Be an Ensidia Player.
This weekend I was hanging out on Twitter and saw Ensidia post that they are recruiting. So I retweeted for them with the comment "too bad I'm not EU and a better player".
So what does it take to be an Ensidia quality player?
Let's take a look at their recruitment post.
A couple of pointers and requirements that you need to read before you apply:So they aren't asking specific questions and only mention a few basic requirements. Easy right?
We expect nothing but the highest performance from our players.
Be prepared to play long hours in an environment that does not suffer poor players for very long.
You need to be able to handle criticism and improve on any mistakes you make.
A high standard of English is expected since it is the main language within the guild. If you cannot understand and communicate well, both in written and spoken English, then please do not apply. This includes using Ventrilo and a microphone.
You only get the chance to make a good first impression once, don't screw it up! Your previous raiding experience is a huge part of your application. Having done most high level instances is a huge bonus, especially having cleared Sunwell before 3.0. Mention all this in detail in your application. We do not like to tell people specifically what to write in applications so what you write is up to you. Make sure, however, that you include links to your armory,WWS and a screenshot of your UI.
Well the difference between what you read and what you really need to be is the knowledge of the guild. Ensidia is #1 in the world, no questions asked. They got world first Yogg-Saron kill well before anyone else AND since they are EU they started 24 hours later than any US guild. The quality of their players are supreme. Take the best players you have played with and chances are most of them wouldn't cut it. Ensidia (and guilds like them) are super competitive too. Chances are that if you screw up even once you get sat out and if you do it again your done.
But this post isn't about how amazing they are and how you aren't. Instead it's about how you can be more like one of these players. Since I don't actually have contact with specific players from these top guilds I more or less have to guesstimate so forgive me if my assumptions aren't exactly true.
1) Be the best player at your class that you know - I'm not talking a mindset of oh look I am better than so and so. I am talking a mindset of "Am I doing everything correct?" If you are the former then more than likely you aren't very good at your class. Working with others of your class will help improve your play. You will find both ways to play better and way to not play by working with others like you.
2) Be the best at your role that you know - Exactly the same as the first but this time for your role. You may play a class that is considered inferior than others. Show everyone that it's not necessarily true.
3) Research, research, research - Know the fights inside and out. Know your class inside and out. Follow every helpful blog that you can think of that will help you out in improving your playing.
4) Show up to ever raid prepared to wipe and wipe and wipe and wipe until it's done. Ensidia may have gotten these bosses down first before anyone else but they spent tons of time on the PTR wiping and wiping and wiping to try new strategies until they knew how it was going to go. Not only did they try their own they also researched how everyone was doing it. And it wasn't just the officers of the guild, it was EVERYONE. Once they got to live they spend long days making sure those strategies worked and if they didn't then they tried something different.
5) Pretend your the raid leader even if you aren't - I don't mean try to take over leading the raids. What I mean is put yourself in the raid leaders shoes. Think about what has to be done for EVERYONE. Do you know what the healers should be doing? Do you see something wrong that maybe the leader can't because he's across the room? Be his eyes and let him know that you see something. Don't be a jerk about it. Remember, it's not your raid to lead. Help but don't take over.
6) Don't complain, ever - Constructive criticism is one thing. Complaining is another. People who complain or give up after even a 3 hour night of constant wipes don't help moral. Not only that, they don't get anything accomplished. It brings focus from progression to failure and that is not good for a raid team because it spreads. Don't be the person who started it. Yes progression is costly and you're going to pay for it. A lot! If I had to guess Ensidia's repair cost to be world first was probably about 5,000g per person over the course of the progression (including the PTR learning sessions).
7) Handle criticism well - Your guild may not be the type of guild that even gives criticism but when someone actually does say something to you about how you play or something you did or whatever don't retorte with, "Well you are the most stupid tank I've ever seen." People may not word things perfectly (/raises hand) but most of the time they are just trying to help out in their own way.
8) Don't sell yourself short - Are you in a place where you can be great? No matter how good you are do you always get set aside for an older member that just performs not as good? As a GM I hate to see people leave but I understand completely when someone outgrows a guild. Personally I stick with it because for me just my personal performance isn't good enough, it's the whole guild. If my guild can consist of players who are playing the best they can then as a team we can progress.
Ok so a list post probably didn't make sense necessarily but it did in my head. The common denominator here is of course is to be the best that you can be and do it with humility. Your best way of improving yourself is to do exactly what you are doing now, reading up blogs and websites that help. Follow those bloggers that make sense to your topic, get on twitter and chat with the WoW Twitter community, read all those statistic sites that say such and such spell does this because of this and so forth. Know why you are speccing into the most popular spec, don't just do it because it's the most popular.
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