The Plan: Ulduar 25!

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Here is how we will be downing bosses in Ulduar25 starting in about 1-2 months, if we follow this plan. 

Last night we took a vote while in Naxx25, and it was clear that people want to make 25-man raids the focus of our raiding.  We will continue to do 10-man raids on off days and weekends, to get new people gear, and let people experience fights in a smaller setting (which is important for new raiders, who are easily overwhelmed by everything that is going on).

What we're doing now is working in Naxx25, and is fun, but from what the core raiders have seen in Ulduar10, it's not going to cut it for Ulduar25.  We're going to need to step it up a little to succeed in Ulduar25, and a lot of that falls to you as individuals.  The officers have been talking about some of the areas we need to put some polish on BEFORE we go to Ulduar25 (past the first boss, Flame Leviathan):

• We will be designating a "starting lineup" team, and "reserves".  We need to put our best players into Ulduar, because that place isn't easy.  This won't be as harsh as rostering is in other raid guilds, and we will be keeping with our casual nature.  What this really is, is a ranking of players based on their usual performance, to ensure we're taking the best of who we have on.  Until we have progressed significantly in Ulduar25, we won't be able to handle bringing in undergeared/underperforming people and win.
  • 15 DPS'ers that are all over 3000 DPS.  We can't go until we have each of the 15 DPS'ers ABOVE 3000 DPS average on boss fights.  (We didn't make this up, either.  It's math.  The second boss, XT-002 Destructor, has an enrage timer and a lot of health.  We need this much DPS just to be able to kill him in time.)
  • 7 Healers.  Healers will really need to be at their best in there.  It may be beneficial to find a specialty (raid healer vs. tank healer) and focus on that.
  • 3 Tanks.  We need our best performing, best geared tanks.  Right now, I don't see how that going to be anyone other than Awesome, Kaltank, and Minatorea.  We'll continue to get the rest of the tanks practice in other raids, which is most critical, and continue to gear them.  You'll need to be almost entirely in iLvl 213 (Naxx25) gear in order to survive tanking Ulduar25.
• We really need to work on cutting down the careless mistakes we make.
  • Get out of the way of whatever nasty thing the boss is doing.  Survival on boss fights is key, and Ulduar is VERY unforgiving if you screw up.  It is usually more important that you consistently follow the strategy, than that you are consistently are top of the charts (although being both is better).  Don't stand in black holes.  Don't get closer than 10 yrds. to someone else.  Stand on the front edge of the platform if you have the positive charge.
  • Hunters and warlocks, don't let your pets run wild.  Enough said.
  • Stay behind the tank.  Let me say that again, STAY BEHIND THE TANK.
  • Communicate.  There is a saying in the Army, that in order to succeed you need to do 3 things; "Shoot, Move, and Communicate."  This can take on many forms:  Calling out someone targeted by the boss, marking mobs or players with icons, letting the raid know that you are pulling, and paying attention to and listening to what is being communicated to you.  It also means restricting off-topic chatter to BETWEEN boss fights.
  • Learn from your mistakes.  If my addon is calling out every couple seconds "YOUR_NAME failed at SOMETHING", you're doing it wrong.  At that point, it's time to make a very concentrated effort to not do whatever it is yelling at you about.  "Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me."
• We need to prepare more.  A little preparation time saves lots of wasted time during the raid. The theme of this post is "it's time to put your game-face on".  We can't afford to go in unprepared, or missing something that could benefit us, just because we're lazy.
  • Read the boss fight strategy, and watch a video, ahead of time.  Not only does that make the leader's "speech" just a review, it lets you digest the information at your own pace.  This saves us wipes, saves us time, saves us aggrivation.  And all it takes is 10 min to watch a couple videos, or read a WoWWiki page.
  • Show up repaired, with your reagents, ammo, and anything else you need.  In 25-mans, every minute you waste, is actually wasting 25 because you're wasting everyone else's minute too.  If you have died twice, and say "I'm all broke", you did something wrong.  If you don't have the reagents for your buffs, you are doing it wrong.
  • Have all your gear gemmed and enchanted.  ALL OF IT.  If you're getting to this point, it's probably time to start looking at the bigger, more expensive enchants.  Yes, Berserker enchant for a 2h weapon costs about 1000g, or 10 abyss crystals.  You're making the decision to go to a dungeon that will test you, and it's not the time to cut corners.
  • Check your gear in Rawr, MaxDPS, etc. You will know what upgrades you need, where they are from, and what things you can do to improve it.  There are links to these tools in the Links section, in the menu above.
  • Review your previous performances.  CJ posts the combat logs, and statistical data, in the forums.
  • Sign up on the Group Calendar.  We can't guarantee you will go if you do sign up, but you stand a good chance of being replaced if you do not sign up.  Plus, it's polite to us if you let us know if you plan to be there (via the calendar) so that we can make plans for the whole group.
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  • Ask for help.  Along with this website, there are lots of resources out there to help you.  This includes your fellow guild members, especially our core raiders.  If we don't know the answer to your question, we will find you a website or person that can help you.

"How is this different than a hardcore raid guild?", you might ask.  I assure you it is, and it's a matter of style.  What is happening here, is we're trying to define minimum standards that we will need to succeed in Ulduar25, and that we will thus require in order to go there.  We're trying to find the minimum amount of restriction we need to place on ourselves, in order to win, and bring as many of our guild members as we can under those constraints.  In contrast, a hardcore guild would not worry about its members, and instead make all their decisions based on the best-case game mechanics.  For instance, they will not just say "7 healers"; they will say "3 paladin healers, 2 shaman healers, and 2 holy priest healers", and then they will recruit to fill those positions, from in the guild or outside of it.  Most hardcore guilds will not help / train / gear you.  You will join their guild, and be expected to PUG raids outside the guild to learn and gear, until a spot opens on one of there set raid teams for your class/spec.  Some people wait months, or even years, for a spot to open up for them in a hardcore raid guild's teams!

We're going to keep a close eye on everyone's performance during the raids over the next couple weeks.  We'll keep posting the raid statistics in the forums.  We'll help answer any of your questions, and help you find ways to improve.  Then, when we can meet these minimum standards, we'll head to Ulduar25 for some boss-killing!  Start saving your money for repair bills, because it's not going to be easy! 

- Awesome (and the officers)

Helpful Resources:

• WoWWiki Post - Ulduar Raid: http://www.wowwiki.com/Ulduar_(instance) 
• TankSpot - Video Boss Strategy Guides:  http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/
• Guild of Awesomeness Forums - Raid Statistics: http://www.guildofawesomeness.com/forumbridge/index.php?f=21&rb_v=viewforum
• Rawr Theorycrafting Software: http://rawr.codeplex.com/
• Warcrafter.net - Guild Member Rankings by gear score: http://korialstrasz-us.warcrafter.net/guilds/Guild%20of%20Awesomeness?&order=gearScore&flip=desc
• Elitist Jerks Forums: http://elitistjerks.com/