Ailis in Hunterland

My big secret endeavor in WoW lately?

A 10-man raiding guild with some very close friends of mine.

Yes, I realize there are more guilds in WoW than there are stars in the sky and we don’t claim to be unique like a snowflake.  We do claim, however, to provide a laid-back, yet progressive raiding atmosphere sans political drama.

My husband, another married couple we know, and myself had been bouncing around the idea for a while now but had refrained due to the risk factor.  We were all in raiding guilds and were getting to raid but not without its share of heartache and frustration – most of it caused by guild politics.

Many of you have read my numerous posts on raiding and, therefore, have a pretty decent idea on my outlook towards it.  The great thing is, the others share my views.  This is also the reason the four of us lead the guild equally in a council fashion rather than having one guild leader.  This provides numerous checks and balances and a little more encompassing view of the guild and how it should progress since we all come from different WoW backgrounds.

First and foremost, raiding should be fun and the group should be filled with people you trust, enjoy and look forward to playing alongside.  When guilds start stepping in and organizing groups regardless of relationships, tolerance and then forbid people from raiding together, that goes too far.  There is a fine line that a lot of guilds walk and I don’t envy them for it.

The guild my husband and I were in most recently had a great outlook towards raiding and one that I heartily agreed with.  They are a very large, very old guild (created day 1 of the server opening) but all they schedule as far as guild-run raiding is two nights of 25-man.  That’s it.  10-man raiding is solely up to the discretion of anyone who wants to step up, be a raid leader, and form a group.  Consequently, you have a handful of 10-man groups that range in playstyle from the very hardcore hard mode group to the very casual, very laid-back, “we’re just here to blow up bosses and have some fun” groups and it’s that works.  If you try to start cramming skilled, “I want a challenge” raiders with more laid-back, “oh yeah killing that guy would be cool” raiders, you are bound to have major issues.

If any leaders from large guilds (150+ players) are reading this, this right here is a great stance to adopt if you haven’t already.  Yes, there will be some initial whining from children who are feeling left out.  This guild had issues with that at the beginning but they kept moving forward.  Ignore them long enough, they quit whining and either start their own group or leave the guild.  c’est la vie…

Back to my guild.

Yes, I love running 25-mans.  However, I enjoy the intimacy and simplicity of 10-mans far more.  You can build up a tight relationship with nine people a lot easier than you can 24 people.  Yes, it’s possible but not as easy and will never have the same level of intimacy.  25-mans fluctuate and rotate and undulate like an ever morphing organism while 10-mans have the capability to (and should) stay steadfast and unchanging raid after raid.  There is nothing better than walking into a new boss, everyone buffing without being asked, and the tank pulling without being told, and everyone knows their role, their place and what to do and you kill it.

So that’s the primary impetus behind this guild.  We want it to be focused on 10-man raiding, including hard modes.  We want it to be without political bullshit and jealous whining.  We want it to be small, intimate, laid back and fun.  We wanted to return to what brought us into this game in the first place – fun and stress relief.  We’re not looking to be number one or the best but we will not shy away from challenges or big repair bills.

The next question you’re asking?  Are we recruiting?

Why, yes we are, but selectively.

Here are some details:

Guild: Living Daylights

Realm: Stormrage-US PvE (EST time zone)

Raid Times: 10pm – 1am server time

Raid Days: Tuesday, Friday, Sunday

Website: http://living-daylights.net/ – You must register if you want to apply or even see more than half the website.  So register – we’ll be filling up the forums over time with vast amounts of useful information anyway. You must register with your main toon’s name (i.e. we need to be able to find you on the armory) or we will delete your account.  This is to protect us from spammers.

Progression Goals: We will be focusing primarily on Ulduar-10 with some ToC-10 and the new WG boss thrown in.  The plan will be to clear both on normal (non-hard mode) first then go back and work on Hard Mode/Heroic Mode until those are cleared.

Update: We are raiding ToC Normal, Onyxia and Vault on Tuesday nights with, currently, Icecrown Citadel on Fridays and Sundays.  We will return to Ulduar Hard Modes at some point in the future but, for now, we’re taking a break to tackle new content.  We may be moving to ToGC on Tuesday nights once we feel we’re ready.

Our Ideal Raider: We are NOT looking for people with rigid personalities, asshats, elitists, or those looking for handholding.  We did not make this guild to gear you up or teach you how to raid.  We expect you to know your class, your role and research boss fights and to not dick around.  We also would prefer you have a cool disposition, a decent maturity level, can take (and learn from) criticism, and can dish it as well as take it.  We are good friends – we have inside jokes, we make fun of each other.  We have fun.

So, there’s that.  If you are on our server or are transferring to our server, look up any of the Puppet Masters with any questions you may have.  At least one of us is online most of the time.

Happy raiding.