127660-morning-coffee-68-taking-the-plunge-edition

== Content ==
			
 
So, I did it. I really, really did it! No, I didn't plunge to my coffee cup ...
 
I did GROUP CONTENT and it was AMAZING FUN.
 
Yeah, we failed the first time (Crimelords of Whitevale) but the second time, we really, really did it! I "tanked" in full DPS mode, with full DPS gear and DPS abilities, but HEY! I FREAKING DID IT! We also did a couple of five-man shiphands, which damn, after doing them solo for so long, I am just astounded at how much more fun they were with the whole crew in tow!
 
Welp, I'm hooked. I've been doing some research, watching some videos, reading lots of threads and generally learning how to, you know, actually Tank ... but my confidence is up, and I just flat out didn't realize how great it was going to be.
 
Thanks to Fitch for keeping me alive, and to Zaza, Cast and Dan for not laughing at me, and for sticking through both runs until the end.
 
So ... let's talk small group content (I don't care about raiding at this point, so lets stick with shiphands, adventures and dungeons, shall we?) ... what's your favorite? What should I try as a newbie Warrior tank?	
----
			
Morning Coffee, eh? *4:35 PM in Germany*
 
For learning how to tank, I think the 5 man group content in  Blighthaven and The Defile might be good place to start, if you can find a group to do it. Else, since Shiphands don't really require a tank, I would go with either Sanctuary of Swordmaiden normal or with veteran adventures. Or maybe just rally to a lower level dungeons and try to tank them? That is if queues exist... >_>	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Morning Coffee, eh? *4:35 PM in Germany*
 
 
----
			
Good Morning Everyone!
 
I had a blast with Tex doing the group content. Don't let him fool you, he did a great job!! (You're welcome, Tex, for keeping you alive. Although the rest of the group suffered LOL) I honestly think you will make a great tank once you get a rotation and the gear needed.
 
As for getting a group, the guild is always willing to go do stuff. I feel bad not being able to help everyone who needs help. If I could clone my character, I would. :P
 
I love doing all kinds of group content, from WB hunting to low level stuff. So, I'm up for anything. Getting one of our new 50s, who is a healing medic, geared and runed up, so he can come heal for us. I want to DPS, dammit!!
 
I say try them all, Tex. We are all still learning the fights. I am willing to die multiple times in a dungeon, as long as we are learning and making progress. :)
 
Have a good day all!	
----
			
When I first started tanking, all of it was intimidating to me. CL is a great place to start, as really it doesn't feel so different from questing, but just with a group. As much grief as I give adventures, I think CL is really well done.
 
You'll probably enjoy Malgrave Trail a few times- most of us (not ALL) revile it now, but if you take your time with it it's a fun one to do until you get tired of it. It's basically an hour long escort quest with some fights along the way.
 
Siege is like a giant group hold out. A bunch of waves of enemies being hurled at you. I really like that one too and did it a LOT when I first hit 50.
 
Finally, War of the Wilds is brilliant if you like a simulated MOBA styled instance. *I* do, and I think they really executed well. The champions aren't "tankable" in terms of threat, but it's a really fresh and repeatable instance.When you are ready to step up your game a little, check out the normal mode of "Sanctuary of the Swordmaiden". It is underexperienced, but a very good, and fun instance. It will take you a little bit of time because it's long, but it's not anywhere near as difficult as the vet mode people grieve over. SSM normal mode was the tipping point for my wife. She had a lot of casual fun with the game until she healed that. Then, it was like something clicked in her and she started begging me to take her into vet dungeons and talking about applying to Enigma . . .Also, there's no reason not to go back and run some of the normal level dungeons. I think Stormtalon's Layer is the best 5 man instance I've ever run, so I'd highly recommend giving the normal mode a whirl. It will scale you down- you'll still be a little OP, but it's certainly possible to wipe and be challenged.My 2 cents. And glad you had a great time :D	
----
			Congrats Tex! I really think the group content in this game is head and shoulders above anything you'll find in other MMOs. With practice even the most insane of mechanics will be doable and the more you do it, the more confident you'll be and the more fun you'll have when you do it!	
----
			
Sly has a really good idea. We can go through all the normal dungeons to learn the fights before we attempt vet. And, this will give you the practice you need/want. Along with being able to get your rotation and spells in check for the way you want to tank.
 
I promise, if I am dpsing, to not try to take aggro from you too often. :ph34r:	
----
			
Well, the kids leave to visit relative for a whole month later this week, and our air conditioning is supposed to be fixed today, so assuming I can sit in my office without turning into a puddle of sweat, I'll have all kinds of time to get some practice in during the new few weeks.
 
I'm a really quick learner, and I've tanked in other games, so I know the basics of pulling/holding aggro, positioning and the like ... I just need to learn the proper skills/rotation in this game.
 
I'm all about doing some of the lower stuff first, too. Hell, we've got so many newbcaked in guild right now, we could probably pull some of them along for the ride.	
----
			
Siege of Tempest Refuge is my favorite of the adventures, possibly because it's the only one I've done where I actually need to... heal. XD
 
I really want to do more group content on my main! But it seems my play times suck, cause whenever I ask around, either there's no 50s online or people are doing other things. Aaah! *flails* I did actually finally do the first part of the attunement quest though (had completely forgotten I even had it...), so now I have more motivation than ever to run vet adventures. Still craving vet dungeons though. :3
 
Hubby and I's dommies are getting up there. We started into Wilderrun, which... okay the quest flow  Dominion-side makes even LESS sense in that zone than the quest flow Exile-side. @_@ It's just all over the dang place. Ah well. So close yet so far to 50...	
----
			You did fine in Crime Lords Tex.  Now we just need to get you to wear the gear you found in your bank during the adventure so you can get the imbubements.  Doh!  I agree with Fitch, it was really fun running with people new to the content.  Sunday I invented a new mini-game.  I call it Contract Slot Machine.  Fitch, Dord and I had all our tier 2 and tier 3 contracts done, so we got together and just started running the tier 1 contracts over and over.  We would all click on the tier 1 contract, see what we each got, then figure out which zone would let us complete the most as a group.  We would finish the contracts and rush back to see what contracts we got next.  It was actually kind of silly how excited we got when we all received the same contract.  But on the other hand it was really fun seeing how fast we could finish the contracts.  All in all a really great weekend in Wildstar. 	
----
			
Yeah, running normal mode dungeons is great fun, as long as you aren't concerned about loot. I apparently have a higher than average tolerance for doing content that doesn't reward me other than the experience :)
 
But hey, we picked up one of our current raiders doing a normal level Scullcano. Pugged a guy out of LFG who'd never gotten a chance to run it, and now he's 5/6 in GA :D  So I can't say I've received NO reward!	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Yeah, running normal mode dungeons is great fun, as long as you aren't concerned about loot. I apparently have a higher than average tolerance for doing content that doesn't reward me other than the experience :)
 
But hey, we picked up one of our current raiders doing a normal level Scullcano. Pugged a guy out of LFG who'd never gotten a chance to run it, and now he's 5/6 in GA :D So I can't say I've received NO reward!
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Well knowledge and experience does help, sometimes even more than gear! Knowing when to interrupt and when to cc break can be the difference between success and failure.
----
			
On an unrelated note, had an epic moment on Phagemaw this weekend. We only had 19 folks and some were new to the fight, so we were a little rusty and under the gun. We missed the DPS check by a few thousand health points (he was literally at 0%) and so I called out for the slingers to all void slip as the boss took off and all the bombs detonated. We did, so 4 slingers survived along with one esper whoe managed to live due to some esper magic vodoo stuff, and the 5 of us ran around getting all the canisters in place. We did, and killed him in the subsequent MMO. Thus far, this has been my favorite clutch kill in GA, at least tieing the "one person survived with one tile" kill of x-89. But that's been done before.Also, slingers FTW!
 
(and one esper too)	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Pish, "Knowledge and Experience" aren't digital pixels, so therefore don't matter . . .
 
Neither does "fun", obviously. Because the only valid form of fun is MORE GEAR.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I did GROUP CONTENT and it was AMAZING FUN.
 
Yeah, we failed the first time (Crimelords of Whitevale) but the second time, we really, really did it! I "tanked" in full DPS mode, with full DPS gear and DPS abilities, but HEY! I FREAKING DID IT! We also did a couple of five-man shiphands, which damn, after doing them solo for so long, I am just astounded at how much more fun they were with the whole crew in tow!
----
			
It's interesting to me that as we've gotten better, certain fights like Kuralak that took us FOREVER to get have become pretty easy. Phagemaw was actually trivial for us before splitting raid teams, as was prototypes (which is really a tank fight). But X-89 still provides some challenge each week. It's funny, because it's easily the most simple of all the fights. But I think what makes it kind of cool is it only takes one person to make a mistake to drastically change the fight, but it doesn't END IT- it just makes it more #hardcore :P
 
Apologies to Tex for talking about raids in your small group content thread :D	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
 
 
Apologies to Tex for talking about raids in your small group content thread :D
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Hahaha. No worries. I know you guys love that level of content, but seeing as how I've been playing this game for over two years - and JUST NOW ran my very first adventure, by that timeline I should enter the Genetic Archives some time around 2021.
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
On an unrelated note, had an epic moment on Phagemaw this weekend. We only had 19 folks and some were new to the fight, so we were a little rusty and under the gun. We missed the DPS check by a few thousand health points (he was literally at 0%) and so I called out for the slingers to all void slip as the boss took off and all the bombs detonated. We did, so 4 slingers survived along with one esper whoe managed to live due to some esper magic vodoo stuff, and the 5 of us ran around getting all the canisters in place. We did, and killed him in the subsequent MMO. Thus far, this has been my favorite clutch kill in GA, at least tieing the "one person survived with one tile" kill of x-89. But that's been done before.
 
Also, slingers FTW!
 
(and one esper too)
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
My favorite group content is Protostar Games. I think its the funnest instance in the game. The gear it drops is smexy too. Best of all, you can tank it (with a little difficulty) in almost entirely crafted tank gear (armor too strong). 
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Tanking UPG is a blast. It will be interesting to see Tex's reaction when he gets there :)
 
Tex, it's like no other dungeon you have ever done. The trash is . . . not trash.
 
And gear isn't generally the issue with UPG. It's heavy on execution. People like to talk about Bev-o-rage, but the final fight is just the most creative fight I've ever seen. I almost worry about the sanity of the person who designed it. I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall of the meeting where they conceived that one . . .
----
			
I can't wait to get Tex up to speed on tanking. All those lovely adventures and dungeons are just waiting for the Blazing Saddles to demolish them. :)
 
I really want to do the new adventure, Bay of Betrayal. I haven't heard too much about this one yet. Looking forward to seeing it.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I can't wait to get Tex up to speed on tanking. All those lovely adventures and dungeons are just waiting for the Blazing Saddles to demolish them. :)
 
I really want to do the new adventure, Bay of Betrayal. I haven't heard too much about this one yet. Looking forward to seeing it.
----
			I haven't done Bay of Betrayal yet, and honestly it's not on the menu. Which is too bad, because I've heard it's fun. I'm just having too much fun in other parts of the game :)Guildies did try it this weekend, but I guess it bugged out on them or something. They asked me to come in and try it, but I convinced em to do a random vet dungeon instead to make sure as many of our folks have glory as possible- that's the raid leader in me :D And we did a nice silver run through SSM- was a fun time!	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
I really want to do the new adventure, Bay of Betrayal. I haven't heard too much about this one yet. Looking forward to seeing it.
----
			
is a little late, but it's also been a really off day...
 
I'm glad you're enjoying group content. I myself can't really find much time these days to raid like i used to so I enjoy a run or two when I can. Most of the time I'm online and doing freelance stuff or personal projects so I afk in and out. My favourite place is actually Kel voreth and Stormtalon. I love the Pell and the Osun, they're hands down my favourite non-playable species in the game. However of those two I'd pick KV because the atmosphere and the bosses just feel so epic to me.
 
Also Tex something I think that will help in general is to have a threat meter so you can gauge how far ahead or behind you are on aggro. Though if boss turns away and smacks someone, they tend to get the message they need to back the frick off lol. I'd recommend any of the adventures to practice in, War of the Wilds doesn't need much tanking except the major bosses and the fodder. However WotW serves a s a ood lenience to gauging your threat in an environment where you losing threat won't punish the group as harshly as the other content. Shiphands are also kind of good to practice in if you run with a group too.
 
You may not be able to main tank them because end-game raid tanks tend to be there too, but try tanking the world bosses. What I used to do to get a better idea for my rotation I felt comfortable with was I'd learn to tank the world bosses standing next to the tanks and with my threat meter on I'd literally try fighting the tank for threat without using a intimidate(atomic surge) or taunt(plasma blast). Eventually I landed into a rotation I loved and with gear and learning content etc I learned to keep threat off anyone that was within reason.
 
In the long run my best advice that I don't think a lot of guides cover or try to tell people learning:
Don't be afraid to ask questions
Don't be afraid to take your time, go at the pace you feel comfortable with, speed comes with time.
You don't have to always dodge and sprint to avoid things. Sometimes simply sidestepping is all you need to do
IF you have a habit of avoiding things in a certain direction let your healer know so they can predict your movement better.
 
As for me I think my tanking days are done and I'm a bit burned out on the role. MY altoholicism has been kicking me hard and I've generally been fiddling with what healer to make and settled on a Medic, BUT while last week I made a Mordesh medic...I remade her again as a female granok medic and loving it. I got her to level 17 and have just been blazing through content like a madman without even noticing. Think I jsut needed a break from warrior in general as I've technically played 5 of them since closed beta XD I've also been findin that the folks I tend to run with always have a tank available, but not so much healers...so be more helpful there too.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
In the long run my best advice that I don't think a lot of guides cover or try to tell people learning:
Don't be afraid to ask questions
Don't be afraid to take your time, go at the pace you feel comfortable with, speed comes with time.
You don't have to always dodge and sprint to avoid things. Sometimes simply sidestepping is all you need to do
IF you have a habit of avoiding things in a certain direction let your healer know so they can predict your movement better.
----
			
News!
 
I demolished Salasazia's plot! As sad as it was (Felt like I was murdering my firstborn child), I hope that it will pave the way for even more epic future endeavors. The ship never got used for the RP it was intended for, and the organization is now semi-defunct, (The ship was also build during Drop 3 before glass and all the new decor we've gotten) so I figured it was time to move on. If you have any interest in seeing what the plot looked like before it vanished, click here: https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/119928-custom-spaceship-galens-insight-warning-many-many-many-pictures/?hl=galen
 
Anyway, I've started work on the new plot! I hope to learn from the past and make the new one even more amazing!	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
=So ... let's talk small group content (I don't care about raiding at this point, so lets stick with shiphands, adventures and dungeons, shall we?) ... what's your favorite? What should I try as a newbie Warrior tank?
----
			
I soloed all the veteran shiphands with my spellslinger. I had to repeat a couple of them more than once to get the actual gold, but it was good fun. The effort wasn't very worth it, though: one amp and one ability point. Not counting the renown or the decor, since I can farm those asily by repeating the two quickest Shiphands ad nauseam (which I have, of course!).
I must say they are not particularly good group content, though. They work, of course, but the game gives everything one extra interrupt armor per party member as far as I could see. Even the trash. Not a huge pain in the ones I tried to group with, but it's kind of inconvenient.
On the other hand, you don't seem to need a normal trilogy or roles, so that's not so bad!
 
As for actual veteran group content, I've only done Kel Voreth and War of the Wilds. They were relatively painless, so one day I might PuG them when the Contracts pop up. I'd start there!	
----
			
I actually only did shiphands solo for the longest time until I saw my wife grouping with people. It looked a lot more fun, so I started doing the same. I think they are more fun with others, and in some cases go quicker.
 
Also, if you can get 5 people together for fragment zero, it produces a LOT of renown.
 
I still do shiphands to fill contracts, dailies, or just get some plat. I really like them, both solo and in a group (but grouping is a little more fun).	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
War of the Wilds is up there for me, but I think my favourite is still Stormtalon to this day.  Honestly, all dungeons are fun but adventures have been hit or miss for me and I didn't get to do a lot of them because everyone was already in "gold or bust" and "one path or nothing" mode by the time I got higher up in levels.  Swordmaiden was a PITA and I have yet to beat it legit. o.O
I'm honestly afraid to queue for anything because I don't have runes and I don't know if I want to rune the crafted gear I currently own as it has terrible runes (from back in the day) but high assault power (lots of finesse).  Can't even decide between a shield that has lots of health and 8900 shield and a 7900 shield with 60 finesse/60 brutality/80 moxie (moxie to come from embuement).
 
I managed to score a gold shiphand solo... was a very long shiphand which is probably what allowed me to get gold. I also know that shiphand rather well. I got myself a nice purple that needs War of the Wilds to embue.  o.O Maybe time to queue for adventures and get laughed at?  
 
All the shiphands are major fun and I want to get gold on all of them.  My current build is missing at least an ability point if not an actual AMP.  I cannot wait for the AMPs to just be unlocked, trying to find out where AMPs come from and get through getting them is a pain.  Trying a new build since coming back and I'm actually enjoying it to be honest. I'm not missing the tank bot which is a shame... that little guy was cute.  
----
			You can actually buy weakened runes from the crafting vendor for a few silver that fit most slots. Use those where the rune slots are really bad and green crafted runes otherwise. (just go to the engraving station to craft them). 	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
If the crafted gear is like level 55 and the assault power stat is maxed out(like 100ish) you'll be using that for awhile. I'd say that if anything use vendor runes until you find gear you're really satisfied with. I wouldn't worry too much about gear though in adventures, but it's more whe dungeons come into play you'll want to be at a certain level. Shiphands and adventures don't really have much in terms of gear checking the group. Only exception really being the tank to a degree on some bosses and those bunker busters/tanks on tempest refuge.
 
Which AMP ability are you missing? I have a few I hoarded on Montka(one of my two dominion warriors) if you need one lemme know I can send it if I have it.
----
			
Well Tex, up until last week I had never done any group either. O'course I was not playing for the better part of the last year, but thats beside the point. :P
 
Ran a (mostly) guild group of KV last week on my Esper healer (which was where I learned I really don't dig Esper heals). Only the guild tank and the one pug we got had done it before. We managed bronze - which really only means we finished the run - but I still had a blast. Later we ran the lvl 10 Protogames Academy with some new guildies and everyone enjoyed it. Everyone was saying how they couldn't wait to hit 15 to start doing adventures and 20 for the dungeons.
 
For the rest of my weekend play time I alternated between leveling my two medics; one DPS, one healer. Yes, yes, I know I can do both roles on the same toon, but I've honestly never liked doing that. I like to pick one aspect of a class and learn everything about it. The nuances, the quirks, everything. And I feel if I am always swapping back and forth, it dilutes the experience. On top of the inconvenience of carrying two different gear sets and swapping AMPs, I would rather have a seperate toon for each role. I healed a Riot in the Void on my medic and I loved every second of it. None of us had ever ran it before, so we were all experiencing it for the first time together and that was the icing on the cake. Since a good portion of our guild is returning players it is nice to facilitate an environment were everyone plays together and experiences content for the first time with each other, I think it helps make guild bonds stronger. 
 
When I logged in last night for a few mins to do some crafting before bed there were two seperate groups of guildies running dungeons. That made my day and I went to bed happy.	
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
Majority of my crafted gear is 110+ Finesse and I think level 55. I can buy some new pieces if in some slots I don't have level 55 (maybe 53). I just recently got upgrades to level 55 for shield and such.  I don't have any rune sets and the slots in the crafted gear are not so hot. I have finesse in the fire slots I think. 
I don't even remember how to make runes, oh boy!
 
I think the one I'm missing is Forceful Impact. I need to get my old add-ons installed, missing the one that used to tell me where to get AMPs from.
 
I am farming hard (ish) to get another ability point... with that and Forceful Impact my build would actually be complete.  Working on gold vet shiphands and elder gems - use whichever happens first!
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
... I don't know if I want to rune the crafted gear I currently own as it has terrible runes (from back in the day) but high assault power (lots of finesse).  Can't even decide between a shield that has lots of health and 8900 shield and a 7900 shield with 60 finesse/60 brutality/80 moxie (moxie to come from embuement).  
----
			
{| class="blockquote"
They revised the rune table around Drop3 (IIRC) so the elements cover more useful stats.  You can also use the add-a-slot runic thingy to expand your pieces to their max slots.  I was in a panic because the crafted chest (Galactium Weave III) I'm using on my Engi only had 1 slot.  I was relieved when I was able to add two more.
 
I'm a big fan of runing my gear and filling out my set bonuses.  The difference between pre-runed and after was chain wiping on OC-1's end-boss and one shotting him with half-health left and me sitting there going "wait what?"  My PvP blues are fully runed and I feel effective.
 
It isn't cheap.  I set aside 5-10p per set to do it but IMO it's well worth it.
 
Also!  The RuneMaster addon is a huge help.  It eliminates having to set up a spreadsheet, will give you a shopping list if you wish to craft them and track what you have vs. what you don't.
----
			
Morning Nexians and coffee lovers
 
I actually really like the protogames academy. it is so much fun and its great to go in at level 10 and see the reactions of people new to the game and how much they enjoy it... or don't in some cases
 
I really like shiphands, they are great for those times when you only have 30 mins to sit down and play for awhile. I love space madness. love it. I do wish they had more interesting endbosses. Something more like the endboss in Omnicore. 
 
Now that I think of it I haven't done Omnicore for ages, think I will add it to my 'to do' list for today	
----