Color me Crazy

[Zilthy 36]

I believe, I just had an epiphany that I hope will help as a player.  This will be a bit long winded, but I really would like to share the thought that came to my mind, as well as a bit of background and clarification on this thought.

 

So, let the story begin....

 

Lately in WoW, I have started to play a tank a lot more, and just started as a healer.  Obviously, I have gained a bit more understanding of everyone's role doing this, as well as seeing where I could support this better from the standpoint of being a dps.

 

Now, to go on a bit of a tangent for a bit, I play music as well as WoW.  I play guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, sing, violin, as well as a few brass instruments and other strings.  Not that this is important, but there is something that *is* important, in this, as to what makes a band work well (and likewise a raid team).

 

Let's take the context of a 'modern' band.  There are drums, bass, guitar and vocals.  Each one has a specific function in not only playing the song, but making the song come alive (playing = attempts, come alive = boss kill)

 

Drum: Keep steady beat

Bass: Define groove

Guitar: Provide the rhythm

Singer: Provide the queues

 

In the context of the audience, the singer is usually the most important.  In the context of the band though, they carry and call the queues.  Also, in a raid, the singer is usually someone who is also playing guitar, bass, drums, keys, etc.  I have yet to see a group with a lead singer in raid terms, who does nothing but sing.

 

Working back, dps is a lot like guitar (or keyboards).  No one is is going to notice a mess up unless you really screw up.  However, it takes something really special to stand out.

 

Next up is bass, and that is the tanks.  One may think tanks are the drums, keeping everything steady, but in reality, they define the *feel* of a fight.

 

Drums: That is the healers.  They try and keep everything stable. But, if the bass (tanks) and healers (drums) do not work well together, everything falls apart, really fast.

 

So, there is my viewpoint, but why am I posting this here as part of my epiphany?

 

Because, I saw a correlation.

 

For years, I tried to play guitar, and I tried really hard.  When I played, I tried to pull off the best licks, come up with interesting riffs, etc... and I failed.  But, there were the times that I just felt the groove, and stopped trying, and just played.  Those moments were magical.

 

It is much the same, when I play warlock.  Instead of *thinking* "What note am I going to play next" as I used to do on guitar (or in case of warlock, what spell will I cast next)

 

So, how do I approach that?  Let's take Havoc for example.  We can Havoc/Shadowburn, we can Havoc/Chaos Bolt or even Havoc/Incinerate (Well, we can also Havoc/Curse of the Elements which is silly, or Havoc/Immolate, which may be acceptable)

 

My new approach is to consciously train those combos, which I do subconsciously when I do not try.  May as well put muscle memory to good use.

 

Anyway, my apologies to anyone who fully reads this.  I would say that it might be long winded, but in truth it is very long winded.

 

I just wished to share something that made a click in my head tonight, whether or not it is even useful remains to be proven, even to me.

 

P.S.  Apparently I still really overthink things.

[Oldtrout 7]

and all warlocks want to be tony iommi, so we also have to cut off two of our fingertips

[Zagam 1,982]

I think what clicked in your mind revolves around what we call "synergy."  Good raid groups display signs of it.  Awesome raid groups radiate in synergy.  Tanks have a seemingly telepathic way of communicating what they are doing.  DPS do their job automatically without assigning them tasks.  Just like music, when everything flows together, the result is truly awesome.