It's a BIG leap to go from "Normal" 25-player ToTC to "Heroic 25-player ToTC, and we've steadily been chipping away at the gearing requirements and raid attendance requirements, getting closer and closer to victory.

We've gotten to phase three of Heroic Northrend Beasts (25) quite a few times, but with our limited raiding schedule (three nights per week) and some troubles with Farm night vs Progression night attendance, we've done a bunch of recruiting over the past month, and the result is a much stronger team ... that needs a bit more time to "gel".

It won't take long, we're back up to having a solid enough group of attendees on Progression nights that we don't have to break into 10s. It's all good.

Sometimes, tho, it's a lot of fun to take a step back from the Trial of the Crusader raid and head back into Ulduar - even though most loot is disenchanted because everyone's primary and secondary specs are pretty well set.

Guildmates Cheering On Guildmates

One of the best things about being in a Guild Raid vs running with a PUG is that there's a "team feel" to the environment, instead of the feeling of a bunch of individuals coming together to accomplish a task and then go about their own business afterwards.

Going back into Ulduar was not only a fun adventure because we hadn't really been there for a couple of months, but also because we had picked up a sizable number of new recruits to our guild over the past two months and as a result, Achievements that the core raid team had gotten long ago were ones that still brought advancement to the newer folk.

So, we trounced through the raid up to Kologarn doing Achievement after Achievement for our newer guildmates, and then were stopped cold by Auriaya in our attempts to do the Crazy Cat Lady achievement.

Before being stopped by Auriaya (and we progressed quite well during our attempts, the achieve will come soon if we keep at it), however, one of the most fun achievements we got - and one that took a few deaths to get there - was the Razorscale achieve Iron Dwarf, Medium Rare. That's where this entry's picture is from.

Trying New Things When Wiping A Raid

An Odd View of Razorscale

She's still firing on people (in fact, the previous entry in this blog has one where I'm watching as she's firing on me in a previous attempt).

Well, one of our guildmates decided when a wipe was called (en route to our Iron Dwarf, Medium Rare achieve which required that we not actually kill Razorscale until we got the achieve) to test whether one could actually jump off of the edge of the cliffs that surrounded the area.

One guy went, and at least 7 of us followed, me included. Sounded like a good idea to me!

You know, like the whole "If your friend jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?" question that parents used to give to us as kids - turned on its ear like gets done in fantasy games with unlimited lives. ;)

And do you know, it took a LONG time for us to fall far enough to be jettisoned down into the abyss to our official deaths? I mean, I used to jump off of the Netherwing Ledge for a quick ride back to Shadowmoon Valley's Scryer Inn, and I swear it didn't take that long to die.

Laughter Bonds The Team

I think it was a great idea for us to have headed into Ulduar the other night, when our raid team was full but not quite the right configuration for progress on Heroic Northrend Beasts.

It gave a chance for the team to romp and play together - for us to pair up to take on Flame Leviathan (and it's odd how that teaming up in that fight helps new guildmates connect with their new raid buddies), for us to cheer each other and pat the new folk on the back for achievements they've picked up, and for us to all get a chance to laugh at death, knowing it won't make or break the attempt for one person to die early in a fight.

I don't think it's a good idea to put Ulduar onto our schedule every week, however - this bonding agent works partially based on novelty, and novelty is easily worn off by repetition.

But for a growing, morphing, advancing progression raid team, I think it went a long way to refresh the team :)

Related posts:

1. Why Do You Raid (or not)?
2. Summertime's Effect On Your Raid Team
3. How To Destroy Koralon The Flame Watcher

I remember in the few weeks before Ulduar came out, how our guild faced a healer retention challenge.

You see, after months of farming Naxx25/OS25/EOE25/VoA25, our team got pretty well geared. Most of us were filling out to the Best In Slot standard, and a LOT of purples got sharded because nobody needed a lot of what dropped anymore.

Shrimproll At The Eye of Eternity

As time progressed, and we got better geared and more experienced with the dynamics of the fights, less healing was needed, which (combined with dual spec, yahoo!) allowed some of our healers to switch specs and help out on the DPS side of the scale once in a while.

Some healers, however, didn't have any interest in putting together a DPS set, and as a result, started finding themselves on the overflow list semi-regularly. Paladin healers were especially hit by this in our guild, especially since in Naxx25 one needs at least two Priests in the group for Instructor Razuvious, and we have always been light on Shadow Priests.

Retaining Healers For New Content Releases

Keeping healers during this time became a priority within the guild, and it was something that each of us healers were talked to about so we understood what was going on.

Shrimproll and Hodir in Ulduar

Plus of course, once Ulduar opened, every raiding guild on our server was going to be SCREAMING for healers to add to their team, and our group wanted to be sure to keep everyone happy and encourage loyalty for the good of the team.

Early Ulduar Healing Numbers

When Ulduar opened and we first threw ourselves against these new bosses with only TankSpot videos to guide our way (no PTR experience), the effort put forward into keeping healers and keeping them happy during the times when less healers were needed... paid off.

Along with the awesome coordination of administrative duties throughout the raid, the solid Tanking and Healing teams that our officer core nurtured is a key reason why our team does as well as it does. From that base structure, DPS can be brought in and trust that the other duties are being handled and that they can focus on damage dealing to the best of their individual abilities.

We started with 7-8 healers per boss fight in the early days of Ulduar, and I remember how much fun it was to be working so hard as a healer again after being a "follower and occasional caster" in Naxx25 by the weeks before Ulduar's release.

General Vezax in Ulduar25

As of very recently with a Hard Mode Deconstructor kill and a few more Hard Mode achievements on various Ulduar bosses, our guild has moved up to the #14 ranked spot on our realm (according to GuildOx.com), which works out to #7 on the Horde side of the realm's raid teams. It's somewhere in the 4000's in terms of World Rank, as well.

As a part of this recent advancement (possibly related but who really knows with all the factors involved), our team has re-adjusted some of its numbers in terms of the balance of Tanks:Healers:DPS, going with more DPS and less Healers in the standard rotations.

Thursday's raid night (including the battle against Yogg Saron) when I was coordinating the healing team, it was a unique challenge, since we only went in with FIVE healers (and a couple others who respec'd resto/holy for particular fights as needed) and my saved templates were still showing the 7-8 people I was used to having.

What a great raiding night, however! It was challenging to slot the limited number of people into the important duties, and I felt it necessary to remind the DPS to watch out for themselves a little more carefully as well, since we just didn't have the number of fingers clicking buttons like they had been used to.

All in all, the result was that any wipes weren't really associated with a lack of healers, but rather with some other coordinational difficulty. Sure, we had to duck and weave along with the rest of the group, and it became more important for healers to ensure fellow healers didn't die in a fight, but there were no fights where I felt we were under-staffed.

But with that major change in lineup, it made me wonder...

How many healers has YOUR team been running with for Ulduar25?

Related posts:

1. WoW Healing Tips: When To Let Them Die
2. The Most Important Part of Healing Naxxramas
3. Holy Priest Goes Disc, Seeks Healing Advice

Great to see you again. (It's been a long time... sorry I've been away so long)

Float With Your Buddy On The Lake!

See those legs over there??! Those are ACTUAL WoWGrrl and Friend legs. I'm holding the raft while my friend gets in. Seems like I'm being nice, but really, I'm just letting her get wet first before I decide whether I'm going to get in.

(see us floating around in the wee vid I uploaded to YouTube here - thanks Mom for recording it!)

As a result of this holiday to visit family and float in a gorgeous lake, I missed both Wednesday and Thursday's raid nights last week, and due to other time constraints with close friends, I'm missing tonight's raid, too.

And then there's the athletic camp coming up in August that I've decided to take part in that will take me away from another week's worth of raiding in exchange for exercise, socialization and probably a bit of drinking.

Ain't summer great??!

Sure, unless you're the poor sod of a Raid Leader who is trying to put together a properly-balanced 25 man raid team in order to keep guild progression moving forward.

What Summer Does To Raiding

It maims it seriously in some cases, and in other cases livens it up quite a bit.

Is Your Raid Team Frozen?

I mean, it's one thing to be blindsided with a sudden flush of raiders taking weeks off of raiding (at a time) to spend with family, and it's quite another to have built a solid team of raiders and then simply recognize that Hey! Summer's a pretty neat time to spend outside and away from one's computer!

(I take no credit for building the solid team of raiders, I am just fortunate enough to have been recruited)

Feeling Impatient? Ponder Our Raider Town Hall Results

I do notice that some people are starting to be more noticibly frustrated with the effect of summertime on one's raid team - if only because my own guild recently had a "Town Hall" meeting in order for concerned membership to properly air concerns and frustrations, and I got to hear all about the Summertime Effect.

It was actually pretty great to be a part of this meeting even though I participated very little myself - to hear how a solid raid leadership helps the team work its way through the tough times without causing more problems for the fall, when the raid team returns to normal.

Here was some of the basic conversation that went on:

• Regarding Progression
  • Leadership lays out the facts: Progression is tough in the summer, especially on a 3 day raid schedule. There's a lot of junk to clear before we get to Yogg Saron.

  • Overall team decision: Do better with the time we have, so we get there faster. Our group agreed to improve upon trash-clearing efficiencies while the Loot Council went through their decision-making process, especially on items with a lot of competition. Dual-speccing is used to swap in a couple of new tanks for early trash after a boss, since our two main tanks are tied up in the Loot Council.
• Regarding Recruitment
  • Leadership lays out the facts: We're still recruiting, never stopped, but quality applicants are few and far between when recruiting for the end content of Ulduar 25. Feel free to refer folks if you know of anyone. However, also note: In September when regular raiding resumes for most of our team, we're going to wind up with a large Raid Overflow, and this means raiders will be asked to sit out of raids more often. We have a solid team minus the fact that people are doing more family activities and taking more holidays during this time of year than any other until Christmas nears...

  • Overall team decision: Keep doin' what we're already doin', and know that this "problem" is a seasonal thing. If you've got extra time to play, give some love to an alt - most all of us have an additional 1-2 toons that we raid with outside of Official Raid Night in the nuthouse, and it's in PUGs on alts that we tend to meet new quality recruits anyway.
• Regarding Ulduar 10 / VoA
  • Leadership lays out the facts: We're a raiding guild that has focused its attention on Heroic-level raiding (25 man), and we're working on Ulduar, at least until 3.2 comes out. Any raiders who wish to participate in other levels of raids are welcome to gather a team or join a team or PUG it or whatever they wish. Any Officers or Official Raid Night Raid Leaders who choose to get involved in off-night raiding are doing so as MEMBERS not as LEADERS.

  • Overall team decision: PUG it if ya gotta... there's usually guildmates who are willing to join you in order to ease the pain a little bit.

Alt Love

Results Of The Town Hall Meeting

Unfortunately I was only around for Tuesday's raid last week, which was the raid we went into right after the Town Hall meeting was held (on vent and on raid chat, it was well-attended by summertime regulars from what I saw), so I can't say what the rest of the week was like last week, but I know Tuesday was a way better raiding day than we had experienced for weeks prior.

With boundaries provided by the Raid/Guild Leadership and a Solid Raiding Core that agrees with the Leadership's philosophy and boundaries, the Raiding Team was quickly able to come up with important things that we could each do to improve the quality of play we experience.

Members stepped forward to offer Tanking skills to speed up clearing of trash.

Members talked about the difference between the Summertime Raid Schedule and the Fall/Wintertime Raid Schedule and how we hoped certain behaviors would factor into the decision-making about who is and who is not placed on Overflow when the time came.

Members talked about ways to improve the team's innate ability to encourage the best performance out of all of its members, so Raid Leadership didn't have to be "the heavy" and Raid Membership didn't feel like nobody even notices good or bad performance. And so that when Overflow time came, it was clear to each member what they could personally improve to avoid Overflow as much as possible.

From what I saw, Officers did a damned good job at providing boundary answers for the team, and then let the social leaders** within the Membership part of the team make suggestions that the rest of the group agreed with or could at least live with.

I'm quite interested in seeing how things have progressed over the past week with my own absence. I'm sure there'll be more to write about :)

**Social Leaders: You know, those folks who are leaders no matter what rank you assign them. People refer and defer to them no matter their official status in society because they're leaders at a level that cannot be defined by a title.

How's Your Guild Handling The Summertime Effect?

Whether you're in a raiding guild or a leveling guild, Summertime has probably changed the face of your guild just a little bit. People who hardly played before are playing with a vengeance, but some of the more familiar names aren't around as much as they used to be and maybe you're getting worried.

No need to get worried of course, but I'd love to hear about how you're seeing the Summertime Effect on your guild and realm! If you have a blog and want to write an entry, be sure to leave a link to the entry on your comment so others can follow through!

Related posts:

1. Why I Raid
2. OMG An Update, Take Two – Guild Merger, Raiding Continues
3. Awesome Retadin Consumables Guide

Food For The Melee Pally

Using The Power Of The Light To ... Beat The Living Crap Out Of Things!

Buff foods, Elixirs, Flasks and Potions are a basic part of any solid raider's inventory.

No matter how good of a player you are, or how well you stack up on the meters in the random groups you get into, the simple truth is this:

Solid raid teams want to recruit solid raiders, and solid raiders use gems, enchants and consumables to improve their play.

If you don't use consumables because they are "too expensive", you might want to reconsider getting into raiding.

Prepare To Get Recruited By Quality Raid Teams

If you ask around in low-level raiding guilds, there seems to be a consensus:

"It's hard to get into a good raiding guild".

Remember: High-quality guilds are CONSTANTLY recruiting. Even when guilds don't list what classes they would offer invites to, ALL guilds are recruiting "exceptional applicants".

If you're new to 80, however, you probably haven't been exposed to the "Raider Mindset" enough to fully understand why experienced raiders consider Consumables an integral part of that "exceptional applicant" equation.

Do you know what consumables are best for your class and spec? How about where to find the most cost-effective buffs, and when it pays off to bring out the more expensive, top-notch consumables?

If not, do you want to waste the time looking up where to find it all? Or do you just want to PLAY?

I know my own answer - I developed this consumables guide in advance so I wouldn't have to waste time once I got to 80.

And I'm happy to share this guide and all of its knowledge with you, so you, too, can play instead of spending time waiting for slow, graphic-laden websites to load up.

About This Raiding Guide on Consumables

This document was written by WoWGrrl of http://WoWGrrl.com based on her own play experiences and online research with other great raiders.

This document is designed to help Retribution Paladins "shine up" their game, moving closer to the habits of experienced raiders.

As a result, getting into quality Heroics and Raid groups will be easier because quality raiders will notice the efforts you've put into your own contribution to the team, and will be interested in calling you back into more good groups.

The topics of this document include:

• The Retadin's Consumables List
  • Heroics and PUG/off-night raids

  • Official Guild Progression Raids
• The Easiest Way To Keep Stocked
  • Step One: Bag and Bank Management Addon
  • Step Two: Overstocking For Convenience Addon
    • Fixing The Bank Space Issue
  • Step Three: Addon Installation and Configuration
• Summary

Buy Now!

Raider Guide: Melee Paladin Buff Foods, Elixirs and Flasks

WoWGrrl's mini-guides are comprehensive and specific but very low-cost. Your purchase helps support the hosting costs of the WoWGrrl.com website and production of future guides on various World of Warcraft topics.

Oh, and it keeps me stocked with Dr. Pepper and coffee, so I can keep compiling the information into a readable format late into the wee hours :)

Feel free to leave a note to suggest a topic you'd like to see covered in a guide!

Related posts:

1. Awesome Melee Shaman Consumables Guide
2. Awesome Warlock Consumables Guide
3. Awesome Rogue Consumables Guide

Feeding The Sneaky Ones

Slice'N'Dice 'Em Faster'n Momma In The Kitchen

Buff foods, Elixirs, Flasks and Potions are a basic part of any solid raider's inventory.

No matter how good of a player you are, or how well you stack up on the meters in the random groups you get into, the simple truth is this:

Solid raid teams want to recruit solid raiders, and solid raiders use gems, enchants and consumables to improve their play.

If you don't use consumables because they are "too expensive", you might want to reconsider getting into raiding.

Prepare To Get Recruited By Quality Raid Teams

If you ask around in low-level raiding guilds, there seems to be a consensus:

"It's hard to get into a good raiding guild".

Remember: High-quality guilds are CONSTANTLY recruiting. Even when guilds don't list what classes they would offer invites to, ALL guilds are recruiting "exceptional applicants".

If you're new to 80, however, you probably haven't been exposed to the "Raider Mindset" enough to fully understand why experienced raiders consider Consumables an integral part of that "exceptional applicant" equation.

Do you know what consumables are best for your class and spec? How about where to find the most cost-effective buffs, and when it pays off to bring out the more expensive, top-notch consumables?

If not, do you want to waste the time looking up where to find it all? Or do you just want to PLAY?

I know my own answer - I developed this consumables guide in advance so I wouldn't have to waste time once I got to 80.

And I'm happy to share this guide and all of its knowledge with you, so you, too, can play instead of spending time waiting for slow, graphic-laden websites to load up.

About This Raiding Guide on Consumables

This document was written by WoWGrrl of http://WoWGrrl.com based on her own play experiences and online research with other great raiders.

This document is designed to help Rogues "shine up" their game, moving closer to the habits of experienced raiders.

As a result, getting into quality Heroics and Raid groups will be easier because quality raiders will notice the efforts you've put into your own contribution to the team, and will be interested in calling you back into more good groups.

The topics of this document include:

• The Rogue's Consumables List
  • Heroics and PUG/off-night raids

  • Official Guild Progression Raids
• The Easiest Way To Keep Stocked
  • Step One: Bag and Bank Management Addon
  • Step Two: Overstocking For Convenience Addon
    • Fixing The Bank Space Issue
  • Step Three: Addon Installation and Configuration
• Summary

Buy Now!

Raider Guide: Rogue Foods, Elixirs and Flasks

WoWGrrl's mini-guides are comprehensive and specific but very low-cost. Your purchase helps support the hosting costs of the WoWGrrl.com website and production of future guides on various World of Warcraft topics.

Oh, and it keeps me stocked with Dr. Pepper and coffee, so I can keep compiling the information into a readable format late into the wee hours :)

Feel free to leave a note to suggest a topic you'd like to see covered in a guide!

Related posts:

1. Awesome Warlock Consumables Guide
2. Awesome Retadin Consumables Guide
3. Awesome Melee Shaman Consumables Guide

Enhancement Shaman Consumables

Show 'Em What It's Like To Melee

Buff foods, Elixirs, Flasks and Potions are a basic part of any solid raider's inventory.

No matter how good of a player you are, or how well you stack up on the meters in the random groups you get into, the simple truth is this:

Solid raid teams want to recruit solid raiders, and solid raiders use gems, enchants and consumables to improve their play.

If you don't use consumables because they are "too expensive", you might want to reconsider getting into raiding.

Prepare To Get Recruited By Quality Raid Teams

If you ask around in low-level raiding guilds, there seems to be a consensus:

"It's hard to get into a good raiding guild".

Remember: High-quality guilds are CONSTANTLY recruiting. Even when guilds don't list what classes they would offer invites to, ALL guilds are recruiting "exceptional applicants".

If you're new to 80, however, you probably haven't been exposed to the "Raider Mindset" enough to fully understand why experienced raiders consider Consumables an integral part of that "exceptional applicant" equation.

Do you know what consumables are best for your class and spec? How about where to find the most cost-effective buffs, and when it pays off to bring out the more expensive, top-notch consumables?

If not, do you want to waste the time looking up where to find it all? Or do you just want to PLAY?

I know my own answer - I developed this consumables guide in advance so I wouldn't have to waste time once I got to 80.

And I'm happy to share this guide and all of its knowledge with you, so you, too, can play instead of spending time waiting for slow, graphic-laden websites to load up.

About This Raiding Guide on Consumables

This document was written by WoWGrrl of http://WoWGrrl.com based on her own play experiences and online research with other great raiders.

This document is designed to help Shaman "shine up" their game, moving closer to the habits of experienced raiders.

As a result, getting into quality Heroics and Raid groups will be easier because quality raiders will notice the efforts you've put into your own contribution to the team, and will be interested in calling you back into more good groups.

The topics of this document include:

• The Melee Shaman's Consumables List
  • Heroics and PUG/off-night raids

  • Official Guild Progression Raids
• The Easiest Way To Keep Stocked
  • Step One: Bag and Bank Management Addon
  • Step Two: Overstocking For Convenience Addon
    • Fixing The Bank Space Issue
  • Step Three: Addon Installation and Configuration
• Summary

Buy Now!

Raider Guide: Melee Shaman Foods, Elixirs and Flasks

WoWGrrl's mini-guides are comprehensive and specific but very low-cost. Your purchase helps support the hosting costs of the WoWGrrl.com website and production of future guides on various World of Warcraft topics.

Oh, and it keeps me stocked with Dr. Pepper and coffee, so I can keep compiling the information into a readable format late into the wee hours :)

Feel free to leave a note to suggest a topic you'd like to see covered in a guide!

Related posts:

1. Awesome Retadin Consumables Guide
2. Awesome Resto Shaman Consumables Guide
3. Awesome Warlock Consumables Guide

Warlock Consumables

More DoTs! More DoTs! Stop DoTs.

Buff foods, Elixirs, Flasks and Potions are a basic part of any solid raider's inventory.

No matter how good of a player you are, or how well you stack up on the meters in the random groups you get into, the simple truth is this:

Solid raid teams want to recruit solid raiders, and solid raiders use gems, enchants and consumables to improve their play.

If you don't use consumables because they are "too expensive", you might want to reconsider getting into raiding.

Prepare To Get Recruited By Quality Raid Teams

If you ask around in low-level raiding guilds, there seems to be a consensus:

"It's hard to get into a good raiding guild".

Remember: High-quality guilds are CONSTANTLY recruiting. Even when guilds don't list what classes they would offer invites to, ALL guilds are recruiting "exceptional applicants".

If you're new to 80, however, you probably haven't been exposed to the "Raider Mindset" enough to fully understand why experienced raiders consider Consumables an integral part of that "exceptional applicant" equation.

Do you know what consumables are best for your class and spec? How about where to find the most cost-effective buffs, and when it pays off to bring out the more expensive, top-notch consumables?

If not, do you want to waste the time looking up where to find it all? Or do you just want to PLAY?

I know my own answer - I developed this consumables guide in advance so I wouldn't have to waste time once I got to 80.

And I'm happy to share this guide and all of its knowledge with you, so you, too, can play instead of spending time waiting for slow, graphic-laden websites to load up.

About This Raiding Guide on Consumables

This document was written by WoWGrrl of http://WoWGrrl.com based on her own play experiences and online research with other great raiders.

This document is designed to help Warlocks "shine up" their game, moving closer to the habits of experienced raiders.

As a result, getting into quality Heroics and Raid groups will be easier because quality raiders will notice the efforts you've put into your own contribution to the team, and will be interested in calling you back into more good groups.

The topics of this document include:

• The Warlock's Consumables List
  • Heroics and PUG/off-night raids

  • Official Guild Progression Raids
• The Easiest Way To Keep Stocked
  • Step One: Bag and Bank Management Addon
  • Step Two: Overstocking For Convenience Addon
    • Fixing The Bank Space Issue
  • Step Three: Addon Installation and Configuration
• Summary

Buy Now!

Raider Guide: Warlock Foods, Elixirs and Flasks

WoWGrrl's mini-guides are comprehensive and specific but very low-cost. Your purchase helps support the hosting costs of the WoWGrrl.com website and production of future guides on various World of Warcraft topics.

Oh, and it keeps me stocked with Dr. Pepper and coffee, so I can keep compiling the information into a readable format late into the wee hours :)

Feel free to leave a note to suggest a topic you'd like to see covered in a guide!

Related posts:

1. Awesome Retadin Consumables Guide
2. Awesome Melee Shaman Consumables Guide
3. Awesome Rogue Consumables Guide

Pre-Outland Pally

I mean, when I get an opportunity to get into a group with complete strangers at a play level that I normally don't have time to go back to as a three-plus-night-a-week Raider, it's amazing the difference in playing experience from one person to the next, and from one group to the next.

What Is An Ivory Tower?

An "Ivory Tower" is a metaphor, like many others in our language. It's a "simpler" way to contain a set of ideas and beliefs in order to explain to others.

Generally when you look it up, Ivory Towers are associated with educational facilities, but I trust one can take a step one further back and see its application in many other areas of life.

For example, while the set of ideas and beliefs that make up the definition of "Ivory Tower" are explained on many other websites I've linked here, here are some of its points relevant to this post, and to the World of Warcraft:

• Originally ironically, used to designate a world or atmosphere where intellectuals engage in pursuits that are disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday life.

• Usually has a negative connotation, denoting a willful disconnect from the everyday world
• Over-specialized
• Academic elitism, if not outright condescension by those inhabiting the ivory tower

Death Knight in Outlands, With The Fel Reaver In Behind

The Ivory Tower of WoW

Without a doubt, Raiders make up a large percentage of the people "living" in the Ivory Tower of World of Warcraft. (I'm sure there's some PvP folk in there as well, and some Achievement buffs, too, but this isn't about them ;) )

And in context of the above statements, you can see what Raiders rarely venture outside of their Ivory Tower homes by their lives and actions on World of Warcraft:

• When compared to the "average player", a Raider regularly engages in pursuits that are disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday life.
  • On the Average, I'd bet that players are still leveling up, and are more worried about getting enough gold to pay for their next set of skills or next armor upgrade when they level.

  • On the Average, I'd bet that even if the Average player is at level cap, they're more worried about finding a dungeon group for the right dungeon within a time frame that is reasonable within their personal lives where they have work to do and errands to run and friends to keep up with.
• When compared to the "average player", a Raider is knowledgable but highly Over-specialized.
  • On the Average, I'd bet that since players probably aren't at level cap, they've also never stepped into a Heroic, even. Before Heroics, the game is so incredibly forgiving that an average player doesn't NEED to know every intimate detail of their class. That's why alt-o-holics can play 8 toons to 80, but why so few of them ever step into raids with more than one or two of their characters.
• This difference between Average Player skill and Raider skill may turn into elitism, if not outright condescension by those inhabiting the ivory tower
  • And this, of course, is where the Average Player and the Ivory Tower Raider have their biggest quarrels. 'Nuff said.

Ivory Tower: Benefits, Detriments

While the above may conjure negative images and remind you of negative interactions with annoying players who thought being more skilled on a video game designed to burn spare time actually MEANS something...

There are actually a lot of Benefits of being one of the "elite" members (note, not elitIST) that get the opportunity to roam about the Ivory Raider's Tower.

Benefits that don't just help the one who's been given the opportunity to roam around freely amongst this Raider population, either. Ones that benefit many players who normally couldn't pass the entry requirements on their own, but are friendly players who are interested in learning and getting better - and just need a bit more experience.

Arcane Mage in Naxxramas

• The leveling process from 70-80 included a lot of guildie dungeon runs and paired questing
• The day I hit 80, I had people who were already running Heroics, waiting for me to join them
• Heroic runs with even one guildmate tended to connect me with other High Quality Raiders on the realm, which made future runs even easier as my social network expanded
• The guild you're in can help a lot, especially when it comes into awesome runs. It's a label you don't have to point out, people see it.
• Once we got into raiding regularly, and out of the Heroics scene, the free-flowing group invitations outside of Official Raid Nights flowed just freely as the Heroics ones had.

And of course, in any of those situations where spots needed to be filled, it was easy to be able to bring a non-raider friend or two into the mix to get a chance to benefit from the fast runs associated with skilled players, and with the right group mix, bashing upon the non-raider for mistakes made can pretty much completely be avoided, as well.

After all, the difference between 9-manning a raid and 10-manning it (or 24 vs 25) is negligable once you're comfortable with the fights, and since we're on alts doing it for fun, seeing someone's friend get a handful of upgrades is actually FUN and not taking away from our own experience of the game.

That is not to say, of course, that said friend would qualify for a guild invite and a spot on the main raid team ;)

Ivory Tower Detriments All Too Clear

I could write a bunch about it, but this entry is already plenty long, and I think many players are already quite aware of the negatives that can come about from the Ivory Tower syndrome I speak of above.

Plus, it goes against my "talk about what you want, not what you don't want" philosophy of life these days, so I guess that means this entry is pretty much done!

Have you thought about the Raider's Ivory Tower syndrome? Are there any other Benefits that I neglected to add that I should mention in future discussions about the topic?

If there were a team of Raiders who existed part of their time in the Ivory Tower yet kept themselves with their feet on the ground with regards to the plight of the every day Leveler, what things do you think they'd do to keep that connection with the "average player"?

And ultimately, do you think this connection would be GOOD for your Raid Group or bad?

Related posts:

1. The Leveling Game -vs- The Raider's World
2. How To Get Into PUG Raids Without An Achievement
3. Looking Back: From Social Guild To Raiding Guild

Mimiron in Ulduar

You'll find that the thought processes I apply here will strongly effect my viewpoint on many things to do with guild relations, and I'm sure you'll find that you disagree with me on many points.

That's cool! I'm glad for it, and I'm happy to hear your thoughts and views on the same situation. I'm sure other readers will appreciate it as well, seeing many perspectives intead of just the one I present.

Why I Raid

If I had to choose the top three reasons why I raid these days, I'd choose the following:

• To experience more of the World of Warcraft
• To challenge myself and my playing skills
• To participate in time-scheduled, high-quality play

Truthfully, when I was building that list, I realized that those weren't the original reasons I got into raiding, but that's a topic for a future entry (Why I Got Into Raiding, not yet written :) ).

I will, however, take time to go more deeply into the explanation of the above points:

Reason #1: To Experience More Of World of Warcraft

There is a limit that a player can do within World of Warcraft once one hits level 80, without setting foot into a raid:

If you plan to stay on one main character, you can do dungeons and heroic dungeons, you can skill up professions that had lagged behind your leveling process, you can grind reputation in a large number of factions (including ones that take you back to Outland and Azeroth) and you can farm for gold a lot more easily, or run friends through instances.

But after a while, that becomes boring. So then what do you do?

Depending on your ability to commit time to dungeon runs of questionable quality and length, and funds towards crafted gear with expensive components, you might choose to start up an alternate character instead, and begin leveling it up (in fact I do recommend it in a way, but that's another entry on its own).

But at some point, even someone like me with 3 Level 80s and 3 non-DK's at levels above 60... gets bored of advancing more toons through the same levels and zones that are "the grind" of leveling up.

At that point, even if we didn't want to commit to raiding, or get into a raiding guild in the past, now our mind starts to shift a little bit, and we start thinking about all the new content there is out there that we've never, ever seen.

And of course, when the new content comes out - it's rarely in Azeroth, isn't it??! Most of the new content that goes into the game goes into the "top end", extending it out further for every player of the game.

Obviously as a way to combat alts boredom, raiding provides a never-ending train of new fights and new dynamics to the new raider.

Reason #2: Challenging Myself, My Playing Skills

This is a point that has always been important to me, but what I consider "challenging" is a relative thing that changes with my own skill level.

Back at the start of my play time, there was enough challenge in simply questing and exploring and leveling within the game, but over time my play needed to expand in order to keep the feeling of being challenged to improve.

So, I got into dungeon runs with guildmates when someone was looking to run something, and tried to "softly" bring myself into the world of Grouped Play on World of Warcraft.

Truthfully, it didn't work very well. Guildmates were rarely wanting to run something when it fit my personal schedule, and as is pretty standard in a leveling guild, there were very few members who were in my level (and thus dungeon) range as well.

So, I made the emotionally scary journey into using Pick Up Groups for my dungeoning needs. I put on my nicest asbestos suit (you know, to protect me from the flames of so-called "better" players) and head into the world of PUGs where an extremely wide variety of folk can be met.

But eventually, even the novelty challenge of a PUG's natural skill and speed varieties wore thin, and I craved a new challenge once again.

Thankfully, in Burning Crusade when I hit this phase of "boredom", there were still plenty of challenges left, and the first one was named "Heroics".

And wow, Heroics were an eye-opener, at least to me. I grew excited at what I saw, because I recognized it as "the next phase" I was aching for in my challenge-hungry heart.

I learned quickly that Heroics, at least early in Burning Crusade, were a self-correcting system. By that, I mean that early BC Heroics were rarely time-wasters like Regulars were... if you were undergeared or underskilled for Heroics, it was crystal clear after the first pull. Groups tended to break up immediately, or progress through the dungeon at a respectable pace, and there was very little in-between.

Once I got into Heroics, I was in a whole new world. The friends I began to make were Raiders, more and more. They weren't available during the evening for Heroics runs during the week, because they were raiding.

And while I had no real intention to get deeply into raiding, when I received a random whisper from a raid guild recruiter one morning just before putting myself into LFG for the daily Heroic, I was pleased when the conversation ended not with a random guild invite, but with an invite to join a 25 man raid that evening, in Serpentshrine Cavern.

Moving from the challenge of a 5 person team to that of a 25 person team was insane, especially because I pretty much skipped over the 10 person raid of Karazhan until I was already raiding 25s 3x a week for over a month, and decided to actually make my first move onto the roster of a Raiding Guild.

From there, I was hooked on the level of challenge of play that's available in the Raiding World. Even with an awesome team, the personal challenges rarely cease.

It's great!

Reason #3: Time-Scheduled, High Quality Play

I left my first raiding guild after nearly six months of membership, once the guild environment changed enough that I no longer felt I really "fit in" outside of the raids themselves.

From there, I floated for a while, remaining unguilded and enjoying the pre-WoTLK TBC summer that brought with it so many raid PUGs at all Tier levels of play.

While I enjoying my freedom and lack of responsibility to any one raid team, I pondered my raiding future.

I made new friends in Heroics as I went through the gearing-up hoops with my second Heroically-geared character, and asked many of my current raiding friends more detail about the raid guild they were a part of.

As WoTLK drew nearer, with its 10 additional levels and complete reset of the gearing and raiding team environments, I made my move and began to pursue membership with a solid raiding team. I was especially looking for a team that was STILL RAIDING even after the official release date of WoTLK was announced.

That turned out to be a tough thing to do after WoTLK's release date came out, because a high percentage of our realm's raiders were raiding for gear progression, not for the experience of attempting or defeating the content, and as soon as it became apparent that any gear progression would be useless, many teams stopped Guild Raids out of lack of attendance.

That's what happened with the first raid guild I accepted membership into - my #1 choice (the guild I'm in now, BTW) rejected my app and gave me no indication about how I could reverse the rejection, so I went to my #2 choice and my website app (that included asking me how many of their raid days I could attend) got approved right away.

When I was able to get a guild invite, however, the Guild Message Of The Day read something like: "Gear up and get ready for the xpac. No raiding until WoTLK". My first response was "what? we're not raiding? uhmm...."

I left that guild within three days, because while the players seemed to be friendly and helpful and there were a regular stream of Heroics going every day, I wanted to see as much of the TBC content as I could before WoTLK came out, and I didn't want to have to PUG it.

I sent thank-you and sorry messages to the few people I connected with in that time, and sent one to the Guildmaster as well. All I heard back from anyone was that "you won't be able to find a guild that is raiding right now, nobody's raiding".

Aside from the ironicism that I DID find a guild that raided TBC content right until the night of WoTLK's release, there's this: After WoTLK came out and our server had high queues for a while, half of that "nobody's raiding" 25-man guild transferred to another server, leaving the guild on our server COMPLETELY unable to raid 25s until a month or two into 2009.

These days, I'm in a guild that has not only a solid raid schedule, but a solid raid team. We start raids on time (although getting set up in vehicles in Ulduar sometimes slows us down 5-10 min), end raids on time, and are consistently making progression on a weekly basis with our team.

This is my first guild that has "Official Raid Days" as well, and the first raiding team I've been a part of that records attendance and has an Officer-based Loot Council who make the ultimate decision on who wins a piece of loot when it drops for the team.

What's weird is that before I got into a "committed raid team" like I am now, I thought the commitment would be worse instead of better in terms of play time. After all, who really wants to schedule their life around a video game, right?

The thing I realized was this: Without the schedule, I was wasting a lot more time in-game in order to feel like I'd "accomplished" something. I'd sit in LFG for however long before getting an invite, then go into random PUG dungeon groups that could be excellent or incredibly painful. I'd spent a lot of time waiting for less-scheduled raid groups to get together and Git'r Done, and was stuck with my finger in my ear while people in these PUGs went AFK for 5-15 min at a time, usually holding up the whole group. I'd feel like I was stuck in a group out of loyalty, without ever knowing when the raid night would be over.

With the schedule, and with the combination effort of a solid Officer's team and Raiders who are interested in being part of a good team that does well, I was surprised how many problems vanished:

• Raid overflow is a great motivator:
  • If you ain't online 15 min before raid start time, the spots are filled, and you're on Overflow unless you're Really Special[TM]
  • AFKing too much? Not coming prepared with consumables? Hey, there's someone here who can replace you who ISN'T exhibiting these traits.
• People who commit to time schedules like to know not only when they start, but when they end, too.
• Setting official raid days and non-official raid days gives your raiders a break, and clarifies who makes the personal choice to raid more often.
• Once you know when your raids start and end, and what days are Official Raid Days, you can actually start to PLAY LESS because you're not wasting time in LFG or with questionable groups.
• Within a solid team of high-percentage attenders, Raid Applicants that join but are ultimately unreliable for raiding seem to guilt themselves into even poorer attendance, which makes the decision of recruiting someone new (and hopefully more reliable) a lot easier, sooner.

Why I Raid, Summarized

Yah, I know I just wrote a half a book up there about only three of the reasons Why I Raid, but really, I guess when it comes down to it...

I Raid Because It Brings Me Joy.

And ain't the best parts of life about the joys things bring?

Related posts:

1. Challenge Exists In Chaos
2. How To Get Into PUG Raids Without An Achievement
3. Summertime's Effect On Your Raid Team

My Disc Priest Raiding In Heroic Ulduar

So I ask,

Why Do You Raid?

What is it about raiding that you value the most?

Is it the Loot Upgrades you get?

Is it how awesome the raid gear sets look like?

Is it because you've crafted and dungeoned for every single upgrade you can possibly get without setting foot in a raid instance?

Is it the team environment that extends beyond the largely-solo "leveling game" within World of Warcraft that grabs your interest?

Is it being able to explore each nook and cranny of the game, to be able to see or experience what's been developed?

Or, is it because you feel like you've done so much of what comes before raiding that you're bored with it and have since become interested in the "something new" aspect of raiding?

Or is there another reason I haven't mentioned that you'd like to suggest to be considered on the list? :)

(more posts on this topic being created, but first I wanted to hear back from you wonderful readership folk and then progress from there)

Related posts:

1. Awesome Melee Shaman Consumables Guide
2. Why I Raid
3. Elemental Shaman Pre Raid Gear Guide