Archive for the 'Guild' Category

Facebook Groups – A better guild forum?

When joining any non super casual guild, one of the compulsory things was the requirement to sign up to the guild forums. Most application processes required you do it through their forums, and to do that you had to create an account anyway.

The Guild forums were supposed to be a place where you could talk Strat’s, discuss guild business, get to know your guildies a little better,  post boss kill screen shots, send guildies personal messages,  post availabilities,  keep track of DKP and ask for technical advice,  or write long or short resignation letters. ( yes done that).

Some guilds had strict instructions to check it regularly for announcements, or just to make sure you stayed on top of what was going on   –  eg what strat videos you were required to watch.

But over the years,  at least for me,  the excitement of guild forums waned. Discussions were between only a few people, or it was only checked to see new applications, or post when I wasn’t going to be available. There was limited engagement between the guild on forums.

On our forums I’ve been in my current guild since January and I’ve made 2 posts and spent 1 hour 8 min in total logged into the guild website ( and most of that was likely idle )

But now we have a Facebook Group.

Thanks to one guildie who seemed to have everyone on their Facebook friends list anyway, everyone was added to a closed group on Facebook. ( non public)

We have already have Boss kill shots from our progression, old screen shots with the guild, shared pictures of new Keyboard, and Mouse pics  a share your UI post – and there have been speed test shots for those who have the NBN  ( alas for those like I who aren’t even on a roll out map yet )

I can set alerts for if I want to be notified if there is a new post.  I can check it via mobile or PC easily,  don’t need a separate log in, it’s not blocked by work filters for gaming related stuff and we seem to have more engagement with each other in the group so far then I’ve seen in the forums.

Generally,  I find it to be a  more convenient way for me at least to be connected to the guild.  I don’t need to have everyone on my flist, and I get a better idea of people’s names.   ( because some of them have known each other for a while,  they get referred to by their real names rather than toon name,  and it confuses/ confused me.

However

People want different things out of social media, set their own boundaries,  you really aren’t going to interact with each of your 500  different friends.  Do you need every man and his cat ( yes I know two friends who gave their cats Facebook pages)  that you have ever spoken to on your flist?.  I have my own boundaries. No work people, and limited family. It might be silly to try to keep parts of my life separated now, but I don’t think my mother needs to supervise what I do with my friends anymore, but they are my choices,

Also  Facebook is getting annoying, suggested pages/ads/ their viewing algorithms  – some people have already gotten over social media, and  not everyone has a Facebook,  or some people are using it less. Not everyone wants to be connected in that way.

One of the issues I have, is that we weren’t asked did we want to join a group, and this more a problem with how Facebook handles groups.   Facebook only allows your friends to add you to a group,  but it’s an opt out feature   you have to leave the group. You do not have control over who adds you to a group, nor have to click accept to be added.

From an engagement point though,  I think it’s a success. Most people in guild do have a Facebook.  We aren’t all each others friends, but there is communication, there are people reading it.  ( Facebook tells you how many people from the group see it )

Facebook may not offer the same functionality for say something like tracking DKP  – It doesn’t have a forum thread ability,  nor really a wiki place where people could post links to  sites like strats, The event function is pretty useless because of the in-game Calendar.  It does less than a guild site, yet the convenience factor means more people seem engaged with it.

However,  finally,  how important is the information shared in the Facebook group, or is it just another social media connection for the sake of being social,  rather than actively providing a real service/function to the guild, and I am leaning to it really being more of a social function then a practical purpose.

We have a few people in guild that use Wow Armory App, and log in remotely to provide updates as to their whereabouts  me <— ‘Running late after singing practice’ will be there soon, change their calender acceptance to raid ,or just to stay connected when they are away for long periods.  No one has logged into Facebook yet, and posted in guild group. ‘ Can’t make it to nite’

So what function does it serve?  In conclusion,  just a place to connect our real selves with each other, and maybe this is why it seems to be working in its current capacity. A guild forum,  isn’t necessarily a place to play.  It’s structured, every thread, and section has it’s purpose, a Facebook group is unstructured  – connect rather than inform.

 

 

Autonomy – Mastery – Purpose

If you haven’t seen this animation that made/is making the rounds  around the interwebs   RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us  and if you want something to think about it’s worth the 10 min of your time. Dan Pink from the RSA  ( Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce)   gives a speech, and they have turned it into a very clever animation  about what motivates or drives us. The talk was aimed at more company’s, and employers – and basically that treating  people like donkeys by waving carrots in  front of their face is not how your going  to get results and good performance.

Note that this isn’t about fun,  it’s about engaging people the right way  for better results.

I am going to throw the idea out there – that  the people who participate. ( Not troll.  Participate)  in the / a community by contributing things on forums, blogs, boss guides, even if it’s a small community like your guilds,   that they are better players than the people who don’t. They have more understanding of the game,  do more, have better opportunities,  keep more up to date with whats going on, know where the best information sources are also more importantly share what they know and most  do it for free.

This is all relates back to  Autonomy – Mastery – and Purpose.

What does a video about motivation have to do with wow?  If you are reading this, then you already think things about the game beyond the screen in front or you.  Your already on the path of Mastery and a lot of you show that you have purpose too,  by your contributions.

As per the speech. Most bonus scheme philosophies,  in any business or activity is to reward  the top performers.  If you do better than anyone else you get paid or rewarded, but the study where students from MIT and replicated in rural india  participated in tasks found that  “Higher incentives led to worse performance” the moment the task stopped being simple.

Do you think paying a guild to play will make them perform better?

Wonder why things like guild supplied Enchants, Gems, Food and Flasks  – performance or kill bonuses,  effectively paying them to raid, won’t make your guild perform better? 

Good players already have sourced the things that will make them perform better.   To get a guild to perform better, Based on the idea of Autonomy – Mastery – and Purpose,  it could just be as simple as getting the guild involved more in the discussion of the raid,  where everyone feels important, and that they are contributing to the greater plan  – and are not just another dps, or heals, that they have voices and those voices matter.

Autonomy, Master and Purpose are

Autonomy –  the ability to self direct our own lives

Mastery – Getting better at what we do

Purpose  – making the world a better place, and feeling like you are making a contribution.

When I was working on Yogg I had a special dispel spec for that purpose.   I was doing most of the cleansing, and I was running out of mana, so I approached my Class leader,  told him my problem , and that I wanted to try this spec so I could do my job better.  He said fine,  and the results spoke for themeselves.

I was allowed the Autonomy to solve a problem, proved I could master it,  and then felt purposeful because I could see that I was being useful and helping contributing.

The Workforce wants engagement because engagement means better results, and you can apply this to a guild setting as well.

Raiding this week.

I cleared 10/12 ICC HM on my 2nd Priest ( Yes I have 2 ICC geared Priests)  she was  holy healing  with my old guild Wednesday night, I was doing ok, we had a mix of veterans and alts, and considering we two healed most heroics I felt somewhat proud that while at times it was scary, and OMG I am going to run out of mana,  I do not feel that I was at any point carried.   I logged back in last night so we could do H Sin, and some H LK attempts, and for the occasion,  I finally got duel specs for my 2nd priest. ( she was holy only )

I was fully expecting to pay the 1k duel spec cost,  So cringing at losing my 1k , much more precious since my main gold earner is off server – I asked the Priest trainer for training, and Oh..  It’s only 100 now – There is now NO excuse to not have duel specs.

I had done some disc healing before, but never on LK, and certainly never on H LK.   We didn’t do so well,  BUT!  we have high hopes for next week ( if I get invited)

It was very easy to slip back into the ” Oh I need to be home by *this* time because I said I would be available thursday night as well for the follow-up raid, and make sure washing was done, garbage was out, shopping done,   dinner was made, cat was fed, new light bulbs bought – all so I could be available to raid. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, but I work full time, and while I don’t have any family responsibility I was really enjoying being able to say – ” Sure – let’s go have a drink ”  or go shopping or not log in, and not worry or fret that I was going to miss out on a raid.

I’m not pretending I have an exciting life –  and I’m certainly not doing as much as I was pre WOW,  and some of that is financial,  Eg expensive singing lessons v Mortgage payment.   Mortgage won,  but I got to see a few friends in the last few weeks that had been too difficult to arrange otherwise – trying to fit into each others lives is much easier when someone doesn’t have a 4 night a week standing committment ( Looks pointedly at myself)   and the last few weeks have been a  lot of fun.

On the other hand my scrub pugging attempts on my main, v an organised, run on an alt has taught me  that some people will never raid in such an organised environment, and will have missed out,  not just on content,  but also just being surrounded by dedicated , and competent people – and as much I really don’t want to do 4 night raiding a week  – um maybe only for a little while yet.  4 nights gets you places that pugs/casual will not.

In the scheme of things – what you miss out on by doing something 4 nights a week in real life is also a  cost, and I was kicked out of a musical bout 18 months back ( I shouldn’t be proud of that – but I missed a ‘compulsory’ musical rehearsal for a raid, – It worked out for the best as I was hating doing it. A Board game will never be the same for me.  

But it does interfere with RL – how much you let it interfere is completely up to you, and yes I have been accused of picking Warcrack over wanting to see someone.

For now my alt priest  is  a ‘friend’ in the guild – I haven’t committed myself as a raider, and nor are they promising me a spot, and my Main priest is my main for a reason, and I am enjoying  Pvping so much on her  right now, 

next weeks installment may be  – “I miss raiding  – I’m comming back” buuuut..  two days might be doable – need to pretend I have a semblence of another life…

I am Warrior hear me choke on a Frost Bomb

Zahrana is now my 5th  80 and defense capped

Wow.. that was quick.

Leveling is fun.  Well, leveling a character you like playing, that has many fun things to do is well FUN.

My  80 Mage looks at me forlornly  * sobs ” You only use me to pick flowers”

My 80 hunter says  at least log in every now and then so I can feed my pet!

My two priests get more love,  but both are suffering from lack of attention due to me and my Warrior, and playing SC  telling noobs’ DO NOT BUILD NEXT TO ME

There are so many ways to get gear now.  She was in heroics making nice with healers not long after dinging, with a badge boe,  crafted ilevel 200’s  and ICC Boes I got for reasonable prices. It’s kind of scary,  I am now on the same playing field as my main for randoms.  I could be dpsing, or healing a tank like me

Sure it took some cash and a little bit of leg work,  chasing down the BOA head, and shoulder chants,  making sure  she got a proper weapon enchant.   Waved goodbye to Heirloom stuff.

I’m not sure what i hoped to accomplish with my Do you think you can tank project – hey I got to 80 –  I find tanking is like managing people.  You can’t keep everyone happy all the time.  Sure some healers think I am awesome ( usually not the 1st time I run an instance as a tank though.  I need a little acclimatising)

She leveled at Prot all the way – had to do some respecing  to get into a cookie cutter spec, I had done ok with my choices,  but cookie cutter is awesome for someone who wouldn’t be able to argue with another warrior about warrior stuff yet.

She did it with my usual mix of Quests, BG’s and Instances.   It’s the only way to level for me now. The variety keeps me interested,  Quests, and killing  stuff on my own makes me confident in my keys/abilities,  BG’s forces me to react faster and try to survive ( and I get to charge  a lot )  and Instances I get to practise Tankage.

I had to leave my BOA Shoulders in my bags while tanking a while ago,  so its’s been 10% slower, but  I was easier to heal with properly stat’d shoulders.

I have some gear gaps,  and I hope I shall be able to sneak my way into some places that don’t normally take people without an achievement.

No I shall not lie.

Probably confirmed I am a bad tank by running with a friend and him getting smacked around more then he liked.  Running with people I want to impress makes me more nervous.

It takes me at least one run to get a feel for an instance

I had my first group dissolve on me last night in Oculus. OH HOW I HATE THEE.  I let the healer die on the 2nd whelp trash pack. Which was my fault for being unable to control all those casting whelps well enough.

On the 2nd boss –  Mage- Lord Urom we wiped 3 times, the raid  kept blowing up – because DPS was slow and we don’t have a lot of health, and no one  los his blast, or they time bombed each other.   BYE BYE healer again.

Of course it was my fault for making the DPS run cross the frost.  They wanted me to run to them,  they could have run in front of my kite path but nooo..  and I’ve never seen a tank run at the DPS.  I’ve always been a dps or healer running after the tank.

So I felt like a right Twat when I ran Oculus again on Heroic telling the raid ” Make sure you LOS of his blast:”  and making sure I was dragging him backwards to make the dps happy, and putting us in perfect position behind  the pillar for the blast,  Then the dps doesn’t  move,  only lost half their health, and he was dead before he could blast again

Every time I get the achievement spam for the 1st time I completed a dungeon,  on normal, or heroic – I feel a little smug.   They didn’t know it was my 1st time here as tank 🙂 but I feel good that I have been able to play a completely different role, and I’m ok.  It will take some more work to become a good tank – and I’ll work on her.  Need those frostbadges.

That Old Familar Vent Channel.

I recently found out that an old guild Vent had lapsed, I hadn’t logged into it for a while, I’ve used skype more lately or Msn voice or another vent then the old guild Vent.  For a while it had been a place where the ex guildys could log in, and sometimes hear a familiar voice and catch up on what ever adventures we had been up to – playing wow or not.

That I hadn’t logged in for so long was testament to how much it had lapsed – and yes it needed people to keep paying for it to stay up, and I had paid for 2 months – but had forgotten how long ago that was, it’s no ones fault, just wasn’t being used enough for people to care – myself included.

The vent had been rented out to new people – and it was a tad upsetting to see all the channels gone.

My own private channel that I had named “The Charlatans”  gone…

I logged in  expecting to see remnants of in-guild jokes, and channels named after people, for people, private channels and the standard raiding & pvp channels . I ended up in a lobby. I always meant to screen shot our Vent channels, and write a post about it, because you can tell a lot about a guilds personality and structure by their vent channels.  Their interests, how social they are, what other games they play ect.

I had recently added Non Elitist Raiding Diary to my reading list, and read their post Voip Culture  and agree completely that how your vent is set up can affect guild interactions and how bonds are formed with people on there.  Topics she covers like ,  like how many channels there are,   how many are passworded and  people who use binds all add up to a Voip culture that can affect  “the way your Guild glues together’

In contrast to the guild I am in now – the old one was very chatty.  Or maybe it was me that was chatty, but every day before raid or in raid channel until raid started someone was always talking, and I miss the epic conversations.

I find it eerie now to be sitting in a raiding channel  waiting for the raid to start, and there be silence, or even when one person speaks something as simple as Hi Guys – be lucky to get one response, but different guilds have different cultures, and some work better different ways, and not everyone wants to talk to people.  I like talking. I like communicating. I am quiter now then I probably have ever been.

    I’ve been in guilds where people weren’t ‘allowed’ in vent unless it was raid time and ones where there was someone pretty much someone online 24/7  -where friends and raiders from other guilds were welcome 

But things that  None  Elitist Raider’s blog post  made me consider  about exclusivity was  that even in our chatty guild,  when Aion came out the people playing Aion sat in that channel as an exclusive club, probably making the people who weren’t playing  it feel a little excluded,  and I realise that even when I sat my own private channel talking to someone in my last raiding guild after raid, was probably not conductive to  keeping conversation open.

More MANA!

Another boring post about replenishment

I paid particular attention to my Vting and MBing on Hal Trash  ( not much good on Hal himself..  I got meleed  going into the portal on p2.  Guess I clicked too fast.)  but except one or two MB’s I know with absolute certainty I was Mbing with VT.

We had three sources of replenishment in raid, and I thought that replenishment would override existing replenishments  and that all replenishments were created equal, so I was surprised when I started taking SS of who was getting my buff using my Dot timer.  ( it’s not normally in the mid of my screen

Only 3 people got it  – but it proc’d and the whole raid was in range.

9 people this time

4 people

So is it supposed to proc on 10 toons/pets at the same time but it’s not.

So is  pally replenishment better than mine?  I know they do it more often but I started ssing because it was procing as what ever amount was on that list of people.  It wasn’t procing 10 and then 7 people falling off  within 1 sec.  People weren’t at 100% mana either,

Mindblast More.

Boring post on replenishment.  Doing some working out. Skip to end for conclusion.

6 trys 1 kill on H PP 25 man

Overall.

There were complaints around the 4th attempt  about lack of Mana regen as  I was the only one procing it, and I was instructed to ” make sure I was procing it”   One Pally had left the raid, and the other one was not doing what ever he was before to proc it all the time so I wasn’t aware that I was the only source.

From Wow Head Replenishment

“gives 10 party or raid members (with the lowest mana left) 1% of their maximum mana every 5 second for 15 seconds, or 3% over the full duration”

So I need to Mindblast while VT is up to proc replenishment – and it has a 100 yard range.

It also refreshes if  you proc it again in that 15 secs – so there will be some overlap, as some people will still be on that list  so instead of  application  1 running for 15 secs  on say Bob.  If it gets refreshed at say 10 secs, he gets 10 seconds of Application 1 , and 15 sec of Application 2  especially if BOB runs at low mana all the time, but then bob might get it at 10 sec of application 2 and so on..  – which means 5 ticks is lost just on one person if I am MBing more then once every 15 sec. If I was refreshing it too often then the numbers of ticks would also be lower in comparison to how many MB’s there are, and if its safe to stand still I probably am casting MB more than  when I am on the run,  need to move,   refresh dots, get off the boss,  chase gas/oooze Run run  MB . move again.

A Top 10  of who got the most ticks ( the strength of the mana gain depends on your own base mana -)

What a waste of Replenishment. 2 pets are in the top 10

DPS 1714 36.1 mana 61868 mana
PET 1395 22.3 mana 31169 mana
Healer 1380 60.9 mana 84034 mana
Tank 1185 15 mana 17834 mana
DPS 1084 67.5 mana 73181 mana
Zahraah 1042 59.5 mana 61950 mana
Healer 1025 81.3 mana 83361 mana
PET 1020 22.7 mana 23180 mana
DPS 999 69.8 mana 69699 mana
Healer 907 64.9 mana 58820 mana

So Starting off at attempt 4

18 Mindblasts in that attempt , and to be perfectly honest If I’m hitting the gases,  and they are  almost  dead I am not going to refresh dots when I can MB,  so that may explain why some of my MB’s aren’t procing.

So to work out if I am Mindblasting while VT is up,

1486 replenish ticks

Theoretically if every Mindblast was Procing replenishment then

it should be 18mb x ( 10×15)  = 2700

18 mindblasts could have proc’d replenish

So that would mean  that  it was only procing or being useful   55% of the time

Try 5

1270 Ticks of Replenishment

7 hits 9 crits   = 16

16  x (15×10) = 2400  52% of the time.

Try 6

1171 replenishment ticks  5 hits  10 crits  ( 8 resisted?)

15 x (15×10) = 2250 = 52%

Kill

2932 – Replenishment from me 10 hits 18 crits

28 x (15×10) 4200 69%

2569 ( from a pally who joined fight/did his thing)

so my 69% was higher. I was MBing  more though – which I was under the impression should not be necessary.  I have kept my 5/5 Mindblast CD reduction,  but a lot of 4 piece t10 builds haven’t, and put the points into things like inner focus, and threat reduction, and improved VE.

Not every mindblast is cast with the intent to Proc Replenish. I should have VT up as often as possible,  but if it falls off mid cast,  I’m not going to stop MB reapply the dot then recast MB that would be a dps loss.

I don’t know if I’m the only one procing replenishment.   We have 3 pallys that proc it a random bosses, and random times. So I can’t tell when I should be mindblasting more then what should be necessary because I’m not psychic and they don’t tell me ” I don’t feel like procing it this fight can you mindblast more”

If I worry about mindblasting more than I let dots fall off because MB is more important when VT is up then reapplying  DP, or sticking all my dots on target, and then Mindblasting.

It also depends on how many times I need to move. H PP means lots of movement – running away from things.  If you stand still you get hit with Goo while you have 2 stacks of disease.  ( happened twice) so I fail more often.

Vt’s shorter uptime, means it falls off quicker,  it also has a cast time,  and very difficult to cast on the run,  which I why DP and SWP are easier to stick up  while getting into position.  If your stationery VT will go up first most of the time.

So I went to look at  another PP fights we still had logs up for. We one shot him last week – and I found another thing to consider.

Pally 1 3299 ticks, Pally 2 3007 ticks me 343 ticks

Mindblast = 21 times.  So why is my ticks so low.  If the pallys were procing it  all the time,  then every time I proc’d it it would get over ridden by one of them

Looked at another guilds logs  – they had 3 sources of replenishment for 2 H PP attempts

2 attempts by another shadow priest

sp1 3382 47 MB’s  47 x (15×10) 7050 47%

sp 2 1831  42 Mb’s  42 x ( 15×10) 6300 29%

This shows me that I am not MBing enough.

So In summary

I should be casting MB more if I am the only source of replenishment

It would be helpful to know if I’m on the one who will be procing it.

If someones  replenishment gets refreshed by me, or someone else, ticks are ‘lost’*

Pets also have mana, and will use a replenish tick, or a couple,  or a thousand or so. .

The Ultimate conclusion, and this stings a little. I AM ONLY GOOD AS A  MANA BATTERY

Ok I don’t really feel that way all the time.

While theoretically MBing shouldnt be a dps loss. I don’t have the haste  the two priests I used as comparison do. Cast time is a little lower,  easier to squeeze in, T

I don’t know maybe I’m clutching at straws and excuses. But just when  I feel when I start feeling like I am doing better dps wise, and I have been.  I fail at  Procing replenishment enough.

Banners

So having discovered how to add a glow affect around stuff – I’ve done some more playing.

Lots of flaws..  and the more I look at them the more I find things wrong with .  ( see that squared like affect that the glow  on the name made on the one below – need to fix that)   I thought I would make a banner for a friends guild – incase he decided they got big enough for a guild website  – the suit of armor is because thats what a Panoply is, a full suit of armor ( see you learn new things every day)   I will do a few more mock ups,  but I really need a little more creative direction

My  Banner Portfolio  shows the evolution of my gimpage skills.   I was going to do a evolution of PP in Banners,  but my earlier ones really scared me.

They are pretty basic to do.  I use Cooltext for the logos – I try and use Blizzard art or a part of the sky/screenshot for the image background, and what ever toon/accessories required  from google images or Wow Modelviewer, and Gimp because I can’t afford Photoshop,  and before you say  there are otherways of obtaining it. I know,  just think that there are some awesome free tools like Gimp that are  certainly useable.

I need to work on embellishing borders more as well so they aren’t as crisp.   So yes you can tell I’ve never done graphic design.

These are my two Priests,   one DPS which I was trying to give a purple glow, and the other one a green healing glow  – they also aren’t really priestly….

So  – I’ve got 2 free raid nights this week – and will have some spare time – and I enjoy fiddling with image tools – if you want anything,   A Banner,   A forum Sig,  A button, like these below. ASK!  I need stuff to practise on , and yes it’s free and I want to get better.

Need size / some creative direction /who / what ect ect

  Leave a comment and a way of contacting you by email ( very important when I need to ask questions)  or email me at  PugnaciousPriest @ Gmail.com    ( no spaces)

I will do also do Gimp Tut maybe over the weekend,  on using gimp for banners, 

OR

If you want to get creative on your own, and have no idea where to start

Make your own  thumbnail with  Photobucket like I showed you here “Make your own thumbnail for Azeroth United”

and

You can even make a pretty easy banner  using photobucket too,  How to make a  quick and dirty Guild website banner

Raid Safe List

Matryoshka Nesting Ninjas Via Thinkgeek.com

Blackrock has its own Raid Safe list,  with names, and screenshots of known ninjas  at Straferight.com

“The people in this list are proven to steal or scam players out of items. Grouping, trading or any other type of interaction with them may result in being scammed. “

It’s a blacklist of sorts with guilds, and players, of known ninja’s – with a strict rule of  – must have screenshot evidence.  It seems mainly aimed at Horde Side,  because it seems to be more of a problem on that side of the fence,  but there are a few Alliance in there as well .  I can’t find however, the names of at least two people I was aware were confirmed ninja’s alliance side recently.

List is here and is 121 pages long to date of names,  screenshots, posts,

It’s moderated,  and as the moderators says

 ” I  have removed many people from the list. I update and research it often. Shit happens and sometimes people get shit mixed up. I am a realist.”

and as for its accuracy – and should you rely on  the information?

 “I know the time and effort it takes to keep a list accurate……  it is up to you to trust the link and to trust the content”

It’s quite a collection -a history of people who really do go out of their way to make things ‘unfair’  Keyword though is Scam.  They have scammed other players,  and that is what Blizzard does not like.

How useful is the information?

While using my google fu,  I found someone who app’d to a Alliance guild and the first response from the guild was the link to the post at straferight  which included multiple screenshots of that person ninjaing  something.  He was not accepted to that guild.

I also found reading back through the thread  someone who was implicated as being a ninja or being stupid for rolling on an item because the poster didn’t think it was an upgrade. The accused/implicated  had to defend themselves for gear choices,  and his explanation seems reasonable  – maybe this is the type of post that gets moderated eventually, especially when the posters link to image is broken.

It seems to be the most comprehensively organised list available.  It’s not defamation if it’s true,  and for the most  – the cases put forwarded are backed by screenshots.  Some realm forums try and keep a list,  but most end up degrading into mush.

I could keep a  separate list of people I have pugged with / raided with that have annoyed me and publish them here – they would become googleable.  My posts get google indexed, and I have a google rank of sorts – so if I named someone, and you google the right words, in theory you will find them here, which I why I do not want to post such things here   It’s one persons experience – mine-  even if they are true, , and unless someone is moderating me  and they have the opportunity to share their side. It wouldn’t seem fair.

*Disclaimer*I did name one person in an incident – and included screenshots which showed me telling him to read the blog – never heard from him, but he continued to be bad for other reasons, and got called out on the  realm forums,  so that google rank beats mine hands down. Still it was bad of me.

 I’ve been in some pugs that have made me angry – frustrated, but honestly without a permanent record of those I feel have ‘wronged’ me in some way  I’m going to forget your name in 2 weeks,  maybe 3  and I want to keep it that way.

I don’t want to feel obligated to check  a list, be it mine,  or somewhere on the web incase they are a bad. It would destroy the game a little for me each time I did.  I’ve never been ninja’d. ( Touch wood) –  but the choices I have made that turned out to be no so-good choices,   had signs that it wasn’t going to end well – but I went on the raid anyway. Weigh up the rewards v risk.   Set your standards, and for the sake of your stress levels. Keep them.

One thing I will offer advise on is,   read trade chat – people who ninja get talked about.  People who are idiots often trade spam stupid things.  Think upon it as your local gossip rag.   It’s good to keep your ear to the ground. 

I think a ninja list can be a dangerous thing – and I know by posting this – opening it up to discussion I am bringing it more attention.   I do think though it has it’s uses, as long as it’s moderated by people who do not have bias and the blackrock list seems to be done fairly. 

 If the behaviour – personality of a player is as easily discovered by a google search, or a report,  I am sure guilds would love to do that for all their apps.  I wrote a post some time ago “ How to use Warcraft Realms to investigate a Guild application”  as an example of armory crawlers that are already out there.

Even now,  any guild forum indexed by google becomes  a potential information source on players.   It’s amazing how easy it is to find guild applications, forum posts by, and to by any player name.  A raid safe list just makes it easier.

Tabard represented: does your GM know style?

Only one person in a guild can change the tabard –  the GM
The importance of a tabard varies between the guild – some guilds enforce it’s wearing – but most don’t care.

Personally I like the idea behind the tabard – you can be recognised by the pattern as you ride past – when you raid together standing with and among your fellow guildies, you are united in purpose and uniform.

Do you really trust your gm to have enough style to pick the right tabard?

The latest press release from Blizzard regarding the changes that are not coming in cataclysm – advise that

  • Guild mounts will have a flag attached to them that displays the guild’s emblem.

So that guild tabard you all joke about, the cupcake on your chest, and bright pink background  is suddenly going to be waved around a lot more.

There are several things to consider when coming up with a guild tabard

1. Boobs

Some Characters have them,  some don’t, and  some designs look horrid on boobs – you can’t even tell what it is supposed to be sometimes.

2. Colour – Is your GM colourblind? – Some colours just do not go together.

I personally like strong contrast colours, that don’t hurt the eyes – but its still a matter of taste.

Don’t be afraid of using unconventional colours  – as long as it’s not over done


3. Simple and complicated – using the right border which ones look better presented?

If you wanted to make the border a little more complicated – I’d keep the border colour the same as the icon- like the one on the left here – but it still looks cleaner with a solid border.

I also  liked

Black and white pretty much makes anything look good  – and skulls and Xbones woot!

4. Matching your Gear.

Zahraah is currently wearing the Green Trophy Tabard of the Illidari just because it comes closest to matching my gear.  Checkout Wow Tabards for a great picture of all the tabards. If your guild tabard fails, then you try and see if you can obtain one of them.

My old semi Twink and her color coordinated tabard to match her gear.

In a guild of multiple players you aren’t going to make every one happy with colors or design choices – but it’s worth playing around with the Tabard to get the design a little unique – and meaningful for your guild. Especially since it seems you will be seeing it a lot more.


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