Matt’s Monday Cop Out

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Not really much of a mammoth sized post today. Today’s a big day for me personally. I’ve led a few raids myself but it was on an interim basis and with people that knew the strategies and their roles. This is going to be the first real raid I lead today. There’s a lot of players that I’ve never played with or raided with yet so in a way, there are two auditions going on:

    • My raiders and how well they can perform and listen

        My ability to lead and adapt strategy on the fly as well as troubleshoot problems quickly

        It’s my chance to earn their respect and for them to earn mines. I don’t have enough to field a full 25 player group yet. But we have enough now that I can afford to pug the remaining few with friends and colleagues from other guilds that I know to be reliable. I consider tonight’s pickup raid a dress rehearsal of future raids. I need to get accustomed to using certain addons and doing any pre-raid prep work.

        Selected reading

        I put the call out to Twitter for some posts because I don’t think I link out often enough. I’m taking the easy way out.

        Dechion: Grinding Fishing and Cooking from 375 – 450
        Stop: How to play a Death Knight
        Behemothdan: The Combat Rating System
        Medros: Memo from God (I like!)

    • Unreasonable Expectations?

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    Conquest took its first ever raid foray into Naxx. We didn’t have enough for a full 25 yet (that comes on Monday). I took 10 players and we went into Naxx for the first time. Many of them have not seen the post Wrath Naxx before and some were delightfully surprised at the familiarity that was there. Over the course of about 3 hours, we knocked off the Arachnid quarter, Plague quarter, and Military quarter (and Sartharion).

    Picked up the Gloves of Faith and the new Earring, Spirit-World Glass.

    That’s an early progress report so far. I’m really happy and proud of the way things have been. This may very well be the first mageless WoW guild that I’m a part of. Hopefully, my Monday night op will be able to attract some more players.

    This isn’t the main point of the post, however. We now have 15 level 80s in the guild. We’re going to have 3 more by the time the weekend is over. We are very close to being able to run our own 25 man raids.

    And I haven’t finalized my raid policy yet. I figured I’d put up a draft copy here. You readers appear to know me better than I know myself. You know the kind of crew I want to run and how I want to run it.

    Raid policy

    AFKs: AFKs are going to happen. I ask that you inform one of the raid leaders if you need to take a quick break. Be mindful of where we are when you do take your break. The best times to do it are on initial pulls of trash after a boss or if we’re handling loot that you’re not interested in. Bad times to do it are after Heigan when we have to do a gauntlet pull or when there isn’t much time between encounters. I’ll rotate players out in shifts. When we get to a boss, and you’re still gone, you’re going to have 24 other annoyed players to come back to. We don’t have much time to raid so keep AFKs to a minimum.

    Greens/Blues: All blues get banked and all greens get DE’d. In exchange for that, the guild will attempt to supply whatever mats you need for enchants if there are any available.

    Be prepared: Be repaired! Bring your own consumables. Only you can judge the amount of pots you pop in one night. Prepare yourself accordingly! Don’t forget reagents! We can’t supply you potions or buff food. But we do have Alchemists and Cooks who will gladly cook things and make things for you. If we have any food in the bank, you’re welcome to ask an officer for them if they’re unclaimed. We’re not exactly made of money yet so guild repairs are a no no for the time being.

    Chatter: Keep the raid chatter down and to a minimum. Focus on the job at hand. If there are any problems or issues, message one of the raid leaders. On progression raids, if it’s not important or useful to the boss at hand, then it shouldn’t be said. If it’s a farm night, things will be more relaxed.

    Be on time: First pulls in raids will start at 6 PM on all raid days. Raid leaders will decide what the raid of the night will be. It’ll be posted in the Message of the Day until we develop a set schedule. You’re expected to be ready to pull at 6 PM which means you have to be in the instance and in the raid.

    Strat adjustments: Even leaders will make mistakes. If you have an idea, go ahead and whisper it to a raid leader.

    Battle rez’s and Soul Stones: Hold them until they’re asked for. Leaders will usually give you a target in both cases.

    Raid pace and speed: Main tanks have been given the authority to pull at their discretion. They do not need to seek permission of raid leaders to pull trash. You’re expected to keep up with them as much as possible.

    Ready checks: Before every boss, a ready check is going to be issued. If you’re missing a buff, not at full health or mana, haven’t taken a flask, or if you’re not ready in some fashion, click No and say what’s up. If you need to drink or eat up, that’s okay, we’re willing to wait. It drives me crazy when someone clicks yes and don’t turn out to actually be ready.

    No general chat: Don’t talk in general chat. Period.

    Guild policy

    Raid organization: The only guild sanctioned raids are going to be 25 player raids. 10 mans and other group related activities will be done in what Syd affectionately refers to as the anarchy model. If players wish to organize and set up their own 10 man raids or heroics, they’re welcome to do so. Officers and leaders will not do it for them. Most of the time, various people in the guild will be organizing on the fly runs. It’s a matter of being in the right place or the right time. Feel free to use the forums to set something up further in advance. But I am not going to fit set tanks, set DPS and set healers into group A or group B.

    Why?

    I don’t like forcing players into doing things they don’t want to do. I’ve been in such a guild before where I was “assigned” to groups. On some days, I was tired and didn’t want to raid yet I felt compelled and obligated to.

    Furthermore, perhaps guildies have friends outside the guild that they’d prefer to hang out and socialize with. This is a great way for them to do it without isolating them. The same method goes for PvP. I’m not going to set up guild based arena teams. It’s up to them if they want to do it. 25s are the heart and soul of this guild and it’s what our goals are. Whatever else players want to do? Entirely up to them.

    Sufficiency: Like I said earlier, we don’t have a means of income yet. Players will have to be self sufficient on their own. Enchants are expansive and the guild will try to subsidize that with the greens we obtain from raiding. But it’s ultimately up to players to try to maximize themselves and be the best they can be.

    I know I’ve forgotten a point or two. One thing I learned early on is that it’s impossible to try to plan and account for every little thing that can happen. Sometimes I just have to roll with it and deal with it on the fly. My greatest challenge is that when I’m setting a precedent, I have to be sure I stick to it and not deviate too far from it. I have to remain consistent in my decisions and reasoning.

    The Difference Between Recruiting On Server and Off Server

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    Mages. They used to be a dime a dozen. Our second highest level Mage is Stop (clocking in at a health level 4!)

    There’s generally two places to recruit players from:

    • On server: This is the typical route most guilds will go through.
    • Off server: A little tougher and a little rarer. Players that transfer are generally a good breed.

    I’ve delegated Sydera to the role of recruiting off server. So far, she’s done an excellent job scouting out players and prospects. She’s a lot more familiar with the process and the effort required with offserver players. When guilds recruit off server, it’s a big decision on the part of both the guild and the prospect. Server transfers aren’t free (usually) and it involves a big commitment. The process of speaking to a prospect and then transferring to join a guild could take days or even weeks at a time. But Syd has a good idea of knowing what I want and how to convey it. She represents the guild well in this regard. As a GM, I have to make sure that prospects know exactly what they’re getting themselves into. Things like my expectations, the way loot’s handled, raid times and so forth have to be said and sometimes repeated.

    The worst feeling in the world is for a player to come over here only to find out this isn’t what they were looking for. That’s why I prefer vent interviews instead of in game. You can learn a lot about a person from the way they speak and their tone of voice. All our key indicators.

    Coincidentally, most of the off server players who have applied read the blog. Go figure.

    With regards to the on server recruits, my process isn’t as detailed or thorough. A simple trade chat macro with your guild, what your guild wants to do, raid days and times, along with classes preferred is generally a solid way to go. This way, players get all the basic information. The ones that are interested will message you for more details. The ones that aren’t interested won’t and you’ll end up not wasting time. I like to give players the option to come on vent if they want to discuss the guild more if they have any questions. I think it’s a good way to establish a dialog with them.

    After that, I let them know that they’re a trial and they’ll be evaluated in the weeks ahead when we start raiding. Everyone’s performance will be analyzed and compared to see if anything can be tweaked or adjusted. It’ll continue to be an ongoing process. As much as I hate doing it, I’m going to have to make cuts in the future. I’m not sure if there’s a single GM out there that actually enjoys making cuts from their guild. It’s a dirty job but it has to be done at times.

    But first thing’s first, I need to recruit.

    The difference? One takes a lot more time and energy to invest in and has the possibility of not working out.

    There’s enough of us at 80 now to step into Naxx and OS 10. We’ll be making a run on Saturday. The Monday following, I’m going to try and run a Naxx or OS 25 pickup group. There’s a smattering of guilds out there who have 80s but not enough in their own guild to run a 25 in house just yet. My goal is to work with a few of their players and my players and just get our feet wet so that everyone can benefit from the experience. I’m not sure if this is what Lume had in mind when he mentioned that a “GM should establish themselves and become a visual figure”.

    Either way, it is a start. And it’s either going to work or fail horribly. We’ll find out!

    Now, if I were a guildless Mage, where would I be…?

    The Reality of Healing Heroics and Tips for Holy Priests

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    Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.
    – Newt Gingrich

    I’ve scheduled a tentative 10 man Naxx on Saturday. We’re projected to have around 8 players that are capable of reaching that level by then. After that, I’ll have no choice but to pug the other 2 slots.

    Since I’ve hit 80, I’ve started working my way through a few heroics to try and get some badges.

    Let me tell you, it is not easy.

    It has been such a long time since I had to work this hard to heal. I have to drink after every pull. Every cooldown needs to be noticed and taken into account. Every spell cast needs to be carefully thought out. I’m sitting at ~470 mana regeneration with a few quest and instance blues. The rest are filled out with T6. There are times when you have no choice between letting a player die to prevent an overall wipe. It’s absolutely tough.

    Over the past few days, I had the opportunity to heal Halls of Lightning and the Occulus (on Heroic since they were the dailies). There’s a few things to remember:

    • We don’t outgear the instance: It’s a fresh start for everyone. The playing field has been leveled. I’ve resorted to using consumables to help finish off my old stock of TBC food. This goes the same for tanks.
    • We’re going in blind: We don’t know the instance. I don’t like going into a fight without knowing what I’m up against. I keep WoWhead open and WoWWiki to understand what abilities bosses uses and develop a counter for it. Two things to watch for is debuffs and any special animations on the ground or spells that the bosses use. Watch for the in game boss cues. It’s a hard lesson to learn every time.

    One thing that most Priests (or all healers) will find when healing any sort of high end instance is that they’re running out of mana. Don’t forget that it takes more Spirit now then it did back at 70 to reach the same level of mana regen. The amount of Spirit required to reach ~1000 mana regen is much higher then it was at 70.

    Here’s a few tricks to help out:

    • Hymn of Hope: It’s an 8 second channel spell and you’re going to be hard pressed to find time to use it. Observe the boss and find a pattern. See if he has a long cooldown for an ability. Put a shield on the tank, a Renew, and a Prayer of Mending. Top up the rest of the party as best as you can. Hit your Hymn and pray to the highest deity you know that you can maximize the use out of it. You can break it early. I set my personal limit to around 50%. If the tank reaches 50%, I’ll break my Hymn and start healing.
    • Shadowfiend: Since it’s a 5 minute cooldown, this is the first trick in the book I’ll use. In the event we wipe, I should have it up for the next attempt.
    • Runic Mana Potion: I’ll typically blow a potion in conjunction with Hymn of Hope after it’s cast. I don’t try to save it. I try to be liberal with their use.
    • Guardian Spirit: Don’t think of it as a healing bonus spell or a way to prevent the person from dying. Think of it as an instant 50% health return. Gauge how much damage the tank takes roughly per hit. If they take 5000 damage blows and your tank is at around 7500, slap the GS up there and stop healing. Watch as the tank’s health rockets back up to 50% while you spend precious seconds just regenerating mana.
    • Pain Suppression: A lot of beginner Priests like to use Pain Suppression when their tank is really low on health. I don’t advise this since they run the risk of tanks dying. I drop Pain Suppression when tanks have near full health. I can stand there and mana regen knowing that my tank is taking reduced damage buying me more time to get more mana.

    I’ve spent an average of nearly 3 hours per heroic dungeon. I’m way in over my element. But hey, that’s how Matticus rolls! I’ve always been a front line player!

    Still looking for Mages, Warlocks, Hunters, Shadow Priests, Shamans and other healers! If you know of any that want to progress, tell them to drop me a line!

    Wrath of the Lich King: First Impressions

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    While some of us (ahem, Matticus) are already level 80, most WoW players are still in the thick of the leveling process.

    I thought it might be interesting to share some of my impressions so far with all of you, and of course to invite everyone to add their own thoughts and ideas.

    Here’s what’s been going through my mind so far.

    1. The art is amazing! Everything feels sharper, more rich, more detailed than previous versions of the game.

    2. I love the shadows. The world has a depth that it never did before.

    3. I really appreciate quests where I don’t have to kill 6 of this mob and 8 of the other. The more inventive, the better.

    4. I still don’t like robot-themed areas. Fizzcrank airstrip gets a big thumbs down.

    5. I’m enjoying all of the prehistoric-ish animals and humanoids. It makes me wonder if the designers read Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear while they were working on the storyline for the Vykrul. If not, it occurs to me that they would probably like it.

    6. I really miss flight form.

    7. I’m not a fan of land mounts that jiggle too much–they make me dizzy. That means you, Amani War Bear and Black War Elekk. Either I’ve got to take Dramamine or I’m sticking with the Talbuk.

    8. I can’t believe I got to ride on a mammoth for a quest. It was a shame that it was even more wiggly than the War Bear! At least I know not to save my money for the Grand Caravan Mammoth now.

    9. I can’t believe I have more gold now than when I installed the x-pac.

    10. I never thought I would say this, but I love being a laser chicken, if only for a little while. Go Go Hurricane!