Skill vs Coordination

My good friend Zdravi brought up some interesting points about my previous post. While he had a lot to say, one major concern was the difference between skill and group coordination. The DPS method for the bronze drake relies on not just working out the rotation, but on having a buddy nearby who also knows the rotation, who can coordinate trading back and forth with you, and thus even if one player is extremely skilled, they'll still be relatively weak until they have a skilled partner.

It's my opinion that coordination is much more difficult to get than skill. My proof of this is Sarth+3. I'm going to assume you're familiar with the strategies for +3, and you've attempted it, defeated it, watched it, or will at least understand my references. If not, go youtube a video or something.

Present raid strategy involves having some overlap between the acolytes of Drakes 2 and 3. During this period, a breath from Sartharion will deal an absolutely absurd level of damage. For this reason, Bear druids and Death Knights are generally used to tank Sarth. Druid/DK cooldowns allow easy survivability. However, other classes ARE capable of tanking it, they just need external cooldowns. For example, a warrior might have to call out for Pain Suppression and Hand of Sacrifice to survive some breaths. The problem is that it takes time and thought.

As a Death Knight, I can switch on the fly. I can think, "Ok, next breath is Icebound Fortitude" and then have Anti-Magic Shield come up JUST before a breath, and use AMS instead. That doesn't cause problems. Whereas, with a warrior, you'd have to think, "That's the last of my CDs, I'll need a Sacrifice for the next breath," and call out for the CD, and pray that the player assigned to use their CD watches and casts it at JUST the right time to prevent a one-shot breath. It's much easier for an individual to manage a set of their own cooldowns than for 3 players to manage the whole groups set of cooldowns.

As time goes on, individual skill becomes more of a given. Especially in high-end guilds, players are EXPECTED to perform at the limit of their ability. At that point, I feel group coordination becomes the real test. Things like tossing Vashj's crystals across the room, positioning properly in Kael'thas, or the original 4H are all much more entertaining than a Patchwerk-style "We beat the enrage because we aren't terrible."