Announcements 19 January 2014

Tides is back! After a two week hiatus, Tides is just about settled into his new flat in Korea. He plans to teach English in Korea for at least one year. Everyone be sure to thank Kira for doing a wonderful job tanking in Tides' stead.

New Officer

If some of you are just returning as well, you'll notice that we've a new officer, Alexisfire (Justin). From now on, if anyone will be missing a raid, be sure to give either Tides, Hidytwo or Alexisfire a heads up via in-game post or your offenses to our three-strike policy will be tallied. Remember, the three-strike attendance policy does not apply to our reserve/backup team members.

Loyalty Rank Ups

Just recently, we have ranked Belldandee, Florenceftw, Kira and Bizaha up to Altocumulus rank. Congratulations! This is our loyalty rank, and you will receive higher guild repairs and the ability to withdraw from our Raid Lunchbox tab in the Guild Keep. This rank is reserved for JSkies that have been consistent with raid attendance for quite some time and are active members in our community.

You are also able to invite people into guild. Please keep in mind that we do have an alt rule in which no one can bring alts into guild unless they have been raiding with us for at least a month.

Thok the Bloodthirsty First Flex Mode Kill

Good on ya! Such great efforts, everyone. Next kill shot let's aim to be more neat so we can see everyone's faces and names clearly!

"Let's make Jurassic Park our bitch!" ~ Alexisfire

Galakras Issues

So far we have shown great improvement in our deeps and in stunning the Bonecrushers and interrupting the Tidal Shamans. However, here are a couple of things we need to work on which will ensure our first Galakras Normal Mode Kill:

• People are still dying to Warlord Thranok's Crusher's Call as well as the tower bosses' Arcing Smash and Muzzle Spray. Please be sure to move out of these dust clouds ASAP!
• Our heals are still very low. It may just be a gear issue but most of us should be well over item level 540 by now so please set aside some time to read up on your class. Make sure you cover all bases, such as stat priorities, gems, enchants, rotation, etc. Keep an eye on Recount, we cannot rely on just one healer to carry the others. We do not want to turn away raiders, especially if they have been loyal and consistent so the only option we have is to make sure everyone is fully optimal and understands their class well.

Town Hall Meet Notes 3 January 2014

Oi, JSkies. Tides has requested an audience with all our raiders in an end-of-the-month meet. This post is mainly for new recruits that have just joined our guild recently and missed out on a mandatory meet for our raiders. Should you have any questions after reading this post, please contact Hidytwo or Alexisfire.

I. Tides' Absence
  A. Our guild and raid leader will be moving to Korea this Saturday and may not have internet set up for over two weeks, worst case scenario, a whole month.
  B. For more detail on why the Korea move, refer to previous blog post.
  C. A new officer, to be revealed tomorrow.
  D. Kira has been chosen to tank alongside Ken in Tides' stead. Show him all your support!

II. Progression
  A.  Where we stand ~ Flex: Wings I, II, & first boss in III. Normal: First four bosses.
  B.  Hindrances to progression and how to counter
    a.  cycling through bad spell of new recruits who say they can commit to raid schedule yet the majority of them we've yet to see join us for a single raid even after being in guild for over two weeks
    b. Attendance
      1. heaps too many no sign-ups, no-shows, no heads-up written letters delivered to officers via in-game mailbox, last minute heads-ups, leaving raid early
      2. too many people not ready at raid start, often doing battle grounds, instances or LFR
      3. Tides only recruits people that say they can commit to raid schedule, so most anyone removed from guild it is due to their not honouring their commitments
     4. if you are still unsure on our attendance policy or raid schedule, refer to Jealous Sky rules post.
    c. Not optimal
      1. must be able to pull at least 120K+ deeps for flex raids, 130K+ for normal
      2. must not be struggling to keep up with heals
      3. some people just simply don't meet gear requirements (refer to our Jealous Sky raiding requirements post.)
      4. boss intel, know them before coming in to raid night

III. Not honoring other commitments
  A. If you are not geared for normal raids and you are working on alts, you are doing a major disservice to your teammates. You are holding us back because we could be progressing if you could bring your main character up to normal mode raid standards instead of us waiting on you to gear your main for normal.
  B. Often I see people signing up only for normal raid modes and not flex modes. By committing to our raid teams you must be there for both normal and flex raid nights. What are you telling your team mates when you show that you are not willing to help out on flex nights but normal nights you are eager to sign up? We are a team-building raid group. If you are in here just to pick up loot for yourself and don't give a damn about your team mates, this is not the guild for you. I'll understand if occasionally, you'll have to miss a flex raid night with the guild and pug into flex raids on your own, but if I see you doing this habitually, you will be removed from guild. Everyone committed to our raid schedule, so stick with it unless real life gets in the way sometimes.
  C. Tides does not recruit people if they cannot commit to our raid schedule or if they cannot agree to being apart of a friendly, mature, respectful and team-building atmosphere. We want everyone to feel welcome. Those of you who agree to help preserve this raid atmosphere and are showing otherwise (through whining, nagging, etc.), you are dampening our atmosphere and have failed to honor your commitment.

IV. Closing
  A. Ken mentioned that we are here to help you with what we can when it comes to enchants, gems, rotations, etc. All you need to do is ask an officer. Of course, if we see you constantly asking for stuff and you are not even participating in guild activities or not raiding with us even though you meet gear requirements, we will ask you to contribute effort into the guild first. You're either a team player or a selfish person.
  B. "Despite the overall negative/scolding tone of tonight's town hall meet, I really am a nice person. I am confident in saying that this is an awesome guild to learn raids with, merely join us for raids to find out for yourself." ~ Tides. The purpose of this town hall meet was to resolve issues that are holding the guild back from progression.
  C. Although we will most likely have to fall back to 10-M normal tomorrow since we don't have enough for 25-M normal, do still sign up and show up if you meet gear requirements for normal mode. Yes, we do give priority to early sign-ups and people who can actually pull the deeps or sustain the heals, but there is always the chance that someone does not show up. This is the case for every raid night, there may be a chance for you to join even if you just joined guild and weren't able to sign up in time.
  E. For those of you raiding with us tomorrow, be sure to be on time as Tides will have us do a quick team-building activity.
  F. Thank you for showing up to our town hall meet. We look forward to raiding with you!