So I have started yet another toon, but this one will, perhaps, get to do something none of my other ones have: that is raid. He is my first Alliance character in over a year, so that in itself will take some getting used to. I know the Horde area like the back of my hand, but playing the Alliance feels like a whole new game.
I have done many 5-man instances, but honestly I still feel like a noob with every one I have done. So I need to not only level a new toon rather quickly, I need to practice and hopefully master my class. So I have a few questions to help me become a better player, so that when I do raid, I won’t be the weakest link.
- What are some things one should be doing while leveling to prepare for instances?
- Should I try pre-BC instances to better learn my class, or should I just get to 70 as fast as possible and maybe do run thrus of lower ones then?
- What has someone done that made you pleasantly surprised in a PUG? What have you done that surprised people?
- Now in my case, I am a Demon spec Warlock. I am going that way for leveling. When PUGing, should I automatically give everyone a Healthstone? If there isn’t a Priest who do I Soulstone? Should I offer to do crowd control or just ask which demon they want?
- What are some of the worst things you have seen a Warlock do in an instance that I should avoid? What have you done in an instance that immediately made you smack your head with your palm?
Give a guy and hand and give me an education I won’t soon forget.
My main is a level 62 shammy and I joined a guild of RL friends who all were at 70 when I joined. So I have found that with all of my toons, guild runs of instances at level are infrequent. I am actually a big believer in PUGing instances all the way through your levelling experience. For one thing learning the ropes in a PuG is ironically less pressure on me than learning it in a guild run. In a guild run, I would want to be perfect off the bat so as not to waste the time of people that were doing the run just for me. In a PuG I feel much more able to experiment with different stuff, because chances are everyone is going to call you a noob anyway. Anyone who is a decent human being in a PuG will be perfectly reasonable with you when you explain that you are learning your class etc.
Secondly I think that PuGs are great ways to teach you to deal with less than ideal situations. A well balanced group with good players can get through most instances pretty well, but you might never learn how to deal with a real panic situation.
So, my thoughts on your questions. To prepare for instances you should have bandages, food and water if you need it and you should be fully repaired. You can quest while you are waiting, so long as when everything is ready to go you immediately head somewhere to repair and get your butt to the instance.
Some people have been great in instances. I have received gifts from people who have a good run (armor patches eg) and given them also to people that I appreciate. You can build up a healthy friends list. Use an addon like karma to record notes about people you group with – chances you are going to get in groups again with them if you are levelling at the same rate.
The surprise has often been people who are prepared to take their time and run things through properly, marking targets and discussing strategy on fights without just running in.
I always appreciate warlocks who are willing to give everyone a healthstone and explain how it is used. You should give a soulstone to the healer regardless of what class. The only exception is that if your healer is a shammy and you have another class in the run capable of rezzing (eg a spriest or paladin) then you may opt to give the soulstone to the second rezzer and effectively have two people who can reincarnate.
You should not assume that people know how your crowd control works but you should volunteer to the party leader that you can crowd control, what types of mobs you can do it for etc. It is ultimately up to the party leader/marker as to whether they use crowd control but if things are going pearshaped, I would suggest it. Always request that the leader marks your mob for crowd control so that everyone is clear and you can justifiably be mad at people who break CC.
Worst warlock stuff? Life-tapping and calling for heals. Calling for heals any time is pretty lame. Having minion on aggressive is pretty annoying. Any DPS class that refuses to eat or bandages between pulls or after wipes is very annoying and a big waste of mana.
DPS have a bad name but one of the best things that happened to me in an instance was with a rogue in stocks. We had had a bad wipe. He had died first and released to try and run back and help with the fight. By the time he got back we had wiped totally. So everyone runs back and when we get there, the rogue had healed himself up and ran around slapping bandages on everyone saying “rogue healer FTW!!” That was pretty cool.
The most face palmy thing I had ever done in an instance? As the tank in SM, it was the first time that I had run with a hunter who could trap. Nobody was paying attention to the marking and everything was a big nightmare. I was super paranoid that a mob would run off and munch a clothie and wasn’t confident with holding aggro. So when I saw a mob run behind me, I turned and made chase. And started beating on an iceblock thinking “what a weird ability for a mob to have”. Of course the hunter had trapped a mob away from the fight and I didn’t know what it was because I had never seen one before.
How can I follow that up? 🙂
I agree with all of his tips Phil.
One time I was in a 10 man raid with a “lock” who left his imp out the whole instance because he said he didn’t have any other demons! We were in BRD for petes sake. He got booted when he kept asking what dropped when things were linked up and being rolled on.
Good luck.
Bring water.
Don’t take aggro from the tank.
Don’t attack the CC’d mob.
That’s it for now. I’m off to work in a bit. Have a great day, Phil.
@ Roone Wow, thank you very much. I really need to practice Crowd control, but from now on I will do as you suggested and tell the GL to mark them. “rogue healer FTW!!” That’s funny.
@ Demonologist Thank you, yeah that’s pretty bad.
@ Gitr I have to admit that in the past I have smacked a sheep or two. Though I learned very quickly that is not a good thing.
Ironically, I pulled a Rogue healer yesterday, running a few guildies through Sunken Temple on the shade dragon..
Paladin was getting slapped hard, healer got stunned, I didn’t have hate, and I runecloth’d the Pally…
Lol. =)
I would recommend just running a lot of instances. The more you do, the more experience you get, the better you get. WoW is mostly just about experience, and learning from it..
Like when you got ganked by that lock in pvp that’s 3 levels above you, I bet the next time you saw him, while alone, you turned heel and ran. Unless you don’t learn from experiences. 😛
PhilLogical – You probably already know this, but the worst thing a Warlock can do in a PUG is Fear. Nothing brings adds like Fear. If you’re lucky you’ll only bring in one or two more to the party. If you’re not, you’ll get to be part of someones most memorable wipe stories.
Whenever I’m in a PUG that does really, REALLY well, I give them a little gift. After we’re done I’ll run to the mailbox and send a note to each one saying how awesome they were at doing X. I have the coin so I usually add a couple gold to the mail as well. At the very least you’ll make someone’s day. More than likely you’ll make some new PUG buddies that are more than likely to join with you in the future.
The gold isn’t the important part. Letting people know they’ve done a great job is enough.
Charm is good apparently. I just know I was in a group and the GL kicked a warlock cause he refused to pull out his Succubus and charm.
Fifty DKP minus!
DOTS DOTS more DOTS, STOP DOTS
Because I have to, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtvIYRrgZ04&feature=related
Really NSFW.
Thanks to everyone and your advice. I will take it to heart, cause a noob I shall not be, or at least try not to be.