Progression

This Saturday morning, GoV as a whole ran Naxxramas-25 and wiped repeatedly on trash before pulling out and running to Obsidian Sanctum-25. With Sartharion down and four pieces of loot distributed to deserving Guildies, the raid officers called it a day. The end result - 4 Emblems of Valor for more than 3 hours of raiding.

On Saturday afternoon, the Asians and some friends went into Naxxramas-10 and downed Anub'rekhan and Noth the Plaguebringer. As we were worried we wouldn't have enough DPS (it was quite low on Noth), we didn't attempt Faerlina or Patchwerk. Instead, we marched into Heigan's room and wiped a few times in learning the Safety Dance. We came back the next afternoon, downed Patchwerk, then wiped around 7 or 8 times again on Heigan. These efforts cost me close to 80 gold in repairs and earned me exactly 3 Emblems of Heroism, although we were able to distribute 8 pieces of loot.

This is progression raiding.

I often forget that the dynamics of progression raiding are very different from the dynamics of farm raiding. At the end of Burning Crusade we were 8-manning Karazhan in Kara and badge purples; today we're struggling to clear trash in Naxxramas while other guilds are already farming Kel'thuzad.

This weekend I had so many tells coming in about the slow pace of raiding that I quite neglected to point out that the previous week, we'd failed to down Sartharion. The problem DPS'ers we had the previous week were doing much better this week.

Progression raiding is, by definition, slow. A boss that you down one week is not going to be as easy to down the next - and this isn't anyone's fault, it's just the way it is. There is a steep learning curve to raiding that turns off a lot of people.

This past week I opted to bench a raider who told a heroic instance group that s/he was not interested in downing a boss that had wiped them thrice so far, effectively putting a halt to the run. I did this because that attitude is anathema to progression - it is in no way acceptable. Never mind that I like the raider a great deal personally; progression is a harsh mistress.

What are the measures of progression? Some folks think it's loot or number of bosses downed. I think they're wrong. Loot is good, loot helps because it's a great multiplier - 1500 spellpower or attack power is going to provide more bang for your buck than 1200. But gear is always just a multiplier; the base factor is skill.

Number of bosses is a good way to keep track, but it's not the end goal of progression. And I do like seeing new boss fights. I haven't had the pleasure of learning a 5-phase boss fight yet, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

For me, progression is about becoming a better player. It's about learning new and better ways to do things. It's about the group striving together towards a shared goal. And it's about seeing your friends and companions get better in the pursuit of that goal.

This week I saw a lot of that, and I'm grateful and humbled to have been witness to it. My buddy Silverwisp, who was new to World of Warcraft until a few months ago, cranked out 1500 DPS at Patchwerk on his second day of raiding. Our Australian friends Damo and Elauris doubled their DPS in the span of a week. And Theramor, who until this weekend hadn't set foot in Naxxramas, went from being undergeared in level 70 purples to main-tanking Patchwerk. I should also mention Brutusk, who kept Thera alive all on his own - Plikta and I were busy healing Azmuth, who was forced to step into the main tank role after I respecced to Holy this week.

Raiding with people like this - with people who strive to be better players, and who are good companions to boot - makes it all worthwhile.

So this weekend I looted 4 Emblems of Valor and 3 Emblems of Heroism. We must have wiped twenty times in ten hours of raiding, and I know for a fact that I spent nearly 200 gold in repairs and consumables.

I still think I came out ahead.