Christmas Celebrations

It's the season to be Jolly: Christmas Parties, getting together with parents and family members, eating the delicious food and feeling the feels of Christmas Cheer. So, it's time to take a break from raiding so we can all do those very important things. Monday will be the last raid for a week we will get back to fun time raiding with our online family after that.

This week I have to make a correction.  Sven has not stopped raiding with us he was just taking a break for a few weeks to help out some horde buddies while their tank was off sick.  Next year he will be back with us hopefully on his dk dpsing.  The raid leading is going to be done by Mahvra and Beartanks (Happy 27th Birthday btw) and Alysith with contributions from Bashy and Pangit. Occasionally we will hear from Ecle when he comes to make use of his experience. If everyone else can allow that to happen that would be great. Beartanks, Mahvra, Alysith and Bashy do most of the calling so just listen up to them they know their stuff as do Pangit and Ecle with their Mythic raiding experience.  We aren't one of those very serious raiding guilds, we don't kick guildies from raids. We might ask you to step out if your dps is too low or your ilvl doesn't meet the requirements.  The guild provides a lot of opportunities for people to get gear in a variety of ways don't be afraid to ask for help. During the alt runs, which are going great btw, ppl are free to swap in and out as they please to progress the main raid to get more ppl geared and if PuGs aren't doing well it is fine to kick these guys after due warnings.

Our progression is going great. I'm so proud. We are 40th on the Jubei'Thos and 7th Alliance guild. On Monday I'm sure that will go up again as we are just smashing these fights up. I might also say that we are getting the mechanics down very nicely in all the fights which is great to see. Ecle made the suggestion that we upgrade all our gear as soon as we can as the dps can be lifted significantly this way. The Mythic dungeons are a great way of getting valor and gear upgrades. Choy seems to be taking a lot of guildies through these. If we could gear up Geebung and a few others in this way it would be great. If you want a hand with this kind of thing speak up in guild chat or whisper the main ppl who go like Choy and Bashy. I'm sure they won't mind making a group and taking you to a few Mythic Dungeons and I'm happy to get a group going.

A big Thank You to all the help I've been getting to stock up the potions and flasks for the guildies that's been wonderful.  It's very nice for us all to have the guild bank filled with useful resources like these.

Merry Christmas Everyone Have a Great New Year.
Much Love and Squishy Hugs to all my WoW family

The Year that Was

This year was an example of how to survive a shit storm in a teacup. There have been some great highlights for us.  Great opportunities for me at least to learn something more about myself and life in general.  That's right it's a shock I know that someone of my vintage can still learn stuff.

This year marked the loss of a few of our long standing core group of raiders with Maddy living in a country that has no net, Tom raiding with a part of his anatomy that shouldn't be discussed since achieving the life goal of getting a girlfriend, Sven moving onto Mythic Raiding with a horde guild and Ephi disappearing off the face of World of Warcraft. The good news was that we kept a lot of our core raiders too. These guys have been with the guild for nearly three years some over three years. I appreciate your staying with the guild through it's up and downs and putting Rift Warriors above other offers that you have received through those years at the expense of your own progression. It must be hard seeing those guilds romping it into the top end of the raiding leading board. We are currently 41st on the Server, 7th Alliance Guild on the server. Not a bad effort all things considered. I'm sure we will finish in an even better position.

We also have recruited some more guildies who have really been great for the guild and our progression. The boys from the former raiding guild Curse joined our ranks and I'm so very pleased that they did. I want to thank you guys for your productive advice and input into the raids and the guild in general. In particular yours and the guildies in general for the support of me, through the horrible real life drama of my beautiful dog dying. Achieving the seemingly impossible getting a laugh out of me with an inappropriate joke. The big recruiting news of course has been finally I managed to talk Sarior into joining Rifties it only took two expacs to get him :).

Lots of players are returning in dribs and drabs. Oak that's Professor Oak has returned from his exciting adventures overseas and can been seen back in the guild quietly getting things done on his Pally. A few other older members such as Grumpystumpy a priest and friend from Vanilla WoW days spent a couple of weeks leveling and chatting in vent. This was fun and actually got me to level an alt to 70 or so :)

Beartanks and Pangit were promoted to officers, they took on running alt runs which is something I've been wanting to achieve since SoO to gear new players up and provide a bit of fun.  Mrs Pangit is getting geared and learning all that there is to learn in the alt raids hopefully she will join us in the main raid team at some stage. People like Rhysdogg who have the potential of doing well in raids can gear up and also get advice from more experienced players of druids such as Keiran who does awesome dps on his feral druid.  We have also seen the return of Cexyleader who has the best bants in raid with Bainmar and Awolleader. Cexy and Bainmar have been consistently coming to the raids again. I hope that they continue to come along to provide great dps and even better Banter. 

Seebo has also been promoted to Officer, once he fully recovers from "Beating the Arse out of that Cancer" I'm sure will be contributing as an officer as his recovery continues. This year I haven't been as proactive in my promotion of testing yourselves for testicular cancer here is a link explaining how to do a self examination. Seebo/Zem will tell you all how important it is for young men to be doing regular checks of their testicles with the aim of finding cancer at the early stages. Testicular Cancer is found mainly in young men around your ages. 

On a brighter note this year we've had some fun times together. A very productive time in the raid tiers. We missed out on a server first kill by seconds when killing Kargath. We have moved slowly but consistently through the content.  I think we are going to finish strongly if we keep going at the pace we have been getting through heroic HFC.  I have been recruiting for the next expansion with mixed success as is the way with recruiting. If you happen across anyone who you would like to invite to the guild then do not hesitate to get them in.  It would be nice to have two Death Knights for some of the boss fights coming up. 

So finally a BIG thank you to all the guildies and here's hoping (fingers crossed) that next expansion brings great fun. Consistent raiding success and new friendships. Hopefully a couple of University Graduates another baby or three because I love babies and no more cancer or pet deaths or deaths in general unless it's of raid bosses then bring that on.

Raider Burnout

As promised I'm going to write about Raider Burnout.  It may surprise you to know that actual psychological research papers have been written on Raiding Burnout in World of Warcraft.  In fact there has been lots of research written on burnout in general.  In terms of Warcraft though,this is a hobby that we choose to participate in which is weird that we also end up burned out from it. What makes us continue raiding when we are no longer enjoying it? Here are some examples:

• Feeling commitment and loyalty to fellow raiders
• Thinking that without you the raid group will fall about (cognitive bias)
• Not being able to identify symptoms of burnout

What are the symptoms of burnout in terms of Warcraft.

• Feeling bored as soon as you log on
• Getting a headache or other symptoms of anxiety before the raid
• Irritability snapping at fellow raiders
• General feeling of lethargy and disinterest

What's the best thing to do if you find yourself getting burnout.

• Notify an officer or me
• Take a break of two or three weeks
• Play a different game
• Level an alt

Nobody is immune to burnout.  This game has been going for a very long time and raiding is fun however, we can all reach a stage where we have pushed passed the "saturation point". This is a psychological term that is used to describe when people simply can not do this thing anymore.  As a kid you may have experienced a saturation point with chocolate around easter time. Its when we push ourselves to continue after we have reached saturation point that burnout is inevitable.  I got burned out after BC. As a result I stopped raiding altogether through the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. I went to a couple of raids throughout the whole expansion.  I really enjoyed that break and when Cata came along I was ready to get back into raiding again. I was a bit wiser by that stage and now know when I'm getting a bit close to burning out and I have a break.

Here are some great things to remember; the raid team will go on without you. The guild will go on without you. It's totally ok to take a break and rest from the game you will be welcomed back.  When you come back you will be revitalised and you will enjoy the experience far more.

Helpful Links

The Lazy Peon

Pwncast

Saturation Point

Burnout Test