Weekend (9 Jan) - Moping Around

Weekend (9 Jan) - Moping Around

Friday - Throne of the Tides Raid

Wild was one of ten guildies signed up for the Throne of the Tides 10 man raid on Friday night. Since the Baradin Hold raid did not go off last Tuesday, the Friday raid would be the first for the guild since Cata. There were about six guildies signed up as tentative, but when Wild logged in at 5:45pm things looked pretty good.

There was a Heroic Deadmines in progress, so Wild opened vent to listen in on how it was going. It was rough slogging, that was for sure. The bosses were extremely tough, and the group was taking their time, learning from their wipes, and being persistent. It was fun to listen in and tie in what they were doing in Heroic with the Level 15-16 Deadmines that Kiren and Sista did the night before.

While waiting for word on the Thrones raid, Wild completed his third daily cooking quest and was able to buy his first cata cooking recipe. Cooking recipes used to be available via a lot of ways, including many that could be bought with a few silver or gold from vendors. In Burning Crusade the cooking daily was introduced, which was a way to earn some gold, cooking skill, and additional recipes. However, plenty of other recipes were available via other means as well. In WoTLK there were new cooking dailies and all of the good recipes had to be earned through the cooking dailies. Yet, leveling cooking was still possible using recipes from other sources. In Cata the cooking dailies are the ONLY way to level cooking and acquire Cata level recipes.

For a healer the best cata recipe is Pickled Guppy, which grants an additional 60 +int and 60 +sta. The Auction House sells them for 10g each. Given the number of times we could be wiping on bosses in the early going raids, a stack of twenty could be needed. That's 200g potentially for one night of raiding. It takes three chef's awards to buy one recipe. The Guppy recipe requires cooking skill of 475, so Wild would have to pick a lower end recipe at skill 450 (Wild's current skill), craft that recipe up to 475, earn three more chef's awards, and then he'd be able to get the recipe he really wanted. Wild decided on Grilled Mountain Trot as his first recipe. Wild had already been doing a little fishing for mountain trot, and had plenty on hand. They wouldn't go to waste, though. The trout grants 60 +haste and +sta, which was still a plus for Wild, although not as good as the guppies.

More time passed and no invites had been sent out for the Thrones raid. The raid leader, Tk, and Bd, who I assumed would tank, were in private conversation on vent and there were only two guildies in Uldum (where Thrones is located). There were also two guildies in the Deadmines run that was signed up as tentative for Thrones, so maybe they were also waiting for them. In the meantime Wild got his fishing daily done.

At 7pm there was still no word. Wild whispered Tk: "I haven't received an invite to the raid, and I did sign up for it. Just wondering where we stand."

It took a few minutes, but Tk responded: "i dont wana seem like a dick, but i didnt send you an invite because your gear isnt up to snuff :( i r sorry"

Wild wasn't a happy camper, but I let the boil come down to a simmer before responding: "k, np, would have appreciated hearing that an hour ago."

Information about the Friday raid was on the guild website, and there was nothing that said there was a minimum gear ilevel to get an invite. That was one issue. Wild was one of 10 guildies who signed up for the raid. There were some tentatives as well, but guild invites are based on who signs up and who is there and ready to raid. Wild met those criteria, along with the nine others that made the commitment. Some of the guildies that did get an invite had not signed up, or had signed up as tentative. That was the second thing. Finally, if you know you are not going to invite someone who signed up for the raid and was present, it is an obvious courtesy to let that person know right away, not an hour after we were asked to be in game. This is just an opinion, but I think the raid leader paid more attention to who was in game than who had signed up for his raid.

Wild was terribly annoyed, and went fishing in the Twilight Highlands to cool off. The positive result of that is that Wild now has plenty of guppies to make Pickled Guppies out of in three days when he can buy the recipe.

Wild did not hear anything back from Tk. A funny thing did happen around 8pm, just as Wild was deciding to logout. Bd whispered a question about Wild's gear ilevel.

Bk: "What ilvl is Wild sitting at again? i320 right? I know its pretty not-rdy for heroics."

Wild whispered back: "It's i330." Which, of course, meets the criteria for heroics. Although I've heard that PUG heroics have been known to boot anyone that hasn't gotten their gear score into the i340s.

However, it was pretty obvious that no one checked Wild's gear score before deciding I wasn't going to get an invite. At least Bd eventually asked, but that probably was because Wild made an issue of not getting any kind of notification. It was equally obvious that an i330 gear score wasn't going to get Wild in the raid.

By 8pm the raid was finally getting started. Wild could see nine guildies in Thrones or Uldum. I noted only two healers, and I would bet they'd want three, but they likely had a third already picked out. I checked every member of the raid. Eight of the raiders had ilvls between i336 and i346. Four were under i340. The ninth raider was at i330. He was a hunter, which could mean the ilvl they wanted was a little more forgiving of DPS than healers or tanks. The two likely healers were a shaman (i341) and a druid (i346).

This raid has already been designated as the G1 raid. The G2 raid will be run by Bd, although he hasn't decided where and when he will schedule it. I know how these things work. If you get in on the ground floor of these raids and don't totally blow it, you are pretty much a regular from the start. Although I did run with G1 for a time, Wild was never a full time regular, and my sense is that they will give priority to the G1 regulars. Wild was certainly a regular with G2. We'll see how that plays out.

Still bit annoyed by the whole thing, Wild logged out.

Saturday - Wild posted the following on the guild website:

I'm excited that we are starting to schedule raids. I also understand that there will be some growing pains in getting groups set up and determining when to raid and what to raid given that Cata gives us some choices.

That said, I have a couple questions about how raiding will be managed.

1) Is there a minimum ilevel gear score required as a condition of getting an invite? If there is, I'd like to know what level is considered acceptable.

2) Are raid invites based on those who signed up (as they have been in the past) or are sign ups going to be more a measure of interest, with invites based on who is in game regardless of sign ups? I just want to understand the selection process.

Thanks,
Wild

Wild was able to bolster his gear somewhat with an AH purchase of some i333 bracers (replacing i312 ones) and took a step back to improve my overall gear by letting go the i339 pvp shoulders and using the i333 Dragonmaw rep shoulders I have that with a socket that has the better stats. Wild's ilevel drifted up to i331.

The MM guild reached Level 10 Saturday morning. The new level 1-85 heirloom capes became available. Wild bought three of them - one with strength (to Java), one with agility (to Sista), and one with intelligence (to JB). They are account bound so only those under Wild's account can get them. Yet another reason Philly needs to start leveling soon, since once she makes level 85 she can get the capes for that account.

The perks to guild members have accumulated as the guild completes achievements and move up in level. Here are the current guild perks:

* buff duration increased by 50% from guild cauldrons
* 20% reduction in durability loss when you die
* 15 minute reduction in hearthstone cooldown
* 10% increase in xp for killing monsters and completing quests
* guild gets a bonus 5% money each time money is looted
* 5% increase in reputation gains
* 10% increase in mount speed (outside BGs/arenas)

Sunday - Wild worked on his Earthen Ring (ER) reputation. The reputation grind for this one is complex as there are quests in Deepholm, Vashj'ir and Twilight Highlands. The Vashj'ir quests were originally bugged and didn't offer the reputation. Since Wild had done those quests when they were bugged he got no credit for the rep. ER offers an i346 leg piece that Wild needs. It only requires Revered rep, but Wild is at 5763 of 12,000 needed and after a morning of questing I've run out of quests.

Since ilvl gear score is going to be a difference maker in getting invites to raids, Wild put together a gear upgrade strategy based on what he could reasonably expect to acquire short of Heroics. Wild's goal is to get to i340 before jumping into Heroics.

The list is in this order: Gear, ilvl, targeted replacement gear. The minimum ilvl I'm after is i333. A lot of Wild's gear lacks one key stat or another, so in some cases I won't improve my ilvl, but I'll improve the stats on the gear.

Head, i346, good to go
Neck, i333, Dragonmaw (DM) Exalted rep i359
Shldr, i333, Justice Pts (JP) i346 (probably out of reach)
Cloak, i333, Hall of Origination (HOO) drop, also i333
Chest, i325, i333 Grim Batol (GB) drop
Wrist, i333, nothing better available
Hand, i346, good to go
Waist, i318, i333 HOO, i346 JP, or i359 DM (exalted)
Legs, i333, i346 Earthen Ring (ER) Revered
Feet, i333, nothing better available
Ring, i346, good to go
Ring, i333, i346 ER Revered, i346 DM Revered
Trink, i325, i333 GB
Trink, i305, i316 BRC, i359 Hellscream's Reach Exalted
2H, i333, nothing better available
Relic, i316, i316 Vortex Pinnacle

The trinkets are a special case because right now +int is the best to have in both slots, regardless of ilvl. Wild has i333 trinkets, but they have +spi or mastery, not +int. Relics are relatively hard to come by, so there isn't much chance of an ilvl upgrade there, either. Wild noted two pieces of gear that could be purchased with justice points (JP), shoulders and belt. Wild needs to do two more random daily dungeons (one per day) to have enough JPs to buy one of those two items. Wild will be buying the belt, as it's both the obvious choice (being low ilvl), and because it has a better mix of stats than the shoulders. It would take more than a month to acquire enough JPs to buy the shoulders, too.

Wild's plan is to continue to work toward the above gear goals before jumping into Heroics or signing up for any more raids. What I'm hearing and observing from guildies who have attempted Heroic level dungeons is that they are nasty. The dungeons all have interesting and often complex mechanics that require every player in the group to be on the ball; failure of any one player at any point in a boss fight generally results in a wipe. Cata Heroics are definitely not WotLK Heroics. There are some guildies that have been lobbying for more Heroic dungeon runs, but the position of guild leadership is that if we want to run more Heroics, those that have reached that skill level need to help other guildies get to that level. There just aren't enough guildies with good enough gear yet.

Wild did learn that Bd is scheduling a raid for G2 on Wednesday. Wild is going to keep that evening open, but I am not signing up for the raid. I'm only interested in joining the raid if Wild is the best healer available, and I'm asked to help out. Otherwise, I'll just continue with normal dungeon runs and rep grinding if Wild doesn't get a better offer.

Sunday Night - Random Dungeons

Coming up in the next post.