At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. Hinenuitepo at Death Goddess has a DPS version of that healer and tank set of surveys that’s been going around, and I’m a sheep who needs blog fodder. Baaaaa.
What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?
Rajaat, Human Death Knight, with a spec that changes from week to week. Seriously. It settled down a bit in 3.2.2 as I spent a long period of time as frost dual-wield, then one of many cookie-cutter unholy dual-wield specs, then (since I got the Enormous Obsidian-Edged Blade of Sexiness) I’m actually pre-emptively in the 3.3 PTR cookie-cutter unholy build. I’ve found the DPS to be comparable, if not higher, than my dual-wield builds or any current two-hand builds.
What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
Pretty much heroics and 10-mans, when they’re scheduled for a time that I’m actually available (rarely, unfortunately: our ‘gearing up’ raids fall on my D&D night, and our ‘new content’ raids fall on the weekends, which I spend outside of WoW. I also do regular Wintergrasps and AVs, mostly because I find accumulating 10k honor to be the quickest way to buy epic gems. Yes, even at 80, I’m still PvPing to boost my PvE. 
What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?
Army of the Dead. I don’t get to bust it out much, but it’s just a super-fun ability to use. Corpse Explosion is a close second, even though I’ve only specced into it once.
What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?
Army of the Dead. In 5-mans it’s basically a ticket to utter chaos as they all take turns taunting the boss and running him around the room. I do get at least one use a day out of it: I use it when soloing Chillmaw.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?
Versatility. Death knights are very versatile, for a melee class. Two-handed, dual wield, haste buff, strength buff, unparalleled magic debuff, interrupts galore, taunts, grabs, on-demand targetable AOE, even a couple ranged spells. It’s like being a warlock in plate armor, only better.
What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?
Anything that requires us to move in and out of range frequently. The price for having Death Grip is that we don’t have a charge or a sprint or a ghost wolf or anything of the like. I’m virtually useless on Freya phase 2, for instance (a very extreme example). I end up slinging Icy Touches and Death Coils just to contribute something.
In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?
Generally my assignments were “sit on the boss and punch it till it stops moving,” and that’s what I do best. I don’t like chasing adds down, as while I can wear them down (with diseases, Death and Decay, and other AOEs), bursting adds down – which is generally what’s called for – works best one at a time. Take Ony, for instance: I’m best if assigned to Onyxia or the single big add, as opposed to the whelps. (On the other hand, the first whelp pack? The one that’s all gathered together? Fantastic opportunity to spread diseases, drop a Death and Decay, and forget.)
What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?
I won’t lie – my DK is getting a little dull sometimes. This is why I change specs so often – as I’m not expected to provide a given buff, I don’t have the pressure to stay in a certain spec all the time, and if I could get away with having two DPS specs, don’t think I wouldn’t do it. I think part of this is due to being one of the few remaining WoW players with a single level 80, and that’s my death knight. While I still enjoy DPSing with him, and there’s no arguing that I’m good at it, I really enjoy my shaman that I’m still leveling. The problem there is: do I want to go elemental or enhancement? Elemental’s proven to be hella fun for leveling, but enhancement is fun on its own merits.
What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?
Paladins and priests. I’ve never managed to get a ret paladin higher than the 30s because they bore me to tears. Seriously. Retadins, I salute you, because I have no idea how the hell you do it. (Maybe I should try leveling prot.) And as for priests, it’s mostly because I have no idea what I’m doing – everything has such different durations and cooldowns that I feel like I’m largely punching whatever shows up as available.
What is your worst habit as a dps?
Forgetting to bring consumables with me. Ask me how many times I’ve had to bum a flask. The introduction of fish feasts was the greatest thing ever. Outside of that? Hehe, it’s a good one: accidentally death gripping bosses. When I’m in a raid, and I know I won’t be expected to off-tank anything, I physically remove Death Grip from my bars. (I replace it with my Iron Boot Flask.) I accidentally death gripped Thaddius one too many times and wiped our Naxx raid.
What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?
People who aren’t bringing 100% of their A-game to the team. If you’re sick or tired or too impaired on various substances to do your job, please, let us know. And if you’re not at your best but you don’t know why, ask. Some of the best players I know have finally just had to say to other people, “look, I’m not sure I’m doing this right. Can you help me?”
Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?
In my opinion, yeah. There are plenty of other classes that out-do us. Boomkins, for instance… I feel it makes me work a lot harder to stay at or near the top of the charts. A few of the DPS classes could definitely use a boost, though.
What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a dps?
Pretty much just recount. I used to also use WMO, but as I stopped being a progression raider, that kind of in-depth analysis isn’t as useful to me as it used to be. I also run a lot of simulations – Kahorie’s DK Simulator is in my Dropbox so that I can get it from any computer I use.
What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?
That we can faceroll our way to infinite DPS and chart-topping victory. The problem is that a lot of people rolling a death knight have this problem too, which leads to the huge quantities of mediocre DKs, which leads to the other misconception, which is that we’re all terrible idiots.
What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?
Balancing a standard rotation with keeping diseases up and using cooldowns at the right time. I think my background as a warlock (the only class I played to 70 in TBC – seeing a trend?) helped enormously here, as after playing an aff or demo/aff lock for so long, managing cooldowns and diseases and procs felt like second nature.
What dps class do you feel you understand least?
Druids, both kitty druids or boomkeks. I’m hoping to remedy that when Cataclysm drops and I roll my druid at long last.
What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?
Mik’s Scrolling Battle Text, SimpleRune, and above all else – Power Auras. A lot of the things addons like Bleeding Hearts do, I already have set up in Power Auras. There’s others, of course – I also use MetaHud, as I like it better than the standard frames, and Grid for raid frames. Omen is a must, of course. Recount I mentioned earlier. DeadlyBossMods is my raid boss mod of choice.
Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?
Hit to 8%, then Strength > everything else. That’s an extreme oversimplification, of course, and right now you’ll notice I’m actually pretty far below hit cap, but the issue is that getting myself up to hit cap with the content available to me would be an overall DPS loss. I already have plans, though, so it’s no big deal. In the end, though, Strength is my guiding light, and Strength is what I stack.
Perhaps you should be the sheepable force?