Good luck! I enjoyed your blog, but understand that projects don't *quite* work out like we intended :)
My recent post
A Query About Guides
I am not trying to attack any one else's way of life, merely explain my own reasons, and find out how important capping is for others in relation to other raid activities. I'm not condoning people showing up without appropriate gems/enchants/flasks/food. I'm not condoning people who have gear that is entirely inappropriate for the instance level to be making no effort towards improving their own gear. I made the assumption, perhaps falsely, that most people who raid give a shit, and that saying "if you don't VP cap you're doing it wrong" was over the line. VP capping for some players is an easy and enjoyable activity. For others, its a task that takes up more time than is available for them during the week. I don't think VP capping is appropriate for every raider, but I definitely admire, and applaud the people who have the time and make the effort.
Hence, my confusion about how not VP capping led to people who don't make any effort whatsoever. It seems I've got your back up a bit, but I was honestly trying to clarify whether you really felt that this one activity gave you a good indicator as to the raid-worthiness of your raid members.
However, you did mention that those who didn't cap VP in your guild you viewed as "expect[ing] to be handed epics." Do you really feel that gear acquisition outside of the raid (assuming that your players are reasonably geared for your progression content, i.e. they raided T11 and are now going into T12) is that much more important than their execution in raids or the right attitude for your team?
As a GM, I can understand that position. I'm from a guild that would definitely expect me to go buy a 35k pair of boots if they were an upgrade, so VP capping is not an unrealistic goal. However, I've been ALMOST capping just from raids, I'm not online that much outside of raid time, and frankly, my guild UNDERSTANDS. If that's the case for me, and many others, what's it matter to you and your guild?
I'm not encouraging people to piss all over their guild's expectations, I'm simply sayin' skill > gear and raiding with the right folks > raiding with the folks with a lot of time on their hands.
I doubt they'll switch 'em to a vendor since they're already BoE. I know my guild has bought a few since we had so many players who the boots/bracers were an upgrade.
Of course that is one argument, but I don't think gear > than any other efforts I make towards my raid team. My position is that there are not enough hours in the day that I can do everything that would be beneficial to my raid team, so why get so caught up in one of the activities that I find the least desirable?
I hadn't even noticed that! Good thing I do this as a hobby :) Edited!
Glad to be of use :) You guys make the stories worth sharing!
I think it's awesome that you can make the time to even be able to make raids regularly! <3 My Aunt has five kiddos, and she was always short on time.
Totally forgiven. I think I still have you under retired in my folders even though you've been back for awhile :) I'm honestly surprised how much other people care about what I'm doing (and how my guild should feel about my ability to raid because of it!)
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