Since people don’t think anyone cares….

This posting is in response to several of SR guild members questions about LK kills, raid attendance and my own personal stance on it all:

Let me just say that I do care and I ask myself the same question every week. “Why did xyz sign up and aren’t here?” Then I go over and over with Arioch and the officers. We just can’t seem to find that ground of not being hardcore versus being just hardcore enough to do what we want. People complain and moan when they don’t get what they want (in this case an LK kill) then they bitch and moan even more when they are told how it HAS to be done. You can give “positive” re-enforcement all night long, but at the end of the day, LK will still be standing and you will still be asking yourselves why.

I’ll admit that I have one of the biggest egos in the guild. I flaunt what I can do constantly. None of you really see what I do if I make a mistake. If I am not top dps. Every time I fuck up, I go over and over how I could be better. If I get a new piece of gear, not only do I rawr it, but I also check places like shadowpriest.com or even the hated EJ forums. Not only do I do that, but I go to the target dummy and beat the living shit out of it for hours in 5-6 minute durations. I run OOM, sit down, drink and then do it again. I am not easy on myself when I make a mistake, and I will not be easy on our raiders who make mistakes repeatedly.

Making a mistake is not a time to get down on yourself. If someone points you out, that isn’t the time either. You take that CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, pick your ass up off the ground and fix the problem. You learn from the mistakes, not throw a damned pity party. You don’t give up because others make mistakes, you get in their ass and make them better. We have had too many raiders quit because they were tired of 1-4 people making the same mistake. Instead of helping those people out, they just give up, while bitching at me in whispers.

That is another thing. I am left at the end of the day being the guild “bad guy”. When something needs to be done in the guild and it requires some dirty work or off color attitude, it is left to me to get it done. I have been told (and I personally believe) that I am a blunt object. I say what I mean and do not sugarcoat it. This is the same way I am in real life (ask some people who just recently met me). If you make a mistake, I will tell you. I will also HELP you fix it. That is my favorite thing in WoW….to help people succeed.

As of this posting I am officially done with trying to get any of you over to my way of thinking on this. All of you need to band together if you want to get shit done, not roll over and quit at the first sign of difficulty (even after several weeks). I know I am going to find a way to do it. If you are in this with me, then let me know..if not good luck. If you even want me to raid lead anymore, I leave this open to you. Right now, any SR members go through and leave your comments. Yes or no…personally, I don’t care. I am just tired of hearing about this shit constantly from everyone. Either you all buckle down and get the stuff done that you want to accomplish, accept that it has to be done a certain way…or I quit.

This posting in no way reflects the opinions/views of the SR GM, any SR officers, or any members of SR except myself.

Fill in the blank

This is from a forum I frequent. I thought it would make a nice quick post. If you are reading this, just copy and paste the sentences to your own blog. This can be funny, serious, WoW related or not. Just have fun with it. I will do a funny/WoW related one and a serious one.

Serious

It is always a pleasure to hear_____: your voice
The weather this month has been_____: sunny and warm, with scattered showers.
I am hoping that I can make_____: the ones I love, but most importantly myself, happy.
Right now I am listening to the sound of_____: old memories.
I wish, intensely, that I didn’t have to_____: wait so long or fight with those I care about.
There is something extraordinarily fascinating about_____: the masks we all hide behind.
I recently found_____: love in places least expected.
I have been wishing_____: that new friends could see me for all I am.
I love to_____: see her smile.
It makes me extremely proud to know_____: that someone sees through me.
I have been trying to_____: find true happiness in a life full of none.
In my opinion, most people have_____: to conceal themselves from others in order to feel safe.
I am wholly in favor of_____: laying in bed next to the one I love all day.
How fortunate I am to_____: have a beautiful son and someone who loves me.
I am somewhat lazy about_____: fixing the problems in my life.
Today I am_____: worried and content at the same time.
Right now, I am feeling_____: discomfort.
One of the first things I do when I wake up is_____: think of you.
Every now and then, I think of_____: of endless possiblities.
Tomorrow I am going to_____: clean up my life (and my apartment).
I could not live without_____: you.

And now funny/WoW related:

It is always a pleasure to hear_____: the anquished cries of a boss dying.
The weather this month has been_____: gloomy.
I am hoping that I can make_____: enough gold for this weeks raids.
Right now I am listening to the sound of_____: the Lich King in my ear.
I wish, intensely, that I didn’t have to_____: do dailies for gold.
There is something extraordinarily fascinating about_____: hawkstriders and their uncanny resemblance to choccobos.
I recently found_____: that I like caster dps.
I have been wishing_____: to kill the fucking Lich King
I love to_____: smack things with Shadow’s Edge.
It makes me extremely proud to know_____: that Shadow Rising has good raiders.
I have been trying to_____: come up with a team to take down the Lich King.
In my opinion, most people have_____: all the tools to succeed.
I am wholly in favor of_____: raiding ICC.
How fortunate I am to_____: have great guildies.
I am somewhat lazy about_____: setting up raids.
Today I am_____: happy
Right now, I am feeling_____: discomfort.
One of the first things I do when I wake up is_____: log on to see that the servers are down. QQ
Every now and then, I think of_____: which set of t10 to complete on my priest.
Tomorrow I am going to_____: try to down the Lich King
I could not live without_____: Kunga..Kunga…KUNGALOOSH!!

Your turn. Fill in the blank.

Welcome to SR’s Weekly (Insert Raid Instance): Part 2 (Hey He is Actually Answering the Questions this Time and not Being a Self-Serving Asshole)

So in my last post (you get a link this time you lazy bastards…kidding but it is RIGHT BELOW THIS POST lol), we covered how I came to this point in my WoW raiding career. Now, I will actually answer the questions Delerius actually wanted to know the answers to.

Why do I play this game (World of Warcraft)?

Well, it started out as a passtime. Something to do for fun. It progressed into wanting to know everything I could about the game. Wanting the best gear, raiding 6-7 nights a week, 4-6 hours at a time, being the best, being known on my server, competing against other guilds for progression…it became a job..no, it was an obsession. I was addicted to the game. Being the best and being known in a small community as such. I didn’t care who I stepped on. I raided for gear, I raided for the rush of topping the dps charts, of downing bosses before anyone else, and rubbing it in the face of anyone I could. I would sit in Ironforge on my little horsie so people could inspect me. I was the 5th most geared Warrior Tank on the fucking server and I was hot shit…WARRIORS!! FUCK YEAH!!! (*does the Sammy Sosa at Gravedust*)

Hindsight being 20/20, that was a very dumbass reason to play a game. I play now for the fun of playing with friends. Not to be the best or to get the best gear, but to have fun with the people I get to smash my head against the brickwall currently in the form of Lich King phase 2 for us on the progression team in Shadow Rising. I couldn’t ask for a funnier, more perverted group of assholes to do this with…I love you guys!

Why are you in a guild?

I joined my first guild because it was the same guild that some of my friends were in. They stopped playing once BC dropped, so I was unguilded for awhile. One day, I was running Heroic Shadow Labs with a PuG made up of members from the same guild. I was fury at the time, with a few quest blues and greens and a smidgeon of badge gear inbetween. This group was in full t4 and we were rocking the place. The tank just happened to be the MT and GM for the guild. She whispered me at the end of the instance.

Prot Warrior: Hey, do you have a guild?

Me: Nope.

Prot Warrior: Ever thought of joining one?

Me: I had been in one before. It was mostly friends of mine. They have all left the game since and I have been unguilded for some time. Why do you ask?

Prot Warrior: Well I see your gear..

Me: Yeah it isn’t the best but I make due.

Prot Warrior: It may not be the best, but 800 dps on Murmur says to me that you are really good. Would you like to join (Name of Guild which will Remain Anonymous)?

Me: Sure what do I need to do?

Prot Warrior: Well, app at (url). Put down that I am sponsoring you.

Me: Ok. (*goes off to do app and finishes*) Done.

Prot Warrior: Ok, thanks.

Anonymous Player has invited you to Anonymous Guild.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the GM of the guild was my sponsor.

I stayed with this guild through the rest of BC. In my last post, you saw the reasons why I left and joined other guilds. Now to tell you why I left and subsequently came back to Shadow Rising. It wasn’t because of progression or gear or to be the best. It was to be in a place that felt like a home. A place to put your feet up and relax and bullshit with a friends…a group of friends that could also KILL MOTHER FUCKING DRAGONS!! When it is all said and done, I would rather fail with friends, than to triumph with aquaintances.

Why do you raid?

I raid for fun. It is more than that, however. It isn’t just about the fun anymore. A lot of people have told me that they think I am a good player, that I am Tirael Norris and I caused the Sundering, not Deathwing, or that I deserve to have an item named after me, something to the effect of Tirael’s Gauntlets of Bitchslappery (lol, Arvash, that still cracks me up).

To me, being in a guild that raids has become being with friends that raid. When your friends don’t know about something, you help them find that information and you share it. When your friends need something, but can’t get it due to time constraints/money, you do your best to help them with what they need. When your friends are acting all out of sorts, you smack them upside the head and set them straight. When your friends are down on themselves, you smack them again and tell them how great your life is just because they are in it. When your friends are not getting out of life what they think they should be, you try to shed a different light on the subject. When your friends need/want you around, you try to be there. When your friends think highly of you, you show them just how important they are to you. Your only hope in all this is that they will appreciate what you have done for them. You can’t expect that, but there is always hope.

The expectations I placed on my old experiences in WoW (and life in general) caused me to burn a lot of bridges in the past. In my feeble attempt to be the best, I lost sight of the people who got me there in the first place. That is why I think/feel/know that everyone around me is just as good at this as I am. Why I think everyone I raid with in my guild is a group of some of the best players I know. Thankfully, Shadow Rising has a group of officers and a GM who are much better people than I am. If not for them, I would see very little reason to play this game. They are my friends and I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to label as such.

They are why I play WoW. They are why I am in a guild. They are why I raid. For fun, but most importantly, for my friends.

Welcome to SR’s Weekly (Insert Raid Instance): Part 1 (A History)

Well, we all know that my blog updates are about as sporadic as a monkey fucking a football, so having not done one in a few…weeks or so, I don’t guess you will be too surprised. Delerius posed several questions to the raiding community. Some people, including Slice and Zarigar, have already wrote up some fine responses. This is not their response but my feeble attempt at trying to give you history of myself and answers his questions. This will be a two part series.

Story time

Ok, boys and girls, gather around the bonfire as I tell you the story of Tirael, a simple man who was just looking for a new game to play.

Tirael started out as Human Warrior named Paleteal on the US-Feathermoon and a Blood Elf Priest named Naerityah on US-Burning Blade servers back in October 2006. Many of my friends were already playing, so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I had fun leveling Pale up to 60 and running a few things with her, like BWL and MC. Naerityah didn’t get much love and only made it to level 27. Well, along came this thing called an “expansion” called “The Burning Crusade”. I picked that up and went the 10 levels to 70. Holy hell. Kara and badges and Gruul’s/Mag’s..oh my. The guild I was in made it to RoS in BT before the nerf heard round the world came in and made Illidan a flaccid version of his once great self.

Naerityah stayed at 27 as this was around the time of the birth of the twinks and you guessed it..she was my twink. I would go in and heal BGs as disc until the late hours of the night. It was so much fun to have a healer. However, I never planned on playing her at max level. She was my “escape from the guild/raid toon” character. Plus, I said that I would never have more than one max level toon. This was because I can become OCD about being able to perform all specs of the classes I play. I tend to do my level best to get enough gear to make at least two of my class roles viable. I had done this with Pale in getting her a Prot and Fury set. Yes kids, this was before dual specs…I know rough times. We had to pay for respects EVERY time we were needed for a different role. Pale’s was capped (at 50g) through most of BC. I did not have this desire for Naerityah at the time.

Then along came this thing called “Wrath of the Lich King”. Hoo boy, Death Knights. Having played my warrior for 3 years by this time, I was ready for a break. Warriors had followed pretty much the same model from the beginning (Get hit, gain rage, tank or Hit shit, gain rage, blow shit up and die thanks to craptastic threat reduction talents that still haven’t gotten any fucking better…/seethe) and I didn’t see any great and new and exciting changes on the horizon with WotLK. So, I decided to level a Death Knight.

Now, I was a big Diablo and Diablo 2 fan. Played in the East Coast Ladder. Had a level 93 Paladin, level 89 Sorc and a 89 Assassin. Remember Tyrael from Act IV? Pandemonium Fortress. Let’s just say I spent a lot of time there. Well, that is how I got my online alias (Tirael) and my DKs first name, who was a Night Elf named Tirael on the US-Feathermoon server. I leveled him with all the intentions of being a tank (duh, I picked a night elf). Of course, I had to have a viable offspec, so I picked a frost tank build. Started him out as blood, then DW frost back when it was OP a little over a year ago. Raided through Naxx/OS/EoE and such. It was fun just blowing shit up on him and much different from the smash-three-buttons-then-break-your-fucking-finger-on-the-damned-heroic-strike-hotkey style of dps that was (and still is) being a fury warrior. Tanking was also much more fun (because DKs were OP) because AoE tanking was lol easy and Patchwerk just can’t hit a mother fucker hard enough when he has 50% damage reduction every minute, 25% more armor every minute and 25% miss chance every minute.

Well it was around this time, that I started noticing a trend. Tanks were SUCKING. “Suck” isn’t the correct word for it…”completely fucking horrible” is the best to describe it. Paladins and druids were OP out the gate in WotLK, but Warriors were still trucking along as always, with some minor (Read: Completely fucking class changing ZOMG OP as fuck for a warrior) skill and talent change that made their AoE tanking playtyle a little (Read: LOLOLOLOLcompletely fucking ridiculously easy) more manageable. Thunder Clap was changed so that it could hit any target within a 10 yard range, Shockwave…frontal cone stun that does damage based of a high coefficeint of ap-to-damage of fucking awesomeness…, Damage Shield, and the ability to pick up Deep Wounds (on crit, applies a bleed affect to the target) in our Prot specs. Well, I guess these fucktards I was running into didn’t get the fucking memo (Read: Looked at 3.1 patch notes) and just needed to l2play.

I thought to myself, “I’ll show these idiots.” Then I remembered tenant number one of the laws that govern Tirael in MMOs, as spoken to me at the time by my inner gamer:

1) Thou shalt not have but one max level toon at a time, lest ye forefit thine other max level toon first.

….I told my inner gamer to go play fucking Hello Kitty Adventure Island (HKAI: 2 wasn’t released yet) and that I was leveling my fucking warrior. Internal conflicts aside, I leveled my warrior to 80. At this time, an old hunter friend that I raided BT with in BC leveled a prot paladin. Now, he knew how long I had been playing and how long I had been tanking for a good while, so he would ask me about gear choices and whatnot. How do I pull X mob? What do I do in Y situation? What happens if I pull X, then Y happens, then B and C healer dies while A/D/E healer is at 25%% mana and Z boss is at 50% hp and I have 36% hp and 5 of our 18 dps are dead and shit has JUST REALLY HIT THE FUCKING FAN????!!!! Oh, what do you think of this shield? >.<

Well, I finished leveling Paleteal to 80. Left my BC raiding guild (who had decided to go a different direction other than raiding, more on this later) and joined my buddy (who had made it to 80 long before I decided to level Pale). Joined the guild he had started up with some old raiding buddies and went to work getting gear. This was around the time Ulduar was released. I became the OT for that guild. We were tied for 3rd in Ulduar progression on our server, stuck on Mimron. Got him down pre-nerf and was still stuck on General. In 25s, we had made it up to Mimron. At the same time, and in another more casual guild, Tirael was trucking along and getting just up to Hodir. Well, around this time, due to a lot of drama (real life and guild) Pale's guild circled the drain. My buddy left the server for greener pastures and the rest of us kind of went our seperate ways. To Anariel/Seyonne/Akulut/Ace/Tuna, if you are reading this, I look forward to one day seeing you guys on Drak'Tharon (Horde side, of course) so we can tear some shit up again. Of course, my buddy is in a top 100 US guild now as their MT, so I doubt I will see him in my neck of the woods again, but one can dream, lol.

Also, around this time I left WoW for three months to prepare for the arrival of my son. When I came back, I moved my toons to a new server, and a new faction…FOR THE HORDE!! I joined up with some friends from an internet forum that I frequent, and started grinding out some emblems in ToC for both Tir and Pale. Little old Naer still sat on her original server, collecting dust due to the death of the twinks (/sad panda). Well, as you all know, Tir eventually ended up in Shadow Rising on US-Drak'Tharon (first time) thanks to a recruiting post over on Arioch’s Blog. We had some fun times, but at the time, due to some personal reasons I have covered before (no link, if you want to know, it is here somewhere *makes futile attempt at shuffling papers to find said post*), I decided to make my way back over to Pale’s server, US-Mal’Ganis. It was great, had some fun times with the people there, but more often than not, I was PuG’ing raids. That was fine, except when I had to deal with the stupidity that the internet brings out in people.

This gives me a segue into where I am now. I now have three toons (go fuck yourself little gamer, go play the new and improved Hello Kitty Adventure Island 2: Rainbow Kisses and Bubblegum Dreams expansion) at level 80 and all are on the US-Drak’Tharon server: Paleteal – Prot/Fury, Tiryal – Unholy PvE DPS/Frost Tank, and Naerityah – Disc PvE/Shadow PvE. Shadow Rising, like a faithful girlfriend who still loves you after you looked elsewhere for love, took me back (thanks again guys). All my toons have MS and OS gear viable for any ICC 25 raid I go into (Ok, little gamer voice, you were right….BUT YOU WILL STILL PLAY HKAI 2: RKaBD and LIKE IT). Now that you understand where I came from, maybe I can attempt to answer Del’s questions…..

OHISEEWATUDIDTHAR

So, yeah, I don’t update my blog often. Mostly because I am over at Arioch’s or Koala’s comment sections, enjoying the debauchery. Another reason is that I am also working on a joint venture Fan Fic Blog with some people. You can check it out here .

I am writing this post today because I am questioning a part of my life. That part being my WoW life. I think that it is possible that I take the game too seriously. I know from my times as a console RPGer, from Final Fantasy (NES version) to Zelda: A Link to the Past to Chrono Trigger to Too Human and every console based RPG inbetween, I have always seen the end boss of the game as a goal to obtain. To beat. To destroy. To conquer. The same goes with WoW. I see Arthas as a goal. Something that can be obtained. The problem with this is group dynamics.

Group dynamics dominate WoW endgame. Whether you are a 2300 rated Arena Team or knocking on 25m HM LK’s door, your group is your greatest strength. It can also be your biggest weakness. When it comes to the endgame, Blizzard did a great job of tightly tuning it so that one mistake, regardless of what you are doing, causes massive failure. Whether it is chaining Ice Tombs in P3 Sindragosa, or not CC’ing that pesky rogue before he ROFLSTOMPS your healer, a mistake on your part as a raider/team member costs your whole team.

Now, why do I say these things that people SHOULD already know? Well, to me, it doesn’t seem like they do. Very few people I know that are raiding in WoW currently are doing it just for kicks. Most are doing to knock down The Lich King, whether it is due to a deep seeded hatred steaming from Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, from the lore of WoW itself, or just to get their hands on some of the best weapons available in game. They want their Kingslayer title.

My hope is that once the 10% or 15% goes into affect, they remove the “Kingslayer” title from the game. 5% I can understand. Even some of the most skilled guilds worldwide didn’t take down LK until the 5% buff was in affect, so me taking him down with it doesn’t bother me. 5%, hell even 30%, increased healing/hp/damage is not going to make you down an encounter specifically designed to be hard. The later fights in ICC (PP, Sindragosa and LK) are not designed to be total dps races. They are designed to be technically difficult on the raider individually.

Last night in vent, someone said it perfectly:

“It is easy for people to deal with mechanics that randonly affect one person. Once there is a mechanic that affects everyone, that is when the shit hits the fan.”

I am not going to lie. I am upset with some of my guildies currently. We are in a guild to reach a common goal. That goal is to down the Lich King. We can’t even take care of an easy mechanic in the next to last boss fight before him. Have we improved from what we once were? Yes. Can we do much better? Yes, we can. My belief goes along the lines of the above quoted statement. Endgame bosses seperate the goods from the bads. Sure, people can get out of the fire individually, but once that fire affects the entire raid, chaos will ensue.

I will even go back before our progression raids to our Classic Raid Night. We have been attempting Firefighter and One Light in the Darkness to complete our Glory of the Ulduar Raider achievements. Our best attempt on firefighter got us to 10% on each piece in phase 4. If we can do that, we can down him right? Wrong. Because getting that far means a shaman had to pop ankh and a druid had to brez, then the same druid had to use the soul stone that was on him. Every successive attempt after that was utter fail. I would take a 1% wipe over not making it back to p4 for the rest of our tries.

I decided to call off the attempts and just down Mimron normally, which we do with zero deaths and smooth as butter. So, we move on to One Light in the Darkness. I decided to send a boomkin, a hunter, an enhance shaman and a DK inside the portal. Pop lust in the portal, nuke everything, destroy the brain and GTFO before Insight Madness is cast. What happens? All four die in the portal. HOW??? Oh right, the two classes I sent inside the portal that can heal, didn’t. Why? I can only assume it was because they tunneled visioned and saw recount. They then decided not to perform the utility provided by their class.

Which brings me to my last point. I am not the know all end all of WoW. I am not the best player out there. However, I use every tool at my toons disposal to ensure the job gets done. When I am on my Prot Warrior, if I am not tanking, I putting out as much dps as I can. If I notice someone is high on the threat meter, I will switch the current target of my Vigilance to them. I will then Intevene them because it reduces threat by 10%. A good example of this? Last night our boomkin was threat capping our DK tank on Sindragosa. He was getting lucky RNG and didn’t have any stacks of Unchained Magic so he was basically able to free cast. The tank was getting 6-7 stacks of Chilled to the Bone and to stop attacking. Moonkin threat monster ensues. So I Vigilance him and Intervene, which drops his threat safely below the tanks and we continue on.

When I am on my Disc Priest, I heal as normal. If I see a target outthreating the tank, I will Pain Suppression them, because it reduces threat by 10%. If I have no target to heal, I will dot up the boss. If something needs to be dispelled/cured, I cure it. If the raid is low on hp, I pop a Borrowed Time hasted Prayer of Healing.

When I am on my DK, I will Chains of Ice anything that is rootable so it doesn’t pwn a clothie. I will Death Grip adds to me if it runs toward a healer. I play Unholy and sacraficing my ghoul is easily 800-1000 dps lost. If my hp is low and the healers are having a hard time keeping up the raid, I will sacrafice that rat bastard in a heartbeat. I will break off Saurafang to Chains of Ice/taunt adds.

Even if it is a fight I already know like the back of my hand, every strategy/video that I post on our guild site I read/watch a dozen times. I want to make sure it is the best strat for US. Fuck everyone else. This is about my guild. My team. I don’t care if it is Tankspot’s/Paragon’s/Ensidia’s strategy, if it doesn’t work for us or I don’t think it will work for us, I won’t use it. I won’t sign by it. I will find something better or make the shit up on my own. So, read the strats/watch the videos for the encounters until you know them.

If I am leading a raid, don’t tell me to calm down. If I get heated in the moment, it is because I am trying to get the best out of you. I know what each and every one of you are capable of. I expect peak performance whenever I raid with you, or you can sit out while I bring in the 4500 GS hunter that will do everything I tell them without question and down every boss in the instance.

/sarcasm “Oh great job. You are the best Tirael. Is your epeen big enough now?” /endsarcasm

It isn’t about my epeen. Everyone always thinks it is about my epeen. IT IS NEVER ABOUT WHAT I DO, IT IS HOW I CAN MAKE THE GROUP SUCCEED. Read: G.R.O.U.P. My guild success is what matters to me. That is why I run GotUR. That is why I run ToGC 10. None of my toons need anything from there, except the drake. I have ToGC 10 Mad Skill on two toons. None of this is so I can show off how big my goddamn dick is. It is for YOU. All of YOU. I want you to be the best. I know you are. I want to give you the things so you can show that off to everyone else. I want to make your epeen bigger. I want us all to succeed in the goals of the GUILD!!!! .

So maybe I take it a little seriously. Well, a lot. I do it because I want us to succeed. I do this not for me, not for you, but for the guild as a whole.

The Hunt for the Ellusive Pro PuG: Priests-a-Plenty

Welcome back. If this is your first time tuning into the show, my name is Lattly Foster Grant.

Today on “The Hunt for the Ellusive Pro PuG” we narrow our search down to just one of these PuGs they call “Healer”. We are in the great floating city of Dalaran. What a magnificent place this is. We will begin our search here.

Healers come in many shapes, forms and sizes. Many times these things they call “Groups” or “Raids” are in dire need of one that can heal a lot of things at once. Sometimes the only need someone who can “heal” just a one person, usually the one they call the “Tank”. I have brought in my good friend and expert on PuGs, Naerityah. Good morning, Naer.

Hello, Lattly, what can I help you with today?

Well, today Naer, we need you to explain healers to us. Sure thing, Lattly.

Well, there are several different “classes” that can heal. We will start with the one they call “priest”. These guys can single target heal or heal several targets depending on something called a “Talent Specialization” or “Spec” for short.

One spec is called “Holy”. It consists of several “talents” that are centric to healing multiple targets, such as “Circle of Healing” and “Empowered Renew”. They also have three very unique abilites known as “Lightwell”, “Spirit of Redemption” and “Guardian Spirit”. Lightwell places a well of light on the ground that, when touched, places a Heal over Time (HoT for short) effect on the person who touches it. Guardian Spirit places a spirit on the target of the priest who will, if the target is killed, sacrafice itself in place of the target, allowing that person to live. Spirit of Redemption allows for the priests to die and come back as a spirit, allowing them to cast heals for 15 seconds. Once 15 seconds is up, the priest finally dies.

The next spec we will discuss is called “Discipline” or “Disc” for short. The Disc spec has talents focusing around single target healing and raid wide damage reduction. These talents also focus on increasing the power of the Priest’s shield prayers and causing the priest’s healing spells to shield the player healed if the heal is a critical. They also have two very powerful spells known as “Penance” and “Pain Suppresion”. Penance is a “Channel Cast” spell that heals the target over a short duration in 3 short bursts. Pain suppresion reduces the amount of damage the target is taking by up to 40%. Disc priest focus on reducing incoming damage through the use of these shields and spells, which can be a very powerful tool against hard hitting raid bosses.

Does that sum it good enough for you, Lattly?

Sure does, Naer. Thanks. Would you like to help us hunt for one of these “Priests”?

Sure, how would you like to go about it?

Well, Naer, I have just recently been advised about a tool called “Looking for Group” or “LFG” for short. Supposedly, this tool can help us seek out anyone who is like-minded and willing to help us in our quest to take down these “Bosses”. I have been advised in its use and would like to try it out today.

Ok, Lattly. Sounds like a great idea to me.

Alright, then. I am going to open up this little console and see what we can find. Hmm….(Several minutes pass.) Well, Naer, I have looked through every “Raid” and “Group” channel I can find in here, not a single priest in sight.

Well, Lattly, why not try the “Lookingforgroup” Global Channel or “LFG Channel” for short.

Good idea. They also told me about that as well when instructing me on how to use the LFG tool itself. So lets join that channel. (Lattly joins the LFG channel. Here is what follows.)

Lattly: “Looking for two priest, one disc and one holy, to do Trial of the Crusader, 25-man version.”
(10 minutes pass with Lattly saying this in the LFG channel)

Didion: “Hello, Lattly. I am a Disc Priest. I will join you.”
Lattly: “Sounds great. Now let’s see if we can find that Holy Priest.” (Another 20 minutes goes by with Lattly spamming the LFG channel for a holy priest.”

Hitroh: “Hello, Lattly. I am a Holy Priest. I will join you.”
Lattly: “Good deal.”

Well folks, looks like we found our priests. This was much easier than trying to chase them down and corner them. Seems these creatures like to be asked instead of chased around with a net and poker. I will have to keep that in mind for the future. Oh, looks like we are out of time for today. Tune in next time when we search for that ever ellusive “Restoration Druid.”

The Hunt for the Ellusive Pro PuG (Intro)

Good morning, everyone. My name is Lattly Foster Grant. Today start we start our series “The Hunt for the Elusive Pro PuG”. These animals are extremely hard to find. You really have to look in every nook and cranny of the world just to get a glimpse of them. They like to travel alone, but every now and then you can find them traveling in packs of 5-25 to take down very large and imposing enemies they call “bosses”.

Not all these PuGs are the strongest. Some are extremely weak and love to stand in burning fire, clouds of poison, and the like. Some even have very bad coverings called “gear” and couldn’t figure out how to kill the “bosses” with two search warrants and a bloodhound.

Wait…shhh…I think we found the most elusive two of them all. They call them “tanks” and “healers”. It is most difficult to locate these two, especially ones who PuGs consider “pro” (blinks)..OH WAIT!!! We lost them. Oh well, join us next time on “The Hunt for the Elusive Pro PuG”.

The Hunt for the Ellusive Pro PuG

The title says it all. I did this series on a board about 5 months ago and it never came to fruition. Thanks to Arioch‘s post today (PITA status – Complete PITA), it made me want to bring it back to life..on my own blog. So, the next series of posts will be about a guy named Lattly Foster Grant, who is a hunter in Azeroth. Over the course of the next few days, we will cover Lattly looking for a group for Trial of the Crusader 25 (this IS 5 months old). I hope to actually complete this series, and in the process, maybe give you a laugh. I will post a new short story daily (Monday-Friday) until the series is complete.

Mordor

My homage to what you can’t do into Mordor..tailored to the WoW player.

Sometimes I feel like Atlas

No…not a book containing maps.  We are talking Greek mythology.  Atlas was the Titan who supported the Heavens from the region we know today as the Atlas Mountains.  Many of you may know of the many sculptures of a man holding the world on his shoulders…that is Atlas.

So, why am I talking about Atlas in a WoW blog.  More importantly, why am I comparing myself to a Titan?  Well, this post is about raid leading.  To me, raid leading can feel like you are supporting the weight of the world on your shoulders.  No, not in the emo way.  Basically, if you are the raid leader for your guild or you are just leading a PuG raid, the success/failure of the raid depends on you.  This means 9-24 other people are depending on your to give them direction, guidance, and a helping hand should they need it. 

Now, let’s not go into this whole “BUTBUTBUT Tir, ya nub, everyone contributes to the raid success/failure.”  Well..DUH!  I know this.  However, the raid leader is usually the person who knows the most about the raid you are doing, provides direction for the raid, and handles all disputes in the raid (with any accompaning officers, if it is a guild raid).  They are the ones telling you to “GTFO, Fire!”, “MOAR DOTS!”, “MANY WHELPS..HANDLE IT!”, and generally getting all the kittehs in the box. 

Now, since I have three decently geared 80s, my guild can’t facilitate all the raids I want to do on all my toons. so I PuG alot.  I am also the raid leader of our classic raid night, and most recently, I was told to lead ICC 25 for the guild.  Fun stuff.  I love leading raids.  When I PuG raids, I lead them.  Very rarely will you see me just being a kitteh.  As good as I am at being a kitteh, I like to be the kitteh playing with the yarn.  DAMN KITTEHS!! (Thanks for getting the raiders to kittens analogy stuck in my head Arioch.)  Anyway, I lead PuGs.  Now, the way I lead PuGs is very similar to the way I lead guild raids, except I am A LOT nicer in guild raids.  However, if someone needs a fire lit under their ass, it will happen.  I like to produce results. 

So that brings me to what to do when raid leading.  These are my tips.  These are the things I do.  I am not saying that you should do them exactly as I do, as knowing your audience is key to portraying your message.  Tailor them to your situation.

1) Know your raid compositions

This means understand what each class brings to the raid.  Know what the raid you are doing calls for.  Does the raid favor ranged or melee?  Do you need 5 or 6 healers?  What classes are my tanks?  If I have a lot of casters, do I have Replenishment?  Is this hunter better as Survival or Marksmen for this raid?  Do we have Sunder Armor? 

Along with this, you should also know something about the class/specs you are bringing.  For instance, Spriest/Affliction locks suck at fights with target switches.  Boomkins hate movement heavy fights.  Orange Soda>all.  These things are important to know in order to get max performance out of your fellow raiders.

2) Know the Raid

Know the encounters/strategies.  Everything in WoW is scripted.  It happens at a certain time, in a certain place, and does a certain amount of damage.  Know the encounters like you know the back of your hand.

3) Know your own class (Dammit)

You should be the best performer in your raid (or at least, close to it).  If you are a healer, you should be giving heals out like you make HPz.  If you are dps, you should be in the top 5.  If you are a tank, you should make the other tanks think you are a damned M1A2.  Perform the best that you can.

4) Do not ask more out of your raiders than you would of yourself

Goes without saying.  If a raider says they are tired, call the raid.  Maybe 1 more attempt.  If they still insist on going, let it go and come back another day.  (Hint: The boss doesn’t despawn just because you don’t down him..unless its Algalon.)  Don’t expect people to be performing miracles.  I am currently being petitioned for a nerf along with my fellow guildies Dark/Soth and Zug.  I still can’t perform miracles.  I don’t expect it. 

5) Know when to ask more out of your raiders

Coincides with #4.  Sometimes, people underperform their gear.  Sometimes (SOMETIMES) you should tell them about it..in a whisper or in a blanket generalized statement over vent.  No one likes the spotlight on them when they are mucking it up.  I caution you on this next statement (so it will be bolded/italicized). ONLY TELL A RAIDER THAT THEY ARE MESSING UP IN PUBLIC (READ: ON VENT/RAID CHAT) WHEN THEY ARE BLATANTLY DISREGARDING A MECHANIC OF A FIGHT THAT IS CAUSING A RAID WIPE.  You may choose to try to tell them in whispers first, which I strongly suggest.  Sometimes, when I raid lead, I am constantly going over the graphs that recount provides to check out heals/dps. (Admin note: If you have been wiping on a boss, and you think it may be heals/dps, you can use the “Show Graph” option for each player in your raid by right clicking on their name in recount and selecting it.  In order to save screen space, you can add multiple people to the same graph.)  During times of duress (Read: Festergut’s Pungeant Blight) I am checking the healing graph.  If heals don’t spike from certain classes/specs (like resto druids/holy priests), I will say something.  Either way you go about it, make sure your requests aren’t unrealistic.

6) Squash all drama IMMEDIATELY when it appears

Another easy one.  Drama has no place in a raid environment.  The phrase “Save the drama for your mama” comes to mind here.  Most of the time, drama comes out over loot.  I will give you a recent story of mine for you to consider:

This past Sunday, I was running an ICC 25 PuG.  Loot rules were stated as follows in a raid warning:

Welcome to Tiræl’s PuG (Insert Raid)

MS>OS

MS /roll 100 OS /roll 99

BoEs will be equipped upon winning them

Highest Roll Wins

No one was overly geared for the place, but I figured it would be fun.  We go in and Marrowgar gives us some trouble, but we get him down.  Lady D wiped the raid but our dots wiped her too.  Nibelung drops.  This staff is close to (if not is) BiS for Locks/Boomkins outside of LK/Heroic Mode gear.  A shaman in the raid who exclusively uses staves (Let’s not go there) 2 locks and 3 balance druids rolled on it.  The shaman won with a 58. 

One of the balance druids who rolled a 5 (FIVE) started complaining about how he won it.  So I, being the nice guy I am, told him no he did not and that I had a chat logger (I wanna find the person who made the addon “Chatter” and buy them a sammich) and I could pull up his roll to show him that he only rolled a 5 (FIVE) so I did.  He still continued to complain, along with several other people.  Did I agree with a shaman winning it?  No.  Nibelung, though it may be up there in BiS for STAVES for shamans, is suboptimal to any one-handed caster weapon + shield/OH for a shaman.  But, since the guy won the roll and was already using a staff, it was only fair that he get it. 

This loot drama continues on as we are clearing trash to Lootship.  When we got there, it continued on into the Gunship fight.  So, I state in raid chat AND vent:

If I hear anymore, from anyone, guildie or not, about this Nibelung crap, I will immediately remove you from the raid in the middle of this encounter.

No one said a word…except that damned druid.  So I told him:

Well, XXXXXXX.  Have a nice night.  This is my raid and my rules.  You violated them.

I then kicked him in the middle of the Gunship Encounter.  Several people in the raid asked friends to come in to help down Saurafang.  Took us a few attempts but we did him and got everyone 5 extra Frost Emblems from the ICC Raid Weekly (Frost Giant..fml).

After this whole series of events, nearly everyone I PuG’d into this raid was whispering me asking when my next ICC 25 PuG would be. 

I hope this helps some people with their kitteh herdin’ (fwiw, I love kittens). – Tir