Thaiyen - Blood Dead Night

[gameschess]

Hello!

My name is Taylor, I am a 24 year old Civil Engineer. I've been playing wow since vanilla. I am a computer enthusiast who loves to just relax and play games. I always wish I had more money to build a better computer, but I do what I can. Now that I've just graduated college, hopefully I can afford more luxuries. I started my big-boy job so I know my schedule and it will not be changing any time soon. I like late night raids because there are no real life interruptions and it is easy to fit into my schedule.

I have a dedication to the raid just like I would any other team. I never miss raids unless it is a dire emergency. Usually I give out some way to contact me outside the game, whether that be email or cell. By not showing up for raid, it is unfair to those who are on time and ready.

Current progression will be 3/13(H) 10m tonight. Ji'Kun/Jin'Rokh/Horridon. We go to the 4th door after 3-4 attempts, so I have no doubt he'll die tonight. I want to switch to a 25man heroic guild due to the importance of a tank. I want to be in a position where I feel useful. 10 mans have been exceedingly boring. I love to raid and I love to debate strategy.

I like to theory craft and to stay active on guild forums. I try to keep an updated post on the current progression and where I plan to use each of my cooldowns. I use the expensive food (tian spring rolls) and I pre-pot every fight to help out the dps. It's been useful on those last 1% kills. As a tank I know when I am going to use my cooldowns going into each fight. It is fairly static with little deviation, this amplifies my ability to theory-craft cooldowns.

After reading some of the other applicants, it seems that you are nervous about taking 10m raid tanks into 25m. I know my tank is ready for the difference, the damage I am currently taking in 10m is very trivial, in some instances I have had to soak 5 talon rakes from heroic Ji'Kun. I like coming up with unique ideas and I am always open to constructive criticism. Much like those professors in college who like it when you correct them, I am the same way about tanking. I like when people see faults in my tanking because it gives me something to improve.

I have raided since vanilla, I played a rogue up until Cata, but I played a warrior tank through early progression raiding in vanilla. On my rogue I was the guild's top dps warglaive rogue and I got my Gladiator title. Once Cata hit I began tanking with my dk. When mists came out I started with a monk tank, but fell back on my dk as it was much more fun.

I completely agree that people in a top 100 raiding guild need to have a few things.

1. Short learning curve

2. Good positioning (as a tank I like to communicate with the dps to tweak the position of bosses)

3. Good judgement (also quick reactive judgement, the ability to change strategies at a moments notice based on the current need)

My current guild uses mumble so I am familiar with it. I do not like push to talk as it limit the mobility of my hand, but I bind buttons to mute my mic in case I have to sneeze or something.

I am all for goofing around, BUT when it's time to get serious, it's time to get serious.

Computer specs:

512gb OCZ Vertex SSD

Intel i7-2600k

GeForce GTX 570 (I get my GTX 780 Friday)

16 GB

I keep my specs good enough to stream on twitch and fraps when I want to.

FPS:Varies (gtx 570 has voltage issues, thus the new card on Friday) Reviews say about ~100 fps.

Ping: ~50-100ms on EST

UI Screenshot: Will add when I get home, I usually stick with standard Bliz UI and DBM with a few tanking addons, but none that change the UI. I do this because some competitive raid tournaments do not allow addons which I want to be prepared for.

Armory: http://us.battle.net.../Thaiyen/simple

Ilvl 528/530 (I have the heroic trinket from Ji'Kun but it's terri-bad) I also have 2k valor to spend on upgrades, but as I am not having any trouble staying alive, I am saving the valor for heroic upgrades if I get any drops. If not i'll spend it on my TF gear before I get capped.

Currently I am gemmed for mastery instead of parry/dodge. Each have their benefits, but I chose mastery. I usually have a discussion with the healers to determine their wants/needs. I swap out some pieces depending on the fights. For heroic Ji'Kun I put on dodge gear to try to prevent infected talons.

Currently I raid 9-12 Monday, Wed, Thurs. If you would like to watch me tank, I can set up my stream for Monday night so you can see my gameplay on your offnight. Unfortunately Monday probably going to be filled with non-heroic fights.

Reason for leaving current guild-

Progression is slow and most of the raid doesn't have a drive to complete heroic tot before the next tier. I'm looking for a higher end guild whose members do not require large learning curves.

If you have any questions or concerns let me know and I will get back with you as soon as I can. I can post WoL if you wish, but as a tank it is hard to judge anything from that, especially with bosses we have on farm.

PS I saw your post on the wow recruitment forums and thought I would post.

My questions:

Why are you guys in need of a tank

I have 100% raid attendance. I do not want to be recruited for bench, therefore I am looking for a core spot.

[Ashin]

Hi and thanks for the application.

Before we get much further, can you please clarify your relevant tanking experience? It seems like you had a casual / normal-mode progression in T14, and although you mention tanking on the blood DK in Cata, I see no indication of that in your armory.

Thank you.

[Hip]

Whats up Thaiyen,

Thanks for the app

After reading some of the other applicants, it seems that you are nervous about taking 10m raid tanks into 25m. I know my tank is ready for the difference, the damage I am currently taking in 10m is very trivial, in some instances I have had to soak 5 talon rakes from heroic Ji'Kun. I like coming up with unique ideas and I am always open to constructive criticism. Much like those professors in college who like it when you correct them, I am the same way about tanking. I like when people see faults in my tanking because it gives me something to improve.

Our concerns have nothing to do with avatars; a skilled player who uses the tools at their disposal properly could effectively tank 25 HMs in regular mode gear from the previous Tier. Whereas someone who doesn't fully appreciate what they're in for or hasn't proven an ability to use active mitigation and cooldowns effectively will splatter regardless of gear.

That said, get me some logs. Your application cannot progress without them.

That said I did notice a few things I've got basic questions about.

Why the 4pc bonus? What advantage do you feel this is giving you?

How are you managing your Blood Tap talent?

Why aren't you using the Legendary Tanking Meta gem?

That said, thanks, and get some logs posted

Hip

[gameschess]

http://www.worldoflogs.com/guilds/177028/ Logs for this month. Let me know if there is something you're looking for in particular and I can help you out.

Tanking experience- I have had 4 accounts on my trek to where I am today, so you probably won't see all of it on armory. I did not raid much of the last tier of Cata because I stopped raiding right before it came out. I just started playing again around Christmas time and leveled up a few 90s, including a monk, dk, and rogue.

Let me walk you through the experience I've had since January. I started on my monk trying something new, leveled to 90, found a small guild that was easy to get into and started raiding. Although they had a 4-5 night raid schedule, the players lacked insight into their characters and they struggled on normal MSV/HoF when I joined. I was fine with the slow progression at first and I started to play my dk again. Despite their efforts to progress, I felt it was time for me to move on to another guild that is closer to my level of dedication/play.

I transferred to my current guild which was 5/12 normal at the time and jumped right in with no problems at all. We're raiding 3 nights a week and about to be 3/13(H) tonight, but it's just too slow progression and the guild leader doesn't have the motivation to stop doing normal modes and push heroic only. I agree with you that gear is not as important as skill which is why I tried to push heroic modes only, with a ~518 geared raid, we should be able to do heroics without wasting time on trivial fights. People go afk, raids start late, and people make repeated mistakes, which is why I am currently seeking a more progressed guild that does not have these dilemmas. I do not do any of the above and I expect a guild that expects as much out of me as I expect out of them.

To conclude this segment, my T14 raid experience is something to be desired, but that does not limit my current capabilities nor does it express my insight into my raiding capacity.

Why the 4pc bonus? What advantage do you feel this is giving you?

Personally I think the 4 piece bonus sucks, I am just using it because it is the best gear available to me. I will drop the 4pc if a better piece of gear becomes available.

Potential benifits (sometimes come into play)

1. More threat/dps

2. I can swap out purgatory for lichbane and get crazy healing on Megaera (although with the 2s internal cooldown on bone shield, this is not quite as good as it appears)

How are you managing your Blood Tap talent?

Depends on the fight. Most of the time I try not to cap it and save it for death strike. Sometimes I use it for dps if the fight is trivial.

Why aren't you using the Legendary Tanking Meta gem?

I swapped to my DK late after starting with my monk tank. It took me ~12 weeks to get the stupid power sigels to drop even though I ran LFR and normal every week, then followed by the 6 weeks to get the valor, it hindered my progression for the meta. I just need the drops from Tot and I will start using the Meta when it becomes available to me.

[Ashin]

Can you show us the armories / accounts where you were tanking in Cata? What were you doing in TBC?

[gameschess]

This is the account I tanked Cata, like I said I only tanked early Cata raids, then stopped due to school issues, but now that I am out of college, I do not have issues with timing. The other 3 accounts I no longer have access to, because when I quit I sold the accounts. When I quit Cata I decided not to sell that account because I always kept coming back. The only proof I have of these accounts is the paypal transaction where I sold the glaive account for $2k.

TBC I was dpsing on my rogue. I was a much more hard core raider back then, and I am looking to get back into it.

[gameschess]

I feel like a raiding spot is like your credit score. You can't get credit unless you have a credit history and you can't get a credit history without credit.

You can't get in top tier raids without having been in a top tier raid before.

In hindsight it's a lot to go on word of mouth alone, being a former gladiator and warglaive rogue in a top tier guild without any hard evidence.

lol

[Ashin]

You build your credit history by showing that you can handle smaller transactions responsibly over a longer period of time.

We don't require our tank to come to us with 10/13H 16/16H experience this expansion, although to be candid I would prefer that. But, for example, someone who has consistently (without interruption) tanked mid-way through heroics each tier wouldn't be scary to me. I'd want to look at the logs and interview and see if I'm dealing with new talent - someone who is ready for the next step. Both of our current tanks have that sort of background. One was homegrown and the other was recruited.

But you don't come to us in that boat, either. My tank has to be someone I can rely on and yes track record is part of that. It doesn't mean you don't have a chance here. It does mean that you are a lot riskier from my point of view. Would you go through your logs and pick one or two fights in particular where you feel you have done well? It makes it easier for Hip to know he is not wasting time and reviewing you at your very best.

[gameschess]

I can understand your concern. I would not waste the time applying for a position I didn't feel I was ready for, and I have never had a guild be disappointed in my abilities or judgement calls. I will pick out some fights from tonight's raid and post them after. I will post the raid. I would feel better being judged on my average night opposed to my best night because I try hard every fight and I don't think there would be much deviation. I'm texting from my cell so ill post around 1am est with logs.

Ps my credit score is amazing

[Tinymanz]

Hip's been seeing a lot of mileage recently.

Welcome!