Some advice from the most awesome person you know.

GM Fright · Officer Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 2698

Listen up, cum buckets. I want to tell you something very important.

We're reaching a point in the expansion where people "burning out" can start to become an issue. Many of us have been going hard and fast at the game since the release of Cataclysm, and eventually things can start to wear down on some people. This is something that needs to be avoided if you intend to retain your spot in this guild.

"I'm going to take a few weeks away from the game, but when I come back I'll be ready to raid!"
Tell me this if you would like me to remove you from the guild.

*well fuck you Frightening, I'll just sign up as unavailable for several weeks and just not show up. what then, bitch!?*
Do this if you would like me to remove you from the guild.

I have been more than a little understanding of outside circumstances that prevent our members from raiding for extended periods of time. Shit happens, and sometimes there's nothing that can be done, I absolutely understand that. However, "I'm sick" is not generally a valid excuse, excepting maybe AIDs or Flesh Eating Bacteria. You're sitting at a computer for heaven's sake, not running a marathon. Junkr brought his puke bucket to the raid not long ago. I couldn't hardly talk a month ago, so I took a handful of pills and lead the fucking raid. There are certainly real reasons for missing a raid or two here or there, but if it's a habit, you might need to find someone else's time to waste. We are not hardcore, but if we expect to be a heroic progression guild, we damned well better be dedicated to the guild and to each other. This is not simply a game you play in your spare time, this is a team and we are your friends, and unless you're a terrible person, then you don't want to let your team down or disappoint your friends.

We've got one of, if not the lightest raiding schedules of the top 10 guilds on the server. If you're not able to commit to three nights a week on a very consistent basis, and BE ON TIME for those raids, then we need to discuss your membership. I will not have progression halt because our members can't show up for raids. I will instead find members that can show up for raids.

So, to the main point of the post: preventing burn-out and thus assuring your ability to fulfill your one and only fucking obligation to this guild - three raid nights a week. Here's a few ideas:
-go get some sun over the weekend you pasty white bastards
-instead of leveling alts and ten billion professions, go watch TV, or read a book, or just get the fuck away from your computer for a while.
-set aside one of the 4 non-raid days as the day you will not play WoW each week.
-work/life/WoW balance. seek it, achieve it.
-don't simply play wow every time you want to play wow. that's like masturbating every time you want to masturbate, eventually your pecker would fall off. practicing a little self control can go a long way in assuring your long-term enjoyment of this game (and your pecker).
-go create something other than a female blood elf paladin. maybe a paper-mache volcano or something. I don't know.

In this vein, we will not be organizing guild alt raids on the weekends for the time being. We will resume this in the future, I'm thinking right now we'll start it up at the next raid content patch, but we'll see. For now, take that time and use it for something other than WoW, cause on Monday, you will be expected to be online on time and ready to raid.

I play this game to progress no matter what, and I'm going to surround myself with players who have the same goal. Ask yourself if you fit that description, and then figure out whether or not you've been playing the part.

Fìn.

GM Fright · Officer Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 2698

Also, we'll start promoting/demoting members into and out of the Dedicated rank within the next week or so. There are plenty of our raiders who have exceptional attendance, and we will start recognizing that now that we've had enough time to really measure it.

Tavie · Officer Joined: 10 May 2010 Posts: 388

GM Fright wrote:

In this vein, we will not be organizing guild alt raids on the weekends for the time being. We will resume this in the future, I'm thinking right now we'll start it up at the next raid content patch, but we'll see. For now, take that time and use it for something other than WoW, cause on Monday, you will be expected to be online on time and ready to raid.

Just seeking some clarification on this, some of us would like to do alt raids over the weekend even if we pug it. I am assuming you are not trying to exercise restrictions on that activity. I would prefer if we could do it within the guild even on a pure voluntary basis.

If people are seriously getting burned out, then don't sign up or show up. The alt raid will either happen or it won't.

There should be no expectation that the officers lead these efforts, or guild resources used to support them. But using the guild (in-game calendar)/forum mechanics to try to organize something would be.

I guess I am asking the distinction between "we will not be organizing" and "if you cum buckets want to do this shit on your own thats cool"

With respect to attendance issues, I agree whole heartedly. Since it is NCAA time, I would hate to show up to the tourney with all my starters missing and only playing with my bench and players playing new positions. This is what our raiding has been like the last few weeks. When we have the varsity squad on the floor we can do amazing things.

Since I am a healer I will comment from that perspective. Healers are not fungible. Certain classes bring mechanics to the raid that open up other opportunities. This will certainly be more evident on the heroic encounters. It is not to say that healing wouldn't happen, just that it would be better. Doing heroic Chim or Halfus even without a holy paladin or 2 is freaking hard, doable but extremely hard.

Heroic encounter healing is going to take a lot of coordinated teamwork, this is hard to accomplish when our healing core is in a permanent flux as it has been the last few weeks.

I appreciate that we do the best with what we have and am not complaining about that, just pointing out that we could do so much more if we could consistently put our best on the floor playing their primary positions.

Junkr · Friend Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 333

Good wake up call.

I like to steal people's thunder so I'm going to add/mention one thing.

SIGN UP FOR RAIDS.

Get that?

PLEASE SIGN UP FOR RAIDS

It takes maybe 30 seconds to sign up as 'available' and if something changes, you can notify us VIA the afk thread.

Also, signing up <1 hour before the raid is basically just as bad as not signing up at all. Moving from tentative to available is okay, assuming you signed up tentative a day or so in advance. There is no reason to not sign up for raids AT LEAST A DAY in advance. No good reason, anyway. Even nanners is signing up still.

If our number of 'available' jumps up 4 or 5 within the final 30 minutes before raid time again, I'm probably going to murder the world. And yes, that includes you.

GM Fright · Officer Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 2698

Of course you can pug alt runs on the weekends if you like. You pay for the game, do what you want. That's why the post was called "advice," not a "mandate." I'm just saying that I've seen it all before, and a little moderation at this point is a good idea, ya know.

This post wasn't aimed at anyone in particular and wasn't brought about by one person, it's just a general commentary at an appropriate time aimed at everyone.

Like I said, real conflicts happen and I understand, (azakel got married, hulk's work blew up, mast is moving across the country, whatever), I'm just telling each of you that at a certain point, we need to hold the best interest of the guild as a whole over any special considerations we'd like to extend to our members, because recently we've had to extend a lot of special considerations, and out current policy is leaving us struggling for a full raid sometimes. Dedication is the new key word.

Hulkssmash · Joined: 02 Nov 2010 Posts:

I'll be back soon i PROMISE.

"soon" to be defined at a later date....

kaasi · Friend Joined: 19 Jan 2010 Posts: 350

Junkr wrote:

signing up <1 hour before the raid is basically just as bad as not signing up at all.

within the last hour or so we went from 17 signed up to 26....

GM Fright · Officer Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 2698

kaasi wrote:

Junkr wrote:

signing up <1 hour before the raid is basically just as bad as not signing up at all.

within the last hour or so we went from 17 signed up to 26....

Aye. It's been a problem around these parts for as long as I can remember. I cut off signups officially at 6:00 server, so I guess all of you bastards that get it in just before then are technically clear. But that's kinda like saying any chick who only has anal sex is technically a virgin.

It's not the biggest problem in the world, so I've not made it a priority, but it definitely does help me plan and coordinate lots of big and little things by looking at signups a day or two ahead of time. With the Dashboard tab, it's so damned easy to signup for everything ahead of time (with the option to change it later if needed), that's it's just silly for all you anal-whores to wait till the last minute.