and the release for Warlords of Draenor is.....

11/13/2014.  Yes, I was optimistic and off

        We aren't going to discuss raiding this week.  I took Tuesday off to spend time with my wife and saw "Guardians of the Galaxy" (Awesome, go see it) and Wednesday we didn't have enough folks to field a foray into enemy territory.

      The big news, the announcement of the release date for Warlords.  Yes, I guessed wrong, partially because I wanted the darn thing sooner.  I am convinced though that everyone wanted it sooner, including Blizzard.  However great things came from today's unnecessary announcement.  (Yes I still think they should have just released the info instead of spending extra time on and effort on this.  Not because I believe it has any bearing on when the game comes out etc.. but because it's a pointless dog and pony show.)

      The almost as big news as the release date is that this is blog #100 from me on this site.  I sit here amazed and surprised that I have managed to keep blogging on a weekly basis. (I have only missed one)  Some weeks I have even blogged twice which is why I am here less then two years after starting this.

      I want to actually take the time to thank some people, though I am sure I will miss some as we have an ever growing and changing team, that have worked and influenced my time through Wow as a Raider.

     Aeryn-My wife and partner in crime.  Honestly, I fiddled here and there but never would have started raiding if I hadn't sojourned with her into Midnight.  She is the extrovert to my introvert that has helped build my relationships in WoW.  She is the best priest heals machine I could have sitting next to me and making sure I am seeing everything going on in raid.

     Gwyndolynn- Our guild leader and druid heals machine.  I can't remember what she thought back in Wrath when me and Aeryn stated that the guild should start it's own raid team.  I do know she has been supportive since day one and we have rarely butted heads over things.  She has very rarely missed a raid and has been a solid fixture since we started.

      Magilla- Warrior tank master.  Mag has been tanking and running with us since ICC.  You couldn't ask for a more solid co-tank and raider.  He is always on, ready to rock and lead us into danger.  I think he didn't know what he was getting into when he joined us, but I'm glad he did.

      Shaqia- Shaman heals/enchancement.  He is there making sure no one gets too serious.  Amazing with heals, and getting crazy on dps lately rarely does he miss a raid.  He started raiding with us at teh beginning and has taken a couple of Wow breaks, but I always look forward to him coming back and smashing things.  Then we go raid....

       Scorpiack- Shaman/Warlock.  Scorpy has been mainly a shaman but has recently put away his lightning for demons and fire.  He has always ruled the dps charts in our guild and is happy to destroy anything that gets in our way.  I'm a little more fuzzy but I believe we picked up Scorpy at the end of Wrath, beginning of Cataclysm.

      These five I would consider the core of our team.  They have been running with us solidly for multiple expansions and make even the worst wipe fests of a raid a good time.  I imagine without them I'd have a hard time stepping up and leading the guild to our doom.

      There are more to be mentioned though, we have

       Shojji- Hunter and brudder.  He's been playing Wow a good while but he just really started raiding with us this Xpack.  As a deeps he has grown and is constantly working hard to be better.  I think in time I will be fighting him to stay near the top of the deeps chart.

       Belevina- Bel gets a mention here as he has been in and out of our raids for the last couple of expansions.  His priest deals pain instead of heals and when he's in raid stuff dies a lot more easily.  And he's entertainment!  His sarcastic comments can challenge my own!

      Mynk (Hellscream)- Monk tank from Midnight rising-One of the newer members of our team, she is light, bubbly and brings some good positive happiness to the raid.  She has been a great addition and I am hoping we can keep her into WoD.

      Orheim- His Disc priest makes sure we know what is going on in raid.  He is a good solid healer and when he is in raid everyone knows it.  He is invaluable at times when trying to figure out a wipe, and while I don't always agree with his observations, I love the fact I can always get feedback from him.

     Reighven-He is still playing in the guild but the school monster took him from us.  (Priorities, sheesh, hee hee)  Hopefully sometime we will get him back but the man is one of the best fathers and people I have known and I'm honored to have gotten to meet and spend time with him.

      Amelmi-Another person who has been in and out of our raid team for a couple of expansions.  When he is there the numbers his lock rocks is almost insane.  I'm excited any day he runs with us.

      Cricky- She will always have a special place in my heart.  Cricky hasn't raided with us for a while but she was one of the first people I invited to our guild when I opened it up to more then family, and I feel I have virtually gotten to see her grow up a bit.  She will always be our guild mascot.... because you know young girls don't play Wow so she was a FBI agent the whole time.

      Fantaa-The mother of the guild, literally for some of us.  She doesn't run with us often but she is sure to keep us on the straight and narrow in and out of vent.  She always brings fun with her.

      There are a few more who have been hopping in that I don't know as well yet,  Ainnvar, Aluara, Frosttide, etc...

And there are so many more I could mention who are gone.

Bromli, Deadlysinner, Wickedsavior, Lotauna, Khallon, and Ithuriol, and so many more that I know I'm forgetting.

Thank you all for making Wow a good part of my life.

I will see you in raid.

Dizzty/Lag/Lazyeye.

   

     
   

   

One more to 100.... (Raid update week of 8/4/2014)

That's right.  My next blog will be number one hundred.  That amazes me a little.

          Tuesday we started wing one again.  Blew the place up and managed to down Galakras too.  We have people still getting a little gear here and there, but the content is getting somewhat old.  I enjoy running with the folks we have, the banter etc.. when we are doing easier content, but we need to move ahead.

          Wednesday we didn't have enough folks show to raid.  Instead we did a group LFR together and downed Garrosh.  It was LFR, but we still had fun and chatted the time away.  It is important in my opinion when the raid doesn't happen to still do something with the folks who show and want to be involved.  Hopefully next week we will do better.

        We are now four days away from the announcement of when the next expansion is going to drop.  This is going to give us a timeline on how soon we need to finish SoO if we are going to finish it.  I won't lie, if it is coming quickly enough part of me debates calling off raids until the next expansion.  I want to keep people involved, but I am getting tired of pushing people, only to have them leave for another raid team when they get built up, or to have people just not study or learn the fights.

      My biggest frustration is that people do leave for the team that is more advanced, pushing content quicker, and making bigger kills.  Part of it is the nature of the beast, but it seems these folks leave at the moments when we are pushing forward and killing things as well, just not as quick.  I don't know if I am insane to expect some sort of loyalty out of people (and don't get me wrong, we have a lot of loyal people)  But if you look back to us as a ten man team, there were 3 spots or so that have changed through the expansion several times.  That is 30% of the teams, dynamics, etc...  When someone leaves it hurts us.

      I think flex has maybe hurt our expectations a bit.  Right now we still have two consistent people who top the charts at over 200k. (There are others, but they aren't there every raid.) I would have hoped by now that those top 2 dps would have had to work harder to keep that spot at the top, but no one else is excelling as high.  There has been time and opportunity, but it isn't happening.  Honestly, if we weren't a casual raid team I would be trimming folks.

     Part of the problem is we have people who have recently swapped specs, people who are lower geared etc.. because they are just getting started.  I yearn for the day though that I have to fight not to be number 5 on the dps chart because everyone is blowing crap up.  I don't consider myself a great raider by any means, but I studied my class, did my homework, and now I blow stuff up.  There is no reason anyone working consistently on the same class shouldn't be able to as well.

      That is my griping for the moment.  Let us see what the future holds.  The announcement is Thursday this week, so we get to find out after our second day of raid.  I am looking forward to seeing what it brings.

Lag/Dizzty/Lazyeye.

P.S.  Any ideas for Blog #100 next week would be appreciated.  I want to think of something special for it.

And it's announced to be announced for Warlords of Draenor! (Raid update for the week of 7/27/2014)

Well, it was going to be a boring week....

      This week we started wing one again.  (I am having a love hate relationship with this wing.  I want to be done with it, at the same time some of our most fun raids as a group have happened here recently.)
We had a few new players to gear, so I stayed on Lazyeye and we blew the place up.  Well, until Sha and then we couldn't get a couple of bugs worked out and he blew us up.  But that was ok.

      Wednesday night we one shot Sha in the face and moved all the way through wing 2.  We have a very smooth run, even one shotting Shamans again.  (Me and Magilla I think have worked out a great system up top for the second boss as we use the three tank method)  Nazgrim took a couple of tries, but it was a good night for all.

       I am still stuck in the conundrum of whether or not we should just stick to the first couple of wings and get some newbies more geared, or keep pushing the last two wings every other week.  I know how it feels to run with a group that is not as organized or doing as well as your normal group is.  It can be frustrating and I know we have lost a couple of raiders over this.  I do think back to the fact that the original thought to our raiding was, that we were going to have fun.  We are accomplishing this a lot of the time when we are running the beginning content.

     This week though we have received the amazing announcement of and announcement.  That is right.  On August 14th, 9:30 am pst we get an announcement of the street date for Warlords of Draenor.  The almighty announcement of the announcement has spoken.  They could have just done an announcement of the date and released the cinematic for the new expansion, but it is so much more powerful when you announce your announcement before hand so people can gather and be announced too from your announcement.

      If you can't tell, I am rolling my eyes at this announcement of an announcement which is pretty much whipped up to give us some news.  Not just any news, but news that we are getting news in the form of and announcement of an announcement.  /eye roll.

     I love Blizzard.  They make great games and I like if not love most of them.  When I see something like this that is just an excuse to garnish some publicity it kinda rubs me the wrong way.  I think they would have gotten just as much response doing a normal release of the trailer and the date on the same day and flooding media sites with it.

    On the bright side this re-enforces my belief that the expansion is coming out in September or October.  Normally they have announced the new expansion's release date with in a couple months of the drop date.  I predict we are getting 6.0 at the end of August, and that the game itself will launch the last week of September.  Let's see how close I come.

Well, that is it for this week.

Lag/Dizzty/Lazyeye.