Addon Spotlight: Raiding essentials for DPS
by Mathew McCurley 
Sep 15th 2011 at 2:00PM
Yesterday, we prematurely learned that the Raid Finder coming in patch 4.3 would feature a new difficulty level associated with randomly putting together a 25-man raid group and allowing players who normally would not be privy to raiding content to see these awesome locations and epic boss battles. A lot of new people will be flooding into the raiding game come patch 4.3, so why not take a few minutes early on and get ready for the day when you too might just be able to come face to face with the denizens of the Firelands, leaders of Deathwing's armies, and even the former earthwarder himself? Raiding is getting more accessible, but you're still going to need tools to do the job right.
These raiding essential guides are meant to get players who might be new to the whole raiding game up and ready for the new difficulty of raiding coming in the next big update patch. We will discuss why certain addons are good to have, example fight mechanics, and basic tips to make sure you're running your addons smart.
Addon philosophy for DPS
DPS have three main roles to worry about while raiding, for the most part: movement, damaging the boss/adds, and interrupt mechanics. Each one of these roles can be done without addons these days, but there are always ways to improve on the default setup that let you do these things better and let people in your raid know what you're doing.
Personal responsibility is the new DPS paradigm in raiding with Cataclysm. As one of many DPSers in the raid, you have to know what type of damage you need to be doing and where it needs to be. Rhyolith needs DPS applied in different quantities to his legs at certain periods in order to turn him correctly. With the Raid Finder, there is no expectation that all 25 random raiders will have voice communication readily available for them to give out DPS instructions, so you'll need to understand where to put your focus without being told to do so.
Addons can help with personal responsibility, from understanding what the boss is going to do, when he is going to do it, and what you're standing in. With the lowered difficulty, mechanics may change in radical ways, but you'll still need to be aware of said mechanics.
Raid mechanic addons
Every raider is going to want a raid mechanic notification addon. There are many out there that are very customizable, but they can be a little daunting for the first-time raider. The built-in notifications and the Dungeon Journal do a good job getting raiders ready for what awaits them in the dangerous WoW raid instances, but more notifications, especially timer bars, are a valuable resource for predicting what is coming up next.
The most popular raid mechanic addons and notifiers include:
Movement addons
Not standing in bad stuff has been a staple of World of Warcraft's raiding environment for a long time now. The new avoidable damage meta-raid design philosophy paired with DPS' new personal responsibility makes not standing in bad stuff even more important than ever. Do you know why Ragnaros on heroic difficulty was healed with only three healers? Well, I'll tell you -- most, if not all of auxilliary damage done to characters other than the tank was avoidable or mitigatable in some fashion, meaning the only people who needed help staying alive were tanks. Personal responsibility is important.
The addon that most recommend, including myself, is the sharply named GTFO, which will alert you with different sounds when you are standing where you shouldn't be. It's a valuable addon, especially so when you think about the new Raid Finder. Anything that helps keep people alive is, in my mind, a good thing.
Check out my Addon Spotlight on GTFO to get that sucker up to date before you hit the random Raid Finder.
People say that WoW shouldn't be a numbers game or that WoW is too reliant on meters and how people are performing. Well, to be frank, WoW is a numbers game. Encounters are designed with average DPS requirements and new gear is just adding numbers to your existing stuff with a pretty new skin. As a player, especially in the raiding environment as easy or hard as it is, you need to pay homage to the numbers that make your character tick.
DPS meters have gotten a bad rap by the people who abuse their real, honest goal. When you're level 16 and running your first dungeon and some tool calls for DPS meters, ignore him. He's an idiot, I promise. However, the real, honest goal of a DPS meter is not to be the best, but it's part of the job. The main role of a DPS is to DPS, and you want to do your job the best you can. Think of the DPS meter as a speedometer rather than a performance indicator -- you need to go 65 miles per hour to beat this boss, but you're only going 55. Put the pedal to the metal.
Popular DPS meters include: Threat
While threat has taken a back seat these days in terms of importance and substance, effectively being removed from the game with the 5x hotfix a few weeks back, Omen is still a nice tool to have just in case. While the Raid Finder's raiding will be less difficult than the current incarnation of the Cataclysm raid encounters, you still don't know who you are going to be attacking this content with. Use your best judgement and keep your threat meter handy, especially for adds like on Rhyolith.
Download Omen at [Curse].
Almost all DPS classes have interrupts that will stop a boss from casting a spell that will usually destroy your raid in some fashion. As a DPS class that can never, ever miss with your interrupt attack, you're going to be the go-to guys for interrupting bad abilities. Alysrazor's adds cast a nasty fire spell that can be stopped. Maloriak's arcane storms will quickly wipe a raid if they are not stopped early. That's your job.
Interrupting is less of a problem than letting people know that you actually interrupted the spell. I recommend and use Raeli's Spell Announcer, or RSA, for this job. It's easily customizable and works like a charm with a smart channel feature that will put your notifications in the right channel to let people know when you've interrupted a cast. We are still unsure how interrupt mechanics will work in Raid Finder raids, but if they are present, you'll be glad you had RSA.
Check out my Addon Spotlight on RSA.
You've got the general tools assembled into your raiding toolbox, DPS. Go forth into the Raid Finder in the future and make everyone proud. I am hoping that the Raid Finder begins to chip away at a lot of the dumb, preconceived notions we have about the DPS role and show that 25 random people can and will plow through some fun content seamlessly. I, for one, am excited.
Tune in next week for addon essentials for tanks or healers. I haven't decided yet. What do you guys think?
Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. If you're new to mods, Addons 101 will walk you through the basics; see what other players are doing at Reader UI of the Week. If there's a mod you think Addon Spotlight should take a look at, email mat@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Revynn Sep 15th 2011 2:29PM
Ive been using Skada for some time now, due to being lighter weight and the option to disable stuff I don't care about like CC breakers and stuff. It also has a mode switching ability which is nice if your pressed for space in your UI or tend to watch the DPS meters instead of where your standing
The thing is, there seems to be a common perception that Skada is inaccurate and therefore nit as good as recount. My GM also tells me "don't give me that Skada B***S***, that addon's for people who like to see themselves higher on the meters than they really are."
Now, I've ocassionally had Skada bug out on me (I can only remember once when it told me our rogue did 120K DPS on H-Halfus), but generally I don't see a noticeable difference between what my Skada says and what someone else's recount says, especially since (in my experience) even two people running the same addon will get slightly varied results. So what gives? What's with the Skada hate?
Hollow Leviathan Sep 15th 2011 2:34PM
I think it's just him. I haven't noticed any community-permeating dislike for it, just a general entrenched sense of, 'well, I already use Recount.'
Pao Sep 15th 2011 2:38PM
Contrary to what many seem to believe, Skada is actually MORE accurate than recount in most situtations. Skada takes into account downtime when computing dps/hps, whereas recount does not. In a mathematical sense, Recount is showing you (Damage Done)/(Active Time) for "DPS" whereas Skada shows you (Damage Done)/(Fight Duration).
chaos5061 Sep 15th 2011 2:48PM
I use TinyDPS myself.
GhostWhoWalks Sep 15th 2011 3:07PM
I use Skada myself, and I have to admit that sometimes the numbers can feel a bit off. Maybe that's just because it reads the DPS differently than Recount, as Pao mentioned, but I will honestly sometimes get odd readings depending on what I'm doing as the fight is going on; for example, I've often seen that Skada won't start tracking output until I actually enter the fight, so if we have a few trash mobs where I'm slow to join the fray or have to go AFK, the resulting total damage done will be a bit skewed. It will also sometimes read oddly if I'm playing on my healer, or one of the ranged DPS is standing far away from me; Skada doesn't always seem to track players who are far enough away from me. That said, however, these might be issues Recount also deals with.
Skyrei Sep 15th 2011 4:50PM
The biggest difference I've seen between Recount and Skada (that would effect numbers) is that Recount starts recording the moment anyone does damage. Skada waits untill YOU do damage.
Kole Sep 15th 2011 5:39PM
I don't like Skada for one reason...I have yet to figure out how to stop it from erasing/overwriting the information on other toons. Maybe that isn't even possible...maybe I am just an idiot. But it annoys the piss out of me when I enter a new raid or dungeon and want fresh info to be displayed, then later I log on to another toon and discover his information is gone and is the new info from the other toon.
Recount doesn't do that. Each toons Recount is independent. Hopefully I missed something (I'd rather have Skada for it's small footprint and combo of Omen and Recount...)
(I realize that was not explained well...forgive me.)
Quaza Sep 15th 2011 9:31PM
Actually, I've noticed that recount doesn't record other people's guardians. For example, recount would show our elemental shaman in 7th, when he would really be third on Skada (and 3rd on HIS recount). I looked into it once, recount completely ignored his fire elemental, as apparently it didn't count as his pet.
arcady Sep 15th 2011 2:40PM
Tidy Plates is the best DPS threat addon.
Omen was great in its day for a meter on the screen - but Tidy Plates changes the look of a name plate if you've got, are losing,or are gaining threat on it. For a DPS in the thick of the action - this is more useful.
Its what I use as a tank too - if there's an add I've lost, I can click its Tidy Plate and now its my target to do my moves on.
For warning and notices, look at Weak Auras.
- A low resource and easy to configure addon similar to powerauras. You can set up on-screen notices for various events anywhere on screen you personally benefit best having them.
- I still use this to let me track the counter for the boss in H:Blackrock Mountain so that I can have the center of my screen show a giant set of numbers to tell me how many stacks I've got. That way I don't need to be looking at the corner or something at a buff bar. For that one fight - I've no excuse to be stupid as it becomes the center of my screen, and then unloads itself as soon as we're done there.
Chance Sep 15th 2011 3:21PM
I personally like using omen and TP together. Some bosses tend to be so large that you never even see their hitbox and the warning sound from Omen is a clear reminder to me that I have a threat drop ability and should use it. Though since the threat hotfix I haven't heard that sound once, I'm contemplating removing Omen next time it calls for an update.
swelt Sep 16th 2011 8:39AM
Totally agree. Tidy Plates + Threat Plates gives just the right amount of information now. I really hope that Blizzard build this functionality into the base game in the next expansion.
Chance Sep 15th 2011 2:40PM
Your rogue very well could have done 120k on Halfus. The debuff he gets makes you hit him VERY hard and I've hit 90k on an undergeared feral druid (using recount not skada). I wouldn't count that as a bug, but as your rogue getting a lot of crits once the debuff was maxxed
dl3mk3 Sep 15th 2011 3:13PM
I'm the minority in my 10's group using skada, and usually I dont match the Recount numbers people post some times, but when i compare to my World Of Logs numbers i'm pretty much right on.
Skada also does threat which eliminates the need for Omen, unless its been added recently-recount does not show threat.
dl3mk3 Sep 15th 2011 3:13PM
should have replied to original post
arcady Sep 15th 2011 3:45PM
Recount Threat is a plugin for recount that's been around since the beginning of Wrath.
My UI has Tidy Plates, Omen, and Recount.
Tidy Plates for most incombat, Omen for a little more spice as its in the center of my screen right above my target frames and under the feet of my toon.
Recount shoved into a remote bottom right corner to be looked at out of combat.
RS Sep 15th 2011 4:06PM
I've tried Skada on occasion, maybe it is the way it tracks the fight, but I've gotten different results from it than from recount.
But Recount has bugged out on me as well recently. No matter how I set it up, it resets after ever pull. annoying as sin.
I'm trying to figure out what add on gives you a radar like screen, kind of a range thing. I ran one 5 man the other day and the tank activated something and it popped up on my screen for the boss fight. might have been DBM? small box with a spiderweb/target design in it? Not sure what it does or anything. I'd like to know.
RS
dl3mk3 Sep 15th 2011 4:31PM
The range indicator is indeed DBM. typing "/range" will bring it up-right clicking it will bring up the menu to change the distance
Brett Porter Sep 15th 2011 6:17PM
You might have it set to be "current fight" instead of "overall data"? It's one of the buttons on the left, iirc...
noel mcleod Sep 16th 2011 9:18AM
I've seen this too. I use recount (but not in combat), DBM and nothing else. Can someone point too some help in configuring DBM and Omen or Tidy Plates. Have tried all of these, maybe I have the wrong expectation. My guildies tell me I manage threat well (not really required with new change anyway), but I have trouble identifying when there's a rogue add. That's really all I want to know - healer's behind me, an add is on him that isn't on my screen and is out of range of Blood Boil/ Pestilence, I want to taunt him. I want something that tells me he's there and I don't have threat.
Suggestions?
I tanked with no add-ons all the way through Wrath (just Heroics, almost no raiding) because of a low-powered computer (I went back to Northrend recently with an alt that hit 68 and was blown away at the graphic detail I missed the first time ...). So my tank style is based on not using add-ons and I haven't found anything that works for me "out of the box" to manage threat.
Hamr Sep 15th 2011 4:10PM
Are addons truly needed surely the raids are designed to be doable with just the tools available in the game. Are there any guilds about that raid without using them. Maybe for future raids the achievement to aim for would be world first without addons. As you can probably tell I'm not a raider and if i'm being stupid for asking this just say, but just wanting to throw an idea out there to think about!