January 22, 2010

Am I a Good Progression Raider?
I mentioned in my last post that our 10-man raid leader raged in vent recently. Well, at the same time, our guild officers have been expressing concern over our progression. We're still the #3 alliance guild on our server, based on 25-man progression, so I'm not sure concern is warranted, but...the fact that they're concerned has made me think. Am I a good progression raider?

Here's what I mean by that: As I said, we're #3 for alliance 25-man progression on our server. However, the other two guilds are much quicker to get down new content. The gap between us is noticeable, especially as each week goes by. I spoke to this in a previous post where I pondered why that was the case. Gear definitely helps, but I'm leaning toward believing it's skill that makes the difference in the end.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not wallowing in self criticism and pity. I know I am a good healer. But, I'm noticing that I'm not as quick to pick up strategies as my fellow raiders. I watch the videos, I read the strategy guides. But when I get to the encounter, I have a hard time executing the strategies -- at first.

Some of my fellow raiders are able to pick up immediately on everything that's going on around them. They see things flying in the air (e.g., light and dark orbs in the Twin Val'Kyr encounter, Malleable Goo in the Professor Putricide encounter, etc.). I am able to see and avoid these things eventually. But it takes me many times going through the encounter before I get to the point that I'm able to understand and react to it all. Reading and watching videos doesn't help. It's actual practice that works for me. Yes, I realize that that's pretty much true for everyone (except those incredible gifted players who get everything on the first try). But, my point is that I notice I need more practice than most of my fellow raiders.

They also seem to recognize each other in the midst of all the chaos. I honestly can't tell the difference between any toons except for shape-shifted druids. For example, I can distinguish Trees from the other toons around me. Paladins, not so much. And yet, various people say, "stand on me", "come to me", "move away from me". I recognize the voice, but unless you're a Tree or you have a distinguishing mark on your head, I honestly don't know where the frick you are. And yet others seem to see this quite easily.

I'll stop to remind myself that I have no doubt that once I have had a chance to experience an encounter enough times, I am excellent at executing strategy. I know I'm a good healer and I know I'm a good raider. I recognize that there are many people that, no matter how much they experience an encounter, they're just not good at it. I don't fall into that category.

With that in mind, I get back to my original question. Am I a good progression raider? When a progression guild, focused on keeping a top spot, goes into new content, they want to master it quickly and be the first to kill a new boss. In order to do this they need a team of quick learners. This is especially important with the current system of limiting the number of attempts you have each week. The #1 guild on our server killed Professor Putricide the first week, despite the 10 attempts limit. It's now the third week and we still haven't gotten him down. I'm confident we'll get him soon, which speaks to the overall skill of the members of my guild.

I know that my mistakes contribute to our lack of quick progress. Note, I said "contribute"; I do not take full blame. I recognize that I'm not the only one in the guild that is still having problems with strategy execution. Clearly, if I were the only person not mastering the strategy, we'd be fine.

I'm not sure what the outcome of all of this analysis is. I do recognize and accept I'm not as quick as many of my guild mates. For heaven's sake, I'm old enough to be the mother of most of them! I might not naturally have the quick reflexes they do, and it might also be due to the age difference. I do eventually pick up strategies and become excellent at them. But, would my guild progress faster if someone else had my spot (and the spot of the other raiders in my same situation) while going through progression content?

ICC 25 (Priest)
With all that said, last night was fun. We one-shotted both Festergut and Rotface and skipped Professor in favor of seeing new content. After 5 or 6 wipes we got the Princes down. That was a fun encounter. I definitely could improve my performance on it, but by the time we did our final attempt, I felt that I was getting good at it.