I’m Back; Transitioning Expansions; WotLK Raiding
by Lume ~ December 9th, 2008. Filed under: Misc.So I was gone for more than a week. There are numerous reasons why:
- Shifting a hardcore raiding guild from one expansion to another is not easy.
- Having your co-GM go casual because of real life can create administrative hurdles.
- Thanksgiving
- Work
- School
Shifting Lunacy to a New Expansion
This expansion was the first in which I had to shift an existing guild from one expansion to the next (as a leader). In the other games I’ve played, this transition was always relatively simple. So I had no prior experience on which to develop my ideas, which hurt in the end. With Dark Age of Camelot, I was a casual player and didn’t much care about what a new expansion meant. Trials of Atlantis pretty much forced people to raid, but raiding was easy and you could simply brute force your way through it. And if you didn’t like Trials of Atlantis, you could simply reroll on a classic server. During the shift from WoW 1.0 to TBC, I was creating a guild from scratch, rather than preparing people for the shift and preparing for the loss of some people. And I wasn’t really around to see how my previous guild handled it.
This expansion was particularly interesting because it didn’t take long to level at all. The first person to 80 on our realm (from my guild) hit it in well less than two days. By comparison, I was the first person to 70 on Proudmoore in TBC, and it took me about double the time it took him to accomplish the realm first. People didn’t believe me when I said I would be 80 by the Monday after release, even though I had to work on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (albeit with two partial days). Sure enough, I was ready to raid by Monday morning. As were a handful of people in the guild. We tried to marathon the 10-man on Monday, but came up just short as it we raided into the wee hours of the morning.
The Mistake
One mistake I made was assuming that we wouldn’t be ready to raid the 25-man until Thursday. I also wanted to try running two Naxx-10′s and decided to wait until Wednesday for that. However, we clearly didn’t have what we needed to do two Naxx-10′s, so we essentially wasted Tuesday doing nothing but heroics. What we should have done was start Naxx-10 on Tuesday, finish it on Wednesday and then use that gear to work our way through Naxx-25 undermanned.
As a result of this mistake, we lost the server first on Naxx-25. Another guild raided something like 22 hours over two days to do it, while we were on off our raiding schedule. We got the server second on Sunday.
While we ended up losing, we realized a couple things:
- This content is easy. Such that losing the server first on Naxx-25 is no big deal, as the content is akin to Zul’Aman. All we lost is a title.
- We cleared it in less than half the time it took the guild that got the realm first. Actually, we cleared it in a third of the time. So that speaks well of the core of our guild.
That’s not to say there wasn’t any drama. Some people whined about losing the title. And another got melodramatic over the loss saying “shit is going to hit the fan.” My response was essentially that he has to view the situation realistically and abstain from overreacting. It wasn’t as though we had lost the server first on Malygos, afterall.
Rectifying the Mistake
I knew a realm first on Malygos was easily in our sights. We had all day Monday to work on it, and people who were familiar with the encounter already. In response to the member expressing his concerns after losing the realm first on Naxx-25, I simply said “We can get the server first on Malygos.” And I was damn confident in this, as we had no problem getting it on Malygos-10. That’s not to say our strategy for phase three was perfect, but it worked.
And, sure enough, we accomplished it easily.
Guild Leadership Changes
Not only was it difficult to transition Lunacy from one expansion to another, but it has been even more difficult to do so with my co-GM stepping down. I had to promote someone to help me lead the guild, and they are only just really settling into the position. And I’ve had to find another to help even out the load. This increased my workload about two-fold from the already hefty weight of managing the loss of members and change of classes some people desired.
I’ve had to transfer my guild’s domain and set up new hosting, which I am not quite done with, yet. I’ve had to figure out how to restructure the guild with personnel changes in mind. And I’ve had to worry about the funding involved, as I am a poor student. Also, I’ve had to juggle this between work and school. And Thanksgiving was fairly busy, as well.
So my guild isn’t quite where I want it to be. However, then again, the content now is so easy that I think it would have been an major accomplishment to improve given the number of guilds out there that raid five, six and seven days a week. It was like the second coming of the ZA race, only bigger and with the added requirement of leveling up. Who can log on first? Who can level first? Who can raid enough to beat everyone else on the simpler accomplishments?
This Race Was More About Numbers and Time; Skill Has Been Unheralded
The race for world and realm firsts at the beginning of this expansion was more about time and numbers, as opposed to skill. That’s not to say that skill wasn’t a factor, however. It most certainly was. But consider the merge of SK Gaming (a.k.a. Curse) and Nihilum to create Ensidia. What has this done for top-end raiding?
Most importantly, it allows the guild to share their members across multiple raids. And it is more than likely that every single one of their players is highly skilled and considered on nearly equal playing fields. What this means is that roster crossover doesn’t have much of an impact and you can man an A raid and B raid based on who gets the best drops.
Consider if this had happened in TBC. Suppose Nihilum and SK Gaming each get one pair of glaives for their rogues before Sunwell is released. (I realize Nihilum had poor luck, I’m speaking hypothetically.) Instead of just managing with one pair in a raid, or recruiting new rogues with glaives, they could instead place those two rogues in the same raid when Sunwell comes out. By doing so, they avoid recruiting new rogues, which takes time and comes without a guarantee of finding someone as skilled as they need. Instead, they can simply share their members and increase the possibility of one raid’s success, without having to extend too far beyond their current roster.
What’s interesting to note, however, is that it seems Ensidia overlooked the skill involved in the 10-man Twilight Zone. By all accounts, including my own, doing Sartharion with three drakes in the 10-man is more difficult than doing it in the 25-man. And Method actually beat them to this accomplishment. But while Method received a nice blurb about it on World of Raids, WoWProgress doesn’t recognize the accomplishment as part of raiding progress. So while Method got the world first on the 10-man Twilight Zone, they only have the 9th world ranking to show for it.
This highlights an increasing dilemma amongst the raiding world. WoWProgress has jumped on this, but only for the heroic version of “The Twilight Zone.” Achievements like “Heroic: A Poke in the Eye,” “The Immortal,” and “Heroic: You Don’t Have an Eternity” are equally deserving of recognition, if not moreso than Twilight Zone.
In my opinion, Might is unheralded as one of the best guilds in the world in terms of skill. But they only have a 57th world ranking on WoWProgress to show for it. That is honestly tragic when they are in the top five in the world to do some of the most difficult achievements in the game right now.
I Like Hard Modes; I Like Achievements; But Realm Firsts for Some of Them, Please
I like the fact that Blizzard has included a hard mode for Sartharion and achievements that are worth doing to obtain some recognition. And I think every new encounter should have some kind of hard mode that results in more or better gear, as it would allow hardcore guilds to separate themselves from guilds that simply brute force them. With this possibility, I am actually inclined to look at the current content in a better light. I was initially disdainful, until we put in some serious work on Sartharion with three drakes up. I think this is a good direction for raiding.
However, Blizzard needs to have the foresight to track realm firsts for some of these “hard modes” to give guilds the recognition they truly deserve. I feel quite confident that my guild is on track to get the realm first on the heroic version of “The Twilight Zone,” but we won’t get an announcement for it like we did when we killed him the first time with 19 fresh level 80′s.
This is a great direction. It just needs some refinement.
Ulduar Is Where It Truly Begins
Naxxramas is retreaded content. Sartharion, Malygos and Archavon are the only new content. And all three are jokes on the surface, as they should be at entry level. Guild progress right now is in an unimportant state, especially with the holidays also coming up. Ulduar is where the raiding game will truly begin. And it won’t end until Icecrown. Don’t discount guilds that cleared Sunwell, but got off to a slow start in Lich King. It says very little. Especially if they are doing well on the more difficult achievements.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Don’t everyone welcome him back at the same time!…. Welcome back.
I’m not in your guild but definitely enjoy reading your posts and finding good reference.
Funny thing, I read your article entitled, “A GM’s Perspective: Sexism” (actually in order to decide whether to say “him” or “her” in my first sentence – above). Aside from enjoying another informative/well-written article… I’m completely astounded that sexism is still an issue today.
I shouldn’t be… I was online in WoW when they announced Barrack Obama’s official selection as our next President. While I respect anyone’s opinion not to like Mr. Obama for his platform on politics, religion, etc… I couldn’t believe the few folks using the “N” word and saying they were moving to Canada.
Not really going on a tangent… just cannot believe the number of ignorant folks out there.
Keep up the good work on your guild & Website!!!
Ken
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:40 am
This post is a hilarious pile of sour grapes and nerd tears.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Mack – Am I to assume you are one of those racists and chauvists I have to listen to blabbing on the trade channel?
January 7th, 2009 at 12:03 am
Ken – I was referring to Lilume’s post, not yours. Frankly, I had a hard time making the connection between what you were talking about and Lume whining about not getting a server first Naxxramas clear. Women and Barack Obama are both fine with me.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
My apologies.
January 16th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I don’t care about not getting a server first Naxx. And the fact that you couldn’t decipher that from this post shows a lack of intelligence, “Mack.” Naxx is an easy instance that no one gives a shit about. I could care less about losing the server first on it. We picked up the server first on everything else: Sarth10, Naxx10, Maly10, Sarth25, Maly25, 3-drake Sarth, and the 10-man 3-drake Sarth. And the three-drake Sarth is what matter.
So what do I have to “whine” about? Nothing. Which makes you 100% pure-grade retard. If you can’t sense when someone is making an objective analysis of guild progress, maybe you should find something that caters to your level of intelligence.
January 18th, 2009 at 4:54 am
I lack intelligence, do I?
First, why did you put my name in quotation marks? That’s my character’s name. I assume it’s because you want to be condescending towards me. Condescension does not equal veracity, no matter the usual rules of forum trolling.
Second, re-read what you wrote. It’s a post all about “losing” the Naxx clear and making excuses for why it happened. You’re clearly very defensive and upset about it, and you’re scapegoating for what you perceive as some sort of failure. You talk about “rectifying the mistake.” If you really, truly didn’t care about server first Naxx clear you wouldn’t use that sort of terminology. Congratulations on doing exceedingly well in the rest of the piss easy content. Even three drake sartharion was largely a joke by the time that your guild managed to kill him.
So what do you have to “whine” about? Again, re-read your post. I may be a “100% pure-grade retard,” but even a retard can call it how he sees it. You’re clearly someone who is deeply concerned with the public perception of himself and his guild – this is evidenced again by your nerdrage about Wowjutsu. That’s fine. It’s just amusing in the same way it’s amusing to watch a spoiled 6-yearold ball when he doesn’t get what he wants.
Your blog was much more constructive when there wasn’t any question about who was the #1 guild on your server. It’s changed for the worse since WotLK. You may want to consider focusing less on asserting Lunacy’s supposed dominance over everyone else and instead on forthright discussion of the design and layout of new content in the expansion.
January 21st, 2009 at 5:09 am
I became condescending in response to you because you were yourself condescending. I guess that’s hypocritical of me. But hypocrisy doesn’t invalidate a point.
You failed to pick up on the objectivity in this entry, because you didn’t read it objectively. And then you responded with “This post is a hilarious pile of sour grapes and nerd tears.” It’s funny that you say condescension doesn’t not equal veracity. Do you realize that’s how you opened this conversation to begin with? And so I pick apart your logic.
There’s clearly some preconceptions underlying your response to this entry. That’s fine. Not everyone is going to like me or the content of my blog, and that’s largely based on their perceptions. But, hey, I have perceptions about comments. You clearly have a bone to pick by commenting here. And that seems to be your purpose here. I don’t know you either, but I’ll go based off my perceptions.
You’re right. I am worried about public perception. That’s how guilds recruit good players: by upholding a decent reputation. I’m sure you know this. So I’ll elaborate and say I care in-so-far as it affects my guild’s ability to recruit. Which is why I used my own guild as an example in the Wowjutsu entry (which is completely separate from this entry, mind you).
What you should know is that this is a personal blog. It’s only natural I’m going to make personal entries from time to time. And in those entries, I will draw from personal experiences. And if those experiences relate to more general situations, then I will also discuss those. Especially because I have an audience (albeit less of one now because I’ve been so busy).
To you, maybe the fact that I draw from my own experiences is what makes it seem like “whining.” Well, the point would remain the same if I picked another similar situation outside of my own experience. The problem is I’m not as familiar with the subtleties of other servers as my own, as I don’t follow them day-in-and-day-out. And, again, this is my own blog. So why shouldn’t I draw examples from them?
Especially if I also want to talk about them objectively. And evaluate them. And draw conclusions about them. This was one of the points in this blog in the first place. To be candid. To objectively evaluate personal experience playing an MMO. And to proffer opinions about various situations in the MMO. And both personal and outside examples are going to affect how I view and evaluate them.
What I find baffling is how people like you are quick to label any objective evaluations of personal experiences as “whining.” When someone sits down and admits their faults and talks about their losses, they’re just spewing sour grapes. That’s your perception. And I’m saying you’re wrong.
When I talk about my mistakes and losses, I’m doing so leading up to developing a more reasonable perspective on such losses so that I might avoid them in the future. There are other guild leaders out there who read this blog looking to draw from others’ experiences, so talking about them candidly can help them do that. And it helps me. There’s no whining about it. Even if you think so and “call it as [you] see it.”
This is the same thing professional sports players do. Even when they’re on top, they take a step back and put their losses into perspective in post-game interviews. But are they whining if they say “We lost. Clearly, we were tired and didn’t play well.” No.
I was in the same position for this particular entry. Not that I’m trying to put myself on the level of a professional sports player. It’s just a metaphor. But the same sentiment is there. We’d just come off of putting our hearts and souls into SWP for TBC. We were “tired.” We didn’t level as quickly as we should have. And we had other goals in sight that got in the way. On top of this, it’s never been in our philosophy as a guild to overextend ourselves. And that hurt us. So we lost. Simply. Risen was hungry for a server first. They hadn’t picked any major ones for a long time, afterall. So they pushed hard out of the gate and got one. And their guild was set up well for it. Good for them. They’re a great guild. They deserved it. I’m not “whining” about it. I’m taking a step back and saying that we should have won it, but that it also wasn’t key in our goals. Ulduar is where I’d like to place our focus.
That’s objective. And, for what it’s worth, we picked ourselves back up after that loss and have placed well on everything since then. Which is exactly why I wanted to put the leveling and time aspect into perspective given, also, the ease of the content. In retrospect, however, I will say Ulduar isn’t where it begins. Sarth10+3, 5-min Malygos and (especially) The Immortal are good measuring sticks. However, the competitive atmosphere for Ulduar will certainly be different.
In saying that, and noting that I discussed it in the entry, I’m baffled why you bring up the ease of the content. Any semi-intelligent person who has been involved in or following raiding should be able to recognize this. It certainly doesn’t come anywhere near SWP in terms of difficulty. And likely nothing ever will again, given what Blizzard has said. So why you bring that up is beyond me. I guess you were trying to continue with the theme of condescension.
Also for perspective: We are not Might. We are not Premonition. We are not EJ. We are a 4-day raiding guild (5 for the first week or two of new content) who expects a higher level of skill from their raiders than most guilds. But we’re not top in the world. I’ve said this before. I don’t care where we stand. I only care that we stand well.
But I do like to compete with guilds that are on a similar level. And I like to evaluate competition. So I’ll do so. And that includes personal competition. That means I’ll draw from personal experiences and talk about mistakes. That means I’ll try to put things into perspective attempt to evaluate things objectively. Again, it’s a personal blog. You think that’s whining? Then in my mind you’re an idiot.
However, I do care about the guild being represented accurately. Because I care about our ability to recruit. Which was the source of the Wowjutsu entry. A completely and entirely separate one from this post. But I guess not in your mind.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:56 am
PMoore is Lume’s server, you are just visiting.