Herding Kingslayers

HerdingKingslayers

I regret to announce that my planned post for today has to be put back to a later date.

Why?

Herding Cats and friends downed Lich King 10 last night. OK, the post title was a bit of a giveaway.

Excuse me a second.

w0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000t!

Β 

I’m really happy. And really proud of my group. And really excited that we got it. And really, that’s a lot of reallys. Why? Well, any guild leader or raid leader is proud when their group achieves what they set out to do. But I’m particularly fond of my group and I hope you don’t mind me rambling like a proud parent today but it’s true: we’re not your Usual Suspects, and it goes to prove that you can achieve it no matter your setup.

For one thing we’re a casual guild. We only raid one to two nights a week – Sunday and every other Wednesday.

We’re also not a full ‘guild’ – Herding Cats started off raiding as a real life 5 man of friends filling the spots with PUGs. We went hunting for friendly and mature instead of imbah skilled players. We ended up with a network of people to work with – and a core 10 which melded together as a single unit. Herding Cats became Herding Cats and Friends.

We’ve never all been on voice comms. Some of us play in the same room, adding one or two over skype. The rset of the communication has been achieved through everyone working towards clear text communication.

And, like any raiding group, we’ve had our share of drama. We all found it stressful at points, there were clashes and strains. Heck, it was just two weeks ago while we were learning the Lich King fight that one of our Herd Friends suddenly dropped news that he was going to another guild.

Through all that – we achieved – and I’m proud of us. The line up:

Ulram (bear tank) – managed to overcome finding tanking really stressful to do a perfect job with crazy amounts going on – including finding the time to do extra hybrid crazystuff. Also came up with some cunning tactics including the last piece of the puzzle which got us through Vile Spirits to victory. Can put more varied inflections into the word “arse” than anyone else we know.

Ekatrina (paladin tank) – and dedicated co-raid leader. Took to tanking like a foodie to the Fat Duck. Never made the same mistake twice; often didn’t make the same mistake once. Always knew where the fack to stand and tough enough to calmly eat Soul Reapers for breakfast in strict 10 man gear. Came up with the very practical (and immensely satisfying) idea of making us practice the Defile Dance with Tirion Fordring playing the role of Arthas.

Pitil (discy priest) –Β  started out a tad unconfident months ago: ended up as the healer performing the most complex and versatile role in LK fight – and professionally so. Also, our raid’s provisioner of cupcakes/vital provisions.

Gorgakh (resto shaman) – rock solid. Always totally reliable and consummately calm, which in healers are nigh-godlike qualities. Even when he had a kitten attacking his foot.

Thrakha (Fury warrior) – example of what someone *can* do if they really work to be the best. And inspired that in others too, keeping the tanks sharp πŸ˜‰ Currently to the best of my knowledge raiding with three different guilds at once, with corresponding numbers of fish feasts.

Urkra (Unholy DK) – went from being very unconfident as a wow player to topping our DPS meters and rarely making mistakes and keeping an open mind on play improvement and new tactics. Achieved all that on a non-official Hardmode: completing half of the bosses unable to talk on skype due to playing in the same room as his wife watching X-Factor.

Nergalian (enhancement shaman) – Sharpest reactions of everyone despite a slightly different style of playing – and despite the kitten Conan, slayer of raids. Her bouncy multi-cultural pop music and fish feasts also kept us all going up on the Throne.

Karkass (destro lock)always cheerful and positive, which is a raid-saver at times. Also, always willing to be flexible on filling different roles, which in turn helped keep us all sane. Karkass’ brainwave of teleporting back from the Valkyr was also something of a lifesaver. Overall: Karkass the Lifesaver.

Simbaria (survival hunter) – having missed most of ICC, he joined us at the last minute and picked the LK tactics up immediately and flawlessly. Impressive.

(Ahem, I’ve been instructed to put this in by Kat):
Mimetir, aka Apeorsa, figured out every fight mechanic first time, bent the needle on the healing meter, pushed through raidleading challenges from a vanishing raid member to general stress levels, and NEVER STOOD IN DEFILE. Seriously, not once.

So what now? A break from raid leading – just a couple of weeks to chill. Then in a couple of weeks we’re all meeting up for a Herd Moot/guild meet, and we’ll look to our next goal then, probably with the help of copious amounts of ale.

This is an article by Mimetir, an owl (and resto shaman) of a raid leader on The Venture Co. (EU) You can find my twitter feed here.

10 thoughts on “Herding Kingslayers”

  1. Congrats on the kill guys. Fight is not easy using voice comm, and I wouldn’t want to imagine what its like using text chat. Enjoy you herd meet

    Reply
  2. First off, grats on the kill! It takes some serious dedication to Kingslayer a group πŸ™‚
    I’m a co-leader on Kel’Thuzad-US, we started a guild 2 weeks ago, and was hoping you could answer a question. We also raid 2 nights a week, with a core team that doesn’t fully have 100% raid attendance. I aim to over recruit for such situations. Anyways, how long did you guys take to progress to LK? Do you extend lockouts or go for the emblems? I’m looking for ideas on how to get my group what they want. For the most part, we’re a mature and understanding group, but when a progression night gets cancelled due to low attendance, it’s disheartening. Starting a guild so late in the expansion is tough. Looking for some ideas, thanks in advance! πŸ™‚

    Reply
  3. Thanks for the congrats folks! Appreciated πŸ˜€

    @Legendary – first off, congrats on starting out on such an epic journey. Keeping things going with two nights a week and fluid team takes some work and dedication, so good luck.

    I was thinking of doing a post next week about my group’s setup and how we’ve matured as a group over time. I’ll address all of your questions in that – and am happy to do so πŸ˜€ Iffen you’d like any pointers before hand, feel free to prod me anytime.

    Reply
  4. Grats on the win!!

    This gives me hope for our casual guild trying our hands (feet and everything else) at Icecrown. I restarted my account for that battle and can’t wait to take a shot at defeating Arthas.

    Reply
  5. Thanks for the info Mim! As for my ‘inquiries’, could you reach me @ y_yankov@hotmail.com. Sorry if I’m invading your privacy this way, but I’d appreciate the help. A guild run is scheduled for Fri/Sat and I’d like to hear your opinion on some things. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  6. Just to add to this – the raid leading of The Cats is absolutely amazing!
    Never was there a “what’s going on?” problem, and the tactics spam was a very unifying factor, we were all on the same page.
    The Cats’ spam system is a feature that should be expected from future versions of Deadly Boss Mods and such really! πŸ˜€

    I myself found progressing in this strict but friendly group not just in terms of knowing my way through ICC; but as a raider all over. Even as a player generally. The atmosphere could and should be described as family-like, with people understanding one’s mistakes and backing you up through hardships, firmly but gently.

    I have no idea how my free-spirited “EEK EEK DO SOMETHING!” Nergalian appeared to the Cats at the beginning of raiding – I think I still am that weird little troll who seems to wonder here and there all the time, with the habit of playing safe more than DPS’ing at 100% – but I can’t be but grateful for the Cats having me along on this wondrous journey through ice and sleet!

    Reply
  7. Thanks, Nerg!

    I’ll be releasing RaidSpam as a proper addon very soon – thanks, you’ve reminded me.

    (RaidSpam: our tactics addon. Allows you to give pre-prepared tactics in raid quickly and easily.)

    Reply
  8. @Timejumper – best of luck! It’s a long haul, but worth it πŸ™‚ let us know how it goes!

    @Vixsin – thanks Vix πŸ˜€

    @Nerg – Thanks – gah, making us blush now =) And thanks for joining us through the Epix journey – may there be more from the Moot!

    Reply

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