Re-activating your WoW account, or interested in "Trying Before You Buy"?THIS Is Why You're Told You're Undergeared
I've got a few friends in-game who like to come to me with their questions and confusions within the game.
I quite enjoy talking to them and answering their questions, because usually they're smart questions and the next time they come to me with questions, I can tell they've done something with what we talked about before, and moved ahead a bit in their gaming, each time.
Some of these folks have recently reached level 70 with their first toon after dilly-dallying around on previous characters to the mid-40's on other realms, and now they're getting into raiding.
Getting Into Raiding Now Is Not Like Getting Into Raiding Will Be
I do realize that Blizzard has tried to tune the entry-level raiding instances down from what Karazhan was in Burning Crusade when it was first released, to make the low-level raiding environment friendlier to entry-level folk, but I still believe very strongly that some people are in for a rude awakening if they're raiding now and hope to raid (successfully and reliably) once they've quickly leveled to 80.
And I do realize that during this "high time of raiding" that exists 3 months before a new xpac is released is a lot of fun and entry-level raids are easy to get into and for some, initially in places like Karazhan, purples flow like water in these easy-to-find PUG groups.
Places that used to have mass competition for raid spots and gear drops are looking more like regular dungeons in terms of the number of groups of complete strangers forming together to tackle the content...
But this is not how it will be when raiding resumes as players and guilds reach level 80 and begin the process of gearing, gemming and enchanting themselves in order to hope to stand out well enough to beat the other competition to the raid spots.
SSC/TK PUGs Still Gear Check
Some of these 70s who have entered the raiding scene recently and have run through near-flawless Karazhans, Gruul's Lairs and Magtheridon's Lairs now turn their attention to the next tier of raiding - why not? It seemed rather easy last time, right?
Except, now the PUG groups are doing Gear Checks. Where for Karazhan, Gruul's and Magtheridon's very often a dungeon leveler with 64+ dungeon blues can be accepted into the group and not adversely affect the success of the raid, the coordination required to down 25-man bosses gets increasingly complex the higher you go. Competent Raid Leaders are going to want to bring players who are experienced and geared for the instance, and are going to be highly wary of anyone who looks like they should be spending more time on their gear.
Gemming And Enchanting Still Important
While not a hard-and-fast rule, it's still agreed upon that an experienced Raider will take the time and money required to fully gem and enchant their gear as they receive upgrades in dungeons.
Some raiders may not use consumables like buff foods and weapon oils and elixirs/flasks these days, but quite a few of us still do take that "extra step" to make ourselves mathematically more able to crank out what needs to be cranked out for a successful run.
They Can Tell If You've Put Effort Into Your Gear
... and conversely, they can see plainly when you HAVEN'T.
Even if you have nearly all epic gear, if you've got empty gem slots or green-quality gems, or you're missing key enchants like your Head and Shoulder Glyphs, then you haven't put much effort into your gear.
If you're not wearing at least a few Badge Gear rewards, then you haven't put much effort into your gear.
If none of your gems are Epic (purchased with 15 Heroics badges as one of the ways), then you haven't put much effort into your gear.
And yes, I know the xpac is under a week away from release, when all of our gear standards will change, and what was uber today will be replaced on the way to 80. But we're still talking about raiding before the xpac is released, and unless you get into a guild raid, the standards of the PUG Raid Leader may be stiffer than you'd hoped.
It's fine, these days, to head into the entry-level raid instances - that is, Karazhan, Gruul's and Magtheridon's - without putting much effort into your gear.
And if you get into guild runs, you'll find those rules to be more lax these days as well.
But once your goals are set higher than these few instances, you really need a site like Be Imba! or WoW Heroes to help you tune-up your gear in order to be accepted into those PUG groups and not removed very quickly once someone ELSE has looked you up there.
And THAT is why you're being told you're undergeared, even though Karazhan, Gruul's and Mags seemed like a breeze to you.
How To Determine For Yourself
Ask yourself this: If everyone were geared and experienced with the fights similarly to you, would the run be successful, or would it be a miserable failure?
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I think part of the problem for some (I'm including myself here) is being at a total loss of knowing what they really need gemwise. I know in many ways it's all knew to myself so I ask a lot of questions. :-) I've done a lot of searches on the subject found some information but I still have unanswered questions. :-)
It can be frustrating because you need good gear to get into the better groups but at times it can be challenging to get that gear without those good groups, lol :-) My priest only has five epics atm. I did not get them from PUG's they came from HH and the Scourge Invasion.
Yes Blizz made the BC easier so that people could get better gear in preparation for WOTLK.
End game at 80 will be challenging (I would be disappointed if I could blast through that stuff by the time I reached that level) and I'm looking forward to it but I'm in no rush. I'm getting comfortable with healing and there is still so much more to learn about it. :-)
I do think if I'm in a guild that regularly does heroics, instances, raids, etc. that I'll be able to gear up a lot faster than PUG's or even grouping with the people I've met from those PUG's.
There is so much to learn and I'm enjoying it immensely.
Oh by the way, excellent post!
Exelent post. Even though the expansion is but days away I'm still enchanting & gemming(epic) with items I got only this weekend.
I think it's always important to be the best you possibly can be. If I see someone with epic gear & green gems, chances are I wont be tanking for them any time soon. ^_^
Dann,
Im not sure being the best you can is really that meaningful... i mean, its said your gear becomes obsolete at level 76. Soooo... In all honesty, if your spending your gold and your time buying enchants and gems... your throwing your gold away.
... the sad part?
This entire post is probably why, despite really dying to see this content, I will never actually be part of the population that ends up being a raider.
I'm good. I know I'm good at my class - but I've got a strike against me, being a Hunter, and I know that. I know, though, that given enough interest and time I'd be able to find a place in any raiding guild out there... except..
Running instances dozens of times to get that one random, skinner-box drop that'll give me enough of an edge to 'pass muster' for a raiding guild - where I get put onto the 'bench' until there's an opening, and then I /might/ get to go and see some sort of new content?
Meh.
You can see my thrill here.
I comprehend that 'top tier' raiding guilds need to fill every raid slot with someone who knows what they're doing; I grok! But the absolute number of people willing to raid and raid and raid some more to get gear to do more raiding to get more gear to do more raiding ....
That can't be a high number.
Worse, you have to start your 'raiding career' in pick-up-groups? You know, Elitist Jerks may have a fairly closed recruiting policy, but at least they have a 'development program', where they take people who have personality and skill and introduce them to early raids, 'gearing them up' so that they can participate in the 'big content' - at the tier where the dedicated, high-end of the guild is running.
Frankly, I see the truth behind everything you're saying here - but am I the only one who sees the flaws in this model?
Trust me. I'm definitely the kind of player that wishes Blizzard would release these 10+ man raids in a 5-man 'get the story' option, regardless of the 'gear drops'. THAT is the reason raiding holds appeal to me - to /see/ these complex and interesting fights, to get more of the storyline - I'd /love/ to see C'thun or Kil'jadeen - but chances are I never well.
Why?
Because something in me rebells at running content over and over and over again just to get a drop so I can be geared up enough to go to the next instance and run it over and over and over again to get a drop so I can be geared up enough to...
... and so on.
I know there's nothing quite like getting a group together and doing something amazing. I guess it just ceases to be amazing for me the fifteenth time you're doing it - I think it's a sad thing when you hear someone say 'farming the Sunwell to gear up'.
Just me, I guess, though. :)
Regardless, I enjoy reading about your adventures - and I learn quite a bit from your experiences. Keep postin'!
Grimm
I'm not much into repeating content over and over either - thus I only did the Sunwell trash farm stuff once before realizing that wasn't for me, either.
As for regular instance runs and heroic runs, and Kara runs... it's the somewhat boredom with them that makes me glad I've found friends who are bored the same way - ie: bored enough to do a fast run and not mess around, dawdling and afk'ing, but smart enough to realize the benefits of the badges and gear upgrades that come along with it.
But yes, all in all the path to a really good raiding guild, at least without a Real Life friend to give you an "easy in", is somewhat painful. The social pressures to stay "loyal" in the lower-down raiding guilds if you choose to join them is fierce.
But once you find that awesome guild with players whose personalities and play styles match yours, it's all worth it, and the amount of effort required to get back where you were is (theoretically) much reduced.
I'll let you know if my theory is the truth or not!
WoWGrrl
lol, sorry for the delayed reply. WotLK has had me preoccupied :-)
Cheers to a great article.
I can vouch from personal experience that this is very true. As a raid leader for 25-man content, I often find myself in need of one or two more players to fill out the raid. In fact, happened just last night on a trip to Sunwell Plateau. When people offer names of friends, I check them on the Armory. And honestly, the only thing I'm actually looking at is enchants, helm glyph, shoulder inscription, leg enhancement, gems. If I'm looking at two players, one with 950 spell power and another with 1050, but the guy with 950 takes excellent care of his gear and the other does not, I invite the 950.
Its not a 100% guarantee, but I find that players who put in the energy and research to properly enhance their gear are also the type of players who understand what it means to be a member of a team.
PS - I also look at hit rating as a separate thing from gear enhancements, because far too often DPS players who don't understand hit rating are simply after massive crits which they incorrectly think will put them on top of the Damage Meters. There is no place in my raid for that type of attitude.