Brista,Jul 14 2005, 10:29 AM Wrote:Question for you Drasca: would you accept a subordinate role?
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At some points, you have to. Most of the time, no because my parties simply overpowered in terms of organization, skill and equipment pretty much do anything they want.
Curse of Shadows Major domo's Poly'ed/sheeped targets? You bet I will! Curse of elements MC giants because the other locks will CoShadows them? Yeeep. Use fear on fear immune, or into giant mobs? Nope. You bow to the superior course of action.
Quite frankly, not everyone's smart, thoughtful, or experienced. Those bringing advising the wrong course of action just gets people wiped. Charge into that group willy nilly? Nooo.....
There's also another dimension to being group leader you've glanced over, and that's asking what skills and abilties your party bring. Just last night, we tried engineer rocket helm in DM west in an attempt to CC secondary ghosts. Didn't work, but we had a lot of fun trying. You try new tactics and make judgements on their danger/success ratio. There are tactics that just don't work well. Try to run past certain mobs individually, running ahead of the group? Not if there are party members too inexperienced or underleved to do so. Rogues locking down a firebrand orc caster in 5 man lbrs? Not until they're pulled back. There are patrols near and behind the caster which can chain aggro more enemies. Certainly casters potentially do the most damage to tanks, but they don't have to be solo'ed way in the back by rogues. They can be CC'ed, silence/los pulled, or focus fire'd upon by ranged dps. There are a lot of tactical options, but ultimately you must decide on which to use because they can and will conflict if left to their own devices. Sometimes, you can get away with sloppy uncoordinated work because you're have enough brute force for the task at hand. Others, you're required to beautifully execute of pre-planned moves that work and enhance each other tied together by one vision, and one voice coordinating all others.
Quote:I find as the size of the raid grows, the number of spells my warlock uses decrease. I rarely feel as "central" to the action as when playing my priest
That's generally true, but you'll certainly feel central when your duty is keep MC Elementals from kicking the whole raid's ass with smart banish timing, and keeping dps up with renewed CoEl/CoS when debuffs are swapping a mile a minute. It also feels good to contribute 5-20% of a raid's total damage at the top of your game.
When there's an overabundance of dps, healing, and tanking/cc, well certainly anyone can feel less individually important--but this also gives you the freedom to do pretty much whatever you want. Less pressure on you, but you may try to complete with dps, heal, play other support or take a break. With three priests in a 10 man strat raid, the third decided to just dps and contributed nicely with mind blasts and SW:P. Sometimes, I decide to simply fill up my soul shard collection or skill up on staves/daggers/swords.
Also, if you're anything like me, you'll keep healers busy by spamming hellfire with max +stam equip around. High aggro, high dps, and everything dies because you're a big enough GFP to handle the big bosses and big mobs. Life tap and hellfire often, even when under attack by all mobs. Play that dangerous game of, will the next hit kill me if I sacrifice myself for power, can I rely on my ally's ability to restore my body before it is slain? I say yes, believe in your healers and go for the path of destruction.
Every so often I say, I'm a warrior! 4-7k health, high dps and associated aggro, you're one tough cookie to crack with healing support. Be among the top damage, damage taken and healing taken! Its silly and fun. Keep those healers amused and busy.
You'll be central to any instances with demons and elementals, namely maradaun, dire maul, BRD and molten core. There are areas where I've completely solo'ed or duo'd tough spawns. Sunken temple? There too. Behold the power of fear solo'ing elite dragonkin. You are a nasty demonic beast, turning the enemy against itself, banishing demons and elementals back to the twisting nether, and calling upon demonic allies to charm, torment, and blast your foes away. You, my good sirs and madams, are a warlock. Grasp hold of life and sacrifice it for power! Power to enhance your allies and send your enemies to oblivion.
Have fun!