The discussion started because one of our members was telling us about a recent LFR he was in, where he got tired of the raid going through groups and tactics for Lei Shen. So he pulled the boss (as a healer). They killed the boss, but not until after they had wiped three times and got the buff from it.

I questioned him about this, because his reasoning seemed a bit off to me. He thought it was taking too long to go through the tactics, but he’s happy to wipe three times and do the corpse running? Not to mention, no one in that LFR actually learned much about the fight, since they eventually just powered through the fight with the buff from their wipes.

We never quite agreed on the issue though. I personally prefer to read up on fights beforehand so I know what to expect. I then do the fight once or twice, to see the abilities in reality – then I know and understand what’s going on.

For him, he said he preferred trial and error. Not reading up on the fights, or watching a video, just going in there and dying until he got it right. He also said he didn’t like using tactics made up by someone else, because he liked to find his own. “Monkey see, monkey do”, I believe was one of his phrases. To me, it sounds like he wants to re-invent the wheel.

Obviously, you can’t just copy another guilds tactic straight off. You have to make changes that fits your raid team’s capabilities and setup. But to go in and not know what to do, it just seems counterproductive to me. I want to know which abilities the boss has before I enter, so I know what to look out for. If I had to have the raid wipe once for every ability because people didn’t know anything and had to die to it to know what it does.. I think I would go insane.

Maybe it’s because of the way I learn, through reading and then doing, that I find his way so strange. I would hate to go into a fight and not knowing what to expect. But then I hate going into anything without knowing what to expect. I’m a planner and a reader. I will read up on everything, because I consider knowledge to be power and control.

How do you look at raiding? Do you just jump in blindly and learn as you go, or do you prefer to know what to expect beforehand?

Head

• Flamecaster’s Burning Crown – Throne of Thunder (Horridon)
• Hood of the Thousandfold Hells (T15) – Throne of Thunder (Twin Consorts)
• Hood of the Crimson Wake – Throne of Thunder (Dark Animus)

Shoulder

• Shoulders of Demonic Dreams - 700 Gold (Shado-Pan Assault Exalted)
• Frost-Kissed Shoulderwraps - 700 Gold (Shado-Pan Assault Exalted)
• Mantle of the Thousandfold Hells (T15) – Throne of Thunder (Iron Qon)
• Fissure-Split Shoulderwraps – Throne of Thunder (Jin’rokh the Breaker)
• Chillblain Spaulders – Throne of Thunder (Durumu the Forgotten)

Chest

• Fire Support Robes - 2250 VP (Shado-Pan Assault Revered)
• Zandalari Robes of the Final Rite – Throne of Thunder (Council of Elders)
• Robe of Midnight Down – Throne of Thunder (Ji-Kun)
• Robes of the Thousandfold Hells (T15) – Throne of Thunder (Dark Animus)
• Robes of Mutagenic Blood – Throne of Thunder (Primordius)

Wrist

• Troll-Burner Bracers - 1250 VP (Shado-Pan Assault Friendly)
• Azure Shell Bracers – Throne of Thunder (Tortos)
• Frostborn Wristwraps – Throne of Thunder (Megaera)
• Bracers of Fragile Bone – Throne of Thunder (Primordius)

Hands

• Flameweaver Handwraps - 1750 VP (Shado-Pan Assault Honored)
• Lightningweaver Gauntlets – Throne of Thunder (Jin’rokh the Breaker)
• Gloves of the Thousandfold Hells (T15) – Throne of Thunder (Council of Elders)
• Crystal-Claw Gloves – Throne of Thunder (Tortos)
• Lifedrainer’s Sordid Grip – Throne of Thunder (Durumu the Forgotten)

Waist

• Pain-Binder Girdle 210 Gold (Kirin Tor Offensive / Sunreaver Onslaught Honored)
• Belt of Loa Charms 210 Gold (Kirin Tor Offensive / Sunreaver Onslaught Honored)
• Bon-iy’s Unbreakable Cord 1312 VP (Kirin Tor Offensive / Sunreaver Onslaught Revered)
• Firestrike Cord 1750 VP (Shado-Pan Assault Revered)
• Cord of Cacaphonous Cawing – Throne of Thunder (Ji-Kun)

Legs

• Charfire Leggings 2250 VP (Shado-Pan Assault Honored)
• Al’set’s Tormented Leggings – Throne of Thunder (Jin’rokh the Breaker)
• Leggings of the Thousandfold Hells (T15) – Throne of Thunder (Ji-Kun)
• Leggings of Pulsing Blood – Throne of Thunder (Durumu the Forgotten)
• Dam’ren’s Forgotten Footguards – Throne of Thunder (Iron Qon)
• Legwraps of Cardinality – Throne of Thunder (Lei Shen)

Feet

• Sandals of Oiled Silk 1312 VP (Kirin Tor Offensive / Sunreaver Onslaught Revered)
• Sandals of Arcane Fury – Throne of Thunder (Megaera)
• Dam’ren’s Frozen Footguards – Throne of Thunder (Iron Qon)

Back

• Static-Collecting Cloak - 937 VP (Kirin Tor Offensive / Sunreaver Onslaught Revered)
• Shadowspike Cloak - 1250 VP (Shado-Pan Assault Honored)
• Shimmershell Cape – Throne of Thunder (Tortos)
• Deadly Glare Cape – Throne of Thunder (Durumu the Forgotten)

Neck

• Destroyer’s Battletags - 1250 VP (Shado-Pan Assault Neutral)
  
• Megaera’s Shining Eye – Throne of Thunder (Megaera)
• Necklace of the Terra-Cotta Invoker – Throne of Thunder (Trash)

Finger

• Restored Hexxer’s Signet 937 VP (Kirin Tor Offensive / Sunreaver Onslaught Exalted)
• Signet of the Shado-Pan Assault 1250 VP (Shado-Pan Assault Friendly)
• Jin’rokh’s Dreamshard – Throne of Thunder (Jin’rokh the Breaker)
• Ro’shak’s Remembrance – Throne of Thunder (Iron Qon)

Trinket

• Volatile Talisman of the Shado-Pan Assault 1750 VP (Shado-Pan Assault Friendly)
• Wushoolay’s Final Choice – Throne of Thunder (Council of Elders)
• Breath of the Hydra – Throne of Thunder (Megaera)
• Cha’Ye’s Essence of Brilliance – Throne of Thunder (Dark Animus)
• Unerring Vision of Lei Shen – Throne of Thunder (Lei Shen)

Weapon

• Dinomancer’s Spiritbinding Spire – Throne of Thunder (Horridon)
• Suen-Wo, Spire of the Falling Sun – Throne of Thunder (Twin Consorts)
• Athame of the Sanguine Rituals – Throne of Thunder (Dark Animus)
• Venomlord’s Totemic Wand – Throne of Thunder (Horridon)

Off-Hand

• Fetish of the Hydra – Throne of Thunder (Megaera)
• Lei Shen’s Orb of Command – Throne of Thunder (Lei Shen)

The Gnome Story

So, yes I was a gnome for a little while. The backstory to this is that my GM is a big fan of gnomes, and always saying that we should have more gnomes in the raid. With the 50% off this past week, I decided to oblige him. I had initially planned to stay gnome until the next time there was a similar offer, but to be fair, I just didn’t feel right as a gnome. My Warlock is a human, and that’s just how it is.

When we kill a new boss, my GM always wants “his gnomes” in front of him on the kill shot. At least he does have this one screenshot to remind him of the time when he had me as an extra gnome in the raid.

Let’s play: spot the gnome warlock!

Now I’m back as human though, and it just feels right.

I know. I know. Neither do I…

Post-Accident Démonique

I also decided to clean her bank, because it was a right mess. Now I can at least *almost* find the things I’m looking for. One day I may look at cleaning the bank and bags of my other characters as well, but I’m not sure if I have it in me. So. Much. Work.

At least now it’s relatively nice and tidy.

How do you handle your bags and bank? Are you always keeping it tidy, or do you need to do a big clean eventually like I have to?

1) Comments in the Calendar
When someone puts tentative or declined as their answer to a raid in the in-game calendar, it’d be great if there was an option to add a comment. There’s a bit difference in someone being tentative as in “may not show” or tentative as in “will be 10-15 minutes late”.

2) Valor Point Bonus from Heroics
I’ve talked about this before, and it’s still something I’d love to see changed. Allow the VP bonus from Heroics to be 7 times a week rather than once a day. In the end, you have the exact same amount of VP awarded in bonus, but you’re not obliged to logon once a day to do your Heroic instance. You can do them once a day still if you prefer, but you could just as well do them all in one day, or spread them over as many (or few) days as you like.

3) Forced Comments for Vote Kick
When you vote to kick someone from a group, you should be required to add a reason for the kick. I also think that the person getting kicked should see the reason they’re being kicked, so that they can improve in the future. Yes, there are times when people just kick you because they’re horrible meanies, but there are also times when people are kicked for genuine reasons that they could improve on. Being AFK, rude, joined as healer but is dpsing, and so on are all reasons I think people should know that they’re being kicked for.

4) A Way to Contact Guild Applicants
Currently when someone is applying to your guild via the in-game Recruitment system there is no way to contact them if they are not online. Yes, you can send them an in-game mail, but sometimes their names have strange characters that you don’t know how to create. It’d be great if we could hit a button that says “mail applicant” and voila! we send them an in-game mail.

5) Your Personal Mailman
I’ve looked at the new multi-person mount that you can buy for 120k gold or thereabouts. It’s neat, and it has a Reforger… but I don’t know. I think I would be much more interested in spending that amount of money if the mount had my own personal mailman (or mailbox) instead!

6) Auto-Dismounting on the Farm
Am I the only one who get incredibly frustrated every time I try to farm my crops and get told that I have to dismount first? Do it for me, dammit! I’m lazy!

7) Isle of Thunder Portal
Why do we have to fly across all of Pandaria to make it to the Isle of Thunder? We have an entire room full of portals in our Shrine. Can’t we just summon the portal there? Who decided that it was better to hike all the way to Townlong Steppes to summon a portal instead of doing it right there in the Shrine?

8) Cross-Server Heirlooms
I think this is something pretty much everyone wants, and I think Blizzard wants it too. They just need to figure out a way to do it and do it now. Do eet!

9) Warlock Flying Mount
I dream of a Warlock specific flying mount ever since flying mounts were first introduced. What I want is basically a Dreadsteed with demon wings. *drools*

Throne of Thunder

Jin’rokh the Breaker

On this fight, you can put down your Demonic Circle in the middle of the room where your raid will be stacking for Lightning Storm. If you want to, you can also put down a Gateway for the same, if you have people in your raid who are slow at moving out of the waters.

Ji-Kun

Put your Demonic Circle in the middle of the room so that you can use it for Down Draft and avoid getting kicked off the platform. Again, you can put down a Gateway in the same location if you want to help some raiders out who maybe don’t have any movement increasing cooldowns.

Iron Qon

Use your Demonic Circle to quickly get to the gathering for your group in the first phase. For phase two, you can put a Demonic Gateway down for a few people to quickly get away after Windstorm.

Terrace of Endless Spring

Sha of Fear

Put your Demonic Circle close to the tanks in the middle. This allows you to dps the adds more or less anywhere, and still teleport in time to avoid Breath of Fear. You can also put a Gateway inside the Wall of Light, with the other one outside where adds will spawn to help out your team mates.

Heart of Fear

Imperial Vizier Zor’lok

Put a Demonic Gateway between the first and second platform to allow people to move quickly across and avoid the pheromones. Make sure no dps gets across and starts attacking the boss before the tank though, since they will most likely die. Also, don’t let the tank take the Gateway, because they won’t be able to generate aggro for 15 seconds afterwards.

In the phases with Force and Verve, you can put down a Demonic Circle on one side and stand on the opposite. That way you should always have an easy way to get to a safe bubble.

Blade Lord Ta’yak

Place a Demonic Circle at the gathering-up spot for Unseen Strike. This allows you to stand fairly far away to place tornadoes aimed at you, and still gather up quickly enough when someone is targeted. Or you can use it to quickly get away from Blade Tempest on Heroic Mode.

A Demonic Gateway can be very helpful for people to move down the tornado alley quickly. Place it at the end of the room where you will first have to run towards (left side).

Grand Empress Shek’zeer

Use your Demonic Circle to get away if you get targeted by one of the adds in the transition phase.’

Mogu’Shan Vaults

Feng the Accursed

Place your Demonic Circle away from Feng to quickly get away after you’ve been gathering up for Arcane Velocity.

Gara’jal the Spiritbinder

You can put your Demonic Circle close to the boss to quickly get back to dps after returning from the Spirit Realm.

Elegon

If you’re lazy (like me), put a Demonic Circle on your gathering spot. That way you can easily get back there after the transition phase ends.

A Demonic Gateway makes for easy movement between the gathering spot and the sides during the transition for your raid members.

Will of the Emperor

Put a Demonic Circle on one side of the room where the Emperor’s Courage will spawn to quickly get behind him to dps. Then put a Demonic Gateway in the middle of the room to the other side, where the Emperor’s Courage will spawn. This way you can always get behind the Courage when it spawns and start killing it.

Do you have any tips to add to this list for when you can make use of Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway?

This leaves my Warlock sitting alone and watching from the side lines. She’s been in to Throne of Thunder for the first kill on Jin’rokh, but that’s it. Every time since then, the Monk has had to step in since we’ve been short a tank. The latest bosses we’ve downed, my Warlock wasn’t there for.

I don’t mind jumping in on my tank now and then to help the guild out. If it’s between me tanking or us not raiding at all, naturally I’ll tank. That said, it’s getting a little bit much now that my Monk is actually getting more raid time than my Warlock. This leaves my Warlock behind on gear and progression, which isn’t nice for when she eventually can start raiding again. Because I could never take a piece of gear on an alt over a main character, my Monk isn’t really getting any gear either – and so I have two characters who are falling behind the rest of the raiding team.

Then there’s the question of dailies and Valor capping. Something I honestly don’t have the energy to do on two characters. The pressure I’ve felt (albeit only from myself since no one else expects me to), about this has more or less caused me to panic and in the end not capping on either character instead. Not the best solution!

Sadly there’s not much that can be done about it at this point. We’re not having any luck in recruitment at the moment, and I can’t simply say that I will play my Warlock and only my Warlock. If I do that, then until our second tank returns, there would be no raids. Which simply isn’t acceptable.

And so, at least for now, I am stuck on my Monk tanking. While my Warlock watches from afar.