Well, okay, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here, but I started to feel a change in the wind last week and this week it seems to have fully arrived. We have at least 29 signups for every night this week, which means three viable rosters right out of the gate. We had 35 people sign up for Yogg-Saron night. 35!

And speaking of that giant hellbound head, we made some pretty sweet progress on him, finally, on Sunday. P1 just seemed to click for us, and suddenly we could complete it flawlessly. We had one tank at the top with most of the raid, getting the adds down to 40%. Then a rotating team of three tanks moved the adds down to Sara. Once in the middle, they were finished off by a group of four ranged DPS (and two healers to keep everyone alive.)

That same day we also had some attempts with 2 or 3 successful brainroom trips, and P2 really came together as more of a .. strategic chaos, at least. And we did it all with 24 people! Yogg feels doable now.

Every late May I start to feel anxious. I hate slow summers. To be honest, I didn’t know if I had it in me this year to keep the guild rolling again. It takes a lot of patience, encouragement, determination, and a group of really awesome understanding guildies. And I was probably more brutally frank with the guild this year than I’ve been in past summers. Anyway, some tips that helped me survive summer doldrums:

Nag and Cajole
I have the contact information of a lot of guildies, and I try not to abuse it. However, if I’m staring at 22 people online and am desperate for a tank, you’re getting a text message. I also send out PMs and IMs reminding people to sign up, and post nagging messages on the forum with lots of smiley faces.

Make the Most of Things
So my texted threats ammounted to naught, and I still have 22 people online staring at me when raid time rolls around. Try to not just cancel everything! People logged on, they arranged their schedules around this time, and you can still get some value for those 22 folks. Break into 10 mans and do achievements or get gear for newer raiders. Have you done Vault this week? Sarth 2D and 3D still have some fine gear drops! You don’t have to go the entire standard raid time, but do something, get some upgrades, and be upbeat about it. Part of my job is PR, whether I like it or not, which means I have to be positive to those online even when I’m cranky about attendance.

Threats and Hissy Fits
Use this category sparingly. In fact, I don’t think I used it at all until this year. However, there was a point at which I felt people needed to be reminded that running 3 raids a week and killing YS is pretty important to me (and to others). I got a little tyrannical, for me. First, I reminded people that I can keep filling raids through recruitment, but when everyone is back in Fall it’s the new recruits who were there all summer long who would get first dibs on “their” spots. Second, I instituted a “roster bonus” system where people who signed up and attended our least popular night (which was also YS night) would get first crack at the other two more loot-laden rosters. This was not a popular decision, and caused quite a bit of handwringing. It certainly got people’s attention focused on the attendance issue, though. I have a mandate to run a casualcore guild, and that is what I will do!

Other Stuff!
Recruit people, but not too many or else you’ll have 50 signups come winter. Play with your raid days — are they optimal for summer? Talk to your core crew and let them know how things are going, and what you’re doing to get the raid back on track.

All in all, know that things WILL get better. Your raid group may not be making any progress right now, and that’s okay. It’s summer, it happens. Just keep things rolling, keep people moving and talking, and eventually this too shall pass. I hope.

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