Oh Cataclysm, My Cataclysm

[GM Fright]

IMPORTANT THINGS ARE ABOUT TO BE SAID.

Listen here, chumps.

There have been some questions lately. A lot of questions lately. These are the things I think they said, "omg thers so meny new peeple that wur old ABSO members WTF WE GUNNA DO?!?!" Also, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING IN CATA!!! OMG!!!" Similarly, "I SIMPLY DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!!!" On top of that, "R WE recruitinG fir now or fir CATA?" And in that same vein, "WUT R WE recruiting!?" Lastly, "FUCKING CATACLYSM?!?!!?!?!??!?!?!?"

So here's my attempt to answer all of your fears.

Yes, Cataclysm is coming soon. A couple months? Less? I don't know. Soon. However, we still have the here and the now to focus on. We are still progressing through heroic Icecrown. We are not done there yet, so don't get your fucking panties in a twist over Cataclysm yet. Remember, we will not be jumping right into raiding immediately when the expansion is released. There will be 2 or 3 weeks of levelling for us to straighten out everything with switching mains and roster spots and all that mess. This is not an urgent situation.

It's very likely we will have quite a few of our old members come back to us for the expansion. We've already had some show up. We will not sacrifice our current raiders for these players, and they will have to be content with a secondary role in the meantime. However, as always, our policy of the best players raiding still stands. If you're not performing or attending, and someone else is, then I hope your resumé is up to date.

The first couple months of Cataclysm will be a very turbulent time. With some people switching mains, we might find ourselves with a couple empty spots, and a couple other spots too full. My plan right now, and this might change so don't get all worked up, is to just pop everyone outside of officers back down to initiate, and make you earn your raid spot for Cataclysm. If you don't attend, or you don't perform, then you will be let go. And we will almost certainly see the departure of some of our old members and friends. It will not be an easy time, but we are running this guild for the betterment of it's dedicated raiders, with the intent of progression. There may be some that will need to step aside.

As for recruiting, until we have a wait list every fucking night, then we are not done recruiting. Right now, find me a fucking mage.

Fìn.

[Griiiiiiimmer]

One thing I want to mention is that the guild leveling system rewards achievement whores big chunks of XP. More guild XP and the faster we get perks that make us level faster, gather more herbs, and get access to bitching mounts like the scorpion whose model is up. Lots of these achievements require groups of 10 or 20 people of completely guild members to raid or pvp. So that should stay us over for a few raid nights as a place holder in my opinion. Here is your motivation,

[hanieko]

so sick i want 1

[Bananashroom]

More people, in a way can help us with the guild achievement and such, wtb friends rank or something like that to push more for guild rewards!

[Brasidas!]

FUCKING CATACLYSM!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!11

[Junkr]

If we are getting a large number of people to rejoin, perhaps we could form a 25 man team and 10 man team that could raid on the same days. Then do alt runs later in the week or something.

One of the guild achievements I saw in a video was catching 25,000 fish. Hopefully that achievement will be based on previous character statistics. So - who are the fishers here that are gonna help me bust that one out?

[Lydecker Lies]

Junkr wrote:

If we are getting a large number of people to rejoin, perhaps we could form a 25 man team and 10 man team that could raid on the same days. Then do alt runs later in the week or something. One of the guild achievements I saw in a video was catching 25,000 fish. Hopefully that achievement will be based on previous character statistics. So - who are the fishers here that are gonna help me bust that one out?

You have my fishing pole.

[Ourstateobzen]

Lydecker Lies wrote:

Junkr wrote: If we are getting a large number of people to rejoin, perhaps we could form a 25 man team and 10 man team that could raid on the same days. Then do alt runs later in the week or something. One of the guild achievements I saw in a video was catching 25,000 fish. Hopefully that achievement will be based on previous character statistics. So - who are the fishers here that are gonna help me bust that one out? You have my fishing pole.

AND MY AXE

[Griiiiiiimmer]

Ourstateobzen wrote:

Lydecker Lies wrote: Junkr wrote: If we are getting a large number of people to rejoin, perhaps we could form a 25 man team and 10 man team that could raid on the same days. Then do alt runs later in the week or something. One of the guild achievements I saw in a video was catching 25,000 fish. Hopefully that achievement will be based on previous character statistics. So - who are the fishers here that are gonna help me bust that one out? You have my fishing pole. AND MY AXE

and my Spear

http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/58119/fishing-spear-nyi/

Srsly though I am more interested in the achievement where we make 5k flasks because then it unlocks the guild cauldron. Probably gonna go flask spec untill we get that.

[Lydecker Lies]

Hope it's not limited to rogues, hunters and warriors.

[Tuco.]

Big list of guild achievements. The details aren't there, but some of them are obvious enough.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Guild_achievements

[-Bellasaer-]

So it wasn't 25000 fish....it was actually 100000.

This day just keeps getting better and better...

[GM Fright]

Part 2 in a continuing series on Cataclysm.

Questions that I will attempt to answer in this part:
"WUT THE FUCK WE DOIN WIT FLEX RAID THINGY?!?!"
"GUILD CHEESE AND MINTS?!?!?!!!!"
"ur kicking me when cata releeses Rn't u.... /wrists"
"ur kicking me tomorrow Rn't u.... /wrists"
"LET ME FIX ATTENDANCE CUZ U FUCKING SUCK AT IT"
"wil u b my new daddy?"
"FOUR POINT FUCKING ZERO POINT FUCKING ONE!?!?!!?!?!!"

So here we go, in no particular order.

I hear the Cataclysm release was pushed back about a month to the first or second week of December. That would lead me to believe that 4.0.1 was pushed back about a month, also, otherwise the game is going to be really fucked for over two months...
Either way, here's the current plan at each phase:
-Right now, don't fucking worry about cata, shut up and keep progressing until HLK is dead.
-When 4.0.1 hits we'll take some time to figure out how it might effect our raiding. If shit's fucked, then we'll use the time to prepare for cata in several different ways. If shit's not fucked, then we'll continue to progress to avoid being rusty when we do finally get to cata raids.
-When Cataclysm is released, no more raiding. Duh. We will focus on levelling 100%. During normal raid times we will instead organize dungeon and quest groups. If your class has the ability to tank, it would probably be a good idea to have something ready to fill that role for some of those guild groups. It will help us all level faster.
-When we have enough 85s to raid, we will. On the same schedule, and with the same standards.

Speaking of raiding, thanks to Kaasi I finally understand what the fuck they were talking about with the Flexible Raid ID thing. The first thing to realize is this: the first two or three months of Cataclysm, you're probably not going to find PUG raids. None worth joining at least, because usually the good ones are put together by players in real guilds on their alts, but there aren't going to be a lot of level 85 alts out there for a while. Which is why we also won't be doing alt runs at first. Thursday - Sunday, instead of ten mans and alt runs, we'll organize Heroic groups and achievement stuff, because until your main character doesn't need anything else outside of raid drops, there's not very many reasons to spend a very large amount of time on your alts. No, I'm not saying you can't play them. Shut up. I'm just saying you'll have better things to focus on.

But anyway, we will make use of the Flexible Raid ID when necessary, but for the most part I don't intend to use it very often. Here's why:
-It does not work with Heroic Raids, and we are a Heroic raiding guild. Now if you're left out Tuesday and Wednesday, and you want to go play around with some PUG over the weekend, that's fine. But if you 1)save yourself somehow to further progression than us, preventing you from raiding Monday, or 2)do some heroic encounter with them, preventing you from raiding Monday, I will come to your house and wear your skin like a dress.
-We will be carrying more players in Cata than we have so far through Wrath. You may already notice a small difference, but there will be a few more. This means we should not find ourselves in the position of being short on raiders, and wanting to split into two 10 man raids for the night. So far in Wrath, we have walked a thin line on attendance. There have been nights when we had a wait list, and there have been nights when we were short people. Of those two things, only one is acceptable. Guess which. So, we will be aiming towards the wait list end of things, and we will be doing several things to help balance this.

For example, the wait list will receive a larger part of the overall DKP given for the raid, assuming they are online or in vent for the duration of the raid. This will be true whether or not we implement the new DKP awarding system, or just keep it the same. Also, we will be keeping a much closer count of attendance and signups. Much, much closer. Starting now. Actually, starting two months ago, as of now. I mean... I just did it now, but I went back two months. Anyway, I made a spreadsheet. That's right, a spreadsheet. And you can look at it if you click on one of those pretty Image Gallery pictures on the right, then go to the "File Library" tab. It's the only file. It's the first version, and I just put it together tonight, so if you notice any errors, let me know, because this will be a very important thing. Red next to your name is not good for you. Also, the sign up section ought to be just a solid block of 100% across the board. It's not, and though it's not surprising, it's still disappointing. That's absolutely the easiest thing to do around here. Just sign up, available/tentative/unavailable/whatever, just sign up.

So the main idea to take away from the last couple parts is this: we will have more people, and attendance is going to play a very big role in raid spots and membership. Sign up, show up, and if you're waitlisted a couple times, and you keep signing up and showing up, well maybe suddenly you'll be taking the place of someone who doesn't perform as well as you. That's how that works.

Hopefully that helps with some of the things that have been on all of your minds. If you have anything else you're curious about, or any ideas about stuff, or any new info, or whatever, come to me and let me know. I can't answer a question I'm never asked.

Fìn.

[GM Fright]

GM Fright wrote:

Also, we will be keeping a much closer count of attendance and signups... I made a spreadsheet. That's right, a spreadsheet. And you can look at it if you click on one of those pretty Image Gallery pictures on the right, then go to the "File Library" tab... So the main idea to take away from the last couple parts is this: we will have more people, and attendance is going to play a very big role in raid spots and membership. Sign up, show up, and if you're waitlisted a couple times, and you keep signing up and showing up, well maybe suddenly you'll be taking the place of someone who doesn't perform as well as you. That's how that works.

I'm finding it difficult to put enough emphasis on this.
http://artofruin.guildlaunch.com/gallery/library.php?gid=144239
You will find the attendance sheet here. I won't update it everyday on the website, but my version will always be up to date.

[GM Fright]

Part 3 in a continuing series on Cataclysm.

Questions that I will attempt to answer in this section:
"R we still raiding?"
"WUT we gunna do about DKPEES?!?!"
"...r u srs @ teh atindance ting?"
"HOW WILL WE SURVIVE THE CATACLYSM DEATHWING WILL KILL US ALL!!?!?!"
"Excuse me Sir, but could you kindly tell me what player classes we are currently recruiting?"
"i made poopie"

Aaannnnddd...... begin:

Yes you no-good, unreliable, fickle, pathetic scum of the earth, WE ARE STILL RAIDING. YOU ARE STILL EXPECTED TO ATTEND.
And like I told you three weeks ago in the post directly above this one, I am tracking attendance and sign-ups thoroughly.
Look, we're not all crazy hardcore and shit. You don't lose DKP if you can't make a raid or anything like that. But these few things are facts: we are a raiding guild; we cannot be a raiding guild if our members don't show up to raid; we don't want members that don't show up. By the transitive property of Use Your Fucking Brain, if you want to maintain your membership in this guild, you will show up to raid regularly.

This is not new.

GM Fright on June 8th, 2010 wrote:

2) Our raid schedule will be a thing set in stone. We don't exactly have an exact schedule just yet, as we're trying to figure some things out and get some feedback about which nights would work best, but once we get going with two or three 25 man nights, then those are our raid nights. Sign-ups will be required. Tardiness will not be appreciated. Absentee-ism will not be tolerated. We're not dictators, but we are your friends, and we'd like to be treated with the same courtesy you show your real life friends. If you're always late or you stand your friends up all the time in real life... well, then, I guess we expect more than you show your real life friends. You're in this guild to raid. Do it, and be on time for it.

So anyway, now that I've restated and reemphasized our expectations, there's this announcement: We are creating a new rank in the guild! WOW!!
This rank will be called something along the lines of "Dedicated Raider," or whatever I'm able to fit into the character limit rank name. This rank will not be anything like some bullshit "Veteran" or "Super Raider" rank, where promotion is subjective and there's no real benefits. In order to earn the Dedicated Raider rank, you will have to meet minimum requirements on your Sign Ups and your raid attendance.
Now the requirements aren't crazy. If your signups + showups are over 90% for all three raid nights, and you've been a raider for a certain amount of time not yet decided, you win. That's not extreme at all. Unfortunately, we only have about 10 members, including myself, that meet those requirements.

So what are the benefits you ask? A little extra bank access maybe. Guaranteed raid invite if you've signed up as available. Etc etc. Just the standard stuff, nothing out of this world. Afterall, you're just doing what's expected. Also, you won't get demoted to initiate at the expansion like everyone else. So you have a month and a half to fix your attendance/signups to earn that rank before you're an initiate again.


About DKP. If you have it now, and there are things you want, I recommend you spend it to get those things. At Cataclysm's release, everyone will receive a percentage reduction of their DKP. What percentage isn't exact just yet, but somewhere in the 80-90% range. This accomplishes many things, but primarily it prevents us from having to roll for gear when we start out, and it also allows those who didn't get the opportunity to spend much of their DKP the first shot at the first drop or two in our first cataclysm raids. That's really all, just one or two things to start off. So if you feel like it would be a great idea to just save all your DKP until you're got 400 so that you can get stuff at the start, then you'll have probably 40 DKP, and you'll get one thing. Or you could spend another 150 on stuff now, end up with 25 DKP, and very likely still get that one thing. Or you can just blow everything you have now for epic lootz, and then you'll get that one thing on our second raid. Don't over think it. Just spend your DKP as usual.

Also, we are now recruiting for cataclysm. What are we full on? Resto shamen, main tanks (maybe), rogues. I updated the application forum post to indicate we are actively recruiting a hunter, a warlock, and a warrior tank/dps. We could probably stand to grab a holy pally as well.

We will begin to talk about and adjust for people who are switching their mains very soon. I think I know more or less everyone who is, but if you are going to switch, whisper me in-game as soon as you're sure. That is very important.

Fìn.