Ronin

So it would seem that we're going to need a little practice before we attempt Mandokir in ZG again. I think we can all agree that getting killed repeatedly and not dropping bosses is a frustrating and expensive way to spend one's Saturday night. I've been discussing our struggles with several people and I'd like to share some of the points that have come up to get your take on them.

- We need to tighten up controls on the Vent server.

Part of the fun of our Saturday night runs is chatting with our guild mates, but it doesn't work on a raid when the raid leader is trying to coordinate the actions of 20 people.

How would you guys feel about creating a "Raid" channel on the Vent server? Sort of a "do not disturb" channel with some formalized "rules". We can PW protect the channel and announce the PW in raid chat.

People that insist on talking over the top of the raid leader will get one warning, then they'll get booted from the raid and channel muted. That doesn't mean they won't be able to participate the following weekend, just that they are done raiding with us for the night. I can't imagine it would take more than one or two boots to cure the chronic offenders.

- We need an in-house raid leader (or several).

We couldn't go after the "easier" bosses in ZG the other night because our raid leader was saved to the instance. If we're planning to run this raid regularly and well, we're going to have to have a group of people that aren't saved and a raid leader to match. Our raid leader was also having significant audio problems that made communication difficult at best. I think we need someone with reliable, tested equipment at the helm. What do you think?

- There is a steep learning curve to raiding, and we need to go slow.

Personally, I think we need to go after the early bosses a few times so we can learn the strategy and gear up. Even killing the first 2 bosses in an evening means the guild has 2 more epic drops. Plus, setting smaller and more achieveable goals lets our blossoming raiders (and raid leader) hone their skills. It's no small feat to get 20 people on the same page. Our early success, while encouraging, may have given us a false sense of security. Let's post the strategy guide for the first 2 bosses and make it our goal to take both of them down. What do you say?

I think this could be the beginning of a very fun chapter in the guild's history, but it is going to take some tolerance, unity, and most of all practice before we get good. We've taken a few anxious steps, but we're not running yet.
__________________________