The Dambusters

Wednesday the 26th will be the Dambusters’ 8th birthday and as always, we will stage a get together.

It gives me great pleasure to lead the guild into a 9th year since I founded it with 10 signatures back in 2009.  Events like this will be remembered by the guild for years to come and this occasion will be no different. Please remember that as a Dambuster, you are an ambassador for the guild wherever you are and especially while interacting with other players from outwith the guild. I require the best behaviour from all of my fellow Dambusters at all times.  Some people might try and troll us a little bit during the day but we should refrain from getting into arguments or any negativity. This day could see other players looking to join the guild so I will ensure that all Dambusters are able to invite if people whisper you looking to join the guild. You are welcome to invite on the day.

The guild has witnessed a resurgence recently and although there have been a bunch of new members, this will be our first chance to get together and do something fun as a group.  I expect this year to be a low key affair but as always, it’s actually a good recruitment tool so we will use the event to bring some people into the guild. The key events are subject to change of order on the day, but the main layout will happen from the below list.

Please note: Discord will be active with voice channel ‘Dambusters Crew Room’ the place to be, click this link to join us there.

12pm Server Time (11am UK) – Remembrance March, Stormwind

The Remembrance March is the original starting point of the Dambusters’ celebration birthday event. Every year we hold a now famous gathering of whoever is in attendance where I will say a few words to explain what we are doing and why. People are welcome to join in when they log in or other members of the wider community are very welcome to join in from around if they witness our gathering. I will lead a procession from the front at walking pace and people should set to follow each other and shout out for The Dambusters. The event will take place in Stormwind, starting INSIDE the Trade District bank. Everyone should meet there.

1pm – Gnome Party, Newly created level 1 gnomes

When the march has reached it’s end, I will notify everyone to go and create a gnome of their class choice and we will all wait until everyone is ready at the gnome starting area and make our way to Ironforge where we will bounce around and generally be playful. We used to travel to Stormwind then to Westfall for that but this time Ironforge is quite a busy  place so people will see us and want to join in with our playful behaviour.

2pm – Gurubashi Arena

While this may not be for players of all levels, everyone is of course welcome to come and spectate even if they don’t join in. We will do an all-in battle royale and the winner will get a prize. I’m sure we will spend some time here and everyone is welcome to have fun, of course there will be a prize or 2 for the top performers and all-round good people.

Dambusters Draw

Historically, the Dambusters had a monthly lotto draw where people paid in a certain amount to buy a virtual ‘ticket’ to be drawn by a highly esteemed former officer.  Some fantastic prizes have been won over the years with rare mounts and pets, gear, consumables, TCG loot and mountains of gold.  I will look to do a simple draw involving those Dambusters who were able to attend the 8th Anniversary Event and I will use that as a springboard to reinstate the old draw. The 8th Anniversary draw entry will be free on the day but future events will see a cost commitment per player.

Please note, because of my short preparation time, the events are subject to change and as usual on the day I am open to suggestions if anyone would like to request that we do something together in addition to what I have scheduled.

/Salute

Roar

Well…as most people who have previous and ongoing connection to The Dambusters Guild will be aware, we suffered a devastating implosion last September where the former raid leaders decided to create a situation where they could drag the entire raiding roster of players out of the guild and form a new raiding guild.  As we suspected at the time, it didn’t last long and as a result the vast majority of the players who left to join the new guild no longer even play the game.

What caused that situation was my determination to push the Dambusters for raiding progress almost at all costs. My fateful decision to allow the former raid leader the leniency to operate his recruitment drive on the back of our solid community platform, and my subsequent relinquishing of player management powers over to him so long as they were ‘his’ raiders were eventually catastrophic.  Over time, he decided he didn’t need me and so whenever raiders came into conflict with the overall guild rules to my dismay, him and his sidekick used those situations to turn people against me and onto his side. Another factor was that he had promised his recruits raiding and that meant that when he decided to leave to form a new raiding guild, they had little option but to follow in order to raid. That needn’t have had to happen.  If he had left on his own without anyone following then we had strong enough leadership to step in and raid lead regardless, but I didn’t see it coming.

I was all too willing to hand over powers to these guys and let them run with it, trusting that they had the guild’s best interests at heart. They clearly had nobody’s interests in mind but their own. I paid heavily for my mistake and so did everyone connected to the guild and after lengthy discussions with a certain few, I decided to un-sub and leave everyone to it, doubting my own ability to lead for the first time. I took a lengthy break and recharged my batteries and now i am ready to restore the Dambusters fully to what we should be; a large community where people actually make friends, join together for content and have similar goals in the game. It’s been a stated mantra of mine for a long time that you play the game for it’s content but you stay in the game for the friendships you make.

Old days of close friends may never be experienced again, times we look back on with happiness, expansions and raid tiers we enjoyed and jokes we had with our team-mates are memories but it’s p to us to get back into it and make new memories with new friends and enjoy the fact that we have a guild who actually cares about it’s people. We may not always make the decisions that please everyone but the direction we take the guild regards future activities will be well thought.  We will raid again and dependent on player skill and leadership from within, we may do pretty well.  What I will not do again is push the issue and allow the guild to fall into the hands of people who have ulterior motives. I am now looking for leaders who will pull guild groups together for 5-man content. Please feel free to ask in guild for more to join.  Just remember that sometimes people don’t spot the chat because they may be AFK or busy with something, be patient but persistent. You will be noticed for trying.

From now on, I will be a very strong but fair leader of the guild. Shethehunter very kindly offered to hand the guild leadership back to me so I will use this opportunity to even further strengthen the guild as we continue to build a solid member-base and move onwards. You can be sure that The Dambusters is in safe hands.  I look forward to planning our next Discord guild meeting in the coming week or so.

/Salute

Bigticket(Roar), Guild Leader

So the word of the week is… Legendary

This being my first progressive post is gonna be a lot more recent. This reset in wow I eventually had some time to do stuff… Started on Wednesday and cleared heroic again got no actual upgrades but hey it was fun. My lag and FPS issues are still causing major headaches, and I am sure Damsy is on his last nerve with me. Thursday started and ended off brutal for me as I once again had to sit out of the mythic progression due to PC issues and I had to hand over my spot… FFS

On Friday though I decided fuck it and started doing some world quests and a few mythic dungeons with some random guildies, had a lot of fun and got slightly drunk (yay). On Saturday I logged on super early as my wife had to work and my son would not let me sleep in, my IT mate and ISP pitched up and did a few psycho mumbo jumbo things on my PC and it seems stable.

I logged in just in time to join the fortnightly lunchtime normal raid… we killed a few boss really quickly and I think it was on Dragons that I got the elusive orange item boom Roots of Shaladrassil dropped, Damsy was salty and I sorta loved it. We cleared normal in the usual fashion with a wipe or 2 on Cenarius but it was worth it. (I GOT MY DAMN LEGENDARY). I logged off and had a well-deserved nap with my son.

Sunday Morning woke up did the 2 LFR’s, some world quests, farmed some herbs (sold them on the AH) made a few ‘K’ to pay for my super expensive raiding addiction. And then went out with my family to a braai (the rest of the world says BBQ) meh. The braai was actually at my best mate’s house (Seah the levelling shaman in the guild is his wife) and he joined the guild once again on two of his new alts (Venomdark and Sonofsuicide)… They are both rejoining the guild as they were both socials in The Dambusters when we were still on Xavius-EU. He is levelling on Grim Batol with hopes that the PVP lovers in the Dambusters, get together and can do some Arena’s/RBG’s together. (We can all hope)

When I got home I had another super nap, and when I woke up got on wow to test my legendary in a few more mythic dungeons and damn those heals are helpful, If I add the legendary passive heal, my exhilaration, the aspect of turtle heals and a healing potion/healthstone I actually do some half decent selfhealing. Just before bed time I grabbed a few guildies, and ran off to do a random heroic just for Artifact Power, it was fun and was just enough power to push me to 25 traits on my BM weapon which is one trait off my third and most powerful Golden Trait (Can’t wait). Level 26 though is 138k Artifact power and at level 9 Artifact knowledge (650%) it is still gonna be a bit of a struggle.

On Monday we went into Mythic progression with one mission in mind… Kill that confused bird/spider thing. We fought and fought changed the team bit by bit and armed with only 2 pots and 1 rune left we pulled the boss… First platform went well, second platform went ok and then third platform all hell broke loose. We lost 3 tanks, a few DPS and I can’t remember but I’m sure a healer or 2. We had to survive what felt like an eternity without tanks, the team went into super mode and we saw some amazing kiting from DPS, a resto druid shifting into bear form and I even threw my pet into growl mode, 38 seconds later that son of a spider-bird was dead. We celebrated, all got some EP and… well hoped for gear, to our frustration all that dropped were damn Artifact relics. After raid I went into Suramar got exalted by doing the leyline activation thingy and then logged off. (Didn’t sleep much as I was so excited that I was eventually able to be in the team for a Mythic Progression Boss)

And on a final note, I have taken this Friday off to start levelling my alt (I think I have made my decision)… It’s gonna be weird playing a purple melee…

So a simple introduction of who I am. My name is Courtney, I work as a safety guy for a forestry company in South Africa. I have a four year old son that demands a lot of my love and attention and an understanding wife (been married almost 7 years). I play World of Warcraft whenever I can and consider myself a semi-hardcore raider. I have played since late Cataclysm (post-post-post nerf Deathwing). Before joining The Dambusters (Xavius-EU) I was in a friends and family guild approx. 8 players and considered LFR to be ‘raiding’. I then one way or another joined The Dambusters (many boring details in between). I killed Heroic Deathwing and bam, became raid leader.

We started through Mists of Pandaria and killed the bosses slow and steady and had fun along the way, and learned what it meant to wipe A LOT. Personnel chopped and changed due to drama and recruitment so we lost and gained many friends during the period but managed to maintain a team and in certain periods even managed to have 2 solid raid teams running simultaneously. Xavius server was dying and we finished it off by deciding to move to Ragnaros-EU which lasted 6 months until the noob Fatboss guild joined horde side. Their arrival ruined the previously perfect alliance/horde balance and rendered login queues unbearable, so much so that we could no longer enjoy life there. A timely Free Character Migration popped up and we collectively decided to head for Grim Batol-EU where we remained throughout the whole Siege of Orgrimmar thing and beyond.

Warlords of Draenor was an ugly start but raiding steadily improved as the raiding roster gained experience, doing well in Blackrock Foundry led by Idioms and improving again with Lonok leading for Hellfire Citadel. With only Heroic Archimonde to finish off, having progressed the fight to within an inch of his life, the team exploded in a pile of drama and we never fully recovered! We lost too many people to raid appropriately and we stopped raiding for months before returning to the instance as the guild leader was able to get more game time after an inactive period and we had some fun runs to finish off Draenor.

During that low period, I decided after a lot of deliberation to the leave the Dambusters and join Solidarity-EU in search of Mythic kills, I got to the plateau of 5/13 Mythic with them and then hit a wall. I then applied to join Absolutum Dominium and I got in, progressing all the way to Mythic Archimonde and killing that son of a bitch enough times to eventually roll the mount and then waited for Legion (HYPE!)

Legion rolled along and I grabbed my trusty main Spyrot (only real char I have ever played seriously since I started) and rolled along. Had a meeting on TeamSpeak prior to legion with Damsy(formerly Lonok, who had returned to The Dambusters) and he somehow convinced me to help him lead The Dambusters raids to glory once again. We started off well despite me levelling and gearing behind the rest because of work and shit, but still managed to keep up even though after 6 weeks I still do not have a legendary (word is banned from all communications in Ironwall raid team)

I am now starting a new adventure enforced upon all raiders, an alt (Yuck, never loved alts) got 6 level 100’s and only 1 at 110 so now I need to level an alt, please help… haven’t yet decided yet on what this alt will be…

Below is an account of the Guild Leader’s notes taken from the General Dambusters Guild Meeting 19th September 2016:-

Recruitment

• gone really well, special thanks to Sonicay, Damsy for filling the raiding roster and also recruiting social members
• when I feel the time is right, (likely very soon) then recruitment will revert to full controlled applications and invites only by recruitment officers
• need more emphasis on the forums, I’m sure Bonesi will get on it

Officer Changes

• Jolts stepped down as ‘events planner’
• Gierrod stepped down as ‘recruitment officer’
• Bonesi will do more forum work
• Nirav joined the recruitment team
• Damsy joined the officer team as a ‘raid leader’
• Spyrot joined the officer team as a ‘raid leader’ and Warrant Officer
• Shethehunter was promoted from Flight Sergeant to Warrant Officer and will be assisting me more with overall guild roster management as well as continuing her role as guild bank manager
• Pocahunter remains in post as guild bank manager
• Sonicay remains in post as recruitment officer and will also double up in his role as raid leader, assisting Damsy and Spyrot
• Actz will surely prove his abilit as a raid leader for Stonewrought and while this post is actually an officer position, Actz does hope to move to ironwall and in those circumstances he will remain a non-officer for the moment. If he remains in position and excels then we will consider promotion to Flight Sergeant to allow him to better carry out his duties. There is a possibility he could be promoted temporarily until he either moves to Ironwall or indeed until such times where it is deemed appropriate that he retains his officer status permanently.
• The guild requires another recruitment officer. Criteria is being on whatsapp, being online often with the ability to communicate the requirements of the guild and being able to assess a social applicant, then bring them to the guild without fuss if their application is successful.

Raiding

• Stonewrought is actively looking for people to rise up in assistance to raid leader Actz. Actz may or may not remain with Stonewrought long term and ideally Stonewrought would prefer to have steady leadership team of 3 who can help to maintain the team going medium to long term.
• Delighted with Sonicay’s loyalty and willingness to take on the interim role, also with Bonchon who also led during the pre-patch period while the guild were getting together weekly.
• Delighted with Damsy who has brought a level of organisation, hard work and dedication which has driven the raiding level of the guild up a few levels. He has been given enough scope to fulfil his desire to forge a powerful raiding scene and while he can be very full-on, he has my full backing to carry out the project of building a strong raiding foundation to settle short term and moving to medium and long term going forward.
• Really happy to have managed to lure Spyrot back to his home after convincing him that although there is a lot of hard work still to come, we have just as strong a base as he expects from a raid team. In time, Damsy will move more towards administration while still being an important voice of organisation and ideas, while Spyrot will become more and more prominent as time goes by. Sonicay will continue to carry out administration tasks as agreed among the leadership team of the 3.

Website

• I have removed all user accounts which were causing a system clog-up with spam. With this, the guild forum has been hidden from view and we will focus more on using Whatsapp as a live forum for the meantime until we can agree on a better forum system we can use.
• TeamSpeak has changed, it now costs £11.25 for 75-slots instead of £23 for 50 slots. This may change again in future so we will see how it goes for now.

Roster

• Be aware that the 2-month rule is still in place. You will see me and the other officers removing characters from the guild when they reach 2-months offline which gives enough leniency to go AFK for a while but not enough that the guild is bloated with inactive characters. Note I’m talking about characters and not players, it is important to remember that players may be highly active but have alts which they hardly log. In this case, if your alt gets removed then just /w an officer and and let them know who’s alt you are and you will be re-invited. If all your characters have been removed for any reason, including inactivity then you MUST then re-apply on the guild website.
• Please try to /whisper using the traditional ‘pink’ chat if you are trying to get an invite for your alt. People whispering using battle.net then means the inviting officer/player has to then open the friends list and find your character name, if you whisper ‘character to character’ then the inviter can simple shift+click your name to invite.

General

• Please take notice of the guild Message Of The Day, it points out important relevant information and should be paid attention to. The info on there may not always affect you but at some point it will, note that it may appear as you log in and become lost as all your addons and other stuff clog your chat panel but try to make a habit of checking it regularly, I mean every day.
• Whatsapp – is becoming mandatory for certainly Ironwall raiders but it is not mandatory for social members of the guild. However, if you want or need to be added to the guild chat groups then please whisper or send me an in-game mail with your whatsapp number and I will add you. The Crew Room chat is for everyone who wants to be there, people talk about wow, dogs and cats, food, post selfies, talk shit…..you may set the chat to ‘mute’ in the settings and access it to catch up as you wish, as I do and just check it when you feel like. Crew Room is not mandatory but it’s kinda fun.
• Conduct! I am proud to see the guild activity sky-rocket as it has done with all the returning members, including guys like Cryomaniac, Perrinaybara, Damsy, Spyrot and others who have returned. With the busy active guild we are, it is imperative that we remian aware of our conduct around the server. We are well known here among raiders and social members of the community, people are looking at our resurgence and they like what they see happening here. Be proud you are part of that and lets continue to act as a positive influence on the server by not getting involved in any of the nasty behaviour we sometimes see in places such as tradechat. No ninjaing loot at pick-up groups because that creates a huge negative vibe about the guild. Remember, I expect all of you to act as ambassadors for the guild while wearing our good name above your head. As your guild leader, I am infamous for having eyes on the back of my head at times, word always gets back to me and I know what goes on around the server and within the guild. Lets maintain and continue to boost The Dambusters as a shining example of what a guild really can be!

Hope this was useful as a recap or to anyone who was unable to attend the meeting in part or in full.

/Salute

So I’m sure almost everyone in The Dambusters has heard the raid team names mentioned already, ‘Ironwall’ and ‘Stonewrought’.  I have had numerous questions regarding the 2 teams and how they work and I have given some exhaustive answers but I thought it would be a good idea to punch out a blog post to deliver some basic information that ensures everyone can have a clear understanding of how things will work.

First of all, ‘Ironwall’ is the primary progression team which will be trying to push the boundaries as far as possible. Ironwall will be demanding, expecting a high level of attendance and a good standard of class play, fight knowledge and dedication to the team getting bosses killed as fast as possible without going crazy into hardcore.  The raiders will be expected to already know a lot about their role and their class, have consumables covered at least for themselves and raiders will be scrutinised/criticised or even replaced if they’re coming along and then doing things such as asking “anyone got a spare flask?”.

‘Stonewrought’ will naturally be slightly less demanding and will form a level of raiding which suits a more casual player, however…. this does not mean players will get to slack off when they are in the team. Stonewrought will also have standards and people must respect the requirements of Stonewrought’s leadership which I imagine will be very much the same as Ironwall’s requirements with regards to consumables, dedication etc. The difference will be that players may not be expected to have such a high attendance rate as with Ironwall and that the overall standard of player will inevitably be slightly lower than in Ironwall.  The difficulty level Stonewrought will raid at depends on how the team shapes up and how the raid leader sees the group’s capabilities. Keep in mind that the raid leader of Stonewrought will be just as likely to ask raiders to sit out as the Ironwall leaders are so Stonewrought will be hoping to do well, especially after the first few raid nights when things have settled a bit.

Important! – Ironwall and Stonewrought will be selected from the same overall roster of raiders so if you want to be considered for the raid teams then you MUST contact the raid leaders:- Damsy/Spyrot/Sonicay otherwise your name won’t be on the roster for selection. There might be situations where Stonewrought can accept guild members on the night but that will largely depend upon availability of raid spots and whether the prospective raider deserves a trial. All trial raiders will start off in Stonewrought and all Stonewrought raiders’ performances will be monitored on WarcraftLogs as well as physically inside the raids. Attitude, dependability, fight knowledge and understanding, class skill and social behaviour will all be considered with opportunities arising to join Ironwall if players are excelling within Stonewrought.

It should be remembered that Ironwall and Stonewrought will likely start with 30 each and Ironwall will reduce to a 20-man team in preparation for mythics so Stonewrought will backfill, possibly creating a powerful heroic farm team which actually could eventually turn into another mythic team in it’s own right if managed properly.  This is an exciting time for raiding with the Dambusters and although I am painting the best possible scenario here, there is actually every reason to believe that if we all stick together then things will go as I’ve described.

What I need from every Dambuster who is interested in raiding, is a little patience if they aren’t immediately selected in the team they hoped, stick it out and help us get things settled over the next week or 2 and it will soon become apparent where we stand. Ironwall and Stonewrought may be 2 separate entities but it is crucial that everyone is aware we are all ONE TEAM and our aim is to have the Dambusters competing high up the server rankings, building a good platform for future content patches and maintaining team stability, especially among the raid leaders.  I really hope that we see Thursday’s release of Ironwall’s initial 30 and the remaining raiders rally together behind Stonewrought because remember, Ironwall will need to change out players for certain fights, some players might have emergencies etc. so you could find yourselves being called into Ironwall at short notice. Otherwise, work hard at your raiding and even if Stonewrought do some bosses on a lower difficulty level, the players who stand out on the logs as reliable raiders will no doubt find themselves being considered by Ironwall.  On the other side of the coin, Ironwall raiders must perform because the raid leaders will know they have a solid bank of Stonewrought potential to call upon.

Let me just recap the basic points to take away:-

• Ironwall and Stonewrought take raiders from the same large roster pool.
• Ironwall is dedicated progression from the outset, Stonewrought is the remaining roster coming together with a separate raid leader (currently Actz) to build a support team capable of feeding raiders to Ironwall as required.
• Ironwall raids at 8-11pm Server times Wednesday/Thursday/Monday and Stonewrought will form immediately after Ironwall enters, will start 30 minutes after Ironwall on the same nights.
• Stonewrought is not a holiday camp, it will generate it’s own standards based on the same expectations as Ironwall and Ironwall will use these standards to then select future raiders to step up.

Excellent times for this guild, busy and interesting period coming up in the next couple of weeks so I’m looking forward to it. Lets all stick together and support the Dambusters!

/Salute

So the time is nearly upon us to get started with what most of us have been eagerly anticipating for a very long time. Emerald Nightmare opens for us on Wednesday the 21st and with only 30 raid spots in Ironwall team up for grabs, it’s a worrying time for the remaining raiders on the currently ample roster. Recruitment has been wild and some really solid players have arrived but not everyone can be accommodated come raid night so inevitably there’s going to be some upset players. It would be a concern if those who had to sit out were’nt upset and the likelihood is that some will decide to leave the guild and quickly find their level.

What I expect, is that guys who don’t make the cut on that first night will quickly assemble as the new Stonewrought team. Plans for this simply must happen so I am looking for people to privately inform me of any intention they may have to lead, even if only initially to make sure Stonewrought gets going even tho they personally hope to make the Ironwall team.  Ideally I will have a team leader for Stonewrought in place this week and will look to help them through how to go about setting up.  This Thursday will give us a good idea about who will be entering with Ironwall next week and who will be looking at Stonewrought initially.  I carefully select the word ‘initially’ here because there are raiders who would otherwise be in Ironwall were it not for the 30-man limit and it may not be long before they are required for Ironwall again.

Also noteworthy is that even with initial team selection, it might not be final since people could still fail to attend on the night or even fail to meet the expected requirements and upon inspection prior to entering they could be forced to swap out, this could happen so all remaining Stonewrought raiders should still be focused on doing their best to prepare to rejoin Ironwall.  Stonewrought is your shop window and you will be noticed if you are the best in that group.

When the time comes that Ironwall get started and players are added to the Stonewrought team then we must ensure that Stonewrought also enters the raid instance and I would expect at the very least some normal mode kills, or even more than that depending on how the team shapes up and how the leader can cope with short-notice preparations.  As I say, I will help out at least before the raid night begins with management advice so any prospective leader won’t be left alone to deal with everything and the Ironwall leaders will be a good source of tips too.  When the Ironwall raiding starts tho, they must be allowed to concentrate and get on with it while Stonewrought is formed and does their very best!

Players who find themselves outside the first Ironwall selection on Thursday must try to be calm and prepare to show Ironwall what they are missing by excelling in Stonewrought. If I see anyone quit the guild after hearing they didn’t make the initial selection then I will be saying ‘good then, this wasn’t the guild for you’ and wish them well as they look for another raid team.  We need people to react well under pressure and really prove themselves rather than just giving up and walking away.  Truth is, the raid leaders have an incredibly difficult job selecting from so many eager players who have worked their socks off so far and although they will have done as much background work as possible, there will be unknown factors which will only show up after Ironwall are already fighting bosses so be ready to accept an invite as things become apparent with the teams, even on the first night I suspect this could be possible.

Please do not take not being selected as an insult, this is a large roster and it will most likely reduce a little before building up again, we are all part of a team.  The first week of raiding whether you find yourself in Ironwall or Stonewrought is crucial as players really bed in their fight knowledge and awareness. Chances will open up for people to progress again to Ironwall and likewise, some people might find the pressure in Ironwall a little too much and prefer to step into Stonewrought.  Life happens and some people may be forced to change teams but we must remember the vision of the raiding side of this guild is to progress.  I have planned to have 2 raid teams for this reason and also so that more casual raiders also have a chance to raid as we have always done in the past.

Touching back on Stonewrought, there will be players who want to raid but aren’t on the current roster and for them, there will be opportunities to enter the raiding scene by joining Stonewrought.  If players get the chance to impress in Stonewrought and succeed then they could be called up to Ironwall since performances will be monitored in both groups.

The idea is that The Dambusters has a raid team to fulfil the needs of more player types in Legion, the more determined Ironwall progression focused team and the closely linked, more casual but still focused Stonewrought team which will act as a feeder to Ironwall, a more relaxed raiding group and also somewhere to give future stars some good raiding experience.  All this will require a dedicated Stonewrought Leadership Team which I am trying to find.  Anyone with plans to lead Stonewrought must contact me in-game on ‘Roar’ and we can discuss ideas for how to best go about it.

Remember that we have a lot of work to do in order to prepare for next Wednesday and beyond.  Everyone must do their part and ensure they’re doing what they expect the rest of their team to do, squeeze every last bit of itemization from your gear, perfect your class abilities and utility to benefit the team and most of all, come ready to listen, understand instructions, study the fight mechanics and how your role within the team can help get past bosses. The next reset should be used to min-max your attributes as best you can when you get drops on mythic dungeon bosses.  Also, help your fellow raiders out if they’re struggling for gear drops if you can.

Good luck, and may the loot gods be with you.

/Salute

Having ‘spelled’ (ho ho) out my vision for the practicalities of raiding moving into Legion in the previous blog post, I have some more work to do regards fleshing out plans so that people are aware of what’s going on and the possibilities I am exploring.

We have actually become a social raiding guild over the years and as such, it is important to come to terms with that. To fully embrace the ethos of us becoming a social raiding guild, I have been considering revamping the rank names and functions to more accurately define members’ roles within the roster without them being required to visit the website to find out what their rank actually means.

While the tradition is to have these revised Royal Air Force ranks in the guild, the time may have arrived that I stop clinging to the nostalgic past and embrace the future where our new guild members can more easily grasp exactly where they stand in the guild. The dilemma is, this will require a revamp of the guild bank tab access and allowances. This will be a huge task!

Until now, we have managed it by categorizing items into their respective tabs and allowing each rank an increasing amount of access to each tab with only officers and raiders having access to Gibson raid tab. If we revise the ranks then we will have to adjust the bank tabs to suit. I wonder what the guild feels about these potential changes? Changes can be good if well thought out and if they serve their intended purpose but I am wary of change for the sake of change. A fresh approach to ranks could instigate a new good feeling about the guild with the influx of new members hopefully beginning to integrate as they speak to people, join activities and make friends around the place. We must continue to include the newer members in these ways as much as possible and continue to recruit.

The guild’s 7 year anniversary is closing in quickly, I intend to hold an event on Friday the 29th of July, 3 days after the official 7 year date passes. I hope as many people as possible can make it, timings will be decided beforehand but probably 8pm Server time if not a bit earlier. We will be smashing up the horde base in Tanaan like we did last year, making naked level 1 gnomes and running about like idiots around places like Goldshire etc. and having a fight to the death at Gurubashi Arena. If we have a big enough group, we can kill Vol’jin in Orgrimmar 🙂

The guild’s officer team will kick back into action from it’s current low key state. Guys like Bonesi, Gierrod and others will be back performing their defined roles. During the pre-launch I will have to make some tough calls about which officers are able to carry on in their post depending mainly on game activity. We will need everyone back and playing their part and I have no doubt these guys will be in the thick of the action when it starts up again.

There are players in this guild who have stuck in there playing with the rest of the vanguard right up until the very end and even trying to maintain that weekly get-together in Hellfire. These people are to be commended for their passion for the game even to dig in and join these admittedly often frustrating runs in the name of love of doing it. I know your names and I appreciate it, I’ve been there week after week, quietly doing my best for whatever team turns up so I’ve seen the great attitudes there. I, like some others, would much prefer to be operating at a much higher level but it’s testament to my unwavering commitment to this guild that I don’t complain about them, I appreciate what we do still have and I look to bolster that spirit with more organisation and stronger players so that we can get back in the scene early in Legion.

I will be adding people to the officer team who I believe will do a good job and let’s rebuild the raiding and social aspects of the Dambusters up again ready to be viable for new Legion content. I no longer want this guild to be the underdog like it has become since Hellfire Citadel progression ended. Let’s stick with it in Legion!

/Salute

First of all, let me apologise for slacking with the blog. Things have been busy with work, family life at weekends and of course the short game time I get takes up the rest of my time. I did punch out a good sized blog a few weeks ago but as I went to publish it, it managed to vanish so lesson learned and from now on I will be periodically copying the body of text incase I have to start again and I will be able to paste it in.

Anyway, the future at the Dambusters looks quite different to before with some familiar names no longer with us. What I intend to do is ensure we become more viable for players with ambition and part of that is to get some much better continuity than we have had. In Warlords we have had 4 primary raid leaders if we count Spyrot who wasn’t specifically raid leading for the guild’s progression but we started with Holidai in Highmaul, then Idioms for Blackrock Caverns and in Hellfire we had a big revamp as Lonok took control. This ended badly as he vanished and a rift was caused by the vacuum that opened up. Just after that, I left Saudi and my work ever since then has resulted in much less game time, causing a depression period of raiding in the guild.

Spyrot has left with my best wishes in order to fulfil his craving to be part of a settled team rarer than having to rebuild a team which is not his favoured scenario. His heart is here but his head is not so he has made a clean break and if things don’t work out then he is always welcome back.

Idioms is another big loss to the guild. His temperament for casual attitudes during raids is short so he needs to play the game in a way that suits his style rather than feeling held back by players who don’t put the same work into the game that he does.

This is something that needs to change in the guild. Of course we are a home for chilled players who can come and go as they please and still feel welcome and appreciated but we must also strive for that dedication from our progression raiders or those who consider themselves capable of progression raiding.
IRONWALL

In Legion, The Dambusters will have 2 raid teams. Primary team is Ironwall and second team is Stonewrought. Ironwall will be as demanding as we were in Hellfire Citadel, if not more demanding. The precise details will depend upon who the raid leadership team are but above all, Ironwall needs to deliver progress by operating 3 times per week including a Wednesday. If anyone cannot achieve most of a Wednesday evening online then simply put, they cannot reliably join Ironwall. That is the first criteria. Second, Ironwall raiders must be levelled and geared to a strong standard by Wednesday 7th of September to join opening night in the Emerald Nightmare. Third, ongoing activity, maxing out your ability to use your chosen class utilities is a must. We can see people with potential but your fellow raiders will expect each of their team mates to put as much effort into knowing their class and how to best deal with boss mechanics as possible. That’s teamwork, working hard so that you are adding value to your team!

STONEWROUGHT

Again, without a current raid leadership team in place, it is difficult for people to imagine how things will look for Stonewrought but I am already close on an appointment here so as with Ironall, watch for positions to be filled during pre-expansion patch. Stonewrought will act as a more casual, more inclusive feeder team for Ironwall which will often see Ironwall raiders join to help out, grab some more chances of gear and play alts etc. if Stonewrought select them. Stonewrought will push as far as the raid leaders and team members desire and Ironwall will absolutely welcome a strong challenge. Stonewrought will raid either 2 or 3 times per week depending on the leadership’s availability. As with Ironwall, Stonewrought’s players will be expected to uphold the spirit of the team by working hard at their game and pushing to ensure they are adding value. This team will likely chop and change and will probably have higher numbers in the roster than Ironwall initially but that could change.
SCHEDULING

During pre-launch patch when it starts to become clearer who is looking to get heavily involved, we will hold discussions on TeamSpeak and in our Whatsapp groups to thrash out specific schedules for raiding for both teams. This weighs heavily on the availability of the raid leaders but all will have their say before days are set, and also days/times can be changed at a later date if suitability changes. Scheduling will decide what team some people join initially but there will be opportunities to switch teams as long as such changes are amicable between raid leaders. Leaders will be in regular communication with one another and with myself to ensure harmony between the teams. Of course raid leader positions are automatic Flight Setgeant officer roles so much discussion will be required with myself as well as Whatsapp or some other communication form outside the game.

If anyone has plans to lead raids then please let me know exactly what those plans involve and we can take it from there, these are important positions so only a very few dedicated individuals will be able to perform the roles but I am open to any keen leader who fancies a crack.

/Salute and more blogs to follow shortly