Upcoming Raid Changes

Sated's raid progression has been phenomenal to say the least. Things that were once hard, are now a walk in the park. Ulduar is run for fun and we hardly flinch when entering ToC. Once ICC opened its door's to us in December, our guild has gone in weekly to demolish the first wing (which is practically on farm now, both in 10's and 25's) and we have been hammering at the second wing, gradually making headway.

However, for the past couple of weeks, we seem to have hit a wall when it comes to progression in ICC. Our 10 mans are being made slaves to the Plague Wing and in our 25 man, we make Deathbringer Saurfang fall before us, and then don't dare set foot in the Plague Wing. In order to work past this, we have decided to make a few changes and rules when it comes to Sated Raiding. The goal of this, is to continually progress in ICC, particularly when it comes to our 25 man runs. There is no other way to progress besides putting in the time, these changes and rules work to accomplish just that.

Starting on Tuesday, February 16th we will be running our 25man ICC at 9:15pm. We will pick it up again the following night, once again at 9:15pm. The raids will run till 12:30am and will be ended at this time, regardless of where we are. If we wipe during an attempt at 12:00, we set up to try again. If we wipe at 12:15 or later, we call it a night, to ensure that we do not run past 12:30 (this is all in servertime). 10man ICC runs can be scheduled at any other point during the week as long as it does not conflict with a 25man run.

• Invites for 25mans will be sent out at 9:00pm sharp. If you wish to participate, you must be on by then. You should not be tied up in a RH, any other instance or doing dailies. If you are, you are expected to leave the groups you are in, and you are expected to use the 15 minutes prior to incoming summons at 9:15pm, to repair, get flasks, get reagents, enchants, gemming and whatever else you need to do to get ready to raid. If you need more that 15 minutes to get ready, plan ahead! You know when invites are going out and you know when you are going to be summoned.
• If, at 9:15pm, you are not ready to accept your summon, you forfeit your spot in the raid to someone else. We have plenty of people who are more then willing to come and who want to come.
• We know that on occasion something will come up that may hinder your immediate availability to prep for a raid. If this is the case, it is your responsibility to inform an officer who is partaking in the raid of your circumstances so we can hold your spot for a short time. These cases will be tracked so ensure that no one takes advantage of this. Also, the reason you are giving, will be evaluated by the officers.

There are also going to be rules for AFKing during raids.

• At no point may a player go afk or "brb" during a raid unless there is an extreme circumstance. This is to ensure that we can dedicate as much time as possible to fights and progression. We all know about the chain of afk's that spring up the second the first one is unleashed.
• Any afkness will also be tracked. If a pattern of this is found, it is highly likely that the individual will not be asked to raid for a while.
• We will have designated, timed breaks. These will be for a duration of two minutes after each boss that is downed. In the event that we are stuck at a boss, which is going to happen, a break will be scheduled.
• A readycheck will be brought up at the two minute mark, and everyone is expected to be ready to hit "Yes". This allows for tracking of afkness and ensures that we are ready to proceed.
• Resetting computers is going to be lumped in with AFKing. We understand that if you need to restart your computer, you need to restart your computer. However, these will also be tracked to avoid any excessive restarting.

Please keep in mind that this is aimed at allowing Sated to further progress in raiding. Afterall, Sated was created on the grounds of being a Raiding Guild. Meaning, that our primary focus is just that, raiding. Until now, Sated has tried to accommodate its 30+ active raiding members, but it is becoming harder and harder to do, almost daily. When it comes down to it, the reason a WoW player joins a guild, is because the guild has similar goals as that individual and fits their schedule. It is not up to the guild to somehow manage to meet the requirements of ALL of its member, it is simply impossible. We know and acknowledge that this new raiding schedule will not work for all members, and we truly do wish that we could make it work for all of you. But it is time to setup guild standards and to see who is willing to adjust and willing to put in the work.


With this new raiding schedule, there is still plenty of time during the week, and even during raiding days, for guild members to fit in their weekly raids, RHs, dailies, play on alts, PvP or whatever else it is that they wish to do. With this small change we have increased the time spent in our 25man ICC runs from a choppy 4-5 hours to a solid 6.5 hours a week.


Something that is going to come with more time spent raiding harder fights, are wipes. There is going to a wipe, followed by another, and then another. What needs to be taken away from wipes, is the opportunity to improve our strategy and learn from it! Anyone who has set foot in any raid, knows that wipes are going to occur, and that we are going to reach a point where we are seemingly backed into a corner with no way out. The only way to beat the beast that is ICC, is to come back at it kicking, punching and pew pewing! For more on wiping with purpose, you can read a previous post made on this blog titled "The Price of Progression: Wiping with Dignity".

We look forward to making our way through ICC with all of you and making Sated one of the top competitive guilds on Blood Furnace!

The Game of Life: Chance

As of late, there really hasn't been much going on, WoW related, for me to write about. I mean, other than our newly deemed weekend Karaoke in vent, our 25's have been chugging along, making headway here and there, and I've actually considered leveling my Pally to 80; everything's going well.


So well, in fact, that I've been able to let my mind drift on to other things. I know, thoughts other than WoW? I must be mad... But who really knows where thoughts come from? Sometimes they just appear (maybe it was Favre letting me down). And since I really don't have any other outlet to direct them to, I might as well expound on them here.


So I want to take a couple of moments to talk about Fate...

I used to think of Fate as someone that opened and closed doors, serendipitously; and that these doors magically correlated to specific life changing events.

In my epicness (age), I've renegotiated my viewpoint slightly. I no longer view Fate as a Wal-Mart greeter, able to alter ones destiny with an act as trivial and mundane, as stepping through a doorway.


Rather, I view Fate as showing us glimpses of all things in this world with possibility; would be's and should be's, ought be's and could be's. These glimpses aren't static; they move and change and are intrinsically woven through every fiber of our being...


And that's the key. These glimpses aren't doorways. They're not waiting around for us to walk through them. They exist merely to test our resolve; our drive for the things we most desire, the strength to choose the path to reach them, and faith to follow that path when we are at our weakest.


Glimpses that exist but momentarily--tiny, reflective notions of memories that are yet made, calling our character into question; asking us which path we will choose.
I guess the point is, that if you happen to be fortunate enough to see one of these glimpses, you should have the guts to go after it; unfalteringly. Bet on yourself. Let go. Jump.


Frost very eloquently chose the path less traveled by. But I believe that he spoke of that path, and his life, retrospectively.


My path, on the other hand, changes with each step that I take. As I walk through the trees, my glimpses on the other side of the forest, light the night sky...I walk with the resolve to trudge along un-weathered ground, the strength to always move forward, and the hope that my glimpse will welcome me when I reach the other side.   

A January Romance....

So last night (this morning?) I'm in the middle of some good conversation, when GChat starts blowing up...

Apparently all the good shit happens when I'm normally fast asleep.

It seems as though one of my guildies has an admirer.

This guildy, who shall remain nameless to conceal her sexy female tauren ass, is apparently being serenaded over vent--merely a channel above where I was at.

Its better than I expected.

It's soooooo delicious.

I almost shit myself.

I spit crown and coke all over my computer screen.

It's here for your listening pleasure.




*Special thanks to Joe for being smart enough to record it*

Guild Progress: It was the Heat of the Moment

Saurfang 25: Check.
Festergut 10: Check.

The state of the guild is looking very, very good. Great players gearing up each week, synergy smelting together like the 2 hot nurses I've been dreaming about peanut butter and jelly; every week I see progress being made--gearscores, dps, heals...its amazing.
 
We're almost completely outgeared of 25 ToC, save for a couple tinkets *Cough*
 
And next week we'll start delegating all 3 nights to 25 runs. Its time to push it to the limit.

Surprise! I'm dualboxing!!! And I'm in a world ranked guild...

I'm lying.
I would never dual box.
I think its dumb.
But more importantly, I think its disrespectful.


Here's the scoop:


So Stinky and I jump into a random the other day to partake in a little free frost give-away.
Nexus.


Stinky- Bear Tank
Me- 1337 dps
Hunter- 4800 gearscored
Lock- 4400 gearscored
Pally- 5000 gearscored Holy


So we're runnin through this place, Stinky's pullin 5-6 iceblocks at a time, pulls the boss--and I'm mashin close to 7k on the chart. Hunters at 2200 and some change. Lock is hittin around....I dunno....650.

No lie.

And the Holy Pally is playin tank the etire time, pullin groups, runnin ahead, pullin more groups, starting boss fights...

Stinky: "So it looks like we have another tank."
Me: "WTF is this guy doing?
Stinky: "I should go cat and let him holy tank."
Me: "Fuckin do it! This guys doesn't need to be pullin this shit..."

Anomolus pulled. Everyone dead. Stinky healing himself. I rush in--the two of us take him down to about 15% before we wipe.

Hunter Exits.

I first call out the lock for the absolutely shitty dps. He's just walking around basically.
Me: "Dude--WTF are you doing...besides walking around with a thumb up your ass?"
Holy Pally: "Trying to heal."

This assmonkey has been keeping us in combat so we couldn't kick his fail ass. He's been intentionally pulling shit so we'd have to keep fighting--fucker knows the system; If you're in combat, you cant kick (I didn't even know this till then).

Enter Rakshas. Shaman from Sated. Vote Kick the Pally--I thought the lock would bounce too. This was not the case.

Fail-Lock: "blah blah blah...something, something, something, you shiteater...I'm in a world ranked guild....blah, blah blah."

Me: Buh Bye.

Shit. Can't kick a second time.
Enter Aldoraine, a Sated Hunter. Misdirect Keristraza to Lock. Dead. We burn in hopes it goes down before lock runs back in.

Miss it by a sec.

If you're gonna have the balls to be shitty and dual box. Do it with your own guild. I will endure a completely retarded repair bill to piss you off.

You are warned.

NERF to Deathwhisper.......NOOOOOOO

It's official.
Deathwhisper has been nerfed.

From Bornakk:


The Lady Deathwhisper encounter has seen the following changes in the 25 player normal version: mana pool has been reduced, the health on all adds has been reduced, and Adherents will wait a little longer after spawning before they start casting.

Damn.
This sucks.
This was the first real fight that tested individual competency and prowess in 25 man.
It was work.
I'm really kinda upset that we didn't get her/him down before this happened.


Alternate 25 man Strategy
Credit goes out to Palmy on this one...
Groups stack behind Deathwhisper--watch the vid HERE.

******UPDATE******

One-shot after nerf.

No problems or issues. No creative strat.

Fuckin EZ mode now.

The Elitist: 80's Fresh off the Boat! (in greens and blues)

Dark/Soth contributed a post to Clearcasting last week that drummed up some major attention...

The post depicts a struggle that many of us seem to face when queueing for random heroics; being paired with undergeared (and/or underskilled) players for dungeons reaching the upper echelon of the level 80 spectrum. During Naxxramas days, I remember the avg dps needed for heroics was somewhere between 1300-1500 dps, and 1500+ to clear Naxx-10. After reading Dark's post, I wanted to see how that held up under todays specs.

The Argument: DPS should be pulling 2k in heroics as an overall average.

The TEST: Set up a group in greens and blues, send them into heroics, and record the data.
Test Group: Bear Tank, 2 DK's, Lock**

**I wanted to get a hunter in, but none were online at the time of my trial**

All DPS wore crafted blue items (savange saronite for the DK's), and visited the AH for miscellaneous items like neck, rings, etc. All purples were unequipped for this team, and we purposely, randomly selected the AH green items. I wore level 70 agility stat weighted items, left one trinket slot empty, and equipped sphere of red dragons blood in the other. After fully equipping the greens and blues, I had a base strength of 700, a crit chance of 31% and a hit chance of 3% (interesting enough, my base crit chance was higher in this gear than my ilvl 232-251 gear).

Enter Queue for Random Heroic: UK

The Observation:

Let me preface by saying that I was utterly surprised at the results. With 1/3 of my normal strength and hit chance, I expected to do much worse than I actually pulled.

As you can see from recount (ok- I "misplaced" the overall recount pic), all dps members hovered right around the 2k mark. Slan (Lock) was sitting about 1.9k, Buick (DK) 2k, and myself about 2.2k. Even neglecting hit chance, these numbers were easily obtained, and were constant throughout the instance. These numbers also reflect the total average dps for the run.

(screenshot after one of the mobs)

Things to Consider:

We all know what we're doing. Don't laugh. It's true. Buick and I consistenly top the dps charts in current tier raids(Slan has multiple toons)--so I can say without a doubt, that the 2.2k I was able to pull was the product of a near perfect raid dps spec, rotation, and glyph set. I can't get any better than what I was doing (unless I can and just don't know about it).

Now, subtract out 100-200 dps for a less-than-stellar spec, and another 200 or so for not utilizing a correct rotation (priority) and/or glyph set, and the base dps for a true n00b 80 hovers right around the 1500-1700 mark.

That being said....

I'm calling it.

(insert voiceover here) *Big, Booming, Official Sounding Voiceover, possibly Mr. Samuel L Jackson*

OFFICIAL DPS FOR A N00B 80 to RUN HEROICS: 1500-1700 (and I hope they burn in hell!)

Most DPS should have a clue by the time they ding 80. Others though, may need some help; a good point in the right direction, if you will. I personally think that 1500-1700 dps is easily achieveable in quest/AH purchased gear--and should definitely be considered the floor-median for DPS players looking to run Heroic Dungeons.