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Icrontic's triumphant return to Mythic Raiding - 2017
Hey Icrontic!
The guild is in a weird spot right now: We got good. That sounds good in most situations but the problem is that people have gotten bored. We're at a point where we've got current heroic content on farm already and a new raid is maybe two months out.
In some ways, this is the strongest the guild has ever been; in terms of player skill and commitment, we've got a truly solid raid core of skilled players that can push new content, master it quickly, and help others through it as well. This is why we're 10/10 Heroic Nighthold, almost the whole guild Ahead of the Curve, and everyone so geared that there's really not a whole lot of benefit to raiding Nighthold twice a week.
The downside of this is that we've had some drop-off and lack of commitment from formerly dedicated raiders. Some people have announced that they're taking a break until Tomb of Sargeras and others just sort of don't show up to raid night anymore.
We've tossed around the idea of making the jump back to Mythic raiding for a couple of months now, but it's been noncommittal. The last time we were a mythic raiding guild was during Siege of Orgrimmar. Well, the officers have decided to put a stake in the ground and move forward with mythic raiding as it is the next logical progression step for us.
We've got a solid raid core of 13-16 players right now. If we have some people return for mythic, we could theoretically fill out a full 20 roster. If not, we will begin taking pug DPS with the idea of this being a recruiting trial for mythic raiders. There is precedent: Icrontic has happily and successfully pugged raiders in the past who have become valuable additions to our team.
SO, that said:
THURSDAYS will be for full clears of heroic Nighthold. It'll be important to continue bringing our A-game because the goal will be a full single-night clear.
SUNDAYS will be for Progression: Starting on the 7th of May, we'll be at Mythic Emerald Nightmare.
Some of us have already done mythic EMN and I'll be honest: It's not as hard as you might think. This team will plow through it, and then we'll continue on to mythic Trial of Valor. From there, we will be on to Mythic Nighthold!
Because of the commitment needed for successful mythic raiding, we need everyone to renew their commitments to our progression raiding team. This is a good chance to let us know whether or not you're in.
Our current raid roster has 18 people; we need two more to round out a full group. My dream is that people who have stopped playing will come back for this, but I'm also fully ready to put on my recruitment pants and find some new guildies for this. Mythic is also more rigid: Pick a class, pick a role, and you're stuck with it. No changing roles or toons for this one.
If you're not confident about mythic raiding, you have two options: we can whip you into shape; it's probably not as hard as you might think it is... or this is a good time to say "ehhh, I'm not interested" and commit to that choice so that we can replace you on the mythic side. It's also fine to say you want to farm NH but not mythic, however I highly encourage you to try out mythic EMN as I think it will be a confidence and skill booster.
So, this is your chance: RIDE INTO BATTLE WITH YOUR GUILD. ICRONTIC CALL TO ARMS. Mythic Raiding awaits!
CURRENT RAID ROSTER:
MAEJAH, WOLFORD = Tanks
TRESDIN, ZUMMIE, PROTRACTOR, KIRKFRANKLIN = Heals
KETHARK, ANGALIKI, LALAINNA, KAELYNN, IMPATIENT, WHISON, MYNTEA = Ranged DPS
AVISUKU, SOLENDA, KJORNE, ZYRII, SWIFTWRAITH = Melee DPS
PLEASE post here whether or not you're in so we can put you on the official mythic roster. Thanks!
Unclogging your brain: adventures in work & adulting
I had a really interesting experience today. It was a complete "oh, duh" moment that was months in the making and solved a bunch of issues, and the circumstances of it are worth recounting.
A few months ago, one of our most experienced developers announced she was leaving. The R&D team had been rotating one of them being the primary support developer every two weeks, but as we hit a changing of the guard for this and other reasons I decided to take it over for a while myself and see if I could diagnose why the work was taking so much time / dragging us down so hard, and/or what could be done about it besides simply passing it off regularly so no one burnt out.
From here, my job slowly morphed into a Dr. Seuss rhyme:
so all we could do was to
sit!
sit!
sit!
sit!
and we did not like it.
not one little bit.
I had a hundred things I wanted to work on, but this thing was weighing me down. And then a bunch of other similar stuff piled on, and it just killed my work buzz. I was getting cranky. But I still had no better idea how to handle it all without making things worse for the team. So I waited some more.
This weekend I built a Magic deck, went to a game store with @dark_arches and played sealed deck all afternoon, listened to Irish music in a bar with Aaron, planned the schedule for Expo, and then Sunday night I got so excited about something I was working on for Icrontic I stayed up til 2am working on it. I haven't done that in a long damn time. My mind was drifting back to Icrontic stuff all this morning, and then my Nintendo Switch arrived at lunch and I spent a little time getting that set up.
"OK, gotta really focus now", I thought as I turned back to the support queue. And that's when I realized what position we needed to hire next at work, and 15 minutes later I'd written a job description & proposal and bounced it off two other managers. It solves the problems, is a solid job in itself, and will make my life way better again. And, in retrospect, is perfectly obvious.
Yet I could not see it until I unclogged my brain and got it fired up about something else entirely.
Linc
Bugatti Chiron - How it's Made Documentary
A little overproduced from Nat'l Geo, but still interesting to watch. Prepare to lose 45mins of your day.
NiGHTS
Re: WANTED: Video game events for Expo 2017 (deadline Sun, Apr 30)
Any interest in a "spess with drasnor" KSP tutorial on the living room TV? I know I missed the deadline but I just had the idea today.
drasnor
Re: Icrontic St. Paddy's 2012 Beer Tasting - Barleywine Cellar Review Edition
@primesuspect said:
better late.... than... never? o.O
I know, right?
I was reminded of it a few weeks ago when I finally got the "Remember this day" feature on Facebook and this tasting popped up. Went to the thread to stroll down memory lane and found a half-composed follow-up post that never got finished.
Look at all these happy Barleywine drinkers!
RyanMM
Re: Expo 2017: Pre-Announcement / Get Hype
- Lots of fun things to announce in the next 2 weeks.
Make that over the next four weeks. 
Thing are... escalating.
Linc
Re: Nintendo Switch (formerly codenamed NX) and mobile gaming
I just realized: this is the first console OR handheld gaming system I've purchased... ever... in my life.
As a kid, I got an original Game Boy and later an N64 as gifts. I got an original Nintendo secondhand from a friend (post-N64) for like $50 but I don't really count that. Otherwise, @primesuspect has been doing the game system buying around here for the last decade.
Linc