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End of instance speech (edited by neidral (Not letting you take the credit for the post nicke!))
Well a double wall'o'text is needed here, due to it not only being an end of instance kill but also end of expansion! Although I doubt that we will see MoP till very late this year, I do think we will see some RS style instance being introduced at some point.
(p.s. kaiah I hope you find this wall'o'text better, since you didnt like my raggy hc one so much).
So onto my thoughts on how this expansion shaped up for us and the finally how dragonsoul went. In the first tier of cata, the guild went through some massive changes. From having a very strong line up pre-expansion, to coming into the first instances with a whole new core (virtually), but thats usually how it goes from expansion to expansion. The most important thing in a guild are those group of players (call it the ultra-core?) who maybe manage or have offered rock solid preformance/etc for a super long time, the foundation stones so to say. What happened at the end of T11 was pretty game changing for Flare, we lost two pretty big "foundation stones". The guild leader Beatriks (founded the guild back all those years ago too) ended up having to quit the game, as did another officer (kaiah/thain).
Up until when Bea started his new job (and even after that point) Flare as a guild revolved around him. And throughout my own personal time playing this game (5 years +), and throughout other areas in my life, I'v never seen anyone ever come close to doing a better job of managing a large group of players than he did.
So what happened is in effect I end up running the show now, guild leadership wise. With my other officers having to take a pretty big step up in terms of responsibilities. We were left going into Firelands with a pretty slim setup ranged dps wise (even after grabbing some amazing recruits from Bad Omen). I think we were looking at 30-31 raiders two nights before Firelands hit. However we managed to grab two players (swanny and dela, sick players too!) the day before bringing us up to a bit more "healthy" numbers.
Firelands was a good instance, ok sure the middle part could of been a bit "longer" and Raggy a bit "shorter". But it was a decent instance, with some interesting fights. As for Flare in terms of progresion, we finished 60th 25 man. Considering the changes the guild went through not long before it was a really strong ranking for us (one of our highest finishes), and I was really proud of what we had accomplished. Although some will say the raggy kill could of come quicker, we did struggle a little bit with morale toward the end. Pre-dragon soul release we again went through some roster changes. With some players leaving 25 man raiding moving to 10 man raiding. Overall we have been fortunate enough to pick up some insane skilled players recently, and a lot of people that fit in the guild really really well (which is the most important thing in my eyes).
We had a terrible terrible start, getting caught up in the LFR ban wave (for just doing it once), ending up only killing morchok in the first week of heroics. However shitty it was to do or how justified (or not justified depending on point of view) banning people, it still sucked. In hindsight it was just stupit to do and something I will think back on with regret for quite some time. Then well the rest is just the usual story. We had quite some work to do, to make up for the bans, but managed to catch up to our competition by the end of Ultraxion. Spine itself presented a really novel problem for us. Without using offspecs/alts we simply just didnt have a good enough setup (Especially when progressing for the first couple of weeks) to push the DPS needed.
I'v never ever been a fan of using alts/offspecs unless its that or dont raid/kill the boss. Never in my time raiding, have I had to bench so many core players just because their class. Sure sometimes it happens (especially with healers). But realistically I think this was the first time throught my time playing (t4 > sunwell + all of wotk) that I'v had to sit entire classes (hunters). Its not fun for the guild, its not fun for the players having to have them play on random mage alts and other peoples mages/etc. Naturally I'm talking about spine. Spine went quite ok (for such a boring fight) we got it pre-massive nerf, which is what matters.
I think I should dedicate a paragraph or two at this point to talk about the overall state of 25 man raiding, since I do think its a pretty massive topic. As a 25 man guild its become harder and harder each tier to keep up with. The sheer logistics of it all, fights like raggy where you needed a lot of ranged (14 we used, when we had 14 total), we were lucky to have 3 hunters and 3 locks at that point. Spine needing insane stacked burst DPS. There is a reason why 10 man is far far far more popular now, there is just no added benefit of staying 25 man. Frankly aside from t11, all the other instances have been easier on 10 man (or at least the fights that mattered; raggy + spine + Ultraxion to name a few). You get the same achivements, the same loot for a fraction of the stress. I understand that as a 10 man guild if you require a SUPER stacked comp, its harder to put out. You need by nature then a lot of alts. But what happened after t11 is; the fights that are insane tuned dps wise on 25, ended up translating to something not quite so tightly tuned on 10 man. Basically its not possible to balance the two formats and they should once again have more of a separation between the two.
I have no issues with loot being the same between the two, thats a good thing. But right now it feels Blizzard are trying to compare apples to oranges (10 vs 25), and just going "o well whatever they are just all the samething, its fruit... right?!" < Talking about realm firsts achievements here. I fail to see how its even plausible to have shared 25 and 10 achievements, when they are just so different.
Encounter wise in this expansion, t11 was ok (too long though). Firelands needed one harder boss in the first 6, and for raggy to be a little less demanding in some areas (not much just a bit). Dragon souls encounters, the first 5 were good. Hagara could of been a really cool encounter but turned out too easy on 25 man. Gunship was as "fun" as standing on a boat hitting adds running away from fire can be (not very fun at all).
Then we get onto spine and madness. The single biggest let downs in computer gaming history. Spine could of and should of been a super cool, entertaining fight. But no, it was stand on one platform do the samething over and over and over, with more adds each time. A stupid encounter only limiting by the fact they thought it a good idea to slap redic HP on each tendon. That should of been a master peice of an encounter, but it turned out just to be one of the worst end bosses you could imagine. Well next to maddness that is, 34 ish Pull's before it died, utter stupidity. Putting a cock block in (tendons), then have a boss like madness. I dunno it just leaves a bitter taste. Those two encounters should of been the pinnacle of raiding. Illidan, M'uru/Kil'Jaden, Lich King and then Deathwing... Its just not even close. Which is a shame. Dragon soul was a rushed instance to keep up with Star Wars.
Onto the last part!
The only saving grace of this tier for me personally is the Flares community. Sure we have our ups and down (sometimes more downs recently u noobs!). However its what makes this game great. Not the instances, just the community. It makes all the general crap that goes along with playing a video game 5 nights a week worth it.
And now I must list some names of those to thank for bringing all this together once again for another expansion. I would list all of you guys one by one, since your all my special little snowflakes in some way (gay time), but I'm sure this post is long enough by now.
Castnicke;
Nicke gets a lot of stick. Hes the "nasty" guy in the management team. The one that lets you know when your being shit and bad. By nature people get angry when someone is shouting at them. But I can tell you now, in a guild like Flare, you DO need someone who has this role. It wouldnt work otherwise. Hes our raid leader, he organizes a LOT of stuff day to day and hes done an awesome job this expansion. I have no doubt in saying we would of not finished Firelands or dragonsouls so strongly if it wasnt for him. Regardless of if people "love to hate" him when he shouts a lot, hes done an amazing job.
Zoyt/Ath/Izuck
My "role leaders" (i.e. manage melee/ranged/healers). Again you guys have done an awesome job, you put up with a STUPID amount of general crap. Whine from me, whine from nicke, whine from the raiders, dealing with trails, recruitment and helping in raids. You guys have done an awesome job, and I'm proud to call you my officers. Thanks for all the time and effort you guys have put in so far.
All the raiders and trials. Well this is an easy one, we wouldnt have a guild without you guys. Your all exceptionally great players, who make each and every day errrr....erm entertaining to say the least! I'm glad each and everyone of you chose flare (ok except u vertax u should of gone to some world 1000th guild or something, sorry bro <3).
All the oldies of past! One of the reasons that why Flare in my eyes is unique is that we still have people who quit "flare" yeeeeeeeeeears ago, still active in the community, still taking part in various stuffs RL meetings, being on vent talking on forums and etc. Its a great aspect of Flare and something each and everyone of us should be immensely proud of. It means a lot to myself and bea, having everything united under one name has always been mine and Bea's goal, and I personally super happy the starwars side of flare is also having a good time and that is all "taking off" so to say.
The last person I want to mention is Bea. Although I already said a bit about you, I'll keep it brief. If I turned out to be even 1/4 the guild master you did, I would be happy. You were a hard act to follow. P.s. thanks for giving me a shot when I joined in ulduar as a DPS DK who did less dps than a tank! <3
Thanks for reading (if you did read it all!) Sorry its a bit all over the place but yer its a proud moment for me and I tried getting everything possible in there, but probably just ended up making the post unreadable! :(
Josh/Neidral. (Formally Akuun....Fishzors...Qitarah, since all of you just all call me different things anyways!)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us After a short few raids we finally got down Soa Hard down. Definately the most challenging encounter we have had so far in SWTOR, its honestly harder than anything in nightmare, except soa himself.
On to Soa 8-man Nightmare, and on to 16-man hards! Both looking forward to it and NOT looking forward to how hard it will be :p
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