Looking to get into raiding when I hit 80

[jacob_ns]

Hi all,

I'm currently a level 69 dual-specced Feral/Resto Druid on the Horde side (name:Ingens) and I'm well on my way to 80 in the next week or two. I've always been interested in some raiding but have never had the opportunity due to work/personal schedules but now I do and want to know what I need to accomplish in order to do so.

I'd consider myself a mature, competent player willing to learn whatever you can throw at me but I haven't even entered a single raid in my WoW life. I have a Druid I leveled to 80 on another server a couple of years ago and did a small amount of Karazhan but that's about it, excluding 5-man instances.

What do I need to do to prepare? Will a guild take an inexperienced member to train for 10/25 mans?

[Mordria]

---Edited because I'm a big mean jerk person.---

[Okhu]

Raiding Help and Discussions
Boss strategies, class guides, or anything that will help you drop that big baddy.




A couple of minor suggestions to help you on your way to raider star-dom.

Get to 80. (Yes I know you mentioned getting to 80 this week or so.)

Get into heroics. You shouldn't worry about raids until you're geared for them. Do NOT expects to be carried in blues. Just don't. Gear yourself in the Tier 9 with triumph badges from doing heroic after heroic after heroic.

Use your frost badges to purchase the tier 10 when you get the chance. Depending on your spec you'll need more or less.

[Moknim]

Hi all,

I'm currently a level 69 dual-specced Feral/Resto Druid on the Horde side (name:Ingens) and I'm well on my way to 80 in the next week or two. I've always been interested in some raiding but have never had the opportunity due to work/personal schedules but now I do and want to know what I need to accomplish in order to do so.

I'd consider myself a mature, competent player willing to learn whatever you can throw at me but I haven't even entered a single raid in my WoW life. I have a Druid I leveled to 80 on another server a couple of years ago and did a small amount of Karazhan but that's about it, excluding 5-man instances.

What do I need to do to prepare? Will a guild take an inexperienced member to train for 10/25 mans?

The sad thing is, you are going to be hitting 80 at the wrong time to be really "getting into" it. In that, the old content is so old that no one is running it anymore (unlike in TBC when there were still Karazhan badge runs going on). At this point, the guilds that are pushing progression are unlikely to take someone totally new to raiding - since this is the end of content of the expansion, it is to be expected. I was in that exact spot at the end of TBC and it is hard to gear up to the level where you can actually be valuable in a raid.

That being said, you can get into VoA10/25 relatively easy.

Things to do: decide which spec you are going to focus on (Resto, Kitty, Bear). Do some reading on elitist jerks to determine spec, gearing, etc. If you have specific questions about what to do as a tank/dps/healer or spec/rotation questions, you can even ask here (we are less cruel than EJ...at least some of us).

Once you have a clear picture of which role you want to fill (I would recommend healing - your chance of getting into an ICC raid as a new bear are somewhere between none and zero and the kitty rotation is quite brutal [as in it is one of, if not the, most difficult in the game]) - granted you have pressure to perform as a healer, but resto druids really are overpowered at this point.

Then, run heroics to get your starting set. Buy your idol first then - 4pcT9 or iLvl 232 gear from the ICC heroics, T10 trinket, and work from there.

You are kinda coming in the game at the wrong time, but you should be able to see at least a couple of fights before cataclysm hits.

Good luck, don't be afraid to ask questions,
/Moknim

[jacob_ns]

Thanks for the help so far, everyone. And Mordria, I have nothing against and I have been known to RP in past guilds, pre-BC, before I stopped playing. Rest easy. :)

So pretty much my goal at the moment is to start hitting heroics once I hit 80 and go from there. I know I'm "coming in at the wrong time" but that doesn't mean I can't try, right? At this point I'd settle for focusing on getting ready to do some Cataclysm content.

I genuinely appreciate the help and apologize for possibly posting in the wrong sub-forum and for asking stupid/noob questions.

[Moknim]

I genuinely appreciate the help and apologize for possibly posting in the wrong sub-forum and for asking stupid/noob questions.

You posted in the right forum, people are just snarky with 'outsiders' sometimes (trying to keep the riff-raff out and all).

Like I said, if you hit 80 soon and work hard at it, you should be able to gear up to hit VoA10/25 and perhaps even start in ICC in the matter of a few days.

And this will put you in perfect position to start with a raiding guild in Cataclysm (which is what I did, and was very successful at the start of Wrath).

The key, though, is to pick a spec and learn as much as you can about it.

[jacob_ns]

You posted in the right forum, people are just snarky with 'outsiders' sometimes (trying to keep the riff-raff out and all).
Yeah that's kind of what I was worrying about when considering whether or not to make this post.

edit: @Mordria, you're not a big mean jerk person! :D I completely understand the sentiment as I've encountered more than my fair share of people I'd prefer to have nothing to do with in-game.


The key, though, is to pick a spec and learn as much as you can about it.

I've been dual-specced and playing both Feral DPS and Resto healing to date. I'd consider myself decent in both but because I'm gearing up two specs, I sometimes have to choose which deserves the upgrade if an item drops that benefits both.

[Moknim]

I've been dual-specced and playing both Feral DPS and Resto healing to date. I'd consider myself decent in both but because I'm gearing up two specs, I sometimes have to choose which deserves the upgrade if an item drops that benefits both.

The reason I say pick a spec is that when you hit 80, you will be using badges to purchase items - which means you have to decide what you want to buy (and nothing for resto will be useful for feral and nothing for feral will be useful for resto - cat and bear share gear but are gemmed/enchanted entirely differently). You want to gear up one spec, and then work to gearing up another (although you will get 'off' pieces for your second spec).

Feral DPS will also become drastically more complicated at 80 - you are keeping up the mangle debuff, tracking 2 bleeds and a self buff, and determining whether you need to pool energy or blow through it based on how long you have left on your bleeds/buff/debuff and the bosses health. All while keeping in mind OOC procs. To be a great kitty is really challenging, and not something that can be learned quickly (its really hard to learn it at all outside of a raid these days because bosses in heroics die so quickly).

With Grid+Clique/Healbot and a few keybinds, you can fairly easily roll-face as resto and still do what a raid needs you there for.

[jacob_ns]

With Grid+Clique/Healbot and a few keybinds, you can fairly easily roll-face as resto and still do what a raid needs you there for.

I think resto is the way I'm headed imho, I've been healing a fair number of BC and WoLK 5 mans and doing decent. Using healbot of course.

I appreciate the advice, time and information.

[Rand_Shea]

Gear up to about a 4500 GS and you can probably get into some ToC10/25 PuGs and maybe move up from there. Spamming heroics for badges to get T9 and other miscellaneous upgrades will also help a lot. Attempt to do your daily heroics and weekly raids for extra frost badges.

But chances are you probably won't see ICC, or at least very far into it.

When you're in the 80-85 crowd in cataclysm and are quick to get your gear up, you should find raid spots plentiful... particularly as a resto druid.