Raid Leading: Tales from the Hearth

I don't think I'm a really good raid leader, more like "He's Ok..", but I do listen to all of my raiders and ask a lot of feedback, in and out of raid; and I like smart playing.

I tend to stay cool while im leading at least during the encounters, but sometimes I got carried away so let me share a "mistake" I made. We were on the LK encounter, and had been wiping for an entire weekend and just extended the lockdown. We were almost at phase 3 on our last try, so that was our goal that friday, 3 Phase.

We started slow but near our 5 wipe we had rythim, I explained what to do if phase 3 arrived, everybody had seen the fight and read about it, but we always do small changes to what some guides say. Everybody was quiet at vent, I was tanking the adds, cleasing in case the Holy Paladin in charge of that chore, missed one of the Plagues. I was the one calling for the timers, even tough everybody was really fast at moving from defiles,I always called for one when there were 5 secs for the ability. I was really focused on the fight, I called for our Disc Priest CDs like Pain Supression if I knew we tanks had screwed something, I was the only voice at Vent, and seemed like my voice was really leading those 9 raiders.

On our 10 or 11 try, everything was good. Adds where down at the beginning of the transition, we had no casualties to those ghost (I had always troubled picking those things), on valkyries our Lock got pick up 2 times and he was using his Demonic Circle: Teleport, and phase 3 seemed on the horizon. At some point I tought we had reached the mark for 3 Phase, and we were supose to run to the borders fast because of the transition and we were saving Blood Lust for those last ghosts, to make a cleaner 3 Phase. Then it happened, I was certain the transition arrived and started yelling, and I mean screaming at full voice on Vent: "THIRD PHASE TRANSITION, THIRD PHASE TRANSITION, RUN TO THE EDGES ALL ON ME".

I always call for things with some advanced because my raiders dont always follow me at the order, but when I yelled: "THIRD PHASE TRANSITION....", they didn't even got time to lag, they were on the edge in the formation we had agreed, only to notice arthas was still following me..........................................................

"NOT YET, DPS HIM SOME MORE ALMOST THERE", I was still screaming but my raiders were performing at their best, they ran back to get some more DPS going but harm was done, a valkyrie got one of our healers and one raider was trap between a defile and the edge, he took the bullet (or he panicked) and fell (jump, maybe trip),  a soul reaper incoming, while I kept yelling "A LITTLE MORE DPS" and then it happened, o yes sir, transition for 3 Phase came.

We lost a healer and one dps to that transition, what was left of the raid regroup on the edge. "BLOODLUST WHEN 2 GHOST ARE OUT", I started popping my cooldowns and somehow we made it to the 3 Phase, and our last Healer got Inside the sword, we wiped.

There was like 15 seconds of silence on vent, I dunno if they were just so flaggerblasted or just containing some anger that could not speak, I was sweating really cold, and found the valor needed to push the vent key, "My bad on that transition, nice try guys"......................... 5 long seconds of silence and then, all Hell broke loose. I can't actually recall what I was being yelled, but I could tell they were not angry, they were actually laughing, we had reach the goal and missed the oportunity, but hey it was a fine ride.

I still get to be reminded of my awesome yell "3 PHASE TRANSITION, 3 PHASE TRANSITION......", but I enjoy raid leading and am proud to say we downed him the next Raid Day.  To you all raid leaders out there, YELL till your hearths content, if you enjoy and encounter, this imho is one the rare small pleasures of raiding.

10 reasons why you should be friends with a Pally

Paladins are a rare sight. I know we are everywhere, but not everyone is a Paladin, not a real Pally.

We rare real Pallys tend to be awesome, and incredible sexy IRL, well maybe not all, but we have a tendency to be sexy.

I will be making a future post about Paladins and Paladins (See the difference?), but today, I'll just give you
10 reasons why should be friends with a Pally



1. We are just plain Good Looking, don't mind what kind of Race you play. Search your feelings you know its true.

2. We are cool to hang out with, and look specially good on "Boss Kill" photos.

3. Famous Pallys on the last Boss on expansions, and its common knowledge we all Pallys are buddys.

 

4. Pallys are know for they camaderie, with whom they call friends

5. Paladins will always watch your back

6. We trust our friends no matter how dire the battle

7. Pallys stand to the challenge XD

8. They are trust worthy and won't chiken out

9. Pallys are always a force to be reckon

10. Pallys always help

What im trying to say is, chill out with your friends, have fun when you log on. Be it, that you choose to Raid, PvP, run de AH or just quest, do so with your friends. You may be traumatize by some LFD PUGs, but don't let it keep you from doing or trying things with your friends, even better try to get a new one. If you do find a new friend, or just enjoy some time with those you have, then you know why not all Pallys are Pallys.

How I Became a Pally

I have talked about a lot of things,but not about Paladins. Let me tell you how I got to play the most AWESOME class in the game, yep AWESOME, one more time AWESOME.

I started playing WoW like 4 years ago, I got called by a cousin, who had a great game. I went to his house, he was waiting on his room. He was standing, pointing towards the chair in front of the computer, and on the screen the "Create a Character Panel".

I spend a lot of time looking at the races, not because I didn't know them, I had played WCII and III. I really liked the Blood Elf campaing, and loved the way the taurens were introduced to the horde so I was trying to figure out wich to create, but whenever I have to choose a name for a character I tend to overthink it, and end up with something simple. My cousin got a little anxious so went for some chips.

When he came back herealized I was going Horde and said: "O my bad, I forgot to tell you I'm Alliance, and everybody else is, so be an Ally, that way I can help you", some of our friends had already being taken into WoW, when he told me that, my hearth just /sighed.

I created a Blood Elf Paladin, and a Tauren Warrior, just to see the introductions, I was Horde I knew it, but I did't had a clue at the game and was the first MMO I had seen, so I created an Alliance as a way of knowing the game with my friends.

I looked at all the Alliance races, but none of them seem so attractive (I wanted a Tauren Y_Y), my cousin who at that time was really anxious, told me to create a Hunter, his Guild was lacking Hunters, and he said they were really easy to start with since they get a pet at Lvl 10; I wanted a Warriror or Paladin, my most Primal Male Instincts were only going to be satisfied on the front line, Killing things with my bare fist, maybe a Big Nasty Hammer, but my cousin insisted in creating a Hunter, at least until I figure out the game.

I had been hearth brokened twice, just before my first WoW experiencie, but I wanted to try the game, and I tought he was right, the whole idea was to get a Feeling for the game. I created "Hinata", yes "Hinata", a Night Elf Hunter, and went into WoW.

I must have made all the Newbie things possible, starting with "Hinata", I know better know. My cousin leave me to play the introduction quest so I could marvel myself at the gamet, he just explained me, how to move my character. I must say, I miss being that into the game, the feeling I had when I was a really new to the game was awesome. I started questing and soon found myself at Lvl 10, I called my cousin and ask for explination about getting my pet. At that time I had the same bow from the start, and a Staff, cause it fit my Nelf Character, the model was important. Good Times.

He explained and I spent 30 minutes deciding between a Cat or a Bird, the Bird won after one of those killed me. They most be really powerfull if they killed me, right?. I got "Chocobird", and keep on questing, I didn't really like how things went; I sent Chocobird in, he'll get the Monster attention, and I shot them dead. I needed Melee action, as I quested, I cant remeber if it was dropped or a quest reward, I got myself a Fishing Pole, a Hard Hitting Fishing Pole. I was in Auberdine (Broken Auberdine Now) of that much Im certain, that fishing pole had more DPS than all the other things I had at my Bag. I equiped it and start wacking some Bears along the coast, of course Chocobird was helping, and they were dying really slow, but I knew something important then, Melee was my thing.

At that time my cousin checked how was the "Youngling" doing, he watched with a mixture of laugther and horror, how I was killing those bears. He just said: "Ok lets make you a Warriror". He sent me home with the game to Install on my PC, but there was a question in the air, could my old PC handle the game?. This is like Murphy Law, when you dont spec a thing of your old PC, it might surprise you, but when you really need it..

It could not handle the game. I had to wait 2 weeks for a Video Memory compatible with my old PC, to arrive. I installed it. I still wanted to test the Paladin, but all my friends had told me Paladins sucked, and I couldn't understand why. I mean Arthas was a Paladin, and Illidan got Spanked, nevertheless I followed their advise.

I can't complain aboutmy Warrior he was good, he was "Fury", a rogue in plate as some would said back on BC, but once I was 55, with some dungeons and Duels won under my belt; I had experience, I had dreams, I had ambition, and I tested the Pally. I never needed to look at the "Create a Character" screen again with doubts, I know who I am. To this day I have created and leveled 4 level cap Paladins, 2 - 70s, 2 - 80s, and one of those 80s got to 85 on Cata.

The first one, was a Female Human Paladin "Abbie", I was still playing alliance with my friends and family, but as I reached the level cap, I was not happy being Alliance, and I followed my hearth to become Horde. I didn't want to miss the Paladin class quest the Belfs had, so "Kokoro" a Male Belf was born.

Some of my closer friends started playing some time later on another server and I moved with them. I created another Pally "Yola", Male Belf also. Time passed and I real life attacked, I left WoW sometime. I left at the end of BC.

I read all about Wrath and really wanted to get into it, but kept having some issues. Finally things were starting to look better, and one of my friends who had left some time after I did, had restarted playing and called to check the expansion. I went to his house and found him rading Ulduar. I had read all about it, I had seen videos, but being there is different. That same day, I returned home, downloaded Wrath, and found myself creating another Paladin, it was Alliance, my friend had another friends account and his linked. I took that account and he help me power level my Pally, but things were very clear, once I was 80,
I'll become Horde.

The time came and "Visita" got to 80, I waited for other friends who were on the same lane with me, and as soon as they were 80, we went Horde. Home is were the Hearth lays, and I was Home again.

Mind Control

Mind Control is an extremly fun and useful ability, it may not be the best way to CC a pull, but I don't understand why so many players don't even bother using it, or fail to see how powerful it is. Allow me to demonstrate.

The last pulls on vortex pinacle, can get tricky or messy, but if you have a Priest dont hesitate and MC the healers, they literally top your tanks and players with one heal, making those weird pulls into a succes.

So priest out there have fun MCing, and learn what to MC.

Flying High

A raider got a call during our Conclave of the Wind encounter, the call got longer than we spected, and people began to loose focus and started getting stressed up. So it occur to me that we all got mamuths, and I had a spare portable Hole on my bag, I cant remember why I had one but meh, things might happend for a reason. So I said, "4 Laps Race, all abilities available, The winner takes it all". I tought some people were sleeping but as I position myself in the mark, I found myself nervous at the tought of losing my bag to not so bored and rather greedy Raiders.

We didnt finish the race, at the 4 lap the missing raider came, and we race to start the Encounter.
Have you find a way to cope with AFKing when needed?

We killed the conclave that night, and on a side note, when you kill them, you get a mouse option to jump in a vortex to get yourself to Al akir, so when we were about to take the "kill" screenshot, halve the raid got flushed to Al akir, and regroup was needed to get the screenshot.

Recruiting

Recruiting, it needs to be done, and need to be done right. On my humble opinion, recruiting is basic in making your Guild what you intend it to be.

Guilds tend to vary in their enviroment, some are really friendly and familiar; others inmature and disrespectful; some are really small with no more than 3-4 people online at the same time; some are really populated but dont really do much together; others are pretty casuals or engaging in pro like manner to some aspect of the game. But each Guild has a "Feeling", and is made, on how the people inside it interact with each other. Create the everiment yoy want, and look for people that tend to have some of the traits most of your Guildies share, or that get in that "Feeling".

Guilds are made of Guildies, thats a fact. So here are the things I think you should to keep in mind when recruiting.

-Know what you are looking for. Raiders, PvPers, PvRaiders, More People; but also the Social Skills, Attitude, Respect, Mindset.

-Check the Availability in time, You may find and awesome prospect, but he plays on hours, none of your Guildies are on, or he doesnt have enough time for what you are looking for.

-Look a bit on the Background, If its a Raider, Raiding expirience; a PvPer, Ratings. Guild History may be a fast way to know what kind of attitude he has, but be really respectful and casual, dont go picking on people, just get to know a bit of them.

Dont recruit more Raiders, if you cant get them to raid. Yes you can surely have a bench, or rotational spots, but having people sit with nothing to do may cause drama, and its not fair for those people to get them with hopes and promises. Dont get me wrong, having a bench or rotational raid spots is a fine way of raiding, but when you offer raid spots to a recruit and end benching them, that aint right. So be upfront when you recruit; being honest about your guild state will get people willing to take the shot at your guild.

Same goes for PvPers, dont get those if you dont run BGs or arenas teams, unless you wish to involve in PvP.

And so it Begins

All things Pally are awesome, thats a fact.

Im an Officer from a small Guild, and let me tell you, it aint easy. I was one of the founding members of the Guild, and when we created it we knew what kind of guild we would like to create. Before that happened, let me tell you some of my Guild Expiriences.

I have been in different Guilds trying to find the right mix of things, but I always felt something was lacking. I became Officer in some of those Guilds trying to improve them, to make them as I tought they should be; but most of them already got their own feeling and "rythim", so I was left with only one thing to do. Start a Guild, but not any Guild, a Guild that will fulfill the things I wanted, and more if it could.

I was ready, or so I tought, to be the change I wanted to see. I talked with my good friend Kât, who had similar feelings and the same mindset on what a Guild should have. We began defining the guild we wanted to make. The aproach was something between Friendly, and serious, and that could do both PvP and PvE. On PvE we had no doubts on what we wanted, "I rather wipe with friends, than loot with Assholes", we wanted friendly and enjoyable raids, so our raiders needed to have a similar mindset, but at the same time do good raiding.

On PvP we were more easy going, I love BGs and get really into Arenas, and from time to time get a lot of Guildies into it, but on wrath Arenas were more "important", since they gave the PvP rewards and ratings. So we figure we would encourage BGs with Guildies, and promote and help Guild Arena Teams.

We knew what we wanted and our Identity, we just needed to name it. We created a really big list of "Names" we liked, we had a rare combination of names, some stupid, some serious and pretencious, other were funny or just random, I illustrated better with some of the options: Epic Failing, Not in the Face, Stands in Fire, Simple Math, Bees Knees, From Accounting, Sweet Surrender, Everyday Heros, Beep Beep Im a Jeep, Battlecry. Riders of Lohan, Sexier than You, Just a Flesh Wound, and some other weird names. But then we find one that had personality, one that had the right amount of Humor, Stupidity and Epicness we felt, "Is Awesome". It was , "Someone" <Is Awesome>, when we look at that, it just clicked. Was it the best or the most original name, dunno, XD, I guessed we just felt it.

And so we had the Guild, in Idea; we needed people, and we needed the right people. Kât talked to his brother, and he didnt need to hear it twice. I had a Newbie friend, who was lvl 40 or something, who had just started playing wow, but he was a fast learner and liked the challenge. We needed 10 Signatures, but I figure, I could get enough people in Orgrimmar to sing the chart as a favor, if I explained how mind blowing my Guild would be. We were ready but, 3 days before we created it, another Friend, who was an Officer at the Guild we were, had a fight with the GM and /gquit, he knew what I was going to do, and joined the Torture  "Adventure".

We created Is Awesome 3 days later, Yuzî. Mukthar, Kât. Alâstor and Me; I managed to get the signatures we needed, but not spamming on trade channel, I wasnt the right way to start things, so, I stationed myself next to the Orgrimmar Ah, and on /say, explained what I wanted to created and how awesome it would be. I got some nasty responses on /say, /tell and on /trade; but found some supporers on /whisper, who kindly signed my chart. To those brave and kind souls, I /salute you. Thats how "Is Awesome" was born. I'll be writing a lot about my Guild, or my take on Guild related issues, and I tought some background on my Guild might help.