Ishnu-alah! It's Ankalima, your friendly neighborhood Druid here to, surprisingly, talk
about something other than professions. Yes, I know, take a few deep breaths to help
calm yourself, it's okay - I can wait. What has spurred this change you ask? Honestly
I've been doing so much instancing recently that I've realized there are some serious
questions as to the dos and don'ts that apply to that most fantastic of leveling tools.
Basically, I'm not going to tell you how to act, or that you HAVE to act a certain way
for any given Instance, what I am going to tell you are things that will help you to get
re-invited into a group because you will be deemed "Spiffy". Speaking of group invites,
it's generally best to ask someone before you invite them in, regardless of their being
in LFG or not.
Let's start with Crowd Control, aka CC. It's lovely, and with a few rare exceptions
(Banish, for instance) it is easily breakable. CC is often times the greatest thing in
the world to have, and at the same time the most frustrating thing to have as well.
Especially when it is consistently being broken before it's safe. This can happen due
to lack of communication, or not paying attention, or even - let's be fair - ignorance.
Not everyone on WoW understands all the aspects of WoW, that's just the way it is, so I
suggest making sure that the players who say they are new, get at least a brief
explanation of CC. At the very least let them know what it looks like, and then let them
know what the raid signs are, and what each one means for that particular instance. All
tanks have their way, but the general rule I've noticed is you kill the skull first, and
the moon is loved for the CC icon.
Next, we get to meet The Tank. The Tank wears armor. Metal Armor (or Leather and Fur).
As well the tank has a shield, and fantastic threat generating skills. The Tank, unless
he be a Paladin, also does not have mana. What this means is that Mages, Warlocks,
Rogues, Priests, Hunters, and certain specs of other classes, are -not- The Tank. As a
general rule The Tank should be the group lead, so they have access to raid marks. They
should also be one the chattiest people in the group - explaining what the marks mean,
when they want the Hunter to pull, etc. Only person talking more The Tank should be The
Healer, which leads us onto that very thing.
The Healer, unlike The Tank, generally doesn't wear metal armor (unless they're a
Paladin). They generally do not have skills that help -draw- agro, since the act of
healing draws enough on its own. There's really two things The Healer absolutely needs
- Line of Sight, and Mana. Now, really, The Healer needs to know how to do their job,
there's no argument there, but the other people in the group need to understand HOW The
Healer does their job. The answer to that is: From a distance, and with lots of aggro
reduction. At no point should The Healer be leading, pulling, dpsing, tanking, or
soloing. If your group has a damage meter The Healer shouldn't be on it. If they are
on it they ought to be at the bottom of the list, with room to spare. As a side note,
party members should at least -glance- at The Healer's mana bar from time to time, as
well as where The Healer is. Spells do not bend around corners, or go through walls, and
even if they could, they are not forthcoming without any blue juice (aka, Mana.)
That's all from me for now. Next week I'll go over some slightly more Class-specific
instance points, like the Warlock's Soul Stone, Paladin Buffs, and group make-up tips.
Ande'thoras-ethil, and happy hunting all!
~Ankalima |