The Horrible Effect of Parry

[Bolty]

Code:

4/30 20:15:38.515  Gruul the Dragonkiller misses Tank.
4/30 20:15:39.437  Tank's Heroic Strike was parried by Gruul the Dragonkiller.
4/30 20:15:39.453  Hurtful Tank is afflicted by Cave In.
4/30 20:15:39.453  Rogue 1 is afflicted by Cave In.
4/30 20:15:39.453  Rogue 2 is afflicted by Cave In.
4/30 20:15:39.453  Rogue 3 is afflicted by Cave In.
4/30 20:15:39.468  Rogue 4 is afflicted by Cave In.
4/30 20:15:39.468  Feralol is afflicted by Cave In.
4/30 20:15:39.468  Fury War is afflicted by Cave In.
4/30 20:15:40.031  Gruul the Dragonkiller hits Tank for 3882. (403 blocked)
4/30 20:15:41.062  Tank attacks. Gruul the Dragonkiller parries.
4/30 20:15:41.609  Gruul the Dragonkiller hits Tank for 5277. (403 blocked)
4/30 20:15:41.968  Fury War attacks. Gruul the Dragonkiller parries.
4/30 20:15:42.031  Tank's Shield Slam was parried by Gruul the Dragonkiller.
4/30 20:15:42.140  Fury War's Sunder Armor was parried by Gruul the Dragonkiller.
4/30 20:15:42.140  Rogue 1's Sinister Strike was parried by Gruul the Dragonkiller.
4/30 20:15:42.265  Fury War attacks. Gruul the Dragonkiller parries.
4/30 20:15:42.281  Rogue 3 attacks. Gruul the Dragonkiller parries.
4/30 20:15:42.390  Gruul the Dragonkiller hits Tank for 4549. (403 blocked)
4/30 20:15:42.671  Tank's Heroic Strike was parried by Gruul the Dragonkiller.
4/30 20:15:43.484  Tank dies.

This log exerpt from an actual Gruul raid shows how terrible things get when attacks from raid bosses are parried. When a mob parries your attack, its next attack is sped up via a haste modifier. I'm not sure how well-known this is to your average WoW player. It's why it's crucial that melee DPS always remains behind a raid boss (where attacks cannot be parried), because being in front can literally kill your main tank. In the above log, a cave-in causes all the melee to run around to the front of Gruul...and parries result.

Looking at the combat log, you can see the time differential of attacks.

Attack 1: 40.031
Attack 2: 41.609 (1.578 seconds later)
Attack 3: 42.390 (0.781 seconds later)

Total: 13,688 damage in 2.359 seconds, shorter than the casting time of a Priest's greater heal.

Gruul's attack was sped up from around 1.5 seconds to about half that due to multiple parries from both the tank, some rogues, and a fury warrior. The melee DPS literally killed the tank. Don't think that extra 0.8 seconds doesn't matter; ask any healer how often a target dies with "milliseconds left on my heal."

Healers need to watch out for those dodge/parry/miss Strings of Doom. It's why tanks can go for seemingly ages without getting hit and then suddenly get *destroyed*. When you see that happening, it's time to get even more aggressive, rather than the tendency to do the opposite. "Oh, he's not getting hit, lol, this is easy."

Melee DPS needs to recognize that if they are hitting a raid boss and it is parrying them, they are contributing to a potential wipe. This falls into the "it's not always the healers' fault, you know" thing. :)

Hunters must realize that if they use pets against a boss, this also contributes to the problem! A parry from a pet attack is the same as from a character. It's not that pets are "illegal" for use, it's that the Hunter must be very aware of their pet's location relative to a raid boss' position.

Food for thought.

-Bolty