General:
Your Name, Age, Gender and Location:
Theo, 18, male and from Manchester
Tell us a little bit about yourself (non-WoW related Interests, Hobbies etc)
I just finished school and if all goes well in terms of my A Level results next Thursday, I should be heading to my firm choice University to start a degree in Philosophy and Psychology. Academics have taken up most of my time in the past few years, having attended a pretty full on, high attaining school, but other than that and WoW, I love watching Man City (have a season ticket - usually go with my grandad).
Character Information:
Bloodphoenix, Retribution paladin 435+/439 equipped/bagilvl
Armory Link:
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/chara ... oodphoenix
Battletag:
TWNaylor#2259
Describe your choice of talents and why you've chosen them:
First row I almost always run execution sentence. For single target dominated situations, whether to run execution sentence or Righteous Verdict is really just a question of how your character sims. Execution sentence is better for most other rets too from what I have seen; only 15 of the top 100 parses on Mythic Abyssal Commander Sivara have been with builds including Righteous Verdict, for instance. Execution sentence also provides a burst window that is useful for short, time pressured single target - such as the Hulk or Indomitable adds on Azshara (or even in PvP when trying to burst someone down in a stun). And as well as this, it allows a paladin to do more damage to priority targets during cleave windows. Zeal has a very niche use in my experience, confined to situations which are almost entirely multi target. I occasionally run it during certain fortified m+ weeks - but even then execution sentence can prove to do more damage and be more useful.
The second row is a question of how your character sims. For me, at the moment, it is Hammer of Wrath.
The third row is situational. Repentance is usually negligible due to other classes' available cc independent of a talent choice. Blinding Light can be useful in m+ scenarios as a mass interrupt similar to a warrior's fear, but has a long CD. I almost always run with Fist of Justice, however - being able to have such a shortened cooldown on HoJ proves far more useful in m+.
The fourth row is between Consecration and Wake of Ashes in terms of highest damage. Consecration sometimes sims higher (*on paper* damage) for multi target situations, but its requirement for a tank to keep mobs in its area is inconvenient. Wake of Ashes on the other hand has similar damage (better single target), but also is without Consecration's mobility issues. On top of this, it provides MEGA AoE burst (vital for some scenarios especially in EP eg Radiance adds or Azshara's devoted), and utility in terms of an AoE slow and Stun for undead/demon enemies (good for Atal'dazar and Kings' Rest amongst other situations). In other words, Wake of Ashes every day of the week.
I tend to switch between Unbreakable Spirit and Cavalier on the fifth row. Sometimes the decision is made for you in terms of what you DON'T need - eg the reduced cooldowns of Unbreakable Spirit still being longer than a boss fight's time (i.e either way you would still only be able to bubble once so its useless), or a boss fight having little movement (so cavalier is useless), and that's how I tend to choose. I don't really ever use Eye for an Eye, though obviously another defensive isn't without its uses in certain situations. Often, however, the defensive boost that Unbreakable Spirit provides trumps it anyway, in my opinion.
Selfless Healer provides a great occasional spot heal, and Word of Glory despite using holy power, thus taking away from damage, can be unbelievable as an AoE heal, particularly in m+ and especially with a crit. I switch between the two, but in raid, I basically use Selfless Healer exclusively at the minute.
The last row of talents is a sim battle between Crusade and Inquisition really, but in general Inquisition is the better choice (especially with a more crit centric build factoring in benthic boots' bonus or blood of the enemy etc).
How do you prioritize your stats and why?
This tier I sort of abide by Crit=(ish)Strength>Haste=(ish)Vers>Mastery, but treat it as completely subject to how my character sims and my stat weights. The reasons for this are from research, the sources of which are in the answer to the next question.
Where do you acquire knowledge about your Class?
I consult a few sources such as the Hammer of Wrath discord, guides such as icy veins, Warcraft Logs to see what the top damaging builds are, and I also frequently watch Method's Retribution paladin, Narcolies, on Twitch. I also try to figure out what I have to myself, particularly when it comes to what is best for specific fight times, and specific iterations of boss encounters (eg if you kill a boss before phase X or do an alternate strategy).
Paste a your UI via [img]LINK[/img] IN COMBAT
(Ensure that all Key Bindings are visible)
https://ibb.co/jTmzxDw
What state is the state of your Heart of Azeroth?
Level 60 (took a long break at the start of bfa)
Link to your raid logs using using [url]LINK[/url].:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/character/ ... oodphoenix
Raiding History:
Well I'm 18 and a Catakid as you might have guessed. I have also had on and off spells with the game and have not had a chance in a top guild (I'm young and play on a dead realm). My Mythic raiding experience is essentially limited to Antorus; killing Garothi Worldbreaker, a 4% Hounds wipe, and some pug High Command progress on my boomkin. I took a long break from WoW to finish my A Levels (as mentioned, I attended a very academically demanding school and I wanted to prioritise that year), and have come back for 8.2. My current guild, ctrlaltelite is very mixed, with there being about 5 good dps that carry the group's damage, because the raiders play the game at different levels, are of different abilities/capacities, have varying levels of time, and have different levels of commitment towards the game. Because of this, I decided to pug all of Heroic EP two weeks ago when my guild could barely kill the first 3 bosses (they've now hit a brick wall with Azshara, but I imagine they will have killed her within the next couple of weeks).
Tell us about your previous guilds and your reasons for leaving them:
I started playing WoW when I was younger, not playing the game seriously at all - I was initially in the same guild (completely non-raiding, casual guild) as my grandad. A couple of years ago, I decided to join CtrlAltElite which I saw was a decent guild on the server and matched my current aims at the time. I've raided heroic with them since Tomb of Sargeras (when I started to take the game slightly more seriously). It's a pretty tough decision, given that I have friends in the guild (some of whom are considering leaving for similar reasons to me), but I'm not happy with the level of commitment that the raid team has. Many have no aspiration to improve, even with my and others' attempts to help, but they feel satisfied being carried every week. That and my aspiration to play the game at a higher level are my reasons for wanting to leave the guild.
More Information:
Can you meet our raid schedule of Wed/Thur/Mon 21:00 to 00:00 server time with at least 90% attendance?
Yep - I already have a similar schedule at the minute, raiding in pugs and also helping my guild through heroic on their raid nights [I'm also completely free 24/7 for the next 2 months :) ]
We also raid on Sunday at the start of a new raiding tier. Are you aware of this?
Yes
Are you able to Listen and Speak on Teamspeak?
Yes
What qualities do you bring to a Raid?
Besides good damage, as evidenced by my logs, I'm willing to take on individual responsibility for mechanics, and I have experience raid leading. I pick things up pretty quickly, which I view as quite an asset with regards to progression.
How comfortable are you playing your offspecs?
I have no experience as a healer, but I have some experience as a tank in legion raids. Although, as mentioned, I took a break at the start of BFA, and I haven't played much of Protection since.
How do you feel about progression raiding?
It's the main reason why I want to change guild.
Where did you hear about Curse of Years and do you know anyone in the guild?
I believe that I first encountered the guild looking at the top horde guilds on Hellfire/Arathor, but more recently I re-discovered it when looking at the highest m+ scores on the realm and their respective guilds. I don't know anyone in the guild.
What encouraged you to apply to Curse of Years?
My desire, aspiration and commitment to play the game at a higher level.
Do you play outside of raid?
Yep - mainly m+, but I also like doing casual PvP (started doing rated 2s recently and I'm 1600 atm), and farming old content for cosmetic items.
Is there anything else you'd like to add to your application?
Tell us a joke:
Yikes - while listed under my God-given talents, you might find 'book smarts' and 'being pretty good at a 15 year old video game', I'm not sure you'll find 'being funny on demand'!
