*** Progression Raid Team Theory ***

Hello, I don't have much time, but here is a small explanation about progression raid theory. Raids are small to large scale group focused events. They are the pinnacle PvE (player versus environment) events that games offer. These events take teamwork, patience, repetition and hard work. Raid content that is cleared by the team on a regular basis eventually gets filtered out due to time constraints, availability, interest and other issues. If there is a Raid for each and every planet, with the addition of new planets over time, and any other content that begins to come in along with events, a group of people will end up raiding every single night seven days a week. While this is all possible, it is not logical. After the core team hits the required progression level, has what loot they need to progress, they begin to filter older raids out due to lack of time and interest. The theory of raid progression works like this: 1. Secure a permanent team that will clear present and future Raid content that works well together through repetition 2. Play Raid until every member is geared/ready to progress to the next step, regardless of YOUR current position, you are part of a team. 3. Discuss future operations with core members. Options become present at this point, defined in "a" and "b" paths. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - 4a. Once Initial phase is complete (in this case VoG) with desirable outcome (2-3 hour clear time) in ALL game modes offered (normal and hard mode) move onto next phase, leave old phase behind (in major MMO's because loot becomes obsolete). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - 4b. Continue to raid with set team through older content. Keep in mind, from every single past experience I have had, In every MMO I have played, this is the incorrect path. It almost always leads to exclusivity and people that are more than capable of leading fireteams/groups/parties in a Raid do not do so because they are not vocal enough to do so, or are unwilling to make small changes/adapt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5a. Group with original fireteam/clan players for older content when material/resource/rare gear grinding is essential to growth, continue to clear new raid content as it comes out. ALWAYS CLEAR NEW CONTENT WITH YOUR ORIGINAL TEAM, DO NOT STRAY FROM THIS PATH. This is very important, only raid on new content when outside of core team if the player that is missing agrees that the TEAM should do so. This will solidify the team physically and psychologically, two very important aspects of being successful when it comes to raiding. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5b. Only raid with your original party on set days/times. Do not branch out and introduce new members to older content. This may seem like the correct idea, this can lead to almost ex-communicating yourself from group wall posts, clan discussions and most group events. 4/5 Major MMO's I have played this has been the result every single time. The core raiders have split off, formed their own thing/guild/group/clan/whatever, one of them leaves and the group becomes obsolete. The new member becomes frustrating to the core team because they can't adapt to the core players style and the group begins to fall apart and your raiding habits WILL change...a majority of the time for the worse. You can see it happening now if you go grab a PUG. Get in there and try it, 95% of them are disorganized and chaotic, fingers are pointed, people are blamed and you will get nowhere, Hours of your time lost because people don't know how to operate as a team. I am nowhere near even being a decent player, I die in the stupidest ways you can imagine. Last night I jumped off a cliff twice because I forgot I changed specs between phases and didn't account for jump height. I die from trash enemies constantly, I ruin perfectly good attempts. I know this, yet I am willing to lead a team into a raid and die. Not because I want the loot, not because I want to get to level 30+, none of these things. I want to learn and grow as a clan, I want to be part of a game that has such a relaxed raiding system as Destiny. EVERYONE in Destiny gets loot, big or small, regardless of what it is. Those 9 strange coins you got from a Nightfall? I can pretty much bet you are glad you got them now. Shards? Oh yeah, new gear for three guys to level up in some cases. Large scale PC MMO's with raid elements can take months to complete, sometimes years if the team members that are willing to go are shaky. Regardless of popular opinion, Destiny is hugely successful, it is the ONLY MMO with raiding content that is available and it is groundbreaking. Everyone gets loot, a huge amount of it, in Destiny upon raid completion. Most games you have to roll for it and you are only able to roll for it if it is for your specific class and that classes subclass and provides a small to moderate boost in stats. Raids are serious for me, I love leading them, I love getting teams together and I love seeing people succeed. Even if Destiny has 8 raids available throughout the week that is all I will do, I play PvE only, I do not have ANY crucible points/medals/matches...whatever they are. Progression theory, at least from my perspective, does not apply to 6 people, it applies to a clan, I should have made that clear when I got the team together. When I first started to Raid in Rift I had no idea what I was doing, those raids (especially tier 2 and 3) have NO room for error. There are 10-20 people standing in a certain area and moving as a group, if one person is a second off, you all die. If you were the one that caused the error once, fine, don't let it happen again. Twice and you are out, not just from that group, but 30% of any existing raid group. People put you on a list and trust me, they checked it twice. This can happen for weeks and even months and when loot drops you all roll on it, 2 people get rewards. Destiny is...a blessing for me. Please read this, multiple times if needed, and collect your thoughts about it.