Aiieee! It burnses!
Got out for a couple hours yesterday and went for a nice walk. I even have the radiation damage (sounds so much more dramatic than "sunburn") to prove it. Yay me. Or something.
Yesterday evening also marked my first experience with seriously tanking for a party. In theory, my level 65 protection-specced paladin is pretty well suited to this role. And yet, in world combat, my two rogue partners dish out enough damage that "standard" party dynamics don't really apply and anytime we've run a dungeon it seems we've had another guildmate (usually higher level) acting the part.
I understand the concepts of tanking, healing, threat-management and such in an academic sense. Practical experience does make a difference. I think I did a fair job, though others may have a different perspective, and I gained a heightened appreciation for having a dedicated party healer - in this case, another paladin who joined us for the run. Juggling spells to dish out holy damage and keeping track of where the mobs are can be hectic at times. Being able to disregard my health meter because someone else is (quite competently) keeping me healed was actually a huge relief. I do, however, still regret not having a ready way to single-pull at range.
Of course, it was a pretty good run, but not all roses. We lost... I think 3 of 5 party members to a poison cloud in the wake of the first boss. Bad pulls killed people once or twice through the bulk of the instance. We didn't actually wipe 'til the final boss. Surprise, he saw an otherwise-sneaky rogue while we were being briefed by our fearless leader and we all went down pretty quick. The second time, I went down largely because I didn't notice our healer had been temporarily incapacitated until it was too late ("Why is he letting my health get that low? Surely a heal is coming anytime now. Any... time... now..."). Still, we were able to get back on our feet and take the critter down.
I'm not sure if it says something about me, but I think I like playing tank. Get up in the baddies' faces, keep their attention, soak up damage that would down a cloth-wearer in no time... It's not about dealing the most damage, it's about generating/holding the most threat (which can sometimes take cooperation from others) and giving the healer a primary target who doesn't lose life as fast as someone with less armor.
Now... if only we had a healer most of the time instead of having to stand around and beg for one. ;)
Yesterday evening also marked my first experience with seriously tanking for a party. In theory, my level 65 protection-specced paladin is pretty well suited to this role. And yet, in world combat, my two rogue partners dish out enough damage that "standard" party dynamics don't really apply and anytime we've run a dungeon it seems we've had another guildmate (usually higher level) acting the part.
I understand the concepts of tanking, healing, threat-management and such in an academic sense. Practical experience does make a difference. I think I did a fair job, though others may have a different perspective, and I gained a heightened appreciation for having a dedicated party healer - in this case, another paladin who joined us for the run. Juggling spells to dish out holy damage and keeping track of where the mobs are can be hectic at times. Being able to disregard my health meter because someone else is (quite competently) keeping me healed was actually a huge relief. I do, however, still regret not having a ready way to single-pull at range.
Of course, it was a pretty good run, but not all roses. We lost... I think 3 of 5 party members to a poison cloud in the wake of the first boss. Bad pulls killed people once or twice through the bulk of the instance. We didn't actually wipe 'til the final boss. Surprise, he saw an otherwise-sneaky rogue while we were being briefed by our fearless leader and we all went down pretty quick. The second time, I went down largely because I didn't notice our healer had been temporarily incapacitated until it was too late ("Why is he letting my health get that low? Surely a heal is coming anytime now. Any... time... now..."). Still, we were able to get back on our feet and take the critter down.
I'm not sure if it says something about me, but I think I like playing tank. Get up in the baddies' faces, keep their attention, soak up damage that would down a cloth-wearer in no time... It's not about dealing the most damage, it's about generating/holding the most threat (which can sometimes take cooperation from others) and giving the healer a primary target who doesn't lose life as fast as someone with less armor.
Now... if only we had a healer most of the time instead of having to stand around and beg for one. ;)
too bad you play WoW and I play EQ. My favorite character is my healer. :)
ReplyDeleteI do find it amusing the after effects of the boss fight, not the boss itself resulted in the deaths. ;) I believe you did a fantastic job, even some of the hectic times (The pull of the bugs and rays that got like, six things at once on us) where some people would lose their focus. :) And I still don't know what was wrong with me charging into the stunned mobs without first checking for the patrol, or using the gun to pull *^.^*
ReplyDeleteWell, hopefully that'll break you of the habit. ;)
ReplyDeleteAlas. I'm not quite sure why EQ never appealed. Then again, WoW didn't really until I started playing (curse you, free trials!). Strangely, I think the profession system sucked me in a little more most other things.
ReplyDelete*nods* I tried the game at a specific request. I didn't love it right away. But I enjoy the crafting - at first I liked it better than adventuring. (then they changed how it worked, and I stopped crafting while they worked out the bugs. Now I do both) I like the look of EQ a lot better than the look of WoW - dunno why. But I've seen lots of games - Vanguard, LotR, WoW, CoH, EQ, Eve... and EQ was the most attractive to me of the ones that were interesting. (CoH looks like silly fun, and Eve is just gorgeous - but looks dull in terms of activities) So I picked EQ. And now I think if I were to quit, I wouldn't pick one up to replace it. It sucks up too much of my time when I let it. *big grin*
ReplyDeleteYeah, the appearance is an odd point in my mind. In general, I'm more appreciative of a "realistic" look while WoW is more "cartoony." That probably should bother me, yet it doesn't. It might be nostalgia going back to the older Warcraft games on some level, or maybe the internal consistency makes up for it. Whatever it is, I wouldn't say WoW has great graphics and yet I really like how it works together and there have been places I stopped to look at and say "This is pretty" or "Wow, neat sky." I played Guild Wars briefly and did the trial of LotR. Both had more of a realistic look, but felt very hollow to me in gameplay somehow. Hard to explain. And yeah... WoW has become my eater of idle time and I probably sink more hours into it than I should. On the other hand, I was always worried about monthly fees. I think since picking up WoW, I may be spending less money per month on games than I was before... just because I pay my fee and play that instead of getting a new computer/console game every month or so. I think the last game I paused to play was God of War 2 (which was worth it to me) in... March? Nina, on the other hand, hasn't even gotten around to borrowing that to play even after making me agree to lend it to her before anyone else. Heh.
ReplyDelete