From the user’s point of view there is a bit more involved in the multipoint attack and defense system, but is it really that revolutionary? There might be a bit more to it in PvP, but for PvE it’s not the night and day difference I expected. Once again eye candy/immersion adds something here with nice graphics depicting combos and finishing moves, but I suspect that’s more due to the age of WoW, not the “revolutionary” AoC combat system.

As I said before, I only have limited experience in AoC, and there is certainly a lot I haven’t seen, such as mounted and siege combat, but I’m still to be convinced that AoC has a revolutionary combat system. Evolutionary maybe? Different? Yes, to an extent.

So, does the eye (ear) candy really make that much difference? After thinking about it for a while I have decided that what it comes down to is that eye and ear candy allows an increased feeling of immersion in a virtual world. Running around Tortage made me feel like I did when I first ran into Ironforge a few years ago after being isolated in Teldrassil as a low level Night Elf, but it was more than just new sights and sounds, it was the extent to which it was done.

It’s no surprise really, WoW is aging. Just compare Crysis to an FPS you were playing 3+ years ago. It’s the same thing. This is one of the reasons I think Blizzard will have to do something to keep people interested in WoW. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think WoW is going away overnight, but it’s definitely not “shiny” any more. Of course it’s not all about eye candy. Tetris is an engaging game, even today, and game-play is still a significant part of the whole equation.

I guess the question is more whether the content that comes with WotLK will be enough? I say content because that’s really what we’re talking about. There is nothing really radical about WotLK as far as I know. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised, but at this stage there is nothing that indicates a major change to the graphics engine or the mechanics of the game. It really comes down to a new class, new zones, new instances, and a new profession. Sure, there will be “updates” to existing content, but nothing … radical or particularly inspiring. Maybe that’s Blizzard’s plan? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Or is it the bane of some other successful enterprises; the issue of maintaining compatibility with legacy systems?

Blizzard has a few things going for it, namely money, infrastructure, experience, the player base, literally years of personal investment by players, the lore, and reasonably acceptable game mechanics (particularly for the casual player), not to mention a cross-platform client. All these things act against people committing to switching. Better the devil you know …

My guess is that WotLK will be the last of the major content releases we see from Blizzard, at least for WoW as we currently know it. I just can’t see the game continuing into the new decade the way it is. That means major change, or simply “WoW will diminish, and go into the West, and remain WoW” (sorry Galadriel).

I’ll continue this later with a few observations based on my (limited) time in AoC (and LotRO), and the considerations that naturally arise when hypothesising about leaving WoW behind.

WoW Character Watch is a service that “watches” WoW toons and reports on changes over a period of time. Siha over at Banana Shoulders was the first to pick up on it after she helped with some alpha testing. It’s now firmly in beta with a lot of enhancements in the pipeline.

It should be handy for guild management as well as individuals. Anyway, give it a try and let me know what you think.

• When you first pick him up make sure you move to maximum melee range so the melee DPS have an easier time staying out of the Choas Blast. The melee should be directly opposite you (behind Leo, not to the side) in order to avoid the blast.
• Even with my threat generation gimped by wearing the FR gear listed below, I was still able to hold agro during the demon phase provided the DPS were sensible and used their usual threat reduction techniques. Rogue Feint and Vanish, Mage Invisibility, Druid Cower, Warlock Soulshatter and even Priest Fade (in the last 10 seconds of the demon form) will all help.
• There needs to be some discipline in stopping DPS five seconds before Leo changes forms. DoTs should be stopped earlier. The same applies to the end of Whirlwind.
• It’s a good idea to be in a group with a pally that doesn’t move around too much, like a pally healer that’s assigned to heal you. Our guild downed Leo with me in a group with our pally tank, who was tanking Leo’s human form. He often moved out of the 30-yard FR Aura range during the encounter, which can be fatal if it happens at the wrong time.
• Soulstone the druid tanking the demon form. In most cases it is likely you can salvage an attempt even if the tank goes down.
• As an indication, I was a 19.5K HP raid buffed in FR gear during this encounter however I think it could be done with a lot less.

Are hybrid tanks going to *be* left behind?

I don’t necessarily agree with all of it but one of the reader comments rang true: The strength of Paladin AoE tanking and front-loaded threat have made the DPS classes lazy in comparison to the pre-TBC days.

Once again I’ll use the term mechanics to kick this off. The mechanics of the Leotheras encounter involves the use of a Fire Resistance (FR) capped tank during his Demon form phase. Most strats involve using a Warlock as the tank, and frankly they are the best option, but certainly not the only viable option.

It was the afternoon before our next Serpentshrine Cavern raid, and Leotheras was on the agenda. We didn’t have much time to get things sorted out and our Warlocks were not around, so we decided to use a non-Warlock tank, i.e. Me. My guild leader and I hurriedly used wowhead and other sources to find enough gear to reach the FR cap. Here’s what I ended up with:

[Pendant of Frozen Flame]
[Onyxia Scale Cloak] (which I had from pre-TBC, with a Greater Fire Resistance enchant)
[Inferno Hardened Chestguard] (30 [Badge of Justice])
[Blastguard Belt]
[Blastguard Pants]
[Blastguard Boots]
[Phoenix-fire Band] (quest reward from Trial of the Naaru: Magtheridon)
[Jasper Link] of Fire Resistance

This gives lot gives me 270/271FR (depending on which [Jasper Link] Itemrack decides to equip) which, when combined with the Pally FR aura and a [Flask of Chromatic Wonder], takes me over the 365FR cap.

The things I would note are that the crafted Blastguard items all have sockets (7 all up) that you can stack with stamina gems if needed, or threat generation gems if not, or a combination of both. Also, I had limited time and hence used the Ony cloak, but I will replace this with either the [Wyrmcultist's Cloak] or one of the “… of Fire Protection” BoE items from the AH.

The end result? Well, no doubt my threat gen does not equal that of a Warlock tanking Leotheras, but it’s really not that bad, and easily doable. A similar approach should work equally well for a Pally or Warrior tank. I think with a bit of tuning that I’ll be able to up my threat gen, but the rest of my gear accounted pretty well for itself in this area.

I have to admit to having been caught out with tunnel vision on this one, but it was a question from my guild leader that prompted this approach.

We were heading to Gruul’s Lair with what would traditionally be considered a fairly dodgy raid composition. We were looking at the raid composition, which had one Hunter and no Moonkin Druid, when my guild leader asked “Does it have to be a Hunter that tanks Kiggler?” I sat and thought for a minute and I’d be buggered if I could come up with and encounter mechanic that said it had to be a hunter, just a ranged class that can generate more threat than the healers. Yes, it’s convenient to use two Hunters on Kiggler, or a single Moonkin Druid, but no, it didn’t have to be either. We successfully used a Hunter/Mage tanking combo on Kiggler that night, but it could just as easily been a Mage/Mage, Shadow Priest/Mage or some other combination of appropriate classes.

Simple huh?

Our guild has never seemed to have the luxury of a “classic” raid composition. Generally we carry more melee DPS than we technically should, we use a Paladin, a Warrior and a few feral Druids as main tanks, and we often have a limited range of classes as healers. At various times we have been short on Hunters for High King Maulgar (yes, I shit you not, we have been short on Hunters) and Priests for Moroes. Recently we didn’t have a Warlock with FR gear for Leotheras the Blind and last night we only had one Warlock for Magtheridon. I’ve seen or heard of raids being called under similar circumstances.

Well, here’s the skinny on encounters, whether they be trash or bosses: It’s all about the mechanics, not the various strats other guilds have been successful with.

When it’s time to look at a new boss I read every strat I can find. I don’t do this to learn an encounter and run through it like a script, but rather to understand the mechanics behind the encounter and apply that knowledge to our raid composition. If I see a statement that says something like “needs at least three Warlocks” then I ask why?

Magtheridon is a classic example. Most strats I’ve seen and every bit of advice I’ve been given says you need at least three Warlocks, and I’ve seen up to five suggested. Why are Warlocks so necessary to do Magtheridon? The answer is that they’re not. The mechanic of the encounter is that the Burning Abyssals need to be controlled and the Warlocks are simply performing that role, which they happen to be well suited for, but not essential. There are alternatives.

I have seen references to Hunters kiting them, but the approach we used was to switch a few tanks around and have our prot pally pick up any loose Abyssals that our lone Warlock couldn’t handle. Our pally did an awesome job and was ideal for this with his Avenger’s Shield and Righteous Defense to pick them up easily at range, and Consecration to hold them. It worked like a charm!

So I’ll say it again; don’t follow a script, understand the mechanics. You’ll be a far more flexible raiding force if you do.