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Matt’s Notebook: One Step Backward, but Two Steps Up

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We finished off this week with some mixed progression.

  • In Death Jester’s, we did not secure the Nexus King kill as I hoped we would. With a few key DPS players out, we just couldn’t get through or over the top. This encounter really exposed some of the shortcomings that our team had from a personal awareness and responsibility standpoint. Our best was 12% remaining with a minute left towards the enrage and one of our star killers did not get to the right position which cost us the kill. The rest of the night was mired in various personal errors. It was a pretty disappointing night and we had hoped to kill it before the Hall of Fame nerfs arrived but it was too late. With the nerfs and some of our personnel back, we should be able to crush it quickly and move onto Dimensius this week. We committed two full days to Nexus King, so we didn’t get any reclear loot (although most of us did squeeze in a quick two-boss clear on Mythic).
  • Last Call played better this week with the reclear of Forgeweaver, and we secured a new progression kill with Fractillus down. I felt we could’ve killed it earlier, but it took us above average on pull counts (30 pulls compared to under 25). One of our healers is looking to take a step back, so I’m back out on the waiver wire looking for a free agent healer/DPS hybrid to add. Having a Holy/Ret Paladin, or a Preservation/Devastation Evoker would be the preference here. Come apply!
  • Legion Remix is out this week! I’m still undecided about what to play in Remix, but I’m leaning towards another Demon Hunter or potentially a Druid. I’ve got a low-level Demon Hunter somewhere, and that will set me up with the new spec coming out in Midnight, but I realized I don’t have any late-game leather wearers right now. I’m still on the fence here.
  • Datamined Midnight stuff has also revealed that Shadowlands Timewalking is coming soon! I am not looking forward to Spires of Ascension or Sanguine Depths.
  • Outside of WoW, I’ve been playing Diablo again. Season 10’s been enjoyable so far. I’m still leveling my Spiritborn. I think my goal with the game is to just finish the seasonal journey and get to max there before I say I’m done. I wish I could find some people to play Diablo with and party together on some of the endgame stuff especially late night once I wind down from WoW.
  • It’s going to be another busy week out there and we have a long maintenance today. Welcome to October!

How to Become a Top 10 Two-Night Guild

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I received a question during a recent trial interview.

“Hypothetically, if you wanted to grow the team and convert it into a top 10 two-night guild, what are some of the steps you would take? What does that road map look like?”

It’s a great question, and it caught me a little off guard. But here’s my honest answer:
If I really wanted to push this team into a top-10 two-night team, it would require commitment across the board. Not just from the players, but from me as the raid leader as well.

Here’s what that roadmap might actually look like.

Define the Goal with Precision

We’re not just saying “get better” or “rank higher.”
A top 10 two-night guild is already achieving Cutting Edge. They’re likely killing the final boss around top 150–200 worldwide. On a limited schedule, that’s a tall order.

This means defining success like:

  • CE within the first 6–8 weeks of a tier
  • No more than 1 sub-2% wipe per boss
  • Kill bosses within 50–70 pulls, not 120+
  • Finish ahead of reset-based nerfs

It’s an intense pace which brings me to the next point.

Raise the Floor, Not Just the Ceiling

You can’t build an elite team on the backs of just your best players. You do it by raising the minimum performance bar across the board. That means:

  • Execution mistakes are rare, not routine
  • Players are expected to own mechanics independently
  • Logs are reviewed weekly for accountability
  • Players can’t afford to fall behind on progression systems, M+ gearing, or knowledge

Every player has to be operating at or near the same wavelength. That’s hard to achieve if only a few are pulling the team forward.

Optimize the Roster

You need a roster of players who:

  • Are consistent, hungry, and coachable
  • Don’t need their hands held on every mechanic (just the really critical ones)
  • Can take constructive feedback and self-review
  • Bring value beyond damage (interrupts, CDs, utility)

That means being ruthless with cuts. Players who aren’t improving or matching the pace can’t stay, no matter how nice they are or how long they’ve been on the team.

More Support at the Top

Right now, leadership is basically just me and one other person.
If I want to scale us up, I need more lieutenants — experienced players who can:

  • Take ownership of healing or tank assignments
  • Do log reviews post-raid
  • Help with group compositions (left/right group splits, interrupts, cooldowns, and raid planning)

But it’s not just about adding people — it’s about clearly defining their roles. I can’t just say “I need help,” I need to say what I need help with and what authority they’ll have.

Build Systems, Not Just Raid Plans

At the top end, strategy alone doesn’t win bosses — systems do:

  • A repeatable planning template for each encounter
  • Pre-assigned cooldowns, debuffs, interrupts
  • Well-structured review and feedback loops
  • Roster depth to rotate people in without missing a beat

Most teams plan the fight.

The best teams plan the tier.

Time Management and Off-Night Investment

With only 6 hours of raid a week, everything around those hours matters more:

  • M+ for gear catch-up and trinkets
  • PTR testing or log analysis before a new fight
  • Video review of what’s coming up (for their own class)
  • Personal research or even custom WA tracking

This doesn’t mean mandatory off-nights — but if 5–6 people are doing nothing outside of raid, we fall behind.

Final Thoughts

I’m not chasing top 10 two-night status right now — but if I were, these are the first things I’d do. Death Jesters is already one of the top two night teams in the world (and we mean actual two night, none of this overtime at the start of the tier crap).

A roster of skilled players will only take you so far. You need discipline, structure, and a team culture that prioritizes growth, learning, and personal responsibility. It’s a climb, not a leap. That means making tough calls and sacrifices along the way.

But the roadmap exists. It’s just a matter of deciding whether the destination is worth the cost.

Matt’s Notebook: We Hit the Enrage

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Goodbye September, and hello October! The rainy season is kicking in, and Pumpkin Spice season is back (ugh). Let’s get to it!

  • Death Jesters managed to hit the enrage on Nexus King a few times. It means we’ve seen that whole fight from end to end, and now we just have to clean up our damage a bit more to power through it with more people alive. Our plan this weekend is to skip right to Nexus King at the end since we have that available to us. After that, we can backtrack and clean up the rest of the earlier bosses.
  • Over in Last Call, we finally shut down the Forgeweaver and moved on to Fractillus. Came close a few times, but we ran out of time here.
  • We did recruit some new tanks in both teams, and after the first week, they both have been promising and seem to be fitting in. I’d almost dare to say they both have been net upgrades over the previous tanks we had. Let’s hope it holds true through the rest of the tier. This also means our recruiting is now back to a passive level. While we’re not looking to replace anyone yet, it’s always a good habit to keep the doors open to any talented players that come knocking. We’re not going to look at project players or re-roll players. We want people who can make an impact right away and be inserted into the lineup without any gear development (or investment). In Last Call, more than anything, I’m still looking for that elusive DPS and healer hybrid.
  • It’s going to be a busy WoW month between Legion Remix soon and the Midnight Alpha debuting. The Steam sale has recently opened up and my backlog of games is still going to grow. I ended up buying Borderlands 4 when it came out and am slowly working through that, but I also really need to finish FF7 remake (I’m on chapter 17, near the end, and I’m so close to finishing).
  • I’ve already had to start work on Soul Hunters since I know we have a good chance of getting Fractillus down.

Matt’s Notebook: 6/8 Mythic, but Tankless

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We’ve entered a big progression week for both teams! Each raid team has secured a new boss kill. Still a lot to do, sadly, but at least we’re moving onwards.

  • Death Jesters secures our Soul Hunters kill, putting us at 6/8 Mythic. Work now starts on Nexus King. I mentioned last week that we were looking for a tank. We thought we found one until we discovered the timing wasn’t ideal and he had to withdraw his trial opportunity with us. We’re still searching for another tank to help us finish out our tier and heading into the future. This must be what the Cincinatti Bengals must feel like.
  • I drew back into the line up for Soul Hunters as it was decided to go with five healers there. There are so many things going on that it can be hard to keep track of it all. Instead of two blue puddle soakers, there are now three. Instead of one big hunt line, there are three big hunt lines (but at least they happen one after the other). During intermission, the raid is divided into groups of three and you are tethered to your other partners so you can’t move too far away from each other. We had a few low 3% wipes before we finally held together and killed it just as we exited the final intermission. Hopefully the reclear will be much easier this week.
  • Over in Last Call, Loom’ithar went down within a few pulls. The power spike helped greatly since we could clear the walls faster which means our team could take their tethers out earlier and lead to more time on boss damage. Unfortunately, no Astral Antenna, but we did get about five in our vaults this week.
  • Work has started on Forgeweaver. We’ve been able to enter the damage amp phase a few times with everyone alive. We opened the encounter with using Heroism and potions, so we’ll see if that’s enough to carry us through to the point where we won’t need to switch and use those on the first amp.

Oh lastly, I decided to leave Stormrage. I moved back to Proudmoore to get my old name back!

Matt’s Notebook: 5/8 Mythic with Fractilus Cleared!

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Another eventful week, and I expect things will slow up a bit from here on out. This might be the fastest we’ve progressed through a tier so far.

  • Death Jesters polishes off Fractillus. Big throughput and damage heavy boss from what I’ve seen. Lots of positioning is required, and having assigned zones and areas for players to stand in. It looks real fun and I can’t wait to take a crack at it.
  • Now we backtrack and start working on Soul Hunters. I drew back into the lineup here (from four to five healers). Our best attempt was getting them down to 3%. There was so much going on with the extra third dispel. Another week of gear and we’ll be in a good position to clear it this week. It’s really fun once we get through the overall cadence.
  • Over in Last Call, we’ve added two new healers to the squad and their first week has been productive overall. We did get through our reclear. I was hoping we could cut through Loom’ithar but our best pull was 12% remaining. We’re short damage right now more than anything else. I felt our damage on the incoming walls was inconsistent. There were times when they went down fast, and other times it felt like it went slow. We’ll have to take a look at that. Our phase 2 positioning and placement took a bit of time to get comfortable with.
  • Unfortunately, that level of progress wasn’t enough and one of our tanks decided to just leave. So now I’ve got to spend my next week looking for a tank to add to the team long term. It’s funny since I also am looking for a long term tank for DJs as one of ours is looking to step away from the tanking role as well.

No rest for the weary this week, sadly.