Tonight, we'll see a new lineup of bosses in the Black Temple. We'll have a look at Teron Gorefiend, the Reliquary of Souls, and possibly (if we have at least nine healers signed) Gurtogg Bloodboil.

Bossvids can be found here:
Teron Gorefiend
Reliquary of Souls
Gurtogg Bloodboil

For Teron Gorefiend, a special simulator has been created (requiring Flash Player 9), to learn how to handle the ghost forms. Playing this game is possibly the best way you can prepare for this boss fight - so, have a go at it! :)

Tonight, we take our first trek into THE BLACK TEMPLE, where we'll meet up with such illustrious and nefarious types as High Warlord Naj'entus, Supremus and the Shade of Akama. Now, last time when we took on Kael'thas Sunstrider, not everyone had read up on the tactics and watched those boss vids. I urge you all to do so now - if you know what muck you're stepping into, there'll be much less slipups you'll make. ;)

Bossvids can be found here:
High Warlord Naj'entus
Supremus: Offtank PoV (strategy) - Warlock PoV (fight overview)
Shade of Akama

Confirmations and standby-statuses for this raid can be found on the in-game raid calendar.

EVERYONE, especially healers, NEEDS to have at least raidbuffed 10,000 hp, to survive the massive raid-wide damage AoE of High Warlord Naj'entus! This is not a guideline, it's a very strict requirement - you'll very likely get one-shotted if you don't meet it.

This evening, we have a look at one of the most interesting and tactical boss fights in the whole of TBC: KAEL’THAS SUNSTRIDER. Now, what I noticed during the raid on Mount Hyal last Saturday, is that there are two serious issues at the moment. The first is the sudden drop-off in the number of signups; this problem seems to happen only with DPS and healer signups, and gradually grows worse. The second problem lies in people’s understanding of the loot system and its loot priorities; I had to explain this again and again during the raid, and even then it went wrong.

ATTENDANCE
At the time of this writing, we have no more than 20 signups, leading me to believe that either:

1. Many people in the community don’t make it a habit to check this website, and as a result do not sign up.
The website is the most important tool we have to reach the entire raiding community; the Saga channel is just not suited to communicate whole raiding schedules and times. I have had questions along the lines of ‘Do we have a raid tonight?’ followed by ‘Where do we go then?’ Neither me nor the other officers are here to provide these kinds of answers. Checking the site regularly and keeping up-to-date is your own responsibility, not ours.

2. People do not sign, expecting there will be a spot for them anyway.
Not signing is not attending , it’s that simple! When creating a raid setup (or when determining whether a raid can happen at all!), a raid leader needs to know beforehand who wants to come. We’re not omniscient; we’ve only got those signups to determine raid composition.
Similarly, there have been people signing out because they weren’t sure if they could attend – and then expressed disappointment when ‘their spot’ turned out to be taken later on. If you’re not sure you can attend, make a comment to go with your signup, and let the raidleader know as soon as you can whether you’ll be there or not. Don’t sign out unless you’re SURE you can’t attend.

3. There is little interest in these kinds of fights anymore, with Wrath around the corner.
Wrath may be only a few weeks away, but heavy tactical fights like the one we’ll be attempting tonight are still a big challenge, even if they’ve been nerfed like all the other raiding content. What’s more, fights like these are essential for ‘playing the team together’, allowing us a greater chance of success in the upcoming dungeons in WotLK. Besides...we go into this as a team, we don't expect people to leave their fellows hanging just because there is new content coming. Once Wrath hits, we'll deal with it - but right now, it isn't here yet. And that means we still give the TBC raids our very best.

In order to tackle progress content, we’ll need the support of everyone, not just a few core people. To try and resolve the current attendance issue, I’ll place every event Saga organises on the in-game RAID CALENDAR. Everyone will receive an INVITE, to which you have to answer either ACCEPT or DECLINE. Not making a choice is not signing, and therefore not attending.

LOOT DISTRIBUTION
What also became clear during our foray into Mount Hyal, is that not everybody understands the way our loot system works – especially with respect to Raiders, Casuals and Alts. So I’ll give an explanation here of how it all works. Note: if you are not sure whether you are a Raider or a Casual, check the guild roster. In all cases, Initiates have the same loot priority as Casuals.

Raiders are those people that have a Member rank or higher (Member, Veteran, Mentor, Officer, Guildleader). In order to hold one of these ranks, you have to attend at least 2 raids per week. In return for this attendance obligation, Raiders receive loot priority over Casuals and Alts.

Casuals are those of us who cannot commit to raiding on a regular basis, for a variety of reasons. They could be RL or in-game friends, here for the social aspects of the game. It might be they do not have the time or gear to raid with us, or it could be that they are going through a rough time right now and raiding has to take a backseat. We don’t want to keep anybody from tagging along on our raids, and therefore we have this rank. However, since they do not have any requirements for raid attendance, Casuals receive lower loot priority than Raiders.

Alts are sometimes taken along on raids, whether it is to gear them up, fill an essential raid role that the main can’t help with (i.e. we need a healer, not a tank), or just for pure fun. As these characters come with a main attached, Alts have lower loot priority than both Raiders or Casuals. Generally, Alts can only roll if no Raider or Casual requires the item for his main spec.

PRIORITY LIST
Overall, the priority list (who can roll for what item) looks as follows:

1st bidding round: mainspec bidding
1. Raiders, main spec.
2. Casuals, main spec.
3. Raiders, raid-viable 2nd spec (once dual-speccing becomes possible in Wrath)
4. Alts, main spec.

2nd bidding round: offspec bidding
5. Raiders, offspec or sidespec.
6. Casuals, offspec or sidespec.
7. Alts, offspec or sidespec.

Behind the screen: Why loot priorities?
We decided on using loot priorities because of two reasons.

1. We place different requirements on Raiders than on Casuals. The first are required to raid at least twice a week, while the latter have no such requirement. The loot priority is designed to weigh up against this raid obligation, while the way the EPGP loot system works guarantees that Casuals, too, will get their hands on those shiny goodies – even if it is a bit later than the Raiders.
2. Raiders are the people who make it possible to tackle progress content. They are the ones who are always there, the people without whom the raid just isn’t happening to begin with. Gear is not just shiny epix here, it is a very real requirement to even try raid encounters. This can be most clearly be seen in tanks, but believe me, it works that way for all classes. Raiders have loot priority primarily to ensure they’re geared up, so we can continue to challenge progress content, and make it available for core raiders and casuals alike!
   

One final thought:
I have noticed that we have some Casuals in Saga who raid often enough to acquire a Raider rank. These people are: Azerhistowe, Dyanar, Riylerlandil and Sandina. Please contact me in-game or send me a PM, to let me know whether you wish to remain a Casual or want to become a Member.

During the run of Sunday the 5th of October, we managed to one-shot all bosses in ZA, despite having several people with us who had never seen some of the fights before.

This means that the entirety of Zul'aman is now on FARM. The EP gained for this instance is changed as follows: Hex Lord Malacrass and Zul'jin will yield half their normal amount of EP, and no EP will be handed out per half hour. Ep will still be given for timely attendance and staying the entire duration of the raid.

As a second announcement, I have scheduled several ZA BEAR RUNS before the patch goes live. The requirements for these runs are higher than normal, in order to get to the fourth chest in time: TANKS and HEALERS need to overgear the instance significantly, and DPS needs to be able to put out AT LEAST 900 sustained DPS. Most importantly, you have to be VERY familiar with the instance, know when you can expect a patrol or what to do when a pull is made even without an explanation. From our last run, I know we have these kind of people in Saga...so let's see how far we can get!

To all of our members who can't make these (harsh) requirements yet, I apologise beforehand - rest assured, you'll get a chance to shine, like everybody else!

At Friday the 3rd of October, Void Reaver proved he's completely earned that infamous nickname of his, as Saga plowed straight over him in a one-shot first kill. Head have a history with us, so we took his home with us. Awesome work everyone!



When we returned the next day, on Saturday the 4th of October, we paid a visit to High Astromancer Solarian . This one took a bit of work, some wipes while we were learning the fight...but eventually she bit the (star)dust!



GRATTYLATIONS EVERYONE!!!

Over the last couple of days, I've received many requests to change something about the schedule. Since I take these requests seriously, I've finalised the schedule like this:

• Zul'aman will be held on Sundays. The start time is 14:00, with invites going out at 13:45. The end time is 23:00.
• SSC / TK will be held on Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays. Start times for the 25-mans have been moved to 20:00, with invites going out at 19:45. End times remain unchanged at 23:00.
• Every week, we'll tackle one 25-man instance, and push for progress. For week 1, this will be TK; week 2 we'll visit SSC. Week 3 is TK again, and in week 4 we return to SSC.

I hope everyone can find themselves in this schedule: I've tried to keep as many people into account as I could. The current schedule allows both people who can only participate in the weekends, and people who can only attend in during weekdays to tag along. The starting times were changed following many requests - these should be more easy to meet for all your guys.

As you may have noticed (and Ildria so eloquently put up in his post), Saga now has Mentors. These are Saga veterans that can offer advice, to help you out with any questions you may have regarding your raiding role and class. If you find yourself wondering about talent specs, gearing, ability rotations or anything else, these people are there for you!

Mentors have several important functions within the community: They give advice to members who'd like some help with their class, spot any problems members may have with their class and offer advice, review applicants on their trial runs, and cast a vote when an initiate is evaluated for full membership. If you get approached by a Mentor because there is a 'problem' with how you play your class (for instance, your DPS is relatively low), don't be alarmed - the Mentor will give tips on how to improve or adapt your playstyle. We don't want to leave anyone behind because they don't meet Blizz's raiding requirements, so we try to help everyone get on top of their game!

Without further ado, we present to you Saga's new Mentors:

Caster DPS - Natarumah
Healing - Mewis
Melee DPS - Aanya
Ranged DPS - Ildria
Tanking - [still needs to be fulfilled]

ATTENTION!
We invite you all to attend our very first TK run, on the schedule on October 4th ! Slap your name up there, everyone - we're going to take a potshot at Voidreaver!
The EPGP DKP system will be in full effect, even if we have to bring quests along to realise this run - make sure you know how it works and have the addons! Details can be found on the loot system page .

Read up on the strategies for the boss and trash mobs, and check the tactics for the boss fight in this 3D animation video .

Let's get this show on the road!

This afternoon at 15:00, Saga's throwing a farewell party for our silliest, bounciest, and above all PINKIEST Rõsakupo. The location is the pirate ship in Arathi Highlands (directions are posted in the picture below, take the FP to Refuge Pointe). Dresscode is the Haliscan set (complete with hat) and Saga tabard. Bring lots of munchies, tasty drinks, goodies...and of course gifts for Rõsa!

Following the party, we'll need to discuss who will follow in Rõsa's illustrious pink footsteps as Saga's third officer. I'd like all of you to have a say in this; those of you who would like to cast a vote can send me a whisper after the party. But, without further ado:

LET"S MAKE THIS ONE HELLUVA PARTY GUYS AND GALS!!!

The raids for the whole of next month are up! After some puzzling with reset times (ZA's are a bitch, as they aren't fixed) and looking at the results of the poll, I've managed to come up with a schedule. I realise I sadly can't make everybody happy with this, although I wish I could. However, our lives are not all the same, so I tried to find days for each of the raids that allow the most people to attend. For each of the raids, I took into consideration both the number of people required for the raid in question, as well as how many of us would be able to attend. Lastly, the poll clearly showed that people would like to raid between Friday and Wednesday, so I made sure to place all of the raids within this bracket.   

I had to shuffle some of the raiding days around to make room: listed below are the changes.

• Karazhan will move to Friday, and will be 3-4 hour blitz. Bear in mind that this raid is primarily meant as a gearing run! If your character is well-geared, you may be requested to step down in favor of a lesser-geared character.
  
• Gruul's Lair and Magtheridon's Lair were added on Saturday. While these are gearing runs to a degree, we unfortunately have too few people to fill the raid spots. That means we'll need to overgear the encounter significantly - I will have to request people to bring their mains, not their alts. Even with the mains, I am not entirely sure yet whether Saga is ready to run these raids on a regular basis, so please consider that they may be removed fro mteh schedule it this proves not the case. 
• Zul'aman will continue to be planned on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Whenever it was possible (considering the reset times), I've given preference to Monday and Tuesday, to prevent us from having a large block of raiding days without pause. With Zul'jin downed, we're now aiming to put this raid on farm status. Once it is, Zul'aman will take up one day, rather than two.       

Fund Raiser! The guild bank is starting to get nice and full, particularly with crafting mats. So full with crafting mats, in fact, that it's bursting at the seams!

But YOU can make a difference! We're currently saving up for a fifth guild bank tab, to store even more crafting mats in. Unfortunately, you guessed it: that costs a pretty penny. Counting in the gold saved up for the resistance sets, the total amount needed in the guild bank is 3,000 bright, shiny gold pieces - we've got 1,300 of those at the moment of writing this news post.

So, each of you that can miss a few pennies, think of your poor old guild bank when looking for things to spend them on! :)

Dirknash and Asfalore discussed some time ago that the last two bosses of Zul'aman should award Effort Points, since they are in fact considered T5 or even T6 content. Loot from these bosses will still be distributed as usual, with common sense *gasp* and rolls. EP's have also been awarded for extensive work on gathering materials for the resistance sets for the tanks in SSC. We have added EP's to all logged attendees on the boss kills as they are entered in the raid history.

As from now, Zul'aman raids will award 50 EP's per 30 mins of participation, and 50 extra for attending a whole raid. Being on time, fully buffed and prepared will award 50 extra as well.

Update: The EPGP widget is now sortable by clicking the headers!

Zul'jin bit the dust after a night of what seemed to be endless whipes at 10% or less. We had him at 3% one time and at 1% one time. After celebrating with the people held captive by the troll tribe, we recovered [Loop of Cursed Bones] and [Berserker's Call].

• Ardela
• Asfalore
• Grigoriy
• Ildria
• Lanara
• Mazarin
• Mewis
• Natarumah
• Philemina
• Sasuku

Grats to you all!

Finally, hunter and paladin changes for Wrath of the lich king have seen the Light of publicity! (*cough* bad pun *cough*) You can read up on everything on MMO-champion, under the header 'Skills and Talents', and tinker with the new (and heavily refurbished) talent trees on Wowhead! Also, Wowhead gives us a glimpse at the Beta patchnotes, which list all changes to each and every class.

Patch 2.4.3. will go live tonight, prepare to download and patch. And this patch does bring some serious goodies! Haris Pilton starts selling her "Gigantique" bags, and mounts are now available at level 30, at a reduced price! Mage's armours can no longer be dispelled, and the bug with hunters being locked out from auto-shot has been resolved.

Full patch notes are available here.

After a furious battle, Hex Lord Malacrass finally bit the dust! Two hours of tries to get the tactics down, and then a grand finale to shove a couple of well-made ligtning bolts up his arse and mail it to Venezuela! From his reeking corpse, they pulled a [Tiny Voodoo Mask], the [Coif of the Jungle Stalker] and the [Hood of Hexing]!

The article on our Loot System has been updated with the EP values of the bosses we aim to encounter. At the end of the article you'll also find a calculator you can use to find out how much each item we'll find will cost. In the future, it's possible that I'll update the calculator so you can select items directly from a better GUI and see their costs. For now, this works just fine.
I have also added a Widget to the left side, to display the current standings in the loot database. That data comes originally from the in-game database, and is then exported as a CSV-file, which is parsed through a PHP-script to generate the HTML you see there. I wish I could make it more automated, but unfortunately I can only use JavaScript in the widgets. Well, it seems to work, doesn't it?
For the future, I am also working on a widget-version of the GP calculator. Nifty, eh?

The article describing the raiding requirements has been updated to reflect the need for the new addon Bidder. Read the whole article carefully and please install any complementing addons you might need.

In this article, we explain how the Saga Loot System works. If you are already a member of Saga and need to update, or if you're just a curious watche from outside doesn't matter. The article is worth the read!

On June 26 2008, we'll have our first guild meeting!

On the Agenda: What direction do we want to take with Saga? Shall we have raids on signup? Loot system discussion Where do we raid on what days?

Officers and veterans are expected to attend.

The patch notes for 2.4.3 has some nice stuff in it, which include: 22-slot bags available from a vendor, at 1200G a pop. Who sells them? Why, Haris Pilton, of course! Curse of Shadows: This spell has been removed and Curse of Elements now applies to Arcane and Shadow damage, as well as Frost and Fire. Mounts available at level 30, and training costs 35 gold. Green quality gems can be found in mining nodes again. The drop rate of blue gems from mining nodes remains unchanged. Rogue talent Cheat Death ahs been significantly re-worked. Read about it here. Magister's Terrace has been nerfed. The GM ticket interface has been re-worked. You no longer select a category. You do however select either "Talk to a GM" or "Report Issue" depending on whether you want a GM response or not. Time Management features have been implemented! These features include an alarm clock, stopwatch, and viewing your computer's local time. Increased the drop rate of Pristine Yeti Horns from Winterspring Ice Thistle Matriarchs and Patriarchs! Huzzah! Using an instant ability after Steady Shot will no longer lock out auto shot.

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html.

We start our raids at 20:00 server time, and finish at 24:00. Invites start 15 minutes before the raid starts, at 19:45 – we expect you to stand ready at the instance entrance, with gear fully repaired, and carrying raid consumables. This means you have to bring a good supply of health and mana potions, class reagents, flasks and elixirs, buff food, and anything else required for your class and role. People flagged for PVP have to wait outside the instance until it wears off. It would be greatly appreciated if you read up on boss strategies beforehand, so you have an idea of what we’re going to encounter. Required raid addons are Omen (threat meter) and either Deadly Boss Mods or BigWigs (boss warnings, whichever of the two you prefer). For paladins, either PallyPower or ZOMGBbuffs is recommended to keep track of each other’s blessings.

Recommended addons Omen: http://files.wowace.com/Omen/Omen.zip Deadly Boss Mods: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/4940/ BigWigs: http://files.wowace.com/BigWigs/BigWigs.zip PallyPower: http://files.wowace.com/PallyPower/PallyPower.zip ZOMGBuffs: http://files.wowace.com/ZOMGBuffs/ZOMGBuffs.zip

During raids, we use Ventrilo 3.0 to chat and have fun, but more importantly to discuss raid tactics. Therefore, we ask that you log in on the Saga Ventrilo server when raiding with us. You can download the Ventrilo client program here: http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php