The Joy of Call of the Wild

[ceod]

Call of the Wild is not often highly regarded by raiders who have never used it to it’s full effect. I would like to give a description of how I expect my raiders to use Call of the Wild to increase the chances of a successful raid.

Call of the Wild (CotW for short) is often thought of as being useful in two particular circumstances.

1.) Group Situation: Sometimes there is no Rezzer and the Shaman or Druid must make use of CotW for bring back people who have died, or in the case where there is a Rezzer that has died, bringing them back to the fight. No doubt this is a highly useful situation to put CotW into use.

2.) Raid Wipe: In the event that all the Clerics, Paladins, and Necromancers are dead and a Shaman or Druid yet lives. You can be the Hero of the raid, save them all from certain complete wipeage! Obviously this does not happen often, actually almost never.

So most people do not consider CotW to be a dedicated raider AA. However those people overlook the most useful purpose of CotW, and that is the Battle Rez, in particular, the Battle Rez of Clerics.

Clerics are busy people, this is especially true in Stoic Tenacity (my Guild, RIP Reso.) where we are a bit short in that department. Most if not all of the Clerics are in the CHeal chain. This does not give them time to battle rez people in unless they are OOM, which at that point the encounter is probably lost. This is doubly true when a cleric or two (gods forbid more than that) are down.

If things are going well and the clerics seem to be alright, go ahead and use CotW to summon your departed DPS back to the fight if the encounter is one where Battle Rezzing is encouraged. (Not one where AEs are constantly going off.) (Hanvar would be an encounter where Battle Rezzing would be encouraged.) This allows the Clerics to continue to concentrate on the CHeal chain, and everyone is happy. The use of CotW is better than a Normal EXP Rez because they start off at full naked HP rather than 40% naked HP, this allows them to survive DoTs and AEs better. (Not much better, but every bit helps.)

However if a Cleric is down (Cleric Down! Cleric Down!) send them a tell to let them know that you will CotW them once they are clear of zoning. (Have them send you a tell letting you know when.) Do not let the Clerics, Paladins, or Necros rez a Cleric down, if you have CotW up. There are two reasons for this.

1.) When someone is rezzed normally (EXP Rez) they start with ZERO mana. Whereas someone who has been CotWed in will have their full unbuffed/naked mana. Which while this isn’t much compared to a raider’s full buffed/equipped mana it’s still INFINETLY better than ZERO mana. It’s usually enough to get a Cleric back into the CHeal chain once they loot their corpse.

2.) If you use CotW that person can get a normal EXP Rez later. This is huge for Clerics because they get Divine Rez. A Cleric can be CotWed into the zone then loot their corpse, then cast a few spells to deplete their mana, then Divine Rez themselves and go back to FULL mana. Instant Healing Powerhouse. Or they can have another Cleric Divine Rez them if they lack the Ability themselves or have used it already. However there is no point using Divine Rez on a Cleric unles they have been CotWed in and have looted their corpse, since they would only start out with unbuffed/naked mana rather than their equipped mana.

Interesting Strategies with Call of the Wild:

A Cleric with Divine Rez up that has died during the Trash Clearing phase can accept a CotW but NOT the EXP Rez, then drag their corpse with them. This would allow them to Divine Rez themselves at a time of their choosing to go back to Full Mana. (Particularly useful in fights where clerics have to spam heal a lot.) I believe this also resets agro, so that may be an added benefit.

On a fight where the Mob will banish the MT or Clerics, CotW can be used to call the person back to a corpse that has not gotten an EXP Rez. This could be used to keep a MT or Cleric’s unrezzed corpse around to CotW to get them back into the Zone after being banished. Unfortunately it will strip buffs and give you rez effects, but it could be useful to get people back in zone in a timely manner. It usually takes less time to call them back and buff them again than it would to get them in zone and CotH them just to keep buffs.

There might be other uses for the Ability as well.

Bottom line: Get It.

[dsavereide]

[Toofas]

[Kanamori Hitatomi]

[Dakota]

CotW did save us from a raid wipe on one particular case that comes to mind. We were at the first Gas Chamber in Uqua, and someone misread the emote that they got, sending the Raid Leader the wrong key to use, triggering the AE (Three waves of 5k damage per wave) I managed to resist the first wave of the AE, and epic clicky + heal potion + Ancestral Aid kept me alive through the other two. Hugging the corner for dear life, I managed to avoid most the agro from the ghosts until they despawned. When it was all said and done, only myself, a monk, and two rogues were left alive. CotW allowed me to rez a cleric, getting the rezzes going and let us continue on to beat the zone.

Was one of my proudest game moments, and goes to prove that CotW can indeed save the raid a wipe.

[Grendalkhan]