Guild Changes

Guild camaraderie

Some people care about achievements more than other people. Ever since Blizz implemented this arguably epeen waggling system, it has been a love/hate situation with our guild.

I admit some fascinate me more than most, like Insane in the Membrane. We have at least a couple folks with it and I am astounded at the level of dedication needed to complete it. I gave up on goblins long ago, I sure as hell am not leveling the other factions. Still sitting at 39/40... I figure with Cata, I will find new factions to work on.

There is a theory floating around that with the new guild perks guilds will want to come together more to get things done. I can certainly see potential for hardcores who complete progression and are left with craptastic down time. Even more so benefits for casual guilds who don't feel the need to keep up with the top 10s but still like to get together on nights and feel rewarded for getting something accomplished.

This is where I finally feel like there is some return for completing an achievement. It goes beyond a new tabard or title and becomes something that everyone in the guild can take part in.

Feels somewhat like what an old guild on the server did for raiding points. Even if you didn't get to go to raids often, if you contributed mats for potions, bandages, engineering supplies, etc you got points when went towards your dkp.


Speaking of cleaning up achivements



Why, yes, it took us forever to finish this off. We have always been a few steps behind Blizzard when it came to content. While we were closing out Ulduar, TOC came out and most folks lost interest in older content. It wasn't that we lacked skill or time, but we tend to have a butterfly/squirrel mentality for new things. I am sure we aren't the first or last guild to have this problem. Of course, when Lum was trying to congratulate the guild on completing Yogg, I could clearly be heard on vent saying "About ****ing time!" This was met with much vocal agreement. Damn his mic.


New UI

I look forward to the new guild UI. In particular the professions tab. To be able to see who has what profession and what recipes we have in the guild is extremely attractive. This would have been useful during Wrath as folks were gaining recipes in dungeons and trying to get their BiS items made but obviously a boon when the expansion arrives.

Not sure what to make of the LFGuild tool. I haven't seen screenshots of it yet, but I hope it works out well. The trade spam is getting old.

Now that my non patch day themed post is finished, it's time to pour over the survival guides for my characters. I have too many alts!

Happy patch day :)

New Expansion Blues

Maybe you are in this situation:

Cata beta is trickling in, SC2 is in full swing, and you have done ICC for almost a friggin' year. Real life stuff starts to invade, seeing the opening created by your waning enthusiasm.

Maybe you are in school and spend a little more time on homework than you did in the spring. Maybe you are a working stiff and decide that you are too tired to have dinner in the 15 minutes between getting home and the raid starting and just say "Screw it!"

Or, maybe you aren't dealing with any of the above and are pissed off that not enough people are showing up to the raids.

Either way, the expansion blues are hitting guilds hard right now, even my own.

The sad thing is, I haven't been online in a month to really feel it's effects. I am one of those people that is pissing off others (though I hope not! I have a very legit reason for not being online).

Last week, I was suckered in to doing a boss fight (sucked is the right word, as in, I sucked) and stayed to listen to officer chat.

Recruitment is a good ole standby route to take in order to fill our thin ranks, as long as there are enough good folks left playing on the server to recruit. Then there is hope- hope that people will come back from their breaks and be ready to tackle the expansion.

With the tenative release of November 2 it is still a long way to go while dealing with low attendance numbers.

Are you hit with the blues and if so, how are you handling it?

I miss the days of keeping your head down.

There is a growing problem on our server, and maybe it's on yours, too. It's folks who don't keep their heads down and their mouths shut.

See, being a part of a guild should be a little like a job. You apply, get signed on, then have to go through a process before the rest of the group feels you can be a part of their team. The guild app process is no different.

We used to have initiate ranks, a trial period, and such when we invited new members. Without that, we just give folks time to prove themselves to us that they can do what is expected of them. We take comments from other raiders and perhaps even members of former guilds.

The problem is, more and more people are coming into guilds (not just ours) thinking they are the shit and know exactly what is going on.

What ever happened to just staying quiet? *que old man voice* Back in my day... impressing your new guild meant following instructions, listening to the raid leader, keeping your nose out of other's people's business. How are you expecting to see if the guild works for you if you keep badgering them about how they run their guild? If you don't like it, either choose to put up with it or gtfo.

Also, impressing your new guild does not always mean being the highest on whatever meter. You can be number one on dps, and the guild still can put you on ignore/mute. That's not a good sign.

Seems that my server is going through a huge rash of this: "I don't like this, let's gquit and form our own guild of asshats like us!". Another officer and I constantly check our bookmarked guilds, only to find out that they disbanded or server moved. Guilds splinter and die. It's amazing that we have prospered despite being a merger guild. Going on two years now (I need to start planing our anniversary party, come to think of it) while most don't make it past 6 months or less.

All of this is killing our server, in a way. I used to be able to sit in Org, scope the other druids, give them props on a piece of gear or congratulate them on a boss kill. Now, the main "celebrities" on the server are loudmouths in trade chat. Folks who stir up shit for attention.

Call me old school, but I miss the quiet.