Newbie questions about raiding, dps, ect.

[fujinn]

I'm a recently turned 80, and I have a ton of questions.

I've been running dungeon and heroics for gear, but I'm at the point now where (short of two items from HToC 5), I have everything I can get without raiding and badge farming.

Do I keep farming badges for the next couple of months, or am I ready to start raiding?

My armory is http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...aenor&n=Fujinn.

If I am ready to start raiding, which raids, and what do I need to know beforehand? I can read guides on fights, but I've found that until I see them firsthand, I don't really understand what's going on. I tried Naxx10 once, and I had more trouble with the stuff in between boss fights than the fights themselves.

Based on my gear, how much dps should I be doing?

I also seem to have trouble multi-tasking. How do you dps the boss, run dps the adds, run away from fire, spot-heal, spread out, etc. all at once?

[semiiramiis]

I'm having some problems opening your armory, but I will address the one thing that really came out with this. Youtube has tons of how to wow encounter videos of fights, many of them with very informative captions. That way you *see* them, have them explained to you, and get to watch them as many times as it takes to get them to stick in your mind. Of course it is not as informative as actually doing them, but it always helped me.

[Cattleya]

I find it also helps to watch those video guilds again after I've done the fight. You pick up a lot more details in the video when you have some first hand knowledge of the fight, and it will make you a lot better at it the next time.

As for the multitasking, that simply comes with practice. As you learn the fights and what goes on, things will stop being so overwhelming.

[Wintrow]

First off:
Gearwise you can start Naxx10 in your L80 quest blues. You won't do great dps, but as long as you're not an idiot you should do fine.

In regards to trash between bosses. Some are simple extensions of heroic dungeon trash. Stay behind the mob if you're melee dps. Don't pull aggro. Don't pull additional mobs. If there's a ton of mobs to be dps-ed, do some AoE dps. If you're gonna do AoE dps (as a shaman, magma totem is the one I think), wait till the mobs hp visibly gets under 100%. That way you'll definitely not pull aggro.

Then there are "special" trash mobs like:
- Frogger: Frogger is an old computer game where you played a frog that had to cross the street by dodging cars (or he'd get squished). In Naxx (right after Patchwerk) there are slimes that explode if you get too close. This WILL kill you unless you're a paladin in a Divine Shield. Trick is to run between them (like in the game Frogger)
- Super-fast respawn area: There is a room (before Loatheb) where mobs respawn incredibly fast. So the only thing you can do is let the tank run through as fast as he can, body-pulling enough mobs to enable the rest of the raid to run through unharmed. You then AoE the pulled mobs once at the exit (any sooner and you'll pull aggro).

Explaining that you're new ensures ppl will instruct you before tricky encounters (or you can just say it's been a while and you might need a "refresh here and there" ).

As for multitasking. Let me ask you this:

In the first part of DTK (heroic or not) some mobs cast Void Zones (black circles) on the ground. If you stand in it you take damage, so you run out.

If you always seem to die there you wont do well in raids...

You don't dps the boss, dps the adds, spot heal AND run out of the fire all at the same time. Usually you will have ONE role to fill and one main target that gets priority.
Example:
Maexxna (huge spider, boss of Spider Wing)
At first you dps her
then she spawns little spiders (you drop a Magma Totem for them)
and you continue to dps her

Don't heal unless you REALLY have to (healer very low on hp). Trust that the healers will be doing their job.

You MAY get asked to heal AND dps on one of the four horsemen.

[rgirty]

Best tips:

1. Find a guild that holds raids that coincide with your playtime.
2. Make sure the guild agrees with you, guild makeup etc.
3. Make sure the guild needs players of your class spec.
4. Join guild, make friends and have fun in wow.

You don't need to start at naxx now, or even ulduar. ToC 10 is laughable and much better loot.

After you join the guild run the following

Toc 10/ony 10/voa 10. Also try to get in on toc 25/ony 25/voa 25, all of which are very easy.

If the guild runs ulduar try to get in some of those 10 and 25 man runs, the HM loot is still pretty good.

[Kargar]

Originally Posted by rgirty

Best tips:

1. Find a guild that holds raids that coincide with your playtime.
2. Make sure the guild agrees with you, guild makeup etc.
3. Make sure the guild needs players of your class spec.
4. Join guild, make friends and have fun in wow.

You don't need to start at naxx now, or even ulduar. ToC 10 is laughable and much better loot.

After you join the guild run the following

Toc 10/ony 10/voa 10. Also try to get in on toc 25/ony 25/voa 25, all of which are very easy.

If the guild runs ulduar try to get in some of those 10 and 25 man runs, the HM loot is still pretty good.

I disagree with this personally. A fresh 80 is not going to hold its own in these dungeons. IMO finding a guild thats around your level is best but rigirtys points are all sound.

[Cattleya]

Originally Posted by Kargar

I disagree with this personally. A fresh 80 is not going to hold its own in these dungeons. IMO finding a guild thats around your level is best but rigirtys points are all sound.

However, a fresh 80 who has been badge farming and running normal and heroic ToC5 will quickly be about as geared as someone who was running normal Uld 10 before ToC came out. That puts them at just about the right place for normal ToC10. Blizzard in many ways "reset" the gear with the 3.2 patch, so if someone is willing to put in the work to run heroics, they can skip Naxx and Ulduar.