So im starting my 1st normal raid on saturday for MSV...

[TheEaterofSouls]

And I was wondering if anyone had any tips to help me prepare my character? I see that many epics are rep. based and I haven't really gotten far in my rep grind since I am abit of a fresh lvl 90.
Things I know and have covered: Enchantments, gems, some reforge tips, and guild advice in-raid on mechanics

Things I am concerned about: Getting my gear properly managed stat wise, knowledge of flask buffs and how to use them, the spec I should roll with if you have my classes knowledge, and anything else that I may have missed.
(If you can provide any extra tips it would be really appreciated)
Anyone willing to help a noob get confident? Here's my character: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Aixedox/simple

[Deleted]

first of all: enchant all of your gear (also don't forget on belt buckle), widnsong on weapon should be enough, there's no need to put jade spirit on blue one, If you have spare justice points upgrade your weapon
finish your professions, 60 skill in engineering isn't providing you any bonus
I don't see any point reforging to crit, you should reforge to hit (unless you are comfortable with some misses) and then to mastery or haste and never to crit

ad consumables: flask of the warm sun (+1000 int), some int food (we have feasts for our raid so I am not familiar with names of intelect food) and then bring some potions of jade spirit, use them just before start of fight and during heroism/execute phase

and stay affli, it's pretty easy to play and it works pretty well on most fights

[Chrno]

Stats / flasks / etc. are only of little help during raids ...

If you want to make a good impression on your first raid make sure you follow these simple broken down steps:
---------
Pre-raid
---------
- Character gear / stats sorted out / glyphs sorted out etc (can't help you with that)
- Flask stack(s) in your bag
- Food stack(s) in your bag
- Know/dream every fight

--------
during the raid
--------
- If your not sure on how to handle a boss tactic or they take a different approach to a bossfight ... be sure to ask if it's not clear. Best to get it out of the way pre-wipe ..
- don't go AFK every 3 min without warning
- don't stand in fires a nd other shit ... try not to be a pain in the back for the healers... DPS is 'les' important

If you do just that you'll be fine (Y)

[Deleted]

And I was wondering if anyone had any tips to help me prepare my character? I see that many epics are rep. based and I haven't really gotten far in my rep grind since I am abit of a fresh lvl 90.
Things I know and have covered: Enchantments, gems, some reforge tips, and guild advice in-raid on mechanics

Things I am concerned about: Getting my gear properly managed stat wise, knowledge of flask buffs and how to use them, the spec I should roll with if you have my classes knowledge, and anything else that I may have missed.
(If you can provide any extra tips it would be really appreciated)
Anyone willing to help a noob get confident? Here's my character: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Aixedox/simple

I believe you should have posted this on the Warlock forum instead, but yeah.

You say you have enchantments and gems covered, but atm you dont. Besides them actually being huge dps increase, its also stating that you care about you char/progress.

Besides going Affliction - And watching/reading Evrelia's guide on lock forum, I can help you with basic advice.

Which bosses are you attending in MSV, and in terms of advice - Is it move out of stuff advice, or how to more dps?

Flask of the Warm Sun, Jade Serpent pots, and Int food is the best consumables.

Read up on every fight, so you know what to expect and can shine better.

Glyph of Soul Swap is not used on many fights, because the way multidotting shines in many fights (Especially MSV). The only fight I feel like its for sure a dps increas is Spirit Kings (On heroic).
Glyph of Soul Shard is a musthave, get it.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/tool/tal...!022121!VbNcfQ
Is the basic spec, but you can use Soul Leech instead, and you can drop 1 or 2 of the healing glyphs (Siphon/healthstone) depending on fight. Sacrifice is a must.
As affliction, depending on gear you can do many things.
You can go without hit cap or with hit cap.
Aim for 4198 Plateu (Around your gearlvl) or aim for 4717. If you armory me, you see I naturally aim for 4717 haste plateu (and soon the next one again on 6637, but that req insane gear).

After that you stack mastery. When you reach around 480 ilvl, mastery gems begins to be > int gems.
I recommend getting a reforge tool like reforge tool, and set it to (if hit cap) that > Haste 4198 > mastery > crit.

The basics of Affliction is keeping dots up, Malefic grasping when all dots is up, and using Haunts to improve your dot dmg.

That is however the tip of the Iceberg.
Whenever you get a int proc, or get Dark Soul, you want to reapply dots in some way. Dots don't update dynammically, it updates when you cast a spell with the buff up.

Here, our newly obtained Everlasting Affliction comes into play. Because of that, we can refresh dots earlier without losing dps.
That is:
7 seconds left @ Unstable Affliction
9 seconds left @ Corruption
12 seconds left @ Agony
This means, whenever you get a int/haste/whatever proc, and the dots have below this duration, its a good idea to refresh them (Also above, but that requires you to have a certain feel for the spec).

I normally tend SB-SS whenever I get Dark Soul up again, so I can get "super buffed dots" azap.

Opener of Affliction is like this:

Pre-pot
(Haunt optimal, i Personally don't do it)
CoE
Dark Soul+SB-SS.
Malefic Grasp (Till you trinket procs)
Fel Flame (Refreshes 2 dots)
Haunt
Malefic Grasp
Haunt (So they overlap, then Haunt gets 25% dmg increase as its considered a dot)
Malefic Grasp
When procs are soon running out, SB-SS to refresh them.

Notes:
Depending on stuff (Mostly with Time Warp) - I tend to SB-SS instead of Fel Flame to get all dots super buffed, because I have high haste and get a Nightfall proc nearly always - this is not how many people go about it, and is not advice.
Never stuff casting, basic - but some people can forget this.
Pool Shards (Have atleast 2-3 shards rdy for your Dark Soul)

If possible, in MSV that will be Stone Guards, Feng (Heroic), Gara (If in spirit realm), Spirit kings (Heroic), Elegon (LOCK FIGHT) and Will of the Emperor (LOCK FIGHT) multidot everything you can. Elegon is advice to play with Mannoroths Fury and Spam SoC in add phases, but prob not as a first timer on him.

[Deleted]

get rid of soul swap glyph, it's useless on most fights

[ZakAtack]

You're missing 5 enchants. I can see not wanting to drop gold on the belt buckle as it's a 463 but they shouldn't be too expensive now, that one's up to you. You could just get Windsong on the weapon if you don't want to put Jade Spirit on a 463, but there's no real reason to be missing the other enchants.

Flasks/food/pots are just helpful in boosting your DPS inherently and showing that you're a prepared raider. You'll want Potions of the Jade Serpent, Swirling Mist Soup(?) or Braised Turtle or Mogu Fish Stew, and Flasks of the Warm Sun. Don't be the guy who shows up and says "where's my feast?"

Your reforge into crit is not ideal for Affliction. Some people are comfortable with being under hit cap, but I would say for your first raid, stay near 15% for consistency's sake. Also if you can get to 4717 Haste, that's a Corruption breakpoint, should help you out. Looking at Evrelia's Affliction guides are also pretty good. Mastery is also very strong right now for Affliction, so basically go anywhere except Crit and you're good.

Most importantly, just know the fights and the typical strategies used. The Fatboss guides on youtube are a good place to start. Focus first on managing mechanics and then maximize DPS after that. Remember, dead DPS is no DPS, but at the same time, it's important to focus on how you can be doing as much damage as possible.

[Deleted]

also grimoire of sacrifce provides bigger numbers then supremacy for affliction and at least for me it's more comfortable than taking care of pet whether it's not dead or attacking

[NeverStop]

get rid of soul swap glyph, it's useless on most fights

It's good on Elegon and Spirit Kings.

[TheEaterofSouls]

Forgot to mention my main spec is Destro. I have all of my enchants provided for me on saturday. We will be going over stat priorities

I'll try my hands on affliction just in case I need to go that route. They said I could go destro for this run.

you've got this advice going in the opposite direction >.>

(And If your wondering the boss will be Elegon I believe)

[reflection]

first of all: enchant all of your gear (also don't forget on belt buckle), widnsong on weapon should be enough, there's no need to put jade spirit on blue one, If you have spare justice points upgrade your weapon
finish your professions, 60 skill in engineering isn't providing you any bonus
I don't see any point reforging to crit, you should reforge to hit (unless you are comfortable with some misses) and then to mastery or haste and never to crit

ad consumables: flask of the warm sun (+1000 int), some int food (we have feasts for our raid so I am not familiar with names of intelect food) and then bring some potions of jade spirit, use them just before start of fight and during heroism/execute phase

and stay affli, it's pretty easy to play and it works pretty well on most fights

I hate this: You don't need that expensive enchant on that crappy weapon. It's so definitely not true. What is better: A bad weapon with a bad enchant or a bad weapon with a good enchant? It also may take some time till he gets a new one. Also if he enters an already existing raid he should do his best to provide the best support for the existing raid group. That means for me: best food (300), best enchants (yes expensive enchants even on bad gear), best spec for the current ilvl, know all the tactics/have seen some videos/read tactics, prepot flask, reforge (you can use reforgelite addon -> it's great). Cause it's really annoying for the whole raid group to stand there for like 10 minutes because of one guy that was too lazy to take 10 minutes to read a guide.

Other stuff was already said here

[Deleted]

It's good on Elegon and Spirit Kings.

it's useless on most fights
I've never stated it's useless everywhere

---------- Post added 2013-01-24 at 09:31 AM ----------

I hate this: You don't need that expensive enchant on that crappy weapon. It's so definitely not true. What is better: A bad weapon with a bad enchant or a bad weapon with a good enchant? It also may take some time till he gets a new one. Also if he enters an already existing raid he should do his best to provide the best support for the existing raid group. That means for me: best food (300), best enchants (yes expensive enchants even on bad gear), best spec for the current ilvl, know all the tactics/have seen some videos/read tactics, prepot flask, reforge (you can use reforgelite addon -> it's great). Cause it's really annoying for the whole raid group to stand there for like 10 minutes because of one guy that was too lazy to take 10 minutes to read a guide.

Other stuff was already said here

Jade Spirit is still expensive at least on my server so If he don't have like thousands of spare gold for Jade Spirit he can still use windsong for at least some enchantment, that's what I wanted to say

[TEHPALLYTANK]

I don't have any tips on your class that are better than those already given, I do have some basic raiding info that should be useful.

• Ask for clarification if there is something you don't understand.
• If you are assigned a position or target make sure you remember it during the fight, if you forget it during the explanation then ask it again before the fight starts to ensure you remember.
• Repair whenever you have a chance even if your gear is barely damaged.
• Make sure you know ahead of time if flasks will be provided, carrying around 2-6 at all times is useful to cut down on prep time. Do the same with potions just in a larger amount (10-20)
• If you make a mistake don't try to hide it or lie about it, chances are someone saw it and will call you out if you try and lie about it. Admit it and learn from it. Don't be afraid of making mistakes either, getting worked up tends to make your play worse and reduce the fun you have while raiding.
• Bring your own food for when there is a partial wipe and a feast is not going to be placed (ex. Your group kills a boss but has 3 deaths, they likely will not drop a second feast for just 3 people).
• Ask questions! The more you raid the better you become at learning how the game mechanics work and the more solutions and strategies you can see and test. Do keep in mind that there are times to remain silent (Don't propose a new strat while you're in the process of fighting a boss, the confusion will likely cause a wipe).
• If you do get angry for whatever reason, DO NOT TAKE IT OUT ON YOUR RAID! They may be just as frustrated as you and voicing your frustration may end up aggravating them further. Venting your frustration in a manner that isn't harmful to you or others is vital in any team situation regardless of the media used or the people involved.

Hope this helps .

[reflection]

...Jade Spirit is still expensive at least on my server so If he don't have like thousands of spare gold for Jade Spirit he can still use windsong for at least some enchantment, that's what I wanted to say

*irony* ah cmon... it's just 6k... *irony* well sometimes I forget the times when I was low on money. But if you want to get into a good raiding guild they will surely be impressed if you put maximum effort into raiding.

[Ninotchka]

I see your guild hasn't killed Elegon yet, so this will be a progression raid. That means that you're probably all going to die. A lot. Elegon is the roadblock boss of this raid tier, and a lot of guilds get stuck on him.

Get yourself a raiding addon like Deadly Boss mods. Do what it tells you; it's mostly right.

Run this boss in LFR before you do it on normal. If you've already done it for the week you can still go again for practice. Be aware that the mechanics are a bit different in LFR, and things that barely tickle in LFR will hurt quite badly in normal. The big difference between LFR and normal mode is that when you're standing on the shiny floor you're stacking up a debuff that will increase the damage that you take. You want to stand on the shiny floor most of the time because you also get a bonus in the amount of damage you inflict, but you'll need to clear stacks regularly so your healers don't cry. DBM will shout a warning at you. You don't need to clear immediately when you hear that warning, complete your cast, but jump off the floor pretty soon afterwards.

For Elegon in particular, there are a couple of things that can help. There's a sweet spot just on the edge of the platform where you can jump to clear your stacks, but when you land you'll be in the starfield and have the damage buff. Before the pull, inch back and forth over the edge of the platform to get a feel for where you'll be wanting to stand during the fight. You'll probably have an orb assignment, and your raid leader will want to kill a specific number of waves of orbs. Save a medium damage cooldown for the 3rd and 4th (or 4th and 5th if you're killing 5 waves). Stand on the shiny floor to dps the orbs and then jump off onto the rock floor after each wave is dead so that your healers don't cry.

Don't make your healers cry.

[Gatao]

Learn your rotation and train it in the dummys to the point where it comes naturaly.
You should always try to get the best out of your gear (no matter how bad it is).Always use the correct flask for your class (Int on your case) use pre pot and later on the fight when BL is poped use your second pot.
Study the fights before the raid (Mandatory if you want to have success) and ask a guildy or someone that can help you if you have any question regarding the mechanisms of a certain fight.(Don't stand in the fire)
If you follow those steps you will do fine

PS:If you have some spare money consider buyng a Relic of Yulon (the DMF Caster Trinket) it will pump up your dps significantly

[Deleted]

On top of these tips from other posters, gear is a huge factor also. If you cant get to LFRs due to low ilvl, buy some BoE epics from AH but dont equip them, so you can sell them later when you already have qenuine ilvl to queue for LFRs. This way its rather easy to meet the ilvl requirements.

Also you can use Justice Points to upgrade your 463 blues to 471ilvl which should help too.

If you dont have money for AH epics or Justices for upgrades, and you dont need any gear from heroics either, best bet is to run Scenarios because they drop 476ilvl epics alot more often than the Heroic Dungeons will (I myself have neved seen a heroic dungeon epic drop, altho i have tanked about 200 heroics in MoP already).

Feels overwhelming i know, thats the way MoP rolls, endless grind doing things you dont like, forced in LFRs for gear and such. Thank god my main doesnt need any real upgrades from LFRs anymore..

[Ryeland]

PS:If you have some spare money consider buyng a Relic of Yulon (the DMF Caster Trinket) it will pump up your dps significantly

I'd seriously recommend this as well. And maybe spend some more time considering Afflic. Play what you like, and the Destro warlock is my guild does great DPS... but maybe just give it some more time to percolate

[Halicia]

Assuming you've gotten the LFR's that provide you upgrades and Sha out of the way for the week, dungeons and scenarios til your eyes bleed (preferably with guildies to get some tighter bonds and guild challenges for the easy gold). Upgrading all your blues will make it easier to get into the next tier of LFR's for more chances at epics.

For a new raider, I usually advise playing what you're most comfortable with at first, but practicing a 'recommended spec' in the off time. You never want to be playing a new spec on a new fight, just too much to learn all at once and your performance will be miserable. LFR is a good place to practice your new specs and compare your performance with others.

[announced]

if ur going destro.. reforge all to crit.. i think thats the best priority.. anyway. be sure to try and multidot the sparks that fly out during draw power. using fire and brimstone + a timed immolate to get dots ticking on all of them. plus rain of fire with mannoroths fury might be helpful.

one of the biggest things to do in elegon is getting the sparks destroyed and stacked to 4 per phase.. 5 if u can manage it but 4 is good enough. also remember to periodically drop your stacks.. standing inside the vortex is amazing dps but u will take massive dmg at 8 or 9 stacks so be sure to find the sweet spot where u can jump to drop them. on elegon also watchout for the periodic circle aoe in phase 2 that sometimes appears near a player.. it does around 150k dmg and really hurts. find a good place to set your gateway. most guilds will assign sparks to players so perhaps put it where u can teleport quickly to your location.. although be aware the floor drops in p2 so try not to die accidently. in phase 3 group up near the boss.

id try getting sacrifical pact instead of dark bargain.. 3 mins is a long time and frequent annihilations occur so it seems better just to have a 20 second shield every min rather then one every 3.

[Deleted]

Forgot to mention my main spec is Destro. I have all of my enchants provided for me on saturday. We will be going over stat priorities

I'll try my hands on affliction just in case I need to go that route. They said I could go destro for this run.

you've got this advice going in the opposite direction >.>

(And If your wondering the boss will be Elegon I believe)

Mastery > Crit > Haste. Where the exact time to gem mastery over int, I do not know. Read Brusalks post about destruction.

Few notes. Don't use Chaos bolt when u have 3 or more backdraft. Don't chaosbolt back to back. (Some believe this is not true, I am not destruction so you will have to research this for yourself).

Chaosbolt when you have int procs/DS. Meaning you should not chaos bolt when you get 1. ember, but rather save it and get 2-3 when you get procs, and fire them.

On Elegon in particular, the Lock skill cap as Destro/Aff is higher than most, since you can multitask alot. Using Mannoroths fury for this fight, aswell as doing Fire and Brimstone immolate spread from adds till sparks is lethal, + pre RoF (Pre spawn) to gain an insane ammount of embers. You should need 2 embers for each wave, and you should get 2-4 (I don't know, but you should really be swimming in them). Use spare embers to nuke boss.

If your guild is new on elegon, they prob won't like you AoEing, and thats alright. Even tho it is the best way to do it, you can also Havoc boss -> Chaosbolt add, for alot of dps. Remember to Rain of Fire pre tho, thats just dps gained for you