Casual Saturdays: The Basics

Lately it seems as though there has been a huge debate over the casual player/raider vs the hardcore raider. Both sides of the penny have had valid points and arguements in regard to the casual player and some have been rather harsh but well thought out and pertinent. While I don’t necessarily agree with the sentiment that if you’re not min/maxing every toon that you’ve got you’z a bad, I do agree that you should at least know the basics of your class and encounters, especially if you’re healing or tanking.

We’ll stick to primarily the realm of Cataclysm dungeons and heroics and possibly raids (eep!) because even the “casual” player at enters them thanks to the Look for Dungeon feature whether its to complete a few quests or farming badge and heroic gear. And consider yourselves lucky, because in my day we had to sit in trade or beg guildies to put groups together to do them.

Each dungeon has an objective, to down a few bosses in hopes of getting some new ilvl raisin’ shinies. You’re on a team of 5 and all of you, whether you like it or not, have an integral role in its completion. You may need to sheep, sap, interrupt, or do some form of crowd control to make your way through trash mobs to get to aforementioned bosses. And you definitely do NOT want to be standing in stuff. When you finally get to your destination, the same rules apply to the boss you’re fighting. If you don’t know what to do, ask! But you can also find plenty of explainations online on Youtube, Tankspot or the Dungeon Journal (shift+J).

And for my Mage sistas n bros out there. Please, decurse and counterspell if possible!

So you’ve completed the dungeon and now have a bunch of new gear, Justice and Valor points. What next? Gems, enchants and possibly reforging. Confused on what and where to start? Your best bet is to find someone on your server that plays the same class as you do and ask for advice. If that is not an option, Elitist Jerks can help you with at the very least your choice of gems and enchants. EJ can be very intimidating for a “casual” but if you stick to the first post of your respective class and spec, you can get down to some of the nitty gritty without all of the math and theorycrafting. As far as reforging goes, Ask Mr. Robot lets you plug your toon into it system and will do some of the work. On the same token, I find that its often too… robotic and err on the side of using common sense.

Hit these.

Now, your toon is optimized but you’re still struggling and not pushing out bad ass numbers? If you’re a tank or healer, definitely hit some blogs, forums or a guildie. Sometimes, practice makes perfect as well. If you’re dps, I suggest hitting up some training dummies. They’re in those cities for more than just aesthetics and practice definitely makes perfect. But don’t just stand and shoot! Do some dps on the move! If you’re still struggling, again find a mentor. A lot of the social aspect in Warcraft has been lost with the LFG option and everyone is mostly tabbed-out doing random crap in their home city. If they’re afk, put them on your (gasp!) friends list and wait for them to return to their keyboard. Seems stalkerish, but I can more than assure you that most of us are more than willing to help or lend a kind ear.

This post was sponsored by my shadow priest, who one time in a dungeon did 300 dps back in BC because I was a “casual” and didn’t know what the hell I was doing.

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