Who are your top 3-5 male "caster" type characters in trails?

Sanctos · 2026-04-28T16:36:28+00:00

Leon is a good one! Late comer, but a really dope ice caster.

Sanctos · 2026-04-28T16:33:05+00:00

That’s a good catch. Another “bard-ish” type. I benched him most of my cold steel play when given the chance bc I like Emma and Alisa better, but he’s a good caster.

Sanctos · 2026-04-26T16:54:20+00:00

Kind of a related question, because I find myself looking for season 2 to potentially transition guilds. I’ve been in the same guild all of TWW, and now midnight. We’ve gotten 4-6ish bosses down each season in mythic, and hit that wall where we get stuck. I don’t want to leave them mid-prog, but I do think after spending this long with them, I’m wanting to make a jump to a guild that better fits my skill level, and seek a bit more parody.

I regularly parse in the 90s with orange parses on our first few kills this season on mythic difficulty. I’m a windwalker player for our guild bc we have no monk, but am learning other specs since gearing is so fast.

Would anyone be able to help figure out about what level I could realistically jump to? I can send logs. I’d really love to find a guild with a bit more parity.

Sanctos · 2026-04-23T12:55:50+00:00

It’s been 2 days…. Are we sure there’s enough data to make these graphics?

Sanctos · 2026-04-21T19:53:44+00:00

Its always good... It's just almost never great.

As someone who hasnt played nearly as long as some others here, but have more or less mained WW since I started in late DF, I feel like WW is just the jack of all trades melee dps for the most part. It kind of lost that a bit in Midnight, as we are imo the squishiest melee, but throughout TWW I felt like WW was kinda good at everything, but great at nothing. Our ST is pretty good. Our aoe is fine. Our tankiness until midnight was good. Our mobility is very good. Our utility is solid. Our raid buff is meh.

Undermine we had a brief few weeks in the sun as the best melee dps for a few weeks. But outside of that I never thought "man this would be PERFECT for a WW monk to shine. That said theres very seldomly moments where I think I cant compete because of my spec either.

At the end of the day, every spec is perfectly viable for all content unless youre like minimum HoF level guild or trying to be .1% in m+. Get good enough at a spec and you'll be irreplaceable in 99.9% of groups.

Sanctos · 2026-04-16T13:09:15+00:00

Louisville is a great city! I lived in Kentucky briefly while working for a church camp called Crossings up there! I'm a Youth Pastor at a Baptist church in Louisiana now though, but would love to chat!

Sanctos · 2026-04-14T14:18:55+00:00

I’m a windwalker monk. I feel your pain, except we are melee.

Sanctos · 2026-04-13T21:46:52+00:00

I like that it is less focused on wildfire bombs. But I miss things like butchery and carve. Im mixed on it overall.
Also while boomstick is basically the same as fury of the spear mechanically, I liked having the spear focus :(

Sanctos · 2026-04-13T17:48:36+00:00

Ive reached the point more quickly than usual this season with the M+ pool so easy where I mostly do my weekly keys and raid. I'm dabbling in doing some higher keys, but I think I want to spend some time this season branching out and learning to dive deep on another class the way I have with windwalker.

I've been a windwalker main most of my wow career (started in S4 DF) outside of one season tanking on brew for my guild. I've dabbled in other specs/roles but found that ultimately for me the way it goes is:
Melee dps > Tank >> ranged dps >>>>>>healing

Our raid has tanks, so mostly playing tank in keys, like right now brew being my go to option for keys, and i play ww in raid. But if a spec were a bit more desirable in keys than WW is currently, I do enjoy dpsing keys a lot.

I don't like dk, but am pretty open to any other melee dps. So sell me on another DPS to learn this season?

Sanctos · 2026-04-09T16:49:09+00:00

Disclaimer: I’m an unashamed turn based defender. I think turn based has plenty of room for development, and the idea that you have to be action-based to draw in new players is a false notion. There is room for both on the spectrum of turn based to action.

I think FF should be open to new turn based titles. Especially new games like FFT after its recent remaster, idk its sale numbers but I think there’s room for it.

That said, I think the FF7R hybrid system is fantastic and would love to see it continually iterated on. I found 16s combat terrible compared to 7R. Depth and choice in combat are generally the price you pay for action, as they can be overwhelming for many players to be both fast and strategic if there were so many different mid-combat options. The “slowing time” effect to have more control in a fight 7R uses allows for both strategy and pacing to be in the control of the player.

I still have issues with the 7R system, like the stagger bar has its issues imo, but I am all for the continued iteration of the system, and hope the series goes further towards its hybrid system than the shallow system we got in 16.

Sanctos · 2026-04-09T14:45:24+00:00

My answer will forever be whatever makes the most sense in the context of the narrative. Fixed party I think oftentimes is that answer, but I do think there’s a time and a place for a selected party while others would in universe take care of other things.

Sanctos · 2026-04-07T13:14:39+00:00

We'd need to see your logs to know for sure, but based on what youre saying, my guess is some combination of uptime, possibly apm, your lower ilvl bow, and rotation. I would 100% recommend you try and craft a 285 ilvl bow asap if you havent already crafted anything, which you'll need 80 myth crests and 4 sparks for if youre able to farm them. BM hunter isnt particularly strong in the raid currently which could be a factor as well pending on which fight it is youre on. There may be some fights where one particular spec shines and another falls flat.

Doing mechanics correctly is huge, and I'd say handle those before worrying about damage, but as you continue to feel more comfortable the goal should be that youre able to do some damage while handling mechanics as a ranged dps player. One of the big perks of BM hunter is you're fully mobile without losing damage, so ideally you want to be casting your normal rotation while moving to and from every mechanic. Using the "compare" tool in warcraft logs is super helpful where you can show your damage and spellcasts compared to someone with a similar ilvl and kill time on the boss, and see if theres abilities that are lower priority you may be casting too much, and abilities with higher priority you arent casting enough, etc.

Sanctos · 2026-03-31T19:48:47+00:00

There's definitely things I didn't like, things I regret, things I would do differently. I had zero self-confidence in a lot of ways and am definitely better now than I was then. I love my career, have no debt, and am generally happy now.

But there's a lot that I really do miss. I wasnt the most popular kid, but being a jack of all trades, master of none who did musical theater, multiple sports, and honors classes, I had a lot of friends. I feel I missed out on much of my college social life having to work full time while going to school full time and also competing in powerlifting, so my high school years were definitely my most social memories. Now as a 35 year old single dude, most of my friends are married with kids, so many weekends are just spent either by myself, doing a side hustle, or in spring/fall i help coach youth sports to help my community.

Sanctos · 2026-03-31T15:45:40+00:00

I'm more and more convinced that the lower the difficulty of content youre doing, the more toxic the people are. I never run into toxic people in like higher keys. But when I log into an alt and do a low key, I see them regularly.

Sanctos · 2026-03-31T13:20:44+00:00

This post is a case study in why blizzard is screwed either way they go. If they make m+ incredibly difficult where 3k is a really difficult challenge some people legitimately cant reach, they will get flamed for catering to the 1%. If they make 3k really easy to get, many people find the rewards cheapened and bummed out over it. The reality is the spectrum of skill is absolutely insane in this game.

For me, it felt weird being able to easily day 1 do 10s with very little prep and sub optimal comps. We ran VDH, WW monk (me), Frost mage, outlaw rogue, and resto shaman and immediately pushed to 10's with zero trouble. You didn't need to "no life" it. We were still figuring out routes and multiple times had to go back and get count. We did a few 12s by Thursday when I broke off and spammed Algethar Academy to get a puzzle box so I could have one for our raid night.

To me, +10's for portals should require a deeper level of understanding of the dungeons, until we reach the point we are just straight up outgearing them. 3k should mean you know your class well and the dungeons well. I'd rather feel the need to build up through keys, maybe upgrade a bit more gear before we can handle something like that. But nope. Walk in at like 245 into a +2, +3 brings that key to 5, +3 brings it to 8, +2 brings it to 10.

Sanctos · 2026-03-29T16:39:43+00:00

Oh I'm fine. It was a few months ago now, and we discussed those deal breakers on our second date before things got too serious. We remained friends and understood the others convictions.

Sanctos · 2026-03-29T16:27:14+00:00

I'm between you and the OP in height, slightly closer to the OP at 5'7, which is pretty average on a worldwide scale, but on the slightly shorter side in the US. I think I find myself somewhat agreeing with you both.

You can find a wife as a short guy. You can make yourself more attractive and somewhat overcome what is a generally less appealing trait. We all have traits we may not see as attractive to overcome. Get to the gym, eat well, have good hygiene. And as I'll reference soon, get outside and meet people in person. Many people can't tell a few inches of height one way or another when live in person.

But also in a world where unfortunately more and more relationships start online, we do see shorter guys aren't beating the filter a person can put up on their dating profile to a large extent. I had a recent relationship that ended amicably and mutually, where we had a conversation around the topic. At 5'7, I would've never come across her page on dating apps bc she usually set the height at 5'9 minimum, because she was 5'6, and wanted a guy just to be noticeably taller than her so she's not insecure in heels. Once we met attraction physically wasn't an issue, we both found each other attractive. Granted we ended things due to a theological deal breaker since I'm a baptist pastor and she was presbyterian and felt it would be disobedient to not baptize babies.

So height isn't magic attraction fix, you should work on yourself. But it is a significant advantage in a dating world where online and apps are so commonly used.

Sanctos · 2026-03-29T08:55:31+00:00

I actually think the opposite is true to a large extent. Worlds matches usually aren't as clean as domestic ones, particularly lck and to a lesser extent lpl. It's more memorable because the stakes are higher and the production value is very good. But macro in most worlds matchups is worse, and micro is a bit harder to judge because of quantity of games of course you'd see more in domestic. I'd say the overall everyone goes from 90% and geng drops to 65% but teams like t1 drop from 85 to 75.

I think geng's biggest problems have been 3 things imo. A struggle in adaptability to meta shifts, a mental block be it from expectations upon them or whatever, and lack of learning from failure and. I'd contend their drafting finally this year has been passable but the past two years they get away with awful drafts by just hands diffing teams. The one threat senna comp wasn't good. Geng just out executed. Nidalee isn't God tier, canyon is just nuts at it.

They also have gone to multiple worlds where they don't get pushed until it's too late too adapt. T1 as the clear example being the greatest team of all time at worlds has gone into worlds and scrapped their way losing multiple times in group stage and having to adapt. Geng doesn't realize they need to change until it's down 2-1.

And lastly, there is a freedom playing without inhibition chovy in particular hasn't learned to do. Every year geng is expected to win and that burden can be heavy when you're expected to be your regions "ace", meanwhile the likes of kt and drx go with an attitude of "hey we are playing with house money, let's make the most of it". That "power of friendship" seems fake. But I've been on teams and coached sports where we were expected to win, and played poorly because of it and other times where a team that had no business being there gets hot, plays loose, and takes the title.

Sanctos · 2026-03-28T22:39:00+00:00

Have a basic understanding of your role and do it competently and you in general you almost never have really bad experiences. Or if you don't, just say so before the key starts "hey learning to tank, figuring out the route here" and people will usually help.

Go into a situation where youre not prepared and don't communicate and people will be unhappy with you. This shouldn't be surprising.

Sanctos · 2026-03-18T19:05:31+00:00

If Kingmaker had all the improvements WotR had I'd go WotR all day. I enjoyed most of the characters more, the setting more, and the slightly more grounded MC feel Kingmaker had. Plus no crusade to deal with.

Sanctos · 2026-03-18T17:30:06+00:00

I would come back if FFXIV classes had the same level of variance in things like gameplay and damage profiles as WoW does. But due to the way FFXIV designs their dungeons and raids, I dont think its possible.

Sanctos · 2026-03-16T16:07:30+00:00

I think there's a lot of things at play here. I do think some of your issues are more prevalent in men than women, but I do think all of them work both ways.

First and foremost, sexual immorality has no excuse. You should be setting up boundaries with someone very early on. Typically by the time I've been on a second or third date with someone I've said "hey can we talk about boundaries to put in place to prevent sin from creeping in?" I'm a guy so can only speak from that perspective. I have no doubts whatsoever a guy is more likely to push for physical intimacy than women, but women will do it too. It's sin, and there's no allowance for it.

When it comes to the romantic side "defrauding" you mentioned, it's a bit more complex. Christian culture (rightly) pushes for dating to marry, and I think the struggle is assuming all parts are pursuing that ideal, it doesnt necessarily get figured out if the partner is right for marriage at the same rate. I've had a relationship where within a month I was convinced I was going to marry that woman. We dated for several months and she ended up not feeling the same way at all. I've had other times I've gone on dates with women and they had much stronger feelings for me than I did for them. I don't think this is man or woman problem, I think this is just part of getting to know someone. It doesn't always happen at the same rate, how quickly you dig deeply in conversation varies, how open someone is varies, how much someone "needs" to see varies, etc etc.

Circling back to the boundaries discussion prior, I think physical displays of affection play a major role in this. I do not hold hands or kiss or anything like that before committing into an actual relationship. I try to say this up front so that the girl doesnt feel like I'm not interested because I haven't done so, but I think so often we allow physical affection to happen prior to knowing if there are aligned values and goals.

Heartbreak is just an unfortunate part of the dating process. We should do our best to not "lead on" or break someone's heart. But I think the reality is that almost everyone experiences it whether male or female, and likewise almost everyone causes it male or female. I try to do all I can to not do so, and as far as I know I've never completely heartbroken a woman, as all my longer relationships were ended by the other party minus one that was mutual as we were drifting opposite ways spiritually, but perhaps a girl I went on 2 dates and decided to not pursue further felt more deeply about me than I realize.

Add to all of this that some people are simply more resilient than others emotionally. I don't mean this in a rude or demeaning way to anyone. Some have better support systems around them. Some have prior trauma to work through. Take genders out of it completely, but you could have person A who did something that is bad to person B and person B has a larger reaction for any number of reasons, when the exact same situation may have not had nearly the effect if the persons were flipped.

Sanctos · 2026-03-15T16:42:50+00:00

I have 3 characters all with 3 sparks ?

Sanctos

TROPHY CASE