Is a big roster of reliable b.net friends better than a guild?

[sskott 0]

I wonder this because it seems few people participate in actual scheduled guild raids anymore. The majority have switched over to the looking for group method, which may not have a time requirement; but might be even more frustrating.

 

I was a realm first progressive raider in Wrath, in 2009 I could spare a scheduled three nights a week for four hours. Now that sort of scheduling seems out of the question. However, I still have plenty of time to raid progressively at random times if I was to know enough reliable players via battle.net friends list.

 

Is there an addon that assists with such a thing?

 

Is there something I can do to expand my reliable player arsenal?

 

I play a Resto / Ele Shaman (item level 663) and a Prot Warrior / Glad/fury (item level 658) - 7/7 N HM, 6/7 H HM on both.

 

I'm consistently high DPS on the rare occasion I get to play Elemental. I believe my raid healing attentiveness and mana conservation is fairly good. And I do believe my tanking and quick learning of mechanics make me an overall excellent player. You can certainly tell me otherwise based on the videos below; I'm always working on my user interface. If something seems out of place it's likely only temporary.

 

 

All videos are 1080p 30fps; full screen for best view.

 

Most recent UI: Tanking Twins Heroic Pug 2nd attempt.

 

 

 

Healing Heroic IMP:

 

 

 

DPS Heroic Tectus: was all over the place but managed to survive...

 

 

 

 

For anyone who's part of a guild or group of players that could use me while I'm online; please add me on b.net - skott#1374 (I try to keep friend notes of everyone I make contact with)

[Krazyito 521]

To me it seems your definition of majority might be skewed (probably mine as well) but you can't really expect to make decent progress early in a tier without a dedicated group and schedule. Sure, eventually you'll kill stuff, but at what point do you care for how far you've personally progressed? 

 

Looking at sites like wow progress, there seems to be THOUSANDS, of guilds who are steadily progressing and I can only assume they have a set schedule. 

 

You're probably right though, there's a majority of people who raid at random times, but the people who actually care, they have a guild with a schedule. 

[Hawkin 5]

I use a bit of both to be honest. Couple of friends and I started raiding this expansion. PUG a like half the raid. I'd add everyone who would do relatively good to my Bnet list and ask them if they were connected again next week. We had a schedule raid though, once a week. Now, I'm running a 80% guild run with 3-4 players who've I PUG in the beginning of the expansion and who still wipe with us on new content and are there every week. It's really up to you like Krazyito said; do you want to be the first to down a boss and have all the shiny new gear to show off or do you just want to see the content? You'll be able to do the second pugging.

[Krazyito 521]

It doesn't even matter about the new gear and showing off. It's about a timetable you have for yourself. Where do you expect to be and do you want to go faster? Do you have the skill, time, and commitment to go faster? 

 

The gear is a side effect. It's all about how fast it takes you and your group to kill it. 

[Pandacho 286]

Sorry to say that, but your scenario wouldn't work for the long enough time in actual progress raiding (imo).

 

If you will find enough skilled people who want to do progression with you, you will end up as a semi-guild raid - same people, scheduled times at least twice a week (or it will not be a progression in actual content), official RL, reading tactics, etc. 

 

The thing is, that skilled people who are interested in all above and capable of showing up constantly at least twice a week for 3 hours, are raiding already. Good players who don't have steady times of showing up in game are same unreliable for you: what's good to have excellent tank for two weeks, gear him up and then to have him vanishing for two months due to RL?

 

Progress in actual content has its demands and restrictions. While you'll be always able to get a nice group for the previous content (Normal when actual progress is on HC, HC when progress is in Mythic) because people are bored on week-ends or want to gear their alts, I don't think that it's possible to do actual progress through all the content (killing 7/7 or 10/10) in unreliable group with uncertain timings. Don't forget that you'll have to put a big part of your raid time to figure tactics that suits you current group, to change them if your setup changed or to tell stuff to the new people or those old ones that didn't show up for a couple of weeks.

 

In addition, you need a certain ilvl to be able to progress. Where from you'll get it if not having the same people raiding with you every time? 

There is no progress raiding without responsibility and commitment to the people you are raiding with. It's not a random thing that you can pull out when bored. 

 

Anyways, this is only my opinion

 

PS: Another thing I want to point at: it's your third big thread in different sections of IV forums with almost the same content, same videos and same story of your awesomeness. It starts to look more of advertising than asking questions. If you want to find people for your raid group or to offer yourself - the right section would be "Recruitment".