Raiding with <CUB>

Savage Raider
Guidelines and Expectations

Welcome to team Go-Go Bears! My name is Chuck (Kurjak Zimasch), Team Leader and CUB Council member in charge of CUB’s newest iteration of the casual-core endgame progression team(s)!

It’s been said plenty of times in the past, but the purpose of this raid group is to push progression on Savage Tier Content. It is reasonable to expect that the content we are pursuing is at a level that requires a degree of dedication and work ethic that is above and beyond what is necessary to complete the more readily available story gated content of the game. To expand on that, you need to be comfortable with the role your job plays in a raid environment, which is vastly different than what most people experience during the leveling process.

That being said, we are a casual raid environment. I want to start off by defining what that means. It means we are NOT going to be spending 5+ nights a week, 8+ hours per day hammering our heads against a boss fight to kill it as fast as possible. That is “hard-core” raiding, and that is not the type of environment that myself, CUB leadership, and most people in CUB, are interested in. Literally, I’ve been there, done that, and I probably have a t-shirt stashed away somewhere as well. My vision for this raid group is of a collaborative environment built on a foundation of education and understanding, killing some tough bosses, and looking cute while we do it.

We currently gather for 2 nights per week, for a mere 3 hours of time together. I’d like for that limited time together to be as productive and entertaining as possible, meaning that outside of those short windows, the team is relying on each other to do the grunt work necessary to be prepared! This is a learning environment geared toward fostering a more advanced level of play. So doing your “homework” outside of raid times is pivotal to its success. I’m expecting mistakes, I’m expecting to spend several days or weeks determining exactly what the floors in Hydaelyn taste like while we nail down mechanics and work on fine tuning our ability to resolve them! But I’m also expecting improvement, growth, and teamwork! That is raiding at its core!

Photo of Kurjak Zimasch

Kurjak Zimasch

Raid Leader

Raid Guidelines

Primary Expectations

How you can be successful raiding with CUB

Be Punctual

We are a group of adults, all of which have lives outside of Eorzea (as much as we may hate that fact sometimes), and one of the biggest ways of respecting each other is to respect the time and effort we put into playing together! Showing up to raid nights on time is, in my opinion, one of the biggest shows of respect we can provide in a virtual setting. If you can’t make it, provide as much advanced notice as possible so that a replacement can be found! We have a bench as well as stand-in players specifically for this reason!

Be Prepared

Research and work on perfecting your job(s)! Know what kind of gear, materia melds, and consumables are ideal for your job. Consumables are a required part of raid nights, meaning food buff 100% of the time, and potions on an as needed basis. You do need to put some effort into working toward obtaining the best gear available outside of the raids we do! Spend time on target dummies (Specifically using Stone, Sky, Sea) making sure you are working towards playing as optimally as you can and improving your performance for all roles! Savage content requires this level of performance with only a slight margin for deviation.

Need Assistance?

There are several veteran players in the FC that have offered to help people with perfecting and optimizing DPS openers and rotations. Seek them out for guidance if you have questions! (I have a list, so you can also just ask me!) There is a wealth of knowledge available online as well! Please see the raiding resources tab on the CUB website.

Be Open to Feedback and Criticism of Your Performance

This level of play requires that people be receptive to on-the-spot feedback regarding their performance so that adjustments can be made on the fly. This is never meant to be malicious or disparaging and is only geared toward providing useful information that will benefit the raid team.

This may include feedback on how you/we are resolving mechanics, it may be about personal performance, as well as things like damage or healing output, or tank strategies. Please don’t take feedback as a reason to get frustrated! Use it to inspire growth! That’s why we’re all here. This environment is tough, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. I promise!

This also means that other tools may be used to gauge performance. This is by no means meant to induce stress, nor will it ever be used in a way to disparage someone from participating or used to punish people for poor performance. We’re all adults here, punishment is useless when we are all very capable of improving. It is used solely for the means of assessing areas that can be improved upon with personal performance for the betterment of the team.

Do Your Absolute Best

We are only as good as the effort we apply. Coming to a raid group and doing the bare minimum to get the kill will only end up hurting the group in the long run! Putting in “savage effort” every time makes everything else easier. The skillset you develop in a raid environment will easily and effortlessly translate to every other aspect of the game, allowing you to approach new challenges with confidence! It also shows your teammates that you are serious and willing to do what it takes to see the team succeed!

Be Honest with Yourself and Others

This environment is not going to be for everyone. I get that! And there is absolutely no shame whatsoever in not enjoying it. I actively encourage people to try new things in this game as often as possible. Sometimes you love it, sometimes you don’t! But at least you tried! At the end of the day, it’s your own personal choice to be here, it’s your own choice to play how you want to play. To echo a common theme: “I don’t pay your sub.” I’m not going to force people to raid or do things they don’t want to do. But I am going to ensure that the people who do show up ready to raid and put in the work, have their efforts realized!

Most Importantly Have Fun!

I cannot stress this enough! Putting in the extra work means we get to have fun and be rewarded by killing really tough content and looking cute while we do it (and we may get some cool gear to wear as well)! It’s incredibly rewarding to see your hard work pay off when you finally get a kill. And I LIVE for hearing everyone’s “nerd screams” when it finally happens! That’s what this whole thing is all about, and I plan on doing everything I can to keep it that way.

Discord Raid Channel Access

To access the endgame/raiding channels in the CUB Discord, fill out your #cub-profile and be sure to select “Interested in Savage/Advanced Content.”

This will unlock a section of the discord only available to people with that profile tag. This will provide you access to the chat channels that I monitor closest. Pop on in and say hi, introduce yourself, and state your intentions! I’ll get back with you as soon as possible!

And as with all things, please remember we are first and foremost ambassadors of CUB. Our behavior both inside and outside of our raid groups is representative of the culture we have worked hard to cultivate in CUB.