Thursday 27 August 2009

Which Raid..what level, which is best.

After posting on our forum a raid poll, it seems other guilds on Khadgar (and prehaps other realms) are (almost) doing the same, finding what is their focus?, and what is the point almost…especially with the announcement of the next expansion.
Lets think back to TBC and the WOTLK announcement. …..ahh ok…apathy. However the poll put Ulduar 10 in focus, along with ToC 10 and Malygos. Suprising when i thought the outcome would be biased towards 25 man raiding however i think they all have a lasting impression of waiting 20 minutes to try and fill the last 5 places and then going something, with just 20...

I have what seems like a more focused role this month also, this new emblem system needs some focus. Some members of the guild haven’t quite understood it aswell as they should, or maybe they have and haven’t spoken out and got involved in the guild with getting a group together and doing it. Ontop of that some players haven’t quite got used to WOTLK and its new group AE and kill everything, and maybe too used to the old pause CC and pull routine. BLITZ is propably what I should call dungeons these days.

The new content of ToC has raised the promotion of putting other people (geared) in charge of their own Wednesday 10 man raid, im happy with that, and it should build some new relationships in leading the way through that event. Went well for them last night on an organising level and discussion level, however they had an unlucky spell at the last boss. But that’s not important, the team developed into a more structured 10 man, without an official RL in it.

The gold anvil has been a carrot on the stick, for new content or guild firsts, I think not having this causes …”Mmm im saving for an epic flight skill” type of sign up. If the raid is free of repair bills then the only think spent is time, and for those without emblems to farm or items to spend money on crafting (Capped geared players) you need to keep the fire fuelled, until the rest of the guild catch up. An endless game of catch up. And yup, im the main player in getting those folk caught up.
If in doubt where to go, ask your people..

Something I noticed when typing NadiaStorm into google, I do appear a lot, so maybe I should spend a bit more time writing something rather than adding notes to myself now and then to reflect on.

Interesting post here by Gevlon and it really really should be read without any "doubts" or "but that.." and "oh he...".

Tuesday 25 August 2009

3.2 Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes...


Since my return to tanking (from being a DPS Death Knight) and taking advantage of the new 3.2 Emblem system. I have had to list the gear here so i dont loose track. It's pretty bad to say that i need something to refer back to constantly. But thats now become the nature of the game, and a few people in my guild have fallen into that abyss also..more on that later.
So here goes..i will grey out what i have managed to achieve.

[Conqueror's Aegis Faceguard] 58 [Emblem of Conquest]
[Conqueror's Aegis Breastplate] - 58 [Emblem of Conquest]
[Shieldwarder Girdle] - 28 [Emblem of Conquest]

[Conqueror's Aegis Handguards] VoA25
Conqueror's Aegis Legguards VoA25
Or
[Gauntlets of the Royal Watch] - 28 [Emblem of Conquest]
Or
[Wyrmguard Legplates] - 39 [Emblem of Conquest]

[Regal Aurous Shoulderplates] TOC
[Dreadscale Bracers] Northrend Beasts
[Platinum Mesh Cloak] - 25 [Emblem of Valor]
[Spiked Deathdealers] - Crafted

I have spent more time on my paladin than my death knight since patch 3.2 came out, nobody needed dps for ToC5, only tanks in the LFG channel. On top of that, there has been an inconsistant attendance of tanks for our current raiding schedule, ..and quite frankly im getting a bit tired of asking folk to use their offspec to see us through a raid night. Although they dont mind it, its hardly the point, can i still roll on dps stuff, or tanking stuff Q. A vaild question, but not something i don't want to answer going through a raid in whisper. Quicker loot is done with, the quicker we move on, or rejoin the raid party progressing.
The guild vote on the forum pretty much spoke louder than words.
I also find it easier to talk on vent with the paladin, the DK is pretty much key mashing to keep your dps up. Paladin, i have about 5 seconds of nothing to do but look about and check where everyone is. I think for the sake of understanding and clarity, i will remove my death knight from the guild and park her somewhere..Yes, this is a permanent change.
So, its about time i got on the Heroic bandwagon, and farmt he hell out of Northrend, and pray to god that we win Wintergrasp this week.


We have had to reshuffle our outlook in 3.2, because we found ourselves locked in confusion about which raid..is higher than the other..25man Naxx Vs 10Man Ulduar. Ontop of that, some of our "2nd language is english" havent quite grasped the emblems for T8 head gear yet either. Ontop of no confident of getting in there with a pug and farming away. So i have had to take stock of all this and re-do the raiding back to 10 man, and re-focus everyone into the emblem system (both Conquest and Triumph) ..sounds odd right? a little, but these things do confuse you when you dont have as much dedicated time as someone who doesnt have a partner and 2 kids and a job to keep paying the bills!

So thats where the GM and Raid leaders have to consult each other and get the momentum and direction back, and im glad to say after a guild wide poll (which will be ongoing) we have that now. Ulduar 10 and ToC 10, lots of Heroic ToC 5 man and Heroic Dailies..C'MON! get in there :D

Raiding will still be 3 nights a week, but wednesday's will be more of a non-official ToC 10 while i manage the Mon Tues Uldar 10, backed up by Tarnya on Thursday's Ulduar. HaG continues on Friday,....which i hope to get folk not doing ToC 5 and daily heroics..on the right path of confidence. Position as tank and GM is easier, being able to lead this way round seems to be more practical, being one of the key roles in a group..the tank.

Ahh almost forgot

/script dr=function(x)return 1/(1/16+0.9560/x)end;DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Need 102.4 with HS for block cap. Currently at: "..string.format("%.2f", GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance()+GetParryChance()+5+dr(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)/122.962)))

Monday 17 August 2009

The game has changed...almost completely

I once heard, or read, that the bosses in Uldar were too difficult, or complicated. It took all of 10 seconds for me to have a think about the XT fight, and then realise....actually, Heroic SteamVaults was harder..
Trash for every raid is, almost...nearly none...in comparison to TBC i remember endless pulls to get to Void Reaver. And that also involve something called....pulling tactics.. "sheep this" "Banish that"
Theres no doubt that the game is more accessable to the casual player, or casual raider. But please dont confuse accessable with ..the need to make a raid instance AE boring.
There is no danger, not that i have felt, going through trash, only the achievement of downing a new boss for the first time. Part of the challenge was getting there..."you know that old saying"

I think the game has now developed a very much pug a raid attitude. And again, not that im complaining about that accessability, as i have benefited myself from it, but if Uldar is the endgame content..i hope to find some sort of challenge in there, as so far, other than AE'ing everything to death and having gear checks on patchwerk and Co. Theres nothing really that stands out as a challenge or challenging ...so far in WOTLK. Maybe im too used to playing wow? i never did Molten Core or Black Temple....prehaps i just prefer to strive, to maybe one day achieve,.......... rather than here now AE tomorrow.
Undecided...