The Curse is Broken!

Even though our numbers didn’t start off in an optimally, last night H T ventured into 25 ICC and easily disposed of the first 4 bosses.  15% buff aside, everyone did a fantastic job, especially considering a few had never experienced the 25-man version and some had never seen the fights at all!  For you latter group, please check out these quick write-ups that we’ve posted on this site about the first four bosses so you can better understand how the encounters work.  You can read the original write-up of the first 4 bosses (10 man version) here and the supplementary 25 guide here.

I would love if we could rock this every Tuesday from here on out: the gear is exciting for just about everyone, the encounters are more fun with multiple people and it’s great to have all of HT together.  I’d even go as far to say that we should forgo the weekly (which is pretty easily pugged, anyway) and just jump in right at 7 server on Tuesdays.  Even if we have just over 20 people at 7 server, the trash takes a bit of time to clear and people usually log on throughout the night.  On that note, if you log on later in the evening and see a bunch of people in raid, hop in vent and see what’s going on.  Most likely someone will be either getting tired and wanting to log or willing to sit out a fight or two; however, don’t expect to be able to just waltz in whenever and hop in the raid.  Even if you’re going to do bgs or level an alt while you wait to see if a spot opens, it’s still nice to get everyone in vent so we can laugh, drink and curse Sally’s exponential wealth together.

One last thing:  since we do have a couple of newer or returning toons that are undergeared. if you have a lot of alts please bring the best toon for the situation and the raid’s composition.  If you’ve taken the time to gear an alt enough to be able to supply comparable DPS and we’re not overloaded with that class, by all means bring it.  But if we are short a class or role and you can provide on a toon that you feel is already geared enough, please take one for the team as needed.  As for the new folk, though all gear is open role, please understand that the guild may step in or flat out shoot you down for one of two reasons:

1). If it’s not you main spec or the spec you’ve been competing on gear for.  This will tend to come up in the case of tanking gear, healing gear and things that aren’t optimally specced for you (i.e. an agi necklace for a plate wearer).  Of course, if no one needs it for a main spec we’d love to have you take it over it being de’d.

2.)  It’s an extremely rare, BiS (best in slot) drop.  This is a bit of a slippery slope which I shouldn’t probably touch on, but here goes anyway.  There are certain items in game that have no equivalent to them for certain class/specs:  Deathbringer’s Will, Nibelung and Heartpierce come to mind (I know, I know.  I’m obsessesd).  Zach was nice enough to default Nibelung last night to Roman as a DoT wielding Shadow Priest will get more procs of the staff than an Arcane Mage.  Similarly, I wouldn’t roll on Deathbringer’s Will as a Mutilate Rogue because I don’t get the same benefit from Armor Pen that a Feral Druid, Combat Rogue or Marksmen Hunter would get from it (though the proc is friggin’ ahsome).  Of course, we won’t deny you any item unless it make absolutely no sense for you to have it, but I just ask that we look out for the betterment of the raid as a whole first and foremost.  Plus, if we can keep this rolling, you’ll be rolling in gear sooner than later.

If any of you folks newer to the game or current content have any questions about the encounters and their mechanics or even your class and spec, feel free to hit me up through the group email chain (filed under: Jeern).  I try to keep up on the basics of each class and anything I can’t help you with can easily be redirected to someone who can.

Finally, I’d like to promote a return to 10 man progression.  I don’t want to go on a huge tangent here, but I know I for one am less interested in running 10 ICC for the gear and more curious just to see the guild down it.  By opening up Tuesdays to 25 ICC, I think this goal becomes much more attainable, especially since we won’t have to separate 10 man id’s to deal with.  I understand that some people will want to be locked to fresh ICCs each week, but I for one am getting tired of it and wouldn’t mind getting locked for a boss or two just to see us moving toward the Lich King.

As always, feel free to leave questions, concerns and personal grievances in the comments below.  HTFTMF!