Guildleader chores - Raid planning

Wowhead and MMO-Champion are telling us that raids will open on the 2nd December, which means that the first raid of WoD for Frostwolves will be on the 3rd December.

That's only 9 days away!

Gearing up for me hasn't been a huge issue, though I have been impressed with how fast some of the Frostwolves have geared up.  I think a lot of them are raid ready, and I see lots of people doing heroics, even the more social players.

Within Frostwolves there are two tiers of raiding - the serious raiders, who are keen for progress and want to raid 3 days a week, and the more relaxed ones, the ones who have told me they're happy to be subs, but would like to raid more casually. And a lot of people seem to be afraid of being the "casual" group though I can't imagine why - it doesn't mean that there won't be good players there, it just means they haven't got the time commitment to play 3 days a week and once a week is very doable!.

Kyjenn has been very keen to play lately, so I thought I would harnass some of that energy (whilst he still plays!) and put him to work.  I asked him specifically if he would mind running the once a week raid on Sundays.  I brought it up at an opportune time because Hwired asked me to put him as a backup tank, and I didn't want him to be on the subs list because he's at the bottom of the list for subbing into main raid and I know if I don't give him some raid time he'll just stop playing and Hwired is good value and fun.  So I asked Hwired if he'd like to tank with Kyjenn on Sundays once a week raiding and he seemed keen for that.  Hwired also asked if Roshii could raid with them - and I think that it would be great except Roshii didn't think he could raid because of work.  But maybe he could make it once a week - and I think that the Sunday casual raid could be a really fun thing if it gets going and serious but casual Frosties want to raid!  I have great hopes that the Frostwolves raiding feeling will be really strong in the Sunday raid - I might go and give them a hand too just to get in on the fun raiding if there's room!

I have seen some really good numbers coming out of players who I thought were a little less serious about raiding, and I am looking forward to seeing how that translates in the raid environment.  There is still a lot of concern about meshing together as a team, and I hope with all my heart that all our raiders will bring a sense of fun and excitement to the raid, and hopefully leave behind elitist and finger-pointing - because that is NOT what this guild is about.  I have been rehearsing to myself what I will say on the first raid night and what I expect from our raiders and I hope that the relaxed feelings we had whilst doing Siege of Orgrimmar will continue into the current raid team.  It's so hard to explain what I mean, but for me, raiding is not just a bunch of people thrown together to kill a boss - I REALLY want to foster that team feeling, that everyone is having fun, that nobody is looking down on other raiders or making it unpleasant by harping on about their mistakes or their damage.  Yet at the same time I want everyone to be doing their best because that's how we succeed!  It sounds so idealistic and I am really worried that my ideals will not translate well and the great raiding we had in the last expansion will not be here in this one because people are not on the same page.  But I am going to try my best to force the issue and MAKE it happen!

In other raiding news, a lot of people have been complaining about LFR Molten core and I have not stepped foot in there yet - I have scheduled a guild run next weekend and hopefully that will be ok - I am sure I can drag up 40 Frostwolves!  I wonder if we have to queue it as LFR?  The complaints have been that it's very LONG and that people don't know what they're doing, but I am hoping that having it as a guild run will remove a lot of those issues.  And it's a good opportunity to see what some of these raiders will be like before the real raids on the 3rd.

A couple more pieces to go (ring and hat) and I will be fully 630.  Only a few more heroic dungeons to go!