Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I spent the weekend offline (again!) in another city celebrating my raid leader’s birthday. Some things are more important than blogging. I know, I know…

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Still Alive

First up, this is not a complaint that getting The Undying is too difficult. It IS very challenging, but I don’t mind a good challenge and it’s nice to have something to sink our teeth into while waiting for Ulduar. Given enough time, we’ll get this achievement. Instead I’m more complaining about the concept in general.

The problem with Undying/Immortal as it stands right now is that the majority of the time someone is going to be the goose. I’ve been on two attempts and was fortunate enough to not be the person who died either time, but in both cases they were strong players with a history of being awesome and not standing in crap. They just made one split second wrong decision, and that was that.

Most of our usual 10-man team is pretty good about someone dying. There is some sighing, some awkward silence, but c’est la vie. A few people get a little grumbly and tense, but no one has yet devolved into finger pointing and namecalling. However, we’re a fairly mature, close knit guild. I can only imagine in some guilds where there isn’t as much emphasis on social niceties it doesn’t go as smoothly for the poor goose.

And what of the healers? These “no death” runs are simply terrifying from a healing perspective. I act like I imagine a new mother does around her child: “Don’t let them touch that!” “Stay away from there, you could fall and hurt yourself!” “You can play.. but don’t go out of my sight!” It feels like just a matter of time until I screw up. The Undying was actually a big part of the reason that I’m raiding as DPS until Ulduar… at this point in the game, I just don’t feel like putting myself through the wringer.

The very clear and easy alternative to the current system is to unlink everyone’s success. You have to clear Naxx during one lockout timer without dying on a boss. The dude beside you dies? No problem, he’s out, you’re still in. It’s slightly easier on the healers, and it’s not as much of a drama-generating pressure cooker. It does lessen the challenge of the achievement, but there is something to be said for maintaining an emphasis on an excellent personal performance without encouraging finger pointing and poor sportsmanship.

Between Undying and all the 8 and 20 man achievements, sometimes it seems like Blizzard has it out for those who play the WoW guild management meta-game.

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Achievements, Raiding Ruminations Achievements, guildleading, Naxx, raiding