Ghostwolves Progress and watching your toon Grow

Czcibor in the Beginning

I remember a little whisper of a dream for our guild. It was so fragile, with just the slightest hope of getting it to go anywhere. We came into the game not knowing what to expect, just looking for a good time. Then the magic of a team came together, and the Ghostwolves have been growing ever since.

Guilds in general ebb and flo in activity but of late The Ghostwolves have done a tremendous job in moving forward with the game. We recruited a few longtime veterans who have a wealth of experience but wanted to simply enjoy the game with low drama and less stress towards progression. Hmmm...guess we fit the bill on that one very nicely. So, on average I am seeing between 15-25 members on at all times, with a raiding crew of 12 regulars. Yes, that's not a full raid I know, but it's slowly getting up there. Actually, come to think about it, we had 14 last night when we went in and downed Wing 1 of BRC. Every Friday we do a T1 sweep as a regular event, and now Saturdays we are starting Wing 1's with one of my veterans leading the charge.

Small Victories

Guild renown has been averaging around 15 mil a week which has kept us in the top 3 rankings for overall renown 3 weeks in a row. Every day I see new amazing stuff coming out of my crew. They work hard and yet have a great time together. Even with the release of Diablo 3, I haven't seen a huge decrease in daily population or guild activity. Indeed, we seem to have picked up a few more folks to roll with us this weekend alone.

After a long road, Czcibor today!

Czcibor, my Bear Shaman has picked up a more dps intensive build with less focus on
 healing. I decided to make the change as my older spec just was way below par. I still tinker with his specs though. Rotation seems to work fine and slowly he is becoming more competitive with his peers. As you can see below, he has done a lot of growing, just as the guild has grown and evolved. You gotta love vanity tabs, they make things sooo nice! Anyways, this is just a small update on the game. My posting has been spotty since I've been working in game and balancing my real life at the same time. But I'm out there!


 Oh yeah, bought a Nostromo Razer game pad...SO CHOICE!! When you are handling a ton of combos and spells from a Bear Shaman, the Nostromo is such a sweet addition. I reccomend it for any AoC Gamer whether pvp or pve.

Nostromo, a definite must have!

Bear Shaman.... one of my Favorite Classes

Back in January when the Ghostwolves got their T3 Keep built I had been working on my
 Bear Shaman by the name of Czcibor. Oddly enough, one of my fellow Bloggers Slith informed me that the name as a whole meant "Worshiper of the Forest" in the Polish language I believe. Well, can't argue with destiny now can you? At any rate, I started leveling Czcibor when I wasn't involved with raiding on my barbarian Khadoc. Getting into the swing of handling a Bear Shaman is a bit of a challenge, especially with the numerous Manifestations, Claws, Combos and healing effects.

 As of this date, I got Czcibor up to 80, had him successfully participate in some T1 Raids and guild HoC runs. to work on his rotations, I did a bit of solo work in Khitai which was most helpful. My current build is pretty much a basic hit of Iron Hide/Booming Roar. To be honest, Booming Roar hasn't really had the huge effect I was looking for against casters in the PvE realm and I'm not sure I'll keep it on.

Key binding is the largest hassle out of setting up a BS on my UI. Rotations really aren't that hard to tell the truth. Everyone has a different technique, but so far I've set my basic keys as such:

1: Internal Bleed  2: Upper Mid Attack  3: Upper Right Attack 4: Ursine Brawl 5: Ferocious Smack
Q: Manifest Spirit W: Manifest Sun  E: Lyco Bite
A: Shrewd Blow 4 S: Crush A. 4 D: Crush A. 3 F: Crush A. 2
R: Blood Flow T: Renewal Y: Fierce Recovery
Z: Rune of Aggression X: Rune of Regrowth C: Ursine Crush V: Iron Hide

This isn't all encompassing but it's what I'm working with at the moment and I'm pretty happy with it over all.

Rotation wise solo I usually start out with Blood Flow and Renewal, then drop a Manifestation. I immediately slam into Internal Bleed to get the Vision effect on my targets. From there it goes to my crush armors followed up by my Shrewd Blows following up with the Ursine brawl as much as possible. Heals are dropped when needed but I keep renewal up all the time for the additional damage bonus and HoT. I also drop Lycanthrop bite the second I start taking damage, its a nice little life tap to work through.

I've only begun my AA tree, but currently working on that long haul of Steadfast Faith. I have a couple points in decisive strikes, and I'll also be working on Sleuth of Bears the second I can get my hands on it.

The class itself over all is good in just about any situation at hand. The great DPS along with healing skills is a bonus in any group or raid. When possible I try to team him with melee DPS to add into their damage pool.

Now some folks think the micro managing aspect is a negative factor. For me, I love the fact that I have to pay attention, be quick on my feet and have the right spell/manifest/rune or melee combo running at the right time. Now mind you I am still just learning what a Bear Shaman is really capable of doing. So all you long time vets can certainly chime in on what you see is successful in rotations and builds to post. I welcome all constructive criticism as it can only make my BS that much better.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for dropping by and till next time, may blood flow like ale, and may your belt be lined with gold!

So, Ya Wanna Raid Eh?

I've often talked about the responsibilities of Guild Leaders and Raid Leaders. Today I wanted to take the time to talk to all you NEW RAIDERS wanting in on the action. For the old veterans, consider this as a basic refresher reading and if you have other pro tips, please comment as you will.

To the new raider:

Understand that life doesn't revolve around you anymore, you are a part of a team. This means you need to learn to act like a team member and show up in a responsible, timely fashion. For those that PuG into raids, you are not in charge, you volunteered. Therefore, kindly listen to your raid leader. If your raid Leader's Strat isn't working, respectfully approach through a whisper if you think you have a better suggestion.

Walking into a raid with a toon that you power leveled and have no idea how to use is a quick way to never get invited to a raid again. Take the time to practice your rotations and know your abilities. I personally hate power leveling, I think its the worst thing in the world. Besides, honestly it doesn't take very long at all to lv the regular way in AoC.  When I see toons not even landing a combo blow, I know for a fact they have not the slightest idea of how to run their class effectively. I'm all about teaching folks what they need to know and consider myself fairly patient. But I won't carry folks in a raid. That's asinine and it reflects poorly upon your guild in the long run. Take the time to research what your character does.

Come prepared. Don't ask for mana or stam or health pots. Buy the damned things. Most of you by now are in a guild. Most guilds have at least a rudimentary guild city started. That means if at least a Tradepost is created and you've hit at least Renown lv 3, there is a Brewmistress. BUY FROM HER!!!! Keep them set on your hot bars. Make sure your armor and weapons are as up to date as possible. Allow the Raid Leader to equipment check you if necessary and make recommendations. Also, if you plan on testing a new rotation or a new character build, do so BEFORE the raid so you know what you are getting into. Easiest way to do that is either get a target dummy to rate your performance or get out to Khitai and beat the shit out of multiple mobs. But don't go into a raid with an unproven spec that you just pulled out of your 4th point of contact. Get comfortable with your spell or melee rotations and make sure it works first.

I do recommend you at least use one of the following customized UI's. The stock UI in AoC sucks.
Stonerune, Fire, Plagued, Strange. Any of these are decent and allows you to map keys easily. It gives you a ton more slots to put your hot key abilities. I grant, the Stock UI can be used, but it's really not user friendly.

If you don't have ventrillo/teamspeak/mumble, you NEED to get it! Look, Raid Leaders don't have the time to type out strats. You don't need a mic. But you do need to listen in on the directions of the Raid Leader. Short of being hearing impaired, there is no reason for you to not have Ventrillo or mumble depending on what your Raid Leader uses.

Know and understand your raid's loot rules. READ the description of every loot peace and don't hit that need button unless it's for your class or the Raid Leader opens it up for the rest to roll on. If the Raid Leader says, only <X> class roll on it once the box pops, then only that class rolls. Don't rush your rolls. Take your time, no one is going anywhere till all the loot is distributed. But let's say for the sake of argument you accidentally won something that should have gone to someone else. Get the loosing party with you. Then YOU the undeserving bastard that accidentally won the item need to type the following:

/pet raid loot issues

Wait till a GM whispers you and then let them know the member standing right next to you should get the item. The GM will delete it from your inventory and then create it in the inventory of the deserving party. If I sound like a nazi about it, I have seen this happen in raids way to often. Don't like being called an undeserving bastard? Easy, be situationally aware enough to only roll on what you are supposed to roll instead of...OMFG SHINEYS YAYAYAYAAY, MINE MINE MINE!!!
That isn't a difficult concept. Yet I have seen it happen on more than one occasion. I promise you, there are a lot of guilds out there that have no mercy and will make sure never to invite you again. Not to mention they will Raid Kick you on the spot.

OK, this is a basic primer. Those who are old vets, I invite you to comment and add in your own pro tips to this basic set for the new raider.