Highest Mage DPS Using Best In Slot Gear From T9

Using BiS gear, excluding new content from patch 3.3, this is the  highest single target DPS there is (or was). With new Tier 10 becoming available since 3.3 hit the realms, there will be new information available soon, but since the BiS for T10 may not be available for some time now, this is as good a place as any to start.  Arcane Mages have ruled the DPS charts for some time now, and we don’t expect that to change any time soon.  Mages were designed to be the all DPS all the time channel, and this build will get you tuned in to Dominate.

Gear

http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=14306468

With best in slot gear the theoretical max for this build is higher than any other class or build in the game at 10,587 DPS.  The link above will show you a character paper doll screen at wowhead where you can take a peek at the gear you are looking for. This figure(DPS) is calculated based on a 300 seconds encounter on a single target, level 83 mob.

Talent Build

http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=14306468#talents

Glyphs

• Arcane Blast
• Arcane Missiles
• Molten Armor
• Slow Fall
• Arcane Intellect
• Fire Ward

Of course, the minor glyphs are completely up to you, but the major glyphs are a must have for maximum DPS.

Priorities

Ironically enough, this has got to be one of the simplest rotations in the game …

• Molten Armor
• Icy Veins
• Arcane Missiles
• Arcane Blast
• Trinket (On Use Items)
• Mirror Image
• Arcane Barrage (if Moving and Blast Has 4 Stack or no Missile proc)

It’s basically 2 buttons, that’s it, Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles.  Lather, rinse, repeat, throw in a Mirror Image and an Icy Veins from time to time, top the charts, mash more buttons, yawn, Dominate. As counter-intuitive as this may sound, No, you don’t use Arcane Barrage, it’s just not as cost effective. Build up with Arcane Blast and then lay down the Arcane Missiles and do it over and over.  The rest of the things in the list just increase the output of your two main spells.  You can throw in a Barrage if you are on the run and dont want to waste a 4 stack of Blast, but if you can stand still – missiles is the only way to go.

10,587 DPS Arcane Mage Single target damage spread

Like we said, pretty simple.  Hit Icy veins every time it’s up, pop your trinkets as soon as they are off cool down and the rest of the list in order.  It’s pretty much just Blast and Missiles. Use Mirror image to multiply your damage output , but keep in mind it is last on the list and should be timed properly.  You should be able to easily get them all in, however.

Pawn Scale

( Pawn: v1: “Arcane”: HitRating=3.7733, HasteRating=2.1107, SpellDamage=1.8406, Spirit=1.2953, CritRating=1.1455, Intellect=1.0797 )

As you can see Hit rating is THE biggest priority, more then Haste and SP combined! Every spell you miss is damage you’re not doing and a cool down you just wasted. If you’re already hit capped and know how to juggle when to get more hit and when to skip it for Haste, you can use the next scale:

( Pawn: v1: “Arcane”: HitRating=0.0000, HasteRating=2.1107, SpellDamage=1.8406, Spirit=1.2953, CritRating=1.1455, Intellect=1.0797 )

There is quite a bit of information for you on this page, and this write up doesn’t account for mana management, but this is something you should be fairly familiar with by now. Stay tuned for more builds in different specs for every class over the next month or so. If you liked this you’ll LOVE what’s coming next.

Don’t be Great, Dominate!

36 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

With Great Power comes Great Responsibility.

Despite what you may believe, it’s not easy leading a guild, ask any leader who’s guild has been around for more then one or two patches. We’ll be covering various aspect of Guild Leadership over the coming months. Dominating is more than just about DPS and gear.

In the last few months there have been quite a few things going on in-game for Dominate. With new leadership, sometimes you also get new ideas. One of the biggest challenges that any guild faces on a regular basis is dealing with the guild bank, funding it and allowing access to resources.

For starters you should know that it costs nearly 10,000 gold (9350 to be precise) to get all 6 possible bank tabs so before you gripe about your rights as a member, rememeber that someone paid for the bloody thing. Every guild has it’s own system for keeping it filled and it’s own ideas about how to use it and who should have access. Of course for most guild the problem isn’t distribution of wealth, really, the real challenge is Acquisition of said wealth to distribute.

Just as in-game we strive to give you tips and tricks to make your gaming experience more enjoyable, so too in this series we’ll share with you some things that we’ve picked up along the way.

There is no single way to fund the guild bank just as there is no single way to spend the resources in it. Cataclysm will make this significantly easier with the option to tithe members whenever they loot anything. Until then, here’s a nifty and fun little way to go about it.

Submitted Anonymously

GuildLotto

The basic premise of this strategy is exactly the same as most state lotteries. everyone who wants to, buys a “ticket”. At a set date, there is a “draw” and the winner takes home a large purse (say half the pot) and the other half goes to the guild bank . You can take this concept and tweak it all you want, I’ll just detail how we at Dominate are going about it.

There will be a lottery (4 actually) that anyone can buy into. Out of all the money accumulated from “ticket” purchases, half will go to the winner and half will go to the guild bank for mats, flasks and reagents to help fund the raiding (or whatever special project you have in mind)

Dominate will host 4 lotteries:
The Lowbie lottery:

- Only open to those who don’t have a toon past 70
- Only 1 entry per person/human being (not character, not account)
- 5 gold entry
- 2 winners (50% and 25% of the pot respectively)
- 1 draw/week (Fridays?)

Leveling Loto:

- Only one entry /human player
- Open to anyone in the guild
- 25 gold buy in
- 1 draw/week (Fridays?)

Raider Loto:

- Only one entry /human
- Open to anyone in guild
- 100 gold buy in
- 1 draw/week (Fridays?)

There will also be an EPIC Lottery:

- Only 1 entry /human
- Only open to those who raid, are present or contributing in some way to Guild Raids.
- 1000 gold buy in
- 1 draw/MONTH (On the first of the month?)

Game Rules:

In order for this to work it has to be administered in fairness, impartiality and with complete transparency or you may as well just disband your guild right now.

If you ever lose the Respect and the Trust of your guildies, you are Finished as a guild Leader.

If you decide to play the Lottery you will be assigned a number (sequentialy) that will be yours as long the lottery is in place. There is no easy way to do this quickly and fairly in-game so we have to accommodate the rules of participation to the in-game mechanics available to us. In that respect, once a guild member choses to participate to the Lottery they will be attributed a number (sequential seems easiest for our purposes) and that number will not change (for admin purposes)

• All ticket purchases should be sent to a single character, created specificaly for this purpose: “<Guild>Lotto” character preferably from your main toon, stating which characters you are contributing for (Name your Alts) .
• Draws will be made from a /roll 1-xx (Where is the number of contributors) from that toon: <Guild>Loto.

• The Guild Bank will be aloted the first number to every lotery (roll 1 = Guild bank wins) but will re-roll for the lowbie Loto. Should the guild bank win a roll , the entire sum gets rolled over to next week’s Jack Pot

• If someone doesn’t want to play that week or doesn’t pay in time for the roll, and their fixed number comes up all the money is rolled over into the pot for next week’s “bouble jackpot “

• All roll will be made in the presence of at least 3 witnesses, Idealy in a raid group so everyone who’s interested can see the actual roll.

The purpose of this lottery is to supply the guild bank with sufficient funds to help out the Raiders with Flasks, Reagents, Enchants, pay for repair bills and whatever else the guild need. After all it’s a lot easier to raid when your gear is enchanted and socketed and you have flasks and repairs are paid for.

Just as there are rules for the lottery so too should there be basic rules for the administration.  Here are some guidelines:

1. Full disclosure and complete transparency (Not optional)
2. Clear, pre-established rules/guidelines as to where the money will go and who will have access to it.
3. A spreadsheet with everyone’s positions (numbers) will be made available to everyone in the guild as well as the totals for each jackpot. Web site, FTP, in-game mail, e-mail … whatever it takes.
4. Communicate with your members. Informed guild mates are trusting guild mates.

Everyone has his/her own idea of how it should be done, we’re just trying to share some ideas. Feel free to add your ideas on how you fund your guild bank, I’d love to hear about other success stories out there.

6 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

Anyone who’s been playing on-line games for a while will understand where I’m coming from with this and Dominate is no exception. Every guild/group/association goes through this, be it in WoW or even in real life to a certain extent.

If you haven’t guessed it yet this is going to be one of those thought-provoking-life-changing-deep-seeded-realization articles (or some reasonable facsimile )

As we speak Dominate on Fenris is going through it’s 4th iteration (cycle). Some of the players are new some have been here since the beginning and yet others are returning after a hiatus but all share a common goal. Any guild that is to survive this cycle  must have one if nothing else to truly rise from the ashes: a purpose.

The Birth:

Dominate (for those who don’t know yet) is a loose association of like minded individuals that stems from a web site (www.DominateYourServer.com). It all started on the web with Gavin putting up tips from time to time to help anybody get better at WoW. Over time this eventually lead to the creation of guides: Horde Leveling guide, AH Mastery guide. Popular demand is the real reason there is a Dominate guild on Fenris in the first place. When the guild was started everyone had a common goal: Dominate, Raid and Progress through content as a group. And we did through every cycle to varying degrees.

The First steps:

After everyone signed the charter and we had 150 members in the first 2 weeks it was time to see what we can do with all the toons. We all started running heroics and doing the special events in anticipation of the next expansion (Wrath). When the expansion hit it was a good ‘ol fashioned leveling race to 80 through new content with almost no outside help. Wowhead was incomplete, no web site had any real information on anything even the Horde leveling guide had us running to Alliance quest givers on occasion. 14 days after the launch of Wrath we had enough to form our own 5-mans on a consistent basis with new 80s popping up every day and the true spirit of this guild shining bright. Everyone was there helping everyone else out with advice, materials, professions and anything else we needed. There was a real sense that we were going to do something great.

Growing up:

It wasn’t long we had 5-man dungeon runs every night and anyone that came online would find a group really easily, we were getting all the gear we could in anticipation of our first real challenge: Naxxramas, a zone that would make or break us. A month after the expansion had launched we had enough “geared” 80s to head into Naxx … And wipe the whole night without killing a single boss. We took it in stride after a great motivational speech from our Guild Leader we went back to the drawing board and got more gear from heroics, OS and VoA. By the next raid lock out period we were ready for our next crack at taming the beast. That night we cleared spider wing and one more boss, everyone had gotten some piece of loot and we felt great, so great we spent as much time talking about that raid in vent afterward as we did actually in the instance. We were on fire and the world of Azeroth was our oyster.

The glory “years”:

After that week we started on the road to conquer the rest of that place we had most bosses on Farm in no time. We were attracting more and more people every week and it didn’t take long to build up 2 complete 10-man raid teams. After that 25 Man Naxx was ours for the taking. Our players were gaining experience and everyone was getting more gear every day. We were updating our guild ranking every day in whichever web site was most used at the time and we managed to crack the top 10 server after only 2 weeks of raiding Naxx 25. That spurred the troops onward and KT was ours to pwn.

The beginning of the End:

Just when things were rocking and we were doing good that’s when we started seeing the problems. Like all guilds we had our share of problems, from Key Officers going AWOL for personal matters,  to squabbles over spoils and even the occasional public rivalries between the Tanks. We also had people leave the guild for a more “hard core” raiding guild after they got geared up with us and learned all the fights and the ones who left because we “didn’t raid enough” or at the “right times”. There was also a member who got his account hacked and even though Blizzard did eventually restore all it, he’s never really come back. Others just got tired of the game and simply needed a break be it because of real life constraints on their time or simply a genuine need for a break. I don’t know if it was any of these alone that did it but I am certain that the confluence of events led to our eventual collapse. I got to tell you the higher you climb, the longer the fall seems. One particular week we missed a raid because there simply wasn’t any Tank on-line, the next raid night we were short 3 healers. Then we said let’s resume raiding in 10 days or whenever the next patch comes out, but some people have a very short attention span and needed their raid fix then and there. Ultimately when patch day hit the guild just wasn’t the same and we had to start over again.

From the ashes:

Dominate was started from a web site that had one single goal in mind: to help the average player become better. We have, from the beginning, been brought together by an ideal and a common sense of “dominating and having fun doing it”. Because of that Dominate can never really die, those who believe in what we stand for will be there through thick and thin, the hard times and the good. Those who believe that helping people level (through hints and tips and knowledge and possibly a phenomenal leveling guide)  is just as important as gearing the new 80s and Raiding Ulduar or any new raid out there ( ToC, Onyxia, Icecrown etc.)  This, the true Spirit that holds us together, can weather any storm.

Copy and paste this back to back a couple times with different people and it could very well be the story of any guild on any server.

Starting over … Again:

Gavinn and Lawbringer have both stepped down from the day-to-day leadership of Dominate and some of the more experienced players and some newer ones that have believed in what we stand for since the beginning have stepped up to the plate to rebuild in the Spirit of Dominate. With the help of others we are rebuilding from the ground up the guild was formed over a year ago with one purpose: a Casual Raiding/Training Guild. We have really high hopes and even higher expectations. Whether  you are in the middle of leveling your first toon or if you’re at your 5th 80, we have need of every class to rebuild the Dominate guild on Fenris Horde side.

Getting it Right:

If you like helping out other people and don’t mind answering the occasional noob questions or if you’d always wanted to ask some noob question but have always been scared of the backlash in trade chat, then Dominate is for you. If you are sick of the drama and would like to play the game in a friendly, cuss-free atmosphere where respect and a positive attitude are the primary criteria of entry, you’re more then welcome to join us : Horde side on Fenris server(/who Dominate)

As of this writing:

1. Dominate GM: Anibow (DK)
2. Second in command/Raid Leader: Dindrane (Prot/Holy Paladin … aka Agorg)

These are some of the things that we have learned along the way and have decided to incorporate into the current cycle in order to grow:

• Better communication between the guild leadership, its members and officers.
• Using the Spirit of DominateYourServer.com as the unwritten rule of the guild.
• Actually helping players of all levels (including 1-79) learn to play their class and play as a team.
• Organize runs for lower levels .
• Help the newer 80s get gear as well as experience raiding.
• Getting every 80 their free Bronze drake … I like free.
• Restructuring the guild staff so that all jobs get done by those who enjoy them.
• Restructuring ranks in a visually meaningful manner.
• Getting some PvP in there as well (Premade BGs, daily PvP, Holiday PvP etc)

That’s not to say that we’re perfect but we do try to make a difference wherever we can.  We are once again on the look out for like minded people that believe in what we stand for. Wherever you are in the world of Azeroth: always DOMINATE!

29 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

We’ve told you before to level cooking alongside of Fishing. You’ve heard us say over and over that cooking can get you some gold and how every class in the game can benefit something from cooking. You’ve also heard us tell you how big of a pain in the @$$ it is. Then THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. We’ll show you how to get cooking to 350 in an hour.  There are complete guides to the actual festival itself out there but this article will focus exclusively on the cooking aspect of it.

It all has to do with Pilgrim Festival. This will require you to run from Undercity(Stormwind) to Orgrimar(IronForge) and ThunderBluff(Darnassus) but will net you a bit of gold and those precious cooking levels that are such a pain to get. Assuming you’ve got no skill in cooking you’ll want to get to Undercity and train up cooking at the Pilgrim Festival Cooking trainer.  Buy the Bountiful cookbook from the vendor and open it up to pick up the 5 Festival recipes and learn the first one right away: Spice Bread Stuffing

Undercity/Stormwind

Buy:

• 60x Simple Flour
• 60x Mild Spices
• Create 60x Spice Bread

The recipe will go gray on you at 40 but you’ll get to use the extra you buy to make the last few points.  Once you’ve got 60x Spice Bread, combine it with 60xAutomnal Herbs (from Pilgrim Vendor) to make 60xSpice Bread Stuffing and get to 100 cooking (or a little more).  Don’t forget to train up cooking before you get to 75 cooking skill or you’ll have to re-cook the bread. Learn Pumpkin pie recipe (at 100)

Buy

• 70x Ripe Tirisfal(Elwynn Pumpkin)
• 70x Honey
• Create 70x Pumpkin Pie

Again remember to train up cooking when you get to 125 (but before 150).  Once you hit 160 cooking, learn the Cranberry Chutney recipe and travel to your next destination (Orgrimar/Ironforge).

Orgrimar/Ironforge

Buy:

• 70x Tangy Southfury Cranberries(TangyWetland Cranberries)
• 70x Honey
• Create 70x Cranberry Chutney

Again remember to train up cooking when your skill reaches 200 and before it hits 225. Learn the Candied Sweet Potato recipe at 220 cooking and move on to your next destination: ThunderBluff/Darnassus

Thunder Bluff/Darnasuss

Buy:

• 70x Mulgore Sweet Potato (Teldrasil Sweet Potato)
• 70x Honey
• Create 70x Candied Sweet Potato

Train cooking between 275 and 300 and return to Undercity/ Stormwind for the last part of this adventure.  This part will require you run around like a turkey after … well … Wild Turkeys

Go outside Undercity/Darnassus and kill Wild Turkeys and remember to loot them, you’ll need quite a few so don’t be shy they are scattered all over the start area and spawn rather quickly.

Back to Undercity/Stormwind

Buy:

• 140x Honey
• 70x Automnal Herbs
• kill 70x Wild Turkeys
• Create 70x SlowRoasted Turkeys

Voila! Your cooking skill should be at 350 or a little above (355?) In the process you’ve managed to accomplish all the seasonal cooking quests and have enough for 3 days’ worth of dailies. All of which should buy you more then enough Turkey Shooters to turn all the rogues you need for the achievement (assuming you don’t miss too often)

This is BY FAR the cheapest and most effective way to level cooking you’ll ever get. The recipes don’t go yellow until you’re 10 pts away from the next one (which is whyI make you buy 70 instead of the minimum 60 you really need). To be honest I didn’t do the math on this and it’s so cheap that I’m not even going to bother. 5-10 gold ? … the amount is infinitesimal, ridiculous even.

Regardless whether you do the seasonal events or not this is a DOMINATING way to level cooking and it only comes around once/year so better take advantage of it now or you’ll regret it come Christmas when you need to get your MerryMaker title. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

16 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

So far we’ve met the GEAR HOG the FONZ Today we’ll introduce you to his gang, The Dudes and the Diva. There are many others that you will be familiar with so I’ve listed some here for you

1 High pitched kid
2  Splinter butt
3 The quite ones
4 Drama queen/prima Donna
6 The leveling nut
7 Reverend
8 LOADS OF MONEY
8 Tactician
9Mr fix it// or leave it to…

These are some there will be others I have only mentioned the types that stay in a guild. And, yes, I will do articles for all the above I hope you enjoy them and take them in good heart.

Some of the above are essential for running a well honed long term guild. Now when I say long term I mean long term not 6 months I mean years! I will go into these in more depth and in a far more serious style in a article about how to run a guild at an ulterior time. Ok, that’s far too long being sensible so let’s see who can we pick on next.

Oh! Yes! A personal favorite of mine. You see I’m a Brit I play only in U.S. servers, I’ve played many different game formats and I’ve been playing with some of these guys/gals for nearly 10 years (That’s a long term guild) and for the last 4 years we have been in wow.

Now we are in DOMINATE so, I digress, as I said I’m English! I stick out in vent like a zit on a preacher’s nose as he asks you for your vows…

The Diva

The Diva

You instantly know when the DIVA enters the game or vent they seem to ghost across the channel or screen. Their voice is very deep and very seductive and they hang onto the end of words just so…

Now without meaning any offense, so please don’t lynch me (oh cow boy thing going there). They are, normally, shall we say, gentlemen. They are perhaps more in touch with their feminine side, not that there’s anything wrong with that, more chicks for me.

Although there are some ladies I could mention as well who melt at the sound of my English voice in Vent. You can hear them melting into a puddle every time I speak and everyone just falls about laughing (including them might I add)

Or I’ll be explaining something in vent and they will ask me: “Can you repeat that?”
Someone else will say: “What don’t you understand about it?”
And the DIVA (male or female) will say: “Oh, I understand, I just wanted to hear Ani say it. I love the way he says [whatever]”

Now, it’s not just how they react to me and my voice, it’s how they carry that whole persona to their toon. You can always tell a DIVA by the way they act and talk in chat and vent. They are always sweet and considerate, always immaculately turned out toons.

And always a good player their manners and grace in vent and chat are a pleasure to behold and for me they’re as funny as hell. They’re not just great they DOMINATE but they do it in style darling.

The Dudes.

So one by one they join vent and you know its them because like a thief in the night they come in and drop to the pad (their channel in vent) without a word and leave the same way: it’s The Dudes.

The Dudes

They are so cool that they’re red hot,
I mean they have the lot, the hair, the talk, and swaggering walk.
Like a scene from west side story.
They’re in it for the glory with a flick of their comb,
Some poor n00b just got pwned.
Yet it if you meet one on one in vent,
Their vileness is spent.
Till the Fonz joins in,
Then the house is rocking.

Let’s face it they’re COOL with a capital C
And it’s no secret that their leader is Z.

I mean when these guys are jumping some suckers in for thumping [so cool that they’re]
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

In BGs it’s a tactical take down,
The other teams having a nervous breakdown.
The opposite team gets the flag to make it turn red,
But before they know it: they are all dead.
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

On the prowl high up in ice crown
They see a victim fighting on the ground.
From that moment his chances diminish
He’s in for a bloody finish.
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

Yes! They’re cool and they’re good,
But they’re no Robin Hood.
They aren’t in it for fun,
They just wanna nuke someone.
Ice ice baby[ ding dada ding dada ding ding ] ice ice baby

Now it sounds like they’re just parading,
But they’re the best at hard core raiding.
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

Don’t get me wrong, don’t think these guys are twats,
Just take a look at the stats!
I mean these guys aren’t just great,
They really DOMINATE !!
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby

Just because the guys turned alliance,
They ain’t lost their taste for violence.
In case I didn’t mention
These guys are now DYSSENTION!!
Ice ice baby [ding dada ding dada ding ding] ice ice baby…….

11 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

EVERY GUILD ON EVERY SERVER HAS:

I thought I’d give our fellow readers a break from the monotony of gearing guides, tanking and numbers to throw a little perspective your way. Over the years of playing on-line games, you come to realize that there are some people who are always there; their voice, name and appearance may change but they are always there. Here is a look at two of these types of people that you have certainly come across if you’ve played video games for any length of time.

The Gear Hog:

The Gear Hog

You know how when you’re in vent and someone has a question about the best way to set their video settings, and you’re trying to walk them though the process in detail, when suddenly a voice cuts across your Vent with some inane chatter that has absolutely nothing to do with your conversation?

It’s always the same person.  Mostly likely, the first thing they say when they come online is: “Guess what gear I got from my last run?” or “You should have run this instance last night that weapon you need dropped” or if you’re in vent and they are in a group/raid that you are not in they will happily tell you everything that drops, as it drops. And if you are in a group/raid that they aren’t in, as soon as they know you have finished they will ask what dropped… And even when you are in the same group/raid, they will always announce what has dropped even before the loot master has had a chance to see it.

They always want to roll on every item and always want to NEED on every item they CAN use, even if their current gear is better. Their own gear is never good enough for them, yet they are always one of the best geared members of the guild. This goes for everything from weapons to armor, trinkets to rings, pets and mounts. They say their age is 24ish but sound and act more like 14ish [and that’s most likely their real age].

They annoy the hell out of everyone in the guild, but to be fair 97% of the guild doesn’t mind, 1% hates them and 2% loves them. Let’s face it: every guild needs one, they always know where to get that trinket you need or the best way to spend your marks or emblems and are a great source of knowledge. Love them or hate them, let’s face facts: their insight to getting gear will help you DOMINATE. The Gear Hog: what would we do without them?
{on a personal note if you recognize yourself above and you know me, take solace in the fact I am of the 2% that loves you}

The Fonz:

The Fonz

So you join a guild and get into vent and everyone is cool. There’s the normal mix: the Gear Hog, the High Pitched Kid, the Fence Man, the Dudes, the Quiet Ones, Loads-o-Money, the Drama Queen, the Diva, Mr. Fix it and others. They all get on well, the banter is flying, there’s the odd cuss word but nobody moans and everyone is jolly.

That’s when the Fonz (leader of the Dudes) comes in vent. Everyone can recognize the Fonz: every other word is a cuss word, it’s all about how this [expletive] n00b got pwnd and that [expletive] ninja took this. All of a sudden the Dudes, that up until now have been well behaved, suddenly follow suit and vent is racing with cussing and badmouthing every other player on the realm. It really makes you wonder why the others put up with this? In 2 seconds flat the whole ambiance of vent has gone from being fun and at ease to being in a hooligans’ bar on the wrong side of town.

Finally, someone decides to get a Raid Group together and you are tossed an invite to a 25 man Ulduar raid with all the above mentioned players. Now you really want in on this raid – it’s the reason you joined the guild in the first place. So you decide to go, after all if they’re raiding, they will be too busy to talk their garbage. So you set off in anticipation of getting a chance to show you’re worthy of your guild invite.

You step into Ulduar, the buffs go up, the fish feast goes down and the Tactician starts to tell everyone how the fight goes, who’s tanking what and where, off tank, heals, DPS. He describes the fight in depth for those that don’t know the fight, warns what attacks and debuffs to look for. Just then, the Fonz adds his words of wisdom along the lines of: “Just f……… tank and spank, if you die, you’re a [expletive] n00b, come on lets go, can we pull now?”

The Tactician interjects with something along the lines of: “Yes, it’s alright for those of us that have done this, but let’s give everyone a chance” Kindly reminding the Fonz that not everyone has been here a million times yet.

Fonz says: “Screw that lets go, if you die don’t release, watch the fight and if you die again your a [expletive] n00b”

All the time you’re thinking: “Jeez, why do they put up with this Jerk?!?” You don’t want to say anything because you’re new to the guild, so you suffer in silence and hope that you at least get some emblems to make it worthwhile. This sounds like a wipe in the making.

Well, the raid finally gets underway and the gutter talk is still going on but the raid is going surprisingly well. You settle into your stride, working your rotation, avoiding the fire and stepping out of void zones, you check your DPS and Yeah! You’re doing your average looking good, then you notice the Fonz’s DPS is almost twice what you’re putting out and the dudes are way up there too. So you pay attention to the Fonz on screen and you finally get why everyone puts up with him: yes, he portrays himself as a bad ass dude in vent, but when you see him in game: WOW! This guy must be cheating he can’t be that l33t can he? I mean he’s obnoxious, self centered, rude, opinionated, all in all a right royal pain in the backside. Yet he is a one man army and at the end of the run, your ears are bleeding and your head is throbbing but you don’t care: your bags are full of new gear, you got emblems, you got some gold and you can’t wait for the next run.

It’s funny because 6 months down the line, he still annoys the hell out of you, but you find when it’s just the two of you in vent, he is a polite, helpful person but the second anyone else joins vent, he turns back into the Fonz.

So, despite all his bad points with him on your side, you will always Dominate

The Above article’s credit goes mostly to Anibow for original script and to Agorg/Dindrane for editing and applying structure, punctuation, grammar, syntax, the space bar and the return key to the original text. What can I say folks he’s a fighter, not a writer.

If you want to come check us out in-game you can see the necessary information to reach us here: DYS.com Guild Info.

Until next time, keep on DOMINATING.

22 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

Buffs you need and gear you want to have before you hit 80 or as soon as you do.

Cooking is good, Fishing is better:

Paladins are the only class that truly double dip when it comes to food: they benefit from both Attack Power AND Spell Power simultaneously (DKs get spellpower from their Str and AP mostly and not from gear). If you haven’t caught on yet, I’m talking about every Raider’s favorite: Fish Feast. Alternately when questing and getting up to 80 or if you’re feeling selfish and want to save your feasts (or can’t make them yet) you can go for the Dalaran Clam Chowder.

Seriously however, you really should consider leveling Fishing and Cooking. You will often be asked to lead groups and if you want your group to perform at its best, how can you ask them that if you’re too cheap to do it yourself? At the very least Clam Chowder for a regular buff food. The best place to “fish up a feast” is, of course, WintersGrasp. Where asides from risking a ganking at all times the three ingredients you need for fish feast are the only thing that you get out of there along with Giant Clams that contain Succulent Clam Meat for the Chowder.  In no other fishing spot will you get the chance to fish up all 3: Glacial Salmon, Muscleback Sculpin and Nettlefish. Anywhere else in Northrend, you can only find 2 out of 3 of those at the same place at best. There is both a Cooking and Fishing guide of you look through the DYS.com archives, you have no excuses.

Flasks:

There are really only 2 flasks for the Tank: depending on the situation: Flask of StooneBlood and Flask of Endless Rage. The first (Stone Blood) is THE tanking flask since you can never have enough health. I only mention the second one because that’s what I use when I’m bored in a 5-man (and have gold to burn) and want to show off my 2500DPS … as a Tank.

I wouldn’t recommend using those for 5-mans since they can be a little pricey but in a raid the Stone Blood is not really an option.

Starter gear: Crafted/purchasable items:

If money isn’t an issue for you because you’ve Mastered the AH, it should make gearing up significantly easier. There are 3 crafted (from Black Smithing) items that are perfect to start you on the road to tanking:

The real Starter set can be found here (Tempered Saronite set) All level 78 Crafted gear. When it comes to Epic items however, you’ll want:

• Helm
• Boots
• Titansteel Shield Wall

Again if money isn’t an issue for you I highly recommend getting a Darkmoon Card: Greatness (Strength) It can be considered a DPS trinket but I still use it in Ulduar and ToC just because of the 99+330 Strength (Augmented by BoK and/or BoS), especially now (since 3.2) that your Spell Power is directly tied to that stat (60%): 66+220 SP is really not negligible thanks to Talents.

Later on, or right now if you are inclined and have even more money to spend on your Tanking set, there are a few BoE items from Naxx, Ulduar and ToC that may be of particular interest to you if they are available on the AH and if the price is right:

• Cloak of the iron Council (lvl 219)
• Bracers of Dalaran’s Parapets (lvl 213)
• Inexorable Sabatons (lvl 213)
• Spiked DeathDealers (vl 226)
• Band/Signet of the Traitor King (lvl 245)
• Signet of the Earthshaker (lvl 226)
• Northern Barrier (lvl 226)

Should you want to splurge even more there are the new Craftable items that require Runed Orbs and or Crusader Orbs:

• Breastplate of the White Knight (Horde and Alliance each have their own version)
• Saronite Swordbreakers (Horde and Alliance version differ in look only)
• Indestructible Plate Girdle

For a more complete overview: check out the Quick Gearing Guide for the want-to-be Raider.

Gemming and Enchanting:

You really should check out WoW-Heroes.com to get a complete overview of your character (must be 70) and see what’s missing. This site generates a gear score that most people will be referring to, it allows you to see at a glance someone’s gear and although gear doesn’t tell the whole story (Experience and Ability) seeing a Tank with a lower gear score and all of his gems slots socketed and all his gear enchanted tells me that he at least knows enough to gear up, and that more then most want-to-be tanks will bother with.

You gemming priorities should be:

• Blue: Stamina
• Red: Strength or combine with Blue or Yellow to activate Socket Bonus
• Yellow: Defense > Hit rating (after Def cap) > Crit Rating but only after both Def and Hit are maxed.
• Feel free to mix the above stats if you want to activate the socket bonus of your gear or ignore it if you have a specific goal in mind (540 Def ?)

Enchanting has already been covered in a previous article.

Gearing up to Raid:

We just published a Quick Gearing guide for the want-to-be Raider. All the information in there applies as much to Paladins as it does to any other class. This is the fastest (as of 3.2) way to gear up for Raiding. If you want more information then this guide provides we encourage you to head over to:

• TankSpot.com
• ElitistJerks.com (Must create an account to see the forums)

Both of those sites are a Fantastic source of information from Videos to every boss encounter in Azeroth to Theory Crafting like you’ve never seen it. Tank Spot has Cider’s Easy 540 Defense Gear Guide

Champion’s seals

There will eventualy be a whole article on champion’s seals, but for the purpose of Tanking as a Paladin the only item that is of value here is Axe of the Sen’Jin Protector (for the Horde) and the Teldrasill Protector (for you Alliance folks) if you are having a hard time getting the Bread Cutter (look at the animation) or the Red Sword of Courage from Utgarde Pinnacle.

Any of those 3 weapons will do but only the * Protector weapon can be purchased, where as the others depend on Blizzard’s Random Number Generator.

That prety much rounds out this section of the Paladin Guide to tanking. I’m sure that there are things I missed but this is meant as a “starter” guide for those new to Paladins or Tanking or even being 80 and less for the experienced hard core raider who already knows all this. Of course comments and feed back is greatly appreciated.

Also you can check us out in-game if you’re curious or have questions: DominateYourServer.com Guild info

Part 1 – The Basics

Part 2 – Combat Ratings

Part 3 – Armor: Mitigation vs. Avoidance

Part 4 – Hit Table and Threat Generation

Part 5  – Abilities and Rotation

Part 6 – Professions and Upgrades

Part 7 – Buffs and Starter Gear (you are Here)

13 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

Raid gearing guide for the new 80.

(We’ve had some reports that this article didn’t come up properly so I had to update it)
“So i made it to 80 now what do i do?? I  am lost: HELP!!”

We hear it or read it in chat every day and once again it came up in the replies to Law’s wonderful article on Lore. Now I must admit: if it wasn’t for my fellow guildies at DOMINATE I would still be totally lost apart from all the new reputations to work for and daily quest for professions and the factions, you have all the other dailies for rep and the heroic dailies and all the new instances. And you can’t even get a group to do any of them.

You see in trade: “LFM HTOC” or “LF2M Heals+ DPS for H CoS (Daily)” or what ever and you whisper said person only to receive a whisper back 4 to 5 mins later: “Sorry, full” and you sit there thinking how do these others get their whisper in 1st? Don’t I type quick enough? Then you find out it is down to your gear score “Sorry your gear score is too low” and you don’t want to ask because you already feel as useful as a chocolate tea pot.

Whether you’re new to the game or it’s your 17th 80 these steps are a must for anyone that even remotely wants to raid.  Since patch 3.2 gear has become more and more easily available so we thought we’d publish a quick reference guide to Raid gearing. None of these steps require you to enter a single 10-man raid.

There are 5 things you should focus on:

Reputation with the right Faction for your Head Enchant:

This is one of those things that nobody can do for you, yet will be using for every single spec and every single head slot piece of gear you will ever wear.  Depending on what you choose to do,  you will need to raise your reputation for a different Faction: You need only hit Revered for the best Enchant. Go pick up the tabard of the appropriate faction and wear it in every heroic you do.

Kirin’Tor: Caster DPS

Argent Crusade: Tank

Knights of the Ebon Blade: Melee DPS

Wyrmrest Accord: Healing

Reputation with Sons of Hodir for your Shoulder Enchant:

Again this is another one of those things that nobody can do for you but are worth it since they will be applicable to every piece of gear you ever equip on that character regardless of talent choices.

It used to be that you had to complete the entire quest chain and do the dailies for a whole month to get to Exalted, then Blizzard saw fit to simplify the process and allow you to trade in the (Back then BoP) Relics of Ulduar for some Rep with Sons of Hodir. Next they made the relics BoE so you now could theoreticaly buy your way to exalted .

Recelty Blizzard has introduced yet another way to get faction rep with the only faction in the game that gives lvl 80 Shoulder enchant: Comendation Badge: Sons of Hodir. They can be obtained from doing the REGULAR Daily. This is fantastic since you can complete the quest while doing it on Heroic as well and pick up the Emblems of Conquest that every boss will be happy to drop for you.
(Note: Scribes (Character that level the Inscription trade skill) can do a much upgraded, self-only version to shoulder enchant but that’s another matter all together)

Crusader’s Coluseum: Trial of the Champion: Reg + Heroic

This new instance (since 3.2) is your easiest stop for level 200-219 gear. Regular ToC will drop level 200 gear from every boss. You can clear it on Regular, step out, reset the instance and do it all over again. In fact you should do your best to run through that place as many times as you possibly can and pick up all the drops that you can. If you run it often enough it’s also a great place to gear up your second spec.

Running the Heroic give you Ulduar-level gear from every boss, including weapons and shoulders. By far the easiest place to pick up 219 starter gear.

Doing the Daily Heroic for the Emblems of Triumph:

Every time you turn in the Heroic Daily quest you will be rewarded with gold as well as 2  Emblems of Triumph. These are your all access pass to Tier 9 and level 245 gear. They can be obtained at a rate of 2/day this way. Emblems of Conquest are the fringe benefit that doubles your payout for these runs along with the actual gear that may or may not drop for you. You can also obtain them from the fire bosses in VoA and Onyxia.

Running Heroics for the Emblems of Conquest:

At this point there is nothing stopping you from doing more Heroics and picking up Emblems of Conquest. Emblems of Conquest: Pick up ~250 of them to obtain 2-piece T-8 (Head and Chest), Neck, Waist, Hands, Pants and Ranged. All of the Conquest gear is level 226 and will contribute greatly to your cause (Gearing up)

Knowing where you stand:

With that being said, you should also have tools to tell you where you stand and what you still need to work on. For both of the web sites below: enter your time zone, your realm(server) and your character’s name and look yourself up.

www.WoW-Heroes.com for a very good overall picture of your current situation gear-wise (My personal favorite).

www.WoWHead.com/?Profiles For the same thing (slightly different) from WoWHead.

Do those 5 things and it really won’t talk long to get a 2250 gear score and more. Gear score is what quite a few people will judge you by when you ask to get into a raid. It is not a complete picture however since it doesn’t account for experience or knowledge of the game but it is here for you and you should take full advantage of resources at your disposal.

There are far too many items in each category to list them all: That’s what WoWHead.com is there for you. Hopefully this will give you a sense of direction to get geared up.

Now get out there and DOMINATE.

23 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

This is a little last minute folks but I wanted to get it out there as soon as I could verify the accuracy of the article.

Since Blizzard instituted the 2hr return policy on BoP items, it is now possible to complete the BrewMaster Achievement in a week or so. and here is how you do it:

Start the festivities and do all the available quests you can, save up all your coins until you have 350 of them (200 for the chest, 100 for the boots and 50 for the hat).

This requires doing the dailies every day for the 25 coins and the ram racing barrel hauling one for anywhere from 10 to 26 more coins, depending on how well you can race your Ram.

Once you’ve got your 350 coins (or more) you can:

• Buy the 3 pieces of clothing you need
• Get completely smashed
• Hearth to Dalaran
• /dance
• Take the portal to Org/IF
• Return your clothing for a full refund
• Purchase the brew of the month club membership
• read it to start the quest.
• Complete that quest for the BrewMaster Achievement.
• Buy the pet with left over coins

I’ll keep this one short and sweet.

Happy Dominating BrewFest !

6 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post

Professions for the Tank: an exercise in futility if you get it wrong

My personal choice for professions is based solely on what they bring to the fight. As a Tank you are expected to be the best you can be and nothing less. As much as I like some of these professions and most of them can be quite useful, they are not all equal for the role we play in a group.

This article will help you determine what professions are best for you as a Paladin Tank:

• Herbalism: a Heal over time every 2 minutes that will sometimes save you … but it’s a HoT and if your healers are on the ball it’s relatively useless.

• Alchemy: Twice as long potions/flasks and a minor effect increase: that’s nice

• Inscription: No farming Sons of Hodir rep for the shoulder enchants, “scroll of Recall” is handy but overall, lacks a little luster for my tastes.

• Skinning: Crit bonus: not exactly our most praised stat as a tank.

• Leatherworking: Utterly USELESS in a raid.

• Engineering: Handy and fun to tinker with, expensive to level, it had its uses when Palys didn’t have any ranged abilities, but now is not nearly as efficient as other professions.

• Enchanting: Extremely profitable if you’re using the AH Mastery Guide but useless to a Tank… better suited to Tailors/Cloth wearers)

• Tailoring: Even more useless then leather working, unless you absolutely MUST ride your flying carpet into battle!

• Blacksmithing: Expensive to level, but adds 2 Prismatic sockets to your gear: extremely convenient and very useful.

• Mining: 60 Stam bonus when maxed along with the  ability to make Titansteel, and gather Ore.

• Jewel crafting: Finally the BEST (and arguably the most expensive) profession for a tank:  Jewelers’ gems baby … that’s what it’s all about. Especially at early levels this single ability can make the difference between sitting out a raid at 535 Def rating and picking up all the gear that drops in a single run just because nobody needs it. This will allow you to customize your character more then any other profession in the game, it gives you versatility and is an absolute MUST when upgrading gear since you may have to re-socket  2-3 pieces just to be able to wear the new whatever you just won.

For my money Mining and JC are the best. Some will argue Blacksmithing for the two extra sockets that will hold prismatic gems. All I have to say about that is: if you’re going to fill those up with Stamina (like you should) then Mining is a direct equivalent with the 60 Stam Mining bonus (2x 30Stam gems), it’s far cheaper to level, you’ll actually MAKE money with it and it will subsidize your other expensive profession: Jewel crafting!
For other classes that would like to add versatility or fill the need for a very specific stat (Druids & Armor Pen) then Blacksmithing and JC are the better (and most expensive) way to go.

Gems you want:

• Blue:  Stamina, Stamina and MORE STAMINA!
• Red:  Strength > Expertise > Attack Power
• Yellow: Defense Rating > Hit Rating > Crit.
• Orange, Green, Purple: Pick any of the stats above and get the corresponding mixed one.

Now let’s go over what enchants/Gems you want to have on your gear.

Head

• Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector: 37 Stam; 20 Def – Argent Crusade: Revered
• Arcanum of the Defender: 16 Def; 17 Dodge – Keepers of Time: revered

You’ll want to get to Revered with Argent Crusade as soon as possible since you’ll be putting that on every helm you will ever wear during your career as a tank.

Meta Socket

• Austere Earthsiege Diamond 32 Stam; +2% Armor from gear
• Eternal Earthsiege Diamond 21 Def; +5% Block Value
  

In the beginning you might want to consider the Eternal for the Def bonus but could easily migrate to the Austere as your gear gets better (2% of 25,000+ is nothing to sneeze at)

Shoulder

• Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle: 20 Dodge; 15 Def – Sons of Hodir: Exalted
• Lesser Inscription of the Pinnacle: 15 Dodge; 10 Def – Sons of Hodir: Revered
• Master’s Inscription of the Pinnacle: 52 Dodge; 15 Def – Inscription (400)

Sons of Hodir are the only faction that sell Shoulder Enchants. You will have to grind that rep eventually, so might as well get the (super) long quest chain going while you’re making your way to 80. This is a must since you’ll need that rep for every shoulder enchant regardless of what you choose to do with your Paladin Character.

Cloak

• Enchant Cloak: Titanweave 16 Def
• Enchant Cloak: Major Agility 22 Agi
• Enchant Cloak: Mighty Armor 225 Armor
• Enchant Cloak: Superior Agility 16 Agi
• Enchant Cloak: Steelweave 12 Def

Agility is far from being the best stat for Tanking but it goes a long way when it comes to avoidance. In this particular scenario when you start having choices you can keep the Titanweave enchant and start changing out some of your Gems instead.

Chest

• Enchant Chest: Super Health275 Health (roughly equivalent to 21 Stamina for Paladins)
• Enchant Chest: Powerful Stats +10 to All stats
• Enchant Chest: Greater Defense 22 Def
• Enchant Chest: Super Stats +8 to All Stats
• Heavy Borean Armor Kit 18 Stam
  

Greater Def has most itemization and will definitely help with reaching the Def cap initially but you might want to consider Powerful Stats as your end-game raiding chest enchant since Paladins are one of the few classes that actually benefit from most of the 5 stats (Str, Agi, Stam, Int, and less from Spirit)

Wrists

• Enchant Brace: Major Stamina 40 Stamina
• Enchant Bracer: Major Defense 12 Def
• Fur Lining: Stamina 90 Stam (Leatherworking 400)

Here again Defense until you reach the Cap and then switch to Stam. You can never have too much Stam: Ask any healer.

Hands

• Enchant Gloves: Armsman 10 Parry; +2% Threat
• Enchant Gloves: Major Agility 20 Agi
• Enchant Gloves: Precision 20 Hit
• Enchant Gloves: Expertise 20 Expertise
• Enchant Gloves: Major Strength 15 Str
• Reticulated Armor Webbing 885 Armor (Engineering 400)
• Hand Mounted Pyro Rocket 1654-2020 Fire Damage on a 45 sec CD (Engineering 400)

Armsman is your best bet initially from a Defensive stand point, although you may want to consider the Strength (even if it is a Burning Crusade Enchant) for more DPS  down the line.

Waist

• Eternal Belt Buckle Adds a Prismatic Socket to your Belt

A must have for EVERY belt you ever buy. Being a Jewel Crafter this gives you Options.

Legs

• Frosthide Leg Armor 55 Stam; 22 Agi
• Jormungar Leg Armor 45 Stam; 15 Agi

The Jormungar Leg armor is far cheaper than the Frosthide, so if you plan to upgrade soon you may want to hold back if money is an issue.

Feet

• Enchant Boots: Greater Fortitude 22 Stam
• Enchant Boots: Tuskarr’s Vitality 15 Stam +8% Run speed Increase

Greater Fortitude if you have PoJ, Tuskarr’s if you don’t.

Weapon

• Enchant Weapon: Mongoose the Agility on proc is worth quite a bit of Avoidance.
• Enchant Weapon: Blood Draining The BEST enchant you can get (worth ~200 Stam)
• Enchant Weapon: Blade Ward Possibly the 2nd Best enchant
• Enchant Weapon: Accuracy 25 Hit; 25 Crit
• Enchant Weapon: Potency +20 Str
• Enchant WEapon: Titanguard +50 Stam
• Titanium Weapons Chain 28 hit; -50% disarm duration

As expensive as you think Blood Draining might be, an instant heal worth 2000 health that only procs when you need it (fall below 35% health) is about as good as it gets. It’s the equivalent of 200 Stamina … no other enchant even comes close.

Shield

• Enchant Shield: Defense 20 Def
• Enchant Shield:  Major Stamina 18 Stam
• Titanium Plating 81 Block Value

As with other pieces of gear, initially you’ll want the Def to reach the Cap but should switch to Stam or Block Value down the line. (81 Block value is far from negligible).

This should cover most of our bases when it comes to upgrading our gear and will show you most of your options. Knowing is half the battle, now you KNOW: get out there and Dominate!

Articles in this thread:

Part 1 – The Basics

Part 2 – Combat Ratings

Part 3 – Armor: Mitigation vs. Avoidance

Part 4 – Hit Table and Threat Generation

Part 5  – Abilities and Rotation

Part 6 – Professions and Upgrades (you are here)

Part 7 – Buffs and Starter Gear

21 Comments » ~ ~ Random Post