I'm sure half the server is at this point, but we in Solus have killed nightmare Writhing Horror and are currently working on Nightmare Dread Guards as well. We haven't had the chance to spend that much time on this fight yet, so we are still in the learning process. We've been tracking boss health at varying checkpoints against the few guilds who have killed it or come very close so far, and our raid is split on whether we think it's possible for our current group. I will push us to keep trying Dread Guards on nightmare until we have flawless execution and have exhausted most of our DPS maximization options. We are still a long way from that point. Our group configuration is slightly different than the guilds killing this boss, however. We have never faced an enrage timer quite this tight before. If we ever get to the point on this fight where I feel that our progress will be halted by our group make-up and not our coordination, then I will suggest that we skip the fight to finish the rest in nightmare. We like each other, and do not feel we should switch anyone out for a class that fits better for this encounter. That being said, you most likely have little to fear from us in terms of competition because with our RL schedules over the next month we only have two two-hour long nightmare raids blocked out per week. But I am interested to see what all the other JC progression guild's take on this is.

I'm not going to pretend that I have anywhere near the level of dedication to the game as most of the people posting in this thread. I raid with a small group of friends and we find juggling eight people's schedules difficult enough at times. I also do not doubt what anyone here says about the difficulty of the fight, but I am still really excited to try it when we raid on Friday. The Hard Mode 55 content clicked and is fairly easy for us now. This fight provides an interesting opportunity to gauge how well we stack up to the more serious guilds. I do have one thing to say about what I've been reading here, though. It's all very silly. The way people are talking to each other in this thread is embarrassing and I cannot help but cringe a little bit when I read some of it. Maybe I'm outside the norm here...

Could you add Solus to unranked HM 8 man SnV progression for 5/19/13? Here's the screenshot. Thanks!

Solus Recruiting One More! Solus is a small, but proud guild of tightly knit players who have been together since launch. I guess you could say we're pretty diverse, too. Our guild leader is both black and a twin. We should get some kind of prize for that, in my opinion. Sadly, one of our healers has a particularly busy schedule ahead of him and in wake of the upcoming Nightmare content, we are in need of a replacement. We raid Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays starting around 8:30-9:00 PM EST. We are serious about our operations progress, but at the same time we genuinely enjoy each other's company and will even try out new games together from time to time. You aren't just joining a raid group with us, you're going to make good friends here, and I do think that is one unique thing that we have to offer. If you are interested, feel free to message Fortify, Gallatio, Xelden, Mogzila, Marwyn, Steinner or Aka (your potential new raid group) in game and we'll get the ball rolling. Alternatively, you can contact me (Fortify) through our web site here. We will want to speak with you in Mumble and take you through a level 55 HM operation to make sure we are a good fit. Looking forward to raiding with you!

Solus is a small, tight-knit end game raiding guild. We keep a core of 8 players and have been playing together since shortly after launch. We match up to your description of an ideal guild quite nicely. There is a chance one of our healers will have to leave within the next week or two. We already have our eyes on a couple potential replacements, but it's always good to keep an open mind. If you want to talk, message Fortify in the game or send an in-game mail if I am not on-line. I cannot promise anything because we can be very particular. There's not really a guild hierarchy and we are a close group and consider each other as good friends, so personality is also a big factor in these decisions. We also need someone who is 55 and knows how to gear themselves to some degree.

Toborro's Courtyard 8 Man HM Kill for JC Server (EMPIRE Guild) 1. GUILD: Solus 2. SITE: http://solus.enjin.com 3. KILL DATE: 5/24/13 4. PROOF SHOT: http://imgur.com/a/UYKR3

First off, don't be intimidated about tanking. There's this weird thing, I've noticed, where people who aren't tanks make it out to be a lot harder than it is and are too scared to try it out because of the perceived pressure. It's not that bad. If I can do it, clumsy as I am, almost anybody can. Just read forums, watch videos...which it sounds like you are doing already...and you'll pick it up in no time. About flashpoints - they aren't too bad, but in my experience at least I actually find the trash is a little bit trickier than the boss fights because a lot of DPS won't follow a consistent kill order. You can't expect to pick up EVERYTHING. I'm a PT, so I've got my Death From Above, Explosive Darts, Flame Sweep, a grapple, and a good Carbonize/Flamethrower combo going, and I STILL can't always get them all rounded up and staying on me. There are a lot of pulls with random weak and standard level enemies hanging off on the fringes. In a good group, the DPS will pick those off almost instantly at the beginning of the pull while you focus on keeping aggro on the strongs, elites, and champions. Sometimes the DPS by instinct will attack what you are attacking right off the bat, so you may want to gently remind them to go after the little guys first. About operations - the biggest thing I have faced here is psychological. I tank for a small guild that has cleared most of the 55 HM content, and the one major responsibility that has hit me so far is my need to be available. In my experience when I cannot make a scheduled hard mode operation, the raid is off...but when a DPSer or healer cannot make it, the group will often find a replacement. I tend to be of the mindset that I am fully replaceable even by an alt of someone who knows the fights, but for better or for worse a strong reliance and dependency on a particular "main tank" seems to be ingrained in the minds of many MMO players. Regardless of whether you consider yourself a leader or not, you will most likely be looked to for leadership. That's another ingrained instinct I have run across.

Guild Name: Solus Faction: Empire Website: http://solus.enjin.com Instances Cleared (All 8 Man Except Pilgrim): 5/5 Nightmare EV 5/5 Nightmare KP 4/4 Hard Mode EC 1/1 Nightmare Pilgrim 1/5 Hard Mode TFB We ran into HM TFB today to kill the first boss, which is what I have a screenshot of at http://i.imgur.com/L2G4n.jpg. He didn't seem too bad, so hopefully if we can get our schedules to match up we'll go further. As for the other kills, we've had EV/KP/EC down for a while now and it would be kind of a pain to dig through all our old screenshots and timestamps to provide proof. We had our confirmed kill dates on the old Jedi Covenant progression thread. If those dates could be brought forward that would be awesome, but if not I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. Thanks for making this thread, that site looks quite spiffy.

I understand this is a gradual process, but I wish we had some sort of time frame communicated to us. When we first heard about the transfers, we put in a ticket for moving our guild tabs. We were given a rundown of the transfer requirements as a result. We made the admittedly hasty assumption that we would be one of the early transfers due to our peak imperial fleet population of about 8-10 (mostly our guild). So we took our mains out of the guild, cleared out the guild bank, and cleared our operations schedule to prepare for the transfers. Now we're down another couple of ops nights. We want to work with you, but when can we expect to transfer? A day from now? A week? Two weeks? We can adapt, but we'd just like a general idea so we can plan this. I'm afraid that this prolonged ambiguity may cause us to lose more members to Diablo out of frustration.