Your Name, Age, Gender and Location: Roger, 26, Male, London (UK).
Tell us a little bit about yourself (non-WoW related Interests, Hobbies etc): I was born a gamer and I'll die a gamer. I love the Final Fantasy / Deus Ex games, I play a bit of Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm and Dota 2. On the rare occasion I'm not parked at my desk, I enjoy being an aquarist and reading about history + biology.
Character Information
Armory Link: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/ravencrest/Martinezz/advanced
Battletag: Sazerac#1835
Describe your choice of talents and why you've chosen them:
Tier 1 - usually between Totem Mastery or Path of Flame depending on the fight, but usually the former (it's just better).
Tier 2 - Gust of Wind is convenient movement but some encounters need Speed Totem or Ancestral Guidance and I'll take them as required, depending if the team needs a tad more burst healing or movement. Not having GoW just means more preplanning required and sometimes a small DPS cut but if it's worth it it's worth it.
Tier 3 - Lightning Surge Totem is the only really useful talent here.
Tier 4 - Ancestral Swiftness just makes the whole rotation feel a bit smoother but Elemental Mastery is worthwhile if it lines up with a specific boss-weakened phase (I haven't taken it since Nighthold released).
Tier 5 - Elemental Blast is great for most fights and is just a DPS increase but for VERY high movement fights I'll go with Primal Elementalist (again, not since NH released but it was useful on Mythic Odyn).
Tier 6 - Echo of the Elements for most encounters except Liquid Magma totem for burst AoE, depending on the encounter.
Tier 7 - Icefury for high movement, Ascendance for single target where there will be chances to stand still and turret the boss, Lightning Rod for cleavy fights. Ultimately it can be user's choice depending on player skill; personally I like to mix it up but this is a general guideline.
How do you prioritize your stats and why?
Crit ~= Mastery >> Haste/Versatility
I like swapping between the three level 100 talents and each has a slightly different stat priority, but they do all take Crit and Mastery above the rest. I usually keep a couple of gear sets around should I need to swap to a build that favours one stat massively more over another (e.g. when playing Ascendance on a pure single target fight then I'll make it a point to hit the mastery cap at 86.4%).
What state is your Artifact in? It's currently at level 40 and teetering on another ding.
Where do you acquire knowledge about your Class?
- Earthshrine discord
- Icy veins
- Storm earth and lava
Paste a your UI via [img]LINK[/img] IN COMBAT
(Ensure that all Key Bindings are visible)
Link to your raid logs using using [url]LINK[/url].:
- Emerald Nightmare: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/rankings/character/10451376/10/
- Since Nighthold: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/rankings/character/21364674/latest/#partition=1
Raiding History
Describe your previous/current raiding experience:
Tier 11 - 5/13 Hc, I've linked a kill vid from this tier below
Tier 12 - 6/7 Hc
Tier 13 - 8/8 Hc
Tier 14 - 1/6 Hc, 5/6 N, 0/3 N - stopped raiding shortly into this tier
Tier 15 - none
Tier 16 - 12/13 Hc (née N) - joined partway through this tier shortly before release of WoD
Tier 17 - 9/10 Hc
Tier 18 - 11/13 M, also linked a kill vid from this tier below
Tier 19 - 7/7 M, 2/3 M, 3/10 M, experience on Krosus and Spellblade.
Tell us about your previous guilds and your reasons for leaving them:
Since Warlords I've been a major member of two guilds.
- Proud, Magtheridon-EU: Proud was great for more laid back raiders that didn't feel the need to minmax or really keep striving to improve but Lillija and I decided to leave and find something more competitive.
I once had a nightmare where people loved me for who I was, and lost the will to become a better man.
- Vehemence, Ravencrest-EU: The raid team disbanded after a raid where Krosus should have died didn't happen because it ended up being the fourth raid since Nighthold where half the team randomly didn't show up for progress.
More Information
Can you meet our raid schedule of Wed/Thur/Mon 21:00 to 00:00 server time with at least 90% attendance? Absolutely. Every so often something's going to come up (such is life) but there shouldn't ever be a time that if I can't make a raid I can't give warning well in advance.
We are raiding Sundays at start of each Tier for 3-4 weeks. Are you aware of it? Yes, makes absolute sense for a guild that wants to stay competitive.
Are you able to Listen and Speak on Teamspeak? Definitely.
What qualities do you bring to a Raid?
- Adaptability; I've been known to change talents, spec or even class depending on what is competitive in a given patch. Less so since Legion owing to the artifact/legendary system in place but if it came to it, I'd be able to swap to a different spec or role to fill gaps that the team needs (e.g. rolled enhancement for the latter half of HFC because elemental was not bringing the damage).
- Focus; we prove we're good players by killing the boss, not by ignoring tactics and pushing huge numbers out for logs.
- Maturity; loot conflicts have no place in progression raiding.
- Humorous; I'm a quiet person by nature but I do enjoy the occasional, entirely tasteful and never inappropriate one-liner.
- Reliable; I'm a pretty organised person IRL and don't have issues with being absent for a raid when I'm expected.
How do you feel about progression raiding? The best thing since sliced bread. 300 wipes on Gorefiend can be one heck of a slog but it all becomes worth it in that moment the boss flops over dead and the entire group yells out 'YES!'. As exhausting as it can be at times, I love the way it can help communities form and bring people together no matter who they are away from the screen.
Where did you hear about Curse of Years and do you know anyone in the guild? Lillija and I discovered Curse of Years while looking for competitive raid guilds on PVE realms on Wowprogress. I don't know anyone in the guild (yet) but I'm looking forward to the opportunity! :)
What encouraged you to apply to Curse of Years? I understand that it's a stable, active guild of numerous tiers that gets great progress with very palatable raid times in which I believe my player ability will be put to good use.
Do you play outside of raid? Yes. I PVP casually and enjoy pushing high levels in Mythic+.
Is there anything else you'd like to add to your application? Just to give an impression of what kind of raider I am, here's a few kill videos I've made over the years.
Magmaw Heroic (Blackwing Descent), just under 6 years ago:
Gorefiend Mythic (HFC), a little over a year ago:
Tell us a joke: A dwarf strolls into the pub in the dwarven district in Stormwind and orders three pints of ale. The bartender, confused, asks - are you sure you don't want them one at a time? Nope, replies the dwarf. It's an arrangement that my brothers and me have. Every Sunday afternoon we go into a bar and order a pint each for ourselves and one for the other two, then we drink 'em. Well, all right, thinks the bartender. The dwarf buys his ales, drinks, has a pleasant time with the other patrons and leaves.
This tradition keeps up Sunday after Sunday for years until one day, the same dwarf comes into the bar and orders two pints of ale. The barflies, well aware of this arrangement, are taken aback and as the bartender pours the two pints, he says to the dwarf: I'm very sorry for your loss. The dwarf responds...nah mate, nothing's happened. I've just given up drinking!
