Raiding With Paranoid

What you need to know re: your character

First off let’s talk ‘ethos’

Paranoid is a guild that raids, we are not a ‘raiding guild’, and the primary goal is always that you guys have the most fun possible. However, it has to be stressed that it’s not fun wiping all night! We can help each other by trying to make our characters as strong as is reasonably possible.

We don’t want to put up barriers to entry, but we do need to respect each others time, and be prepared for the level of content we are tackling. We can be more relaxed with requirements for normal, but heroic demands more. This is the ethos part, the sentiment behind everything – Paranoid wants to provide a fun experience for EVERYONE, and that can only happen if everyone does their part.

We try and strike a balance between looking after the health and morale of the entire group, and keeping the requirements as low as is reasonable. The current raid leader (Tai, playing as Herà this season) is a fan of the honour system. We are all adults, and we all want the same thing – to have success slaying internet dragons – so why would anyone not do their best, in preparing for group content? For anyone unsure, as to what to aim for, we hope this guide will outline what we expect, or talk to the raid leader anytime and Tai will help you.

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Brass Tacks – What is expected

Enchants/Gems

• The exact slots differ between expansions. In Midnight there are 6 pieces that take enchants and the expectation is that all slots will be enchanted. The same with any gem slots you have, we expect them to be socketed. If, for whatever reason, you are missing 1 enchant/gem etc. of a raid evening, you’ll still be able to join, but we’d expect that situation wouldn’t persist forever.
• While a significant change may not be noticeable on a personal level when it comes to enchants and gems, the cumulative effect has a big impact on the raid; a 1% increase in dps per player is a 20% boost across 20 players.
• This does not have to be the best initially. If prices are crazy (e.g. 20k) then a reasonable strategy could be use cheap enchants on normal gear, and then when you get your ‘rest of the season’ heroic piece, applying the expensive enchant on that.
• If you need help there will be some enchants/gems available in the guild bank, free to take and use.
• We have a directory of crafters available through the members-only section of our guild website, or you can ask in either the discord or guild chat. If you get the raw materials a guild crafter is likely to be cheaper than the AH/trade. Ask, and see if anyone can help.
• If anyone is worried about this then please, please get in touch. Paranoid helps and supports each other.

How do I get gear?

• Especially if you are joining the season later on you might feel there’s no chance, but that’s not true!
• Champion (normal raid gear) drops like rain these days. Obviously it comes from group content like normal raids, or low mythic dungeons. You can also get it solo from bountiful delves, or there are usually a number of ‘catch-up’ options available in the .5 patch.
• Gear can be crafted. Again reach out – ask! – we can help tell you what mats are needed for pieces, and who could help with the crafting (or you can search the directory).
• For tier sets the catalyst can turn any non-crafted piece of gear, of the available slots, into a piece of tier gear. Some 4 sets can be really powerful and so tier is not something to sleep on. Also in Midnight you can get more catalyst charges faster once you unlock 4set, so you don’t need to ‘hoard’ them so much like in earlier seasons.

Consumables

• The raid leader always provides a cauldron for flasks. However, if you miss the cauldron, or there aren’t quite enough ‘doses’ to go around for everyone to have two (to cover the full two hours of raiding), then it’s an idea to carry your own.
• We should always have hearty feasts too, but again if you happen to miss it, it helps to have some food in your bag.
• Sometimes the guild bank will have stocks of potions or oils etc. but this isn’t guaranteed as they are provided by the generosity of other guildies.
• Any donations to the gbank of mats are gratefully received but not necessary.

Strategy and Tactics

• Our raid nights last for two hours. While this can feel quite short, we have found this length best as it is both long enough to clear a full raid near the end of the season, while remaining respectful of people’s time. However, it is important that we try to be efficient so that we can maximize boss pulls during this time. 
• When we are still learning bosses, it is important that we go over fight tactics to make sure the team a) know what to do, and b) are properly coordinated. While this can take up some of the raid time, it is important that everyone ‘listens’ (reads), as proper coordination increases our success chances, and means we’re more likely to see more bosses in the night.
• To help make tactics go faster, we ask that everyone minimises chatter and distraction. A few words in /s are okay, but please do not hold conversations in raid chat during tactics.
• Once everyone is familiar with a fight, we will minimise tactics to a few basic reminders, or discontinue them if the raid leader feels that everyone knows the fight well enough. Until then, we ask for your patience. Additionally, if you would like a reminder or explanation for a boss, please feel free to ask either in raid chat or by whispering the raid leader.
• If you are newly joining us in the middle of heroic progression, we ask that you spend some time familiarising yourself with boss tactics before the raid via resources like WoWhead, or guides posted by our raiders.

Other things to note. We don’t use voice comms as a group. Sometimes a small subset hop on when they feel like it, but as an example the Raid Leader is never on voice so it’s really up to you.

Certain addons like DBM/Bigwigs etc. used to basically be mandatory but the default UI now has options for encounter timers/alerts. In Midnight blizz changed how these addons work, and enhanced their default offerings. So you no longer need any addons, or you might prefer one for more visual customization, that’s entirely your choice.

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A note about ‘criticism’

In our ethos we say we don’t judge – and we don’t. However, we want to make a distinction between judging and helping. Judging would be going “ugh X died to Y mechanic again!”. Helping would be observing that a certain mechanic is tricky, and offering advice on how to deal with it. No need to name, names. No blame, not shaming anyone, just helping with some advice. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

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That’s great but can I, as the ‘player’ come?

“Paranoid is not a raiding guild, we are a guild of friends that raids.”

If you have kids, pets, if you are the emergency contact for something and have to ‘hop to it’ if the phone rings, or if you have a health condition that has sudden urgent needs – none of this is a barrier to raiding with us. Basically any scenario, if you are afraid of needing to AFK mid-encounter then don’t worry about it.

Real life always comes first. If you have 1 sec to type in chat e.g “kid needs me” (or whatever), then that would help, but if you can’t and you just have to vanish then we get it. The worst that might happen, is if you weren’t there for the ready check for the next pull, then you might get removed from the group because of the scaling, but the instant you said you were back (if you came back obviously) you’d get invited and summoned.

So in summary, if there’s ever a situation where you have to step away then you gotta step away. You won’t be judged or kicked, or barred from future events or any of that nonsense. If you are hesitating about joining events because you are afraid “what if I have to step away?” then please know there is no reason to be afraid. If you have to step away, then do so. It doesn’t affect your permanent welcome to our events. You are one of us, a Paranoid guildie and we support each other.

The same goes for if you can’t make the entire raid. We are lucky enough to have a warlock at the moment so have narnia. Whatever time you say in /g “hey can I get a raid invite” then you will get one, and we will summon the moment we are done with the current pull. If you have to dip, then just say something like “got to go guys, thanks for raid” and drop group. It’s all good.

Finally to complete the trifecta, though we’re sure you’d expect this to be the case by now, you can pop in and out as you can/want to attend. Can only make one raid a week? Fine. Can make raid once in a blue moon? Also fine. There’s no “be there every week or you can’t come” business. It’s very much a drop in, drop out as works for you.

Basically all guildies are always 100% welcome anytime 🙂 No matter what you always have a place in our events if you want one. Any questions, feedback etc. feel free to message the raid leader (Tai, playing as Herà this season) anytime either in-game, through the forum, or on discord. Here to help!

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What about loot rules?

If you have raided with us then you’ll know, and if you haven’t then be assured Paranoid guildies are kind and generous, but just so we’re all on the same page here’s how we do things 🙂

The Basics

• Gear is on standard ‘tracks’ now so Adventurer -> Veteran -> Champion -> Hero etc.
• You can NEED on gear for an upgrade IF it is on a higher track e.g. you have veteran and the gear is champion.
• If you can hit transmog then feel free.
• NEVER use the GREED button.
• Always PASS on RECIPES (we roll these out separately)
• If it’s cosmetic (e.g. toy, decor, pure appearance etc.) and you can need then go right ahead if you want it.

So how does this work?

• The games loot system is actually pretty smart (hopefully not famous last words . . .)
• It knows if it’s main spec, or off-spec, so you can just need if you need it and that’s fine.
• The same with transmog it is supposed to give priority to folks that are on a class that can wear/use the item in question e.g. hunters with bows.
• Sometimes it hiccups and in those rare cases we either ask the winner to trade to the highest roll who should have been awarded the item, or we have another roll-off.

It’s that simple?
Well . . . unfortunately no. There are some exceptions and let’s talk about those:

• TIER PIECES
• Set bonuses are often quite powerful so even if you already have e.g. a champion chest piece, if it’s the champion chest tier token then you can need it BUT there is also the catalyst to keep in mind.
• So in theory right, if Person A has a champion chest, and Person B has a veteran chest. Person A could use the catalyst to turn their champion chest into tier, and Person B could take the champion tier token – two people would then have champion tier. (Obviously there’s more nuance to this because hero track is the limit we can get as a guild, and you might not want to spend charges on champion, or you might if you are close to the 4 set etc.)
• TLDR: You can need on tier absolutely, it is 100% allowed but just consider whether you need to. After all when the raid as a whole is better geared, then we all benefit.

• ALTS
• We generally ask that folks stick with a character for the season, because ^^ “when the raid as a whole is better geared, we all benefit”. It doesn’t help the group if gear goes to various alts, as only one of them can ever be in the raid at a time.
• BUT this only really applies once we start getting into heroic raiding, as champion track gear drops from basically everywhere these days so it’s really not a huge deal.
• Also even when we are in heroic there are occasions e.g. we’re short healers and some kind soul swaps to an alt. In that case they can need roll as if it was their main character as they are helping the group out. It’s only fair then.

• BiS or SIDEGRADE?
• In the past there has been some confusion so I’m going to give the guild definition here 🙂
• BiS = the best item for that slot, you can get with the guild – so we raid up to heroic, so it’s the heroic track version of the item. A champion piece is never BiS.
• Sidegrade = an item that is on the same track but with more advantageous stats, or a gem socket etc.
• Trinkets are a little debatable because their effects can be powerful.
• If you type /loot then it brings up a window and you can see who has rolled. If you are shy about asking “hey does someone need X?” then you can peek and see. If people have needed and you think the item is just a sidegrade for you, then you have your answer.
• BUT the last thing we ever want is for folks to feel disgruntled if they generously passed, and they find the winner actually had the same gear circumstance but decided that for them it was an upgrade and so they needed. We would much rather folks spoke out in chat of “hey I have a champion trinket but it’s trash, that’s my BiS trinket (or it will be at hero track) does anyone need it?”. People always say yes, or no, or same, and it’s worked out in moments what the best thing is to roll.

To be honest we feel like these loot rules ^^ are pretty much common sense. We have a fantastic group in Paranoid, of very nice, very kind people. Basically as a TLDR: if you aren’t sure – ask. There are no bad/silly/stupid questions. We would much rather folks asked than feel unsure, or worried, or upset. Raiding is supposed to be fun.

If you ever have any questions about any of this before, after, or during a raid, then ask in /ra, or send an officer/the raid leader a private /w. Or you can PM, or mail, through the website now, or ask on discord etc. if something doesn’t make sense or isn’t clear. We want to help you, We want everyone to enjoy themselves 🙂

Looking forward to raiding with you!