I'm Just a Dpser

We've just got Mannoroth and Archie to do on normal and we are moving tentatively into heroic with one success and one near success.   We've got a bit of history of waning when we reach this transition point.  I think we can keep pushing through despite the fact that I have to go to Uni every second week on Monday.  Lucky I'm just a dps...wait a minute how do those bosses die pretty hard to heal them and tank them to death. There's a real focus on the Healing and Tanking roles in a raid team and not so much on the importance of the dps role which brings me to the topic of  this week's blog the value of good dps.

I think there's a bit of a misconception around dps being the least important role in the raid team.  I'd like to see a boss getting tanked and healed to death. It must be possible however, I don't think it's really something that anyone want to do.  Ironically, I didn't even see the value of a good dpser until I rolled a healer.  It was so frustrating when the dpsers weren't bringing their best game to raids or even five man dungeons.  What people may not realise is how hard dps players work on getting the best dps out of their toons or just how hard we torture ourselves working out why it's low.  All you would have to do is ask Bashybashy aka John how often dpsers contact him about running over the stats and general tips on improving dps.

Alysith played a dps in another life on WoW as a mage. He told the raid he tried his hardest every single pull.  I was pleased to see last weeks raid saw the use of the legendary ring on cool down not just on boss fights.  It's these little things that make the raids go smoothly. Dps knowing fights and bringing their best game is what makes the bosses die. Keep up the good work Awoll, Bashybashy, Notthrall, Seebo, Ephi and Tom aka Milene.  Our raid leader Holyfyre is a dpser as well. We have a potential new edition of Nick on his lock joining our core team. We also have a few social dpsers Gaatos, Lyree, Kieran on his Druid Garaktou you guys and girls do a great job.  We will never forget the value of Aquitas who is sadly missed.  We are all waiting for the return of our humorously named Mthfker aka Callum to join the dpsing team.

Maybe we dpsers should stop saying we are "Just" in our sentences when describing our role.

Not Just a Dpser, A monster Killer

LF Dps Raiding with a View to Heroic Content

We are doing such a great job with our raiding we are now looking for Dps.  We are looking within the guild first. Our raid leader is keen to have a Death Knight and Steve has currently been working on a BoomChicken for the raid team. We've got five awesome healers at the moment which is why we are able to increase our raid size to 20 people.  Mahvra formerly known as Vonds has changed to being a resto druid. We've also got another warlock coming on Monday this is Nick who is my long time raiding buddy from Cata. It's great including friends into the raid team it really helps with the teamwork and communication of the guild in general and also with the raiding.

The last few raids have been so awesome smashing through content with lots of positive comments to inspire our efforts to improve as well as the occasional reminder that we are standing in the wrong place.  We looked up a few stats in relation to damage taken and were surprised to find that our raiders took less damage than a few of the top raiding guilds on our server.  We are tenth on the charts for raid progression for Alliance on Jubei'Thos that's pretty darn good for only raiding two nights a week.  That's got a lot to do with Holyfyre leading us.  It also has a great deal to do with the great teamwork of our guild and the regular raiders coming along and notifying us with plenty of notice so that we can adapt the team around real life demands.

I am so proud of us.  I hope that we can keep this team together, add to it and work through Heroic raids now and into the future of Warcraft.  Good Job Guys and Girls. Don't forget to get on TS a lot of our fun times goes on there as well as in facebook chat make sure you join our facebook group too. There's always lots to chat about in our guild we don't ever seem to be short of words or bants. It's all about the bacon.

John helping me get treasures for flying on the mount I helped make for him

Go Team Rifties

We are smashing through the normal version of Hellfire Citadel.  I've been trying expose the guild to some transferable skills this week. In particular The Seven Habit of Highly Effective People. I'm really into this kind of thing and applying to all areas of life and work.  I thought that this might be of interest to people in the guild now that we are approaching a stage where we need to sharpen our saw and develop the creative energy that we already have. I'm not making a criticism of anyone in posting this here and on the facebook group. That's it I'm dropping the Stephen Covey principles now.

I think it's important to note that we are team and all the members of the team are important. However, in the raid team we have one leader and that leader is Holyfyre.  Please be quiet when he or one of the officer teams are explaining the fights.  Also have a look at the boss fights here

Try to follow the mechanics as best as you can and don't beat up on yourself too much if you make a mistake. Nobody is perfect, I haven't met anyone who is. If I did I'd probably find them terrible bores.
If you can find a way to improve your playing try to implement those things. Bashbashy is a wealth of information in the way of stats and rotations.

I'd like to thank everyone for stepping up to fill Holyfyres raid calling this week. Poor guy lost his voice and created much hilarity when he was trying to talk.  He is all better now. We are starting Heroic difficulty this week and continuing our progress through normal. I was so happy with our last raid everyone performed at a very high standard and followed the mechanics very well.

Rifties are Awesome

We are definitely in the best guild in the World of Warcraft.  After my crap week last week the whole guild participated in the building of and upgrading of a fabulous Gun made for me.  This confirms my theory that all people are basically good and the people in our Rift Warriors are totally Awesome. This week I've been thinking a little bit about what makes us so awesome.  It dawned on me that we are like a big family and together we form a nice warm soft place to fall. Thanks to everyone who really provided that for me last week and providing me with a Gun to kill bosses with.

This week we are going to take our first steps into Heroic HFC we will be sending a forward party that is the core raid group and later we will bring in the whole raid team. Please don't feel offended if you are not part of the team.  It's not personal or a reflection of your playing skills.  This will only be the first boss and Holyfyre will form the team and the rest of us will come next time.  We are making our success rate increased by doing it this way. We still love you and think you are a great player and a crucial part of our team :)

We have also had a few new members join the guild.  Welcome everyone new Smokin's mate and Pangit's girlfriend who has been enjoying leveling a druid and listening to the fun conversations on Teamspeak.  Don't forget about Teamspeak, Rifties are almost always in ts chatting about stuff and generally enjoying life. Lately we've been getting some of the old guild achievements which is great fun and also a great way of getting to know the guildies and being part of that warm fuzzy thing I was talking about earlier.

We have slipped back a bit in the progression charts.  Not to worry we will surg ahead soon with any luck. As long as we are beating Holyfyres ex gf's guild we are winning :) More importantly we are downing the bosses, learning the fights and working well as a team in our raids which is more than enough as far as my expectations as your Guild Leader.  It's all about the team work below is a picture from a fun firelands run.

Officers Who are they Why are they Officers

There's been some promotions.  I have thought long and hard about these appointments. Vonds, Bashybashy and Maddy have been promoted back to the officer roles.  I realise that we have a lot of officers for a relatively small guild however, these people have been the backbone of the guild for some time.  They are my right hand men and women, they support each other and the guild as a whole.  It should be known that these people contribute to the guild a little bit more than everyone else and that they should be rewarded for these efforts.

Just incase you haven't realised what roles they perform I'm going to list them now so that everyone knows what they do in the guild:

Alysith and Holyfyre are really my main two advisors as far as raiding goes and how to proceed. They work through all the logs each week with me and we decide what course of action to take into the future including how to proceed into the next expac. We decide if we need to recruit who we need to give pep talks to and how we can improve the raid team as a whole.

Vonds and Alyiana are the right hand to Holyfyre and Alysith and contribute to raid strategies progression. Also nobody cleans out a bank as well as Alyiana and Vonds. Vonds and Alyiana also know how to push the raid through into more exciting content fast.

Maddy and Bashybashy form a great team in social events within the guild such as running old time raids getting guild achievements and maintaining guild happiness levels to an acceptable level.  Also if you want to know anything about your class the stats and talents you should be taking Bashbashy is your man. If he doesn't know it it's not worth knowing.

Bainmar is the PvP officer he is the person we call on to save the care bears from the horde. He leads group 2 with Cexyleader in making fun of the care bears in the guild. Together they kill the really tough raid bosses in Arena :)

I've been criticised in the past about having too many officers however, these are the leaders in the guild these are the people who have stuck with the guild through thick and thin. These are the people who ARE my officers even if they don't get the perks so I think they deserve the perks that's why they have all been promoted back to officers.  I'm trusting my instincts on this.

Now I must also add that being a Core Raider is nothing to be sneezed at you guys are dedicated and committed to the guild.  I want to make a special thanks to Seebo, Beartanks, Awoll, Pangit, Fhil and of course Ephi who has Heroic Gear for the purpose of out dpsing everyone and feeling superior to us all, with the side benefit of progressing our raid team. Our social raiders are slowly becoming a great part of our team too Lyree, Smokin and Gaatos. You guys are the team and in the raid I'm one of you rather than the GM. We are the people who progress the guild through our actions. Without you we would not have done as well as we have.

I'm so proud of us all