Raid Coordination and Future Plans
#1
Our successes over the last several months have left us in an interesting position as a Tribe. We are capable of doing many different things at the moment, some old, some new. What's on our plate right now?

Molten Core
Zul'Gurub
Onyxia
Ahn'Qiraj

It may not seem like it at first glance, but that is a lot. Far too much for an RP guild to do in a given week.

So that's what I would like to discuss with this post. But I think I can sum this up in one sentence:

As raids go, we are capable of getting as far as we want to, but we are going to hold ourselves back.

I know some of you would like to raid far more than we do now, and that each week there is one boss or another you wish we were killing. But we must accept that we are, above all else, a roleplaying guild. I have been the raid leader for nearly everything the Tribe has done thus far, so I hope the weight of that statement means a bit more coming from me. I am dedicated to ensuring that the tribe experiences all this game has to offer together, but I am also going to ensure we do not burn ourselves out on it.

Several of our members have been in a raiding guild in the past, either in this game or another, and I am certain every one can relate stories of raiding burnout... where each run becomes less about the fun of being with your friends, and more about that one item that will mean you never have to return to that place again. It is that mindset which we must avoid at all costs.

Now that brings me to the issue of balance. What we want is to limit the number of nights a week that we raid. If we start raiding somewhere different every night, then each time a person logs in it becomes "where are we tonight?" It also leads to certain key classes being burnt out much faster than others, especially healers. All of that said, I think we want to be careful to limit "Ironsong raids" to 3 nights a week, possibly 4 on very rare occasions. Less than 3 is good as well.

Which brings me to the topic of raid leadership. The officers looked at that list a month ago, and realized very quickly that it is far too much for one person to handle. For this reason, other members and officers will be stepping forward to run events. I am 100% for this, because raid leadership is stressful, and it will keep any one person from being overloaded.

There are several folks who wish to lead certain zone raids, and we ask that this be coordinated through the officers. This will avoid conflicts in timing and leadership, and let us fit each new encounter and instance into a long term pattern for the Tribe.

So what are our long term plans? Roleplaying mainly, and providing our members with a skilled and fun group of friends to explore the game with. It's hard to be specific in goals such as that. For raiding though, I can provide some details, or at least my train of thought:

Looking ahead at blizzards plans for instances, it seems likely that the four zones/encounters listed at the beginning of this post will need to keep us occupied for some time. The next instance planned is the 40-man zone Naxxramas, and it will be harder than Blackwing Lair. Beyond that, things are hazy, but raid content looks unlikely until the expansion comes out. And the expansion has no official release date yet... and given Blizzards history, it seems likely it will not be out until the october-december timeframe for the holidays.

So 4 places to keep us busy in raid content for the next 7-9 months, plus whatever non-raid content comes out. I trust you begin to see why we want to pace ourselves.

That said, we are planning to begin Molten Core runs, led by Akora, some time in March. Efluvia would like to coordinate 20-man Ahn'Qiraj, and we hope to start that in the next 2 weeks. At the same time, we want to keep killing Onyxia (and thus working on keys... numbers are our primary limitation with her right now) and we want to continue with Hakkar and finally kill Jin'do.

These are our current raiding plans, and our outlook for the future. Please let me know if you have any questions. We'll be putting up more information to help folks with personal raiding preparation and etiquette very soon also.

In closing, I will just say that we have a very skilled group of players, and a highly creative group of roleplayers in this Tribe. That is a very rare combination, and I continue to be awed by our members with each new challenge we face.
Kosath Whitehorn
"The Tribe is my weapon.  I am their shield."
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#2
(( I don't have anything to add to this, Kosath, except that it was a well-worded post and very informative about the leadership's vision for what the Tribe is about.

Personally, after the two weeks of straight UBRS runs, and weekends full of raids, I am on the other side of burnout.

Healing is very stressful, all healing. (ie: Druid, Shaman, Priest, Paladin, etc)

Loosing someone, landing a heal/shield 0.0001 seconds after they die eats at you... the main tank/off tank dies and causes a wipe...it eats at you. ... you heal and get agro and die in one hit over and over and over .. and it eats away at you. ...being told that 'we don't have enough healing' comes so close to making me cry when our heal team is healing our hearts out.

That's not to say that it isn't stressful for other classes, too. It is. I watch Edo sit on the edge of his chair and use "Sailor words" (heh) as he jams his keys to blow the heck out of something when we're SO CLOSE and yet so far away.

As for frequency of raids? I can't commit to any more than one or two nights per week any more. Not just because of stress level, but because of real life and other interests.

It gives me chills to know that I've actually stepped into MC...that we've DOWNED ONYXIA...these were pipe dreams and imaginings when Edo, Zin, and I hit 60. We stated on several ocassions that we were certain we would never see these places. At that point, we didn't even know the difference between Scholomance and Stratholme...much less how to get to them...and this was a month or more after being 60. I've been dying to step into AQ as a tribe, and finally paying Jin'Do back for beating the heck out of us.

All of that to say... I will do my best to help in whatever the tribe does, as often as I can...but I hope you'll all forgive me if I sit out some.

~poZema ))
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#3
Very well said Kosath.

Outside of the main four goals, I know that we still have people (most of them being up and coming 60's) who need to run places like Stratholme, Scholomance, and UBRS. That being said, I will be more then happy to tank for and lead these runs as I still need/want several things from these instances as well *sheepish grin*
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#4
Great, Kagan! Quality folks leading small raids is a staple of the Tribe and I encourage you to set times that work for you and get some people together. Use the forums here and the calendar and if you are ever planning something in advance feel free to speak of it at the moot!

Tae
"She is a soothsayer. She’s a mystic. She is a witch doctor, able to see into people’s hearts and minds. She’s also touched by the elements." -Naomie Harris
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#5
Thats right folks, start gathering some Fire Resist gear, and Nature Resist gear. Take it from me, your going to need it. ZG and Ony are the tip of the Ice Berg.

Might want to get this out too. 40 Man raids get very frustrating, hours spending wiping attempting to learn an encounter. Be patient, dont try to rush things.

-El Tovie
Solving the worlds fresh water crisis, one frost-bolt at a time.
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