General Musings on Patch 3.1
With the release of patch 3.1, things that I have been thinking about have become actual questions to be answered. Not game-breaking issues, but they are things that each guild has to decide upon. I’d appreciate your feedback on these subjects.
Issue number 1: How do you select your progression team?
A new content patch is a big thing to happen. Not only for a player, but also for a guild. Every player will be eager to see the new content. Basically, as soon as the first raid is posted, all the players that are raiding will sign up.
This leads to the question: Who to take along? Do you head over to be.imba or wow-heroes and just pick the best geared in your guild?
Personally, I think the things that create a valuable raid member are not expressed in item levels. A person decked out in Naxx 25 epics that doesn’t know how to perform without dying at every sneeze is not as valuable as the one in heroic epics that is able to stay on his or her feet and gives a constant and consistent performance.
Now, that sentence was way too long. Let’s summarize: Performance is more important than gear. I’d say that would be my number one priority in selecting a team.
Number two would have to be punctuality. Let’s face it, a lot of us have families and jobs, the time you have available to play is limited. If you agree to start a raid at 22:00, it should start at 22:00.
Number three, closely tied to number one: Preparation. There really is no excuse for arriving in the wrong spec, with broken gear and no consumeables. It shows a lack of respect for your fellow raiders.
Of course, it’s not all that black and white, if you’re late because of real life issues, no sweat, the virtual world should not dominate the real world. Do try to let people know on time though, so they can try to replace you if needed.
I guess you could call this the three P’s of raiding:
- Performance
- Preparation
- Punctuality
In my opinion those three words are the things that are important in selections and give your raid the biggest chance of being successful. What do you think?
Issue number 2: Which spec is main spec for loot distribution?
Patch 3.1 has brought something great, dual talent specialization. For a moderate price, you can have the luxury of being versatile. You can be the off-tank that heals when no off-tank is needed, or the healer that nukes when less healers are required.
Great concept, but how do you handle this when the boss drops and it is time to divide the spoils? Do your players have to declare their “main” spec before the raid starts? Is the spec they used for that encounter the “main”? Or, are they both considered equally?
Right now, I don’t have a clue on how to handle this. I am leaning towards having players declare a main spec and sticking with that for the duration of the raid. I think that would be the best way to ensure your teams are equipped for the role they mostly fulfill. This would also avoid the dilution that equal value specs in loot distribution would cause.
As before, your thoughts are appreciated.
