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Blackrock Foundry opens on February 3
Blizzard has just announced the unlock schedule for the Blackrock Foundry raid! Normal and heroic modes open on February 3, with Mythic opening the following week on February 10. Raid finder begins to unlock with wing 1 on February 17, and you'll have to wait all the way until March 24 to kill Blackhand in wing 4. LFR will require a minimum item level of 635. Keep in mind this doesn't mean patch 6.1 will be released on the same date. The @WarcraftDevs Twitter account has already told us that the two are not dependent. Check out the full unlock schedule after the break.
Throne of Thunder raid release schedule announced
Today marks the launch of patch 5.2, and along with it comes a new raid to conquer. We have confirmation of the Throne of Thunder raid schedule, and staggered release of raid difficulties. As it stands right now, Normal Throne of Thunder launches today, with Heroic ToT and the first wing of LFR next week, with a new LFR wing released each week after until mid-April. Throne of Thunder Raid Schedule With the release of Patch 5.2: The Thunder King, the vast Throne of Thunder raid will become available. As in previous raid tiers, Raid Finder wings and availability difficulties will be staggered. To access the new Raid Finder wings you will need a minimum average item level (ilevel) of 480. This is our current schedule based on a planned patch release date of March 5. If the patch is delayed, or if we determine any change is needed, we'll update this article. March 5 – Normal Throne of Thunder March 12 – Heroic Throne of Thunder and LFR Wing 1 "Last Stand of the Zandalari" March 19 – LFR Wing 2 "Forgotten Depths" April 2 – LFR Wing 3 "Halls of Flesh-Shaping" April 16 – LFR Wing 4 "Pinnacle of Storms" source
Officers' Quarters: Too much Stormstout ale
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Adult raiders are free to enjoy a few adult beverages while they raid. This week, a guild leader wonders what to do when a raider has a few too many and ruins a night of raiding. (He also asks about raid scheduling, which isn't nearly as interesting, but we'll talk about it anyway.) Hi Scott, Yes, it's me again, Apocalyptic GM, sorry to be bothering you again, but you did such a good job last time of giving advice, that i felt the need to come to you again, especially now that two further large problems have arisen within my guild. Firstly, the issue of raiding days. Currently i work shifts of 4 on 4 off at night time, which means i am only available for every 4 out of 8 days. We raided fine with this for the last 6 months ... but recently there has been some descent among the ranks, and complaints that people aren't happy with the current raiding days set up, and this hampering our time raiding. Now I could easily change to a fixed raiding days, but that would leave me frequently absent from raids, which is not something i would prefer. And this leaves me in a pickle as to what to do. As guild master and raid leader I feel I should be able to set up raids to suit me, but then I also feel I should better accomodate my guild.
Normal Mogu'shan Vaults is now live
The normal mode dungeon Mogu'shan Vaults is available for raiding. Though it isn't open for Raid Finder yet, it will be in the following weeks. Blizzard gives us the raid release schedule for this month: Blizzard Entertainment The first Normal difficulty Mists of Pandaria Raid Dungeon is now available: Mogu'shan Vaults. Raid Finder and Heroic difficulties will be available Tuesday, October 9. Raid Finder will unlock bosses in Mogu'shan Vaults and Heart of Fear over time, and all Mogu'shan Vaults bosses will be unlocked and available Tuesday, October 16. To access the new Raid Finder dungeons, you will need a minimum item level (ilevel) requirement of 463. Here is the current schedule for these Raid releases: Tuesday, Oct. 2 - Normal Mogu'shan Vaults Tueday, Oct 9 - Heroic Mogu'shan Vaults and first half of Mogu'shan Vaults on Raid Finder Tuesday Oct. 16 - Second half of Mogu'shan Vaults on Raid Finder Tuesday, Oct. 30 - Normal Heart of Fear and Normal Terrace of Endless Spring (Must clear Heart of Fear first) with Heroic and Raid finder versions unlocking one week later We will update this post with additional unlock information at a future point in time. source Will you and your guild be raiding tonight? Or are you too busy with all of the other Mists of Pandaria content?
Heroic Madness on 7 hours a week -- the shape of guilds to come?
Raiding on two nights a week is certainly nothing novel in this day and age. Casual raiders can often devote no more than two nights to WoW. Fans of the Raid Finder find twice a week a reasonable fit. Heck, more than a few of the most dedicated raiding groups have lightened their weekly loads to two nights in light of end-of-expansion doldrums. Even so, three nights per week is probably still the norm among groups that consider themselves dedicated raiding guilds. But two-night raiding may be building a steamhead as the playerbase matures along with the game. "A couple years ago, you did a feature on a two-night guild when they killed heroic Lich King," wrote reader Oatz of Full Spectrum on Alleria (US). "Well, when Cataclysm started, that inspired me to create my own two-night guild (seven hours per week). I am now proud to say that our two-night guild has just killed heroic Madness, making us not just the #1 two-night guild but also #24 on 10-man and #62 overall in the United States." Impressive, yes -- but what caught my eye about this email was Oatz's almost off-handed conclusion about the stability of his guild's roster. "It's interesting how raid groups are evolving over the years as the playerbase gets older," he mused. "Our guild is full of professionals in their 20s and 30s, many with spouses and kids, and none of us can raid more than two nights. I'm a practicing lawyer myself, but I started WoW back when I was a lowly college student." "I remember back in vanilla, even, when there were no server transfers," he continued. "Raiding guilds were always competing for recruits based on progression. It seems now that as the raider playerbase has increased and gotten older, for the majority, it's more based on schedules and other niches." WoW on demand vs. WoW as a time-gobbling behemoth -- is this where the serious WoW hobbyist stands in 2012?
Officers' Quarters: Mailbox roundup redux
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available this spring from No Starch Press. Here at Officers' Quarters, I receive a number of emails every week that don't get featured in the column for various reasons (which I explained last time I did a roundup). Once again, it's time to examine some of these shorter -- but no less interesting! -- topics. This roundup's theme is Cataclysm concerns and preparation. Just the two of us Hello, I have tried to find this info but I cannot seem to find it anywhere, or I am really terrible at finding things. Is there going to be a minimum guild size to participate in guild leveling? I started a small guild for myself and my son to play in and we are having a great time, but I hoped we could take advantage of these new features without joining a larger guild or recruiting into the existing one. Obviously we would not get any experience for raids or dungeons, but what about questing and professions, or even rated battlegrounds? Thank you for your time, Callidor
WoW Rookie: Do you have time to raid?
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic, and be sure to visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's.They're the names on everyone's lips: Lord Jaraxxus. Onyxia. Yogg-Saron. You're dying (literally!) to see these larger-than-life figures – but now that it's almost time to look for a solid guild and get about the business of raiding, you find doubt bubbling to the surface. Work, school, family, other hobbies ... Raiding is supposedly an intense pursuit. Do you have the time it takes to be a successful raider?The short answer: Yes, you do have time. If you want to raid, somewhere out there is a guild that will work for you. The player population of WoW is so immense that finding a raid that fits your goals and schedule is certainly within the realm of possibility (if not within the actual realm you currently play on -- pardon the pun). We obviously can't tell each and every one of you exactly where to look for a custom fit, but we can give you some starting points to help you identify what to look for in the first place.
We Have a Tabard: Ring the bell, school's back in
Looking for a guild? Well, you can join ours! We have a tabard and everything! Check back for Amanda Dean talking about guilds and guild leadership in We Have a Tabard.Drama is not the only issue to cause hardship among raiding guilds. We've seen guilds crumble and fall over new raid content. It seems we've come across another time-sensitive factor: the beginning of the school year. Guilds that have been blissfully progressing throughout the summer may be seeing their attendance plummet. Remember folks, some things are more important than WoW. Education tops the list. It would be poor form to badger your scholastic members into raiding when they've got homework to do. Students also need a good night's sleep in order to perform successfully. This goes for college students as well as high schoolers, but they may have more flexibility in scheduling. In the end, WoW is just a video game and school affects the present and the future.
