Game On for Midnight

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That was an incredibly busy set of weeks between the final grind, early access, and pre-season. Starting tomorrow, raids will open, and we’re back at it once more. How are things looking as a whole for the raid teams?

  • Death Jesters is in a solid position. We’ve essentially rolled over our entire roster from the end of last season and haven’t picked up anyone new during the offseason. I’m playing Elemental Shaman this go around but I’ll still have my Priests as a backup just in case.
  • Last Call took a little bit more work. Our offseason netted us an astonishing 9 new players. Some are a mix of raiding veterans, and others looking to make the jump from AotC into Mythic. The standard level and preparation required is going to be much higher than what they’re used to, so I hope they don’t get overwhelmed.

What else have I been up to since early access? It’s been a bit of a whirlwind. I spent the first few days just levelling my characters. I maxed out two shamans, two priests, and a mage. After that, I started investing my time into professions. Not doing as many tailoring things since I’m not actively maining my Priests this season, but more of a focus on alchemy for potions and cauldrons. I’ve cleared out all of the m0s, world events, and Prey events.

For the most part, I’ve enjoyed the zones. I’m digging the new Eversong Woods. It’s quite bright, cheery, and optimistic with some hint of dark side void magic stuff going on. To be expected! Zul’aman is a great revisit, and it expands upon the raid zone from back in Burning Crusade. Haranir is a fun visit although I keep flying into roots which is quite annoying. You’d think it wouldn’t be as much of a problem within the planet itself. Voidstorm is just okay and I think it’s because it reminds me too much of K’aresh which we just finished the previous expansion on.

Let’s talk about the new world events.

  • Prey system: Fantastic! Love this addition. It gives me another reason to go out and farm herbs or ore. I like the additional difficulty and challenge to the game just for doing world quests or other stuff out in the world and getting rewarded for it accordingly.
  • Saltheril’s Soiree: A world quest hub with weekly quests to participate in, culminating in a defend-the-runestone type event? Yeah, I can handle that. The quests are diverse, and I don’t mind helping the different subfactions with the eventual aim of buying all their decor anyway.
  • Legends of the Haranir: This is another straight forward set of weekly quests, and you do learn a bit more background lore information. This one isn’t too bad either.
  • Stormarion Assault: I like the addition of this tower defense event. It needs a bit of tweaking, but I can’t say what or why, but it could use a bit more iteration. I try to play away from the middle (or just outside the circle) while harassing inbound enemies.
  • Abundance: The worst of them all. It’s already been nerfed multiple times, and it no longer feels fun to participate in. I was lucky enough to be able afford some epic tools. This event feels like a chore when I’m participating in it.

All in all, the world events for this expansion were just okay. They weren’t as fun to participate in compared to the Feast weekly or the Theatre troop weekly. Raids are opening up this week even though it’s just normal and heroics! Can’t wait!

Last Call: Where We Fell Short This Tier

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Last week, we made the call to end our season early in Last Call.

We did not close out the tier. We did not secure Cutting Edge. And while there were a lot of contributing factors, the responsibility ultimately sits with me.

This wasn’t a single-point failure. It was death by a thousand cuts over the course of the tier.

The Reality of the Season

Over the span of this tier alone, we cycled through five different tanks.

That level of instability at the most foundational role in the raid is incredibly difficult to overcome. Tanks set positioning, pace, and confidence. Every time that role changes, the entire raid has to adjust. We never really got to stop and build sustained momentum.

On top of that, one of our principal healers disappeared mid-season and never logged back in. There was no message or explanation. Just gone. I genuinely hope she’s okay, but from a raid standpoint, losing a core healer like that leaves a massive gap that isn’t easily replaced.

We also ran into a problem that quietly compounded everything else. Attrition eroded our roster depth.

By the final points of the tier, we were running on razor-thin margins. We did try to recruit reinforcements, but the reality was harsh. The players applying simply weren’t at the same experience level as where the team had already progressed to. Bringing them in would have meant significant reprog just to get them caught up.

That put me in a tough spot.

Do we reset and relearn fights with new players, knowing we’re already late in the tier?
Or do we roll the dice with the roster we have and push forward?

I chose the latter. And while that kept our progress intact, it also meant there was no slack. If even one person couldn’t make raid, we were at risk of not raiding at all. There was no bench. No buffer. No margin for error.

For about eight weeks (after Thanksgiving), we dealt with roster inconsistency and constant relearning. I had to set different lineups. I had to adjust assignments. I had to set different expectations. Instead of refining execution, we were constantly stabilizing just enough to keep going.

But yeah, that’s not how Cutting Edge teams succeed.

What We Still Accomplished

Despite all of that, I’m still proud of what this team did.

In our first expansion together:

  • Tier 1: 7/8 Mythic (Nerub’ar Palace)
  • Tier 2: 8/8 Mythic (Liberation of Undermine)
  • Tier 3: 7/8 Mythic (Manaforge Omega)

That’s not nothing. For a team that came together at the start of the expansion and spent much of it fighting roster instability, it shows there’s real capability here.

But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. In Mythic raiding, close just means unfinished.

Where I Fell Short as a Leader

I underestimated how much instability we could absorb and still push at a CE pace.

I tried to patch holes instead of doing a more deliberate rebuild sooner. I spent too much time reacting and not enough time forcing a reset when it became clear the margins were disappearing. And while the strategy work and planning were there, the lack of roster depth meant we were always one absence away from a lost night.

That’s on me.

What Comes Next

Now comes the rebuild.

We need:

  • A stable tank to carry into the next expansion
  • More healing depth
  • Additional DPS consistency
  • And ideally, more leadership support, so decisions and responsibilities aren’t concentrated on just one or two people

Roster depth isn’t a luxury. It’s a requirement. Without it, every night becomes fragile, and progression turns into survival.

Looking Ahead

Last Call didn’t get CE this tier. That stings. But it doesn’t define the team.

What it did do was clarify exactly what needs to change and what cannot happen again. The lessons from this season are going to shape how this team is built going into the next expansion.

If you’re a player looking for a new raid home, especially someone who values structure, accountability, and stability, come check us out. This team is being rebuilt with intention.

We’re Back!

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I trust everyone had a restful holiday. I’ve been tied up and busy over the past month and change. Between housing that’s come out, Battlefield 6, and other obligations, I took a bit of a step back from posting. With things settling down, I can get back to some degree of regularity. The list of things I want to touch on is growing astronomically.

With housing, I went nuts on it during the first two weeks, just collecting and unlocking as much decor as I could. But since I never really did a bunch of the Horde stuff in BfA or in Warlords for Draenor, I went through those to try to unlock everything that was gated behind some of those quests. I did manage to finish most of the Remix housing decor items. The last few things I need are from leveling the various Class Hall features or recruiting 20 people. I have a few remaining classes on Legion (Druid and Warlock), but the rest of the classes have been shipped over to retail servers.

On the beta side of things, I haven’t spent as much time there as I wanted to. The UI stuff is still in flux and it’s challenging to play until I find something that works best for me. It’s slowly getting there with all of these beta UI packages being released. A few of the players in the guild have been giving Quazii’s a shot, and it looks promising. For players like me with multiple alts, Hekili’s removal means another assisted highlight solution. I did run into this one on the ol’ WoWUI subreddit called Cooldown Manager Centered.

How have things been going in the raid?

  • Death Jesters: We’re in our offseason. Everyone on the team has received their mounts and we’re underway in selling mounts. End of tier exit interviews have been conducted and we went over our raider surveys with everyone.
  • Last Call: Not as rosy. Our roster depth has plummeted, and we have exactly 21 players left. We don’t have any Mages. Our Holy Priest has disappeared. It’s going to be a tough stretch in getting Dimensius down. After 300+ pulls, we’ve only seen phase 3 once with a small handful of players alive. We went through something like six straight weeks where we did not have a consistent 20 players in the lineup, so every week I had to make adjustments, and that didn’t lead to the continuity or consistency that this fight demands. Doesn’t help that this stretch of the season also coincided with the holidays. Prepatch comes out in about a week, and I fear we won’t be able to get it down by then. We have around 9 hours of raid time left. It’s growing weary since we keep failing to make simple mistakes of brainfarts on phase 1, which prevents us from making meaningful progression later. This fight has exposed my ability (or inability) to make adjustments when it comes to cooldown usage assignments. We’re going to try to save a few two-minute CDs for the Pargoth platform and use the gateway for that first crossover (instead of the second). We’re recruiting for healers, a tank (for Midnight), a Mage, and other non-Hunter DPS. Here’s our application form.

Aside from that, most of my remaining time has been spent playing Battlefield 6, Two Point Museum, and Hearthstone. I’m almost done with the battle passes in both games. I’ve also just about finished the Diablo 4 season journey. I took my Paladin up to Paragon 250 and cleared a few Pit 100s, which usually marks the time where I can comfortably wrap up the season there.

Matt’s Notebook: Nexus King Cleared Again!

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We’re starting to enter the holiday stretch! This means roster depth starts becoming a big factor here.

  • Last Call clears Nexus King after 213 pulls. That’s pretty good considering there’s a large number of raid teams that have logged over 300 pulls.
  • Dimensius work has started now, and we’re all trying to get accustomed to phase 1. Those knock-backs are much larger than we’re used to.
  • We have a roster opening for some range DPS and another mage, as one of our previous ones decided to leave. No great loss there. Zero accountability and awareness, and I was already planning to part ways with them prior to Midnight. I was hoping to get Nexus King down for him at least, but he chose to leave on the first night. We ended up killing Nexus King on the second night.
  • Death Jesters reclears Dimensius again. Now we’re in our offseason and starting to retool our roster. We’re continuing to look for a long-term tank to help get us through farm and beyond into Midnight.
  • More importantly, got my first win in Battlefield: Redsec! Scored a second win again last night! It’s hard to find a regular squad to play with. I’ve found these dad gamer discords, but finding a group for west coast evenings is few and far between as well.
  • On beta, I’ve played around with housing some more. Need to find some time to get used to everything. I haven’t even tried the main quests, or adjusted my interface yet.

Holidays are coming up soon, and rosterpocalypse will be upon us (If it isn’t already here).

Mythic Raider’s To-Do List for the Midnight Beta

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The Midnight beta just dropped, and you know what that means. It’s that time again to get hands-on with everything coming in the next expansion cycle. As a CE raider, this is the testing phase that matters to me. I get to mess with the raid environment, UI changes, and system redesigns, which are going to reshape how we play, and the sooner I start adapting, the less I need to do later on live. There is a huge overhaul here especially with the loss of combat addons and Weak Auras.

And obviously, there’s housing!

Here’s what I’m planning to focus on over the upcoming beta period.

Rebuilding My UI Without Addons

With WeakAuras and other combat-related addons disabled, we’re stepping into a new age of personal accountability. Blizzard’s new Cooldown Manager is meant to fill some of that gap, but it’s far from perfect.

I’ll be using beta time to completely rework my healing UI from the ground up using the game’s default tools. My main goals:

  • Make sure major cooldowns (Divine Hymn, Symbol of Hope, etc.) are easy to track.
  • Ensure that raid utility abilities (Mass Dispel, external CDs) remain visible.

There’s already one notable issue: the pixel spacing between icons in the cooldown manager can’t be set to zero (the minimum is 2). For players who prefer compact layouts (like me), that isn’t pleasant.

Temporary Fix

You can work around it with Domino’s or another bar addon:

  • Set one bar with your actual keybinds (Optional: Hide this row from displaying).
  • Create a second bar mirroring those same abilities (no binds).
  • Use that duplicate as a visual cooldown tracker for spacing precision.

It’s not elegant, but it works.

Class Tuning and Talent Experiments

The Holy Priest rework is live on beta, and this is the perfect time to experiment before tuning stabilizes. Many spells have been removed including Renew, Heal, Lightwell, and Premonition. But more on this later. Same thing with Shadow. I want to try out this new tentacle slam.

Raid Testing and Combat Practice

UI layouts always look perfect on paper — until you enter combat and realize your cooldowns are in the wrong corner.

That’s why I’ll be jumping into as many raid tests as possible:

  • Validate if the new Cooldown Manager is actually readable under heavy effects.
  • Check if the default raid frames are reliable for split-second triage.
  • Assess performance to see how it handles if there are 20 people dropping visual vomit everywhere.

Early raid testing gives me a baseline for pacing and spell visibility, which will directly shape how I approach Mythic raids.

Dungeon Testing and Healing Model Preview

Before the raid even opens, Mythic+ dungeons are the best way to feel out the new healing rhythm.

I’ll be using beta keys to:

  • See if healing feels reactive or proactive.
  • Test triage patterns to see if I need to pre-heal, or hold for burst recovery?
  • Get a read on how visual telegraphs perform without addon cues.

Blizzard has hinted at more deliberate encounter pacing, so this is the chance to feel out how much cognitive load healers are expected to handle natively.

Keybind and Input Responsiveness

Without third-party UI mods like ElvUI, responsiveness becomes a top priority.

During testing, I’ll be focusing on:

  • Mouseover healing macros with native frames — checking for input lag.
  • Spell queueing reliability under high latency.
  • Interrupt timing precision without WeakAuras calling it out for me (especially on my Shaman).

If Blizzard wants the default UI to stand on its own, it needs to feel responsive.

Checking Out Player Housing

I’m stoked!

I plan to dive into the new player housing system and see how customizable it actually is. During beta, I’ll be experimenting with layouts, furniture placement, and seeing how far I can personalize the space.

I already have a few goals:

  • Create a Priest study or “light-infused chapel” vibe.
  • Showcase raid trophies (if Blizzard lets us).
  • Maybe set up a casino lounge.

This is the downtime side of the game that I’ve been missing. Of course, I’m a dysfunctional mess in my actual home so we’ll see how much of this holds.

Questing and Story Exploration

Even though my endgame goal is progression, I still enjoy exploring the campaign once per expansion.

During beta, I’ll be:

  • Speed-mapping quest routes to plan my launch-week leveling.
  • Identifying endgame unlocks and reputation hubs.
  • Noting down skippable story segments for future alts.

That way, I can focus entirely on raid prep during live launch instead of fumbling through story gates.

Feedback and Reporting

If you’re in beta, use it for more than sightseeing.

Blizzard has historically taken feedback seriously. This is especially true from healers, tanks, and raid leaders who can articulate how changes affect team coordination.

I’ll be reporting:

  • UI readability problems (like icon spacing or cooldown visibility).
  • Performance bugs during large-scale testing.
  • Any encounter mechanics that feel unintuitive without addon support.
  • Random typos in quest dialog.

The better the feedback, the more likely we’ll get functional systems by launch.

The Bigger Picture

This beta isn’t about chasing perfect parses. It’s about learning where the tougher points are before the first real pull of the tier.

By the time Midnight officially launches, I want to have:

  • A fully functional, addon-free UI ready for raiding.
  • Refined keybinds and reaction muscle memory for default combat visibility.
  • An early understanding of new healing design pacing.
  • A player house layout ready.

Every hour spent in beta now will save ten hours in progression later.