What is Exiled?
Posted by Rylus on 01-Jun-10 04:54am
What is Exiled?
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What it means to be in a guild.
Posted by Rylus on 01-Mar-10 05:04am
Hey Everyone,
Sometimes I think it's important for the guild as a whole to take a step back and re-evaluate what it means to be in a guild.
To a new player coming into the guild, it's a resource. It's a place to learn, a place to grow, and a place to experience new things, whether that's raids, instances, or just experience new people.
To a player that's been in the guild for months, it's a community. A community of comrades and friends, possibly of rivals and those who you don't care for. One where you are allowed to benefit from playing with others that you know better than the random pugs; you know their strengths and their weaknesses. Whether they're "bad" or "good", "skilled" or "scrubs", you have the advantage of removing the unknown element of the player and you are able to react to encounters better, playing off each others strengths, taking up the slack of their weaknesses, as they do for you.
To a player that's been in for years, it's a family. It's a place where you go to unwind, one where powerful friendships have been forged. A place where you can escape to enjoy time doing something as a break from your everyday lives; to spend time with people that have been sharing the extreme variety of tasks that you've been doing together almost daily.
To everyone it's a team. This game is no different than a sport. Everyone must work together to achieve the greater good of the team. No one can go into ICC and solo Marrowgar. It takes everyone working together to make it a success. From donating to the guild bank so people can level professions and repair broken armor to helping people gear up alts, everyone must contribute to help the guild reach it's full potential.
Keeping these facts in mind, I want us all to think about a few issues.
25-Man Progression - Yes, it sucks to wipe and it sucks to fail at seemingly simple tasks. It's even frustrating beyond words at times. However, it's something that can be overcome. With patience, understanding, and practice things will only become easier. The frustrations are part of the guild growing; nothing comes free and without hard work, for everything good the guild does for you this is where you are able to pay it back. By being patient and understanding with your peers; by practicing with them.
Guild Bank - I want to start by saying this portion is in no way targeting anyone, this is a general post that I expect everyone to read and understand. This is a resource for the guild, it is not a resource for -you-. By helping others with materials for leveling professions and by donating money for repairs you are strengthening the guild. As such, it is not for you to take of freely. If you are able to remove mats and you take them, I expect them to be repaid in some way. Whether this means you are leveling enchanting for the guild or you're putting other mats in to help others. It is not for you to repair out of it for your randoms, your pugs, or anything that is not a guild function. Plain and simple, it is rude and it's morally wrong. If I leave the bank open for repairs on accident and you repair from it, you are taking advantage of a mistake and that is WRONG. I will not tolerate seeing people repairing from the guild bank for personal functions and not putting anything back in return. From time to time I will leave the bank open for repairs for all ranks for personal use, when I do so it will be listed in the guild message of the day, you are free to repair from it, this is the guild giving back to you. If it is not listed in the MOTD that you may use repairs for personal use, do not use them as such. We will start billing you or worse, booting you from the guild.
General Attitude to guild mates - I understand that you may feel you're the best player in the game and that's awesome. Your gearscore is soaring and you're topping the meters. This does not mean you get to be a dick to players that may not be as good as you. We are a guild, we are here to help ALL of our guildmates. You think someone is doing poorly? Research it thoroughly, make sure you know what you are talking about. Then POLITELY offer them constructive criticism. The other end of the spectrum is if someone POLITELY offers you constructive criticism you should take it constructively and learn. Give people some slack, don't be an asshole, whether it's to someone who volunteered to lead a 25man raid so the guild can get better, or if it's someone who may be low on damage meters. If everyone is treating everyone else with the respect they deserve then things will run much more smoothly. Also, keep in mind from time to time people will give each other some friendly hazing, for the most part this isn't meant to be mean; if you can't handle it, just ask them to stop, they will.
We are a team, if you want to play for yourself then we are not the guild for you. I expect everyone to work together for the greater good of everyone involved, if you cannot do such, then you are probably better off looking for another guild that can suit your needs more accurately. The upper management has no problem assisting you in this matter with a swift /gkick in the ass.
Remember guys, the golden rule, treat others as you yourself want to be treated.
From your friendly GRAND GM,
Rylus/Akulu/Lynari (Bitch, please.)
P.S. I am also seeking people to be somewhat of a "class lead". I'm looking for people that are exceptionally skilled with their class and will actively seek out guild members that may not be performing to their full potential. To be eligible for this position you not only have to be skilled at your class, you must also exhibit excellent social skills and have the ability to present your criticisms constructively.
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New Ranks Live
Posted by Rylus on 31-Jan-10 06:51am
The new ranking system is now live. Here's a rundown of what they are:
Naughty Chair - Punishment rank, removes your ability to speak in guild chat, all you may do is listen. Nose in the corner, please.
Pending - Rank for pending members, those who have not signed up for the guild website and have been in for less than a week. If you've done both, please ask an officer to promote you.
Alts - For all alts...my God..there are so many.
Members - For members who don't wish to raid. Ask for promotion if you have this rank and want to raid.
Raiding Members - Blanket rank for all raiding members.
Veteran - For long standing and awesome members. (Members that have been in a year or more).
Raid Leader - For my raid leaders, check public note for what tier of raids they may lead.
Officers - HR Department. They handle matters of public relations, having an issue? Talk to these guys.
Guild Masters - Masters of the Guild, they see all.
GRAND GM - Bitch, please.
Raid tier system rundown:
Tier 1 - Progression Raids, for exceptionally skilled players.
Tier 2 - Normal Raids, for gearing and skilling our player base.
Tier 3 - Older Content as well as odd hour raids (morning, afternoon, super late night).
Still looking for those raid leaders. Now accepting applications for Raid Leading in all tiers. Please forward all interest right into my mailbox. Include: Tier you wish to be leading raids in, why you want to be a raid leader, and what you feel you can offer to the guild as a raid leader.
Signed,
GRAND GM (Bitch, please.)
P.S. I'm currently looking for some people to volunteer to be somewhat "class leaders". What I'm looking for here is for someone with a lot of knowledge on a class to step up and actively seek out members who look like they could be doing better. To be eligible to this position you must not only know a lot about your class, but you also have to exhibit great social skills and know how to present your criticisms constructively.
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Wanted: New Raid Leaders
Posted by Rylus on 30-Jan-10 06:00am
Wanted: New Raid Leaders In preparation for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm I will be seeking new raid leaders. We will be migrating to a new system for raids. In this new system all raids will be classified into one of three tiers. Keep in mind these will be sorted by RAID and not raid LEADER. The first tier of raids will be the progression style raids; these will have a strict requirement for -skill- and, to a much lesser degree, gear of the raiders involved. The second tier is the heart of the raids; this is the tier where raids are ran to gear players as well as increase their skill level. After all, practice makes perfect. Finally, the last tier will consist of less mainstream raids; these will contain raids that do older content (in WotLK this consists of raids from Ulduar all the way down to Vanilla WoW raids) and raids that happen at non-mainstream raiding times, such as late night and daytime raids. Raid leaders will be chosen from several factors. These include: helpfulness and dedication to the guild, leadership abilities, and the ability to work with management to further the best interest of the guild. Raid leaders will be given approval for what tier of raids they may lead. As an example, leaders who are approved for leading tier 1 raids will be allowed to run the lesser tiers of raids, while leaders who are approved to lead tier 3 raids will only be allowed to work in the confines of those raids. This is to reduce confusion and set a hierarchical system in place. This leads to the next topic I wish to discuss: ranks. The current rank system I have in place seems to be failing in a way. Originally, I wanted a large amount of ranks to keep it interesting and give players rewards for being helpful. While I feel that this was a success to some degree, I also feel that it made things more complicated than they needed to be. The way they are now is very hard to administrate in addition to confusing people. I will be redoing the ranks to a simpler system in the very near future. Another thing I wish to do with the ranks is to make a better distinction between "officer" style ranks and raid lead ranks. Officers in the guild will have a different role than raid leading. My future officers will be there to deal with guild issues and to ensure the guild operating smoothly. My raid leaders will be there to ensure that raids are running efficiently and going as smoothly as possible. I want to wrap this post up by restating the mentality that I created this guild with and to reaffirm its goals. This guild is a casual raiding guild. We do not require people to raid, nor do we turn those away that wish to raid. This tier system is going to be put in place to make sure we can have a well-rounded guild that can cater to all players. For those that wish to progress and continually challenge themselves we will have our first tier progression raids; for those that wish to experience content as it becomes more open to the player base we have our tier two "main-stream" style raids. Finally, for those that wish to have fun, or have a home where they can raid at times that suit them, we have our tier three raids. I expect you to play WoW; I do not expect WoW to play you. To the best of my efforts, as well as those of my officers and raid leaders, players will be treated fairly. This includes making it so -all- players can raid and making it so those that wish to progress may. In the next week expect to see these changes start to come into effect. This includes the new ranking system! Thanks for reading my long winded posts, guys, and I'll see you in game! Sincerely, MGMT.
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I'm back!
Posted by Rylus on 14-Nov-09 09:06pm
A Personal Note
Hey everyone, I want to start out this post with a few apologies, the first is for the length of this post, this post is going to be long and contain a lot of very important information, please read it in it's entirety. As you all know myself and my wife hit a busy patch when school started up, I started working 50-60 hour work weeks on what basically was an intern position that I needed to finish up my 2 year degree, I also started on my 4 year degree online, so I had very little free time. I want to apologize to the guild as I feel I dropped the ball in a way, not because I got busy and could not play, but I failed at having a logical command structure in place in case such an event happened. While I cannot say for certainty that I will never have to take an extended leave again, I can say that I will do my best to ensure that if I ever do fall off the face of the planet again, the guild will be able to function more or less as intended. I feel that the majority of the problems that arose when I got busy was that I was overly ambitious with my leading of the guild. For a long time I led every raid and dealt with almost all problems on my own. WoW ended up taking up many many hours of my day and for awhile that was okay. However, that pace could not continue on forever. I made a few half-hearted attempts at delegating more raid leaders and more control with mixed results. In the middle of sitting down to seriously consider new options for officers and raid leaders I had to take my leave. While I was gone a few of you stepped up and basically completed my job for me. So, I'd like to thank both Kastle (Karl) and GryphonRose (Liz), for taking on some of that burden. This also leads me into my next apology. I feel that I owe an apology, and a public one at that, to Whippet (Andy). I felt that as I was gone enough of you in the guild had my phone number or alternate ways of contacting me that you wouldn't assume I was dead. Obviously I did not take into account that the majority of you did not and that new players entering the guild would be unsure of the state the guild was in when they saw the GM only logged in every 2-3 weeks and for 5-10 minutes at a time. Andy, the only active officer, without much warning had to assume the roles that I once filled. He also had to continually reassure everyone that I had not quit the game and eventually I'd be returning. So, to Andy, I'm sorry that I put that much responsibility on you with very little notice and I thank you for handling it with such grace. Whippet has now obtained the rank of Warlord in the guild, for all intents and purposes he is a co-GM. I also owe a huge thank you to Ressengan, I hear from several people that he really got the raids going again.
State of the Guild
Though I've only been back a few days I can see the guild is doing very well thanks to the efforts of all of you! The 10-man raids are progressing well through ToC and the guild is getting quite geared (leaving myself and my wife in the dust). I want to thank all of the members that have stuck with the guild while I was gone, you guys are what makes this guild what it is. To the new members, thanks for joining up and I'm excited about getting to meet you all.
State of Raids
This is the section that I'm sure everyone will be the most interested in. The state of the raids. Currently, we have two ten mans going, both have now cleared 10-man ToC. I do not wish to interrupt the way these are going, I feel that this is the best way to continue on with Icecrown. This guild has historically had better success in the 10s versus the 25s, this is due to lack of consistent raiders showing up for the 25 and obviously the difference in administrative burden between managing 10 people over 25. I feel that all progression, for the time being, should happen in the 10s. This is not to say that we will not do 25-man raids. The two tens will continue on, with the addition of a 25-man raid, led by your fearless leader, me. This is where I need some feedback from the guild as a whole. I need to know what days you feel you could devote to a 25. Currently I'm looking at a Saturday or Sunday launch point, but as always, I'm very flexible. As for my involvement in the 10s, expect to see switching which I run with from time to time. I want to make sure they are both being run consistently and smoothly. I will not be leading them, but I will make sure they are being ran in the best interest of the guild.
State of Raiding Members
This section is to briefly discuss what I'm going to start looking for in raiders. We are a casual raiding guild and I have no plans on changing that. That said, we are going to start looking for our members to be able to display a certain level of skill in the difficult raids. I'm not going to start telling certain people they can't raid with us, that has never been a way I've felt guilds should be ran. However, I am going to start requiring people to take constructive criticism, to go READ about your class, to ASK QUESTIONS of others that are doing a better job. Once we start progressing through harder content, you will have to be capable of pulling your own weight or else you are hindering the other 9 or 24 players from being able to complete a raid. Also, especially in 10s, raids will have to be logically set up on classes and players to best give each raid an opportunity of finishing. Both 10 man raids should have equal footing in completing the raid successfully. Another thing I wish to discuss is the GearScore addon. While it is useful in determining at a glance how well a player will do, it is not to be used in this guild as a measure of a players worth. I was still pulling plenty of DPS with a low gear score. Just as certain people with high gear scores are capable of doing exceptionally bad, people with low gear scores are capable of doing exceptionally well, keep that in mind.
Loot
This section will be small. Expect the return of SKG, in some form, for the 25 man raids. A guild that gears evenly has a much better chance of progressing than those that do not. Keep this in mind in 10 man raids as well. Loot whoring is not allowed. One DPS should not walk out of a raid with 3 upgrades and the others walk out with none. I believe that you guys, for the most part, do this on your own. If it becomes a problem, as awlays, I will have to change it. For you new players, I have a nice write-up of SKG somewhere on this site, go find it.
Website
I realize that most of you hate the website, I apologize that some people have a rough time with it. However, (always a however) the website is not going away. I will continue to require players to sign up for it. If you are new and have not, you need to. The reason I make people sign up for this site is it shows a certain level of dedication to the guild. If you can not take a few minutes to sign up for a website, I can not take a few minutes to give you loot in a raid, it's as simple as that. Also, as you can see, it's a great tool to use to help your other guild members, or write out extremely long posts that would not fit in a WoW mail.
Happy questing everyone and I'll see you in the raids!
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