Strange Beginnings
Strange beginnings
Welcome,
Yes this is probably the WoW blog number X starting up about some guy and his adventures in WoW. Why make another one? Well, for the most part I kind of like to talk about what goes on around me, either with my friends or trough forums and whatnot. Also, I want this blog to be not only a story about me and my character in WoW but also a column for me to talk about the game, its strategies, tactics, story and everything in between. And finally, I may have a bit of too much free time on my hands so why not make something instead of looking at the paint dry.
Meet Malphera!
Say hello to my toon Malphera! She’s a young undead priestess currently level 31 with the hope of making it into the big leagues on the Uldaman server. What big leagues?? I’m talking about end-game raiding, talking about going to say hello to my friend Kel’thuzad and killing him. As a player I’m nuts about instances. For some strange reason I find it fun to spend a few hours in a dungeon trying to kill mobs too hard for a single player. I seem to have the rare power not to be easily burned out or annoyed by those funny dumb players who seems to crop up so every often. But the thing is that I never really truly managed to go raiding due a number of events I’ll entertain you with later on. So with Malphera this time I fully intend to make it and be successful at raiding!
Back to Malphera, when I rolled on this server I decided to make a horde character because all my previous high level characters where Alliance plus I love everything that is related to the undead so the choice was easy. Why priest? One reason is that I only played DPS classes so far(mage and rogue) and I wanted something different but the big reason is that priest get to do more instances, get easier invites and manage to get into guilds easier. This is even more true on horde side. Kinda selfish I know but at the same time I’ve been told that to enjoy WoW the most you’ve got to be honest with what you want out of this game and do what is necessary to obtain it. For some people it’s RP so they roll on a RP server, others want PvP so they spend their time in battlegrounds, for me it’s raiding and instancing so I’ll play a class that’s needed for it.
45 minutes Kraul!
Razorfen Kraul is a rather strange place for me. Having played up to 60 on alliance side for a long time I know nearly every 5 man instance by heart. But for some reason I had never made serious forays in RFK, fartest I had gone was for the warrior quest a long time ago and a disenchant run with my rogue. So for me RFK was like a new instance. I say was because since I hit 26 I’ve done the place 6 times and there will probably be a 7th and 8th time. I have to say that it’s a rather funny instance. Lootwise it isn’t the greatest place(especially for a caster) but it’s an interesting instance, not too long and it looks nice even if it’s not a very challenging instance. I can’t say that there’s really any hard parts in there. Most of the groups I’ve teamed with knew what they where doing and with the exception of a total greedy whining kid yesterday it’s been smooth sailing. Most groups I’ve been with seemed in a hurry to finish the instance so it’s great practice for healing. I started calling these 45 minutes kraul runs, wich seems a trend on this server. I guess most hordes are in a hurry but as long as we survive it’s all good with me.
The rant! What I’m looking for in a guild.
I can now hear some of you guys ask who I am, why I rerolled on a new server when it’s obvious I already have high level characters who are much closer to raiding that this character. I’ll tell you why... DRAMA!
When I started playing about a year ago I approached this game with the best of intentions. Everything seemed great and I genuinely tough that if I played nice people would be nice to me and that getting 40 people together to raid wasn’t that hard to achieve, it just took longer for the nice guilds. How wrong I was, getting 40 people together is no mean feat and it takes coordination and rules because no matter how friendly you want to be when there’s 40 people involved and loot you can be sure at least one of them is going to cause some sort of trouble. I’ve heard rumors of successful end-game friendly guilds but for me those are a myth and I suspect these “friendly” guilds have the same rules as the “mean” ones.
This is what I look for in a guild now:
-organisation : Does the guild has a webpage and forum? Does the rules, recruitment process, officers and leaders are clearly defined? Do they use vent or teamspeak(required for successful raiding)
-goals : does the guild have a clear goal? A guild that say “ We’re a friendly group of friends and we plan on doing end-game when we get there” is not good enough for me. I’m looking for something more akin to “We are a end-game guild that raids from x and here’s how we will be doing it”. The first guild might be great people but to me its sounds more like : “ We want a guild for the sake of having one and not teaming with jerks. Stuff will happen when it does… nothing special planned” . The second guild has direction and will attract more members and will have more chance of doing raids than the first one. Again if raiding not on your agenda your probably better in the first guild.
-No drama policy: Every guild states it has one but few of them enforce it. I left two servers because I got sick with drama. I stopped playing 3 months and stopped playing with RL friends who did not want to start anew on another server. So I’m mighty sick of drama. So whatever guild I will end-up joining will need to have a zero-tolerance for it. In that regard I say dictatorship FTW!
But I hear some say: “why don’t you take the time to talk things over, step back, etc… etc…”. I tried all those things on my last server and believe me I was more than patient about it. Well, talking and stepping back does not resolve problems. Most of the time it only pushes the problem away to fester and then when it comes back its worse. I’m not saying never say if something bothering you but here’s how you do it. You state the problem calmly once and only once to the responsible person(officer, guild leader, etc…). If its with another guild member do it in private. Once you get your answer its final. Its not debatable or anything. That leaves you with a simple choice, either accept the answer or suck it up. If you can’t, leave the guild. Not only it’s easier on the officers who already have a painful job to do, it keeps drama down and its easier on you. Don't argue, debate or complain to other members, in the end you can’t change a guild and you can’t force people to agree with you. And last bit of advice, don’t get caught in other members drama.
-Commitment : is the guild committed to its goals and willing to take steps to realize them . A good example of this is requiring members to drop what they are doing if they are needed for a raid. It may seems cold to other people on the server but believe me that there’s nothing more frustrating than seeing 50 levels 60 online during a scheduled raid time and not be able to raid because they prefer to do something else. Along the same lines are rules concerning alts and PvP. In short its one thing to say you want to raid end-game but its another to do what is required to make it.
So what does all of this means for Malphera? Well first it means that I won’t join any other kind of guild than a raiding one. It means also that it will have to be properly set-up with a website and so forth. Besides everything I said earlier I also added a few rules for myself as I level up. I decided I would not join any guild that did not have the follwing:
1- enough members to run a raid. For me that’s about 60 active players
2- not until Malphera is level 50 or lower if invited by a guild that is already doing end-game or very close to it(so far I know only about a guild called Jade on uldaman that is at this point).
3-most of its member are in the 40+ range and showing advancement. I don't want to wait a year to get raiding and most "raiding guilds" I've been in who had a lot of low players never made it to raids.
I know I sound like I have a lot of conditions and its true but at the same time once I join a guild usually I go all out. I help a ton and I try to be as available as I can to help the guild. For me it boils down to this, if the guild you join is able to provide what you are looking for in the game then it’s your job to help make that happens. In this case once I find a guild serious about end-game and willing to go the distance I’ll do whatever is necessary to help out that guild and its members so we can progress.
Welcome,
Yes this is probably the WoW blog number X starting up about some guy and his adventures in WoW. Why make another one? Well, for the most part I kind of like to talk about what goes on around me, either with my friends or trough forums and whatnot. Also, I want this blog to be not only a story about me and my character in WoW but also a column for me to talk about the game, its strategies, tactics, story and everything in between. And finally, I may have a bit of too much free time on my hands so why not make something instead of looking at the paint dry.
Meet Malphera!
Say hello to my toon Malphera! She’s a young undead priestess currently level 31 with the hope of making it into the big leagues on the Uldaman server. What big leagues?? I’m talking about end-game raiding, talking about going to say hello to my friend Kel’thuzad and killing him. As a player I’m nuts about instances. For some strange reason I find it fun to spend a few hours in a dungeon trying to kill mobs too hard for a single player. I seem to have the rare power not to be easily burned out or annoyed by those funny dumb players who seems to crop up so every often. But the thing is that I never really truly managed to go raiding due a number of events I’ll entertain you with later on. So with Malphera this time I fully intend to make it and be successful at raiding!
Back to Malphera, when I rolled on this server I decided to make a horde character because all my previous high level characters where Alliance plus I love everything that is related to the undead so the choice was easy. Why priest? One reason is that I only played DPS classes so far(mage and rogue) and I wanted something different but the big reason is that priest get to do more instances, get easier invites and manage to get into guilds easier. This is even more true on horde side. Kinda selfish I know but at the same time I’ve been told that to enjoy WoW the most you’ve got to be honest with what you want out of this game and do what is necessary to obtain it. For some people it’s RP so they roll on a RP server, others want PvP so they spend their time in battlegrounds, for me it’s raiding and instancing so I’ll play a class that’s needed for it.
45 minutes Kraul!
Razorfen Kraul is a rather strange place for me. Having played up to 60 on alliance side for a long time I know nearly every 5 man instance by heart. But for some reason I had never made serious forays in RFK, fartest I had gone was for the warrior quest a long time ago and a disenchant run with my rogue. So for me RFK was like a new instance. I say was because since I hit 26 I’ve done the place 6 times and there will probably be a 7th and 8th time. I have to say that it’s a rather funny instance. Lootwise it isn’t the greatest place(especially for a caster) but it’s an interesting instance, not too long and it looks nice even if it’s not a very challenging instance. I can’t say that there’s really any hard parts in there. Most of the groups I’ve teamed with knew what they where doing and with the exception of a total greedy whining kid yesterday it’s been smooth sailing. Most groups I’ve been with seemed in a hurry to finish the instance so it’s great practice for healing. I started calling these 45 minutes kraul runs, wich seems a trend on this server. I guess most hordes are in a hurry but as long as we survive it’s all good with me.
The rant! What I’m looking for in a guild.
I can now hear some of you guys ask who I am, why I rerolled on a new server when it’s obvious I already have high level characters who are much closer to raiding that this character. I’ll tell you why... DRAMA!
When I started playing about a year ago I approached this game with the best of intentions. Everything seemed great and I genuinely tough that if I played nice people would be nice to me and that getting 40 people together to raid wasn’t that hard to achieve, it just took longer for the nice guilds. How wrong I was, getting 40 people together is no mean feat and it takes coordination and rules because no matter how friendly you want to be when there’s 40 people involved and loot you can be sure at least one of them is going to cause some sort of trouble. I’ve heard rumors of successful end-game friendly guilds but for me those are a myth and I suspect these “friendly” guilds have the same rules as the “mean” ones.
This is what I look for in a guild now:
-organisation : Does the guild has a webpage and forum? Does the rules, recruitment process, officers and leaders are clearly defined? Do they use vent or teamspeak(required for successful raiding)
-goals : does the guild have a clear goal? A guild that say “ We’re a friendly group of friends and we plan on doing end-game when we get there” is not good enough for me. I’m looking for something more akin to “We are a end-game guild that raids from x and here’s how we will be doing it”. The first guild might be great people but to me its sounds more like : “ We want a guild for the sake of having one and not teaming with jerks. Stuff will happen when it does… nothing special planned” . The second guild has direction and will attract more members and will have more chance of doing raids than the first one. Again if raiding not on your agenda your probably better in the first guild.
-No drama policy: Every guild states it has one but few of them enforce it. I left two servers because I got sick with drama. I stopped playing 3 months and stopped playing with RL friends who did not want to start anew on another server. So I’m mighty sick of drama. So whatever guild I will end-up joining will need to have a zero-tolerance for it. In that regard I say dictatorship FTW!
But I hear some say: “why don’t you take the time to talk things over, step back, etc… etc…”. I tried all those things on my last server and believe me I was more than patient about it. Well, talking and stepping back does not resolve problems. Most of the time it only pushes the problem away to fester and then when it comes back its worse. I’m not saying never say if something bothering you but here’s how you do it. You state the problem calmly once and only once to the responsible person(officer, guild leader, etc…). If its with another guild member do it in private. Once you get your answer its final. Its not debatable or anything. That leaves you with a simple choice, either accept the answer or suck it up. If you can’t, leave the guild. Not only it’s easier on the officers who already have a painful job to do, it keeps drama down and its easier on you. Don't argue, debate or complain to other members, in the end you can’t change a guild and you can’t force people to agree with you. And last bit of advice, don’t get caught in other members drama.
-Commitment : is the guild committed to its goals and willing to take steps to realize them . A good example of this is requiring members to drop what they are doing if they are needed for a raid. It may seems cold to other people on the server but believe me that there’s nothing more frustrating than seeing 50 levels 60 online during a scheduled raid time and not be able to raid because they prefer to do something else. Along the same lines are rules concerning alts and PvP. In short its one thing to say you want to raid end-game but its another to do what is required to make it.
So what does all of this means for Malphera? Well first it means that I won’t join any other kind of guild than a raiding one. It means also that it will have to be properly set-up with a website and so forth. Besides everything I said earlier I also added a few rules for myself as I level up. I decided I would not join any guild that did not have the follwing:
1- enough members to run a raid. For me that’s about 60 active players
2- not until Malphera is level 50 or lower if invited by a guild that is already doing end-game or very close to it(so far I know only about a guild called Jade on uldaman that is at this point).
3-most of its member are in the 40+ range and showing advancement. I don't want to wait a year to get raiding and most "raiding guilds" I've been in who had a lot of low players never made it to raids.
I know I sound like I have a lot of conditions and its true but at the same time once I join a guild usually I go all out. I help a ton and I try to be as available as I can to help the guild. For me it boils down to this, if the guild you join is able to provide what you are looking for in the game then it’s your job to help make that happens. In this case once I find a guild serious about end-game and willing to go the distance I’ll do whatever is necessary to help out that guild and its members so we can progress.
posted by Lono | 8:18 AM
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