I <3 Raiding - A Jacemora status update

So Aetherial Circle stopped raiding.

It is summer, every guild is having it's woes. Some work through it others decide to take a break.

I like Raiding. It takes a certain focus and playstyle that is enjoyable to me and helps me relax and shelf some of the daily events that might weigh on my mind.

So I departed from AC looking for a guild currently raiding Hyjal and Black Temple, the content I was currently on.

So, a quick look at the guild progression at Arctic Wrath and we can see where I need to apply. Now I need to go to a social raiding guild. A hardcore guild would work for me if I was still in my 20's, had no kids or wife, and wanted to finish current content to start playing another game until WotLK... but I am married, have 2 kids, and I need to be with people that understand RL > WOW at any given moment. If my daughter wakes up puking in the middle of a raid I need people that would understand that I need to go (has happened). So lets take a look...

1. The Mourning - I know people there that I like (Lefaye and Bela) but they are hardcore and expect attendance 4 nights a week. The warden gives me 2, I can sometimes sneak in 3, promising 4 is a no go.
2. Identified as Trouble - I don't know anyone there, don't know much about them, another hardcore group so it doesn't matter anyway.
3. Insurrection - Same as above
4. Dsylxeic - A bunch of previous AC'ers went here and I probably know more people here than any other guild outside of AC even a player I was officers with in our first guild ever... but WAY too Hardcore.
5. Arctic Wrath - Some more people from AC migrated here as well, Social raiding guild, awesome website, from what I hear great people, lots of fun, my favorite raid start time in the game (9pm). No Feral Druid openings.
6. Age of Redemption - I know someone that went here from AC, nice guy. Another Hardcore guild so no go.
7. Homeless - Great people from past experience, don't know anyone there however.
8. Aetherial Circle - :( Not raiding anymore. People did not seem interested in trying to rebuild after our MT decided to take a break, people on Vacation, people leaving, ETC. I still play with most of these people however when on my Horde hunter in the guild Teh Moo and I hope to get her to 70 soon for some horde guild Kara runs.
9. No Vacancy - 2 people that were also officers in my first guild that I leveled to 70 with are here but I didn't get any feedback from my application and they seemed to drag their feet talking to me in game or through Unlcecrush. I get to play with Uncle and Syn with my Lock in their guild Simplicity so it was fine.
10. Fallen - Don't know anyone there or anything about them.
11. Knight Watch - Hathorn is in this guild and was the person to recruit me to AC. I mentioned the handful of guilds I was looking at and he felt I would fit in with the people at Knight Watch. Our Prot pally Mili had already gone to them with his Resto Shammy and a couple other AC'ers are there as well. I filled out an application and was able to start raiding with them.

So that's it. I am currently a raider with Knight Watch. I went to SSC Sunday night. This was actually a good thing to do to warm up after 3-4 weeks of not raiding. I had UI issues to fix after changing things for arena. I had to get back into a rhythm of DPS and tanking rotations. I had to fix my itemrack after a crash a couple days after raiding ended at AC. After my raiding break it really took me 2 nights of raiding to get back into feeling comfotable.

SSC was fine but night 2 was BT and I am trying to make sure I don't do anything stupid to look bad as a new recruit wanting to be part of the raiding team. I focused on staying alive and had to adjust to Knight Watch positioning, kill order, and strategy. This gimped my DPS which was a bummer but at least I didn't wipe the raid or screw anything up. They also had me Healing the MT in an off healing role on Naj, 1 of 4 tanks on Supremus, and my DPS on Shade of Akama looked kinda crappy but I had never done that fight and was following the melee class leader as to what to attack next. Night 3 was much improved, my DPS rotation was getting cleaner and I sorted out some of my UI issues although they move so fast I still need to move some bars and what not from blocking my combo counter. I was hitting about 1550DPS on Teron which made me feel a lot better. I got to kill some constructs as a ghost which was not as hard as I thought it would be. I spam 4 in cat form right before I die which does nothing since I have no target until I die where it promptly chains all the constructs from moving so I can back up a little facing them and start mashing my macro for Spirit Lance. I believe I killed 3 before 1 got into the raid where I ran in after it and used the volley to finish it off and hurt a couple others that had gotten through. We didn't down him last night but the experience for all these new players will pay off without a doubt.

During the run I was promoted from Recruit to Raider. WOOT! DING!

I am really liking my new home away from home. I definately appreciate all the things I learned from AC and I am glad I am still playing with these people on the horde side but for now it looks like KW is the place for me. Everyone is really nice, they take their raiding seriously, it goes smoothly with very few interruptions, and it sounds like they have their RL > WOW priorities straight as any social guild should. As long as they bring me along for a Hyjal or BT raid every now and again I will be a happy camper.