How do you make time for raiding ?

[Envisionist]

Most of the hardcore raiders from top 20 in the world guilds are either students or have a really flexible job (or even no job). If you watch popular streamers like Kungen or Kripp, you'll see that they play over 10 hrs a day, at least 6 days a week, from 8 PM to 6 AM.

I believe Kungen even once said on his stream that his guild prefers to recruit people who are in college or unemployed.

Yeah but those streamers are making over $100 a day.

[McTurbo]

hate to say it.. but sometimes you just gotta cut raiding.. as a truck driver i had to for a year simply because i couldnt get a good enough service on the road.. LFR is a perfect way of keeping up with your guild and at least being in a position to help if they need it instead of being stuck in heroic dungeon gear. but end of story.. prioritize thats the only way your gonna do it.. if you cant then you cant raid.

[herpecin]

if you truly want to raid there is a guild out there that will fit your schedule, guaranteed.

you may have to server Xfer but they do exist.

[Last Starfighter]

Hi.

I know this is a tough topic but simply put, how do you guys make/have time for raiding ?
Started raiding during late ulduar and hitting my peak at the end of icc (5 days / week)

From there its only gotten less and less days until i just left my weekend guild (yeah, weekends was worse then weekdays )

The problem ?

I LOVE raiding and this is a last desperate call hoping to find out its just me who sucks at time management.
How do you guys juggle work, real life, gf, etc etc and raiding ? (Primarily being locked down certain days/hours of the week)

LFR and pugging isn't really an option for me, its to much headache for to small rewards (at least knowing i could just join a guild and kill heroic bosses)

TL;DR
Any way to eat the cookie and still have it ? :P

/santa.

My guild raids two nights a week for 3 hours a night. I play very little outside of raiding. There are guilds to accommodate any schedule. Also, why is pugging out of the question? That seems to be like your best option. What you're saying is "I want to raid and down bosses and get gear, but only whenever I want to log on to do it.". And your best option is probably pugging. Or finding a guild that just wings it and raids when they have enough people on to raid.

And LFR is an option as well. Just because it doesn't offer the ilvl of gear you want, doesn't make it out of the question. LFR is so easy that there is no headache.

[Deleted]

Lots of great input

I wouldn't mind server xfer, even tho i really enjoy auchindoun(eu).
LFR isn't an option due to not having the elements and challenge i enjoy with raiding, its just "show up, get loot".
Pugging tends to take a few hours with lots of headache, might aswell just be in a guild then.

@Starfighter, i know i made it sound like that, but ofc i know it isn't viable. Im actually a dependant and dedicated raider.
Which is why this is so hard, if there's a raid and something irl comes up, ill give raid prio which has starting eating at my soul lately

I'm not a parent and no plans to get a kid for the purpose of raiding

Think ill aim to find a 1-2, late night weekday guild, any1 looking tank ? ;P

Since kungen was mentioned, he makes me ashamed of being swede and playing prot warrior, he's so so bad... :P

[Gondlem]

It honestly depends a lot on what sort guild you raid in. There's thousands of guilds out there with different requirements in terms of commitment. Obviously some may not work for you because of your hours, but others will.

Being in a hardcore guild (over 20 hours a week during new content), I definitely have to structure RL commitments around my raiding if I want to keep doing it, as do others in the same situation. That might mean taking time off work in extreme cases, or at least avoiding other social commitments or whatever. That can be taxing for sure, but then again it's only a few weeks every 6-12 months, so it's not necessarily that punishing.

When it comes to more casual play, generally raiding takes the place of other leisure activities you'd be doing. Posting on forums, watching TV, going to the movies? Those are times you could be raiding, if you wanted to and managed your time the right way. The majority of busy working professionals can still afford to set aside a few hours after say 10pm for a leisure activity. If you just have a day job it should frankly be pretty easy. If you really can't because of a high pressure job with flexible hours or family commitments then maybe raiding isn't for you, but that's still a fairly small minority of people.

[vizzle]

When I started getting more serious in life, getting a job, going to school, having a girlfriend, I couldn't make time for raiding anymore. I was tired of disappointing people (and myself). Before I had all that, raiding came easy. It's not that I can't devote 8-16 hours of time per week on gaming, it's just that I can't do it on a schedule reliably.

[Deleted]

simple, i don't my guild is soo bad that we can't even down stome guard on 10n.

[Deleted]

In the first 5 years of wow i was still a student, i had all the time in the world to raid, and i was in a hardcore guild on bleeding edge content (we topped world top100 on some fights in tbc). It didn't matter to me then, if i raided till 4am i'd just skip the first seminar in the morning...

In the last 3 years of wow however i have gotten a girlfriend who i live together with since 1,5 years (who is a gamer so that saves a it), i work 50 hours a week (making career, gotta do something ) and got lots of social activities going on.
I don't really have that much time to play anymore, i tried to be in a social guild but it didn't really cut it for me since most people there where playing way under the level that i was used to and it started to annoy me. LFR didn't work out for me either since it's just boring content cause it has been toned down too much.

I just recently stopped playing wow because of this, not because i hate the game (theres some thing sin mop i really dont like though) but because it doesnt add up for me anymore. I'm playing rift atm to see the new expansion and it's awesome but i don't expect to be raiding a lot there either.

[Raxxed]

I've been raiding 80 hours a week for the last 3 weeks. Literally Raid, sleep, raid.
Normal raid times are only 16 hours a week (For farm etc) which is just 4 nights a week - which is nothing.
Progression requires all my time, though.

[Deleted]

I work 8-9 hours a day, come home, watch some tv with my girlfriend, eat, play some games.

When it's raid time i put on my headphones and the girlfriend does her studywork.

[Deleted]

I've been raiding 80 hours a week for the last 3 weeks. Literally Raid, sleep, raid.
Normal raid times are only 16 hours a week (For farm etc) which is just 4 nights a week - which is nothing.
Progression requires all my time, though.

How do you manage that, are you a student or a millionaire or something?

[Deleted]

In my wotlk guild, we only had people of ages 24 and up, almost all with gfs and the guild leaders were actually a married couple who had kids. All this and we still raided for 4 hours in evening every day.

So sorry but "having a life" is not an argument to justify lack of time. Try to organize your life better so you don't have stuff all over the place.

[Raxxed]

How do you manage that, are you a student or a millionaire or something?

Student, University.

[Deleted]

In my wotlk guild, we only had people of ages 24 and up, almost all with gfs and the guild leaders were actually a married couple who had kids. All this and we still raided for 4 hours in evening every day.

So sorry but "having a life" is not an argument to justify lack of time. Try to organize your life better so you don't have stuff all over the place.

If i'd spend 24 hours a week behind the computer, my girlfriend would leave me, and i wouldn't blame her because i would know that i was being a jerk. My girlfriend is a gamer too and even now we don't game 24 hours a week..... More like 10-15.

[Katfish]

I have a pretty good wife when it comes to raiding. I only raid 3 nights a week though, 3 hours a night. She does her own thing during that time. We have been married for 11 years this Dec. I don't see the reason ppl say you have to spend every no working hour with your wife. Why? You have a life time with them. I don't ignore her all week long, we do spend time together and have a great marriage. I actually think it's good to have a little me time and her have a little her time not counting working time. Each his own I guess. Unless your life changes every day then not sure why you couldn't plan it out. For me it's work and family and nothing really changes. So it all works out for me I guess.

[Deleted]

When I started getting more serious in life, getting a job, going to school, having a girlfriend, I couldn't make time for raiding anymore. I was tired of disappointing people (and myself). Before I had all that, raiding came easy. It's not that I can't devote 8-16 hours of time per week on gaming, it's just that I can't do it on a schedule reliably.

This sums my situation up pretty darn good :/

---------- Post added 2012-11-20 at 09:03 AM ----------

I've been raiding 80 hours a week for the last 3 weeks. Literally Raid, sleep, raid.
Normal raid times are only 16 hours a week (For farm etc) which is just 4 nights a week - which is nothing.
Progression requires all my time, though.

It takes you 16 hours and 4 nights to clear farm content ? :O
Silly question, i know, but is it worth it ? (the 80 hours/week)

[Raxxed]

This sums my situation up pretty darn good :/

---------- Post added 2012-11-20 at 09:03 AM ----------



It takes you 16 hours and 4 nights to clear farm content ? :O
Silly question, i know, but is it worth it ? (the 80 hours/week)

The word 'farm' in that context was meant for after clearing everything once, and going back and clearing it again. Knowing all the strats, knowing everything and just executing it can still take large chunks of time. Obviously by the time we've killed everything 3-4x and all the little kinks are worked out, just like any guild, it just becomes a steamrollfest without any wipes and clearing everything in under a night.

If you care enough about raiding as I do, it's worth it. I could see someone who isn't as passionate about progression raiding getting burnt out EXTREMELY fast.

[warex00]

Hi.

I know this is a tough topic but simply put, how do you guys make/have time for raiding ?
Started raiding during late ulduar and hitting my peak at the end of icc (5 days / week)

From there its only gotten less and less days until i just left my weekend guild (yeah, weekends was worse then weekdays )

The problem ?

I LOVE raiding and this is a last desperate call hoping to find out its just me who sucks at time management.
How do you guys juggle work, real life, gf, etc etc and raiding ? (Primarily being locked down certain days/hours of the week)

LFR and pugging isn't really an option for me, its to much headache for to small rewards (at least knowing i could just join a guild and kill heroic bosses)

TL;DR
Any way to eat the cookie and still have it ? :P

/santa.

Most people are done at work between 3-5PM and raids usually starts around 6-8PM. So I pretty much dont make any plans after work those days? Go home, if time, make dinner, if not, just make some snacks for the raid. Use the other days to hang out with friends/GF/gym etc.

Also if you're taking raiding at a serious level(5days+) You cant expect to have a life atleast GF / and be socially active.

[Deleted]

I don't have a job.
Girlfriend lives far away and we see each other very rarely.
Got nothing else to do, so i raid raid raid! Not much to it. :P