WoW

read this post in Matticus and cannot agree more to it

http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/05/28/friends-and-raiders-the-social-aspect-of-warcraft/

Raiding Thoughts

Problems appear everywhere. Deciding on who can raid and who cant raid is a decision most people doesnt want to make especially if you are just “playing a game” and there are no tangilble benefits involved. However that activity still needs to be done. Maintaining a healthy bench is necessary for both raiders and Guild masters because you count on the bench players when your starting 25 has to leave early due to personal issues. How then do we strike a balance among both of them ?

I never love to be on the bench. even during school days or during work, whenever there is a new project or a competitive game, i hope my boss or my coach pick me to start. However, as i grow older, i begin to understand what is teamwork. Though i still know the feeling of been asked to sit on the bench. But when i look at how soccer players play, and those 5 who always sit on the bench waiting for their chance to be called out by the manager to have a chance to show what they can do on the field, even if it is just 5 minutes of play for them, even if they know they are just slotted in so that someone else can rest or they already have a clear win of the game, they still go ahead, i begin to understand what is team work. Even if you do not have a chance to play , and your club wins, you still will be appreciated for the effort in the trainings. Back to WoW, i dont think we will end up in such situation though because there will always be rotations, but what is the best rotation?

We also need to know the facts that our guild doesnt have all grown ups who have experience life to its fullest. Some may not understand and drama will erupt, So it is our responsiblity to let them know

1. Sitting on the bench does not mean you are no good.
2. Sitting on the bench does not mean you are inferior
3. Sitting on the bench simply means the present raid, in terms of class balance, space , attendance sign up, you may have to be on standby.

Thoughts #1
-> Do we have enough raiders ?
I will think general yes. Might be missing on a few specific classes ( Elemental Shaman , Rogues? ) This one i will probably start another thread to discuss with the more experienced raiding officers.

What happens if we have too many raiders ? There are a couple of solutions
1. Enforce raid signups, flasking etc. The dedicated one will continue to persist , those out for fun will just go off after some time
2. Arrange 1 x25 and 1 x10 if we have more than 40 turns up per nite. I dont think we will see this now unless the guild call for an expansion in recruitment. -> This is the GM’s Call.

Thoughts #2
Have attendance policy. -> This proposal already put up in one of the threads
The below can be considered after the first phase is in place
-> Think of action for 3 times no show in a month ( signed up but no show )
-> think of actionable items for all other sceneriors

Attendance figures will come in handy when we need to bench someone and cant decide.
Attendance figures can also be use when there is a tied in loot. The one who attend more should get it first.

Thoughts #3
Be transparent. Everything we do in life, we have to be transparent. There is a saying by Antoine de Saint-Exupery – “”If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” It means ” Clarify your vision, and motivation will come “

Personal opinion, i will go for More instead of less. Keep the raiders happy by clearly stating the policies and enforced them and .. Be Transparent.

Raiders will understand that this willhappen to them, every good guild have to do it.

Got this in my ex guildie’s blog. Damn funni

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa4Xn0mOdJ4]

Saw this in one of the blogger’s post ::

25man has 2.5 times more people than 10 man and is definately more difficult to organise and getting everyone ready. One thing i do notice is when we have 10 man invitations , the invitation out on the calendar is sent and accepted by the parties > the 10 people are aware and conscious they need to be where and at what time.

Comparatively to our 25man, it is more like a , set the event, and see who turns up rather than confirming the attendance for the 25man prior to the event. One suggestion that might work would be to pre confirmed the 25 ( or 20 ) people so that they DO turn up at 10pm. In the event if some of them cannot turn up at 10pm, the raid leader should suggest or decide if they wanna start at 11pm so that the rest do not have to waste their time. Using the calendar is the easiest way, but it is not the most effective way for 25man raids. Putting down either in forum or any other forms of communication “hey you are in for this Sunday 25man, please be there at 10pm “ makes people know they have a responsibility and 24 people are waiting for them.

That is how my ex guild does it. And amazingly it works fine. What we are lacking is proper planning in getting the people in.

Entering the 2nd week into ulduar. For 25 man achievements, we only managed to down FL. For 10 man runs, we are slightly better, moving all the way to Ignis. However , i think the best part is still the 25man. We have problems getting the critical mass into the raid on raid nights, many nights is usually wait and wait and then end up doing something else ( naxx25 or 10man )

Entering the 3rd day of the week since server restart, our guild havent run a 25man raid yet. There always isnt enough people and some guildies are disappointed. A lot of questions was in everyone’s thoughts : Do we have enough raiders ? Do we still need to hire? Is it due to the fact that Uldar is coming and everyone is just waiting for it ? What about hardcore raiders who just want something to keep themselve occupied? Will people leave as a result of No Raids ?

I can keep going but there will be no answers. I think this week was probably the week where everything happen together

1 x overseas travel
3 x ISP service provider sucks
3 x went to Mambo
1 x Need to prioritise real life work
1 x School Term coming to an end and need to finish work
1 x missing for quite some time , also quoting school work
1 x pregnant girlfren cannot commit
1 x suddenly sick of the game ( or raid i not sure ) and not turnning up anymore

Everyone has priorities and not every priority will be the same. Some put gaming as something they can’t live without. Most can live without it. Personally i do not put gaming with online friends as something that supercedes everything else in my life. However gaming WITH real life friends makes the difference.

This reminds me of my real life work as a middle manager where I have to constantly face with turnovers and resignations and “i need to take 3 weeks leave” requests. Projects dont wait for people. I guess no one will really have the authority to say , No you cant do this. Yes you must make sure you do this for me. Probably doable if you are in the army but not in civilian life or in game life. I remember i saw this before by someone “I paid for the monthly game subscription, i like to play the game the way i play it “. For me , it will be “Since i paid for the monthly game subscription, i like to enjoy the game. It doesnt matter how i play it”

In real life, i wont end up emotional when things like the above happen. I probably did the very first time because i am inexperienced. But over the years, i learn how to handle such things better and able to see things in a different perspective. “Every door closed will open another door” In WoW, i let the guild leaders decide what is the best approach to handle such situation. I tried listing down 10 things i can do in WoW if there are no raids on Raid Days

1. Do Dailies
2. Do farming
3. Clear all my outstanding quests and get achievement
4. Chat with Guildies . I love to chat!
5. Play alternates
6. Play Trivia!
7. Just dont do anything and watch people running around
8. Check achievement page and see what else i can clear
9.
10.

Then , i try listing down 10 things i can do if there is NO WOW

1. More time on exercising
2. More time to pen down thoughts on what i will do after Sep30
3. More time on my Ps3 and Wii
4. More Time on Facebook!
5. More time reading and net surfing
6. More time to watch tvb drama
7. More time to learn something in RL like COOKING.
8.
9.
10.

I didnt put “More time with Mrs Chan” because Mrs Chan doesnt have much time for me also.

I didnt put “More time with RL frens ” either because I manage to stay connected and in touch with my RL frens regularly as well.

Then i start to think about “What i will missed most if there is no WoW”
< i will filled this up later , now is 8.37am , need to go brush teeth first >

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Last week, i mentioned about our successful attempt to “of the Nightfall”. Another piece of good news today.

What is Undying?
The Undying :: within one raid lockout period, defeat every boss in Naxxramas on Normal Difficulty without allowing any raid member to die during any of the boss encounters.

Our first attempt ( we did try once but not with this group combination )and we make it through. Discounting the first instructor attempt which probably is a “warm up”.

Check the pics below, using a addon Multishot. Every boss kill is recorded and will be in history…

Defeat Sapphiron on Heroic Difficulty in Naxxramas without any member of the raid having a frost resist value over 100.

Finally , after 3 separate attempts, ~50 deaths, we got the Nightfall! the hardest content in current WOTLK. Clearing Sartharion with 3 drakes up.

Drama occured after the title within guild. Dont understand why some guild mates cant differentiate between whats fun and whats serious.

Anyway, Next title is IMMORTAL/UNDYING and TWILIGHT VANQUISHER