Why responsibility is like a boomerang...
And it's certainly not why a raven is like a writing desk...
When I left Thunder as a raider, I obviously stepped down as a raid leader and as one of the guild leaders, then later also stepped down as an officer once the Thunder website etc was transferred to a new host.
And for the last few months I've been happy to turn up to raids, do some super-shit boomkin deeps and help out in any way I can, whether than be DPS or healing. However with my recent switch to Warlock I'm now able to concentrate fully on improving my play in and giving 100% of my attention to a single spec. And by jove old bean, it appears to be paying off!
In our final raid in heroic Nighthold before taking a short pre-Tomb break, I managed to be top DPS in several fights, and was there or thereabouts for the rest. So having joined in late heroic NH progression, I've gone from bottom DPS for the majority of the time, to now one of our top DPS. It's a lovely position to be in, and means I now feel much much less like I'm being carried along in the content and more like I'm actually making a meaningful contribution to the raid team's damage output. It also proves I'm not a terrible player, as I suspect some people were perhaps beginning to think, simply because it was too damn hard to wring results from a laser chicken in a raid not designed for it...
However, I was recently asked to make an even more meaningful contribution to the raid side.
Responsibility it seems, seeks me out:
We recently lost a raid leader who decided it would be better for him to move to a Realm top 3 guild rather than stick around and help us progress, and our interim raid leader has had a few health issues, so I, along with another raider (oddly enough another Warlock) have been asked to take on full time raid leading!
So for Tomb of Sargeras, and beyond, I have once again become an Officer and a gentleman Raid Leader!
Obviously I always like to help out wherever I can, and this is an extension of this. I have years of experience in raid leading, in all levels of content, so it seemed like a natural fit that when we were struggling to get a full time raid leader that I'd be willing to take it on if it came up.
So my co-pilot (Decka) and I will be sharing raid leading duties, which is perfect, as it means I don't have 100% of the weight on my shoulders, and likewise neither does he. However unlike Thunder, this is a full on Raid Leader role, and will also be largely deciding which classes we need in a raid comp etc, as we're obviously pushing to get into Mythic as soon as feasibly possible.
In terms of likely progression, we're going to kick off in Normal mode, for the first fortnight at most, just to get a decent handle on the tactics, mechanics and damage levels. Then after a reset or two, we'll start full time into Heroic progression, looking to clear it inside of a few months at most, ideally two, which will give us plenty of time to progress further in Mythic than we managed in Nighthold (4/10 in the end).
Thankfully we also have really strong and focused healing and tanking teams, who will be responsible for the planning of their own cool-downs, tanking and healing, so I can leave that up to them and I trust them 100% as they're both really laser focused on their roles.
So I've done my preliminary run down of all the bosses in Tomb, and none look like they'll present a challenge, not at least in normal mode, and perhaps the first 3-4 in Heroic also.
So I'm pretty hyped for Tomb of Sargeras:
- New raid!
- New position!
- New responsibilities!
- New character!
Should be fun! :D