Thoughts and musings on Kara – part 1a

I posted the other day that if anyone wanted to hear my thoughts on instances or bosses from a bear’s point of view (or a hunter’s) that I’d happily share them. Well readers, Mosshoof graciously accepted my poor offer and asked if I would do so since his raid is just getting underway in Kara. Feel free to correct me or add to the general discussion at will.

Now, not that Moss or his raid need this, but by way of introduction to raiding in general I’ll begin with a short intro to raids, pugs, specs, gear and then move later into the first couple of bosses in KZ.

First of all I’d like to touch on Pick up Groups aka pugs. When I hit 70 on my hunter and spent some time getting attuned to KZ I thought I was the cat's ass. “Oh yeah,” I thought. “All I have to do now is find a team.”

Not so, super trooper. There were a lot of aspects [pun intended] I hadn’t considered and the most important ones were ability and gear. KZ is not hard … IF you know what you’re doing and IF you have the goods to wear.

For any class there’s a threshold you need to reach to really be considered a beginner in KZ. You can find this in a nifty format over at TenTonHammer – Karazhan Minimum Requirements. I don't agree with everything on that list, but it's a nice general guide.

You can use this in conjunction with www.wow-loot.com to gear up your character. There are also lots of gear/gem/enchant guides for particular classes as well. In researching my bear gear I found several pre-raid gear guides. Not all were helpful but it put me on the right track.

As a hunter I chose BeastMastery, which wasn’t a great spec until 2.3 hit – you see a lot more BM hunters now. I picked up the Beastlord armor set (dungeon set 3a). and worked on getting rid of my greens. (with some exceptions greens really shouldn’t be worn in KZ – work on getting a good blue item or matching set for every item you own)

As a bear I loved being on the front lines taking a beating or sneaking up blasting mobs with my pounce ability. So that lead me to the Heavy Clefthoof crafted set and a mess of little items that boosted my stamina and threat generation.

Since I was slotted as the Off Tank - OT - I also made sure I had at least a decent set of cat gear, since not every pull was going to require me to tank.

Communications
Some other things to consider as a new raider: get Ventrilo or Teamspeak – both are vast improvements over the in-game version of voice chat. You’ll also find most raids will require Vent or TS. However, due to your hardware or cost, you may not have the option. If you don’t then very tight control of voice chat is required. If using in-game, I’d mute the non-key slots (not the tank or MH) until you get into a groove.

The ability to listen in is more important that getting a mic, but if you’re playing an integral part talking is essential. As a beginning hunter I just listened at first, but I got a mic soon after and it’s only helped my performance.

Lastly, make sure you have a viable raid spec. There lots of specs to chose from, but ask around among your friends, check out a few web sites and search the forums a bit. You should find enough to point you in the right direction. If you get it wrong, don’t be afraid to listen to someone’s comments on it.

When I first started raiding on my hunter I wasn't the cat's ass, I was a complete dumbass – thing is, I didn’t know how much I didn’t know (if you follow my meaning). I actually thought I was well situated and geared. My raid leader approached me quietly and said, “Hey, not to tell you what to do, but have you considered changing your spec?” It was a really nice way for him to let me know that I could be doing better on the DPS charts and he even shared a couple of examples.

My advice to you is, “Don’t scorn advice,” even if it’s sometimes put to you poorly.

So, why the big lead in? Why all the stuff about what to start as, gear, spec, et. al. ad nauseum?

Because the very first thing I’m gonna do when you list yourself in LFG for Kara (or PST me) is to use Armory to see if you know what you're doing. I'll be checking what you are wearing and what your stats are and I may ask questions. I’m not sure if all raids do this but in my experience if they don’t know you they probably will look you up.

I’ve also learned that when listing myself in LFG (even for 5-mans) to use the comment bar – that saves time and gets you noticed faster. Example: Feral tank, half Kara gear, 16k HP, 24k AC, 35% dodge unbuffed. These are your bona fides - your proof that you have been to see the elephant and returned to tell the tale.

Add-ons
If you don’t run with add-ons, you should probably get at least a couple. As a raid assist I run BigWigs and Deadly Boss in case my raid leader DC’s in a fight. Both can be found over at Curse These have built in timers for boss fights and give a shout out to the raid as to what’s coming next. You might want to simply download WowAce2 and use that to auto update all your addons.

Omen is a great one for anyone really. It’s a threat meter and it pops a small window on your screen that shows who has threat and at what rate they gain or lose it on a given target. That’s practically a must when raiding. It lets your raid know when they need to bump up or back off aggro.

Class play
You ought to know your class well. As a BM hunter this meant learning which pet to tame, chain trapping as a means of CC (admittedly a weaker one), shot rotations and mana conservation for long fights. As a bear it meant learning how to generate the most threat I could so my raid wasn’t pulling aggro on me, and my targets weren’t skipping off to grind our healers into tiny bear snacks.

Finally
One last word for you. If you are going to use this guide and look for a PuG spot, make sure you approach prospective raids with your hat in hand. Even well geared and experienced raiders will often PuG a group for various reasons, but the best ones realize they aren’t in charge. Well, you aren’t either. Don’t be telling the raid leader how to do certain pulls and under NO circumstances tell them Agro told you it was okay – cause it AIN’T! Raid leaders have a lot going on – don’t add to their stress or you will likely get /kicked. At the very least you won’t get invited back.

Good rules to follow:
Shut yer pie hole – No one needs to hear you joking, if you PuG you don’t know these people, so just watch and learn and do your job. Even if you aren't, inane chatter is annoying.
Don’t be a loot hog – if the raid says it’s open rolls – then take your shot if you NEED something, but don’t roll on something that will benefit you 1% when it would benefit someone else 30%. Learn to share.
No Whining – as BBB himself put it, there's no crying in Kara. You don't like it? Don't run with them again. (the corollary to this is that a good raid won't abuse you either - watch your ass, do your job, alter your play to suit the raid's needs and you should be fine.)
Come prepared – bring mana/health pots/ flasks/food/pet food/ bandages/bullets etc don’t beg for stuff. And be prepared to shell out gold for repairs too.

A raid is a team - be a team player, put the TEAM before yourself - especially if it's YOUR team.