Ailis in Hunterland

<selfish post>

My guild needs a healer.

*clears throat*

We are looking for a healer to fill in the final slot on our 10-man raiding team which was recently vacated.  While we would prefer a Resto Shaman or a Holy Paladin (we have a Priest and a Druid), we’ll consider every application we get.  This is a kickass raiding team who is already charging headfirst into Icecrown Citadel.

The Details:

Guild: Living Daylights

Website: http://living-daylights.net/

Guild Ox: http://www.guildox.com/go/g.asp?n=Living+Daylights&r=Stormrage-US

Realm: Stormrage-US

Faction: Alliance

Raid Days: Tuesday, Friday and Sunday

Raid Times: 10pm – 1am Server Time (EST)

We Want: Good, solid, dedicated people who know their class and play it well.  People who take raiding seriously but also know how to have fun.  Folks who won’t shy away from achievements or hard modes, no matter the cost.  An odd sense of humor is also welcome.

What We Don’t Want: Children, idiots, asshats, people who are full of themselves, and folks who don’t play well with others.

If you or someone you know is looking for a small, intimate guild that focuses exclusively on 10man raiding and you are a badass raiding healer, we want you.

For some history, here’s the post I wrote about us when we first started out.  We’ve evolved a little since then but we’re still true to our original vision and are still looking to build a strong raiding core to blaze through content both easy and hard.

If any of that remotely appeals to you, check out all the info on our website in the forums, ask me questions here on the site and fill out an application.

</selfish post>

Warcraft is a global phenomenon.  Some may roll their eyes when they hear anything having to do with the game and yet others may immediately start regaling anyone who will listen with tales of raids, rewards and wipes.  WoW has permeated a vast majority of the facets of our culture and has become (intentionally or not) a standard by which other MMOs are measured, an ever-raising bar, and a game that millions of people complain about yet still play relentlessly.

If you ask any WoW player what the game is to them, you will get a wide variety of responses.  It’s a social medium, it’s a place to relax, it’s a place where I don’t have to be so shy, it’s an escape, it’s a challenge, it’s a place to keep in touch with long-distance friends, it’s a place to stretch my creative legs, etc.

The one phrase that will, however, incite some sort of reaction is: “It’s just a game.”

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who can, with a straight face and total believability, say that and truly, honestly, sincerely mean it.

Monopoly is just a game.  Scrabble is just a game.

Now, I’m not saying that WoW is a new form of life itself (although some may see it as so) but it has transcended the phrase “just a game” into something more – even for the most casual of player.  There is an attachment that grows.  Even people who have left the game for one reason or another will have a story or two they will never forget.

I was thinking about this aspect of the game as I, my husband, and our friends build this guild and attempt to lead it in a fun and fair fashion.  Sometimes you have to, as a leader, take a few steps back and try to see how your guild members see the game.  It’s not just a game to them but what level are they on?  Having this knowledge or, at the very least, attempting to understand this knowledge helps tremendously when it comes time to ask your members to do or not do something.  How will they react if you ask them to save a certain Raid ID for a guild run and then the guild, due to unforeseen circumstances, doesn’t get to go?  Does any potentially negative reaction keep you from asking in the first place?

In our guild, no.  We ask, and then if something happens, we deal with it as best we can.  But some guild leaders may hesitate.  There is a fine line between playing WoW to have fun and playing WoW because your guild is a job.  Some leaders may not want to turn the guild into a job for any of their members – do this, this and that; but don’t do that, that or this – because they fear that they will be seen as dictatorial.

Honestly, you’re going to be seen that way by at least one person any time you make any rule that someone doesn’t agree with.  My advice?  Make your rules but keep them simple, succinct and easy to follow.  And keep the list to a minimum.

WoW is more than a game to most everyone who plays it, even on the smallest level.  As a guild leader, figuring out what level(s) your members are on is key in effectively and fairly running a guild; and making sure that you have the right members in your guild.

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.

The whole “cataclysmic this” and “cataclysmic that” won’t get old for at least another week so I’m using it until then.

I wanted to take a moment and talk about guilds.  Guilds are getting a tremendous facelift in the upcoming expansion, something that is, in my opinion, long overdue.

Scott Andrews at Wow.com put it best when he said:

I’ve said before, guilds are the backbone of any MMO. They facilitate all the group content that developers spend millions to produce — the content that keeps people interested in the game and separates an MMO from your average single-player experience…Without officers who sacrifice time and energy to organize and lead their guilds, no MMO can succeed.

He is, in a lot of ways, right.  WoW is a highly social game – friendships are formed, enemies are made, bonds are created and oftentimes unraveled with as much frequency as any family unit or social structure.  Guilds contribute to and facilitate those bonds and, on the flip side, can aid in breaking them as well.  Whether you’re a raider, a PvPer or a causal solo player, we all have experiences with guilds both good and bad.  Without guilds, the world we know now would be vastly different.

Which is why I’m somewhat amused that it’s taken this long for Blizzard to revamp them or reward them in any way.  Up until the expansion, all rewards and achievements are for the individual player and they can take those rewards, tabards, and pets to as many different guilds as they want to with no penalty.  The only advantage, at the moment, to being in a guild is regular raiding times and raid achievements (if your guild goes for those) and raiding guilds are somewhat dependent on their core raiders staying so they strive to keep them happy.

With Cataclysm, a number of things are being implemented to reward guilds as a whole and to make their jobs a little bit easier.  There’s a new “Looking for Guild” interface (which needs more work, in my opinion, but it’s a start) and, combining that with cross-server instances, recruiting may be a bit easier than the myriad of Trade Chat and Guild Recruiting spam most people resort to.

Another big change, one we don’t know a ton about yet, is the Guild Heirloom system and the Guild-only recipes/loot/etc. system.  There is a lot of debate over these as people are afraid of large portions of what they own being bound to the guild.  In some cases, this could work – recipes, heirlooms perhaps.  However, any raid loot?  I, for one, hope this isn’t the case but we shall see as more information is revealed.

The biggest change coming for guilds is the Guild Talent system.  Through this system, the top 20 performers in a guild (or all members if your guild is less than 20) will earn achievement points for the guild through activities such as PvP, raiding, questing, titles, individual achievements, profession leveling, the sky is the limit.  At each level, the GM will be able to put a talent point into the Guild Talent tree and earn the guild rewards such as mass resurrection on a raid wipe, no reagents for mass buffs, lower repair costs, less durability damage, etc.

On the surface, this seems like a fantastic idea and I think it could be a lot of fun.  It promotes unity and teamwork – “We’re all working towards X talent because it will benefit everyone.”  This is wonderful.

However, and many have raised this point, will it be the end of smaller guilds?  Yes, there are a myriad of tiny guilds on every realm that really have no business being formed and would probably be much better off condensing into one big one or joining an already well-established guild.  There are, though, other small guilds – the mom and pop stores of our burgeoning economy – that are small but firmly grounded, filled with skilled people and are progressing slowly but fine.  Should they roll into the big corporations for the perks?  Will they be penalized for not having the volume to compete with the bigger guilds?  Will we see the death of small guilds through this system and the rise of mega guilds?

The other concern is for the individual player.  People come and go all the time.  Sometimes someone gquits in the heat of the moment, sometimes it’s a well-thought out leaving due to real life, a change in schedule or the simple desire to play with friends elsewhere be it another realm or another guild.  Should the individual be penalized for leaving the guild and joining a new one?  Should the guild be penalized for losing that member who contributed to the achievements?

In my opinion, you should only ever be in a guild because you want to be there – because you enjoy the people there and they add to your gameplay in a positive way.  If you are staying in your guild because you feel obligated to – “my 10-man would fail without me” or, with this system, because you are getting perks – “If I leave then my repair costs will go up again” then that guild isn’t right for you.  Period.

The concern with this system is that the achievements will make it harder to leave a guild, even if it’s for all the right reasons.  Will people just stay in their guild even though they hate it to get perks?  Maybe.  Lord knows that happens now in progression guilds with folks staying for the killing and the loot.

The changes coming for the guilds are massive and will, hopefully, cause a lot of guilds to reexamine their goals, overall structure and member base.  I also hope it causes people to take a good look at their guild and decide if this is the right place to invest their time and their contribution to the guild talent tree.  We may see a lot of pre-Cataclysm guild shuffling as people form up with folks they enjoy playing with, or, on a darker side, guilds they feel will earn and spend talent points the quickest.

Whatever the motivation, to the individual player I say this: Yes, WoW is more than a game in a lot of ways.  It’s a social avenue, a place to escape, a place to be someone or something you are not, or just a place to hang out with friends.  Whatever it is for you, make sure everything that is part of that experience, especially your guild, is something that is positive in every factor.  Make sure that you are with people you enjoy, a leadership you trust, and a style of play that suits you and your interests.  When you lose that, WoW becomes more about obligation, irritation and general mediocrity than the initial awe-inspiring game you first began playing months or even years ago.

Never lose that.