Damage Control

Interesting read detailing how Paragon prepares for hardcore raids: http://www.worldofraids.com/topic/16132-focus-the-anatomy-a-world-first-kill/

They spent every possible minute on the PTR testing bosses. When they were close to a kill they would wipe so they could do it again to learn more about the encounter.

They ran three (3) 25 man raids a week in normal modes as the gating system released more bosses in ICC consisting of alts and mains in order to spread loot and gear mains for the hard content.

They ran 6-7 alt 10 man groups a week gearing up alts to cover the content. And then of course the normal 10 man groups to get gear for mains.

They used attempts on an alt raid in heroic 25 to learn the fights. They cleared 11/12 heroic on the first reset week.


On making mistakes with limited attempts:
"We have never given negative dkp for anything. People know when they mess up, and they get instant feedback from other members telling them how bad they are. Usually that is enough," Lazeil reveals.
"People usually admit their own mistakes, and when they don't, we just fish the information out of them about what went wrong," Sejta says.

And on the time involved:
One of the common misconceptions is that in order to play in a hardcore guild pushing for world firsts, each player has to make a lot of sacrifices and sit in front of the computer all day. For Paragon, that is not the case.

"In ICC, on normal mode weeks it took us seven to eight hours per week to clear ICC three times, ToC heroic two times and ToC normal three to four times. The only time we had to make sacrifices was the heroic opening week. Everyone was skipping school or work the best they could to be on when the servers came online. That lasted three days, and we only started the raid early the two first days," Sejta says.

Since then, the guild has raided four days per week, each time for about five hours. Now the Lich King is dead, and the guild will go back to raiding one day per week for about three to five hours, which is a lot less than even the most casual raiding guilds. "Everyone can relax now and focus on other things. Then they will be hungry to raid when the next content is released," Sejta says.

I like it! Let's do that

Just poopsock it for 3 days when a new raid is released. Not hardcore at all!

To come up with final tactics for a boss, everyone in the guild pitches in. When trying a boss for the first time, Sejta and Lazeil usually give out the tactics they want to try, and after a few attempts, everyone will give their opinion. Then they evaluate and make a decision on what they want to use.

"All our craziest strats have ended up working out pretty nicely," Lazeil says.

"Kiting Freya in the pool using seal form certainly didn't work - oh wait!" Rakez laughs.

"More of a joke, but we tried that," Sejta admits.

"Kiting Freya in the pool using seal form certainly didn't work - oh wait!" Rakez laughs.

My alt. Have to admit, it was a pretty awesome idea.