I Don't Wanna Raid...

...I just wanna quest in the world all day.

That's the sentiment going through my head as I gallivant across the Broken Isles seeking the latest World Quest to offer armor, with the aims of slowly boosting my overall ilvl. I'm at point A and can see point B, no problems there. The issue lies with all the little points in between A and B: the side quests, rare mobs, other world quests.

They call to me. They've called to me since I first stepped foot onto the Broken Isles. And I answered pretty much every single one I ran across. That is, until I hit level 110. Because then, a little switch flipped inside of me, and a new primary goal materialized: keep having fun get ready for raiding.

In order to get ready for raiding, I had to be eligible to earn gear from heroic dungeons. While these can be run with a full group regardless of one's ilvl, a busy real life and sporadic play schedule dictates that I reach the 810 ilvl group finder requirement independently. In order to reach 810 ilvl, I had to do world quests and/or normal dungeons. But in order to do world quests I had to wrap up some Nightfallen questlines.

Suddenly, there was all this stuff I had to do, and for the first time since I've been raiding, I realized that the stuff I had to do put a little bit of a damper on the amount of fun I was having. A part of me wishes I didn't have to worry about raiding for a few weeks so I could fully experience the game in the way that Legion just begs to be experienced: slowly, erratically, a journey personalized by the choices the player makes or doesn't make.

Now granted, this urgency to drop everything and focus on gearing is mostly self-imposed. But as a raid officer for the guild, it's understandably expected that I'm in shape for Raid Night One. But for the first time since I started raiding with friends, the feeling of disappointment over having to rush or bypass content is greater than than excitement I have for the first raid.

Maybe this is partly coming about because I've been afforded much less play time compared to my guild-peers since launch. Is anyone else out there feeling this?

WoW Weekly: Break Time!

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

Well, it's finally happened. Made it official by posting on the guild forums: I'll be taking a break from the game until the spark reignites. Well, not the entire game, just the only activity I was actively engaged in outside of garrison chores and weekly Ulduar runs: raiding.

Last week I decided to sit out for our Heroic/Alt raid just to see how it felt to not raid when no obligations were keeping me from doing so. When raid time rolled around, I felt that familiar tinge---part routine and part desire, unsure of each's weight in the equation---but it didn't last long. There was a small feeling of being left out, but I quickly squashed that, as this choice was mine.

I've been involved in organized guild raids, whether as leader, planner, or assistant, since the summer of 2013 without taking a break. Even on a 1-night schedule, much time was spent planning, leading and organizing while helping to maintain a guild. It was honestly a lot of fun, but also demanded quite a bit of my time. Now three years later, the raid is an undeniable success and the guild seems a well-oiled machine. Given that, I've been to pay a little more attention to the feeling of burn-out.

Last fall's life change offered some new perspective as well. When you've got a great deal of the future planned out in your mind's eye and suddenly the RESET button gets hit, it tends to make one pause. I'm grateful to have had my guildies' support during the time, and the option to continue part of the routine I'd known for so long. I'm still working out how much I want my hobbies, like music and gaming, to fit into this uncharted expanse ahead of me. Stepping away, in light of the above, seems the wisest thing to do at this point.

And if it were only the two things I've listed above, I might stick around a bit longer. But there is a third prong: Warlords of Draenor's lack of appeal to me. I won't even waste the time to go through what I liked and didn't like. The fact is, I wanted to enjoy this game as much as I've enjoyed all of the previous expansions. But I didn't, and nothing's going to change that at this point. My hope is that what drew me to and kept me in Azeroth isn't completely lost. I want to like Legion, too. I'll remain cautiously optimistic for the time being.

Ulduar Runs Continue
My squad of four characters have already been through Ulduar this week and are currently resting until next week's adventure. One byproduct of next week's run will be the acquisition of the legendary mace on my priest, the second character overall to complete the chain.

Gold Collecting
This week's tally saw me eclipsing 700,000g. Exactly two weeks ago I reported that I'd eclipsed 600,000g, meaning I've averaged 50,000g per week since then. Again, this is accomplished without stepping foot outside of my garrison. I'm confident I'll see the gold cap well before Legion's launch.

Cheating on WoW
I dove into the Darkest Dungeon for a while, but the repetition and brutal challenges in that game have led me to put it aside for a while in favor of an MMO I first checked out a few years ago: The Secret World. Look for a Gaming Affairs post on that title soon!

WoW Weekly: Keeping the Flame Alive

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

Here we are again.

It's starting to look like Siege of Orgrimmar two-point-oh, sitting on nine months of no new content with nary a Legion release date in sight. Our guild has had Heroic Archimonde on farm since the middle of December, and I'd exhausted all content that personally interested me well before then. I'm not saying there's nothing to do. I'm saying that the options currently available to me don't appeal.

To be honest, I really didn't mind the Siege of Orgrimmar lull. At the time, our guild was in the end stages of a rebuild, and I was happy to use the time to continue recruitment while leveling alts and knocking out old achievements. I spent a lot of time on the Timeless Isle during those months.

I'm having a hard go at biding the time, this time around, for whatever reason. I've settled into the bi-daily routine of collecting garrison gold, but I wouldn't call it "fun." It's nice to not have to worry about paying for a subscription, but if I think about how the minutes spent in-game translate to real dollars...yeah, let's not go there.

But then, there's raid night. Where my temporary aversion to this game disappears, and I'm surrounded by a couple dozen of the raddest folks I've ever played with. Good guildies. Keeping the flame alive.

Ok, enough whining from me. Let's talk things just generally me:

Mythic Hellfire Citadel
The guild group made some serious progress on the Council fight last night. We're handling the earlier stage Reaps much better than we did on our first foray. Phase 3 came relatively consistently, but we've still got a test ahead of us.

Ironman
I've done a little bit of leveling with the monk over on Wyrmrest Accord; had a brush with death when a named mob I had to kill for a quest gave me a surprising amount of trouble. A couple more strikes would've seen Flasz joining his brother Glasz in the Annals of Failed Adventurers.

Gold Making
I've established a fairly consistent pattern of logging in twice per day to knock out garrison missions, once in the morning and once in the evening. Between profession sales and gold collection, I've just eclipsed 600,000g. As a point of reference, on January 27th of this year I was sitting on just over 300,000g. This means I'm more than keeping up with the average of 100,000g per month---and that's after I've paid for a WoW Token!

Podcast
Ooh! Yours truly was featured on The Starting Zone podcast's #WhyIWoW segment. We chat about what got me playing, what keeps me (hint: I already told you in this post), and a myriad of other topics.

Zarhym
One of Blizzard's veteran community managers recently announced he was no longer with Blizzard. A sad day. I met the guy once, and wanted to share some words.

Darkest Dungeon
In the WoD lull I'm currently going through, I've revisited my Steam library and pulled out the Darkest Dungeon. If you don't know what that game's all about, check out my first impressions.

Don't Be These Players: A Self-Centered Player and an Ineffective Leader

img via Hestiah

Many of us have been That Player at one time or another. From toxic players, oblivious raiders, elitist jerks and beyond, Don't Be That Player is a series that looks at different scenarios we've all encountered, and how they might be approached differently. 

Today's DBTP involves a personal anecdote which will hopefully serve dual purposes: to grant perspective to both guild leadership and players where ideologies will sometimes clash.

Two Players Collide

The guild raid group I ran was working through the final tier of the expansion. On a particular raid night, we found ourselves one player shy of the number we needed to fill a 10-player group. Reluctantly, I turned on Trade Chat and issued our plea. A reply came back from a hunter---we'll call him Ryan. I asked for his ilvl, and it turned out to be quite a bit lower than what we were looking for.

"How am I supposed to hit that ilvl if I can't even get into the raid?" Ryan shot back.

Fair point, I suppose. 

I invited Ryan to the group and the night went well. Soon after, he moved his hunter into the guild. A few weeks later, our off-tank left the raid group due to a scheduling conflict. Ryan immediately mentioned his warrior tank, expressing confidence he could fill the role. But shortly after he assumed the tank role, he violated our guild's code of conduct via some unsavory exchanges he had with other players on the official forums. It's something all players pledge to refrain from when they fill out our application.

OK. First instance, no big deal. All players who apply to the guild must indicate they've read our code of conduct, but mistakes happen. By this time I'd gotten to know Ryan fairly well. We chatted over Bnet on a near-daily basis. But soon after receiving mild admonishment for his forum conduct, his conversational tone shifted and tended to center on his personal dissatisfaction over certain players in our raid. I had the tricky job, as raid leader, to hear out his concerns while reminding him exactly what sort of guild we were. The fact was, things were running smoothly and weren't going to change.

Raid nights went well, and his complaints continued. For months. Too many months.

Then, thoughts he shared with me regarding the raid environment manifested into action. We were approaching the fifth boss in the raid one night just an hour into our three hours of allotted time. Ryan was paired up with a back-up tank, as our other regular tank was absence that night. A DPS in the group accidentally pulled some trash and I got a whisper from Ryan along the lines of, Ok, I'm done with tonight. Replace me. I asked him to confirm that he was leaving a scheduled raid early because he was angry about a mis-pull. He left.

In hindsight, it was at this point where we should've parted ways with Ryan. A truly honest look at our circumstances would've plainly illustrated that our guild wasn't a good fit for him, and he wasn't a good fit for us---even if we was a great player and solid tank.

It was also around this time Ryan began to hint that his presence in our raid was anything but guaranteed. He simply wouldn't show if he didn't feel like it. He threatened to leave altogether. He claimed that if and when he left, other unsatisfied players would leave too. At this point, I didn't care; I was sick of the games.

The last straw came not too long after. The topic of the forum post he authored doesn't matter, though it was sure to be a hot-button issue. Soon enough, responses filtered in and Ryan responded to some of his favorite replies, once again in a disrespectful tone we don't want to see from our members.

After he made a couple of personal attacks towards other players in the thread, another player from our realm posted the following quotation...taken directly from the Member Expectations thread on our guild website:

Public Channels

We can't tell you how to play, but know that you are representing us when you are out and about. We want to be seen as a positive light on this server. The last thing we want to hear from a fellow player is that they were being harassed by a member of our guild, or something similar.

Ryan's response to that player? That he's aware of our rules, but he couldn't give two shits about them. I knew that meant the end for him.

"Grats on that forum post! The GM is removing your toons as I write this," I whispered to him while our GM removed his characters.

"You're joking."

I wasn't.

Two Parties At Fault

There's a lot going on in this one. On the one hand, you have a player who disregards the fact that he's joined up with a guild that has clear expectations and intentions for its members. A player who has his own ideas about how things should look and run and isn't afraid to voice and act on them---sometimes in destructive ways. 

On the other hand, you have me, a raid leader and guild officer who is seemingly lacking a spine when dealing with a player who, although a friend, is clearly not meeting guild expectations, and in some cases seems to be actively working against them while making raid admin life a living hell.

Don't be either of these players. 

The Self-Centered Player

If you're joining up with a guild for any reason, it's up to you to decide if the environment is a good fit. Hopefully you've done a bit of research prior to jumping in. Even then, the player likely won't know whether the guild's a good fit until they join, and only then after spending some time with their fellow players. 

Clearly, Ryan had issues with some of our members, with the way the raid was being run, and with some basic tenets the guild had in place. And I understand the latter, to a degree: we expect a bit more than the norm from our players. We expect that our members treat all players with respect. We strictly prohibit any "-ist" speech. We encourage PvP, but forbid camping (save in certain eye for an eye situations). Essentially, conduct by any member wearing our banner should reflect the guild in a positive light. 

The reality is, these are things our guild clearly outlines during the application process. In fact, that's the point of our application process: that the player gains a clear understanding of what we're all about so they can determine whether or not what we offer is something they'd even want to be a part of. If Ryan was honest with himself, he would have admitted early on that the guild wasn't a good fit for him. But he wanted something from us: a stable raid environment.

If you find yourself in this position as a player, you've got to be honest with yourself and do the mature thing: leave. 

In Ryan's case, when the guild atmosphere and raid environment weren't to his liking, instead of walking away he tried to change things, which caused a lot of headaches for myself and my fellow officers. More headaches than I should have ever allowed. When all was said and done, two raiders---in-game acquaintances he'd introduced to the guild---left after his removal in a move of solidarity.

They rejoined us two weeks later. 

The Ineffective Leader

Then, there's me.

There were probably a half dozen times during Ryan's tenure with the guild where I found myself typing up a post in the officer forums seeped with frustration over his attitude towards the guild, the raid, and what we believed in. It wore on me to the point where one night I found myself drafting a post informing my fellow officers that I'd be stepping down from leading raids.

Thankfully, halfway through that exercise I realized how asinine the prospect was. This was my raid, and a successful one at that. Yet for whatever reason Ryan was able to get under my skin, and made me forget my ultimate obligation as a raid leader: to maintain the strength and health of the team. And how am I supposed to focus on that if I dread each raid night because of what I fear I'll hear from a vocal minority the next morning?

I failed miserably. In the role of raid leader, as in life, you can't please everyone on the team all of the time. However, you can ensure the overall health of your team. And I was allowing Ryan to taint my view of things despite what I knew to be true.

As a raid leader or guild officer, you need to be prepared to make the tough decisions. And in my case, it shouldn't have been difficult: we had written expectations for all of our members, expectations Ryan demonstrated time and time again he cared nothing for. This alone should've made the job of his removal from the guild quite easy.

I didn't give him more chances because he was a tank in our raid---it was because I considered him a friend and allowed him more lenience because of that. You cannot play favorites like I did. The rules the guild has in place must apply to everyone in order for them to have any air of effectiveness. Otherwise, there's no point in having them at all. 

Feckless Leader's Guide on How to Lead a Raid

I believe that when a raid fails, even when fault can be assigned to multiple parties, the raid leader deserves a large share of the blame. Or, too often, there's is no leader to be found. I'd argue most of the issues raid groups experience that lead to a premature disbanding can be addressed before the raid even begins, early on in the planning and formation stages.

That's not to say raid leaders deserve extra credit when a raid does succeed. They don't. The only difference between the raid leader and another member of the raid is that the former is coordinating the raid. Really, that's all raid leaders are: coordinators. Most players in a raid should have a decent idea of what they need to do in their role. It's up to the raid leader to coordinate how they're going to function as a group.

If anyone needed evidence that even the easiest difficulty raids require coordination, MoP's Raid Finder and the latest incarnation of the Group Finder provide ample amounts. Most of us have joined raids where everyone seemed to know what they were doing, little communication took place, and bosses fell. But those instances are the rarer ones, and it's more often through successful communication and coordination that raids progress.

Things like strategy explanations, when to Bloodlust/Time Warp, which players will be handling a special task...even the best players on the planet employ a basic amount of planning when going into a fight, even if it's their fiftieth kill. If it would seem the players on the team could ace the fight in their sleep---even if you think the presence of a leader has no bearing whatsoever on the success of the raid---having a leader to coordinate these things saves time, bottom line.

What follows are some general guidelines I'd recommend to any aspiring raid leader. Much of this comes out of my own personal style, something I've continually honed since I began leading Normal and Heroic raids in Cataclysm. Some of these tips align closely with the suggestions I have for becoming a good raider, though as you can imagine, the raid leader goes above and beyond what's expected from the average raider, and also possesses the tools to successfully facilitate the raid experience.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend that a brand new raider assume the position of leader, though that's not to say a new raider couldn't also be a successful leader. I do feel that having spent time solely as a raider provides valuable experience through being exposed to different leadership styles. You'll be able to develop a method that works for you.

One last thing: these suggestions are very much geared towards raid leaders in Normal and Heroic difficulty. While some of these tips may help any given raid leader, they are more general in nature; Mythic can require a whole different level of coordination which I've not covered here.

I hope this guide helps you!

Must Love Dogs.

PRIOR TO FORMING

ADDONS
Before you think about forming a group, there are a few addons that will help you facilitate the raid more smoothly, as well as evaluate your raid's performance from fight to fight. There are alternatives to the suggestions below, so if these don't fit your style, do some additional research and find an addon that you like.

RBS: Provides you with a lot of raid info at a quick glance: buffs the raid is missing, who is flasked, who has their food buff, when players die, etc. It's heavily customizable, but it does quite a bit of work for you right out of the box.

Skada: Comprehensive combat logger that will keep track of all sorts of useful info for you to peek at, like damage per second, healing per second, damage taken, damage absorbed, interrupts, etc. Can help you evaluate whether or not players are pulling their weight.

Deadly Boss Mods: A must-have in my opinion, whereas the two above are just strong suggestions. Provides extra warning alerts for certain elements of the boss fight, including the ability to toggle timers so that you can see when the boss will use a certain ability, allowing you to better prepare for it.

RESEARCH THE FIGHTS
Chances are that if you're preparing yourself to lead a raid, you've already done your homework in this department. But I'm saying it regardless for the sake of being thorough and also because researching the fights as a raid leader is more intense than if you were researching only your class role.

In a perfect world, every member of the raid team would prepare as if they were the person leading the raid. They know what to do, and when. Some guilds require their raid team members to "sign off" on a boss strategy thread in order to prove they've done some research---but even then, the level of research from player to player may vary widely.

Your job here is especially important if you find yourself running pick-up groups (pugs) through the Group Finder, as all you can discern about a player you don't know is their class, item level, and if you want, whether or not they have been present for certain boss kills. You can't know how they'll actually perform on a given fight until you see it with our own eyes.

That's why, as raid leader, you need to know what everyone's supposed to be doing. Just in case they truly don't know (which is often the reality), or they forget. As the raid leader, you should be prepared to remind the tanks that x number of stacks is when they should taunt, for example. Sure, you can require that your raiders must know all fights; but even in the case that one of those players forgets a certain mechanic, or lies about their fight knowledge, it would take less time to remind them than it would to replace them.

My go-to resources for fight strategies are Wowhead (text & visuals) and Line of Sight Gaming (videos). Icy Veins is another popular site, though I find Wowhead's explanations to be better presented and more thorough. LoS's videos are the best I've ever seen.

DETERMINE THE RAID'S GOALS, DURATION, AND SIZE
Essentially, you're answering the following questions:

• What do I want to get done? 
• How much time have I set aside for this activity? 
• What size of a group am I comfortable leading?

There really are no wrong answers here. As the group organizer, you have the ability to set the overall focus of the raid. Maybe you just want to hit the first two bosses and don't have a goal beyond that. You should still decide how long you're willing to go at it so that players who join your group at least know of the expectation and what they're getting into. Ideally, the raid will run for as long as you say it will. After all, this guide is specifically devised to avoid unexpected, early group dissolution due to wipes, frustration and a lack of communication!

"Anyone talking in Mumble? I hear nothing."

SETTING UP THE RAID

USING VOICE CHAT
The average group's chance of success tends to increase significantly when using voice chat---I don't have the data, but I feel there's a certain level of common sense that allows me to make that claim. I would never run a raid without it. There's too much that can happen in the course of a fight that requires instant, clear communication. If you need someone to switch to a specific task on the fly, text won't suffice. It takes too long to type out, and your raiders (hopefully) aren't reading chat frames during an encounter.

I strongly recommend requiring voice chat for raiding activities, and seldom join Group Finder raids who aren't requiring it. If you don't have access to a server of your own, there are quite a few free options out there.

When using a voice client, the channel should be kept free of chatter during an encounter---oftentimes, this happens by default since players are concentrating on the task at hand. This allows the raid leader and other key players* to communicate about the fight without risk of being talked over. There have been many times in past raids when a quick call meant the difference between a wipe and success---a call that may have been easily missed if voice chat was crowded.

*tanks, the raid leader and any other player(s) assigned a special task related to the encounter should be the only players talking during a fight

FIELD THE GROUP
With both Normal and Heroic modes being flexible in size, raid composition will vary. What won't change is the fact you'll need two tanks. Beyond that, it's up to you as a raid leader if you'd like every class to be represented, if you'd prefer equal balance between ranged and melee damage dealers, or if you'd like to run with only ten players.

When it comes to deciding how many healers to bring, I use a simple rule (and adjust if needed): one healer per group of five players in the raid. A ten-player raid will have two healers. A twenty-player raid has four, a thirty-player raid has six. At times I've added an additional healer on top of the one-per-group-of-five. In most cases, the one-per-five rule should serve well as long as your raiders aren't taking much avoidable damage.

The Group Finder tool allows the leader to select what role(s) they're looking to fill; specify a minimum item level and voice chat client; and add an additional note or instruction for those looking to apply. When searching for players, whether in public chat channels or Group Finder, it's a good idea to broadcast your goals/expectations, like "minimum 4/7 bosses" or even better "going til 9:30pm!" If you can get the group on board with your goals prior to starting, it's less likely you'll have people unexpectedly drop out mid-raid.

ASSIGN ASSISTS & SPECIAL ROLES
Generally, the two tanks should be given assist so they can set pull timers and raid warnings, if needed. I generally designate a main tank to handle pulling, but the tanks often work this out themselves. It's also a good idea to assign a healer to focus solely on the tanks. This should be a class with strong single-target heals.

SET LOOT RULES
Most guild-run groups will have this established well before getting into the raid, but if you're building your own raid on the fly, you have options. Most groups I've been in run either Personal Loot or Master Looter, with the Master Looter rules allowing players to roll on any items that their current spec can use.

Each method has its pros and cons. Personal Loot undoubtedly takes up less time, but you have no control over where the loot goes. For example, if the druid loots boots and realizes they are already wearing the pair, they can't give it to the rogue who could actually use it. On the flip side, Master Looter requires more time in that you'll have to physically hand out loot, but there is as greater chance that each item dropped will go to good use. To maximize raid time when running Master Loot, have the rest of the raid clear trash while the master looter awards loot.

I've seen a mix of both systems when using the Group Finder. For casual, non-guilded groups, I strongly recommend using Personal Loot. For guild groups, or groups where the same players are present week to week, Master Looter is the way to go. There are also some additional loot distribution options that may interest you, depending on your goals. Check them out for yourself.

Highmaul Normal cleared after 6 nights/15 hours spent.

DURING THE RAID

ESTABLISHING THE TONE
I tend to take the nice-guy approach. Respect all other players as human beings, and give them the benefit of the doubt when mistakes happen. I don't tolerate raiders ripping on each other. Granted, I haven't yet come across that sort of nasty behavior in pugs this expansion, but I'm sure it does happen.

However, I have come across raid leaders who, prior to the fight, say something like "Anyone who takes any damage from Berserker Rush is getting replaced." And that's perfectly fine. As the leader, you get to decide how you run the group. Personally, I don't say those sorts of things because I realize 1) the boss should still die even if you lose a player or two to x ability and 2) that one death probably isn't a completely accurate reflection of that player's skill. But that's me. You need to decide what you're most comfortable with and run with it.

REVIEWING FIGHT STRATEGIES
A good way to save time is to start explaining the fight during trash pulls. When I'm starting out fresh with our guild group and few or none of our members have seen the fight, I generally do the following:

1) Brief overview of the fight, including the number of phases and anything special to watch for.
2) Notes for the tanks, i.e. when to taunt swap, boss positioning, etc.
3) Specific notes for damage dealers, i.e. movement, debuffs to watch for, etc.
4) Specific notes for healers, i.e. high damage sections of the fight,* etc.
5) Assigning of specific tasks, i.e. which player(s) are handling x mechanic, etc.
6) When to Bloodlust/Time Warp.

*You should assign a specific healer focus on the tanks at all times and be prepared to coordinate healing cooldowns as the fight requires.

It's important that you have deep knowledge of the fight mechanics and each class's role within the fight so you can clearly and concisely explain what needs to happen. As raid leader, the other players should be following your instructions, and they most often do...even when you give them bad advice that leads to their death.

As the level of familiarity your players have with a fight increases, most of the points above can be skipped. For instance: in a seasoned group on Kargath Bladefist---a fight requiring positional awareness for damage dealers and healers, a simple taunt swap for tanks, and the assigning of a 5-person squad to head up into the stands---number five is likely all that is needed to facilitate success.

SPECIAL NOTE: BATTLE RESURRECTIONS
Battle resurrections are significantly more scarce than they were in the past, so you don't necessarily want to resurrect a player who dies (unless, of course, it's a tank). You'll want to say something to let the raid know before the first boss pull: do not resurrect a player unless A) they're a tank or B) the raid leader calls for it.

You almost never want to resurrect a damage dealer until you have two resurrections available; this ensures you'll always have one at the ready should a tank go down. Healers are trickier: you'll have to decide on the fly if your remaining healer(s) can handle the heavy lifting for a few minutes til another resurrection is available, or if you should use your sole resurrection and risk an all-but-guaranteed wipe should the tank drop in the next few minutes.

COORDINATION IN COMBAT
Now that you've engaged the boss, it's best to use the third eyeball you have right there in the middle of your forehead and focus it exclusively on what the rest of your raid is doing. Do the tanks have the boss positioned right? Are the ranged players standing where they should be? Oh my god did someone just die?

Oh, you don't have a third eyeball you can control independently? You're going to wish that you did.

In addition to respectably performing your role in the raid*, you need to keep your finger on the pulses of everyone else---literally. In order to call out adjustments that need to be made, you need to first be aware of any potential problems. And you won't be if you're tunneling the boss the whole time. Expert raid leaders will be aware of the entire encounter area in addition to performing their role well.

* I've found the difficulty of leading raids can vary depending on the role I'm in. In order of easiest to most difficult: Ranged DPS/Melee DPS/Healer/Tank. In my opinion, this is because healers and tanks have more focused roles, with ranged damage dealers having an advantage over melee, as they often possess a better vantage of the fight area.

WHEN WIPES HAPPEN
And they most certainly will.

Contrary to a seemingly popular belief, a wipe on a boss (or multiple wipes even) doesn't necessarily mean the group is fail, full of noobz, or that you're an inept raid leader. Though, at the same time, it might mean exactly one (or all) of those things---but not if you've used this guide to get to where you are!

The psychological effect of a wipe is steeped in the perception of what caused the wipe---and I deliberately say perception, not reality.

Too often I've been in raids where the group wipes and no one seems to know why. And that's not to say members of the raid won't offer their opinions on what they think happened, no matter how off-target they might be. Generally, a prepared raid leader will have a fairly good idea as to why the raid wiped as the wipe is happening, and will have begun to address the problem before the last dead player releases from their body. This is extremely important when it comes to controlling the perception of what the wipe means in terms of the raid's chance for success. It's too easy for a player to think fail group and leave after a wipe, especially if no one seems to know what went down.

This can be tough at times, especially when it isn't immediately clear why the wipe happened. Combat meters like Skada provide some good additional information on players that may help to identify the problem. If you cannot attribute the wipe to a failed execution of a mechanic, look to see how much damage people are taking (including tanks), and make sure healing output looks good. For instance, if the raid is hitting the encounter's enrage timer but performing well otherwise, there's likely something going on with DPS.

What you should try to avoid at all costs is being wrong about what caused the wipe. There will be times where you simply aren't sure what issue caused it. Don't guess; be honest instead. You run the risk of looking a lot worse if you guess incorrectly---because chances are there's someone in the raid who knows what happened, but isn't saying anything. Speaking of: when you truly aren't sure, draw on your raid members. Ask them if there's anything they noticed. Hell, maybe you overlooked one of the fight's mechanics. Even the most-prepared raid leader is not an infallible raid leader.

Assuming that healing and damage outputs aren't so low as to make the encounter impossible, all the raid needs to do is adjust to avoid the wipe-causing mistakes, and you'll be fine.

Keep in mind that no matter how well you prepare for and run the raid, some players have a one-wipe threshold. One failed attempt and they drop group. This is more of a risk in PUGs, as that sort of behavior is universally frowned upon in guild groups. When it happens, don't let it bum you out---it's not a reflection on you. Re-list the raid in the Group Finder, fill the role(s) you've lost, and forge ahead.

TAKING A BREAK
Depending on how long your raid will run, you may want to consider taking a 5-10 minute break. Raiding is an intense activity that can place stress on the body and mind. My guild takes a 10-minute break an hour and a half into the run---do what works for you. A break can also be beneficial after multiple wipes. If you're banging your head against a boss, but aren't ready to give up for the night, a short break can help players refocus. It can also decrease stress levels that have ratcheted up due to multiple wipes.

REPLACING UNDERPERFORMERS
This is the part I hate the most. If you enjoy helping people succeed versus seeing them fail, you probably will too. While it is your job as raid leader to coordinate things, it is not your job to teach a player how to optimally play their class. That is something they should have figured out before signing up for your raid. If raid wipes become a concern---and despite the effort you put into forming a raid-ready group of players---it might be time to make some roster changes. Underperformers are not restricted to class, spec or role---they're found everywhere. Identifying them isn't always a straight-forward process. But generally, performance between players in any given role should look similar.

Assuming you're not dealing with players who simply can't move out of fire, you'll need to look at the numbers. By taking a look at Skada, you can tell if a healer's or damage-dealer's output is cause for concern: with all else equal*, they'll be lagging significantly behind the pack of other healers/damage-dealers. Tanks are a bit trickier, as they should be using active mitigation to even out the damage they take. Compare Healing Taken between the tanks to see if there might be any issues there. If you wiped because a tank died and that tank required significantly more healing than their counterpart, and mechanics were executed correctly---that tells you something.

When I notice underperformers, I generally give them a warning before replacing them, though it's up to you as a leader how you want to handle that. What I do recommend is to be kind when removing someone from the group. No need for disparaging remarks or insults---they'll probably not feeling too hot about getting removed the way it is. Instead, consider explaining why they're being removed and what they might be able to do in order to better position themselves to pull their weight in a raid environment. Some of the best raiders currently in our guild were at one time on the bench.

Remember that while it might be easy to get angry over an avatar's performance, there is a live human being behind the keyboard, a human being that has the same desires as you: to have fun killing bosses.

*Certain fights require a group of players in the raid to perform a special task, which may contribute to lower output in terms of DPS/HPS. Make sure you're not calling someone out for doing their job!

WHEN IT'S TIME TO CALL IT
Ideally, the raid ends when you've hit your predetermined stop point, whether that's after a certain boss kill or at a specified time. However, sometimes---despite all the work and preparation you've done in learning the fights and fielding the group---it's just not going to happen. Hopefully this scenario only crops up later in the instance after your raid has earned a few kills.

It's often referred to as "hitting the wall." I don't know why it's called that---maybe because the wall is impenetrable, meaning your raid can't pass...OR maybe it's because the act of hitting a wall is rather pointless---either way it's not a good place to be. The wall can appear as a result of many different factors, but it's good to realize when you're there. Often times, the wall is met because the raid doesn't have the necessary healing or damage output the encounter requires---meaning even though everyone may be executing the fight correctly, probability favors the boss overwhelming the raid before success can be attained.

Another wall can come about via mental fatigue, though most pugs generally don't run long enough for players to get to that point. For my guild, players tend to start fizzling around the two-and-a-half hour mark (we raid for three hours with a ten-minute break). As a rule of thumb, if you've wiped a good number of times at the same place in the encounter and aren't seeing great overall improvement, you may have hit the wall.*

*The average progression guild will wipe on the final boss of a raid dozens of times before defeating the encounter, so don't mistake the wall for sub-par player performance on a highly difficult fight!

Drowning my sorrows while complaining to the other "patrons" after a particularly bad night in Siege of Orgrimmar.

When the Raid Ends

DISSOLVING THE PUG
It's always a good idea to thank everyone for coming to the raid. You may even want to invite them to add your Battle ID. Often times, if you perform your role as leader well, people will add you without you having to say anything. When this happens, take it as a gold star. You done good!

Take note of the players who performed well and ask them if it'd be all right to add them as a friend so you can reach out to them directly for future raids. The answer will unequivocally be "yes" if you've done your job well. If you plan to run a regularly-scheduled event, let the players in your raid know before they leave. Again, if they enjoyed their time under your leadership, you'll likely see Battle ID requests.

This is a great way to establish a regularly occurring cross-server raid group with mostly the same players attending each week.

DISSOLVING THE GUILD GROUP
Generally, guild groups have a designated raid night or nights, complete with start and stop times. Still, even with an established group, thank everyone for their time, and consider calling attention to the highlights of the raid, i.e. record kill times on bosses, new bosses killed, etc.

The next raid should be on the guild calendar, but it never hurts to remind people to sign up.

ASSESSING PERFORMANCE
Combat analytics provided Ask Mr. Robot (or World of Logs, if you prefer) will give you a plethora of information to sift through and help you see where your group can improve. These are more relevant to groups that host the same players from week to week, but still can be used on pugs if for no other reason than to analyze your own performance.

You'll get breakdowns on pretty much everything you'd want to know in the course of the fight: what healing and damage looked like, performance rankings by class and ilvl, who's not moving out of fire, etc. This is a great tool to help you determine who you do---and don't---want in your groups.

If you consider your raid successful---you're killing bosses at a pace that feels right to you---combat analytics aren't necessarily, well...necessary. They'll do more work for you on fights that aren't going right, like the 10 failed attempts you had on Imperator before the night was over.

That's not to say analytics aren't helpful for every group---just be sure you read them with nuance.

In Conclusion

Leading a raid can seem like a daunting job, but it's one most people can tackle with the right amount of preparation. Hopefully the suggestions I've included here will prove helpful to some aspiring raid leaders out there. Additionally, I'd love to hear from other raiders and raid leaders out there and keep this guide as a living document that will change over time as I continue to develop my own raid leading style.

Thanks for reading.

Personal Loot vs. Master Looter: Your Preference and Why

img. WoW Interface

This is something that's been on my mind since the introduction of the Personal Loot option in Warlords of Draenor raids. Through anecdotal evidence I can report that there seems to be a clear favorite, but I'm also aware of the benefits to each method. I'm on the fence---I'm not sure you can say which method is best, because the best method can vary widely based on the motivations of the raid group.

While probably not necessary for the audience, I'll still briefly describe the difference between the two systems: with Personal Loot, everyone has a %chance to receive an item from the boss. With Master Looter, the raid is guaranteed one item per five players, and the loot master hands out the items based on the type of loot system being used (Need over Greed, Loot Council, DKP, etc.).

Heading into Warlords, I had an old-school attitude. Manually dishing out loot is part of what makes it a raid! Then, nearly every group I joined outside of our guild raid was using Personal Loot---granted, this may be a result of the fact that the groups are PUGs. Still, I couldn't help but notice that with Personal Loot A) Loot takeaways were equal to and often better compared to Master Loot B) No time was wasted calling for rolls, tracking them, dishing out the loot, etc. It jogs up the memory of having to wait to pull Iron Juggernaut during the Siege of Orgrimmar because our master looter was still handing out drops from Galakras.

Not only does Personal Loot take less time, but it removes the guesswork behind who gets what. No raiders are going to accidentally roll for something they can't use; no raiders are going to miss a call for rolls on an item they could use; and finally, a raiders' ire is directed solely at RNG---not at the player who won the roll over them, or the raid leader's unfair loot system. I feel Personal Loot works well for our guild, which fields a consistent 1-night raid, though it wouldn't for a group that prefers to gear its player more strategically.

That's just my take though---and not all of my fellow guildies would agree with it! I'm curious to know which method you prefer, and the reasons for that preference. Feel free to reply to me on Twitter!

Letting Go of the Loot

Two weeks ago, history was made. Though the significance of such can vary from person to person, and I suspect you, the reader, have little vested interest in what took place, this history involved both a personal milestone as well as a guild milestone: we ran our first 25-player raid, each slot being filled by a member of Sapere Aude. For me, it was the first time I'd actively organized a raid of that size.

And it was work. Normally, we run a 10-player and a Flexible group that tends to skew into the high teens. While I've had experience working with a larger group, there was one element I hadn't considered: loot distribution. As leader of our raids, and since my role as a damage-dealer wouldn't be terribly missed for a couple of minutes, I never gave a second though to not dishing out loot myself---until we encountered the increased amount of loot drops in 25s. Distributing the spoils became more cumbersome, and then there was the task of tracking who won what so that our loot rules could be properly enforced. That, in addition to making sure the run continued on without delay.

The group is at the point where it can pretty much run itself through SoO. Still, come Warlords of Draenor, we'll have new challenges, new packs of trash, new bosses and possibly a greater need for raid direction in the immediate aftermath of a boss kill. I realized it was time to find a new Loot Master.

It was a small yet significant change, and I don't miss handling the loot one bit. I'm freed up to keep the raid slashing its way towards the next encounter while another player loots the boss, calls for rolls, distributes and tracks loot. You know those times when you discover a new way of doing something, and after the discovery you can't believe you'd been doing it any other way? Yeah, this is one of those times. I'm an advocate of the non-Raid Leader Loot Master, and feel every organized raid should have one.

How does it work in your raids? Are leading and loot two separate domains, or does your leader shoulder both responsibilities?

WoW Weekly: Ashes of Al'ar, Mount Parade, and facing Garrosh

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

It finally dropped.

Late in the week, I headed into Tempest Keep with the last eligible toon I had in my stable of alts before lockout reset: a sorry, undergeared paladin tank, whose item level disadvantage ensures the fight requires an actual strategy and not a simple zerg. After several minutes of the final phase of the fight, Kael'thas fell, and on the second page of loot I noticed an icon I'd not yet seen before. There it was.

I right-clicked the item, causing the achievement to flash on my screen and broadcast into guild chat. "Ha!" was one whispered response, with others chiming in once they realized what had happened. "Now," I said, "now, to see how many kills it actually took." I brought up the achievement pane, clicked the statistics tab and checked to see how many times Kael'thas had fallen at the hands of my paladin. Nine times, which likely meant it was the ninth week in a row I'd run with him. Methodically, I logged in to the other six characters I've been running with and noted the same statistic, tallied them up and couldn't help but chuckle at the figure.

200. On the head.

Nearly a year and three month's worth of heading in each week. "That's insane," remarked my guild leader. Not sure if she was referring to the kill number or the length of time it took---or if that is an apt description of my "dedication." For roughly the first six months, it was just my main, a shaman, going in each week. Then, almost like clockwork, every two months saw another toon leveled and geared enough to solo the fight themselves, until I had a total of six. Then there was my paladin, sitting at 89. Two weeks after I added the sixth character, and thanks to the Timeless Isle, the paladin was in decent enough shape to give it a go. And did that ever turn out to be a good move.

Mount Parade

I knew I was near the 200-mount goal, near enough to where purchasing or crafting the three jewelcrafting panthers I didn't yet have was all I needed; however, I was hesitant to spend another 60,000g+ on my banker's server, given how much I spent there recently. On my main server, I've set my eye on a rare mount that will require some saving, so I wasn't keen on snatching a panther there, either. In the end, I grabbed two reasonably priced panthers from the old server's auction house. Then, I brought up the achievement tab once more to see if there were any easy ways to reach mount number 200. 

Glory of the Ulduar Raider (10-player)

Some might think it sad I still had this one hanging out there, but I only started raiding seriously near the tail end of Ulduar. With I Love the Smell of Saronite in the Morning and Iron Dwarf, Medium Rare being the last two I needed to satisfy this achievement, I gathered it was something I could likely solo.Earning the latter achievement proved to be annoying, if only a little challenging because I had to tweak my strat to ensure I didn't kill the Guardians too early. The solution on my shaman was to switch to my resto spec, equip an agility weapon in my main hand and do my best to gather up the Guardians. Bringing them down to an acceptably low health level for Razorscale's breaths with just white hits was easy then. I started the encounter at 2/25, and once I found a rhythm, I was toasting 3-5 Guardians per breath.

Sapere Aude see Garrosh on normal

Two weeks ago on Thursday, the Zealots in the guild (our earned raid rank) headed into Normal Siege of Orgrimmar for the first time after having cleared the Flex version on just our 13th visit while on a 1-night, 3-hour-per-week schedule. I silently set a modest goal for the raid of 8 boss kills for our initial venture; I felt it a challenging, yet realistic goal. It turned out to be a bit too realistic: before our mid-raid break, we had cleared up to Nazgrim, one-shotting everything. As you might imagine, we were all pretty high at that point. We ended up wiping once on Nazgrim because of an unfortunate, mistimed cooldown, but then easily cut through Malkorok and Spoils of Pandaria. 

When we got to Thok, things got a bit more chaotic. We found that fight quite a bit less forgiving than its Flex counterpart. We'd wiped a few times on Thok, and it was starting to feel like actual progression. One-shotting all but one boss up to that point was nice, but the worth of the prize grows when you know you just can't breeze through it. True to our form, we killed Thok on the infamous "last pull" of the night, leaving 11 of 14 Siege of Orgimmar bosses dead in our wake. 

Then, last Friday I found myself bringing a tank into a group formed via public channels, and let's say things didn't go so well. The leaders knew what they were doing and thus eschewed the need for voice communication, despite half the raid asking for it. After four failed attempts at pushing Immerseus to even one split phase, the group fell apart. Given that a couple of the players who had been in vent were pretty cool, I offered to put together a group made up of mostly guildies. This turned out to be a pretty awesome partnership: two from the failed raid (both in Heroic progression guilds, one of them being the Realm First: Garrosh guild), a hunter from Trade who subsequently brought a toon into Sapere, and seven of our Zealots.

Though the raid went much longer than we normally run, we were able to clear Paragons (with ease, I might add). Thus, on Sunday we assembled a group of whomever was on, and with the kind help of one of the tanks that joined us late on Friday's run (we had several leave throughout due to time), we were able to take some cracks at Garrosh, almost pushing him to phase three and gaining invaluable experience for our next adventure into Normal.

Not a bad week.

                                                                                                
Looking for an awesome, friendly, active group of adult players who also raid on a 1-night schedule? We're looking to continue building in preparation for WoD. We're additionally looking to build up PvP and RP activities, as we have several players seasoned in both. Check out our guild recruitment post on the Emerald Dream forums.

Feckless Leader's Guide to Becoming a Good Raider [Updated 6.1]

Our guild has experienced a steady influx of players interested in joining our raids, and it's been fascinating to see the different levels of skill mastery between players. Many of our current raiders are former serious/hardcore raiders who were looking for a much lighter schedule.

Then, we have players who come in not knowing that it's more advantageous for melee to stand behind their targets vs. in front of them. Players who have hundreds of hours logged in on their character but struggle to remain above the tanks on the damage charts. Of course, we see everything in between as well.

That made me think: wouldn't it be nice if we had a sort of a raiding 101 thread in our guild forums? The truly veteran players likely wouldn't need such a guide, but for semi-casual or new players, there's still enough nuance to the raid game that you can't just drop in and expect a victory. On occasion, we've had to bench players who weren't prepared to pull their weight. Granted, we normally ask the player if they'd like pointers, but some people are too shy to request help and would rather work out the kinks on their own.

There is a base amount of performance that simply comes down to player ability: there are people who are naturally good at things, and this translates to video games. Still, accounting for that, my hope is that this information can be useful to players looking to first get into Normal/Heroic modes, whether pugs or guild runs, as most of these suggestions are regularly expected of raiders in Normal modes, and required in Heroics.

Consumables

Gems and Enchants: You'll want to make sure that all of your armor and weaponry has been enhanced to its greatest potential. All gem slots should be filled when you're lucky enough to get them. Gems can be purchased from the auction house or supplied by a jewelcrafter. The amount of enchantable slots has been dramatically reduced in Warlords, so it's even more important you enchant everything you possibly can.

Potions and Flasks: Flasks will boost your main stat for an hour and their effect persists through death. Plan accordingly depending on the length of your raid. Potions will boost a main stat for 25 seconds, and can be used twice during the course of a boss fight (see Pre-potting). Two stacks of potions should be more than enough for a two-hour raid, unless things are going very badly. 

Pre-potting: Ever wonder why oftentimes there will be a visual and audible countdown prior to a boss pull? Obviously it's to make sure the raid knows when things are starting out. However, the countdown also allows players to use a potion before entering combat, where they essentially consume the potion with 1 second left on the timer. Because the potion was used before combat, it doesn't count against the one-consumable-per-instance-of-combat rule, meaning once the minute-long cooldown has expired, you can consume a second potion. While more important for damage-dealers, doing this can still provide benefits for healers and tanks. 

Food: Feasts seems to be in abundance in Warlords, and purchasing a stack off of the auction house shouldn't set you back too much gold if you cannot make them yourself. For personal food, determine which secondary stat is your strongest and choose the appropriate food.

Class Knowledge

Rotation, Talents and Glyphs: For damage dealers, this is all about making sure you're doing as much as you can. For tanks, it's about putting up threat while maintaining survivability. For healers, knowing priorities and procs at least ensures you're getting the most out of your casts. There are many different guides and blogs out there. Find one you can trust (I've been a fan of the Icy Veins class and raid guides since WotLK and they've never let me down). 

It's not just about knowing which buttons to press and when. It's being effective with that rotation, which is especially important for damage dealers and healers. Doing 30k damage on the last boss in Auchindon does not allow you to make the claim you'll do 30k damage in raids. Not only do damage-dealers need to be comfortable with their rotation, they need to be able to sustain the output. Likewise, healers need to be intelligent with their heals so they don't burn through mana too quickly.

Talent and glyph choices can vary depending on preference, playstyle and encounter mechanics; it's up to the individual to learn what works best for their class in any given situation.

Utility: Every class brings some sort of helpful utility to the raid environment. I'm talking buffs, the ability to battle res, interrupts, crowd control, raid-wide heals or damage reduction, bloodlust-type abilities and the like. Know which ones you bring to the group and be prepared to use them.  

Fight Knowledge

Research: There are multiple places players can go to review boss fights. Good raiders will have some familiarity with the fight. Maybe they've read through a guide, or watched a strategy video. Perhaps, they even ran LFR just to see what the abilities looked like (this is not to be taken as an endorsement of LFR). The point is, they're not going in blind. 

Ask Questions: Even though you know the fight, the raid's leader may favor a different strat and have other ideas on how the fight should be executed. If there's something you don't understand, it's better to say something prior to the pull. Taking thirty seconds to straighten things out is better than having to redo five minutes of the fight because your failing to understand a mechanic has wiped the raid. 

Be Present

In for the Haul: It's always best to make sure you have the time to raid before you enter a raid group. Might seem like a trivial thing to say, but I'm saying it. While it is completely within the player's prerogative to come and go when they choose, leaving after the second boss because the player would rather be doing x tends to inconvenience the other 9+ people in the raid. 

In other words, don't treat these organized raids like LFR. Granted, when run outside of guilds, these groups can often look at lot more like LFR, with people coming and going. Still, if you're running with a guild group, the leader will likely expect you to be there for the full raid time unless you've made other arrangements ahead of the event.

Attitude: Attitude can play a big part in the success of the raid. If you're not running the raid, plan on sitting back and doing your job to the best of your ability. If you notice something's not right, whisper the raid leader or chime in at the right time, and with tact. You might think you're a head above everyone else in the raid group---and you may even be right---but that doesn't mean you need to let everyone know about it. Play your part, be helpful and patient and people will remember you. 

And sometimes, things just aren't meshing, and you need to bow out. You'll want to be careful about cutting out early when in established guild groups. However, in pugs, sometimes it's clear that things just aren't going to happen for the group. In those instances, the time may come to end your involvement. You don't need to type, "lol this group sux, see ya noobs," before dropping group. Bow out gracefully. "Hey all, this isn't working and I've got some other things to take care of tonight. Good luck."

Conclusion

As awesome of a game as World of Warcraft is on its own, I'm a huge advocate for experiencing the game in a group setting, whether that's via PvP, RP, or PvE. This post is meant to be a guide for the raider who is looking to transition out of LFR and join a Normal/Heroic group, and can also be used as a guide for the returning semi-serious raider to see what may have changed in the raid environment since they've last been around. 

WoW Weekly: RPing the night away

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

So a funny thing happened over the weekend.

There I was minding my own business, messing around with the shell of an old guild website I'm transitioning to be used by my current guild. Not only did the officers see the value on having an a place outside of the game to hold discussions, but another small yet important group in our guild saw great potential: our roleplayers.

Though there's really only a handful of active roleplayers in the guild, there wasn't any reason to deny them their own space. The Co-GM created a special forum for RP and posted a couple of stories. Then he did something that pulled in quite a few others in: posted a basic character survey sheet and invited anyone to fill one out on their character.

So I said, "why not," figuring it'd be a quick, perhaps trivial, fun exercise. Two and a half hours later, I had the backstory/history for my main character fleshed out. I was quite struck by how much I knew about my toon, and how little I knew about him up to that point. I'm not sure how extensively I'll engage in roleplay, but I must say it's pretty awesome knowing where Eleph comes from, who his parents and siblings are, and where his deepest motivations originate. If you're like me and hadn't dabbled in RP, I highly encourage you to fill out a character survey. You might be surprised by what you learn.

Flex to Normal

The guild has decided to embark on Normal runs every other week during the time we'd usually run Flex, since that's the time that we've worked out to be best for our raiders. We'll be trying to schedule an off-night flex for the raiders who get left behind, though we're going to do our damndest to rotate people in based on gear needs for Normal fights. With a relatively easy & clean Garrosh kill this past week, we're pretty confident to have him on farm, which will allow us to pop in for heirlooms in between our Normal runs. 

Guild Business

Been spending some time cleaning up an Enjin site to be used for our guild. So far, most of the activity happens in the Officer and RP forums, and that's perfect---being a casual guild, we don't see our website being a major tool at this point in time. Just something optional for our guildies to have. 

Legendary Chains

Going against what I've said in the past, I may have started to casually lead another toon through the legendary quest chain. Having just completed a major leg, I have now set upon collecting Secrets of the Empire. In true form, not one dropped after killing six bosses in the Throne of Thunder last night. In addition to the current legendary, I now have a toon on the Shadowmourne chain and a rogue on the Fangs of the Father chain. I don't expect to acquire either any time soon, but it's something to work towards in slow times.

What about you? What are you doing to avoid slow times as the expansion winds down?