1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back
Another less than completely successful night in Gruul's Lair last night.
The plan had been start SSC, kill Hydross and move on to attempts on Lurker. The problem was our Nature Tank was sick, so we couldn't do Lurker. We were also a bit thin on AoE classes. We lacked Crowd Control for Magtheridon. So we figured we get the farm instances out of the way and take care of Gruuls.
HKM was very messy. Hunter's didn't misdirect on the pull, and the Warlocks were slow controlling the Fel Puppies. I've never been a Warlock (not even level 1) so I have no clue how difficult it is for them, so I won't comment any further.
We got HKM down on the 2nd try but it was not what I would call a "clean" kill.
Then onto Gruul himself. People did not spread out well and we kept losing people to Shatter. Also, our DPS felt a bit low. We got Gruul to sub 10%, but then the tanks started going down because the healers were either dead from people Shattering on them or trying to heal too many people.
I know one wipe was caused when I was camped by a couple of melee DPS. Shatter takes me low and a 10k Hurtful Strike finishes the job.
Then our one of our Tanks has to go. We decide to give it one more try before respawns. I am put as Main Tank on Gruul himself.
I discovered Main Tanking him is very different from Offtanking. The main issue I ran into was repositioning him after a Shatter. Our healers are up in the north end of the room, so when I grab him, I have to walk back into range of our healers. After the first transition, the healers thought I was moving him too slowly, so the next transition, I turned and ran to the spot. Only I managed to turn my back on Gruul and he got a Crush in. Dead Hammer. Wipe.
The inconsistency in my guild is really amazing. We went from wiping in Gruul to one shotting Hydross to 24 manning Gruul and then back to wiping in Gruul.
I really think my guild needs to reconsider how we operate. We play the game to have fun and wiping on a farm boss is not fun.
Here are some things I think we should do.
1. Adopt a set raid schedule with both days and a start and stop time. Start on time, End on time.
2. Create a Core Raid Team of 25-35 Core Raiders. This would be the team we take on all Raids. Before someone is put on the Core team their gear and spec is analyzed to make sure they fit on the team. They should reasonably well-geared with proper enchants and blue-level gems. They should have vent (mic would be great!) and our standard mods.
Non Core Raiders would be invited to farming runs but we would limit the number of Non Core Raiders who come. As much as someone may think we are jerks for not taking them, we should be more concerned about the welfare of twenty-four people as opposed to one.
3. Make sure 90-95% of the Core Raid Team is available during the hours we schedule raids.
4. You know have both the carrot and the stick. The carrot is MKP and the Raids themselves (or it should be). The stick is now removal from the Core Team. Constant AFKs, or bailing after a couple of attempts would be grounds for removal from the Raid Team.
Maybe my guild thinks this would be too "Hardcore". I don't know.
I am only an sub offer in the guild. I can offer my suggestions but ultimately, the leadership of the guild must decide what if anything we need to change.
The plan had been start SSC, kill Hydross and move on to attempts on Lurker. The problem was our Nature Tank was sick, so we couldn't do Lurker. We were also a bit thin on AoE classes. We lacked Crowd Control for Magtheridon. So we figured we get the farm instances out of the way and take care of Gruuls.
HKM was very messy. Hunter's didn't misdirect on the pull, and the Warlocks were slow controlling the Fel Puppies. I've never been a Warlock (not even level 1) so I have no clue how difficult it is for them, so I won't comment any further.
We got HKM down on the 2nd try but it was not what I would call a "clean" kill.
Then onto Gruul himself. People did not spread out well and we kept losing people to Shatter. Also, our DPS felt a bit low. We got Gruul to sub 10%, but then the tanks started going down because the healers were either dead from people Shattering on them or trying to heal too many people.
I know one wipe was caused when I was camped by a couple of melee DPS. Shatter takes me low and a 10k Hurtful Strike finishes the job.
Then our one of our Tanks has to go. We decide to give it one more try before respawns. I am put as Main Tank on Gruul himself.
I discovered Main Tanking him is very different from Offtanking. The main issue I ran into was repositioning him after a Shatter. Our healers are up in the north end of the room, so when I grab him, I have to walk back into range of our healers. After the first transition, the healers thought I was moving him too slowly, so the next transition, I turned and ran to the spot. Only I managed to turn my back on Gruul and he got a Crush in. Dead Hammer. Wipe.
The inconsistency in my guild is really amazing. We went from wiping in Gruul to one shotting Hydross to 24 manning Gruul and then back to wiping in Gruul.
I really think my guild needs to reconsider how we operate. We play the game to have fun and wiping on a farm boss is not fun.
Here are some things I think we should do.
1. Adopt a set raid schedule with both days and a start and stop time. Start on time, End on time.
2. Create a Core Raid Team of 25-35 Core Raiders. This would be the team we take on all Raids. Before someone is put on the Core team their gear and spec is analyzed to make sure they fit on the team. They should reasonably well-geared with proper enchants and blue-level gems. They should have vent (mic would be great!) and our standard mods.
Non Core Raiders would be invited to farming runs but we would limit the number of Non Core Raiders who come. As much as someone may think we are jerks for not taking them, we should be more concerned about the welfare of twenty-four people as opposed to one.
3. Make sure 90-95% of the Core Raid Team is available during the hours we schedule raids.
4. You know have both the carrot and the stick. The carrot is MKP and the Raids themselves (or it should be). The stick is now removal from the Core Team. Constant AFKs, or bailing after a couple of attempts would be grounds for removal from the Raid Team.
Maybe my guild thinks this would be too "Hardcore". I don't know.
I am only an sub offer in the guild. I can offer my suggestions but ultimately, the leadership of the guild must decide what if anything we need to change.
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