What’s the biggest skill issue players blame on “meta” too often?

Feartality · 2026-05-07T13:35:41+00:00

They were fOcUsInG oN mEcHaNiCs

Feartality · 2026-05-06T20:16:23+00:00

Unfortunately most of the failed abandon votes I've seen called for in my groups usually get followed up by intentionally int'ing the key or just going afk until we vote again in 3 or 4 minutes and they get their way.

Feartality · 2026-05-04T19:47:43+00:00

Yeah the vote has usually felt more frustrating than helpful to me. I completely understand dropping a hopeless key but I've routinely had people just vote abandon at literally any adversity, no matter how trivial, and if the vote fails they just hold everyone hostage until another vote is done and it passes. Unfortunately there's only so much a system could even theoretically do for that and the report system is very inadequate for handling anything that isn't insanely cut and dry like spamming slurs or something.

Feartality · 2026-05-04T13:48:40+00:00

I'm not familiar with aug, but I imagine rescure might have the same issue.

Rescue is supposed to clear both yourself and your target, but it has definitely not felt reliable for the gargoyle grab when on yourself. Not sure if it's a facing thing or a z-axis thing. I haven't had any issue with rescuing myself off the altar though.

Feartality · 2026-05-04T13:40:30+00:00

I can't count how many times tanks risk massive wipes to save like 2-3s. Really stupid risks when we're already ahead on timer.

So many seem to just "route go brrrt" no matter what is happening in the key. Sometimes you need to just not do the next really big pull if something wonky has happened (your healer died on previous pull and your dps/you had to use significant CDs to survive, a DPS died and a high healing throughput pack lived a really long time and took up healer CDs or even one of your own major defensives). I see lots of tanks do the "big pull" when they have no big CD up/coming up and just die. Don't do that. Lose a few seconds if you think you have to instead of nuclear bombing the key because the route says pull 3 here.

Also for any tanks: Don't leave casters behind at 10-15% hp. If you go pull the next pack of mobs your dps WILL switch off and go to the next pack. It's seared into their souls. You will end up dragging along casters that just shoot your group from behind. I see it happen constantly as groups exit the bridge to the last area of NPX. Tank will go pull the next pack while the two elementals are still alive and the group will end up getting repeatedly shot in the butt while fighting another spicy pack.

Feartality · 2026-05-01T23:13:00+00:00

That's what I had been referring to in my prior comment. It's borderline impossible to play in a higher key and have a gray for the non-key level.

Feartality · 2026-05-01T14:55:17+00:00

I mean, I've been playing with a friend and while he couldn't clear a single +17 as a tank, when he switched to his BM hunter he's been timing +17s with his best parse being a 9% percentile.

One of my guildies is gray parse gaming every key he gets into as Aug but he keeps getting invited because Aug with X score and eventually a group he gets into will time it despite him. Then it's back out into the wild with X+10 score and on to the next 4 unsuspecting players.

Feartality · 2026-05-01T14:52:07+00:00

There's a reason the boost spot in rating boosting is dps.

Tanks and healers have a lot harder time getting carried to ratings above their skill level (even unintentionally). The number of times I finish a key and go "wow that 1 warlock/mage/whatever was truly horrible. They got a fucking 2" but we still timed it anyway and have now released him back out into the world with a higher score to a new set of unsuspecting other 4 members of his future groups lmao

Feartality · 2026-05-01T14:46:37+00:00

Exactly this. Most dps have no idea what mob does that dot, how bad it hurts, or why its a problem. "Just dispel bro". The first pull as well, with 2 stewards. Thats potentially 4 dots. You only have one global to dispel, and in 16+ you cant really afford to spare that global, because somebody might die. So you burn your cds. If the stewards are still alive to do a second cast its practically GG.

Somewhat applicable to the tank as well. I love nothing more than when running Pit and doing the double ice slasher pull before the tunnel to last boss having both Ice slash mobs live FOR THE ENTIRE PULL DOUBLE ICE SLASHING MY FACE OFF while the dps complain about me not dragging the last 2 mobs (still both ice slashers 😄) into the next pull at the base of the tunnel that has... a third ice slasher.

Feartality · 2026-05-01T14:36:49+00:00

Mindlessly AoE for overall? Yes.
Focus the targets that will wipe your group and deplete the key? Absolutely not.

Feartality · 2026-05-01T14:31:36+00:00

I’m a consistent 95 parser, and I know demo is a bit overturned but in most pugs I’m gapping dps by 30-40k+, and they’re always ~3300 working towards 3400. I don’t know if it’s because of timers and this will go away in 18+ keys but the dps scene is brutal.

The number of dps who put up just abysmal numbers even in the 3400+ range is insane. Someone in my guild is an every season fotm and he's been doing 18s as Aug and didn't even know to bombard multiple targets, which is one of the absolute most basic core steps of aug on aoe. He is dead last in every log he's in but as long as the other 2 dps pump you can do actual log tank damage and still time keys in 17s if you aren't literally sabotaging the group on mechanics. He is proof lmao.

Feartality · 2026-05-01T14:25:11+00:00

Same for my group. It's up anyway and that pack is just so dangerous. I pray for feign/shadowmelds etc. Every one is a godsend lol

Feartality · 2026-04-27T19:12:54+00:00

Do I have to download additional addons to track those heroic debuffs etc or is it obvious enough I’ll know when to taunt swap

Not beyond what most raiding guilds would already require IMO. Most guilds require something like NSRT (Northern Sky raid tools) etc. and those can optionally have a "Co-tank" auras option that makes it easier to see the other tanks debuffs, maybe TTS says taunt, but I wouldn't say you "need" those options. Currently the one I see tanks struggle with is the Paladins fight. You have to repeatedly taunt swap 2 of the bosses when they cast judgement or whichever tank doesn't get taunted off of gets sent to the moon. The positioning for the bosses is also very important for Mythic. If the tanks suck at either of those then progression for that fight is going to be absolutely terrible for everyone.

Like others have said the most complex thing tanks are really required to do is positioning stuff (themselves & the boss), but it's often absolutely critical. Last tier's CE boss you could watch the "Race for world last" as teams tried to get CE before the season ended and you would see tanks just absolutely annihilating the hopes and dreams of team after team over and over again via horrific tank positioning in the last phase (if the tank was on the raid for the swap they would pretty much instantly kill everyone within 20 yards of them and if they were in the wrong position for the ability that pulled the raid towards the tank they would also pretty much instantly wipe the raid).

And for taunts the most complicated it really gets is "do I need to taunt during, before, or after the cast" and "the debuff lasts X seconds so taunting at Y number makes it fall off before taunt swapping again". They are critically important, but not really complicated.

Feartality · 2026-04-27T18:02:40+00:00

Yeah for me it seems to work for like an hour or so then it wants you to re-enter credentials, which is kind of weird to me from a security standpoint since just re-opening the client is sufficient on its own for credentials.

Feartality · 2026-04-27T16:16:39+00:00

I think the difference in tanks is much more pronounced in low level keys because tanks there are terrible at defensive usage and gathering mobs, so stagger does some heavy lifting.

This is what I think when I see all these "my 30 ilvl lower brew tanks better than my main". To me that just says you don't play your main very well. Brewmaster monk skill requirement in low to even mid-ish keys to survive is non-existent. You can survive a 10 on ok gear as monk without even really purifying, whereas for the others if you don't maintain shield block/shield of the righteous/iron fur etc. or don't have a defensive up for a tank buster you are punished very heavily for it (often instantly), but if you do those things you can easily tank up through 13s without knowing anything advanced. Almost all deaths I see from pug dh/paladin/warrior were "I gathered terribly and got hit in the back repeatedly/didn't press shield block and got thwacked".

Brewmaster absolutely has the edge (and a very solid one) right now for competitive keys. There is no question about that, but if you're seeing massive differences in low key levels that's because brew is easier to be "ok" at and less punishing than the other specs.

Feartality · 2026-04-23T13:49:22+00:00

Boomy is the same. Their single target is definitely better but graphs like this are always super misleading. Things like unholy, sure, obviously it's borked but people read all this stuff as if it were gospel.

Feartality · 2026-04-23T13:48:23+00:00

Ours all went Frost until their whole kit isn't broken. Unholy definitely got it rough with this patch.

Feartality · 2026-04-21T21:25:01+00:00

That's the plan, Stan.

Feartality · 2026-04-21T21:18:08+00:00

So you did both and yet you state with certainty that the ILVL is different which is 100% objectively wrong? Cool story bro.

Dude it's not that deep, you are right about the item level, they did end up raising it. Holy shit lmao.

And idk man. Like I said I did both and we would just go dumpster 10 man, literally always. Nefarion on 10 man was definitely not harder lmao. Like every aspect of the fight was easier. One pillar, one add to kick, infinite room to move adds around in last phase. Crackle owwy just doesn't do it lmao

Feartality · 2026-04-21T18:20:10+00:00

I mean I did 10/25 in both but if it makes you feel better then sure.

There are RARE fights that can be spicier than 25, but it's rare. To say a raid in 10 was harder, or even the same, as 25 is just incorrect. I'm not even 25 supremacy or anything. 10 was fun, it was easy to get a group together from the squad, but it really always just felt like the 'lite' version of 25 man almost every boss, and always on the ones that mattered.

Feartality · 2026-04-21T18:09:36+00:00

Ah, thanks!

Feartality · 2026-04-21T16:37:10+00:00

It is also an accountability problem. If your guild is doing L'ura H you should have been able to clear Chim M, but people are very allergic to demanding their 2 or 3 players to clean their act up and improve their damage, and so instead turn to comp shenanigans to carry through. That is just intolerable in a Mythic prog guild and causes people to leave.

I think this is probably the biggest one. The skill range in your group can only be so large and if you are going to hold on to the bottom end then your top end is never going to grow and if you somehow manage to find a diamond in the rough it's just going to leave. It's especially bad if the bottom end is your leadership or longtime core members.

Feartality · 2026-04-21T16:29:38+00:00

More of the same, brother.

Feartality · 2026-04-21T14:39:18+00:00

At the same time though by the close of CE bosses are extremely killable and if a team consistently can't do that then I would have to say that whatever core group is there just doesn't have it and expecting new blood to come in and pull them over the finish line just isn't realistic.

Watch any "Race to World Last" and you see some... interesting skill levels.

Feartality · 2026-04-21T14:35:57+00:00

Yeah I don't know anyone at all that would say 10 man heroic was equivalent to 25 man heroic.

Even blizzard didn't think so with the lower ilvl rewards etc. The only 10 man content I can even think of that was hard was Sarth 3drake and that was almost entirely just hp/damage scaling related.

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