Team Moist

Intro

What is this TM thing you keep hearing about you ask?  It is affectionately known as Team Moist.  I blogged about its intent and inception in The Experiment, so I won’t rehash those details, but discuss the players that made up TM.  The guts, the meat and potatoes, the innards, the gel, the proverbial juice, I think you get the point.  I wish I had noted every raider from my early days to now.  That would be an awesome blog entry and a great piece of history and memorabilia from all the folks I have met in game, good and bad.  Maybe one day I will talk to Blood and come up with a sort of Hall of Fame of DGF/broken raiders/guild-mates that we will never forget like Waldo.

Why Moist?

This is easily my favorite word in the English language.  After many, many, many failed attempts to get a guild name to be named ‘Moist’, I decided if I was going to run my own team that I would name it Team Moist (to the dismay of many).  I have 2 stories about why this word has become both funny and a fear of mine in my real life.  Maybe I will post those up for comedic relief one day, but be warned, they are graphic in nature and will not be part of this blog entry at this time as they are long and may need editing for public viewing.

The Original 10

In T13 I had met a number of people in Masochistic Tendencies (MT) that I led through H DS.  Once the GL and I decided I would come on board in MT for MoP and build a progression raid team in her guild, I created an application and process to pick the 10 for TM in the MoP expansion.  Below are the original 10.

Mavros – Healer.  The greatest healer to ever grace the World of Warcraft and Azeroth.  Oh, wait, that is a different blog entry…  I am totally kidding and if you don’t think so, read my blog entry about my decaying skill called, naturally, The Decay.

Bloodrooted – Hunter.  My buddy, my pal, now having met him in real life we are closer than ever.  I would have his babies if I could.  We definitely played footsies when I met him in Boston.  He became the guild leader in TBC after I joined the guild Dead Gnomes Float (DGF).  We later ran the renamed DGF called Broken as GL and assistant GL all the way up to T13.

Hypno – Shadow Priest.  Ex-hardcore player that raided with a top 50 US guild named Intent on Kelthuzad (I think).  Interview went great, a great guy overall.

Teufelshunde – Warrior.  The ‘OTHER tank’.  I called her this once by accident in raid and it has stuck.  Dr. Dino to some, Truf to the rest of us, she is married to Freggos and has been a rock for TM at tank.  She has been getting too lippy lately and has criticized my blog grammar and proof-reading, but I don’t take crap from anyone nicknamed ‘OTHER’, so I ignore it.

Freggos – DK.  The only man to play the hero class as if it isn’t a hero class.  He was always at the top in H DS and now does a lot of our dirty work (nice way of saying his DPS is poo now).  Interrupts, kiting, off-tanking, etc.  Seriously though, I have grown very fond of Truf and Freggos and envy them in many ways.

Lustan/Nos – Paladin.  He was a DK tank named Nos in H DS, then chose to go back to his protection pally and chose the name Lustan.  I used to call him by the name Lustan over vent, but then someone would cast BLOODLUST in confusion.  So, he is now Nos again and should consider renaming his pally IMO.  He also has a blog titled ‘The Passionate Paladin’ which needs more posts.  ;)

Crixius – mage.  The grumpy mage that I think sleeps 3 hours, raids for 2.5 hours, then eats, has sex, then sleeps again for 3 hours, then goes to work for 14 hours.  The backup raid leader in MT for TM when I would be out or needed help, but since then, his schedule and my control freak nature has made him just a raider.  An exceptional player that turns whatever he touches to gold, but if he is last on the meters, watch out!  Married to Reluu.

Reluu – Druid.  We only hope that the sex part of Crixius’s description above is with her.  We are all fairly confident it is as they are newlyweds!  A resto druid in TM, but also has successfully played a tank and tanked for other groups I raid lead.  She is always around to fillin and always dependable.  The youngest of the group and brings down the average age in TM to 34 years old in its current membership state.

Symoon – Rogue.  The baby of the group initially and a talker and the original brony (though this brony thing scares the hell out of me as I really do not get it)!  After raid I sometimes would be up for 2 more hours chatting with Symoon.  A great kid though and exceptional ex-hardcore raider than went back to a hardcore guild when he left TM.  He loved to tell us about his rogue abilities and the jokes about that still get repeated in raids today such as “what is the CD on that?”  Raided with us at the tail end of H DS and then into T14 until he wanted to try something else in a more hardcore setting and to raid lead again.  He gave TM a 2 week period to find a replacement, a class act IMO, and for his age showed a lot of maturity.  

Kykki – Druid.  The GL of Masochistic Tendencies and a healer for TM in the original 10.  We worked together to get her to escalate her game to a progression level and it worked to an extent, I do feel she is now a better raider than in Cata (I think she would agree too).  At one point, when things were…a little rough…TM and Team Yakk (TY) swapped Kykki for Ishin (an old time friend of Mav and Blood’s from DGF/Broken) to alleviate some of the progression raiding pressure on Kykki and to get Ishin back with Blood and I and to progression raiding. 

The Replacements

I will try and remember first out and go chronologically, but it is hard to remember and it really hasn’t even been that long!  I am getting old…

Hypno OUT – Hypno decided to go to a HC guild.  I do not remember many of the reasons, but he was a good guy and was missed.  Has since disappeared off the radar.

Feelings In – Priest.  Insert one shadow priest for another!  Good deal, right?  Feelings was one of the hardest working raiders that didn’t actually raid in MT.  He grinded dailies and had the highest ilevel you could have for someone not really raiding.  He was an MT raider back in T11 and then quit for one reason or another and had come back to game sometime in Cata or MoP.  His raid team in MT struggled to get off the ground and when a spot was opened up in TM he quickly applied.  A good interview and a great guy that also shares in one of my favorite raid past-times, CRAFT BEER!  If he starts eating goldfish while we raid too, I would give him a handie.  A really good fit to the team.

Kykki Out – See above

Ishin In – Priest.  Reinsert the grumpiest WOW player of all time, Ish the DISH or Bitchin’ ishin.  Ishin is one of the most skilled raiders I have ever met, but also temperamental.  We haven’t always seen eye to eye, but we always end up reconnecting and have a mutual respect for one another.  I love raiding with him despite any differences in opinion.  The group had an instant shot in the arm as soon as he joined TM.  I trust him in raid more than I trust my own wife…oh wait…  ;)

Crix OUT – work schedule

Fuzzytoast In – Mage.  Fuzzy was in a different group in MT before joining TM that also struggled to raid consistently and saw limited success.  He wasn’t in the group long as his schedule changed, but he is remembered for something he did not while in TM, rather when he became a raid leader for Team Fuzzy in MT, which is awarding the ‘Fish of the Week’ to one of his raiders.  TM now uses this as ‘reward’ as well, but I wouldn’t call it much of a reward!

Fuzzy Out - work schedule

Crix BACK IN

Ishin Out – Ishin had some RL issues and a 5^th child on the way!  We were sad to lose him.

Hulegan In – Monk.  Hulegan filled in for TM once on the big giant bug in HOF Garalon.  We did get a TM first kill that night with him as fill-in, but all we remember is that Hulegan did also kill us on an attempt before the kill (our best attempt to that point) by Monk rolling under him and wiping the raid.  ;)  Yes, we will never forget, but he did fess up and that showed courage.  I saw skill in him that night and kept him in mind if we ever lost anyone from TM again.  Not too long after, Ishin left as he was our hybrid dps/healer and Hulegan applied and agreed to the hybrid role.  He was a slight risk as he hadn’t raided at a progressive level before, but did he ever meet the call.  A risk that paid off. 

 
Symoon Out – See above

Kep In – Rogue.  One of the best app and interviews I have ever had in WOW in my decade in WOW.  Kep fit in pretty fast and was doing ok as far as learning fights and integrating into the group.  Then one day, hours before raid, he gquits and days later sends me reasons why.  Mostly it was a message filled with silly reasons, but to each his own, he wanted to move on, so be it, but at least give me a heads up and some time to fill your spot.  For a guy in mid to late-30s, it didn’t show much class, but I have forgiven him and hope he found/finds what he is looking for. 

Kep Out – see above

Bukklao In – Bukklao didn’t have the greatest of apps and to be honest, I didn’t know what to expect from him.  He proved me wrong as he did pretty well with TM in normal mode.  The difficulty came when we started heroics and he had a knack for dying a bit too much.  He would implore the line “this boss is my nemesis” and that moniker has also become a catchphrase in TM over time.  I feel like he wanted to be accepted and was chasing the meters and sometimes would fore-go mechanics to try and be higher, competitive dps with the rest of the team.  I had to remove him from the group and go a different direction as TM progression had stalled out.  It was a mature parting, but I think he was more upset by it then he led on.  I do think he stole someone’s crafted weapon though before he left.  ;)

Bukklao Out – See above

Sins In – Ret Paladin.  I interviewed Sins for Team Yakk (TY) when TM was full and I ran raid operations for MT and vetted new applicants.  A great interview, though he doesn’t remember it (wonder why!).  An ex-hc raider and RL, Sins is a machine.  Defying all logic on the meters as a ret paladin.  An amazing asset to any group and TM is happy to have him in its ranks. 

Synergy

Team synergy is a major component to having fun in raid and working together and succeeding and meeting goals.  There are 9 others in a group and trust is paramount among its members.  Blood and I have worked long and hard to achieve this balance of fun vs. progression in a short amount of time per week.  We feel that synergy has been found in TM and TM has exceeded all its goals thus far and surpassed them in T16.  For Blood and I, this is the furthest non-nerfed progression we have ever seen in our WOW careers.  It took a lot of work though to get here and a lot by me.  Read my The Game Outside the Game blog entry to see the time that has been put in to make some of this happen.

Thick Skin

I take a verbal beating in raid and get razed every time I die.  Why such disrespect for the raid leader, right???  It is all good and I take none of it personally.  The Decay outlines why I am not as good as I once was, but am better in other ways, such as communication and raid leading.  I enjoy myself immensely in raid and am proud of Team Moist and Broken and what I/we built. 

Conclusion

So, there it is, the history of Team Moist and obviously, to be continued, as things change over time in MoP and into WOD.  I hope the Moist locomotive can continue chugging full steam ahead, but the challenges from tier to tier to keep every raider happy and on the same page and buying into the raid leader’s and guild’s model is always a an uphill road.  I thank all past and present members of TM and without all of you we would not be where we are today.  I hope we continue in our raid successes and keep Team Moist….well…..Moist.