Personal Information

Name: Danny
Age: 31
From: Edinburgh, Scotland
Battletag: Ellipsis#2450

Outside of WoW I play and watch a lot football, and study accounting.

Character Information

Main: Ellïpsïs
Armory: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/kazzak/ell%c3%afps%c3%afs
I have all legendaries on this character and 81 traits in Affliction. I played Destruction until Nighthold before switching. I haven't played Demonology in PvE, but am aware of how to play the spec, and could use it in raids.
General single-target talents: Malefic Grasp, Contagion, Soul Harvest, GoSup, Siphon Life.

I would use Writhe in Agony for multi-target and also high-movement ST, or any other situation where I can't take full advantage of the bonus MG damage.

On High Command progress I played Sow the Seeds to nuke the adds down as quickly as possible. I also use Dark Pact on this boss to ignore some of the Fusillades.
Ideally on Hasabel, I would be able to use Phantom Singularity to tag all of the add spawns, and hence gain Wrath of Consumption stacks without having to target them individually..
I used GoServ on Eonar for an extra interrupt on the ship.
On Coven I used Absolute Corruption and Death's Embrace, firstly to keep constant Corruption rolling on many targets, as well as taking advantage of execute damage on many dying targets.
Alts
Mage: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/kazzak/jazjin
Priest: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/kazzak/condemn

Alts are not required in my current guild, but I play these two for the sake of familiarity, as I plan to make them my main alts. For BfA, I will also level, learn and gear every other ranged class, to give me the option to switch to any OP class in the name of guild progression.

Logs

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/character/id/15044901
My most recent logs are private, so I will provide my Warcraftlogs login details to view them, with a few notable Antorus links.
Email - danny_vanquish@hotmail.co.uk - Password - PIZZA2468

Emerald Nightmare - https://www.warcraftlogs.com/rankings/character/15044901/10/#metric=bossdps (Public) Metric set to boss damage, as we used strats that nerfed overall number parses (ie no padding on Cenarius drakes, Elerethe adds, Xavius tentacles)

Trial of Valor – https://www.warcraftlogs.com/rankings/character/15044901/12/ (Public)

Nighthold - Ecology also used private logs, but I am no longer on their list so are unavailable.

Tomb of Sargeras - https://www.warcraftlogs.com/guilds/reportslist/9671 (Private)

Antorus - https://www.warcraftlogs.com/guilds/userreportslist/179835 (Private)

Notable Antorus logs purely for an idea of numbers:
Aggramar - https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/AKXpnYjM4x1d793Z#fight=7&type=damage-done
Rank 7 boss damage at the time.

Kin’garoth - https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/9jbZyMpBdCc1KxkA#fight=14&type=damage-done
96% at the time.

Varimathras - https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/rRj8z6ncMtPHqNZQ#fight=25&type=damage-done
99% at the time.

Best Argus kill - https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/AzrQfTB1tFHC8xLy

Given that most of my logs are from from progress, and hence it being far more important to sacrifice damage to do the mechanics properly, in my opinion the EN logs will give you the best estimation of my numbers.

UI

https://imgur.com/N6JgnvH
This is not in a raid environment, but the only other thing to see is a boss and focus frame on the right for council fights and interrupts.

What I have active:

    Exorsus RT note
    Bigwigs timers and warning
    Aggramar Taeshalach Technique bar weakaura
    Aggramar Bait Flare weakaura
    Sephuz, Wrath of Consumption, Reap Souls, Deadwind Harvester and Empowered Life Tap tracking weakauras under character
    Bloodlust, Pantheon, Acrid Catalyst Injector and Soul Harvest tracking weakauras
    Special weakauras tracking Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life, Unstable Affliction and the Antorus 4-set debuff Tormented Agony above the target frame. This allows each debuff to be tracked at the same position every time, rather than the standard Shadowed Unit Frames debuff tracking which shows the oldest active debuff first and then chronologically from there. Through this, I can glance at my target frame and know instantly which DoT needs to be refreshed first, rather than having to spend those extra milliseconds scanning all 5 and figuring out which one is expiring first. Also, the UA tracker consolidates every application of UA into one icon and shows how many stacks are active on the target, further simplifying the DoT re-application process and eliminating the possibility of wasting a cast when there is already 5 stacks.
    Handy and polite Antorus weakaura telling me when to soak, “fuck off” etc etc


Admittedly, the action bar is a bit clustery, but it serves me well.

Raiding Experience
I began raiding normal mode in Wrath and cleared all of that.

As for Heroic and Mythic content (all results are for when the content was the current endgame):
BWD 6/6
BoT 3/5
TotFW 1/2
Forced break during Firelands
DS 8/8
SoO 14/14 (Took a break and missed most of MoP due to busted computer)
HM 5/7
Forced break during BrF
HFC 13/13
EN 7/7
ToV 3/3
NH 10/10
ToS 8/9
Antorus 11/11

Guild History

eXplicit (Burning Blade) - First raiding guild, doing normal modes and some Heroic. Raided with them all of Wrath and a month or two of Cata first tier. Was Warlock class leader once I got more experience until I left to start raiding in a Heroic guild.

Obsidian (Silvermoon) - First Heroic guild, joined in Cata tier 1. Unfortunately, the core /gquit after a couple of months, so I finished that tier with....

Decadence (Silvermoon) - After starting normal Firelands with these guys, I was forced to stop playing for personal reasons.

Genesis (Silvermoon) - Raided DS with these guys but, after finishing the tier, my old computer finally gave up and died. I took this opportunity to take a break from WoW and plan a computer upgrade.

Merge (Silvermoon) - Joined in SoO. The guild disbanded during HFC after months of terrible raider attendance and people leaving due to being fed up.

Archetype (Silvermoon - Twisting Nether) - Joined after HFC progress was done. Quickly established my place in the team and things were looking good, with plans being set out for Legion. We transferred to Twisting Nether Horde to enhance recruitment prospects, but we were let down by a few raiders that didn't come over when they said they would, and the GM disbanded the guild.

Aurora Nox (Kazzak) - For Legion, I transferred again to this guild which had years of constant raiding history, which was important to me this time, given the problems of the past. Cleared 7/7 2/3 before taking my first steps into more hardcore raiding with...

Ecology (Kazzak) - World 22nd Helya when I joined. Got some good experience with maintaining 4 characters simultaneously. As I was quite new in the guild, the core team for Nighthold had already been established, but I was happy to bide my time and continue to deliver top performances whenever I was called upon while waiting to become a core raider. I was used only for Botanist, and was planned for Krosus, but sadly unforeseen circumstances in real life happened and I was forced to quit raiding for a time. I decided to look for a 2-day guild temporarily until I could sort out aforementioned real life stuff and be able to commit properly. Hence, I joined..

Rock Paper Scissors/pull ten (Kazzak) - Cleared 8/9 in ToS on an 8-hour per week schedule. Throughout this, many questionable leadership decisions were made which baffled and infuriated some raiders. One of which was forcing out one of the best players for the tiniest of misdemeanours (continuing to deal a very small amount of damage to Kil'jaeden (on heroic, no less) in order to keep his Ice Lance stacks up after stop dps was called. There was no way transition would have happened), and during Avatar progress when we were talking between pulls trying to figure out why wipes were happening and how to improve, the raid leader would basically chain spam /pull 10 and tell people to "shut up." But I digress, we jumped ship as soon as Avatar fell and started pull ten, in honour of the previously mentioned idiot, and set our sights on Antorus. Raiding in pull ten is very good and I enjoy it a lot, but I want to raid more hours and push higher and now I can do that as I have no real life commitments holding me back.

Hardware

Internet speed: http://www.speedtest.net/result/7158223438
Also, I will be upgrading my up and down speed considerably, Soon™.

CPU: i7-7700K, 4.66GHz
GPU: GTX 1060
RAM: 16GB DDR4 3000MHz
SSD: 128GB
HDD: 1TB

About me as a player
In terms of theorycrafting, the first thing I look for is access to the alpha/beta of upcoming expansions, so that I can familiarise myself with each spec early hands-on, and build up the muscle memory needed to play them almost subconsciously. I never got into the Legion beta, so I watched a lot of videos of people playing the specs and ran through potential rotations in my head, as well as reading a lot on various forums about it.

Raid testing and examining logs of said tests: I get a timeline of events and ask myself how many times I can pop my CDs, where my damage would be most useful, where my damage reduction would be most useful and if I have any niche pet/class abilities that could benefit the raid (ie Imp dispel, Doomguard 70% slow/interrupt, Infernal stun/dispel/taunt, Felhunter interrupt/dispel, Succubus seduce/knockback). I also ask myself how I can improve my damage and suffer as little dps loss through movement as possible, without putting the success of the raid at unnecessary risk. In Legion, that usually involves "can I keep Wrath of Consumption up constantly?", and I think of ways to do that. For example, on Hasabel, I suggested that we raid mark the final Felblaze Imp that spawns in each wave so that no one kills it instantly, which allows myself and others (preferably other warlocks) to keep up an interrupt rotation on it, and then kill it at the latest possible moment, thereby refreshing WoC and increasing the dps of the warlocks present by ~8%. Ultimately this was rejected because it was just another thing to worry about which could cause wipes, and the extra warlock damage wouldn't be a deciding factor in whether or not we'd be able to kill the boss. In fairness, I did agree with it, but giving offering options is always a good thing.

I change my buttons quite a lot. For example, I used one that would cast Unstable Affliction at only Mistress Sassz’ine, so that I wouldn’t have to switch target to do so, and if I really had to cast it at an add, I kept the regular button on another bind. Another example is changing my interrupt to only target Thu’raya on Coven, eliminating the need for a mouseover macro or to change target.

A small sample of things I think about for each boss:
If I use Sephuz, can I maintain high uptime? (ie interrupt/fear Hasabel adds, Banishing Aggramar flames)
Can I solo mechanics or ignore them somehow? On Avatar, I can use my dismiss pet macro and Dark Pact in conjunction with Unending Resolve to solo 1 Dark Mark in the last phase. On Antoran High Command, Dark Pact can also be used to soak some of the Fusillades, thereby reducing movement and increasing damage. Kin'garoth Apocalypse Blasts can be ignored due to the ridiculous self-healing of Drain Soul. I usually position myself far into the back of the small room so that I can stand still and dps right up until the moment that the ground aoe becomes active, and then teleporting out.
Would the raid benefit from Demonic Gateways? If so, how? Avoid damage? Maximise dps uptime? Should I use the instant portal pants if they need to be popped very quickly? We once had a 0.17% wipe on Il'gynoth, so using these for the extra couple of seconds inside the heart phase could have been the difference.
If the healers are having a hard time, can I help them by dispelling targets so they don't have to? (Helya)

During progress I do a lot of simming to figure out what combination of gear, talents, food buff, enchants and gems will squeeze out the most damage on the next boss. This can sometimes mean spending a lot of gold replacing these, but if that's what needs to be done, then so it shall be.

Other resources I use that can sometimes have useful nuggets of information: Warlock discord, http://lockonestopshop.com/#!/Home, MMO-Champion, YouTube

Strengths:
Short learning curve: I figure out things fast, so if I make a mistake once I learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Consistency: I very rarely screw up mechanics once they have been learned, and my performance is as good after 5 hours as it is after 1. I never rage at the game and always stay calm when we’re <10% on a progress boss after hundreds of wipes.
Quick thinking: I deal with unexpected situations well, adjust my positioning, look at where the rest of the raid has placed themselves and try to make sure any boss mechanics on me affects them as little as possible.
Communication: I offer suggestions and potential fixes to problems as soon as I think them, and am not shy to speak on voice comms. I also talk with my fellow warlocks constantly to ensure we share class-specific information.
Reliability: I never miss raids.

I don’t think I have anything that I would specifically call a weakness, but certainly there are things that could be improved, such as log-reading. I can do all the basic things like figuring out damage, dot uptime, buffs, casts, when they were used, when the boss did ‘x’ ability etc etc, but I feel like there is more to be learned, and I will do that moving into BfA. I’d also like to learn more about how to theorycraft ideal spec rotations better. When I’m learning them, I get a rough idea of which spells are most efficient in a given situation, but getting the actual numbers and maths right is not my forte. I’d like to improve this aswell.

---------------------------------------

Thanks for your consideration. If anything is unclear or ambiguous in any way, my battletag is the best way to contact me. Cheers.