Ä-ß-Ç Easy as Alt 1-2-3

Today's post is going to be short and sweet, non-huntery, and hopefully of some use. I'm helping to run a guild and as such I find myself needing to interact with more people, which includes offering up invitations to join our ranks.

Well it seems that over the years a lot of your favorite names have been taken up. Rather than abandon them many of you have chosen to replace the standard As, Bs, and Cs with all sort of crazy characters that can't be found on a standard keyboard.

It was almost 1AM and I had a mage looking for a guild invitation. Their name started with a Ç, and I didn't have a /tell or anything from which I could copy and past their name. Nope I was going to have to type this one in. I knew the how, but not the what for making this happen. After a few minutes of searching the internet I was able to find what I was looking for and extend the guild invitation. Crisis averted, sleep obtained.

You see all of these special characters have codes that can easily be typed while holding down Alt key. For example to type Ä, I would simply press Alt+142. Simple, but annoying. All you need is a list of characters and codes which can be found in a handy dandy source such as http://www.asciitable.com/.

Here's a screenie taken from that site that lists some of basic ones.

MMQB: What Just Happened?

Howdy folks, another crazy week here, and I do mean crazy. I'm in a new guild. I didn't plan to be in a new guild, but here I am. After weeks of spinning our wheels barely getting enough people to fill raids the guild leaders decided to shut the whole operation down, and a big fire sale is underway.

Before the vent meeting was over I was frantically scrambling to find a new home, not just for myself, but for the other solid raiders as well. Hmm, perhaps I should have volunteered to run the show? Nah, been there and done that.

I began putting out feelers starting with one of my podcasting partners in crime, Euripides (we play on the same realm). Turns out they were in need of some good raiders. So despite the fact they have an abundance of hunters, I jumped at the opportunity to join. From a progression standpoint they are at the same point where I am now, and they have a favorable raid schedule. Furthermore the goals of the guild are very much inline with my own. Note to self, write an article on personal goals for WoW and the art of networking. In short, this is a solid guild with a great history, and I'm happy to be a part of if. /sucking-up off.

Ten Things I Love and Hate About this Change

1. I love the fact I was able to network and find a good home for myself and others.


2. I hate that fact that things didn't work out in my old guild. It was a solid raid team and I enjoyed it.


3. I love that my new raid schedule is almost identical to my old one.


4. I hate that my first raid might actually be Yogg (25). I hope our gear level makes this trivial as I've never done this fight before.


5. I love that they use a points system where it won't take forever to get vested.


6. I hate that they have a lot of hunters and I might be benched some nights. My wife does not share this sentiment.


7. I love that I'll be able to get a few raids under my belt before going on vacation (assuming I'm not benched much, or haven't been kicked out).


8. I hate that I didn't blow all my DKP on tier token when I had the chance.


9. I love hate love hate love (I think he owes me some gold) that I'll get a chance to raid along side Euripides.


10. I hate that my Lich King loot fund (i.e., all my saved up DKP) is now worthless. Seriously I had the most DKP of anybody.

Well now I'm off to prepare a 500 word essay on why all current 25-man ICC groups should carry five hunters. Wish me luck!

Things We're Not Writing About

We're busy today. Application deadline is looming and we've got a lot of coding to do. Therefore we're not going to write about last night's ICC (10) Sindragosa attempts.

We're not going to write about how nice it was to see our raid leader playing a ranged toon instead of a tank.

We're not going to write about how we enjoyed watching him fail at Icy Grip/Blistering Cold after chastising us about it a couple of nights earlier.

We're not going to write about how he busted our chops for failing to remove stacks of Mystic Buffet and then couldn't get them off himself.

And we're definitely not going to write about how he probably helped us turn a corner with strategy and that we expect to get her down next time we go back in.

Would've been a fun post though.

When in Ironforge...

Last night our guild was a little short for ICC (25) so we decided to do a TotC (25) bring your mains, alts. anything goes kind of run. We pugged a Hunter and Warlock from another guild.

There's an old saying that says when in Ironforge don't mess with the kegs. When we got to faction champs there was some disagreement on the part of the pugs over the designated kill order. The pugs thought we should kill all the healers first. Not only did they disagree with our strategy, they failed to followed it.

If you're invited to pug in another guild's run you're a guest and need to play by their rules and follow their strats; even if it's going to get you killed, or worse lead to a wipe. Feel free to contribute to the strategy, but don't be a jerk about it, and never deviate from the strategy once the encounter is engaged.

Whether you've killed the Lich King, almost killed the Lich King, or have braved the deeps of the Fargo Deep Mine, it doesn't matter; it's not your run. It's only going to lead to you getting kicked out of the raid, which is what happened to our pugs.

And if you get kicked out of a raid you can't get any loot (which is presumably why you're there). 'Bout dang time!

PS - Regarding our strategy? It was epic fail of course ;)

Late Night Raiding

I'm tired and grumpy today.  One of the perils of being in a 25-man progression guild is that there is little or no time to run ICC (10).  When there is an ICC (10) run it's usually a late-night affair starting after 11pm server time, and ending at an hour that a working professional many years out of college has no business being awake.

Currently we raid 25-man ICC four nights a week.  We're not good enough to just plow through the place in two nights, so until we get our rears in gear we're committed to four nights.

Now I know what you're thinking, they're seven days in the week so that should leave three nights free for ICC (10). Well contrary to popular belief I do need to go outside occasionally and interact with other carbon based lifeforms.  The three non-raid nights don't lend themselves to raiding.

I'm mentally preparing myself for ditching ICC (10) or getting by with massive sleep deprivvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Note:  If you would like to create your own achievements you can go to http://worldofwarcraft.mmocluster.com.

Moar Ducks!

Moar ducks is the reason why I love my old guild and it's also the reason why I left it.  On Saturday night I joined a group of folks from my old guild on an Onyxia (10) run.

We had to pug a one dps spot, but other than that it was filled with guildies and people that had all completed this instance previously.  We did have one person who was off-tanking the encounter for the first time, another person healing the encounter for the first time.  Both, however, had completed it on other toons and were familiar with the overall fight mechanics.

As we were grouping up and getting ready for the encounter the off-tank kept chatting away about Deadly Boss Mods and the "new" Onyxia encounter sounds she just discovered.  For those who may not know there is an option to have DBM play sounds from the famous Onyxia wipe animation (if you click, remember it contains strong language).

After about the third wipe, she was still going on and on about the sounds and then asked why the person was asking for moar ducks and why he wasn't seeing enough ducks.

Once we all stopped laughing I told her that it was more DOTS not ducks.  I love this kind of stuff, even in the raiding situation.  I don't love it when it comes at the expense of completing a raid.

Although the incident provided some much needed levity to what was an otherwise trying experience, it was also troubling.  The off-tank, who was struggling with her task, was not focused on figuring out what she was doing wrong and how to correct it.  When helpful suggestions were offered she went into full defensive mode with claims of a laggy PC and retorts about the combat log being wrong.

Eventually the group got Onyxia down, but only after replacing the off-tank, a healer and a dps.

I contrast this with a run I did just the night before with my new guild (I brought my alt. hunter to the old guild's run).  We one-shot Onyxia,  came within ten seconds of getting the More DOTS achievement and did get this one,

Earlier that evening we completed ToC (10).  Things have gotten to the point where normal mode is easy enough that we tried and completed the achievements below,

Not only that but here is a snippet from guild chat on Saturday evening.  This was from a tank who wanted to get some experience raid tanking.

In my new guild the raids are filled with folks who want to be raiding.  We want to get in and out, and we have a good time doing it.  My new guild's vent conversations are every bit as pornographic as my old guild's ;)

I love the people in my old guild and I consider them to be my friends,  but  I've worked hard to progress my character and have content goals I'd like to achieve.

I would love to achieve them with my old guildmates, but that just isn't possible.  When it comes to raiding I have a fever and the prescription definitely isn't...Moar Ducks!

I Can Haz Raid Awarenezz

Today I'm going cover one of the very basic skills needed for raiding and that's Raid Awareness.  For those on a tight schedule there is TLDR version at the end of the post, however, if you still find yourself dying in fires, please read the whole thing.

What is Raid Awareness?

If you've ever been on an unsuccessful raid you've probably heard someone utter the phrase, "Raid Awareness People!" While no one wants to get called out for not performing, raid awareness is one of the fundamental skills necessary for successful raiding.

So what exactly is raid awareness? Simply put it's the ability to perform your class function while executing the mechanics of each boss encounter.

Tunnel Vision
One of the biggest mistakes novice raiders make is having tunnel vision. Usually this affects healers most because they have all those health bars to worry about, but it can be a problem for dps and tanks as well. Tunnel vision is where you focus on performing your class function and are oblivious to the events happening around and to you. Unfortunately tunnel vision usually leads to your death, and possibly a wipe.

Keeping you alive is not just the responsibility of your helaers. The bottom line is you can't dps, tank or heal when you're dead. While it's important to perform your class function, it cannot be prioritized over the other events happening both around and to you. If you're going to die in an encounter you want it to be from things that were completely out of your control, and not from things that could have been avoided. When you die in a fire, or void zone, that is something that could have been avoided. An example of bad luck or uncontrollable death was Koralon the Flamewatcher when it was first released. It was possible for fire to spawn underneath you and have Burning Breath applied to you at the same time. Nothing you could do about that, and it has been fixed so it can't happen anymore.

Developing Raid Awareness
So how do you develop raid awareness? First you need to become familiar with the mechanics of each encounter, and be ready for any buffs, debuffs and abilities the boss might throw at you. In the same way you watch the cool downs on your abilities you need to be watching for things like fire, adds, special abilities, etc.

For example, in the Lord Jaraxxus fight random raid members will get the Legion Flames debuff. You may get it, or you may not. You should go into the encounter assuming that you will get it. Not only should you assume that your going to get it, but you also need to be thinking about how you're going to handle it. If you're not sure how best to handle something ask the raid leader for advice. The success of the raid should not be dependent on the right people getting affected by debuffs.

Becoming Self Reliant
Perhaps the single greatest thing you can do is learn to be self reliant. You'll be amazed at how much better you do if you are able to recognize key events and react to them before the raid leader calls them out. When the guild was first learning the Heigan encounter I attempted to follow others during the dance phase because I didn't know where the safe spots were. More often than not I would die because I was too slow to move. Ultimately I realized that in order for me to succeed I needed to learn where the safe spots were on my own. It took a few tries but eventually it became old hat.

Having an addOn like Deadly Boss Mods installed, and learning how it works can make a world of difference.  The great thing about DBM is that it's good to go right out of the box with no assembly required. It has timers, audio warnings, and displays information in big type in the center of your screen.

In the Twin Valkyr fight DMB displays a timer that shows you how long until the next significant event. When I see the timer get to about 6-8 seconds, I know to position myself next to a portal in case I have to changes essences. When the event does occur DMB plays an audio warning and displays a big message in the center of my screen telling me which event and which essence I should have.

Raiding is a team effort and these fights take a lot of coordination and a little luck. Bad things happen and even the most proficient raiders make mistakes. The big thing is to understand what mistakes were made and how to fix them.

The days of the pure "tank and spank" encounters are long gone. Every fight is a gadget fight that involves adds, crap spawning on the ground, crap falling from the sky, and generally a who lot of movement and running around. The good news is that these encounters are scripted and it's the same adds, the same crap spawning on the ground, the same crap falling from the sky, and the same movement and running around. We have the ability to learn and adapt, the NPCs don't. At least not yet.

TLDR Version

• Understand that your class function is not your only job in raids.
• Everyone has a responsibility to stay alive. It's not just the healers job to keep you alive.
• Know the fights and anticipate what might happen before you start.
• Become self reliant.
• Bad things happen, we all make mistakes, but we need to fix those mistakes too.

Eight Simple Rules: #8 Attitude

Attitude. In the end we as a guild want to have fun, progress, see end game content and not fight about this person or that person, not fight about loot and who got it and who didn't. Be *respectful* to the other players. If a problem arises, please don't lose your temper, talk to one of the officers and if a decision has to be made it will be promptly. This isn't a baby sitting club. We're all here to enjoy the game, see new things and get new loot, not just you. We will try to do this fairly.

First of all to the one or two of you who have been waiting for me to continue my Eight Simple Rules series I apologize for the long delay (/sarcasm off).  Part of the reason for the delay is I've been very busy at work, I've been having a lot of fun playing the game, it's football season, and I'm having a blast with the Hunting Party Podcast.

Enough with the lame excuses and onto the conclusion.  Yes I'm skipping rules six and seven because in this 3.2 (and soon to be 3.3) world they don't really mean as much.  Rule six was about having appropriate gear, which as we all know is insanely easy to get.  Rule seven was about putting gems and enchants on your gear.  You can see my thoughts on that in my post Gems and Enchants and Why They Matter.

In episode seven of The Hunting Party we interviewed Munken from Ensidia.  He said that a big part of their success is that everyone in the guild has the same goal, and that is to down bosses.  If he has to play a support role or sit out of an encounter in order for the guild to succeed then he gladly does it.

No whining, fussing or crying, "Hey what about me?"  They take a team oriented approach and it works.

When I'm part of a successful encounter, and by successful I mean the boss goes down, I survived and was a high contributer, I'm happy.  If I get an upgrade great, if it goes to another guildie, I say "Gratz" (unless it's a ranged weapon and then I say, "I hope you shoot your eye out!")

Usually I get to go, but sometimes I have to sit out or wait on standby.  I'm okay with all of this because I'm playing with my friends.

If you start focusing on your personal achievements or find yourself staring at loot tables, you're setting yourself up for failure and all the drama that ensues.  Be patient, focus on getting an instance on farm, and loot and rewards will come naturally.

Now a gun, a gun, my kingdom for a gun (even a bow or xbow will do at this point).

Happy Hunting!

Eight Simple Rules: #5 Ventrilo and AddOns

Today I'm going to continue with my Eight Simple rules series, as I present to you rule #5 - Ventrilo and Addons.  We require all raid members to use Ventrilo during raids.  We also require that all raid members have certain addons installed, as well as require some role specific addons.

Ventrilo

All members need to have Ventrilo installed and properly configured before the raid.  The reason for this should be obvious.  Being able to verbally communicate during a boss encounter is huge.  This is a tool for raid leaders to bark out instructions and throw a conniption fit when things go wrong.

During an encounter you should try to keep Vent. clear, allowing the raid leader and other designated personnel to direct the action.  There is no need to call out for heals if you're not a tank.  The raid also does not need to hear things like "Sorry I couldn't get the heal off in time."  Your target is dead.  The raid already knows you couldn't get the heal off.

If you die you do not need to begin explaining why you died or what you did wrong.  Wait until the encounter ends before you start the debriefing and finger pointing.

If your guild does not have Ventrilo then you should be using the in-game voice chat.  We like to use Vent. because the quality is so much better.

Required AddOns

On the must have list for all raid members are Omen Threat Meter and Deadly Boss Mods (DBM).  Our raid leader listed the reason for needing these mods as follows,

Omen:  Keeps track of how much threat you are generating. You need to stay BELOW the current tank so that you do not pull aggro and kill yourself and possibly the raid. A perfect example of this is the Patchwerk fight, in which tanks must stay in a certain order on threat and all melee must stay below the third tank.

DBM: We require all raiding personnel to have Deadly Boss Mods installed and running at the time of the raid. Certain fights become very difficult without it (Thaddius is a perfect example) It gives various warnings for each fight that you may be required to pay attention to.

In addition to Omen and DBM we ask our Paladins to have Pally Power and all classes that can cleanse need to have Decursive.

Pally Power: (Paladins only) This is for pallies to assign specific buffs during the raid.

Decursive: (Mages, Priests, any class that can decurse, remove disease, etc) This addon allows you to quickly click a button to remove curses, diseases and the like.

Raiding is a team effort and these encounters can have a lot going on at once.  Communication and awareness are critical to getting these bosses down.  Ventrilo and addons are tools that can help you get the job done.

Good Hunting!

Eight Simple Rules: #4 AFK's Will Be Raid Wide

AFK's will be raid wide and not on an individual basis. During each raid at specific times it will be called out to take a 5 min afk for the entire raid. There are to be no other afk's (emergencies excluded) by individuals. The raid will not wait for an unscheduled afk. If you are caught afk when we move on or even start a boss fight, it will be started without you. If it happens more than once you will be removed from the raid and replaced. If it becomes a recurring theme with an individual, that person will not be invited back to raids. This is a very important rule, this allows the raid to run quickly, efficiently, and keeps everyone and everything on track. We will be able to maximize the 3 hours set out for raiding and everyone will be available for each and every fight. This includes running back when we wipe. Wiping is not a declaration for afk. If you die and it is a wipe, release, run back in and be ready to buff and go. Do not wait around for a rez, this wastes everyone's time and you won't be receiving it if everyone else is running back. If you have to have an afk for some reason, at the very least send the raid leader a tell as to why and how long.

Tell me if you've seen this before.  The raid leader has just gone through a lengthy explanation of the boss fight and issues the ready check.  Everyone responds but one person (a healer or tank of course).  The raid leader sends the player a tell and asks in Vent. if they're there.  Nothing but silence.  Someone has taken a ninja AFK.

Unnecessary AFKs waste time.  They demonstrate a lack of focus, and can stifle momentum.  They are also contagious, once one person requests an AFK more usually follow.  Before you know it you've wasted 20 minutes waiting for people to return.  While this is happening flasks are burning, buffs are running out and people are getting antsy.

Instead of focusing on a boss attempt trains sets are out, paper zeppelins are flying, and battle-bots are fighting.  When everyone does return you then have to spend time rebuffing, and going over assignments again.

Breaks are a necessary and important part of raiding.  If you look at all major sports, there is usually a half-time where the players get a small break.  I've seen raiders work harder on an attempt knowing that there was a few minutes break ahead.

Running a twenty-five man raid is like herding cats.  Organizing your breaks and making them a scheduled part of the raid really help keep things focused and moving along.

Emergencies happen, and there are times when you need to take an unscheduled break.  When this happens you need to let your raid leader know that you need to go AFK.  You're in your home and the raid leader is in their home.  You really can't be stopped from going AFK.  The least you can do though is be courteous and let people know.  Remember you are part of a team.

Now I need to go /AFK to do some work.

Good Hunting!

Eight Simple Rules: #3 Come Prepared

Come prepared. This means multiple things. It is extremely important that you have your potions (healing/mana), flasks (stonesblood, etc), any specific gear requirements (frost resist piece for saph), individual food buffs in case a fish feast is not available, reagents, etc. Do not rely on others to have these for you and do not rely on the raid to get you through without them. Mana potions mean we can get maximum usage out of you during a fight, health potions make the difference between you dying and giving a healer those extra few seconds to hit you with a heal, frost resist means healers are working much less on the entire raid... I can go on and on, but suffice to say, these things are a *requirement*. This also extends to meeting the requirements to make it to a raid. In other words, if to arrive at a raid requires a flying mount, you must have one. The raid will not be summoning you every time we wipe. Finally, this also branches out to knowing the fights. If we are going to be doing content that is new to you, PLEASE spend the fifteen minutes needed BEFORE the raid night to go to a site like bosskillers.com to view the fight strategies and how the fight works. Just this *basic* knowledge will help you when the raid leader explains the fight and will help the raid get going much quicker. Come prepared to each and every raid.

Eight Simple Rules: #2 Be On Time

Be on time. This is as simple as it gets. The invites start 15 minutes before the scheduled raid time. This means if the raid starts at 9pm, you need to be online for your invite at 8:45pm. Do not be in a heroic, do not be in Wintergrasp pvp'ing, be ready for the invite and ready to head to the instance.  The first pull is expected to be at the time listed for the raid start. This means everyone there, inside the instance and buffed by the raid start time. The raids will be scheduled for 3 hours, this is a strict 3 hours from start to finish. We will begin on time and end on time.

Today I bring you another post from my Captain Obvious collection.  The on-time start is about as rare as a hunter who has all three spirit beasts.

If there's one thing I plan to drive home in this series is that raiding is a team effort.  It's not unlike being on a softball team or tennis team.  Your attitude and behavior impacts the other players around you and their enjoyment of this game.

Now I don't know about you, but I play this game in my home.  This means that all it takes is my entering a password and secure ID number for me to be at my destination.

I used to play on summer league tennis teams.  We had matches scheduled every Saturday morning at 9:00 am.  Early in the week I'd let the captain know of my availability (see rule number one).  On game day I'd get up early and drive to the site of the match usually arriving about 15 minutes early.  If I knew I needed to be late, I'd let the captain know so he could make arrangements for a later start with the other team.

When it comes to raiding I accept/decline raid invitations as soon I know my availability.  I usually logon 15 minutes before first pull, and I let the raid leader know if I'm going to be late.

For some reason it seems that since we can play in the comfort of our own home versus having to "be" somewhere, there is a tendency to take things a bit more casually.

Just because you don't have to get in your car and drive somewhere, and just because you aren't meeting people face-to-face doesn't mean you should treat this any differently then if the raid were a tennis team match, or even a happy hour meet up.

The raid is an event that you have been invited to.  It has a meeting location, a start time, and your actions impact the nine or 24 other players who are also participating in the raid.

It's not just about you, although it is all hunter loot. ;)

Eight Simple Rules: #1- RSVP

You need to accept or decline your raid invites. If you do not accept or decline but you are waiting online at the time of the raid for an invite you are considered a pug and will only be invited if spots are available 5 minutes before raid start. This is the same time we begin pugging spots as well. Accepting and Declining allows us as officers to confirm people for the raids and know who and what type of raid makeup we are likely to have ahead of time.

Okay, this first rule is common sense 101.  I'm a little disappointed that it even has to be a rule, but c'est la vie.  According to Miss Manners RSVP most likely came about as a polite way to remind people to do something they should already know; if you receive an invitation you should reply.

You should treat a raid invite the same way you would treat a party or wedding invitation.  Are we really too lazy to open up the calendar when we log on and click Accept/Decline?  Apparently so.

Let me go ahead and tell you why it's a good idea to reply.

1. It lets the raid leaders know what type of raid composition they're going to have.
2. Raid leaders can make a go/no go decision before raid night.
3. If you accept it greatly increases your chance of actually getting to raid.
4. If you decline it lets the raid leaders know they won't have the big heals or big guns for that night.  They can plan accordingly.

Raiding is a team effort.  This is not just about you.  Your actions or in-actions impact your fellow friends and raiders.

I've seen people not respond to calendar invites and then get upset when we need players to fill spots and they're not chosen because we had too many volunteers at that point.

Accept or decline.  If you are unable to make a decision, let the raid leader know that you're a maybe for that week.  If you're good, they'll probably reserve a spot for you.

And finally, if you do accept and invitation, please show up.  Here is a recent guild message of the day.

Mythbusters: Rules = No Fun

"So relax! Let's have some fun out here! This game's fun, OK? Fun goddamnit."

- Crash Davis

I'm going to dive into my Eight Simple Rules series this week, but before I tackle the rules I wanted write about a comment to something I wrote on my guild forums.

In addition to writing on this blog I'll often re-post some of the same information on our guild website.  One such post was one titled Don't Just Raid, Be a Raider.

One of my guildies responded as follows,

"Well I guess we are just not as gung ho about a GAME as the rest of you.. :-(   Us inexperienced non serious types?????????????"

I'm going to assume that you've read the post or at least glanced at it. If not, I'll wait while you do that.  I'm humming the Jeopardy theme song now.  Okay time's up.

I'm sure that for those of you who raid the points I outlined fall into the realm of common sense, but for some the idea having rules for a GAME is unnecessary and serves to suck all the fun out of everything.

We put rules in-place and have raiding guidelines not to stifle fun, but to ensure that a good time will be had by all.  Loot, badges and achievements cannot be obtained if your lying on your back wondering what just happened.

Another of my guildies summed it up best when he wrote,

"The most fun part of this game is a well organized, prepared team taking down bosses.

One of the least fun things is wiping and waiting and talking about wiping and waiting and why we are waiting and why we are wiping and whose fault it is that we are wiping and waiting and what we should do about it and who should do something about the fact the we are wiping and then waiting to wipe."

All of our rules are designed to mitigate the wiping and the waiting.  The notion that rules and fun are mutually exclusive is utter garbage.

Fun comes from working together and defeating bosses.  Fun comes from getting badges and loot and seeing the team progress.  Fun comes from success and not failure.

It's time for fun!

Eight Simple Rules

Today's post comes from my "Miss Manners" collection.  I'm going to begin a series on raiding etiquette.  This will in part be an extended version of a post I made called Don't Just Raid, Be a Raider (and no, I'm not talking about the football team in Oakland).

Recently our guild got together and decided it was time to do some progression raiding.  We all sat down and came up with a list of rules that we felt everyone needed to follow if we wanted to succeed.  Below is a list of those rules.

In the coming days/weeks I'll go into detail regarding each of these rules and why I think they're necessary for successful progression raiding.  So without further ado, here are our eight simple rules.

1. Please RSVP for the raid.
2. Be on time.
3. Come prepared.
4. AFK's will be raid wide.
5. Use of Addons and Ventrillo.
6. Enchants and Gems.
7. Gear Requirements.
8. Attitude.

No Matter Where You Go...

There are several reasons why I haven't been able to blog as much lately. One is it's Summer and my wife and I do a ton of traveling. But also our guild has been in a constant state of flux and transition and I've had to spend and inordinate amount of time discussing things with the GM and other officers.

The big issue is that we like each other and get along (many of us are friends in real life), but we seem to have varying interests regarding the content we wish to pursue, and more importantly, how we should pursue it. Mostly it's about raiding and the rules and conditions under which we wish to raid. Some folks prefer a more laid back approach, while others, such as myself want a more "professional" environment.

Despite our efforts and discussions there is one thing we just can't seem to escape and that is us. We are who we are and that's not going to change. So ultimately what we are left is a decision. Do we keep the guild together and try to find some compromise, or do we decide it's over and go our separate ways?

If our guild is anything it's stubborn and a glutton for punishment. So we've decided to stick together and make this work. We're shifting our focus from being a raiding guild to being more of a big tent organization where friends can come together and pursue the content they desire.

The guild officers won't form any official guild raid groups, but rather will let its members form their own raid teams. Raid team leaders will then be empowered to created their own rules and recruit players for their team. Additionally it opens up the doors for non-raiders to invite friends they meet questing, leveling or instancing.

It's not a new concept in WoW. Just take a look at the Alea Iacta Est guild on Earthen Ring. This started a fan based guild for listeners of The Instance podcast. The guild has over 4,500 members. It's more than just a fan guild though. It's a fully functioning guild where players have main toons and seek to carve out the game experience they desire.

Now we don't have, nor want those numbers, but that model seems to represent who we are, and there's no escaping that.

P.S. - If this fails miserably there may be a dwarf hunter on Drenden looking for work. Shows up on time, comes prepared, and won't die from flash freeze, falling snow and the like. Is prone to Ninja-afk's though :p

Simple Jobs Part IV: The Rest of Naxx

Kaffee: "I'm lead counsel, and this is Sam Weinberg."

Lt. Weinberg: "I have no responsibilities here whatsoever."

Welcome to final chapter of my low risk, high reward series, also known as the lazy hunter series.

Today I'm going to go over the Construct Quarter and Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad (yes my guild and I have finally beaten him in 25-man) and the "jobs" that my guild asks me to do. Again, there really aren't that many.

TRASH
The trash isn't very special here. If we have lots of mobs it's AOE, other than that it's single target. Depending on the group we will kite and AOE the little blobs that spawn in the room before Patchwerk.

One thing I will say is that due to blob respawns, you should not release upon dying unless it's going to be a wipe or no rezzer's survive. But nobody wipes here right?

In Summary

• I go Survival because I do more dps.
• Spam Volley for AOE
• Single target when necessary

PATCHWERK
This is every hunter's favorite gelatinous mass. We produce some of our biggest numbers in this encounter, and it's just so easy.

Stand in one spot, don't overtake the tanks and execute your rotation until he's dead. Once he's dead you can collect your nice new bow and show off your recount.

Oh yeah, be sure to misdirect and feign death as needed. Watch that threat.

Summary

• I Go Survival
• Watch my threat
• Deliver gobs of DPS

GROBBULUS
This is not the most hunter friendly of fights, but we can still top the meters. Lots of movement on this one.

Basically the tank will be moving the boss in a giant circle around the room. Our job is to keep up with him and do as much dps as we can.

If your melee are sloppy they'll get sprayed and you may have to assist in killing the blobs that spawn as a result. The big thing is watching out for the mutagen injection. If you get it, just find the safe spot and run to it until it wears off. As our raid leader likes to say - Don't fart in the car.

Other than that it's pretty straight forward. Nice belt and BoE bracers if you're luck.

Summary

• I Go Survival
• Try to stay in range of Grobb as he's moved about the room.
• Kill any blobs
• If you get the mutagen injection, don't fart in the car.

GLUTH
When we started out doing Naxx this was the first real wall we hit. The key to this fight is to keep the zombies kited in the back of the room and away from Gluth.

Hmm, kiting. Isn't that something hunters can do? Indeed it is and it is something you might get called on to do this fight. If you don't want this job (and really you don't), then my suggestion is to out-dps everyone in the raid so that you're too valuable to not be on the boss. Works for me anyway. Truth be told, there are classes better suited for this than us.

Even though I don't have to kite I still like to drop freezing traps to help zombie herders out. I like to go marksman for this fight because of the strong volley and also because dropping freezing traps messes with my Black Arrow.

I'll drop a trap to start the fight and then once the tank has Gluth in position, I'll just dps him. Once decimate happens I'll head to the back and AOE the zombie chow. Once they're dead I'll resume dps on the boss.

We've gotten to the point where Gluth is dead after once decimate. If your group has to go beyond two decimates you chances of success will diminish, so herd those zombies.

Summary

• I Go Marksman
• Use freezing traps to slow down the zombies
• DPS Gluth until decimate
• AOE the zombies during decimate.
• Get some nice T7.5 and whatever other garbage he has.

THADDIUS
Thaddius is the final boss in the Construct Quarter, and is usually the final hurdle before heading up to Kel'Thuzad's chamber. Despite having to move around, I like this fight. It's really not that hard.

The first thing we have to do is take down Feugan and Stalagg. It doesn't matter which one I'm on, as my job is the same. I just need to stand still, execute my rotation, and manage my threat. Depending on how the groups are split, I may need to throttle back my dps so as to ensure that both Feugan and Stalagg die around the same time.

Once both are down I'll switch to Aspect of the Pack. I find that the extra run speed nearly guarantees that I and most of the raid don't miss the jump. If you do this, remember to switch back to Dragonhawk before the next fight begins.

As far as Thaddius goes all I really need to do is watch my polarity, stay in minimal range, and move to the other side whenever my polarity shifts. That's it. They key is to make sure you don't hesitate when your polarity changes. Interrupt whatever you're doing and haul butt.

Summary

• I Go Survival.
• Watch threat and manage my dps on the Stalagg and Feugan.
• Use Aspect of the Pack to make the jump.
• Watch for polarity shifts and move immediately if mine changes.

SAPPHIRON
The second to last boss in Naxx. Congratulations you're almost home. This is another fight I like, I'm not sure why because it involves a lot of movement, and we all know, movement and hunter dps are not a good combination.

For this encounter we usually have to wear one piece of Frost Resist gear. I prefer the boots because I lose a lot less dps. This is another simple fight for us. There are two things we need to pay attention to, one is the blizzard and two are the ice blocks. If you can manage those two things it's just dps after that.

The blizzard falls from the sky and moves around the room. Our job is not to be underneath it when this happens. The trick is to move enough to get out of it's range, but not so much that you're losing dps by running around too much (Hodir is similar in this way as well).

Periodically he'll fly into the air and freeze a raid member in the ice block. When this happens you need to get behind the ice block and wait for him to do his thing. Again, this is not unlike Hodir's flash freeze, another ability that people seem to not...sorry I'm digressing. More on that in another post.

Like I was saying the blizzard and the air phase continue over and over until he's dead. Actually once you get him to a certain percentage, the air phase will stop.

Now go lobby for the key to Eye of Eternity.

Summary

• I Go Survival or Marksman
• Avoid the Blizzard.
• Try not to run around more than necessary.
• Make sure I get behind and ice block in the air phase.
• Make the case why I should get the key.

KEL'THUZAD
You killed his cat and now it's time to put him out of his misery and collect some nice loot to boot.

This is basically a three phase fight, and long one at that. As far being a hunter goes, this is not that difficult of an encounter.

In phase one I'm usually assigned Skeleton duty. They go down very fast, and I can usually find a nice sweet spot where I don't have to move too much to be in range of them no matter which direction they come from. Be sure to put you pet on passive or you'll risk pulling a whole room at once.

Once phase one is over you'll get to fight KT. If there are any banshee's up you'll need to dps those down first. It's important that you spread out. I use deadly boss mods, so before the fight I type /range. This will open a box that will display the names of players that are within 10 yards of me. You want there to be zero names in this box.

Once I have my safe spot, I'll just dps the boss and keep an eye out for the void zones that spawn underneath player's feet (shocking, I know). I usually just move forward or back to get out of the void zone.

Occasionally he will mind control two players. Hopefully you'll have mages and shaman to help crowd control them. If not we can serve as backup for this. Remember that Freezing Arrow we got at level 80? It's possible to fire a well placed shot to get them under control. Conversely, If you're Survival spec you could also Wyvern Sting them. I haven't actually tried that to see how effective it is. My only concern is that Wyvern Sting does do some damage. Your goal is to control them, not kill them.

In phase three some adds will spawn that need to be tanked. Sometimes I'll need to misdirect and add to the off-tank. Not a problem.

Like I said, this really isn't that hard a fight for us hunters. We mainly just need to watch our positioning and dps KT.

Journey's End, The Envoy of Mortality, Tier 7.5 Helm, a nice cloak; why have to choose, just get them all.

Summary

• I Go Survival.
• Dps the skeletons while keeping the pet on passive.
• Used Deadly Boss Mods and type /range.
• Make sure I'm not within 10 yards of other players.
• Serve as backup crowed control for the mind control.
• Misdirect adds in phase three.
• Make sure I have enough bag space for all of his goodies.

This concludes my simple jobs series. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. Until next time, Good Hunting.

I'm Back...

Quite frankly I hadn't noticed that I was gone (as did you, I'm sure).

Summer trips combined with a major guild re-orginization has limited my abilities come here and write. So what's been going on?

Our guild is going through some restructuring. The guild no longer meets the visions and goals set by our GM and founder. He has decided to leave and start a new guild. Our current guild will remain and wills shift it's focus to raiding. At this point I've decided to remain on board and see what we can do.

I have to admit that there was a part of me that wanted to jump ship and find a nice established raiding guild where all I had to was follow the rules, show up and do my job.

In fact I got a chance to pug 25-man Ulduar this week and downed Iron Council, Auriaya, and Hodir. It was a lot of fun, and confirmed that this is the content I want to be doing.

But for me the content alone is not enough. Who I raid with is equally important. I have a good group of friends in the guild that I enjoy raiding with and it just doesn't seem right to leave.

Once the dust is settled and we survive the Summer vacation onslaught you'll probably see some sort of recruitment post here.

So bottom line for today - I got nuttin'. I do plan on finishing my Simple Jobs series, as well as sharing some thoughts on patch 3.2, and maybe a comment or two on the Hunter Q&A. I thought it was pretty much Meh.

Simple Jobs Part III: The Military Quarter

"In other words I have no responsibilities whatsoever."

- Lt. Weinberg, A Few Good Men

Welcome to part three of my low risk, high reward series, also known as the lazy hunter series.

Today I'm going to go over the Military Quarter and the "jobs" that my guild asks me to do. Again, there really aren't that many.

TRASH
Everything is pretty much AOE, except for the Dark Touched Warriors. Their Whirlwind ability seems to eat our Rogues for lunch so I try to get them down quick.

In Summary

• I Go Marksman
• Spam Volley
• Burn down Dark Touch Warriors
• Remember to use Trueshot Aura

INSTRUCTOR RAZUVIOUS
The Instructor is the first boss in this wing and for me he is "Patchwerk light". If the mind controllers and tanks do their jobs this becomes a pure stand and deliver fight.

The only thing I really have to do is wait for the understudies to get aggro from the Instructor, and watch my threat in case something goes wrong with the mind control.

In fact, I like to feign death whenever I start climbing up the threat meter. The only other thing I'm sometimes asked to do is use Aspect of the Pack if the priests screw the pooch and we need to reset the encounter.

Summary

• I Go Survival
• Watch my threat
• Deliver gobs of DPS
• Use Aspect of the Pack if our priests suck.

GOTHIK THE HARVESTER
This is boss number two of the Military Quarter. I've done both the living side and undead side and both are pretty much the same. The only difference is if I'm on the living side, I get to start the fight. One day I'm going to one-shot him for sure.

Anyway it's a combination of AOE, Single target dps and misdirects to the tank during the add phase. After that it's dps Gothik until he's down. If we're lucky the gates will open when he's on my side and I won't have to run after him.

Summary

• I Go Survival
• Start the encounter if I'm the living side.
• AOE/Single target and misdirect the adds.
• Burn Gothik and hope the gates open on my side.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN
This is the final boss of the Military Quarter. We've finally reached the point where the success of this fight solely rests on the group in the back of the room. Our strategy requires four players to start in the back, two tank and two healers.

The rest of the group stays in the front. We send a tank and healer to the front right as you face the stage and everyone else goes to the front left.

The group in the front left burns down the first horse (the one with the meteor ability). We usually get him down before we can get three stacks of the debuff. We do not have the tanks switch targets in the front.

Once the first horse goes down, we move to the second and burn him down. Afterward we all go to the back and converge on the horse in the back left (the void zone guy). From there we all watch our debuffs and switch accordingly.

Now as for me my jobs are simple. I stay in minimum range on the first horse. This allows me to fire range abilities and not be impacted by the meteor ability. After that I stay in range and dps the second horse.

In the back I just watch out for void zones, keep an eye on my debuffs and switch targets accordingly. I also have to keep an eye on my pet and keep him out of trouble.

I really like our strategy on this fight. It's clean and simple and usually goes smoothly.

Summary

• I Go Survival
• Stay in minimum range on the first horse.
• DPS the second horse
• Watch for voids zones and debuffs in the back.
• Switch targets when I get three debuffs.
• Try to keep my pet out of trouble.

Well that's it for me and the Military Quarter. Like the other bosses so far it's mostly deliver as much dps as possible. We like this.

Next time I'll cover the Construct Quarter, and tell you how to get out of kiting zombies. I'll also cover Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad and show you a potential use of Freezing Arrow and Wyvern Sting, hmm.

Simple Jobs Part II: The Plague Quarter

Welcome to part two of my low risk, high reward series, also known as the lazy hunter series.

Last time I ran you through the Arachnid Quarter and today I'm going to take you through the Plague Quarter. Again, this is all based on my raid experience with my guild. Yours may be different. For example, you may actually be doing Ulduar.

TRASH
Everything is pretty much AOE, except for the Gargoyles. Because of their healing ability I single target and burn them down as fast as I can.

For the gauntlet that follows Heigan, I am usually asked to take down the Eye Stalks. They're not too hard bring down, however, I do have to pay attention to see if the group is getting too far ahead.

In Summary

• I Go Marksman
• Spam Volley
• Remember to use Trueshot Aura

NOTH THE PLAGUE BRINGER
He is the first boss of the Plague Quarter. I like to go with Survival for this one.

For this fight everyone groups up in the circle where the Noth is standing. I like to stay in minimum range so as not to draw aggro from the skeleton adds. When the add start coming the group AOEs them down (hitting the boss in the process).

We usually have strong AOE so I single target Noth trying to stand still and do as much dps as possible. During the teleport phase I'll join in on the AOE fun.

We're at the point now where we're able to kill him after one teleport.

Summary

• I Go Survival
• Stay in minimum range
• Single Target Noth
• AOE the skeletons when he transports

HEIGAN THE UNCLEAN
This is boss number two of the Plague Quarter. I've done this fight enough times that surviving the dance is a complete non-issue. In fact I actually get to have some fun with it.

The fight starts with me on the platform. I keep my wolf at my side since he still can't dance without me. While he can't do any dps, he does do furious howl so he is helping.

We usually have somone call out when it's dance time, but I like to keep an eye on the timers myself. During the dance phase I'll go into viper if I need mana. If my mana is good, then I'll show off and fire a few shots at the boss.

That is pretty much it for Heigan. Now if only everyone in the guild could learn to dance.

Summary

• I Go Survival
• Keep my pet by my side
• Pay attention to the timers
• Regen mana and/or show off during the dance phase

LOATHEB
This is the final boss of the Plague Quarter. Depending on the group makeup and how often the other dps go for spores, you'll either see your numbers soar, or watch others catch up (where'd all our warriors come from).

Again for me this is a pretty basic fight. I position myself near a healer, keep an eye out for spores and blast away. The spore buff lasts two minutes, so I like to keep an eye on the timer, as well as stay on the lookout for any nearby spores.

That's it for Loatheb. Enjoy the crits, the high dps numbers, and if anyone gives you crap about how they're catching up to you on the meters, refer them to your Patchwerk numbers, or "accidentally" misdirect a mob onto them during the next trash pull.

Summary

• I Go Survival
• Keep and eye out for spores
• DPS the boss
• Enjoy the crits and big numbers.

Well that’s it for my duties in the Plague Quarter. Like the Spider wing it's pretty much stand and deliver as much dps as dwarvenly possible.

Next up I'll show you how to beat a dead horse in the Military Quarter.