NAME: Denathos
Race/Class: Tauren/Death Knight
Main Spec: Blood (Tanking)
Primary Professions: Blacksmithing/Inscription
Armory Link: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Defias+Brotherhood&n=Denathos
Fishing Skill: 441

What's your name and where are you from?
Out of character stuff I assume! My real name's Owan, I'm currently in the North of England but I'm from all over. I've spent time in all parts of England and Scotland as well as several years in Norway during my youth.

How old are you? Please give your answer in Reverse Polish Notation.
Er. I suppose: ab+ where a=25 and b=3.
I'm 28 in other notation though.

How long have you been playing WoW? (may also help explain strangely high fishing skills)
I've played since about six months after the original release. The first big patch I recall was Blackwing Lair or Zul'Gurub, I forget the order they were released in.

Is this your main? How often do you play this character? Tell us about your other characters, including any serious alts.
Yes, this character has been my main since a few months into Wrath of the Lich King. I play most nights and often during the weekend too. This character was originally a Night Elf on the Azjol Nerub server but I switched him over to here as I'd stopped playing there when my guild disbanded and had been playing a hunter here. My other characters on Defias are a hunter (Draymon), a mage (Dathariel) and a paladin (Dalkvasir).

What's your guild history? Are you in a guild right now? Are you leaving that guild because of some drama you caused? Cause one thing we really don't want is drama... No, you say? Then why are you leaving?
My guild history on Defias is pretty short, some friends of mine who played here (the reason I switched server) have a guild called Benevolent. All my characters are in the guild. I'm not leaving because of any drama, Benevolent don't like drama either, and nor do I! I'm looking for a guild which has a greater focus on raiding, but at the same time is quite mature. The main thing I've found since changing from a PvE server to RPPvP is the huge increase in the likability of players, I have met so many random people in groups and pugs that I've actually got on well with and even group with over and again.

Sorry, back to guild history. In what they call "Vanilla WoW" I was in a guild for 40 man raids (think there were 70 of us total) called Epic Projects, and before that in a social/friendly guild called Avatar of War. I think AoW still exists on another server, but it's a long time ago. In TBC, some friends and I started our own guild, The Wolf Pack. The original idea was for 10 man raiding but it later merged with another 10 man guild and we moved into 25 man raiding. We ended mid-Black Temple when TBC finished.

For Wrath, several ex Wolf Pack members banded together and we formed a 10 man raid guild called Peace and Quiet. We were on top of content until the very end of Ulduar when numbers dropped for various Real Life reasons. A guild of 19 players only needs to lose a few and the raid schedule gets pretty heavy for those who remain, so we decided to take a break from it all. Most still play, a couple even have characters here on Defias!

Provide the names of some people we can get in touch with in-game as references. If you know anyone on the Path, either in-game or IRL, mention that here also.
I don't know anyone in The Luminous Path I'm afraid. I did group with some members when doing some random heroics at one stage! I was pointed in your direction by Savian of Sidereals, you could also chat with Aeyvi/Luaria or Kalito of Benevolent or perhaps Myssa of The Secret Society. I don't know all that many on the server really yet!

What is your role in raids? How do you judge whether you're doing a good job or not?
I love to tank...it's the most fun part of any raid (for me at any rate). I suppose that's a combat role, in terms of a raid role I like to lead things that I understand and I like to learn things that I don't understand. Having led groups and raids for several years it's sort of second nature, I tend to learn all the roles within a particular fight. You can tell when you're doing a good job tanking because you're there to keep the DPS and healers out of trouble as well as the tanking switches or kiting or whatever the particular encounter entails! Working out how well you're doing when leading a raid or explaining an encounter to someone is entirely different. I like feedback, but I find it difficult to get opinions sometimes! People tend to be guarded.

What's your PvE experience like?
Reasonable? I'm not sure how to answer. I guess pre-Wrath stuff doesn't matter, all that content I've cleared at least once though not all at the right levels, Sunwell I didn't do until 80 for example! Wrath PvE contentwise...I've done all of the heroics of course, as well as 10 man Naxxramas, VoA10 most of 10 man Ulduar (all but General Vezzax and Yogg Saron), Malygos, Sartharion the first three bosses in Trial of the Crusader and Onyxia. The only 25 man raids I've done have been VoA25 and the early parts of some of the other raids in pick up groups.

Describe your choice of spec, how you came to your current build, and any other things you feel we should know about why you spent your talent points the way you did.
Hope you're ready to be bored with DK spam!

I'm currently using a Blood spec for tanking. There are a couple of what people consider odd choices, but they make sense to me. I have Improved Death and Decay from Unholy for example because the main weakness of Blood tanking is AoE threat and halving the cooldown is a massive boost when needed. I have the vast majority of the usual Blood talents also, but I avoid Will of the Necropolis as I'm rarely in situations with huge hit bosses, I'd need to respec this if tanking really high hit monsters. I've also avoided Spell Deflection as most boss damage comes through AoE effects and melee hits.

The build was originally just by looking at the tanking specs other DK tanks I've worked with have been using. I started out with a Frost spec when my gear was very poor, but now that I've got a better AP it's better to try to maintain two diseases so Blood seems more effective. I tried a dual wield frost spec recently also, but didn't enjoy it, it didn't feel as secure. I really like the self heal provided by Death Strike.

I've never tried an Unholy tanking spec, it might be interesting to work on some day, it's supposed to be great versus high magic damage bosses.

Where do you go to read about your class outside of the game?
Nowhere really. I've read a few Elitist Jerks articles and still look at them from time to time, and I use wowwiki for most of my reference on ratings and so forth. I have a great interest in the mechanics behind combat (all tanks do, really) so I've been through lots of pages about those in the past, I'm very much looking forward to the updated mechanics in Cataclysm, it looks like a massive revamp.

Obviously you're here for the awesome PvE, but this being an RP realm, and us lot being total nerds, indulge us: end your application with a short biography, in-character note to the officers, or other story or statement about yourself. Effort is much more appreciated than length or content, and this section is not optional.

A note to the officers then!

I know a lot of you don't like Death Knights, I know the vast majority of you don't trust Death Knights, heck I don't trust most of them, and they're supposedly my brothers and sisters. Yes, we're aberrations, unnatural things. Yes, there's a lot of us who look at the power we've taken from The Lich King and decide we've a manifest destiny the be the most powerful and the most fearsome. But we're not all deluded, a lot of us realise we need the horde and you all need to realise that the horde needs us too. Given a chance we're a useful addition to any fight, but I won't apologise for those who're considered a problem. Get to know a few Death Knights and you'll understand we've as many personalities as any other group.

Additional notes. Optionally, mention anything else you'd like us to know about your application.
I can't think of anything else to ask.

Replying to my own application...oops.

It took a while to write that application and after posting it and a little consideration I've got some things for the additional notes section, I hope it's not too late to add them. I couldn't see a way to edit the post, so here's an appendix!

Additional notes. Optionally, mention anything else you'd like us to know about your application.
Three things!
- My section under the RP question above, I hope those reading it realise it's In-Character as well as being my (player's) opinion on the state of Death Knights within WoW at the moment.
- I regret that I don't have a good IC story to relate, the truth is that I've never given a huge amount of personality to this character and that's intentional. He does have personality, he's just not especially forthcoming. Stoic, measured and dependable has always been how I see him. He thinks three times before saying anything and is massively difficult to annoy, this is for the best as 500 pounds of Tauren and steel is not something you should annoy. Overall though I've never written down a lengthy background for him, such a the story of his life before becoming a Death Knight, I have ideas about it but nothing on paper. That said, it's something I should like to explore.
- I recognise that the lack of much guild history on Defias Brotherhood might be an issue, I forgot to mention who the people I named above actually are. Savian is an in-game friend, Aeyvi and Kalito are two friends who're guild leaders of Benevolent. Myssa is a RL friend who also used to be in my post-Wrath guild on Azjol-Nerub.

Thanks!

Hello, thank you for your application. I don't know much about Deathknight tanking, but I've had a look at your spec and it seems to be fine.

One thing that puzzles me is that you chose [Sudden Doom] 3 points for a mere 15% chance of a deathcoil, isn't that a waste of 3 points?
Surely, you could have put them somewhere else, like in [Ravenous Dead] For a 3% strength boost, or maybe [Improved Blood Presence] to help the healers a little bit, and then you could even stick the last point in [Mark of Blood] to help them even more.

If you feel that [Sudden Doom] is better, I await your riposte


Gorgalol

Glad to see you continuing the tradition of enormous, obnoxious avatars, Gorg.

	Gorganoth wrote: One thing that puzzles me is that you chose [Sudden Doom] 3 points for a mere 15% chance of a deathcoil, isn't that a waste of 3 points? Surely, you could have put them somewhere else, like in [Ravenous Dead] For a 3% strength boost, or maybe [Improved Blood Presence] to help the healers a little bit, and then you could even stick the last point in [Mark of Blood] to help them even more.

This is a fair point, certainly, I'd debate it though. The standard rotation for single or two target fights for blood is usually a slight variant of: IT/PS/DS/HS/HS/DS/HS/HS/HS/HS and then repeat. HS being Heart Strike, hat's 6 out of the 10 abilities over a 20 second period (It's not actually quite 20 seconds because GCD is 1.5s and runes cool down faster than 10s for various reasons!). But regardless that's 6 chances each cycle to launch one or more extra Death Coil, a good high damage ability.

I've never actually parsed a fight to see what kind of DPS that's adding overall. It's in almost every build I see posted on forums and websites for Blood tanking though and it's quite noticeable when it goes off during a fight.

- With my current build I could drop it without losing any other part of the tree (53/8/10). Moving it over to Unholy for [Ravenous Dead]'s +3% Strength seems the strongest alternative.
- I don't rate [Improved Blood Presence], it always seems such a tiny amount of healing, occasional 40s and 50s appearing on the meter. With two points it's a heal equal to 4% of the damage you deal, rather than your maximum health. So a standard 2k hit heals just 50. Again it rarely features in the builds people rave about.
- [Mark of Blood] is an interesting one but has a potential up-time of 20 seconds per 3 minutes. I suppose throwing it up just before a large AoE from a boss would mean healing everyone hit by it for 4% maximum health, and if a boss is hitting a single tank it's an effective (if hard to quantify) damage reduction.
- [Mark of Blood] does appear in quite a few tank specs and would be one of the more interesting ones to consider. I think I would be more likely to drop points from [Improved Icy Touch] in order to take it.

Perhaps it's just a personal bias towards [Sudden Doom] which is a talent I've always enjoyed, but I hope to keep it in my spec if at all possible!

I'm not saying it was a bad choice, it's just that I don't have a level 80 Death knight tank, so it slightly confused me; as 15% does seem a bit low. As you're going to have 6 chances of it proc'ing, then that seems fair enough.

You've got my Vote.

In terms of class knowledge and evidence of dedication to a character, this application is excellent. It warms the cockles of one's heart to see two (nearly) maxed crafting professions. While it's perfectly gemmed and enchanted, your gear itself is a little behind our current progress. This should clear itself up over the course of a few farm nights.

While the other officers read over the application, my question to you is this: what's your favorite encounter in Wrath to tank and why? Least favorite?

Hey Owan, thanks very much for your thorough answers to the application and others' questions. I'm curious to see your answer to Thórva's question above, but in the meantime, you have my vote!

Favourite and least favourite encounters to tank in Wrath...ow that's not easy.

I've never tanked him on my Death Knight, only ever on my old alliance Warrior, but Malygos is a lot of fun. You have to keep him moving away from the sparks, and try to make them cross the existing sparking floor to give the ranged DPS a buff and so on...that's always good fun. I like several of the Naxxramas encounters which are more than just tanking one creature in one place. Heigan (dancing) and Gothik (living/undead sides) are both quite enjoyable because they're a change from the norm. I also quite like Razorscale in Ulduar, switching tank on a number of stacks of the debuff, keeping her moving and so on, that's fun.

I guess I like the ones where the tank's actions matter more than just generating threat and standing still! Nothing really stands out as an overall favourite though, sorry!

Least favourite though, that's easier. I don't enjoy the first encounter in TotC (5 man). During the combat phase after the horse riding/charging thing, the three champions are always going out of LOS near the door for no apparent reason. I still end up going there a lot, but that fight annoys me. Iron Council in Ulduar is another that I don't like too much, but that's lack of practice rather than anything else. I've only tanked it twice (successfully both times though!) but I worry about screwing up and getting people killed on that bit, especially when the Stormcaller casts his huge AoE.

None stand out as encounters I try to avoid, but those two are some I don't look forward to really! I hope that's enough info.

Oops forgot to respond there about gear level. I realise mine is a little behind your average, with 3.3 apparently due tomorrow (yay) I plan to be busy farming badges as soon as the servers are stable again. With a little commitment I should have my last 200, 213 and 219 pieces replaced within a week or so I hope. That's my plan anyhow!

If anyone needs a tank for heroics, please do whisper, will be looking for any and all groups I'm sure.