Casual Raid Leader

Its interesting to me.  For all the years I’ve been raid leading at this point, there’s very little attention ever spent on trash mobs.  Yes… it sexier to concentrate on your boss mobs.  Yes…. you’ll spend a lot of time on boss mobs and little time on trash, but realistically, if you waste thirty minutes on trash… you’ve wasted thirty minutes.  Why not cut that time in half?  Why not eliminate it all together?

So the focus on this set of articles is to walk you through the Trash mobs currently present in Ulduar.  I’ll give you some insights on how we clear them in 10 man and try to provide tips for 25 man from my past experiences.  So without further ado, lets dig in shall we? (more…)

I’ve been accused by one of my friends of being overly optimistic.  I prefer to see the good in people.  I tend to blow of the things I consider minor… and I wander through life thinking that most things are minor.  I don’t get in an uproar about lot of things because it just isn’t worth the stress or the hassel. 

So as you saw in my post about PUGing, I’ve decided to try to follow the philosophy that if you can’t beat em?  Play their game.  I’m going to have faith that not all PUGs are like that last one.  Now… I’m not one to bypass my moral compass.  I don’t feel you have to do that, but as much as it sucks, gear score is one method people are using as a stick to measure people.  So if you can’t get what you want?  Then you have to buckle down and work a bit harder. (more…)

I was sitting down in the last week looking over some stuff.  I talked with one of my raiders who has really come a long way.  He’s fairly new to the game, but he leveled all the way to 80 and honestly… he’s a machine.  His ability to focus on a single character and truly learn the ins and outs of it are just staggering.  His dedication to just perfecting that single character and maximizing their gear and talents and everything.

And he’s put in his lumps for it.  Have no doubt about it.  He’s logged a lot of time ensuring he did the heroic daily… every day.  He’s logged a lot of time ensuring he goes to VOA 10 and 25 man.. every week.  He’s pugged a LOT of 25 man content.  He’s cleared all of 10 man and 25 man TOC.  And he’s got the gear to show for it.

Currently he’s sitting at 4/5 of the T9 gear.  That’s just phenomenal.  He’s busted his butt and he really deserves it.  So I sat down to talk to him.  I asked him what his secret was.  How on earth has he gone so far? 

The reality is… he’s put up with a mountain of bad pugs.  He loves coming to in house stuff.  He wants to keep doing our 10 man content, but he’s willing to put his neck out there and at least give it a shot.  I stared at my gear… Its woefully not changed much in the last 2 months.  I’ve been attending Ulduar regularly, but most of the gear I need is in the second half which we haven’t cleared to much…. so with some new advice in hand, I decided to spend a day trying to help advance my character….. oy… I know why so many people give up early…. (more…)

Lets face it.  Even superman couldn’t do it alone?  Everybody, everywhere needs help occassionally.  I’m only human… or so I like to make people think.  So its not unreasonable that after some point you’ll need to get another raid leader to help you out. 

For 10 man raids its not really necessary to have more than one raid leader a night.  There aren’t that many people to figure out.  You can switch groups around in a fairly quick time and overall, its just easier.  For 25 man its typical to have a main raid leader and at least one assistant.  The main raid leader may cover invites and loot and maybe the boss strategies.  The second in command may do the group assignments, leading the trash pulls and setting up the healers.  Really setting up the division of labor is an individual raid leaders decision. 

But how do you set the stage?  Are raid leaders born or made?  How on earth does someone learn to do this?  Lets lift the hood and poke around… and see how we can set up someone to succeed. (more…)

Yesterday started like any other day.  Got up… went to work.. did lunch… saved the world… Oh wait… wrong day.

Got up… went to work… did lunch.. came home.. read to kids… tucked them in. 

In many ways my WoW day doesn’t start till late in the day.  I typically try to wait till the kids are in bed or at least the two smaller ones.  So usually I’m not logging in till later and just doing the family thing.  Its a nice way to end your day.  You do some reading.  The kids kind of settle in next to you on the couch and you spend some daddy and me time together.  Little did I know… something darker lurked… waiting for me yesterday…. (more…)

Ok.. I know its petty.  I know these boys and girls have more “mad skillz” than I could probably ever dream of, but is it so wrong to take a little bit of joy from the fact that Ensidia didn’t get the world first or second for completion of Trail of the Grand Crusader?

Ok… I’m a more casual player.  I don’t want raiding to be my life.  By the time I actually get to finishing off Trial of the Crusader and probably drift into Icecrown Citadel, most of the front end stuff will be done.  I’m actually a bit mixed on my feelings about it….. (more…)

Hi,

Look I know I’m just that small guy.  I know that in many respects, you built and adjusted this game for me in this expansion.  I just wanted to say bravo.  Its been a joy.  Its been fun to see more of the game than I ever got to see before.  Hell its been fun to participate and have success beyond just the first raid dungeon.

Now.. we need to talk though.  We need to have a serious discussion about a new feature of yours.  That whole faction change seems to have missed the boat somewhere. (more…)

Oi…. hey! Get up!

Oh god… what do you want?  Can’t you see I’m planning a fairly lengthy rant?

Its time for your interview.  Can’t let you get out of it…. if you’re going to use the interview format on other people its only fair that I use it on you.

Look.. you realize you’re a self righteous twit don’t you?

No… That’s your job.  I’m the pompus over intellectual ass whose too self absorbed to recognize your pain. 

Oh right… you’re sure I’m the self righteous twit?  Absolutely positive?

Look.. you’re just putting this off… do I need to remind you of the day you put me in charge?!?!?!?!?  Want a repeat?

Oh yeah… I guess we’d better get on with it.  Well since you’re acting all important and in charge.. I guess you’d better do the intro then.  It seems a bit over the top if I introduce myself and write my own intro don’t you think?

Fine!!!

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You ok there?  Need some help?  You realize this has gone on overly long already right???

No… look I’ve got this….

Ok….

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Welcome to part four of our series on Raid Lockout.  Today we’ll be interviewing Starman from our very own Casual Raid Leader.  Starman is the raid organizer for a small casual 10 man raiding guild.  They are currently focused on progessing through Ulduar and ToC as we wait eagerly for 3.3.  Their focus is on keeping it fun while still progressing through the content.

He currently runs a blog with a small and amazingly quiet crew of readers who some day will open up in an amazing dialogue the likes of which has never been seen!!!  But till that day we’re force to put up with him as he is.  Without further ado… lets dive in and see what Starman has to say about the new Raid Lockout feature. (more…)

Welcome to part three.  In part four I’ll be weighing in on my opinion.  When I hunted people down for this particular sequence, I wanted to get a few different types of opinions.  I come from an alliance guild who’s kind of small and really we’re quite casual.   Lodur comes from another kind of  casual style guild.  Kasdingo runs a more raid focused  10 man guild, and our last interview is from a larger progression oriented guild.

I’m sure just from the name in the title of this post, most of you probably know him.  Matticus is probably destined for his own in game item at some point.  He’s well known for his contributions to the healer community at World of Matticus and the Plus Heal forums.  He’s a regular contributor over at Wow.com as well.  NostockUI is also a brain child of his.  From a personal perspective I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone in the community at large whose putting forth such effort to further the hobby.

But of course that’s not why I picked him.  Matticus is the GM of Conquest.  Its a fairly hard hitting raid guild located over on Ner’Zhul.  From an outsider’s perspective they get a lot of work done in what would be probably a typically short raid window each week.  They approach it professionally and going into this interview, I was fairly sure they hadn’t even used the feature.  But its a great perspective to see how someone from a more advanced guild views the feature.  Lets take a look shall we? (more…)