I turned the questions into bold to ease the reading a bit. I like that personally, but it might just be my eyes.
Questions for ALL applicants:
Please link to your armory profile.
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/aszune/Ziley/simple
Are you applying for a Raider position, or Social membership?
I am applying for a raider position.
Tell us a bit about yourself! Who are you? Where are you from? How old are you? What kind of work do you do?
Hey everyone, I'm a young gent from Denmark. My name's Alexander and I'm 17 years old. I'm currently nearing the end of my 2nd year in gymnasium (aka high school). I don't currently have a part-time job, mostly because I'm about to turn 18 and it's pretty common in Denmark to be fired at that age, because the minimum wage is raised quite significantly, although you probably know this from other parts of the worlds as well. In addition to homework, gaming, and school I currently run a partnered youtube channel with a friend from Denmark. It's a very small "bussiness" and seeing as it's exclusively danish, it will probably remain that way. Still, I do quite enjoy reading comments and watching the various statistics change.
Tell us about your personality, and why you enjoy the game.
This is probably the part where I should reveal that I'm returning to the game after an almost 4 month long hiatus. I have no doubts that I will be back into the swing of things in no time, however. Back when I was last playing the game I did it for the end-game. While I have dabbled in PvP, alt-leveling, and even the 'ancient' art of twinking, raiding has been my go-to activity for the last few years. The large diversity is still one of the things that I enjoy about the game, even though I don't exploit it as much as I could. When playing I'm usually very laid-back and relaxed. I'm not the type to hold grudges against people, and I very rarely, if ever, take part in "dramas". I put the raid group and the guild as a whole high on my list of priorities. However, I must admit that I sometimes have a weakness for enjoying personal achievements. As an example, I'd probably be the guy that says "wow I got rank 1 DK dps on that last encounter", but I would never rub it in anyone's face and I want to make sure that nobody would ever take it as being anything else than me being proud of an achievement.
How long have you been playing computer games and what kind?
I've been a gamer for quite a while, starting with a loaned Playstation 2 when I was younger. Since then, however, my gaming-interest has transistioned from consoles to computer games. I'll jump right to the games I currently own and play, since they will be most relevant for multiplayer gaming within the guild. The games I play regularly are: League of Legends, Minecraft (voltz/tekkit mod packs, but I'm open for other packs), and Fifa 13 (on the x-box though). I'm actually surprised how short that list is, but I have a ton more games that I own and play from time to time, mostly when I have someone to play them with. Those are: WoW (which I will obviously be picking back up), Battlefield 3, Simcity, Guild Wars 2, Dota 2 (although I'm not a massive fan of that game), and probably lots more that I can't remember. It's much easier for me to look up and see if I own a game when there's an interest for playing it.
There are other guilds on the server, why did you apply to us?
I've been out of the scene for a little while, so I don't have any up to date information on guilds. Therefore, I went onto wowprogress and took a glance at the progression list. I wanted a guild that had a reasonable progression, so I'd be sure that I would be joining a group of a certain standard, but I chose Dead Men Raiding specifically because of the schedule and the attitude. I'm a huge fan of the "quality over quantity" in terms of raiding, and I've had a problem earlier where I was losing my interest in the game because of a 4 hours, 4 days a week schedule. A schedule of 3 days a week with raiding from 19-22 fits me perfectly. To be honest, I'm not actually completely sure that that is when you raid since I could not find that information anywhere, but I took a look at your worldoflogs profile and came to that conclusion. So those are my two main reasons, I'm sorry that I can't mention anything about amazing people or good reputation, but as I said I've been out of the game for a little while.
What other guilds have you been in and why did you decide or were forced to move on?
This is a long list and I can't remember every single guild and detail from my 7 years of playing (gosh, it's been that long), but the most recent and relevant are as follows:
Mist: Back in WotLK this was the first bunch of people that I really got to know and enjoy playing with, in fact I still keep contact with a few of my friends from this time. I joined them during Ulduar. We weren't a very hardcore bunch, raiding mostly 10-man and never killing many heroic bosses. However, they were great people and I enjoyed playing with them. And as you'll know soon enough, this was not the end of my adventures with Mist. I had to leave them when the guild started falling apart due to key members quitting WoW and they then merged with another guild that raided at a schedule that did not fit me.
Defection: A step-up from Mist in terms of progression and dedication, I managed to defeat every 25-man heroic boss in ICC except the Lich King with this guild. I joined quite late in the expansion, and was instantly impressed with there willingness to take in a new raider. I was, at the time, working towards Shadowmourne, and they started helping me to achieve my goal literally during the first raid. The guild fell apart before we achieved the goal of killing the Lich King heroic and before we finished Shadowmourne, due to player burn-out from a long-lasting ICC patch.
TDC: This guild was for danes only, and I joined them because I had a lot of real life friends on their roster at the time. We raided mostly 10-man, and this was the guild that I started off Cataclysm with. We managed a humble 5 heroic bosses in the first tier of Cataclysm raiding, but shortly before that tier came to an end I had to leave them. The original roster had changed a lot and so had the leadership, at least in my opinion and in the opinion of a few others who left around the same time I did. The remains then moved to Al'akir and became a horde guild. I know not if they still exist.
Mist v.2: Yes, Mist was back together a second time. During my time at TDC I learned that the original Mist crew was trying to get back together, and when things were not working out at TDC, I jumped at the opportunity to reunite with my old friends. We became a pretty strong 10-man group clearing heroics during Firelands and Dragon Soul. Strangely, we never killed a heroic end boss, but this was mostly due to burnout quite early in the patches. I became an officer in the guild, although we mostly viewed each other as friends and equals, so it was not much more than a title and being a contact person for recruits and outsiders. The guild ended up falling apart when half of the raid team decided to go on a hiatus from WoW towards the end of the Dragon Soul patch.
Pulse: I returned from a 2 month long break to join Pulse, a guild that I had no connections to. I felt like taking a step-up to 25-man raiding of the more serious kind and Pulse was a nice middleground that wasn't too hardcore. I joined about 2 months before MoP was released and was tasked with leveling a DK since my warrior who had been my main throughout was not a desirable class to their raid team. I got to 85 with around 6 weeks of raiding left and was pretty much boosted from green to heroic epics during that time. Then came MoP and my opportunity to actually be a valuable asset to their roster. I started the first raid day on the bench and the same on the second day. However, during the second day I was brought in on the first boss and was part of our first kill. I must've put in a convincing performance, because I wasn't benched since then. This might've been the beginning of the end though, since their heavy raiding schedule proved a bit too much for me. I found that the raiding was starting to become a hinderance to my real life obligations, and thusly I explained to the officer team that I had to quit raiding (and ultimately quit WoW). I stayed in the guild for a few weeks afterwards to allow them to find a replacement, and once a suitable recruit had been found I cancelled my subscription and my account has been frozen ever since.
Who do you know in Dead Men Raiding? How do you know them?
Sadly, I do not know anyone. It is possible that there's a known face somewhere in there, but I remember very few of my in-game friends off the top of my head. Maybe some of you know me, I've been known mostly as Varynn during my "WoW career".
Have you read our 'what we look for' and 'philosophy' posts? What do you think of them?
Yes, I've read them both and as I explained earlier they are definitely part of the reason why DMR is such an attractive choice for me. I've never quite lost my interest in raiding and WoW, and now that I've got the opportunity to join a friendly environment where quality raids are a priority and where the raiding schedule is more managable, I've definitely had my interest rekindled.
What do you look for in a guild?
This is a very interesting question to me actually, since what I look for in a guild has changed so much throughout the years. I started off just wanting to raid, then I wanted to be part of the very best as far as my schedule allowed, but recently I've realised that the most fun I ever had raiding was with Mist, a group of relaxed and interesting people where having fun was a natural part of raiding and where the community meant a lot. So now what I look for in a guild is: A friendly environment, quality raids where there is room for both small talk and serious bussiness, a community outside of raiding, and generally people that I 'click' with.
Do you actively play any alts that we could find you in in case we need to contact you?
Seeing as I do not even play the game at the moment, no. But back when I was, and I imagine that it will be similar once I start again, I used to mostly play my main, but sometimes I would jump to other characters, most notably Varynn and Shapira.
''Dead Men Raiding'' - What comes to mind when you see that guild name?
When I used to see it I must admit that I did not think much about the guild name when I saw it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seemed like a guild fairly new to raiding, not in terms of progression (I had no idea how your progression was), but because I had not heard of you before. Of course, I've learned that the community behind the guild stretches back very far so I imagine you have a very well established community. But as I said I generally had no idea who you were. I have never had any problems with any members though, so my thoughts were very much indifferent.
What are your plans for the game? In what way would you like others to know you?
I plan to have fun while playing the game, and I plan to have it alongside other people who share my goal. Progressing in raids and raiding with the right people are things that I find fun in the game, and as such those are my plans for the game. I'd like to be known as a guy who knows what he's doing, who's prepared, who is reliable, but who is also down-to-earth and enjoyable to play with. I'd hope that people would think of me as a guy they'd be happy to play other games with outside of raiding.
Name one thing you don't like about WoW in its current state.
I don't like that dailies are pretty much the only means of progressing ones character outside of raiding. This might've changed, but during the first months of MoP dailies were definitely my biggest gripe with the game.
A guildie says something you find offensive, what do you do?
If it's something said in guild chat and not directed at me I would usually just ignore it. However, I don't find a lot of things offensive. I might avoid playing and talking with the guy in future if I thought he was a offensive person who I would not enjoy playing with, but I would not be one to get all antsy over a harsh word or a misunderstanding.
If it's something directed direcly at me, I would first try to see if it's something I should react on (maybe criticism presented in a bad way) or if it's not (just trash talk because the guy is in a bad mood). In the first case I would usually ask the guy if he could be more specific in his criticism or if he could word it differently, or if I understand what he mean I would probably ignore him (not the in-game feature) and see if his statement holds any merit. In the second case I would pretty much just be on my way and ignore him (the in-game feature) if he somehow kept going. However, I do not expect this to be an actual issue in a guild that values mature and responsible actions.
Cake or Pie?
It depends a lot on the individual pie or cake, but I would generally not turn down a well-prepared meal of any kind. If a choice has to be made I'd probably go with pie, but damn if it isn't something I'll regret saying once you present me with cake (you will do that, right?). :)
******END OF SOCIAL APPLICANT QUESTIONS******
ADDITIONAL questions for Raid Applicants:
Which evenings of the week are you available to raid?
Currently I'll be available every day of the week except friday, however I would like it if saturday was kept raid free, although I would probably be able to attend the odd saturday raid.
Can you and will you speak actively with other guild members on Teamspeak and in guild chat?
Yes, I'm usually quite active on teamspeak and guild chat, especially once I've been in the guild for a little while.
Do you have a stable internet connection?
Apart from the odd disconnect that I know how to fix, I generally don't have connection issues.
What sort of frame rates do you get when raiding?
In a 25-man raid I was around a stable 40 fps at good/great settings. Last time I was in a 10-man I was getting 60 fps at ultra settings.
What kind of raiding experience do you have?
This really is a list that I'm surprised how long it is. Let's see, from the beginning:
I used to play on a shadow/discipline priest back in TBC. Back then I cleared Karazhan, Gruul, and Magtheridon. I didn't really do much guild raiding back then, and I was probably too young to be taken seriously by any of the higher-up guilds anyway. I then swapped over to my warrior for WotLK where I started off dps'ing in Naxxramas 10-man for a very casual guild. I then joined Mist in Ulduar to tank for them, but eventually got swapped over to a dps position, where I played fury warrior for the rest of WotLK.
I cleared all of 10-man Naxx as current content and all of 25-man Naxx later in the expansion. I cleared Sartharion +1 as current content and Malygos 10-man as well in a pug where I ended up being all alone in phase 3.
In Ulduar I cleared every normal mode except Yogg'Saron and I defeated XT on hard mode. I don't remember my 25-man progress in Ulduar.
In ToC we mainly did 10-man normal, but eventually cleared heroic 10-man except the last boss (the beetle whose name I cannot remember for the life of me).
In ICC I cleared everything but Lich King heroic in both 10 and 25-man. I also got the meta achievement for 10-man ICC as current content.
In Cataclysm I carried along as a dps warrior, until I joined Mist again where I played shadow priest for a few months. Eventually though, I switched back to dps warrior.
I cleared 5 or 6 heroic bosses in tier 13, but the progress is spread across both my priest and my warrior.
In Firelands we cleared everything but Ragnaros heroic, but damn was he a pain in the butt.
In Dragon Soul I eventually cleared all the bosses on 25-man heroic, but that was when I was being carried on my DK, so I do not count that as actual progression (although I did survive the encounters). However, in actual progression I cleared 6/8 heroic bosses.
In MoP I started playing on my DK for real with Pulse, but I had quit the game before the Terrace of Endless Springs had come out.
However, I did clear Mogu'shan vaults on normal, as well as kill 2 bosses in Heart of Fear during the first 2 weeks that it was out.
If you are a cross-server applicant, name someone from your home server that can vouch for you.
I am not a cross-server applicant, but I could probably still ask around to find someone that would vouch for me.
If your armory does not show your intended spec then please make a template of it and link it.
My armory shows my intended spec except for one thing.
I would change Unholy Blight for Plague Leech, because it is a slight dps increase on single-target fights. It all changes on a fight per fight basis though, but the following would be my standard setup:
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#kxIH|o0smsc (http://www.wowhead.com/talent#kxIH%7Co0smsc)
Why did you decide to play this class?
I was actually kind of forced into picking this class for joining Pulse, but I have come to like its rotations and its large arsenal of utility. I'm especially fond of the AoE grip and its many applications.
What do you think your class' role is in raid content?
I'd be a viable choice in the role of both AoE'ing down adds and single-targeting a boss, however since I am melee I believe that I should stick on the boss unless the opposite is necessary, in order to maximize dps. I could also be used to control adds, as I have done in the 'Will of the Emperor' encounter in Mogu'shan Vaults. My grips and slows can be strong tools when it comes to controlling and killing adds. There might be other applications for my class in the newer encounters, but I can't give any examples until I have studied them.
Comment on your build. Why did you choose it? What do you think of other builds of your class? Why didn't you choose one of those? (important question)
I imagine that you're thinking of talent choices, so I will go most indept with those, but let's touch on gearing, gemming and enchanting first. I use stat weights and an in-game addon for reforges. As far as gemming goes I usually try to meet socket bonuses, but I value haste, hit and expertise above other stats. I've found that I sometimes get so far over the hit or expertise caps that I can't reforge out of it and therefore I sometimes gem straight haste even though I do not match the socket bonus. I believe that socket bonuses have definitely found their worth again with the doubling of secondary stats on gems.
As for the talent choices:
Tier 1: I only really see two choices in this tier: Plague Leech and Unholy Blight. Unholy Blight is definitely the easiest to use, and the most valuable in AoE-fights, while Plague Leech yields the best outcome when it comes to single-target dps races, if used correctly.
Tier 2: In this tier I also only see two viable PvE options, except for very gimmicky fights. Those choices being Anti-Magic Zone and Purgatory. I generally value AMZ the highest, but in fights that involve purely physical damage I do pick up Purgatory. I don't believe that Purgatory has a massive effect since AMZ will always be better for absorbing AoE damage, and single target damage is usually avoidable (and also high damage which means that 3 seconds might not be enough to save me).
Tier 3: I have found that Death's Advance is so very useful in every encounter that involves even the slightest form of movement, that I only really pick Chillblains when I'm specifically asked to control adds. Usually AoE slows are brought by many other classes that do not need to waste a valuable talent point. Asphyxiate is neglectible in boss encounters.
Tier 4: Death Pact has the highest oomph for those sticky situations in this tier and it is also the only choice that does not lower my overall dps when used. This together makes Death Pact an obvious choice for me, with its only downside being that it can only be used during my dps cooldown: Raise Dead.
Tier 5: This tier is a pure numbers build. Runic Empowerment is most effective for a frost DK, and I also feel that it matches my frost playstyle better than the other choices. I absolutely despise the Blood Tap ability, for some reason I just can't seem to use it correctly, so I pray that it never becomes superior to Runic Empowerment.
Tier 6: Remorseless Winter and Gorefiend's Grasp are both very fun and very useful abilities, that strangely work very well together. I prefer Gorefiend's Grasp for the control and dps improvement it brings when burning down many adds. But I will never underestimate the damage reduced by Remorseless Winter when the tank is getting beaten up by a bunch of small celestial buggers or whatnot.
A little personal addition
This is a small paragraph that I decided to add myself to try and convince you why I would be a valuable asset to your raid team. If you feel that the questions I have already answered are enough information, feel free to move along and I thank you for reading this far along. If you feel like you could use a little extra information then read right along. I'll basically just explain my attitude towards raiding and how I prepare for raiding.
I've had some troubles with consumables in the past so in MoP I started carrying around a large excess, so that I would always be prepared. But apart from that I usually read Icyveins guides for the bosses that we are realistically going to tackle in a raid night, and I watch videos for every accessible raid encounter. This means that I'll have indepth knowledge for the boss we're progressing on and usually the next two aswell. Then if we have a great run and make it further I will have watched a video guide, so that I am at least somewhat prepared.
Additionally, my damage rotation (or priority, which is more accurate) is like a second nature to me, since I usually just sit on dummies dps'ing when I'm waiting for queues or otherwise idling around.
I have experience with leading raids, which means that I'll be able to take on jobs of organizing and controlling certain parts of an encounter if necessary, but I have also played as a normal raider for long enough to know when others are talking and leading the raid.
This is all I have to add, I hope that it has not been too much of a hassle getting through and I thank you for considering my application. If you have any questions regarding just about anything, feel free to reply here on the forum or catch me on skype (please do explain who you are when you add me) under the username xxwowgeekxx... I need to change that username badly. :(
Anyways, thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you.
Alex thats a great app and we appreciate the time and effort. Give the officers a couple of days to have good look:dribble:
Great app, good luck :)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk and technology
Nice app ziley - GL
I'd just like to add that I've reactivated the game and that you can catch me on Ziley for a chat if you need to ask any questions, should be a little more responsive than on the forums.
Cheers :)
We've been a bit busy with Easter so apologies for not getting back to you. If you're about online later today/tonight, perhaps you could jump onto our TS and have a chat with us so we can talk about options?
No worries, easter is a busy time. :)
I've hopped on TS in the WoW channel and you can just give me a shout when the appropiate people are online. I'll be gone a quick moment for dinner at some point, but else I should be available until 2300 game time.
Cheers :)