The Price of Progression: Wiping with Dignity

Nobody likes to wipe. Whether it's an issue of inadequacy, or frustration, or a combination of both or none at all, no one relishes in peachy thoughts and candyland dreams when they are in the process of dying. This should come as no surprise.

As the guild progresses further and further into the antechamber of Ulduar, we should be expecting a higher frequency of "wipes." Fights become more and more complicated--so this should be the natural tendency.

I think we sometimes forget that.

The deeper we delve into the content, the less the margin for error becomes. A heal that doesn't get off in time, a spell-steal that goes awry, a misplaced interrupt....all have the ability to wipe a raid. Take into consideration not having a lock for soul stone, or a priest for mass dispel, or shaman for bloodlust, and that margin further closes.

As wipes go on, practice makes perfect--and the more often we engage in an encounter, the more we learn, the better our reaction time gets, the better we are able to theorycraft strategies for it.

I want to remind everyone, that progression comes with a price...and although sometimes that price is measurable in gold, the actual cost hinges on our resiliency. If we want to survive as a group, we will need to learn to wipe with dignity. This means getting back quickly, rebuffing, swiftly discussing the things that went wrong, how we can make them better, and then climbing back up onto Tonto Silver (the horse). The better we understand and expect the wipe, the better we will be at picking ourselves up after they occur.

Being Sick

Really screws stuff up. It has taken me a solid week to get back to good--I know postings have fallen off this last week. I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove. I've downloaded the PTR, now I just need to find some time and go in with a couple of specs I've crafted up.

Stay Tuned

What Happens when Retalliation goes Offline?

I get upset and start killing gnomes. It really is a good stress reliever. Though this one is actually mine, I still enjoy killing the #$%! out of him.  =)

Tier Gear for Everyone: The BEST part of 3.2

If you haven't taken a gander at the lastest patch notes for 3.2, then you're missing out on quite possibly the greatest thing that blizz has ever done; made it easier to get tier gear.

With the patch they are introducing Emblems of Triumph (Tier-9), and are doing away with heroism and valor. You read that right. Heroics/Naxx/OS etc. will now reward Emblem of Conquest for 10/25 content, rather than splitting between hero for 10-man, and valor for 25-man.

What does this mean to you? Now your hard work will actually be meaningful. No more grinding weeks on end to hope for a piece of Tier to drop, and then praying for a decent roll. Emblems of Conquest will be available for all current 5/10/25 content, with T8 gear being purchasable from the vendor. Not that this is a drastic change from the status quo--but no longer will you be required to grind out Ulduar for upgraded gear. This essentially levels the playing field for raiders in smaller guilds to advance more quickly. /ftw

The two pieces of T8 cost roughly 116 Emblems of Conquest, so at about 4 emblems per heroic, thats only 30 dungeons to 2 peieces of T8...you can knock that out in a week!

Death Knights: 3.2 Changes URGENT

Lots of changes.... Frost tree and DW building, DPS CD's like DRW and Gargoyle...

So much that I'm just gonna link, and expound later.

Will definitely be on the PTR this go around.

Read all about the Changes in 3.2 Here.

Guild Progression

Hi Everyone!
I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss Honor and Glory's progression--We've come a long way, and I wanted to recognize the people that are contributing daily to the Guild's success.
Raiding is no joke. Gear takes a while to accumulate, and lots of luck are needed on the rolls. Thankfully, we have a fairly devoted group of raiders on-board now, becoming more and more geared, and putting forth the effort needed to progress, as a guild. Here is the list of raiders that have made an impact:

• Kallion--Epic Tank/Sham-wow/ GM 
• Stonehoofx-- Epic Tank/Mage/ GM
• Darthnishiki-- Epic Tank/DK Theorycrafter/Sham-Wow
• Diona-- Epic Heals/Hunter Extraordinaire
• Erilis-- Epic Heals/Tank in the making
• Maeda-- Epic Drood Heals/Feral Tank in the making
• Whoapaw-- Epic Heals/3k Boomkin in Blues
• Hazl-- Epic Heals--will keep you alive no matter what
• Firesong-- Epic DPS/Tank in the making
• Nagu-- aka Youwillfall Epic DPS/OT/Sham-Wow
• Amorgan-- Epic DPS/Connosieur of Rogue Weapons
• Noris-- Epic Lock/Comedian
• Ronordith (of Deathgrip)-- Epic Mage/Pally/Arena PvP'er
• Me aka Shyste --Likes to pretend he's Epic DPS/OT on good days =)

If anyone has any questions regarding specs, talents, raid bosses, stat itemization, etc., don't hesitate to ask any one of the above: they're raid tested/approved.

STATE OF AFFAIRS

As of late, most of you know that RL work has hindered Stone's raid availability. For the sake of the Guild's progression, I (with the help of Hazl) have found a Standby Warrior Tank to raid in Stone's absence. He will be joining us this coming Thurs, so that we can better familiarize ourselves with him, and make sure that he will be an acceptable replacement when Stone is unable.

Raid make-up hasn't had too many set-backs at the moment, other than the displacement of Stone as our tank. Once this role is fulfilled, however, we will have more than 10 potential raiders for our group. I understand that time will affect who is on and able to raid, but when the time comes and everyone is on and wanting to go, we will have to leave some behind. If it were up to me, you all would go, but as it is not, Darth and I will have to choose a make-up that is most viable to current conditions. My goal to resolving this, is to soon have enough geared raiders to begin 25 Ulduar.

Raid times have been played-by-ear lately, but this next week I'd like to have a more solid foundation. Ulduar raids will begin at approx 10 server, and will run for about an hour or so...we'll do this so that we're raiding consistently during the week, even if its just to down a boss or two. I'd also like to see Saturday raids formed for things like OS and VoA consistently, so those will be calendar'd for next week as well. We have the strongest 10 that we've ever had, so Malygos is on notice as well. I'll have a more definitive time for raiding EoE, very soon.

I am very pleased with the current state of affairs with Honor and Glory, and I'm looking forward to Kyle's return, and the beginning of Heroic end game content. We're already better than most--let's strive to be the best.

For Honor and Glory,

-Shyste

Uh-oh!

Is that??!!

Why yes it is! It's a F#@king Dwarf!!!

You know what that means...realm down  =(

[TinyTeaParty] on RP server: Sisters of Elune, is recruiting all gnomes and dwarves when the Battlegroup (Retalliation) goes offline. Pssst Imablackguy, shysteheals, or ganksu for an inv.

This Guy....

Deserves nothing less, than to be tiny tea-bagged by a rabid gnome in heat.

This douche-nozzle has really struck an irritable chord with me--3 PuGged  groups last week  /fail.

Another PuG tonight... 0% wipe.

30k HP....

/ftl

I hate coordinating raids for this guy, but it looks like I'm gonna have to put forth some more effort.

Shyste? Famous??!!

No. Not even close.

But, A good guy and epic Pally Healer, Hazl (pronounced Haz-el, not hazzle, or pain in the hassle) has made reference to me in his new blog!

If anything that makes me notorious, right?

check it out: http://hazlpally.blogspot.com/

Shyste Arena

[Shystechris & Redeemur]

Lately I've been messing around with PvP. I say "messing" because I'm dual specc'd PvE Unholy and PvE Frost Tank, and, my PvP gear is only around 700 resil or so. I'm still working on it =p.

I'm finding out though, that in 2's, even with my not-so-epic gear and 12/0/59 unholy spec, we're not doing too bad. At the end of our first week, our record is 22-19 and we have a 862 rating. We've come across some decently geared teams, and have had some very close matches. Really, the only difficult teams we've encountered have been gnome magex2 and druidx2... stealth and mirror images blasted us down quick.

For most other teams, we've done ok. I have extremely good luck with pet classes: other DK's, Locks, Huntards. They become exceptionally weak once their pets are down--last night, I zerg'd down a pet, then hunter, then waited out a pally. Me v. Pally, living through bubbles, deathstriking and death-pacting to stay alive...and I took his ass down with about 300 HP left.

Can't wait to get some Arena points and some new gear =)

Kologarn Down!!!

On 06/14/2009 at approx. very later server time, Honor and Glory defeated the notorious Kologarn. In attendance:

• Shystechris (yours truly)
• Stonehoofx
• Darthnishiki
• Hazl
• Whoapaw
• Erilis
• Ronordith
• Firesong
• Maeda
• Youwillfall

This was an awesome fight...definitely one of the funnest we've encountered thus far. For those that haven't seen, Kologarn is a gigantic giant with gigantic hands, lol. Walk in his room, he shoots up from a massive void, and when you kill him, his body becomes a bridge...cool stuff. Oh, and grats to Firesong for picking up that stylish cape, and the tanks for tank gear actually dropping.

Dissention Among the Ranks: Leadership

Sunday morning I ran into a scenario that I have yet to find myself in, since stepping up into a position of leadership within the guild.

After Wintergrasp, I hopped into a Heroic Vault group that was being put together by Obodo, formerly of Honor and Glory--it took a good 25 minutes to form, and recognizing the players there, I knew the group was experienced, so I didn't mind. We had a few open spots, so I invited a couple of guildies in who I know are performers and wanted to go. After 2 Emalon wipes, an OT leaves, and I get a whisper from Obodo, asking me to lead the group for her (she's in Japan, and I don't think that she's very comfortable with her english), so I say ok.

Not being in vent, I turn on caps to make sure the raid can see what I'm saying--Healing assignments, asking the Tanks for feedback on the failed attempts, etc. Raid chatter is dissipating, and raid members are actually coming together....and wham!

One of the guildies I invited in, turns on caps himself, and decides to take it upon himself to publicly (in raid chat) tell me that caps are unnecessary, and then goes on to spout off some mouthy bullshit about someone wearing a helmet or something stupid. All the while he's spamming unnecessary BS in raid chat with the caps-lock on.

Are you F@#king serious? Does he think that he's being funny?

After this, raid chat went to shit. I left.

I should have removed him from the raid. Should have. Really, leaving was all I could do so I didn't test out the /gkick function that I've never used. On top of this, he still expected to go into Ulduar with us that night...man I really wish we had an alternative.

I often wonder why people say/do the things they do. I wouldn't ever do that to a fellow guildie. And, when I'm raiding with another guild, or in a PuG, I make sure that I represent our tabard proudly, and with integrity. Leading a raid is difficult. Leading a PuG is even worse. Communication and leadership can be daunting on their own, let alone someone trying to sabotage a leaders efforts. I'm still trying to fathom how all of this actually happened...

I think its about time I just get tougher.

Raid spots are about to become more valuable.