Guild raiding

I havent posted much over the long weekend because it was my sons 15th Birthday on Saturday and I have also tried to take advantage of the long weekend to get some of the things  in the garden undercontrol... alas I am one person and its bloody hard work to be trying to do a dozen things alone. However I managed to create some large piles of organic rubbish and get another 3-4 jobs half done lol

I have several things rattling around in my head at the moment following some inguild raids this week. We had a guild 25 man ToC run which  highlighted some issues inguild.



We had a few no shows and a few guildies on not interested so we pug about 5 spots. When I advertised in trade I stated that it was a guild training run and patience was required. One pug left after he got loot on the first boss. And one I kicked from the group because he was obnoxious.
Prior to the faction champs he posted Recount to show how uber he was with the dps and how uber everyone else wasnt - i messaged him in whisper that we dont post recount mid raid - he responded that he does - i responded that i was asking him not to so eh said ok - then he continued to make comments like i was just pissy because he was better than anyone in guild - IM SORRY DUDE??? where did you miss the bit that it was a training run and patience was required - so I kicked him from the group - I have no tolerence for idiots and even less for idiots with poor manners.  BUT there were a couple of excellent pugs who said at the end of the attempt that they would happily run with us again - nice, pleasant, patient people - they do still exist on the pug circuit.

So the Run was called at the faction champs -people were getting fed up and some nights you can see its just not going to click.. Once again nerves were getting raw and people were getting snappy. So we went to have a more relaxed run of OS -20 manning it for the achievements - huh relaxed?  It makes me nuts that we have a combination of a couple of repeating issues in guild raids.

1. There are people who no matter how often they are told, how often they are reminded or how often they die... STILL dont get out of the fire (A lesson they have been receiving since they were toddlers- If fire is bad in RL what makes you think standing in it in a raid is going to have a good outcome?) STILL dont attack what they are suppose to attack and STILL cant follow simple instructions. - an example - Dont rez unless asked to do so by the raid leader... first lot of deaths and I see on my healbot (I was there on my druid) that someone has been rezzed without it being called for - as a result when it was wanted it wasnt available.  I dont expect perfection in guild, we are a social raiding guild - but I do expect people to at least try to remember how to raid from one week to the next. Some of these people are nipping at my heels to go to ICC and still cant successfully clear ToC, let alone follow some simple raid etiquette like stay behind the tank?
2. Some people have NO Patience and get bitchy and snarly when we do wipe. Because to be fair we did have some people in there who hadn't been before - its unreasonable and unrealistic to expect them to "Get" what is required of them when they have only seen to Jaxx before or never been there at all. (I have seen recent accounts of people who in their bitchiness are pointing fingers at half the other people in the raid and yet cant be honest about their own failings)
3. Too many cooks in the kitchen. STFU on vent in raids...how hard is that? Some people just dont get that during raids the vent channel is for raid instructions. It is not necessary to hit your push to talk key to giggle when one tank is trying to explain to a new tank what is required in OS. It is not necessary for all 10 people in the run to try to be raid leader. It is not necessary or condusive of a good raid for people to be contradiciting the instructions to the new players. (With the exception of Naxx, OS or Ony which I have opened up for trainee raidleaders to run, the other raids are all led by people who know the fights inside out, they have been there countless times and DO have a clue how to get the job done - so when they are explaining the strat it is just a huge PIA for someone who has only seen tankspot or see's themselves as "in the know" to be throwing out lots of different options we could try.) Oh and while im ranting about it.. Raids that I put together I announce at the beginning who the raid leader is... THIS person is the raid leader. Keep your fingers OFF the readycheck - hes capable of doing it. Dont feel its your right or your responsibility to take over- hes been appointed Raid leads for a reason and if you need clarity on my appointment - the message me and ask.

 Following a diabolical night of raiding at the OS and ToC runs we had a debrief with the Pedigrees in guild. I have basically given them permission to remove disruptive people from the raid and that if people WANT to raid then they have to put in the ground work. We cant be expected to keep throwing ourselves against Icehowl when they arent putting any effort in themselves to improve their raid ability or awareness.

I have run several iniatives in guild to assist them as well as ample information on the forums and lets not forget we have something on most nights to give people an opportunity to practice and hone the skills. But do they avail themselves of this? Mostly no - they turn up for the tough stuff only - avoiding all the fun or training stuff and then wonder why we wipe.

Whilst it is unreasonable of us to expect people will understand the finer details of a raid first time - it is also unreasonable of people to expect to be carried week after week after week. Its not compulsary to sign up for raids. By doing so you are saying "I want to do this", I want to be a raider. Well if you want to be a raider then you will be expected to behave like one. And standing in the fire is a basic fail. If you cant master the basics then sorry you cant come to the harder stuff.

When I was thinking about this i thought Oh-Oh how very raiding guild of me. To take this attitude surely slaps in the face of being a social raiding guild. But I have given it a lot of thought and it doesnt. Being a social raiding guild doesnt mean that the same people have to hold your hand thru everything, rez you and pat you on the back and say "Hey you lived 6 seconds that time, well done - must be the gear upgrades" What it means is that you dont have to log in at 7.20 on a friday night and hope you get picked for the raid and then sit around for 3 hours to fill a spot should you be required. It means we dont use DKP and it means that we allow room for real life. It does NOT in any way mean that others have to constantly prevent their own progression or risk the opportunity to achieve things in game that they want because they have to carry you.

So I expect that there will be some unhappy people who dont like the cold truth and go looking for a new guild when they should really be looking in the mirror.