Slowhand

Another weekly reset prompts the rush to Valor cap, and another chance at those elusive iLevel 502 gear from LFR Throne of Thunder. I checked this morning that there is in fact a loot table because after 7 bosses and 7 tokens, there only seems to money in that Raid. I am not the only person having problems with loot so it begs the question, what is the percentage chance of getting loot. The old MoP LFR's seem to be spewing out drops these days, but the new Raid is tighter than a camel's arse in a sandstorm.

Last Stand of the Zandalari as predicted was relatively easy last night. After 2 weeks most people know what they are doing, and it certainly helps with the DPSers are bringing in a minimum of 60K DPS. The boss fight mechanics in LFR are relatively straightforward and most people have adapted to ensure that a start of the week at least the Last Stand of the Zandalari will be easy going without too many wipes. I will reserve judgement on the Forgotten Depths until I have completed all 3 bosses so far I have only seen Ji-Kun.

I did notice that the viaduct with the gushing wind and the Banshees wailing above, claims far more lives than it should do. I fell foul of this area several times last week but now I have learnt to run straight and strafe left into the wind and avoiding the whirlwinds. It should be second nature to anyone who Mario Carts.

My server is now onto the 4th Stage of the Island of Thunder, and let another solo Scenario is available. I particularly enjoy these solo Scenarios and To The Skies is no different. They are not particularly difficult although it is possible to make things uncomfortable with some badly timed pulls.

After completing my Dailies on the Island, I got an extra quest for On Her Magic-ey Secret Service, which sends you back to the mines. As we are in a no-fly zone and I could not find a portal, how do you get back to the Mines? I even tried to mount the big blue bird at the Alliance Base (wipe that smirk of your face).

I am not also detecting that my characters are getting relatively stronger as the weeks go by. I tend not to enchant Blue items, but now I am sporting a complete set of shiny epics, I have fully enchanted my gear. The shoulder enchant alone is a massive boost, the Greater Tiger Claw Inscription provides a whopping 200 Agility 100 Critical Strike. I have said it before and I will no doubt say it again that the Stat inflation is completely out of control. I getting stronger every week, not by improving but purely from either having a lot of luck in LFR (fat chance) or the Valor upgrades that are guaranteed.

I am starting to wonder whether spell rotations are like playing the guitar. I have played the guitar for 30+ years and I am familiar with the basics, and can play lots of chords, I even know some scales, but I never seem to get any better. As a teenager I had a Japanese Fender Start copy, which never stayed in tune and I always assumed that it was the guitar that was at fault for my poor performance. A friend of my brothers came to stay and he picked up the guitar tuned it briefly before playing some great Blues guitar. This was not possible, this was my crappy guitar, that sounded so sweet.

As an adult, I am fortunate enough to own a Fender acoustic and a Fender Telecaster, neither of these great instruments have allowed me to be the superb guitarist than I know I should be. I am starting to think that I will never manage to eek out my DPS to anywhere near it's maximum ability, and even if I purchased a full gaming rig, I am sure it would not make me a great Hunter, Mage or Elemental Shaman. Sometimes you just have to realise the level of your own ability and after that you can only try your best.

From this point of view, it easy to see why I tend to raid as a Healer. The metrics are completely different, and HPS is not a great measure of success. The performance is based on, whether the boss died, how many raiders are still standing and how much mana have I got left.

The pressure can be greater for healers, but most damage dealers know that it was really their fault for standing in the bad.