We all know the pre-patch is near (even if we don't know exactly how soon).
That means it is officially time to start thinking about mains for the next expansion and raiding. Class changes will be going into effect today--so if you are at all thinking about changing mains play around with the classes and find one you like!
I want to start with some general comments and then I will move into some specific things about picking a main.
Alright, so, what does picking a main mean? Well as most of you know our raid policies and procedures have each player have a single raid main--that is a single character you are expected to gear and bring to raids for the majority of the expansion. This means that by the start of SL you should know what class/spec you want to be your "main" and you should level and gear that toon first (if you are planning on raiding with us).
While we will not be revisiting what days we raid this expansion, we are planning to shift raid times just a smidge. Our plan is to do invites at 8:10pm Server with start times at 8:20pm Server. That means we are PULLING at 8:20. You need to be online at 8:10. Then, we are planning to end at 10:30 pm Server instead of 10:45. If for some reason you can't make the 8:20 new start time, please let me know--we don't want this to remove people from raiding.
We will also revisit/revamp/reimplement our raid policies and procedures going into SL. For example, I WILL be posting groups again---so people had better learn to sign up again >.> *yeah I am looking at all of you* But I will post more on all of that later as we get closer to actually raiding in SL.
Lastly, while we want people to be able to play toons that they will enjoy and we will do everything we can to accommodate that we do still need to provide a certain amount of balance for the raid group and do need to put a few constraints in place (read below)
How to decide what to main in BfA:
The first step in my mind would always be to contemplate what you would enjoy the most. This is, after all, a game and we want each of you (and us as a guild and raid team) to have fun. If you need to, try out different classes and specs. Run dungeons, raids, experiment with target dummies—do whatever you need to do to find something you are going to like playing…because you are going to be stuck with it for quite some time.
The second step is to figure out whether your spec choice is feasible. What does that mean? Well, Tanks & Healers are in less demand in a raid than DPS because we realistically only need 2 tanks and 3-5 healers. We have learned a lot from raiding in Legion & BfA (and the expacs before that)—one of those lessons is that consistency (particularly in terms of tanks/heals) is incredibly important to our success. Therefore we really need our main tanks and our main healers to be individuals who are going to be able to come to all—or almost all—of the raids. If you are only going to be able to come once a week or sporadically main tanking or healing is probably not going to be a feasible choice for you in terms of SL raiding.
As a side note here: If you are desperately interested in tanking/healing but can only make specific raids/days/times talk with me one on one as we may have other tanks/heals that also have those restrictions. I will do whatever I can to keep people on their first choice of class/spec.
As a side-side note: some of our raiders have been waiting a whole expansion to get back to the role they want to they are at a top priority for those roles, but we will do whatever we can to get everyone the roles they want.
After you figure out those two things you can always go look at all of the available information about what classes and specs are performing well etc. if you are one of those min/maxxers who wants to get the utmost out of their toon choice (although be aware that Blizz does have a tendency to go around wildly swinging the nerfbat to and frough) and changing your main raiding toon because you got hit with the nerf bat is not a valid reason.
Once you have come to your decisions please post to this forum (or send me an in-game mail) the following:
- Your Name (so I know who the heck you are)
- Your first choice Class & Spec (include whether you plan to gear an offspec and if so what)
- Your second choice Class & Spec (include whether you plan to gear an offspec and if so what)
Example:
Rhodaria: Shaman-Elemental (Ranged DPS) –will offspec Resto if needed
2nd choice: Would consider a mage, or possibly not raiding
Also Note: You do not need to have raided with us before to raid with us in Shadowlands. If you are interested in raiding in just provide the information requested and more information will be upcoming soon.
Please submit your choices as soon as possible once you know them. I am looking for most people to have their mains submitted by the middle of October (depending on pre-patch date) so we have a plan going into SL.
