WoW newbie looking for advice

[NiteFox]

Locking yourself into a spell rotation as a "habit" is bad, period. Flexibility is the key.

(*Psst* Hey, I'm a hunter. We've only got one valid shot rotation:P)

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with habit, just so long as you control it rather than let it control you. As mentioned, flexibility is key, but so is observation and, often, precognition. Being able to recognise when things are due to go south before they do is a lot better than merely adjusting to when they do.

I can see the perils of locking into a set pattern. It teaches complacency, it teaches that This Pattern Works Forever And Always. Over the few years I've been playing, I've seen how easy it is to just repeat the same process and never get into any really bad situations. It was a pattern I got into quite early, and I still remember that my first instance run was a near-disaster (RFC, and yes that was down to a combination of poor tanking, poor DPS, and sub-par healing. We were all learning, and somehow we all survived).

So if this suggestion isn't too heretical to the Lurkers around me, consider this: Practice getting things wrong.

Now, I don't mean sign up to the next instance run you can get a slot in and overaggro/underheal/generally act like a doofus, but during your next solo adventure collecting ten buzzard asses in the middle of nowhere try to make your fights as complicated and tricky as possible. See how far along the curve of catastrophe you can skirt, and see just how far you can get a situation to go rotten before you simply can't pull it back.

For instance, I'm currently playing a game with myself called "How Many Overmine Flayers Can Cannis Handle While I Try To Keep Him Alive?", I set my pet at a Flayer on the Netherwing Ledge, but not the nearest but rather the furthest away he can target while also triggering a whole bunch of them while Misdirecting more onto him; now try and keep him alive, and if I peel any of the pack off him, send 'em back. Not exactly PETA-approved, and I don't have Improved Mend Pet to deal with all those Rends, but it's very good practice for an overpull.

I've even reversed the game; set my pet onto something, then pull as much as I can onto myself; then dealing with trapping and generally limiting damage to my own hide while also trying to concentrate on my pet's target.

No doubt there's a lot of similar games you could play with your chosen class. Push the envelope a little, by all means learn how to get things right, but also get things wrong and learn how to deal with that. And don't wait until your in the middle of an instance.

Edit for mistaken identity