One of your commenters asked how Warstomp would work in PvE for Taurens and it doesn’t. It shifts you back to humanoid for which, when tanking, is a VERY bad thing…
.-= Dreddnought´s last blog ..Movin’ on up… =-.

I just wanted to add that the big thing I’m worried about for small guilds that are sticking together for 10-man content now is that the guild leveling system in Cataclysm will really encourage people to switch to larger ones. It may not…we don’t have details yet…it’s just a nagging fear that we’ll either be pressured into recruiting another 10 people or that we’ll start to lose people to bigger, higher level guilds. Hopefully it won’t be a problem, it’s just the current dark shadow lurking in my mind.
.-= Silinix´s last blog ..Update on the 3.3.3 PTR Starfall buff =-.

It’s amazing what a relaxed group of friends can manage 1-2 nights a week when it comes to raiding (ICC even) and I’ve found myself in a guild doing just that. Also, since we are a small group a friends with a variety of interests and alts, raids, heroics, alt runs, bg pvp, achievements, and random silly stuff can break out at anytime. If there was ever a concern about offers to join a guild, I’m extending one right now, not that plenty of others haven’t gotten there first.

Like others have said a change of scenery in a group of like minded folks can make a wonderful difference to your enjoyment of the game. Good Luck BBB!

I am a pugger, or I was since most of my little guild hates it and I wanted to raid a little more back when ToC was new. Now, thanks to frost emblems and triumph badges and 5 man’s dropping 232 gear, we can run it as a guild for the most part. Well, the first wing anyway. I still pug VoA and any 25 mans that I want to do, but got into a sort of co-op of people from small guilds that don’t want to leave them running 25 man ICC. I have a pretty high tolerance for idiots, ignorance and mistakes, but asshats typing in caps or bashing players unnecessarily and I just quit, screw the lockout. I am constantly appalled at how I am percieved in game because my gearscore is high. It’s insulting to be complimented by asshats I have never run with and equally as bad being called elitist from people I have never seen before.

I love my guild. No, it isn’t perfect. 5-8 core players, 4-6 regular players and a ton of alts and inactive accounts. We run ICC or ToC or whatever on Sunday nights after all the kids are in bed, and fill a spot or two with friends or people who need the achievement or don’t have the “gearscore” to pug it regularly if we need to. The only real ways to get kicked are by a) Mentioning our guild in trade chat, especially with any mention of recruiting or raiding or b) being an asshole. Yeah, like everyone who reads your blog, you and Cassie are most definitely welcome. A lot of us are married folks. And honestly, I get enough of a sense of who you are from here, (like everyone who keeps reading here, I’m sure) to have no reservations about bringing y’all in and feeling like you would love Nex Dom as well. You have my e-mail (or at least I used it to post here), so contact me that way if you are interested at all. I don’t wanna post too much about my guild here, I feel bad enough taking up this much space on someone else’s blog, but would absolutely be upfront about anything and everything you would want to know. Hell, just come hang out with us in vent if ya want to.

Lastly, you are easily geared for ICC 10. Especially with the 10% buff starting this week. I get invited to run with a guild that was once upon a time one of the top raiding guilds in the world, but now has to pug a couple for 10 mans. They are fantastic people, and really, really good at the game. The only other “legendary bear” that I had ever heard of came back to the game for a bit, and with lower gear than Windshadow (at least from the last time I armoried her and she wasn’t a tree), and never having seen a video or having even been in ICC tanked for us. This was before the buff too. Yeah, he didn’t think he had the gear, didn’t want to be carried, was scrambling to tankspot, had never heard of DBM and was very humble about them “forcing” him to go. The regular tank logged in his under-geared tree and we went in hoping to maybe kill Saurfang. We ended up killing Putricide for the first time, after 8 wipes the week before. It was one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had in this game. People that know how to play their class and just as importantly, know how to have fun playing it bring the whole group to another level. Especially, like your blog entry from the other day mentioned, if they are a tank and know how to lead.

The big thing is that people need to be focused, skilled, and have a good raid leader.

In regards to the move, I know it’s a very hard choice; I did it myself last year, moved from horde to alliance and to a different server to boot. I deliberately stayed unguilded and jumped into a few pugged raids. I quietly did my thing and ended up getting a few guild invites at the end of the runs. I would run with the guild for a bit, and mentally have them “on trial”. I was less looking for the best of the best, and more a fun group to play with. I also needed a place where my much more casual wife could putt around without being hassled. Took a while, but I can tell you that for all the asshats you’re running into, there ARE people out there who think the same way you do. There ARE people who will pass on loot or a raid spot for a night so that someone else gets a shot. There ARE people that will show up on time for a raid with all their consumables ready to go. I’m now in a guild that raids 3-4 times per week, there’s a good portion of women in the guild and I brought in my wife, brother and two best friends. So it’s not impossible, the game can be fun.

And like I said before I’ve been coming to this site for quite some time. The one thing that always amazed me was that you weren’t further ahead in your raiding, and that’s not meant to be an insult. Your advice has helped several druid tanks that I’ve pointed this way, so your skill set is actually really quite good, you’re more than capable of the boss mechanics in the bigger raids. And being a Bear tank in the ICC airship battle is just too much fun to miss; you need to show your son you bouncing around with a rocket pack on yer butt.

Im in a small close nit guild. We did a little Naxx when Uld was out and did a little Uld when ToC was out. Weve only recently started taking ICC seriously and do 1 night a week with the odd extra night thrown in once a month or so for progression. Its entirely possible to do ICC this way and have lots of fun!

As long as you have all your triumph (Badge) gear and the odd piece of frosty gear you can more than happily start tanking ICC its as simple as that. Its just a question of finding some right minded people (and judging by the invites and comments here there are plenty who would welcome you!) who can help with tacts and be patient while you learn the encounters.

Give it a go and get up off that bear arse of yours! ;)

/salute

=P

I think you’d like playing a tauren though :) My main is a tauren druid and I love playing him – and have gotten so much help from your website.

And the gear requirement for ICC 10 isn’t that bad – I’m tanking it with 4 pieces of t9, my gearscore is under 5k, and the healers aren’t screaming at me :) And we’re sticking to 2 raid nights a week as plenty of folks have outside/family commitments – better to have a happy group of raiders who are having fun than people worrying about what else they should be doing.

Hope it all works out for you and Cassie.