Tuesday, June 26, 2012

For the record

Yep, I'm still around and still playing. However I've been on the road pretty much this entire month. By the end of this month I will have spent 21 nights in a hotel. FML. Thus while I still find time to play, my day time working hours have left little time to blog.

We are still raiding at least once a week, which I think is pretty good for this late in the expansion. Some screenshots after Heroic Z the other week. My guild likes to joke around that I never dispel.





Look, I have proof! So not only did I dispel, but also faerie fired the boss. We like to call it FFFFS or FFSFF ("Faerie Fire for Fuck Sake" or "For Fuck Sake Faerie Fire"). Top dispeller AND faerie fire?!?! Sigh. Carrying 9 others on my shoulders is so exhausting.

Nico/Bruenok and I were talking the other day about his raiding time with us coming to an end this fall due to a move overseas. It makes me sad because we have the strongest healing team we've ever had. Even Lorosia, whose conversations with me tend to go something like this:

Lorosia: This will be interesting, I changed all my keybindings.
Keredria: Why does that matter, don't you just bind that bullshit OP holy radiance to every key anyways?
Lorosia: Yes, but you make me cast might.
Keredria: /sigh


Anyways, in our guild's raiding history, we've usually had one healer who was just a little bit behind the other two. But having three healers who are equally as good means that we can actually take advantage of class strengths in healing strats instead of relying on the stronger healers.

Its so incredibly refreshing not having to worry about a healer's performance. This leaves me to focus on the things that really matter, like blaming the tanks or dps.

Finally, is it bad that I kind of want to see that movie Magic Mike?

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Friday, June 8, 2012

The musical raid that wasn't

Last night was supposed to be our musical Dragon Soul run. However, it didn't really end up being the run I wanted it to be. I think some people appreciated it, but there were enough voices who made it clear that they thought it was lame or didn't give a damn that it just ruined it for me. I stopped doing it after the first two songs.

Here's what gets me. No one except guild and raid leaders understand what its like to continue to keep a raid engaged, in this pre-expansion lull along with Diablo 3 being out. Not everyone is playing Diablo 3. Crazy, but true. So Jess and I are constantly trying to fill our raids, in a time when we have increasing absences along with complete no-shows or last minute cancels. And its only going to get worse this summer. It's not that I begrudge folks missing raids, I understand, things happen. Summer happens. Life happens.

But understand that Jess and I spend a lot of time and energy trying to keep the guild happy. Trying to make our raid time worthwhile and entertaining. Trying to fill holes and find replacements. So that we can at least do something. Perhaps planning so that the eleventh-million-th time we kill boss X in Dragon Soul, it may be a little different. So I not only spent a lot of time to plan out the songs for this musical run, but had also started thinking what else I could do for other runs.

As Beru was listening to me vent last night, we were talking about how guild/raid leaders feel the pressure to keep folks entertained. Almost in a way feeling responsible for their guildies' time in game... that it's still fun. Essentially to continue to entertain somehow. Otherwise we could say, hell lets just cancel all raids until the expansion, right? But we don't. We're still making an effort. I just don't think it's really realized. Finally Beru asked a good question... who is trying to make sure that our time as guild/raid leaders is fun? Mmmm.

I know some folks in the raid did appreciate the musical raid, as they specifically whispered me as such. So I can't put the entire guild in that group. And part of me feels bad that I let the negative voices ruin it for everyone else. But I just couldn't get back in the mood to care and be excited about doing it anymore. Maybe ultimately I wanted it do the musical run because it would have been fun and different for me. For my fun. So maybe I should have told the nay-sayers to shut the hell up and just done it. Oh well. It's over now.

But in case you think a musical run may go over well with your guild, here are my suggestions:

Morchok:
David Essex - Rock On




Zon'ozz:
ACDC - Big Balls



Spongebob makes it even more hilarious.

If I was able to show video for this musical DS run, I would have chosen this version of Jose Gonzales' song Heartbeats:




Yor'sahj:
The Muppets - Rainbow Connection




Hagara:
Run DMC - Walk this Way




Ultraxion:
Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure



I had a hard time finding options for Ultraxion, and ended up choosing this because of the pressure for everyone except the healers to not screw up the Fading Light and Hour of Twilight. And I love this song.

Edit: Excellent addition with guildie suggestion: Europe - The Final Countdown



Blackhorn:
Billy Joel - We Didn't Start the Fire




Spine:
George Michael - Monkey


Red Hot Chili Peppers - Love Rollercoaster


Had a hard time choosing between these two... I love both songs and think they are both perfect for Spine!


Madness
Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter Paul and Mary



REM - It's the End of the World



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