Raider Application - Paladin (DPS/Healer/Tank) - Sunstrong (XR)

[Applicant]

Hello, Iron Edge!

I am applying for the main raid.

Character: Sunstrong
Server: Argent Dawn
Armory: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/eu/Argent%20Dawn/Sunstrong
Class/Spec: Paladin (DPS/Healer/Tank)
Member Type: Raider

Personal Info:

Yo, I'm Jesse and I'm 30 years old from the Netherlands.  I have studied computer science in which I hold a masters degree, but over the years I've found myself disliking this path professionally. I love programming, I do not so much love the industry and doing it as a job. Currently I am in the process of learning Japanese (for fun), and I'm contemplating what exactly I want to do for university next summer. I've a few directions I want to take in.

Currently I work from home at my own schedule, which leaves me with an incredible amount of free time, which I primarily spend playing World of Warcraft and working on my own projects, like the new website ZeldaSpeedRuns.com and doing commentary for Ocarina of Time Randomizer races over on the Twitch channel of aforementioned website.

I like to consider myself a pretty chill but private person who likes to keep IRL and the internet separate, so forgive me if I keep this section brief.

Class/Spec:

Not relevant, please see ahead why.

Not relevant, please see ahead why.

Alts:

Level 60 Paladin
Level 60 Warlock
Level 60 Shaman
Level 60 Druid
Level 60 Hunter
Level 60 Warrior
Level 60 Priest
Level 60 Demon Hunter

Professions:

Nope.

Raiding Experience:

Classic WoW:
I think I set foot in Zul'gurub and Molten Core once on a gnome mage. I think I was fourteen years old and TBC was three weeks from coming out or something like that. I have no clue; I think we wiped on trash and disbanded both times.

TBC:
I was an incredibly hardcore player in TBC. My peak was World 54th Kil'jaeden. I do not see this experience as very relevant anymore, other than a good showcase of my dedication and willpower to be the best.

WotLK:
Much like above, I was deeply invested (even more so) during WotLK as I had now finished high school and had truly near unlimited time to play World of Warcraft.

Cataclysm:
I started university, I began raiding more casually but I still cleared Firelands and Dragon Soul heroic.

Mists of Pandaria:
I began raiding even more casually. After Mogu'shan vaults I have never fully cleared a heroic raid again.

Warlords of Draenor:
I finished university, I have fully cleared mythic raids in Warlords of Draenor.

Legion:
I began raiding a bit more casually once more in Legion. I often was a few bosses short of clearing a tier on mythic.

Battle for Azeroth:
After the Eternal Palace I went through some personal struggles. See below for more information.

Previous Guilds:

I will mention my last few guilds that I actually was in for any period of time.

Legalize Peacebloom on Argent Dawn-EU
You may recognize this name from another applicant you had recently. I joined this guild in late Legion as a mage, during progression in Antorus mythic. The guild was going through some rough times and the raid leader went AWOL at some point. I took over as raid leader kind of naturally and we continued progression in Antorus mythic with a dwindling roster.

At some point we decided to call it for Legion and prepare for Battle for Azeroth. The interim guild master that was appointed after the last one left eventually made the decision to promote me to guild master of the guild.

I tried to turn things around during Battle for Azeroth's first patch, with success to some degree at first. Our early progress in Uldir was very good (top 300 in the world at some point even!) but we rapidly began bleeding members again. More than anything, while I consider myself an incredibly competent raid leader, that success didn't particularly translate to how I ran the guild itself.

Meanwhile, IRL problems regarding my relationship and other private matters also played. It all became a bit too much for me and I decided to step down as guild master.


Splendour on Argent Dawn-EU:
I joined this guild during progress in Dazar'Alor as a paladin tank, because a few friends from Legalize Peacebloom had moved here too and I wanted to continue raiding with them. I ended up leaving because the guild master and I couldn't particularly see eye to eye well. I was one of the main tanks for Jaina progression, which was going well, but at some point she decided to rotate me out for another tank ( a blood DK ) because that was the strategy Method used (I am not joking), even though everyone liked the way I tanked and it meant re-progressing significant sections of the fight.

I ended up leaving for those reasons. I'll elaborate what happened later on further below in my application (in the last words section)

Availability:

I'm available at all times and on any day. You can expect me to be a very active part of this guild during and outside of raid hours.

Communication:

I would consider my English incredibly fluent and well-spoken, both written and spoken. I have Discord and can listen. My guild mates back in Burning Crusade insisted I got a microphone so I could talk to them and I believe they regret that suggestion to this day (jk)

Computer / Connection:

I have an incredibly strong computer and stable internet. The last time I had connection issues must be well over 10 years ago now.

I average about 10ms ping to most European WoW realms.

Addons/UI:

Addons I use:
- WeakAuras2
- Deadly Boss Mods
- Plexus ( a grid clone/port that is more stable, less buggy and has more features.)

I managed to cut down the amount of addons I use significantly after the UI update that landed with the pre-patch. My UI is an extremely volatile moving target right now, but it's always something of a variation on the following: https://i.imgur.com/MLSldoG.jpeg

As a bonus meme, have a video of my POV from our Mother Mythic kill:

Other Games:

League of Legends, VALORANT, Crusader Kings III, Europa Universalis and other PDS titles.

Why Iron Edge?

Simply put: I would like to be in a raiding guild where I actually know some people. Yue is a good friend of mine and we go back quite a few years, I would have a much easier time adjusting to a new social environment if I know someone in it.

Of course, I wouldn't have applied to this guild if it wasn't for the fact that I really like what I read on your WoWProgress profile and that the general vibe I got from the website and everything, that this is a guild that is very well managed and stable. I've had my share of volatile guilds in the past and I would rather avoid that now.

What can I offer Iron Edge?

Right now? Truly nothing that I can at least prove. I have no recent raid experience that is noteworthy, I've no logs that I can point and say: "Look, I'm the GOAT and I can carry your DPS", which for the record, I cannot. I used to be a fantastic DPS player long ago, but I lost that fire sometime around Legion when my DPS started to become extremely co-dependent on my luck with legendaries, and then azerite gear, and so forth.

What I can offer is myself: I am an incredibly motivated, driven player who is flexible. I am a team player, I love cooperative environments and overcoming challenges together that are greater than just one person. I am the player that will switch roles when you lose an important member. I am the raider that comes fully prepared to a raid and keeps up to date with the latest tactics and strategies.

Even if I cannot join as a raider trial right now, which is what I would like but understand might be unrealistic, I am more than willing to prove myself as a social or back-up raider. I will happily show what I am capable of and how much of an asset I can be by helping people gear up through M+ as a tank and/or healer until you guys can make a better decision on whether I would be a good fit for your raid team.

Where did I hear about Iron Edge?

From Yue, obviously.

Last Words?

You might be wondering where all my achievements went considering I have a rather storied and long-term career in World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, after I left Splendour my relationship went south.  I am a rather private person so I would prefer not to speak too much about what happened and the details of it, but safe to say that I fell into a depression that led me to some dark places.

At some point I was looking for a single thing to blame all the things on that were going wrong in my life. If I could just find that one thing and eliminate it, my life might get better. I blamed World of Warcraft, I deleted my account using the GDPR account deletion option. Obviously, things didn't get better and I regret this decision.

I decided to make a return to the game in Season 3 of Shadowlands, intending to play in Dragonflight. As for my depression? I went into therapy not long after deleting my account, I am doing much better now, if you were concerned or wondering.

Thank you for reading my application, I hope you will take a chance on me.

Oh right, before I forget: since I am a returning player somewhat, I have no real strong preference to what class I play. I'm happy to just fill a position within the guild that needs to be filled.

[Shimmar]

Hi Jesse,

Thanks for applying and sorry to keep you waiting.

At this point we wouldn't be able to offer you a spot in the guild.

We appreciate the time you spent on the application and wish you the best of luck on your search.

- Shimmar