SkunkApe - Feral DPS - Druid

[SkunkApe]

Character Name: Skunkape

Armory Link: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Illidan&n=Skunkape

Class: Druid

CHARACTER QUESTIONS:

Talent Spec: 0/55/16 Feral DPS. Feral DPS is pretty straightforward although you can shuffle around some points depending on if there is another feral (iLotP, Imp Mangle) present in the raid.

Dual Spec: I normally use my off-spec for PvP/Arena but for the purposes of progression, I would probably use a MT/OT Bear spec that would look like this:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZEMGscr ... A0z:N0ncMz

My tanking gear is a tad behind my DPS as I'm still using 4 piece Tier 7.5 but I do have some of the Ulduar pieces like the shoulders from Hard Mode council, the idol from General and I've managed to get my PvP staff which is awesome for tanking (sadly). Historically, I tanked alot of content in Vanilla WoW (stuff like Prophet, Fankriss, Trio, 4 Horsemen etc.) and especially TBC (pre-nerf M'uru and KJ) as Bears were by far the most successful variation of Feral there. I've been recruited mainly as a DPS in WotLK though and most of my tanking experience has been confined to the 10 man instances. Although, I have tanked some 25 Man Hard Modes here and there such as Thorim and Hodir. I would prefer to DPS but if I need to I can always spec to tank.

Professions: (Why those professions? Can you make any craftables of note?) I currently run the best min/max combo of Jewelcrafting/Blacksmithing. I will always take the 2 professions that help my character the most. I think the only professions I haven't taken to 450 on this toon now are Tailoring and Skinning. I don't have any super rare patterns to note but I am saving JC tokens for the epic patterns in 3.2.

PVE Experience: (What bosses/instances have you cleared? Which bosses/hardmodes do you have experience on learning?) I have currently completed all "easy mode" WotLK content including Yogg Saron (minus Algalon of course). I've completed 6/9 of the Ulduar Hard Modes and I've had wiping experience on Mimiron Hard, Freya Hard, and Yogg 1 Light. I have yet to get to see Algalon in any form (though I can in fact summon him in the 10 man). I also completed my Heroic: Glory of the Raider (Black Proto Drake) and Glory of the Ulduar Raider (Rusted Proto Drake). I've been recruited and raiding as a DPS for the majority of WotLK. On a broader scale, as a feral druid, I have tanked/DPS'd every encounter in TBC including pre-nerf M'uru and Kil'jaeden. In Vanilla WoW I spent my time healing as a 1/29/21 Feral Hybrid (gogo Rank 4 HT spam!) and I logged kills of both C'thun and Kel'thuzad. I have been playing a druid since closed beta in 04' so I like to think I've got a firm grasp on the Druid class but I'm ALWAYS looking for ways to better myself.

WWS/WorldofLogs/Wowmetersonline: (Please post a link to a recent meter/combat log of you in a raiding environment. If you don't have access to one, /combat log your next raid and post it to one of the previous free sites.)
Here is a link to the Combat Log my last guild ran (I raided w/ them from 5/25 - 6/30 *I'm Remo in the parses*)

http://www.worldoflogs.com/guilds/878/

Here are some solo parses:

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-I ... 909&e=7212 *Iron Council Hard Mode*

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-f ... 03&e=10228 *XT Hard Mode*

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-a ... 64&e=18686 *General Hard Mode*


PLAYER QUESTIONS:

Availablity: (We raid Monday- Thursday from 6-11PM. Can you make 90% of those raid times? Are you going to become "unavailble" due to school starting or month long vacations? What's your playtime like as of now?)
Sunday: 5PM – 3AM
Monday: Available all day.
Tuesday: Available all day.
Wednesday: Available all day.
Thursday: Available all day.
Friday: Work Day
Saturday: Work Day

I currently play in a men's basketball league on Tuesday nights so I might be about 30 minutes late w/e we had a 9:30 EST game (which is rare but it happens 2-3 times a season). However, your schedule meshes with mine very well which is a main reason I've chosen to apply to you guys.

Microphone/Ventrilio: (Mics and Vent are priceless raid tools. Do you have both? Will you use both?) I have Ventrilo installed and a working Plantronics Headset.

Computer/Connection: (What kind of computer and internet connection do you have/utilize? Will we need to sit you on heavy AoE fights? Are you going to need to restart your router every 15 minutes?) I currently run a AMD Athlon X2 6000+ (3.1 ghz), 4gb DDR2 (800 mhz), ATI Radeon HD 4850, Logitech G15 keyboard, 22' LCD monitor, and a Alltel DSL 6MB connection (which is very stable). My computer has no problems in running WoW in raid setting or intown.

Please Post a Screenshot of your UI/bindings in a raid setting: (Are there any mods that you can't live without? Do you prefer a specific boss mod?) Here is a SS of my current UI: http://img136.imageshack.us/i/wowscrnsh ... 31534.jpg/

I find the mod BadKitty to be a invaluable tool at tracking the various timers in the Feral rotation. If I had to pick one mod I couldn't live without it would be that one. I prefer to use DeadlyBossMods over BigWigs but that's just personal preference as they both very good at what they do.

Theorycraft for us: (Show us what you know about your spec and class. This is your chance to say something insightful about your healing, tanking or dps style that perhaps we hadn't thought about.) The single most important thing about Feral DPS is the 'rotation'. The feral druid 'rotation' is more of a set of guidelines, really.

1. Keep up Rake
2. Keep up Mangle
3. If both are up, Shred for combo points
4. Use Tiger's Fury at 25 energy or less
5. Use OoC procs on Shred
6. Use only 5-CP finishers
7. Keep up Savage Roar
8. Keep up Rip
9. If Rip and SR are up and Rip has more than 6 seconds left, FB
10. Berserk on every cooldown, ideally at 80-90 energy with TF up

As you can see it can be quite the mess to keep up with but if you understand it and learn how it works...it can be quite rewarding. For all you EJ junkies I currently subscribe to the FeralbyNight philosophy. Gemming for DPS is usually very easy: gem until Armor Penetration soft cap (which differs depending on which Armor Pen trinket you have), then Agility.


PERSONAL QUESTIONS:

Past Guilds/Servers and Reasons for Leaving: (Are there folks there we can discretely speak to about your character/play style?)
<Permafrost> of Illidan, US PvP - Guild disbanded around the time Naxxaramas came out due to poor attendance and people were getting tired of 40-man raids.

<WNC> of Haomarush, US PvP - I transferred here with some IRL friends a few months before TBC released and formed this guild. We raided up until SSC before it became apparent that it just wasn't gonna work because the recruit selection on the server was extremely awful.

<Illuminati> of Mannoroth, US PvP - App'd and joined with a few who were guildies in <WNC> with me. I left due to frustration w/ leadership over how I was used in raids.

<Blood Legion> of Illidan, US PvP - I transferred back to Illidan to join Blood Legion because it contained a few old guildmates from <Permafrost>. I was recruited as their 2nd Feral Druid as they had one leaving for school/work reasons. All was well while we were farming SSC/TK/Hyjal/BT. However, once Sunwell opened it up it became apparent that I wasn't going to be used very often. Once I was the labeled the #2 feral raiding regularly was pretty much over for me. As an added slap to the face the druid I replaced 8 months ago returned and they were pretty much just cold shouldering me out to get him back in. Blood Legion is NOT a very close knit guild and it generally goes by the rule of "who you know, the further you go". This is further evidenced by their huge turnover ratio with each new instance/expansion.

<Apotheosis> of Illidan, US PvP - After I left Blood Legion a few us decided that we were going to form our own 10 man guild for WotLK. The idea being that we were going to stick to 10 mans but strive to be the best at it (ie achievements etc.). We pretty much just hung out and waited until release day. As WotLK's release came and went, everything seemed to be going fine but it became readily apparent that the people we were attracting were going to be casual and were making no attempts to better themselves. I envisioned us becoming a excellent 10 man guild, in which we were getting achievement after achievement done but it's just not happening. People were far too content to coast by, not learning proper DPS rotations, not bringing full consumables, etc. I'm all for having fun but my idea of fun in WoW is completing encounters (and hard achievements) and taking pride in how you do it. I decided it was most beneficial that I seek out a 25 man guild w/ like minded goals.

<Limbo> of Gorefiend, US PvP - I've been here for past 3 weeks. Upon my application's acceptance I was told that there was an immediate DPS slot available to me and that I would be expected to raid full-time. I was also told that the guild was very much into doing achievements and the harder encounters (Sarth + 3 10 man). I made it clear that I wished to raid and contribute 100%. We agreed and I transferred over. Unfortunately, what I was told and promised was not at all what was delivered. The guild was not at all what was described to me. It was basically a zerg guild. There were 45+ members and I was being sat repeatedly for members I was outdps'ing by leaps and bounds. Now, I don't want to come off as a douche but when you tell me one thing and do another...that's not really a basis for trust. There was a total disconnect between the people who recruited me and the rest of the leadership. Neither were on the same page and it was quite frustrating to say the least.

<Terrible> - Malorne, US PvP - Again I was recruited as a DPS. I joined around 2/2/09. I've made every raid and I'm consistently in the top 5 DPS on every fight. I was actually promoted to officer a couple of weeks ago. The reason I wish to leave is this: 75% of the people I'm currently raiding with have no desire to play or succeed in this game. They spend the majority of their time bitching about the state of WoW or how "easy" the content is even though we still have yet to do a single hard mode in Ulduar. Additionally, raids have become increasingly harder to fill (we 24 manned our 1 and only Yogg kill) and I'm just sick of it. I want to find a guild who actually still enjoys WoW. Like minded people who actually WANT To raid. I'm tired of this coasting by bullshit.

<Clout Mace> - Kilrogg, US PvE - I was basically duped into coming here to join a guild called No Bads Allowed. I raided for about a half a week before it became apparent that I had been deceived on the quality of the guild I was joining. Since my transfer was down for a month, I joined these guys to keep myself busy until I could find a better guild. Don't get me wrong, there are some nice people in this guild but they just don't seem motivated enough to work on the tougher Hard Modes and many of the core members of the guild have quit the game. Attendance was horrible so I made the decision to transfer off the server (back to my original server Illidan to visit friends) since I knew I was going to be taking an extended break through half of July anyway. My vacation is now over and I'm eager to get back into raiding with a group of like minded individuals and hopefully break my current WotLK streak of going from shithole to shithole.

Why do you want to join Disbanded?: (Why should we choose you over other applicants? What can you bring to our raid/raiding environment that we can't get from other people?) I'm looking to join a *STABLE* guild who raids with a PST schedule (as it better meshes with my own). I've had some terrible luck with my past few guilds so I'm not looking to blow another $25 on transfer to just jump right back into a situation I'd just managed to escape. Disbanded has been around for a long time and has a reputation for being a very solid guild. If I can contribute to your guild in anyway (whether it be 10 man or 25's) I'd love a shot to prove why I'd be valuable to the guild. I just want to find a guild that has the same passion about the game as I do.

What do you enjoy most about playing WoW?: (What makes you log on everyday?) I still enjoy playing World of Warcraft. I log in because I still enjoy the game. I'm not one of those people who bitch and moan about the game everyday yet still pays the subscription fee. I want to play with raiders who don't laugh @ massive piles of achievement points, people who are still enjoying WoW (not bitching about it).

[kevin]

fuck why another feral, i really liked this application too.

Can you play resto at all lol

[SkunkApe]

Sadly no. I've not played Resto since Vanilla WoW. I dabble into Balance from time to time but I've always been a Feral @ heart.

[kevin]

i played on illidan for awhile too on alliance in Saga, wonder if you know me or remember me. Had a druid named Catwillows, a shaman named Csi, and a lock named Skada. <3 BL.

[SkunkApe]

Ah Saga. I remember when they were by far the best guild on Illidan. Sucks, I heard they went under recently over on Haomarush. Always sad when a top guild goes under but having played on Haomarush I certainly know that the lack of a recruiting pool certainly didn't help them. It's hard to get people to transfer into a shithole server.

[kevin]

ya, they just broke up on hoamarash, most of the good people from saga all got absorbed into eternal reign so they're in a better place now =)

[Duracel]

We currently have 2 feral druids, but ferals have excellent damage and tanking potential these days, so we'd like to go ahead and accept your application. When are you able to transfer?