Tag Archive: raid


WoW Cataclysm:Mailbox roundup redux

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2010/09/14

WoW Cataclysm:Mailbox roundup redux

Here at Officers’ Quarters, I receive a number of emails every week that don’t get featured in the column for various reasons (which I explained last time I did a roundup). Once again, it’s time to examine some of these shorter — but no less interesting! — topics. This roundup’s theme is Cataclysm concerns and preparation.

Just the two of us

Hello,

I have tried to find this info but I cannot seem to find it anywhere, or I am really terrible at finding things. Is there going to be a minimum guild size to participate in guild leveling? I started a small guild for myself and my son to play in and we are having a great time, but I hoped we could take advantage of these new features without joining a larger guild or recruiting into the existing one. Obviously we would not get any experience for raids or dungeons, but what about questing and professions, or even rated battlegrounds?

Thank you for your time,

Callidor

Hi, Callidor. The good news is that there is no minimum guild size. A guild is a guild, even if it only has two people (or one). The bad news is that, since there will be only two of you, leveling will progress extremely slowly. You will get guild experience for questing, but not much else. Dungeons, raids and rated battlegrounds require a certain number of players to count as guild groups (4 of 5, 8 of 10, 12 of 15, and 20 of 25). The only other way you can get guild experience is by earning guild achievements. Some of these achievements, such as Mix Master and the Slayer achievements, won’t be impossible for you. However, most of them will take a long time to earn.

For more info, check out the guild advancement Q&A.

I’m on the outside

Scott,

My guild has existed since vanilla, and I’ve been a member for about a year now. The way our guild raids is that we have a number of 10-man teams who run on Friday or Saturday night, and then a single 25-man raid that runs on Sunday afternoon. The roster for the 10-man teams is strict. You’re either on a team or you’re not. For the 25-man raid, however, everyone who wants to go shows up, and the raid leaders figure out who gets to go. I’m often not around on the weekends. So, my first issue basically is that I’m irritated by the fact that all of our progression raiding happens on the weekends.

My second issue feeds somewhat into the first issue. You see, I’m not on one of the 10-man teams. As I said before, the rosters are pretty much set in stone, and as much as I would like to be on a 10-man team, first, there are rarely permanent slots open, and second, I wouldn’t be comfortable putting myself forward for an opening when I couldn’t guarantee my attendance, as the teams only run on the weekends.

I’ve spoken with one of the officers in our guild about this, and he’s pretty much told me that he thinks I’m the only one with a problem.

Finally, I’m concerned about how things are going to be in Cataclysm. I seriously doubt we will continue with the 25-man raids. Most of our core raiders are people who are focused on 10-man teams. However, since we have a strict-roster, strict-weekend approach to 10-mans, I’m worried about getting cut out.

So, are these issues I should bring up with the leadership? Or am I just whining and being unreasonable after a tough weekend and need to gut it out?

Thanks,

Andy on the Outside

Hi, AotO. I’ve had a few players in my own guild who wanted to raid but who couldn’t meet our schedule, so I know what you’re going through.

Scheduling is always, always a problem with a larger guild. There’s simply no way to schedule raids that meet everyone’s needs. Someone is going to get left out, and unfortunately, right now that person is you. Complaining about it again won’t get you anywhere. However, you’ve made your officers aware of it, so if anyone else brings up the matter, you won’t be a lone voice anymore.

Until more people have an issue with the schedule, the officers have to keep it as is for the good of the guild. Rescheduling raids is not a trivial matter — there are potentially devastating consequences. If you reschedule to a time that people don’t like, your attendance can drop, your progression can grind to a halt, and before you know it, your best raiders are jumping ship.

My advice to you, for now, if you really can’t make your guild’s schedule as it exists, is either (a.) try to start your own raiding group during the times you can make it (without, of course, “poaching” from the other scheduled raids), (b.) give up on making those raids regularly and be content filling in when you can, or (c.) look for another guild.

If you stick around for Cataclysm, however, you may get lucky. It’s a long shot, but it’s possible that other people’s schedules will change, and the officers will need to move progression raids to weeknights. You may find the schedule altered to your benefit.

It’s also a possibility that lapsed players will return to the guild for the expansion and the influx will prefer a weeknight. You could form a new 10-player raiding group with them.

On the other hand, the expansion may also bring changes that don’t help you very much. Your guild will have to choose whether to focus on 10-player or 25-player raids. If they choose the former, you could be left out in the cold.

Whatever you choose, I wish you luck!

Jump around

We spent most of the last two months as a 12-person guild, just enough for a 10-man with backups, but some guilds are going stagnant until Cataclysm, and we are getting an influx of new raiders. My leader feels overwhelmed at the moment because he hates not being a part of whatever the guild is doing, so he likes to be at all raids. We need to convince him that we are capable without his help, and that he can kick back and maybe do something he enjoys more than jumping in raids all the time. Do you have any suggestions on us doing this beyond going behind his back to raid without him?

Scir

Hi, Scir. You absolutely should not go behind his back. That will only make him feel hurt and betrayed. Purposeful deception is never a good strategy.

For people who are in leadership positions, it can be really tough to let go, even a little bit. I would continue to offer to let him sit out, making sure he knows you’re happy to have him along but concerned that he will burn himself out. Be up front about it.

If he expresses his feelings of being overwhelmed to you, suggest that he take a step back. Offer to help him with any of the duties he normally handles. Remind him that other officers can help out also.

Unless you pay for his internet service, you can’t force him to take a break. All you can do is present the option and hope he eventually takes you up on it. Only he knows his own limits. If you can get him to sit out once or twice and the raid goes smoothly without him, he’ll feel less compelled to “jump in” every time.

One other option is to suggest a break for the entire guild. After all, I don’t recommend raiding full-time right up until the next expansion launches. You want your members to be refreshed and excited about the new content, not shell-shocked by endless attempts on heroic Sindragosa. Take a week or two to recharge everyone’s batteries — your guild leader included — and you’ll all be much happier heading into the Bastion of Twilight at 85.

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Keeping the guild together In World of Warcraft

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2010/05/10

Guilds who’ve been slower making the climb are having a harder and harder time finding raiders willing to commit to the final stretch. Everyone’s worried how the expansion’s changes to raid drops and incentives are going to affect the guild’s motivation and team spirit. The community is holding its collective breath, waiting for Cataclysm …

How is your guild holding itself together during this time of transition? Our website is looking for an article on how guilds can keep from disintegrating during this pre-expansion period of transition. We’re looking for thoughtful strategies and suggestions, between 500 and 1,000 words, on ways that guilds can successfully survive the period linking the end of Wrath with the launch of Cataclysm. What is your guild doing? What alternatives are working for other guilds and raiding groups? Preferably, you’re the GM or an officer of a guild or the leader of a regular raiding group (although we won’t discount submissions from other types of players). As with all guest post call-outs, only the best submission will be accepted.

Here’s what to do: read up about the Seed guest writer program, sign up and then submit your article (you can’t see the article page unless you have a Seed account). Unfortunately, we are currently only able to take submissions from individuals living in the United States; we hope to be able to accept international submissions in the future.

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Gearing a new restoration druid at 80 In The Game World of Warcraft

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2010/05/05

We are proud to welcome a new generation of trees whatever we’re going to be in Cataclysm.

Before I do anything else, I want to draw some attention to a guide on restoration healing recently published by Tree Bark Jacket that is an incredibly impressive work. It’s comprehensive and fun to read, and for anyone who’s getting started with the spec, I highly recommend heading both there and to Lissanna’s guide to restoration healing in patch 3.3.

We’re continuing our updated and expanded series on how to gear a new druid at 80, and this week we’re going to tackle restoration druids. Frankly, a lot of the desirability for the listed pieces depends on your spec and current level of +haste (if you’re wondering why that is, you’ll find an explanation in our Restoration 101 post). If you are planning to raid on your resto druid, this is a bare-bones guide to what you need to look for:

* If you have 3/3 Celestial Focus and are below 735 haste, prioritize haste. Look for +haste pieces and gem Reckless Ametrines.
* If you have 3/3 Celestial Focus and are at or above 735 haste, you can either prioritize/gem spellpower or (much better) move points into more throughput talents in the restoration tree.
* If you don’t have 3/3 Celestial Focus and are below 856 haste, prioritize haste.
* If you don’t have 3/3 Celestial Focus and are at or above 856 haste, prioritize/gem spellpower. As you get new pieces, it may be necessary to gem or regem to stay around the haste cap.
Why do you need to worry about this? Long story short, haste reduces your global cooldown, allowing you to apply more HoTs to more players more quickly — and that’s something you need to keep in mind if you’re planning on raiding (particularly 25-man content). If you’re not planning on raiding at all, don’t drive yourself crazy trying to reach a cap that can be difficult even for raiding druids to reach, and just use your best judgment. If you need more mana regeneration, prioritize spirit over crit and haste. If you have four-piece tier 9, crit is really nice for you. And if you want to make things really simple for yourself — look for any piece with spellpower, haste and spirit. You can’t go wrong with these three stats.

As with our post on how to gear a new bear at 80, a few notes before we start:

* I’m assuming you don’t have access to ICC-10 or -25, at least not on a regular basis. If you’re playing on a realm where bored players are pugging heroic Icecrown content, feel free to disregard all of the following list. Otherwise, my assumption is that you’re gearing a new restoration druid in order to raid (or at least make the content you’re doing easier). In many places, I have listed gear you can get from the first four bosses in Icecrown Citadel, because I got some feedback after the bear post from people saying that this content is frequently pugged as well. If you’re going further than that, Restokin had some excellent posts on balance and restoration gear available from the Crimson Halls and the Plagueworks.
* I’m assuming you probably have access to Onyxia, Vault of Archavon and (maybe) some ToC. Most servers have PUGs running this content fairly regularly (if not, feel free to start one). I’ve listed the ilevel 245, tier 9 pieces available if you get your hands on a Trophy of the Crusade. With many players upgrading to tier 10 right now, there aren’t as many players rolling on these.
* I’m not assuming you’re an arena star. PvP gear tends to be much less useful for trees than ferals, but you’ll find a few pieces here that you don’t need an arena rating to get. I’ve also listed a few Wrathful pieces that you might get off Toravon.
* You will find some caster DPS pieces here. I went back and forth for a long time over including more DPS-oriented pieces (namely, cloth and leather with hit) and finally decided to include a few of the better ones, mostly because a lot of them have gobs of haste. If there’s a piece without hit more easily available elsewhere, I generally left it off. DPS pieces also tend to lack spirit or MP5, and you need to be careful with this. If you pack your resto set full of pieces without these stats, your regen will suffer badly, so be careful.
* This is not a comprehensive list. I’ve eliminated most of the pieces we’ve previously covered in our January 2009 guide to starting restoration gear. If you’re still leveling your druid, or you’re hitting 80 completely destitute, I would recommend reading that first.
* I am a huge cheapskate. It’s a little easier and cheaper to gear a resto druid than a feral (there’s much less gear competition if you stick to leather), but you can still go hog-wild on BoE and Frost gear if you’ve a mind to do so. I’ve tried to point out when an expensive piece might be worth it, and when it might not be.
* For anyone without a very good Emblem of Frost income who wants to prioritize the order in which they get their pieces, I would spend badges first on the Vestments of Spruce and Fir (close to best in slot even for people raiding heroic ICC), and then — if you’re purchasing Primordial Saronite with Frost emblems — get the Blessed Cenarion Boots made. After that, it’s really up to you. Neither the tier 10 helm or shoulders is particularly compelling as a stand-alone piece, but I’m reluctant to advise people to run out and buy the legs and gloves, which have a chance to drop off Toravon.

Concerning tier bonuses

If you have four-piece tier 9, then crit is a pretty good stat for you. You will still need to worry about haste, but the abundance of crit on everything will do a lot more for you than it will do for druids in other gear.

Both the two-piece and four-piece tier 10 bonuses are extremely good for restoration, although they are more oriented toward a raid healer than a tank healer. If you’re going to go for the tier bonuses, buy the helm, shoulders, gloves and legs. The chest piece should be the Vestments of Spruce and Fir.

As with our bear post, if you have any combination of the following pieces, you should consider yourself well-geared.

Helm

Since the change to Gift of the Earthmother in patch 3.3, a number of helms have become less attractive, and this is a weird slot as a result. If you’re not at the soft haste cap, then the tier 8 helm is actually better than the ilevel 232, tier 9 helm.

Enchant Arcanum of Blissful Mending from Wyrmrest Accord revered is the classic choice, but if you have four-piece tier 9 or do a lot of tank healing, go with Arcanum of Burning Mysteries from Kirin Tor revered.

Meta Gem If you’re having mana issues, use the Insightful Earthsiege Diamond. If you’re not having mana issues, Ember Skyflare Diamond. You will probably want to read Tree Bark Jacket’s blog post on how this works vis-a-vis what your trinkets are.

* Helm of Abundant Growth (Alliance)/Mask of Abundant Growth (Horde) The ilevel 245 non-set spellpower helm available for 75 Emblems of Triumph.
* Lasherweave Helmet Available for 95 Emblems of Frost.
* Stormrage Crown Dropped by Onyxia-25.
* Stormrage Cover Dropped by Onyxia-10.
* Headpiece of Reconciliation If you get Sartharion Must Die! as a weekly raid quest and do the 25-man version, be on the lookout for this; it’s a really nice piece. It is, however, a hard-mode piece, so unless the raid’s bum-rushing a Sarth-2D or 3D, it won’t appear on the loot table.
* Conqueror’s Nightsong Headpiece The tier 8 helm. Yes, it’s better itemized than the tier 9 helm if you’re short on haste.
* Malfurion’s Headpiece of Triumph (Alliance)/Runetotem’s Headpiece of Triumph (Horde) The ilevel 245, tier 9 helm available for 75 Emblems of Triumph and 1 Trophy of the Crusade.
* Tattered Glacial-Woven Hood Dropped by the Captain’s Chest in normal Halls of Reflection.
* Sightless Crown of Ulmaas Dropped by Marwyn in heroic Halls of Reflection.
* Lifespark Visage If you get Flame Leviathan Must Die! as a weekly raid quest and do the 10-man version, look for this.
* Malfurion’s Headpiece of Conquest (Alliance)/Runetotem’s Headpiece of Conquest (Horde) The ilevel 232, tier 9 available for 50 Emblems of Triumph.
* Fallen Sentry’s Hood Dropped by Falric in normal Halls of Reflection.

Neck

I’m really trying my best to stay away from PvP pieces where I can, but there’s no way around it; unless you get lucky with a Marrowgar-25 drop, the top three slots outside of raiding are all Wrathful or Titan-Forged pieces.

* Bone Sentinel’s Amulet Dropped by Marrowgar-25. Note-perfect itemization for a resto druid, but be prepared for a lot of competition.
* Wrathful Gladiator’s Pendant of Subjugation Dropped by Toravon or available for 52,200 honor. If you’re below the haste-cap, use this; if not, use the Deliverance piece below.
* Wrathful Gladiator’s Pendant of Deliverance Dropped by Toravon or available for 52,500 honor.
* Titan-Forged Pendant of Ascendancy Available for 25 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor.
* Evoker’s Charm Available for 19 Emblems of Conquest.
* Heartbreak Charm If you were lucky enough to get this off the recent Love Is In the Air bosses, it’s identical to the Evoker’s Charm.
* Arcane Loops of Anger Dropped by the Devourer of Souls in heroic Forge of Souls.
* Love’s Prisoner Dropped by Bronjahm in heroic Forge of Souls.
* Freya’s Choker of Warding Another Flame Leviathan-25 piece.
* Symbol of Redemption Dropped by the Black Knight in heroic Trial of the Champion.

Shoulders

As with the helm, this is a really weird slot; the balance tier 10 shoulders are actually better than their restoration counterparts. If you’d like to stick to a restoration-oriented piece, my advice would be to pick up tier 9.

Enchant Greater Inscription of the Crag from Sons of Hodir exalted. If you have four-piece tier 9, you’ll want to use Greater Inscription of the Storm. Scribes will be using Master’s Inscription of the Crag or Master’s Inscription of the Storm.

* Stiffened Corpse Shoulderpads These are a BoE zone drop from ICC-25, but, as with all BoE pieces from ICC, they’re pretty expensive. I would just save toward the tier 10 shoulders, or — if you can get your hands on a Trophy of the Crusade — buy the ilevel 245 shoulders. If you’re wondering why a non-haste piece is so high on this list, it’s easy; the meaty spellpower allocation in addition to the two sockets vaults it to the top.
* Malfurion’s Spaulders of Triumph (Alliance)/Runetotem’s Spaulders of Triumph (Horde) The ilevel 245, tier 9 shoulders, available for 45 Emblems of Triumph and 1 Trophy of the Crusade.
* Pauldrons of Revered Mortality (Alliance)/Mantle of Revered Mortality (Horde) The ilevel 245, non-set cloth shoulders.
* Lasherweave Mantle Available for 60 Emblems of Frost. These are not well-itemized in comparison to tier 9, which is why the 251 tier 10 barely clocks in above the 232 tier 9.
* Malfurion’s Spaulders of Conquest (Alliance)/Runetotem’s Spaulders of Conquest (Horde) The ilevel 232, tier 9 shoulders, available for 30 Emblems of Triumph.
* Shoulders of the Fateful Accord (Alliance)/Epaulets of the Fateful Accord (Horde) The non-set, ilevel 245 leather shoulders.
* Titan-Forged Spaulders of Salvation Available for 40 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor.
* Very Fashionable Shoulders Dropped by Bronjahm in heroic Forge of Souls.
* Grim Lasher Shoulderguards Dropped by the Captain’s Chest in normal Halls of Reflection.
* Frayed Abomination Stitching Shoulders Dropped by Marwyn in normal Halls of Reflection.

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