Most of my guildies are adults. Most of the folks I play with have jobs, spouses, kids. . . basically we almost all have real-lives that limit our access to WoW. No time is this more apparent than during the holidays. Scheduling raids and guild events is really tricky this time of year.
There is a great tradeoff because of this. Since we're all adults; because we've all played for years; because we've all played together for a long time; we don't mind missing a week of raiding. Let me clarify: we all want to play and have fun, but nobody is pissed-off about missing our raid night.
Last night we only had 3 people on from our 10-man raid team. /shrug I was on, but had no problem logging out and watching tv with Missus Bhorg. I wanted to get some more ToC in (my priest still needs LOADS of gear), but I'm not horribly worried about it.
I guess this is what it means to be 'casual'.
When we do raid, we have lots of fun, we typically progress pretty well. Our communication is good. We understand the encounters beyond just our own role in them. We are creative and open-minded with strategy. When we find a good strategy for us, we refine it and stick with it. Basically, we have lots of fun and win more than we lose. It's nice to be able to play casually and still have that level of development within the game.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Raid leading roles
I have 3 mains.
Yeah - I don't know how that happened either. Well, I kinda do. It happened by necessity. We originally needed tanks - hence Bhorg. Then we needed healers - so I have Bhorgia. But we have 2 other druids on my 10 man team (and if we need 3 battle rezzes in one encounter, we're doing something wrong anyway), so I leveled my priest Acquinas. I try to get all 3 into Vault of Archavon, Onyxia, and Trial of the Crusade each week, but best case scenario is that 2 of those toons are running in alt-runs or pugs. So, I bring whichever toon we need to our main 10-man raid.
There is an issue of alts. I want to help the team win. I want to have fun and avoid wipes. I also do not want to wait an hour to find a decent guildie or friend to fill out our group. By druid is the best geared toon, I play the warrior most skillfully, but the raid generally needs the priest (the least geared and least skillful of my 3 mains). I don't mind. I like playing all 3 toons, and I like having the flexibility to fill several roles. On the 10 man team - 7 people have 3 or more 80s. MOST of those toons are as well geared as mine. We collectively decided to only raid with main toons, unless we need some specific role filled. I don't mind alts. Here is my concern (way to bury the lead!):
As raid leader - I have to alter my attention and strategy based on not only the class, but also the gear of the toon and the experience of the raider - both in general AND as raiding on THAT character. From personal experience I definitely know that I perform best as my warrior tank - despite his relative lower gear. Also, my healing on the resto druid is WAY better than the healing done by my priest. I don't mean the meters, I actually mean by keeping people alive.
Moreover - by raiding on different toons, I need to change my style of play, therefore my style of thinking, depending on which class I am playing at the time. With that change I have noticed that I treat the raid differently depending on who I am playing.
I wonder - does my team notice? Do they HEAR me differently on the different characters?
Yeah - I don't know how that happened either. Well, I kinda do. It happened by necessity. We originally needed tanks - hence Bhorg. Then we needed healers - so I have Bhorgia. But we have 2 other druids on my 10 man team (and if we need 3 battle rezzes in one encounter, we're doing something wrong anyway), so I leveled my priest Acquinas. I try to get all 3 into Vault of Archavon, Onyxia, and Trial of the Crusade each week, but best case scenario is that 2 of those toons are running in alt-runs or pugs. So, I bring whichever toon we need to our main 10-man raid.
There is an issue of alts. I want to help the team win. I want to have fun and avoid wipes. I also do not want to wait an hour to find a decent guildie or friend to fill out our group. By druid is the best geared toon, I play the warrior most skillfully, but the raid generally needs the priest (the least geared and least skillful of my 3 mains). I don't mind. I like playing all 3 toons, and I like having the flexibility to fill several roles. On the 10 man team - 7 people have 3 or more 80s. MOST of those toons are as well geared as mine. We collectively decided to only raid with main toons, unless we need some specific role filled. I don't mind alts. Here is my concern (way to bury the lead!):
As raid leader - I have to alter my attention and strategy based on not only the class, but also the gear of the toon and the experience of the raider - both in general AND as raiding on THAT character. From personal experience I definitely know that I perform best as my warrior tank - despite his relative lower gear. Also, my healing on the resto druid is WAY better than the healing done by my priest. I don't mean the meters, I actually mean by keeping people alive.
Moreover - by raiding on different toons, I need to change my style of play, therefore my style of thinking, depending on which class I am playing at the time. With that change I have noticed that I treat the raid differently depending on who I am playing.
I wonder - does my team notice? Do they HEAR me differently on the different characters?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
10 or 25? How much is too much?
So, I really prefer raiding in 10 mans. I feel like I can really know the capabilities of all of my teammates. I generally play with a healer, sometimes I tank, sometimes I range DPS. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of my teammates can be a raid-saver. In 25 mans . . . I do not have that luxury for a few reasons. Most obviously, there are more people. Also, and unfortunately, since we are a 'casual raiding guild', we do not have attendance requirements - translation: we never know who is actually going to show up.
Even in 25 mans, I generally know who my tanks are, and most of my healers. I will often know the abilities of most of the raid. The folks I don't know are all over the place. I raided with a new guildie, a rogue, who blew the roof off of the dps meter in Onyxia. Another new guildie (in really solid Tier 8-9 level gear) was a few spots below the tanks in dps. Most of the non-heroic content can be played with 20 decent raiders and 5 people who have no idea what they are doing. Most is not always tho'. When we do 25 mans and wipe on content that we have been farming for months it is usually because 50% of the raid is on alts that they don't know how to raid with, or people who are so confused by raiding that they die instantly - or worse, get ME killed!
The control, friendliness, relative success and level of fun has been much higher in 10 man content than in 25s. I still run 25s, for the benefit of the guild. But 10-mans is my favorite, by far. I am excited when new content gets released, so that our 10-man team can move into that content. I find myself dreading having to bring in the 25 man team into new content.
Even in 25 mans, I generally know who my tanks are, and most of my healers. I will often know the abilities of most of the raid. The folks I don't know are all over the place. I raided with a new guildie, a rogue, who blew the roof off of the dps meter in Onyxia. Another new guildie (in really solid Tier 8-9 level gear) was a few spots below the tanks in dps. Most of the non-heroic content can be played with 20 decent raiders and 5 people who have no idea what they are doing. Most is not always tho'. When we do 25 mans and wipe on content that we have been farming for months it is usually because 50% of the raid is on alts that they don't know how to raid with, or people who are so confused by raiding that they die instantly - or worse, get ME killed!
The control, friendliness, relative success and level of fun has been much higher in 10 man content than in 25s. I still run 25s, for the benefit of the guild. But 10-mans is my favorite, by far. I am excited when new content gets released, so that our 10-man team can move into that content. I find myself dreading having to bring in the 25 man team into new content.
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