How do I into Melee Classes?

[infinitemeridian]

Hello, I've played hunter for all of WoD mainly, and I have every class but paladin, priest, and rogue at 100. I'd really like another class to main besides hunter, since I personally find them too easy and a little boring. Plus, they lack flavor in terms of spell animations and their gear isn't the coolest.

I've always enjoyed a lot of the melee classes while leveling up, especially monk, but whenever I try to raid as them, I get overwhelmed. Is there some special addon that makes it easier to see? I can barely see my character in raids because of all the spell/environmental effects all over the screen, plus all the character/boss/enemy models being right on top of me (and usually larger!). Couple that with the fact that melee classes are required to move more than range, how do you get good at them, while keeping your rotation going and looking out for debuffs/buffs, and mechanics?

Granted, I don't have a nice mouse (I just order a razer naga, so that should help in having a ton of buttons at the tip of my fingers), but that still doesn't stop the problem of having all these effects. When I'm on my hunter, I can just sit back and watch my character AND the raid, but as melee, everything is so hectic, I have no idea where I am or what I am doing.

Help!

[Ginantonicus]

Hello, I've played hunter for all of WoD mainly, and I have every class but paladin, priest, and rogue at 100. I'd really like another class to main besides hunter, since I personally find them too easy and a little boring. Plus, they lack flavor in terms of spell animations and their gear isn't the coolest.

I've always enjoyed a lot of the melee classes while leveling up, especially monk, but whenever I try to raid as them, I get overwhelmed. Is there some special addon that makes it easier to see? I can barely see my character in raids because of all the spell/environmental effects all over the screen, plus all the character/boss/enemy models being right on top of me (and usually larger!). Couple that with the fact that melee classes are required to move more than range, how do you get good at them, while keeping your rotation going and looking out for debuffs/buffs, and mechanics?

Granted, I don't have a nice mouse (I just order a razer naga, so that should help in having a ton of buttons at the tip of my fingers), but that still doesn't stop the problem of having all these effects. When I'm on my hunter, I can just sit back and watch my character AND the raid, but as melee, everything is so hectic, I have no idea where I am or what I am doing.

Help!

If you don't have them get Deadly Boss Mod (DBM) and GTFO. Other than that its just raid awareness and practice.

[infinitemeridian]

I have DBM, how is GTFO different? Is there no way to turn down spell effects?

[Deleted]

GTFO is just an addon that tells you to move when you are standing in fire for ex

[Arewn]

Your character's position on the screen is unmoving. It's always at the center. You don't actually have to see your character to know where it is, because you're safe in the knowledge that it's in the middle of your screen.
Spell effects and character models are just decorations in WoW, they don't actually contain much key information. You don't have to see them to know what's going on because the UI is where the real information is for the most part.
Aside from having to move a bit more, it's the same as playing range for the most part. Just ignore the distractions.

[Radio]

For dealing with effects, the only real tip I can give you is to make sure that your UI provides proper room to look at your feet.

Other than that, figure out which zoom level is comfortable for you on a per fight basis and try to use your bossmod timers to predict when you could have to move rather than being surprised when it turns up.

[Bigbazz]

GTFO shouts at you when you're in fire. Best way to get good at it is to practice it, try winning proving grounds (gold/endless) and brawlers guild to get a feel for things, practice always makes better if you aim to improve what you suck at... Having a good UI is extremely important in making life easier for yourself, you should always be able to see under your characters feet during a fight, where possible.

That means not having a UI with shit everywhere left/right/top/bottom that you're looking at, you want everything you need fairly central so that your line of vision is always in the right place, any unnecessary shit is best not being visible at all, distractions are bad.. Melee can be pretty chaotic but it's not too bad when you get used to it!

[Stormeh]

All I've ever played since 2005 is melee. Rogue, Prot Warrior for a short while, then another Rogue. Levelling an alt now and it's a Feral :/ Reason why I'm so attached to energy class is back in the days you actually need to watch your mana, and it was something I was horrible at, so unlimited energy seems like the best option to me.

There is nothing chaotic about melee, in fact you have a lot of freedom to move around, the only thing other than not standing in crap is learning to always be behind the boss if possible (obviously not possible on say Gorefiend). Rotation is not something I can comment on, since I have only ever raided seriously with a rogue, but it can be a snoozefest as a rogue at times, I use all of 3 keys most of the time for my abilities, and just click the abilities i can use once every couple of mins.

For tracking debuffs, I would suggest using ClassTimers or something similar. You'll want to keep your screen as tidy as possible, particularly in the center. Stuff like combat text you should move them away because guess what, they're just numbers blocking your view. What I do is keep my ClassTimer bars just below my character, which tells me my buff status (say if I play combat I'll want to check on my SnD), or debuff on the target (say how long until rupture needs refresh), and once you get the hang of it, it's real simple to keep up rotation and move around.

Fights are a lot more forgiving now, as a melee you used to hug the boss' back religiously so you don't get cleaved and your attacks don't get dodged/parried. Once you keep that in mind and move to the back of boss as second nature, you'll be fine.

[Deleted]

Long time melee player (tank and dps).

One thing I have developed over the course of my playing is staying at the edge of a boss' hitbox.

If I'm not required to stack then I'll probably be as far out as possible, because, as you say, it's difficult to see what's happening when you are right under the boss.

DPSing while on the move just takes practice (sorry, no magic bullet to help here). What you will learn is the minimum amount of distance you need to cover to avoid mechanic X, and the minimum amount of distance you can cover within the space of a global cooldown (eg smash button x, move while you're in global cooldown, stop moving and smash button y)

How you move is another matter entirely (eg do you keyboard turn, turn with your mouse then push W, strafe etc etc)

As for how you track your debuffs, and mechanics, I don't see how that should be any different from how you currently do it on your Hunter. But for myself, I set my boss mods to highlight/emphasize the moves I personally need to look out for, and then just make sure there isn't some coloured swirly beneath my feet.