We haven't made much progress against Tallon Zek in Time. Not because we
keep screwing up, but because we just can't seem to get the numbers online.
The period from Thanksgiving to New Year's is always a bad time for us, as
lots of people take vacations, go on breaks, etc. And our officers realize
how demoralizing it is to keep wiping to a mob over and over again, so if we
have 50 people online and five clerics, they won't even bother having us try
TZ. We'll do Terris Thule and Saryn and then call it a night.
We are evidently not the only ones with that problem. The other
Time-flagged guild on our server, Cats in Hats, had some recruits that
needed Earth essences. But they too have problems getting the right numbers
and classes for people to do the Rathe. So their officers sent our officers
a proposal: let's do a joint Rathe Council raid. When our officers didn't
respond quickly enough for their liking, one of their officers posted on our
public forums repeating the offer and asking for a response. I wrote a
scathing reply, listing all the reasons why my guildmembers and I don't
think much about raiding with CiH. I also wrote that I'm not an officer,
and that if the officers decide to do it, I'll go along. One of our
officers adds to the thread, saying that the offer has been received and is
being considered. Nothing more is said on the subject.
Then, a few days ago, a carefully worded post is made by one of our officers
in our private forums. They understand and appreciate our concerns about
doing anything with CiH. But the offer makes too much sense; we too have
recruits that need the Rathe. No one enjoys doing Rathe Council, and it's
hard to dredge up enthusiasm for a raid. So joining forces with CiH is a
necessary evil. We get what we want, they get what they want, and then we
can back away.
There's a bit of a reaction to this, but not much of one. People understand
the logic. I myself hate the idea of raiding with CiH. Hate it hate it
hate it. But it does make sense, so I keep quiet and don't try to fuel any
fires.
By the way, if you want to see what a Rathe Council wipe looks like, take a
look at this:
http://home.alltel.net/shadowsting/madtrain.wmv
It's very grainy and very short, taken by one of our paladins during a Rathe
Council raid. He was experimenting with making movies in EQ and was totally
not expecting to get trained. For those of you unfamiliar with the Rathe
Council, every one of those tall green mobs hits for 3K and does an AE for
1K. The movie ends when he dies, which you may notice happened very
quickly. If you see that incoming, you may as well just stand and die, as
there is nothing else you can do.
In the days leading up to the raid, our officers say both in guildchat and
on the boards not to create drama during the joint raid. If you feel like
you're going to foam at the mouth when grouping with CiH members, then don't
even bother logging on. The message sinks in and we mentally gird our
loins.
Comes the day of the raid, and we meet up in EarthB. Groups are formed up
mainly along guild lines - all CiH groups, all Silent Tempest groups. We
also have close to 100 people in the zone, so we have two raids going at
once. A raid healing channel is created, which I join. A CiH cleric
cheerfully greets us. We don't respond to her - this is the cleric that
threw a temper tantrum over a loot decision and left us for CiH while saying
nasty things about our officers. That's not quite water under the bridge
yet, so the cleric channel soon becomes very quiet - just announcements of
buffs.
We clear down to the Rathe Council, and it's very easy. I feel strange
healing CiH's main tank instead of ours, but their MT is better-equipped.
We set up shop and begin pulling mezzables.
It's very difficult going at first. I end up rezzing a lot of monks and
bards. Our monks are boggling at their pulling strategies. In the
meantime, one of our recruit clerics asks in the guild cleric channel about
the event, and I describe what's going to happen. I emphasize the need to
spam fast heals on the MT when the mezzables are pulled, because those guys
do a ton of damage. I also take about the really nasty AE dot and the need
to use Radiant Cure or Greater Remove Curse.
The first mezzable is finally incoming. Our Rathe strategy has been to meet
the mezzables in the mouth of the cave while the casters gather around the
back. Healers keep the MT up until it's under five percent, then chanters
begin mezzing. Our paladins use Divine Stun to knock the mezzed mob to the
rear of the cave. Once it's at the back of the cave, we pull the next.
CiH's strategy is different, evidently. When the first mezzable gets to
under five percent, the CiH MT runs to the back of the cave, pulling the mob
with him. It promptly AE's all the casters before it gets mezzed. There is
quite the expression of dismay in our guildchat. One comments, "I'm glad we
didn't try and steal any CiH strategies." I end up using GRC on a lot of
folks.
I get back into position, and suddenly the second mezzable Rathe Council is
there. I saw no incoming message. Some people say they did - but in the
other raid channel. This two-raid thing is proving an inconvenience. The
CiH warrior dies, as do several other warriors, until finally the last
standing warrior is latched onto and healed. We get it under control, and
when the mob gets close to five percent, our guild casters have a new plan
ready. They cast stuns and knockback spells to prevent the CiH warriors
from bringing the mob back to them. Then they mez, and we use Divine Stun
to move the mob back. This evidently impresses the CiH folks, as from that
point on there is no attempt to draw the mobs back into the cave and allow
the mez/Divine Stun strategy to work as designed.
We finally have all six mezzable mobs in place. I've been assigned to the
eleventh Rathe Council and I get in a group with the others. Two cleris, a
shaman, and a druid, along with a paladin to be the MT. This will be easy,
since everyone has Radiant Cure. We get the first non-mezzable off-tanked,
then the next, then the next. It's all going pretty well. We're on the
fourth non-mezzable when a CiH person uses /shout and all-caps to scream for
someone to twitch the cleric back at the first non-mezzable or "leave the
zone". It's an amazing display of immaturity and we all boggle at it in
guildchat while our officers beg us not to respond in kind. We don't, and
mostly find it amusing. If that's the way they do things, it's no wonder
they have such problems with their reputation.
My group gets the fifth non-mezzable, and it's very easy. With all the
healing and curing power we have in the group, we barely break a sweat. We
also don't have to keep it up for too long; the sixth unmezzable gets
brought down to 10%, and then the word goes out to kill. All the
unmezzables are easily dispatched, then we go the mezzables. That's a
little messy, with multiple AE's killing folks instantly, but we get it
done.
The Avatar of Earth comes in and dies easily. I watch the drops with mild
interest, but no breastplate drops. Instead there's a melee range item and
a nice ring. Silent Tempest takes the ring and it's awarded to one of our
most senior clerics, who was finally able to bag her Ring of the Shissar.
Everyone gates away and the raid is over. The raid itself went better than
I expected. Not that I thought we'd lose, but I was certain there was going
to be a lot more drama. Other than the silly all-caps shout for a twitch
(ever hear of /tell?), everyone was on their best behavior. I still feel
like taking a bath for some reason.
Will this end up healing any lingering wounds? Will this bring us closer
together with the uber-guild? I don't think so. We were able to vent a lot
in guildchat about our counterparts in CiH, but who knows how long that
would last as an outlet. Eventually we would have another flare-up -
there's just too much bad blood between us. At the same time, though, I was
able to pull one postive out of the raid; some of our strategies our
superior to theirs. We can pull better and position better without AE-ing
the casters. In no way should we feel inferior to CiH - they may be ahead
in equipment and progress in Time, but they are no more skilled at the game
than we are. That was heartening to see.
--
-Richard
Monual Lifegiver
Archon of Rodcet Nife
Silent Tempest
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This page is Copyright by Skaarak; Everquest (TM) is property of Sony Online Entertainment
All stories and art work are Copyright@ by the origial owner/writer.
Most, if not all stories, were taken from newsgroup alt.games.everquest (AGE), I recommend that anyone who gets a chance to read it should!