Freelance,
It has come to my attenttion some folks getting " pissie " that i go AFK
First of all i don't have to explain anything to u virtual "tards ", but if u want to know
i take care of my 78 year old mother who has alzheimer's, diabetes, high blood pressure in a wheel chair, so during the 7 PM PST time she comes home from the adult day care, which means i have to go AFK for 15 mins to get her in the house, and situated, with medicines and food.
Furro and Dimbly are always notified of this.
if any have issues, take it up with furro and stop whining like a " Bitch " in tank or any other channel
I hope you don't speak to your mother like that!
But funny aside, you do send me a tell when you have to go AFK. I remove you from the group if it's during prep. If you're not back by the time we engage, you get replaced. However, if you send a tell mid-battle that you're going AFK; that's unacceptable. The reasoning is this (and this applies to ANYONE, not just you by the way, so this isn't personal). But clearly you know your RL schedule, the time you have available, and when interruptions will occur. So my advice is to anyone in this situation and/or other disruptions RL or otherwise, to note the time and plan accordingly. It's far more productive for us as a team, if one has to AFK, that they do so before we're engaged in the event (in battle), and therefore bowing out prior to is easier to manage from a group/team-play point of view.
On a related subject (AFK, as it applies to inattentive and/or appearance of inactivity from one or more characters during events). This is a general statement to everyone who raids with us. Many of you know I parse, I actively parse, and I'm not afraid to confront people on their performance. Be mindful however, that it's not personal.
We Can't Manage What We Don't MeasureIt's important as a team, that we work together. The hardest part about raiding is really working together and everyone performing their class role effectively. Parsing allows us to effectively narrow down on any aspect of the raid and take that slice; within context of the moment, and analyse it in an effort to improve.
When raid analysis is done, below are the following areas I look at. Select players are then isolated to drill down further and approached either in their related channel, via tells and/or via PM in some situations. Remember, it's not personal, it's part of improving us overall as a team.
DPS Classes:
- Total DMG individuals contribute to an event.
- Burn DMG for x stage(s) of an event (with context taken into account, ie, adds, minibosses).
- Spell/Disc usage. I compare the top DPS performer(s) spell/disc lineup/usage to identical classes who ranked lower in the parse (context and group makeup taken into account).
- Debuff DPS Classes, are proper debuffs being applied as assigned.
- ADPS contributions:
- Did the player click their ADPS ability (be it epic/other) and was it on queue as per FLDPS assignment?
- When their ADPS ability was activated, how many others were affected? Was the player in question too far away from the bulk of our raid DPS?
- As a caster, is the player in range of their party ADPS (ie, Enchanter aura, Bard song(s), Druid Black Wolf, etc)?
Tank Classes:
- Spell/Disc usage (ie, epics/other, when multiple tanks of same class are in the group, are they announcing/coordinating their clicks to avoid overlap).
- Defensive discs, applies to above. Did they use Deflect/Fort, was it at the proper time/stage.
- Tank Swaps, was it done correctly, was it announced in the proper format.
- General communication in FLTanks:
- When applicable, are OT's communicating when more then one add is on them (to let a floater tank know to pick one off, and/or that someone didn't pick up their add for whatever reason).
- When applicable (notably when we exhaust our MTO), is the rotation communicating to let their fellow Warriors know they are available with discs ready and/or available and can go next/swap in.
Healer Classes:
- Heals:
- What spells and abilities they using to heal.
- Are they using their heal burns (where class applicable, in normal event execution), at the appropriate time(s).
- When applicable, are they positioned in the proper location (this is observed visually during the event, and/or if x player fails/dies, their location is at times questioned (ie, in the event they are too close and in AE Rampage, and/or other short range AE's and/or other factions).
- Buffs:
- Clerics, are they actively casting DI, SB, Group HoT.
- Clerics, are they using Quiet Miracle on Druid(s) who have died.
- Druids, are proper debuffs being applied as assigned.
- Druids, are they using Black/White wolf if/when applicable.
- Shaman, are proper debuffs/slows being applied.
- Shaman, are their ADPS related epic/other spell/casts being done religiously and timed just prior to specific x burn stage(s).
- Class applicable, is Growth buff being applied to tanks as assigned or otherwise when not present.
- Debuffs, are proper debuffs being applied as assigned or otherwise.
- In general, are assigned buffers responding to buff requests as humanly possible (this is looked at in a broader view over time, due to certain factors no one will always be 100% able to buff in every situation of course. In other words, if someone assigned to buff is not carrying out that duty reliably, they will be approached).
Application is UniversalWho I approach on any of the above is universal. In other words, regulars just as much as new players are approached, and/or will be and/or have been on one or more occasions.
Recent examples:
Curmugly:
Regular and active with us. His DPS burn was off compared to normal on
Neriak Fourth Gate - The House of Thex raid (04-06-2014, two weeks back), Stage 1, burn Bone Crusher. I asked him was he targeted by lightning emote, and he responded yes. This explains why his DPS was off, and given the emote, we can track it down if there was any doubt.
Magician Pow-wow Meeting (pets in attendance)During prep, on 03-27-2014, I converged our active Magicians and Newcomers in a group to spur discussion as to discrepancies as it relates to DPS and their spell line ups. Improvement since has been considerable, and in no small part it is due to their conscious effort to do so in this area.
Recent FLDPS discussions:
Recent parses for x player(s) is sent to this channel to open a friendly dialog as to why x player dps is substantially lower then y player. This isn't to call anyone out to embarass. But to spur discussion by like classes in an effort to help players improve their game-play which in turn improves us overall.
Tmon:
Regular and active with us. His DPS was off compared to normal on
Ethernere - The Doomscale Horde raid (04-11-2014, last night), Stage 2, Deathmaster Sarenth. Now I fully expected him to be in the top 10 DPS, because I specifically gave G9 (the group he was in), all the proper ADPS support: Bard, Enc, Druid. Yet, for some reason his DPS was off. When asked did he die on the prior stage, he said no, he was trying a new spell line up. Clearly it didn't work imo <grin>.
Zoos:
Tank, regular and active with us. Disc usage during
Ethernere - The Defense of Lendiniara (03-28-2014). Asked whether Fort/Defensive was used, it wasn't. Subsequent death sums up the reasons why it needs to be.
On a tank related note here. Some tanks are not using (and have been reminded), of their Fort/Deflect lines as assigned for specific stages of events where it is extremely important to be using it. For example, Bixie Raid 1, Stage 3, Minibosses 3x. Each assigned tank to a miniboss should be using Deflect/Fort, then flow into your respective defensive lines as applicable when the prior ability is done. The few moments that the aforementioned disc provides allows healers to react and debuffs to be applied (including slow).
Why All This MattersI'll keep this short. Each players' actions directly impact our team as a whole. Regardless whether we are "winning" events, we always must be conscious of our overall performance as it relates to our class. That is to say, just because we're winning events, doesn't mean we can slack. It doesn't mean we're dong "fine" in one area or another. We can ALWAYS improve our game-play, in every area of play.
When you're analyzing your play, and as a DPS for example, notice that (given the same group makeup/support), you're somehow not performing as well as another FL'er of the same class. Take a moment to drill down into their spell/disc casts and see what that person is casting versus yourself. Don't be afraid to ask the person for some advice. Others players should be actively responding to these requests. Remember, it's one thing to have friendly competition in the top 10 for parses on our events (it's healthy), it's another thing completely to withhold information that will help your fellow raiders improve their game. We're playing in a team environment. Think of it as a sport.
Just so it doesn't feel like I'm picking on DPS here. If you're a healer, and you're having trouble or feel your heals are not effective for example. Taken in context, drill down in your parses to see what other healers are using as their spell line-ups. Discuss with other healers what you're using and compare "notes" basically. I'm no exception in this regard, and have had discussions with other healers in this area. As a recent example, Mildaria (Cleric), and I have discussed what spells we both use for specific events and whether or not they're effective. Like her, I tweak my spell lineup depending on the event, and try different things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But the point is, it's not just me looking at YOU. I'm just as critical on my play as I am on others.
See everyone in game!
