Casual Raid Leader

Last night folks… was our first visit to Ulduar.  Yes… I know…. some of you are bored.  Some of you are done with Ulduar.  Well some of us rebuilt a new guild and got a little delayed ok??  But hey… what can I say?

For a glimpse of what my day was like.  I spent most of the morning getting my mundane chores done at work.  My breaks were dedicated to searching out strategies, making sure I read the details on the fights, and watching videos.  As a raid leader I need to come across as at least somewhat credible right?  So its a lot of time taking notes, going through things in my head and just basically figuring stuff out.

I prepped myself for pretty much what you expect to see any time you step foot into an instance the first time.  I was all set with my repair money.  I was all set with my flasks… I was all set to walk into Ulduar and get the living tar kicked out of me.  What I wasn’t expecting to find was the ROCK Factor. (more…)

Well… I have to give credit where credit is due.  We had a lot of people who stuck with us last night.  We went a full 30 minutes over our anticipated end time, but at the end of the day… We got it again.  Naxx is down again.  This time under a new guild tag.  I won’t go so far as to say its permanently on farm, but for certain… we’ve seen it.. we’ve done it.

I’ve read some extremely nice articles on Mouseover healing.  I’ve read some extremely nice articles on using Mouseover techniques for tanking.  In fact… theres a lot of really nice information out there on Mouseover.  But for those of you who really have never seen the concept of mouseover before.. I wanted to give you some step by step build up on how you might use Mouseover macros in your day to day life.

I have a good friend of mine who is a healer and still uses the click and move technique.  Click the person you want to heal.. then click the heal you want to use.  Its a completely valid technique of healing.  It also takes a great deal more reflexes to do efficiently than I have. (more…)

We have a hunter in our guild who’s always been a very solid player.  He recently posted the question listed below in our forums a few weeks ago.  This is actually a question I field almost all the time as a raid  leader.

I’ve got a question here, and I guess I’m just looking for advice, or maybe a little more of a ‘theory’ answer. I don’t want to be one of those people who’s obscessed with their DPS and nothing more, but at the same time, I know that’s basically all that I bring to the table (aside from some limited CC and a couple de-buff abilities). I guess my question is basically, “How do I know when I’m becoming to obscessed with my DPS and nothing more?” I hate to sit there and feel like I’m whining about damage, but that feels like my only real measurable contribution.

Like last night for example, I was happy as a clam in Spider Wing, I threw up Aspect of Wild a few times, we pretty much rolled everything, and my damage was like 2-300 above what it was last time (if I remember right). And usually it seems that I run lower in Spider than elsewhere. So then we go into Military, and it just seems to keep dropping, and I know I made a comment in Guild chat about it… It came back up a little when we went into Plague too, and overall I was pretty happy, and Star did mention a couple things that contributed to the dip that I overlooked.

I guess I just want to know if I’m becoming too obscessed with DPS, and need to just relax, or if I’m just showing a healthy desire to improve…

G
Marksman Hunter

(more…)

Its been one of those interesting weeks for me.  I’m sure you can tell by my last post, but overall it wasn’t bad.  We had some raiding that we actually fit in around all my backbreaking labor.  It was really good work too.  Let me fill you in on that before I bore the rest of you with my story of construction gone wild. (more…)

**Brain** GET UP!!!

**Starman** Piss off.. I’m sleeping

**Brain** Its been over a week… get up.

**Starman** What part of I only had 4 hours of sleep last night did you miss?  Were you asleep?

**Brain** No…. if you’ll recall I was right there with you humming along till 2:30 AM

**Starman** Were we doing anything fun?

**Brain** No…. we were busy being dialed into work.

*Starman** But… I…. screw it I’m rolling over and going to sleep.

**Brain** Star…..

**Starman** …….zzzzzz…..

**Brain** Star….  look I won’t buy that crap… I can actually tell when you’re sleeping..

**Starman** …zzz… just leave me be….

**Brain** Look its been over a week shouldn’t you type something???

**Starman** God what do you want from me?

**Brain** How about a simple hello?

**Starman** Wait a second…. I’ve got a project manager at work riding my ass all day long.  I get home.. I’ve got a project that I’m prepping at home.  I’m killing myself so that I can take a week’s vacation to do work around the house… and you want me to say hello???

**Brain** Not to me stupid… those people out there who actually read what you write…

**Starman** Look I’m tired.  I’m finally on vacation… I’m busting my butt installing a new patio and flagstone wall.  I’m an IT guy faking it pretending I know what the hell I’m doing acting like a construction worker… I’m tired… I’m sore… you do it…zzzzzz

**Brain**….. Ok… if you insist…..

ATTENTION!!!!

We’re sorry for any delay you’ve seen over the past week.. His mind and spirit have been beaten upon all week at work while his body is being beaten and abused while trying to remind himself that he IS NOT a construction worker, but does a damned fine job of imitating one thanks to my skillful direction… Blessidly his wife is much better at building walls than he is… but he’ll probably get back to his regularly scheduled program as the week progresses… in the mean time I’ll finish drafting stuff in my little world so his little fingers can just type it out while I dictate to him…. till then.. keep the faith people.

Thanks… the management appreciates your patience while we get the regularly scheduled programming back up and running….  Starman’s Brain