The most deadly enemy in the game.

If you were to ask most players what the most dangerous thing in the game of WOW is, they may say the Lynch King, Death Wing, or the Sha of Fear. I doubt very highly that anyone would say; a basic campfire. Yet every year millions of players just like you fall pray to that most deadly of enemies; the basic campfire. Okay, so distraction and lack of concentration are the true dangers. Truth is we are often our own worst enemy. More then once I've had to corpse run back to my body because I had to answer the phone, go to the bathroom, or make that all important cup of coffee that led me right back into the bathroom again. Over the life time of the game distraction has probably killed just as many players as any boss. My advice to avoid your untimely all be it hilarious death is the same as you would follow when driving. Be careful where you park. If you have to walk away from the game make sure you leave yourself some place where your not taking damage (Standing on/in or too close to a basic camp fire) or where enemies are likely to spawn and attack you. Similar without actually being the same thing; is not paying attention to the warnings and meters that the game gives us, such as the breath or fatigue bars. So many players have gotten themselves killed by not paying attention to these amazingly obvious warning signs because we were too wrapped up in what we were doing to not die. I have accidently drowned my paladin more times then I want to admit to because I was trying to mine mythril and wasn't paying any attention to the bar. Sadly as this is a fairly simple mistake to avoid (come up to the surface before the bar runs out) the only advice I can offer on this point is just never admit to others when you do it.

Anyone who has ever said ADD can't kill has obviously never been too distracted by cartoons to move their character to a safer location.
So remember we're all noobs, some of us just fly the flag a little higher.
-Morison

So...Ice melts?

This is a special blog entry. It's special because it's the first noob moment that was submitted to me by a reader.  The moment goes something like this. "When I first started playing a Death Knight, I thought the ability path of frost let me walk on lava. I was wrong, very wrong". Path of Frost is a Death Knight ability similar to a Shaman's Water Walking in that it allows the user to walk on water until the buff runs out or you take damage, usually the latter. This isn't a complicated noob moment but hey I'm thrilled to get a submission. To avoid a moment like this with a new ability, just mouse over it in your spell book and make sure to fully read the description. For the most part this will eliminate issues. Their is one issue that wont be covered by the description. The issue I'm talking about is the bane of both Death Knights and Shaman alike. That is falling off or worse, intentionally dismounting over a body of water with ether Water Walking or Path of Frost active. Normally, falling into water causes no damage. However, if you fall into, or rather onto water, with one of these abilities active you will take damage proportionate to the height from which you fell. If your anything like me that will result in your untimely and splashy death. This can be annoying but can also provide some entertainment with friends your grouped with. When grouped together players share all buffs (bonuses granted to the players by ether a ability or circumstances). As a result if you know a member of your party is about to drop into water you can cast Water Walking or Path of Frost on them and yup, you guessed it, kill them dead. I would not suggest doing this with someone you don't know or someone who doesn't have a sense of humor. Otherwise this would be tantamount to being a troll and no one likes trolls (my apologize to people that play trolls).

My thanks to Scott for your submission. If you want to see your noob moment rehashed, or you have a noob moment that you need help with, you can send them to me at morisonwow@yahoo.com.
Remember were all noobs, some of us just fly the flag a little higher.
-Morison

Pull what? I'm Shoothing things.

Ok, this article is part don't feed the trolls and part a floor with a view. Those of us who have run a few dungeons have all been grouped with the guy that pulls (Draws the attention/ agro) every baddy in the place, even if they're not the tank. Don't be that guy. No one likes that guy. I'll go ahead and raise my hand "I'm Morison and I was that guy" In fact, I was that guy in my first dungeon. I pulled every mob I could find, one after another. Not surprisingly I was not well liked. When I died, they were less then interested in rezing my character. They then trolled me pretty hard while I was running around trying to find my corpse. I had grouped up for this dungeon using dungeon finder and had no idea where the dungeon entrance was, or that I even had to enter the instance to reclaim my body. What can I say? I was new.  For those new players amongst us, the reason you don't want to do that is because it is the tanks responsibility to control the flow of battle.  The tank is the one that decides how many mobs of enemies the group can handle, and how much time in between those mob it takes for everyone to recover. If you don't want to get trolled and group kicked, don't pull the mobs yourself. On this same note you have to be careful what abilities you use and when. This is a tip that's good for players of all levels. In dungeons and raids you shouldn't use any abilities that have a knock back effect. Examples of which are: Typhoon (Druid), Thunderstorm (Shaman) and Blast Wave (Mage). These abilities can be awesome in Battle grounds but their rotten in dungeons. The reason you don't want to use them in dungeons or raids is that they can knock mobs into other mobs and then all of a sudden your fighting way more bad guys then you had planed or are able to deal with. For the record, I've made this mistake too. I've found that if you apologies quickly and own your mistake and never make it again, they wont group kick you. Of course they still might kick you, so don't do that. The exception to the rule with knockback abilities is a Shamans Thunderstorm. This ability can be altered using Glyph of Thunderstorm, to remove the knockback component but leaving the rest of the ability intact. If you play a Shaman you will come to rely heavily on this ability for mana re-gen. You may be wondering "Why are these abilities that are such troll bait in dungeons and raids so good in battle grounds?" The answer is; if your fighting a opponent by a cliffs edge their is nothing that rivals the unbridled joy of pressing a single button and watching your opponent, or hopefully opponents, go flying backwards over the edge to there doom. So remember if your in a dungeon, pushing leads to kicking, in battle grounds pushing leads to funny.

Remember were all noobs, some of us just fly the flag a little higher.

-Morison

Who is class and what dose he do

Every class in this game functions differently. They have different play styles, different priorities in what stats you build up and different kinds of gear and weapons they can use. If you're a long time player this fact seems simple enough to understand. When your new to the game, this can be truly overwhelming. With eleven classes, three specialization (Specs.) for each (except druids, they have four) this can get to be a bit much. When you really understand them depending on which ones you choose it can be like playing a completely different class. It's also important to realize that which class and which spec you choose can change the role you'll play in the group portions of the game like dungeons and raids. In dungeons and raids there are three different types of roles to fill; Tank, Healer and DPS. The aspects of the many differences between these roles is what I plan to cover today. In this context a tank is (usually) a heavily armored player that is intended to get and keep the attention (agro) of the enemies while doing a portion of the damage and controlling the flow of the fight and interrupting key opposing abilities. This is one of the most important roles in a group. Without a tank it's very hard to function (sometimes possible but most times not). The next role is the healer. The healer is the single most important person in a group environment. If the healer dies, every one is going to die shortly after. Their job is to keep the entire group alive with a particular emphasis on the tank and himself. This might sound mean on the face of it, playing favorites amongst the group but if the tank dies the enemies will start to swarm all over the DPS and could end up getting the whole group killed (wiping). Same thing if the healer dies. The last group is the DPS (Damage per second) and they're the ones responsible for actually doing the damage that kills the enemies. As a result of this there are always going to be more DPS then any other role in a group. That is the basic breakdown of the different roles in a dungeon or raiding group. I know this was a very simple explanation of it but just like having too many class options to choose from being given all the information on the different roles can be overwhelming. Besides I need to introduce dungeon roles to truly be able to cover ways to avoid laying on that cold uncomfortable dungeon floor, or how to avoid feeding the trolls. I know someone out there is going to say "Great, I knew all that. What I don't know is what class spec. combos fall into what groups".  Ok here we go.

TANKS 

Blood Death Knight, Guardian Druid, Brewmaster Monk, Protection Paladin and Protection Warrior.

 

Healer

Restoration Druid, Restoration Shaman, Mistweaver Monk, Holy Paladin, Holy Priest and Discipline Priest.

 

DPS

Everything else falls under DPS. This is a simplification but that's a really long list and I'm tired.

 

 

 

There is a handy little guide on the class selection screen when we make a new character that we all ignore. Right under the race selection window is a button that says "more info" That guide will tell you what roles your class can fill, what bonuses you get from both your class and your race. A little reading can save you a lot of grief later on.

I can't believe I'm quoiting the Rock but "Know your role and shut your mouth" but don't worry, you don't actually have to shut your mouth. Goodness knows I don't.

Remember we're all noobs, some of us just fly the flag a little higher.

-Morison