Welcome to the February WOW meeting!!
Thank you all for attending this meeting.
It is wonderful to see all of you for another Monthly meeting. It has been a busy month, actually, a very busy expansion so far. There is just so much to do that it can feel overwhelming. I say to that, take your time and enjoy what you want to to do. Do not feel the crush of having to do every single activity in a given week. It will become too much like work and not enough like play.
STC continues to add new members. My goal as LP, the guild leader, is to integrate new members but keep the family/community atmosphere that sets STC apart from some other guilds. We do that by requiring a Novice period that has the Novice learn about STC's Codes and Laws and also post a Hello post to introduce the Novice to the rest of STC. These are really simple activities and help us to further the connection between our members. Some Hello Posts are lengthy and others a bit short, but what it accomplishes is potentially creating a tendril of connection on some level beyond just playing WOW. STC is truly about the Person behind the Toon. We try very hard to keep that atmosphere, and it starts with all of you. We welcome feedback on how to make STC better which is why Lithanne introduced the Quetionnaire, which he will talk about shortly. I sit up here to discuss what is happening in STC just in case a member is not a Raider or not on as often to socialize with the majority of STC members. The goal is to create a strong community which will last for years and years. Everything can be improved so please, please be open with constructive feedback.
The Officer team is here to serve you. Sometimes the Officers struggle to know exactly what you, the members want and sometimes it is confusing when there are competing factions. The Officer team, especially the BC's, pour their heart and soul and a tremendous amount of time into leading STC. We just ask that you try your best to keep that in mind and that patience is greatly appreciated. Again, I will go into Raiding a bit more below.
Just a reminder about Discord etiquette - please try your best to to not swear in Discord. We do understand an occasional slip may happen but remember that most of us use push to talk and therefore it is easier to swear off mic (or as I say swallow your mic) because it requires you to actively push to open your mic to swear. We have had a little too much swearing in Raid channels, and we just need to clean it up a little.
WOW Questionnaire (Lithanne):
Lithanne thanked everyone who participated in the survey. Quick highlights - Net Promoter Score (NPS) - how many people would recommend the guild to a friend. NPS score went down a little based on some middle of the road scores. People said they could generally find someone to do an activity with and some members indicated they could not find others to group with. Please ask in Guild Chat to get a response. Sometimes you will not get a response because people are busy.
Random feedback - Needing improvement - finding groups for low mythic keys can be challenging. A good amount said that everything was good. Adding more contests - Do members have suggestions for contests or want to organize, please speak up.
There is broad interest in PVP so maybe you can potentially find some people to group with.
Raiding - More people happy with the raiding environment than in Ny'alotha which is good considering the number of people who have increased the raiding teams to two full teams.
General Feedback for BCs - some noted improvement around balancing
Great Scavenger Hunt (Meesha):
First place goes to: Priest
Thank you for supplying the materials for feast! Tenebrous Ribs and Silvergill Pike are still needed.
Keep your eyes and ears open for future competitions.
New Novices:
Romillus
Alaunus
Jaigon
Catriana
Inductions:
Priest
Porager/Vardaroy
Kraken (not present)
Officer Induction:
Dakari - Battle Chancellor
Award Nominations:
None
Raiding:
Before I get to raiding, I would like to thank both Qontrol and Hantzu for offering to help fellow raiders. If you missed it, Qontrol offered to help anyone who wanted to improve their gaming play for raiding. This is an awesome offer and if you are looking for some improvement, I would suggest reaching out to him. Hantzu offered to help the mages of STC and honestly, I have seen improved play from all of the mages and it really does help the larger team. Thank you both for all of your help!
STC has moved onto skipping bosses on Normal and started to work on Heroic. We even had a fun night where Taralom and Priest supplied the catalyst for a 10 for 10 night on Normal! With them both offering 1,000 gold per player for whichever group got 10 bosses down in a night, both teams came through and got it done.
With advancing to Heroic bosses, strat changes are required from Normal kill strats. The BC's have tried to utilize heroic strats to kill Normal bosses so that the transition was a little more clean, but note it's not easy because there are missing mechanics on Normal. The BC's start with the "standard" strat (Fatboss, etc) and adjust to STC's strength and weaknesses. It is a difficult balancing act until the final strat is found. I know this can lead to frustration, but it is part of working on new bosses.
I know there have been weeks where the balance of the teams feels off. This is due to changes in raider availability including utilizing back-up tanks which throws off the DPS numbers, Healing not being quite balanced due to the number of Mains who are healing, and just inconsistent play - which happens because everyone is going to have an off night. The BC's behind the scenes work very hard to try and balance the teams based on past performance so when people make major improvements in their performance or have an off night, it can have significant consequences. It is a whole lot easier to deal with this as one team rather than having two teams. The BC's are constantly re-evaluating performances to make the right teams. There are floaters, people who just have not been consistently attending raids, and while that gives some flexibility, it can also create balance issues. The BC's take it very personal when teams are not as successful as we hoped. We sit in a group before and after raid discussing issues - I personally asked that the channel be visible to all Saints so that you are aware the BC's are in there for another discussion. We write back and forth in Discord nearly every day trying to think of the best ways to move the teams forward. We also write about upcoming issues like what happens if a raid needs 6 healers for the Sun King fight. Do we have alternating nights so that we can have enough heals? Do we have one team for those harder bosses? The amount of time spent in discussion is frankly enormous - I would say most of us spend a good 10 to 20 hours above and beyond our play time.
One thing you as raiders can do is move yourself from tentative to accepted or remove yourself from the invite if you cannot attend at least an hour before raid. A full half hour before raid, BC's look at who is signed up and start to piece the teams together. Yes, there are the base teams, but if someone is not signed up, we start to play tetris fitting together pieces. It's a difficult balancing act and when someone logs on late, past 7:45, it can create a last minute imbalance as we rush to start the raid night. We really could use everyone ready for invites at 7:45. Do not take this to mean if you log in late that we will not take you, but please be aware of the schedule that the BC's keep in order to pull together the raid team. We greatly appreciate those with professions offering to help right before raid with enchants and gems. We also greatly appreciate all the assistance with flasks and feasts. I should note that Tenebrous Ribs and Silvergill Pike are still sorely needed for additional feasts.
Honestly, we are pushing through the raid at a great constant speed. STC has gotten more and more successful and it's because we have you raiders putting in time and effort and the BC's providing the backbone with preparation for the fights. While we strive for perfection, we have to understand that outcomes are not always perfect. We then come back the next raid night to fight again as a team.
Just a note on Alts and raiding. Generally, the goal I have set for STC raiding is progression towards AOTC. This means focusing mainly on progressing through the content on Main toons. I recognize some players would like to gear up an Alt for flexibility for the raid. This can actually create issues because there are then too many additional options for plugging into a raid. What STC has done in the past, once we get further into Heroic or even AOTC, is utilize Gearing Raids which can have Alts and often has Mains who are looking for Gear or just want to help the raid succeed. I like to focus on the first goal of AOTC because adding the complexity of Alts can create even more hindrance to completing that goal. Note also, it would be preferable for those Gearing Raids to start and run through Normal and not do the skip as that is going to be the most gear drops for those Alts. The BC's will continue to evaluate and be open to suggestions like the Gearing Raids. Please if you have feedback, share with the BC's.
For all raiders, new and returning, we please ask you to review two items:
Raiding Rules & Guidelines https://sanctuscovenir.guildlaunch.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6144051&gid=142626 and in the Discord Channel
These are the general raid guidelines of STC with some general information on raids within WOW. These have been in place since 2010 and serve as the backbone of STC's raiding.
Raiding for STC's Raiders https://sanctuscovenir.guildlaunch.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12067310&gid=142626
This is an overview of the BC's requirements for WOW Raids with additional detail on gear and enchants, consumables, tips, etc. Please read through.
