Tuesday, March 27, 2012

How To Play Like A Tank

Azeroth, we have a problem.  A tank problem.  We are often described as having a "tank shortage."  What would be an adequate number of tanks?  In a 5-man dungeons, one out of five (i.e. one fifth) of the players need to be tanks.  In a 10-man raid, two out of ten (still one fifth) need to be tanks.  So, to meet the tank demand, we need to see approximately 20% of players pursuing PvE content rolling tanks.  A shortage means we have less than that.  In fact, significantly less.  My instant queues to the 30min+ DPS ones can attest to that.

Blizzard has control of making tanking more appealing to get more people into the role.  What, then, can we as players do to help out in the tank supply crisis?

Friday, March 23, 2012

What the Press Tour Means for the Monk Tank (pt. 2)

Well, poo.  The first round of beta invites are out, and I haven't gotten mine yet.  Once I do get one, I obviously intend to play the crap out of monks, tanking in several level ranges.

In the meantime, you can expect me to compile monk information from its scattered sources for your convenience.  And interpret/analyze/review that information for what I hope is your entertainment!  Speaking of which, we're not done with the post-NDA-lifting information!  As Jack Black once said, let's get rockin'!

Monday, March 19, 2012

What the Press Tour Means for the Monk Tank (pt. 1)

Hoo boy, did we ever get a wealth of new information Monday!  Here I sit in between business classes, making some sense of it all.  Our understanding of Blizzard's intentions for the Brewmaster has grown immensely.  There's still a long way to go, however.  Join me after the cut to see my thoughts, as I interpret some of the information we've been given.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Encounter Design - What We Really Need to See In Mists

Does anyone else think that Brewmasters should get a 10% buff to their drinks this time next year? Hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable St. Patrick's Day. I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I'm Irish but don't really care for drinking.  Le gasp!
 -----------------------------------------------------
If you remember last Wednesday, I concluded my thoughts with a pseudo-segue about what we need to see in Mists. Unless you're some weirdo who reads the body of articles before the title, you are now aware of WHY it was a segue - today, I'm going to (big shock) be talking about something that we need to see in Mists. There are definitely some things that are on my wish list for tanks in general, and monks in particular. Today's highlight, however, has nothing to do with tank design, and EVERYTHING to do with tank gameplay.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A Modest Proposal: Down With Buffs

Note to new readers (aka all readers, considering this blog is less than a week old): sometimes I might do a post like this one here.  Today isn't Sunday, now is it?  No sir (or ma'am - most of the best WoW players I've met have been women so there you go).  And that header says "updates Sundays," so it's damn well gonna update on Sunday.  However, I've got a topic in mind that won't be enough to carry an entire, full-size article, and it also doesn't focus on us monks.  As a result, I'm going to write a short post on the subject, and I invite you to discuss it in the comments section below.

Also note that the title is a reference to something.  Don't flip your lids before you hit the bottom, folks.

So.  I was listening to this week's WoW Insider Show (I cannot sing the praises of this website enough, and their podcast, linked here, is excellent).  They were discussing the upcoming changes to buffs in Mists of Pandaria, and I got to thinking.

What's the bloody point?

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Brewmaster - An Examination


With the release of Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard is introducing only the second new class to be brought into the fold since World of Warcraft's 2004 release.  It's also the fifth tanking class, and the second to not wear plate.  The monk has been long-anticipated, and it holds an intrinsic aesthetic appeal that, at least for me, is enough to thrill me with the class.  Seriously.  You cannot possibly understand how badly I want to tank with a staff.  And not that lame druid staff stuff.  They pretend to use staves.  We're going to be going Donatello on these Chinese-themed mobs.

I understand that that's not necessarily enough for everyone, though.  "Stonepalm," I can hear you saying to yourself, "if that's all there is to look forward to, then I'm afraid your devilish good looks won't be enough to charm me into playing the class.  Though they do come close, you handsome beast."  Well, dear reader, fear not!  There are a lot of things to be excited about when it comes to the tanking monk.  Obviously, however, the monk hasn't been released, and very few people, such as those who attended Blizzcon this past year, have been exposed to them in any hands-on fashion.  How much, then, can we possibly know at this juncture?