Raiding - D is for Disappointed in myself

What is the best time to rant about stuff that I want to get off my chest, but hope that nobody really reads?  Right in the middle of BLIZZCON :D Nobody will be dropping by my blog because they will be so busy watching Blizzcon stuff... :D :D Time for TLDR!

I was all afluff on Thursday because my main tank and raid leader was lagging badly at 6pm and his internet was all screwy - we had no backup tank and I was already short a healer because Morz said he was out doing something, and Una, Duck and Alca were out watching a movie. In short...

D is for Disaster!

So I scrambled around trying to make a raid. Baconofswag, our new paladin was excited to be doing Garrosh and had had a lousy day at work with abusive customers and had been looking forward to smashing some Garrosh face. I had a solution, though it wasn't a great solution.  My offspec is tank and I could tank- but that would leave us without a healer. Ravz had told me that he didn't mind if I asked him in a pinch to heal if it was an emergency, so I left him a message and he said he would come.  I was immensely grateful!  And Ravz had decent DPS on his offspec so I could get him to DPS as well, which would be useful.

D is for Dragging in other people.

I really had nobody left to fill my raid.  I had even messaged Fallnapart to come and DPS for me.  So I had to resort to my friends in other guilds who told me that they were happy to come along and help, even if it was for one boss.  I had made it clear, that if any guildies turned up that I would get them in and a huge thank you to Boosh from Tribo-Barthilas and Medio from Onineko-Barthilas for subbing in and helping out when they didn't need to.  Alca, Una and Duck turned up later and we got them in for Garrosh.

D is for Derpy Tank

So if I was going to tank then I'd better get my gear in order. I was still running around in half feral tier, and had ungemmed items as well as gems that were not appropriate after 6.0.  Aimei fixed me up with a whole lot of new gems as I fixed my gear as best as I could.  OMG I was going to die.  I had never even tanked Normal or Heroic Garrosh, let alone Mythic Garrosh!  And I just realised what else I forgot to get - the tank cloak!

D is for Dragonray

Aza in his usual voyeurism ways said to me that Dragonray was missing some enchants on her gear. I whispered her saying she was missing some chants and she told me that everything was fully enchanted.  I was a little distracted because I was trying to find people to fill the raid with and I didn't look closely - I looked at her weapon, chest, legs and said that I hadn't noticed it, it was Aza, and then started laughing at Sev because Aza had pointed out to Sev that he should look at his legs, and Sev couldn't see what was wrong and it turned out he was missing a leg chant - courtesy of 6.0 where all our profession related enchants magically disappeared.  Aza said to me to look at her shoulders and cloak and sure enough they weren't chanted.  I was going to chant her cloak for her (I love how professions let you access reagent back now!) and then I forgot to ask her what she wanted and was back to organising raid and DPS for Blackfuse, After we did Blackfuse she left raid and logged off.  I did not realise she was angry about me telling her about the enchants as I was not even angry about them, it was one of those things you just go "OMG whoops how embarrassing!" and go fix it up. The Earthmother knows how many times I've been caught without enchants (for weeks!) and Dalaran ring, Timeless trinket,  PvP gear...  I apologised to her for any accidental insults dealt and it turns out she was a little bit PMS (mild understatement!) and was genuinely sorry and embarrassed for her outburst.  I was 98% sure she would feel bad about her moment by the next day, and I was right, but just in case I was in the 2% chance I was wrong, I had drafted a GM voiced email about what I expect from guildies and raid members.  Turns out I didn't really need to say that stuff anyway, so Navizor went back into the closet.

D is for Disorganised

One thing I was ashamed to say was that I have only the slightest idea of what we do for Paragons and the kill order.  I know when the healer cooldowns need to be used and where I'd like people to be, but I was so stressed out trying to know where do I move the adds, which add do I tank and where do I take it that I had difficulty telling people where to go.  Koda and Bacon had come to the fight before, but Ravz hadn't done it on mythic.  It was hard to call out healer cooldowns when I was frantically trying to find my own targets and also try to live.  It just made the raid look horribly messy and disorganised and I was embarrassed having Boosh there because I often listen to Tribo raids and think how nice and orderly it all sounds.

D is for Dandy

Amazingly Bladewind AND Morz managed to log on and we were able to complete Paragons. It was a big relief!  It was so much better, I was back in my healing comfort zone except I was spazz and I DIED in the first lot of red lines /facepalm.  It was much smoother and Paragons went down.  For anyone who didn't realise Exray does our raid leading... it would have been pretty obvious now.

D is for DOH

However, my joy was short lived as Exray disconnected again and was unable to get on.  My dreaded moment was here.  I was tanking Garrosh. HOLY DUNG PILE.

We had to remember who was where for the Temple phase and also who was in the Malice group and it actually went ok until we went into Big Ugly Garrosh phase and I was trying to pick up all the adds whilst Aimei tanked Garrosh.  Wow that bit hurt.  And how the hell do you pick up all those adds without an AoE taunt or a bloody ox statue??  I had no idea, I just ran in there and swiped everything and ran in circles and splat. Died.  Ouch.

It would have been a good time for that tanking cloak.  Didn't tell my healers that though.

Had one more go at it and called it for the night.  It was WAY to hard for me in my crappy non tank mindset!

I hope that Monday runs smoothly.  It will be my turn to sit out, and I hope everyone gets it down - and just in case nobody realises it... it is STILL a little bit hard for the casual minded raider so don't think you can walk in there and cake walk it - still need to bring your best!

Comments

  1. Perhaps Navizor should make more regular appearances. Making it clear what is expected of raiders in your guild and taking a proactive approach to leadership is always a good thing.

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    Replies
    1. I have a new expansion to make it loud and clear. And I shall!

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  2. D is for... I have nothing... Differences?

    I think with a new expansion it's a good chance to make sure everyone is on the same page with raiding. The raiding environment in Frostwolves has changed a lot since I joined, and a lot of things have changed in guild (new members - both social and raiders, new GM, raid team went from 10 man to 20 man) and the raiding we have done in the last couple of weeks is significantly different to how our progression raids run.

    I am sad that you will be sitting out for the last raid of the expansion! You should be there!

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    Replies
    1. I will make the rules clear for the higher end raiding. The hard part is that I emphasise that it's fun, yet also you would also have to make sure you put in the effort and time and dedication to be part of that fun - raiding is often about multiple wipes, repeated attempts at trying to get something and one clear leader who takes suggestions on board but also knows how long to persist with a technique before they go onto a different tack. We'll see! And I will kinda be there for last raid, hopefully. I'll be listening and watching.

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