Matt’s Notebook: On the Brink, 7/8 Mythic

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Welcome to another week of turbulence, but some moderate progression!

  • Although we had a setback with our latest tank withdrawing their application, we were still able to continue. The nerfs to Nexus King helped put us over the top, and now we stand face to face with Dimensius (finally)! We got some great phase 1 pulls, and have started entering phase 2 a few times. Our flyers are getting used to their new routes since there are now six orbs to be collected instead of just three. We still have a high-priority need for a tank.
  • Last Call managed to get reclears in with Fractillus down, and we got Soul Hunters to an extremely impressive 19% on our first day, but it was hard to get back there. We just need to continue to work on our consistency. We’ve added a new Evoker healer to try out for us. Unfortunately, our recent tank here also had to withdraw due to scheduling issues with their work, so I’m back on the hunt. Why is it always tanks, man?
  • Legion Remix has been out for a week now. I ended up making a Druid but I kind of regret it. I should’ve made an Elemental Shaman instead since I was more familiar with it. I did end up clearing the story quests for the first four zones. Suramar itself is quite the slog. I forgot how dense that part of the game is, as it used to have story quests released weekly.
  • Outside of WoW, I’ve been back on the Diablo 4 spirit train playing a Spirit Born. Trying to work on getting the pieces to play Evade Spiritborn (soon).

Matt’s Notebook: One Step Backward, but Two Steps Up

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We finished off this week with some mixed progression.

  • In Death Jester’s, we did not secure the Nexus King kill as I hoped we would. With a few key DPS players out, we just couldn’t get through or over the top. This encounter really exposed some of the shortcomings that our team had from a personal awareness and responsibility standpoint. Our best was 12% remaining with a minute left towards the enrage and one of our star killers did not get to the right position which cost us the kill. The rest of the night was mired in various personal errors. It was a pretty disappointing night and we had hoped to kill it before the Hall of Fame nerfs arrived but it was too late. With the nerfs and some of our personnel back, we should be able to crush it quickly and move onto Dimensius this week. We committed two full days to Nexus King, so we didn’t get any reclear loot (although most of us did squeeze in a quick two-boss clear on Mythic).
  • Last Call played better this week with the reclear of Forgeweaver, and we secured a new progression kill with Fractillus down. I felt we could’ve killed it earlier, but it took us above average on pull counts (30 pulls compared to under 25). One of our healers is looking to take a step back, so I’m back out on the waiver wire looking for a free agent healer/DPS hybrid to add. Having a Holy/Ret Paladin, or a Preservation/Devastation Evoker would be the preference here. Come apply!
  • Legion Remix is out this week! I’m still undecided about what to play in Remix, but I’m leaning towards another Demon Hunter or potentially a Druid. I’ve got a low-level Demon Hunter somewhere, and that will set me up with the new spec coming out in Midnight, but I realized I don’t have any late-game leather wearers right now. I’m still on the fence here.
  • Datamined Midnight stuff has also revealed that Shadowlands Timewalking is coming soon! I am not looking forward to Spires of Ascension or Sanguine Depths.
  • Outside of WoW, I’ve been playing Diablo again. Season 10’s been enjoyable so far. I’m still leveling my Spiritborn. I think my goal with the game is to just finish the seasonal journey and get to max there before I say I’m done. I wish I could find some people to play Diablo with and party together on some of the endgame stuff especially late night once I wind down from WoW.
  • It’s going to be another busy week out there and we have a long maintenance today. Welcome to October!

How to Become a Top 10 Two-Night Guild

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I received a question during a recent trial interview.

“Hypothetically, if you wanted to grow the team and convert it into a top 10 two-night guild, what are some of the steps you would take? What does that road map look like?”

It’s a great question, and it caught me a little off guard. But here’s my honest answer:
If I really wanted to push this team into a top-10 two-night team, it would require commitment across the board. Not just from the players, but from me as the raid leader as well.

Here’s what that roadmap might actually look like.

Define the Goal with Precision

We’re not just saying “get better” or “rank higher.”
A top 10 two-night guild is already achieving Cutting Edge. They’re likely killing the final boss around top 150–200 worldwide. On a limited schedule, that’s a tall order.

This means defining success like:

  • CE within the first 6–8 weeks of a tier
  • No more than 1 sub-2% wipe per boss
  • Kill bosses within 50–70 pulls, not 120+
  • Finish ahead of reset-based nerfs

It’s an intense pace which brings me to the next point.

Raise the Floor, Not Just the Ceiling

You can’t build an elite team on the backs of just your best players. You do it by raising the minimum performance bar across the board. That means:

  • Execution mistakes are rare, not routine
  • Players are expected to own mechanics independently
  • Logs are reviewed weekly for accountability
  • Players can’t afford to fall behind on progression systems, M+ gearing, or knowledge

Every player has to be operating at or near the same wavelength. That’s hard to achieve if only a few are pulling the team forward.

Optimize the Roster

You need a roster of players who:

  • Are consistent, hungry, and coachable
  • Don’t need their hands held on every mechanic (just the really critical ones)
  • Can take constructive feedback and self-review
  • Bring value beyond damage (interrupts, CDs, utility)

That means being ruthless with cuts. Players who aren’t improving or matching the pace can’t stay, no matter how nice they are or how long they’ve been on the team.

More Support at the Top

Right now, leadership is basically just me and one other person.
If I want to scale us up, I need more lieutenants — experienced players who can:

  • Take ownership of healing or tank assignments
  • Do log reviews post-raid
  • Help with group compositions (left/right group splits, interrupts, cooldowns, and raid planning)

But it’s not just about adding people — it’s about clearly defining their roles. I can’t just say “I need help,” I need to say what I need help with and what authority they’ll have.

Build Systems, Not Just Raid Plans

At the top end, strategy alone doesn’t win bosses — systems do:

  • A repeatable planning template for each encounter
  • Pre-assigned cooldowns, debuffs, interrupts
  • Well-structured review and feedback loops
  • Roster depth to rotate people in without missing a beat

Most teams plan the fight.

The best teams plan the tier.

Time Management and Off-Night Investment

With only 6 hours of raid a week, everything around those hours matters more:

  • M+ for gear catch-up and trinkets
  • PTR testing or log analysis before a new fight
  • Video review of what’s coming up (for their own class)
  • Personal research or even custom WA tracking

This doesn’t mean mandatory off-nights — but if 5–6 people are doing nothing outside of raid, we fall behind.

Final Thoughts

I’m not chasing top 10 two-night status right now — but if I were, these are the first things I’d do. Death Jesters is already one of the top two night teams in the world (and we mean actual two night, none of this overtime at the start of the tier crap).

A roster of skilled players will only take you so far. You need discipline, structure, and a team culture that prioritizes growth, learning, and personal responsibility. It’s a climb, not a leap. That means making tough calls and sacrifices along the way.

But the roadmap exists. It’s just a matter of deciding whether the destination is worth the cost.

A Tale of Tanking Turmoil

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There’s something different about losing a tank, especially during progression.

DPS come and go. Healers rotate in and out. But when a tank leaves, it shakes the foundation of a raid team. And recently, both of my teams lost that critical foundation.

The Silent Goodbye in Death Jesters

Let’s start with Death Jesters. One of our longtime tanks, someone who anchored our lineup from Season 1 of this expansion all the way through to now, decided to step down.

It wasn’t entirely unexpected. He had hinted a few weeks prior that the skill gap in the team was starting to outpace him. We had already started looking for possible replacements, just in case. Then we finally killed Mythic Soul Hunters, pushing us to 6/8 Mythic, and shortly after that… he was gone.

He posted a long goodbye message in Discord and left. While there was an initial conversation about a potential role swap, it seemed like that was rescinded. No sticking around to contribute in a different way. Just… out.

I get it. Tanking at this level is pressure. Every mistake is magnified. Every movement matters. But it still sucked to see him peace out like that, especially after how far we’d come together.

The Overnight Exit in Last Call

Meanwhile, over in Last Call, things were just as messy, but for different reasons.

One of our tanks was frustrated. Frustrated with our DPS, frustrated with the wipe rate, frustrated with what he saw as underperformance across the board. That frustration boiled over in our post-raid discussion.

I wasn’t there for it. But from what I heard, another raid leader got into it with him and dropped something to the effect of, “If you don’t like it, you’re free to leave.”

That is not how I would’ve handled it. Not at all. I was in the middle of making something to eat because I don’t eat during raid.

I would’ve tried to de-escalate. Maybe said something like, “If you’re this upset, let’s take a week and transition you out properly. I’ll help you find a team that’s a better fit.” Instead, by the next morning, he was gone. No message. Just silence.

He had sent me logs from Loom’ithar trying to justify his performance, like being 5th overall on DPS, despite being a tank. But it didn’t mean much when our raid wasn’t alive entering that phase. Ranking doesn’t matter when over half your team is dead.

And yeah, I didn’t Vantus the boss that week. Maybe that would’ve helped us kill it earlier. Maybe not. But we did kill it the next week. And now we’re working on Fractillus.

In any case, losing him left a big hole, and the timing was awful.

Why Tank Losses Cut Deeper

Tanks aren’t just bodies. They’re the backbone.

There are only two of them in a raid. They work closely together, and that chemistry takes time to build. Good tanks anticipate each other’s movements. They coordinate cooldowns. They position for the raid. They set the tone of how the pull is going to go.

When you lose a tank, you’re not just filling a role. You’re rebuilding synergy.

And it’s not like replacing a DPS where you can post a recruiting message and get 10 responses. Quality tanks at the Cutting Edge level are rare. And they know it.

What To Do When a Tank Leaves

It sucks. But it’s not the end of the world. Here’s how I’m handling it now, and what I’d recommend:

  • Always be scouting. Even when your roster is full, keep feelers out. You never know when you’ll need someone.
  • Have early conversations. If someone seems off or expresses doubts, talk to them. Don’t let it fester.
  • De-escalate instead of confront. Tensions happen. But leadership means diffusing, not igniting.
  • Offer transitions, not ultimatums. “Let’s find a better fit” works better than “Then leave.”
  • Cross-train players. Having a flex DPS who can tank in emergencies is worth its weight in gold.

Looking Ahead

In Death Jesters, we managed to have a replacement lined up. A tank from our Shadowlands era was ready to step in.

In Last Call, we’re temporarily playing with a tank from our Liberation of Undermine run. He’s stepping in for the next few weeks, but he’ll be out of the country after that. I did have a few promising tank applications, and we’ve selected one. The guy raids on a weekday team that’s roughly on the same level of progression as we are, so he’ll have twice the amount of reps.

Progression slows without a stable tank lineup, but we’ve been able to find some improvements in that tank spot right now.

Closing Thoughts

People come and go in this game. That’s just the nature of it. But tanks?

Tanks are different.

They’re the heartbeat of your raid. And when one walks away (whether it’s due to burnout, frustration, or just needing a change) you feel it.

If you’re a raid leader reading this, my advice is simple: build a deep bench, check in often, and never assume silence means everything’s fine.

Got to be ready if a key personnel changes their mind or life comes crashing down and affects availability.

Matt’s Notebook: We Hit the Enrage

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Goodbye September, and hello October! The rainy season is kicking in, and Pumpkin Spice season is back (ugh). Let’s get to it!

  • Death Jesters managed to hit the enrage on Nexus King a few times. It means we’ve seen that whole fight from end to end, and now we just have to clean up our damage a bit more to power through it with more people alive. Our plan this weekend is to skip right to Nexus King at the end since we have that available to us. After that, we can backtrack and clean up the rest of the earlier bosses.
  • Over in Last Call, we finally shut down the Forgeweaver and moved on to Fractillus. Came close a few times, but we ran out of time here.
  • We did recruit some new tanks in both teams, and after the first week, they both have been promising and seem to be fitting in. I’d almost dare to say they both have been net upgrades over the previous tanks we had. Let’s hope it holds true through the rest of the tier. This also means our recruiting is now back to a passive level. While we’re not looking to replace anyone yet, it’s always a good habit to keep the doors open to any talented players that come knocking. We’re not going to look at project players or re-roll players. We want people who can make an impact right away and be inserted into the lineup without any gear development (or investment). In Last Call, more than anything, I’m still looking for that elusive DPS and healer hybrid.
  • It’s going to be a busy WoW month between Legion Remix soon and the Midnight Alpha debuting. The Steam sale has recently opened up and my backlog of games is still going to grow. I ended up buying Borderlands 4 when it came out and am slowly working through that, but I also really need to finish FF7 remake (I’m on chapter 17, near the end, and I’m so close to finishing).
  • I’ve already had to start work on Soul Hunters since I know we have a good chance of getting Fractillus down.