Au revoir.

After moving my Druid across to the Alliance so that I could continue to raid with Aloraen and Khellus, it meant that I would most likely be 30 minutes late to BoOBs raids on Wednesday and Thursday (as my Alliance raids go from 7pm - 9:30pm), and unfortunately this is not something that the officers were able to accommodate. As such, I'll now be xfering all my toons across to the Alliance side rather than leaving a few in each faction.

Regardless of this fact, I've enjoyed my time raiding with you guys. You're a great bunch of people, and you are quite effective at downing bosses.

There are a few suggestions that I'll leave you with as to how to improve BoOBs (and please take this as friendly observations ... I'm not being demeaning or having a go at the officers ... I'm just leaving you with some advice as to how you can make things run smoother).

1. When raids are due to start at 9pm, then invites should go out at 8:45pm. If you're not in raid by 8:55pm, then you are replaced. You need to implement sign ups so people know in advance if they're getting a raid spot for the night (this gives people a chance to make other plans and get out into IRL for a change). You also need to implement penalties if people sign up and don't turn up (and don't have a decent reason - i.e. their kid got hit by a bus). The first pull should take place at 9pm rather than 9:15pm-9:25pm, which is what is currently happening.

2. You're wasting way too much time in between pulls. Yes breaks need to be given periodically, but as a general rule, the whole raid shouldn't stop moving because one or two people have had to go bio or get a drink etc. The raid can continue to clear trash while a few people are afk. If healing assignments are taking too long, then someone needs to be given the Heal Leader role, and they should be given the healer sign up list for that nights raid in advance, and prepare assignments in advance for each boss fight. This small amount of work up front makes the raid run a lot faster and gives you a lot more time to clear bosses and do progression content. Remember, 25 Flasks are expensive when the amount of wasted time is added up to in excess of one to two hours per week.

3. I know you don't insist on guild run/organised ICC 10 man raids. This is fine, but really ICC 10 runs fill in gear gaps and give all raiders an additional 8 precious Emblems of Frost per week (soon to be more than 8 with the second wing coming out). Those EoFs are absolutely necessary for all your raiders to gear up with ilvl 251/264 gear. Not running an ICC 10 man each week seriously slows down your raiders gearing, and hurts the guild progression overall. It would be a good idea to do sign ups for ICC 10 runs as well, and as a matter of respect to the people organising the run, it would be great if those who signed up would actually turn up on time for the 10 man raid, and not PUG it or run it at a different time.

Anyways, I've left you with some friendly suggestions - take them as you will.

I believe you guys have the ability/skill and the right mix of players to kill The Lich King. I look forward to seeing on Guild Progression websites that you guys have downed Arthas.

Nymeria, I hope that you've found a home with BoOBs and that you're happy

Shiro, I don't think I ever saw you go nuts swearing at everyone in a raid (and honestly I really wanted to hear that just to have a bit of a rofl). I always liked your outward personality and your happy-go-lucky approach.

Naturai, I've always enjoyed raiding with you across your toons and so has Aloraen. If you decide that you'd like a change, come to the light side and look us up

Sighlence, I enjoyed raiding with you across your toons and having a good joke here and there. Again, if you get to the point where you'd like a change of pace, look us up on the light side.

Lex, I'd have to say you're one of the best tanks I've come across in a long time. Don't stop being awesome

I'm sorry I can't give personal shout outs to everyone in the guild, but let me just say that you have a lot of good talented players.

So don't be strangers, keep in touch, and feel free to drop me a message from time to time. Quite a few of you guys have our Vent details (Traitorous Dogs Vent), so feel free to hop on and say hi from time to time.

Regards

Steve (Raellene).

I haven't raided with BooBS for a while now, but still always check in to see how things are going.
Most of my raid time was spent in BC and I really enjoyed it.
I never had the chance to raid with you Raellene and do understand the points your making, though BooBS has always been know as a Semi casual raid guild not a hardcore one and that is what gets them through, the core of the players like that style as I did back when I raided.
Anyway just my thoughts.

Hey Raellene, it's sad to see you go. You will be missed! It was great fun raiding with you. In terms of your suggestions, I think that they are good suggestions and I myself have asked the same questions in the past. Here's some of the answers that the officers have shared with me that makes quite a lot of sense:

1. Regarding signing up for raids: From experience, everyone will sign up for raids but a lot of times some of those that sign up will not be able to make the raid when the time comes. This is always due to something that happens in RL. Such as having to stay back late at work or having kids that suddenly need your attention. BoOBs philosophy is that RL > WOW. Thus it would not be fair to start penalising those that don't make it for raids. And if everyone signs up, and some don't turn up, well then we're back at square one aren't we? Thus the reason BoOBs runs raids the way they do. I think the thought is that they preffer to reward those that show up rather that penalise those that don't. Thus the reason for EPGP where if you show up, you get rewarded.

2. Regarding the starting time, I guess it's situational... I've been in guilds where they do what you have suggested. i.e. raid starts at 9pm, everyone is on at 8:45. However with BoOBs... I guess it's a matter of changing your mindset to the fact that, raid gathers at 9pm, first pull starts at 9:15pm. Thus if you notice, most raiders will come on about 5 minutes before 9. I myself am normally earlier than that but it's something that I've gotten used to and the 9pm gather seems to work fine as long as we still end at a decent hour.

3. Regarding time between pulls, in BoOBS defence, I honestly think that we recover decently compared to a lot of other guilds out there. I've been in some guild runs of other guilds where it can take up to 20 minutes to start a fight! Lets not talk about my pug that took 2 hours before the first pull! In terms of healing assignments, we have Lokiy who always does the assignments and he's got an addon that lets him do it fast. Our heal assignments are normally done before we finish buffing for the next pull.

4. On the topic of 10 mans, I too would like to see 10 mans being organised, however I do understand the officers reasons for not organising 10 mans. Some of the reasons are:

a: Officers need a break - They too sometimes would like to do a raid without having to lead it. 10mans is their time to play and we need to give them that space so that they don't burn out.

b: We're a Semi Casual guild - if we start organising 10 mans, there are a lot of members who strive for a work life balance who don't want to feel that they HAVE to show up for 10 mans in addition to their 25 mans.

c: There's nothing that stops other guild members from running regular 10 man groups. I know you were starting one at some point and I think that it was great. Given a few more runs it would have become a regular thing. I think where you ran into issues (which is where I did too in the past) was that you couldn't get 10 people to sign up and attend regularly. This goes in line with the whole Semi Casual guild and whilst there are some of us that would like to raid more, most of our guild members are content with the 25 man raids and don't want to get tied down with set 10 man schedules.

I guess the best way to put it is that we are, after all, a semi casual guild. I believe that we have a bunch of highly skilled players, but that doesn't mean they have to play 24/7 like some of us do =). Anyways, take care and have a good time on the alliance side! If you still have some alts on the Horde side and are ever looking to run 10 mans, just let me know.

On another note, I'd like to start running people through old content on Saturday mornings when possible. If anyone is interested, I will tank on Saturday mornings for things like Ulduar 10 hardmodes, and TOGC10. However, do note that I wont "carry" anyone, thus if you want to come, make sure your skill level and gear are up for it. This means at least 5k DPS or the ability to churn out 5k HPS for a good 5 minute fight. Tanks that come need to be geared too. The reason for this is that these aren't gearing runs. They will be content completion runs thus we need the right group of people so that we actually can clear stuff and do it while having fun. If it's gear you need, running heroics and doing ICC10 would be the best way to gear up. Well that's it for my long winded post! Take care!

Argh, we lost rae, aloraen and khellus. Who is going to carry us through the ICC10 saturday midnight? :-(

Angel has pretty much answered the questions rae raised. I just have 1 suggestion on ICC10. Or 10s in general. We need tanks. Tanks that know what is going on and can carry us through, more or less. Most of the times, raid break b/c of tanks, not that they suck, but that any move from tanks will change the course of the fight.

I can tank! I just suck at raid leading! So if someone wants to raid lead I'll tank! I think Rubber does a decent job of raid leading... so we can still do the late night saturday ICC 10s.

I think the problem is that you don't have enough offspec tanks that want to tank. Right now your options would be Shiro, Moorage, Wuming, Shiftstorm, Nym, and Thrallbane. That's 6 tanks possible for 10 mans. That's enough tanks for 3 10 mans. I guess Nym and Myself can tank for 10s!

Oi! Scrubkentmoo is geared as, and Badsex is on the up!

@Raellene - Take care mate, it's always been a pleasure raiding with you

So long! It's been good having you guys around, and I hope things work out for you on the Alliance side, even as I wish unrelenting ill fortune (especially for WG) on the Alliance as a whole.

Thanks also for your suggestions. Such input is helpful and anyone who has suggestions or observations to share should always feel free to voice them at any time.

Regarding the specifics:

1. Different guilds refer to raid times differently. For BoObs, 9pm (GMT+ has always been the form-up time rather than first-pull time, and it works for many of our raiders who are working adults or have other RL responsibilities. We do however expect raiders to be online by that time and not start logging on 5 to 15 minutes later. Raid slots will tend to go to those who are punctual (subject to raid composition requirements) and in our view that is the best incentive for people to turn up on time rather than the imposition of a penalty.

As for a sign-up system, that is something that we have debated and ultimately considered to be most likely ineffective, as Angel has explained above.

2. Yes, this is something that can always be improved. At the same time, we strive to maintain a balance between smooth progression and maintaining a raid environment that is enjoyable and not unpleasant or harsh. We expect our raiders to be responsible and not waste the time of their guildmates, and when we lead raids, we try to keep things moving at a decent pace. Given that we run only 3 raids a week for 25-mans, we need to make good use of our raiding time.

3. I think enough has been said about 10-mans and the official guild stance is clear. For those with the time and interest, we certainly encourage it, and as Angel has pointed out, we do have a number of tanks (both mains and alts) who can help out.

While it is true that the gear and Emblems of Frost from ICC10 would help, they are not pre-requisites to making progress in our 25-man raids. Raid performance depends more on skill than gear, even though the latter plays a part, and so long as our raiders continue to perform well, knowing the fights and their roles and displaying situational awareness, we will continue to make progress.

Personally, I think that BoObs has done very well given our limited raiding days/time compared to most other 25-man guilds. Our progression in TBC and now in WotLK demonstrates that our semi-casual approach to raiding can and does work. We may not be server-leading in progression, but that has never been our goal. As it says in our charter: we aim to balance fun and progression, accepting that RL > WoW, and I believe that is why many of us consider BoObs to be our home in WoW. It may not work for everyone, but it works for us.

Rae,

Thanks for taking the time to write suggestions and comments to help us improve. Most outgoing guildmates who leave for another guild tend to just leave and forget about us entirely.

You bring up several points worthy of consideration and as such will be reviewed for what it's worth. Of course if we do adopt any of your suggestions, I realize you won't be around to benefit from it.

Nevertheless suffice it to say that I really do appreciate what you've written and am sad to see you go.

Thanks for everything and good luck with your new guild.

Thanks for being part of Boobs Rael! & thanks for having the initiative to organise & run 10 mans. (& allowing me to drag my lousy ass mage along.)

Thank you for your suggestions & I don't think I can add anything else to whatever's been mentioned above. =)

&! I HAVE gone apeshit on the raid. You just had me on mute. =P

Take care & all the best!

-emodin.