This post is what I like to call a mind dump. There is too much stuff on my mind, so I figured I’d dump it all here so I can make sense of it later. it will appear jagged, out of the ordinary and it might not even make sense.
– PvP division is coming along nicely. Growth’s a little lower than expected, but it’s getting there. Managed to a dominating number of the battlegrounds we have entered so far. However, Conquest is 0-2 in Isle of Conquest. That statistic will continue to irritate me for sometime. Perhaps a 25 player preform of guild members and pickup players might not have enough muscle to swing victory. But being shut out of our island?! This transgression must be avenged.
– On the one hand, I would love to try my hand and leading some preforms. On the other hand, I don’t know if I have the ability or time to with all the other stuff I need to do.
– Thinking ahead to the opening weeks of the expansion. Who is leveling what professions and what recipes are we going to need to progress into raids? Obviously the main enchanting and jewelcrafting recipes will be a priority. There is also the crafted stuff to consider. Under our loot council system, whoever acquires a crafted epic won’t be rolling on the normal raid gear for that slot until everyone that can use it already has it. So if I make a Belt of the Depths for myself, I’ll end up passing on all cloth belts out of the raids in favor of other clothwearers who still need a belt. We need to think big picture on the gear route to minimize any wasting of gear.
– Speaking of professions, I’m not sure how many gatherers we have. That’s going to put a dent in the ol’ Conquest credit card especially if I need to make purchases of stuff.
– The Movember stache is coming along nicely. Sadly, no SS means it didn’t happen.
– Read a nice piece on playing to win versus playing not to lose. Good subject to explore later on. It compares taking risks for big gains versus staying steady and making safe decisions. Do you push DPS to phase Lich King early so you don’t have to deal with Defiles or Valks (and consequently risk getting them at the same time?) Or do you wait for them to spawn, then deal with them, and then push into the next phase? At what point do you slam the table and push or stay conservative and wait? It’s like playing a an Eye of the Storm. Does your preformm go for the 4 capture or play in a map controlling manner with 2 points and continual flag running?
– Also in the middle of reading a book about being clutch and how people perform in high pressure situations and why other people choke in those types of situations.
– Helped someone move over the weekend. I’m buying a 1 floor place or a place with an elevator. 3 floors is not fun.
– Guild rank restructuring has been complete. We’re pushing 10 slots as it is. Makes me wonder if another one is going to be added in the future. Anyway, here’s a quick breakdown.
- GM (That’s me)
- Officers (My awesome team)
- Loot council (Decider of loot)
- Raider (Raiders on the starting lineup)
- Red shirts (Trials and players working on cracking the starting lineup)
- PvP Commander (Preform leaders)
- PvP Troopers (Rated BGers on the starting lineup)
- PvP New Guys (Awaiting evaluation to see if they’re in the top 15)
- Civilians (Socials, alts, friends, no obligation to raid or PvP, just a place to hang out
- Normal (One of the few ranks that doesn’t require a radiation suit)
– Eyelids are getting real heavy now.
– Comparing 10 man vs 25 man healing. Not sure if you read my post on WoW Insider yet (you should), but if you’re not into reading, at the very least check out this legen …(wait for it)… dary video. Conclusion? If you’re not great with periphreal vision and standing out of stuff, 10 man raids are the way to go for you. There is more healing that needs to be done and you are triaging (tree-aging) more often. Be comfortable with players not at 100% health. On 25 though, it is much more chaotic. I didn’t know as much raid damage going on because the city was getting cleaned up right quick. But if you can manage those, the kidnapper will be blindfolded again.
– Skyline wasn’t that great.
Hey Matt, this is my first time really looking at the site and I must say I wish I had known about this a bit more when I was active. But back to Cataclysm. I play a restoration druid who has raided most of the current content (I’ve been into ICC but I lost interest since then and I’m probably going to come back in Cata). Now when I read about the flexible raid-lock system that Blizzard posted I thought “Great, no more having to wait for 25 people to show up or pugging when they can’t make it. I’ll just grab my buddies and we can do our own little guild thing.” Now of course I don’t expect 10 Man to be easy or unchallenging, but the way you describe it makes it seem like 25 Mans are the way to go if you want to gear up quickly since they are easier. So in essence my question is this: What is your standpoint on 10/25 mans? Which do you prefer and why?
I think 10-man is easier if you look at the “stupid-player”-perspective. You only have to find 10 players, who know what to do and not 25.
It is much easier:
* to analyse the mistakes of 9 other people (compared to 24)
* to manage the individual behaviour of them (“i want a break to get a drink/to pee”)
* have a better climate. joking and chit-chat with 9 people isnt like talking to 24 people.
“Under our loot council system, whoever acquires a crafted epic won’t be rolling on the normal raid gear for that slot until everyone that can use it already has it”
Doesn’t this end up punishing those players who have taken the initiative to gear up as best as possible pre-Raid? It would seem to encourage people to not get the crafted upgrades so they can get the raid drops.
Honors: Yeah, you could look at it as punishment. But think about it this way though. Since they’re the first players to have gear that is “up there”, they’ll also be the first ones on “the list” when tier 12 comes out to get that stuff replaced.
Interesting rank structure, and I’ve often considered something similar myself (more roles rather than ranks), but have always been tripped up by the fact that most of our officers are raiders. How do you handle players who fit into more than one rank?
Lorgath: Here’s the thing about ranks. At the end of the day, players have to understand that in the end, its just ranks and labels. Players that fit into more than one rank? I promoted them to whatever rank I think best describes them and if they hold additional positions, I’ll edit their public note to reflect that.