Seniors Slap Atheon Down (maybe not)

We never got past that.  Some of us need more practice at (1) entering the gates, getting the relic, and getting back to the center conflux and (2) keeping the gates open.  This definitely takes practice and everyone needs to know their role and where to be, especially when one is marked.  For example, when the relic is brought out of Venus, the support guy will definitely be marked and should be right at the gate on either side to get cleansed.  Once out, the relic holder and one support should go to the center conflux and hold it while the rest of the team handles getting the Mars relic out -- 2 in and 2 to hold the gate. Then do exactly what was done at the Venus gate when the relic comes out.  Definitely takes practice and peeps knowing where to be and how to stay alive during the process.

Believe me, I stumbled as bad as anyone, but I began to clearly see the tactics that are needed to be successful.  I have run VOG in the past with people who have had plenty of practice with this and this part of the process went so fast and so smoothly that I wound up scratching my mostly bald head saying to myself "what just happened?"  An experienced team member just told me be here and do that at each part of the process.  The only downside of that was that I really didnt't learn the necessary tactics and roles because I was always one of the support guys on the outside.  Stumbling thru multiple iterations of the process and advancing a little each time is beneficial over time but does require some liquor and a lot of patience (or is it a lot of ligour and a little patience?).  I just wish I had been able to run VOG in the early days and get that experience.

CE is somewhat the same in team roles and practice, but is actually a much simplier raid to run -- not as much to learn.  Bottom line though is that continuing to run the raids and gaining experience will definitely help when HOW drops because the armor and weapons we happen to pick up along the way will be upgradeable thru the HOW activities.  I just wish we had all started earlier with these raids and hope as a group we can devote some time at getting better at it.  Remember that there may be goodies at the end for each character that completes a raid and each character that can run a raid gets a chance once a week.  For me that means potentially 6 raids -- CE and VOG for each character once a week.  Really wish I could actually do that, because even with the frustrations inherent in learning all the stuff necessary to be successful, these runs are really a lot of fun.

The eternal problem I know all too well: the less (successful) Raid experience you have, the less likely you get Raid invites, which means the less likely you get Raid experience, etc. I think if I did at least one of the Raids per week I'd make slow but steady improvements and maybe eventually retain enough of the procedures to complete it consistently and maybe even oversee a group. I wasn't so good at Nightfalls until I started doing them regularly on Tuesday nights after Halo. Unfortunately, Tuesday is the only weekday night I can commit to gaming, with Thursday being a rare treat. I'm a lot more flexible on Friday and Saturday nights, but it seems like friends' raid groups those nights are either full or non-existent. So I'm definitely looking forward to finishing Crota tonight!

Saw yours as well the other night, but was deep into a raid with the toothless ones.  I too think VOG is much more entertaining and fun to run regardless of how frustrating it can be.  I just couldn't find a regular group to run with.  Even with the mutlitple failures we had at VOG on Thursday, as I indicated above, much was learned.  I even learned (somewhat) how to wield the relic.  Still need run the sword in CE.  That should be entertaining.

All I read was sleep apnea, maybe this is not what it was.