Wannabe Raider

[grumbachr 4]

I'd like to vent a little, but I'm also hoping someone might have some suggestion or good advice for me to get over what seems like an insurmountable hurdle. 

 

I've been wanting to Raid for a while now.  I used these forums to reach out to a few guilds to try and get started with raiding  with no luck.  On three occasions I've paid for a realm transfer with the promise of raiding and each time I've yet to even queue for anything other than an LFR on my own.  Heck,  on one occasion the individual/guild flaked out on me and I didn't even get a guild invite, that was $25 wasted. 

 

As I continue to search I keep running into the same issue of being under geared, as most groups have already done normal  and have moved on to heroic. In general there are no groups looking to recruit players that are not already geared and ready to heroic.  Even with toons in the low 530's I get passed over for Flex,  as so many people with 550+ ilvls are looking for things to do.  A guy can only do so much LFR before wanting to give up.  i know I'm not the greatest player and since I'm not a tank or heals  there is just no need for me. But I still want to try.  I saw a girl on twitch  wipe to Garrosh 300+ times ( i didn't witness every one)  finally kill him and I was jealous.   I envied someone that got to fail so many times but got to experience something it looks like I will never got to.  

 

thanks for letting me rant a little 

 

Where/How do I find a guild that will let me progress and experience raiding? 

 

[Hybrys 199]

It can be pretty frustrating starting out without any previous raid experience, especially this late into the tier.  The path that I would take is to head to a large server of your faction (such as Stormrage as your sig shows), and start hammering out Flex/Normals with groups that pug.  You can find a wide variety of those groups in trade chat, or by using oQueue (the addon) or OpenRaid (the website).

 

Keep your head up, work on your skills, and hope that eventually you can get the gear and logs to show someone you really know what you're doing, and deserve a spot on their team.

[Brewmonksta 157]

With the introduction to x realm raiding you can also make a low level toon on a high population server and just sit in trade advertising yourself and watching for other runs. When you get accepted pass on your real ID for a cross realm invite.

 

Having full gems and enchants goes a long way these days.

 

Having no 14/14 normal achievement will make things harder but persist. Try and get into semi completed runs.

 

Or low and behold i have been known to inflate my ilvl when advertising by a little bit because most people wont armory check and may do a quick inspection. They wont be able to see the difference between 535 and 540 and the ones that do probably aren't the runs you want to be in anyway.

 

On Sargeras i quite regularly see "LFM Flex X, carrying all noobs pst". With the new valor upgrades and getting some flex loot you will be able to hit 550 ilvl relatively easy over a few weeks.

[Geoda 253]

What was said above is all great advice for getting into a raid. Here are some key notes to understand what your current position is this late in the tier:

 

• After the patch, people are looking to VP cap for their gear upgrades, this is a chance to get "carried" in groups that are looking to just farm VP.
• What is your current experience? If you full cleared LFR many of times, you should have the gear enough for a Flex. If you can't get into a group, try leading one. I have seen TONS of players that are "average" that went off and started taking groups into their own hands and have learned how to not only raid lead, but learn the mechanics and disciplined needed for being a raider.
• Like stated above, make sure you are gemmed and enchanted always. Always. ALWAYS. It means you care.
• Try to find a player with the similar class as you. See who is the "best" on your server. Whisper them. Be friendly. Ask for any and all advice. Maybe.. just maybe.. they can help you out with not only learning your class, but helping you get "in" with the raiding scene. 
• Run your own World of Logs or WarcraftLogs. These will be your parses that you can use for getting into future guilds. Without these, you are nothing but a X class with Y spec and Z ilvl.
• Make sure you are friendly on your server. Some small servers will remember players that troll or are rude to others. You don't want your remembrance to be "that guy" who was a douche to another player. 
• Keep posting on these forums. Icy-Veins is a great site with top tier players that know what they're talking about. They not only give suggestions to what you can do better for yourself, but may also be your ticket into a guild that raids. 

 

Last but not least.. and I want to stress this. Everyone has been in the same shoes you were. We all started as someone that randomly saw some guy with awesome gear. Then saw that he obtained it through raiding. Then started watching youtube videos on raids. Then found websites on raiding. Then saw a website on his particular class. etc etc. While it may be frustrating now, if you keep at it you'll remember "those" days and then look into the mirror and see how far you've come.

 

If you need any further help don't ever hesitate to ask on this site. Again, this is a friendly atmosphere with a goal of giving back to the WoW community.

 

-Geoda

 

Edit: Added bullets for easier reading.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Geoda

[grumbachr 4]

thanks for the advice guys.  i will keep working on things just wish i was a little easier.  not easy but i do wish it wasn't as difficult as it turning out to be.

[Sajakain 104]

This is a couple days late and, for that, I apologize.

 

The path that I would take is to head to a large server of your faction (such as Stormrage as your sig shows)

 

While I do not see a signature reflecting Stormrage, if you are there feel free to message me. Right now we're recruiting for 6.0 and Warlords, expanding our raid size to 25M / 20M respectively and, without a doubt, will probably run 10s as well in WoD.

 

I'm not going to promise you a raid spot from day 1. However, I can offer you a guild that is continuously growing, even at the end of an expansion, and has plans to keep growing and solidify our corner of Stormrage as a stable community.

 

As it's been mentioned....

 

Everyone has been in the same shoes you were. We all started as someone that randomly saw some guy with awesome gear. Then saw that he obtained it through raiding. Then started watching youtube videos on raids. Then found websites on raiding. Then saw a website on his particular class. etc etc. While it may be frustrating now, if you keep at it you'll remember "those" days and then look into the mirror and see how far you've come.

 

I remember "those" days dating back further than I'd like to admit. You're more than welcomed to join us as a general member and we can work toward your experiences in this game and the raiding aspect. If you should have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me in game or on our website. Feel free to send me a message, here, too.

[Krylian 5]

If you want to up your ilvl, make sure you're going out to the timeless isle each week to kill Ordos (559 Warforged drops) and Celestials (553 normal leg & hands tier)and do the legendary cloak quests. The drop rate isn't the greatest, but with bonus rolls I usually can get a new piece every other week. Finding a group is super easy with the in game raid finding tool. You can easily get a 550 ilvl after a few drops with those and upgrading gear 4 times with Valor Points these days. I have 3 alts that almost never ran lfr and upped their ilvl doing mostly those kills. Now I can easily use the in game group finder to get into flex runs and sometimes even normal runs as a pug on those toons. Alternately I use openraid.us to find runs.

As far as finding a permanent raid spot, I personally did research on guilds on my server for one that wasn't cutting edge but had a regular raid team. I joined the guild and as they got to know me they pulled me in as a pug. I listened to the raid leaders, improved my skill and was offered a full time spot within a few months when someone left for another guild. It's not easy to do but it is possible.

[Geoda 253]

That's a really good point too. You can go to www.wowprogress.com and look for guilds on your server that are recruiting. Maybe start off with a guild that is still progressing on normal mode raids and raid regularly. We've all started out with similar players that were still learning mechanics, their class and what it takes to be a raider. Some of the best times is the frustration of being in a raid and wiping for hours. 

[grumbachr 4]

Just a quick update.  Found a new group/guild on Hyjal.  Myy Hordelock is now  6/14 Normal.  Unfortunately, the pre expansion drop out is hitting the guild hard right now. The GM is working very hard at recruitment, I'm hopeful we'll pick up a few more people.  With any luck we'll get through normal and be on to Heroic before to long.

 

Thanks for the help.  

[Gwenymph 414]

Grats on finding a new home, I hope that the GM can beat the summer/end xpac bug!  Nice to see you getting in and getting xp on Normal bosses too!  GL and I hope you continue to see more bosses fall over!