toons in raids and pvp.  I am talking about the act of leveling itself.

Every person I’ve ever talked to about it tries to get through the leveling process as quickly as possible.  And if someone will power level them, they always say yes.

And I’m not referring to when you level a toon with a best friend, girlfriend, etc…  The fun aspect there is sharing experiences with someone close to you.

Don’t even try to pretend that “leveling” is fun.  It was spending that time with someone you cared about that made it fun.  It sure as hell wasn’t fun filling up blue bars with imaginary points that are holding you back from end game content.

So Blizzard is throwing tons of resources into development for leveling characters.  Again, smart business move for bringing in a wider audience of players.

But as a player I just see it as all of the resources, time, money, and development that could have gone into new raid content, bosses, armor graphics, pvp improvements, class balance, etc…

Sidebar Rant

Leveling in MMO’s is an antiquated mechanic that seriously needs to go the way of the Dodo.

That’s crazy right?  OMFG, no leveling?!!?  Who the hell cares about leveling?  Seriously.

Fantasy based MMO’s are not about leveling.  You level up to to max level so you can then actually play the “real” game.  What is referred to as “end game content”.

Developers talk about the 3 pillars of MMO’s: Exploration, Progression, and Combat.  So let’s talk about “Progression” shall we?

What is progression in a fantasy based MMO?  It’s gear ya stupid developers, not levels.  Bloody nut jobs.

All leveling does is teach you how to play the game.  Know what?  You could develop starting areas in a similar fashion to the Death Knight starting zone in order to teach players how to play their class.

The experience would be far richer, and you could then spend resources on the actual game that people play.

People have characters that have 100 days played, 200 days played, and more!!  And they probably spent 2-10 days played leveling up depending on their play style, tops.

Think of it from just the perspective of money.  Blizzard approached my raid content from that perspective.

Why spend so many resources on leveling up, when that usually accounts for only a minor fraction of a player’s play time?  It’s a waste of money.

And I tell you what.  If every class had their own starting area like Death Knights do, and the focus of these areas was to teach you how to play, people would far prefer that.

Number 3: Burnout?

That’s kind of a cop out honestly…  I don’t know if I have the words to properly express this because I can’t quantify this feeling exactly.

In any given week I probably spend 50+ hours on “fantasy/sci-fi”.  Whether it’s talking about gaming with friends, watching a movie/show in that genre, playing a video game, etc…

Whether most of that time was spent on WoW, or now on other topics, I still spend that time on fantasy and sci-fi.  So burnout isn’t right exactly…

WoW has stopped being Fun

There are things about WoW that are still a blast, like murdering people in PvP!!  :D

But for the most part WoW really has stopped being fun.

Part of what makes a MMO great is the people.  It’s about grouping with like minded individuals.  And I don’t have that right now.

Raid content has largely been a joke for this expansion, and that has always been my focus in WoW…

It’s just not fun…for lots of reasons really.  Some big, some small.  But when you add it all up, it translates into me not playing.

So what then SJ?

No idea!!  :D

I’ve started working on the 4th edition of the table top role playing game I wrote with a friend years ago (I wrote the 2nd and 3rd edition).  I’m hoping to start Alpha testing it with my gaming circle some time within the next 6 months.

Ironically the name of the RPG is rather iconic.  No, I’m not sharing.  :P

It’s just a hobby project for now, but if it works well I’m going to look into selling it down the road.

I’m gonna take a peek into DC Universe when it releases, but I don’t really expect to get hooked.  It’s got some nice toys, but it still looks like their developers missed the mark still…

That said, Star Wars the Old Republic has my eye for Spring of 2011!  That has serious potential to hook me!  We’ll see.

I’m keeping my website.

Moar postz?!!

Not sure.  I am going to continue paying for the site though to keep it under my name for any future endeavors.

I’ve been checking out some great games that I missed due to WoW though.

Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age Origins, Bioshock, Fallout 3, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and others…  It’s been fun!

Hey SJ!!  Coming back for Cataclysm?

My initial response is no.  But you never know.

My biggest regret about not playing WoW is no more PvP…  I really, REALLY miss BG’s!  I could possibly get suckered back in by that…

But I’ve said I was quitting before, and sure enough I ended up right back where I started from.  So I’m not saying it this time.

I wish you guys the best though.  I really do.  It has been a fun ride, and the ups and downs only made it that much more enjoyable.

Suffer Well.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

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Website

Heya guys!!  So some people are not so hot at online research or finding WoW related information on the internet.  So here’s a quick and dirty list of some good sites to check out.

MMO Champion

  • General WoW site with tons of useful information, including up to date news on WoW.

World of Raids

  • General WoW site with tons of useful information, including up to date news on WoW.

Tank Spot

  • Weekly video blog and raid boss guides with videos set this site above the bar.  The forums are not shabby either.

Elitist Jerks Forums

  • The largest compilation of top end players in one spot posting about WoW.

WoW Head

  • Invaluable resource for in game information.  The player comments can be amazingly helpful sometimes.

Guild Ox

  • Has an amazing aspect called Loot Rank where you can plug in APE weights for loot ranking.
  • Has imo the best ranking system for WoW Raid Progression as well.

Curse

  • My personal favorite for downloading mods.
  • I do however download the following from their direct sites:  DBM, Auctioneer, and CT

WoW Interface

  • My 2nd choice for downloading mods.  Still a damn good site.

WoW Matcher

  • Heard about this site from Tank Spot.  It’s not popular enough yet to be amazingly useful, but it’s actually a *damn* good website if you ask me.

Battle Net

  • Sadly most people do not know the URL for BNet.  And they should.
  • It is http://us.battle.net

WoW.com

  • Uhm…mixed bag here…  I’ve never once been impressed by the DK posts there, or a lot of the ones there for that matter.
  • However there are gems mixed in with the bad.  I’ve read some damn good stuff on this site before.

Arena Junkies

  • If you are in to PvP at all, this is your one stop shop.

WoW Wiki

  • As with all wikis, sometimes the info is outdated or just plain wrong.  However they sometimes have information I’ve been unable to find anywhere else.

WTF is my GS?

  • Need to know a GS quick?  See below if your server uses the different GS ranking.

WoW Heroes

  • Need to know a GS quick?  See above if your server uses the different GS ranking.

World of Logs

  • The best combat log site on the net if you ask me.

WoW Cataclysm Beta Forums

  • CATA Beta Forums pre-release.

Skeleton Jack

  • BEST WEBSITE EVAR!!!!!  :D

So I think that is everything.  I’m sure there are other good sites out there.  But these are pretty much your “go to” sites for day to day operations.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

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Heya guys!!  Do you like your UI?  Do you hate your UI?  Did you download your UI?  Ever had your UI die on you?

Not sure about you guys, but that kind of stuff catches my attention.  So, since my UI died the week before 3.3.5 release why not talk about it?

Pictures of my UI

Please be aware that my computer monitor is a Sceptre x270-1080P.  I run WoW at a resolution of 1980×1080.

These pics only look right if you click on them, and then zoom in.  And when you do that, they will likely not fit on your monitor unless you have a wide screen 27 inch monitor as well.

If you are looking to upgrade your monitor btw, I *HIGHLY* recommend Sceptre.  I’ve bought their models for my last two monitors and I’ve got zero complaints!  They rock!!

My Dead UI

Yeah, a picture is worth a thousand words.  “!@#$ me” however sums that pic up pretty well I think…

The mods that broke…

I use Rune Watch for my disease timers, runic power meter, and rune cooldowns.  It’s invaluable if you ask me.  I *highly* recommend it.  I’ve not seen an alternative that is as nice as RW.

I use Tell Me When for my buffs so that I know when my buffs are active for popping cd’s, etc…  Also invaluable imo, but there are several alternatives to TMW which work well too.

I use CT Mod for my basic UI fuctions, including my bars.  It’s old, tried, and true.  Been using it since vanilla WoW, and it still works damn well.

There are supposedly much better options out there (than CT), but CT provides several mods that I use in one easy package, so I’ve not seen a good enough reason to leave it behind yet.

What happened?

Right in the middle of H LK my TMW just died and forgot all of the settings I had.  BOOM!!  Dead…  Couldn’t track my Rime or Killing Machine procs, buffs, etc…  It sucked.

In the effort of reloading my UI Rune Watch suddenly died as well and forgot all of my settings.

On top of this, reloading my UI started locking WoW up, as well as logging out/exiting the game.  Both are times when mods are being loaded, saved, etc…

A few minutes later (on a fresh log in) my 5 bars collapse into one big mish mash of bars and I can’t see shit!  Did I mention I was at H LK with my guild during all of this?  /sigh

Long story short I did a WoW Repair, deleted my WTF and Addon folders, and redid my UI from the ground up.  It was a pain.  That pic above is after everything was fixed and re-downloaded, but before I set it all up again.

Why’d they break?

Most likely because it’s been forever since I repaired WoW, cleaned out those folders, etc…  And downloaded mod after mod on top of each other.  It was only a matter of time before my addons broke really.

My New UI…Again!

It’s fairly basic and I like it that way.  I like a lot of visible area without a ton of clutter.

I spent some time looking through pre-made UI’s and they all suck IMO.  Why won’t anyone make a basic pre-made UI that uses core solid mods without messing everything up?

They wanna move your mini-map into the bottom center of the screen almost all the time too…  Who in the hell actually uses the mini-map when you’re fighting?!  NO ONE!!  Fricking idiots…

They also like to cut out a lot of your screen to fit in mods, etc…  No thanks.  I’d prefer to just download a pre-made mod and alter it slightly, but they all seem to suck.

Caveat:  Some of the pre-made healer UI’s looked awesome.  *Really* awesome!!  Why don’t melee have more pre-made UI’s?  :(

New Mods!

So while looking around at pre-made UI’s I checked out a few new mods as well.  Well, new for me anyways…

I found an interesting one called Nonce.  It’s pretty basic.  It allows you to add a texture or screen color (and alter the appearance of it) depending on the presence you are in.

That link at Curse has a few pics as well that are much more obvious than my setup. But here’s two examples of how I set mine up.

Frost UI

Unholy UI

Now in both of these pics I have the graphic set to being more of a “background” thing.  You can make these much, much more visible if you choose to.

Or even drop the texture and just have your entire screen shade over with the color (to varying degrees).

So why is this mod good?

*I* forget to change presences all the fricking time!!

I’ll swap into Unholy Presence to run back from a wipe on H LK, or just have it on while in Dalaran, and then forget to put Blood back up when I get into a fight…

/facepalm

I know…  Bad SJ.  So I set up Blood to show nothing, and Unholy and Frost to show as above so I won’t forget anymore!! :D

Mods used by Skeleton Jack

I figure people will wonder about this one…  And I’ve been asked this question a ton.  So here you go.

I am no “UI Guru” or master of addons.  I am 100% sure my UI could be improved in such a way that would blow my socks off.  However I don’t really know how to do that, so this is what I’ve got.  ;)

Deadly Boss Mods

  • There are other options such as Big Wigs and DXE, but I’ve been using DBM since vanilla WoW and it works.

CT Mod Advanced

  • From this package I use:  CT Party Buffs, CT Buff Mod, CT Map Mod, CT Mail Mod, CT Core, CT Bar Mod, and CT Bottom Bar.
  • The other mods in the package are useful, but I don’t have a need for them.

Auctioneer Suite

  • I do not use Enchantrix, which comes with this.
  • I use the Suite because it’s what comes with all of the bells and whistles…  I likes bells and whistles!!

Rating Buster

  • Automatically converts ratings into values.
  • Also converts stats for you as well.  Like alt casters who get x % of y stat added to z ability/effect.

Recount

  • Solid mod for tracking dps, deaths, healing, etc…

Tell Me When

  • I can’t live without this mod.
  • It is one of only two mods I consider to be necessary for playing WoW (PvE and PvP content).

Tank Points

  • I don’t use this much as I don’t tank much, but it’s a great way for the newb tank to see which items are upgrades for tanking.

Bank Stack

  • This will auto sort your bags and do some other stuff too…  I’m not so sure on the other stuff.  But the auto sorting function has saved me a *ton* of time in the past.

Omen

  • You should already have this mod for the love of all that is unholy!!

oRA2

  • A great raid tool mod imo, and should be mandatory for guilds if you ask me.
  • I recently learned there is an oRA3.  I’ve not tried it yet, so can’t vouch for it.  But it’s likely better.

Logger Head

  • If you ever keep combat logs for WoL then I recommend this one.  Just makes life easier.

One Bank 3 and One Bag 3

  • I like one bag for my bank and backpack.  Opening a bazillion bags and managing them is bogus.

Error Monster

  • Helps eat error messages.  /win if you ask me!

Nonce

  • Special graphics for being in a DK presence.  YMMV here…

Bad Boy:  Anti Spam Automatic Reporter

  • This one is a new mod for me.  So far its caused me no problems and spam is less of an issue.  So this mod is going into the “HELL YES!!!” column!  ;)

Rune Watch

  • This is the second mod which I consider to be actually necessary to playing WoW (in both PvE and PvP content).
  • Disease Timer
  • Horn of Winter Timer
  • Rune Tracking
  • Two Runic Power Guages
  • If you don’t have this you seriously need to try it.

Atlas Loot Enhanced

  • Wanna know what the boss drops?  Wanna know what badges can buy what gear?  Look no further.

Displaced Mods

WIM

  • I used to *love* this mod, but started turning it off in raids to improve frame rate issues.
  • I’ve not used it in a long time, but I used to love it.

Grid

  • This is the basis mod for most casters.  If you have a healer, or caster alt, you may find it useful.

Clique

  • The healers set me up on this for my shaman Bigeasy when I had to heal Twins in Sunwell.  Worked well.

Move Anything

  • It does literally what it says.

Trade Skill Mods

I don’t honestly understand the interaction (read dependencies) of all of these mods.  But I had a glyph business a while back that pretty much required all of them

If you’re into TS’s then you may find some of these handy…  You can do some amazing stuff with them.  I did.

Lil Sparky’s Workshop

Addon Control Panel

Altoholic

Who Has

Kev Tool Queue

Skillet

You have a great UI?

Disclaimer: Links to any sites that are not well known or trusted may be deleted.  Photobucket, Curse, WI, Ace, etc… are trusted sites.  Personal websites?  Those might get deleted.  I have to protect my readers from links to potential viruses.

You know some great mods?  Leave a comment with a link to it.

Know a great pre-made UI somewhere?  Link it!!

Have a pic of a UI that’s really cool?!  You guessed it.  LINK IT!!

Not only am I curious, but I’m sure other readers are too.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

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26
Jun

Frost and Unholy Specs and APE weights and scales for 3.3.5

   Posted by: Skeleton Jack    in DPS, Questions, Specs

Heya guys!!  Yes.  You know you love “The Hass”!!  o.O

Now that I’ve made you suffer through that, *sadistic grin* lets get down to something you guys probably will love to have.  APE (Attack Power Equivalency) weights and Pawn scales for Frost and Unholy DPS!!

Please note that these scales do not include the 2 piece or 4 set bonuses.

Also these scales assume that you are looking for “ideal gear” in the 260-270+ ilvl range.  This is basically a “Best in Slot” APE weighting.

Frost

Loot Rank Frost without Melee Hit Cap

Loot Rank Frost with Melee Hit Cap

Enchants, Trinkets, and Weapons

It is important to note that this site (and APE scales in general) will not always properly reflect the best choices for enchants, trinkets, and weapons.  Please do not rely upon these scales for those three categories.  While some results are accurate, others can be wildly off.

Pawn Mod Frost Scale

( Pawn: v1: "Frost": ArmorPenetration=3.08, CritRating=2.12, Dps=7.12, Strength=2.83, HitRating=2.23, Agility=1.67, HasteRating=2.15, ExpertiseRating=2.08, Speed=394.23, Ap=1, GemQualityLevel=81 )

Please note that due to weird HTML hatred, some symbols do not copy properly.  I placed this into a <code> format and that should fix the issue.

You can download Pawn at Curse.  Pawn will auto load some weight scales at the start.  Just turn them off.  I did.

Frost T10 Set Bonuses

T10 2 piece:  400 APE

T10 4 piece:  380 APE

Frost Spec

Cookie Cutter Frost:  1/52/18

  • The currently held “best” spec by popular opinion.

SJ’s Frost:  0/53/18

  • More dps than the cookie cutter version, but also generates more TPS.

SJ’s Frost Slow Spec (H LK):  0/55/16

  • Loses 500-2000 dps in P1 of H LK, but once the first transition begins it only loses about 300 dps tops.

Unholy

Loot Rank Unholy without Melee Hit Cap

Loot Rank Unholy with Melee Hit Cap

Enchants, Trinkets, and Weapons

It is important to note that this site (and APE scales in general) will not always properly reflect the best choices for enchants, trinkets, and weapons.  Please do not rely upon these scales for those three categories.  While some results are accurate, others can be wildly off.

Pawn Mod Unholy Scale

( Pawn: v1: "Unholy": ArmorPenetration=2.58, CritRating=2, Dps=7.04, Strength=3.1, Agility=1.35, ExpertiseRating=1.52, Speed=32.39, HasteRating=2.87, HitRating=0.58, Ap=1, GemQualityLevel=81 )

Please note that due to weird HTML hatred, some symbols do not copy properly.  I placed this into a <code> format and that should fix the issue.

You can download Pawn at Curse.  Pawn will auto load some weight scales at the start.  Just turn them off.  I did.

Unholy T10 Set Bonuses

T10 2 piece:  230 APE

T10 4 piece:  410 APE

Unholy Spec

Cookie Cutter Unholy:  0/17/54

  • The currently held “best” spec by popular opinion.

SJ’s Unholy:  0/17/54

  • Loses 200 dps tops (maybe less) to gain Death Runes.

SJ’s Unholy Slow Spec (H LK):  0/17/54

  • Loses 400 dps and gains 15% movement.

Questions?

Post a comment or e-mail me:

Skeleton.Jack@hotmail.com

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags: , ,

25
Jun

Questions and Answers by SJ

   Posted by: Skeleton Jack    in Questions

Heya guys!!  It’s story time!!

“Yay!!”

Hush now little death machines and listen.  It’s time to learn how to kill people…

I’m trying out something new here and directly quoting the questions posed by my readers.

Hopefully you guys like it!

Skaven wrote:

Is it just me, or does it seem like unholy DK?s are getting haste stacked up all over them? Accelerated auto attacks and quicker rune regeneration doesn?t seem to be quite the flavor I was looking for in Unholy. Quick, fast and furious seems more of the dual wield thing, something which never appealed to me.

Keep in mind that with the new changes to DK’s in CATA, some old styles of playing may stay in place.  Frost Presence will be the new Blood Presence.  It’s entirely possible Unholy will still be playing in Frost Presence in CATA.

And yes, haste is an “uber” stat for Unholy now, and possibly in CATA as well…  But even so I do not foresee Unholy ever hitting as fast as Frost does, or simulating their playstyle.

Simon wrote:

Epidemic aside, have they increased disease durations? With the slower rune regeneration my worry would be that we really can?t spare two of them to re-apply diseases all the time, and the increased focus on targeted rather than AoE DPS should mean that use of Pestilence isn?t viable in a lot of situations?

The rumor mill has it that diseases are looking at a base duration somewhere between 20-40 seconds, with a duration of somewhere near 40-60 seconds talented.  That has not been confirmed, and is only speculation atm.  But it’s solid conjecture.

I seriously doubt Pestilence will stop being effective.  All AoE damage is supposed to be nerfed in CATA.  The sky isn’t falling yet.

Rod wrote:

Sorry about the previous comment.. the info i had was from Consider?s Cata notes page, which he says ?This information is simply gathered through spell IDs, which are available through a variety of public, legal websites?

Multiple posters have put comments here on this site listing information that clearly breaks the NDA agreement.  Just because they, or another site, didn’t get into the Alpha and never signed the NDA doesn’t mean that they are not doing something wrong.

MMO-Champion was already approached by Blizzard and told not to list their Cataclysm information (which was listed on MMO).  Responding quickly, MMO-Champion pulled all CATA related information from public view per Blizzard’s wishes.

What you have to remember is that smaller sites won’t “wake the beast” like larger sites will.  That said, staying under the radar is not enough for me.  As per Blizzard’s wishes, I will honor their NDA.  All NDA content posted on site by anyone will be deleted.

Trust me, you were not the only person by far.  Many, many people have posted comments that have been deleted.

Funkyliciouz wrote:

Hey man, do you know why they’ve added “Might of the Frozen Wastes”? – Ofc you dont^^

But what’s your thoughts about it? Seeing as they put a TWO Hand weapon skill in the tier10 part of the frost tree O_o?`Are they going to mess with ma dual wield pwnage :<?

Blizzard’s intention is to keep Frost viable for dps DK’s who do not want to use two 1H weapons or spec into Unholy.  With Blood becoming the tank tree, and Frost becoming the dual wield tree, 2H DK’s would be forced to spec Unholy in CATA.

Blizzard’s original game design for Death Knights was for them to be a two handed weapon class, with the option of dual wielding.  Dual wield was folded into Frost finally to make DW DK’s happy and to alleviate balance issues.

It should make you happy to know that Blizzard has stated that they intend to make Frost 2H viable, and will prop it up, but have no intention of letting it surpass DW Frost.  The goal is comparable, not better.

Barantos wrote:

This is a decent post the problem I see with alot of guilds is they let emotion get in the way for performance. Seem to be every guild I join and raid with someone?s terrible family member vcontinues to perform poorly and they are given a free pass. This eventually rubs most players the wrong way as this person wins gear over other raiders with better performance. I would like to see guild have more competition between classes.

This is a fine line to walk, and has made and broken many guilds.

On one side you want “cool” people in your guild that everyone gets along with.  On the other side you want top performers as well.  But what do you do when the top performers are complete asshats?

I think there is a balance that could be achieved, but again that is a very fine line to walk.  Ultimately the GM and officers should make a decision on what the focus of a guild is, and then the guild mates can make their own decisions as to whether to stay.

However, this is an issue that cannot be answered easily.  It really comes down to what guild you’re in, and what their priorities are.

Larísa wrote:

This seems very random and unfair since they even activiely invited BRK and let him stay inspite of his blogging. Booo for that kind of double standards.
Aside from that: I wouldn?t want to be either in the alpha or the beta. Software testing for free and the only thing you get for it is boredmom earlier when the real game launches. No thanks.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head.  While I like BRK (he’s who got me to start this site!), it is a complete double standard on Blizzard’s part.  That said, I’m glad he got in.  Hopefully it will pave the road for other people to get included down the road from our neck of the woods.

As to the testing, I’d *KILL* to get into the Alpha/Beta early.  Have you seen the proposed changes to Death Knights?!  Last time I got into the Beta so late that everything was done and decided.  My input meant nothing.

I would love to get in there and actually get some real testing done on my class changes so that I could iterate on the flaws and benefits, hopefully helping to improve my class balance as a whole!!

Henrique wrote:

yo SJ ! if u ever need help writing articles for the new website just sayt it. I can help typing the stuff on it if you want. also can bring up some articles. u have my email on this post if u ever need help

That has to be one of the worst applications to writing for someone I’ve ever seen, lol!! :D   Do you remember a thing called proper grammar?  ;)

While I am open to this concept, I am leery as hell too…  I tried this once before with Geist.  She did a few posts here on the site.

Ultimately the posts were not up to the standards I’d have liked them at, but they still offered a new perspective and useful information.  I had to do some editing on every post all the same, and in the end she quit WoW which curtailed her interest in posting about WoW, lol.

It would take someone really impressing the hell out of me for me to consider bringing them on as a writer.  And as I’m already focused on DPS and know a ton about it, I’d be likely only inclined if they had a deep understanding of PvP and/or Tanking to complement my skill sets.

And lastly, they’d have to have an ego the size of a flea.  I would be editing and changing their posts most likely.  Know someone who both has the credentials, some writing talent, the interest, and willingness to have me edit their posts?  I sure don’t!!  :)

ODK wrote:

how to find a good guild when you suck at relations but carry your weight in fights?

If you go back through some of my older posts (from today) you can see some of the approaches I used to applying to a new guild.  There’s even a whole post on it in “Improving Your Game by SJ”.

As to the “sucking at relations” part I’d recommend an old tried and true method.  Shut up and listen.

While that won’t work in the interview process (if they have one), it will work for everything else.  When you apply to a new guild keep your head low, comments to yourself, and just pay attention and listen.

Take the time to force yourself to joke around some with people and perform well.  If you do that, when you finally decide to weigh in on a subject people will listen.

As to “applying”…  If you don’t deal well with people then I can only suggest trying really hard not to mess up when on vent with them.  A good idea might be to have a friend who plays WoW to come over for the interview (if they have one) and make suggestions on what not to say.

Ultimately though, playing in a guild is part of the “social aspect” in WoW.  It’s something you’re going to have to find a way to integrate with or just get really lucky with finding a guild…

Dammanus wrote:

Hey SJ, can you please make a post on trinket alternatives…

I plan on making a post in the next week, to few weeks, regarding trinkets.

Seltor wrote:

Well, considering that he is NOT in the Alpha, he is not directly breaking any NDA policy.

Please also see Rod’s comment above in this post.

It amazes me how much “internet specific” legal issues are just ignored by people.  Downloading movies, music, hacked games, etc…  Those are all illegal, but people do it everyday without a concern.

You wouldn’t walk into a store and just take some movies and cd’s and steal them.  But you would download them without paying on the internet.  You = generic random person.

The phenomenon is amazing really.  If you take away the risk of punitive action people become 100% willing to break the law.  I’m sure there are psych studies on this, or at least there should be.

Just because someone didn’t sign the NDA themselves doesn’t mean they’re not breaking the law.

If you want to get down to it, Blizzard can prosecute anyone they want to for leaking CATA information.  And they can enforce it.  The law is on their side.

The NDA is what applies to the people playing in the Alpha and Beta.  But it is not the only law or “legal statute” in place protecting Blizzard.  Ever heard of things like intellectual rights, property laws, legal precedent, etc?

So you are correct.  He did not break the NDA.  That does not mean however that the multitudes of websites listing NDA information are not breaking the law.

It’s just easier to just say “NDA” when I refer to this stuff.  Are they gonna come after me if I list NDA information?  Not fricking likely.  But just because I could get away with NDA information on my site doesn’t mean I should.

I choose to honor Blizzard’s wishes.  If others do not, that is their prerogative.  But it isn’t “legal” to do so whatever you, or other websites, think.  Most likely they are fully aware that Blizzard could come after them, but just don’t care because they are too small of a fish.

Disclaimer: I take free movies from friends who download and burn them.  While I don’t download them myself, I will watch them.  The above was to make a point and to clarify my stance with this website.  I do not claim to be a saint.

Bulbasaur wrote:

Hi there SJ, I have a question about gliphs. Is it worth for an unholy dps spec to use gliph of disease and not reapply FF and PS manually? In your last articles you said it?s a dps gain with frost but I didn?t get if it?s truly worthly for unholies.

You can use a Pestilence rotation for unholy if you want to, but it is a dps loss.  I do not recommend using it except for an AoE or PvP specific build.

Luciferano wrote:

how much dps does your gargoyle give you over a point in necrosis?

I have no idea, but it’s a crap ton.  Do not ever drop Gargoyle as Unholy.  Don’t do it!!

Valishna wrote:

Was just wondering if you could do a post about the use of army of the dead on raid bosses in wotlk. I often doubt if i can use it or not. Would be nice if we could get some info bout using it on bosses. Thnx anyway and keep up the good work.

ICC

Excepting Dreamwalker and Lich King you should use AotD just before the pull on every boss.  There are two exceptions.

Lady Deathwhisper – if you are on adds, and depending on placement and /petattack macros, you might not want to pop army here.  You could make life hell on your tanks for picking up adds.  Use at your own risk.

Professor Putricide – you use army twice here as Unholy.  Once at the start of the encounter, and then again at the start of the final phase.  That said, with the new 25% dps buff in effect, if your guild’s dps is high enough then this may no longer be possible.

Bliksem wrote:

Can you comment on whether or not you should be using blood presence or unholy presence while unholy spec?ed for max dps ??

Blood Presence always.  While UP can do comparable dps in some situations, it is not as effective as Blood Presence.  This goes for all currently “viable” dps specs in the 3.x+ world.

Dorraemir wrote:

Will you be using your Unholy ?Slow? spec for HLK?  Hopefully ur guild will allow it.

I have both specs prepped now and I’ve regemmed for them as well.  I plan on playing Unholy at H LK unless our Enhancement Shaman is not there.

Rikukun wrote:

In response to what you said about frost being better than blood, I am in all 251+ gear, other than a 245 neck. you can look me up on the armory if you want, im pretty sure im the only lv80 dk in the game with this name. Maybe i still need to get even more geared for frost to pull ahead, because outside of aoe im not seeing specing into frost being any different than blood with reaping. Also one specific question. If I were spec?d into reaping, and used scourge strike with the death runes, would I pull less dps than I would if I used the death runes for blood strike? thanks!

so i actually just tested that spec out (and modified it for dirge) and came to the conclusion that it is better than the icy talons spec if you have improved icy talons or windfury totem on you, but if you dont have either of these buffs, then the spec using icy talons is better?.which really just kinda bugs me that the spec is buff dependant.

Unholy has a few dps options for spec’ing around at lower gear levels.  Whether you go sub-Blood or sub-Frost should not matter a great deal at your ilvl.  Personal preference is what I’d recommend.

Reaping is a dps loss, but it’s a loss of less than 200 dps.  I’m not even convinced it’s a dps loss of more than 100 dps honestly.  You give up 3 talent points that only generate 300 dps to begin with, and 1 SS beats out 2 BS for dps.  *shrug*

If you have Reaping, use SS.

As to that spec that I purposely did not relink, that would be a “negatory”.  It’s a dps loss in a full raid with full raid buffs and debuffs.

And whenever I talk to you guys about dps, I always assume that you have all raid buffs and debuffs.  I’m not getting into debates on situations where x buffs and y debuffs exist.  That would be hell.

ODK wrote:

Heya SJ, for another idea on a post, could ya maby make a post of up to date WoW information and data sites or something? seems all the sites i use to use are old, stuff like guildprogress, where to find top dps lists that are accurate, stuff like warcrafter and wowjitsu are all old and those are examples of stuff i run into when i search for wow sites, without having a direct suggestion from someone i dont seem to find much of anything up to date, theres aLOT of old non-updated sites out there?.. just a thought tho?

It is on the list sir!

Skeleton Jack vs Blizzard

For all those who enjoyed the post: Skeleton Jack versus Blizzard thank you!!  :D

The post idea came from a friend and I wasn’t sure if my attempt at humor would be well received.  Thanks again for the comments there!!  :)

You have questions?  I have answers!!

Sometimes it takes a while to get them all out, but I do try!!  Leave a comment here on site or drop me an e-mail any time.

Skeleton.Jack@hotmail.com

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags:

5
Jun

Questions and Answers by SJ

   Posted by: Skeleton Jack    in Questions

Heya guys!! It’s been a bit too long since we’ve done one of these posts.  But if you keep the questions coming I will try to keep the answers coming as well!!

Do Bloodworms still eat AoE Healing?

Nope, they fixed that one.  Quit asking me about Blood DPS!! :P

What are the most important stats for the DK specs?

Unholy: Expertise 18-24, Hit 8%-9%, and then Strength first and Haste secondary.

Frost: Expertise 18-24, Melee Hit 8%, and then Armor Penetration first, Strength second, and Spell Hit third.

Also check out this post:  Hit and Expertise Revisted

What are good trinkets to go after?

That’s not exactly in order, but close to it.  Keep in mind movement vs static fights and your gear will change the value of trinkets.

Is Armor Penetration really that good for Frost?

For the “ideal” maximum dps potential, yes.  Is gemming out for Strength a bad thing, no.  You can go either way and perform well.  However if you want to see maximum potential dps then go ARP as DW Frost.

What about the Sigil of Awareness?  I hear it’s “Pro” for Frost now.

For a movement fight I recommend using Sigil of Virulence.  For a static fight I recommend using Sigil of the Hanged Man.  There is testing and data to support that the Sigil of Awareness is viable for static fights.  However there is not data to support that it beats out SoHM.

Why go past 5% hit with Frost?  With the 3% hit talent you could go all ARP couldn’t you?

For a Frost DK Strength and Armor Penetration are nearly identical in value, with ARP pulling ahead.  Then a bit below those two you have Haste, Crit, and Spell Hit.  All three of which are also nearly identical in value.  However Spell Hit pulls a bit ahead.

If you miss on a Pestilence in your Frost rotation and have to reapply diseases you take a DPS loss.  Also, any additional hit below the spell hit cap will not only affect your spells, but your white hits as well.  So that extra hit affects white damage and spells.  It is a dps increase, and I find it valued above Haste and Crit.

That said, you could go all ARP, or choose Crit or Haste.  It is your character.  I just don’t recommend it.

Why didn’t I read the comments on your site SJ?

I have no idea.  You should have…  o.O

I post answers, edits, changes, and new information about posts in the comments a lot of the time.  Not always, but a good bit of the time.  Always check out the comments on a post if you have any questions regarding it.  And sometimes my readers will answer questions for you as well.

As always leave a comment here on the site asking questions or drop me an E-mail some time.

I try to respond to everything, but keep in mind sometimes that is just not possible.  If you ask about your gear and don’t include a direct link to your armory I will ignore your question.  Make sure the proper spec and gear is on at the time.

Skeleton.Jack@hotmail.com

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Tags:

4
Jun

Random thoughts over the past few days…

   Posted by: Skeleton Jack    in DPS, Questions

Heya guys!!  So I’ve spent the past few days working through Frost DPS and wracking my brain over what’s the best possible set up.  What I forgot to mention to you all is that in this process I am duplicating the “EJ mindset” which is not my norm.  So let me explain.

The “EJ mindset” is that you need to figure out what the maximum possible dps potential is and follow that as your solution for decision making.  This means that alternatives exist which are comparable and viable, but don’t quite stack up to the “ideal” methodology.

So some of the recent information points at choices which will lead to a dps gain, but those gains might only be 100 dps.  They could also be over 1k dps as well, but it’s important to note that some changes to any spec can still be viable.

As many of my old time readers will be aware I *highly* promote thinking for yourself, thinking outside of the box, and giving up some dps talents for added utility and/or survivability.  Please, please, please do not forgot those concepts when playing your character.

Playing WoW is, as always, about having fun.  Remember that!!  That’s I M P O R T A N T ! ! !

Key Points to Remember

If you play both 2H Unholy and DW Frost, whatever the reason, then keep yourself Strength gemmed.  The hit to Frost will be far less than the hit to Unholy will be if you have all APr gems.

Remember that my previous spec for Frost had a few points “free” to put where you need them.  You can choose to avoid “Ultimate DPS Rawr!!” and go with key talents you happen to like.

And for the people wondering about my research…

There is no one answer.  I used 4 different sets of stat weights other people had plus my own weights.  I also read through some random google searches and forums.  Then I went to WoL and went through the top 30 Frost DK’s in the top 200 dps rankings.  And I spent hours and hours doing all of this.

The end result was that I made educated guesses through this research to determine the best spec, the best gear, and the best stats for Frost DK’s.  I interpreted the research and performance of over 200 Death Knight players who know their stuff and turned all of that into what I’ve posted here.

Which is actually the answer most of the time when you get information from me.  While sometimes it’s my own idea that I came up with (more often than people give me credit for actually), a lot of times posts are compilations of data interpreted by myself that people could have found out on their own had they invested the time themselves as well.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

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2
Jun

Don’t Panic!! Skeleton Jack is here!

   Posted by: Skeleton Jack    in Coming Soon, Questions

Heya guys!!

So the end of expansion blues are starting to settle in.  And there is less and less to talk about until the NDA lifts and we can get into Cataclysm in depth.  So what to talk about until then?

This is where you ask me questions and I save them for post ideas.  Yeah, you heard me.  ASK ME QUESTIONS!!! :D

Leave a comment here on the site or E-mail Skeleton Jack at:

Skeleton.Jack@hotmail.com

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

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Heya guys!!  Most people just kind of go with the flow.  They’ll get into a guild and never leave until they finally have to.  Others always think the grass always greener on the other side.

But it really doesn’t matter what category you fall into.  What does matter however is how you prepare and project yourself when you apply to a new guild.


Preparing to Apply

This is where it becomes time to do your research.  You need to make sure that you apply to a guild that will make you happy.  And at the same time you need to make damn sure you know what you’re talking about when it comes to your character.

Finding a Guild

My preferred method for finding a guild is using Guild Ox.  You pick the realm you are on and can then check out the progression of different guilds on your server.

Now keep in mind that this does not mean you should apply to the number one guild on a server (or even the 2nd or 3rd).  If you know that you struggle on certain encounters, or can’t come close to the gear or performance level of a guild, don’t waste your time or theirs.

Be realistic in your goals.  You don’t go apply for a job that requires a Masters degree if you don’t even have a BS.  So don’t apply for a guild working on hard mode content with their lowest dps doing over 10k dps, when you struggle to do 6-8k dps.  Get me?

In addition to Guild Ox you can also check out recruitment threads on the WoW forums or other major sites like Elitest Jerks, Tank Spot, World of Raids, etc…  I think that’s a waste of time however.  Guild Ox lets you quickly see what guilds are at a progression level that matches your needs, and then go find out their recruitment needs.

Server Transfering

The method above works here as well.  But you need to be very careful and do more homework.

  • Is the new server at full occupancy?  Will it have queue times during prime time hours when logging in?
  • Is the new server actually “new”?  Meaning a very small pool of players to pull from if you find your new guild not to your liking, or want to pug alts?
  • Is it a Role Playing server?
  • Is it a PvP server?
  • Is it a PvE server?
  • Is it weighted to one faction?  Predominantly Horde or Alliance?
  • Which Battlegroup is it on if you prefer to PvP?  Are you joining a faction that always loses there?
  • Does it do solid PuG runs for alts, or have GDKP runs if that is something you’re used to or looking for?

You see where I am going?  If you are considering transferring to a new server you need to look at everything before you do it.  Or you might find that you’re miserable once you get there.

Class Research

Are you on top of your class?  You might think you are, but you could be wrong.  Take at least 2 days to poke around blogs, forums, etc… and see what’s up.  The worst case scenario is that you might learn something minor you didn’t know about and confirm that you are on top of your game.

The best case scenario is that you find out you’ve been doing something horribly wrong and can now fix it, improving your game play significantly.  Either way, it’s not wasted time.

Gear/Armory Check

Make sure all of your gear is properly enchanted, gemmed, and equipped on your toon.  And make sure that your talents and glyphs are squared away.  Nothing says /fail like an improperly geared toon.  Quickest way to an application denial possible.

This is also the time where you need to check out crafted BoE equipment to shore up holes in your gear if you have the gold.  If you’ve got 1-2 suck pieces, look into replacing them with a BoE item.

What a lot of people fail to understand is that actions speak louder than words.  So in this case, your armory speaks a lot louder than anything you write in an application. Get the right enchants, get the right gems, get the right spec, get the right glyphs, and get the right gear.

Don’t forget your 2nd spec.  They can see that one on the armory too.

Guild Public Forums

You can learn a lot about a guild here.  Read these forums.  You can see whether the guild actively posts here, what kind of personality types some of the members have, etc…

You can also check on other applicants.  Look through previous applications and read the responses.  See what the criticisms were, what the praises were, etc…  Check out what other people included, or didn’t include.  Be aware of your competition, and what the guild thought of them.


Applying to the Guild

Now, the preparation time to find a guild should have taken you between 2-7 days depending on how on top of your game you already were and the luck factor involved in finding a guild you want to apply to.

If it took you less than 2 days to prepare to apply, then you have already failed (even if you get into the guild anyways).

Make sure you are prepared 110% always.

Combat Logs

Most guilds want a combat log, or would prefer a combat log, when you apply.  Screenshots of Recount, supplications of your skill, etc… don’t mean much.  Sorry, they just don’t.

If you don’t have a log up on WoL, WWS, or WMO, then you need to take the time to figure out how to do this.

I’d recommend getting the Logger Head mod and then setting up an account with World of Logs.  It will make the process as simple and painless as possible.  You’ll have to figure a few things out still, but it’ll be easier this way.

Coherency and Spelling

For the love of God, spell check your application and use complete sentences with as little slang as possible.  “i deeps rly gud” = fail.  Get it right.

Take the time to write sentences properly, use punctuation, spacing, etc…  If this is something you struggle with (some people do), ask a friend to check it over before you post it.

Don’t be afraid to use forum options to snazz things up a bit btw.  Color coding the questions to say red, black, or blue, and then having your answers in white makes your application much easier to read.  Also using links, etc…

Additional Information

Don’t be afraid to give a guild extra relevant information.  Tell them your raid experience in vanilla WoW and BC.  Tell them about exceptional achievements you might have earned.  Let them know about your awesome alts (make sure their armories are fixed, gear, gems, etc…).

Be informative and to the point!!  Let them know if you’re in 2k+ rated Arena teams.  If it’s relevant to WoW, and something that could be impressive (in the + column for your application), then tell them about it.

References

Most applications do not request this, but I’m telling you that this is something you want to be able to put on an application.  Typically the only references that will count are from raid leaders, guild masters, or a top notch player in a top end guild (with his own combat logs, armory, and reputation to prove it).

This is where you need to talk to the Guild Master of your guild, the Raid Leader in the GDKP or PuG you run in, or that uber awesome player in the top guild on your server who happens to be your friend.

If these people do not already like you, or are not willing to speak up for you, don’t hound them.  The last thing you need is them spreading negative feedback about you.

If your raid leader or guild master is not willing to give you a reference, then you need to seriously stop and think about what in the hell you did to where they don’t want to tell someone that you’re a good player.  It’s like leaving a job for a new job.  Will your boss say you were a great employee?  Or is he just glad to see you gone?

Reading

Make damn sure you read *EVERY* single thread regarding applications to that guild.  I’ve seen guilds put multiple threads in difference categories and have as many as five threads all about applications to their guild.

Know what you are getting into, and read *everything* that they put up there for you to read.  Miss something and it’s just asking for a /denied response.

And make damn sure that you actually answer all of their questions with legitimate answers.  Yes, you should try to come off as a fun person to play with, but don’t joke around on all the questions.  Get real answers in there.

Make sure you pay attention to whether some questions are actually 2 or 3 questions in one.  That is a common mistake many people make.


Following Up on an Application

Once of the most common mistakes people make is pestering the guild they are applying to.  Give them time to check you out.  They might not do recruitment on a daily basis.  The recruitment officer might only deal with new applications on one specific day each week.

Be patient and understanding.  Again, just think of it like applying for a new job.  If you don’t hear back after a while, you are expected to follow up on it yourself.  Just don’t become a nuisance.

Contacting an Officer

Get online and find an officer in the guild.  Don’t bother them while they are raiding.  Do *NOT* bother them while they are raiding.  Get it?  That’s a huge no, no.  Politely ask someone in the guild if you could speak to an officer.

Once you find one, politely as possible, let them know you put in an application on their site and ask whether they wanted you to do anything other than wait for a response on the thread where you posted on their guild forums.

Take their instruction, say thanks, and then leave them the hell alone unless they tell you otherwise.  If you don’t hear back within 3 days (unless their instructions said for you to wait longer), politely (one time only) inquire as to the application process.

Be smart, don’t pester them.  And go from there.

Logging Out Properly

This is fundamentally important.  Do not log out in off spec gear or PvP gear.  Log out every single time in the correct gear for your main spec.

This goes for every single day that you are waiting to be approved to join a new guild.  They could decide to go check your armory at any day, or even multiple times.

It’s pretty /fail when they go to check out your armory and they see you in your PvP gear.  At best, it only delays the application process.  At worst, it generates an instant /denied.


SJ as an Example

Here is a link to my recent application to Insurrection.  Take the time to read and see what I did.  It is a very solid example of what you should be doing when you apply to a new guild.  I updated the links in the copy below, but cannot on the site itself.

*Read the link if it’s still good!!  Seriously.  The following is a copy and was not formatted by me to look as good here as it did on their site*

Here is a copy of the application in case it ever gets deleted:


1) Include the name/class/race of your character and any relevant alts. How long you have been playing this character as your main?

LK: Skeletonjack, Night Elf Death Knight, has been my main for all of LK (Unholy DPS). My only relevant alt is Skeletonjill, another Night Elf Death Knight, which is a Blood Tank currently.

BC: Bigeasy, Draenei Shaman, initially Enhancement and later Elemental for all but the initial period of BC. During SSC progression I swapped mains to my shaman as dps. She was a full Sunwell geared ele shaman clearing all content in BC.

Vanilla: Elorien, Night Elf Warrior, was my main for all of Vanilla WoW as a Protection Warrior. I played Fury when they let me, but for raid progression I was a tank. He was a full 8/8 T2 prot warrior clearing all content but some of Naxx40.

While Skeletonjack is an Unholy DPS DK, I would be willing to alternate as a Frost DK if it is needed as I progressed in gear. To let you know upfront my gear is scaled and weighted to Unholy DPS however, and I do not currently have dual wield weapons. So I could not initially fill a Frost role if needed.


2) How old are you? Do you work full/part time? Are you a student? Tell us your availability. Commitment,dedication and Attendance are our top priority- we need to know how dedicated you are.

I am 33 years old and work full time Wed – Sun 3pm-11pm central US time. I am 15 hours behind your server time, which means I am off of work between 2pm to 6am server time giving me 100% unrestricted raiding times. I will be fully available for all raid times and will commit to 100% attendance.


3) Tell us about your guild history. If you are currently in a guild, why are you applying to us?

Bronzebeard US

Vanilla WoW: Category 5 was my first “real” guild (joined before I hit 60). I stayed there for about a year I think? That was a long time ago and they disbanded recently. Towards the end of vanilla WoW, before BC release, I was recruited by Sleepless Knights for the end of vanilla WoW.

BC WoW: Sleepless Knights for the entire expansion.

LK WoW: Sleepless Knights for the beginning of the expansion. I joined Paragon (same server, was ranked 2nd at the time, but is now 5th) later on in LK before ToC release. I left SK for personal reasons, largely due to the changes in SK over 3 years of being a member there.

Sleepless Knights however is still ranked 1 for the server, 252 US, and 690 World. That is more the level of play that I am accustomed to playing at.

My new career has left me unable to raid with my guild for about 3 months now. I’ve been forced to raid with pug’s for both 10 and 25 man content and it sucks to be perfectly frank. The guilds that have already attempted to recruit me all raid while I am at work, and after some lengthy research I’ve found that Oceanic servers best fit my lifestyle and career.


4) What is your raiding experience? List applicable expansions as well as which boss fights/hardmodes.

WoW Vanilla: ZG/MC/BWL/AQ20/AQ40 all cleared plus the full spider wing of Naxx40. I never stepped foot into the other wings during vanilla WoW.

BC WoW: All content up through, and including, Muru before the 3.0 nerf hit. We killed KJ after the 3.0 nerf. However killing Muru was the true challenge and worth the 3 months of wiping 5 nights a week until we downed him.

LK WoW: Due to dropping from SK to Paragon, and recent work schedule conflicts (which are why I am looking at a guild on the Oceanic servers), my personal progression has been lackluster for LK (imo).

I did still manage to get a few decent marks: [The Undying] (got on 12/11/08 less than a month after release, LK released 11/13/08), One Light in the Darkness (25 player), Firefighter (25 player), 10man ToGC 5/5 (w/A Tribute to Mad Skill 10 player), 25man ToGC 4/5, and 10man heroic ICC 6/12 (Blood Wing). My current normal progression is 9/12 ICC25, 11/12 ICC10.


5) List your class rotations. Please provide as much detail here as you can – if you’re a DPS class, explain your spell/ability rotation. If you’re a tank, tell us how your threat generation works. If you’re a healer, describe how you fulfill your assignment, whatever it might be. Show us you KNOW your class. Give us a decent explanation, not something like ” I tank ” or ” I heal “

Single Target Rotation: IT – PS – BS – BS – SS (repeat w/no Reaping — Reaping builds sub in SS on 2nd rotation for the BSx2)

Runic Power Dumps/HoW: HoW and DC’s are worked into GCD holes as they open, also taking into account the 2SR (2.5 second leeway on rune cd’s after they become available).

I do not place HoW into a strict rotation form due to refreshing it on the pull to make sure it is on all melee in case any had missed it for range reasons (so all melee start with the buff, no questions asked). I work HoW into GCD rotation where it falls after running in. I don’t cast PS as my opener because there is no reason to not cast IT while I am still running to the boss. Exceptions such as Saurfang of course alter that. Runic Strike is tied into a macro so that if splash melee AoE activates it, it is used automatically.

AoE Rotation: DnD – IT – PS – Pest (with DnD off CD) // DnD – BB – SS (DnD off CD, diseases up) // IT – PS – Pest – BB – SS (with DnD on CD, diseases falling off of primary target and no GoD) // SS – BB – BB – SS (DnD on CD, diseases up) //

DnD is cast first if running for 4+ seconds to reach melee range. While there is a dps loss to cast it without EP already on the targets from diseases, using the runes 4 or more seconds early, translating into more rune usage, directly equates to a dps increase so long as the tanks can handle the initial threat burst. If it is an issue, or the distance is short, lead with IT – PS – Pest – DnD instead. AoE is defined as 3 or more mobs as Unholy. 2 mobs = ST rotation working in a Pest every 2nd rotation in place of 1 BS. AoE rotations can change in a moments notice depending on kill priorities, additional adds, etc…you have to make on the fly decisions usually and be aware of all rune cd’s.

Always pop Speed Pot and then AotD before the pull. Communication with the tank or hunter puller is required to get a solid 4-5 second warning before the pull happens. Gargoyle is used based upon several factors. When is Heroism cast on the encounter, how many total Gargoyle’s can be cast in the duration of the encounter, is there a burn phase where it has to be used, etc… If the fight is short enough for only 1 Gargoyle with Heroism (due to placement of Heroism cast), or 2 Gargoyles without heroism then I will use Gargoyle twice timing it with procs from 2 trinkets, weapon, and ring for maximum effect combined with a Haste Pot (pets get my haste). Gargoyle summoning is totally dependent on too many factors to say it is used under x condition, but it is timed to go with procs if not with Heroism. Preferably with all if possible.


6) Please provide links to WWS(http://wowwebstats.com) or WMO/WOL parses of your raiding experiences. You should know which encounters best demonstrate your ability, and please tell us why a particular parse(WotLK raids only) shows how well you perform. We’re not just interested in how you topped the charts on Patchwerk, but on other bosses as well(especially more movement oriented fights). If you’re a DPS class, this section is mandatory. If you have no reports from a raid, then spend some time on Boss Target Dummies for 6mins and screenshot or write down a recount breakdown of your dmg.

As I’ve not been able to run with my guild for over 3 months now, I’ve got no recent combat logs with me in a solid run. I’ve recently been getting into a pug group (not a guild) called GMT10, originally created by the Australian and New Zealand players on my server. Please keep in mind, the fights tend to be longer (aka cd’s worth less due to longer fights), no clue when Heroism will be cast as the shaman sometimes cast it just whenever they feel like it, etc…

WoL Combat Log #1
I’m not sure how I managed to get this run as I don’t remember turning on my combat log, but apparently I did. On this run we were screwing around, etc… It was a pug, I wasn’t really popping Haste pots etc… I figured might as well show the bad with the good. So this is me not really trying while on a pug run.

WoL Combat Log #2
OK, this one is me trying. Same pug, different night. I was popping haste pots, trying to find out when the shaman was gonna blow hero (still chaotic casting), etc. I must admit a few failures up front. I forgot to reflask at some point like a total newb. I borked up Saurfang. My pet got unsummoned and I missed it (from the boat)…so I ended up with an unbuffed pet (no kings/bs) and casting AotD like 1 second before combat. Honestly I knew this was my “application combat log” and I got nervous as hell. So I made some mistakes I wouldn’t likely have made normally just because I over thought it. I died at Lady Deathwhisper because they killed me when I was mind controlled…gotta love pugs.

Of Note:
12k DPS Marrowgar
11.5k DPS Rotface
8.3k DPS Prof Put I don’t feel that 8.3k is terribly overwhelming, but for your comparison the 200th ranked unholy DK dps for this encounter did 9.8k dps.

To point out, I feel my numbers would be higher were I able to get back into the groove again and run with a guild that had shorter duration encounters. I’m not the best out there, but I am a dedicated and hard working player who can do better given the opportunity.

Thanks btw for mentioning loggerhead mod on your application forums. I got it after reading the threads here and it freaking rocks!


7) The Lich King represents a considerable jump in difficulty over most current WoTLK encounters. Explain your role in this fight in as much detail as possible. Choose either fight and describe a typical assignment for your class/spec, also including positioning, priorities and things you’d watch out for. If you haven’t done it, research it and answer this:

LK Hard Mode – I just got my first opportunity last night in a pug ICC10 to make a few attempts at LK on normal mode. While we made it into P3 repeatedly, we were carrying people and unable to complete the encounter. That is the limit of my experience on this encounter; however, this is my role as a DK to the best of my knowledge.

P1

Get into the melee camp with the tank, all out dps the boss. Pest diseases to ghouls, but do not focus fire AoE ghouls (no BB or DnD), the boss is the priority. Stay spread out as much as possible within the melee camp and be aware of the Shadow Traps at all times. Situational awareness is 200% mandatory here. If I get the disease I run behind the shambler for dispel. Immediately get back into the melee camp and back on the boss.

Transition Phase

Before this transition the melee camp/tank should already be near the edge. Get on it the moment the ledge forms and focus all dps on the raging spirits while making sure to stay behind them and in the melee camp at the same time. If a frost orb gets near me for some reason, kite it until it is killed.

P2

Move back in with melee camp, dps’ing the raging spirits (number one kill priority) until just before the valk cd comes up. Collapse with the raid towards the center of the dais, but just off center by enough so that the valks will all go in the same direction together. CoI the valks as needed based upon the snares being used by the raid, meanwhile staying completely aware of the defile cd at all times. I cannot be in the Defile no matter what, movement/reactions and attention are key.

While in the melee camp stay spread out as much as possible and be ready to move. Some guilds have a strat where those who get the defile always run in one direction (such as towards the throne) and those without another direction (such as away from throne). Hard dps on the boss is required to get out the phase quickly as staying in it too long will cause a soft enrage from too much inc damage from the valks flying in the air.

Transition Phase

Get to the edge and repeat as per previous Transition Phase.

P3

Get back in with melee camp and focus fire the raging spirits, then swap to boss. Still be aware of defile and positioning. If a vile spirit comes after me, kite it away. Most strats call for swapping sides once the vile spirits are spawned so that the raid camps and boss are not on the same side of the dais as the vile spirits. Either ranged can dps them down more freely, or you can have a paladin pop them, allowing the dps to go all out on boss.

Regardless I stick with melee camp on the boss, and kite if required to. Vile Spirits are susceptible to CoI. As to harvest souls, stick with the main camp inside unless the strat calls for melee to dps in the center away from camp. I could not find a lot of solid info on the role melee perform while inside harvest souls for heroic mode, so this is the one aspect of the fight I am fuzziest on in hard mode. Normal of course is dps and interrupt. Defile cd’s can be up when you come out of Harvest, so be hyper aware of positioning when you pop back out. Rinse and Repeat.

P4

Don’t be a newb and just dps the LK after rez.



8) What are your weaknesses? Don’t write something that has no relevance to your raid performance like “the opposite sex”, we want to know what areas of your game and personality might affect us in a raiding situation. Farming, Gold, Professions, upkeep ect.

First time on new encounters I can get nervous, but then most people do. After a few tries on something I’m usually good. That also counts for “trial” runs, like the combat log I made tonight for the application. When I’m not relaxed, sometimes I stress and over think/worry which detracts from my game play. I like to talk theories a lot. Even if I’m wrong I enjoy the debate. The back and forth on theory crafting is fun, and I can get *really* into it. I tend to write huge walls of text too…


9) We strongly believe in performance and reliability based prioritization on raid spots, and openly encourage competition amongst classes and roles. Analysis of your ability is to be expected, and potentially criticism may occur. We do our best to be fair, but require that members respond positively and maturely if and when they are asked to step up their game. What is your opinion on this environment? Basically, if we tell you aren’t performing to our standards, what would you do in this situation?

So long as the standards can be defined in some manner so that benchmark goals can be set and/or compared against, it sounds fine to me. If you tell me that I was failing to meet your standards, I’d simply ask for you to set a benchmark you wished for me to exceed. And if there were other players in the guild in a similar class/role/spec, to ask for comparative information. Whether that be advice from the player meeting the standards, or they be an example of where I need to be at. So long as the goals can be met, I will find a way exceed them.


10) Certain encounters require certain class makeups, and the presence of particular strengths in each member of the raid. For example, Gurtogg Bloodboil requires a large number of healers, and Archimonde requires good movement, communication and quick thinking, basically, its a retard check. In order to down bosses such as these, you may be asked to sit out so that a more ideal raid composition can be used. Would this be an issue? If you fail and I tell you to sit, how will you take it?

If I fail enough to where I stand out as an exception to the standard of the guild, then sure. Sit me. I’d hope for an opportunity down the road to practice at the encounter so that I could improve personally. But to date, I’ve never been asked to sit because I stood in the fire, etc… If it did happen I think I might be a bit aggravated, but more so at myself than because I was asked to sit.

If it’s a composition issue, aka you need the right classes, then sure. By all means, sit me. While it’s super cool to be in the progression group for the first kill, it’s a team effort and I’m willing to do my part. Including, if it is something the guild does, leveling an Alt toon for another role to bring into raids for progression. I am aware some guilds do this, but don’t know Insurrection’s stance on the policy. Regardless, stepping out for better raid comp to down a boss is always understood.


11) What WoW related websites do you regularly visit? Are you a fan of theorycrafting and optimization of your class and playstyle? Please provide some links to and descriptions of resources you frequently use.

I am a huge fan of theory crafting and working out how the aspects of my class will play out. I’m incredibly excited about exploring the upcoming mechanics changes for DK’s as well. While I’m not 100% sold on the massive sweeping scope of the changes involved, I look forward to tearing through them and figuring things out.

Elitest Jerks – general theory crafting on the DK class as a whole

Tank Spot – raid encounters, boss strats, movies, etc…

World of Raids – general information on the goings on of wow

MMO Champion – general information on the goings on of wow

WoW Wiki – while sometimes you find weird and inaccurate info, it sometimes has information no one else has

Google – the most under utilized tool out there imo, google searches sometimes find the info easier than pouring through websites

Curse – primary source of mods, but I do visit other sites for add on downloads as well

Loot Rank (by Guild Ox) – an invaluable resource for stat weights online for measuring gear


12) Each member of Insurrection is required to be flasked/elixired at all times during a raid, as well as popping Mana /Speed/Wild magic/Health potions on all bosses, as well as whatever you can to enhance yourself. This is not an option, will this be an issue for you?

Nope, done and done. Got the stuff in my bags and bank already… I generally get them made in bulk, plus carry the mammoth treats for my ghoul.


13) What are your crafting professions? Are you willing to drop a profession if we ask you to and level another one?

I have Alchemy and Jewel Crafting currently. The “BEST POSSIBLE” is JC/BS, but the minor gain on BS is not worth the investment imo. I’d assume the question on leveling a new skill is directed for those people with mining, herbalism, and skinning? However if there was cause for the guild to want me to swap professions, so long as you told me why, I’d do it.


14) On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being a retard, 10 being Pro) rate yourself on how well you think you are at getting enchants on your gear and how often you update those enchants?. As the Number #1 guild on the server, we expect people to have their gear enchanted as soon as they get it with the best possible enchant.

TEN. Unless I’ve been just dying for a specific drop I rarely have the mats on me in raid to enchant it, though I do tend to have the gems on me for sockets at all times. As soon as I get out of the raid I enchant my gear. Even if it’s bed time, I usually won’t even log until it’s done.


15) End game progression requires alot of learning and endless wipes to learn a new boss encounter, we are looking for players that are dedicated to do what is necessary to progress, and push through the hard times with high repair bills. If you aren’t able to cope with these kinds of high stress situtations, this ain’t your guild, if you are, keep applying.

I spent 3 months wiping 4-6 nights a week learning Muru in Sunwell. If I can do that, I can put up with whatever else WoW throws at me. While it can get frustrating, that is only natural. Being ready for the long haul is no problem. I am used to being in a guild where dedication is a standard to be exceeded, and progression fundamentally important.


16) All raid members are expected to have oRA2, Deadly Boss Mods/Big Wigs, Grid + Clique(or Mouseover macros, for healers), Decursive(or at least a way of seeing debuffs on your raid frames like grid, for healers) and working Vent and Mic. Do you currently have these mods(or others like them)? If you don’t have these, please get them, as they are advantageous to have in end game raiding. If you don’t have Vent or a working Mic, your application won’t be accepted until you do.

I already have oRA2, DBM, Vent, and a Mic. In addition I run several other mods such as Tell Me When (for procs for cd usage), Rune Watch (disease timers, rune cd, and rp gauge), etc…


17) As specified above, the guild raids 4 days a week, attendance is integral part of progression and is just as important as being skilled at your class. If you are unable to make any of these raid days, especially the Sunday times, stop right here, as we only want people who are able to make as many raids as humanly possible.

I can make all raid times 100%. My work and personal schedule match your raid schedule with no problem or issue.


18) As a guild we are a raunchy bunch, we do have women in the guild, but sometimes they are as bad as the guys, its a mature environment so if you can’t handle swear words, or raunchy jokes and innuendo’s this ain’t your guild.

I’m likely gonna be one of the ones joking around constantly, heh. :twisted: Very little offends me. And usually if you get to the point of offending me, you’ve already offended a lot of other people well before that point. I’m serious when I need to be, but I tend to joke around a lot.


19) Provide a link to your Armory page.

Skeletonjack: US-Bronzebeard WoW Armory Link

For your personal reference:

Unholy Best in Slot Items (Melee Hit Capped ilvl264)

Unholy Best in Slot Items (Not Melee Hit Capped ilvl264)

EJ Unholy Thread


20) We do a Loot Council System, it’s based on attendance, performance, loyalty, reliability, player skill and knowledge of their class, previous loot obtained and what is best for the guild. If you can’t handle this kind of Loot system, then this is not the guild for you.

Sounds cool. Never been a part of a system like this, but I’ve heard of Loot Council systems that work very well. I’ll probably have to ask questions to understand everything, but I’ve got no issues complying with Insurrection’s Loot Council.


21) References and Recommendations

This wasn’t one of the questions, but I feel that like applying to a new job, references and/or recommendations when applying to a new guild is something that you should bring to the table.

Rage and TinytotGuild Masters of Sleepless Knights US-Bronzebeard. Tiny is not as involved in WoW currently, but Rage is very involved. Both have said they would be happy to give me a reference for applying to a new guild. This was my guild for 3 years and where a lot of my WoW experience was gained. I linked their guild site if you find a need for it. If you decide to reach them, but are having trouble, let me know. Our server is 15 hours behind yours.

World of Raids – If you are familiar with the website then you may be aware that they recently starting doing interviews of players in WoW. They recently interviewed: Killars of Vodka, Zapp of Critical Mass, and Lawliepop of Blood Legion. All players from top 100 guilds. They also chose to interview me, Skeleton Jack, due to my previous raid experience and blogging about Death Knights in LK WoW.

While I’m not in a top 100 guild like those guys, my previous experience in top raiding content combined with my online contributions to the WoW community got me into an interview among the ranks of very prestigious players on a major WoW site.

Aestus – Guild Master of Paragon, my current guild on US-Bronzebeard. He will of course give me a reference as well if you wish to contact him. I am still on good terms with them, and they are attempting to still get my quests done for the Legendary (which I have no illusions of getting to complete) just so I can have gotten them done (BQL/Sindragos left).

-Skeleton Jack

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…


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22
Mar

Letters to SJ

   Posted by: Skeleton Jack    in Questions

Heya guys!!  So…this is a new thing for me to do.  Uhm…  I got an e-mail today from a reader and it got under my skin.  Not because it “puffed up my ego”.  Because in essence it is at the heart of why I created this site.

When I was younger I seriously wanted to become a teacher.  It wasn’t to make a difference in the “youth of tomorrow” or that idealistic mindset.  I’ve just always enjoyed teaching people how to do things.  It brings both feelings of satisfaction and fulfillment.  So I think this e-mail got to me because it drives home to that point.

First off, I want to thank you for your site and the help you have provided.  I’m a raider on the Deathwing server and have been playing sense just before WotLK, my main prior to that was a Warlock and I had no raid experience at all until after. Once LK came out I leveled up a DK and have enjoyed it far more then any other class, fighting for my furst active raid spot in a small guild for Naxx 10 and I never would have been good enough without you helping me as the concepts I had to adjust to for raiding were at the time quite complicated and you made it much more understandible for us newer players.

Today I’m in a pritty solid raiding guild (Downed all but LK and Sindragosa) and pulling fair DPS, but unlike my last guild which focused on 10 man content and was too casual for my likeing my new guild is very big and very hard core. I have achieved more with them in a short time then I ever felt i was capable of, but I’ve also had to learn a whole new set of raid skills and bring my game up to feel worthy.

This brings me to my complaint.

I know real life always comes first and that you have had some hard times lately, I can respect that. But with high level raiding content and mentality being new to me and with all the changes and debate over DK DPS builds and stratigy going on out there it’s becoming overwhelming. Sites like EJ are invaluable and the BiS lists can be helpfull, but there attitude and position (similar to the guild im with) is that you know everything in advance. There not so much about teaching or answering questions as they are about debating often just for the fun of it (example, I receaved a ban from EJ for asking a class question which they considered “hand holding”).

In times like this I would eagerly turn to your site to learn an effective way to run GoD builds without my dots falling off to early or tricks to simplify complicated ability priority lists so they dont distract during movement intensive fights (and a long list of other nagging questions: ), but lately you have been off the scene and your presence hase been missed very much by players in my position.

I know you have a life to live, but believe it or not you are/were the only one out there truely helping people like me with practical information instead of drowning us in theorycraft and ego posturing. I miss you, and thank you.

The only editing I did in that e-mail was to make some spacing to make it a lil easier to read instead of a wall of text.

So yeah.  I read E-mails guys even if you don’t always get a response.  I do read them.  Thanks to D1 Tremere.  More posts are coming guys, just give it some time for me to wind back up into things properly.  Hell, I’ve already written like 7 posts in the past week or so.  And I’ve got my “doozie” post coming up soon.

And if you wanna write to me…

Skeleton.Jack@hotmail.com

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

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