Meme for Me

Started over at http://dkdeathgoddess.blogspot.com/ and I was tagged by Millea over at DoTs & HoTs.

The DPS Meme

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?

Arioch; mage; ARCANE, BABY!

What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

The world. I really want to be doing more 10 mans and getting into 25s, but I’ll kill whatever you point me in the direction of. You tank it, I will kill it for you.

What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?

I suppose I can’t say all of them?

I’m going to have to go with Arcane Barrage, one of my least utilized spell. It looks awesome and makes a spiffy noise. Arcane Barrage was the spell that originally made me want to spec into arcane in the first place.

For damage though, I’m going to say a hasted Arcane Missile – the legitimate reason for a mage to scream PEWPEWPEW at the screen.

What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?

Frostfire Bolt is hanging around somewhere… over with Fireball and Frostbolt. I don’t get any real benefits to using them and Fireball takes so fricking long to cast…

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?

Controlled burst. Um, because that’s what arcane mages do?

I say controlled because my spell selection ramps up or ramps down my damage, combined with cooldowns of course. Fire on the other hand, is all about the random big numbers that get the mage plastered after a spike aggro pull. I’ve never played frost, but if all the jokes about it being nothing but casting frostbolt over and over are true, then it doesn’t sound like they burst much at all.

I can also pull out some decent AoE when needed.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?

We don’t have any DoTs (FFB doesn’t count if I never cast it), but I’m not too worried about that. I can handle AoE and single-target.

I’m going to have to go with survivability. Frost has some great tools, but arcane is a little low on saving our skins unless we’re PvP specced. But… if I’ve got a healer that pays attention to me and I get my ass out of the fire, it really shouldn’t be a concern. Our biggest survivability tool is not taking the aggro in the first place.

Second to that it would be my dependence on others for mana to really get the most out of my spec. If my replenishment source bites it in the middle of a fight, I’ve got to make some changes or risk being left with a wand as my DPS option.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?

If there’s utility that needs to be handled (add-switches, remove curses, dispell, etc.) I’m on it. And I’ll still kill the boss.

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?

Anything that can give me replenishment. I also luvs me a boomkin for the buffs. Fatfeatherfluffballs are just amusing to have around anyway.

What tanking class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?

Honestly, I don’t like stupid tanks. Other than that, I could care less what flavor tank they are.

I don’t have much experience with druid tanks… so if I have to pick one it would be the druid just because I don’t know how they work. I remember running a CoS with one a while back and it seemed like threat was all over the place. Not sure if it was him or the class.

What is your worst habit as a dps?

I could push myself harder in burn phases. I have issues when the party comp changes (or the hunter respeccs out of survival and doesn’t tell anyone) and my mana regen changes. I don’t always adjust as fast as I want to my mana flow and tend to play conservatively when it changes.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?

People that don’t do their job. If the raid leader says to kill the add – KILL THE FUCKING ADD. Don’t make me do it by myself, you self-serving DPS whores.

Social-wise it would be someone taking a bio break and as soon as they come back the next person needs to step away. Then when they return the next person suddenly has to do something. Go at the same fucking time!

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?

If I say no will I get a buff?

I think mages are actually in a really good spot in terms of balance between the trees (or will be in the next patch). Blizzard has really been showing us some love lately and I don’t want to rock that boat.

Against ranged DPS I feel good. In short fights, melee DPS pisses me off.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a damage dealer?

Did the boss go down?

Was I still alive?

Did I do my assigned job?

Then Recount or load the parse afterwards. I keep screenshots of my meters and compare to previous runs. Party comp makes a big difference, but so long as I’m moving upwards over time I think I’m doing OK.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

That we’re still the kings of AoE. A frost spec mage can really tear up the Blizzard and the changes to Living Bomb were the only thing I enjoyed about fire, but anymore, FoKing rogues take the cake. They steal it. Because they’re rogues.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?

While leveling, survivability and threat management; the two are very closely linked. Pro-tip – casting before the tank has moved in is a bad idea, OK?

End game, arcane is not fire is not frost. The gearing is different and the mana management is worlds apart. I couldn’t run out of mana as fire. I tried. As arcane, that blue bar is more important than my green bar. The feel in how they play is different. Just because all three trees are for DPS doesn’t mean that they work the same with different colored special effects.

What dps class do you feel you understand least?

Rogues. Think I got one to level 6 or 8. I have a lot of theoretical knowledge about them, as my hubby plays one so I end up with one in the group a lot, but I have no real hands-on experience playing one.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?

All of them.

Seriously, I run with an obscene amount of adds.

My main ones that actually impact my DPS would be Recount (remind myself to burn harder), Omen (remind myself to not burn so hard), IceHUD (reminds me to pop cooldowns and keeps a close eye on my mana), X-Perl to keep an eye on the raid (reminds me to remove curses, polymorph people, know when it’s a wipe), and DBM (remind me that there’s fire and I should get out of it).

I also use DoTimer to keep an eye on cooldowns that I don’t want a bar for on IceHUD, Dominos for my action bars, Chinchilla to move my map and other odd things, and RedRange so I don’t have to listen to my mage whine about being too far away all the time.

My macros are things like Removing Curse or Polymorph on mouseover, targeting Frost Spheres on Anub in ToCr, canceling Ice Block or Invisibility, tying all my cooldowns together, casting Presence of Mind with Arcane Blast, pretty simple stuff.

I’m not in the game right now and having a hard time trying to remember what all my macros are, but I know my macro page is full on my mage. Must have a lot of old crap there.

Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?

Strength all the way. /flex

Wait. What?

Spell power and haste are where it’s at for me. Have my main nuke down to under a 2 second cast. 21 more emblems and I’ll upgrade my wand, giving me even more haste (actually it give me more hit which lets me regem for haste).

Why? Because RAWR tells me so.

Tag!

I know Delerius wants some more traffic so I’m going to hit him with this and Raven because she’s not busy enough. =P