I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while.

Through my talks with various other Rogues, I’ve come to realize that perhaps not all of them understand what makes a raiding Rogue “Good”. I covered the basics before, but I think a list of resources would be beneficial. It’s up to players like Bruce to use them, however.

Shadowpanther.net – I use this as a sort of “Gear Checklist” while raiding to see if those Bracers or that Mace truly are an upgrade, or if my DKP can be used elsewhere for greater effect. There are some tough decisions you will have to make every once in a while, but in general you should roll on what would benefit you most.

Elitist Jerks – This is a link most any class could benefit from. There are class discussions for all classes and they go as far as determining the optimal stats to choose at a certain gear level and beyond. To be more specific, every rogue should read through this thread.

Keep the blades sharp and the blood flowing,

-Deidrich

In my last post, I covered my experience with my first raiding guild on Ner’Zhul. After a few months I became highly dissatisfied, especially after Burning Crusade came out and all the things I disliked from pre-BC carried over into instances like Karazhan. However, an opportunity to change all that presented itself and I was all too ready to accept.

Rebellion!

As previously mentioned, I had grown very tired with my previous raid leaders and various raiders. After months of dedication, I was continually bothered by the fact that almost nobody was taking raiding as seriously as I was. Players would not show up, raid leaders would call a raid prematurely, their main raiders failed at everything.. stuff was bad to say the least.

It was February of 2007 and Burning Crusade was coming out. All 9 million members of this guild were clambering over who was getting it and how quickly they would reach 70. But at this point I was beginning to question if I should even bother. I had already spent nearly a year in this guild and raid progression was abysmal. I got over these feelings for the most part and went out and bought Burning Crusade. At first I very much enjoyed the idea of leveling once again, but somewhere in the grind to 70 I lost all interest in playing. In all honesty there wasn’t much to look forward too. A brief synopsis follows:

1. Hit 70
2. Attempt to raid
3. Fail at raiding
4. Repeat Steps 2-4

Realizing this, I took a 2 month break from the game. But, like any good addiction, after a while, I came crawling back. With a new hunger to play the game, I grinded my way to 70 in a heartbeat and resumed the horrible task of trying to raid Karazhan with this guild.. With the same results.

It’s around this time that a unique opportunity presented itself.. One of the officers hinted at a possible “Rebellion” of sorts. I don’t know how they organized it, but sure enough after a few weeks of planning, a few key players and officers quit, leaving most people highly upset. After hearing about all of this, I decided to check up on some of the players who had quit to see what all the commotion was about.

The players that had quit the guild did so because they were just as tired of the raiding situation as I am. One of the former officers even invited me to join the newly formed raiding guild.

I was hesitant. As much as I hated the guild’s raiding situation, I had grown much too close to the people inside to just up and leave them. After all, it had been a year from the time I had joined to this solitary moment. But, like I mentioned previously, I play this game to raid not to socialize. (Plus, $15 a month is alot to pay for just a fancy chat room)

I underestimated how hard it would be, though. I was worried the entire guild (Over 9,000? Maybe.) would hate me forever. I was unsure how things would turn out. But surely enough, I typed that magical command that guild masters hate and loot ninjas love:

/gquit

And it was over. I got invited to my new guild, much to the surprise of my old and new guild mates alike. I was greeted warmly by the same people I had already come to know and love previously, so the transition was an easy one. I even got a few congratulations from my old guild mates, which I found a bit curious.

And so ends part 2 of my story! The next post will cover the success (or lack thereof) of my new guild, and the Holiday that changed it all! Keep checking up on this blog for the rest of the story as I make time to write it!