Written some time in the past…

Now that my Priest is geared up for beyond Karazhan and nearly as geared as my Mage, I’ve returned to playing my Mage in 25-man raiding situations, and have gotten my Hunter into Gruul’s and Magtheridon’s Lair a few times.

So far I’ve run 5-6 raids this way on my Mage, where I’m in Shattrath and see a known raiding guild advertising on Trade or LookingForGroup that they need DPS to fill out numbers for SSC, TK, or Hyjal. I send them a whisper with my stats and have had no problem getting in so far.

My Hunter has been less-used but has picked up 2 pieces of T4 in her PUGging efforts.

My Priest has been into Karazhan (of course), Zul’Aman, and Mount Hyjal (bit of a jump there) and is continuing to keep a look out for more raiding experiences.

About My Freelance Raiding

By Freelance, of course, I mean that I am not committed to any one guild, and if I choose to lock out my RaidID with a different guild next week than I did last week, then no biggie.

The guild I’ve been in since level 21 with my first toon doesn’t organize past Heroics - we try to get each other into our Karazhan runs but everyone who PUGs that tends to have different times of the day that they’re free for that length of time. Very few are geared for anything past mid-Karazhan, and those that are will PUG Zul’Aman and get into whatever other runs they’re available for with the guilds of friends, generally.

But, they’re my friends and I’ve been in this guild for over 3 years now. I like it here.

Goal Of, and Steps To Preparation for, Freelance Raiding

One of the things I like to do, since I feel like I’m a guest in a big family environment, is come very prepared, and do the best job I can do.

I like to walk away from raids knowing that they’ve looked at me and thought “Yes, we’d recruit that one”. This is, of course, an easier thing to achieve on my well-geared Mage and Priest than my lesser-geared Hunter.

My preparation on my Mage includes making sure I have flasks or elixirs to cover the night, along with consumable buff food and spell damage oil for my weapon. I stock up on my reagents for my buffs and for the Mage Table everyone loves so much.

When I get into the raid, I look for the number of other Mages, and I try to get a group assignment for buffs. If there’s only one other Mage, I offer to take more groups to buff (ie: I’ll buff 3, you buff 2).

I get into Vent and then make my way to the summoning stone on my own and am usually one of the first there. I report in, and am part of the initial summoning crew. Once the first group of players who call for summons have died down (usually 10-15), I let others handle the rest of the summoning.

I buff up quickly once inside the instance, or after dying. Often, I down my potions while running through the early parts of the instance when we’re returning after a wipe that required running back. I make sure I have my Mana Emerald in tow, with at least 2 charges in it. I always restock to 20 mana potions and 10 healing potions when I hit the bank.

I cycle through the people in my assignments during down-times to make sure everyone’s got their Arcane Intellect buff.

I don’t say a boo when we die. If we’re on a progression run and we wipe over and over during the encounter, I still don’t say a thing. I keep coming back, I keep doing my job, I keep trying to live longer during each encounter.

At the end of the night, I thank them for having invited me and say goodnight, offer a portal and leave the raid after a while. I generally whisper the person who extended the invite to give them a personal thanks and let them know it was a lot of fun, even if we wiped over and over and over.

Then, I go on about my playing life - might run with these guys again if they need the numbers, but most likely will run with someone different next week, when our times coincide.

It’s a lot of fun, and I trust the social contacts I make during these times will pay off in the future!

Tags: freelance raiding, frost mage raiding, joining a raiding guild, preparing for raids, raid preparation, raiding on a frost mage