Rankwatch, some thoughts

Not long ago, MMO-Champion featured the Rankwatch mod on their site and with the pugging and such, many folks have downloaded it.

I am no exception.

I actually enjoy this mod, though I don't really care about it in a 5 man situation. I know some folks were asking the author to add a cross realm feature but it is not an issue for me. Sure, it would be nice to know why the mage who is better geared than me can't get above the tank, but I figure as long as I don't die I call the run a win.

What I was hoping for with this mod was to figure out possible weaknesses in our raiders now that the new wing is open. The gear checks are tight, and it was baffling to me why we had folks who barely dps'd better than me in my offspec.

Caught one of our hunters in a guildie 5 man using a downranked Steady Shot. I have to say we both were embarrassed; me for the spamming and her for the downranking. I have now decided to turn off announcements during 5 mans and leave it on for actual raids, but that's neither here nor there.

Several of us run with the mod now and catch not so surprising folks downranking. One even left the raid to train during a break. As expected, it is not solving all problems. There is still lag, framerates, and general coordination that every raid suffers from occasionally, but the mod does weed out one potential source of whatever issue you are trying to solve.

If you do have the mod, I would stress that it does not give you licence to be a jerk. Calling someone out who as a noob does not help the matter. This is largely why I don't run with it on 5 mans because the potential for abusive behavior is already high in those situations.

I will note that it is great for alts. I was running with a rank 1 SW:Pain, forgot to train in the frenzy of emblem farming, and promptly smacked my forehead when I got the messages again. It is very easy to miss things on alts and the mod does a great job of "fixing" you.

Can find the mod at the curse website.

I know it sucks, but whatcha gonna do?

Now that the early wave of pugging has subsided with many folks headed back to school soon, the quality of players using the LFG tool is starting to slide.

It's no secret that there are some DPS queing as tanks in order to move faster up the chain.

Usually this issue is not a problem on Kir, who is overgeared for just about anything. It becomes a liability on Ciras, who is still trying to shed the last remains of her Naxx gear through doing pugs.

So, Dhoom and Ciras are trying to gear up when we realized that our tank in UP is clearly not a tank. Yes, he was a DK but he was unholy. Now, before you start yelling at me that Unholies can be tanks, let me say that it is probably possible but more than likely doesn't happen.

So, Ciras is PoMin and Shielding like crazy, making use of her Glyph of Prayer of Mending like a mad woman because our group didn't get one but three tanks. Yes, the dps warrior and retadin are also tanking because the Unholy can't hold agro for jack.

The icing on the cake? You know that broken stairway before the boss? Not only did the pally fall down but the warrior as well. To the "tank"'s defense, he was trying to hold the mobs that we were supposed to be on, while the other bozos decided to fight the packs instead of dying like good morons.

After we wiped, the melee's blamed the tank for their failure. I quickly rushed to Unholy's defense and said that he was fine, they were the idiots. I surprised myself because just minutes before, I was cursing at this guy for being a fail-tank. Then, I realized that the rest of group was more stupid than he.

Moral of the story...

Yes, tanks are probably DPS who didn't want to wait for a que. But, if they are indeed trying, don't be afraid to exercise your healing powers and tell the idiots what's what. All it takes is a little push on your part, because frankly, they don't want to go back into another 15 min wait.

Just use your powers for good, not evil.

Pugging, Raiding, Running like a mad cow

Pugging

So myself and many others are finding the LFG tool to be very handy. There are hiccups, like punks who feel they screwed up enough on their server that they need to spread the love... but they are few and far between. I started queing this weekend as a dps to give me a change of pace... and found that pace was slooow. Makes sense: less healers than dps means if I qued as the healer role I would fill it much faster than if I was competing with every other dps out there.

Something to note: my server has thing about scrub dps. I am sure it's not just my server, but we regularly scan gear and check the dps meter to see if people are pulling their weight. I have found that sometimes the stuff is dead too soon or the fight is favored toward some classes than others (ie, melee suck on WW stuff and boomkin suck at constant moving). Basically I won't vote to kick someone unless they constantly afk or pull jack ass moves.

The one thing I did notice about the tool is remember to watch your altitude. I used the "teleport out of dungeon" feature, only to find myself falling in Dragonblight and managed to shapeshift inches off the ground. Talk about panic. "Oh crap oh crap! Switch! Switch!"

Rejuvenation
I found it difficult to find information on exactly how the new rejuv works and in conjunction with the glyph. It was bugging me for days why I had a 12 sec rejuv even with the talents.

Here is what I have noticed so far:

Without any glyphs or talents- 15 secs
Without the Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation but with Nature's Splendor- 18 secs
With Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation and Nature's Splendor- 12 secs

I don't know if that's intended, but it seems the glyph overrides the talent. Because of this, I am now packing several copies of Rapid Rejuv, Nourish, Rejuv and Regrowth Glyphs. Possibly a little overkill, but I like to cover my bases. All reports were right in that the Rapid Rejuv glyph may not be the ideal for all situations.

A note about Regrowth: it will suck your mana if you rely on it too heavily. Ideally, Nourish is your best option. I have copies because our guild bank needed cleaning out and I am packrat.


My computer sucks
Still testing out things in a raid setting. I raid with such abysmally low frame rates that it's amazing I get anything done. Seriously, I can't wait until next month. I will have enough money to get a whole new computer then, but in the meantime I am working the gimp.

Did I just have fun?

I braved my first pugs with the new system yesterday and I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with its effectiveness. Sure, quality players are pugging for their emblems so they can get gear, but I didn't expect it to be so, well, rosey.

I only did a couple, since I haven't been in a dungeon in months, but no one really pissed me off. Sure, some dps thought it would be better to stand in bad stuff and I had one tank who seemed to forget where to go.

Because you get ported into the zone (can't use a summon stone when everyone is from other realms) I made a game of it.

Let's see, spider webs and stair cases... Old Kingdom (ding ding ding).

Hmm, more stair cases and Titan-like walls. Halls of Stone? Nope, HoL.

Overall, it was decent money, a few emblems and a chance to get my ego stroked by random players "nice healz!".