Raiding - Our first guild 25 man Garrosh

I was bummed that we didn't do our guild Garrosh the previous week, and hoped that we would be able to do it this week.  I logged on a little early and was a bit bummed to see that only 15 people were on, with only one heroic raider missing (Morz usually logs on right on the dot at raid time).  My plan was to do an hour of heroic Paragons and then switch to 25 man normal.

Aza told me that he would rather we just do 25 man because an hour of heroic Paragons wouldn't really get us anywhere, and with 25 man we may have issues with getting people settled into it.  I took opinions from all the heroic raiders online and Exray mirrored Aza (sometimes I think they are the same person...) and everyone else didn't mind what we did.  So it was decided - 25 mans were going to start in 15 mins.

Aimei told me that it would be a problem because people thought it was at 10pm.  I could see some of the raiders on Battletag so I asked them to come across.  Ultra got on his main which was still on Caelestrasz (which he will probably bring over in WoD) and we asked Soli (who was friends with Morz and Exray) to come as well.  But wouldn't you know it, people started filtering in and before long... we were full.  We killed Paragons with what we had, but then I had to make the decision to start moving people around.

Soli didn't mind having to jump out for Garrosh - she really is rather sweet - and I got Kahrax in.  Sars was going to log on right at 10pm, and Priestietute wanted to come as well.  Vexil and Souglyy came along (I did frown a little bit when Vexil told me that 10pm was too late to be doing Garrosh - how was he going to do raiding in WoD with us if 10pm is too late???) and I had encouraged Faithless to come, even though she told me her DPS was appalling (but she is a longterm active guildie).  So after a long think about what to do, Aimei and I sat out and I got all the others to come in.  I was a little disappointed but only because I really wanted to see how everyone interacted together as a group, and look at positioning, raid awareness, DPS/healing and how they behaved when it came to loot.

I had a lot of tells.  Unhappy people about this or that.  Nothing that particularly bothered me or gave me an adverse opinion of anyone, but I had anticipated this, and was using it as a baseline for if we did do 25 man raiding later, or even Mythic. Granted, not all of these people are mythic inclined, nor have the dedication to do it long term, but I need to know who I can count on.

It didn't go that well and we were having issues with DCs - Kahrax in particular, so I sat him out and I also sat Faith out so I could jump back in and see what was going on.  I made people get back on their mains and we went again.


Attendees:
Aimei, Snowcaller
Nathamanz, Jazzbangers, Luxygaga, Azadelta, Drauka, Lushen, Ravzz, Crooked, Sarstius, Dragonray, Mctacky, Yig, Haevela, Vexil, Souglyy, Ultra's shaman (with some longass name), Uq, 
Navimie, Morzierz, Daenerys, Glow, Priestietute

Kahrax and Faithless were switched out for Garrosh but went for Paragons.  I hope I can get Faith a Garrosh kill one day! Aimee and I came back in then and off we went again.

First go was messy but the second go was much better.  Poor mêlée dying early in the fight from Iron Star or getting Garrosh stomped made me /roll eyes a bit, but we got it down. Those damned priests made me look bad!  There was a warforged Black Blood which made me glad Jazz was on her priest (though she was not pleased because she had wanted to go on her DK) and I could give it to her and I charged her for it, and then the rest of the loot was upgrades for others - Shizuko took a tier token and a warforged helm, and Dragonray got an offhand.  Glow got more offspec gear and so did Ravzz. I think Aza scored an heirloom for his rogue and I think everyone was pleased by the end.  There were heaps of 25 man Garrosh achievements going around and I think I felt even more sad because Faith couldn't get it!  But I hope I can get her one soon!

I was really surprised at the turnout.  Some people were nervous - wondering what raiding would be like with this many people turning up.  I wasn't hugely worried - it looks like another round of taking turns sitting out was on the cards and as long as it was done fairly, I don't think people would mind.  I was more worried about how laggy it was on 25 man.  It was too much for Kahrax - does that mean that he won't be able to raid 25 mans later?  Everyone else seemed to be ok.

So, how did I get from struggling to fill my 10 man to having this huge amount of people? How many of them are going to be stayers?  I am excited and yet also nervous about the future of my guild's raiding - will it be as fun as it was in Mists?  Am I going to go back to the drama of WotLK/Early Cataclysm?

There is a difference between now and back then. I am the guild master now. I want to be charismatic like our first GM, Toutatis, but also calm and steady like our previous GM, Fueghan. I am not them, but I can try to take the best parts of them and forge my own place in the guild's history. I have tried to make everything a little more transparent, and a little more fair.  I make sure people know what to expect.  It's going to be hard but I want every member, from social to hard core, to feel valued, important, a part for something that they helped to build. I hope that it will work out how I planned, and with the help of all the awesome people in this guild, I can see that vision come to reality in the not so far future.

Comments

  1. Grats, Navi, it's a big step forward and one that requires a lot of courage to take.

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    1. I worry that we will lose the teamwork we have now - but if everyone is like minded, I don't see why we can't have that on 25 as well! But I do feel nervous about it still - and I hope that that's just me being overly worried!

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