I am posting here to gauge the interest in raiding the Halls of Testing in ToV by a raiding force not organized along traditional Guild lines. I would very much enjoy leading a raid or two per week in the HoT, and I do very much hope that there are people who read this board who are interested in attending such raids.
The only requirments that I place on these raids are:
1) Be at least level 55, with 100+ unbuffed Fire, Cold and Magic resists, and be at least non-KoS to the Claws of Veeshan faction. (I do prefer that you be Ally, after all, you can't quest the armour drops otherwise.)
2) All interested raiders have the Planes of Power expansion of EverQuest, so that the /raid function may be used.
3) Any personal- or guild- problems be left in West Wastes. I will not have people cluttering up my raid channel with arguments.
Bring them here.I aim to fill up to 5 groups per raid, as I've found that 30 raiders of the levels required above are more than enough to deal with any of the common HoT mobs, while still leaving the raid small enough to manage. Should more than 30 acceptible people wish to raid on a certain night, I'll keep a list of alternates, or form a 6th group (should it be possible to build a balanced group from the alternates, and if I feel like it.)
The big question, I'm sure, is why I'd do this. Leading pickup raids is one great way to get a headache, but they can also be a lot of fun. Moreover, raids like this allow players from smaller/younger guilds the chance to learn how to interact in a raid setting, to meet other people on our friendly server, and a great way to get armour drops.
Ah, a bigger question, in some minds, would be how I plan to divide the plunder among the raiders. As I write this, my plan is to set myself as the only looter (/raid function is wonderful that way) and award drops to people on the raid whom I feel are worthy. (Your worthiness will be enhanced by your level, participation on my raids, overall behaviour on my raids and any other time I may see you, or by what I've eaten that day.) If that system doesn't seem to work, I'll come up with something else.
Of course, nobody would attend one of my raids to get a piece of armour by ninjaing a corpse that just unlocked, before the person I awarded it to could loot it. I'm also sure that nobody would ever ask for a piece of loot that they didn't need on their raiding character, just so they could sell the MQ. However, should such ill-things be done, I will never let that individual raid with me again. But, I'm sure nobody would do such a thing.
Raids are fun! I enjoy leading them, and I very much enjoy seeing people get new gear made up in Skyshrine. If you'd like to attend such raids, please post here or email me (gealaen@hotmail.com.) Tell your guilds, tell your friends: my raids are open to anyone who meets my qualifying criteria (see above.)
Fight hard, with honor, and triumph!
Venerable Gealaen Gaiamancer
