(WoW) Guide Primer
So there's a few points I should probably go over before I get into anything else. First off, these (and most gear/build guides) shall be oriented toward level 80 characters trying to get to and improve in raids. So far, we're only in heroic dungeons with anything approaching regularity, so the "requirements" for us at the moment are a little lower, but this is about seeking improvement from where we stand.
Build: We get enough talent points in general to take most of one tree from our class while dabbling in little in another (or both the others). For most functions of most classes, there is an "optimal" build. In a lot of cases, there's some leeway - talents that are questionable or situational, but usually you need certain talents to fill a certain role as designed. A paladin tank will be heavy in Protection. A paladin dpser will beheavy in Retribution. These are what define our characters within a class.
Gear: Better items are the most obvious path to improving your character's effectiveness. The items we want are not always easy to come by, but it helps to know what you want and where it comes from.
All equipment has an item level. This is a trait you don't see without some addon. Gear from higher level zones/quests/mobs has a higher item level. The item level determines the "budget" the item has for bonus stats. X item budget equals +Y Strength. Different stats cost different amounts. The most direct comparison would be with gems. One gem might give +8 Strength and another (of the same rarity/level) might give +12 Stamina, indicating that stamina is "cheaper."
Equipment also has a rarity. By level 80, we're probably starting to work our way out of Uncommons and into Rares and Epics. Each degree of rarity has a higher budget at the same item level. So an epic sword of item level 200 will have more value in stat bonuses than a rare sword of item level 200.
So, all else being equal, we want the the rarest gear of the highest item level. But all is rarely equal. What bonuses are granted by the items is, perhaps, most important. A warrior has no use for plate armor with +spell power just because it's a high-level epic - they don't benefit from that stat (in any way that I know of), so unless everything else on the armor is an upgrade, it should be skipped. It's very important to know what stats benefit your class/build in order to decide whether a piece of gear is worthwhile.
And when you get down to it, your gear set is about balance. Many builds have a trait they want at a certain cap/minimum - and keeping that may be more valuable than a few points increased in another trait. While a guide can say "you want as much of this stat as you can get," there will be times when it isn't worth it to lose something else. So shuffling items around should be done carefully. In general, I recommend not throwing things away immediately when you upgrade from them unless the new piece really does have exactly the same stats only better.
And... some pieces just look cool. >.>
I have not looked into this personally yet, but I've seen multiple recommendations for Rawr (http://www.codeplex.com/Rawr), some sort of downloadable program for comparing gear for a number of character types. Online, I've been making use of the MaxDPS (http://www.maxdps.com) site to compare. As the name implies, though, it's not designed for non-DPS builds.
Rotation: Actual "rotations" look to be less common in general that I used to think (because I played a role that had one), but even those builds that don't still have some sort of priority system. This is basically "what spells/abilities to use in what order to get the best results."
And when you get down to it in practice, you often can't stick exactly to your rotation. You may have to Cleanse, or use a heal you didn't expect, or run like heck from a whirlwind attack - whatever. But it's important to know, and to have as a goal under ideal circumstances. You just need to be able to react, too. A dead character isn't accomplishing their role in the party.
Tactics: It's important to know what else is in your bag of tricks. In an ideal fight, I can run Sashayla up to a boss and drop into the tankadin 969 rotation and just stay there - using five (give or take) abilities over and over again in rhythm. But fights aren't always that smooth. Tanks need to know what they can do about taunting, lots of classes have crowd control, and so on.
Those are the main points that come to mind. We'll see if I have to add or edit. Ultimately, it helps to understand all this stuff for your class, but it takes time to get gear, it takes practice to get everything else down, and it takes a desire to improve to actually do so.
Build: We get enough talent points in general to take most of one tree from our class while dabbling in little in another (or both the others). For most functions of most classes, there is an "optimal" build. In a lot of cases, there's some leeway - talents that are questionable or situational, but usually you need certain talents to fill a certain role as designed. A paladin tank will be heavy in Protection. A paladin dpser will beheavy in Retribution. These are what define our characters within a class.
Gear: Better items are the most obvious path to improving your character's effectiveness. The items we want are not always easy to come by, but it helps to know what you want and where it comes from.
All equipment has an item level. This is a trait you don't see without some addon. Gear from higher level zones/quests/mobs has a higher item level. The item level determines the "budget" the item has for bonus stats. X item budget equals +Y Strength. Different stats cost different amounts. The most direct comparison would be with gems. One gem might give +8 Strength and another (of the same rarity/level) might give +12 Stamina, indicating that stamina is "cheaper."
Equipment also has a rarity. By level 80, we're probably starting to work our way out of Uncommons and into Rares and Epics. Each degree of rarity has a higher budget at the same item level. So an epic sword of item level 200 will have more value in stat bonuses than a rare sword of item level 200.
So, all else being equal, we want the the rarest gear of the highest item level. But all is rarely equal. What bonuses are granted by the items is, perhaps, most important. A warrior has no use for plate armor with +spell power just because it's a high-level epic - they don't benefit from that stat (in any way that I know of), so unless everything else on the armor is an upgrade, it should be skipped. It's very important to know what stats benefit your class/build in order to decide whether a piece of gear is worthwhile.
And when you get down to it, your gear set is about balance. Many builds have a trait they want at a certain cap/minimum - and keeping that may be more valuable than a few points increased in another trait. While a guide can say "you want as much of this stat as you can get," there will be times when it isn't worth it to lose something else. So shuffling items around should be done carefully. In general, I recommend not throwing things away immediately when you upgrade from them unless the new piece really does have exactly the same stats only better.
And... some pieces just look cool. >.>
I have not looked into this personally yet, but I've seen multiple recommendations for Rawr (http://www.codeplex.com/Rawr), some sort of downloadable program for comparing gear for a number of character types. Online, I've been making use of the MaxDPS (http://www.maxdps.com) site to compare. As the name implies, though, it's not designed for non-DPS builds.
Rotation: Actual "rotations" look to be less common in general that I used to think (because I played a role that had one), but even those builds that don't still have some sort of priority system. This is basically "what spells/abilities to use in what order to get the best results."
And when you get down to it in practice, you often can't stick exactly to your rotation. You may have to Cleanse, or use a heal you didn't expect, or run like heck from a whirlwind attack - whatever. But it's important to know, and to have as a goal under ideal circumstances. You just need to be able to react, too. A dead character isn't accomplishing their role in the party.
Tactics: It's important to know what else is in your bag of tricks. In an ideal fight, I can run Sashayla up to a boss and drop into the tankadin 969 rotation and just stay there - using five (give or take) abilities over and over again in rhythm. But fights aren't always that smooth. Tanks need to know what they can do about taunting, lots of classes have crowd control, and so on.
Those are the main points that come to mind. We'll see if I have to add or edit. Ultimately, it helps to understand all this stuff for your class, but it takes time to get gear, it takes practice to get everything else down, and it takes a desire to improve to actually do so.
Comments
Post a Comment