I’ve just been thinking about this as I level as Blood and am not in dire need of the healing from Death Striking. I was guessing it’s the same as the old Blood DPS rotation, using Death Runes for Heart Strike rather than Death Strike (and eyeballing it it seemed like 2x Heart Strikes > 1 Death Strike in terms of raw damage). I figured having this knowledge it may be situationally relevant when you aren’t in need of the healing while not actively tanking, although obviously it’s not exactly a big deal what your tank DPS is.

Let me start by saying: Blizzard kills and resurrects prominent heroes and villains on an almost daily basis. And these are characters that are DEAD. KILLED. As in, WE DELIVERED THEIR HEAD TO SOMBODY (I’m looking at you, Nefarian!).

Magni’s (very deliberate, I’m sure) pseudo-death leaves him open to return later in Cataclysm. The one lesson I’ve learned from WarCraft is: If their corpse is not dismembered, it’s entirely possible they’ll be back. And for a character as incredible as Magni, with such a close tie to the earth, being transformed into diamonds, just as the elements are awakening and raging amidst the Cataclysm, and us not truly knowing if he really is dead… well, let’s just say I have a hard time believing he WON’T be back.

Chris Metzen has already nerdgasmed about Thrall and how he could be used to fill in the gap in the Dragon Aspects that Deathwing left when he became corrupted, but what about Magni? I’m certain that a Dwarf, in touch with the earth, turned to diamond and ‘one with the elements’ will have a part to play in the great Cataclysm.

Do you have a very casual guild with a lot of different players each night? – Yes (the bane of my wow life)

Is the problem that you’re undergeared? – Nope, our guild is about as well suited as possible, full heroic blues, BoE epics and some of the new Zandalari 353 epics.

mechanics are too unforgiving? – Definitely. A combination of this and the second point (different players every night) is our downfall -We are a casual guild that only raids 2-3 times a week consequently we can progress and regress frequently depending on peoples experience and ability to deal with mechanics. Its hugely frustrating.

What are the mechanics that are really hard for raid leadership to explain or even understand? – As the new raid bosses seem to have a LOT of moves it is quite hard for our averagely skilled players to concentrate on all at once while performing their role effectively. I have observed that the bosses we struggle on most are the ones with a lot going on rather than the unforgiving ones -Singular hard tactics are acceptable but a lot of easier ones soon overwhelm the raid… which leads to my next point:

re your tanks exploding, or are your healers running out of mana, or are you failing the berserk timers? – Definitely healer related. Tank healing is fine but raid healing is an absolute nightmare. As a lot of bosses include a lot of “duck, dive, dip, dive and dodge” tactics its very hard (unless extremely coordinated) to get a large % of your group in the Healing Rain (or equivalents) or in range to make your Chain Heal worth the cast. Suffice it to say mana is often an issue.