Raid last week

I'd like to talk about last week's raid. But instead of my posting a big wall of text like I do every week I'd like to hear from you guys first.

I'd like to know where people's heads are at. Was everyone tired last week or distracted with RL things? Was it the dreaded summer lull?

Last week was regression. Not progression, not stagnation, but regression. Nobody likes it when that happens so I'm wondering if there was a reason for it that I'm not seeing?

There are 2 things I would like to mention too before anyone responds, what happened with Boradinn and mumble stuff. Boradinn was removed from the guild last week if you didn't already know. His forum post was not the reason but it was the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak.

There were a lot of little reasons that added up to a Gkick. Some of those reasons were: he was often late, often showed up without flasks/pots (yes, the Gbank supplies them but the time to take them out is before invites have gone out, not when we are looking at the first boss), distracted during raid. But the biggest reasons were preparation as far as watching videos and performance. By performance I mean things like Widow Venom, jump shots, avoiding the bad, etc. Thok should have been dead 3 weeks ago if Widow Venom was applied when it was supposed to be. That's a crucial debuff on that fight that we can't afford to not have.

And then there was Siegecrafter. I told him 2-3 months ago to start learning how to solo the belts on Siegecrafter in Flex mode because heroic Siegecrafter relies heavily on 1 or 2 people doing the belts the entire fight. He did not prepare and in fact admitted to not watching any videos of the fight. When we're this deep in heroics we can't have 1 person wasting 9 other people's time by not watching videos or practising a critical part of a fight. So please make sure you know what's coming up in future fights so we don't have to do them on Flex/Normal while you learn your role.

Mumble was oddly silent this week, especially on Spoils. I'm not sure if that was due to my thread last week and Boradinn/Iffi's response to the mumble stuff. If it's raid-related chatter that is perfectly fine. And on a fight like Spoils where I can't see what everyone is doing I need to hear feedback from you guys. I know it sucks when we're wiping, especially on a fight like that which should be an easy kill for us, but we need to keep communicating between wipes so we can figure out where the problem is and fix it. A large portion of the blame goes to me for both the forum post last week and then also being silent between pulls on Monday. I was angry that we were wiping to something so simple and instead of trying to work through it with the team I didn't say anything. So yeah, if it's raid-related please speak up so we can kill more bosses!

This wasn't supposed to be a wall of text but it has turned into one. Sigh. I want to kill more bosses and I don't want another week like last week so please throw out any feedback you might have about last week. Whether it's an issue where you were distracted all night or where I failed as a raid leader or where Iffi's butt was smelly or where there's something we can change up strat-wise, throw it out there and we'll see if we can't make next week our best raid yet.

Good post Slater, thank you for letting us know exactly what was up and has been going on behind the scenes. Its never good to be left in the dark.

I agree heavily, raid didn't go nearly as smooth as it should have. I mean, we didnt do BAD on the first night, but could have at least gotten TO Thok. We know we are capable of that. Honestly I wouldnt have minded if we only got to Spoils. That still leaves a full day for spoils (which should go down quickly, its an easy fight and we had so many close attempts last week. Should have been a kill) and Thok.

I agree with coming prepared. I have watched about 3 different videos of H Blackfuse. Admittedly, 1 of them was a 25m just to see the changes in strat, and seeing if there is a way to mesh them together. Overall, the fight just comes down to proper placement and belts. So we do need people practicing those belts hard core. Not just 1, but everyone who has the ability to do it. I as a mage, sadly can't.

I know I caused a few stupid wipes (such as running down on spoils in 4th room while there were 3 sparks). And that I will take blame for. I dont know what everyones issue was last week, but mine was just plain tired and my body and mind wasn't in the right place. I work the Ad Sg Unit ("
The Hole"
) and last week was one of the worst weeks Ive have ever experienced at work. With putting people in restraint chairs, many use of forces, and utilizing CERT (Correctional Emergency Response Team) I was just beat by the end of the week. My days off are Raid nights (Sunday and Monday) nights. So by the time raid came, I was just beat. I wanted to pop back a few beers, but I knew doing so would impair my raid ability, so decided against it.

This week, I should be much better. I start my vacation early, so I only have 4 work days this week. And so far, its been pretty damn easy. Knock on wood.

I am hoping raid issues are not a morale issue. We have made it this far guys, lets not lose interest or hope. We hit a stump, and we will get over it. Farm VP before raid so youre maxxed out on your upgrades before the raid, not after. Get flask and stuff before raid (I myself am guilty of forgetting, but thats why i have like 50 flask in my bag now). Lets go in strong this week, and get us a kill.

I do have a lockout at Thok on my paladin because of my absence if we want to use that for this week.

[quote="
Jilliumz"
:1ec8oz1r]I do have a lockout at Thok on my paladin because of my absence if we want to use that for this week.