The Latus Guide to Leading Raids
Latus the Goat only has three readers — by his count. (Personally, I think he may be underestimating his appeal!) Of course, since I'm one of them (/tar Latus /wave), that means only two other people are going to see his excellent Guide to Leading Raids.
Now that, my friends, is abhorrent. 
In my seldom humble opinion, Latus's guide should be required reading for all guild leaders, raid leaders, and anyone who has ever cast three little letters (l, f, m) into the Nether and prayed for a response.
My favorite point (and one that my guild could definitely stand to improve on):
- Don’t single people out after a wipe. Unless you’re a really hardcore guild, this is not something you want to do. The people who made mistakes know it. Singling them out over vent or raid chat is going to make them feel awful. People who feel awful, or embarrassed, will often not come back to your raids. You want to encourage your group, not insult it. If a situation requires addressing, speak to the person privately, or give it a general announcement over vent… “Let’s make sure to pay more attention to the dark orbs on the right side of the room please, more got through than we can handle.” That doesn’t blame anyone specifically, but it lets the people there know they did the mistake (which they probably knew already), and it lets the raid as a whole know that you did notice it and you are addressing it or will do so if it persists.
Now, our raid leader believes as Latus does. I've never seen Keaton single anyone out after a wipe. On the contrary, I've heard him advise against it for very similar reasons. Typically, Keaton addresses "areas of improvement" publicly and in broad terms, while I deal with specific issues in whispers (which often surprises people; the public criticism is so open-ended that those players who receive my private follow-through are often taken aback).
Unfortunately, while we follow Latus's advice ourselves, we do tend to be rather permissive when it comes to others. After all, if criticism isn't coming from a guild leader (/airquotes), then it isn't "official" and doesn't count — right?
Wrong. WrongWrongWrong.
In order to create a supportive raid environment, officers must not only lead by example, but also ensure that their values are shared by the rest of the raid — or, at least, by those vocal enough to make an impact. After all, it isn't always enough for the nominal raid leader to be upbeat and positive: one abusive or overly critical voice in the raid can ruin the experience for everyone.
Immersion.
Dear Blizzard,
I am deeply disturbed by the lack of immersion in the World of Warcraft. Although some subscribers will contend that immersion was "broken" by the implementation of an RMT store that sells artfully assembled (but still ultimately pointless) pixels, my complaint is that it never truly existed in the first place.
Like most of the socially-challenged basement dwellers who make up the majority of your customer base, I view Azeroth as an escape from reality and have come to view these constant intrusions as nothing short of abhorrent. For $15 a month, the very least you could do is provide me with a fantasy world I can believe in!
In the spirit of constructive criticism, I have compiled the following list of suggestions to restore immersion to Azeroth:
1. Remove all global chat channels from the game, including General Chat, Trade Chat, Looking For Group, Local Defense, World Defense and especially Barrens. Not only are chat channels disruptive in and of themselves (when was the last time you chatted with random strangers in [1. Wal-Mart General] while stocking up on Hot Pockets and Mountain Dew?), but they also invite other players to intrude upon my gaming experience.
... On second thought, remove all chat channels, period. This includes /party and /guild, as communication should happen via emotes or in /say, with /whispers permissable only between characters who are within arms length of each other.
2. With the exception of a warlock's Dreadsteed (which is, of course, summoned from the Nether), mounts should be stabled when not in use. Characters should only be able to mount in friendly or neutral towns after talking to an allied stable master. If for some reason a character is dismounted in combat, then her mount should simply run away.
3. PvP flags and sanctuary zones make no logical sense and should be removed from the game. Keep things simple and eliminate Normal servers altogether.
4. Speaking of logical sense... Do you really expect me to believe that my shaman can put a sword in her backpack but can't hold it in her hand? Or that my hunter had to wait until her 40th season to learn how to put on a new pair of pants? Armor and weapons restrictions are arbitrary and nonsensical. Do away with them.
5. Make death permanent.
6. Give all of the raptors in Arathi Highlands two eyes or a debuff called Depth Perception that causes them to periodically walk into walls.
7. Raids should have a lifetime rather than weekly lockout. Once a guild has defeated Yogg-Saron, he should be well and truly defeated. If he didn't drop the loot you wanted — oh well. Disappointment is part of immersion, too.
8. Please revisit all lower level loot tables. If I rifle through a gnomish corpse, then I expect to find a few coins, some [Pocket Lint], perhaps a [Trinket of Engineering Fail]. But a green-quality staff three times the gnome's height? I don't think so. (And I don't even want to think about where that devilsaur hid a plate helm...)
9. Provide an alternate path of progression. My Foresaken mage is a sweet little thing who devotes her time to casting Arcane Intellect on dumb warriors and conjuring pastries for orphans. The idea of slaughtering dozens of innocent farmers in Hillsbrad breaks her Undead heart! Please consider providing an alternate path of progression, preferably one oriented around altruistic (rather than genocidal) deeds.
10. In their current form, level 1 critters are little more than eye candy. The cockroaches in Undercity should be level 83 elites with 5,000,000,000,000 HP. Each.
Cincinnati was just the beginning.
These are just a few preliminary suggestions. Once you have these worked out, I would be happy to provide more! In fact, you might as well add me to your payroll now and get it over with.
Just don't make me leave the basement.
Sincerely,
Elle
Much Ado About Nothing
I wasn't going to comment on Petgate 2009. It became a tired subject two minutes after it was breaking news, and I had nothing new to add to the discussion. I still don't, really. But I did read two things over the weekend that finally exasperated me enough to respond.
First, Elnia at the Pink Pigtail Inn described his reaction to the opening of the Blizzard Pet Store as "aghast." One of his commenters chimed in, declaring the entire thing "abhorrent." Aghast? Abhorrent? Seriously?
These are very strong words. If you find yourself sincerely "aghast" at anything that happens in a video game, then I humbly suggest canceling your account and investing the $15 a month in a newspaper subscription. There are truly abhorrent things happening in the world. This isn't one of them.
Second, a pair of new recruits got into the most ridiculously asinine spat I have ever seen in Surreality guild chat. One of the recruits was delighted with his new pet (not to mention his fifth name change of the week >.<). The other thought he was an idiot for spending real money on vanity items, and told him so. What started as a relatively minor difference of opinion somehow escalated to name-calling — quickly quashed, of course, but no less annoying for all that it was short-lived.
Personally, I have a very "live and let live" — or, more accurately, a "buy and let buy... or don't!" — attitude towards the entire thing. I collected non-combat pets for a while and have several that I still love (all of them gifts from my fiance at various points in our relationship, come to think of it), but I doubt I'll be purchasing a pint-sized lich or Kung Fu panda from the Blizzard Pet Store anytime soon. Still, I don't see the fact I have the option to do so as the Beginning of the End for the World of Warcraft, nor do I find any of the many arguments I've read against this type of real money transaction particularly compelling.
Here they are, in brief, along with my thoughts. (I'm sure you've seen all of them before; as I said, I have nothing new or insightful to add. I really just wanted to vent.)
It's classist, providing a visual, in-game distinction between the Haves and Haves Nots.
You have a computer, a high-speed Internet connection and $15 of disposal income each month to pay for your WoW subscription. You, my friend, are a Have.
Besides, if Black Dragonflight is any indication, people are far more likely to /point and /laugh at you for owning a Panderan Monk or Lil' KT than they are to /sigh in wistful admiration.
It devalues my pet collecting achievement.
More so than any of the previous Collector's Edition, Blizzcon or Trading Card pets (that you can still buy on ebay for a ridiculous mark-up)? By making non-combat pets available for purchase on the official website, Blizzard has effectively eliminated the after-market and made these two pets, at least, more accessible to a majority of players.
... By the way, if this is your argument, then you better not written have a blogpost recently condemning "hardcore" raiders for attempting to hoard the purple pixels. Just sayin'.
It's a slippery slope that can only lead to game-changing Real Money Transactions (selling gold, epics, heirloom gear, access to premium instance servers, etc.).
The slippery slope is a fallacy. l2logic.
It breaks immersion.
Yeah, it does. I'll give you that.
But you know what? So do Haris Pilton, Harrison Jones, the ninja turtles in Dalaran and the fact that my 16-slot backpack can somehow hold 30 Hillsbrad peasant skulls at the same time. Leah made a fantastic comment over at the Pink Pigtail Inn about the entire World of Warcraft being just a little tongue-in-cheek. If Larísa's site weren't blocked at work, I would quote it here; since it is and I can't, I recommend finding it yourself. It's the only thing related to Elnia's post worth reading.
Blizzard is selling out, man.
Blizzard is in the business of making and selling video games. We call Blizzard a studio, but that's romanticism: at the end of the day, the World of Warcraft is a product. Not art.
Blizzard isn't "selling out." It's selling — period. If this comes as some sort of surprise to you, then you really haven't been paying attention.
This post is dedicated to Elam.
Elam made an off-hand comment last night about what he imagines /officer chat looks like.
Well, Elam. Since you asked …
[Officer][Larissyn]: Okay. So we have three paladins, two priests, a hunter, two rogues, an enhancement shaman and Elam's Death Cow, Grazeless, in this run.
[Officer][Larissyn]: Here’s the plan. Sunfury, DI Torek. Retnewb, DI Jarbenfel.
[Officer][Larissyn]: Tahlon, feign death. Tell the rogues to vanish.
[Officer][Larissyn]: I’m going to go pull the boss and then DI Recidivist …
Alas, they thought I was joking.
... It would have been epic. 
Fortunately, they do listen sometimes!
[Officer][Larissyn]: Neville! Don't forget to cast Water Walking on Elam when the floor drops out.
* Elam has died.
[Officer][Larissyn]: Win!
Yes, I'm evil. <3
/shameface
The boys in my guild have reached a new low.
Apparently, they're too lazy to actually type out all four letters of the infamous "F"-word. Instead, they'll simply spam guild chat with F's.
Moar are Steen are in the Dalaran Arena? Expect to see
ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
appear in /g, sooner or later.
Whisper Elam a question about shaman theorycrafting, count to 20, and then log onto an alt?
More of the same.
So guess what I heard myself saying — saying, not typing! — when one of my customers e-mailed me this afternoon about a $0.70 overcharge on her October invoice.
(Seventy cents? Really? A multi-billion dollar company — not mine; my customer's — is counting pocket change? Come on! This is the equivalent of one and two-fifths of a can of Diet Coke!)
Still. I am /so/ ashamed.
25 divided by 10.
Surreality is a 25-man raiding guild. Period. Dot.
... and yet there is a relatively small group of us who have been running 10-man content on offnights since the era of Zul'Aman bear runs. Several of us have changed mains since then, and a few have dropped out and been replaced, but the heart of the group remains the same: Keaton (druid), Coffer (warrior) and Ouchilicious (DK) trade tanking duties, while Korev (paladin), Annah (priest) and I heal. Our DPS typically consists of Ignus (rogue), Neville (mage), the Superforsaken Azargoth (warlock) and Moar (lolret), with one wildcard spot open for the best available DPS from /guild. Sometimes it's Elam; more often, we give the nod to group composition and choose someone who buffs our casters — a critchicken or elemental shaman — or a hunter, which was the case last night.
The five or six of us who were in the team's first incarnation spent two full months racing the timers in Zul'Aman before we saw our first Amani War Bear. Our first few attempts were awful. We'd full-cleared ZA in the past, of course, and considered Zuljin more or less on "farm" — but when it came to the timed events, we despaired of ever rescuing that third prisoner, let alone the fourth. Still, we kept at it, and eventually learned to play to our strengths: running three tanks instead of the usual two, which effectively eliminated downtime by allowing us to chain pull the entire instance. Five months and thousands of gold in repairs later, all ten members of our team had bear mounts and we were able to start farming them for other members of our guild.
We retired ZA the week 3.0 came out and remained on hiatus through the first few months of Wrath, since some of us were faster to 80 than others. Those who made it level cap first started a new 10-man team, and those who took a little longer formed a second. Eventually, the guild's interest in Naxx10 waned, and our original group reformed with an eye towards clearing some the early endgame's de facto hard modes. We struggled with The Undying, and came within a few harrowing percent of the achievement on two separate occasions before finally managing a flawless clear. Obsidian Sanctum was an even bigger challenge for us, but after a solid month of attempts, we eventually defeated Sartharion with all three Twilight Drakes active. Glory of the Raider was ours!
With 3.1 came a new challenge. We hit Ulduar hard and fast: for a while, we were ranked Horde-side third in terms of 10-man progression. Eventually, the pressure of running concurrent 10 and 25 man raids took its toll, and we stopped attempting 10-man hard modes consistently. It wasn't until two weeks ago that we went back to Ulduar to finish Glory of the Raider, v2.0, and two nights ago that I finally bullied the guys into a second go-round with Algalon. (He trounced us — which means they're determined to see him down now, whereas before they simply didn't care. Needless to say, this was my plan all along!)
We have also been working dilligently on Trial of the Grand Crusader. Last night, we defeated Anub'arak with 49 attempts remaining. If it hadn't been for an unfortunate lag spike, which caused four of our raiders — including our off-tank — to freeze in place for about 10 seconds at the beginning of Phase 3, we would have achieved Tribute to Insanity.
All in all, we've been very successful. We have also become close — rather like a family, insofar that we laugh and joke and occasionally fight amongst ourselves, but always work through the issues and emerge stronger as a result.
I'm marrying one member of my 10-man team, and at least four of the others are planning to be there. It's an awesome group, in game and out, and I feel privileged to be a part of it.
The catch (there's always a catch!) is that only 10 players at a time can be part of it — a fact that doesn't always sit well with my 25-man raiding guild. My 10-man team has been a source of intermittent tension since late TBC. To those who are in it, it represents an opportunity to play with friends outside of the more regimented 25-man raid environment. To those who aren't, it feels exclusive and cliquish.
I can see both sides.
On one side, you have nine people who have been playing together for over a year and have bonds that transcend the game, including two pairs of real life friends and one real life couple. We are committed to each other and invested in the group as a whole. We have spent countless hours /played wiping on new content — collaborating on, strategizing about and eventually overcoming shared challenges. Most of us are guild officers; all of us are active in leading 25-man raids. We put in a ton of time, effort and real money supporting the guild as a whole ... so why shouldn't we be able to raid together on offnights? Why should we feel guilty for refusing to split up to relearn content we've come close to mastering on our own for the benefit of others (many of whom weren't interested in hard modes until we started spamming /guild chat with achievements)?
If we chose to spend offnights doing things in real life, no one would begrudge us the time away from the guild. But because we spend our free time together online, our members feel entitled to participate and are often resentful when we aren't willing or able to accommodate them.
On the other side, we are all members of the same guild, working towards the same overarching goal: 25-man progression. Our team monopolizes the guild's three main-spec tanks as well as its best off-spec tank , which forces others to enlist alts or PuG in order to fill a 10-man group. If we were willing to split up, or — even better! — take an active role in organizing multiple ToGC teams, then more of our members who have the opportunity to gear up and practice hardmodes outside of a less forgiving 25-man raid environment.
The issue is further complicated for me, personally, because I have good friends who are in the guild but not in my 10-man team. As committed as I am to our little group of nine-plus-one, I am also deeply invested in the guild as a whole. Surreality is my creation and I feel responsible for everyone who clicks "Accept" to my /ginvite — from the Friends & Family who will in all likelihood never raid, to the casual Members who fly in circles around Icecrown hoping for an opportunity to sub in, to the Raiders I count among our core.
So, yes, I can see both sides. It's reconciling them that has always been the challenge.
Not it!
As far as I know, I wasn't tagged for Miss Medicina's now infamous not-meme (maybe if I spent less time angsting about my guild and more time writing useful things, people would remember that I'm a main-spec healer? >.>), but I decided to do it anyway. If nothing else, Bell's tag was open-ended enough for me to feel entitled to an opinion.
* What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?
My raiding main is Liluye, a Tauren restoration shaman.
* What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
I heal 10 and 25-man raids (currently, Ulduar 10 hardmodes and ToGC 10 and 25), and the very occasional 5-man.
* What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?
Riptide! I love having an instant cast HoT that not only buffs my primary raid heal (Chain Heal), but also increases the crit chance on my main spot heal (Lesser Healing Wave). I'm not going to lie: most of it is aesthetics — that waterfall animation is awesome!
* What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?
Healing Wave. Since I run with one or two holy paladins and a discipline priest, it's very seldom that I'm assigned to main tank heals. I will still cancel-cast Healing Waves on General Vezax (our bear tank can take some pretty nasty spike damage1) — but outside of a Nature's Swiftness/Healing Wave combination, that's it.
* What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?
Our mana regen is second-to-none. I healed a ToC 25 PuG this weekend (I sat out the guild raid to let some lesser-geared members in), and died relatively early into the Lord Jaraxxus encounter. I ankh'd back in, popped a mana potion and then dropped Mana Tide. Even though I was running on fumes for most of the fight, I never quite managed to bottom out. Everytime I thought I was OOM, I'd proc Water Shield on that last desperate heal.
When I was playing a warlock last year in 2v2 arena, I hated coming up against a resto shaman. "They aren't OOM until they're dead," I lamented on more than one occasion. Turns out, it's true!
* What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why?
A lack of defensive cooldowns, a la Divine Guardian or Pain Suppression. My one OSHIT! button is a macro that casts Nature's Swiftness in conjunction with either Healing Wave (alt) or Chain Heal (ctrl). It can be useful, but it's reactive rather than proactive and I have lost people in the time it takes for me to react or the server to recognize the command (and since I have auto-self cast turned on, it hits me instead of the corpse that I failed to heal — wasting the two minute cooldown).
* In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?
Raid healing. While shamans are certainly capable of tank healing, paladins and discipline priests are superior single-target healers. Meanwhile, Chain Heal remains a very powerful tool, especially if we're free to concentrate on the melee. (Hint: This means /not/ being assigned to spot heal ranged soakers on the heroic Twins!)
* What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?
The short answer: Annah.
The long answer: I don't have a strong preference. All other things being equal, I'd choose a holy paladin or discipline priest in a 10-man raid environment, since their strong single target heals complement my strong AoE heals (and they have defensive cooldowns that shamans and druids lack). In a 25-man, obviously, I strive for a more balanced mix.
* What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?
Another resto shaman — and not (just) because they steal my loot! All four classes have different strengths and weaknesses, so doubling up one class effectively halves the number of tools in our shared arsenal.
* What is your worst habit as a healer?
Tunnel vision. Big time. I'm so focused on Grid that I often miss environmental effects, especially when learning a new fight for the first time. I've come to rely on our raid leader and various assists calling out DBM warnings on Vent.
* What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?
Ironically, given my answer to the last question: players who call for heals, or raid leaders who make snarky comments like "Might want to heal X!" in the middle of a boss fight. I spend the entire raid staring at Grid, which is strategically placed above my minimap. If a player needs heals, then I /will/ see it — possibly before he does. If the mage is out of range (perhaps because he was shadowcrashed halfway to Grizzly Hills?), then I will locate him on my map and make a split-second decision: run towards him, if I can do so without letting another (more important) assignment die; call on Vent for him to run to me; or simply trust another healer who is closer or faster to heal him instead.
I'm used to PuGs being rude about this (that's what GridStatusIgnore is for!). But in a guild run of Uld 10, when I have the fucking Champion of Ulduar title displayed? Trust me to do my job or kick me from the goddamn raid. Seriously.
* Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?
Shamans are in a fantastic place right now. We are exceptional raid healers and (properly glyphed and itemized) can be strong main tank healers as well. We buff the raid via totems, which can be tailored to suit not only to the group make-up but also the nature of the encounter. We have defensive and offensive dispels, a ranged interrupt that is off the global cooldown, limited but still situtationally viable CC, self-resurrection and — of course — Bloodlust. If anything, shamans are overpowered at the moment compared to other healing classes.
* What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?
As far as actual tools go, Recount and World of Logs — when I remember to record the combat log, that is. >.> As a healer, evaluating my performance tends to be more open-ended. Did my assignment live? If so, did others have to cover for me, or was I largely self-sufficient? Did I communicate effectively with the other healers over the course of the fight, announcing things like interrupts and spell locks? My place on the healing meter is entirely dependent upon my assignment (let me Chain Heal the melee and I may top it, but ask me to top off the ranged DPS during a movement intense fight and I'm barely a blip!), so I don't put much stock in it, in general.
* What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?
That all there is to healing as a shaman is facerolling Chain Heal. Although there's no denying that Chain Heal is a very powerful tool, it is stronger in some situations and weaker (even very nearly useless) in others, and is /always/ best used in conjunction with our other abilities.
* What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?
There is a rhythm (for lack of a better word) to shaman healing that it simply takes time to learn. I think this is true of all healers, though. You can memorize tooltips and research the best "rotations" on Elitist Jerks or PlusHeal, but it takes experience and a fair amount of trial and error to become comfortable enough with your abilities to use them quickly and intuitively — both of which are absolutely essential for healing in a progression raid environment.
* If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)?
This varies wildly from fight to fight. Surreality is currently working on the heroic Twin Valkyrs, and even though I'm officially assigned to the melee, I end up doing a lot of spot healing on the ranged soakers. My output is relatively low as a result of the unusually high percentage of Lesser Healing Waves I'm casting relative to Chain Heal — especially now that we're simply healing through Touch of Light and Touch of Darkness. On a fight like XT Deconstructor or the Beasts of Northrend, where the entire raid is taking periodic damage and I'm able to concentrate on the tanks and melee, my output will be much higher, my overhealing will be lower, and Chain Heal will make up the vast majority of my healing.
* Haste or Crit and why?
Haste. While I would never say no to crit — it procs Water Shield and Ancestral Awakening — I am currently gemming for straight haste. More haste means faster Chain Heals, which jump up to four times and (thanks to recent buffs!) lose less healing per jump than ever before. Meanwhile, more crit results in more overhealing and faster mana regen, neither of which I particularly need at this point in the game.
* What healing class do you feel you understand least?
Discipline priests — for all that my favorite healer in all of Azeroth is one. (Fortunately, no one else seems to understand them either!)
* What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?
I'm an add-on whore. I currently use Grid, Clique, HoTcandy and TotemTimers. I also have macros to combine Nature's Swiftness with Tidal Waves and either Healing Wave or Chain Heal.
* Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?
I'm currently stacking haste. Intellect was king two tiers ago, but my regen is so strong now that I'm determined to stack haste for faster Chain Heals until I start running into mana problems. I don't see that happening in this expansion, though.
* * *
Just for fun, I tag my guild's resident trees: Forreststump and — if he isn't too busy with exams and that NaNoWriMo thing I keep reading about — Naithin. Miss Medicina has a list on her site of everyone who has responded so far, if you're curious!
Also, someone should totally start the tank version of this so I can do that one, too. <hint hint>
- l2block, kkthx ↩
One of those days…
It's a chilly 72 degrees in my office this morning, I left my sweater at home and — sigh — I just noticed that my shoes don't match.
It's going to be one of those days.
I wish I couldn’t care less.
Matticus recently had a guildmember depart for a more hardcore raiding guild. By and large, he was fine with it — even supportive. He just wished the guy had talked to him before leaving rather than after, and perhaps finished the lockout period instead of bailing in the middle of it.
While I don't necessarily agree with Matt's observation that he "should have" been angry (a psychology major, I don't believe there's any such thing as "should have" when it comes to feelings; they simply are or they aren't), I am surprised by some of the comments he has received. A couple of people — including well-respected members of the community (read: not trolls!) — have told him point blank that it was his fault that the former guildie didn't approach him. Clearly, Matt should have fostered a more open, communicative environment ...
Um, excuse me for interrupting the self-righteous diatribe: but how the hell do you know what kind of guild culture Matticus and his officers have created (or failed to create)? Do you play with Conquest? Have you listened in on one of Matt's raids or polled his members for their opinions on his leadership skills (or, as you assume, lack thereof)?
Maybe you're right, and Matt is a piss-poor guild leader whose members are right to leave (in the middle of the raid week, with no advance notice or even the courtesy of a post mortem tell).
Or maybe the guy was just a dick.
* * *
Last night, I found myself in a similar situation. The guildmember who threatened to quit two and half weeks ago finally did, and although "L." isn't a dick — he's actually a pretty nice guy — he certainly exhibited some dickish behavior on his way out.
While the too easy/too hard debate rages on, only the most optimistic of gnomes seems to find the raid-game "just right." The rest of us have been struggling: either to fill raids as our members become increasingly bored with the same repetitive content, or to break into raiding in the first place when no one bothers with the entry level zones. On Black Dragonflight, several top level guilds have failed — felled not by hardmodes, but by simple ennui — as have countless start-ups.
For about a month, Surreality was failing too. We were consistently canceling two out of three weekly raids, and those members who wanted to progress through hardmode content were thwarted by those who simply didn't care.
Then, a couple of things happened.
First, I kicked recruitment into overdrive, using the official forums to lure potential raiders cross-server. (Hi Val. *wave*)
Second, two major Horde guilds failed, which led to an fortuitous (for us!) influx of new recruits — giving us not only the numbers we needed to start hardmodes in earnest, but creating competition for raid spots that many of our members had come to take for granted (and couldn't always be counted on to fill). We've seen a considerable step up in interest, attendance and performance as a result. In the space of two weeks, we went from 23-manning Trial of the Crusader once a week to making significant progress in Trial of the Grand Crusader. We even broke into the server's Top 10 for the first time in our existence.
For the last two weeks, our members have been interested, engaged and enthused. Raids are lively again, with everyone from new initiates to seasoned vets offering input and suggestions for strategy tweaks. Even our 10-mans are back in business, with a first round of Rusted Proto-Drakes hatched and many more to come. (I'm currently working on an extended Uld 10 schedule that will open up hardmodes to members who haven't had a chance to see them yet — without leaning on those who never want to see them again. It's even harder than it sounds, but I'm determined to make it work. Somehow.)
... So why now? Why wait until everything is going right to /gquit?
I knew from a previous conversation that L. had been offered a trial with a hardcore guild, recently formed from the remnants of several decently progressed — but largely stagnant — raiding guilds. "SRP" (which stands either for Smoke Ring Productions or Stupid Retarded People, depending upon who you ask) is a typical FotM guild. You know the type, I'm sure: the fourth or fifth reiteration of an old and somewhat controversial name, recreated by and for players who are united in the pursuit of purples but have no deeper or more lasting ties than that. I predict that SRP will enjoy a meteoric rise and then implode as soon as the novelty of being the talk of Trade Chat wears off and its members realize they've been guilded together before and actually hate each other.
So, no, it doesn't sound like a great offer to me — but then, I don't raid for epics or even progression. I raid to play with my friends, so I can't imagine an end-game without Surreality and her odd ensemble cast. Perhaps this is naive of me, but I truly believe that it's the strength of our community that saw us through the worst of the "summer slump" and ultimately allowed us to rebuild.
L. obviously doesn't share my opinion, and that's fine. As Matticus points out, everyone is motivated by different things, and there's nothing inherently wrong with looking for a more compatible experience. For his part, L. was certain that SRP's offer represented an opportunity: a "new adventure," as he phrased it on our message boards.
We talked long into the night the first time this came up, discussing the pro's and con's, and L. eventually decided to give Surreality a month long "trial." "You have one month to recruit more raiders," he concluded at the end of our conversation. "They'll either convince me to stay, or they'll replace me."
Not surprisingly, my officers were a little (okay, more than a little) annoyed by what they perceived as an ultimatum — especially since it came from someone we had historically found to be a little ... unreliable?
With all due respect to L., he does have an unfortunate tendency to /afk through raid content — including our entire first Archimonde kill and multiple bosses in Trial of the Crusader (although completely unattended, his pet once managed 700 DPS on its own on 10-man Jaraxxus!) — and often struggles to maintain a consistent Internet connection. This week, he missed two of our three weekly raids: one because he was late (albeit for perfectly understandable reasons), and one because he disconnected so often that he ended up costing us attempts on the heroic Twin Valks and had to be subbed out.
An unstable Internet connection and flakey attendance aren't ideal for a raider in any guild, but — true to our casual-friendly roots — they are things we're willing to work around. To a point. L.'s veteran status (and the fact that I have always believed his heart to be in the right place, even when his head isn't anywhere at all) has been his Get Out Of Jail Free card. Truth be told, I've taken a bit of flak about it from my officers. But I still view Surreality as my baby and am determined to preserve our "fun and friendship first; progression second" philosphy towards raiding, even if the gap between first and second has narrowed considerably over the years.
Ironically, the same credo that has kept L. in the guild as a core raider has become his reason for leaving. "I guess my desire for progression finally outstripped the guild's," he told Keaton last night. Oh, you mean the desire for progression that leads you to /afk randomly throughout progression raids? (Which is the main reason you're seldom our first choice for a 10-man, by the way. >.<)
I think our melee officer said it best: "Are. you. fucking. kidding. me.?"
Be more condescending. Please.
... Yes, I'm a little upset. Not because he left, per se, but because ever since he recieved the competing offer, his ego has been out of control. It became increasingly obvious after our talk that he no longer wanted to be a part of Surreality. Literally overnight, he went from being optimistic and generally constructive in raids to critical and overbearing — harping on other people's failures while largely ignoring his own. I received so many complaints that I finally resolved to ask him to leave the guild, since it was clear that he resented his choice to stay and was taking the resulting frustration out on us. I suppose I should be relieved that he spared me that particular confrontation ... but I'm mostly just annoyed.
Sometimes, I wish I had Matt's emotional distance. Matt writes that he couldn't care less; that he keeps his members at arms' length and considers no one irreplaceable. Me, I care too much. I feel personally responsible for everyone's enjoyment of the guild and game; on more than one occasion, I have made myself literally sick stressing over the raid roster or an initiate we had to turn away or a veteran who had somehow fallen behind and needed to be demoted or benched.
At the end of the day, I want everyone to love Surreality as much as I do, and am genuinely disappointed and even a little hurt when it turns out that they don't. But this? This was even worse, because — adding insult to injury — the player who left did so in search of a "hardcore" experience he certainly couldn't deliver in-house. His condescension was completely unwarranted and — in my estimation, at least — out-of-character (although no one else seems particularly surprised, so maybe that part's just me).
I wish I was a big enough person to wish him well, but I'm not.
And then there were eight.
I benched myself from last night's raid.
We finally managed to recruit a second holy paladin — or, rather, Malamo managed to recruit a second holy paladin by convincing his 3v3 partners to raid with us (most likely by refusing to unbind KAMEHAMEHA! from Lightning Bolt until they agreed to apply >.>).
Not only does Tingwei seem perfectly sane (*fingers crossed*), but she rounds out our group nicely, giving us two raiders of each healing class and the cushion we need to accommodate occasional absences (without having to do silly things like send our 15 million DPS ret pally to his discipline priest for the evening).
However, adding another healer does take our total number to eight, which is two more than we find we need for most content. We're either going to have to look at utilizing our dual-specs (which will take raid spots from the "real" DPS) or start taking turns. Given that we also wait-listed DPS last night, I felt that the latter was the better option and decided to set the precedent by stepping out first.
If the guild leader is the first to ride the bench, then surely others will think twice before complaining about it, right?
... one can hope. ;.;
Alts! I haz them.
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Surreality Blogs!
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