So, with the approach of the expansion and the increased interest from our members in raiding, I wanted to address Savage Raiding in Stormblood.

With the way things work currently, we can schedule a time and have interested people sign up and we can do multiple clears on a given turn/floor/wing/section in a single night.

When Stormblood drops, as we know, we will not be able to get multiple clears for loot. This means that we have enough slots for 8 people weekly currently to progress and get clears in a certain instance of the raid.

After some discussion, Rhela and I feel that the best course of action is to set up a static that will concentrate on progressing through content. That said we'll be looking to judge interest in the static from members.

If you are interested in the static, there are certain things that, while we want to maintain the levity and mostly relaxed attitude of our raid attempts, members of the static will have to be willing to do or open to. I've detailed these below:

1. Be committed and able to attend static raid times each week with the understanding that you will be part of the group each week. It is important for progression that the same group enters the raid each week to learn how to tackle the raids with whatever our makeup will be and to gear and progress as a group.
2. Be on time. This goes along with #1 on this list. But, when I say be on time, I mean online and ready to go and join a group so that the raid can start at the appointed time. If that time is 7:30 PM, you need to be online and ready for an invite at 7:25 PM.
3. Be willing to accept advice on possible rotations or suggestions that possibly you might have to work on your dps to help mitigate dps checks. If dps isn't high enough, that is a barrier to the whole group, so a DPS member will need to be committed to making sure they can help the group succeed.
4. Be patient and persistent. Progression raiding can be frustrating at points as a group while learning how to best tackle or handle mechanics. If we are going to be trying Stormblood raiding on content, there won't be many guides or videos telling a group how to handle certain mechanics, so discovery will be part of it. That will require patient and persistent raid members.
5. Be willing to purchase or buy food for raid attempts. Or at least be able to gather mats to have food crafted for you. Food will likely be expensive at the next raid tier. We won't be requiring that you use HQ food, but you will need to have enough food to cover your time in the raid for at least some supplemental stats.

Those are really the main points of concern. We won't be raiding for 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week. That's just not realistic; nor is it desirable. However, we will want to make the most of the time that we do have in the raid and these points will help the group.

I do realize that not everyone who is interested in raiding would be able to be part of the static. We are going to continue recruiting so that we can do one of two things:

1. Start a second static.
2. Set up a second raid that's free-for-all and similar to how we raid now.

Whoever would be interested in beginning a second raid group can talk to me so that we can flesh out raid times and members who might be interested in the second group.

Neither raid times or schedule have been determined just yet. I will be making a separate post to gather info from those who are wanting to participate in the static along with other details on what we're looking for to participate in the static. Rhela and I would like to have the static set and running at least a couple weeks before Stormblood so we can get used to personnel makeup. Granted, job makeup could change from what we run before Stormblood to actual Stormblood raiding since there are some that are planning on changing mains to SAM or RDM. So if you're planning on doing that, you should state so when letting us know you are interested in the static.

Also, unfortunately, participation in the static is not guaranteed. Since it will be progression focused, we'll want to make sure we have a solid set up so that we can have the best chance of success that we can.

Eventually, we'd like to be able to take members through harder content with the progression group to try to get them gear as we can, but to start, this static will be focused on their progression.

If anyone has any major concerns or grievances with this, please let myself or Rhela know.