Raiding
Darkwind will be hosting two raid difficulties as we move into DF: Sunday Raid and Progression Raid. Sunday Raid will provide guild members exposure to organized raid content at a pace comfortable to the group as a whole. The Sunday Raid may be used to practice and refine execution of personal mechanics and group strategy in gearing your character. Progression Raid will provide guild members an opportunity to progress at a quicker pace, and is for those who display mastery of their class, consistently clean encounter execution, and overall reliability.
It takes dedication, motivation, research, and practice in order to contribute positively to an organized effort, suching as raiding. Having policies outlined allows raid leadership to provide a consistent atmosphere for those that participate in organized group content. A detailed list is not meant to deter from the overall enjoyment one gets from playing a game, but rather to encourage a level of professionalism needed in being successful as a raid group.
Minimum requirements for both Progression and Sunday Raid will be posted and updated regularly each raid tier and difficulty attempted. Additionally, the following guidelines have the best interests of our leadership’s preparation and organization in mind, while also being respectful of each guild members’ time and commitment to the cause:
Schedule
- Sunday Raid: Sunday, 7:30-9:30pm PST
- Progression Raid: Tuesday & Thursday at 7:30-9:30pm PST
Requirements
- Discord is required for all raids.
- Signups on the in-game calendar in advance.
- Required Addons (Please ensure add-ons are updated before raid)
- Deadly Boss Mods (DBM)
- RCLootCouncil
- Boss-specific Addons
- Suggested: GTFO
- All required Consumables (food, flask, DPS potions, mana potions, etc.)
- Correct Phial for your spec.
- DF DPS/mana potions
- DF stat food if no feast provided
- Refreshing Healing Potions (3 star preferred)
- DF runes or weapon stones if applicable
- All correct Gems and Enchants applied
- DF enchants:
- Cloak
- Chest
- Bracers
- Legs (Armor kit/Thread)
- Boots
- Rings
- Weapons
- DF gems in all sockets
- Performance Benchmarks for Sunday Raid (subject to change)
- Minimum item level: The minimum item level required for Sunday Raid depends if your character is the one you normally raid with or is an alt. While Sunday Raid can be a mechanism for gearing alts, doing so should not have a negative impact on the raid team’s ability to complete content.
- While a more casual environment than Progression Raid, we still value the efforts of those who regularly attend. Those who utilize Sunday Raid primarily as a source to gear their character(s) without meaningfully contributing to the raid may be asked to drop from the raid.
- Consistent character during “push” periods (e.g.: Ahead of the Curve)
- Performance Benchmarks for Progression Raid (subject to change)
- Minimum item level: 455
- Minimum DPS requirement: 130k ST
- Consistent Attendance
Leadership
- Lead Team
- Raid Lead: Bloodshox
- Raid Assists: Soranai
- Heal Lead: Shadram
- Raid Morale: Soranai
- The Lead Team will make any final calls, in regards to, but not limited to:
- Group composition (healer/DPS ratio, members in attendance, etc.)
- Player roles (raid mechanic shot callers, player stack points, etc.)
- Bosses attempted during raid
- Strategies used during an encounter
- Loot distribution (trading gear)
Guidelines
- Attendance
- Progression raiders must commit to their role on a tier by tier basis. This commitment means that you can be present at every raid from the beginning of the tier through the launch of the next tier. We understand that life happens, and if this is the case, it is your responsibility to immediately notify a raid lead so that an alternate will have plenty of time to prepare for raid if in a tanking or healing role.
- Communication is key. If you cannot make a raid, or are running late, please let a Lead Team member know prior to raid. If your tardiness exceeds 15 min, we may fill your spot with an alternate.
- Should real life provide interruption to regular attendance, make sure to communicate to a Lead Team member about how that affects your attendance.
- Inconsistent attendance without communication may affect you having a spot on the Progression Team.
- Performance
- Understand your class: there will be single target encounters, as well as AoE encounters. Know your toolkit and be able to adjust accordingly. Know how to utilize personal defensive cooldowns.
- Mechanic execution: understanding boss mechanics allows you to maximize performance while minimizing error and/or death. Multiple deaths due to inconsistent mechanic awareness may result in benching.
- Look up the bosses beforehand to get a basic understanding of a fight. Do not rely solely on the raid leader’s explanation.
- Tanking & Healing Assignments
- Because there is a limit to the number of tanks and healers you can bring to balance the DPS players, those desiring to main spec as a tank or healer will need to be flexible to account for the number of people in those roles.
- Tanks and healers are required to have a practiced DPS offspec for nights when they are not tanking or healing. There will be wiggle room for hybrid players when DPSing, to account for mastery of two specs (at least 80% requirement of pure DPS players).
- Initial tank/healer roles will be assigned to raiders present most consistently through Darkwind progression in the previous expansion.
- Raid Size
- Especially at the beginning of an expansion, there is a possibility we hit group cap (30 members of the group). Should there be more players interested in raid on any given night, raid preparedness, attendance, consistency in previous raid tiers, and time of signup will be considered in order to construct the raid group.
- Should we achieve farm on Heroic difficulty, we may move into Mythic difficulty if we have the available roster size. When the Raid Lead decides to move into Mythic difficulty, spots will be on a “first come, first serve” basis. This is based on the timestamp on the in-game calendar, raid composition needs, and for those who have demonstrated consistent attendance during Heroic Progression.
Loot
- If any loot is tradeable, including BoEs, it will be subject to master loot rules for the benefit of the raid team as a whole.
- Any tradeable loot will be handed out based on a number of factors:
- The benefit it brings to the group as a whole (ex: trinkets to high DPS players, azerite gear to assist in tank survivability and healer throughput, etc.)
- The size of the upgrade (ex: item level increase, etc.)
- Secondary stats present on the item
- The importance of the item to the player’s role/spec (ex: weapons for DPS vs weapons for tanks, a trinket’s power for a certain spec, etc.)
- Raid attendance
- Elapsed time since last piece rewarded
- Any BoE loot that is not rewarded to a player will be added to the guild bank.
- Equipping a tradeable piece of gear before it is awarded will result in a warning for the first offense. Any further offenses can result in being benched, with possible removal from Progression Raid entirely.
Miscellaneous
- Distractions
- Minimize multitasking while raiding (ex: being alt-tabbed out of game, expecting others to kill the trash or heal, etc.).
- Put up buffs/eat raid food/hit ready checks/etc. in a timely manner.
- Put distracting battle pets and toys away, in order to avoid cluttering the raiding space.
- Be respectful of strategy explanations by limiting chatter/emotes in raid chat.
- Strategy sharing is done privately with the leadership. Do not confuse the raid team by throwing ideas verbally in Discord.
- Attitude
- Help in providing a positive raid environment by monitoring how your attitude affects those on the team.
- Be team-oriented, rather than self-oriented.
- Remember our guild values as we assemble to work towards a common goal. Darkwind is a guild that raids, not a “raiding guild.”
- Alts
- Once you pick a character to raid with, stick with that character. Rationale: the team is gearing and allowing practice on a character, and progress is lost when you break consistency.
- Raiders will need to clear character changes with the Raid Lead. Character swaps will need to have equal character progress, item level, and performance averages with the player’s former main.
- New Raiders
- For new members, or members looking to become a part of the Progression Team, Sunday Raid is the official avenue to demonstrate whether your character can achieve the minimum standards as outlined for Progression Raid. Make sure to discuss with the Raid Lead that you are interested in becoming a part of the team.
- If you are unable to attend Sunday Raid for good reason, coordinate with the Raid Lead an alternative in order to demonstrate your abilities as a raider.
- Meeting requirements does not guarantee a fixed spot in Progression Raid if the roster is full. However, you may be considered to sub in if there are available spots on Progression nights.
- Malleable Raid Environment
- The rules outlined above may be loosened or tightened at the raid leader’s discretion, depending on the goals and needs of a raid night.
Performance Assistance
- Should you need some personal assistance in improving your gameplay, we suggest you tap these resources:
- Organize a personal training session with Bloodshox or Soranai
- Talk with another player of your same class and role
- External class/spec guides
- Class Discords
Update Logs
- 12/5/22 – Updated requirements for DF Season 1.
- 12/19/22 – Updated Progression raid requirements.
- 1/8/23 – Updated Progression requirements for Heroic Raszageth progression.
- 1/13/23 – Updated Progression requirements for Heroic Raszageth progression again.
- 4/29/23 – Updated raid requirements in preparation for 10.1.
- 5/12/23 – Updated Progression raid requirements after week 1.
- 11/13/23 – Updated all raid requirements for the new tier.
- 11/26/23 – Updated Progression raid requirements now that we’re in Heroic.
- 12/18/23 – Updated Progression raid requirements in preparation for Mythic.