It's been great meeting all our new recruits and gearing them out. =)

We noticed slight variations with The Writhing Horror (I assume this is the one you're talking about) but it did not lead to any such problems. To be specific, we had the Jealous Male spawn when the tank was at 4/7/7 stacks (instead of 4/8/8). If the Foul Offspring are dropping before the red circle is there, the tank lost aggro at some point (leading to a premature drop).

We've had a lot of interest so far and we're always looking to add. =]

I've updated our recruitment needs for Explosive Conflict Nightmare Mode! If you're looking for a good raiding guild, feel free to hit me up (Elidibz / Elidibs) or fill out an application at stoicguild.org !

The other thread got a little long. === Hello Shadowlands! My name is Elidibs Draconis and I am the GM and raid leader of Stoic on The Shadowlands (formerly Corellian Run). We are a long-standing raid guild with a lengthy track record of success and are looking to add to our already talented raid roster So what are we? Stoic is primarily a PvE progression guild (16-player Ops) that also has a PvP presence. We are friends, first and foremost. When we are looking to add to the guild, player skill is only part of it. We're looking for good personalities and character fits to add to the guild. We foster a friendly, fun, and enjoyable atmosphere. At the same time, we like to get things done. We encourage contribution and participation within the raid environment, but once the raid strategy is settled we are expected to execute it. What have we acomplished? [8-player]: 10/10 Eternity Vault and Karraga's Palace Nightmare Mode [8-player]: 4/4 Explosive Conflict Hard Mode (server #2) Nightmare Pilgrim died long ago [16-player]: 4/4 Explosive Conflict Hard Mode (server #2) [8-player]: 5/5 Terror From Beyond Hard Mode [16-player] 5/5 Terror From Beyond Hard Mode (weighted server rank #1; weighted world rank #6) [16-player] 1/4 Explosive Conflict Nightmare Mode When do we raid? The raid days for 16-player runs are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9pm to 11:59pm eastern. We also do alt runs and previous tier content on non-raid days. Why should you join Stoic? 10 reasons! 1. Competitive progression raiding. Since its formation Stoic has consistently been a leader in end game progression raiding, achieving numerous server firsts and top 10 world rankings. The guild’s emphasis is on 16-player raid encounters, which only a few guilds can consistently offer. Stoic was the first Republic guild on Correlian Run to clear 16 person EC HM, and currently has the greatest number of server firsts of any guild on The Shadowlands for 16-player HM boss fights in TFB. As additional content is released, expect to see Stoic on the cutting edge. 2. A professional, team-oriented guild environment. Our members approach raiding is a friendly but focused way, without yelling and hard feelings. If you make a mistake, the guild will help you correct it on the next try - not embarrass or insult you for the slip. 3. Reasonable time commitments. Our guild does not raid every night, or throw bodies at an encounter for long hours on end when we do raid. Our emphasis is on organization, leadership, strategic thinking and tactical adjustment. Some of our main play as little as 6 hours a week. When an encounter goes awry, we fall back, evaluate, adapt, and go forward. In this way our guild is able to remain competitive without requiring large time commitments from our members or subjecting them to long marathons. Also, since our raid times are from 9 p.m. to 12 p.m., we are able to accommodate the schedules of working professionals and both east and west coast players. 4. No “B” team. While we have different ranks within our guild related to raid status, everyone in the guild who wants to raid will have that opportunity. This means that if you participate in one of our raids, you will be going in with our main raid force. In addition to our progression raiding, we host optional events throughout the week that give everyone a chance to gear up. 5. Member assistance. Are you concerned with which spec or build is optimal? Our members can assist you in maximizing your performance based on battle-tested specs and builds. We do this in a helpful, constructive way, not by boasting or talking down to anyone. Many of our members enjoy world rankings for raid performance stats posted on Torparse.com, and these members are available to help you do the same. 6. A generous, fair loot system. Stoic uses a modified DKP system that ensures you will have access to new gear. Even friends of the guild who sometimes accompany us on raids benefit from this system, and have been able to gear themselves with top end items. We don’t have loot disputes in our guild because our DKP system works to everyone’s benefit. Stoic enjoys a rich guild coffer, where mats and items are regularly made available to members at no charge. Players with raider rank also have their armor damage costs covered. 7. Maturity. This is a question of behavior, not age. What each member has in common is that they treat each other respectfully and play well in our encounters. 8. Longevity. Stoic has been active since the early months of SWTOR and will be going strong for years to come. The guild has a solid core group of members and we recruit actively to keep the guild revitalized. If you have had to guild hop as other raid guilds disbanded or pared down, your journey ends with Stoic. 9. Genuinely fun people. Stoic is a good natured group of people who you will be proud to count among your friends. Our members have a wide variety of in game interests and real life backgrounds, making the conversation and comradery the most enjoyable aspects of guild membership. 10.A quality reputation. Ask around about us! While every guild has its detractors, we believe you will find that most players on this server know that we are a group of decent folks with a proven raiding track record. Wearing our guild tag will mean something if you join our team. So, what are we looking for? We are looking to add 1-2 DPSers from the following classes: Sage, Gunslinger and Commando. I would also like to state that we are always looking to add exceptional players, regardless of class. If you would like further information about Stoic feel free to contact me in-game (i'll be on either Elidibs or Elidibz) or visit us online at stoicguild.org Thanks for your time, Shadowlands!

Stoic downs Zorn and Toth on 16-player Nightmare Mode @ 10:33pm EST on November 20 / 2012 Link: http://files.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/196331/module_gallery/original/920218.jpg

Great information. Thanks. =]

@PhantomNJ: We are not actively looking for Jedi Knights (Sent / Guard) at this time. With that said, we consider all exceptional applications.

Stoic also does not jump off platforms and we have not seen these bugged deaths for awhile. The best advice i can give is: I) Click off the buff if you have a long travel time (keep in mind you can only do this once). Ii) Do not jump off the platforms. Iii) Go through the direct middle of the portals when going from platform to platform. Iv) Time your jumps so you do not take damage mid-jump We do believe this bug is avoidable. If any group is experiecing this bug, and they junp off platforms, i'd say thats the culprit right there.

Our new recruits got their first kills of TFB HM 16 and one even got the elusive chest piece for his efforts! We're always looking to add.

"Close" being under 3.5 days (I was generous with 4) is accurate to what I laid out. Anything above 3.5 days would be 7 weeks. If this is the case the correct thing to say is "close to 7 weeks." I 100% understand that a build might not be stable and there is some flexibility needed to push releases out. But when you say "close to 6 weeks" and when you break down the sentence "close" cannot be attributed to over 3.5 days in the context of a given week, then something is amiss here. Of course the reprisals will be "your close is not my close." That is certainly a valid counter-point. However, when we're talking about a specific time interval (6 weeks) I do believe a day allocation to that week, using a promixity definition of "close" is extremely appropriate. In other words, in the contexts of the sentence, the flexibility conditional in the statement can be argued to be 1-3.4 days, given the linguistic contextuals at play here.

" Our initial aim is for something as close to every six weeks as we can get." Source: http://www.swtor.com/blog/welcome-game-update-1.4-terror-beyond If it releases next Monday (earliest possible, given nothing this week) that would be 6 weeks and 5 days. It' s more than likely Tuesday, so that's 6 weeks and 6 days. I don't see six weeks and 6 days as "close" Close would be 6 weeks and 2 days. Nothing more than 6 weeks and 4 days.

So... confirming that you guys lied about the frequency of game updates? Nice.

There are ways to make AOEs work. You need to aim the reticule so that the outer edge of it is overlapping the core. Then it applies.

Updated the main post with more information about Stoic and what we offer.

The Twisted Spawn are not time based. They spawn when the Writhing Horror reaches 10% health. What you are experiencing is not a bug. If you don't want to deal with Twisted + Foul + Jealous Male then you will have to slow DPS and not push the soft enrage until the Foul Offspring and Jealous Male are dealt with.

The only thing I can think of, OP, is the tanks are not waiting for the cast bar before they taunt.

Still looking to add -- not just RDPS! -- to our raid team. We're ready for NiM EC next week!

Updated recruitment needs. We are really looking for a single, exceptional ranged DPS to add to our raid team. We, of course, will always be interested in exceptional players.

We've enjoyed talking to many fellow Shadowlanders who expressed interest in us! We're always interested in forging new friendships.

Anyone in this thread who ignores the math and says "I can pull great numbers so what's the problem?!?!?" simply doesn't get it. If you put a Scrapper and a Watchmen side by side, give them equivalent skill (and all of its manifestations) and optimal rotations, the Scrapper will lag far behind. It is 100% irrelevent that you can personally make Scrapper work. It is 100% irrelevent that your Scrapper can out DPS a Watchmen. It. Does. Not. Matter. When you line up all the DPSers and give them equivalent skill and rotation there is a MASSIVE disparity between the high and the low. It's so bad that raiding guilds refuse particular specializations because of the low ceiling DPS they have (Infiltration, Scrapper, Sharpshooter come to mind). I know there are raiders who clear content with these classes, but it's far from optimal and there's a reason you can clear it (there are very heavy hitters in your raid group). This DOES need to be addressed. The math and real experience dictates this. When you're in a good raiding guild you will see where the disparity is. Try as you'd like, no one is beating Slingers and Sentinels who know what they're doing in non-gimmicky raid fights. The differential is far above 5%. It needs to be addressed.

The trouble is, a Balance Shadow will pull much higher DPS than Infilitration. So why roll with a lesser DPS spec? You're only hurting your Ops-mates.

Oh I'm definitely talking about Balance Shadows. It is the only viable raiding spec. Infilitration has no place in a raiding environment, in my opinion. You do see some variation based on the fight and the players. A really good Commando DPS can make an average Sage look mediocore. These things can be very hard to assess sometimes.

You won't see me disagree about Balance Shadows. Finding good ones tho is a major issue. Mercs / Commandos do not consistently beat out Sages / Sorcs. My hierachy is this: Vanguard > Sentinel > Gunslinger -> Sage -> Shadow -> Commando -> Guardian -> Scoundrel There is a lot of YMMV. Commando can swap with Shadow, depends on the player. But if you're looking at pure optimal play, that's how i rank things. In addition, raid spots are never DPS vs DPS. They're melee vs melee and ranged vs ranged. So when a Sage is competing for a ranged DPS spot (at minimum 6 in a 16-player raid imo) only Gunslingers are parsing higher. So I think they're in a good spot.

What is up with this myth that Shadow DPS do not have utility / bring more to the raid outside their DPS? Here's how they bring it: i) Taunt. Yes, taunt. There are a plethora of fights where this is useful. Pre-prop Deflection, taunt, and you've just bought the raid a lot of time. This works effectively in Stormcaller & Firebrand, Warlord Kephess, Operator IX, and Terror From Beyond. When used right, it is incredibly utility that only two other DPSers bring. ii) Force Cloak. There are a myriad of ways you can use this to your advantage. Think about all the things that reset / you can use when you drop combat. Don't under-estimate this. iii) Force Supression. This affects all Sages, increasing the DPS of other classes. If your raid is so coordinated that you can have FiB go off consecutively, great. But even if you can't, the more classes that can apply Force Supression the more DPS that Shadows/Sages get. iv) Resilience. This is the single most powerful ability in the game. DPS Shadows get as much use out of it as their tank counter parts. Mental Anguish? No problem! Resil it. That's just the tip of the iceberg. All 4 of those things are incredibly useful in PvE environments. They are utility. They not only make you more viable as a class, but they are useful to others members of the raid. Most importantly, a good raid leader will recognize it. The problem with Shadow DPS right now is finding individuals who can play Balance to the extent that they pull good numbers. It's hard to find, but that's not the issue here. FWIW, the taunt idea won't work. Namely because it is far too potent. I don't think we need more utility. That's not our problem right now.