This is a recount of yesterday raid as it happened. I tought it would be fun to take some notes of my tought process during the raid and add some commentary. Times might be a little off but it doesn’t matter. Enjoy!
10 min before invites: Everybody’s already online(5 people), damn! I could have used an extra minute or to fix this damn downloading program on my pc. At least we should get going fast.
5 min before invites: Dan ask if my roomie has installed PallyPower. I hear him swear wich means he hasn’t installed it yet. Poor guy been playing catch-up all day to be ready since he was away this week. Hopefully this will get resolved before the raid starts. I’m still struggling to get my connection back up to speed so I start uninstalling the new program.
Invite time: Yes! My connection is back up to normal just in time. I tab out to get wow-heroes started to check on pug gear, invite guild members and prepare my pugging text. Grinaa choose this time to log in and tell me he wants to come.
Doh! Grinaa’s a healer we’ve been trying to recruit for the past few weeks but he’s been on the fence because he really wants to do 25s and we only do 10s. Still, we’re hopeful we might get him at some point as he’s a really great player.
Having Grinaa around means tough that I have to switch someone to dps and Kaozz looks to be the better choice with her hunter. Hopefully she’ll be fine with that.
Invite time + 2: She’s fine with it, first crisis of the night averted. The group is filling quickly and the pugs are really well geared tonight, this is starting to look good.
Invite time + 5: Group is filled, everyone is heading out to ICC without me having to tell them.. good… very good…
Raid start time: Buffs are going out, the PugTank asks for a fish feast… he sounds a bit assertive, hopefully that won’t be a problem.
Raid 0:01: It will be a problem… damn it! PugTank is foaming at the mouth to get going but since we’re all buffed I take the initiative and start the pull, gotta show PugTank who’s in charge. I must have taken one of the healers by surprise since we get somewhat low on health and we loose two dps to damage.
Raid 0:03: PugTank pulls the next pack without waiting for rezzes. Wonderful… I remind him to wait and try to sound a bit pissed. Maybe he’ll get that he’s not in charge. PugTank apologizes… there’s still hope.
Raid 0:05: Everyone’s back up and PugTank charges ahead again, but makes sure we’re ready this time. Dps is really high so I figure we might try a really fast pace tonight and see how we do. I’m all for killing trash as fast as possible in the end. I decide to initiate the next few pulls until Marrowgar, gotta show who’s in command.
Raid 0:07: Order the rogue to scout for trap just before Marrowgar before PugTank gets a chance to pull. He listens and waits… nice! He’s starting to catch on at last.
Raid 0:10: In front of Marrowgar, PugTank asks for how we want to do it instead of ordering. Tone of voice indicates he’s somewhat pissed to not be in control but at least he’s asking instead of just pulling. I figure that by the end of the first wing things will have settled down.
Raid 0:13: Marrowgar drops like a brick, people switched to spikes and didn’t stand in stuff. We got lucky with pugs tonight and if I can keep PugTank on a leash I believe we can take this group to 7/12 if not higher. A new boss down would be awesome.
Raid 0:14 While Dan does the loot(bless that guy!), I make a comment in guildchat that PugTank is getting on my nerves a bit wich is immediately echoed by everyone else in the guild. Damn it! I really don’t want to have to replace PugTank since he’s good, well geared and a trip back to Dalaran will make us loose a lot of time and it might even kill the raid. Once you start going down on the slippery road of Pug replacement you never know how things are going to end.
I hate it but the guild will have to bear with PugTank for now. Hopefully, he’ll quiet down now that we have taken a boss down in record time.
Raid 0:19: We start pulling Deathwhisper trash, PugTank is asking for my opinion now. Good good… looks like this will blow over. PugTank whispers me about being impressed with my spec and threat, looks like I’m winning some rep points with PugTank. Things are looking up.
Raid 0:22: I give quick instructions for Deathwhisper. PugTank asks for how we’re managing the extra add for the weekly and I assign PugRogue to it. I’ve never done that particular weekly but I remember hearing it’s about CCing an add. Kaozz gets fed up with PugTank and tells me to “man up” and tell him to stop.
Raid 0:23: Some more confusion about the weekly. There’s some chatter over vent that I have trouble following since everyone is talking all at once. PugTank issue won’t resolve itself until I confront him it seems. At least he’s saved now so I have the power to waste his raid ID and I’m sure he knows that too. I’ll confront him the next time he barks a way I don’t like.
Sadly, I’m focused on PugTank and fail to properly take care of the weekly preparation.
Raid 0:24: Fight with Deathwhisper starts and the add for the weekly spawns right in the first batch. The mobs are AoEd down and the add goes down with the rest. We fail weekly…
Comments are made over vent and I tell everyone to focus on the fight and that we can deal with this later. PugTank gets all sarcastic. I interrupt him rapidly and tell him to keep his comments to himself. I don’t say “or else you’ll be kicked” but he gets the message from my tone of voice and stop talking.
The gauntlet is down. Either he shuts up or he’s out. He knows it and I know it. I watching raid chat and listening to vent to see if he’ll try something.
Raid 0:27: Deathwisper is dead, PugTank is still quiet. Maybe he got the message. I’m ready to kick and replace as soon as he speaks up but he doesn’t. Looks like he learned his place. I can feel tension in the raid tough. Not much I can do about it right now without looking pathetic but I’ll have to say some nice stuff at gunship at least.
Raid 0:34: At gunship. PugTank asks for how we want to do this. He doesn’t sound pleased but I couldn’t care less about the happiness of a Pug. He makes a comment about not hearing me well to wich I reply my usual bit about English not being my first language. Dan jokes about that and in the process defuse a lot of the tension. God I love this guy.
Raid 0:39 PugDruid and PugLock have a lot of trouble understanding they need to dps the mages…
Raid 0:44 Gunship is done and PugTank asks again for instructions in a much more polite way. Seems like he learned his place and he knows I’ll kick him if he starts making comments again. Looks like the PugTank issue is getting under control.
Raid 0:52 Saurfang is dead, loots comes out and everyone seems to be in a much better mood. Group heads inside really fast and I realize looking at the time we might be going far inside even… I remind myself not to get my hopes up too much but still…
Raid 0:58 Kaozz and a few others have told me they need a 2 min. I call it before we start pulling the dogs in Plague wing.
Raid 1:00 At the one hour mark and we’re back from a break. The group is handling the speed better and I’m really liking the speed we’re having.
Raid 1:07 I explain who I want at range on Festergut. PugLock is giving us some shit about how he’s always at range usually. I insist once more on who I want at range. Don’t want a stupid wipe like last week. PugTank is mostly quiet besides some questions I’d expect from a tank here. Tone is nicer too.
Raid 1:09 Effing PugLock doesn’t get the spore thing at all. Myself, Dan and PugTank all pipe up to tell him to get his shit straight. For once I fully agree with PugTank intervention.
Raid 1:11 Festergut down, I get some tanking bracer! OMG.. an upgrade in like 4 months. Crazy.
Raid 1:16 Explaining the fight on Rotface, everyone seems to be focused and there’s no discussion to be had. Good.
Raid 1:17 Looks like “bring the oozes to the tank running in circle” is complicated.
Raid 1:20 Damn it! It’s really complicated. Someone is taking forever to bring his ooze to me I can see him running all the way in the back.
Raid 1:21 Arrrgghhhh! Now I have two big oozes at once. Let’s pray I can manage two at once. Rotface dies right after the second big ooze. Whew… dodged a wipe there.
Raid 1:22 As we head to Putricide I ask PugTank for how he wants to tank this. He’s improved a lot his behavior and I figure it wouldn’t hurt to cut him some slack. Besides I’d rather work with him than against him. He proposes that we hang on the green ooze side and burn it down as it spawns, instead of the usual moving around strat. I knew his strat from having read it before but never got around to try it since I didn’t feel I had good enough dps before. We’ll go with his strat and see how it goes.
Raid 1:26 OMG… Putricide in phase 3 and he’s going down fast. We might one shot the sucker.
Raid 1:26(take 2) Nope… I get one shotted and the raid wipes. How I got to 70k hp to 0 in under 2 sec is beyond me but it happened.
Raid 1:32 Putricide try 2. Grinaa(healer) bites the dust after being rooted, in the slime and have an ooze explodes on him. We brez him but the raid is off and oozes are not dying fast enough. I suspect PugLock and PugDruid not to switch target and will pay particular attention to them.
Raid 1:39 Putricide try 3. Grinaa dies again to an ooze but anhk rez.PugDps sucks at target switching despite me repeating non-stop to switch. Wipe after orange switch target in mid run and aim for melee dps. Funny to look at but it’s still a wipe.
Raid 1:43 As we head out to try number 4 some grumblings are heard over vent. I really want to push Putricide since I know this group can take him down but I know Pugs won’t stay around for a lot of tries. I say I’m giving it two more tries in the hopes I can get that much at least.
PugLock warns me that it’s going to be his last try. Damn it… can’t even get two more tries. I insist on dps switches and start praying.
Raid 1:45 Putricide try 4. Magically, dps switches target fast this time around and oozes are going down really fast.
Raid 1:49 Putricide goes down!!! Tons of achievements spam in guildchat and Walk the Plank is now 7/12 in ICC! Unidentifiable organ drops, a rare tank trinket I’ve been after but it’s PugTank turn to get a main spec loot. Oh well… PugTank offers to trade the bracers I got earlier for the trinket, a trade I immediately agree to. Looking at his gear he could really have used the trinket more but hey, I won’t argue.
Raid 1:52 10 minute break before heading out to Dreamwalker, my second target for this week. I wanted to give some good tries on Putricide and Dreamwalker this week but was afraid I wouldn’t get the chance after having to cancel last thursday. Not only did we down Putricide but we’re getting a few tries on Dreamwalker. This is a good night.
Also, the PugLock who didn’t have time just a few minutes earlier suddenly have time for Dreamwalker. Funny how that works eh?
Raid 2:05 First try on Dreamwalker but things go south after a while as people keep standing in blue circles of death and the black pools of mana draining.
Raid 2:07 I start explaining for the next attempt but PugLock leaves followed right after by PugTank. I know the raid is over right then and there. Sad cause I’m pretty sure Dreamwalker wasn’t that far off.
Post raid toughts:
-I love my guildies. Seriously, I want to have their babies. For the first time in a long time I’m with people who care about succeeding and do their best every week. They help me out a ton and I couldn’t do this without them. ❤
-We’re progressing at a nice pace. I’m seeing huge improvements every week and it feels more and more like we are the ones in control.
-We made out like ninjas this week. I think nearly all the loot went to our guild.
❤
We did do pretty good, didn't we 😀
Sometimes IMO you gotta just put people in their place (you can be nicer than I am about it =p) and they get the point- right off the bat. He sure changed his tune quickly after you called him out!
From my experience it just eliminates problems before they start. While I don't always have the mic I know people mostly don't listen much to a 'voiceless' request in raid chat like they would in Vent. Plus I'm big on letting the leader lead instead of chipping in every two seconds and telling people what to do.
While we had good healers last night I think our non-regular struggles with raid awareness. Which is why I mentioned him following Fabled.. Even I follow him around sometimes because he never gets into the fires, goo.. all that jazz lol. I did send him a tell on the last try to keep an eye on Fabled if he needed help on where to go and maybe it helped!
Some very nice upgrades, I was pretty happy we made out so well!
Grats on a successful run! Heard about Putricide from Kaozz!
Thanks a lot both of you:)