The weekend August 29, 2008

We went straight from the summer lull to the back to school lull. Urgh. I hope things start looking up soon.

So far this week we are only 4/5 and 4/9. We spent about two hours last night wiping to Archimonde. Things were just off. Our MT was moving back to school, so we were trying different tanks. We just could not stick it.

In other news, I have been working on my little gnome mage Fuhlamer lately. This was mainly motivated by the fact that I am running low on consumables (elixirs, nightmare vine for wizard oil, etc.), and I need Fuhlamer, who is my little herbalism and engineering bitch, to farm for me. Well, Fuhlamer finally hit 70 yesterday, and, thanks to a loan from one of my guildmates, he’s already rockin’ his epic gryphon. Now, to finish up questing in BEM, Netherstorm, and SMV to pay that 3 000 gold back …

Monday is a holiday in the US and Canada, so we’ll see what our raid turnout looks like. It’s slated to be an Archimonday.

B> Minorous Cards, Hydra Cards August 20, 2008

So yesterday I finally managed to get the cards together to card my +10 Double Titan Double Bloody Composite Bow for Raydric and Abysmal Knight hunting in Glast Heim. Oh … wait … World of Warcraft? Raiding? Yes, these sound like things I used to know of, perhaps in a past life …

Seriously though, so far we’ve had two no-go nights this calendar week. It’s a blessing in disguise, I suppose. You see, I have an old friend coming to stay with me this weekend (with a friend of his, no less). That’s right: two guys, a girl, and a three hundred square foot bachelor apartment. Hilarity is certain to ensue. I have a lot of cleaning to do before my guests arrive, and very little time in which to do it. Last night I spent scrubbing the bathtub and cutting, washing, and installing plastic cupboard lining sheets that I bought at Ikea two months ago.

Also, I’ve had more time to play Ragnarok with my brother, which is, of course, what I was referencing in the first paragraph of this post. Ragnarok is probably the most poorly tuned MMO in the history of mankind. Not to mention that gameplay and the UI are nothing short of tragic when compared to such games as WoW. But in a country where the most-played computer game is still Starcraft, I suppose just about anything goes.

On the WoW front … absolutely nothing to report! We’re still struggling with attendance and in the process of trying to recruit more. The sad thing is that attendance has been so poor that we haven’t even been able to pull our prospective recruits in for trial runs because the raids keep getting cancelled! Anyway, one of our recent applicants is a Canadian … and, on that note, I will leave you with this little nugget of wisdom:

The Circle of (Guild) Life August 14, 2008

We did well for a large part of the summer. We really did. But summeritis set in: people were going on vacation, or having to cover extra work shifts because of vacations. And a bunch of people were hit with real life incidents that caused them to take a step back from the game.

That’s fine; that’s life. But attendance dwindled, and last week we had two cancelled raids. This week we’ve had one. Times are rough. But it’s nothing EoTS hasn’t beaten before, and it’ll beat it this time, too.

There’s really something to be said for situations such as these. You can be a part of the solution, or you could be a part of the problem. When times are hard and morale is low, the last thing your group needs is negativity. Stay positive, and try your best to lift up instead of tear down:

• Keep it up: Continue to show up for raids on time and ready to go, and gently encourage others to do the same
• Recruit: Prod well-geared, skilled players you come across to submit an application if they are looking for a guild and you think they would be a good fit
• Nurture: When raids get cancelled, organize activities to do together to build group solidarity (we do PvP premades)

One of the T6-ish guilds on our server recently disbanded. As a result of that, a lot of skilled and relatively well-geared players are now on the market. This guild was 4/6, 3/4, 4/5, and 5/9, so its (ex-)members already know a handful of the MH and BT boss fights. We’ve already picked up two of their members, with one promising applicant going through the application process right now.

And that, my friends, is the circle of life … guild style.

We already hit rock bottom last week with not being able to accomplish anything except for a Hyjal clear and 2/9 BT. It can only go up from here!

Now we’re talkin’ August 5, 2008

The powers that be have stipulated that we are to spend our time in BT, full time, until Illidan dies. This past week we were able to get Council down in two-and-a-bit nights. We had time to get them down on the second night, but we could not stick it.

Anyway, last night was our first night completely devoted to Illidan. That’s right: three and a half hours of wiping. But we did manage to make some grrreat progress. We actually made it through phase two one and a half times. I say half, because the first time we made it through phase two we had about ten people still alive, give or take.

The one time we made it past phase two with enough bodies to make something of it (five druids = battle rezes galore, BTW), we made it to our first phase four before a bunch of people got owned by the shadow AoE (which they were warned about) and the paralyzing adds (which were a complete clusterfuck, but that was to be expected the first time we’d ever encountered them).

(Links to a bigger pickcha)

Yes, we were short-handed the entire night, and actually made it to phase four with 23 members.

And that’s that. Another week in BT incoming!