Dragon Soul and Raid Thoughts
Perhaps this is
jumping the run, given we have only defeated Madness twice now. But, given the
whooping we put on Deathwing last night, and another incremental nerf to Dragon
Soul…
I would like to
declare Dragon Soul officially conquered and on farm status.
Congratulations
and thanks should go out to everyone. I can’t think of anyone who did not work his/her
tail off to defeat Dragon Soul. It wasn’t just hard work, either. Having the
same pool of eleven people week in and week out played a huge role in our
success. The consistency and camaraderie helped make us more than a collection
of ten people filling the necessary roles; it made us a cohesive team. That’s
not to say it was all fun and games, or was it? In any event, we faced plenty
of adversity. Many times individual and group patience was tested. In the end,
though, patience won out. This is the kind of team experience that keeps me
playing World of Warcraft. Thank you for being an integral part of my
experience.
Since Dragon Soul
is the last major content we will see before Mists of Pandaria. And, since most
sources place it at nine months or so out, I think we should start considering
the answer to “what do we do now?” before it becomes an issue. In the short
term, there really is no need to change anything. Plenty of us are still
looking for pieces of gear here and there. As we get what we want, however, I
can easily see the weekly raid turning into a perceived chore rather than an
event we look forward to each week. Therefore, for the long term, we should
consider options to keep everyone interested and motivated.
One simple option
would be to simply stop at a point we can all agree on. There is no chance of
burn-out with this option. I personally would miss the social and team aspect
too much to subscribe to this option. That said, it’s a viable option and needs
to be part of our discussion.
We can always
fall back on one of the many raiding models we have used in the past. I’m
thinking particularly of Karazhan and Icecrown Citadel. These other models
could involve alts, other guild members, or both. It could involve splitting
Dragon Soul in half and “alting” the Seige portion one night while mopping up
with mains on the “Fall” portion the next. It could involve rotating fresh
faces in two per week. (or any number for that matter) It could involve a main
run one night and alt run the next. I’m sure there are other models I am not
remembering. What they all share in common is growing options for future
raiding. This comes with possible backlash when we need to return to a core
team again.
It should also be
considered that there are still plenty of raid achievements and all the heroics
modes left to tackle. We might elect to rotate content. Each week could be a
different raid tier (variety is the spice of life) and we head in and
accomplish what we can. This option even comes with the added bonus of allowing
people to take regular breaks. Maybe I don’t want to do Firelands, so I sit
that one out to make room for others. I’m still raiding regularly with built in
breaks. The downside there is it can quickly turn into a scheduling nightmare.
Please feel free
to champion on of these options, provide constructive criticism, suggest your
own, or all three. But, if you want to flame me, please place it in a new
thread called, “It’s All Drak’s Fault.”
Thanks again,
--Gallatin
Comments
I (personally) am not really interested in grinding alts through the same content again.
I think doing some previous tier content for achievements,
especially those with mount/title/etc rewards is a great idea.
Either way, I'm willing to raid whenever I'm available to support whatever the "consensus" is.
Well, Star Wars is still fun, but I don't have as many people on there right now. But it's been awesome sleeping on a regular schedule as oppossed to waking up early a couple nights for raids, lol.
Who knows, I might pop back in some week though. . . . assuming I can drag myself outta bed. I suppose I should pop in some random late night to keep shakra company though.
Relevant: http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/29/how-do-you-keep-your-guild-busy-during-the-pre-expansion-lull/
TOR server is Vrook Lamar, I am just Drakus . . . we don't have a lot going on though. Not that Id turn away numbers, lol
Shakra, do some math, give us a rough estimate to when each stage of the staff would be done if we did a full clear each week. Similar to what I did.
To that point, I wouldnt be opposed to spending one night a week to work towards shakras staff (maybe a wed. or thursday? what time is best for shakra?), and galatins staff, assuming gal never got it. There is some cool transmog gear in there.
----
Drak, I am personally waiting for server transfers, but I might hop over and see whats up
Whew...
I understand the perils of bringing in guildies who haven't had the chance to do DS or just run with the guild on any current content, however, I would definitely like that to be a consideration to weekly endeavors. I know that a large part of our success was/is the consistency of a 'core' or 'progression' team and that future success will likely depend on that same model, but I value all our members and I would love to give those who would like it, the chance to hit current content and/or run with the guild.
That does not preclude any or all of the other things that have been suggested. I am already bringing my shammy in on the first half of DS, though she would be better served healing than dpsing. Unfortunately for anyone else we may bring in, we know we can't regress too much. That is, we can not 'carry' more than a couple of people. We have done the endless wipes and excercising of patience. No one will be willing to endure that again at the cost of brining in say.... 5 people of 'suspect' gear/ability. No different really than when you do random heroics now, with 2 or 3 people geared at early Cat levels.
I have a slew of raid achievements to be completed from both Cat AND Wrath. I've seen the occasional achievement run invites being spammed in trade, but as always, I prefer doing things with the guild. Rags should go down this week. I think we just needed people to see that last phase.
I will throw my support into anything as much as possible. We don't have to limit ourselves to 2 nights a week either. Particularly if we bring in additional guildies. However, while our 2 hour time limit this expansion has cost us some expediency in progression, I believe it has been a benefit overall and I would not want to extend it.
I would love to blame Drak as well, if there weren't a more fitting target. And you know who you are,
Aurauk.