"...LFD or is that LSD..."

Hello readers,

I swear by all that's unholy anyone using the LFD tool to fill in the gaps with leveling alts under level 70 is on LSD.

here's an example of my typical run;

/take a deep breath we've entered an instance at level 32 using LFD
/I port in oh gee shocking I'm the tank (Druid toon)well i did choose that option
/there is 1 rogue 1 hunter 1 warlock dps 1 other druid healer
/other druid gives no buffs
/I see this and start giving buffs
/rogue is already around the corner sapping the first Mob
/warlock has sent his pet to start tanking
/hunter sees warlocks pet go so he sends his pet
/hunter gets aggro, warlock gets aggro
/I see players life dropping
/the other druid is standing next to me doing nothing
/I try to cast a couple heals since i haven't switched to bear form yet
/oops target not in LOS
/oops target out of range
/hunter dies leaves group after screaming wheres the healer
/lock dies leaves group after screaming wheres the tank
/healer leaves
/re queue
/repeat

/insert long drawn out sigh here

so hopefully I'm not the only one experiencing this.
after going back and rereading this post I rolled my eyes and laughed. Maybe I'm too serious about this game? huh? you think?

LOL

That's a quick sum of my last week. Pretty super duper eh?
As a plus I did make some good progress on my "insane title" grind and those factions reps I need yet.

Here's to your LFD runs may they go smooth!

As a side note:
Things in tanking are pretty slow right now with, not much coming from Blizzard on the DK tanking changes for Cataclysm. I'll keep you posted with anything I can find and of course once more information becomes available I'll have all my predictions, thoughts, and whatever else I can put on paper out here for you to read.

In the meantime "Tank hard", and good luck with all your tanking endeavors!

Thanks for reading

Nex

"...someone call Kenny Loggins, cause Lana you're entering the "danger zone!"..."

Hello Readers!

Someone made a recent comment on the blog, and I've received a few emails on this as well. So here's a little more about me...

I grew up in small town USA, in the upper Midwest. Now I live in a Big City, still in the upper Midwest. I'll be celebrating a birthday really soon "OMG" 37 already? how can that be?... lol, and I have 3 children. All of whom try to make me go crazy with their antics, of course any one with kids knows, "they are just so precious" right? right? Seriously though I love them all and wouldn't trade them for anything.

I have traveled only a few places, Hawaii, several US states, and Mexico... hmm... I reckon that's about enough personal info here's my WOW info...

I play Nexdominus on the Burning Blade server US, my guild there is "Mentally Unstable" they are a great bunch, very fun! My alt Mage that I've mentioned before is on Dalaran, my original server when I started playing WOW 4years ago, I started another DK on Shadowsong Server and joined "The Illuminati Order" with Michelle from "Warcraft Outsiders" podcast, and her guildies. So I have several things going on in WOW.

I have several RL friends and family who play on Burning Blade with me but a lot of them are "taking a break" for the summer. Sort of... well anyway they don't play nearly as much now, as they used to, for various reasons.

Apologies for the delay in getting a new post up. I have several nearly ready and will be putting them up accordingly.

Thanks for reading!

Nex

Shared Topic: Getting Ready for Cataclysm

Hello,

Today is another posting of a shared topic. I like this shared topic idea. I think it's good way to bring Blogger's and the community together.

So... Hmm... Getting ready for cataclysm... Um... Well there are so many things I'm not sure where to start!

Since I've had a DK as my main I've been really wanting to go back and capture some of the old content some of the old instances, and reps, and yes I even want to get Thunderfury just for the achievement. I get this feeling of having to rush around and try to get everything done before Cataclysm hits!

I am slowly getting those things done true, but not quite at the pace I'd like. I have this dreadful feeling that blizz will be taking away, not the faction rep but the manner in which you need to go about accomplishing them. Among other things. Of course I could be totally wrong here. LOL

Other things I'm doing to get ready is slowly building up an inventory of Neatherweave bags and Frostweave bags. All those new Goblins and Worgen are going to need bags. I'm not saving up much other type of inventory items. I know some people are saving up low level, and mid level mats used for leveling professions, frankly I just don't have the time for that with all the rest I want to accomplish.

I of course am saving up gold as well. I know there will be gold sinks in cataclysm. And there will be expensive mats needed for recapping my professions.

There are several pets I'd like to obtain still and I think they may not be available to get after expansion. Hopefully they will!

I just checked my armory page, and I've killed Baron Rivendare 96 times in Stratholme, and yet he hasn't seen me as fit to receive his mount. I think being a DK and having the original Death Charger mount would be very cool. I also think this achievement will become a feat of strength in Cataclysm. One of those that is no longer available after the expansion.

A few of you know I've put in some time for the "Insane in the Membrane" achievement. I don't think I'll get this done. Mostly due to the cost and availability of the Pristine Black Diamonds. oh BTW I'm not spending an "insane" amount of time on this... :P

There are some faction Reps I'd like to finish up. Some heirloom items to grab for when I level my new Goblin character. A faction change here a server change there. I'm also reading many things about the expansion to try and be a litte more prepared for all that's going to be new. And that is all I'd like to get done before expansion, not very much is it? LOL

I'd like to wish everyone good luck with what ever they are doing to prepare for Cataclysm. May the RNG roll favorably in your direction.

Nex

"...there will be blood..."

ok I changed the blog name but the URL is still the same enjoy!


Nex

"... Another podcast..."

Hello,

I recently had the good fortune to be a guest on the warcraft outsiders podcast! Thanks to Michelle and John for having me on! I had a great time.

If you'd like to listen you can check them out on Itunes, or go to http://warcraftoutsiders.com/ . Check out episdoe #50 to listen to my interview. Don't forge to leave a review!

Thanks!

Nex

Shared Topic: Helping new Players

Hello all,


So recently I had the opportunity to help out some new players. I vaguely remember what I felt like being new. The wow world seemed huge! I thought every little Trog would kill my little gnome Mage with but a glance, and every one else seemed level 60 already except me.

Those days are long gone now, and I've never really felt the need to give something back. But I do help new players when I can. Right now I'm running some quests in Tranquillen for the faction rep and there is no shortage of new players out there. So when I see another player in the same area I'm doing my quest kill xx Trolls. I invite them! We finish up the collecting or killing, and I thank them and go about my way. If I'm just passing through a lower level zone and I see in general chat someone asking for help, I will stop and help but usually only if it's a known quest that is particularly difficult and I remember that it is indeed difficult.

The one area where I'm not so eager to help is giving Gold. It's not that I'm starved for it. My concern lays in the possibility that if I just randomly start throwing gold around suddenly every level 1-25 character on the server wants to be my friend. That's not something I would care for. I do however see no problem with helping a guild mate or a friend I already know, and sending them some gold. After all I got some help from guildies way back when I purchased my first original flying skill and first flying mount.

So remember we all were new at some point, none of us are too important or too busy to stop now and again to kill a few trolls and pick up some juju, for that level 16 Blood Elf Mage over yonder.

Thanks for Reading

Nex

"...if someone tries to kill you, you kill 'em right back..."

Hello again!

Since I recently posted on what "not" to do or rather "how not to act" as a tank. I decided to put a post together on "how to act" or "how to tank". First off there are so many varitions to tanking depending what your doing... ie 5 man heroics, 10man raids, 25man raid...

I'm going to focus mainly on general rules, then throw in what I do, and some tips for the differences between the 5mans, 10mans, and 25mans.


Non negotiable rules

#1. Say "Hi!": to the group/raid- a simple /p hi or /raid hi goes along way even before you've started. I do this in every run, heroics, raids, doesn't matter it sets the tone for the group that I'm ready. I'm in a good mood. I want to succeed.

#2. Be prepared: Repair before all runs regardless of type. Buy buff food, buy flasks or Elixir's, before your raids. I use Flask of Stoneblood, and Dragonfin Filet, for my buffs on all my raids. For heroics I don't use any food or Elixir's. They are kind of expensive and not necessary, usually for a random heroic.


Other rules, in no particular order.

#1. know your instance/raid: Read a guide, watch a video, ask around your guild, ask your friends, ask a tank. Do anything you can to learn more about what your running. That being said some people learn by doing, like me, but there is still value in getting as much info as you can before attempting an instance/raid.

#2. Know your pulls: Pulls vary by a large amount depending on what your running. Your basic heroic trash pull is obviously much different than a 10 man raid boss. Learn about it. Ask other tanks, friends, and guildies what they do for certain pulls. Join a group as dps a few times and watch the tank, make notes about what they do. Or you can email me and I'll give you a few tips ;).

For me as a Blood DK tank a typical trash pull in a 5 man heroic goes something like this...

First pull: Say hi :P. Check to make sure I'm in the right spec, and I'm in Frost Presence. I ask if everyone is ready? 3-4 of them say yes. I say pulling and go. After that first one and all consecutive pulls I follow the same er... template, basically this

Is everyone alive?>Does the healer have over 60%`ish mana?>Does the other dps have over 50%`ish mana? If all these are yes, we go on to the next pull.

If any are No, you obviously take appropriate actions; IE wait for mana regen, rez the dead. etc...

Now checking these things should only take you a few seconds. This will not drag out your total run. Many people want very quick runs, we all do. So doing this should not take away from your pace at all. Don't waste time looking around or whatever... simply put "just go".
pull>rotation>check...pull>rotation>check... etc... get into a rhythym and you'll see things will go very smooth for your group. If any DPS has Energy, Rage, Runic Power, that is of no concern. Those classes that use these instead of mana have other ways to get them built up or gain more. We don't have to wait for them to regen like we do for mana.

My typical pull/rotation: find the caster/Ranged in the group and Death grip him to me, drop Death and Decay, Plague strike, and Icy touch my target, wait a tick, then pestilence to make sure all the MOB's in that group are in range. This is usually enough threat that I could not attack again and they would all die before anyone pulled aggro off me. But, I don't do that I tab to another target in range and hit it with a Heart strike, another target, Heart strike, Rune Strike, Death Strike or Death coil whatever I have available. I pretty much just roll this way through all the trash targets until they die.

If there is more than one caster, I'll target one caster move closer so that the second caster is in range of strangulate. Then follow my rotation and after I have dropped my pestilence I then strangulate the second caster so that he gets silenced and runs into melee range. I then tab back to a target which has diseases ticking and pestilence again so that the new caster has some ticking on it as well. Now I return to my pattern, tabbing through targets and applying threat via spells and strikes as they are available.

#3. Kill order: This is pretty standard for all pulls. Healers first, CC (if any), dps. Most trash pulls now-a-days, just get AOE'd down all together. But there are still some exceptions. And it nevers hurts to keep up your skills for new content.

#4. Track healers mana: Always check this, check it frequently, basically for trash pulls unless you have a brand new level 80 healer, anything about 60% and your good to go.

#5. Positioning: Simple, when in doubt turn the MOB's away from the raid/group. Or always turn them away. On trash pulls this is not always madatory but it's good practice and to get in the habit of doing it. I do it anyway on all pulls. I run through the MOB's after they get to me usually I do this after i drop DnD, and during my plague strike and Icy Touch hits.

#6. Rotation: As about its pretty much the same DG, DnD, PS, IT, Pest, HS/RS/DC/DS... repeat
I even use DnD on single target pulls for trash and boss pulls. It lays down huge threat and pulling adds is not a risk or a problem.

#7. Threat: There no reason to hold back laying down threat. There is no excuse for not laying down as much threat as you can. For these reasons I use all my threat abilities all the time not matter the pull, trash or boss. Why not? are you waiting for something?... a rainy day maybe?... it's not like you can save it up or something. You have taunts if things go awry. So plain and simple throw down, everytime. Use DnD on single targets.

#8. Pace: Keep things moving. Don't waste time, unless it's new content, you've seen it all before. So get your butt movin'! Pull>kill>check>go>repeat.


Other info which are not rules but good to know

Confidence: Show this by knowing how to pull, and doing it. If it's your first time tanking say that out loud to the group. most groups will not have a problem with this and give you some slack for some foul ups your bound to do in your first time. Respect your group/raid members. Show this by staying quiet when they are acting like fools. ;) This is about actions more than words. Let them speak for you.
Cocky: There is a fine line between cocky and jerk. Cocky is fine when mixed with humor and most people will "get" that. But if your acting serious and cocky then it comes off as jerk. Keep it to a minimum also. This isn't so much what you say but how you go about your job as tank.
Fun: Simply put have fun. This is still a game. Laugh off mistakes, mix ups.
Attitude: Have a good one. Say "Hi" to your group/raid this will really help smooth over the run as a whole and lighten things up for everyone there.

Stick to doing your job as tank, let others do theirs. Don't get bossy, or rude, and you'll find many more fun, and successful runs. You'll also find others clamoring to get you to tank for them, as they will know what your about. That you are good, and fun to play with.

Feel free to email me with questions, or you can make comments with your questions. I'll answer them best I can as time permits.

Thanks for reading!

Nex