Friday 3 September 2010

Trial by fire

The Alliance side has ground to a halt. The guild I'm in is going through some management changes, lost some of it's main raiders and hasn't fielded a full, competent team for almost a month now. I've decided it's time to start looking around for a new guild, which is something I'm really not used to doing.

I've got a few friends Alliance side and I mentioned this to one, who offered me a trial raid right then and there. If I liked it and they liked me I could pop on the forums and put up an application. I got invited, summoned and was stood, infront of this 61 million HP monster - the Lich King. I have to admit, I was a little scared.

I was then told, it was a "wipe night" and that they were trying to master controlling the Valkyrs and Defiles, which is apparently quite difficult on 25 man. I said I didn't mind, while I quickly sold some un-used epics to front the repair bills.

First thing I noticed, was that I was significantly out geared. There were 3 other mages, all in Sanctified gear, 264 weapons and trinkets etc etc. The second thing I noticed was that I was the 5th lowest dps.

I'm used to being 1st or 2nd in most of my alliance side raids but here, I didn't even get a say in the top 10 the majority of the time. These guys knew how to dps and from our first try (55%) they also had a basic grasp of tactics. The best attempt of the night was a 37% wipe and it became apparent that a few people were making the same mistakes over and over, which was costing the raid group.

After the raid ended, I was mulling over applying, my friend said he'd link me their site the day after as he had to log quickly and it gave me the night to think it over. I was on the fence for a while, I mean, it could definitly give me a boost in gear as the majority of the casters didn't need anything from normal 25 man anymore but at the same time...25 man raiding just doesn't suite me. I like 10 man raids, there was no friendly banter on their voice chat (still using TS! lol) and it all got a little bit too serious at times, with the raid leaders blood pressure rising as fast as the decibels of his voice.

I've still got some other options which I might find better suited for me and I'm always up for a cheeky server transfer or something if need be but looking for a new guild is harder than I thought it would be...

3 comments:

  1. *cough* we're most definitely not creating ourselves a friendly and fun, but hopefully good (i.e. hardmodes, achievements), 10 man raiding guild in Cataclysm, which isn't very active at the moment but that's because most of the future members are still raiding in their respective guilds *cough*

    Oh hai. ;)

    Honestly, do what's going to make you most happy. If you don't think you'll fully enjoy 25 man raiding, don't. I got tired of the srs bsns and quit and it made the game so much more enjoyable, really does make a difference. I also think that it's entirely possible to outdps people by a huge amount purely based on gear. I tried out for a 25 man guild a few months ago before I had my 4 set and stuff, I came rock bottom of the dps and the other Shadow Priest was top, but looking at the way he spoke to applicants, the amount of "facts" he got wrong, he was not a brilliant player and if I had his gear, I would have out dpsed him. It's not always down to skill (sometimes it is).

    Err.. ramble ramble splerp.

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  2. I dont doubt that there wasn't a big difference in dps due to gear but all their caster dps knew what to do, the melee however, were a huge let down.

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  3. Gl Jakk, sure you'll find a good fit :)

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