Choosing a class for raiding with low FPS
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 28th 2008 at 5:00PM
NSDragon wants to know over on Livejournal: what's the best class to raid with on a low-end system (as in, one that gets only about 3-10 FPS during raid boss fights)? First of all, there's no reason you should be raiding with a system like that anyway -- even a cheap PC will run World of Warcraft better than that, and even if you can't afford a new computer, odds are that you can at least add some RAM in there and speed things up a bit. But let's assume that you're a great person and you've given all your money to charity, so there is no way that you can afford to buy anything faster.In that case, as most of the commenters on the thread say, ranged DPS is probably your best bet. You won't be able to pour out as much aggro as someone who isn't lagging, but at least you'll be able to use your 3 frames per second to do some damage, and you're sure you won't draw aggro and wipe the raid. As for which ranged DPS class, though, I'm not sure -- Hunters have autofire, so you can be sure that you'll be pushing out DPS constantly. Mages aren't too hard to raid with (most Mages will actually tell you that they just press one button over and over again). Warlocks might be easier with their DoTs, but even that relies on timing in a way that Hunter DPS really doesn't. I'd say Hunter.
Some people are saying Healers, which I originally thought was a bad idea, but if you combine their recommendation of just looking at the floor (to speed up the FPS) and watching the healing meters, you might have something there. Wouldn't be very fun (whack-a-mole FTW), but you'd be helpful to the raid in situations where you wouldn't have to move around much. So healer might be a viable choice for a low-end computer user as well.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Raiding, Classes
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Scott Apr 28th 2008 5:08PM
Hunter = bad bad idea. Most of the dps is from weaving steady shots in between your autoshots. No other class suffers such a large drop in dps from bad timing, especially if you are MM or survival.
Jiancor Apr 28th 2008 5:10PM
Are you serious? Hunter? My shot rotations REQUIRE good fps AND ping. Mages are my vote.
Kareem Apr 28th 2008 5:13PM
Hi, I just want to say that I raid with my hunter and I think playing a hunter with a low end PC isn't as good as it sounds. This is mainly because bad FPS/latency will make you mess up a lot on your rotation. Auto shot does keep firing but that only account to about 50% of a hunters damage.
I agree with the idea that staying away from melee is the best way to go but IMO hunters aren't the way to go, not if you want to do well while raiding.
HomelessBird Apr 28th 2008 5:12PM
Tbh, hunters are probably the best suggestion, especially with a shot macro- I have a hunter friend who sometimes goes down to 2-5 fps on bosses like Prince Malchezzar and still pushes out 900 dps or so.
Healers... not so much. While you can do fairly well just staring at the floor/raidframes, I find it's generally helpful as a healer to be able to see what's going on around you, as many of the more difficult fights require you to pay attention to where you and your fellow raiders are standing... try doing Dragonhawk in ZA while staring at the floor. xp
Carrie Apr 28th 2008 5:13PM
Yeah, definitely not hunter. People who think they can raid seriously with just autoshot aren't playing their class right.
DPS-casters would be a better choice. Spam (insert spell here), win.
Rainnajax Apr 28th 2008 5:16PM
Are you kidding me?? Rolling a Healer??? In a Kara or ZA Raid, with only 10 people, healers amount to 2 or max 3 people. Depending on the makeup of the group, and the boss you are fighting, getting DCed as a healer can and does wipe raids. Only roll a healer if you have two other extremely competent healers with you that can pick up your slack when you get disconnected or experience lag. Lag is a healers worst enemy!
Treima Apr 28th 2008 5:15PM
Mages, without a doubt.
As for the poor guy getting 3-10 FPS...I feel your pain. My old PC had that back before I switched from Linux to Windows. Even on my card's best day, I was lucky to get 25 FPS.
con-man Apr 29th 2008 9:57AM
Huh what? I get 20+ fps always using linux. I refuse to use windows. Sure I could get better fps, but im not getting 3-10
MechChef Apr 28th 2008 5:16PM
Don't be a rogue or other melee DPS. You've got to be in the thick of it, and you're forced to chase the tank/mob/bosses.
Aaron Apr 28th 2008 5:17PM
You obviously know nothing about high-end hunter DPS! It REQUIRES low latency. My DPS gets cut IN HALF if my latency is a mere 150 higher than usual.
Arctor Apr 29th 2008 3:12AM
did he say anything about hunter? or did i just miss that?
Reinard Apr 28th 2008 5:19PM
Hunters and mages would probably be two of the WORST to play if you have low fps. I'd say rogue, since you can still dish out some decent damage lag and all, but you'll also be more likely to die. Or wipe the raid.
Best advice would be, simply, to get a new computer. Newegg has some great gaming PCs for in the range of $500-700.
Aaron Apr 28th 2008 5:17PM
"(as in, one that gets only about 3-10 FPS during raid boss fights)? First of all, there's no reason you should be raiding with a system like that anyway -- even a cheap PC will run World of Warcraft better than that"
Um no? WoW has pretty steep requirements contrary to what some sites say that it can run fine on a low-end system, which I don't believe a word of. Take a high-end system i built last June: 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 2gig ram, radeon 1950xt and can get 20 fps in heavy raids. But then again, I play a melee class in BT/SP.
Gessilea Apr 28th 2008 5:30PM
That last sentence there was the kicker - most WoW players aren't raiding BT, and compared to a lot of games out there, WoW is very forgiving to systems that aren't top of the line. 25 man raiding or running BGs is much more demanding on a computer than 5 or 10 mans, and soloing (provided you stay outside of major cities and daily hotspots) doesn't take much at all.
That said? RAM is cheap, and if you can't afford to upgrade to 1G you should really consider putting a freeze on your account for two months and using that money to buy RAM. It's worth it.
Nick S Apr 28th 2008 5:57PM
i can run 3 instances of WoW at 32 fps on a very similar machine to what you've described; haven't tried it with 3 in a raid, but with 1 in a raid i never dip below 30.
try setting the process priority to "real-time"
jbodar Apr 28th 2008 8:36PM
"Current" RAM is cheap, yes. Older PC RAM (i.e. DDR) is way more expensive than DDR2 due to low demand.
Qix Apr 28th 2008 11:19PM
I normally am not one to argue with people, but i cant let this one pass by.
First off:
"2.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 2gig ram, radeon 1950xt and can get 20 fps in heavy raids. But then again, I play a melee class in BT/SP."
Even for last year, that is NOT a high end machine.
Quad core was out last year, 8800 GTX was out last year. That would be high end (and WoW overkill).
Second, I can and do play Wow on my Q1 (I am in the Navy and play from a lot of different places (and change my password alot as well!).
http://tech.yahoo.com/ps/samsung-q1/1994300703
Thats right, 1.0 Ghz, 1 GB Ram, Intel integrated video.
I wire it into my HDTV, with a good wireless mouse/keyboard/headset and play from the couch.
Granted graphics are turned to the bare minimum, it works fine.
Spirit Apr 28th 2008 5:18PM
My suggestion?
With that low of framerates, and if you want to raid...
Don't play WoW.
Clint Apr 29th 2008 1:05PM
I'm a MT and I raid with 10-12fps standard, but my ping is around 100 so I can still pump out 1k tps (starting T5). I've had it drop to 0-1 fps on some boss encounters (hydross add transition) and let me tell you...it is scary.
[i play on a 4 year old laptop...working on an upgrade...becoming more and more of a necessity everyday]
Acceptable Risk Apr 28th 2008 5:20PM
Yeah, seriously, healer. In all seriousness, you could probably just set yourself to /f on some other healer and play the raid with your 3D renderer turned off. You can get practically all of the info you need from UI elements.
I gotta feel like you can get better than three FPS in a raid, though. Turn off all of the effects and practically any machine should be able to do it. I mean, my PC used to get like four or five FPS in Shattrath before I upgraded, but if you're in an instance, I don't know what's bogging you down.