World of Warcraft®

Figuring out if there's interest Alliance-side in putting together a weekly Flex raid for Siege of Orgrimmar.

Necessities
1. Capabilities of listening (at least) to a voice chat client of some sort (type to be decided once we know we have enough interest to put together a stable Flex group). You don't have to talk, you just need to be able to listen.

2. Ability to commit to a particular night/time on a fairly regular basis. For me personally, weeknights after 6:00 (to about 9:00-9:30pm) or Sunday afternoons/evenings work best.

3. Gearing - From my point of view, if you're wearing at least a majority of items from LFR (or better) Throne of Thunder, you're fine. I don't want this to be a pissing contest. Expect to wipe: it's what progression raiding is. I'd personally prefer all gem slots are filled appropriately, and enchantments are nice, though I don't think they're absolutely required personally; you may believe differently, which is cool. The goal in this is to have fun, not foster an elitism-based mindset, however. This isn't a race to get a realm first, it's a steady progress; I fully expect most interested parties are likely to have completed Siege of Orgrimmar on LFR long before the group will have completed it on Flex.

4. Adequate knowledge of your class. This typically boils down to knowing what your abilities do, having a generally good idea of when to blow a cooldown, and understanding your primary stats and having those stats reflected appropriately in your gear.

5. Make fun your priority. Folks prone to getting upset after a couple (or four, or five...) wipes, raging in the chat client, etc. will quickly find themselves not being invited back the following week. The goal is to learn fights by doing them, not by requiring someone to memorize strategies from Wowhead or another third-party strategy site before ever setting foot in the instance. If you're a player who already enjoys doing that, great! You may just get nominated to guide the raid. ;) But it isn't a requirement; I personally fondly remember the days in Classic (and prior MMOs) where raiders learned a raid's strats by doing the bosses over and over til they worked out a strategy for themselves, not merely aping the strats from the top guilds in the world once an interview showed up on a site.

6. Loot distribution - It's Flex Raiding, which uses the same "personal loot" system that Looking For Raid uses. This means you winning something isn't depriving someone else of winning something; likewise, if you lose something, it doesn't mean someone else "won it from you". It means the system rolled, and your number didn't come up. Congratulations for those who win an item are encouraged; you can equip something you win if you like, but if you want to gem them, you're encouraged to bring the gems with you or hope there's a Jewelcrafter in the group who can cut a raw gem for you. I'd prefer not holding up the night's raiding window for folks to hop back to Stormwind to apply gems and enchantments to their new gear. The boost you get from gems and enchantments isn't likely to make/break the raid that night. :)

Post here if you're interested, and we'll try to set something up.

I'm not geared, but I can try to work towards it. I know some people in Pia would be very interested and the guild will help with enchants and gemming.

I would be interested in attending, assuming agreement could be reached on a couple of points.

First, I get preferential rolls on any desks we come across. Grant you, orcs are not known for their fine furniture but I still would like right of first refusal. This is non-negotiable unless someone's feelings would get hurt or you've got a really good argument or you distract me with Khromie. Otherwise it remains non-negotiable.

Second, I have developed, just this year, a most unusual allergy to red hats, particularly with polka dots or atop some, but not all, gnomes. *glances around to see if Derscha is nearby*

Third, we would need to work around my work schedule; I have a Very Important job in Ironforge and they Just CAN'T do without me. So I too could be available most days of the week after 6:30 (could possibly make one night at 6 if regularly scheduled), except Sunday when I would probably make 7pm.

As for gear, I will be looking for better pieces, wouldn't want to be out-dressed by another gnome in the raid, a sentiment I learned from my bestie, Khromie.

As for knowledge/prowess in meeting strange people in strange places in strange lands, while I prefer being the center of attention while the rest of the team works in the background, conversing diligently with those we meet to negotiate a settlement while my peeps shuffle all the paperwork, I have had little practice in practice. Though I would hazard a guess that I should be exceptional.

When I'm not the center of attention (which surprisingly is more often than not), I definitely leave shin bruises on those ignoring me - regrettably sometimes those of my own team too.

I eagerly await your invitation,
Spriggel Lockbolten
AAMS Office Manager, Ironforge

((OOC note: haven't tanked with Spriggel in any raid so not sure if I'd be up to it, but would love to learn. Been able to be not too embarassing in DPSing with her.))

A note to the AAMS headquarters, marked urgent by the abundance of glitter and stickers:

Dear Sprinkles,

Is it true you are raiding the fridge for the Mayo of Ermaghad? Take me with you! It's not fun to eat sammies alone!

XOXOXO
Khromie

[ I'll tank! ]

I wish I had Sprinkles' gift of gab! I laughed my !@# off (is that allowed here--I've never posted in the forum before). But to get to the point, you sound like people I'd love to get to know more and to do something with. I've been around since BC, but my old guild fell apart after Cata (joined Warcraftier as a social, so haven't raided with them), so I haven't done much raiding in Mists. I have nine 90s at this point but Penningtonia, my druid, and Wynnde, my monk, are my mains. I'm available any night of the week after 6:30pm (the later the better up until about 9pm since I'm on server time). I'm willing to be on standby. My gear is marginal, but I know what to do to make it better if there's a reason. i prefer Ventrilo since I know how to use it and it works for me, but I'm open to other options. I would love to meet new people and have some fun!

I would be up for joining in any nights but Sun/Mon, that is my guilds progression nights. We have pretty much been raiding a tier behind this xpac due to a late start and having troubles getting a full groups.

*bumps Spriggel out of the way and raises her hand*

I would be interested.

Keep 'em coming, folks; I'm going to be getting in touch with people in the next couple of days to figure out what we want to use for a voice client, and what night/time would work best for the majority of people.

*Tilts head toward Terra.

Ragefang, can I come even if I refuse to heal a certain draenei?

Dear Gondorin Ragefang,

I hear you're gathering a group together to kill a certain...uh...thing, if i've heard correctly it's a "Mayo of Ermaghad". And while I have entirely no clue what that is, I'm more than willing to lend my support to it's killing. Especially since there seem to be so many gnomes to hex also interested. Not that I would EVER EVER EVER consider hexing a poor little gnome. Never. Probably not. sometimes. maybe. probably. Yeah....

And no that frog is not a gnome. At least I don't think so....might be a goblin...not sure. There's just too many to keep track of these days.

Your's Frogly,
Belpha "The Hexing King" Lyron.

((OOC: While I think Belpha may be spoken for, at least some weeks, i've got a couple alts i'd be more than willing to lend to this. I think my most geared would probably be the monk (Windwalker mostly, but could learn Brewmaster if necessary), then i've got a hunter and a druid in varying stages of gearing up))

If you are in need of a shield and someone to take some hits I wouldn't mind lending a hand. I only have one condition. I refuse to protect Terra, she can go jump off a cliff for all I care. So if she comes you can count me out.

((Yes, believe it or not Terra is my main))

*Decides she likes Alkaia immensely.

Hmm... I'd like a chance to kill Garrosh.

((Maethi is doing Flex with IFBC so I can't go on him. However Ettin is still free :) So if you need a dps, I'll go. I'll try gearing my druid and priest in case you need a tank or a healer.))

I'm logging in tonight to do the first wing of SoO LFR, and will try to get in touch with folks after I'm done with that to see about setting up our first try. :)