This page is the Karazhan start point for all OpEx members. Everything on this page is either mandatory or really close to it. It is your responsibility to read this info, watch the videos, and spend a few minutes learning what your class is (or is not) supposed to do. You won't get kicked out of the guild for not being the most awesomest supercool player ever... not even if you cause a wipe. However... if you wipe the raid because you were too lazy to read a couple of pages and watch a couple of videos... then you're going to A) have a lot of frustrated people get angry with you and call you bad things, and B) not exactly be at the top of the list next time there's a raid forming.
1. You are required to use vent during Kara runs. You do not have to talk, but you must at least listen so you can hear "Back up, here comes a pat" or "Slow down on DPS on Romeo" etc. These bosses all have a special "trick" to them and it is absolutely mandatory that everyone is working together and damaging (or not damaging) the correct bad guy.
This will normally be the OpEx vent (see below) though on occasion we may use a different vent server if we have several raid members from another guild.
Host: radium.fusionvoice.com Port Number: 3885
Password: (See guild info tab in game)
2. You must be properly geared or you will be removed from the raid. While we don't expect you to be wearing all epics yet, if you show up with more than one or two green items in your /inspect list you will be removed from the raid because, frankly you'll just die over and over anyway and force the raid to essentially be a man short the whole time. Nothing personal, but if you can't be bothered to put in the time to get at least appropriate blue gear, then I can't be bothered to rez you 200 times. It's simply not fair to the rest of the raid who has taken the time to get themselves reasonably well geared. (Exceptions will be made for certain gear such as trinkets etc.)
3. You must bring your own bandages and have at least 325 First Aid. (High enough first aid level to use Heavy Netherweave bandages. You don't have to completely max first aid to use them.) There is no excuse for ANY class not to have at least 325 first aid by level 70. If you're not there yet, you'll have to buy cloth from the AH and pimp because you're not getting into Kara without it.
4. You must have your own well-fed food appropriate for your class. There is +STAM food, +AGI food, +HEAL food... whatever. If you cannot cook, Fluufy is a 375 cook with every recipe except a couple of very rare ones. I don't want to look at someone's icon and not see cheese there people. This is not the time to be cheap because it isn't fair to the rest of the raid. You don't have to buy food from the AH... just go farm meat - you're a 70. While agility is perferred for certain classes, a simple STAM food buff is sufficient (and cheaper if you're buying it instead of farming it.)
Refer to this well fed food table on Wowwiki to see which foods give which buffs. (Once there, click the name of the food to get more info on that specific item, such as the type of meat needed)
5. You must have Omen Threat Meter downloaded and installed. If your screen flashes red, stop DPSing for 2-3 seconds. Simple.
6. You must have Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) downloaded and installed. It gives you 5 second warnings before bosses do bad things, etc. Absolutely required for Kara and beyond.
7. It is your responsibility to be on time for Kara raids. If you're not on, you're not in.
8. Not everyone is going to be invited to every raid. This is due to Blizzard, not me. Unfortunately, Karazhan is a 10-man raid. Obviously, you need to mix the classes up a bit, and you simply can't have one priest and nine rogues. We will be attempting to run multiple raids each week in a cooperative manner with the <Arthurian Legion> guild, though we'll still probably have a situation where a guildie doesn't get an invite and a random PUG does. This is not personal, but if the raid requires a holy paladin and you're not a holy paladin, you can't join that particular raid. It's simple math - if the raid doesn't have an appropriate mix of classes, it will wipe repeatedly anyway, and that doesn't do anyone any good.
For those who are not invited to a particular raid, Fluufy and/or the guild officers will attempt to help you find another Kara raid throughout the week. Remember - while we only have so many 70s in our guild, we -do- have a lot of 70 friends that either used to be in our guild or have alts in our guild etc. Make use of your friends list and start asking people to help you get into a Kara raid. You might be surprised at how easy it is to get into a group because of the "saved" limitations. (See below for explanation of "Saved").
Also, there may (or more likely "will") be times when a player will be subbed out for a certain boss, such as a case where only one tank is needed, and the raid will benefit from another DPS or healer. Unfortunately, this means that the subbed player will not have the opportunity to get any loot from that boss, regardless of what drops. If and when this happens (and it will likely happen to every one of us at some point), do not take it personally. You will get another chance to fight that boss, but for the good of the raid (and the guild), certain classes may be subbed out during some runs.
9. You can only be in ONE KARA RAID PER WEEK. Period. This is something that Blizzard has in place and there is no way around it. Once you enter Karazhan with a raid group, you are saved to THAT RAID ID for the rest of the week. (It resets on Tuesday during the weekly scheduled downtime.) So... if you enter with a group, you're stuck with that group for the whole week and you progress with them whether you're there or not. I know that everybody wants to be in Fluufy's run, but that simply isn't possible all the time. We do our best to get as many people as possible as many full clears as possible.
Example: You are there on day one, and the raid clears the first three bosses then calls it a night. On day two you have to work, so you miss the raid, but they clear the fourth and fifth bosses. On day three you return and manage to get back in the raid group - you will be wherever THEY left off, in this case after the fifth boss. (And due to the fact that you're saved to that particular Raid ID number (see raid info on raid tab to see your number), you can't join a different raid that might be more or less progressed. You're in this one for the week no matter what, even if you can't get back in after missing a day etc. because your slot was filled. Don't take it personally, this happens the same way to every person, every week. Guildies get priority over non-guildies whenever possible, but all things being equal, "those who show up" get priority.
10. It's Kara. It's SUPPOSED to be hard. The bad guys in Kara are all 70+, all elite, and any of them (including trash) can and will kill you quite easily if given the opportunity. Apparently, they have some serious anger management issues that they still need to work out. The point is - if you're relatively new to end-game raiding, you're not going to breeze through this, especially not the first few times. The guild itself, however does have this on easy farm status, so depending on which raid group you're in, it may be a cake walk... Those who know what they're doing will explain, and it's not terribly complicated, but these guys hit hard. (And I mean HARD.) Expect to wipe a few times. During some of the early runs, expect to wipe repeatedly. It's all part of the (intentional) design of Karazhan. Expect to have to ride to Darkshire a couple of times to repair or repair from the NPC inside Kara once your rep is high enough. Expect the repair bills to be expensive. This is simply how it is supposed to be at first. Sure, in a couple of months, you too will be better geared and can have this on personal "farm" status, but until then, it will be every bit as hard as trying to run Van Cleef with all level 12's and 13's without a 70 running you. (Yes, some people have actually gone into the Deadmines without a 70 buddy, believe it or not.)
Opera event (Read more)
The Opera event is one of three fights, randomly chosen, and you don't know which one until you start it and the curtain rises on stage... so yes, you have to know all three fights ahead of time or you're screwed. (Note: No downranking on strawman...)
Chess event (Read more)
Movement in the Chess event is similar to Mind Control (priest) or Eyes of the Beast (hunter). You get a new toolbar to control the selected chess piece. (And the pieces are not the same "value" as regular chess, nor do they move in the same way.) Watch the video to see it in action, but definitely read the Wowwiki Chess Event page to get an idea of what you'll be doing. Fortunately, it is quite easy.
