The Worst Week Ever..Best Alt Raid

This week has got to be one of the worst weeks ever.  On a personal note I think everyone knows my lovely 2 year old dog Arial passed away from a tick bite.  On that very same day four of the original core members left the guild.  Two of these guys have left alts in the guild but haven't been raiding with us or playing often. Sven and Vonds have both left. This is a good thing as these guys and gals have gone on to achieve what they couldn't achieve in Rifties. This week has definitely felt like a bit of a haze serious conversations and heartbreak.

I've learned a lot about myself this week.  I've been reflecting a lot about my failure as a guild leader and a dog owner. My inability to act quickly to address long standing issues which caused drama and disharmony in the guild. For this I apologize profusely.  I will do my best to prevent this from happening in the future or minimise this kind of thing. I would also like to thank the people who have sent very supportive messages to me through the week about the loss of my assistant raider Arial.  I would also like to thank the people who have supported me in losing a few people from the guild and have assisted in re-grouping.  A particular thanks to Bashybashy who talked everyday to me, Choy for making me laugh and Callum for reminding me what day it is and calling me "love and Darl". This always cheers me up. Pangit for his confidence in the future of our progression through the raid.

Congratulations to the new officers Seebo and Pangit. Sarior has joined the guild!!! I was so happy about this, as you all know I've been recruiting Sarior for two years, this goes to show persistence pays off. Amongst the darkness of this week some great news that Zems operation to remove the cancer was successful.  A long surgery of seven hours. In true fighter spirit Zem is doing well and dying to get home later on today with any luck. Fingers crossed Seebo will be back to raiding soon.

He must be missing us apparently he has been theory crafting away in his hospital bed. Oh gamers are such a different breed. Good luck in your recovery Zem our thoughts are with you.

The week finished on a high after returning from our walk with Leeroy, Bain and I  logged on to find an alt raid happening.  The atmosphere was light with the banter between the guildies on TS bringing me to tears of laughter. It was terrific to see Trissa and Mrs Pangit in the raid having fun too. I'm looking forward to more of these. I definitely need the practice healing. It was such a fun night and a great way to ease the tension I'd been feeling. I feel sure we can get through this loss and do well in heroic raiding.

Team Objectives

This week progression in the raid has been wonderful again.  There's big news on the horizon for WoW with the expansion coming. It's really going to be a bit of a drag until we get to the new content. However, we are making our way through the raid content nicely and we could get into Mythic HFC in the time left in the expansion. The new gear upgrades will help us achieve this end. So get in there doing mythic dungeons and get your valour tokens.   It's taken some time to get main toons geared and some people have been pugging Heroics to further progress our raid team and their own toons.  That's great. The danger in doing this is that you progress ahead of the team and become bored with the team's progression.  Many people have had offers from Mythic Raiding Guilds from this server and from cross realm servers. This is also wonderful.  If you have had an opportunity like this please take it, you can always leave your alts in the guild and socialise with the Rifties.

The main idea of Rift Warriors was to provide a guild where people who love raiding can get together and raid.  It was designed for people who have busy lives or are just wanting to raid two days a week.  The aim of the raids is to see most of the content and to see how far we can progress in those two days.  A low level of commitment is required just two days a week and to know the fights. As the GM my main goal is to provide a great environment for people to play the game they love and hopefully form a supportive network of friendships which can extend outside of the game.

The thing I love the most about raiding is the "team work".  Every member is an integral part of  the team and each member is responsible for how well we do in the raid and in the guild.  If people are frustrated and unhappy in the guild or the raid team, it's probably better to move on to bigger and better things.  If you are frustrated and unhappy you bring this with you and it becomes toxic to the environment around you. As the GM maintaining a great environment is one of my higher priorities. The fact that the friendly environment has extended into real life means that no matter who you raid with you will still always be part of the Rifties family. We have plenty of people in our raid team who raid with their mains on other servers, in PuGs or with mates, they come with us because they enjoy the environment of our guild and our raid.  I do expect players to; stop playing or move onto other guilds. All I ask is that you do what makes you happy and give me a bit of notice, a week or two should be fine, so I can fill your spot.

As we are heading toward the last few bosses in Heroic with the aim of Mythic in our progression. I will ask that you stay playing your mains until we complete Heroic HFC.  If you are unwilling or unable to do this you can join Pangit's alt raids on Thursday and Friday. This doesn't apply to our social raiders who have multiple toons all around the 700 ilvl who fill a variety of spots when they are able to attend.  If you are a core raider it's better for the team if you stay in your main spec and on your most geared toon. Its acceptable to change if the raid team require tanks or heals or dps to get the balance right. In emergency situations such as Maddy not having net or people have to drop out due to RL issues. If it is crucial to the functioning of the raid  that's fine. It's really unfair to expect the whole team to change to suit your needs or wishes, particularly at this point in our progression. Changing mains slows our progression substantially. In the next expac I would like ppl to stay on their chosen main for the entirety of the expansion and have an alt raid for gearing and playing alts.

Raiding is a team sport and the team objective should be the main priority. Some people may feel that we as a raid team could not progress without them however, everyone is expendable that's the sign of a good team, one or two members can drop out and the rest will fill the gap. This is my other main priority as a GM to build a team that is not reliant on one person.  I feel sure that if I dropped off the face of the earth that the guild would continue without me.

Zem (Seebo) is going in for an operation on Tuesday to get rid of the last of the cancer pressing on the inside of his spine. We will all be thinking positive things for Zem and Jess on Tuesday. Congratulations to Jess and all the other guildies who got their spot in the University courses they applied for.  Good Luck  you guys well done. Keep trying if you didn't get your spot I had to apply twice to get into my course. A BIG Congratulations to Sven on the purchase of his new home well done it's a big step, a great step I'm sure it's going to be one of the best things you do in life.

Family and Friends Weekend

It's been a great week for the Rifties even though the game is boring as anything at the moment. The most exciting thing this week has been Brenton's Heroic Videos are on youtube again.  I'm just so proud of us when I see these videos.  Brenton is definitely very talented in making them. If you want have a look at these videos click here and here.

The family and friends weekend will be happening next weekend.  We will be inviting your family members girlfriends and boyfriends, husbands and wives to roll a toon on your account, pop into Teamspeak and meet the raiders each other and experience Warcraft first hand.  I'd like to have an officer on TS most of the time to help host this event, one or two long term members just so that we can create a welcoming experience. I'm hopeful that holding this event will help out with understanding what we do.  I'm also kind of hopeful that this event will result in recruiting a few casual players for the next expansion.  As you know I was converted from a WoW hater to the WoW lover that I am now in this way.  Warcraft is now an activity that I share with my family, wouldn't it be great if you too could enjoy this experience with your significant others. We might get some more girl guildies too :)

We might need a guild meeting next week some time perhaps Wednesday to discuss the possibility of smashing the last two bosses on Normal HFC on another day to maximize the time we spend on Monday and Wednesday completing heroic bosses.  It takes us 20 minutes to down Manno and Archie that's at least one attempt on a new heroic boss.  If we can get together on one day a week for just 20 minutes to get everyone a trinket this would be a great advantage to our progression.  The raid time has been an issue because we are unable to start at the designated raid time. We need to push back the start time to 9pm Server time and finish 11pm server time which reduces our time further. Making it even more important that we utilize what little time we have most effectively.  We need to reduce our down time between pulls. We can do this by saving our chatting for after the raid or before the raid, moving onto the next trash quickly we don't all need to be hanging around waiting for Bashy to be distribute the loot. We can do this I'm sure.

Pangit is starting alt runs which will be happening on Thursday and Friday nights starting at 9pm server time.  The challenge mode idea isn't getting much traction, I'm going to keep trying to get this organised.  If you have any ideas on this please let me know.

It That Time in the Expansion

It's that time in the expansion when Jas starts leveling her warlock.  I start finding housework more appealing than playing WoW. It's just dragging on isn't it?  There has been a massive exodus over to Diablo.  If you are missing the guildies just pop over to teamspeak you'll usually find a heap of people over there. What can we do to challenge ourselves in our beloved yet boring WoW for the next eight months?  I know what about Challenge Mode Dungeons!!! Let's get it on Guildies in the Challenge Mode 5 mans. Five man dungeons are set to be a big part of the next expansion and I'm so pleased about this because it has been one of my favourite parts of Warcraft.  We've got enough people to run at least two teams.  I'll be sending out mail and setting up teams this week.

I've been thinking of partners this week too.  Those lovely people who support our raid team.  Who tolerate our chatting on ts for hours on end.  Those guys who wait patiently while we pursue our gaming aspirations.  With this people in mind I'm organising a partner's event where  they level a toon to level 10 on your account and get to meet us all in teamspeak and hopefully become part of the Rift Warriors Family.  Maybe in the next expac it can become a shared hobby.  I'm hopeful that this event will also help partners understand what is going on for you so that they understand fully that it's not just a game it's a real social place for many of the players.

We stepped into Heroic HFC for the first time.  We out gear most of the bosses so it was pretty easy to down the first four bosses. I was so proud of how everyone did the mechanics very well.  It's my favourite part of raiding "the dance" element.  Having everyone moving in a synchronized group.  I think one thing I've learned from this expansion is that we really should be moving a little bit faster through the content.  Going into Heroic raids a bit sooner and coming back to finish of the last bosses on normal.  It's good to be out gearing bosses the challenge is going into the raids with  appropriate gear levels so that it is a challenge and we are learning together.