How complicated are rotations?

[someotherguy]

Hi, I am a Bad.

I'll be honest - about the time of Cata the rotations became too complicated for me.
When I play I prefer if I have no more than 7 skills I have to use, with predominant being only about 3 skills of constant button pushing.
For example before Shamans totems got bundled into a single button (where you can drop all of them at once), I didn't play shaman.
I don't mind the role of healer, tank or dps, and I don't mind any class.

With each expansion the rotation - at least to me - seemed to get more complicated.

I am not aiming at hardcore raids at all, but I like normal raiding.

So my question is - how complicated are the rotations. If you had to compare it to a previous expansion, what's it most like?

[CloudedInSanity]

Wrong Forum...

I can't speak to how hard rotations are because... they are easy. This is coming from a 14/14H raider though... kinda hard for me to explain how complicated they are when most of them, outside of Feral Druid, Combat Rogue, and Enhancement Sham are all extremely easy and straight forward.

Then again people in LFR manage to do 50k DPS with 520 iLvl...

[Unsound]

It depends on the class, but I would say the rotations now for most classes are more simple than previous expansions. If anything, they are more streamlined.

[someotherguy]

I don't think it's wrong forum, I'm interested about Warlords of Draenor, people who are in alpha I suppose.

[Wyrt]

Most rotations are only 4 or 5 abilities.

[CloudedInSanity]

I don't think it's wrong forum, I'm interested about Warlords of Draenor, people who are in alpha I suppose.

No one is playing in Alpha... Anyone "allowed" to play in Alpha is friends + family. Even then, I am pretty sure they have to sign NDA's.

[SlippyCheeze]

I don't think it's wrong forum, I'm interested about Warlords of Draenor, people who are in alpha I suppose.

Well, nobody is in the alpha, but we can tell you that you are probably going to be happy with the developer design for WoD: they want all classes to be "easy to learn, hard to master". That is: simple basic rotations, and being relatively easy to get to the 80 percent mark. So, you should find that it is within your reach.

There is plenty of depth, for example, in timing things right, or reacting to procs appropriately, but you don't *have* to care about that, and you should still be OK. Enough, certainly, to play through the easier parts of the game. Not "normal/heroic raiding" level, but good enough that if you don't care about that, you should do fine.

[someotherguy]

Well, nobody is in the alpha, but we can tell you that you are probably going to be happy with the developer design for WoD: they want all classes to be "easy to learn, hard to master". That is: simple basic rotations, and being relatively easy to get to the 80 percent mark. So, you should find that it is within your reach.

There is plenty of depth, for example, in timing things right, or reacting to procs appropriately, but you don't *have* to care about that, and you should still be OK. Enough, certainly, to play through the easier parts of the game. Not "normal/heroic raiding" level, but good enough that if you don't care about that, you should do fine.

Sounds good.

I have off topic question, what about all the gameplay videos on youtube? are those officially released? I don't understand when you and someone else said there's no one on alpha. Is it just they're more likely to post a video than comment here? (I could imagine they might make money off ads on video, but would expect blizzard to ask youtube to take it down)

[SlippyCheeze]

Sounds good.

I have off topic question, what about all the gameplay videos on youtube? are those officially released? I don't understand when you and someone else said there's no one on alpha. Is it just they're more likely to post a video than comment here? (I could imagine they might make money off ads on video, but would expect blizzard to ask youtube to take it down)

There were some media and unofficial gameplay tests at, eg, PAX East, and other media and gaming events, so many of them are, yes. That said, they just opened the alpha to select members of the public to get streams out there so... just go watch one of them now.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Rotations are usually between 4-5 keys. But you might have several rotations you have to master. For example a AOE rotation for AOEing mobs, a rotation for 1-3 targets, and a rotation for pure single target. None of them are amazingly hard, but switching on the fly constantly can be a challenge. Also you have to factor in utility bottons and such. But those are to make someone a better player and less a rotation issue. But it can butter finger people up.

[Therougetitan]

No one is playing in Alpha... Anyone "allowed" to play in Alpha is friends + family. Even then, I am pretty sure they have to sign NDA's.

There is no NDA, that's why sites like FinalBoss, WoWhead and some well known people like Crendor are streaming it.

[Jaymega]

Beats me. I always hated rotations when I played DPS. Seemed boring. Not that I was bad at them. I was a level 85 Ret in ZG gear doing 30K DPS sustained so I guess I wasn't bad. I just like tanking "rotations" better. As in, no rotations and using what is necessary at the right moments.

As far as tanking rotations go, I say it depends.Play Paladin and you have a rather simple rotation that can be expended to seriously support a raid if you feel inclined. But the basic stuff is what? 3 buttons? DK's are rather complicated to me and Warriors is just hella fun. Lots of buttons, but damn I love them all. Didn't play teh pther two so no comments. All in all, rotations are as complicated as your class goes and how much you want to excel.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

There is no NDA, that's why sites like FinalBoss, WoWhead and some well known people like Crendor are streaming it.

No NDA. Which I think is a fantastic move. Enjoying watching and listening in on new WoW action.

[Deleted]

Wrong Forum...

I can't speak to how hard rotations are because... they are easy. This is coming from a 14/14H raider though... kinda hard for me to explain how complicated they are when most of them, outside of Feral Druid, Sub Rogue, and Enhancement Sham are all extremely easy and straight forward.

Then again people in LFR manage to do 50k DPS with 520 iLvl...

Fixed it for you.

[yurano]

With each expansion the rotation - at least to me - seemed to get more complicated.

More rotational buttons and procs with each expansion for sure. A lot of classes got additional cooldowns with MoP.

[huth]

Most rotations are only 4 or 5 abilities.

You can have a very easy rotation with 10 abilities. Number alone does not make them hard.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

More rotational buttons and procs with each expansion for sure. A lot of classes got additional cooldowns with MoP.

Only problem with the CDs, at least in my opinion, is that all you did was stack them all at once. Usually right at the start of a fight as well and then used them immediately on CD again. Only time you might hold off is if you know a "lust" moment was coming up although my guild just tended to blow lust right at the start of a fight to ensure all trinket procs, CDs, and lust were tied together.

[Roxxy]

Don't forget glyphs and talents! With my spriest I need to constantly look out for mobs that are under 35% so I can proc twist of fate if I have it as a talent. And on my pally I have a glyph called 'double jeopardy' which means I need to target a new mob each time I cast judgement if I want to maximise dps. These things stack on top of the normal dps rotation with all it's procs and cooldowns, positioning requirements for spells that do the most damage at 30 yards etc... and we gonna get new level 100 talents with the next expansion!!! I can't wait....

[Anetulan]

Don't forget glyphs and talents! With my spriest I need to constantly look out for mobs that are under 35% so I can proc twist of fate if I have it as a talent. And on my pally I have a glyph called 'double jeopardy' which means I need to target a new mob each time I cast judgement if I want to maximise dps. These things stack on top of the normal dps rotation with all it's procs and cooldowns, positioning requirements for spells that do the most damage at 30 yards etc... and we gonna get new level 100 talents with the next expansion!!! I can't wait....

Yes, new level 100 talents, check them out on WoWhead.

As for the OPs question, it depends on the class. I'd say most classes have 4-5 rotational abilities with a couple cooldowns on top of that. I don't think WoD will add any extra buttons to rotations, or if it does, they will come via a talent with an optional passive talent on the row. In some cases, rotations will become less complex with the removal of some cooldowns. So, if you can handle your class in MoP, you should be fine come WoD