Damage Per Second (DPS) is one of the most talked about subjects in WoW. The moment you start tracking it it almost becomes an obsession even if you are just a tank or a healer. The numbers are misunderstood a great deal though. Gearscore also does not make it any easier.

This week our server’s weekly raid is the first boss in ICC which created quite the stir all over the place, from trade chat now asking LFM ICC 5K+ Gearscore, checking gear in the South Bank; to our guildies still farming frost emblems asking, can we go to ICC?

We have about 2 ten mans that can clear the first 3 bosses of ICC. Eventually I think we will even have a 25 capable of entering and getting some loot out of there. I think only our 10 mans will be able to actually kill Arthras, but you never know. However, this week we need about 4 groups of 10s to get most people to get their 5 emblems of frost, and that is not an easy thing to do. What does it have to do with DPS? everything.

While we can teach people how to position, move out of fires, have the perfect strategy, and every flask and special food that should put us where we need to be… in the end WoW is a game on numbers. You need X number of DPS to kill Y boss in Z minutes, not even counting your healers running out of mana.

The first encounter in ICC is very simple once you learn how to do it. There are two things that are complex and one is a simple move out of the fire, and the second one is kill something (in this case bone spikes that just impaled potentially one of your healers.)

DPS also needs to be measured accurately. We have DPS that can in a multi mob pull do more than 10K DPS. They also can do about 5K in situational DPS, meaning moving out of a fire to another spot that you can DPS from. You can do unreal amount of DPS, but if you spend too much time getting back into position to do DPS, your DPS is lost during that period of time. That is why DPS as a number is inaccurate and damage done is more telling of what actually happened when you look at meters.

Those skills need to be learned and practiced, and gear will not get you to those numbers. Raiding is all about that, being able to do things that help the team achieve the goal. Standing in the right place is the first step, but also being able to consume the slice of life assigned to you by your group is essential.

So far we have done 2 ICC runs this week, one mixed with another guild that has been gracious enough to take us all the way up to Festergut so we can get our tanks some gear, and one guild only run that took some tweaking and learning but we killed the boss. I think we still are capable of running a couple of more and have plenty of people that can actually pug ICC for this week (since everyone in the server will be at least trying to do it.)

So be careful of how you measure yourself against those numbers, specially if survibability is the priority in a fight. Doing 5KDPS for the first minute will never compare with someone that does 2.5K DPS for an entire 5 minute fight. When we downed ICC this week as a guild, not just our progression people but regular guildies we did it with teamwork and everyone pulling their weight. We even did it with someone wearing their chefs hat!

Two things used to make pugging painful beyond belief. Getting people to the dungeon. Someone would tell you, I am on my way to the stone… only to find out later that they either did not know where the stone was or had not paid for a fast mount yet. That would set the tone for the run and a pug would take hours on top of some more hours. Now the new system lets you to deal only with issues during the run and those can be a lot easier to deal with and you are only subjected to them for 15 mins. So why not talk about some of them here, specially the ones that amuse me.

We have a third or maybe fourth wave of 80s leveling up. I think most people in our guild now have 2 raiding 80s and have a couple more on the way or already there. Some of us have stayed away from the DPS since we have plenty there, but we have several people trying to catch up with Kabara and Theydrin on their ridiculous DK DPS specs.

As a guild we always try to help out people through their last push of levels and when I have a chance I tank even regular dungeons to have people que up faster. So two guildies and I set out to dominate DTK… my favorite instance.

We que up and the first statement out of the pugs that join is like MAAAAAN! THERE GOES MY EXPERIENCE… THERE ARE 80s here, the other one was a mage and started down the same path. My reply was simply, “no worries this will be quick, and remember the door is just a click away we can 3 man this if needed.” The non mage pug quickly corrects himself and comes back with, I just want my emblems so its cool with me.

The run was a lot of fun, and since I was tanking and did not need much healing the pulls were big and we moved quickly. The pace was set and we were almost done with the whole run and just cleared a big pull right after the big Dino. There is single pat with mobs all around, but he can be pulled by himself. My plan was to pull him first then kite him to another group and grab agro. The mage had been having fun with his blizzard and was not pulling agro so it was all good.

As I run forward and I am ready to press my charge button I see a fireball flying over my shoulder. I try to recall if the mage has been pulling or not but I had not been paying too much attention since I run DTK almost in autopilot. I stopped and did not press my charge button but instead turned my toon around to face the offending mage.

The mage has cojones, I will give him that. He gets ready to down this elite and did everything to get ready except flex to show me he could handle it. So the mob is running past me and I am static and just waiting to see what he is going to do. I am half waiting for him to either cast something to slow him or freeze him in place when the mob starts to go into a whirlwind.

See, casters are squishy, but a whirldwinding mob in WoW can mow down even plate weares… so a 70s toon in a dungeon wearing green cloth will meet the spirit rez faster than you can say “lightning bolt.”

As soon as the mob start spinning the mage stops casting and starts backing away… then the magic word comes! I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry! I promptly trow my weapon and the mob and charge him. Sometimes the best thing to do is to let someone stick the fork into the socket… you might just have the power to take the electricity off and just let themselves give a little shock.

Lady Deathwhisper was not as tough as originally thought and after one run through just to make sure everyone knew their roll pretty good we got into a great rhythm. We got to the second phase extremely quickly in our second attempt and knew exactly what to correct. Our DPS was amazing and our heals even better. Even with a couple of the healers only stepping into ICC for the first time ever.

The gunship battle is a lot simpler of an encounter and all about teamwork. We had that down path and spent more time just having fun with the jet packs. I need one of those just to have in game, that thing is cool.

It was getting late and we all had to work so we only attempted sourfang once but he does seem a little tougher than the previous bosses. I think this week we should have an easier time in the encounters we have already figured out and actually get to work on the later bosses more and more. 3 encounters down in one week is not bad progression. Hopefully this week we can get one more under our belt and continue to progress. We also had some awesome loot drop that is only going to make two of our top DPS even better. ICC is turning out to be a lot more fun than frustrating. We are also going back and clearing Ulduar, I think after a full clear there we will start attempting some hard modes. Happy raiding.

We have been farming emblems every week and making sure that everyone gets their frost from the weekly raid. We are getting to know the new people that joined us and have been able to run things a lot quicker because of it.

So last night after we got done with the last couple of runs in OS to make sure all alts had their emblems of Frost we happened to have some of our top DPS and heals on. I was originally going to tank, but after the advice of Theydrin who practically ran the raid for us (he is up to Festergut with on 25) I switched to heals and let our other tanks do the tanking.

The fight is simple if you 1) get people out of spikes quickly and 2) stay out of the fires. Once everyone understand that there should be no hesitation to lose some DPS to get out of a fire or burn down a spike your success rate goes through the roof.

Our first attempt was a wipe, but we got him to about 10% and simply ran out of mana. We started very organized and positioned properly, but after the first bone storm we went all over the place and started to run into people out of reach of the healers. We did not lose anyone during the first bone storm, but by the second one we actually had to brez someone. We then got into a groove but even though we did not get close to the enrage timer all of our healers were out of mana.

During our second attempt everyone knew what to expect and our positioning was a lot better throught the fight. We did not have as many close calls as we did in the first one when it came to heals and bone spikes were burnt quickly. During the first attempt people needed at least two or even heals until they were brought back to full, the second attempt they were down very quickly and only ran into a snag when someone got spiked right over a fire.

We burnt the boss with time to spare and just enough mana. We moved onto the next boss and got a couple of very nice attempts, but since we all have jobs to attend to we decided to pick it at a later time.

We are making progress slowly and I am sure we will do another ToC this week, who knows maybe even TogC which takes less time and still gives cool loot!

Thanks again for everyone’s patience and hard work!

We now have one of our trees back, hopefully the other one is done with basic training soon. Our healing corps are doing amazing. We have two Shammans which now seem to be what everyone wants on their raid, and not just any Shammans but they are doing excellent.

This week we completed ToC and VoA as a guild on the same night and I believe that everyone ended both runs with a smile on their face. We even got the Salt and Pepper achievement from the Valkaries.

Hopefully this week we get a different raid boss so we can do more Naxx runs and start getting some more people the raid experience they need to get into the harder content. While I am thankful for the Emblems of frost from the weekly riad, they do end up getting most of our toons saved to different raid locks and prevent us from doing all of Naxx as a guild. Maybe this week.

Great job guys, and thanks again for the raid leaders that are stepping up!

CLICK THE LINK!!! for the bracket for the PvP tourney!

Here are the final results

Supreme Champion: Palapwnu
Worthy Adversary: Arthren
Maybe Next Time: Mime

Here are some of the videos that Akunin took of the event!

Since we started we have been a guild about friendship. We had been called the Logtar clique several times, but honestly this is not my just my clique, it is rather a bunch of little groups of friends that like to come together and form kick ass raids. The Tauren Eaters, Gut Busters, The Charlie Mafia, the former guild that could not spell… there are tons of inside jokes, there are tons of stories that we are willing to retell, but overall we are just a group of people that welcome the new comers and want to make them part of this crazy family.

Our common goal is to have fun while playing the game and have gone in many directions during the guilds life. We have raided new and old content, created a horde guild, a lowbe guild, gone fishing, ganking… you name it. We just enjoy playing the game together. We recently completed ToC as a guild and are dipping our toe in ICC. Individuals are raiding with other groups that content and having a blast.

We don’t have many rules, and most of them boil down to common sense. We try to be as constructive as possible with our critisism. We will not carry you through any content, but we will help you to get to the point that you are a contributing member on any group or raid. We hold respect above all, and we see a horde and kill a horde. We do live in a PvP server and will always be Alliance first.

We expect you to know your class or be willing to learn your class. We have officers willing to help you navigate dungeons, meters and bots. We have crafters ready to enchant you and gem you and all we ask is that you have at the very least one gathering profession and contribute with materials or gold to the bank. We want you to give as much as you want, but at the very least to match fairly what you take. We have a bunch of very generous players that keep our GB always full and it is a source of pride for all of us.

Titles are based on what people do for the guild and focused on helping. So you can move up as you help others. That is our only requirement for moving up in rank, be helpful to others. What this means is, answer the call when someone is forming a group for randoms. Its much more enjoyable to run with guildies than to roll the dice on pugging and get Frost Orb ninjas from Sargeras.

So welcome to the new additions to our growing family. Just remember we don’t recruit, the only way to get in is to have a friend in the guild wanting to make you part of the privileged that it is being a Saint.

Last week was the first time that I healed the new boss in VoA in 10, but also tanked it on both 10 and 25. I had not been able to do that with Ony when she got her upgrade to 80. I did go in the first week and tried for a couple before she actually went down. It was not until this week that I actually got the Mord Dots Achievement. It felt good to be able to see and conquer new content the week it was released. ICC has been a little slower to progress, but the guild is making progress and we have 3 players going to a 25 every week and they are advancing, and one of our healers in another 25 that is even further. It is only a matter of time until our 10 gets going and we can have the accomplishment down for our guild.

When I started playing in BC one of that things that really bothered me about the game once I started to understand it was that you truly don’t get to see all the game unless you raid. There are tons of content and story lines in the game that you can explore through quests, but he culmination of most of them comes in the form of a dungeon encounter. That cool special mount you want? yeap, you have to go to a dungeon or a raid.

I have heard over and over how even in BC the game was watered down from the days of 40 man raids and I don’t disagree. I don’t find that fair that a game would not give you access to the cool things that were built unless you have above average skill. I think Blizzard is doing a great job of making the game accessible and easy to pick up and level. I even sound like an old timer when I tell my wife that it was not that simple to get a mount and your time walking around in the past was not counted in days but months.

It still does not take away from the game for me in any level. There are plenty of achievements and hard modes that are badges of honor. That and having a guild that has grown at a very slow pace but with players that want to hang out and do stuff together. We have an easier time putting a 10 man on the spot now than a couple of months ago and have completed things that at first seem unsurmountable for a casual guild. Sure, some of it is the access to easier gear and being able to level a lot quicker now, but it still does not take away from having a bunch of people always willing to help one another achieve their individual goals.

I am super excited that I have been able to run dungeons with real life friends, and I know that is only thanks to being part of a great casual guild. I look forward to taking down ICC, and it might not be a world or server first, but at least I will be with a bunch of people that has made every night we play a source of endless jokes and entertainment.

When I had the money I dropped the 5K gold to get epic flying. The primary reason was from getting quicker to and from places, instances, farming, dailies. It was a necessary evil, because 5 K are not easy to grind when your main farming toon is constantly getting tells to tank something. Ever since I dropped that much gold on epic flying I have been dreading leveling other toons because once you fly that fast is hard to get on a slow mount… then travel in the WoW became irrelevant for most toons.

I don’t see a reason for getting epic flying on all my toons anymore. The gathering toon needs it to be effective, but once I have mats my crafters can sit happy in Dalaran and do their thing… you need to raid? you get summoned, you que up, there is no travel… also my crafters won’t do dailies besides cooking and maybe fishing, but that travel is limited.

Working on my third 80 now I start to think about the money that it implies and how 5K go a lot further towards leveling professions than towards having my toon fly around in style… however, the dude is druid and flying will come “natural” but is it a priority anymore?

I am curious to hear your thoughts on this matter. Do you think that now Epic flying in all toons is kind of a mute point?

Gear in WoW comes from three main sources.

Crafting: Someone makes the stuff
Drop: You kill a dude and after decimating you something useful is left behind (where do murlocks keep their gold?)
Badges – Tokens – Honor: If the encounter did not give you a new shiny, it most likely gave you a token! WOOT (Quests, Arena and BG can also give you such things)

Gear in WoW becomes outdated every time there is a major patch. When harder content is released, all other gear currently hard to get its automatically easier to obtain. Since I have been playing WoW there are ways to obtain gear if you grind. Many pieces that are meant for PvP can be used in PvE while you get a drop or grind some more… but it applies mostly to DPS classes, and to some extent healers. Tanks are probably the hardest to gear since there are no really good PvP tanking… but that can be debated.

Right now tier 10 is what the top tier set is. The t9 set is very simple to get since all the dungeons now give you Emblems of Triumph. This set is not purchased in Dalaran, is actually sold right outside of the ToC area. There are also several pieces in between t10 and t9 that come from killing mobs in the new dungeons. If you get a toon to 80, farming the new instances every day will allow you to get geared in a quick fashion, probably the quickest that the game has allowed. Also, the Emblems are downgradable, so if there is trinket or back that might be from a lower tier set (sold in Dalaran above the portal room), you can downgrade your badges and purchase it.

This is the main reason that most raiding guilds will laugh at someone with even a set of blues for their raids. It has become pretty easy to purple yourself out in days instead of weeks like in previous iterations. I believe that it used to take even months to get just a piece in the original WoW raiding, and most people did not even get to wear purples. BC made it weeks to see a purple, and months to get a complete set… I would say about 75% of the people did not get to even see a full set, but most got at least some purples. In Wotlk getting a purple is just a matter of entering a heroic dungeon, and in days with the right grinding you can have a full set of tiered gear.

Getting items crafted is very expensive. You can sometimes get them from the auction house, but it will most likely cost you over 1K gold for any current gear. Again, since pieces will become outdated, it is likely that you can get something crafted from the previous set at a lower price. Patterns to make the best stuff come from the latest content, so it is unlikely that you will be crafting your own pieces unless you are already raiding the latest content. I would not steer you away if you have a lot of gold, but for most people this is not the route to go. Specially if you plan on actually raiding because a drop most likely will replace something that you got a week ago for 3K gold.

Drops is the best way to gear up. You have to create a list of where you can get the best gear from. Raids will obviously get you the best, but dungeons can also gear you up quite a bit and get you ready to raid. Be efficient about your time and run your toon through dungeons you actually need, unless you are still looking for tier pieces where I would suggest you get as many emblems as quickly as possible.

Once you get the gear, then you go for enchants and gems… but that is for another post and another day