03-22-2005, 09:42 PM
I'd agreed with Savaughn - you can often learn more in instance runs with people you don't know, and where things don't go to plan.
The last few instance runs I've been on have with guild members, usually with a couple of members significantly higher than the instance. As a result they've been easier than they normally would be. Then on Sunday night a friend from my guild and I grouped with 3 other level approrpriate pick-ups to tackle Uldaman. We wiped several times (damn troggs), but kept coming back to move forward a bit more (we were stopped before we got to the last boss however).
We found the mage and priest were drawing too much aggro, there wasn't enough communication on crowd control (people kept hitting the sheep and so) and there was a careless pull or two. But we refined our tactics as went along and kept remembering skills that we might not use in everyday questing (Mind control! Seduction!). Even though we failed it was the most intense instance run I've been on in a while.
I have a level 18 priest at the moment. I'm going Shadow-spec early for solo play versatility, but I know she's going to be playing completely differently in groups. In instance runs I'm happy to be a healbot. People expect to be a healbot, and if I go through an entire run without casting one offensive spell, so be it. My plan is to do multiple instance runs with random pick-up groups once I hit 20, to learn about aggro managment, mana conservation, and how to deal with party members who react in unpredictable ways.
I think there's also a flip side to priest play - namely, how to play *with* a priest. My main character is a warlock, and my first goal is to avoid aggro so I don't get hit. The priest shouldn't have to worry about keeping me alive. The one exception is channeling Hellfire - its our most effective AOE spell, but we will take a beating casting it.
If you're getting hurt, you have several healing options apart from the priest: potions, bandages and warlock healthstones, which are all different timers (plus eating and drinking outside of battle). As long as I have the soul shards I will happily give a healthstone to anyone who needs one. In the aforementioned Uldaman group, the mage was the only person who regularly asked for them, despite repeated offers on my part to the rest of the group.
Chris
The last few instance runs I've been on have with guild members, usually with a couple of members significantly higher than the instance. As a result they've been easier than they normally would be. Then on Sunday night a friend from my guild and I grouped with 3 other level approrpriate pick-ups to tackle Uldaman. We wiped several times (damn troggs), but kept coming back to move forward a bit more (we were stopped before we got to the last boss however).
We found the mage and priest were drawing too much aggro, there wasn't enough communication on crowd control (people kept hitting the sheep and so) and there was a careless pull or two. But we refined our tactics as went along and kept remembering skills that we might not use in everyday questing (Mind control! Seduction!). Even though we failed it was the most intense instance run I've been on in a while.
I have a level 18 priest at the moment. I'm going Shadow-spec early for solo play versatility, but I know she's going to be playing completely differently in groups. In instance runs I'm happy to be a healbot. People expect to be a healbot, and if I go through an entire run without casting one offensive spell, so be it. My plan is to do multiple instance runs with random pick-up groups once I hit 20, to learn about aggro managment, mana conservation, and how to deal with party members who react in unpredictable ways.
I think there's also a flip side to priest play - namely, how to play *with* a priest. My main character is a warlock, and my first goal is to avoid aggro so I don't get hit. The priest shouldn't have to worry about keeping me alive. The one exception is channeling Hellfire - its our most effective AOE spell, but we will take a beating casting it.
If you're getting hurt, you have several healing options apart from the priest: potions, bandages and warlock healthstones, which are all different timers (plus eating and drinking outside of battle). As long as I have the soul shards I will happily give a healthstone to anyone who needs one. In the aforementioned Uldaman group, the mage was the only person who regularly asked for them, despite repeated offers on my part to the rest of the group.
Chris