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The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of VGGEN.com as a whole or any of its affiliates. This is simply one writer's opinion, and should be accepted as such. Weekly World of Warcraft is usually updated each Tuesday.

The Strat-45 Run and Groupings

Ok, I’ve gotten a ton of mail concerning my group choice for the Strat-45 run. Let’s revisit this point, as I feel it needs some clarification. When I got home and started sifting through my E-mail, something didn’t seem right about the mail I got concerning groups. Sure enough, I went back to read the paragraph in question and found this:

The 45-minute run is not impossible for casuals. However, it is very difficult and I would venture to say that I’ve had a harder time dealing with this one challenge then I have in my admittedly limited experiences in Zul’Gurub and the Molten Core. In order to have a successful run, you need the following classes: A warrior that can tank (sorry fury warriors), a priest that is not a shadow priest, a mage, a Pally or Druid to off-heal, and one other. It is entirely possible to do the run with a massive DPS party (i.e.: tank, mage, lock, rogue, and healer), although it can wipe very quickly if the warrior doesn’t hold the aggro. The party members should know how to play their classes well. If your 5^th member is a hunter or lock, tell them to put their pets away as they tend to aggro and wipe your party with regularity. If the other one’s a rogue, pray they can top the damage chart. Every person in your party should have a full set of Dungeon 1 (with the Dungeon 2 equivalents in place already). If anyone has some Raid 1 pieces or even some ZG pieces, they’ll be more than welcome.

Call it an oversight during proofreading, but I left out the key phrase in the beginning of this paragraph. The first sentence should read: “The 45-minute run is not impossible for casuals in a pickup group scenario.” Even my critics who blasted the group choice admitted this changes the entire meaning of the situation. The positive on the omission of “pickup group scenario” is that I’ve gotten a ton of alternate grouping strategies and pull strategies for the Strat-45 run ranging from suicide pulls to overpowering high-risk parties.

Some people have taken offense that I’ve brushed off their classes so quickly. Let me clarify this right now. A player who can properly play his class is extremely valuable to any group. However, they may not be the best choice in a certain situation, especially in a pickup situation. Take Fury Warriors for example. In the hands of a good player, a Fury Warrior can blast completely through a five-man run and never let the casters or anything else in the party draw enough aggro to wipe. However, here’s the concern. Fury Warriors have become a sexy choice for a class build among warriors coming up through the ranks, resulting in a glut of Fury Warriors who simply, for lack of a better phrase, do not know how to play the class. I’ve been in far too many pickup situations with a Fury Warrior that simply couldn’t handle the job to ever recommend them in a pickup scenario. One of my in-game friends is a Fury Warrior, and he can do whatever he wants because he, quite simply, is very good at what he does. However, a pickup group scenario is too unpredictable to deal with the situation. Hunters and rogues are another example of this. For every player that knows what he or she is doing, you’re going to see 10 that simply cannot handle their jobs. Coincidentally, they’re generally the same Rogues that think they’re Fury Warriors and Hunters who trigger full wipes by not controlling their pets.

Many people blasted me for brushing a Warlock to the side. The soulstone ability, while immensely helpful, really shouldn’t be counted on in a non-suicide pull Strat-45. One unplanned wipe can essentially kill the run. A soulstone is, however, a very nice thing to have. Really though, if you have a decent hunter or rogue combined with a good healer, the soulstone isn’t needed. That’s why, however, I left the 5^th spot open. There’s a reason why the stock PUG Strat-45 run looks like my setup: it’s similar to the standard run and allows a variety of classes to participate.

Shadow Priests are an area that I simply refuse to back off from on that point. While Shadow Priests absolutely slay in PvP situations and have extended use in Raid groups, they are extremely limited in 5 man instances. Shadow Priests can’t heal as well as, say, a Holy Priest, and they can’t do the damage a Warlock can. Again, writing from the perspective of the ideal pickup group, Shadow Priests aren’t the guys you want in the group. "The damage could be incredible, and a proper DPS/DoT group with Teamspeak/Vent and practice could fly through Strat-45 very quickly. However, a group like this simply will not translate well in a pickup group situation."

Sorry to any pet users who may have been offended by any comments I’ve made, but I’m not backing down. For every Hunter (and specifically hunters since you’re a penny-a-dozen to a rogue’s dime-a-dozen) that knows what he’s doing, I have to go through 15 to 20 that don’t or still at level 60 do not know how to toggle their pet to passive or simply put it away when they’re pulling or walking into a tight situation. Think I’m alone? Go ask anyone that runs a pickup UBRS group frequently how many times some idiot Hunter’s bear triggers off a Leeroy Jenkins styled meltdown.

Hunter’s pets are not completely useless. If used correctly, they can keep the heat off the back row of your group. Pickup groups, however, are often flooded with hunters trying to get in (just like Raiding Guilds are almost always filled on Hunters) and there’s simply too wide of a player field and too many Hunters that play downright horribly to risk a group-wipe because the Bear ran into a group you were trying to skip.

Other Concerns 

One of the biggest arguments I’ve been getting across every type of mail (fan, hate, criticism, counterpoints, what have you) is my use of the standard “if you raid, you get the top loot” paradigm that MMORPGs utilize. This paradigm is perhaps one of the largest thorns in the collective sides of any MMORPG that’s ever been made. I am not a fan of it, but until someone suggests a better method it’s the only way. I’ve advocated more emphasis on crafting, but Blizzard doesn’t seem to agree with me on that one. The Epic Armor quest lines available to the various classes are a good step forward, but they only have a small handful of these quests.

A few people have made claims that my critiques on the Dungeon 2 set are only valid if you went to level 60 without ever adding any players to your friends list. That would present a problem if it were true. However, it is far from the truth. Out of personal experience, my in-game friends list is filled with good players. The problem comes with their scheduling. Many of them are in large raiding guilds and are often in MC or BWL when they’re playing the game. The ones that aren’t in raiding guilds are often on at erratic times, focusing on PvP, helping out their guild, or simply do not have the time to do a run. Yes, this varies from server to server, and just because my experience isn’t great doesn’t mean Person X on Server Y will not know 4 other people that will drop whatever it is they’re doing to run a Dungeon 2 quest, but the simple fact that people like to let out a collective groan when you mention what quest you need should tell you something about the Dungeon 2 quest. It takes a drastic departure from what World of Warcraft has been since I started playing the game: Fun. Quest lines like the Dungeon 2 quest suck the life out of players and make them jaded. Sure, actually completing the quest is an accomplishment, but what’s the point? It isn’t new content, the gear isn’t that great, and (as one E-mailer pointed out) the Dungeon 2 experience is the biggest sham Blizzard’s given to the players of World of Warcraft.

Different Viewpoints

I think I’ve clarified my previous article enough to feel better about it, and at least put some of you at ease. I did, however, get an interesting idea derived from a few comments that I should present an alternate viewpoint to my columns. Therefore, I’m starting a Guest Editorial feature tied into this column. This is where you, the readers, come in. I’m sure some of you are tired of me being “arrogant” and spouting off on my soapbox every week, so I’ll give you the chance to use the soapbox for your own ends. Just drop an E-mail to wowguest@vggen.com with the subject “Guest Editorial”, whatever you want to be called (Character name/server name would be nice, but we can do real name or alias instead), and of course your editorial, and we’ll consider it for our Guest Editorial feature. Initially this will be a once-every-few-weeks feature, but will be expanded if we get enough submissions. All submissions received will of course become the property of VGGEN.com, but anything posted on the site will be credited under the name you provide.

As usual, if you have any comments, complaints, concerns, or fan mail, send them to weeklywow@vggen.com. I’ll try to answer all E-mails personally, and you may wind up in a future mailbag column.

Posted: 07/25/2006

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