The mentality of the Dambusters is different to that of a hardcore raiding guild. We have always been a social/levelling guild at heart and it keeps us in a state of casual harmony. A largely peaceful community with a number of clever and funny characters who roam the guild on a daily basis. The guys I see almost every day in the guild are a great bunch, always coming up with new ways to start conversations on /gchat, joking around on our Mumble chat etc.
The guild also has a pretty dedicated raid team where the casual attitude meets determination and a slightly different attitude requirement where people need to commit to their team a lot more than they need to around the guild in general.
The requirements for progression raiding are vastly more demanding than most people who play the game are aware of. In actual fact, over 90% of World of Warcraft’s total population have never set foot inside a current tier normal mode raid instance. That is a striking statistic to accept for most raiders who generally spend most of their time playing the game with other raiders and thus assume that most people raid.
This guild has a delicate balancing act to perform which isn’t as easy as you might think. As guild leader, I aim to encourage people to level up and learn their class, learn how to interact with other people around the guild and the server. I also encourage those who would like to try normal mode raiding to really push on and try to get into our team. The trouble is, the difference in attitude required when going from casual guild member to progression raider is massive.
The raid team is very much more demanding, meaning that you need to log in more often, prepare your character by capping your Valor points every week to ensure that while loot is not dropping off bosses for you, at least you are enhancing your gear each week. Above all that tho, you really REALLY need to know your class inside and out. Every ability in your spellbook you should be able to quote the tooltip on, and it would be beneficial if you could quote most of the main abilities on all the other classes too!
This is demanding stuff and its no surprise that it shocks people in our casual, friendly guild when they try to make the step up and the raid leader/guild leader starts to get all demanding.
There is one redeeming factor, and this is my point for this post. However you perform in the raid does NOT affect your standing within the guild. Your raid leader may have issues with your raiding at times but take this from me now, your guild leader does NOT judge your membership in the Dambusters based upon your skill in playing your character, at all!
This is the unique balance I must craft on each day I log in. I raid in the team, I am close to the raid leader and the other officers but the guild with or without a core raiding team is indifferent to effects caused by the raiding scene here.
This will remain the case in The Dambusters for all it’s time!
/Salute
I feel this post I am a raider at heart (not a very good one compared to most) but theres nothing more fun then just hanging out in the guild being social with a few beers trolling LFR or battle grounds.
What goes on in the raid stays in the raid. I as a tank have wiped our group multiple times but I still feel the love off all the members in the guild (Debbs likes to touch alot, but its ok lol). When i step up as a tank or DPS i need to know my shizzle not just for my sake but the raid teams sake I am not just falling myself but the team.
When in the raid team never take wipes to heart just learn and do better next time for your self and those of the raid team and if the RL tells you something do it no questions asked.
Spybot is our RL and in raid his say is first and last if he he says jump you say how high if you feel the team could be doing something different then talk to him not at him. If the RL shouts at me then its because i need to listen and attendence to events when you have signed up is cruital if you have agreed to raid then you should be there unless something comes up which stuff does just let us know. Dont be scared we dont bite (unless you want me to hehe).
Noxxic & Icy veins & you tube = your most precious tools to know your stuff. Also if your a budding class and looking to up your game from social and wanna do better ask a core raider who plays that class and they will be able to tell you every thing you need to know.
My moto is if your gonna play, play to win.