Mages and Groups

I’m in no way an expert at WoW, let alone in group play (be that instances, or raids). My mage, Tanarel, got to 70 only a few weeks ago, and I’ve been fortunate enough to land myself in a casual raiding guild that is helpful and flexible.

I’ve been to Karazhan three times. The first time was just for Prince Malchezaar, the second for llhoof, Chess, Prince, Nightbane and Netherspite. The third time, I was able to see some of the starting bosses (Attumen, Maiden and Moroes) and The Wizard of Oz Opera event.

I’ve learnt something valuable in those 3 runs. The role of the mage is <b>NOT</b> to go nuts. BigRedKitty says that the role of the Beast Mastery Hunter is <i>to provide sustained range DPS</i> (to paraphrase). I would like to put forth that the role of the Mage is <i>to provide <b>controlled</b> range DPS</i>. Not the emphasis on controlled. It is very easy for a Mage to do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Not as much as say, a Warlock, but when the crits start flowing, it can mean a lot of aggro very quickly.

The single-most challenging skill I have realised I needed to learn was how to <i>not do damage</i>. As a predominantly solo player, my aim is to kill the mob before it kills me. So I let fly with Pyroblast, Frostbolt, Frostbolt, Fire Blast, Ice Nova, Frostbolt+Ice Lance. Rinse, repeat. Three or four mobs later, I drink up.

Raiding requires mana conservation, timing and awareness of threat. When I first raided, I started with my normal rotation, and quickly realised I was pulling the boss from the tank. Woah! Ice Block for the not-loss! In subsequent fights, I’ve toned it down, and resisted the urge to press “1″ with wild abandon. In my last Kara raid, I waited until the Tank had a full 4k of damage down before I even touched the keyboard.

I tell you, that 10 seconds seems like an eternity when its your job to do damage. For the longest time I felt like I wasnt contributing because in that 10 secs I could have put down close to 5k in damage. But that time is critical for the success of the raid, it allows the Tank to poke the bosses attention away from the DPS.

This information is likely not new to many people. But it was new to me. I dont PUG, I rarely do instances. Changing my play style to fit in with a group is a skill I’m working on, and I’m thankful that the “NZ Gamers” are rezzing me while I learn it.

Onyxia Raid

On Saturday just gone we had our final WoW TCG Raid of the year, and the end of a 3 month ladder. With all three Raid players winning, we had 3 players tied on highest points. But it was close, so very close.

Let me lay it out for you. We had an all Alliance Raid Group: Timmo Shadestep, Halavar, Kintara Wintermoon, Bildros Nullvoid and Kana Nassis. With an aggressive opening few moves, dropping allies left, right and centre we blasted through Stage 1 easily. Stage 2 was managed quite well, Onyxia could only manage to put 9 Whelps out and we traded those for health and allies. We managed health well, pulling out some nice Power Word: Shield (the best one was from a top-deck to keep the Priest alive one more turn!) and heals when required, and going into Stage 3 we still had all 5 of us all under 50% health. But the writing was on the wall – we just couldnt see it. With some massive draws, Onyxia threw down Draconic Rage (two more to add to one she had in Stage 1), Tooth and Claw, Trample, and dual Dragon Hide. The Priest was without Mass Dispel, so we were struggling. Halavar threw down some massive targets (Hellreaver, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization) and threatened to pound Onyxia. The rest of us put down some protectors and tried to prong the dragon into attacking. But a Burninate and Wrath of Onyxia, along with several Flame Breaths kept the board down. First the Priest went, and Onyxia entered into the final stages of her Raid timer (at 20 resources Onyxia wins). The Rogue was next (I guess all those poisons annoyed the Great Drake), and with 13 damage still to be done in 6 turns we looked in decent shape. But then the aggressive Hunter was eaten and the tide had turned. Bildros wasnt laying anything but breath-fodder, and Halavar had already gotten back 2 Hellreavers twice and was seriously running out of juice. It went down to the wire and in the end, the Alliance ran out of turns.

So close! Stage 3 is just harsh, with the sheer amount of cards that Onyxia can throw down a turn.

The Bildros and Halavar decks we exposed as flawed, and since I built them I’ll try to poke around and provide an analysis and possible improvements. I havent yet made a Raid deck that I was happy with, though I’m starting to come up with things that a deck does and doesnt need. I’ll make a separate post for that analysis.