My guild has a weird habit. We will get stuck on a boss sometimes and will wipe and wipe until the end of raid time. We usually try one last time, sometimes even requiring fresh flasks for that one last attempt. 9 times out of 10 that last attempt will go perfectly and we down the boss. Is it luck?
I'm not talking about a boss or hard mode we haven't killed before. Usually the previous week we had 1 or 2 shot it. I have no idea why it falls apart so bad or why we can pull together so well on an attempt that we shouldn't have done according to our raiding rules.
Our Sartharion with 3 drakes was a perfect example of this. This was back when it was the hardest encounter in the game and we barely met the gear requirement. We started and ended the night in that instance. 4 ½ hours in that hole, wipe after wipe. I could do my job with my eyes closed. I knew when to move and where just because we had done it so many times. End of raid time came and one of our people had to leave. We brought in a replacement and we killed that damn dragon with no deaths.
First lich king kill? 3 weeks of wipes. One week had 18 wipes and another had 12. When did he get killed? That's right, the last try of the night, after the raid time is officially over, giving it "just one more try".
I can't explain why that last try when we should be logging off and going to bed is so magic for us, but I do know that without the mentality to keep grinding it out, failure after failure we wouldn't be in the position to get that magic attempt. Maybe it is just luck, but it reminds me of an ancient roman saying
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
I see people complain about others, or show up without enough flasks or reagents or whatever and it puts me off. I've never really thought about that until now. Its easy to discern my dislike for the attitude of not being prepared. That last try is only within our grasp because we tried so hard the rest of the night. Those of us who don't complain and make sure to have an extra flask for that last attempt are saying that doing this matters to us. Those that aren't prepared or in a good attitude are telling the rest of us that they just don't care enough for the group to try.
Wiping is annoying. Its counter to what we as individuals and as a group want to accomplish. Winning feels good. It furthers our goals in the game. I can understand the frustrations, but I won't forgive the attitude of apathy to our fellow members when a person doesn't try or come prepared.
And WoW is so easy now. Whenever I get frustrated I think back to the days of Black Wing Lair and Vael the Guild Killer. I swear to God I knew at least 2 guilds on my server that actually disbanded because they couldn't kill Vaelestraz. It took my guild (a different one than I am in now) about 3 months to kill him. 3 MONTHS! We made our own luck. We came prepared, we tried and tried and tried some more. We kept showing up. Night after night, week after week.
So if your guild is getting stuck, don't get discouraged. Get more prepared and get in there and wipe. If you have people who won't show up because its a progression night, recruit someone to take their place. If you want to complain, think about the hardest encounter you have personally been through and completed.
The one quality that is needed in a raider over any other is persistence. You need to be able to put your head down and take a beating night after night. After all, 2 steps forward and 1 step back will eventually get you to the finish line. And when you do, the reward will be that much sweeter. So go get prepared, find that opportunity and...
Go make your own luck.
"go make your own luck"
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