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.