1,2,3 Done

Tonight we did it, HKM, Gruul and Maggy down (Maggy took 2 tries after an accidental pull) But a real boost for the guild confidence to finally run its own 25 man raid without assistance.

... 5 more please

The co-operation raid didnt come together last night. Our co-op guild had a very bad sign up and maybe not enough to gather 5 folk. However, TDD did have 20 folk signed up. 26 if you include those who cancelled.
We got a little help from some friends in Home of the Ghostlords, and it was very much appriecated. I did feel a little noobish in their company though lol. Never the less, i hope they had fun, however we didnt get Maggy down, which was a shame, because we kept getting him down to 35-37% and making silly mistakes, with cube clicking and the MT dying.
With that in mind, i am canvasing the guild about Tuesday, and Kiddman's Challenge. Some folk who i thought would have known about it, did'nt, so just aswell i mentioned it in guild chat. The challenge was if TDD could gather its own 25 man, and defeat Gruuls, Kiddman would do anything for TDD, ...and being the jesters we are..we are going to hold him to it!
The Wednesday is looking like the TDD 25 man night, along with the Thursday. The high sign up for mid-week is something to be capitalised on, and the weekend posting of Kara raids seems to be taking on, so some adjustment in the organisation there, i think we'll have to transition that across in the next week. As there is a que for 10 man raids equaling upto 15-20 people. Pop a 25 man in there and i think it could be obtainable.

Raiding and new Recruits (trial members)

he suprising thing is, the time between i was last in Karazhan with TDD Main Tanking trash, and Offtanking bosses as a backup. Maybe its my approach to raiding, being the GM and leading the raid everyone gets their focus head on, and see's the raid push on, be on the ball. And maybe it isnt. I dont know.. Shade down on the first night after the reset, and maybe 15 mins downtime in total. It was good overall. And i think folk who clear Kara in one evening must be starting their raids at 6pm and finishing at 11:30pm, we start at 8pm and finished at 11:30pm last night. Would another hour made the difference? Not likey with the setup we had, mostly Melee and 3 ranged DPS (Mage, Hunter and Warlock) But not all the big guns where not in this raid, Burlok, Gallbatorix, Leni, Shaylee, Adremelech, Tem etc Although Triv and Logum there made the DPS group work out and without them i think the run could have gone south very quickly. BUT, the whole point about Wednesday runs, is for those not within the guilds raiding gear average, a chance to catch up in gear to join in with the 25 man events, and i think it worked out well all round. Our Trial member for the night was Mickes friend (in RL) Amyss, and i had no concern about loot handing out.
yjal, amongst nobody else i have been reading up on Mount Hyjal. Tonight our co-operative raid goes to Maggy instead of Gruul as normal. If Maggy is one shotted, then SSC would be the normal avenue to go. However, looking at the state of play, between both guilds at this present time, and no preparation with Frost and Nature Resistant gear, i am reluctant to goto Lurker below for maybe 2-3 shots before a respawn. However reading up on MH eveything is local, you can run back into the raid halfway through trash waves etc (except from the boss fight itself), i had a play around myself, aggroing the Alliance NPC with the various waves, and it looks pretty easy from a paladin tanking point of view. Norritt has signed up, so hopefully Maggy will be one shotted, the co-operation will go fairly and smoothly, in hindsight of the previous weeks. We will see...

I had to poke two members of the guild this week, about their trial membership, Cesaya and Selass. 1 month trial and both havent really intergrated into the guild as well as i would have hoped. Selass has been working, but it turns out Cesaya has been playing a Shaman on another server, and has lost faith and enjoyment in the resto druid. Just aswell i asked though, so i have placed her on Visitor status until the end of her trial period to make up her mind, and then i will remove her from TDD if things are still grey on the decision area. Cesaya was ok about it, and there were no hard feelings if she was removed before hand. Talking like this in the open helps, not just you as a GM, but the over all attitude of your guild. Guild see's you poking politely and asking questions, members respond, and everyone knows whats going on. If a member leaves your guild on good terms, the leave with a positive impression, that rubs off on other guilds, players, and party (pug groups) they form, and word spreads. It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and respect, and 1 minute to destroy it. And after all, it doesnt hurt to talk about things, as after all, this is a game we play...not a life we lead.

A GM's work is ....

We re-established the co-opertaion raids again. However there was a combination of circumstances prior to the raid TDD had to deal with. One member of the guild switching class and specc and then asking to switch his main character again after winning loot from other main raiding characters during that time, was met with swift resistance from the guil dofficers on our forum. The player then left the guild. On the edge of that, the raid setup for the co-operation raid was complete from the TDD side, however our co-operation guild had some Alts, and new to the co-op raid players. Me not being able to voice chat due to toothache (which got fixed on Friday hurrah!) couldn’t really intervene. Needless to say there was a lot of, Alt rolling against main raiders, and new folk rolling against tanks for T4 legs, while wearing epic gear anyway, over TDD's feral druid in blues, and our Micke. Meantime our Priest's, all passing for the tanks, that nobility didn’t pass onto the co-operative guild, nor did that sense of Raid first, individuals after.
It might have been a lax of continuity from previous weeks, since the hold on co-op's. And the out of practice dilemha of working together, however key members of TDD have gotten a little fed up, of rolling against people they havent seen raid before, or against an Alt.
We dealt with our issues of Alts and Trailist members rolling after Main raiders, and it’s a ruling that TDD fully and completely understands, without question. And questions are being asked of the co-operative guild whether any kind of ruling on their guild structure has this in place, akin to our own, or any rule. Needless to say, there is unrest at the prospect of another co-op, and something similar again would definitely be the certain death of the co-operation raiding altogether.
Which is a shame, as the accomplishments both guilds have achieved displays promise, for future instances. And for something as daft as putting Main raiding characters first and alts, and offspecs last (common sense).
We're going to try and rise to Kiddman's challenge, for me personally, I would like to see one day a week for the guild maintaining its own 25 man raid. Whether that’s SSC or a TK run, it doesn’t matter. I would just like to have the confidence that TDD could and can hold its own numbers for that 1 day. And hopefully Tuesday or Thursday would be that day, however IF Thursday doesn’t go well at all, Thursday would be the night for TDD instead.
We moved Karazhan to Saturday and Sunday sign ups. Sunday went well with a full showing of members and I heard it went well. That leaves room for ZA during the week, and I will need to speak to Nyt Ryders Alliance about weekend run's along with TDD's Alts. They are a young established guild, who where leveling together but now have reached the 70 bracket with something more to do. We had a suprising application from their GM to join TDD, and we all supported him by telling him to continue with his guild, and seek a co-op to bring up is level 70's with the knowledge to do Karazhan, rather than guild hop.
On a GM side, I have lots to sort out this week. Folk to poke, and folk to prompt. And guilds to organise and re-establish links and relationships with. I think this will be a busy week indeed.

Bad Ass Badge Loot. 330!

After running through all the BoJ rewards i managed to look up the gear that would improve my current gear. Other than T5, which i would probably need to compare against 330 would be the total cost of badges for everything on my wish list...time to start looking for alternatives i think!!

Settled

After a long ingame voice chat with our fellow co-op guild, we made it clear that both guilds would continue the co-operation raids together as a team, and remain as 2 individual guilds. Realm did offer a merger, however after a discussion on both guild building up a reputation and developing as guilds, the name above the guild members head, ment more to them. The proposal was a /gdisband and reformation of a guild under a new name. I heard out the proposition, and respected the plan, however I felt that officers and a GM could not speak for the members of the guild who applied to join a guild under its own name, and the history of TDD's continous strides to push on as a group of friends, the same goes for our co-op guild. And with out further worries, but parties logged off content that the relationship between the 2 guilds will get stronger and lasting for the future. Including wotlk.

Survival of the fittest

I have long wondered how TDD survived its time since its small beginnings. We where humble, a little bruised and dis-heartened during its formation, but we where hardened by our experiences, our troubles and strife's.
First TheBlackRoses, DarkStorm, then back to TheBlackRoses and then to DUTY, and now TDD. A history spanning 3 years under the name of Nadiastorm for all the guilds except Duty, where I was content as the raid leader.
The truth of it is we have survived together as a group of online friends, up against the raid race of other guilds on Khadgar. And kept true to our values of game play and honourable conduct. And now we are on the dawn of something new to us, which is absorbing another guild.
Usually we would ask for applications as a general rule, however if this was to be the case, something quick would need to be done to avoid separation of the co-operation. We have a short listing of those folk, and tonight I will be discussing the details with 2 of their senior members.
Much like the co-op it is an offer of invitation, their GM knows that we are not interested in any merger of any kind due to our past experiences, and being like TDD is, there is no issue of power or dominance with our guild structure, just plain and simple rules a set out as we have learned from experience.
We had quite the chat in TDD last night on ventrillo, and broaching the subject with the guild had me a little on edge as to what their reaction to it would be. On one side of the fence you have 10-13 active players who you know will be equipped for the job of raiding 25 mans, and on the other you have the social intrusion of 1 establish guild social structure intruded by the previous administration of a former guild. How that mix would blend with 10-13 member suddenly introduced into TDD would be a guessing game. However, our experiences with the guild have been positive, however the newer members seem very hard work, as you and I know as all new members can be, to get them up to speed with raid organisation and preparation. It's a lot of patience and instruction, and I don’t think we have the time for that, to go backwards to come forwards again.
TDD is now past the point where we are stuck with Karazhan, and I am looking forward to the guild pushing into ZA more frequently. And at the same time being able to establish its 25 man raiding team too. Again, this is another step in progression as a guild towards something more set in stone than something which is a quick fix to get us by. Confidence is high, and so is morale, and I like to see it continue that way, by what ever means possible if required.

Farming for gear

Belt of the Guardian
We all need our goal's in the game. And some time ago while i was enquiring about co-operative raids with some friends online, Soulplaya spoke to me on MSN offering to make the above. A dropped pattern in SSC. I have some of the matts, the rest is just farming gold for 2 nether vortex's which are about 350g each on the AH, and 10 primal Waters, i already have the 5 primal earths & i also need 5 Hardened Adamintite Bars (which are 23g each)
The the rest of the gear is purely Badge rewards (exception of Shades ring) this ring Ring of the Stalwart Protector would be easier to get rather than waiting on chance. If Shade drops the ring, woot, wearing both would be great.
Just the Legs and the boots together is 160 Badges. Plus 60 for the ring and 35 for the cloak..
Looks like it will be a load of daily Heroics, Karazhan runs, and ...god knows what else. But the priority at the moment is the Belt, get that out of the way and then focus on daily heroics. Kahir by far is the quickest character to get this done with the herbing and questing both at the same time.
I may have to smash my offspec healing gear into prismatic shards, which isnt such a bad thing, due to the T4 set and gear i currently have, my healing isnt that bad as a backup and tbh i could do with the room in my own bank, and stick with the offspec DPS gear since i spent alot of time farming for that while i was in Ret Spec. And offspec DPS is my daily quest and questing gear (Looking ahead leveling gear too!)