World of Matticus

Welcome back! It’s been an exciting weekend of raiding for both teams with some more serious progression and two new boss kills total for both of my raid teams. Here’s the latest update:

• Death Jesters came so close to getting Sprocketmonger Lockenstock before we finally crushed it on our 101st pull. It’s definitely a step up on the difficulty curve due to the orchestrated choreography required with the red and blue side mechanics. Unlike last season’s Silken Court, the sides are randomly shuffled throughout the fight, so players need to time their movements accordingly. The harder overlap is later in the fight with the wide black beams and the magnet pull at the same time. I had to really fight to cast and tap my movement keys to maintain control.

• Now that we’re onto One Armed Bandit, I’m effectively going to be on the bench for the rest of the tier. My Holy Priest is sadly not in the best spot to get included in any of the remaining progression bosses. With Sprocketmonger defeated, the decision has been made to extend until the rest of the instance is cleared. Our first day on One Armed Bandit saw our best pull at 64%. One of our hunters is also moving on from Death Jesters just due to lack of playtime. We’ve got an opening for some range or melee DPS, so feel free to apply!
• One of the side benefits of raiding in multiple teams is that I can still get some reps in on the encounter as a whole and understand what’s going on. Not to be outdone, Last Call also moved forward and defeated Rik Reverb and now we’re moving on up to challenge Stix Bunkjunker. Unlike Death Jesters, we modified our strategy here to go with 3 tanks and 3 healers instead to help trivialize amp management. We’re still looking for range DPS to help augment the team. Come check us out!
• I had to bark at the team during the night. We had players dying to the Sparkblast Ignition (the orange circles that appear when barrels spawn). This was happening on the first barrel set. I got extremely frustrated, and I had to let the team have it, saying that we were on pull count 50 at this point and dying to a visible orange circle on the ground within the first minute of the fight is unacceptable, is not becoming of a team with Cutting Edge aspirations. I wiped it right there after two deaths to them and said we go again. We all expect better play from each other. Sure enough, the team tightened itself up and we killed it within 3 pulls.

• In other non-Warcraft news, I have my spring concert coming up this weekend! I won’t be around for the first half of my raid as I’ll be on stage. My setlist includes Pirates of the Caribbean and Gladiator. I’m sure it’ll be fun but I did admit I’ve lost a lot of motivation for this season. It’s hard to stay motivated when you’re only playing half the pieces that the rest of the ensemble is doing. After this, we enter our summer season, and I’m on the bench for that one too, since we’ll be playing at a smaller stage. The junior strings won’t be performing there just due to the complexity of the setlist. I’ll still attend rehearsals and continue taking lessons. Sometimes you have to suffer a bit in the short term for the eventual payoff of being able to play the cooler, fun stuff later (like the Halo theme). I feel like I still made some major progress this term. I’ve gotten better in string changes and bow control, at least (and hopefully I don’t squeak as much).

I had a Frost Mage apply to Last Call. Super friendly, very put-together, and it was apparent to me that she was someone who loves raiding. She told me she was ready to leap Mythic. She had been raiding with a guild she really cared about, but they were still stuck somewhere around that mid-Heroic level and hadn’t obtained AotC yet. Meanwhile, she had been pugging the later bosses and dipped her toes into early Mythic. Honestly, that alone tells me she’s got that drive.

Her goals lined up with ours: She wanted to push as far into Mythic as possible, maybe even snag Cutting Edge. That’s precisely the mindset we’re building around here. I checked her logs and it was enough to warrant a conversation. Clearly knew what she was doing. We ended chatting for about 30 minutes and discussed raid expectations. I asked her a few questions, and she had some of her own about our raid environment and if IO shaming was a thing. I actually never heard of that term before our conversation. Anyway, I thought she’d be a great pickup. I usually sleep on applications for a day before I reply, just to give it a bit of breathing room.

But the next day, I saw she had pulled her app.

Turns out, she had a change of heart and found another team that was also doing Mythic, but at a slower pace. It was more of a mid-tier Mythic guild, not one gunning for CE right out of the gate. She realized that she might not be quite ready for the pressure and expectations that come with a Cutting Edge-focused group. She still wanted to improve and work toward it, but she wanted to do it at a pace that felt right for her.

And honestly? I respect that.

It sucks because I felt she would’ve been awesome with us. At the same time, I admire the self-awareness it takes to step back and say, “You know what? I want to be CE, but I’m not quite there yet.” That’s such a rare thing. Most players I come across just want to fast-track their way straight into endgame and assume they’ll figure it out once they get there. Some do. A lot don’t. They end up overwhelmed or frustrated because they skipped the part where they learn how to actually raid Mythic.

The ambition is great, but being honest with yourself about your readiness is pretty crucial, too. Taking the slower path might ultimately end up being faster in the long run. Hopefully our paths cross again one day.

This has been another productive week for both teams as we continue to make a strong progression push.

• Death Jesters manages to clear out Stix. The first set of pulls is frustrating just due to trash ball management but we had to really reiterate the responsibility of everyone playing in their zone and trying to roll up the add trash. Communication is also critical here in case a player is unable to build up enough trash to get their bomb.
• Sprocket feels like a much more conceptually easy boss as we already know the moves that have to happen while simultaneously managing the red and blue separation required. Our best Sprocket pull was 49% on the first day.
• We’re still looking to add a sixth healer to the team to help round out the roster. A Disc Priest, a Resto Druid, or an Evoker would be ideal. You can apply here!
• Last Call jumps back into Mythic after missing last week and gets a kill on Vexie again and a new kill on Cauldron. I opted to sit myself on that one because I have a concert coming up in a few weeks and my Mondays have been commandeered for final rehearsal purposes. As opposed to coming in for an hour rather than leaving, I felt it was better to give the extra reps to someone else who might be here to land the kill. Now our focus is tuned to Rik Reverb. Our best pull managed to get him down to 49% but we were using a 3 tank strategy for this. However, I’m not sure if it’s going to be as viable continuing forward since the tank debuff will continue to climb and we’re short the required damage to destroy all the bomb.
• Two trials have ended, and we continue to look at adding a Warlock or some other range DPS. We’re also lacking a Rogue debuff. Apply to Last Call here!

Don’t really have any other thoughts this week. Just need to continue preparing the team and scout out for additional players to add to the rosters for the next set of bosses coming up. Onwards!

In both DJs and Last Call, I handle the recruiting. Even though there are a few players who help with the outreach or bring certain players to my attention, I’m usually the guy who does the outward messaging to invite them to apply. One of my raiders recently questioned me about my recruiting process. Specifically, they took issue with one of the questions I ask during interviews: “How many progression bosses would you be comfortable sitting out for?”

If we’re working through a 10-boss raid, what’s the threshold for stepping aside when necessary?

To them, this question sends the wrong message. They argued that any serious Cutting Edge CE applicant should answer with “none.” They should want to be in for every fight if they’re dedicated enough. Otherwise, we’re attracting the wrong type of player (someone who’s willing to bench themselves rather than push for a spot).

I disagree.

Why It Matters

Progression raiding isn’t just about personal skill. It’s about the team. A CE focused raid group isn’t just 20 players! A solid roster is anywhere between 23 to 26, all working toward the same goal. While every player in that roster is talented, not every class, spec, or player skill set fits every boss encounter. Some fights require different tools, and it’s the raid leader’s job to optimize for success.

A great raider understands that. They recognize that their contribution isn’t just about their uptime on a boss but about what’s best for the kill. They don’t see sitting as a punishment; they see it as part of the bigger picture.

The “Me” vs “We” Mindset

A player who answers “I wouldn’t sit for any bosses” might think they’re showing dedication, but what they’re really signaling is inflexibility. Maybe they don’t trust leadership to make the right calls. Maybe they put their playtime above the raid’s progress. Either way, that mindset is dangerous in a progression guild.

On the flip side, any player who says, “I’d prefer to be in every fight, but I trust the leadership to make the best decision for the team” is exactly the kind of person we want. That response shows commitment, trust, and awareness, which are player aspects that are just as valuable as mechanical play and damage.

Building a Stronger Roster

The best rosters have depth. They have players who are not only willing to step in when needed but also willing to step out when it benefits the team. Having a few players who can confidently say, “I’d be okay sitting if it makes the fight easier for the raid” means we have a mature, team-focused group that won’t fall apart over a bench decision.

Regarding that roster construction, I don’t want players who want to sit. I want players who understand why sometimes they need to. That’s the difference between a good raider and a great one. There’s no real wrong answer to the question, as it just indicates the player’s preference. Sometimes a player wants to be in all the time as much as possible, and that’s okay if it can be justified.

It was a close one this week for both teams. Some big success with Last Call, while Death Jesters came up just slightly short.

• Death Jesters recleared all of our farm in one day. We’ve essentially removed the front half of normal difficulty from the raid schedule. This week we’re dropping normal entirely and focusing on the remaining back portion of Heroic in order to allocate more time for Mythic progression. Our second day of raid was spent entirely on Stix Bunkjunker. I wasn’t in on this one, but I watched our team here. Some of the key differences are that the ads seem more numerous, and now there are pylons around the room that zap players. Scrapmasters have been upgraded to where they can inflict lethal damage. We’re still looking to add a strong Disc Priest to the team, along with both a ranged and melee DPS. Come apply!
• Over at Last Call, we cleared two new progression bosses with Mug’zee and now Gallywix defeated. We spent all of day 2 on Gallywix. It was a bit of a rough start than I liked. There were some raid calling and positioning issues, but we were able to get that settled, and once we started grooving, the rest of it came together quite nicely, with the kill happening on the last pull of the night.
• Our raid preparation needs work and it’s frustrating to me the calibre of questions I’m having to field when we’re inside the instance and at the boss. More on this topic another time.
• The unfortunate side effect of the kill taking place at the end meant that no Mythic progress was made at all this week. We had to make a decision part way through the night. We were reaching a point where we had the option to continue with Gallywix or pivot to Mythic. I made the call to continue with Gallywix as I felt opening up the vault was more valuable in the long run as opposed to killing one boss in Mythic and not getting a mythic vault slot anyway since we hadn’t prepared anything for Cauldron of Carnage.
• I’m starting to feel some fatigue. There’s a lot of decision-making that needs to be done in addition to a lot of preparation that needs to be handled during the week before the raid. I don’t feel as I’m getting the support and help I need at times either at the leadership level or the raider level. When I agreed to join the team in a leadership capacity, I agreed to take on the raid leading side with strategy, assignments, and cooldowns. I also agreed to manage the recruiting and outreach for potential players to join the team. But, I would not want any involvement in setting the weekly roster, managing trial feedback and evaluation, raid disciplinary action, or loot management (like loot council decisions). If asked, I can weigh in on those aspects, though I did not want to be in any decision-making or action-taking capacity. It’s starting to feel like those boundaries are beginning to get encroached and that the leadership team is reluctant or unwilling to take decisive action when it’s needed, so I have to do it in a few of the cases. I’ll have to continue to reaffirm boundaries or try to get some additional help somewhere. In the mean time, I’m looking to add a Warlock, a DPS Monk, and a Rogue. Feel free to apply to this team as well!