Smores over Felfire

The first challenge for making a guild is figuring out WHY you want to start a new guild. There are hundreds (thousands on the large servers) of other organizations who would love to pick up a new player, especially if you happen to know what you’re doing. Guild leaders, or those who the leaders delegate authority to, are usually on in the evening and you can shop yourself around to see who would give you the best deal (perks like guaranteed spots on for raid/premade PvP groups/Arena teams as well as a stipend from the gbank for repairs are a few good suggestions). It’s much easier to have someone else deal with PR, organizing raids, and other administrative tasks while you simply show up for raid and take loot. If you’re dependable (ie: show up on time), you start developing a reputation as a solid player and gain rep with the Guild lead, the guild lead’s contacts in other guilds (who are often other guild leaders), and fellow guildmates which can only have a positive effect on the quality of your gameplay.

But let’s assume for the sake of argument that, despite being a good player, you can’t find a home for yourself and your 6 other level 80 alts.  It’s time to make a new guild which will, with time, make it’s way through endgame content.

This is the stage that most guilds omit completely (and is a major reason why when guilds fall apart so rapidly once you have a few people leave at once), but is crucial to making a stable guild: write down, on the guild forum or just guild information if you don’t have a forum, the standing guild rules will be. If it’s written down where everyone can see, there is no reason for someone to say “but I didn’t know that!” outside of negligence on their side. “Guild Policy” is everything from purpose (raiding), the loot distribution, gbank rules, ranking, etc (All of these will be covered later). This is not a set-in-stone-and-forget-about-it policy though. Encourage your guildmates, once they’ve established that they plan to stay, to poke at the rules and question why they are there. if they have a better way to do things, ask them to research it and, if it is in fact better, implement it (broadcasting the change to the rest of the guild, of course). Above all: enforce the rules you make. If it’s a rule that guildmates who don’t have your guild-mandated addons cannot raid, then either wait for them to get the addons or pick someone else.

The next challenge is the name of this new guild. I know it seems fairly innocuous, but the name of the guild is the first impression other people will have of this fledgling organization. Tone is fairly important here and word choice is critial. Names like “Knights of the Templars” will only get your ridiculed by history buffs and scoffed at by critics who despise your lack of creativity. “Casual” names like “We Aim to Misbehave” are fine, of course, though on RP servers you may have some trouble recruiting (“Outcasts” would probably be a bit more appropriate if you want to keep the “misfit” concept). But above all else: be sure to properly spell every word in your guild name as “Teh Gladeatorz” will inspire a great deal more laughter than it will lauds.

Your new guild name has been picked and your charter now is taking up bag space. You need to find 9 other people who are just as restless as you are to get this venture off the ground. The initial number of people that form your guild is really up to you, but be sure to have at least 4 or 5 people who plan to stick around and take up responsibilities (which, incidentally, is one of the best ways to get people involved in the guild: give them something to do). once you have this core group of raiders, fill out the rest however you like (I ran over to Goldshire to spread some wealth among the lowbies and, 5g and 5 minutes later, I had my signatures). Be sure to kick out the lowbies/random signers once you turn in the charter so you don’t have some loudmouth guildmate alienating everyone in Stormwind. With that, you should have a solid foundation for a new guild and can go on to the next phase: recruitment, which will be in the next Guild Management post.

As an example, here’s the standing guild policy for my guild. Feel free to modify it to your own needs.

To maintain an active status as a member of SotD, all players are required to reply to this post confirming their agreement with these policies. When replying, please note your main character, followed by all in-guild alts. If changes are made to the policies, all replies will be deleted and each player will need to resubmit policy agreement.

Guild mission Statement:
To cultivate an elite group of mature, team-minded individuals of the highest quality, both socially and technically.
To maintain and grow that group through careful selection, rigorous training and experience, and positive environment.

Guild Structure:
<From Lowest to Highest>
Initiate: These are individuals new to the guild. Initiates have yet to be fully tested and, as such, are in the Guild on a provisional basis only. With luck, individuals invited into the Guild will already be known for a high level of excellence, and this rank will be rarely, if ever, used.
L2P Nub: This is where people go after they’ve done something particularly inane or detrimental resulting from stupid mistakes. /G-chat privileges are revoked while here. Time-Out lengths are:
30 minutes: Individual did something stupid, and suicided.
1 hour: Individual did something stupid, and someone else died.
In the case of a full raid wipe, L2P status may be extended for the length of the raid. In raids or instances, L2P status will be removed at the completion of the run, special circumstances mitigating.
Dragon: This is the standard Guild rank, indicating an individual the Guild feels is a cut above average, and worthy of being known as a member of SotD.
Guardian: Guardians are individuals the Guild recognizes as being exceptional, even within SotD standards. These individuals have shown, on multiple occasions, that they have a superior grasp on the game in general and on their chosen class(es) in specific. As a reward for excellence, Guardians are granted limited Guild funds for raid and instance repairs. Additionally, Guardian status will be granted position preference for progression raiding.
(O)Guardian: These are the Guild officers. At this time, four officers will be appointed:
Tank Officer: Will be tasked with overseeing and directing all Guild tanks.
Heal Officer: Will be tasked with overseeing and directing all Guild healers.
Melee Officer: Will be tasked with overseeing and directing all Melee classes (Rogue, DPS Warrior, DK, Enhance Shammy, Feral Druid).
Ranged Officer: Will be tasked with overseeing and directing all Ranged classes.
Officers will be charged with acquiring in-depth knowledge about each class within their section, including but not limited to: strengths and weaknesses, tactics, spells and abilities, and raid utility. This applies to instances as well as raids, and includes working knowledge of every boss and how their section works in each encounter.
Questions about instance or raid tactics, or and problems or concerns about individuals within their sections should be addressed to the relevant officer.
(RL)Guardian: This is the Raid Leader. Inside of an instance or raid, the RL’s word is law, and decisions are final. The RL is charged with overseeing the officers in respect to their ability to perform their duties within raids and instances. Issues arising with officers in raids should be addressed to the RL.
(GM)Guardian: This is the Guild Master. As administrative head of the Guild, the GM oversees policy enforcement and recruitment quotas, as well as any disciplinary issues that may arise. Problems with members should first be brought to the respective officer, and the officer will consult the GM, should the issue require it. Problems with officers should be directed to the GM directly, as long as the issues are not raid-related, unless the issue is with the RL directly.
Alt ranks will be installed under each level. (Edit: Due to rank number restrictions, Dragons will not have an associated Alt rank. Just FYI.)
All current officers will be listed in the “Guild Information” section of the Guild social tab in-game (where you see who in the guild is online).

Bank Policy:
The SotD Guild bank is designed to aid members in preparing for Guild-sponsored raiding and provide members aid in leveling their professions. As such, all Guild members are asked to contribute to the bank in whatever way is most conducive to that individual, be that in gold, items, or a combination of both. The bank will be divided into sections.
>(Vault) The uppermost section is for high-end items the Guild is reserving for raiding purposes. This may include certain rep items or raid-dropped crafting mats, or mats requisitioned for raid upgrades. These items may be available for member use, or may be held by the bank as needed for raid upgrades.
>(Crafts) The next section is for general rep items and crafted materials, such as potions and elixirs, bolts of cloth, metal bars, crafted items (high-end engineering supplies), and BoE items open for general sale. Items in this section may be purchased from the bank at a fraction of current market price, or a fair price should market prices act stupidly. Items are on a first-come-first-serve basis. Bank items are not to be purchased and resold for any reason. That’s cheating, and hurts the rest of the guild.
>(Mats) The third section is for crafting mats, such as herbs, ore, cloth, leather, shards & dust, etc. Items for DE’ing will be placed here. Items in this section may be purchased from the bank at a fraction of current market price, or a fair price should market prices act stupidly. Items are on a first-come-first-serve basis. Bank items are not to be purchased and resold for any reason. That’s cheating, and hurts the rest of the guild.
>(Market) The fourth section is for everyday items and reagents, including food (pre and post cooked), general potions and scrolls, spell mats (light feathers, etc). These are open to general consumption, within reasonable limits.
>(Auction House) The fifth section is currently labeled as Auction House, meaning that periodically this tab is cleaned out and the contents sold to vendors or set in the Auction House to fund repairs, purchases, loans, and various other requests and needs the guild as a whole has.
>(Lowbie) The lowest section is for lowbie items and low-end profession mats. This tab fills rapidly and will be cleaned out periodically. These items are also for general consumption, but please withdraw with restraint; other people may need help too.
The bank is for the advancement of the Guild, and all its members. As such, profits made with the use of Guild mats are expected to be returned to the bank for future use. Bank mats are not for personal profit. Violation or exploitation of bank policy likely will result in dismissal from the Guild.

Instance Policy:
Any instance with less than four Guild members is not considered a Guild run. However, shards or random-drop greens would be an appreciated contribution to the bank.
Any instance with four or more Guild members –is- considered a Guild run and, as such, all unused drops become property of the bank. Expensive items and World Drops should be placed in the uppermost tab, and all shards and random-drop greens should be placed in the ‘Mats’ section for DE and guild reagent use. This helps ensure Guild prosperity and allows sufficient Guild resources to finance raid upgrades.
For ease of runs, in Guild runs, the group should appoint someone with open bag space to pick up all the bank drops. If a chanter is DE’ing boss drops, they become the looter by default. That way, not everyone has to remember to go back by the gbank and deposit post-run.

Raid Policy:
SotD is a level-80 Raid Guild by intention and design. To that end, Guild raids take precedence over other considerations and events. If called to raid, members are expected to end or forego other non-Guild runs in order to help the Guild raid.
Unfortunately, there are always a limited number of spots in raids, and group makeup is essential for success and progression. Raid spots are never guaranteed and can change with little notice. Not every member can run every raid, and there may be times where group makeup is shifted mid-raid. We run raids to succeed, and will do everything in our power to make sure we clear. We understand that such situations can be frustrating, but we ask that all members keep in mind that raids are for the betterment of the Guild, and a better Guild helps everyone. We will endeavor to give every member the opportunity to raid, so please be patient.

A list will be kept on the Forums of all raids and ranked as follows:
1) “Not Attempted” – Raids classified as “Not Attempted” are just that.
2) “Progression” – “Progression” raids are currently being worked through and are Guild priority. Guardian-status members will be given priority in progression raids.
3) “Completed” – “Completed” raids have been fully cleared, but still present certain difficulties or boss issues. While mid-raid substitutions may still be needed to clear the raid, the Guardians preference is lifted for ‘completed’ raids.
4) “Farm” – “Farm” status indicates the Guild has surpassed the difficulty threshold of the raid and has moved that raid from the main schedule.

All raid times will be posted on the integrated WoW calendar and members are asked to keep track of raid days and times, and sign up when available for raids. Members with scheduled raid spots are expected to be online 15 to 30 minutes prior to raid start, and be prepared for summons -no less- than 15 minutes prior to raid start. At raid start time, we will begin pulling in other guild members, followed by non-guild players, to fill spots. If all spots are not filled by 10 minutes after raid start time, the raid will be canceled. If you know you will be late, contact the Raid Leader or make arrangements before hand. Anyone not present 15 minutes prior to raid start will not be guaranteed a raid spot, as backup players will be getting contacted. Anyone not present by raid start may not be asked to participate in future raids. Remember, one person being late inconveniences the other 9 or 24; please think of the rest of the raid.
Any member chronically late for raids will be removed from progression raiding, may be denied future raid spots, may have Guardian status revoked, and may be dismissed from the Guild. SotD is built on trust and group reliability. The Guild takes those qualities very seriously, and expects every member to do the same.
Pots are available from the Bank, though supplies are limited (contributions to the Guild Bank help ensure adequate pot supply). Other materials are available upon request.

Raid Loot Policy:
SotD will be trying out the “Suicide Kings” raid loot system on a provisional basis. Details will come from Teris/Kith as the specifics are worked out and the system is implemented.

Guardianship Promotion Policy:
Any Guardian may offer up a Dragon for Guardian consideration. To do so, speak with the officer who would be overseeing the player in question (if a healer is getting recommended, talk to the Heal lead). The officers will take a vote, passing with a 2/3 majority (the prospective’s officer must vote for approval). If the officer vote passes, the vote will be open to all online Guardians and requires simple majority to pass. If both votes pass, promotion.

Addendum:
To be eligible for raid spots in Guild raids, everyone must post Name and useful contact information into the “Contingency Thread” in this forum. The Forum is locked and moderated by Teris/Kithane, so all information is safe. Your information will not be given out to any other parties for any reason short of US court order. But, we -must- be able to contact you in case of raid changes or if your services should be required. Conversely, if you have posted to the thread, we also know you have our information and can contact us should a problem arise.
Cellphones are preferable, and with cellphones, please indicate if text messaging is enabled (and free…we’d hate to cost you money).
Real Names are required so that we don’t sound like tools if someone else picks up the phone.

If you have already posted your information previously, please go back and edit your post to reflect changed information and txt-message availability

“Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation … even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Every morning I get up and check my bookmarks for what has changed in the past 8 hours since last I was online.  A webcomic here, a woot.com sale there, it’s all fairly tame and rarely warrants a raised eyebrow, much less a rant. But going to mmo-champion… that’s a different story. As the page loads I think to myself “Surely… surely warlocks aren’t going to get another nerf… right?” Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised at the changes (No more unquenchable flame debuff! Huzzah!) and, for the most part, that’s the standard. Very rarely do I find out that my favorite class is going to get nerfed and others are getting buffed. But it happens on occasion. And, much like in life, it’s the bad news that you tend to remember, not the good news.

Now, maybe it’s because I’m a programmer, or maybe it’s because I’m in the process of developing a world myself, but the various nerfs and buffs to classes/instances just don’t bug me as much as it does most folk. This is a changing (virtual) world and the best players must learn to adapt to the changes. Using the same abilities when the world changes is not only counter-productive, but it’s crippling to your gameplay. Who would win in a fight: a caveman or a swordsman? How about an archer vs a tank? A 60 mage vs an 80 protadin?

The mark of a great player is someone who can look beyond the changes to the underlying cause and see how it can be used. For example: when Heroic Throw was given the ability to pierce divine protection PvP pallies had two options: Whine about it, or adapt. The whiners are still on the forums claiming that retadins are going to be the laughing stock of PvP and they’re going to quit the game forever. The rest took this as a reason to change tactics, perhaps by casting hammer of justice directly after the bubble so it’s not broken by the warrior. Perhaps this was not meant to be a foil to pallies, but a buff to warriors. This was a great way to get warriors to start thinking differently (ie: using defensive stance) in order to succeed. Or maybe this was a way to get prot-warriors in the game (concussion blow, shockwave, revenge proc, shield bash, they’ve got all kinds of ways to mess up a healer’s rotation). So as you can see, a simple change to one ability has the capacity to make fairly profound changes to the game at large. And with over 11 million players, developers will never be able to make a change to the game that will please everyone. Make the game easier: people cry about it’s not challenging. Make it harder: no one can see endgame material.

Now, I understand that since we’re paying $15 a month to play the game, we have a certain amount of say in what changes. But there are people who are paid to balance, tweak, and rebalance this game, they’re clearly doing something right because you’re still playing. Sometimes the devs ask for feedback because they want to know what we, the people, want. That’s great, it’s fairly indicative that they have our best interests at heart, but that doesn’t mean that they will do exactly what your extremely well-written and thought-out post dictates. The fact that they are asking for feedback is both a blessing and a curse: great because they are allowing an opening to us, the players; but it’s painful for the moderators because they’ll have two months of defusing hotheaded posters ahead of them.

To give a real-world example, imagine you’re driving home and the traffic light ahead turns yellow. Unless you have a way to turn the light back to green with your latent mutant powers, you’re going to sit at that stoplight for the next few moments. If you drive ahead, you run the risk of a ticket, a collision, or worse. Show me someone who tells an officer “I just didn’t want the light to turn red!” and I’ll show you a member of the police force who just lost a little faith in humanity. Assuming you stopped the car, you sit there for a few moments (possibly annoyed at the inconvience) but eventually the light turns green again and you’re back in motion. Just like that, you took a changing situation and adapted to it (you probably don’t even think about it anymore), so what’s keeping us from doing the same in something that doesn’t have quite so dire consequences… like a computer game?

“But… can they bring him back?”

The overseer pulled down his mask, fear and hope in his eyes. “Can these mages really bring back Van Cleef?”

His friend shook his head, disbelief quite obvious in his own voice. “I doubt it Geouk. I mean, even if they brought him back, he’d be a shadow of his former self. The scars from that last fight would haunt him for the rest of his life. You know how much he prides himself on his skills as a fighter! The way they just… came in, these adventurers, and slaughtered him and his crew…” His face darkened, mentally recalling the stench of blood and decay. “I’m just… so relieved that we were on patrol and weren’t killed too, or else we’d be sitting there with them.

“And lucky you are.”

The two Defias assassins jumped, startled by the sudden, and silent, presence of their guests. Geouk’s eyes bounced from one to the other, taking in all the faces he could. A male dwarf, a female forsaken, a tauren, a gnome, all the races were here! The orc spoke next “I take it you were the one that called us here?”

“Y…yes.” Geouk stammered out as he slowly sheathed his daggers. “I… didn’t think you would get here so soon.”

The troll chuckled. “Eh mon… we been heya a few times, this be famila ground brah.” He stepped into the mine and took a long, deep breath. “Dis be deh work of a wahlock mon… you can see deh punctcha marks on deh sides of dis one’s head, where he tried to claw out deh pain.” The troll grinned toothily, reveling in the death and blood. Geouk’s face paled, his friend wrenching as he listened to the troll’s graphic retelling of the battle. A blood elf, pity clearly written on her face, placed a hand on the nauseous assassin who immediately ceased his sickening display.

“Thank you miss.” He stammered, wiping his mouth clean and spitting. “I didn’t know paladins could heal with only a touch.”

“You’ve never been healed by a paladin before?” She replied, head tilted slightly.

“Well… yeah, but his hands got all glowy.” The rogue waved his hands around mimicking the experience. “Yours didn’t. And you couldn’t be a shaman or a priest because, well, no offense miss, but you’re too pretty to be a tauren and priests couldn’t carry that.” He pointed at the gigantic warhammer at the blood elf’s side which she picked up without even the slightest effort. “What does it say anyway… on the side there?”

“This you mean?” Pointing to the shifting script on the business-end of the weapon. “It’s an ancient runic script that loosely translates to The Banh-“

“Eh mon! Don’tcha be laggin’ behind!” The troll grabbed the assassin and without pause or effort, lifted him bodily into the air and ran him to the front of the group, plopping him down alongside Geouk. “Now dis mon… dis is wear it get dicey…”

The group of them finally reached the site of Van Cleef’s last stand. The blood of both he and his guards now dried and caked to the deck of the boat. The human grinned, pointing silently at Van Cleef’s bare chest. “Looks like they came for his armor. No matter, we can get that back as well.”

“You’re going to hunt these murders down?! Have you lost your mind?!” the Defias’ eyes darted from man to man, each now moving the bodies of the fallen onto the ship. The gnome had seated himself in the crow’s nest and was moving bodies magically onto the ship; hundreds of pounds of dead flesh pressed the boat into the water. “Look what they did to our friends!”

“Take heart young one…” The night elf murmured. “These… mortals are no match for our powers, for we are beyond the rules of this world. In fact…” he stops, unsure if he should continue, “We are its keepers.”

Geouk’s mouth dropped. “Its keepers?” They are clearly insane, he thought. But that’s fine, I’ve dealt with worse. Hells, I’m a killer aren’t I?

“And now human,” the forsaken choked out, losing bits of his mouth in the process. “There is the subject of payment.”

“We ask fer one thing, and one thing only lads. And in return ye get yer friends, their gear, and even their gold back.” The dwarf said, “Ye only pay us the memory of this sordid affair.”

“Done!” Geouk’s friend exclaimed, immediately kneeling to the dwarf. “Take what you need! The sooner I forget this massacre, the better!”

The robed figures, as one, smiled. In tandem they raised their hands to the sky, summoning forth powers that were both of and beyond the world. Powers that, though unknown to all but they, made Sargeras himself tremble in fear.

The assassin dropped unconscious, but Geouk fought to maintain his mind. And through the ritual these creatures – gods – performed, he saw as they did, as they always have:

He saw the dead dragon, Onyxia, and her slain whelps around her. He saw Nefarion and his minions, massacred by what seemed to be a passing army. He saw Zul’jin and his high priest, Nightbane and Malchezaar, Kael’thas and Vashj, Even Kel’Thuzad himself.

“This… this isn’t the first time this has happened… is it?” Geouk whispered as he finally fell asleep, surrendering to the all consuming light emanating from his benefactors.

In seconds, minutes, maybe eons, the light began to dim, and then disappear. In its place the Defias gang began their daily routine. Cookie was cleaning his equipment, Van Cleef was brooding in his quarters, and Geouk was running out of the caves on yet another patrol. He nodded briskly to a group of blue-robed figures he saw traveling the road toward Stormwind.

“They’re getting smarter you know…” The human said as he slowly faded away. “They might actually catch on if one of us gets sloppy.”

“Feh,” replied the orc dismissively, “We’ll just fix it in the next patch.”