You've been plugging away tirelessly on a last couple of quests in Storm Peaks and then it happens, you hit level 80.
Congratulations!
So this means you're ready to hearth back to a major city and bark for a Naxx group, right? There was that guild who cleared Naxx just a week into the expansion opening up after all. How hard can it be really? My advice: Hold your horses; you have a few things you need to concider. First and foremost...know that getting into Naxx won't guarentee you upgrades. For that matter, depending on what sort of group you may land yourself in (be it pug or guild run) you may get laughed/kicked out of a pug run for bad preformance or even scolded by guild mates for a lack of common sense. Sounds a bit harsh, doesn't it?
To help you on your journey pre-Naxx here is a little bit of number fluff and common sense tips. Be forewarned that these numbers are more of a guide then a set rule.
Restoration
Healing: ~1550
Spirit: ~700
MP5: 250
Balance
Spellpower: 1500
Hit: 10% (soft cap)
Able to do approximately 1800-2000 dps
Feral (Cat)
Hit: 9%
Able to do approximately 1800-2000 dps
Feral (Bear)
Health: 30k
Armor: 27k
Dodge: ~ 30%
So those are some basic numbers. This means little to someone who hasn't had the proper training running heroics and other such instances. Your best bet would be to grab a couple of friends and run heroics. You can test the waters and (hopefully) win more gear that will get you closer to your goal. The DPS classes can work on their rotations to see what kinds of numbers they can produce while the tank and healer can get practice in on how to best manage their own situations.
As soon as you feel comfortable running the "easy" heroics try stepping it up and running something that may very well test your limits. No, I don't so much mean wipe fest...more getting used to preforming under pressure. If something goes wrong but you manage to come up on top you may very well learn something from the experience. If a hitch brings you down then there can be constructive discussion on how to do better for the next attempt. Remember, Naxx is a step or two up from the more difficult heroic dungeons after all.
Now that you think you may have what it takes, grab those friends/guildies/a pug and show them what you're made of! With those few tips in mind you may make a lasting (positive) impression on a few players.
Good luck!
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3 Comments:
I would say remove the hit requirements, and just stick to the dps-numbers vs boss dummys or something like that. I still lack loads of hit, but I don't think it's that important to be soft or hard capped for beginning into Naxx.
I tend to disagree - if you are not hit capped you will miss. For every miss stacked over a raid you very well may have missed downing a few whole mobs on your own (total dps). And depending on the boss - say Thoetheb (which is a dps fight) that may mean the difference between win and fail. Getting hit capped at 80 pre-naxx is easy still. A few gems and if possible the mark of the war prisoner from VH will help a long way towards that. Even when I am one point off from capped I see myself missing and think - well that was a waste of time (2.5 second starfire).
I have to agree with Daemon. Hit rating, Expertise, Crit, and AP are going to be a must to get into Naxx groups. By this time, if you're not outputting 2.5k in dmg at a minimum, most groups won't consider you.
For those folks wanting to run Naxx... read up on the individual fights for all four quarters - it may not be the same as running through it, but if you've never done it before, or if you have and you are still a little fuzzy on certain fights, it really helps to put them into perspective when you get in there.
But, to get in the group in the first place, you'll want to understand that while AP is great when you can dish out heavy damage, if you're not hitting the target then all that damage is worthless.
Hit rating is the most important. Cap it at roughly 310, BUT if you have the right spec, you can cap right around 280-298 - with good raid buffs you'll be over 300 and hitting consistently.
Expertise is important so the mob can't dodge or perry, meaning you hit more consistently. (Expertise and Expertise Rating are different, so be aware that Expertise should cap at roughly 23-26)
Critical Strike doubles up on your standard damage, which is an excellent offset if you have to sacrifice AP or AGI for your Hit / Expertise numbers.
Right now my hit rating is 258, my Expertise is 24, crit strike is 279, AP is 6k, and AGI is 767.
I can pump out 2.3 on trash mobs that go down quick in a raid, and 2.1 to 2.9 on bosses (depending on how well the tank keeps them in place, or the group gets knocked around).
I'm inconsistent, because my gear is not completely upgraded for Naxx yet, but grinding roics is helping that and understanding that it is worth the sacrifice of AP and AGI to make contact with every hit and have a solid chance to crit when I hit.
Heavy dmg is great when you solo, but in raids, you have to hit consistently with crit hits making up for the loss of AP.
AGI may contribute to a lot, but its in much smaller amounts than actual Hit Rating, or any of the other individual stats.
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