LFH - Looking For Home
At iLevel 633 now and I’m still having no luck finding a new home. PUGging is tough as you already are getting the "link achieve" before you can get an invite and I have no Highmaul experience outside of LFR which I don't really count. With LFR in Warlords you can ignore almost everything and still win.
I've been using OpenRaid. If you aren't familiar, it is a site that lets groups advertise runs and players can sign up for events. It has a distinct advantage over the in game group finder in that you can find groups that will form all during the week. Today, I could sign up for a raid on Friday. The leader sets the event to Casual (relaxed atmosphere, but know the fights), Beginner (fights will be explained, wipes expected), Intermediate (basic reminders of the big things but know your stuff) or Extreme (wipe us and you are gone).
This past weekend, I decided I would give it a try. I found a run with a newer guild on their first Highmaul run. It was labeled as a Beginner raid. I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn Highmaul along with my fellow players and there would be no expectation that I had already done all the fights in there. I applied for a tank spot with a DPS offspec.
I wasn't sure exactly how it worked, but about 15 minutes before start time I got a whisper on my BTag chat asking if I wanted to come. The raid leader opted to bring me as DPS because he was worried my gear was low for Normals. I would have rather gone as Prot, but I didn’t argue the assignment. If he was nervous about my iLevel, any death I had would only reinforce that my gear wasn't sufficient to him.
I have really decent gear for the content that is open to me (heroics and LFR) and the tanks he chose didn't outgear me by that much. Sure, they had a couple of 655 pieces but that was about it. I guess I need to crank up the gold making and upgrade my crafted pieces soon.
We got the raid together and made the pull of Kargath. I tried to watch the tanks as best as I could but doing decent DPS needed my full attention. I wanted to do a good job with my assignments to try to earn some trust from the leader.
I did better on some attempts than others managing between 12k and 14k DPS. I was part of the Chain group that got sent into the stands so I'm not sure what impact that might have had on my DPS, but I was consistently second overall behind a DPS DK. That was with a 608 weapon (Garrosh heirloom). I’ve been running everything with a Prot loot specification so I haven’t gotten any 2 handers. The other three DPS didn’t break 10k.
After the 3rd wipe, one tank dropped group. The raid leader opted to look in Group Finder for a new tank. He either forgot about my Prot spec or was still nervous about my iLevel. We got a new tank and pulled again. Each attempt seemed to follow the same pattern. We would start off good, and I would get thrown up into the stands. We would kill some adds and jump back down, but people were dead. I have no idea what was killing them. After 6 or 7 wipes (I lost count), the raid leader called it. He invited everyone back on Saturday night but I declined.
NFL Playoffs > WoW, sorry.
The guild was using this run as a recruitment tool and I had hoped to do well enough that they would want me to invite me into their guild and raid team, but after the lack of success, I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to go back.
I'm continuing to the check the realm forums and the Guild Recruitment forums. There isn't much on the realm forums. I'd love to stay on my server and not have to transfer again.
I'm looking for a guild that raids no more than 2 nights a week and preferably not on Sundays. I'm available between 9:30pm EST and 1:00am EST. Your Garrison progress (followers, buildings) resets if you faction transfer so I really need to stay Horde. I won't go to a PVP server, sorry. Basically, I'm looking for a place to make some friends, become part of the guild community and have some fun killing bosses.
Much like the end of MoP, I don't see many guilds looking for tanks. Even if they were, Guilds tend to like for tanks to be their best geared players. I play as much as I can, but I don’t have the time I used to so chances are I’m never going to be on the leading edge of content or gear.
What I do see, both on OpenRaid and on the forums is guilds looking for Healers. I don't know if Guilds are more forgiving on Healer's gear than Tanks but it would stand to reason since Healers have 2 or 3 other healers to share the load the load with while tanks, well, you can either take the hits or you can't.
I haven’t been full time Holy since, well, Vanilla. I did some Holy PVP from time to time, but that’s about it. My gear would switch for the most part though I would need to come up with a weapon/shield. I’d also need some serious practice both in the Proving Grounds and some Heroics before I ever tried a raid.
Open Raid
I've been using OpenRaid. If you aren't familiar, it is a site that lets groups advertise runs and players can sign up for events. It has a distinct advantage over the in game group finder in that you can find groups that will form all during the week. Today, I could sign up for a raid on Friday. The leader sets the event to Casual (relaxed atmosphere, but know the fights), Beginner (fights will be explained, wipes expected), Intermediate (basic reminders of the big things but know your stuff) or Extreme (wipe us and you are gone).
This past weekend, I decided I would give it a try. I found a run with a newer guild on their first Highmaul run. It was labeled as a Beginner raid. I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn Highmaul along with my fellow players and there would be no expectation that I had already done all the fights in there. I applied for a tank spot with a DPS offspec.
I wasn't sure exactly how it worked, but about 15 minutes before start time I got a whisper on my BTag chat asking if I wanted to come. The raid leader opted to bring me as DPS because he was worried my gear was low for Normals. I would have rather gone as Prot, but I didn’t argue the assignment. If he was nervous about my iLevel, any death I had would only reinforce that my gear wasn't sufficient to him.
I have really decent gear for the content that is open to me (heroics and LFR) and the tanks he chose didn't outgear me by that much. Sure, they had a couple of 655 pieces but that was about it. I guess I need to crank up the gold making and upgrade my crafted pieces soon.
We got the raid together and made the pull of Kargath. I tried to watch the tanks as best as I could but doing decent DPS needed my full attention. I wanted to do a good job with my assignments to try to earn some trust from the leader.
I did better on some attempts than others managing between 12k and 14k DPS. I was part of the Chain group that got sent into the stands so I'm not sure what impact that might have had on my DPS, but I was consistently second overall behind a DPS DK. That was with a 608 weapon (Garrosh heirloom). I’ve been running everything with a Prot loot specification so I haven’t gotten any 2 handers. The other three DPS didn’t break 10k.
After the 3rd wipe, one tank dropped group. The raid leader opted to look in Group Finder for a new tank. He either forgot about my Prot spec or was still nervous about my iLevel. We got a new tank and pulled again. Each attempt seemed to follow the same pattern. We would start off good, and I would get thrown up into the stands. We would kill some adds and jump back down, but people were dead. I have no idea what was killing them. After 6 or 7 wipes (I lost count), the raid leader called it. He invited everyone back on Saturday night but I declined.
NFL Playoffs > WoW, sorry.
The guild was using this run as a recruitment tool and I had hoped to do well enough that they would want me to invite me into their guild and raid team, but after the lack of success, I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to go back.
I'm continuing to the check the realm forums and the Guild Recruitment forums. There isn't much on the realm forums. I'd love to stay on my server and not have to transfer again.
The Pitch
I'm looking for a guild that raids no more than 2 nights a week and preferably not on Sundays. I'm available between 9:30pm EST and 1:00am EST. Your Garrison progress (followers, buildings) resets if you faction transfer so I really need to stay Horde. I won't go to a PVP server, sorry. Basically, I'm looking for a place to make some friends, become part of the guild community and have some fun killing bosses.
Holy?
Much like the end of MoP, I don't see many guilds looking for tanks. Even if they were, Guilds tend to like for tanks to be their best geared players. I play as much as I can, but I don’t have the time I used to so chances are I’m never going to be on the leading edge of content or gear.
What I do see, both on OpenRaid and on the forums is guilds looking for Healers. I don't know if Guilds are more forgiving on Healer's gear than Tanks but it would stand to reason since Healers have 2 or 3 other healers to share the load the load with while tanks, well, you can either take the hits or you can't.
I haven’t been full time Holy since, well, Vanilla. I did some Holy PVP from time to time, but that’s about it. My gear would switch for the most part though I would need to come up with a weapon/shield. I’d also need some serious practice both in the Proving Grounds and some Heroics before I ever tried a raid.
Comments
You invited me (a Shammy - Epick) to your MoP guild. I did one run of MV with you guys right before that guild hung it up.
My old guild had stopped raiding at that time, but we're back up and active.
Softwood Lumber Dispute, on Shadowsong (not a pvp realm), is a very casual normal mode horde guild. We raid on Tuesday night at 9:30 Est/6:30 Pst and plan on raiding another weekday night.
We're mostly all over the age of 30, have careers and kids. Missing raids is understood (I've got 2 toddlers and am a lawyer, so life interrupts game time). Because of all the little people who may be around and because of personal beliefs of some, we run a clean vent and guild chat, tolerate no sexist comments, blaming or name calling.
We wipe a lot during raids, and usually don't mind. Generally we are able to clear a raid fully about by the time the next one comes out. We're the raiding equivalent of a beer-league softball team, not very good, but have a great time. If you require constant progress we won't be the right fit.
I'm not sure that we can promise you a tanking spot, but over time we would try to get you as many runs as a tank as possible. We appreciate that people have specs that they find more enjoyable than others and try to accommodate as much as possible. We currently have no one playing a paladin as their main.
I'm sure that we would have no problem for you joining us on a raid or two through cross-realm raiding to see if there is a fit. You can add me LegendaryK#1237 if you wish.
We raid two times a week Tues/ Thurs.
We are an East Coast Christian Guild on Allaince.
Eternitymatters guild.com
Hard to say what was killing the group - when you were in the stands where you getting a decent number of bombers and bileslingers down? If so it was probably DPS not managing his charge ability properly, or not positioning themselves for the knockback and getting knocked into tiger pits or fires.