Tiger - Venture Co.

Alright! more Molten Core madness yestarday, and more to come today :D

First thing first - Epix ... we got 2 epic drops yesterday so thats a nice season opening. Another one dropped and went to Antero from WN.

We will try to set up raid days once we get further into the instance, so that people know in advance the days when the raids will be organsied, with of course trying to keep it as flexible as possible. Doing it almost every day is really nice now, but in long-term it means people will get burned out and feel like having a second job and we don't want that. We want fun, killing and epix of course :P.

Now for the next raid - we will start biding on epic drops with our DKP points. Its really simple, minimum bid will be 50, maximum bid will be 400. Keep track of your own DKP, so you know exactly how much you can bid.

Eru will be doing some group organising before the raid today so our teams will probably look different. If any of you don't have the CT raid assist, please download and install it.

We also need to get used to NOT going into Blackrock Mountain 1 by 1. The entire raid should wait and meet up in Kargath, and then proceed to MC together. 1 - because we end up inside the instance at the same time and 2 - there will be no gank-squads bugging a 40 man raid. So stay in Kargath untill we have a green light for going into the instance.

The other loot, skins, materials and every other crap will be looted by the loot master and divided by 3 - for 3 guilds, after the raid is over.

I hope I didn't forget anything, see you today in Kargath.

Cheers!

Perun

Found this browsing the web a few days ago. Couldn't get arround it without posting it here - so all of our future leaders get the idea how it really works.

Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't in your endurance of fatigue and privation. always be tactful and well-mannered and teach your subordinates to do the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide.
--Field Marshall Erwin Rommel

Cheers!

Perun

Yesterday we have finally set our foot in that big place after all this time. 15 Tigers and Dance Macabre combined and the rest of the raid made of Wayward Necromancers. Considering that we had three separate guilds to work with and that we had zero Molten Core expirience before that, we did very well. It went smooth all the way to the first boss. I really liked the killing of core hound pack, as it requires coordination with regular mobs we havent been used to before. Its not hard, but it is a nice challenge that requires some teamwork. Actually it forces you into team-work or you don't make it.

Lucifron spanked us well, because we weren't able to coordinate who does what and how. After 3-4 attempts, and some group shuffling, we were able to figure out how to do it, and we got him down to 30%. At that point we lost all our tanks which caused a wipe. Luci will go down next time now thast we know how to do it, cause he seems somewhat easier than ZG bosses we encountered before.

It IS hard on the raid leader to lead people he doesn't know, because you don't really know who is capable of doing what and who is specced in certain way, who has better gear, and how good he is in what he is doing. Those things will iron out with time as we get to know each other and get some order into things.

By no means the raid was a failure. We managed to get enough people, we managed in the end to employ some level of coordination and we know what to expect next time. We are also getting to know our new team mates and allies and that also takes time. Failures and high repair bills is a standard thing when learning new instances. That's why they are called wipe-raids. It is just something we need to push through - look at it as a challenge.

In the end, I must say that I'm proud of each one of you guys, as you all really showed alot of patience, you did what you have been told to do without complaining. You ate our wipes with silence. And you stayed disciplined from begining to the end. That is a bigger thing than you maybe realise. 40 guys like you and we can take anything with proper gear and some planning. Good work!

As of yesterday, Eru is keeping track of DKP. Thanks to Geoff for setting it up, we all owe him a beer. You can check it out at http://dance.rper.org/eqdkp

Next Sunday MC is on again, but 1 hour earlier, as people work/have obligations on monday morning so we need to get it going and finish earlier. Sign up on the calendar those of you that want in.

edit: some pictures of our famous ending

Beginning


Wipe #1


Last wipe before going home - best attempt

The time has come friends, to charge into the belly of the beast. We are going to Molten Core.

After some talks with a leader of the guild named Wayward Necromancers, we decided to go together and test our skill and strength. Tiger and Dance Macabre has 15 spots in the raid, so, inspite of summer and heat and everything I wrote in the previous post, we have to mobilise and get enough of us with two our guilds combined. This is the chance we waited for so long. We need to use it.

The date is this Sunday 25th. Raid begins at 7:00 pm, be in Kargath at 6:30.

Applications into the Guild calendar ASAP, so we know wether we have enough or not.

Even if the 15 people treshold has been reached, you can still apply and be on standby. If someone does not show up, you will take his place. We work as always on the first come-first serve basis.

The following things are an absolute must:

- Finished Attunement to the core quest, if you don't have it there is still time, you need to go through BRD to do it.
- Download and install CT_Raid Assist addon.
- Those of you that don't already have it, download and install Teamspeak client.
- Spend some time to prepare potions, don't go without food and drinks and bandages.
- Get your hand on some fire resistance gear - wowwiki is refering to having minimum of 75 for non-tanks.

Additional reading about Molten Core

One of the guys from Wayward necromancers will lead the raid. I know that I don't have to tell you this, but I will anyway. I want you to listen to whoever will be leading - even if you don't agree I want you to listen and work with it. We have zero experience in there. Do the task infront of you with best of effort and focus. Be patient. We never played with them before and don't really know what to expect. No matter how everyone else behaves, I want you Tigers to behave mature and calm. Have dinners, baths before the raid, have food and drink prepared infront of you. I don't want someone going AFK every 5 minutes. We will have short breaks probably, so whatever you need to do, wait untill then. Real life emergencies are excluded from this off course. I want you to behave like elite we are even if everyone else goes nuts. I know I'm preaching to the choir and you already know all of this. We will use a DKP loot system wich Eru and me will work to set up in the following days.

Sharpen your blades and repair your armor. See you in Kargath!

Perun.

What can I say about summer except it's perfect for getting lazy. When you walk down the street and you have that 30 degree sun shining on the top of your head boiling the gray cells inside your skull, all you really want is to drop down into a comfortable chair, under some tree with a thick shade, order a nice cold beer in a cup, watching the white foam on top and checking out the drops of condense flowing down to the table. You sit back and focus on the busy main street, people going past, and all those short skirts and long skirts with high cuts and all that beauty and wealth of vision that heat drives out. You see hot air causing distortions above the hot concrete that you could probably boil an egg on, and the last thing you want to do is move.

To get back into WoW context, people spend much time outside, having fun, doing other stuff. Barbecues, parties, chilling out and cooling down. Summer vacations, friends and familly. Expect things to mover really slowly in the coming months. Its hard to get teams together, even harder to get raids together. It is not just our guild, it is ALL guilds. Some high end guilds doing raiding 4+ x per week have trouble putting one or two raids together.

We just need to go with the flow, and chill out and enjoy the summer. Not that we won't do things, it will just be much harder to get enough people online at the same time. Focus on doing small-time things, improve your gear, get into DM,BRD,BRS,Strat and Sholo. Improve your gear, start collecting resistance gear ... We still plan to break into MC sometime in the end of summer/beginning of fall, we are working on it so that we manage it. It might happen sooner, it might happen later. Do your Molten Core and Onyxia pre-quests. Just chill out, get your strengths together and be ready to kick off with vengeance.

Or you can meet me under the tree outside my local pub and have a beer or two, or three :D

Cheers!

Perun

Yesterday, I was sitting for 2-3 hours in Azsara, staring at the damn fishing bobber when its going to move so I can get a supposedly 14% chance to get a the fish I need for potions that give me +2000 armor for one minute, that I will later use in Zul'Gurub. I was utterly bored in every possible way. For a second there, I was really starting to ask myself why the hell do I do this if it's not fun, and why do I keep paying for that crap. The answer was really simple. You guys. I really enjoy going through hard stuff together with you, and it weights out all the boredom I get on the day to day basis, because after you ding 60 you still have something to do for a while - that is going to the 3 endgame instances for smaller groups - Strat, Sholo and BRS. But then, you finally get your last pieces of armor you need, and the only way ahead lies in bigger places like Zul'Gurub and Molten Core, and I know that our guild is just on the brink of starting doing it, and that we must clench our jaw and push through this last part and get to doing the endgame, as Blizzard has devised it for us. To be able to break through the barrier of million little guilds that are made of great people, but get stuck in that endless level 60 limbo, untill they get bored of the game, or just leave the guild searching for better luck elsewhere. I see some of you coming up to 60. I hope that by the time you gear up enough, the generation behind you will also be hitting 60 and we will be able to break into Molten Core. Prepare for some waiting. You will not wait as long as we did, but you will wait.
Each one that decides to bail out in that process is setting the guild back a step. While making one step back while doing four steps forward is not a problem, it slows down the process, and maybe pushes you to make two steps backwards.

This is where the guild spirit and team spirit comes to place. We are building this together. We will push and wait and fall and rise up again and eat dirt, but look up untill we succceed. You will be tolerant and patient and do everything to succeed. I can promise you one thing, that when we do succeed, you will feel the joy and you will scream like an idiot, because you will be rewarded for months of sticking with it, and waiting, and trying and failing over and over again. That moment will show you the guild spirit. Each one of you that decided to stick with it and go on, while everyone else fell will feel that.

For lower levels out there - USE THE CALENDAR TO PLAN EVENTS. We WILL help you, but get a team of 3 or 4 of you together, and 1 or 2 of us will go with you, when you plan it in advance. You will get help, but don't expect it served on a silver platter - do the planning and preparations and organising and schedule yourself, don't just expect us to take you for a ride while you sit back and reap the rewards.

All of you have to be maximaly tollerant. There are 70+ different people in this guild. 70 different people, of different ages. With different daily obligations and daily schedule. With different personalities and different lives. Each one of us percieves fun differently. We have to overcome that and make it all work together. You have to be maximally tolerant to the guy on the other side of the line as you never know what he has to do and what he wants to do and how much time he has.

Cheers!

Perun

Active level 60 members:

Rogue:
Ashrak
Greendoks
Wazek

Druid:
Kiaras

Mage:
Harriy
Merkoth

Priest:
Naarman
Gantor

Shaman:
Machevelan
Zaigerne

Warlock:
Glurtz
Gurell
Irvana

Warrior:
Brem
Perun

Up and comming:

Grimey - 57 shaman
Jefimija - 55 warlock
Xyndro - 53 hunter
Lowshent - 52 shaman
Razhel - 50 rogue
Bullus - 50 druid

Inactive:

Ralphlars - 60 rogue
Karkuvul - 60 shaman
Voda - 60 shaman
Karashi - 60 warrior

... or how we need to drink to stay healthy.

There are all kinds of potions that you can use before/during the fight to considerably improve your abilities. If each and every member of the team does that, entire raid ends up considerably stronger. for example just look at http://www.thotbott.com/?i=23418 - Greater stoneshield potions. It lasts for 2 minutes and gives you 2000 armor, which is alot, making you les voulnerable and making the healers mana last longer as they have to heal you for less. That is just one example.

You have to prepare for big things, that is the way to success. All the little pieces of a mosaic have to land in the right place and you get a nice picture. Take a few hours, or maybe a day, during the week that you know you are going to raid, and farm materials, or farm money to buy them in the ah, then give them to one of our craftsmen and they will make it for you. Go to WWW.THOTTBOT.COM and browse through the potions in the database, and check out what is really usefull for the class you play, and what could make you better at what you do, check what mats you need for making it and farm away. If everyone does that, we will be a much stronger force.

Yesterday's ZG raid was both good and bad at the same time. Jeklik being our biggest foe currently, we managed to bring her down all the way to 10%. We lost Greendoks soon after the fight began, so we were without a considerable chunk of our DPS. Also the flaming bombs can be somewhat confusing for some people, including me - everything makes sense when you talk about it, but when you start fighting, you maybe forget about it and do like I did - back away into a cloud and die almost instantly. Some other guys did it also so we lost quite some DPS in that part. I reckon that that is the main reason we didn't get her down those last 10%. Everyone did a great job anyway, rogues nice kicking in the second part. AOE team - while there are some details we need to work out, and we will with practice, just look back how we did before and how we do it now and you will see improvement. 10% on Jeklik is really good. It dwarfs all the rest of the crap we did later on.

Venoxis - we killed that guy before, last time withou any of us dying, so maybe we were way too confident. Maybe we lacked a healer, but I don't think so, 5 healing chars should be able to keep one person alive no matter what. maybe we were just banged up from jeklik and couldn't really get our act together and focus on the task. It is nobody's fault, and it is nothing to ponder on - we simply must do better.

Despite the fiasco with the snake boss, it was a very good run and again, we see considerable progress, so we just have to keep on doing it and keep up to the task at hand and not lose focus.
We also need to cut on the downtime somewhat, but I figure that was because the fact that we had external help, and started a bit later than planned and there was alot of summoning - and waiting for replacements during the raid. Those are everyday things that we can not avoid, but we can try keeping it to the minimum. Imagine how long it would take us to go through ZG at this pace - two days probably :P

Gortesh being absent at the beginning, Deranbedude took the job of being the offtank, which he did well, even though he was doing it for the first time in ZG. Congratulations for a job well done.

And congratulations to all the rest of the crew, you know who you are.

Cheers!

Perun