Zhot Conversation

Zot — Today at 12:08 PM
hey, I'm happy to skip the line and chat whenever you want today or tomorrow I'm mostly flexible up until 4:30 pm EDT

Babylonius — Today at 12:17 PM
Sounds good. Before I get to the more targeted questions, is there anything you want to get off your chest about your own play, the team, the raid, the people, the game, anything?

Zot — Today at 12:19 PM
Not in that sense, no - I have thoughts and some ideas, but I'd like to hear your feedback first. I guess I'll say up front that I am doing my best to be proactive about improvement, as I always try to be, and that I personally felt like my mental attitude was quite good even through these last two weeks of tough raids.
I can elaborate more on what I've found in my own logs a bit later
I can also say I'm very committed to helping the team improve. One thing is that I've been mostly focused on my own performance and play and so I haven't done much to help others or the group as a whole. That's probably one area I could do more in.
Where here by "improvement" I mean have a better time than we have been these past two weeks :slight_smile:

Babylonius — Today at 12:25 PM
I agree. We don't have a ton of feedback for you personally as you were able to come in and be strong for most of your time with the team. I'm not sure how closely you work with Zarantai, but it does sometimes seem like the two of you are not on the same page and other times that you are.

Zot — Today at 12:25 PM
We communicate very regularly
I feel like we're basically always on the same page, or are trying two different things we've discussed just to test what works best
For my part, I really look up to him as a player and raider, both for performance and prep. I've learned a ton from having him as part of the group (and a fellow boomkin).
In what sense does it seem we aren't on the same page?

Zot — Today at 12:42 PM
you still there?

Babylonius — Today at 12:42 PM
Yeah sorry, just balancing a bunch of conversations

Zot — Today at 12:43 PM
I can imagine, it's no problem. I'm around if you want to do this later
I'm glad you're doing these, I think it will be helpful

Babylonius — Today at 12:43 PM
Its OK, was also just getting my daughter her lunch, i'm good now
So I think knowing that there were times where you and Zarantai were specifically doing different things is probably the explanation of the times that it seemed you were on different pages. I know that Boomkin has been very strong this tier, and we think the two of you have done a nice job of showing what boomkins can do

Zot — Today at 12:46 PM
thanks - indeed it seems I made a good class choice in the end :slight_smile:
but yeah, for example we tried slightly different talents on sludge, and cd usage on denathrius, different conduits a couple times
there have been a couple times where I see differences in our damage profiles but it wasn't often enough that I looked into it more (though I could do so)

Babylonius — Today at 12:56 PM
Thats fair. I'm glad you were able to find your way back to the team and to a class that is strong and gets you raid time

Zot — Today at 12:57 PM
well, I still don't feel that my performance overall is where I want it to be, but I'm trying to be constructive about that. So if you all as officers identify anything, please do let me know.
Do you all feel that the root of our issues over the last two weeks is a few individuals, or something more collective?

Babylonius — Today at 12:59 PM
I think its more collective. I think there's some truth to what Pao said last night in that we, as a team, have a tendency to mentally check out after a few pulls if things aren't going smoothly. I think a big part of it falls on my shoulders and my relationship with the game and trying to find my way in an Ovy-less world

Zot — Today at 1:00 PM
well it's not an easy road for sure
I'd be curious to what other individuals think about the mental part - if people feel they're checked out in those situations, or if they aren't sure. For me like I said I felt pretty mentally resilient, I think in retrospect after a few wipes I started treating the fights as prog again. But there's also a collective mentality that's harder to pinpoint - and I can see what Pao meant, as evidenced by no one really chatting any more between pulls due to frustration, annoyance, complacency, or just fear to break the silence that it would be inappropriate because others were frustrated (the latter was my feeling).

Babylonius — Today at 1:04 PM
Yeah, thats a big part of why Im' reaching out to everyone

Zot — Today at 1:06 PM
yeah I think it's good. I hope you'll communicate some kind of redacted summary to the group when you're done and have talked as an officer group again
I think it would be great if there were (even quick) personal conversations with each raider at least once a tier
helps solve problems sometimes before they even manifest

Babylonius — Today at 1:12 PM
I agree. I think that outreach stuff is something that I've let gone untended too mcuh this tier and is something I want to try and improve going forward

Zot — Today at 1:12 PM
I know it's a lot of work, hopefully you guys can distribute it somewhat

Babylonius — Today at 1:13 PM
Somethings I think its just beter for me to do myself and be more hands on

Zot — Today at 1:14 PM
yeah, in some sense it's better for one person to do it and be able to better synthesize and distribute among the group, but it's more time and effort

Babylonius — Today at 1:14 PM
Part of the job lol

Zot — Today at 1:28 PM
oh one other thing: from my perspective, when people say or type negative comments during raid, particularly during a tough stretch, it can be quite counterproductive. I noticed a bit of this especially this week, and I'm not sure if you all think it's reached the level of a problem yet.

Babylonius — Today at 1:32 PM
It was definitely something that got a little bit more evident this week and is something that we're discussing and keeping an eye on

Zot — Today at 1:33 PM
sounds good. I'm definitely sympathetic to the frustration, and maybe it's helping people manage it personally, but it can contribute to bringing the group down. Glad you're thinking about it

Babylonius — Today at 1:44 PM
Well I'll be talking to people all day today and tomorrow, so if there's anything that pops up for you just let me know, thanks for taking the time to chat about things

Zot — Today at 1:46 PM
Sure thing, thanks for doing this. Always open to more feedback as well, so if you guys identify things I can do in or out of game to help, let me know.

Babylonius — Today at 1:48 PM
I will

Babylonius — Today at 2:48 PM
One thing I forgot to ask that I'm trying to ask everyone is whether or not you feel that you personally need to take a week or two off, or whehter you think the team, as a whole, would benefit from such.

Zot — Today at 2:50 PM
you mean the whole team taking 1-2 weeks off? or just me?

Babylonius — Today at 2:51 PM
both
Our research showed that a lot of guilds took a few weeks off after killing Sire

Zot — Today at 2:51 PM
personally, i dont need a week off, but if you asked my wife she would probably say yes that would be nice :slight_smile:
i dont need or want

Babylonius — Today at 2:51 PM
lol

Zot — Today at 2:52 PM
I'm not sure if it would benefit the team, depends what other people think. I'd be bummed a bit I guess, but maybe could then use those nights to push keys or alt raid or something?
so it's fine either way

Babylonius — Today at 2:58 PM
Ok, like I said, its somethign we saw a lot of guilds do, so I wanted to get everyone's opinion on it. I generally air on the side of not taking a break except right before an expansion
Prodding a little bit more, is there anything that you think me, as the GM, or the officers can do different or better to help the team?

Zot — Today at 3:35 PM
sorry for delayed response - was in a key
I think what you're doing now is a great step in the right direction, so keeping the communication going, both with individuals and then with the group, is an excellent plan
I also remember at some point (was it this guild?) someone was analyzing pulls/wipes to assess what our stumbling blocks were, and sharing that with everyone
I feel it's useful for the team to have as much information as possible on what the officers/raid leader are looking at in terms of both planning and assessment, so something like that could be helpful too
other than that, I think you're doing a great job and I most certainly don't think the last two weeks are officers' fault

Babylonius — Today at 3:39 PM
yeah, we did that in Nyalotha and discontinued due to how much work it required, but it is something that people have mentioned

Zot — Today at 3:39 PM
it may be more work than it's worth, really depends if someone is willing to do it
not worth the headache and effort if someone's feeling forced to
but maybe in general, sharing your general assessment with the group (kind of like you're doing, but maybe more detailed) would still be useful, even without the approach used before

Babylonius — Today at 3:41 PM
Makes sense

Babylonius — Today at 4:19 PM
Well thanks again for the time and the thoughts