Arman

Didn't miss it. I was still writing my response when you posted yours (ships that pass in the night or wee hours of the morning lol).

I hope that I have answered your questions thoroughly enough. I did spend some time doing it and hope it shows that I do do take this seriously, but WoW is still a game and games are supposed to be fun. If you feel I need to expound or elaborate on some or all of my answers, please let me know.

Hey. Sorry for the delayed response, but my monitor decided it had lived long enough after I came home this evening. I had to head out after dinner and get a new one.

Wow that was quick. Please let me clarify. I did not want to give the impression that these logs are substantially different from a good night for me. I merely meant that I was a little slower reaction time-wise which would result in a little higher damage intake, I didn't realize I missed Ultimatum procs instead of knowing I let some drop off intentionally without use (i.e. I let them drop without use right after another tank taunts a boss off me so I don't pull aggro with my Vengeance state). As far as capping hit/exp for only high SBar usage, I will refer you to a Theck post which illustrates it also smooths out damage spikes for high SBl usage as well. I was using a 7.5/7.5 hit/exp until that post came out. I switched to hard capping to try it out, liked it better, and kept it. I asked about the "self healing" comment I got. HC used to be called HealerChat and that guild is about healers and parsing. So, outside of higher raid damage events during fights where healers can AoE bomb heal the raid for high HPS, they wanted minimal time spent focused only on healing tanks. This is a progression guild, but with a concept of healers being top priority I guess you'd call it. They didn't like I took the Second Wind talent and preferred I took Impending VIctory because I could self-heal every 30 seconds and didn't like that I dropped to below 35% hp before healing myself. They wanted me to start self-healing at around 80% because tanks just get one-shot from that high of hp according to them. I was their first block tank. They were used to DKs, Monks and Druids. This leads me into some of the differences I see between 10 and 25-man tanking. 10-man tanks have definitely more impact for raid DPS on those sub-5% boss wipes. 10-man tanks are a little more reliant on keeping themselves alive than in 25-man although you still can't play stupidly in 25-man just because you have more healers to cover you. 25-man tanking can be positionally more challenging ala MSV Stone Guards. It's much easier to move the bosses around Amethyst Pools to allow the one, two or non-existent melee in 10-man to DPS without standing in a pool. 25-man tanking obviously has higher damage intake than 10-man which leads to gearing and gemming issues that you don't really get into in 10-man (e.g. do I have a high enough health pool to be "safe" and maybe switch out a stamina trinket for a mastery trinket for more critical blocks and reduce my damage intake just a little bit more?). This higher damage intake might also mean more coordinating/stacking of cooldowns with someone else to survive damage spike events (e.g. Dread Thrash on Sha) or using your cooldowns for other moments where healers are dead, getting rezzed and other raiders can cover for this loss of cooldown availability as opposed to 10-man where you are much more limited on this coordination and more reliant on keeping your cooldowns. 1. I answered above. Not ignoring you here. 2. I believe I answered above sufficiently, but, if not, let me know and I will respond again. 3. The hunter incident was one in a long line of incidents this hunter had caused. I just blew up then because I was frustrated from a combination of the night we had been having and the history of this hunter doing this kind of thing. It's honestly the last time I can remember ever doing that on Vent/Mumble. I still have friends in that guild and other guilds on Silvermoon. I've hung out in real life since that incident and have on RealID the raid leader from Clouded Minds. I am in a guild (for another game) with a former guildmate member of Tiras. I guess what I "need" is just for clear communication on strategy, what the goals for the night/week are, etc. and for people to be a little less sensitive about that I have been told that I "sound" like I am barking orders sometimes when I am just talking normally. For example on both communication and how I sometimes sound, if you say tanks we need you to a-b-c during x-y-z, I'll do it unless I foresee a possible problem with a-b-c- as a whole or my class/spec. Apparently, when I do speak up in these contexts I have been told I sound resistant to change, combative, etc. when I am only voicing my concerns and nothing more. I come from a background of an ex-military father, played and coached competitive soccer (goalkeeper) through college, have taught college chemistry classes, and have managed people in labs. In those instances, I rely a lot on reading face and body expressions to see if I am being heard in the manner in which I intended or if I need to explain/clarify. I obviously cannot do that over Vent/Mumble. Basically, if I bring up something, you say let's do it this way, and I say "k" or "fine" the matter is dropped from my end. I'm not secretly going "I hate that bleeping raid leader. He should do what I said." I moved on as soon as I said "k" or "fine". 4. Hmm why prot warrior? I guess it started because I started tanking in vanilla and warrior really was the only viable main tank class for both vanilla and BC. It continued for me because I just find warrior more fun and challenging to play than any of the other tank classes. 25-man over 10-man for me is for several reasons. I like the accountability much more in 10-man than 25, but one player who is "snarky" or having a rough night dying in 10-man really destroys the fun of that night. This has a much lower effect in 25-man that I prefer over the accountability. 25-man raid encounters are more challenging in my opinion (e.g. MSV Stone Guards is a lot easier to coordinate two tanks positioning and tank calls in 10-man versus three tanks in 25-man). Also, I feel that a prot warrior's shortcomings (all tank classes have shortcomings) are better compensated for (e.g. worst self-healing tank class mechanics) in 25-man than 10-man.

Hello, I am a 40 year old male chemist from the western United States who goes by the handle Arman in-game. Armory: http://us.battle.net.../Arman/advanced Keybinds and UI: This a screenshot from 2/20/13 in LFR. The keybind for Charge also is macroed to Pummel. I know Pummel is sitting on another keybind, but that is a "floater" keybind (as well as "q" and SHIFT+2-6 keybinds). I have two Shield Slams shown keybound and this is intentional. The SS on "2" is macroed to things like Berserker rage and trinket usages (also Blood Fury when I was an Orc) for times when I am the active tank. The other SS is for times when I am an OT or I am already enraged and don't want to pop the trinkets just yet (e.g. waiting for Sha's Thrash). The Mocking Banner macro is for dropping the Banner and Intervene/Safeguard to it if used again. The Safeguard/Intervene macro is a mouseover that works with raid frames, banners, or players. The UI is set up in a way that just works for me. I make adjustments when I need to based upon fights or if things change that I don't need to worry about anymore or now need to worry about a lot. Addons: As you can tell from this screenshot, I do play with my floater keys a bit. Don't freak out about it being Naxx. I was just trying to get battle pets for Raiding with Leashes achievement. A WoL from this week: http://www.worldoflo...1cxv2r86pba9iz/ I have been sick this week and have had bouts of my mind wandering during attempts. I know I missed some (not a lot) Ultimatum procs and the like. When would I talk in raid as a tank? I have a headset with a mic. I use Raeli's Spell Announcer (RSA) for cooldowns that affect the raid (e.g. Shattering Throw, Skull Banner) or just the healers (e.g. Shield Wall running and ending) for things that would just clutter up Vent/Mumble. Obviously if I am out of cooldowns and something with big incoming damage is coming up, I call out for help and why. If my timers are screwed up mid-attempt, I call it out. If I get a lag spike either before or during an attempt I speak up. If someone says something that is addressed to me or tanks in general, I will speak up (i.e. I taunt the boss and the previous tank accidentally re-taunts it, I will say either "I got it" or how long I have on my Taunt). If i have a question about a strategy for a boss in general or for the one attempt we are trying something different, I will ask. Cooldown usage, glyphs and talent choices: I'm not going to go through all the possible glyph, talent and cooldown decisions I use for this first tier. I will give examples that I hope illustrate that I adjust to different fights and different strategies tried for the same boss attempts. I have used Enraged Regeneration instead of Second Wind for talents for Garalon when kiting with Pheromone Trails since I cannot rage for Shield Barriers at ranged distance, but can self heal popping Berserker Rage and then Enraged Regeneration. I use Vigilance and not Safeguard for Empress if I am tanking the Reavers, but keep Safeguard if I am tanking the Windblades. I use Safeguard on cooldown most times to reduce damage on another tank (e.g. before Overwhelming Assault on Blade Lord, but early enough not to take the Assault; obviously not on Lei Shi when she is Spraying) because I can be healed at healers' convenience for the damage I take. I have used Glyph of Shield Slam instead of Hold the Line when asked to help dispel bosses on Protectors in ToES and Wind Lord in HoF. This obviously requires me to sit on my Shield Slam sometimes to make sure I dispel off the buff as soon as it appears which may cause threat issues with another tank depending on the situation. This is a time I would talk in Vent/Mumble if I can see from Tidy Plates that I am losing or lost threat. Cooldowns are sometimes a tricky thing to time and sometimes fight mechanics make it easy to know when to use. Using Shield Wall preemptively for Breath on Tsulong is an easy choice for using ahead of damage intake instead of after. This is easy to pre-plan, but if something is going wrong these pre-emptive cooldowns are essentially spoken for and something else needs to be used now or later in lieu of my pre-emptive cooldown. Cycling cooldowns on Gara'jal for those small time frames when I have sufficient rage, but no Shield Block charges to spend it on is also easy. Fights like Wind Lord are more reactive in use of cooldowns unless healers DPS in Recklessness phases. Raid experience follows apart from what you can glean from my Armory page. I have attempts on heroic Lei Shi and heroic Sha on 10-man. I switched to 10-man because my gear was lacking a bit when my last 25-man guild folded in November 2012. I like the accountability of 10-man, but not the culture that I have run into lately. In alphabetical order... Baradin Hold 3/3 Black Temple 9/9 (pre-nerf) The Bastion of Twilight (normal) 4/4 The Bastion of Twilight (heroic) 4/5 Blackwing Descent (normal) 6/6 Blackwing Descent (heroic) 6/6 Blackwing Lair 8/8 Dragon Soul (normal) 8/8 Dragon Soul (heroic) 8/8 The Eye of Eternity 1/1 Firelands (normal) 7/7 Firelands (heroic) 7/7 Gruul's Lair 2/2 Hyjal Summit 5/5 (pre-nerf) Icecrown Citadel 25 HM 11/12 Icecrown Citadel 10 HM 11/12 Karazhan 12/12 Magtheridon's Lair 1/1 Molten Core 10/10 Naxxramas 25 15/15 Naxxramas 10 15/15 The Obsidian Sanctum 25 & 10 Sartharion +3 Onyxia's Lair (level 60) 1/1 Onyxia's Lair 25 1/1 Onyxia's Lair 10 1/1 The Ruby Sanctum 25 & 10 1/1 Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj 6/6 Serpentshrine Cavern 6/6 Sunwell Plateau 1/6 (pre-nerf) Temple of Ahn'Qiraj 9/9 Tempest Keep 4/4 Throne of the Four Winds (normal) 2/2 Throne of the Four Winds (heroic) 0/2 I got to be in on three attempts for Conclave. The boss was never really on farm status. Trial of the Crusader HM 5/5 Ulduar 25 13/14 Ulduar 10 13/14 including getting drake Vault of Archavon 4/4 Zul'Aman (pre-4.1 reintroduction) Previous guild history with raid experience (in reverse chronological order)... HC Server: Burning Legion Character: Arman Content: Tier 14 in MoP Reason for leaving: I was told on 2/3/13 that the guild would be trying out another tank that fit the officers' view for a 10-man raid tank better. The officers felt that I was too much a 25-man tank still even though they didn't think I was a bad tank and liked playing with me. I was told recently they liked tanks that do a lot of self-healing (not a warrior's strong suit) so that healers can focus exclusively on the raid. Fever Server: Malorne Character: Armán Content: Start of T14 in MoP, heroic DS in Cataclysm Reason for leaving: The officers tried replacing anyone that wasn’t an officer for about three weeks before the guild collapsed on 11/27/2012. Trials were being brought in and offered a starting raid spot which was a promise not kept and the new trials left quickly. When a new raid leader was brought in at the end of DS, the communication within the guild became extremely poor and we wiped on things that could easily be fixed if different roles were allowed to talk to one another. Instead, we had to go through role captains (a new procedure at MoP launch). The tank captain didn’t say anything about what we need to change as tanks to coordinate with the rest of the raid, he couldn’t position to save his character’s life and when melee and healers complained about him, he went off in Mumble on how people need to tell him when melee cannot position behind a boss (i.e. puddle) or when healers couldn’t keep him up (he goes from high hp to dead a lot). There was so much drama and lack of communication from officers to regular raiders when the guild reorganized at MoP start that this was a different guild than I joined. Blue Moon Server: Ner’zhul Character: Armán Content: Firelands and Normal DS in Cataclysm Reason for leaving: Blue Moon was not able to fill a 25-man raid for the last month I was there. The GM logged on briefly during raid invite time and then logged out as soon raid start time came around and we clearly would not have enough on for a 25-man. Most of the other officers disappeared as well. The rest of us were on our own to try and get some raid going so we can raid even though we usually had bad raid composition. Tiras Server: Silvermoon Character: Arman (Dwarf; Prot main spec, AoE Prot OS, Fury 3rd/DPS respec) Content: ICC in Wrath, BoT and BWD in Cataclysm Reason for leaving: We had a GM change at the end of Wrath and the new priority was on achievement points and not progression. Raid progress was only important if it led to achievement points. Leadership allowed a number of raiders to switch to tank classes and also invited more tanks into the guild. I agreed to sit for a while to allow officers a chance to evaluate all the new tanks we had acquired since I had main tanked for all of ICC on both 10 and 25-man. I didn’t like the change of direction the guild took even though I was put in charge of a 10-man group. Clouded Minds Server: Silvermoon Character: Arman (Dwarf; Prot main spec, Arms OS spec) Reason for leaving: I was in Clouded Minds from the end of January after Wrath of the Lich King was released until March of 2010 when I joined Tiras. I was asked to leave the guild for being too serious a raider for the type of guild CM wanted to be after an incident in Ulduar. A long-time member (hunter) thought it would be funny to MD the first trash in the hallway leading up to Hodir to a rogue. The raid wiped while most of our raiders were on a break after clearing another wing. I got very angry and voiced myself over Vent to the hunter who eventually refused to continue raiding with me in the raid. This festered for awhile into ToC when I was eventually asked to leave. Dark Destiny Server: Silvermoon Character: Arman (Dwarf; Prot; Fury respec) Reason for Leaving: Guild collapse. We were the number three guild on server at the time the guild went on hiatus three months prior to Wrath being released. During the months leading up to Wrath there were too many people lost in the guild to server transfers and quitting WoW to keep DD alive. Blood of the Gods Server: Silvermoon Character: Arman (Dwarf; Prot) Reason for Leaving: Guild collapse. I literally logged in and found out I was suddenly guildless. I found out that while most of us were asleep, the GM and her husband sold/auctioned off everything on the guild banker toon, disbanded the guild and server transferred. Grand Theft Kodo Server: Silvermoon Character: Arman (Dwarf; Prot) Reason for Leaving: We had a mass exodus of officers in a very short period of time and the remaining officers downgraded us from a raiding guild to a casual guild. Raiders were allowed to leave with no prejudice to continue raiding. Made Server: Silvermoon Character: Arman (Dwarf; Prot) Reason for Leaving: Kicked from guild while logged off. I was in the guild for about six months (Gruul/Kara era) and had been raiding seven days a week for over a month (three normal raiding days and four alternate days to get new/alt people geared up. We signed up for normal raid days 3-4 days in advance. If we didn’t sign up, we weren’t going (either wouldn’t be invited or wouldn’t be available). I needed a break badly and didn’t sign up for one of our normal farm days. Unfortunately, the GM didn’t read the sign up forum until that day when I didn’t come online and he had decided to switch gears to make that day a progression day (I still have a copy of the website PMs of this exchange because the supposed logic of the GM is so screwy). Dungeon Kings Server: Silvermoon Character: Elendiel (Night Elf hunter) then switched to Arman (Dwarf; Prot) Content: vanilla MC, Karazhan and Gruul’s Lair in BC Reason for Leaving: After months in Karazhan and no chance of getting anything down in Gruul’s Lair, I left the guild to get into a non-casual guild. I did continue for months to raidlead on my off days on my hunter for DK. Morbo Server: Medivh Character: Rasmussan (Forsaken priest, holy) Content: vanilla MC through AQ40 Reason for Leaving: I was the lowest seniority healer and would more often then not spend all six raid days a week as a back up waiting outside the instance and not being allowed to switch to an alt. Inner Sanctum Server: Medivh Character: Rodnox (Orc rogue) then switched to Rasmussan (Forsaken priest, holy) Content: vanilla MC Reason for Leaving: The guild died a slow death while people tried to hold some kind of raids together. Computer: My computer was built by me within the past year and I have not had any lag issues apart from the occasional ones everyone gets. Final comments: I would like to add that I am one of those people who go through logs regularly. I do this not because I am looking to parse (I frankly don't care if someone parses. The bosses just need to die.), but because I am looking for ways of improving my game play (e.g. lowering incoming damage). This does sometimes cause issues (e.g. When I first looked at parses from MSV Stone Guards the first week of heroics and saw Shield Block was inferior to Shield Barrier for that fight. After I switched I got grief and had to explain that bleeds aren't blockable and my incoming damage was higher from Rend than melee attacks.) and will defend my reasoning if asked. I am also a person who hates poor/bad communication whether it be on strategy, positioning or something else I need to adjust my play. Positioning is something I take as serious as lowering my incoming or just staying alive. If I am in a spot that puts other raiders (normally just melee) in a bad spot, it lowers the DPS of the raid and/or makes healing harder (e.g. not moving one of the bosses ever in MSV Stone Guards results in a lot of Amethyst Pools that either the melee has to stand in and be healed through or no melee DPS). Lastly, I am not a perfect tank. No tank is perfect. If other raiders have good suggestions, I will try it.