Showing posts with label On Leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label On Leadership. Show all posts

Saturday, July 31, 2010

PallyPower and You


No doubt we've all had this problem before. You show up to the raid, and there's like 6 paladins, and you still don't have the right buff. How does this happen? Nobody knows. Actually, it's a well understood behavioral pattern that often occurs when multiple people are responsible for some task that only requires a portion of them to complete. See: Diffusion of Responsibility. That's all well and good, but sometimes you see things like an Elemental Shaman running around with Wisdom, but not Kings, even with only a single paladin. That's because properly buffing a raid requires a P.H.D. can be difficult, because the correct buffs depend on the spec and role of each individual. So how do we fix this? PallyPower.
PallyPower addresses both causes of poor paladin buffing by allowing the raid leader (or an assistant) to explicitly assign Blessings and Auras to each paladin in the raid that is using Pallypower. Additionally, it makes maintaining these blessings easier for the paladins, with an on-screen indicator showing whether all of their assigned buffs are active or not, and allowing one-click auto-Blessing.
If you don't already have PallyPower, and you're a level 80 paladin, get it now. If you plan to lead raids, or to help lead raids, I also recommend getting it.
Click here: PallyPower on WowInterface, or PallyPower on Curse. (Note: due to some rumors of viruses on Curse, I recommend using WowInterface for the time being.)

So, you've got it set up, loaded it, and now you see this in the middle of your screen:

If you don't plan to lead raids, and you want to just pass out your assigned buffs, then you don't need to know much. The top rectangle is the Aura button. Click it to turn on the aura you've been assigned. Red means you have the wrong aura on right now, and green means you have the right aura. The rectangle immediately above the little green circle is the Blessing button. Left-click to pass out Greater Blessings, right-click to pass out normal Blessings. Red means no one has your buffs, yellow means some do and some don't, or that some are low on time. Green means you've given out the buffs you were assigned. The little green circle is the anchor; it can be dragged to move PallyPower around, and you can click it to lock it in place, so you don't accidentally drag it later. And that's it! Easy, right? (A note: none of these buttons work while you're in combat.)

For raid leaders, right-clicking the anchor will open the options menu. Inside, you can see a chart of the paladins with PallyPally and the classes. Simply click in a cell on the grid to change the paladin's assignment for that class. You also set auras in this chart by using the aura column. Underneath each paladin's name, there is a listing of all the buffs that paladin can give, in the format: Rank+Talents. So, for a level 80 paladin with Improved Blessing of Wisdom, you would see 5+2 next to the wisdom icon.

So what should you assign? Tanks prefer Sanctuary, then Kings, then Might, in that order, unless you have a Discipline priest, and then only Paladin tanks will want Sanctuary. Healers prefer Wisdom, then Kings, but if you have a Shaman specced into Restorative Totems, Mana Spring Totem will overwrite improved Wisdom (you can expect half the raid to whine about not having Wisdom). Warrior DPS prefer Kings; they provide Battle Shout, which is as good as Might (again, expect half the raid to whine about not having Might). Rogues, Death Knights and Feral Druids prefer Might, then Kings. Hunters, Enhancement Shamen, and Retribution Paladins prefer Might, then Kings, then Wisdom. Shadow Priests, Moonkins, Warlocks, Mages, and Elemental Shamen prefer Kings, then Wisdom, the Might (Might often improves pet damage very slightly.) Pets prefer Kings, then Might, then Wisdom (Not because all pets need the same thing, but because trying to buff pets correctly in a raid environment is hopelessly complicated.)

As for Auras, have the paladin with the most-improved Devotion Aura run that, and otherwise use whatever is most useful for the current fight. Remember that Priests provide Shadow Protection, Shamen can provide Fire (instead of Mana or Healing) and Frost resistance (instead of Spellpower), and that Stoneskin Totem stacks with Devotion Aura AND with Gift of the Wild.

Damage resistance buffs, by ICC boss:
For Marrowgar and Sapphiron, run Frost Resistance Aura.
For Deathwhisper and Lich King, run Shadow and Frost.
For Festergut, Rotface and Putricide, run Shadow and Nature. (Shamen and Hunters can provide Nature, but it fucks hunters' DPS to do so.)
For Princes, run Fire and Shadow.
For Lana'thel, run Shadow.
For Valithria, run Fire, Frost and Shadow (in that order).
...and for Trash, make sure someone runs Concentration Aura. It's not needed to clear it, but it will prevent DPS blue balls.

So, there you have it. A basic intro to PallyPower. Enjoy.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

On Leadership - Raid stacking

So, there you are, on the n-th wipe of the night. You've read the strats, you keep wiping because you were so close last time. And yet, every try, DPS is just a little weak and you hit the enrage. Or during a particularly large damage spike a tank drops. Or you get two Mistresses. So what can you do?
Call it for the night and come back with proper raid stacking. By planning your buffs, you can give your raid that extra edge in the DPS or Tank/Heal that you would otherwise need to wait a couple weeks of gear farming for.
So, what is raid stacking? Raid stacking is the practice of carefully choosing which classes/specs you have in your raid to maximize the power of the raid itself. For example, you may want a Shaman for Bloodlust in nearly every raid, but a Rogue's Expose Armor is rather useless in a 10-man raid with 8 casters and a Warrior tank.
Below, I'll list all the buffs, by category:
Physical DPS
+178 Strength and Agility
Improved Strength of Earth Totem (Earth) - Most Shamans (Aura)
(155) Horn of Winter - All Death Knights (Buff)
(155) Strength of Earth Totem (Earth) - All Shamans (Aura)
+687 Attack Power
Improved Battle Shout - Most Warriors (Buff)
Improved Blessing of Might - Most Paladins (Buff)
(550) Blessing of Might - All Paladins (Buff)
(548) Battle Shout - All Warriors (Buff)
+10% Attack Power
Trueshot Aura - Marksman Hunters (Aura)
Abomination's Might - Blood Death Knights (Proc)
Unleashed Rage - Enhancement Shamans (Proc)
+30% Haste for 40 sec
Bloodlust - All Shamans (Spell)
+3% Damage Done
Sanctified Retribution - Retribution Paladins (Aura)
Arcane Empowerment - Arcane Mages (Proc)
Ferocious Inspiration - Beast Mastery Hunters (Proc)
+3% Haste
Swift Retribution - Retribution Paladins (Aura)
Improved Moonkin Form - Balance Druids (Aura)
+5% Physical Crit
Leader of the Pack - Feral Druids (Aura)
Rampage - Fury Warriors (Proc)
+20% Melee Haste
Improved Windfury Totem (Air) - Enhancement Shamans (Aura)
Improved Icy Talons - Frost Death Knights (Proc)
(16%) Windfury Totem (Air) - All Shamans (Aura)
+52 Stats, 1050 Armor, 76 Resistances
Mark of the Wild - All Druids (Buff)
(37, 750, 54) Drums of the Wild - 450 Leatherworking (Buff)
+10% Stats
Blessing of Kings - All Paladins (Buff)
(8%) Drums of Forgotten Kings - 450 Leatherworking (Buff)
Caster DPS
+30% Haste for 40 sec
Bloodlust - All Shamans (Spell)
+3% Damage Done
Sanctified Retribution - Retribution Paladins (Aura)
Arcane Empowerment - Arcane Mages (Proc)
Ferocious Inspiration - Beast Mastery Hunters (Proc)
+3% Haste
Swift Retribution - Retribution Paladins (Aura)
Improved Moonkin Form - Balance Druids (Aura)
+5% Spell Crit
Moonkin Form - Balance Druids (Aura)
Elemental Oath - Elemental Shamans (Proc)
+5% Spell Haste
Wrath of Air Totem (Air) - All Shamans (Aura)
Demonic Pact - Demonology Warlocks (Proc)
+280 Spell Power
Totem of Wrath (Fire) - Elemental Shamans (Aura)
(165) Improved Flametongue Totem (Fire) - Most Shamans (Aura)
(144) Flametongue Totem (Fire) - All Shamans (Aura)
+80 Spirit
Divine Spirit - All Priests (Buff)
(70) Improved Fel Intellegence - Affliction Warlocks (Felhunter Aura)
(64) Fel Intellegence - All Warlocks (Felhunter Aura)
+52 Stats, 1050 Armor, 76 Resistances
Mark of the Wild - All Druids (Buff)
(37, 750, 54) Drums of the Wild - 450 Leatherworking (Buff)

+10% Stats
Blessing of Kings - All Paladins (Buff)
(8%) Drums of Forgotten Kings - 450 Leatherworking (Buff)
Survival (Healing / Tank Mitigation, other than listed above)
-15% Physical Damage Taken
Inspiration - Healing Priests (Proc)
Ancestral Healing - Healing Shamans (Proc)
-3% Damage Taken
Blessing of Sanctuary - Tank Paladins (Buff)
(One-target) Grace - Discipline Priests (Proc)
(One-target, reduced threat) Vigilance - Tank Warriors (Buff)
+6% Healing Received
Tree of Life - Healing Druids (Aura)
Improved Devotion Aura - Tank Paladins (Aura)
+2818 Health
Improved Commanding Shout - Most Warriors (Buff)
(2547) Commanding Shout - All Warriors (Buff)
(1729) Improved Blood Pact - Most Warlocks (Imp Aura)
(1330) Blood Pact - All Warlocks (Imp Aura)
+214 Stamina
Improved Power Word: Fortitude - Most Priests (Buff)
(165) Power Word: Fortitude - All Priests (Buff)
(165) Runescroll of Fortitude - 440 Inscription (Buff)
+1807 Armor
Improved Devotion Aura - Tank Paladins (Aura)
(1205) Devotion Aura - All Paladins (Aura)
Battle Resurrection
Rebirth - Druids not Tanking Right Now (Spell)
Additional Healing
(Party-Only, 5% of DPS) Improved Vampiric Embrace - Shadow Priests (Aura)
(Party-Only, about 100 HPS) Healing Stream Totem (Water) - All Shamans with Spellpower (Aura)
+240 Healing Spellpower
(Dangerous on fights with many magical attacks) Amplify Magic - All Mages (Buff)
Reduced Magic Damage Taken
(Useful on fights with many small ticks of magic damage) Dampen Magic- All Mages (Buff)
+130 Fire Resistance
Fire Resistance Aura - All Paladins (Aura)
Fire Resistance Totem (Water) - All Shamans (Aura)
(63) Fire Shield - All Warlocks (Imp Buff)
+130 Frost Resistance
Frost Resistance Aura - All Paladins (Aura)
Arcane Resistance
None (Use Mark of the Wild for +76)
+130 Nature Resistance
Nature Resistance Totem (Air) - All Shamans (Aura)
Aspect of the Wild - All Hunters (Aura)
+130 Shadow Resistance
Shadow Protection - All Priests (Buff)
Shadow Resistance Aura - All Paladins (Aura)

On Leadership - The series begins

Us tanks and healers often end up needing to lead groups. In the new cross-realm PuGs, this job is almost exclusively the tank's, regardless of who actually has the party leader tag. In raids, I find that the leader is often a tank or healer, and I attribute this to tanks and healers often being the sort of person with the initiative to form a guild or PuG raid. Because of this, and because I find myself needing to plan raids in my current guild, I am going to begin writing a series of posts about proper raid leading.