So yeah.  Its official.  After delivering a large sack of coins to Irmie and Forty, I bribed my way into a Raid Officer position.

What's this mean?  Not a whole lot, honestly.  But I would like to change up the way we schedule our raiding a little bit.  This new method is NOT going to be perfect, but I can't keep track of who can make it what day and which week that alternates, etc.  So this way it's all out there and you can see what night what raid falls on and plan accordingly.

We are NOT a raid guild.  You will not be able to have a automatic spot every raid, because your the raid officer, veteran player, uber DPS, etc.  We have a long standing tradition of sitting a raid out so someone else can go if they haven't been able to raid much.

I'll say it again.  We are the type of guild that doesn't mind sitting out for a run to let someone else go.  We've had fantastic results with this tradition and I look forward to continuing it.  I think it's fantastic we have 100% attendance from folks.  However if we have players in the Queue who don't get to raid much, then you are encouraged to step aside for them, before you are asked too.

Again this is all standard practice.  Nothing new here.

In December I put up three weeks of raids.  You COULD sign up for every single raid way ahead of time but keep in mind the above point.  The raids are put up ahead of time so people can see whats coming up and decide what they want to do the most.

***

So as you can see we are alternating ToC and Uld.  They flip flop tuesdays and thursdays so everyone has a chance to see both raids.  Again fairly standard.

However I also subbed in a VOA run instead of Ony one night so we can put thar overdue beast to bed and I've also put up a Naxx Achievement run on the scheduled raid night.  I know folks enjoy it and have been working towards it.

Our raiding destinations will change once ICC hits and I've already got some ideas on how to deal with it's staggered format, but that will all come in time.

***

Everything basically stays the same.  Every raid will have a raid leader.  Any raid I'm in it'll most likely be me, however I may ask some folks to help out here and there for a variety of reasons.

If I'm not in a raid then obviously someone else will take the helm.  At this point ALL this content is old hat to us.  You know what to do.  Handle it.  If you DO find yourself leading the raid, you owe it to your guildies to know what the hell your talking about and to do a good job at it.  Otherwise your wasting everyone's time.  You have to know our raids rules, handle loot, know the encounters, and know your fellow raiders abilities and class.  You will make mistakes.  Everyone does.  It's part of the job.

***

So much for my little blurb I told Irmie I'd put up.

Let's try it again....

Uh, I'm Raid Officer now.
Nothing really changed, cept I'll be RLing more.
Don't be a douche bag and hog raid spots.
I uh, put some raids up.

Many raids! Handle it!

Ok, but serious comments...I agree on letting more people rotate into the raids.  And one 3.3 hits, there should be plenty of extra content to go around, so I'm sure we'll be able to fill everyone's plate with enough raid helpings.

I also agree there's a lot of responsibility on the raid leader to have everything ready, organized and know what he's doing, but I also think the raiders have a responsibility to read up on new content, and at least familairize themselves a bit with the content before they dive right in, especially if it's something we've actively doing and posting threads about.  One thing that really help me out when I started in Ulduar was going back and reading the raid threads about how different nights went, where mistakes were made and what strategy TC was using to get bosses down.

I'm definitely not advocating everyone goes online at work, and reads wikis and watches videos all day, but let's do our best to keep up to date on how our raiding is going via our forums, so we have a good idea of where the guild stands on everything we're attempting.  That should really help us move people in and out of raids, so everyone gets the most out of TC.

Edited by Dhozer at November 24th, 2009 - 8:40 am

I think it should be emphasized that, if you would like to attend, or if you'll be around during that raid night, that you queue up if your raid role is full. It's hard to pass the slot if we don't know that people are avaiable.

Big time K.  If you don't Queue, it's your own fault.

***

Yeah we put in a lot of wipes to get the info in the Ulduar and ToC thread.  Lets use it.

Regarding the tradition of giving up spots for people, we often have more tanks than raid spots (this is probably true for everyone).  I tend to sign up early because I plan my week in advance, but if you really want to tank one night and the raid's full, please:
1. queue up, and
2. say something. 
Savi and I both say pretty regularly that we're willing to step aside for a tank that doesn't get to raid as much.  Hell, Savi just made such a trade this week so I could see Yogg (didn't end up working out, though, but thanks anyway bossman).

Also, agreed with K: WTB "of the Twilight" title.  PST.

Okay here's what I've got in my head.  It only matters for sign ups and loot.  I took spec into account for some folks. 




Edited by Savi at November 24th, 2009 - 2:06 pm

Edited by Savi at December 30th, 2009 - 7:24 am

Edited by Savi at December 31st, 2009 - 12:00 pm

Hmm, I think you got mine wrong. Didn't you mean "sacrificial Warlock" for my spec???

Savi i think you got mine wrong its SEXY Melee DPS

Melee dps?  I thought Chorty was main tank!

Alright I'm betting on 3.3 and ICC dropping towards the end of Dec.

So looking at where we are at now gear wise, exp wise, and the frequency we've been raiding were in a pretty good spot for ICC.

You can only run an instance so many times before it loses it's luster.  Uld is dropping less and less items, but needs to be finished.  ToC is dropping good items, but we need to get DIFFERENT players into it to benefit from it's gear and it's higher level of difficulty.

We also want to have some fun.  Since that's why we play this game.  We are not a raiding guild.  We don't need 12+ hours on progression content.  I don't want to hit ICC with anyone burned out. 

SO.  In December we have thus...

• Week One:  Cont of Uld if need be to finish it.  Friday ToC/something for new folks to get in on it.
• Week Two:  ToC/Ony for gear.  Naxx Achievement run.  We've had people working towards that.
• Week Three:  Uld.  If reset it's an alt and offspec night.  Gear for alts, have some fun.  Friday Kara. Huh what?  Yes Kara.  We've got a bunch of people who haven't seen it or finished it.  Take a night off of raiding before we hit ICC.

I think we hit Uld burned out a little bit.  We didn't realize it till it started slapping us around a bit.  I don't want to make the same mistake in ICC.  Not to mention people get busy around the holidays.  Less stress, more fun.  X-Mas week we'll play by ear.  I have a feeling 3.3 will be out in time for X-mas break.

Couple of things to hit.  No drama.

Schedule-

Obviously click confirm if you want to come.
If you DON'T click confirm and someone else signs up as confirmed the SITE auto bumps the NON-CONFIRMED person into the queue.
If you want to come click confirm.
Confirm.

Raid Lead-

If I sit (on a scheduled raid).  Someone has to take over the raid.  That means they have to know the encounters, have a fair understanding of other classes, and keep things running smoothly, and step up.

If nobody is going to publically indicate on the site that they are going to do it.  I'm not sitting.  This needs to be decided WELL ahead of time.  And this isn't just me being a prick.  It came down from the higher ups and I agree with it.

2010-

Hi.  I know people are comfortable.  I know people have been spoiled by not having OMGWTF drama in their guild.  But this guild has always recruit, refocus, adapt to use what we have on any given night, and we've always had to make small adjustments to keep our overriding purpose, to have fun playing a VIDEO GAME (and try and play it fairly well).

We've had a raid roster of 15 before, we've had a raid roster of 7 before and had to pug strangers just to raid.  If a guild does not recruit a guild will die.  We don't add 20 members a week.  We have SEVERAL inactive accounts and we also have some folks returning to the game who have always been members.  Remember how few people we had in the summer when it was nice out?

in 2010 we will have people quit the game, take a break, and leave the guild.  It happens all the time.  We've lost several members who were looking for something "else" (and I wish them the best of luck as always).  We don't have a static roster.  It doesn't change who we are because we adapt and change.

I saw 6 people offer to sit for one guy last night.  THAT'S who we are.

So at times we will have discomfort with the Schedule, raid leading, and some bumps in the road.  For one, I think our raid rules could be clearer about our raids.  I take responsibilty for that.  That's my job.  So I'll fix it and move forward.

That's where were going.  Forward.

This is a fantastic guild with a lot of great people in it.  At times there will be a bump or two.  But they are always handled maturely, quickly, and with zero drama.  Every single member is responsible for that and should take pride and "fucking handle it".

I need to watch that again.

I'm willing to help out where needed to keep the sweet, sweet raids flowing.  I'm available every Tuesday and alternate Fridays, though when classes are going I try to stick to one raid per week.  Just let me know what you're thinking as far as schedule goes.

There's only an infinite number of raids per week we can sustain.

I always try and keep players gear/abilities/and wants in mind.

Currently it is new content in ICC.  Before that it was getting people geared/skilled up via ToC and finishing Uld.

As far as wants go, there's a ton of things to do in this game.  Everyone wants something (I don't mean that bad.)

Getting all those wants to actually amount to something is the tricky part.

So, I want to hear what folks want to do but lets try and keep it concise because a list of all 48 things you want to do, is not going to happen.  Pick out what you want most, maybe a top 3-5.

One of the things that always happens is when we decided to do a "XYZ" night because some folks want it, then they can't make it cus of real life.  I never complain about real life but it defeats the purpose of setting aside a raid night for something special. (Example:  97 lowbies wanted a Kara run, then they didn't show and people ran it with their 80s....."

I usually try and put up some fun things when we need a break from current content, (I have a sneaking feeling were gonna need a break in the next two weeks).

***

Ulduar is not finished.  It is currently (or was) saved with Freya, Thorim, Hodir, General V, and Yogg still alive.  We've done all of it before numerous times up till Yogg.  I *would* like to finish it.

ToGC.  Normal mode's been done.  Hard modes have not.  I enjoy things that are difficult.  I think they make people better players.  (And excellent gear drops too.)

Naxx Achievements are still out there.  We were really close to Undying.  And a note on Undying.  That means you bring your BEST character.  It isn't gear your 5th alt time, or trying other achievements first.  We focus on the Undying first and foremost.  (at least if I'm running it.)

Old world raids, ETC, ?.

***

So what do folks want to do most?  I know we could put a raid up other then our two raid days, but lots of folks have trouble making two per week besides a third. 

I'm admittedly a bit funny when it comes to doing older raids that we overgear.  It's a personal thing.  But if people want to do something and I can make it I'll gladly come.

Yogg.

yea i really want yogg down. we put so much time in to that.

other then that i am happy doing whatever people wans to do i just like geting to play wiht ever one