So a lot of people have been asking me for invites to mount runs.  While I appreciate and will likely eventually need the support of all those that have asked, I wanted to take a moment to clarify some points on how these operate.

I have a running list of regulars and regular fill-ins that I have approached in-game to do these runs.  The list more or less looks like this:

Tanks:
 - Pudolski
 - Nuitarin

Healers:
 - Caliroll
 - Vössa (ALT+0246 for ö)
 - *Coretwo (was a regular pre-quitting)
 - *Cisper (university claimed her)
 - *Nhia (already has a bear, would love the periodic support though!)

DPS:
 - Shihli
 - Disrupter
 - Saedo
 - Luminaire
 - Kybosh
 - Keisjaa
 - *Antiquite (when Keis can't make it)
 - *Pkmaster (when Kybosh can't make it)
 - *Karlizeth (when any random person can't make it)
 - *Shinzwei (when we need moar rogues)

The reason that I have approached these people is because of four points.  Point A is because they have a solid stock of MH/BT T6 and equivalent gear, which ultimately trivializes this instance.  Point B is because I have personally witnessed their skills and knowledge and feel that they would be a strong asset towards getting a bear.  Point C is because bear runs require a somewhat specific group balance that is not condusive to all 10-man class combinations (at least not until we have it on mega-farm).  Point D is a combination of familiarity with the people I have asked (I've been raiding with Epat and Nuit forever) and familiarity with Lava Crab instancing and the instance by-and-large.

In short, I haven't asked *everyone* because not everyone is realistically prepared for this.  Once we have a core set of ZA raiders that have their mounts and we can start seriously swapping people in for bears, we'll make a point to do so.  However, people wanting a bear mount also need to adequately prepare for it.

That means, if you want to come at some point, do the following to prepare:

1)  Find the ElitistJerks video of a ZA mount run (they finish with ~9minutes left on the clock) and learn it like gospel.  This video was the cornerstone on how I learned to do some of the chain pulls and adjusted boss strategies.

2)  Bring a flask (or elixirs if that's how you run), bring weapon oils, bring scrolls, bring buff-food, bring health pots, bring mana pots, bring [Demonic Rune]s and [Charged Crystal Focus], and be prepared to use them all.  You can't skimp on consumables for these runs.  If you do, it will be reflected in your performance and the speed of the group.

3)  Look at your gear.  If you're not wearing 90% T5 and better gear, you're likely not realistically ready for a mount run.  The mount was introduced as a carrot-on-a-stick for T6 guilds, a reason for them to even bother with ZA in the first place.  That said, if you're decked to the nines in T4 and equivalent gear, it's just not meant for you.  It may sound elitist but it's the honest-to-God truth.

4)  Have some patience.  My "core" group still has about 3-4 weeks of mount farming before we can really swap newer people in.

5)  KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING.  Know the boss strats, know the trash mob abilities, and ultimately know how to not get yourself killed.  One single wipe on the last bear mount run knocked 3 minutes off of our timer.  While we still got a mount, it was closer than we were comfortable with.

6)  Last note ... be ready to /roll for your mount.  All's fair in mounts and raiding.  If you lose your roll, it's alright to be frustrated and upset (we all get that way after all).  But it's not alright to gripe about it in-game or on vent.

Now that you know the rules, I hope interest continues to be high.  This is mostly written as a preparation piece combined with a "this is why I may not invite you for a while" document.