Why do you like to raid?

Have you ever wondered what is it about raiding that keeps you coming back night after night, week after week?  We spend months progressing, then farming those bosses for their epic loots.  You would think we would get bored of it. 

So, what is it that keeps us going back?  What is it that you do not like about raiding, but yet not so bad that it makes you want to stop doing it?  I asked my guild these same questions sadly I did not get very many responses.

For most it is the progression of content, the downing of bosses, which then can improve your gear and raiding with a great group of people.  We use to spend weeks/months working on bosses in BC(Burning Crusade).  When we would finally get them down it was a huge celebration, lots of cheering and high-fives and yes epic loots.

Ones bosses loot table.

We get addicted to the things we can obtain from killing these bosses.  The boss will have a list of loot items called a “loot table”, which may consist of maybe 10 or or more pieces of gear, but they only drop a few pieces each time they are killed.  You may have to wait weeks before you get that piece of gear.  Then you have to hope no one else wants it too.  Loot drops can cause lots of drama for guilds if the loot is not handled properly that guild can quickly lose their members.

I didn’t start raiding until the 2nd expansion BC (Burning Crusade) and it is what I enjoy most in the game.  Out of all the expansions out so far, I had the most fun raiding during BC.

Karazhan 10 Man Raid

My first raid was Karazhan I had no idea what to expect this was my first time in a raid.  The guild I was in was very understanding of my noobness and I made many mistakes.  I just tried to not make a complete ass out of myself and do something stupid and kill everyone.

Kara was coolest raid it takes place in a big old building.  You start in the stables and work your way up.  In each room there are different bosses to kill, for my first raid I thought it was awesome place!! 

When I first started playing this game I had no idea how involved I would get into raiding.  I eventually became an officer of a raiding guild and it was almost like having a second job and I loved it!  Being an officer in a raiding guild has its challenges, its highs and lows. 

Progressing and completing a raid instance is very rewarding, but when you guild starts to struggle and not progress well it gets harder.  People start to get frustrated at the lack of progress and they will leave your guild and move on to another guild that is progressing.  Which usually puts the guild in a bind because you have to always keep recruiting to keep a raid full every raid night. You have to depend and rely on our guild mates to be there every raid night otherwise no raid will happen.  Usually there is always “Real Life” issues that come up that cause someone to not show up.

Near the end of Wrath(3rd expansion Wrath of the Lich King) I decided I had had enough of the drama and egos.  I was tired of being an officer, the game was no longer fun for me and I just wanted to enjoy the game again.  So, I changed servers and found a good raiding guild “Fatal”(my current guild).  There are no egos, hardly any drama over loot (at least none that I know of but for the officers I am sure there is).  Loot is handled fairly which makes for less drama.  I enjoy raiding again.  I like the social aspect of it and raiding with the same core people that you know you can depend on.

Blizzard has made this expansion easy for people to do more raiding, players can now see the end boss of the Cataclysm expansion, Deathwing.  In BC the percentage of players that got to see the final end game bosses was less than 5%.  I hope some of you have been able to get a Deathwing kill before the new expansion comes out. 

Have a great raiding week, we start hard modes on Tuesday!!

Neytiri

Progress Update, Deathwing the Destroyer is DEAD!

We did it! Deathwing is DEAD!

Congratulations Fatal!!  Dragon Soul progression 8/8!  A new title for us, Destroyer’s End.  Thats right people we did it!  We got him down last night on Fatal’s Famous Final Attempt.  We spent 3 hours and numerous attempts (so many I lost count).

It is a fun, long encounter jumping to different platforms, hoping you won’t lag out and fall to your death.  Each attempt we would tweak our strategy and try something different.  We would get him to 5% and then hit the enrage timer, which meant instant death for us all.

Deathwing's Head

He fights you all the way no wimping out at 10% for him. Each platform has adds that need to die along with a wing claw. Once we clear all four platforms we get to attack his head, at this point he is at 20%.  There are more adds to kill, the AoE damage is insane, healers are out of mana, the dps is throwing everything they can at him.  I actually look down at my bars at and think, what else can I use on him?  As a hunter, I wish I could summon my 4 other pets and let them loose on him LOL.  I know that would be so OP, but way cool!  The last attempt was a close one, most of the raid was dead when he died, but a kill is a kill no matter how sloppy it was. Was Vesha still alive when he died??  LOL 

Now it’s time for some heroic modes, see you next week Deathwing!

Neytiri