Congrats to our newest Peacekeeper, Iolo'pax!

[Sävion Jaitro]

Iolo'pax wrote:

I know I have my missions completed, but I feel it would be fun to 'journal' the entirety of my trials and experiences leading up to membership consideration. Prior to applying, when I was lurking on the site, one of the first forums I went to was the Applications/Trial section to see who was accepted and who wasn't and why. I really enjoy the amount of thought and effort that has been put into this guild and I would like to embrace it as much as I can and I feel like this is one of the way I can give back. (yeah I am weird like that) Last night was my first raid night with Pax, and my first with modern content, 8m SM ToS. I logged on a bit early and was squaring some things away before meeting up with the raiders. Lurking on Teamspeak prior to a raid is almost as much fun as the raid itself. Karaoke with Travis… nuff said. :) I checked the website one more time to make sure I had the right start time. I was worried that we wouldn't have enough people as only 4 signed up. Once I arrived at the guild ship, I saw we were totally gonna be fine. In fact some folks wanted to join up right as we got underway, and two Pax members Nwahs and Tiffs, offered up their spots. Nwahs ended up staying in the raid and taking over Tiffs healing spot with an alt.  On modern content that I haven't done before, I read up as much as I can about the op (thank you Dulfy) and usually have the details in front of me in some form or fashion. Many of the walk-throughs I find online however, are geared for HM and SM gets an inconsistent brushover. It is tough to determine the 'hard hitting' mechanics that apply in SM instead of HM. I came to the raid with the approach of treating all mechanics as if they were 'hard hitting'. I didn't want my first outing with Pax to be my last because I stepped in stupid. Looking at the party roster, Nwahs was the only person that I had grouped with before. I wasn't sure if the rest of the team were hard core raiders or not. The first few mobs were no big deal, so it was still difficult to get a read on the skill level. But as we get ready to face Underlurker, I learned there was another player who for sure was new to the op.  Prior to the opening salvo a narration was given outlining the mechanics. In all honesty, with my research and notes, it took me a round of seeing it all in action before it all clicked together. I think everyone knew the first attempt was gonna be a wipe, but one wipe turned into more than a few.  A couple of times we got deep into the fight sometimes not so much. After each wipe it was pointed out what we did wrong, and guidance was given, however the constant was the new raider was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  It was at this moment that I realized this op was going to be a critical evaluation on my behalf. Not necessarily about my performance, but rather how this group reacted to this situation and treated this individual. It would for sure influence if whether or not I wanted to continue with them. I silently questioned the amount of DPS I was dealing. I felt I was not burning the adds down quick enough or focusing enough on the boss. I began to think that because I wasn't good enough, the fight lasted longer and that contributed to the amount of mistakes the new raider was making. Each time he died, I felt as though he was falling on the sword (or saber) for me. There was a sense of frustration building on the team, which I think is normal, especially if the expectation is more than one raid is supposed to be accomplished, and we couldn't get past the first boss on the first op. . The unusual thing was that the new raider wasn't asking questions or reacting to the feedback that was given. It was then we all realized his Teamspeak may not have been working. One of the team member whispered him and he rectified the issue and his voice popped in our headsets. He clearly hadn't been able to hear the guidance that was being given. The tension quickly diffused, and we faced the next round with a new sense of confidence. And that is when I caused the wipe. *facepalm* I had been so self conscious about my DPS and trying to be more aggressive to shorten the length of the fight, that I lost focus of where I was supposed to be. The new raider did everything right and I sacrificed his effort with a bonehead mistake. I owned up to it both on Teamspeak and in chat, and affirmed I understood the mechanic. Thankfully, the next round was a winner and the rest of the raid went without a hitch. My only raiding experience comes from Pugs in groupfinder/fleet. I am positive I have at least 20x more wipes than clears using those mechanisms. There is usually name calling, and plenty of quitting leaving the team stranded. Then we spend more time looking for replacements rather than actually playing. Sometimes a player will even announce they are new, and after the first wipe the Vote to Kick prompt comes up. I honestly had given up on trying to do ops because of those experiences. I would say Pax Republica handled itself well during that raid. At NO point did anyone sling insults, rage quit, or throw a vote to kick a player. I know I felt horrible for causing a wipe, as I am sure the other trainee did as well. The raid leader calmly took charge, questioned the specific players as to the mechanic they were having trouble with, and offered specific guidance. In addition, he gave multiple chances for us to get it right. I wouldn't have held it against them if they asked me to sit this one out. Everyone wants to clear the content, and we all have limited time each night. Tell me what I need to do, give me a chance, and if I fail, tell me what I can do to get better. Pax did all of the above for me and the new raider and we came out with a clear. I spent the rest of the night doing the Yavin Daily with Brandon-Jinn and Nwahs in between PvP pops with Spetz'naz..  I also took away some parses from my fights that iIplan to use to improve my DPS output, even more so once I get some 192 sets. And wouldn't you know it…. Pax already has a gearing raid on the calendar for tonight. The twisted thing?? I am hoping for another shot at ToS. Like I said, I'm weird like that.

 Journal entry is spot on. I volunteered to blasthard to be replaced after struggling a few times (it was my first raid, and i utilize a unique set up that will take getting used to with raiding), luckily i got the hang of it thanks to an intuitive solution by the group leader. Good raiding the past few nights. The patience and advice especially from nwahs and tiffs has been great.

[Iolo'pax]

I agree with ya too Savion, they have both been great!

Well it has been an eventful couple of nights. As I mentioned above, Tuesday night Pax Rebublica did a gear raid night. This was a chance for folks to build up ultimate comms for gear, as well as have a shot at 192 set pieces. We did two 8-man ops, Scum & Villainy and Ravagers SM.

Scum & Villainy was designed to be a quick run, primarily for the Ultimate comms. Several of the people in the party were new to PR like me, so it was nice to not feel that 'FNG' pressure (whcih I place on myself if you all don't hehe). What I enjoyed about this particular run is that the raid leader, Nwahs, was pointing out tactics that we would need to be aware of 'when' we do nightmare mode. He tried to groom everyone to treat it as though it was NiM so that we would begin to develop 'muscle memory' of what each class needed to do.  What was also very kewl to see was that there was  a seasoned player and Pax member learning to be primary tank. He had been on other ops before, and in my 'green' eyes was already an outstanding tank, but he is on the threshold of being a lead tank with PR. Just listening to his questions and the suggestions being given was an awesome experience. The ops was cleared quickly as expected and we moved on.

Ravagers SM, wow. I know I am probably gonna say this a lot with PR, but this was my favorite experience so far. There are some tricky mechanics in some of the fights, but experience is what i was craving, and boy am I getting it. The raid leader was again clear with his narratives, and decisive in his assignment of responsibilities. What I noticed this time around, and I probably should have noticed much earlier, was that our group healer Tiffs keeps a watchful eye on more that just our health-bars. As the battles unfolded she calls out positioning corrections raiders need to make and advises on strategy considerations. Having someone in that role who looks at the big picture increases the chances of a successful raid immensely. The quality of communication and execution during the fights was outstanding. Which is why naturally I had to be 'that guy' that parked his toon in stupid and died.

This particular event happened during the drunken pirate battle. Things were going swimmingly, but I had somehow developed a preference to fight at the 5 o'clock position as a melee DPS on bosses. Still behind the target, but not directly behind. I dunno if I have a reason for why i developed that habit. I had been advised several times during the fight that I was creeping too close to being in front of the target. I corrected and became too focused on my positioning, so much so that i wasn't paying attention to the direction he boss was creeping toward. When the call came for me to move toward the middle of the room, I thought I made a horrible error and went to the center of the room… uhm, right dead center of stupid. It was as if I could see everyone toon look over at me and say 'Have you ever played before?' It was one of those moments where I followed the instructions without reading them. Thankfully it happened at the end of the fight, and we moved on.

The 'meat and potatoes' of the night's experience happened with the Master Blaster fight. (Really??Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome?). I think the entire party benefited from this fight in terms of learning tactics. Tanks swapping, DPS focus, and of course staying out of advanced stupid were all in play. We got wiped a couple times, one of which I felt I caused, but the sentiment was bad luck with the placement of the circles.  In this particular case, I ran out of room to escape and found myself in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't situation in having to choose wither the blue or yellow damage. I chose blue and the party wiped.

Listening to the senior PR members guiding the new raider Monday night, and the new tank this night, gave me the courage to speak up on mic and talk about what I was seeing. Confirming I understood the mechanics, but wasn't sure what I could have done differently. Nwahs and Tiffs saw me make the move and echoed the 'bad luck'. I also felt comfortable  with the group to ask about a tactic of leaping over the circles in an effort to escape them, something I thought about but didn't use for fear of triggering the damage. The consensus was certain that it would trigger the damage and I was glad I didn't try it (last thing I need it to be 'that guy' twice in a single raid). We took a couple minute break, let everyone to bio and get a fresh drink, and came back to a new DPS strategy. We focused, executed, and cleared the boss and the rest of the op.

My takeaway from the experience, besides the set piece and all the comms, is really the beginning of myself building confidence in raiding with PR. My experience with Pugs was that the raid world was filled with elitist snobs whose primary form of guidance for learning the fights was sarcasm. Witnessing their demeanor in how they approach raiding has really brought a new enjoyment to the game for me. My routine used to be pick one, do GF Dailies, do PvP wash, rinse repeat. If I got bored, start an alt and do it again. Between factions, I have 11 level 60 alts.  Since starting my trial with Pax Republica, I have had more unique experiences, gained more insight to to gameplay that raising all of my alts combined. I have learned that some of the things I do, I do really well. The things I don't do well, I am learning why and how to turn them around. 

I honestly don't think Pax Republica has an elitist attitude in anything that they do. But I'll tell ya what, at least through my eyes.… they are indeed Elite, and I am lucky to have found them.

Stay tuned!

[Iolo'pax]

Okay so Wednesday Night.

I actually wasn't sure what I would be doing with Pax last night. The calendar had a HM/NiM raid and although I was encouraged to give it a try, I held off till I get my gear closer to spec. The suggested  target is 4k for DPS. I am close, but not consistent. My gear could be a factor and mixed in with not knowing the fights, I want to make sure when I get called up to the big leagues I deliver. So while the raid was going on, I spent time looking at my gear and spending my newly acquired Token and ultimate coms. After squaring that away, I decided to run the GF weekly (where I ran into a New Pax Rebublica Trainee)  and then decided to go to the Rakghoul event. While I was doing that, chat starting to build about doing some 16 man content. I kept tabs on it to see if the interest was there. Sure enough everyone was on board.

Before I knew it 15 other members of Pax descended on the Tatooine Rakghoul tunnels to take out HM Eyeless. As I have come to expect, the Raid leader laid out clear instructions, and we all executed. Not a particularly difficult op, but it didn't impact the fun level at all. The comments and banter both on Teamspeak and in chat of course was most entertaining. After clearing HM, we all went back in for SM, which allowed for more attention  to chat and banter. SM was cleared effortlessly.

Wanting to take advantage 16 man content, we were off to Ziost to do both Ops there. I had cleared the Worldbreaker Monolith WB a few times with pugs before, but the Colossal I have only known failure, and  multiple times at that. This was gonna be interesting.

Pax made it easy. Acknowledging that the mechanic was difficult to explain in its entirety, responsibilities were divided amongst the 16 members. 4 of the most seasons raiders took care of the colors, Two tanks would be swapping, with a potential 3rd person at certain times.  I was assigned to a group to focusing on DPSing the boss (and staying out of stupid). I am happy to report, I didn't mess up at all! I don't think anyone did. Maybe it was the looseness generated from the eyeless runs, or because the hardest parts of the mechanic we being taken care of, maybe both. Either way a weekly that has lingered in the depths of my mission tracker since the Ziost was first destroyed, had finally been completed! Looking at my commendations I had quite a haul and am approaching the weekly cap for ultimate commendations for the first time EVER. After the ops, some people called it a night, but a handful of us stick around for 5-6 matches of Pvp.

The thing I noticed, that I didn't realize until this morning, is that by the end of the night I was almost completely out of my shell talking to people. I wasn't just a lurker. I asked all sorts of questions about the guild, its origins, some of it's members, threw out a joke or two. I am sure those who are used to guilding or have lots of their friends who play MMO's with them are numb to this experience by now, but man was it brand new to me. It was like I wasn't just a random player in a pug being cordial to everyone else. I was me, and I as just having fun playing. With the holiday upon me, and RL events taking place, I am faced with the reality that availability this weekend will be limited to play.  Not only for me but the folks I just got comfortable with. I can't help but be disappointed and feel the time off is unwelcome right now. That is probably my eagerness talking.

Looking forward to next time!

[Nwahs]

:D

[Iolo'pax]

As expected, the holiday left only a bit of time for gaming. Hopefully the weekend was safe for everyone and folks got their fill of family, fun, or whatever your choice of celebration entailed. I did manage some log time late on Saturday night

I didn't think I would do much on with the Saturday game. My weekly elite comms were capped, so I didn't want to do any dailies (something about wasting commendations that could be used for alts or credits irks me). I jumped into the PVP/GSF queue but nothing was popping. I am guessing the population server wide was lower than usual. So I figured I would do what I could to help for conquest. Pax Republica was 10th on the leader-board, but 9th was very attainable. So I moseyed over to Tatooine, and queued up some crafting as well.

A little bit later Trek'sahn, who was a new trainee like myself, posted in guild chat looking for someone to do a HM Flashpoint. I saw that Tiffs happily offered to join him. Right as I saw that PvP popped, and I thought I missed that opportunity. However as the warzone was winding down, Tiffs posted they were still looking or one more, and she too was interested in added to our Conquest points totals. There was one other Pax that went, but for the life of me I cannot remember his name. I wanna say it was like Purr-Something. (damn my decaying brain).

We ended up doing two, Kaon Under Seige, and Lost Island. I enjoined the run especially, because I had only done it solo in the past. I learned a few shortcuts to speed things up. It was a pretty straightforward run, nothing much to note, and we all logged off at the end, but it was still another feather in the cap of the guild.

On a holiday weekend, population low, a new member asked for company and help, someone responded, got some mates, and made it happen. For me, it turned around a night and made it very productive. Pax Republica had just pushed itself into 9th on the Leaderboard by inches, and I felt like our team had a direct hand in helping it along.

[Iolo'pax]

Sunday I had a good chunk of time to game. I was very happy upon logging in that the rest of Pax had rallied in conquest and was solidifying our hold on 9th place and even started to tickle 8th. Immediately upon logging in I was able to hook up with a run on Tatooine for commanders, and then some PvP. Our unranked matches went very smooth and our teams won handily. We then formed up practice teams for ranked. Here again, the environment Pax created stood out once more.

We had a good mix of players, some geared some not. Everyone wanted to do well, everyone wanted to win, but nobody was overly competitive about it or even critical. After each round, the teams collaborated on what they saw. the victors divulged the tactics they used, and the losing team voiced what they saw.

I think the Ranked PvP is really going elevate my game (or sink me hehe). Playing as DPS I am being asked to call out the focus targets, something I had never given too much thought to. As I have said, I have played a ton of PvP, but only with solo tactics. In Pugs, healers, squishy classes, or even toons in PvE gear are easy to identify. If I chose a target that doesn't burn quickly enough, I change it to one of the many others that are available. But in ranked PvP, you are always changing targets. Sometimes it's the hearer sometimes it's the DPS. You have to keep a eye on who is guarded and who is not. So I have to be quick to identify who the right target it and alert the team, and activate my rotation…until it is time to change targets. If I spend too much time trying to identify, or pick the wrong targets, or the target changes, we lose DPS. It is a bit overwhelming to me.. but extremely exciting. I have already started tinkering with my UI and my key bindings to try and come up with a more efficient way to do those things.

We did a few more ranked matches which did not go our way. We were able to get an imperial team to play a few matches against us, but we could get our game going. I think we all realized at the same time, that we needed a break. We did a couple of unranked matches while waiting to get a raid together for SM ToS, but our PvP mojo was clearly depleted.

I wanted to end the night with a winning feeling. I had been waiting for another shot at the Underlurker. I was eager to apply what I had learned from my first outing against him with Pax, and I was determined to have a more positive impact. But alas, humility would be better part of valor. 

The good news is that positionally I was sound and I did not cause a wipe. However it was clear that we weren't doing enough DPS, and we were got wiped more than once.  As a DPS character, that is the last thing you want to be the cause. We weren't able to get the job done and we ended up asking for help from two non-pax DPS to step in for the Underlurker. I volunteered my spot.

While they cleared him, I was looking at my combat logs and parsing the encounter. It was abysmal, but in a battle like Underlurker I wasn't sure what my target should be. Being melee DPS, I am not able to do much damage when covering behind rocks. Looking online there are Guardian parses ranging from 2857--4380 on our server. Of the wipes I was a part of, I was in that range only once.

Once underlurker was down, I re-joined the raid and the the remainder went without incident. I was silently stewing about my poor performance as I caught up with the group, but the chatter over Teamspeak was just too funny to me to sulk for any length of time.

Having a night to sleep on it, I think the Underlurker identified my core problem. I think it is that same issue that impacts my Ranked PvP as well .. target identification/selection.  In the underlurker fight I knew the rotation of targeting, but I always questioned my selection. Target markers help, until the target is killed. If a new target isn't placed, the old one stays on the body. If I am wailing on a target, and I see a target on screen, I start tabbing to try and find it.

Doing the math,  If I spend 2-3 seconds trying to figure it out, that is around 10k damage I am not dealing to a target during that time, in addition to the damage I had already done if it turned out I had been wailing on the wrong target.

I typically rely on Focus target for choices, but it has the tendency to stop working and needs to be re-set. Plus, if I am going to be designating the target in PvP, that wont always help me. I think my answer is going to be found in combination of my UI, keybinding, and camera distances. I will do some research this afternoon and see what I can come up with.

Oh and as the night came to an end, I was still sort of searching for that winning feeling. The Underlurker had kinda sucked the wind out of my sails. But as fate would have it, PR came through once again. Their gentleman's rule of dividing gear yielded me the win I desperately needed… an upgraded  Main-hand weapon.

*Queue up the training montage from Rocky*

[Gryffon Etheras]

It's the eye of the tiger it's the thrill of the fight!

 

I love you.

[Nwahs]

Awesome!

[Iolo'pax]

Oh, and in regard to my Trial, I do need to formally schedule the interview as part of  my requirements. I know I can hit up folks in TS or in game for that, but I don't wanna take anyone away from their playing time. I will be on (and in TS) tonight, and plan to be on Wed/Thursday as well.  If someone is in the mood to interview me that would be awesome. First come first serve ;)

 

[Nwahs]

Nah man, your interview is done.  You've been so active in TS and we've talked to you so much, we know who you are, know that you'll fit in, etc.  That is all the interview is about, so you're good!

[Nwahs]

Also, thanks a ton for the awesome post in the recruitment thread on the official forums!!!!! That is so cool man, glad you're loving it here :)  And nice job being our highest scoring conquest person (at least on one toon)

[Iolo'pax]

I appreciate it. I figured that could be the case, but at the same time I didn't want any loose ends to prevent me from full completion.

I am sincere about the post in the recruitment thread (not just trying to kiss @$$). My only regret so far is not finding you guys sooner. I know it won't always be roses and Lolly-pops, and I know I still have some 'leaping after the just pushed- isolated healer' maneuvers in my future, but I just hope everyone doesn't get tired of me and my antics any time soon.

What I like about conquest is that much of the points can be done just by doing my routine. Throw in some extra crafting, and a stop on the target planet, and I am in business. Admittedly, the PvP contributions were higher, but not too much in the way of burnout.  I am actually kind of eager to see our totals once a few alts can get factored in.

 

[Nwahs]

IT WILL ALWAYS BE ROSES AND LOLLYPOPS, THERE WILL BE NO CONFLICT EVER

Resume with your brainwashi... I mean, regularly scheduled programming.  

[Kayllek Veran]

I love reading your journal entries,  Iolo!  So inspiring and very entertaining.

In regards to PvP dps calling and strats, I find that having your camera at max distance helps a lot.  You can see all around you and most of the playing field in an arena.  Hell, you can change the game file and make it so far zoomed out that the map's a small square. (Overkill)

For calling targets in Ranked, you want your other dps to have you on focus target.  Then, you look for the guard buff/ out of range of guard buff/ DCs and all the good stuff and call the new target to focus.  With on key press, the other dps can switch to the target of his/her focus target (you).

Also, thank you for sharing your experiences on the swtor forums.  It means a lot to us all, especially our officers, pvp lguides and raid leaders :)

#Lollipopsforever

[Tiffs/Hugtastic]

This guy is making our job easy :) I already vote yes! :D