GUIDE - How to Ask for Help on your Class Forums

[Cyph3r]

We see it all the time, many of us have done it; you're concerned that you're not playing your class to it's full potential, so you turn to the community for advice. This is a perfectly logical, recommendable practice. However, many of you clearly don't know how to ask for advice. I can't even count how many threads I've seen that are little more than "my dps is bad I need help kthxbai!". This just isn't going to cut it, and you're not very likely to actually get the advice you're seeking.

Bear in mind that you are asking others to take time out of their day to help you. They have no real incentive for doing so, other than being a kind and generous person, so it's in your best interest to make the process as easy for them as possible. In other words, in order to get, you first have to give. Give what? Well, information of course.

Every help request should include the following:

• A link to your characters armory

• A list of the basic information about your toon, including name, race, and realm (yes this is redundant if you have included an armory link, however many players either can't or don't want to visit the armory, so this info is still needed)

• Your spec, and no, I don't mean just "arms" or "subtlety". Give a link to a calculator (such as wowtal.com), as well as a quick number breakdown (xx/yy/zz).

• Your standard rotation (for dps/tanks).

• If you have them handy, a quick breakdown of your primary stats can also help (especially those unable to visit armory pages). Doesn't have to be complex.

• If you are a pet class, tell us what pet you are using. For Frost Mages and Unholy Deathknights, this is a no-brainer, but as a Warlock or especially a Hunter, this can make a world of difference (also Hunters, if your pet isn't using a standard spec, or you are unsure, list it's spec as well).

• Links to any fight parses you may have access to. Most people won't have these, but they are one of the absolute best tools for analyzing performance.

• Any other pertinent information you may be aware of (such as if your raid commonly lacks a very significant buff, etc.)

Remember, the more information you provide, the more willing the community will be to assist you. It's extremely difficult to analyze the situation when you only have part of the whole picture. This applies to questions about leveling and pvp as well, though obviously you can get away with much less info in such cases. A good analogy here might be getting sick. A doctor wouldn't prescribe treatment until he had a chance to examine his patient thoroughly and knew all the symptoms. After all, a wrong diagnosis is no better than no diagnosis at all. Sometimes, it'll even get you killed.