“First Strike” Guild

(UPDATED 10-1-12 by Izella)

Welcome to First Strike Recruiting:

Do you want to raid more efficiently with less time invested? Are you tired of subjugating yourself to endless loot-drama, out-of-control ventrilo channels, unstable guilds, and nerd-rage /gquitters... all for the purposes of seeing content in a video game? Would you prefer to spend your time playing this game with a mature group of adults working towards a common goal? Do you approach raiding as a serious hobby, take pride in your character, and actually have the skill required to take it to the next level?

First Strike, a late-evening Alliance raiding guild focused on completing Heroic content, is now recruiting for 10-man progression in the Mists of Pandaria expansion!

About Us:

We've been raiding Suramar (PVE) for nearly 7 years now. Suramar was one of the first servers created, and we are one of the oldest and most historically stable guilds on this realm.

We are a tight-knit guild founded by an officer-core of "RL" friends. We have a proven history of providing a stable, mature, and COMPLETELY DRAMA-FREE environment for our members. When we raid, we raid seriously; we detest wasting anyone's time, including our own. Our leadership takes a professional approach to scheduling, rostering, and managing our raids. In turn, we expect a high level of dedication, preparation, and performance from our raiding roster. We prefer to keep a small and dedicated roster, which helps maximize loot assignments and fosters continuity. Our group consists of working professionals, college graduates, and married couples, all of whom choose to make this game one of their serious hobbies. The average member of First Strike is probably in his or her late 20's or early 30's.

We also provide a website (with active member-based forums) and a professionally hosted ventrilo server. Members accepted to our progression raiding team can expect to be well supported by our generously funded guild bank.


Our Current Progression:

-T13: 8/8 + 6/8H
-T12: 7/7 + 4/7H
-T11: 12/12 + 5/13 Heroic
-WOTLK T10 (25): 9/12 Heroic Icecrown Citadel
-WOTLK T10 (10): 11/12 Heroic Icecrown Citadel


Our Raiding Schedule:

TEAM NINJA

-# OF RAIDS: 3
-NIGHTS: Wednesday, Sunday, Monday
-TIMES: 8:30 to 11 p.m. (Pacific Time Zone)

First Strike ventures into 10-man raids on a "three-day week" for 7.5 hours per reset. We have "real lives", so we focus on being efficient when we do raid, instead of just throwing ourselves at content for days on end.


Our Loot Policy:

First Strike has been distributing upgrades in our raids via a long-standing Loot Council for years. As our goal is to complete end-game content as quickly as possible, our ONLY approach to loot in our progression raids is to assign it in a manner that most benefits the team. Loot is a means to an end, and that end is progression and accomplishment. Our leaders are very reasonable and mature individuals. We believe that our commitment to policy, equality, and fairness over the last few years has proven that a thousand times over. We have virtually no loot-related drama in First Strike.


Profile of a First Strike Raider:

If we aren't a good match, there's no need to waste each others' time. The following is exactly what we are looking for. If you are considering applying with us, please make sure this sounds familiar:

GENERAL DETAILS:
-Be 21 or older.
-Attend at least 75% of raids. That is a minimum requirement. Being available for more (or almost all) is preferred.
-Have a majority of ilvl 450 (or better) gear.
-Be on time.
-Have Ventrilo installed.
-Have the Add-Ons we consider “mandatory” installed and configured prior to raiding with the team.
-Do NOT expect any particular loot drop to be headed your way automatically.

PREPARATION:
-You take raiding very seriously, and want to schedule a reasonable and consistent amount of your free time each week towards being a key member of a successful raiding guild.
-You can't fathom showing up to a raid with even a single sub-par gem, missing enchant, or an inferior talent spec, because you take too much pride in being prepared to ever let that happen.
-You stay informed and up-to-date with the best sources of high level theorycraft for your particular class. You care enough to do your "homework" without anyone having to ask you to.
-If a better way to play your class emerges, you already know about it, and have considered the alternatives.
-You are familiar with how to interpret patch notes on class changes, so you are always ahead of the curve.
-You are familiar with using addons like Recount or tools like World of Logs, and understand why sources of information like those are powerful resources for self-improvement.
-You make a point to research boss strategies and videos in advance, and develop a game-plan for playing your own role in those new encounters well before you even see the boss for the first time.
-You take the initiative, and nobody will ever have to hold your hand or explain to you the basic abilities or fundamentals of your class.
-You come to every raid fully repaired and stocked with consumables to last you the full duration.
-If you gear and maintain an off-spec that you make available for raiding, you do all of the above for that playstyle as well.

GAMEPLAY:
-During raids, you actually have the gaming skill required to pull off complex rotations, monitor various cooldowns, and multi-task efficiently without making mistakes.
-You have the twitch reflexes required for hard-mode progression.
-You rarely (if ever) die to environmental threats designed by Blizzard to be "idiot-checks", so standing in the fire isn't something you're familiar with.
-If you make a mistake, you generally only make it once, because you have the capacity to learn and adjust quickly.
-You take pride in not being the weakest link and wasting everyone else's time on a nightly basis.
-You output significantly above-average numbers for your particular class, role, and gear level, and are generally considered to be a "great" player by those around you.
-You think "on the fly" and for yourself, foresee potential problems coming in advance, and can often make the split-second decisions that can save an attempt.
-You don't turn with your keyboard or "S-Key". That would make you a baddie.
-You are often the person the raid calls upon to execute the most difficult tasks in an encounter, such as kiting a specific mob, cleansing the killer debuff, or clicking the Orb of No Fail.
-You are able to see beyond your own role and consider the "big picture" of the entire raid's needs in an encounter, instead of just tunnel-visioning your Healing, DPS, or TPS meter.

SOCIAL / PERSONALITY:
-While you have a serious approach towards raiding, you also enjoy the social aspects of a great group of people working towards a common goal. You want to be part of a community.
-You want to be on a team run by adults, not nerd-raging teenagers, and you desire a guild-wide sense of humor that is mature and witty while not being offensive, vulgar, or overly crude.
-You are looking for the benefits of a tenured leadership core that is never satisfied with just "getting by", and is perpetually brainstorming improvements for the future.
-You show up on time, and you always do what you say you are going to do. You are dependable, communicative, and honest.
-You care about efficiency, and want to progress effectively without having to raid 4-5 nights every week.
-You don't mind being addressed by your first name instead of your character name.
-You are 100% happy to play the character and role you are recruited under, at least until the end of this expansion.
-You are looking for a long-term home, not a "stepping stone" to some other guild.

How do I apply?:

We are not the most hardcore guild around, by choice, because we actually have "real lives" and we actually care about said lives. However, we have a handful of players who could fit right in with many of the top hardcore guilds in the world (WoL parses have proven this repeatedly in the past) performance-wise. We need a few more players at that top skill level who choose to play here, with us, under our system. That's where you come in.

If you like what you see, and feel like you and First Strike are a good match for each others' raiding goals in WoW, please stop by our forums. The link at the bottom of the page will take you to an application template. The recruiting process will continue on our forums after you have posted an application.


Best,


-Izella (Guild Master of First Strike)




CONTACT INFO:


SERVER:

Suramar (US - PVE)


APPLICATION LINK:


http://firststrikeguild.enjin.com/application


IN-GAME CONTACTS:


Guild Master: Izella
Officer: Macoun
Raid Leader: Nariir