Misc
I’m Back; Transitioning Expansions; WotLK Raiding
9So 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.
Away for a Week or So; Part One of Series Unfinished
0Considering my role as a guild and raid leader, it is very important that I hit 80 as soon as possible. With schoolwork and actual work stacked on top of the obligation I have to my raiders, this means I must divert attention away from blogging for about a week. Unfortunately, this also means I will not finish part one of my series on developing a successful hardcore raiding guild before the release of Wrath. I was hoping to, but I was unhappy with the first draft and now I do not have the time to finish it before I get in my extra sleep before Wrath’s release.
If this was a paying gig, I would sacrifice some of my leveling time to finish it. Alas, it is not. And I have my own interests to look out for as much as my readers’. That said, I want to acknowledge the fact that a lot of you are thinking of or committed to leading your own hardcore raiding guild in Wrath. So I will summarize a few important points.
Make Sure You’re Ready to Lead a Hardcore 25-Man Raiding Guild
You need to understand there is a level of micromanagement required to play the game on a hardcore level. A guild would never have defeated M’uru if their approach was merely to fill gaps with moderately adequate players and then brute force it. You needed a certain amount of cumulative DPS to have any chance at all in defeating M’uru. And often times this was higher than people realized. 2K for all but shadow priests, ret paladins, and slightly undergeared balance druid was unacceptable (and, even then, you tended to sit your ret pallies because they coudn’t contribute as much as, say, a fifth heroism or another warlock). And while you may never see an encounter as difficult as M’uru or Kil’jaeden ever again, a hardcore guild will err on the side of caution and find players who can micromanage and do everything they need to improve.
The same is said for the formation of strategies. It’s one thing to follow someone’s strategy point-for-point, and it’s another to find people who can refine them or to refine them yourself. If you want to be efficient in your success, then you need to march to your own beat at times. There’s a reason a lot of raiders call Bosskillers “Bossguessers.” Sometimes the written strategies are not the best in general, nor the best for your guild specifically.
I don’t think you need previous leadership experience explicitly to run a hardcore raiding guild, but it does help. Personally, I was the leader of a top clan in a game called Nox for six months straight, then a player in a small clan that had no real leadership structure (because it was just four of the best players in Nox banding together to dominate the competition outright). While only a total of maybe 2000 people competed in the clan ladder every month, it was still a lesson in what was necessary to lead a successful group of gamers. And while competition for world firsts is not always the focus of some hardcore raiding guilds, competitive experience can give people the tools they need to lead and help improve a guild on a personal level.
That said, I think you need to have witnessed leadership styles that exist in MMO’s. This can be done either as a leader yourself or as an underling watching the leadership. If you’ve never played an MMO before, however, you will be unfamiliar with concepts such as DKP and probably lose members when you can’t answer the question, “Why do(n’t) we use DKP?”
Develop Your Ideas, Philosophies and Guild Structure Before You Create It
While it is certainly possible to create a successful hardcore raiding guild on a whim, I don’t advise it. It’s best to develop ideas and philosophies for your guild and set them in stone through the guild’s written rules and structure. Even if that means your written structure is to “have a loose structure that gives way for flexibility that might be necessary for [your] success.” Some top guilds have no written structure other than this agreement. But they are very, very rare and are almost always well-established with highly mature players (and anyone who can’t work in the system gets the boot).
That said, at least decide what sort of loot system you want. Decide the amount of time you want to raid and when. State the type of conduct you expect from your members. And declare your goals and intentions. If you are going to go for world firsts, say so. If you are aiming to merely create an efficient raid that places respectably, say so. If you’re merely hoping to create an efficient raid that can beat content, improve and have fun, say so.
People join and leave guilds based on their philosophies, schedules, loot systems, leaders and rules. If you do not clearly state how your guild operates or plans to operate, you can lose people or fail to attract recruits. Especially if your guild is new and has no progression ranking.
Establish Yourself, and Become a Visible Figure on Your Server
While not absolutely necessary, it does help your cause if you can either prove to be a promising leader or create some sort of publicity for yourself before you create your guild. The more people know you somehow, the more people will think about applying to your guild.
I did this by playing pretty much every part of the game. PvP. PvE. And by joining PUG raids and even leading my own PUG MC that managed to kill Ragnaros every week except two (out of ten). I also did this by racing to become the first 70 on Proudmoore during TBC (in which I was successful). This generated some publicity and showed how committed I was to the ideal of efficiency.
While such exploits do not always cause people to apply, they can help your cause.
When You Recruit, State Your Intentions
When you first recruit for your guild, make sure you clearly state what you intend your guild to be. If people want to join the top guild on the server, and you hope to overcome the competition to do so, say so. That’s what I did. And I don’t think we would have managed it if I hadn’t.
The same can be said if you don’t. Especially if you reside on a server that has one or more of the world’s top guilds. You can bet that if Premonition ever transferred to Proudmoore, I’d openly admit we don’t intend to compete with them. There’s just no way we could on a twenty-hour schedule.
Don’t Be a Prick!
I’ve seen a lot of hardcore progression guilds fall apart or drop out of the stresses of hardcore progression because their leaders are pricks. Very rarely do they reform and recoop from the ousting of a cantankerous dictator. There’s a good reason why Nihilum and SK Gaming rose to become number one in their respective times (and now they are merging, but that’s a different story).
Don’t make the same mistake! Your players will perform better if you’re not constantly yelling at them, or if you fail to approach your guild’s problems reasonably.
Have Fun! Or Find Satisfaction!
If you can’t have fun or find some satisfaction in leading a hardcore raiding guild, don’t do it. Plain and simple.
Wow. That turned into something that is almost what I wanted to say in my first two parts. I guess stress really is a part of writer’s block. Anyway, that’s it for now. See you after Wrath!
–Lume
The “Zombie” Portion of the pre-Wrath Event Is Flawed
109October 26, 2008
I’ve been spewing profanities the past couple days. The source of my foul-mouthed escapades: the zombie portion of the pre-Wrath event. Or, rather, the extent to which people can use it to grief players and the lack of safeguards against it.
To give the situation some context, I should explain how the event works:
- People become infected with the plague. This is done when a player kills an infected roach, opens some infected crates, or is the subject of infection by either player or NPC zombies.
- The infection is applied as a disease. When the disease runs its course, or when a player dies or tries to remove the disease with an immunity effect like divine shield, the player turns into a zombie.
- As a zombie, a player retains his or her level and can attack other players of either faction, flagged or not.
- NPC’s can be infected and become zombies, as well.
- There are “argent healers” that can cleanse people of the infection and attack these zombies. High level players with any sort of disease cleansing capabilities can also remove it, though it has a high resistance rate.
- Guards can attack zombies.
This seems an okay situation on the surface. Argent healers were meant to serve as the NPC-driven defense against this menial version of the plague. However, looking deeper into the matter, it is important to note the various conditions that morph the event into one of the most poorly designed experiences WoW has ever offered. These conditions are as follows:
- The argent healers are only stationed in major cities at important hubs: banks, auction houses, flight points, and entrances to various areas. They are not stationed in most towns outside of the capital cities.
- Guards in most lowbie towns are too low in level to even put a dent in the high level player zombies. At best, they can daze the zombie and prevent them from reaching a lowbie that has managed to mount up and run away.
- Lowbie players cannot themselves put a dent in the player zombies that are much higher in level than them, due to the level difference.
Compound these conditions with the risk of putting so much power into the players’ hands and you have an absolutely, positively frustrating experience for many. If not for the fact that I could swap over to my level 70 retadin, turn on sense undead, and completely own the shit out of anyone with poor intentions, I’d be more annoyed than I already am. Especially because I rolled on a PvE server to avoid the type of asshattery I’ve been seeing.
I’ll put this into perspective. The other day I was trying to level up a couple alts in Bloodmyst. This is when two people from my own guild decided to kill me and decimate Blood Watch and all the lowbies there. Having none of it, I lectured them about when to say when, switched to my paladin, owned them, camped them, cleansed them when they tried to continue spreading the plague, and kicked one of them from the guild (who wasn’t a good member of the guild in the first place). As funny as it is to grief people, it takes a ball-less git to repeatedly grief lowbie players of their own faction. And a jerk to do it to people in their own guild, especially when those people are clearly upset or annoyed. Having leveled on a PvP server before, I did what was only natural.
Here’s another interesting case study. Some high level druid decided it’d be funny to grief all the lowbies in Darkshire. I just happened to stop by on my low level alts and notice, so I swapped over to my paladin to take care of the problem. The result is alarming.
Do we really want to give so much power to people like this? Especially on a PvE ruleset? I sure hope not. Notice how he tries to berate me for killing him by justifying that the event is for killing people. “y u kill me fagg” definitely reeks of maturity and social validity. I’m only doing what a lot of people would do on a PvP server when someone griefs and camps lowbies. There are repercussions for being a dick!
But don’t get me wrong. I’m all for having fun with people near the cap, considering they can immediately defend themselves. But thinking about the lowbies who have yet to build up connections on a server, I can’t help but wonder how frustrating this event must be for them. How many of them have quit over this fiasco? I’m willing to bet a rather sizable amount. The fact that safeguards weren’t put in place for low level areas is greatly disappointing.
What’s more, there doesn’t seem to be any purpose to becoming a zombie other than to kill and infect other players and NPC’s. If there was actually a quest to perform as a zombie, and if lowbies could actually defend themselves, I’d be a whole lot more forgiving and inclined to view the event in a positive light. I definitely think it has its place as a fundamental concept. But the specifics are broken.
10/27 Update: It’s Over
For those of you who are unaware, the zombie portion of the event ended at noon today. It was fun and frustrating while it lasted. I’m appreciative that Blizzard is trying to create more dynamic and robust world events that aren’t concentrated in one zone. However, I’m also glad it didn’t last until the launch of Wrath.
10/29 Update: Response to Some Comments
I don’t want to spam people’s feed readers, so I am simply adding this to my entry as an addendum. And since there are 100 comments, a lot of people don’t actually see the points of the event that have merit, so I am adding my general response here.
A lot of people in their comments have made the assumption that I was 100% against the zombie event. This is not the case. Might I highlight an important quote from the entry.
I definitely think [the zombie event] has its place as a fundamental concept. But the specifics are broken.
As a positive point, the event tied very well into the lore. It gave our characters and the factions ample reason and motivation to retaliate against Arthas directly. It proved to be “disruptive” to daily life, just as the first undead plague was. And it turned us against each other. That was probably Arthas’ intention. Or was it Putress’ intention? Who knows. In either case, I understand what the event was supposed to do. That’s exactly the “fundamental concept” I’m talking about.
World occurrences like the zombie event do have their place in WoW and should be done again. However, I still think it had its flaws, and these issues can be fixed without deadening the event’s intentions to the point where its purposes are rendered ineffectual.
Just because the event did its job doesn’t make it perfect. Just because some people enjoyed it, doesn’t make it perfect. Just because these two facts exist, doesn’t mean I should not address any issues I might have had with the event, in hopes of improving similar events for the future.
There is no doubt this event had great potential that it met to some degree. But it’s one thing to be disruptive, and another to completely obliterate people’s abilities to perform certain tasks for hours upon hours upon hours. It is, in my opinion, disruptive and engrossing enough that people can attack others while performing the tasks they deem “routine.” You can make various NPC’s immune, without obliterating the event’s intentions. That’s exactly why Blizzard made the flight master in Shatt immune. And it’s still disruptive and engrossing for lowbies that they can merely be attacked, even if they have the ability to defend themselves.
There is no reason events like these can’t happen in the future. There is no reason such dynamic occurrences can’t happen. For all its specific flaws, the fundamental concepts were sound. Blizzard just needs to take a little more care in designing events like this in the future. That’s all.
No QQ about it.
It’s Not a “Review”
0I should add a disclaimer for my previous entry, since it has received a lot of attention.
My entry on Wrath’s impending changes was not meant to be a review. The expansion is not yet done. There is still one and a half months left before it hits the shelves. It was meant to be a preview based on the build before today’s that simultaneously expresses my opinions as a blogger. Furthermore, it was meant to give people an idea of what general changes and features are inevitable.
But it has to be recognized that it is still an unfinished product. This is why I made statements like, “It [phasing] is, however, a little more limited in Icecrown than I’d like, but that might be because it is unfinished.”
Such statements are important to the post. While I suspect class balance will not be 100% finished at release and there are some issues that would take too long to revert or change before release, there is still content that can go forward in a bright positive light in the days leading up to November 13th. Sure enough, today’s beta build introduced the most epic questline ever at the Wrath Gate in Dragonblight. The line includes a monster of a plot revelation and puts you at the fore of this event’s aftermath. I won’t say anything else, lest I spoil the experience for you, but if you really must satisfy your curiosity, you can check it out at World of Raids.
The thing to remember is that things will change from here until release. I merely hoped to inform people of the general changes that I believe are now at a point of no return. That’s not to say further balancing won’t be done. Nor that new quests won’t be introduced. Rather, I am merely expressing my opinions now so that people can consider them before release. This way we can cause Blizzard to sit down and consider what we, as players, have to say about the game we play. This is what the blogging and forum communities are here for, afterall.
As you were! =)
–Lume
A Public Response: Stop Telling People How to Game
18I had a strange response to my entry about downing Kil’jaeden. I feel it deserves public treatment, because it highlights what I dislike about a specific portion of the anti-MMO community. The comment comes from someone named “Muckbeast.” I guess because he is trying to be a muckraker in the MMO community. Right…
I killed him solo in a private server months ago. Me solo > your raid guild.
Think about that, and then ask yourself if it was really worth all the broken friendships, drama, anger, rage, arguments, etc. that it took to get to this point.
Raiding gives a very FALSE sense of accomplishment that often results in people letting their real life accomplishments falter. Everyone has a certain amount of accomplishment they want to attain in life. When they get it from a game, they stop seeking it in real life.
HOLD THE FLAMETHROWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything I have written above is an exaggeration. I wrote it to make a point. Raiding and gaming should be about fun, not about some kind of titanic “achivement” that feels like you just gave birth.
-Cambios
Are you suggesting any time a friendship breaks, an argument is presented, drama beheld, or rage expressed, the cause wasn’t worth it? I’ve lost friends over my time commitment to running, work and school of all things. Is the pursuit of accomplishments in these fields not worth the investment, considering these problems can arise? I guess I’ll just stop taking classes, quit my job, and sit on my couch all day so everyone can come over, have a few beers, and play X-Box or watch TV any time they want. Until, of course, I have to sell my television and my X-Box to pay for the quadruple bypass I needed to save my life after a debilitating heart attack onset by a sedentary lifestyle.
I use the Socratic method and the same style of exaggeration to counter your point and force you to really consider the argument you’re making. Obviously, I don’t believe any of the things I listed are worth dropping, as they are key to my well-being, success, and happiness in life. Just as MMOs can be an adequate source of entertainment providing happiness in life to those who prefer and enjoy them. I say this as someone who has played single and multi-player console games, FPS’s, RTS’s, dungeon crawlers, a couple MUD’s and MUSH’s (I even helped code a MUSH for a short while), top-down multiplayer games, etc. I’ve played games that adhere to all the MMO models: free, distributed, premium and subscription-based.
If you don’t think I’ve enjoyed raiding immensely, you’re terribly wrong. There surely have been frustrations and issues that arise during raids, but they are no different than those that occur in any social setting or business endeavor. It doesn’t mean there haven’t been rewarding experiences or friendships created in the process. Nor is it suggestive of abnormal behavior, something you seem to feverishly believe given the writings of your own blog. There are people I have met playing WoW I now consider “real life” friends. I have improved my time management and supervisory skills simply leading a guild. By writing this blog, I’ve found another outlet in which to hone my writing skills, something crucial to my major. All the while, I’ve enjoyed it, despite any minor complications. Furthermore, it is something that hasn’t consumed my every waking hour.
People who can’t grasp the positives others might obtain through this sort of gaming experience are just expressing personal opinion. I really don’t care if you personally think MMOs aren’t worth the investment. More power to you if you want to focus your time elsewhere. But all you seem to be doing here is raking the muck of the blogging world with outlandish straw man arguments that depict a gaming demographic stereotypically and vilify a genre with generalized typecasting.
Everyone is expected to do the best they can in life. But why should you care if they’re happy with what they do? No matter how trivial the enjoyment? Who cares if playing MMOs is something someone prefers over going for a doctorate. Maybe this person is content to live a middle class lifestyle and spend their time frivolously. Is it any different than someone who would rather spend their time at the movies every weekend instead of working on that dissertation they’ve found so frustrating to complete? Anything that can be reasoned in such a manner is fair game. It’s not your life to live. Let them live how they please.
The simple fact of the matter is that I don’t agree with you, nor do I appreciate you using my blog’s comment area as an advertisement space for blatant propaganda against something that has actually been a positive force in many people’s lives. Even if it has been a negative force for some, it is not the root of evil you make it out to be. People exhibiting their addictive or dependent personalities, be it through video games or drugs, is a serious issue and worth addressing. But not in the manner you seem to view as acceptable. Everyday, people make conscious decisions to play MMOs for good reasons. Only when the decision to continue playing them is unconscious should someone intervene. We should be treating the real cause: the addictive personality itself.
