Sunday, September 16, 2012

Raid Team Absences

Please read my message below and take it seriously, because if I don't see attendance start to improve in the next two weeks, I will drop people from their raid teams and put them onto the reserve team.  Everyone that has been placed onto our raid teams made a commitment that they will generally be able to make their raid team's raid night once a week.  If you're asking for specifics, then by a general commitment I mean 90% of the time, you are able to make your raid team's primary raid night every week.  If your attendance dips below the 90% benchmark, you are not being fair to your team mates.  Also, everyone gave their consent that they would be consistent with their signing up for their team's raid nights on the guild calendar, whether their status is confirmed, tentative or declined.  I am not seeing this in several individuals. 

Since the start of the three raid teams, there have been several team mates that have been missing their team's raid nights week after week.  I understand if you need to miss out on raid nights due to work or other real life obligations.  Like I said before, we don't even mind if you miss a raid night because you want to go out on the town or just stay home and watch your favourite shows.   However,  everyone on the raid teams gave their consent that they understand the commitment involved in owning your own slot on our raid teams, yet people are still not showing up for raid nights every week.  If you are already assigned to a team, then it is completely okay to miss out on your team's raid nights once in a while.  But if you are gone every week then your team is left struggling to find someone to replace you.  Another commitment everyone on the teams made was that they will be consistent with their sign ups for their team's raid nights on the guild calendar.  This is a very crucial step because your raid team will know what to expect from you, whether you are able to confirm, decline, or sign up as tentative.  By not signing up at all, you leave your team mates wondering what your status is and this causes raids to be late because we end up waiting a bit longer because we're not sure if we should expect you to show up or not.  If you are not able to generally commit to your team's raid night, then please reconsider joining O Team instead because it is our reserve team.

Mists of Pandaria will launch on Tuesday, September 25th, and I'm sure we are all excited to hit level ninety quickly and start the new raids.  But if we keep having excessive absences then we are all going to miss out on progression, team-building and the fun involved in being on a raid team.  Please take no offense to this message because I intend none.  I am only doing this to ensure that our team-building environment is still one that rivals the cutthroat, impersonal and elitist raid environments that other guilds manage on our server. 

Monday, September 10, 2012

Warmaster Blackhorn: 10-Man Heroic

To join our guild for heroic DS raids, you must meet all our requirements for normal DS raids as well as have an average item level of at least 393+. Raiding requirements can be found through the "raiding requirements" label on the left-hand side of the guild blog. I am providing you with two options to inform yourself on the strategy for heroic Warmaster Blackhorn: by the video posted below or the notes included in the link below. If you opt to watch the video guide, be sure to take notes. If you'd rather read the strategy, here is the link:

Scroll down to read heroic difficulty strategy for Warmaster Blackhorn

Since we are starting to do the heroic modes of DS, I will start to ensure that everyone does their fair share and informs themselves well on the strategy.  We are in a guild that promotes a team-oriented raiding atmosphere and it is only fair that everyone is well-informed.  Having to explain boss intel before fights takes up too much time.  If I find that people are not able to set aside some time and inform themselves on the strategies for heroic mode, then we will skip heroic mode for that night and just do regular version.  Please do your best to not let the team down; if we are all aiming at heroic progression then we need to be open to a little more responsibility and effort.

Flat Earth Society's Guide

Vox Immortalis' Guide

 

Hagara: 10-Man Heroic

To join our guild for heroic DS raids, you must meet all our requirements for normal DS raids as well as have an average item level of at least 393+. Raiding requirements can be found through the "raiding requirements" label on the left-hand side of the guild blog. I am providing you with two options to inform yourself on the strategy for heroic Hagara: by the video posted below or the notes included in the link below. If you opt to watch the video guide, be sure to take notes. If you'd rather read the strategy, here is the link:

Scroll down to read the heroic difficulty for Hagara

Since we are starting to do the heroic modes of DS, I will start to ensure that everyone does their fair share and informs themselves well on the strategy.  We are in a guild that promotes a team-oriented raiding atmosphere and it is only fair that everyone is well-informed.  Having to explain boss intel before fights takes up too much time.  If I find that people are not able to set aside some time and inform themselves on the strategies for heroic mode, then we will skip heroic mode for that night and just do regular version.  Please do your best to not let the team down; if we are all aiming at heroic progression then we need to be open to a little more responsibility and effort.


GooderzWoW's Guide
Vox Immortalis' Guide

Zon'ozz: 10-Man Heroic

To join our guild for heroic DS raids, you must meet all our requirements for normal DS raids as well as have an average item level of at least 393+. Raiding requirements can be found through the "raiding requirements" label on the left-hand side of the guild blog. I am providing you with two options to inform yourself on the strategy for heroic Zon'ozz: by the video posted below or the notes included in the link below. If you opt to watch the video guide, be sure to take notes. If you'd rather read the strategy, here is the link:


Scroll down to read the heroic strategy for Zon'ozz


Since we are starting to do the heroic modes of DS, I will start to ensure that everyone does their fair share and informs themselves well on the strategy.  We are in a guild that promotes a team-oriented raiding atmosphere and it is only fair that everyone is well-informed.  Having to explain boss intel before fights takes up too much time.  If I find that people are not able to set aside some time and inform themselves on the strategies for heroic mode, then we will skip heroic mode for that night and just do regular version.  Please do your best to not let the team down; if we are all aiming at heroic progression then we need to be open to a little more responsibility and effort.

Vox Immortalis' Guide (Healer PoV)




Flat Earth Society's Guide

Rocket Surgery's Tank PoV Guide

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Loot Rules

Normal Loot Rules

When loot drops, the Master Looter will hold on to it.  Should his or her inventory get full, another officer will hold on to the loot.  Loot will be distributed at the halftime point.  The manner in which loot will be distributed is as follows:

  • Always roll for main spec first if the item is an upgrade.
  • If no one needs the item for their main spec, everyone can roll for off spec.
  • Lowest roll wins (1-100).
  • If you are one of the two tanks and a fight entails you switching to deeps mode, then you are still eligible to roll on tank gear, but when it comes to deeps gear you are only allowed to roll for off spec if no one needs for main spec. 
  • Conversely, if you are one of the three healers and a fight entails you switching to deeps mode, then you are still eligible to roll on heals gear, but when it comes to deeps gear you are only allowed to roll for off spec if no one needs for main spec.
  • You may not roll for your alts or any other character that was not present at the time the loot dropped.  This rule applies to crafting recipes and crafting materials as well.
  • If no one needs for main or off spec, and it is a bind on pickup (BoP) item, everyone can roll for shard (if an enchanter is available) or for gold.
  • If the item is a bind on equip (BoE), only those who need it for their main spec can roll.  Off specs are not eligible.  If no one in the raid can use it, then the item will be placed in the Plunder Tab of the Guild Keep to help gear other guildies.
  • If the item is a crafting recipe and the officers don't already know you have the correct maxed crafting profession, then you must link your maxed profession in raid chat.
  • If no one is eligible to roll for the crafting recipe, then it is a free roll for everyone.
  • If the item is a trade material for a crafting profession, you must have both a maxed profession and a learned recipe that calls for the trade material in order to be eligible to roll.  If the officers don't already know you are eligible, then you must link both your maxed profession and the learned recipe in raid chat in order to be eligible.
  • If the item is a class quest item (i.e. shards, gem clusters), the officers will already have someone chosen to receive such loot for all the raids until they complete their quest.  After said guildie has completed their class quest, then the officers will choose someone else eligible to receive the quest items.
  • If the item is a mount, congratulations on being present on such a rare occurrence.  Good luck on your roll!  Remember, lowest roll wins.  Even if you don't win, you should still be happy for your fellow guildie cos they make Jealous Sky look good while on that mount.

Heroic Loot Rules


Effective September 4, 2012.  Should you join a raid team in which 25-man or heroic loot drops, all of the normal loot rules apply with the exception that rolls for gear are no longer valid here.  However, rolls for crafting recipes, trade materials and mounts still apply.  Everything else that does not fit into these categories will be distributed via Loot Council.

Loot Council Formation

For A Team and any other team with Tides in it, the council will consist of Tides, two officers and three random non-officer raiders.  For B Team the council will consist of three officers and three random non-officer raiders.  For C Team and any team that has only one officer, the council will consist of one officer and three random non-officer raiders.  Initiates (in Perpetual less than a month) cannot join the Loot Council.

The random raiders to join Loot Council will rotate every new raid night.  They will be selected via rolls and the two with the lowest rolls will be joining Loot Council for the duration of just that raid night.  Each raid night, a new Loot Council will be selected.  There will be two sets of rolls, one roll for the officers and one roll for the non-officers.  If a current member of the Loot Council is missing on the secondary/optional raid night then another officer or non-officer will fill in the appropriate (officer/non-officer) slot, to be selected by rolls.

Loot Process
  1. Loot requests will begin with the Loot Master linking the item in raid chat to initiate voting.
  2. Raiders interested in receiving the item will stand to the side of the Loot Master (to be inspected by Loot Master) and whisper him or her with the item they want to replace.
  3. After the Loot Master has received all whispers, he or she will whisper the raider's name along with the item they want replaced to the other Loot Council members, then announce a timer, allowing two minutes for the Loot Council to consider their options then cast their vote.
  4. The Loot Master will call for a last call then voting will end.
  5. The raider receiving most votes will receive the item.
Each Loot Council member gets one vote.  In the event of a tie, Tides will always have the final say.  If Tides is not present, the Loot Master will have the final say.  The Loot Master will always be an officer.

Loot Council Communication

The Loot Master will create a separate channel for the Loot Council to chat in.  This can be done through the in-game chat options window.  Keep in mind, when creating a channel name, it must be one continuous word (for example, JSloot) because if there are any spaces, it will be an invalid chat channel name.  Password is optional.  Also, all Loot Council members will have to drop down a channel in ventrilo for the voting process.

Guidelines for Loot Council

There is no formula for voting and there is no "correct" vote.  The biggest consideration to keep in mind is what is best for guild.  Loot Council is put in place to benefit the guild's progression.  With this goal in mind, the following items should be considered to achieve that end:
  • tenure with the guild
  • significance of upgrade
  • attendance in the last 30, then 60 days
  • amount of loot already won
Please note these are only suggestions and are listed in no particular order.  There is no set formula for who wins what loot.