Throne of the Four Winds (Picture by MMO Champion)

I hopped onto WoW last Friday night expecting to do some BC raids in preparation of the next patch and transmogrification.  Instead I found myself heading back into the raiding game thanks to an old raiding buddy, Dopz, who was determined to help me get some gear and up my average item level (post Friday it was sitting at 330 which I believe is one step above abysmal). Unfortunately we didn’t have any tanks online who were willing to help so we had to PUG them + 1 extra DPS.  And that’s how I found myself sitting in front of some genie dudes in Throne of the Four Winds ready to heal some big baddy bosses in my extra fail gear.

What I discovered pretty quickly was that gear or no, healing is like riding a bicycle – it doesn’t matter what the blizzard developers change once you’ve done it long enough it’s all muscle memory.  After healing for what feels like forever, I was back to my old ways in no time.  Even after 9 months I could still remember all my click casts in Vuhdo (well except for dispelling but that’s another story!) and it became clear to me that I still love raiding and drove home how much I miss it.

We started the first boss which is 3 (I only ever saw 2 but I’ve been assured there were 3) little genie/efrit things and we wiped.  This was sad, but the good news was that I wasn’t the cause hooray! We subsequently came back (after I accidentally flew to The Vortex Pinnacle) wiped again, and I was probably part of the cause this time.  We had changed platforms and I was now on the dude that does steady AOE damage.  This was much harder for me to keep up purely because my gear was well below optimal and I ran out of mana!  Our raid was not going smoothly so far and I could feel impatience from the PUGs – we were at our limit of issues before we lost someone.  And typically that’s when the baby woke up and needed a feed.

Roughly the same time Caitlin woke up, Angelya from Revive & Rejuvenate’s little Sproutling woke as well.  I think the two of them had planned it in advance it was that well timed! I felt terrible but I had to AFK – babies and their tummies come first.  My partner knowing how much I had been enjoying myself, wipes and all played as me just to keep things going and while Caitlin had a marathon 30+ minute feed I discovered on Twitter that they did kill the boss and the 2nd one without us nursing mums. I even got a nifty new belt – Gale Rouser Belt of the Wavecrest and a Spiritcaller Cloak which I think the guild “donated” to me or was a gift from Goodiemania?  I’m not quite sure it was getting late by that stage and I’d just been in a dark room for the last 30 odd minutes so was half asleep myself but either way I was grateful for it!

As we got ready to do a heroic dungeon, we were all set and Caitlin woke again this time needing a nappy change and full bedtime routine to calm her down again.  And that was the end of my night.  I felt really bad – I had managed to pick up loot without actually doing anything other than make people wait around for me.  I had become that player.  Every guild/PUG has one and in my past life as a heroic level raider I couldn’t stand them.  In fact players like these were exactly why I joined a raiding guild in the first place – who wants to PUG a raid just to stand around waiting for that tank to get the phone, or that healer to brb?

Now I don’t have one of those dream babies that go to bed at 7pm and wake up again at 7am in the morning.  I don’t have a bub that is remotely like that and most of the time I and quite ok with it – I know it won’t last forever.  Occasionally though it would be nice to know that I could definitely play for a 3 hour period straight without having to worry about getting up to give her a feed.  I know there are a lot of WoW players with babies that managed to keep up raiding while looking after their young ones and I am in awe, unfortunately I am just not one of them.  So I’m not quite sure where that leaves me.  I got a taste for raiding and its going to be hard to go back to farming old school raids/dungeons now, but I can’t commit to any type of raiding schedule without being the player that makes everyone sigh in frustration.

I guess its back to leveling and solo play for Lath again.

Caitlin has also been participating in some baby boss fights as part of Nymphy’s Cutest Little Babies in the World of Warcraft series.  Anyone wanting a few moments of pure squee should check out their adventures here:

The Cutest Little Babies in the World (of Warcraft)

The Cutest Little Babies in the World (of Warcraft) – Part II

And because I’m a proud mum and its been about 8 months since I posted a photo – here is my little girl @ 9 months.

Caitlin rocking the 80s vibe (photo taken by Instagram)

I would like to introduced our new littlies:

Deva (Cass) Looking like a proper paladin

And Myself, Avenai.... Looking like a Axe Weilding Mage

During our 2 hours playtime our little paladins are questing and gathering (I’m mining and Cass is skinning so there is no squabbling over resources!) around the old world checking out how different some of the quests are and how some things just haven’t changed at all.  While we haven’t done any dungeons Cass is planning on tanking with her paladin and I will most likely be healing considering Avenai is wearing cloth BOA gear in order to get the extra xp (no, I sadly do not have any justice points available to buy new BOA chest or shoulders!).

So far we’ve completed Westfall, part of Redridge and part of Duskwood.  Sadly because the XP gains are so fast when you add up BOA helms, cloaks, shoulders, chest plus the guild bonuses and rested bonus, we keeping running into grey quests before we get a chance to finish things off!

I think we’ve decided to head over to Stranglethorn Vale next to see if the area, now altered, can redeem itself (anyone who has leveled in STV on a PVP server will understand this sentiment!). I would be interested to know from readers who have gone through all the revamped zones,  which ones are really worth completing  as we’d hate to miss some really epic quest chains!

While we are running around questing we get on vent to chat and generally some guildy will join our channel and give us the gossip on whats happening in the guild.  It seems like Cass and I aren’t the only guildies who have had changes to their game play. Vitare has gone through a complete revamp.  All the officers I played with previously have moved on for one reason or another and a  completely new set of players are now running the show.  One of these I’m proud to say is a recruit I found from Twitter! Goodiemania (also known as @Velidra on Twitter or for his blog) has been suckered into officership hahaha you have my condolences.  I’m trying very hard to get him to do a guest post on here based on the experience of going from raider to officer – its a big change for anyone and think its a great topic for discussion!

Its good to see though that the guild is still going strong and while I don’t feel I really know anyone in game anymore I still have Goodie to keep me apprised!

Aside from my 2 hours of WoW time a week I am (obviously) spending heaps of time with my baby daughter who is growing up so fast!  While I’m itching to link pictures galore on here I’m refraining, but will instead direct you to a baby blog that I am sporadically updating for any readers interested in how that’s going.  Feel free to check it out: My Little Sapling, I promise there are heaps of cute pictures and more squee will be added with time!

Now that Caitlin is getting a bit older I’m finding that I have a spare hour generally at some stage in the afternoon where I can log into WoW.  When I first realized this I was really quite excited I’ve missed having some “me” time and I’ve really missed my guild and friends online.  This excitement unfortunately didn’t last very long when I realised that:

1. I have no idea how to play a resto druid anymore
2. None of my online friends appear to play in the middle of the day
3. My entire guild seems to have turned over since Cataclysm came out and I feel like a complete stranger

Overwhelmed

I was lucky enough that I leveled to 85 and had the chance to run a few normal dungeons before I went into labor.  This wasn’t enough however to ingrain in me the new way of healing pre baby break.  Since I leveled Lath I played her in order to raid as a healer.  Shes always been raid ready and spent all of Wrath running the latest content on heroic level.  To now find myself coming back into the game at the end of the first tier of raiding content in leveling blues and greens, no spec (they must have all reset since boxing day) and no clue what I’m doing… its all been very daunting.

How Am I Getting Back Into The Swing of Druiding

I’ve decided I’m not logging back in until I’ve had a chance to do some research.

I’m not too worried about relearning specs and spells as I’m sure that reading through theses blogger guides will get me off the ground.

I do need a game plan on how to get the best possible gear I can through quests, rep and normal dungeons as heroics through the LFD tool may be a bit longer than I’ve got time for. Just thinking about aiming for gear at that level hurts me a little bit, I’m so used to aiming at the top of end of gear rewards its really quite a big adjustment moving back down the spectrum aimed at casual play.

Or Not….

In the end trying to read guides off my iPhone while breastfeeding was getting a little too much.  I’m shelving Lath for the time being and have decided to level my priest from 80 – 85.  Questing is something I can do for 5 mins or 1 hour so I don’t have to worry about neglecting Caitlin should see wake or need a feed etc.

Guild Stuff

The priest leveling idea is also helping me with my main dilemma – the part that has probably kept me not interested in WoW the most over the last 9 weeks.  My guild.  I’ve been in Vitare for just under 2 years and have had a blast with a splash of drama added into the mix.  The problem is that I’m no longer a raider which is what the guild revolves around, and I’m no longer really free to play at night time (hoping this will eventually change!) and I’m feeling pretty much like an outsider.  So many new raiders have joined and so many of the players I journeyed through Wrath with have left, that I almost feel like I’m in a new guild.

Part of me is wondering whether I would be better off moving away from an Oceanic server and joining a US timezone server where my daytime play is evening time for most players.  If I want to get back into raiding it would also give me more opportunity to find a family friendly guild that has short raid times but still maintains quality and progression – this just doesn’t seem to exist on the Oceanic servers.

Suggestions/Ideas Are Welcome!

For those mothers who breastfeed and managed to play shortly after birth how did you manage it?  I know some people have said breastfeed at the computer…. I just don’t think I have a set up that will work with that not to mention that Caitlin is a squirmer, I think she would bump her head a million times if I even tried.

Do you think its worth considering a move or should I wait it out for when night time feeds are less frequent and her sleep patterns more regular?

Lath (Still here albeit in a much less regular capacity!)

xoxox

PS – This post ended up taking me 4 days to write /sigh.

PPS – Cass still has no study from the floods!

Turns out I'm not a very good headhunter. Should have rolled a Troll.

Xeppe (author of the excellent blog An Ordinary Priest) and I have a strange history.

I actually found Xeppe’s blog through a link via another link from someone else’s blog. I was amazed to discover that she was not just a fellow Priest, or a fellow Oceanic Priest, or even a fellow Barthilas player – Barthilian?, or even another girl WoW player. No. Xeppe was all those things, but even more interestingly, she was a brand new recruit in my guild’s shady splinter guild: DeZire.

Talk about good gossip!

You see, back around the time my guild was first struggling with the new Icecrown Citadel hard modes two distinct, but major events occurred within our ranks. Firstly, we recruited a third Mage to join our two existing Mages (the existing pair of boys happened to be very good friends and had gamed together for years and I think, perhaps, even knew each other well outside the game). The third Mage, I’m sorry to say, was a piece of work. She was one of those people who help perpetuate the girls-are-trouble-and-don’t-belong-in-serious-raid-teams stereotypes.

In those days we made a fundamental mistake. One that your guild is probably making right now:

We put our pure caster DPS in Group 3.

Do not do this. For the love of god, do not do this. It was pure happenstance that one week I also found myself in Group 3 (perhaps I had logged on extremely early and sniped one of the first slots). And by the time we had killed Heroic Blood Princes party chat had dissolved into a pretty serious argument between New Mage and I over the Shadow Silk Spindle. New Mage made a snarky comment when one of our Restoration Druids (not Lathere, by the way) outbid everyone else and won the Heroic Shadow Silk Spindle. It was the first one our raid had seen, and yes, coveted by all the casters.

New Mage felt that the item should be for DPS casters only. Because any serious raider would know that there is a Spirit offhand waiting to be had from Heroic Sindragosa, and that is better for Restoration Druids, and the Resto Druid that won the Shadow Silk Spindle was outting themselves for being unprepared and ignorant of their class.

I think she was surprised that I was so angry with her. I think she was really just directing her complaint towards the other two Mages in the party, and both agreed with her, and never intended for me to see the conversation. I’d certainly never seen her say anything like that in Guild or Raid chat before.

I have no patience for players who claim to know what other classes should or shouldn’t be equipping (especially when it’s to argue that someone doesn’t deserve the item you want – talk about biased!). And furthermore our loot system is set up to be as open as possible and we make no concessions for best in slot or class by class comparisons. It’s not a Loot Council. Far from it. You bid on what you want. And if you want it that bad be prepared to spend a lot.

We got into another argument about a week later, also in Party Chat, but I can’t remember what it was about. By then I had mentally labeled her as a Troublemaker with a capital T. Over the next few weeks our other two Mages became more and more discontent with our raiding and were quite vocal about it. They were fast to post DPS meters when one of the Mages had hit the #1 spot, and very defensive of each-other if anyone dared point out a mistake that one of them had made.

At the same time one of the core founding members of the guild, a Rogue, was also becoming unhappy with our raiding. He was angry when we struggled to get numbers, angry when he felt the officers weren’t recruiting properly. He was angry at our raid leading, angry at our mistakes. He eventually left to join a more progressed guild and I, like most of the guild, was both sad and relieved.

Anyway, to make a long story short, our unhappy Rogue decided to come back and give our guild, and his old friends still in the guild, another go. He chafed under the rules even more than before. Throw that into the mix with our 3 discontent Mages and it was a pretty miserable time to be raiding with Vitare. I blogged about it here.

To make a very long story short, during a tough night wiping on Professor Putricide, our Raid Leader decided to penalise one of our Mages (who had been topping the DPS meters) for doing something silly: getting hit by Malleable Goo or something. Within a few minutes all three Mages had left the raid and left the guild. While it was completely expected, and in fact the officers had over-recruited caster DPS just for that reason, it was still a pretty uncomfortable moment for the guild. Probably the most drama we’d seen in two or three years.

Not long after, perhaps a week or two later, our unhappy Rogue also called it quits. This time he decided to head up a brand new 25 man raiding guild on Barthilas, clearing the same content, with the same hours, same start time, same everything as our guild. DeZire started with 1 Rogue and 3 Mages. They took raiding applicants that we declined. They welcomed raiders who decided they didn’t like us enough to stay after their trial period (we can’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I suppose). And they built themselves up to a formidable and successful raiding guild, eventually surpassing us on the server progression tables if not by content cleared, but by the speed that they were able to clear it.

So imagine my surprise when I started reading An Ordinary Priest and all the drama of their new 25 man raiding guild is there to see written in between the lines of a young Discipline Priest second guessing herself during her raiding trial. It starts here, and gets better, and even better here and ends here.

Xeppe and I got to talking both on her blog and also in game – after all, we were on the same server raiding the same content at the same time. We had many online friends in common, and I had met a few of her raid team in real life so I had my own impressions and stories to tell.

Unfortunately Xeppe didn’t have a very good time of it in her Barthilas guild. I started thinking of ways to get her into Vitare. I knew she would fit right in, and while her guild and mine were identical in raid times, gear and progression, the personalities and attitudes which drive both guilds are as different as night and day.

As much as I would have liked to sponsor an application to my guild from Xeppe the timing was all wrong. We had a full roster of Priests and our Raid Leader leader is a Discipline Priest. And she was of the opinion that Discipline Priests don’t stack well.  Tack on our two excellent and long term Holy Priests and there was just no reason, other than pure favoritism, to welcome another healing Priest to the team.

I was dismayed to hear that Xeppe had burned out and left Barthilas, forever associating hardcore raiding, 25 mans, and progression raiding with that bad experience in DeZire.

If you haven’t been reading An Ordinary Priest you might not know it but Xeppe has turned from a white bar into a dark blue one: these days she’s playing a Restoration Shaman. And it just so happens that my guild, Vitare, is being very open-minded about our roster for Cataclysm. And there’s definitely room for a Restoration Shaman.

There’s room for Xeppe. If only I could convince her!

Natassia, a Rogue in my guild, played with Xeppe when they were both in DeZire, Xeppe’s old Barthilas guild. She chimed in on Xeppe’s blog to add support to my Must Recruit Xeppe Plan of Attack. Our Raid Leader has been reading An Ordinary Priest on and off for almost a year. Our Recruitment Officer is keen for Xeppe to join too.

And if you need further proof of how much we want you to join, Xeppe, here it is!

Plan: How to Recruit Xeppe

My hopes for Vitare in Cataclysm are thus: to hash over our experiences in game online here at HoTs & DoTs (written by yours truly and if you’re lucky you might get some mad ramblings from Lathere), our guild’s anti-gnomes Warlock over at Emberstorm (written by Velidra) and our future guild’s Absolutely Unique Shaman (that would be Xeppe)!

ps. These days it is a firm rule in Vitare that Mages are never placed in the same party within a raid and are, instead, almost always separated among Groups 2-4.

The winning screenshot entry

Approximately a month ago, our guild entered the Oceanic Guild Screenshot Beta Contest and in the final week of the draw we were lucky enough to be chosen as a winner!  Only 25 Oceanic guilds were picked in total so this was a really lovely surprise for our guild, and a great way to reward and re-motivate members this close to the end of expansion.

The contest awards 10 beta keys and as a 25 man raiding guild, I certainly didn’t envy the officers having to choose which 9 other players (GM automatically gets 1) would be selected to form a 10 man raid group ready to test the first tier of raiding content released with Cataclysm.  In the end the players were chosen not on what is considered perhaps the best group make up, but on their longevity, attendance, performance, attitude etc.  We’ll find out first hand if Blizzard’s moto of “Bring the Player, Not the Class” still holds true in the next expansion.

Our Beta raid make up will be:

Tanks:
Warrior
Death Knight

Healers:
Priest
Paladin
Druid (Me!)

Melee DPS:
Paladin
Death Knight

Ranged DPS:
Priest (Cass!)
Mage

Hybrid (DPS/Heals):
Shaman

We also have a Fury Warrior and Shadow Priest with Beta Keys from the guild giving us a 12 member roster for testing over the next 8 weeks.  We’ll be raiding on Gilneas (US) PvP Server so if there are any readers on there currently testing out the content make sure you say hello.

Thursday nights are now officially back on the raiding roster and I can’t wait to keep you all posted on what it’s like raiding as resto!

What's this? I can't remember the last time I saw one...

If you are a regular reader you may have noticed that my achievements have recently been updated and show that I have been raiding again.

I lasted on casual for a total of 14 weeks, and now that I can stay awake past 9pm and have more energy (sadly 18 weeks and still throwing up daily, what is the go with that?) I decided to try finishing out the expansion.

This may also have something to do with the fact that my other half is completely enmeshed into Starcraft II leaving me twiddling my thumbs in the evenings.

One thing hasn’t changed in Vitare since I left (and came back). We still can’t find a single Warlock to join our guild.

I thought considering wow.com linked to my Applying to Raiding Guilds post this morning, that this could be the perfect time for a shameless recruitment message because there is something I am seriously missing since being back on the raiding scene this last week, and that’s summoning stones.  To quote the Australian tourism industry’s completely fail Lara Bingle campaign… Warlocks, where the bloody hell are you?

One of our raiders last night theorised that they had decided to reverse engineer their ritual of summoning to instead banish them to a better place away from pestering raiders whispering for summons.

So if you are an Oceanic player, or someone that is looking for a GMT +10 Timezoned guild that please have a look at Vitare!

<Vitare> is an Alliance raiding guild on Barthilas (Oceanic PVP):

Australian Daylight Savings Time (ADST)/Server Time (+10GMT)
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday
7.00pm – 10.30pm

And we’re looking for Warlocks that:

• Have a stable internet connection and don’t disconnect
• Can attend each of the four raid nights on time
• Do wicked (like really good 10k + with ICC Buff) DPS
• React quickly (to fire or whatever the bad stuff may be)
• Have Icecrown Gear (Preferably with a majority of ilvl 264 pieces) and is keen to do wipe work on hard modes

Experience with the Icecrown Citadel hard modes isn’t essential. We often recruit raiders who come from very successful 25 man raiding guilds when they want to bring the challenge back into their raiding. Experience and skill at playing your class is essential.

Vitare’s 25 Man Progression:
11/12 ICC HM, 4/5 ToGC, 5/5 ToC, Ruby Sanctum NM

Vitare’s 10 Man Progression:
11/12 ICC HM, 5/5 ToGC, Ruby Sanctum NM. A Tribute to Insanity, A Tribute to Dedicated Insanity (Server 1st)

PS: We’re also looking for a Holy Paladin and Holy/Discipline Priest for any Oceanic healers out there interested in finding a new home as well.

And you thought Children's Week had an end date.

Well it’s been awhile, over a month in fact since I last posted. It’s strange the longer it goes without writing, the harder it has been to start again. I haven’t quit playing or anything though RL has been incredibly demanding taking up all my time of late and I’m sorry in advance that this post is going to cover some of that stuff too.

So firstly, I started a new job which was incredibly exciting because my old job was stressful, miserable and no matter what you did you never felt that it was enough.  I’m still at the same company but in a position now that lets me be a little bit more creative and actually fix issues.  My first task was to set up an internal WordPress blog so, yes definitely much more fun!

A week after I started in my brand new position I found out I was pregnant, which while exciting happened much faster than expected and made me feel a tad guilty considering I had only just stepped into a new role. At least it explained why I was nearly falling asleep at my desk every afternoon.

So I’m 10 weeks pregnant now, the morning sickness has well and truly kicked in and I’m seriously not looking forward to another 2 weeks of not being able to keep any food down and having a life that consists of getting up, going to work and then coming back home to crash…. just to begin it all again the next day.  Where is this damn pregnant glow people are always talking about?

So I had been tossing up between getting demoted to raider or going the whole hog and becoming a casual.  I wasn’t really sure which way I wanted to go, I knew I couldn’t keep being an officer it’s too much extra thought and worry.  I also know that the only part of the game that I really enjoy is raiding.  I love tackling new content, I love it when it’s hard the idea of not having that… I’m not sure whether I would still have any urge to play at all.

The straw finally broke  when an officer re-invited a friend of his back into the guild as a casual.  This friend had been a previous raider who had gquit so many times that it is a common joke within in the guild.  I think the one that is most infamous was when he quit because he couldn’t get a summon to the raid instance. So this long term, known troublemaker decided to put in an application to raid with us.  His avatar was disgraceful and Xeppe has already talked about similar ones in her post here. Basically it’s a gif of a woman unzipping her top until her breasts jiggle out.  Seriously why someone would think that was a suitable avatar to use when applying to a guild I can’t fathom. On a side note what probably annoys me more is the same person who chooses to use that completely sexist avatar, thinks it’s appropriate to kick a person from their old guild for making a racist comment to another person.  Why is it ok to be sexist but not ok to be racist?  Surely they are both unacceptable and should be dealt with accordingly?

As a girl it can be really difficult to deal with situations like these.  You say something to the guy and you’re seen as overly sensitive.  You don’t say anything and you feel like your encouraging this sort of behavior to the guild in general.  The third option I considered was finding a picture of a really gross penis and fighting fire with fire.  I decided the chances of this backfiring were too high (and besides who wants to look at a penis avatar really?) and instead put in officer that it was offensive and could someone (I really didn’t care which of the guys) ask him to change it.  I completely snapped the next day when I went to respond to his application with some questions because I’m all for believing people have rehabilitated.  He changed his avatar to a little box that read:  Oh dear, sorry I offended you… NOT.

So that was it, the final straw, an officer “disagreement” was had over how the avatar change had been handled and I decided then and there to just go casual.

So what am I going to do now?

Well to be honest I expect that the next 2-3 weeks will continue to be a write off with no game time.  I’m hoping after that I can perhaps actually finish leveling Pixii or perhaps work on Loremaster before Cataclysm launches.

As much as I am really disappointed with the raiding changes on the horizon these will probably in the long run work in my favor and I’m half thinking that next year will see me on a US server raiding in a 10 man guild during the day while bub is asleep.  I’d be interested in hearing how other WoW mum’s handle raiding with newborns if we have any readers that fit the description. Advice would be much appreciated!

Suzushiiro (Holy Priest) in the opening credits of Big Crits

Are you watching Big Crits too? (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)

Big Crits is a newly formed 25 man World of Warcraft raiding guild. And everything that happens in the guild raids is recorded and edited back for us to watch as online episodes: an inside look into the running of a raiding guild.

I thought the show would be like watching a cross between an instructional how-to video with the occasional argument recorded over vent thrown in. Deep down I didn’t really think that a guild under that kind of pressure and exposure would be able to function as a hardcore raiding guild and be successful. Is the priority the show or the raiding?

Excellent raiding, in my experience, is rarely accompanied by guild drama. And wouldn’t the guild drama be the part that makes the show interesting?

To make a long story short, watching the very first episode answered a lot of those doubts. And it’s fascinating to watch. I love the raiders. I love the web-cam style confessions. I’m already attached to the main cast (not everyone in the raid group has their own “talking head” moment to talk directly to the camera and their audience).

I really respect what these guys are doing. Nothing captures what it’s like to be part of a raiding guild as well as this series does. The chatter on vent that kicks immediately after the opening credits make me feel right at home – it sounds and feels like every pre-raid chatter I’ve ever heard. And is, of course, totally forgettable. There’s the subtle, awkward conversations that we’ve all heard before:

I mean this in the nicest way possible. But… Whornnie could you do more threat?
– Episode 3

I’m tempted to send a link to this series to some of my friends – the friends of mine who theoretically understand that I play World of Warcraft, but don’t really understand what that entails.

I went out for dinner with a bunch of people I’d never met. Strangely enough it came out in conversation that one of the guys at the table was taking his new girlfriend to his mate’s place the next day. And the boys were planning to play Dungeons and Dragons. What really disappointed me (and my expectations were very, very low) was this response:

“Oh my god. Don’t you have to dress up like a wizard or something?”

It’s one thing to vilify a game for being geeky or nerdy, but there’s no need to turn it into something it’s not. If you’re into Dungeons and Dragons of course you’re into cosplay. And in turn you must be into roleplaying. And World of Warcraft is the same again, right?

What I’m trying to say is that so many people have a black mark next to the words “World of Warcraft”. And yet they have absolutely no idea what it is, and what it isn’t. And still they go around, convinced, that they have it all figured out.

Anyway, back to Big Crits.

Even if I wanted to apply, talk to my web cam and be part of the show, I can’t. Not just because they’re Horde (really, what were you thinking Stoneybaby?). Not just because they raid my time 10am Saturday and Sunday (believe it or not, I can’t play WoW all weekend). I can’t apply because they have a Shadow Priest already. And he’s pretty damn smart:

… it’s not just people geeking out in front of their computers. There’s more to it. I think people are afraid of what they don’t understand.
– Furioso, Shadow Priest

Smart guy, huh?

Big Crit’s Discipline Priest, another one of the main cast members with her name in the titles, is Jadeice. Jadeice seems to be struggling a little bit. She’s well spoken and I have this feeling that she comes from a guild in which she was one of the core members of the team – someone who everyone could count on. We actually don’t know much about her yet, she’s only had a few talking moments.

Unfortunately Jadeice was that person. The member of the raid who just couldn’t seem to pick up Sindragosa’s Frost Tomb mechanic and, instead of getting away from the raid and standing in the clear upon impact, managed to wipe the raid by entombing everyone around her (See Episode 2, 6.30 minute mark and then Episode 3, 7 minute mark). In Vitare that person is Citadel (but we forgive him because you can’t really expect much from a Ret Pally, right?). I’ll bet there’s a special person who has that label in your guild too.

Jadeice was swapped out. And they got their first Sindragosa kill as a guild. Ouch.

I mean, I know it probably wasn’t just me… but… they one shot it. I don’t know.
– Jadeice, Discipline Priest

There’s nothing worse than feeling like you are the only person in the team who can’t seem to cope. I’m still convinced I’m the absolute worst person in my guild at dealing with the Lich King’s Defile. I offer to sit out that fight pretty much every week.

But my favourite cast member by far is their Holy Priest, Suzushiiro. This guy makes me laugh absolutely every time. He’s determined to top healing meters and just gets that little bit crazy when he covets loot. He’s always hilarious. Here’s Suzushiiro’s explanation of Sindragosa:

…if they cast too many spells they blow themselves the fuck up. As someone who likes to whore healing meters it’s kind of annoying.

She’s not going to fucking touch me with it in Phase 1 but in Phase 2, when she starts really doling out the damage, and I’ve got to really push that shit out and more importantly, when Prayer of Healing becomes really good so I can really pull ahead of everyone else on the healing meters … then she’s gonna start fucking me with Unchained Magic.

– Suzushiiro, Holy Priest

And I’m not going to spoil it, but 6 minutes into Episode One I almost spit my drink onto my keyboard.

[youtube tuxFNf4-fog Big Crits on Youtube, Episode 1]

What really worries me about Big Crit is that it follows some of the tricks you see in reality TV. Part of the fun in watching Survivor is hearing the individual competitors confess to the camera – in total privacy – then turn around and behave completely differently in front of their team mates. The show doesn’t go to air until all the decisions and votes have been cast so by that stage what they’ve confessed to the camera and to the audience can’t really get them into trouble.

But in Big Crits… eventually the raiders are going to have to eat their words as episodes go to air. Things that they say to the camera, after raid, might upset their guild members weeks later.

I can’t help but worry that the raiders will find themselves self-censoring, or not being 100% truthful simply because they don’t want to upset anyone. Stoneybaby is taking a different approach, complaining when his officers and raiders do something that he doesn’t like, but then confronting them about it before the episode goes to air. Even so, it’s a hard line to toe.

I have lots of other “favourite” moments from the first five episodes. What are yours?

ps. If you’ve yet to start watching you can subscribe to episodes feed and watch them in your feed reader or watch them on their website.

How NOT to Professor Putricide (10 man)

In Vitare we don’t seem to fall prey to loot drama. I remember that there was a little dissent over a gun in Ulduar, and whether Warriors should be allowed to outbid Hunter trial raiders.

But we most definitely do fall prey to 10 man drama. Are you in a 25 man guild? How many times have 10 mans been the source of your guild drama? I’ll bet a hell of a lot of the time.

It doesn’t really surprise me anymore. Splitting your 25 man group into two teams (and lets not forget the 5 people who are completely left out) and pitting them against the same content, often side by side at the same time, is bound to cause conflict.

Vitare has one fairly steady 10 man group. Not two, just one.That’s because:

1. A percentage of the guild don’t have extra nights/time to give to 10 man raiding
2. A percentage of the guild just don’t enjoy 10 mans as much
3. The left over 15 players (not already in a 10 man) aren’t a very good class/role makeup suitable for a second 10 man raid

I’m okay with there being only one 10 man group. I believe that the raiders who are the most determined to do 10 mans are already in this group.

Four nights is enough raiding for me. I don’t enjoy repeating content in 10 mans. And of the left over 15 guild raiders 3 of them are Priests. That’s a lot of Priests for a 10 man. There are a couple, maybe five, raiders who want to complete 10 man Icecrown Citadel every week, even though they’re not in the 10 man group. Those players usually PuG 10 man ICC.

Occasionally (usually at the start of a Patch when Emblems are important) the 15 left overs will try and group together to complete the occasional 10 man run. When we do, it’s usually pretty enjoyable and it’s nice to bond and build a bit of camaraderie with your guildies. But the group makeup is terrible. I’ve written about it before in posts, but we learned the hard way that you just can’t really complete some hard modes without a certain class or with an imbalanced ranged to melee ratio.

Because these runs are infrequent it’s not uncommon to depend on someone to bring an alt or play an offspec in order to meet the 2 tank, 3 healers and 5 DPS (preferably a nice mix of ranged/melee) format. But this further weakens the skill and success of the group.

To completely change the topic, I think I also need to tell you a bit about my Wrath of the Lich King Wish List: the incomplete achievements/encounters that I want to do before Cataclysm is released:

1. Earn an Ironbound Protodrake
   Completing the last few Ulduar hard modes has been number one on my list since… well… since Ulduar was released. Unfortunately they just keep releasing new raid content which really messes this up.
2. Kill Anub’arak in Trial of the Grand Crusader
   I don’t want to leave it at 4/5 ToGC. So close yet so far!
3. Earn the Champion of Ulduar title
   This one would be nice, but I’d be quite happy to go without. Can be completed on 10 man over multiple lockouts but requires people to stay alive.
4. Earn an Bloodbathed Frostwyrm
   This requires me to complete all the Heroic mode fights as well as a bunch of achievements in Icecrown Citadel on 10 or 25 man. Don’t think our 25 man group will take the time to do the non-heroic achievements… not when then 10 man team is working on it already.

And that’s pretty much it. The first two items on my Wish List are 25 man raiding achievements requiring, you guessed it, 25 people.

When Trial of the Crusader was first released, when it was gated and not taking up much raid time, there was still a lot of interest in completing the Ulduar hard modes for the mount. On one occasion we even went back and wiped on Razorscale to get Iron Dwarf, Medium Rare. On that same ID we pushed through and finally got I Choose You, Steelbreaker. Then we started ToGC and had no more time for Ulduar.

We never went back.

We were stuck at 4/5 ToGC when Icecrown Citadel came out. And nobody wanted to wipe in ToGC anymore – certainly not on Anub’arak (does anyone love this fight?!). But after our first Lich King kill we had a couple hours left of raiding for the week and went back to give Anubarak another go. We wiped. And it was painful.

We never went back.

Now I’ve given you all that history, let me tell you about Monday night. We finished ICC earlier than expected with a couple hours still left in our raiding schedule at the end of weekly lockout. We knew that we were going to kill the Lich King earlier than anticipated – our first attempt brought us straight into phase 3, but we had a few too many DPS dead to keep up. The night was still early.

Some players, like me, were pretty excited. A chance to raid something other than ICC 25!

I started throwing out ideas in Raid and Guild chat, even before we came back from our first wipe: “Ulduar here we come!”

Some other raiders were getting excited too. I heard someone say the words “Rusted Protodrake”, another player suggested “TOGC for BiS trinkets” and someone else chimed in “ooooh maybe we can finish our 10 man”. We killed the Lich King and ran around Dalaran waiting to hear what our next destination would be.

An officer suggested that we do a quick clear of the 4 farm bosses in ToGC, joining up with a PuG group that was forming on the server at same time. It was put to vote. Just over half the raid said yes, several did not vote and perhaps 4 or 5 said no.

We then voted on Ulduar hardmodes. Same response: about half the raid said yes, several did not vote and perhaps 4 or 5 said no.

There were a few more “comon let’s finish our 10 man” suggestions from the players who are in the core 10 man group. I could feel my chance at ever achieving my wish list items slipping away – when would we next get the chance to revisit old content during our raid schedule?

“Naxx 25 Immortal run?” I elaborated over vent: “God I just want a change of scenery – anything but Icecrown Citadel”. My Naxx 25 suggestion was also put to vote, although I never intended that we actually run it, I was just mad keen to do a 25 man raid other than Icecrown Citadel.

Most of the vote came back no or unanswered. A surprising five or six were keen. The same four or five people who voted no to all the previous votes voted no yet again.

Eventually the vote turn to “Who wants to do ICC 10?”. The same four or five people who had nixed every suggestion thus far finally voted yes. A few people who aren’t in the regular guild 10 man also said yes, which I thought was a bit strange. Did they think they were going to be invited to the 10 man ICC run – which was a continuation? I don’t think so.

By now the 25 man raid group was in shambles. It was announced over Vent that we would be disbanding to do ICC 10. And then it got interesting. Drama. Everyone had an opinion on the decision and let loose. There were arguments over Vent, arguments in guild chat, arguments in raid chat and, I’m sure, arguments over whisper and in Officer chat.

To sum up, the arguments were like so:

PRO splitting down to a 10 man
——————————————-

1. Never enough time on Friday night (the scheduled 10 man night) to complete it
2. 10 man progression kills are for the guild
3. 10 man heroic loot helps the guild in 25 mans
4. 10 man progression helps us learn those encounters for 25 man
5. The 10 man group is close to earning their Bloodbathed Frostwryms
6. There’s no loot worth having in ToGC
7. You can pug ToC/ToGC
8. Mounts are a waste of time
9. Ulduar hardmodes are a waste of time

CONS to splitting down to a 10 man
——————————————

1. Only 10 people (at most 20) can participate
2. Not the right classes/roles left over to form a second 10 man
3. 10 man progression has no meaning in a 25 man progression guild
4. 10 man progression loot is equivalent to our regular raid gear and worse than our 277 raid gear
5. 10 man progression kills only teach the 10 players involved
6. What makes the ICC mount more important than the Ulduar mount?
7. A small number of raiders (healers most especially) still need loot from ToGC loot – even with ICC loot factored in
8. You can pug ToGC but you can’t ensure loot stays within the guild
9. Completing Ulduar hardmodes and ToGC hardmodes still give us ranking points

The most interesting thing, in my opinion, is that almost everyone took a side. I discovered so much more about the people that I raid with in 15 minutes of arguing than I have raiding with them for months. I lost respect for some players. I gained respect for others. I revised my mental list of who I could approach for help, and who I shouldn’t ever bother to ask – unless there’s something in it for them.

I learned who had their head in the clouds: the people who thought there were two 10 man groups and also the players who thought that we could even form a second group considering that we only had 2 main spec tanks online.

I discovered who can actually argue intelligently. I discovered who was quick to realise that they had walked into a political mine field and inadvertently said the wrong thing… and who was slow. I discovered who was particularly hot tempered (to be honest, I really was just confirming something I already knew).

I also discovered, without a doubt, that I could kiss any hope of completing my top two wish list items for Wrath of the Lich King goodbye.

Raiding is selfish. The best way to get people to do what you want is to lure them in by promising them the chance at something that will benefit them as individuals. Most of the time that’s loot. Occasionally you can try and find large groups of people who want a particular achievement or mount, but that’s much harder.

But raiding in a guild is a long term selfish proposition. One night you might do something that has no personal benefit to you (which is why I even bother to show up on our Lich King nights) because eventually you know that other people will still show up when you need something in the future.

There is no item in ToGC that I need. I hate Trial of the Crusader. I hate the instance. But I would have gone and completed ToGC if our healers say there are BiS trinkets for them in there. The last time we went I remember how thrilled one of our new Mages was when got a new weapon and cloak – infinitely superior to what he had. Why deny another player, a guild mate, someone I might even call a friend, that thrill?

I don’t believe that the players who refused to do anything except ICC 10 are loot whores – which is what they were called by others. However, I do think that they were weighing their own wants and desires much more highly than those of others. They waved off the notion that others might need loot in ToGC. I think they waved it away in order to make their conscience clearer, their argument stronger.

I’m not a member of the core 10 man ICC group. And I just can’t fathom how their successes really benefit me. The best gear for us comes from ICC 25 hard modes. Perhaps there is some BiS items from ICC 10. But those items will only ever go to the players in that 10 man. Yes, I do believe that the 10 man group is getting a bit more practice at difficult encounters but the 10 man group isn’t leagues ahead of our 25 man progression – actually they’re exactly the same right now.

And, most importantly, on the rare occasion that the 10 man group had more knowledge than the rest of us this just made our 25 man wiping more upsetting and frustrating. The 10 man players were irritated that we couldn’t do something so simple, and the rest of us were left feeling stupid for being unable to do something that was, as we were told, simple.

So what did I end up doing on Monday night? Well I didn’t log off in a rage (I was too disappointed). A few of us banded together out of boredom, called in some favors, called a healer and begged them to log in, had a few people swap to alts and eventually ended up with a 10 man raid. We ran ICC 10 to fill in time. We completed it. We had a good time, and our alt tank got some gear, but I’d be happy to never do it again.

Perhaps I should try and find some individual achievement worth having and stick that on my Wish List. Right now Cassandri the Insane seems more achievable than anything on my Wish List.

If I only count on myself, then it just might happen.

We currently rely on the sale of BoE items to cover our expenses

Guild Banking has changed so much since the days in which I first starting playing. In vanilla and the early BC days one officer had a bank mule who looked after the guilds assets and gold! Cass was once even part of a guild that taxed its members – requiring them to mail a couple gold to the guild banker each week – in order to remain a member.

My guild recently overhauled its guild banking system. First we asked our members for feedback. It was very interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts. There were lots of good ideas on how we should spend the guild’s money, unfortunately there wasn’t really any good ideas on how the guild could make money.

I haven’t been in many guilds so I can’t really comment on what amount of gold a raiding guild should have. But it seems to me that Vitare has a pretty healthy bank balance. And its definitely a lot more gold than any of the other more casual guilds (that I’ve been part of) have had.

How We Spend It

In the end we decided to spend our gold on things that would benefit our entire raid team each night. We didn’t like the idea that our members would have to spend significant additional time outside their raiding commitments farming gold just to cover the costs of consumables and repairs for raiding. So now we pay for, per raider:

Repairs: 100g per Raid Night
Flasks: 1 Flask per Raid Night
Food: Fish Feasts will be provided throughout the night
Enchants: A number of popular enchants scrolls will be available to raiders when they win that brand new weapon (or chest etc)

Previously we had covered repairs and food, now we’ve extended that to help cover the cost of another raiding consumable: flasks. We’ve also decided to help our raiders pay for the cost of getting new gear – by giving the raider a suitable enchant so that they can start using their new item immediately.

We spend approximately 10 000 – 15 000 gold per week to cover these expenses.

How We Earn It

However, the only way we make money is by selling any Bind on Equip epics that we gather from raiding on the Auction House or at a reduced gold price to raiders (50% off Market Value).

I’m sure other guilds have alternate ways of making money but I simply can’t work out how.

I know that there numerous ways a single individual can go about earning gold and all the information out there seems to be directed at how a single player can play the Auction House for cash. But it wouldn’t be fair to ask our Guild Banker to play the Auction House and hand that income over to the guild – it’s income that they earned on their own from their own effort and should remain theirs.

I would be very interested to hear how other guilds run their guild banks and how they fill their coffers. In fact I would really like to get heaps of information and do a guide because frankly Google just didn’t cut it for me this time.

So please, if your guild bank runs well leave a comment explaining how it works!