Monday, March 3, 2008

The Saga of Wasted Raid Time.....Continues

If I had written this on Saturday it would have been lengthy and I would have had my first Blog Rant in the entire lifetime I've had this blog. So fortunately there will be no such rant from me here :) I'm just not going to go into much of the wasted time saga. However since its been a few days things has had time to mentally simmer and become a bit less clear so I can just recall things in short and as I remember it.

However last week was short on WoW as I worked most the week at nights, was off as of Friday morning from work. So Friday night was our Karazhan Raid as planned all week so most the raid  guild members can attend. So far our prime raid days are Friday & Saturday Night at 5PM server time or 7PM my time for Karazhan due to the scheduling of all in the guild that raid so far. 

At 1850 (My time) I logged in and started to head to Kara and we started getting raid invite soon after. We barely had enough people on to fill out the raid. People logged on here and there at different times. At around 2045 we had enough dps people to finally fill out the raid as well as our guild MT was also late. Anyway we finally got going and started with Attumen & Midnight and I tanked them both at same time picking up Attumen when he spawned. After that our Warrior finally showed up and we did downed Moroes & Maiden nothing special. All went down like clockwork and no drops to talk about from those bosses. Sounds fine there.

But the constant Afks in between were just that, constantly for all kinds of reason as well as constant disconnects. Disconnects happen at times, but man it was allot. So it was a lot of just waiting and waiting and waiting. For Opera we got the Wizard of OZ which I think is just rather fun. So I held aggro on Roar though we kept him feared for the most part. Tanked Strawman and grabbed and tanked Tito when he showed up. We got the event down no problem and was just fun. More Afks again on way to Curator as we took the back door!

We cleared trash to Curator fine. The Mana Feeders are just a damn nuisance as usual. Always a pain there on those. At Curator it seems rest of raid we just not having a good night. Since we did not have many of our usual members on the raid we were rather lacking in the dps department and healing department. This time warrior and I switched up and I was tanking Curator. Curator don't hit that hard. Trash in Heroics seem to hit much harder than Curator. Anyway we got to first evocation and after the dps group struggled and just could not get the flares down in time and well as Tank barely getting any healing (10 sec +) while the dps group just could not down the flares in time. I eventually died from arcane flare damage. We wipe! Almost 30 mins to regroup it seem to take.

We take a shot at Curator again and same thing. We wipe and then we had trash re-spawn. We called it a night at that point. It was 0140AM at that point. Was a lot of wasted time in between all them hours and having to switch people in and out. I was a bit fuming at that point to say the least. I let the GM as he too was in the Kara Raid that of my discontent as well as everyone else with all the wasted time. If everyone wants to waste time fine, I could go do something else in that time. If i'm wasting my own time thats not a problem, other people wasting your time and my time thats a problem.

For Saturdays Raid I was logged on time and ready. Barely anyone one or ready for the nights raid. "Hey aren't we raiding tonight", Yeah, just people not here. A hour later people still not on. I finally logged off for the night to work on other things I needed to do. As for Saturday Night no raid occured that night. Nothing Sunday and until raid reset Tuesday not much else will happen. On Saturday we lost one of our raid members a Hunter who can do some really good DPS and one of my usual Heroics sidekick. It was not clear why. So was a very disappointing week.

On Sunday after contemplating things for a while I decided to fill out a Application to one the top guilds on my server "Accused". I happen to know several good people in that guild just from doing a ton of 5 man PuGs and Heroics. Looked at it as a chance to have a more reliable guild and a progressive one with good reliable guild members. They happen to be doing SSC and TK but that's besides the point. I'm always in Heroics so I work on getting my own gear on my own time. I got put through the trial loops of doing a Heroic SH run with a few of their members I knew somewhat. I'll have to say I was a bit quite nervous. All those members wear full T5 gear at least. The gauntlet was not a very shining moment as squishes kept getting killed by one shot. Anyway we finished the run and I didn't ask too many questions after that. 

It seems from their website seems some their members approved and a few that I knew. However do need to talk to one or two of their guild leaders when online. To be honest I just haven't decided either way at this point what I will eventually decide to do. Do I really want to be in a Top guild that's already raiding in SSC/TK? Am I hardcore, No. I don't really think so, but I'm just dedicated to what I choose to do around the schedule that I have. Being in a small guild is ok. Not having enough members for raiding is a problem and cost each person a ton of wasted time. Our small guild may need more members or just more quality members geared at 70. I haven't decided on what I will do, but when I meet the bridge I'll decide whether to cross it or not. 

11 comments:

SuraBear said...

The problem with joining an SSC/TK guild is that, more likely than not, they aren't running Karazhan much any more, at the very least not on a regular schedule.

Additionally, it'd take a while to close the gear gap between yourself and the rest of the guild, which is a big issue for tanks, especially. Those tanks who get in on the ground floor in a raiding guild are the ones that get to be main tanks, while the rest either never catch up in gear, or do catch up, but are backups to the old-timers nonetheless.

I dont know enough about your gearing (Cant check armory from work) or personal preferences to say for sure, but my best guess is that your ideal guild "upgrade" would be to one that is fairly advanced in Karazhan, and maybe just starting to look at the jump to 25-mans. Not only would a guild like that be actively recruiting members, they'd likely be running regular (and more organized) Kara runs, and with everybody still being in Kara gear, you'd be able to catch up in gearing as well.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do!

Anonymous said...

i agree with SuraBear! Remember the offers always open Galo if your ever around Aman'Thul :D.

My guild excately where SuraBear is, and we are soaking up all sorts of players. I scored me a nice young prot pally protege who I've been gearing up and advising. He wasn't even uncrittible when we started!

Seriously Galo your an asset to any guild out there. Find one right at your progression level, or you'll end up in the "alts/noobs" group of the main people, and your runs will be even more wreckless. Find a guild taking Kara seriously (not too serious you gotta have fun, but at last have them have a show up on time or you dont raid rule).

It sounds like poor organization to me.

SuraBear said...

Actually, my guild is 1/4 TK, 3/6 SSC (and as of last night 6/6 ZA, huzzah!), but we were at that transitional phase once, too, and from my vantage point, that was probably the ideal time to jump aboard (albeit I was there from wiping on Moroes, which was rewarding in its own way).

Ardent Defender said...

I'm thought of things that much looking at things and a guild already in SSC/TK though a very good guild is not really one ideally I wish to be in at this point. Nor do i wish to be in one as such and be thought of as a scrub.

Im one to think through things in time with some patience as i'm neither impulsive either. However will consider things as they arise. Though the comments are well noted and appreciated for their points. Will see what happens in time.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I just stumbled across this blog and wanted to congratulate you on all your fine efforts. I'll definately be reading this. I'm just starting kara with my one and only character (prot pally)

Keep it up!

wngzero ~ Uldum

Alex - aka Firelight said...

Firstly let me give you a big manly hug!
/hug

Right now that out of the way I can say I feel your pain - I was in a guild much like the one your in, and I had the same problems! I wanted to see content! I got lucky and found my way into an awesome guild and its loads of fun!

If you get into the new guild I'm sure they wont need to gear you in Kara...or Gruuls/mags for that matter....You'll be attending with them straight into the deep-end in SSC/TK.

Tier 5 FTW!

We got a new elemental Shaman into our guild (Friend of a friend) we took her to kara on a mains only run - cleared the place in 3 hours - she got 6-7 new epics to replace quest blues.

Last night she was with is in SSC and we cleared 5/6 of the bosses (Vashj tonight) Again she got 2 new epics including Tier 5 gloves.

If the guild you are looking to get into are in roughly the same place as my guild then this will not be a problem for them. (as you said they're all in t5 etc)

Good luck with your application either way!

Paul said...

Well speaking as someone in a SSC/TK guild, I'd say go for it, but be honest about the kind of commitment you're willing to offer. If they can accept that, great.

We still run Kara ad-hoc for badges alongside our progression raids. The current Badge gear is equal to and in some cases better than the T5 drops, so if you're dedicated to putting the time in, you'll soon catch up.

Cowcontroll said...

i am in the same possesion, i want to see more end game, but im in a friends friends guild and if i leave with one of my chars they will lack yet another healer and making kara runs more difficult:S
So my feral druid is collecing healing gear so i can do something else on my resto shaman.

I think people who have your commitement will easily join a guild far over what you have experienced, you have worked hard runing heroics over and over again and enchanting your gear even if its ''only'' blue. That commitement!:-) GL!

Rob Dejournett said...

Well let me give you my experience. First you are in a casual beginning kara guild. A zillion of them out there, a zillion minus one won't make it out of kara (nothing wrong w/ that). You want to progress more. The avenue to progression is with a serious/hardcore guild. But the fit's very important. Do you get along with them? (most critical) do their raid times mesh with you?

My first guild I did kara with for 3-4 months. In that time we progressed to struggling on Moroes to getting down Prince. They are still working on nightbane/netherspite. It was exactly as you describe. The raids kept getting laxer and laxer, until it was 'well let's see who's on'. Further, it got to the point where we were 'raiding' every day of the week, spending 5 hours to clear one boss.

So, painful as it was, i decided to leave. It was bittersweet. I switched servers, and now of course I don't know anyone. I'm in a new guild's kara B team, and we clear kara every week, last week was 3 hours, no wipes. I'm the completely newb in that group, making all the mistakes. This, after running kara for 4 months or whatever. And of course you dont know anyone, and nobody is ever on (because we're just doing kara, and we clear it in one night, and heroics are mostly pointless).

So now i don't play my main much anymore, except to farm for mats, and the weekly kara run. Hopefully when we do 25mans I can spend more time w/ the guild. But the situation is going to be like that for anyone wanting to make the transition. Its going to be awkward if you don't know anyone, and you are going to be the new guy. But in my case there are a bunch of new people, so I'm not the only one. Anyway do what's fun for you.

It sounds like either you shouldn't be doing kara with your current group, or switch to a more advanced guild. For me, i was just so frustrated with wasting 20+ hours a week, just throwing that time away. (I often comment that i could have leveled a character to 70 during all the AFK time).

Rob Dejournett said...

Oh i just need to add, the new guild is zone in at the given time, and pulling trash 5-10 minutes after. It doesn't matter if you are late, they are going anyway. They can probably 7man most of kara (we ended up 9maning everything except prince and nightbane last time). So we don't waste much time at all. Of course that leaves the perverse problem of what to do with all that newfound freedom.

grumpus said...

Hey Galo, post is a couple days old but I figured I would throw in my 2 cents.

I think you are hung up on the idea of "hardcore" a bit. I mean... you aren't Crazy Stereotype Hardcore. But look at your wealth and your diligence and your rep grinds and that definitely isn't casual.

Also casual raiding guilds will eventually drive you insane with lateness and unpreparedness. A "hardcore" guild is going to offer you a place where people are just as focused on player perfection as you are. Just make sure you find one where the personalities don't bother you and the time commitment isn't more than you can offer.

Honestly, from experience if it isn't this guild it will be another guild at some point or a total WoW ragequit. I felt super super scared when Ag and I server hopped to play on Khadgar but in the end it turned out for the best. Also for a while I felt like I had betrayed my old guild but they are still hoppin' and doing their thing and I am pretty sure I would have been driven insane by the total conflict in goals/values.

Follow your passion! Also, skipping weeks of grinding Kara/Gruul might not be a terribly bad thing... you can see and enjoy Hyjal/BT before the expac and help your new guild with some awesome Guild Firsts.