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.