Immermnemion
06-30-2009, 05:41 AM
For the administrators out there, I know there isn't often a choice when it comes to composition. However, given the blessing of a chance to build your group, here's a few (quite similar) builds which are well-received for keeping a standing 25-person roster. Particular raids may favor different builds, but the diversity of this group build allows it to succeed with little difficulty at many endeavors.
NOTE: these are main specs listed. Everyone ought to have an offspec as well to help with versatility for fights where necessary.
Here's how to read the charts:
Classes are rows, listed on the left, 1-10, in alphabetical order. DK = 1, Warrior = 10. Talent specializations are columns. They are denoted 1-3 left to right as in the talent tab in game. For example, column 3 for a Mage denotes Frost while column 1 for a Rogue denotes assassination.
The first build is more gear efficient, the second is more favorable to blessing-ease and caters to Ulduar-like bosses a bit more.
.................1........2........3.............. ...........
1...............1........1........-............Tanks......4..........
2...............1........1........2............Hea lers...6..........
3...............-.........1........1............Damage..15.......Me lee.....6
4...............1........1........-.........................................Ranged..9 .
5...............1........1........1.............Co nqueror......8......
6...............1........1........1.............Pr otector........7...
7...............1........1........-..............Vanquisher.....10......
8...............1........1........1............... ..........
9...............1........-........1..............Plate......7.....
10.............-........1........1..............Mail........5...
.................................................. ....Leather...6....
.................................................. ....Cloth.......7
.................1........2........3.............. ...........
1...............1........1........-............Tanks......4..........
2...............1........1........1............Hea lers...6..........
3...............-.........1........1............Damage..15.......Me lee.....6
4...............1........1........-.........................................Ranged..9 .
5...............2........1........1.............Co nqueror......9......
6...............1........1........1.............Pr otector........7...
7...............1........1........-..............Vanquisher.....9......
8...............1........1........1............... ..........
9...............1........-........1..............Plate......8.....
10.............-........1........1..............Mail........5...
.................................................. ....Leather...5....
.................................................. ....Cloth.......7
.................................................. ............
Mechanically, composition seeks to balance around two aspects: progression and gear. There is a symbiotic relationship between the two aspects.
Progression - this is about raid performance. Raid buffs, interrupts, tanking types, healing types, ranged/melee balance, and more come into account here. The boss needs to be defeated. Many fights favor ranged over melee, so it makes sense to let the ranged numbers be higher than the melee numbers. Also, while 4 tanks are not necessary for most fights, this build ensures you have one of each type to tackle the encounters favorable to them. Dual-spec is a wonderful feature which allows for much more composition versatility while enjoying the same players together.
For those who like to use RAWR or whatnot, the above setup should cover all the necessary buffs - excepting the first build with the lack of sanctuary on portions of raid at times.
Gear - this is about EPIX! A notable fact here is the drop chance of tokens: Vanquisher: 40%, Conqueror: 30%, Protector: 30%. In a 25-person raid then, playing to statistics, one would want to have 10 on the Vanq, 7.5 on each Conq. and Prot. Unfortunately, you cannot slot players in halves (or I would've done so with many of mine long ago...). This means the closest to a perfect expectation you can have is 7/8 or 8/7 on those two tokens. Due to the doubling of healing classes on the Conqueror token along with the inclusion of the ubiquitous Paladin, this token will almost certainly overpopulate that of the Protector. Not unreasonably either - the Paladins and Priests make for good progression contribution.
You'll also notice there's a list of the armor types used. While the builds above seem to favor mail/leather wearers, this is untrue. The loot tables from pre-Ulduar WOTLK raids combined have a ratio along the lines of (8.w):(5.x):(5.y):(6.z), so the distribution really isn't too bad. With the raid closely representing the loot tables, these is (expected) little sharding, little offspec, and more satisfaction for loot all around.
These builds are of course not inflexible - they are merely templates. They accommodate at least two people from every class while keeping everyone's role fairly unique to the raid. Modifications of the outline are more than possible but may detract from progression or gear-distribution efficiency. It's worth it for the people you like sometimes though.
NOTE: these are main specs listed. Everyone ought to have an offspec as well to help with versatility for fights where necessary.
Here's how to read the charts:
Classes are rows, listed on the left, 1-10, in alphabetical order. DK = 1, Warrior = 10. Talent specializations are columns. They are denoted 1-3 left to right as in the talent tab in game. For example, column 3 for a Mage denotes Frost while column 1 for a Rogue denotes assassination.
The first build is more gear efficient, the second is more favorable to blessing-ease and caters to Ulduar-like bosses a bit more.
.................1........2........3.............. ...........
1...............1........1........-............Tanks......4..........
2...............1........1........2............Hea lers...6..........
3...............-.........1........1............Damage..15.......Me lee.....6
4...............1........1........-.........................................Ranged..9 .
5...............1........1........1.............Co nqueror......8......
6...............1........1........1.............Pr otector........7...
7...............1........1........-..............Vanquisher.....10......
8...............1........1........1............... ..........
9...............1........-........1..............Plate......7.....
10.............-........1........1..............Mail........5...
.................................................. ....Leather...6....
.................................................. ....Cloth.......7
.................1........2........3.............. ...........
1...............1........1........-............Tanks......4..........
2...............1........1........1............Hea lers...6..........
3...............-.........1........1............Damage..15.......Me lee.....6
4...............1........1........-.........................................Ranged..9 .
5...............2........1........1.............Co nqueror......9......
6...............1........1........1.............Pr otector........7...
7...............1........1........-..............Vanquisher.....9......
8...............1........1........1............... ..........
9...............1........-........1..............Plate......8.....
10.............-........1........1..............Mail........5...
.................................................. ....Leather...5....
.................................................. ....Cloth.......7
.................................................. ............
Mechanically, composition seeks to balance around two aspects: progression and gear. There is a symbiotic relationship between the two aspects.
Progression - this is about raid performance. Raid buffs, interrupts, tanking types, healing types, ranged/melee balance, and more come into account here. The boss needs to be defeated. Many fights favor ranged over melee, so it makes sense to let the ranged numbers be higher than the melee numbers. Also, while 4 tanks are not necessary for most fights, this build ensures you have one of each type to tackle the encounters favorable to them. Dual-spec is a wonderful feature which allows for much more composition versatility while enjoying the same players together.
For those who like to use RAWR or whatnot, the above setup should cover all the necessary buffs - excepting the first build with the lack of sanctuary on portions of raid at times.
Gear - this is about EPIX! A notable fact here is the drop chance of tokens: Vanquisher: 40%, Conqueror: 30%, Protector: 30%. In a 25-person raid then, playing to statistics, one would want to have 10 on the Vanq, 7.5 on each Conq. and Prot. Unfortunately, you cannot slot players in halves (or I would've done so with many of mine long ago...). This means the closest to a perfect expectation you can have is 7/8 or 8/7 on those two tokens. Due to the doubling of healing classes on the Conqueror token along with the inclusion of the ubiquitous Paladin, this token will almost certainly overpopulate that of the Protector. Not unreasonably either - the Paladins and Priests make for good progression contribution.
You'll also notice there's a list of the armor types used. While the builds above seem to favor mail/leather wearers, this is untrue. The loot tables from pre-Ulduar WOTLK raids combined have a ratio along the lines of (8.w):(5.x):(5.y):(6.z), so the distribution really isn't too bad. With the raid closely representing the loot tables, these is (expected) little sharding, little offspec, and more satisfaction for loot all around.
These builds are of course not inflexible - they are merely templates. They accommodate at least two people from every class while keeping everyone's role fairly unique to the raid. Modifications of the outline are more than possible but may detract from progression or gear-distribution efficiency. It's worth it for the people you like sometimes though.