Gabryell finished setting up the DKP site and linked it from the Azeroth Community Forums.
A new DKP link on the forum homepage now took players straight to it.
He had copied the layout from DKP tracking sites that would exist in the future. For now, that made it the first site of its kind on the internet.
DKP still wasn't an established system, so he wrote an article explaining the pros and cons and pinned it to the forum homepage.
With how popular the Azeroth Community Forums had become, it probably wouldn't take long for Tichondrius's major guilds to discover DKP and start using it for raid loot.
"I'd love to start running GDKPs right away. Think that's possible?"
Of course not.
Even with knowledge from the future, Gabryell couldn't organize a Molten Core GDKP when nobody had even cleared the raid yet.
GDKP would only make sense once MC was comfortably on farm.
He had spent the past three days preparing for progression.
Now it was Tuesday.
Raid day.
After watching the guild closely during those three days, he had selected the sixty players who would make up Fearless's first progression roster.
Forty core raiders.
Twenty reserves.
"The guild's first official Molten Core progression raid starts at 6 PM tonight."
"I've posted the core roster and DKP rules on the Fearless site. The link's in TeamSpeak, so check everything before raid time."
"And be in Ventrilo before invites start. That's where we're doing live raid comms tonight."
Fearless still bounced between the two programs depending on what they were doing.
TeamSpeak was convenient for general guild organization.
Ventrilo was what they preferred once the actual raid calls started.
"If you made core but can't raid—or don't want the spot—message me privately. I'll replace you."
Nobody was being forced into the core roster.
If someone didn't want the commitment, there were plenty of other players willing to take the spot.
"If there are no problems, be online at six."
"If something comes up and you can't make raid, tell me beforehand."
"Two no-shows without warning and you lose your core spot."
Real life came first.
Gabryell had no problem with someone missing a raid because school, work, or something important came up.
What he wouldn't tolerate was repeatedly disappearing without a word.
If someone couldn't even be bothered to tell the guild they were going to miss raid, their spot was better off going to one of the many players who actually wanted it.
"There'll also be one class lead for each class."
"We'll rotate them monthly, with each class voting for its own lead. I'll pick the first group myself."
Class leads were necessary.
Gabryell already had enough to manage without trying to micromanage every class in the raid.
They would track attendance, help players in their class with gear and gameplay questions, and take some of the management load off the raid leader.
The position came with no special loot privileges.
Gear still followed DKP.
Being a class lead didn't move anyone to the front of the line.
"Tonight's progression raid is using DKP."
"If you still don't understand the system, read the rules before we start."
Anyone unwilling to use DKP was free to give up their core spot and wait for future GDKP runs.
Those were still months away at best.
"Hell yes! I made core!"
"What the hell? Why am I reserve?"
"Knew all that dungeon farming would pay off."
Once everyone checked the roster, reactions were mixed.
Some were thrilled.
Others were frustrated.
Plenty were disappointed.
"Don't get discouraged if you didn't make the first team."
"We'll be forming second and third raid teams later. If you want to progress with the guild, there'll be spots there too."
It wasn't that the people left out were bad.
Fearless simply had more raid-ready players than core spots.
He planned to form the second and third teams in about a month.
That gave him time to figure out who could actually lead them.
A weak player could cost you one spot.
A bad raid leader could sink forty.
The job had to go to the right person.
"You seriously made me Mage lead?"
Coldhands could barely contain himself when he saw the roster.
Gabryell was already the raid leader and had no intention of doubling as Mage lead too, so the job went to him.
"Don't make me regret it."
He trusted him.
Chuunibyou tendencies aside, Coldhands had some of the best mechanics, reactions, and awareness among the guild's Mages.
He had earned the spot.
Fearless's core roster looked like this.
Forty players.
Four tanks:
Carlos as main tank.
Susie as off-tank.
David and Nightlord as backup tanks.
Gabryell had originally planned to bring ten healers.
After thinking it over, he added one extra Priest and one extra Restoration Druid for progression, bringing the total to twelve.
Once the raid was comfortably on farm, he could cut that back to ten.
Five Priests:
Danielly.
BigHealsShortLegs.
ServerHeals.
DontPanicHealz.
Isenor.
Danielly and BigHealsShortLegs were Dwarves.
DontPanicHealz was Human.
Isenor was a Night Elf.
Since Isenor handled DKP for the guild, he was coming with the raid anyway.
The fact that he had rolled a female Night Elf Priest purely because he liked the way she looked still left Gabryell speechless.
Four Paladins:
Igor.
SevenDays.
OldMan.
Warquell.
Three Druids:
Lunatori.
MushroomHunter.
RosyCheeks.
RosyCheeks had spent the last two days running Molten Core with ServerHeals, who vouched for her.
The remaining twenty-four spots were split evenly between caster and physical DPS.
Caster DPS:
Nine Mages.
Three Warlocks.
Physical DPS:
Six Rogues.
Three Hunters.
Three Fury Warriors.
Gabryell would have brought more Fury Warriors if he had the players for it.
The problem was that most Warriors wanted to tank.
And apparently every Warrior in the guild was convinced he was the best tank in World of Warcraft.
Fearless only had four Fury Warriors he considered raid-ready.
Three made core.
One went reserve.
Three Hunters would eventually give them enough bodies for a Tranquilizing Shot rotation while still letting Trueshot Aura cover the melee party.
They didn't have Tranquilizing Shot yet.
They would soon enough.
The point was to keep the roster stable instead of rebuilding the raid every time they reached a new mechanic.
Rogues also had better threat-management tools than Fury Warriors.
Between Feint and Vanish, they were simply safer during progression.
On the caster side, three Warlocks gave them enough redundancy for Banish.
With only three in the raid, Gabryell wasn't planning to dedicate a curse slot to Curse of Shadow.
Curse of the Elements and Curse of Recklessness mattered more to the raid overall.
The reserve roster covered every role:
Two tanks.
Six healers.
Six physical DPS.
Six caster DPS.
Extra reserves were valuable during progression.
Once the second and third raid teams formed, anyone who wanted to transfer could bring that experience with them and help get the new groups off the ground.
The class leads were:
Mage: Coldhands.
Rogue: DeathScum.
Hunter: OneShotCrit.
Warrior: DaVinci.
Warlock: DesertWanderer.
Priest: ServerHeals.
Paladin: SevenDays.
Druid: Lunatori.
There would be no separate tank lead.
Tank assignments and tank strategy would stay directly under Gabryell.
The DKP awards were straightforward.
One point for being ready at raid start.
One point for staying until raid end.
One point for a normal boss.
Two points for a major boss.
First kills doubled the reward.
Two points for the first kill of a normal boss.
Four points for the first kill of a major boss.
After that, the value dropped back to normal.
Loot used open bidding.
Set pieces started at 10 DKP.
Off-pieces at 5.
Weapons at 20.
Premium items at 30.
During progression, tank gear wouldn't go to open bidding.
The raid leader would assign it directly.
If nobody bid on an actual upgrade, the raid would compare the gear of everyone who could use it and assign the item to whoever needed it most.
Those items cost only the minimum DKP.
No off-spec bids or bids on lower armor classes would be allowed during progression.
Two months after a raid reached full-clear farm status, those restrictions would loosen and those bids would open at double DKP.
Reserves earned the same DKP as core raiders during progression.
While waiting, they were free to do whatever they wanted.
They just had to remain connected to Ventrilo and answer immediately when called.
If a Warlock summoned someone and that player still wasn't inside the raid two minutes later, they earned no DKP for the night.
The rest of the detailed rules were available on Fearless's DKP site.
Everyone was expected to read them.
Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair, for example, would share the same DKP pool.
Future raid instances would use separate pools of their own.
Everything was set.
At 6 PM, Fearless's core raid would officially begin its Molten Core progression.