Sample Application: This is example of a great application!

[Melbu]

If you want us to seriously consider your application, here's a good example of the type of applications we like to see.

1. Character name, Server

App Sample Feral Druid, Mal'Ganis

2. Class, Race, and Spec (and Artifact Level)

Druid, Tauren. I main Feral (62) but I have played all 4 specs this expansion for progression as needed. Guardian (55), Resto (55), Balance (55). I can farm the AP needed to bring the off specs up to the gated Crucible tiers as needed.

3. Link to an Armory profile, and an explanation of anything that may not be readily apparent from your Armory profile (alternate sets of gear, currently PvP-specced, etc.)


https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/chara ... afghanimal

4. What are your usual playing hours? Are there days/times when you are consistently unavailable? Inform us of your daily work/school schedule, what time do you get home from work/school, and what time must you be in bed for the next day. Are you able to make our raid times in general? Is this availability going to change within the next few months, or with a change in Semester (if applicable)?

Currently I am between jobs. I'm free most of the time until I find suitable employment again. Those hours of employment should not conflict with raid times. This may be subject to change when I enroll in classes again in winter, but that will be several months away, and I expect the majority of my classes will not conflict with raid hours either.

5. Discuss your prior endgame raiding experience. Specify your experience with Heroic/Mythic in previous content as well as your experience in the current tier.


I've been playing on and off since Vanilla. I started really raiding in TBC. Successfully killed the majority of content while it was current whenever I was playing. I took breaks on and off, missed all of MOP, but Legion is the first expansion since TBC where I have played consistently from the start to the end.

The Burning Crusade:

Karazhan - Full Cleared while current content.
Gruul's Lair - Full Cleared while current content.
Magtheridon - Full Cleared while current content.
Serpent Shrine Cavern - Full Cleared while current content.
Tempest Keep - Full Cleared while current content.
Battle for Mt. Hyjal - Full Cleared while current content.
Black Temple - Full Cleared while current content.
Sunwell - Cleared up to Twins. Took a hiatus before the end of the expansion. Returned to WoW in Ulduar.

Wrath of the Lich King:

Naxxramas - Hiatus, did not full clear until returning for Ulduar.
Malygos - Hiatus, did not clear until returning for Ulduar.
Ulduar - Full Cleared, Yogg 0 included while current content.
ToC/ToGC - Full Cleared, Tribute to Insanity included while current content.
ICC - Full Cleared on 10 man, did not get HLK 25 until after Halion release and pre cata patch.
Halion - Full Cleared.

Cataclysm:

Blackwing Descent - Hiatus, did not full clear until return shortly before Firelands.
Throne of the Four Winds - Hiatus, did not full clear until return shortly before Firelands.
Firelands - Full Cleared while current content for 10 man, 25 man did not get heroic Rag until Dragon Soul.
Dragon Soul - Full Cleared while current content.

Mists of Pandaria:

I took a hiatus for this entire expansion. Shame really, I hear the raid content was amazing, despite the whole panda motif. Came back in the last 2 months to prep for WoD.

Warlords of Draenor:

Highmaul - Full Cleared while current content.
Blackrock Foundry - Stonewalled at Blast Furnace by dying guild with attendance problems.
Hellfire Citadel - Hiatus, I left the first week into mythic, dying guild with attendance problems.

Legion:

Emerald Nightmare - Full Cleared while current content.
Trial of Valor - 2/3. Did not get Helya before NH release. Swapped guilds Between Odyn and Helya when one died due to attendance.
Night Hold - Full Cleared while current content.
Tomb of Sargeras - Currently 6/9M.


6. Why do you want to leave your current guild? Why do you want to join us? Specifically, what interests you in our band of merry idiots?


I left my guild today after a bit of a personal spat with my GM/Raid Leader. There have been problems festering for months and today was the straw that broke the camel's back. I prefer not to speak ill of former friends/colleagues so I will just summarize it as a difference in personal raid philosophy and work ethic.

Why I want to join you guys? Your raid times are identical to what I have been raiding with the past 9 months. Your progression is near where I feel I should have been if not for all the problems plaguing my previous guild. I spoke with a rogue about your guild history, needs, and atmosphere and it seems to line up with what I aim to aspire for in a raid team. Fellow grizzled veterans who don't shy away from progression and are team oriented. I also have server and faction transfered 3 times this expansion, I would prefer to remain on Mal'Ganis and it would appear that you guys are a perfect fit for me. I hope I can return that favor.

7. Give us some info on your class knowledge and self performance analysis in this section:


Sure thing! If I've been playing this long ,I may as well be able to showcase a little knowledge.

7a. What is your general action priority? Opener and neutral game, and any special CDs?

Pure ST fight opener - Regrowth -> Prowl -> Pre-pot -> Rake -> Savage Roar -> Incarnation -> Tiger's Fury -> Ashamane's Frenzy -> (shred once to 5 combo points if the opening rake did not crit) -> Rip

Blood Talons to empower every single bleed and as many bites as possible. Maintain savage roar. Keep track of clip marker and pandemic timers. Use weakaura/addon to track bleed strength thresholds. Manage CD timings, don't energy cap. Manage GCD's effectively during incarn so as to not miss out on damage. No BT empowerements during this window unless a charge will be used on a bleed.

Light cleave fight opener - Regrowth -> Prowl -> Pre-pot -> Rake -> Incarnation -> Tiger's Fury -> Ashamane's Frenzy -> (Brutal Slash once to 5 combo points if the opening rake did not crit) -> Rip

Similar to single target, the only addendum being trading maintenance of Savage Roar for maintenance of Brutal Slash charges. Use only when empowered by blood talons and tiger's fury if possible. Use on multiple targets if possible. Otherwise sit a 2 charges and burn one off to avoid over capping, unless you are 100% certain you can get all 3 charges back in time for the cleave section of the fight, in which case you can spend charges on single target as needed provided they are empowered.

Heavy AoE fight opener

Same opener as Light cleave, unless there are multiple targets at the start, in which case I would be applying rakes to everything in lieu of shreds for both bleed uptime and combo point generation. At 5+ targets it becomes viable to spam thrash over multi raking if wearing bracers. 9+ targets if not wearing bracers.

7b. What resources and practices do you use to keep up with your class and maximizing your DPS/HPS/Surivability?

Simcraft nightly versions, warcraft logs, Clawnalyst -http://clawnalyst.nimos.ws/ is a good quick analysis tool tailored to Feral specifically. I look at kill times to see if there's a better cooldown management set up I can run for that fight, whether I can cheese Convergence of Fate, and where my damage bursts/drop off would be in relation. On fights where the raid is taking ample damage, I try to use my blood talon Regrowths on a damaged raid member via my mouseover Regrowth macro. I also try to time savage roar to benefit everyone in range on hairy spots like certain Mistress RNG bullshit moments.

7c. How do you prioritize gear upgrades? What stats do you prioritize, how do you choose between ilvl upgrades that don't have your preferred stats, etc.? Are there any legos you don't have that you're shooting for?

( Pawn: v1: "Feral Statweights": Class=Druid, Spec=Feral, CritRating=20.93, Agility=24.17, HasteRating=14.31, MasteryRating=19.11, Versatility=23.08 )

That is my most recent pawn string. Currently I value Agi > Versatility > Crit > Mastery > Haste. Patch 7.3 really changed the hell out of Feral. I went from being mastery heavy and entirely bleed dependent, to having direct damage be at the forefront of my dps breakdown, largely due to Incarnation becoming the prevalent talent in it's tier following the nerfs to Jagged Wounds and bleed empowerments overall in patch 7.3.

Choosing between upgrades usually a quick sim is enough to determine. I have to sim after every single upgrade, given how fluid/flexible the spec has been all expansion. Relics in particular are going to be trickier now that the Netherlight Crucible is a thing, but even that is manageable with the relic calculator tools available.

I have all the Feral legendaries. I am still missing the required Boomkin legendaries to parse/progress well, the same holds true for Guardian/Resto, but having Ekowraith and Prydaz mitigates that by a little for the non DPS roles.

EDIT: I just got the BiS Boomkin Bracers. Just need the shoulders for aoe fights or the IFE ring for Single Target.

7d. What fights in the current tier do you swap Talents and Legendaries to something different than the norm? What do you swap and why? Feel free to list on a boss per boss basis.

Goroth - Pure Single Target. Blood Scent/Incarnation/Savage Roar/Blood Talons is the standard ST talent set up. I can either run Behemoth/SOTA combo for absolute pure min/max dps, but if I get targetted by the bowling pin mechanic, or if I'm on soak duty, or even if someone dies and I have to go the distance to battle res them, I'll lose out on dps. Running double rings set up only puts me behind about 17k dps but the quality of life boost is worth it in practicality and the difference minimizes when I have to move for mechanics. For pure parsing sake running Behemoth/Sota would probably be best as long as you don't do mechanics and pray you don't get targeted by the bowling pin mechanic.

Demonic Inquisition - BS/Incarn/BrS/BT set up. Light cleave is best for pure boss damage. I could either to Behemoth/Sota, double rings, or even swap in gloves and all 3 would perform respectably. But for pure padding/parses going full aoe set up and having your raid intentionally spawn multiple adds is how to go about getting those fatty parses. Obviously I'd prefer the former over the latter. Padding is silly.

Harjatan - Heavy AoE setup. Chatoyant and Luffas with Predator/Incarn/BrS/and either BT or MoC both are viable. This fight has been on farm for people for months. Pad city. I'm not too fond of it.

Sisters of the Moon - You can make light cleave work if your raid comp doesn't have issues popping shields, but I prefer pure ST. Owl dies really quickly anyway. Double Rings over Behemoth/SOTA to prioritize mechanics. The latter if going for pure dmg parse.

Desolate Host - Depending on your raid composition you can make either heavy aoe or light cleave work well. Admittedly I don't need loot from this so I almost always end up sitting for people who do, I don't think I have a good parse on this one yet. Left guild before getting the chance to actually parse for real on it. The one fight I have from a few weeks ago I was wearing the wrong legendaries. But due to lack of immunity, I'd stay downstairs and manage adds/interrupts/scream pops. 2 targets during execute for bleeds is fun though.

Mistress- If your raid is solid on aoe, to the point where you have to stop dps constantly to avoid killing the eels too fast, just go pure ST or light cleave. But you'll get garbage parses for it. For the actual aoe version of the fight, its all about mob count. at 5+ targets you spam thrash if AoE isn't a mitigating factor, like in P2 where you can kill eels nonstop. If it is a factor, I just bleed them up and let them chill. Although in our raids they were in danger of dying early so often we had to chain typhoons to keep them out of the melee pile. This fight is amazing if you can be put in group 1 and get fish consistently. Unfortunately due to the chaos and the bullshit I'd never get a dps boost fishy when I wanted one. Mechanically though having access to displacer, huge movement speed increases and 2 charges of a 50% DR kept me alive in sticky situations.

Maiden - Didn't get to progress much on her before I left. Looks amazing for feral given the mobility for balls, my huge melee radius, and my targeted burst windows.

Avatar - Only seen videos, looks like a great feral fight. Shame I don't have cloak of negate mechanics like rogues do. But 2 target sustain with targeted burst windows is good for me. Mobility is also in my wheelhouse. After talking to my friends who have this down, post nerfs it looks like it's more forgiving to bring non immunity/soak classes to stack. Yay!

KJ - Not that many ferals have this down yet. Fight looks interesting, but I don't have much to go off aside from pestering the 1 or 2 guys I know who killed it as feral. Waiting for more videos/resources to be released to formulate a gameplan. Only things I know for certain are that I can soak a big Meteor as feral. 35M Dmg hit mitigated by Survival Instincts + Bear Form +Protection of Ashamane = 5.7M damage out of the 8M HP Bear form gives. Alternatively if you guys 3 tank the fight like a lot of guilds do nowadays, I can be the 3rd Tank although you'd probably want a Blood DK given they can negate the darkness phase entirely.

7e. How do you analyze your performance on a new fight and figure out how/what you can improve on next week? Don't just say you use logs and compare to others of your class - what specifically are you looking for when you have a good/bad parse?

I plug my log into clawnalyst to notice the obvious dps losses, I look at whether mechanics cockblocked me or if I happened to execute poorly, I look at fight duration, number of people alive, raid dps metrics and drop offs. For good parses I look to see how much proc RNG affected the parse and how much of it was just good execution on my part.

8. Please include your character log report showcasing your performance on the relevant bosses of the tier. If your logs are private, please change your Warcraftlogs login and list the username/password here so we can access your logs. If you aren't comfortable listing it publicly, please PM it to Palin privately on these forums. Please remember to change your WCL login again a few days later after we've reviewed your application.

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/character/us/XXX

A lot of the parses were before 7.3 where the class play style shifted considerably. Post 7.3 I have been sitting on almost everything since I don't need gear from the first 5 bosses, I apologize if they're not extensive enough. I was also playing on Area 52 and Sargeras previously this expansion, and should still have old parses from EN and ToV there.

9. Of the above logs, please do a quick analysis of what fights you did well on, what went wrong on certain fights, etc. Use this chance to explain any context behind good/bad logs.

I'm gonna be honest, I only have a few logs where I did exceptionally well and didn't have to deal with mechanics, run around to res someone, or didn't die to bullshit. However some of those logs are no longer around.

That aside, I have been sitting on a majority of fights since 7.3 and of the ones that I've been in for, I haven't made the effort to 100% parse/pad. I've just been trying to kill the bosses so we can get back to progression quickly. But if given a trial, just say the word and I'll start padding for parses as needed.

10. Can your PC handle WoW at high effects (Lust, Scorp Room, etc.)?

Yes. 3.4Ghz Duo Core (Gross I know), GTX 970, 8GB DDR3 2000 RAM. Wow is mostly processor based, so the graphics card doesn't matter much, but I still sustain 80-200 FPS outside of raid combat and about 40-90FPS during.

11. Please include a SS of your raiding UI. IF A KEYBINDING IS NOT SHOWN NO YOUR FRAME, PLEASE EXPLAIN AND list any relevant keybinds not shown in the screenshot. Make sure we can see everything that pops up in a raid, meaning take the SS in combat in LFR or something of the like so we can see your boss mods, timer positioning, WeakAuras, raid frames, etc.

http://www.insertuiscreenshothere.com

DBM, ERT, Angry Assignments, Titan Panel, Skinner (viewport enabled), Bartender4, TipTac, Bagnon, MSBT, TidyPlates, Weakauras, Sexymap, Zperl, Grid2, Prat, Auctioneer, are the most noticeable of my addons.

My Boomkin, Guardian, Resto UI's are largely similar, but with different WA set ups running and a different grid2 profile running for resto running in tandem with mouseover macros for every healing spell.

12. Tell us a bit about yourself. Age, gender, work/school, hobbies, etc. Add anything else you feel is pertinent.

My name is XXXX. I'm XXX. I work at XXX. I like puppies.

I've been a gamer all my life and have dipped my toe into many gaming ponds. I play Fighting games competitively, I played a lot of shooters, I dabbled heavily in MOBAs, I love RPGS and speedrunning. I used to play Magic:The Gathering pretty heavily, and even did some hardcore Arena back in my PvP days. The majority of the friends I have today I've made through gaming. I love it. It's a core part of my identity as a person.

I'm a pretty social person. I like meeting people. I play WoW primarily because it is a social game. A lot of the guilds I've played with over the years have been somewhat sub par as far as raiding standards goes, but I've stuck around anyway because of the friendships and bonds I forged with the people in them.. Finally killing a boss after hundreds of wipes is a satisfaction that is hard to match, made even sweeter by sharing in the glory with the other folks who slaved away alongside you to have that common goal achieved.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my application. I hope I have met the standards expected of an applicant aiming for a trial. Cheers!

13. Out-of-game contact information - e-mail (PM it to Palin if you prefer private), Discord tag, Battle.net ID, etc. Some way we can contact you besides these forums.

XXXX#XXXX - Bnet.
XXXX#XXXX- Discord.

[/quote]

Old example, please note our questions have changed:

1. Character Information

Ästfgl – Warlock - http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/n ... fgl/simple (Sorry, can't get it to work. Curse you Umlaut!)
Darktan – Boomkin (missing only trinkets for Feral spec) - http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/n ... tan/simple
(bonus points if you get the name references)
Current server: Ner’zhul

This application is for both characters, although I would prefer to play the Warlock. I am flexible there though.

2. What are your usual playing hours? Are there days/times when you are consistently unavailable? Inform us of your daily work/school schedule, what time do you get home from work/school, and what time must you be in bed for the next day. Are you able to make our raid times in general? Is this availability going to change within the next few months, or with a change in Semester?

I work from home, so being on time should not be an issue outside of unusual circumstances of which I will inform the relevant parties when known. Making raids generally should not be a problem either, the same way as above. I will have ice hockey games and practices occasionally, but I do not have the schedule very far in advance, although in the past we had mostly Monday/Tuesday events so it may become a non-issue for the most part. I do travel rarely for work, but again, I will only know of that a few days before it happens, it isn’t anything regular that will keep me out of the fold every Thursday for example.

6. Discuss your prior endgame raiding experience. Specify your experience with Heroic/Mythic in Mop/Cata and previous content

I did hardcore raiding back in Vanilla with all its grinding, farming, and frustration in Germany. Went relatively casual after moving to the US around when BC hit and stuck mostly to 10 mans. In WotLK, I continued with 10 mans and pugged 25-man ICC/TOC. This continued through Cata, where I raided 10 man BWD etc. at a reasonable, but non-competitive pace. My guys mostly quit after Cata and I also took a break until the later parts of MoP, where I stuck mostly with LFR until the very end, where I did some Flex-SOO. I managed to stay ahead of the curve in WoD and cleared Heroic HM in early December when I started looking for Mythic freelance work to fill roster spots for guilds that needed a stand-in. My current guild, Slash Cry, convinced me to stay as a full member and I have been contributing since. We got 5/7 M HM, but lately some members left, we got into an odd churn cycle and ultimately decided to call it quits. We only cleared H BRF and got M Beastlord to 5% or so. Honestly the issue was people being selfish, in my opinion, and focusing on personal ranking over guild progress. In the end, it does not matter, since we’re done. Overall, I have seen all facets of raiding in the past and even did main-tanking and raid leading.

7. Why do you want to leave your current guild? Why do you want to join us? Specifically, what interests you in our band of merry idiots?

I don’t want to leave my current guild, but that choice isn't mine anymore, we're disbanding. What interests me the most in you guys, is that you seem to have a similar experience and attitude in regards to WoW, while surviving and staying together. I am a very loyal person and form friendships in guilds I join. I believe Spike Flail can provide the structure I am looking for raid, while also giving me a new group of people to hang out with and have fun together, be it in WoW or elsewhere.

8. Theorycraft for us here. Show us you know how to gear your class, and the mechanics of your class's itemization. What outside tools or resources do you use for maximizing yourself? Include a numeric breakdown of your stat priority/ratio; what each stat gives you in terms of Threat/Mitigation/Healing/DPS increases compared to other stats, and how you prioritize them. How you use those numbers to gem/enchant and choose upgrades? Please include a Log report from either warcraftlogs or mr robot warcraftlogs prefered.

For healers, give us a breakdown of what spells you use in what situations, and why. For DPS classes, talk some theorycraft about maxing your DPS. What's your ability priority/spell or rotation? How do you use your cooldowns? How do you handle DPS during movement?

Also please include some information regarding your dual spec choice. All applicants are expected to have Dual-spec with knowledge of how to play it. For pure DPS classes, this means alternate specs for different situations as well. Why did you choose the dual-spec you did?

I kept this ‘till last, because it is fairly unusual and I wasn't sure what to write short of listing my stats from SimCraft or some website. Stat-wise I am pretty lucky with both my chars as they both love Mastery, which limits what gem-patterns I had to learn and which flasks and food I need to make. For the Boomkin, it’s pretty easy after that as most stats are relatively well in Balance (heyyyaa) outside of Haste and Versatility falling off a bit. The Warlock has a bit more ‘tiered’ stats where Mastery is followed by Haste & Multi (favorite of mine though, who doesn’t love shooting 3 of their fat DPS things?) with Crit and Versatility lagging a bit behind. I browse a bunch of forums (back in the day EJs, now MMOChamp) for additional ideas and input on playing classes to their potential and often watch streams to see top performers doing their thing and honestly to see where they milk that extra bit of DPS out of given rotations. I also am familiar, and do frequently, with running SimCrafts, but the Warlock one sucks and the Druid one gives me weird results on scaling, so lately this took a back-seat. I am not sure whether you want me to go more in-depth into each spec and their rotation, but for the most part I have them mastered and know my classes well. The druid has been with me since Vanilla (on EU) and BC (on US), played Feral through Wrath, then Balance, nothing in MoP and now Balance again. The Warlock was made at the tail end of Wrath and has been Demo/Affliction for the most part since then. In WoD I started with a Warrior, decided I didn’t like it and switched to the Druid. The Warlock hit 100 3 weeks ago and I have been focused on that since, which is why some of those logs are a bit low, but please notice the improvement week over week as gear was coming in. I do enjoy Demo a lot at present as the variety within the spec is just great. Demo has tools to deal with all levels of AoE to single target and heavy burst, which I love. The druid is pretty much the opposite in that the spec in itself is pretty good in all aspects, which can be a bit boring. I do not like playing Incarnation as Boomkin (the extra global feels off) and luckily with 4-piece now SotF is on par, if not better in most situations. I did try some BoP or Stellar Flare builds, but without Euphoria, Balance is awful to play.
With the Warlock, I liked the DB spec a lot when it was king of the hill, but since then developed a liking for Cataclysm. The Serv/Serv style feels too passive to me, but I still run it as it has its merits for sure, I do hope though that DB gets a slight bump as it was fun. Demo handles movement pretty well and Balance with 2-piece does fine as well. Super heavy movement (Twins) of course isn’t fun for casters but both specs manage it fine.

Logs:

Darktan: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/rankings/c ... st/#boss=0
Ästfgl: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/rankings/c ... est#boss=0

Feel free to browse and ask any questions. I did pretty well on the Druid in HM and I am getting there on the Warlock, who is also missing some pretty nice parses recently due to me not typing /combatlog. You'll note improvements week-over-week for the Warlock. I tend to avoid padding my DPS in favor of getting the kill, which if it was done by the rest of our DPS may have kept our guild together and killing bosses, but I digress. I am a pretty clean player and outside of off-nights (everybody has those), I don’t fail mechanics. I was generally put into responsibilities within raids such as soaking on Koragh, Flamers on Brackenspore as I was reliable to do a good job there. I constantly try to improve and love to discuss with guildies on how to do things better and constantly research and think about improvements to encounters and how I play.

If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer.

9. Please tell us a bit about your gaming system. PC Specs, usual FPS, internet connection, Vent/Mic, and any common problems that you may have. Please include your resolution and effects and such (anyone can have 60+ FPS with no addons/resolution/effects). Additionally, please list any relevant addons and how you use them. Also please tell us what resolution you play at.

Playing at 1920x1080 with 50ish frames at Ultra, bloom (or w/e it’s called now) off since it looks annoying. Running light on addons. Base UI is Tuk UI with Weak Auras supplementing info. I do have DBM and GTFO for raids, but mostly pay attention anyway and see what is going on. Hardware won’t be an issue though, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something didn’t work.



10. Include a SS of your raiding UI. List any relevant keybinds not shown in the screenshot.

http://i.imgur.com/q6Ov8vZ.jpg

When building my UI, I like keeping it clean with relevant info around character via Weak Auras. I am happy to explain individual elements and what is what. Druid essentially has the same with different WA’s. This layout has been in place for me since WotLK with minor changes.

11. Tell us a bit about yourself. Age, gender, work/school, hobbies, etc. Add anything else you feel is pertinent.

This is where the money is at! I am currently 27, white male, with a receding hairline. I am currently employed as a Salesforce solution architect and project lead with a consulting firm. I work remotely, which is very convenient as I can take care of my two cats and single dog. Hobby wise, I obviously play WoW, but also greatly enjoy playing and training for Ice Hockey (GO RANGERS), and a tabletop strategy game named Warmachine. Besides that I spend time with my pets and wife, as well as friends. I did also get a bit obsessive about my lawn last year (no idea why) after saying I wouldn’t, but the dog made short work of that. We’ll try again soon! Overall, I think I am great to get along with while being serious when needed. I like to joke around a bunch and provide entertainment with my accent and sharp wit. I grew up in Germany, so I also bring a good bit of pragmatism with me, as well as lots of off-color jokes. When it comes to jokes, I take as well as I give. I think once you get to know me, we’ll get along great. Also, I have a degree in Biology and Math, so if anybody has questions, hit me.

12. Out-of-game contact information (e-mail, Battle.net ID, etc. Some way we can contact you besides these forums.)

Email: XXXXX @ XXXXXX, aBattleTag (XXXX#1234)

Also happy to jump onto Mumble/Vent to chat.

[Melbu]

Previous Example

Character Info (Q1 to Q3):
Ðeroth, Undead Affliction/Demonology Warlock, Ner’zhul Server

Armory Link (Q4):
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... C3%90eroth

My current gear set was in a state of transition from the T8 content to the T9 content before I took my hiatus from the game (more on my hiatus will be explained in Q7). I have completed my T9 set, but need some off piece upgrades. I have obtained some upgrades in gear since transferring over to Ner’zhul from Whisperwind, but know I still need a few upgrades to get me caught up gear wise and am willing to put in the time and effort to get me caught up on that end.

Playing Hours (Q5):
My typical playing hours are between 5/5:30PM EST to around 12AM EST Monday through Friday. I am typically free to play all day on the weekend or whenever needed to raid. Baring any real life events I am typically unavailable during the work day (8AM to 4PM Monday through Friday). I currently have no time conflicts with Spike Flail’s current raid schedule.

I am currently working a temporary job while I am actively seeking a permanent full time job. I have held off making any kind of transfer or change of guild due to this situation. My availability however for the past 6 months has been stable, and I have been convinced by Nellorae to apply for a raid spot in Spike Flail to get back into WoW at the competitive level that I seek. With this being said, I am actively looking for a permanent full time position and my availability may change if opportunity dictates.

Note: I am expecting to be unavailable sometime at the end of this month or early next month for approximately a week on work related matter.

Endgame Raiding Experience (Q6):
My warlock has been my main since I started playing WoW in August of 2006. On my warlock I have played many different specs and have been raiding since Vanilla WoW.
Listed progression shown at point of progress before release of concurrent expansion pack.

Classic: Molten Core (FC), ZG (FC), AQ20 (5/6 – Ayamiss not killed), BWL (3/8).

TBC: Karazhan (FC), Gruul (FC), Magtheridon (FC), SSC (FC), TK (FC), Hyjal (FC), BT (FC), Sunwell (1/6 Pre 3.0, FC Post 3.0). My raid experience in TBC includes being the warlock tank for Grand Astromancer Capernian (Kael’thas Fight) and for Illidan.

WotLK: Naxx10 (FC/Undying), Naxx 25 (FC), OS10 (3D Pre-3.1), OS25 (3D Pre-3.1), Maly (FC), Ulduar10 (13/13 HM), Ulduar25 (6/13 HM), ToGC10 (Tribute to Insanity), ToGC25 (FC/NRB, LJ, & Twin HM Kills).
Raid experience in WotLK includes being raid leader for my previous guild’s Ulduar25 HMs and ToGC25 HMs prior to a guild merger that eventually led to me taking a hiatus from WoW.

I recently transferred over from Whisperwind and got a social invite to the guild. Since transferring I was able to run ICC10 in a guild alt run and got my first looks at the first 9 bosses. I have also run a VoA25, and ran on one of your ICC2 runs clearing through Saurfang.

Previous Guild Info (Q7):
My reason for having left my previous guild and taking a hiatus from WoW was determined by several factors that happened to come together all at the same time. Probably the biggest reason for me leaving my previous guild, Unholy Aura, and taking a break from the game was due to the reasons I joined UA. I joined UA in November of 2007 seeking a server and guild that allowed me to raid at a higher level. My T4 gear and my lack of attunement prevented me from joining a guild that was working on T6 content. Unholy Aura was on the verge of completing the attunement process for Hyjal and I saw the opportunity to join a guild that was at the point of progression that was not too far for my current point of progression (most guilds at the time were asking for minimum Vashj Vial for Hyjal Attunement if not already attuned and I didn’t even have a single kill in SCC or TK under my name). The following day I was in a raid going for a first kill on Vashj. We did not get her that day, but I knew I had found a guild where I would have fun in and would finally not be bogged down in progression.

Unholy Aura was a competitive guild grabbing many Horde server firsts through the remaining T6 content. Problems did not start happening until shortly before Ulduar was released. Over UAs progression through Naxx we picked up new players. The ease of the new raiding content made it hard to determine player skill as gear was no longer a good metric to go by since Naxx made high level raid gear available to anyone. The focus of some of the newer players and even some of our veterans also changed from progression to just getting gear. I played this game for progression not gear, but UA still remained a top guild through Naxx.

All the problems that UA picked up during Naxx became apparent as the guild progressed through Ulduar. We lost a couple of key members in our healing team and had to rely more heavily on some of the newer members. While the gear oriented players had no complaints at the beginning of Ulduar it became a hindrance on progression as we began to try out the hard modes. The guild was starting to split apart. There were the players that could hack it in the new content and there were those that couldn’t, as well as the group that wanted gear and those that wanted to progress. I kept my loyalties as UA still had one good thing going for it, a 10 man HM raid team that was progression oriented. I felt that if UA could build on this team we could get our 25 man raids back on track. Unfortunately the opposite occurred and it was more of the same when ToGC was released. It was around this time that Nellorae left to join Spike Flail. I was considering applying with her, however decided to stick things through in the hope that things would work themselves out.

In a last ditch effort to salvage the guild UA merged with another guild that was experiencing similar issues. It was too little too late for me. I was already losing interest in the content Blizzard released in ToGC and months of frustration trying my hardest as an officer to keep things together came to a head. UA lost its feel and any fun I had raiding was pretty much buried in the mess the guild had become. Even as progression was taking a turn for the better, the people I played with and enjoyed playing with were pretty much gone. I decided it was finally time to leave.

Part of the reason I stuck around in UA longer than most of my other friends did was I was eager to see what ICC was going to be like with a guild that I have been a part of for a very long time. It helped me stick through my boredom of ToGC, but my boredom in conjunction with other frustrations in the guild led to me leaving. I still have a desire to see what ICC is like, but I want to enjoy the content in a guild that was basically what UA was to me when I first joined. I kept in contact with Nell during my hiatus where she told me how great the guild was and how the raiding environment was similar to what we had in our 10 man HM group in UA. From what she has been telling me Spike Flail seems like a guild that holds the same ideals in game play that I do and I would like to become a part of that.

Theorycraft (Q8):
In general my stats priority goes as follows:

Hit Rating (Until Capped) > Spell Power > Haste > Spirit > Crit

This is how I generally break down how significant a dropped item is to increasing my DPS. Since I am close to the hit cap hit rating is currently at the bottom of my priority list and will get pieces with hit in anticipation of any hit loss during a transition period between tier sets. Spell power increases the overall damage of my spells as well as affects certain talent specific abilities such as Dark and Demonic Pact and thus has always been high priority for stats I look for. Haste affects how fast I can cast spells and with the new Glyph of Quick Decay how fast my Corruption ticks thus is also a major boost in DPS for me. I find these two stats analogous to a gun with spell power being the caliber of the bullet and haste being the rate of fire. In order to maximize the damage the gun can do you want a big bullet that fires fast. Spirit comes since it contributes to increasing my spell power through Fel Armor and Glyph of LT (Which I use in all my PVE specs). Finally there is crit. Since crit is based on a RNG it is not a reliable method in increasing overall DPS as much as the other three stats. In terms of the gun analogy again, crit is like a lucky shot, the higher your percentage the better your chance of getting that lucky shot, but it’s still not better than having a fast shooting high caliber gun.

I will break down each stat for each of the main PVE specs I play according to my current gear set as well as give you my history with each of these specs. My specs are constantly evolving based on what I experience through progression of new/updated content and gear, but I have experience and have use specs based on the three talent trees.

Affliction: (Primary Spec/pDPS)
This has been my bread and butter spec since I started playing WoW. It is the spec tree I used to level with in my 1 to 60 grind and is one of the two trees I used during my rookie raiding days. I also used the TBC variant of this spec during my progression through the late T4 into early T6 content switching to Destruction midway through T6. With the changes that came with the release of Patch 3.0 I went back to this spec for most of my progression through Sunwell and was my primary spec through Naxx 2.0. Affliction has always been one of my favorite specs and is the spec I am most comfortable with and is my top choice for personal DPS spec with the current content.

My current affliction spec (56/0/15) is as follows:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IbxbbuMA ... 00V:TInzV0
I use the Dark Pact variation of the standard affliction spec as I have found in out of raid testing that I had a greater mana return from dark pact than 2/2 Imp LT. I do have LT on my DP macro for situations where my pet may die or if I find myself out of range of my pet to use DP. Due to my current hit rating I also moved points that I normally would’ve put in suppression into Fel Concentration. Since my spec uses DP I moved points from Imp LT to Imp DS in order to get the threat mitigation from that talent.

My current rotation for affliction as of Patch 3.3.2 is to start off with a LT Rank 1 in order to proc my Glyph of LT followed by two Shadowbolts in order to get the first two stacks of Shadow Embrace up. This is followed by Haunt to get the 3rd stack of SE before I begin my DoT rotation. Based on my latency I start off my DoT rotation with Unstable Affliction immediately followed by Corruption and finally CoA. Following the initial application of my DoTs I proceed with my shadowbolt spam watching my timers in order to ensure proper reapplication of my debuffs and to keep my LT buff up. After my initial rotation my rotation breaks down to debuff prioritization. Reapplication of Haunt is top priority for as it refreshes my Corruption and increases my periodic damage, this is followed by UA and then CoA. I DP/LT during times of movement, during periods where the time before one of my DoTs expires is small enough that I can’t get a shadowbolt off, but long enough that I don’t have anything to continue my casting before reapplication (I hope that made sense), or as needed to keep my Glyph of LT buff up. This rotation continues until the target reaches 25% health. At this point I drop Shadowbolt from my rotation replacing it with Drain Soul. Same priority for debuffs remain, but I will throw in a Shadowbolt if the Shadow Mastery debuff needs to be refreshed, typically using a Shadowbolt when Nightfall procs, or in the worse-case scenario do a full cast Shadowbolt. Reapplication of debuffs is timed based on my DS ticks. I have my MSBT mod make an audible sound when my DS ticks in order to assist me with timing my debuff reapplications, but typically if there is a short enough time before a tick I will wait for DS to tick before I reapply the DoT otherwise I would reapply immediately. The only time that I would not follow this is reapplication of Haunt since Shadowbolt is pretty much out of my rotation Haunt is the only thing refreshing my 3 stack of Shadow Embrace.

Based on a 10k iteration of Simulationcraft 332 the scaling factors based on my current gear set are:
Sta=0.0000 Int=0.3757 Spi=1.0046 SP=1.8023 Hit=1.4008 Crit=1.0919 Haste=1.6598
Based on this simulation my DPS stat prioritization would be:
Spell Power > Haste > Crit > Spirit
I took hit out of the priority list since in a raid environment I have enough hit. This slightly deviates from my general prioritization putting crit ahead of spirit, but is due to the effects of crit on the DPS of Corruption and UA which combined is the major source of my damage output. The weighted values between spirit and crit are however very close.

Demonology: (Secondary Spec/rDPS)
Through my WoW history demonology is my second most used spec. In vanilla WoW I often bounced between affliction demonology. I leveled 60 to 70 using the 0/41/20 FG spec and through my early progression through the T4 content made effective use of it through much of Karazhan. I however found that in fights like Gruul affliction had its advantages and pretty much switched to full time affliction by the time I entered SSC/TK. I went back to a leveling variant of the demonology spec for my leveling grind from 70 to 80 and have used the raiding variant of this spec in Ulduar where I found this spec to be very effective in fights like Freya. Since returning to this game I have tested out this spec mainly in 5 man instances and am pretty comfortable with using this spec and have experience in using this spec in a raid environment through my use of the post 3.3 variation of this spec in Ulduar. I choose this spec due to its raid utility and with the current changes to demonology is shown to become a competitive spec according to simulations shown on EJ’s thread on 3.3.2 warlock specs.

My current demonology spec (0/56/15) is as follows:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IZ0GchkA ... 00V:TnoVz0
I use the standard variation of the Meta Demonology spec.

My current Patch 3.3.2 rotation for Demonology is to start off with LT Rank 1 in order to proc the buff from my Glyph of LT while sending in my pet (I would time my pet based on the tanks position). I then apply my desired curse (CoD or CoE depending on situation) followed by Immolate and Corruption. Based on my latency I find that I can sneak in Corruption immediately after Immolate without having to wait for a GCD. After initial application of debuffs I pop Metamorphosis and begin my Shadowbolt casts. I pop Metamorphosis after applying my initial debuffs in order to get the maximum amount of time in Metamorphosis while casting my primary damage source and in order to give the tank a good enough threat buffer at the beginning of the fight by starting off with relatively low threat spells. I currently have my Shadowbolt and Demonic Empowerment in a macro to automatically pop DE when it is up. As the fight progresses I would continue with my Shadowbolt casts refreshing my debuffs as necessary and watching for Molten Core procs. With MC I would switch to Incinerate if the target if above 35% health and continue to cast Incinerate until I use up all my MC charges (3 typically unless I get a second proc while MC is still up). I would also keep my Glyph of LT buff up by LT when movement is needed or as needed to keep the buff up and pop Metamorphosis whenever it is off CD. When the target is below 35% health my primary nuke would change to Soul Fire with Shadowbolt casts as needed to maintain Shadow Mastery on the target. Debuff application would continue as it was during the fight.

Based on a 10k iteration of Simulationcraft 332 the scaling factors based on my current gear set are:
Sta=0.1891 Int=0.4079 Spi=1.1106 SP=1.5631 Hit=1.8418 Crit=0.8781 Haste=1.3561
Based on this simulation my DPS stat prioritization would be:
Spell Power > Haste > Spirit > Crit
In a raid environment my current gear set has enough hit to negate the hit from my stat priority list. This follows my general prioritization of stats.

Destruction: (Backup/pDPS)
I didn’t start using Destruction based specs until mid into my progression into T6 content. Of the three main specs this is the least used, though my most recently used spec. In TBC I used the infamous or famous, depending on your point of view, 0/21/40 spec and carried this spec all the way to the release of Patch 3.0 where I went to an Affliction based spec. With the release of Ulduar and after the mess of spec changes that occurred immediately after its release I settled with the 0/13/58 spec and have used that spec through most of Ulduar (I occasionally went Demonology in Ulduar on some farm nights in order to get practice in that spec in a raid environment) and was my primary spec in ToGC until I took my hiatus from the game. Since it is the most recent spec I have used it is the freshest on my mind, but based on the simulations on Elitist Jerks for Patch 3.3.2 specs and Affliction being my favorite spec I moved Destruction to a backup spec. I choose Demonology as my secondary spec as opposed to Destruction since I did not need to have two personal DPS specs and the demand for Demonology warlocks. Since I’m not actively using this spec at the moment I can discuss more of about my use of this spec if requested.

The destruction spec I use is:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#IZcr0h0h ... fct:z0TzV0

In general for all specs on movement would prioritize what I use to maximize DPS. If I need to refresh my LT Glyph I would LT/DP. If I still have a good amount of time on my Glyph buff and have an insta-cast spell that needs refreshing I would do that. If no insta-cast spell needs reapplication on movement I would then just LT/DP to maintain my LT Glyph buff to ensure that this buff doesn’t drop when I am standing doing my standard rotation. I try to keep movement at minimum in order to maximize my DPS time while ensuring that I survive the mechanics of the fight. I have always played by the rule that a dead DPS does no DPS and play that balancing act between adapting to the fight mechanics with minimum performance lost.

In order to maximize my character I utilize a combination of tools, and take an engineering approach to this. I first begin with raw theorycrafting. I keep up on the latest developments in Warlock mechanics though websites such as the Warlock forums on Elitist Jerks (where I get a good deal of my theoretical information from) and the Warlock Den. I even kept up during my break from WoW in the even I decide to come back to playing as is currently my case. From this information I get a base for any changes I may make to my rotation, spec, and/or gear. I then use tools such as the Warlock DPS Spreadsheet from the EJ forums to get a rough indication of how some of the changes I may make will affect my DPS output. I use this spreadsheet particularly when testing out possible changes to gear and/or gemming configurations. If I am doing a major change I run simulations using the Simulationcraft software. In terms of minor optimizations to my gear/gemming this is about as far as I will go, however major changes and any spec/rotation changes move on to the next step.

My next step is to collect experimental data and compare it to my simulations and what my theoretical data says. I obtain “ideal” experimental data on test dummies where I may also refine any spec or rotation changes. I would collect a baseline data on my original spec, rotation, or gear, whichever the case may be and make my changes and redo the tests again. In terms of new mechanics such as what may occur when before a major patch is released I would copy several copies of my warlock to the PTRs and do testing there based on what changes are being made and what is being discussed on EJ forums. In this way I would have worked on different specs/rotations and optimize them for my play style before such a patch goes live. I would then compare my Recount data as and compare to my simulations. If I deem these changes acceptable I would then move onto my final step in testing.

Final step is to test in a raid environment. For the most part I have already made my decision on any changes I have made in the previous step and use this opportunity to see how my changes hold up in a “real” environment and make any further optimizations if this is a spec or rotation change. Here I do rough analysis of my output/rotation using Recount as well as take mental notes of anything I felt I could have done differently as the fight progresses. I would then do further analysis after a raid using WoL/WMO. Unless there is a glaring difference between what I tested on the dummies and what the raid testing gives me I would go with any changes I have made or a significant drop in performance vs. any baseline I have setup I would keep the changes I made or readjust if needed. With this my spec/rotation is constantly evolving as I get more data on encounters and as my gear changes. I am always testing to see how I can squeeze every last drop of performance out of the tools set before me.

Here is my WoL Report for this past week of raiding since making my return to WoW. If needed, I can provide with earlier reports from raids I participated in prior to my break from WoW.

From my own personal analysis of my performance for the most part I feel my rotations are solid, with a couple of mistakes I remember making here and there and one glaring mistake I made during one of the VoA encounters in my report, but I feel that these can be improved with each raid I do as I get back into the swing of thing. I do however know that my gear is a little bit behind. Looking at one raid in VoA I came within 1% damage output of Melbufrahma who I was using as a baseline to base my DPS on. I simulated a Patchwerk style fight with high latency. Mentally remembering the fight I know that I have to work on getting my affliction execute rotation back in top form to make up some of the DPS gap, but this is all that I’m working on while I get back into the swing of things.

WoL Log: http://www.worldoflogs.com/guilds/40113/

Professions (Q9):
My professions are currently Tailoring and Enchanting. I have been these professions since I started playing my warlock. I understand that some professions may gain advantage over the others with new content releases, but Tailoring and Enchanting has been best for me in the long run. For my class Tailoring brings the best profession specific enhancement in Lightweave Embroidery and Enchanting gives me the ring enchants. I was at one point considering changing Enchanting the Jewelcrafting, however the changes to the JC specific gems (Not being able to get the socket bonuses with Runed Dragon’s Eye) and the increase in the spellpower awarded from ring enchants did not justify changing professions.

For WotLK I have all the Ulduar tailoring patterns and the pattern for Merlin’s Robes from ToGC and the Blade Ward Weapons Enchant.

PC Specs/Raid UI (Q10):
My current PC specs are as follows:
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.0GHz
4GB RAM
2x 8800GTS SLI
Cable Internet

I run my game v-synced since I get some occasional tearing when I’m not running it. My frames peak at 60FPS, but can dip down to around 25FPS in a fully packed Dalaran. I run my game at 1920x1200 with most of my graphics settings turned up to high/max. I typically run anywhere between 200ms to 300ms latency and am currently adapting my play style to the latency I get on Ner’zhul. I will however lower my settings if necessary (I like eye candy, but if it hinders the performance of the game I’ll turn it down).

I have vent and a mic though during raids I tend not to say much unless I absolutely need to say something in order to ensure the success of the attempt.

The major add-ons I run are AGUF (Unit Frames), Omen, Deadly Boss Mods, DoTimer, Elk Buff Bars, kgPanels, Chatter, Necrosis, Quartz, MSBT, Recount, and SexyMap.

Here is a screenshot of my UI.


Personal Info (Q11):
I am a recent college graduate that happened to get out of school at the wrong time. I am 28 and just completed my Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. I am currently working temp jobs while trying to find a full time position in my field. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of Modern Warfare 2, having returned to my gaming roots (FPS) when I began my hiatus from WoW, but am I am looking to get back into WoW. I am a laid back guy that takes his gaming as seriously as one can take it (I know gaming is suppose to be fun, but there is nothing more fun than winning).

Contact Info (Q12):
XXXXXX@gmail.com