» Zulrann - Protection/Arms Warrior Options

[Zulrann]

- First Name:
Sam
- Your Country / Time zone:
California/PST
- Age:
18
- Do you have Ventrilo and working microphone?
Yes
- Are you able to handle mature (or immature) content on Ventrilo and in guild chat?
Yes
- Do you have the capacity to clearly communicate, yet have a knowledge of when it's appropriate to keep comments to yourself?
Yes
- Are you presently employed or a student. Will it interfere with your ability to raid? Will you be able to attend 99% of our raids? Do you have any other Real Life obligations which might prevent you from attending 99% of our raids? Will you, in the near future, have any obligations that will make you unable to raid?
As of right no, I have no apprehensions which will keep me from raiding. in the further future, I'll probably look into getting a job, but that won't be for a while.
- Do you have any PC or disconnect issues we should know about?
Nope.
- Are you able to handle harsh criticism? You can, and will, be subjected to harsh criticism and you will be called out when you do not perform.
I can handle words just fine.

- Class / Character Name:
Warrior, Zulrann
- Race:
Troll
- Professions:
Blacksmithing + Jewelcrafting (only JUST hit 495, no Chimera Eyes yet)
- Do your professions increase your performance in raids? Explain your choices.
Blacksmithing is currently the best profession for bonuses, and although JC is the current worst, I can't imagine it'll stay that way come MoP. Not upgrading Chimera Eyes in line with new epic gems was just an oversight, really.
- Total time played (/played) and Time played at 85.
82 days, 76 days.
-Is this your first main character? If not what did you used to play? When did you start playing WoW? Please provide detailed information about time spent on all your previous characters. Tell us as much as you can, the more the better.
I used to play another Warrior, but I don't use that toon anymore. This has been my main since it's inception. I started playing WoW back during late WOTLK, where I was a pretty damn casual player. I took a break once the 4.0 transitional patch hit, and came back a bit before the Firelands nerf. Ever since, I've been hardcore raiding for progression.
-Main Spec: (x/x/x) (include a link from http://www.wowhead.com if it differs from the spec you presently have on armory). If you have a relevant offspec for raiding, tell us about that as well.
My tanking spec is 6/2/33, which I used for single target tanking. At this point in the tier, there's really no point to respec for each fight individually anymore. I use 31/7/3 for my Arms OS. I haven't had much use for my OS, but I still gather gear where I can find it.
-Armory Link: [paste your link here] (Be sure to log out with your raiding gear on)
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/area-52/Zulrann/simple

-What is your current guild?
Semantics on Area 52.
-What were the last 3 guilds you were in? What are the reasons for leaving your last and current guild? Tell us about your time in each and how active you were in each.
>Land Sharks @ Runetotem - Left due to raid leading incompetency. We always started late, another guy was in two guilds, whose times overlapped ours, so we had to stall progression. Even on days where the times always overlapped, there was always one guy who held up the raid by at least 10 minutes, and I got sick of it.
>Shadow Syndicate @ Mug'thol - Guild leadership decided to quit raiding after we hit 8/8H + meta drakes. Forced to find a new guild.
>Semantics @ Area 52 - Current guild. Leaving because I don't like the environment of it. It's not something I can totally in words, but something about the guild just doesn't sit right with me. I don't enjoy myself outside of raid times, maybe because I don't know anyone on the server. One of the reasons I picked you guys to apply to is because I have a friend on the server.
- What end game raiding experience do you have? (This includes in vanilla WoW, TBC and WOTLK as well as Cata. be specific.) Be thorough. The more detail the better.
11/12 25N ICC (very casual raider at this time)
2/7 10H FL (was getting into hardcore raiding at this point, was still not very good)
8/8 10H+25H DS (yes, both sizes. I feel I've made the biggest improvement in ability and my passion for the game is as its largest)
- Any special Achievements / Titles / Mounts you have earned in PvE you would like us to know about?
Unfortunately, no.
- Link to WWS / WMO logs of recent raid(s) you have attended.
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-v3u56r41a5yoif3w/
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-3zzflyvq9bxynzpx/
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-2ubj8esxntmsiihd/
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/tw88xgz06574cp3r/

- Provide a Quick Summary of your "Valuable" Stats (Healing, Attack Power, etc.) as you understand them for your class.
>Mitigation - Dodge+block+parry+5% miss, it's imperative to my survivability for those three stats to equal 102.4% at all times during a raid encounter.
>Attack Power - Mostly comes from Vengeance, lets me hit harder, which equals higher damage output and higher threat.
>Stamina - Better survival for unavoidable spikes of damage (impale, psychic drain, focused assault, etc)
- Which major and prime glyphs do you currently use? Explain your choices
>Shield Slam + Devastate + Revenge - Only glyphs which provide real benefit for Protection.
>Shockwave + Thunderclap + Cleave - The extra range on my TC feels more valuable to me than a lesser rage cost, as I'm usually swimming in rage if I'm AOE tanking.
- Do you have dualspec, and is your offspec something you could viably play in raids?
My current OS is Arms. While it is nicely geared, I'm certainly not as versed with it as Protection. It's something I've been wanting to work on, but I have not had the opportunity to be DPS in my raids.
- What spec do you prefer? Are you willing to respec if an emergency arises? Are you willing to respec to the optimal spec for a progression boss?
I prefer to tank as of now, but I might want to be DPS during MOP, depending how gimmicky they want to make tanking when they mess around with the current model we have. I have no problem respeccing for emergencies, nor do I have a problem with respeccing for each fight as required.
- How do you feel about sitting out for any given encounter if we do not need you? It will happen.
Nobody is the best choice for every encounter, others will always be better in some situations. I don't have an issue sitting when I'm better off replaced with someone else for a progression encounter.
- Are you willing to spend 400+ gold a night in repairs and consumables, stay focused and wipe for 4 hours straight, come back the next day and do it all over again until a new boss dies (even on "farm" content)?
I'm game.

- What is your reason for applying? What makes us more appealing that any one of the thousands of other raiding guilds out there?
You're highly progressed, on a balanced population realm (PVP, to boot), at a decent datacenter compared to where I live, and I have a friend on the server (one of the big things for me).
- Who, if anyone, will vouch for your abilities in WWA?
I'm afraid I don't know anyone in WWA.
- Post a screenshot of your UI.(If you are having trouble, use the free image hosting resources of http://imgur.com)
http://i.imgur.com/CgFW2.jpg I can get one in combat, if you'd like.
- Last words: Show us what sets you apart from the rest of the candidates; what makes you better? What can you bring to WWA? What do you want us to know that wasn’t covered? Let us know why WE want YOU. This is your last chance to impress us, be thorough. Do not answer this question with one sentence. Once again, the more complete the answer, the better.
I haven't been raiding as long as most people. Hell, I started in fucking late WOTLK, and didn't get into real progression raiding until this very tier. I don't have the achievements as those who've been at the razor's edge of progression since this game's inception. But I can promise you that in a few year's time, I want to have that laundry list of experience to show to other people. I WANT to be at the bleeding edge of progression, and I WANT to smack my head against a boss until one of us breaks. I WANT to be in an environment where everyone pushes me and I push them back to getting to the top. I've been bouncing around guilds, unfortunately, and I want a place to stay where I enjoy every aspect of the guild and the environment. I already know I have a friend here, and I want to know that I have a place to stay for many coming expansions.

EDIT 5/21 - Just thought I'd add so it doesn't come up on a dime later, I have applied to two other guilds (I did so a bit after this app). One hasn't got back to me at all and therefore I assume they have no interest, but the other is currently reviewing my app. Just thought I'd add that in.

[disingenuous]

do you click shield block? and where is your healthstone? edit: and intervene?

[Zulrann]

do you click shield block? and where is your healthstone? edit: and intervene?

Shield Block is there so I can see the cooldown at a glance. It's macro'd into my Shield Slam.
Still finding the best place for it. My UI has been under constant change for about the last week, and there are no doubt a few other things that I've forgot.
Intervene is the "?" at M3, it's a Warbringer macro which combines Charge, Intercept, and Intervene.

[Hozz]

It's macro'd into my Shield Slam.

And the exit is that way.

[Zulrann]

I don't think I can think of a legitimate situation at this stage of the tier where using shield block for a personal cooldown is required. Now, if we're talking about using it to maximum efficiency, that's another story, but still not really necessary since it's not like you can't keep a necessary rotation that maximizes shield slam uptime while offtanking.

[clearlylol]

I don't think I can think of a legitimate situation at this stage of the tier where using shield block for a personal cooldown is required. Now, if we're talking about using it to maximum efficiency, that's another story, but still not really necessary since it's not like you can't keep a necessary rotation that maximizes shield slam uptime while offtanking.

The "stage" of current tier is irrelevant, you don't do stupid things because the game is even easier now than it was before. It doesn't help in any way to have it macro'd like that and that you think otherwise is the reason you more than likely won't get an invite.

Good luck with your app, and good luck finding a serious guild with the logic you displayed through this app. Next time, have your UI ready before app'ing to a guild that's going to ask you questions regarding it. Most people hate when applications are half ass'd, and there is never a good reason for it. You have all the time in the world before you submit it, it boggles my mind why people STILL do things like that.

[Voore]

I don't think I can think of a legitimate situation at this stage of the tier where using shield block for a personal cooldown is required. Now, if we're talking about using it to maximum efficiency, that's another story, but still not really necessary since it's not like you can't keep a necessary rotation that maximizes shield slam uptime while offtanking.