Inspired by Maerdred, I figured I’d toss up a mock guild application here. I’m not really looking to leave my guild, per se, or maybe even Feathermoon (unless your offer’s pretty good…), but I am looking to find a new raid. I’ll include relevant info here on that, too, since it’s a bit of a story in and of itself. EDIT: Visiting my armory, you may notice I am tank-specced and wearing my tank gear. My current raid, while it may not ever progress anywhere, still needs a tank - and frankly, I’d like to tank things. That said, if you need a DPS, I’ll switch back.
Main character (include class and spec): Zulfon, Troll DPS Death Knight (currently 0/20/51 dual-wield) - I also have the gear to off-tank or run a two-handed DPS build, if so desired, and will respec/reglyph accordingly; however, my tank gear is not suitable for main tanking as of yet in my opinion (Be.Imba disagrees)
Link to Armory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Feathermoon&n=Zulfon
Alts (include class and spec): Queklain (70 demo warlock), Joratox (22 prot warrior), Whitebough (23 balance druid), Valmafra (45 SV hunter), Xajek (45 shadow priest)
Real First Name: Phil
Age: 26
Location: KY, USA
Detail the WoW guilds you have been in (Server, Guild, Length of Time) and the reasons why you left those guilds.
Korialstrasz(US)
Feathermoon(US)
Previous raiding experience in WoW.
I started playing WoW just last January, so my raid experiences have been all TBC or later. My guild had a rather small core group of raiders, so while I had multiple full clears of Karazhan and Zul’aman, I only saw Magtheridon’s Lair near the end of TBC (also cleared). In Wrath, I’ve been raiding Naxxramas and Obsidian Sanctum fairly consistently; I have seen a full completion of Naxx with a 10-man group that pulled me in as a PUGged DPS, but as for my 25-man group, we haven’t had that sort of success.
At the launch of WotLK, Fatalis was on course to team up with a fellow guild, Avenging Warpath, to tackle 25-man content. A loot system was set in place, times were set, raid balance was assured, and so on. By the time the actual date to start raiding arrived, a few members of Fatalis had already joined another regular 25-man raid, the loot system was ignored, and Avenging Warpath was contributing roughly 3-4 members to the raid. While we have managed to pick up some regular members, this raid has (for various reasons) not even completed more than two wings of Naxxramas (Spider & Plague, Construct except Thaddius, and no progress into Military), and Fatalis is largely pulling out to create its own raid group, which I cannot join due to their weekend raid time. This puts the kibosh on this joint raid, pretty much, and so I am looking for a new and improved raid experience.
Please tell us about any previous leadership experience in WoW.
I have led a small casual guild on Korialstrasz, but haven’t really held any sort of formal officer position in any other aspect since leaving that guild.
What do you want out of your playing time?
I want two things: fun, and to see the content. While I had fun in TBC (I was leveling, I was raiding on a consistent schedule, it’s all good), it sort of bothered me that I was never going to see anything past Z’A. I like that sense of achievement and conquest, as well as learning my own class as I go along - there’s always something new to learn about how to do my job just the tiniest bit better. There are other things I enjoy, like leveling alts, achievement hounding, and so on; additionally, while raiding has to be taken seriously for there to be success, I appreciate groups that also treat it as “serious fun” and not a second job.
What is your availability for raids?
I am available Sunday through Thursday, 6pm - 1am EST (3pm - 10pm server time). I may occasionally be online on the weekends but never consistently enough to guarantee any raiding.
Please describe your computer/Internet setup and indicate whether you tend to have lag or connectivity issues.
I built this PC from scratch and continually upgrade it as I have the available funding; it runs in a raid environment at full tilt with all effects turned up, averaging 40-60 fps. (Tons of layered AOE can be a bit sketchy, but it doesn’t affect my ability to do my job.) I periodically have connection issues stemming from connecting to a West Coast server from the Eastern side of the country; however, generally if there are going to be issues on a given night, they show up early enough and consistently enough that I can let my raid leaders know I will not be able to take part in a raid. (This has only happened once in my WoW career, when I started experiencing 3000ms ping times prior to a Thaddius attempt and voluntarily sat the fight out.)
Are you willing to occupy a bench slot (on line and still available to sub in) when needed?
That’s how I got my start raiding; that’s what I’ll do again if necessary to raid with you.
In your opinion, what do skilled players of your class and spec contribute to 25-man raiding?
Death knights can tend to be a bit low on the multi-class synergy. However, unholy DKs do bring a couple things to the table. One is our ability to apply a debuff applying +13% magic damage, covering potential holes in the raid; the other (at least until 3.1) is a 15% movement boost for the entire raid. However, our most consistent things we bring to a raid are flexibility - I’ve gone from off-tanking to kiting to straight-out DPSing just with a change of presence and gear, on a single night - and damage, pure, plain damage. Damage: it kills bosses!
What do you, as an individual, bring to raids that distinguishes you from average players? Here’s your chance to convince us that we need YOU for our team.
I know it sounds hackneyed, but I am a team player. I may not have a ton of raid experience prior to the current content, but I am a quick learner, and can adapt to your team’s way of doing things. I do my very best to stay on top of the newest changes coming down the pipeline to WoW, and how they affect me and my position in the raid. During my time raiding with Fatalis, I have consistently served in a DPS role, and when I’m not in the raid bringing down bosses and trash, I’m trying to figure out how to make myself better. If that means switching specs, gear, or playstyle to eke out just that last bit of performance so that the raid can be better as a result of my contribution, so be it.
What mods do you use
, and why do you like them?
I use quite a few addons, but the ones most relevant to raiding are MetaHUD, Power Auras, Grid, DBM, and Omen. Omen obviously helps me keep on top of threat, so the tank doesn’t have to play Aggro Ping-Pong. DBM is a must-have for raiding, in my opinion. While I may not be a healer, Grid still is my raid frame of choice, if only so I can see the raid’s condition at a glance. MetaHUD and Power Auras are all about reaction time - visual and audio warnings about things like missing buffs and incorrect stances improve my playstyle and reaction time, while MetaHUD keeps relevant info (namely, my life, the boss’s life, buffs, and debuffs) at eye level so I don’t need to look away.
What websites do you usually visit to gather WoW information?
Wowhead, Wowwiki, Elitist Jerks forums, Tankspot, BossKillers, MMO Champion, WoW Insider, and a variety of blogs from a variety of authors.