Growing Pains

Hello my friends and welcome back!

We've gotten past the oohshiney new phase of Warlords of Draenor and have settled back into the rhythm of WoW again contentedly. My team started out on really solid footing for the beginning of an xpac, probably the strongest we've ever been. Granted, GoF as a guild has had a pretty low turnover rate since the opening of ICC (I hate and love thinking of just how long ago that was) for which I'm profoundly grateful.  We learned from our mistakes we made in Mists of Pandaria and hit the ground running this go-round. We haven't yet ventured into Mythic territory of WoD content, but we're at a solid 6/7 H with about 21-24 people showing up ready to roll on raid nights. 

The roster size has been particularly challenging for us, though, building towards the Mythic team. GoF has historically, with a few scattered exceptions, run a ten man raid team with a rotating roster of about 14-16 raiders. We found this was our sweet spot, and very very rarely have had to cancel raid because of poor attendance. If a raider had to bow out for a night or a week, we had no difficulties filling the slot because standby raiders were ready. If a raider had all their needed gear and just wanted a night or a fight off, again we'd pull in a standby. All was golden and all was good.  With the announcement of the Mythic raids, we started to discuss changing the way we do things.

Miss Me?

I may have been on a brief hiatus for the last several months, but my guild Guardians of Fellowship (US-The Scryers Alliance) has not.  I'll be back with more brilliant posts in the near future, but for now I'll leave you to take a look at a brief mashup of our recent victories.

Huge props go out to our Mage Sweetdeaths who has been working tirelessly on videos since we started our Siege of Orgrimmar Heroic progression and does OUTSTANDING work.  Take a look at all of our videos if you have a chance, he has serious dedication to both raiding and video editing...as well as being a talented DPS.

Until next time (soon, I promise!), long days, pleasant nights and Happy Raiding!

Halls of Flesh-Shaping: A Restospective

Throne of Thunder Part 3: Halls of Flesh-Shaping

This wing of the Throne of Thunder tore at my heart.  A thrown away disobedient pet, a flawed experiment tossed aside for a more perfect creation, and a giant blob of....what exactly was that stuff?  Often, after running through a raid again and again, I forget what it is that is in the flavor dialogue and text.  Primordius' screams of agony rip through me every time I'm there.  So much pain.  This wing paints such a vile picture of the Thunder King, in his desperate grasp for absolute power was willing to cross any barrier of morality or possibility to be the penultimate ruler.

Stories beside, I can say with confidence that of the four wings in the ToT, the Halls of Flesh-Shaping was my favorite.

Dirty Little Secrets

Come on, admit it.  You have them.  Who doesn't?

Are you a double agent PvP'er who slinks around one capital city, waiting to hear of a raid on the others and hop over to the other side to get the drop on them?  Are you an altaholic of the highest order, with a max level toon in each class and profession?  Are you a gold goblin who loves raking your competition across the coals?  You can tell me, I won't judge you.

I have a whole closet just stuffed with skeletons screaming to come out.  Remember the Poe story of the Telltale Heart? Yeah, that's my closet.  So here I am, bearing my dirty little secrets to you.  Be warned, I will be using amazing exaggerations, gross generalizations and overstatements throughout sharing these with you. 

Questing

Every healer knows the “joy” of questing.  Whether to level up or to complete dailies for reputation, most of us have to do it at one point or another.  Back in the day, before the introduction of dual specs, we had the choice of either (painfully) levelling as a healer or paying the (somewhat steep...especially for your first toon) price to continuously respec between questing and dungeon runs. These days questing is a lot easier on healers, with dual specs coming so inexpensively and the advent of LFG.  My dirty little secret about questing is even with the fact that I have an offspec, I'm abysmally bad on it. When I have to quest, I force my darling warrior husband to help me.  I admit I am not above using my feminine charms to convince him to drag me through yet another round of godawful dailies just so I can get some silly mount or title. When that fails, I threaten to withhold raid heals. Any port in a storm, right?

Ahead of the Curve

Ahead of The Curve

For the first time since MoP was released, the Guardians of Fellowship have successfully completed a tier before the next was released. I am incredibly proud of my guild, both as a member of our raid team and as co-GM. A huge congratulations and thank you is in order to the Defenders of the Guardians Of Fellowship. Each and every one of you on that fight deserved the kill, and I am so proud to be one of you.

The GoF had a stellar showing during Cataclysm. We held the top spot on our server for a time, earning a bronze finish for the Dragon Soul tier and completing 8/8 Heroic before the release of Mists of Pandaria. We felt like we were in a strong position to really challenge for that top spot on the server for the first time since our founding back in the WOTLK days.

 Then things got hard.

Mists hasn't exactly been kind to our team. As with any expansion, there was an ebb and flow of members when it was released. A good bit of our raid team left the game, whether due to feeling they had completed their personal quest with the demise of Deathwing, out of game reasons, burn out, or simply because they didn't like the pandas. For whatever reason, they left, and we were faced with rebuilding a new raid team from our remaining roster and adding new raiders.

Forgotten Depths: A Restospective

Continuing my fond farewell to the current Raiding tier, let me reintroduce you to the bosses in the second act of the Throne of Thunder: The Forgotten Depths.  Three giant critters make up the second act: Tortos, Megaera, and Ji-Kun.  Slaying these bosses makes me feel like we're putting them out of their misery.

According to "Lore by Bells (TM)" says that Tortos just wants to dance.  Look at all of the Dragon Turtle adds - they come whirling out from behind him doing the turtle spin breakdance - and that's all Tortos wants to do.  His body has literally fused with the cave walls around it, immobilizing him and keeping him from being able to pull out his blue suede shoes and bust a move.  Not to get too far off topic, he was just a victim to Mogu magic floating down and making him one with the wall.  What kind of an existence must it be to sit day after day, unable to move or even scratch your back?  (I apologize if this sounds too much like your workplace, guys.)

Megaera was once a cloud serpent, free to roam the skies and feel the sunshine on her scales.  She was twisted by Mogu magic into a hideous hydra.  When I picture the cloud serpents, I can't help but think of my majestic mount that I raised from an adorable, playful hatchling to a graceful adult.  To think of the agony that would transform that to a creature full of hate and desire for vengeance is sobering.

Ji-Kun I feel a touch less pity for as she is in the Forgotten Depths of her own volition.  She entered the Depths to feast on the flesh thrown aside by the Mogu.  She reigns supreme in her chamber.  I've often wondered if she feasts on her own offspring, as she is the only living creature in there when we arrive. Granted her eggs are everywhere, but you'll notice there's not another bird flitting about anywhere in the Throne of Thunder.

Stories aside, here's how I feel about the second act of the Throne of Thunder.

What Is Worth Fighting For? Part 1 of 2

“The true question, for my kind, is 'what is worth fighting for'?”

Part I: As A Raid Team

Three times a week, for three hours at a shot, ten people from the GoF come together to take on internet dragons and monsters. Three times a week, for three hours at a shot, we hurl ourselves time and again at these dragons, sometimes completing the same fight dozens of times or sometimes wiping dozens of times on the same fight. Why do we do it? Why do we not just say “oh well, I'm going to just go pick stuff from my farm in the Valley of the Four Winds”? What comes out of those dragons and monsters that is worth sinking nine hours a week – thirty six hours or more a month – that we feel is worth the time spent, the frustration, and worth fighting for to stay together as a team?

Ask ten different people and you're likely to get ten different responses.