Drama Major

I knew I was going to be late last night due to an iRL conflict. I sent an email off to my Guild Master (Dora) and Raid Leader (Raist) letting them know.

I logged on about 8:40 or so. The raid was mostly formed except for Dora and Brindall who themselves were running late.

Raist had posted that we would be trying High Warlord Naj'entus. If you remember, about two and half weeks ago, we went in to explore the Black Temple, and somewhat stumbled our way into High Warlord Naj'entus. The thought our Leaders had was that if we brought the "Core" group, we could actually kill him since we got him to 60% with fresh 70s and non Core people.

Dora and Brindall logged in and we got started. We killed the patrolling nature elementals and setup for the first pull.

2 Generals, 2 Soothsayers, a Harpooner and his Turtle. We knew from our previous experience that the Generals could dispel just about every CC known to man (or gnome, or dwarf, or elf), but that their dispel had a range.

The plan was for me and Devona (Warrior) to tank these guys away from the rest of the raid. We tried charging him and and letting the CC'ers pull their mobs away. We tried having the Generals misdirected to the tanks and doing a Sheep Pull.

Nothing seemed to work. The Generals are dual wielders and hit hard (4k main hand and 2k offhand), and I kept dying. I feel like my gear is adequate to tank these guys. Granted I didn't have an Imp for the stamina buff but I was still at about 19k or so, if I remember correctly.

I know one time when I charged into the fray, I went out of range for my healers. We had stated pretty clearly over vent that we were moving in, I would have thought that the healers would have moved in with us, maybe they did. After Monday night, I was leery of laying blame at any one's feet other than my own.

After our 3rd wipe on this pull, the drama started. Some members of the raid began to question the Leadership on why we were trying this as they felt the wipes showed we weren't ready.

Our leaders reminded them of the success previously, but the argument continued. Part of the issue was the people questioning the choice of instance were the "AM Transfers". A group of players who recently joined the guild after transferring from Alterac Mountains.

They have done wonders for us. They push our DPS and often were tops in the damage meters.

Trelic has been somewhat absentee during this school semester, so they aren't familiar with him. He led raids for Mal Katai before the semester started and in pre-BC as well. The guy knows his stuff, only the AM guys don't know that.

Trey attempted to regain order, and establish himself as the raid lead. It was basically something along of the lines of "We are going to TK. If you can't follow me without (fussing) leave the raid now.

(He didn't really say fussing, but you get the idea).

Most of the AM guys left the raid. A couple of them left the guild shortly thereafter.

The raid was called.

Dora logged on just after the raid was called and I believe she got a run down from Trelic and Raist about what happened.

I was told later by a former guildy (someone who had left long before this night), that this had been building for a while. The AM guys were not thrilled with the way we run raids, and had many of the same complaints I had myself (just not being serious in raid time, frequent AFKS, people not being prepared, etc.) They are legit concerns. Of course these were the same guys who blew us off one night so they could do their Arenas.

Our Guild Master (Dora) gets it from all sides and I've seen signs lately that the stress of leading a large guild has taken it's toll on her. I bet she sometimes longs for the days we were wiping in Kara. It was fun back then. All the fussing, and out of game work makes it unfun.

There is no doubt this is going to set us back. The AM guys brought our guild to a new level and instantly became some of our best players the day they joined. We can't assume any boss we've killed since they've joined is still 'farm', and we should be prepared for some rough nights.

I was on the brink of leaving Mal Katai before the AM guys joined. Now I'm not sure what to do.

Comments

bobpally said…
The first guild I joined was a very casual leveling guild, but soon found that it was *too* casual and my goals and aspirations matched no one else's in the guild. So I thanked them graciously and left. After three or four more guild tries I met up with someone when I pugged SM cathedral. We were very like minded in what we like about the game, what we wanted to accomplish and how we were going to go about it. So we made our own guild. We have a very small guild (when compared to others) and we go out of our way to recruit people we like and that share our same sense of adventure about the game. We are a casual leveling guild, but as the leaders of this guild we make it a point to help every single person we have recruited to get to where they want to be. Since we have recruited people that we want to play with and that share our same goals it's been very easy for me and my co-gm. There aren't any disputes among any of the players because before you can become a memeber you have to play with as many of the other members as possible to make sure you fit.

I would think the same would apply to your guild. If what you want from the game and the way you play isn't shared by the people you're playing with then how can you ever hope to get where you want to be? If you're serious about raiding and do everything you're supposed to when it counts the most, and over half the people in the raid you're in aren't, then why are you still playing with them? I think your playing style, and your goals should match the people you're playing with. I read your blog every day and it seems that you're very serious when it's time to be serious. I see that from the way you recount mistakes to correct them so they are never made again. Do you think the other people in your raids do the same thing? Do you think they spend the same amount of time to apply what they can learn from the mistakes they make? If the answer to that is no, you need to find a guild that does. It's probably much harder for a player of your caliber to find a guild, but because you're a paladin you fit in two needed spots and should be able to find what it is you're looking for....
Raydz said…
Lame..
=/
Sorry bro i hate guild drama.
Honors Code said…
@bobpally,

I might be able to fit two needed spots, but I don't want to be a healer. So it's tank or bust for me.
bobpally said…
To ammend my earlier comment: I have several friends here at work that are serious about raiding and all belong to the same guild. One of them happens to be the gm. I spoke with him about what happend in your guild and his exact comment was as follows:
"most raiding guilds would kill to have a player that good and that serious about his roll in raids and progression, but if the other people in the core raid group don't share his same ambition it makes his work trivial because they don't truly understand the amount of work it takes to be that good at your job" I really hope things are fixed for you, or you find other people that want to accomplish some of the same things....
Lakini said…
I'm not really sure what people think is "fun" about wiping a raid or being bad at your class. If you need a live body for something tonight send me a tell, no raids in heroes land for me this week.
Anonymous said…
Your post hit home pretty accurately with one of your points, about tension building up. I don't know if you're friends with the same former guildy/ies that I am, but I could probably name 5 or 6 other people that would leave pretty quickly if they got ticked off enough.
Bacon said…
Honors, sorry to hear all that happening. We have had discussions about trying to get people a little more serious about raiding (encouraging people to show up ahead of time, preparing their characters, reading boss fight strats, etc.) But it never happens. I thought casual raiding was defined as the amount of raiding you do, but you should still be prepared for the raid. I read up on fights, get pots, repair, and log Baconstrip at the instance. Because if I am raiding for only 2 nights a week, I want it to be fun and successful. Not a wipe fest with a bunch of tards who define casual raiding as "limited raiding and no need to for anything else." The past events like that have really burned me on raiding. However it sounds like you are fortunate enough to have some people in MK that do the footwork in preparing for a raid. If you ever need someone to fill in for healing, let me know.
Ardent Defender said…
Sorry to hear about all that drama. I hate Drama myself. So hope you resolve it as well as the guild get it resolved for the sake of your guild progression. I need good stuff to continue reading and that sucks when you get stuck like that.

However Honors you and I are not that much different in how we play. I'm dedicated to a lot of things in how I play. I have fun, I'm laid back but when its time to Tank and get down to business I'm all serious about getting things done. Rest of time I'm just chilled out. So like you that's one the things that frustrated me in Kara. Everyday we raided I brought my A+ game but some my guildies didn't. Its why it frustrated me to the point I went on Hiatus.

I'm sure it will work out eventually or you will find a solution on what to do next. A Tank like you and myself that's dedicated are sought after. In my case instead of looking for a guild I just went and started my own guild so a completely different option for me. But hopefully you can find a guild if you have to find another.
Farmer Rob said…
@Heroes Guys..

I know that all my times running something/anything with you was awesome and I know that when I was running Hyjal trash parties I always ask Ted who was on from Heroes to get you guys some epics:)

@The post..

We have now set a schedule and will keep our sights set on the SSC/TK bosses...I still think however that we need to do Hyjal on a regular basis because some of our players need upgrades from the first 3 bosses there before we start Vash and Kael..as for me..I have to wait for BT for my next upgrades:(...Just like Ted

@Anony
I would seem that you would rather see drama in MK than sucess...which..to each their own
Anonymous said…
Oh, looks like I've been caught. I was starting drama left and right last night as I sat there quietly without objecting at all to the choice of raid.

I see no problem with wanting to try out BT in favor of killing some of the easier bosses before attempting the likes of Vashj and Kael. Obviously though, if people are wiping on the trash in SSC, BT might be a bit of a reach.

I actually like the idea of going to Hyjal. Easy trash. Fairly easy boss. At the very least, even if you don't kill the boss, its a few easy epics for raid members.
Anonymous said…
We had a name for that pull. It was something like the boss that drops no loot.

3 weeeks running we 1 shot the first 4 bosses and wiped, sometimes multiple times to that pull.


We have the warrior with the dispeller tucked right up into a corner and out of los.
Anonymous said…
You have missed the most important.

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