Guild Topics

Can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. Guild topics for your perusing.

Loot Management Week: The Council of Looting

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I woke up this morning feeling like Dean McAmmond. I won’t discuss too much on 2.3 Priest changes. My colleagues have done a great job thusfar (Ego, Kirk, and the rest). Once I wrap up the week, I will take a look at some certain Shaman improvements.

Apparently there are high level Guilds out there which do NOT utilize a DKP system in any way. It’s… uh, really weird! I can’t say that I’ve ever been in such an organization that distributes loot based on what the Loot Council thinks. Yeah, there is no complex web script to maintain. There is no pencil and paper number crunching involved (or UI download required). If the Guild thinks you deserve it, it gets auto looted to you.

What the hell? What kind of Guild would do such a thing?

A Guild whose main goal is to progress. A Guild which values utilitarian values. A Guild that doesn’t care about loot as long as they progress. Personally, I am one of these types of players. I don’t really care about who gets what loot as long as it benefits and helps the overall raid. I figure if the Loot Council running things was mature and NOT selfish, it has a high possibility of working. The deciding methodology could range from players who want an item messaging the Lootmaster, or having officers inspect all eligible players to determine who gets the dropped piece.

I don’t think I need to spell out the possible pitfalls or negatives that this kind of loot system will offer. Think about it for a moment. The loot you get is dependent on a group of players. There’s always a possibility of bias. There could be accusations of favoritism. This kind of system offers the potential for Guild drama that would clog the front page of WoW Insider for a long time. I’ve never been in a Loot Council Guild, but I would imagine the environment would reek of paranoia.

But surely there must be benefits or else many top end Guilds would not consider the system. Aside from the lack of work involved, this system would fit strongly with organizations that have been together for a long time. I don’t refer to one year as a long time. I’m referring to three or more years, long time. These are rare Guilds that have grown together for such a long time that they consider each other an extended family. As such, they would have no need to rely on point systems to economize loot. They possess that instinctual knowledge of loot priority. They know who would benefit the most from item drops. They also know that the person they give it to would utilize it to the fullest. The Guild becomes that much stronger, which leads to being able to take down more difficult bosses.

In theory, I do agree with the principle. It’s a great Utopian ideal. But Communism also failed. Even after taking a Philosophy course and being exposed to the many ideals of Locke and Beccaria and all those other old guys, I still firmly believe that man is inherently selfish. Obviously not all of them, otherwise this system would not be in use today. If your Guild wants to pull this off, the most important thing to nurture amongst all your members is trust and a sense of community. Otherwise, nothing will stop a player from bolting once they get an item that they want (then again, not many systems can counter it anyway). Can it work? Yes, because my friend has been a part of two successful Guilds that have done it.

The next two days, I will wrap up Loot Management week with what I believe is the best possible system.

How DKP Works

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DKP: What Is It?

Simply put, I would define it as a form of currency for players. When MMO’s first came into being, a loot system needed to be formed. Players realized that it would not be fair to just allow anyone to roll on loot. It would completely suck if a player joined a raid and rolled 100 while you rolled a 1 even though you were there far longer. So some guy came up with a method to assign value to item drops (I think this was back in Everquest). DKP stands for Dragon Kill Points. In Everquest, they didn’t have you kill off Ogres or Shades or Demon Hunters (At least, I don’t think so).

There’s various methods for earning DKP and it is entirely up to your Guild brass to use what they want to use. Each method has it’s own positives and it’s own negatives. There’s different ways to spend it. A lot of players whine and complain about DKP and it’s usage. But the thing about DKP is that it doesn’t determine if you get loot… it determines when you get loot. A lot of people have difficulty wrapping their heads around that concept. They start complaining when some other player gets that coveted 500 spell damage weapon before they do.

Here’s a brief overview of the different ways Guilds can classify their DKP earning scheme:

Time based: DKP earned is relative to the amount of time spent raiding.
Boss kill: You take down X, you earn Y. Simple concept. It’s kind of like working where you get paid once you finish something.

Spending Schemes:

Basic: Your typical bidding system
Zero Sum: It’s a fixed system where the same amount of points being spent for an item get redistributed throughout the entire raid. So if a player spends 25 points to purchase a Bow, the entire raid gets 1 DKP each (25/1). Carnage utilizes this.
Spend All: This goes to the highest bidder. They are required to go all in on their bid. Once they get an item, they have to climb the ladder all over again. This results in a fairly even distribution of loot I would imagine.
Hybrid: This one’s an interesting system. You have a fixed cost on items and you add a random number generator on tp of that to help weigh the statistical chance that the player can receive that item. I daresay it’s a bit complicated to set up.

More analysis tomorrow. I turn 20 so I may not get around to it. It depends primarily on how much alcohol my friends pump into my system.

Loot Management Week: Karazhan

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Sorry guys, I had a really busy weekend. I had to finish up a few projects and participate in my hockey draft. I think my picks look pretty solid.

I’ve noticed an alarming trend lately in how some younger Guilds are imposing DKP for their Karazhan runs. Wait, what? Why? Why use DKP for loot distribution in a small ten man instance? Hopefully my plea can change the course of Guilds so that they don’t run into any Guild Drama later on in their path.

Don’t use DKP for Karazhan. As a Guild run, there will be at most two classes that are the same (warrior/warrior, priest/priest). It adds unnecessary work and possible consequences in the future. Loot should be decided via rolls or gear prioritization. I’m assuming that your guild is running with the same crew of people on a weekly basis. Even if you have two or three groups for Karazhan, then the loot being distributed should remain in those individual groups.

Like come on, seriously, its only a ten man raid. Did anyone run UBRS with DKP? I think not. There’s only a few pieces in Karazhan that can be used by multiple classes. Even then, a simple roll off will work for it. There’s a LOT of bosses in there that it’s almost virtually guaranteed that everyone will get an upgrade at some point. As you progress through the higher areas of karazhan, you’re going to end up with players with an insane amount of DKP through the roof. Once you start instances like Gruul’s and Mag, then you will have players with lopsided points (in the range of thousands). These are the instances where DKP really DOES matter.

The rest of the week, I’m going to discuss the various methods that Guilds can use to distribute their loot in the best possible way for players. Each loot system is different and should be tailored to the primary objective of the Guild.

Getting your Leadership skill to 375

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I just finished off setting up my new hockey blog known as Lowongo’s crease (It’s a play on my last name for those that know me). The layout hasn’t been completely finalized yet, but I wanted to give me facebook viewers more to chew on instead of just WoW. Expect a lot of Canucks coverage along with other news, opinions, and thoughts around the league. On to today’s piece…

Here’s yet another reference to the business Guild model of WoW. Some would argue that a Guild is defined by it’s players. I would argue that excellent leadership defines how well a Guild performs. Unfortunately, leadership is not something you can go to a skill trainer for. I’ve been in my share of numerous Guilds. I’d like to think that I know what is good leadership and what is bad. I’ve seen Guilds crash and burn, or flourish and thrive. Similar to my column on valued traits for a Priest, here are 6 of the valued traits in a Leader no matter what class they play.

Edit: Again I am beat to the punch by Kirk.

Patience

“The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.”
– Tomas Huxley

No one likes to wipe. But true leaders expect it. I commend real leaders for their outstanding patience whether its in dealing with new raid bosses or frustrated guild members. No matter what the circumstance may be, they are able to weather the storm of angry guild members or angry raid bosses (I’ll let you decide what is worst). The goal has been set and the challenge has been issued. Now it’s up to the players to respond. Throughout it all, they maintain a face of dignity and passivity knowing that things will improve with time. I think Mayor Rudy Giuliani is a great example of this. He was the face of the city after the 9/11 attacks. There’s a reason why he was one of Time’s Man of the Year.

Knowledge

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
– Peter F. Drucker

This ought to be self explanatory. Any leader be it class, raid, or Guild will have done their homework on whatever they are responsible for. Raid leaders know the fight and are able to convey the strategy effectively. Class leaders know how to play their class and teach others to optimize themselves better. With that being said, leaders are humble enough to acknowledge that even they cannot possibly know all there is to know. The world is in a continuously evolving state with patches, changes, nerfs, etc. They realize that even though there is a lot to know, they are quite willing to learn even more.

Inspiration

“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”
– Arnold Glasgow

In a way, this is related to Social Skills but I wanted address something else. Your leaders are people that players turn to for advice and guidance. With responsibility like that, they’re expected to know how to convey information. But in order to do that, they do two things which any player can accomplish: Plan and set goals. They are able to focus the Guild in a certain direction and layout the steps necessary to accomplish it. They already have solutions to every problem that comes up because of their planning and anticipation. This is the kind of player who is not afraid of pulling the trigger when $&%@ hits the fan. They already have a Plan B and a Plan C in mind in case Plan A goes horribly wrong. No one likes to stand around and mindlessly die in case something bad happens. Every raider wants to try and salvage the situation. A good example that comes to mind is when our MT Lang ate a blow which caused him to crumple, Maeve was second on aggro since he’s been building up enough threat to stay just below him on the list. The moment Lang was down, a half second went by when Maeve bellowed for all of Lang’s healers to switch to him as he was tanking. Had he not made that call, we would have stood around not knowing what to do and we would not have gotten the satisfaction of the Guild first kill on Fathom-Lord.

Social Skills

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”
– Theodore Roosevelt

There’s a lot of excellent players who know their material and the class inside out. But when it comes to talking to other people, they just don’t have a friggin clue. I think having some degree of emotional intelligence helps. A key skill, not just in WoW but in life, is your ability to interpret the other person’s words either in text or via voice. You have to know how to handle the other player as a player instead of just a random NPC. One of the things I admired about Warack was his tendency to check up on players every now and then. He’d whisper them randomly or just jump into a channel and talk to them for a while, see how they were doing, and try to “get a feel” for the over all guild mood. Think of it as taking a temperature of the Guild. With the pickup of solid players, they also know how to refrain from telling them to exactly what to do. My understanding is that I rolled a Priest from 1 – 70 and I should know the basics of it. I don’t want to be told how to heal, when to heal it, and who. That kind of thinking comes naturally. I love it when tanks often tell me to keep them alive. You worry about holding aggro, and you let me worry about keeping you alive so you CAN hold aggro.

Confidence

“The spirited horse, which will try to win the race of its own accord, will run even faster if encouraged.”
– Ovid

It all boils down to one word: Belief. They believe in themselves and they believe in others to achieve the objective. The aura of confidence comes from their high knowledge of play and how to get it accomplished. I feel reassured knowing that I can place my character under the command of someone who knows what they’re doing as opposed to a raid that is being led by a headless chicken. Even if they don’t know what they’re doing, they can at least pretend. The point is not whether you down the boss or wipe horribly. The point is that someone had the confidence to get the raid going and try it. If that player doesn’t have the skills themselves to pull it off, they’re able to point to the person that does.

Authority and Respect

“The country is full of good coaches. What it takes to win is a bunch of interested players.”
– Don Coryell, ex-San Diego Chargers Coach

Props to guys like Blori and Harth. They really know how to get the raid to shut up and listen. Everytime you hear either of their booming voices, you know it’s their time. Why? Perhaps it’s their age and maturity. Every time they speak, they command that aura of authority and respect. When you hear it, your back automatically straightens while your ears latch on to their words. Unfortunate that this isn’t a trait that can be learned or gained. I once listened to a raid leader who sounded like he had nasal issues and sounded like your typical four eyed Urkel. No one would take him seriously at all because of the way his voice sounded. The bottom line here is that not only must you be willing to voice your commands, but your Guild must be willing to listen to listen to them. Former Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Mark Crawford got fired because he lost the locker room and players started to tune him out. One of these days, I’m going to record ventrilo during a raid night and put a snippet up here so you can get an idea.

Clearly there are many more traits that I have yet to identify. I’m merely setting myself up for a part 2 further down the road. The next time you go raiding or PvPing or whatever it is that you do, listen to your leaders and see how they are. Do they or do they not possess the traits I have listed above? If not, it might be time for a scenery change.

Quotes are courtesy of askmen.com and About.com

And for you young Guildmasters out there, every chance you get to use the term “Brouhaha” you take it.

Now Hiring: How to Recruit Players to Your Guild

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There’s quite a few Guilds out there who are always on the lookout for new players to help augment their ranks but are not quite sure how to pull it off. I’m going to assume you have been assigned by your GM to look for more players and that you have no clue how to do it apart from spamming trade. If so, then this column is for you. By the end of this, you should be able to pick up players with no problems at all. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, this is one of my longer pieces.

There are many places a Human Resources officer in a Guild can go to start looking. The first thing is to set up a “Help Wanted ad”. But like any newspaper or wanted ad, you want to specify exactly what spots your Guild needs filled. So before you start looking and posting in trade chat or the WoW recruiting forums, ask yourself the following questions:

What kind of Guild are we? Do we tackle progression raids only? Do I need a position filled on our PvP teams? Figure out the purpose of your Guild before doing anything else.

Next, figure out the role that you need filled. Are we short on healers? Do we need competent spellcasting DPS? Are our Druid tanks stupid with no ideas on how to tank? Once you have that sorted out, narrow it down even further. Of those three categories, which class do you need the most? What class can you use but already have enough of? You may already have 3 Priests and no Paladins but need another healer. You would really like a Holy Paladin or a Restoration Druid, but chances are you will not turn away another Holy Priest if they apply because it fills the need of another healer.

Where is your Guild on progression? Now you need to begin specifying gear requirements. If Conquest was looking for a tank, our needs would be vastly different from a Guild just starting to go into Karazhan. For example, the Canucks would have a different need than the Penguins. For us, the ideal tank should have about X HP or Stamina, Y Defense, with Z Frost or Nature resistance. But a tank looking for a Karazhan group can get away with having less than that.

 

If your Guild is working on Magtheridon with Gruul down and on farm, then be sure to mention your progression. Going back to our tanking example, you will want to pick up a tank that has done similar encounters with similar experience. Ideally, you don’t want to have to train a tank on an encounter but sometimes it must be done. I understand it is hard to find a perfect player which matches your needs, but it does not hurt to say where you are on progression.

List your raiding times and other requirements. Conquest only raids on Tuesday, Thursday, and Mondays in the evenings. Therefore, it would not make sense to pick up a Warlock who lives in Australia with a 9-5 job. If a person cannot make th time, then they will not bother applying. They don’t waste your time and you don’t waste their time. There might be some software or UI requirements that you should mention. Conquest makes heavy use of Mumble. If you don’t have those two, then you don’t raid with us period.

My old personal policy when I was in charge with recruiting was this: If a player is not willing to follow the simple instructions of downloading and installing an addon or program, how do I know they will obey and follow instructions when it really matters in the raid? I will automatically assume they won’t and immediately write them off. I don’t care if they’re decked out in all T5 or however geared they are because I value a person’s ability to willingly follow instructions over gear they have. Gear can be acquired by any button mashing monkey. But attitude and personality are learned attributes.

Finally, be sure to mention any other quirks or rules that need to be said. Mention any age restrictions or beliefs that you want. I don’t want to go through the effort of having to censor myself or others. I won’t get started on attitudes either.

Creating the Post

Now you create your Guild ad from all the above questions that you have answered. Keep a copy of this at all times somewhere in your computer in Word format or on your Guild recruiting forums for easy access. I’ll write a hypothetical ad about Conquest (Note that we’re not actually hiring).

Server: Ner’Zuhl (West Coast, PvP, PST Server)
Guild Name: Conquest
Website: http://www.nerzhulconquest.com
Raiding Schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 6:00PM – 9:30 PM [Note that times are subject to change]
Faction: Alliance
Progress: 5/12 Tier 11 on 25 normal

What our Guild can offer:

  • A relaxed and fun raiding environment
  • A competitive rated BG team
  • A diverse group of players to engage in activities with
  • Mumble

Ideal Candidates:

  • Are mature, over 16 years
  • Possess a working microphone and are not afraid to use it
  • Possess a stable internet connection and a raid capable computer that will not explode
  • Skilled Player: Skilled in the class that you play
  • Excellent Attitude: No negativity. A positive personality that synchronizes with the rest of the guild is an asset

UI Requirements:
Omen
Some boss timers: DXE, DBM or Bigwigs

Once again, contacts: Send in game messages to Matticus on Ner’Zuhl. Alternatively, you can create an account on the website, and use our recruiting form

Now that you have your template post made, the time has come to focus on the real work of actively looking for players. There’s three different ways to go about finding the players you want:

WoW Forums

Yes, the WoW forums are a mess but it still does not mean a lot of players don’t use it. There are two boards interest: Guild Recruitment Forums and your Realm Forums.

Check your Realm forum first. It would be great to find a player that matches your need wo is already on your server. If not, it’s time to check the Guild Recruitment Forums.

Now the Guild Recruitment Forums are one of the top places I go to in order to pick up players. Still have that ad handy? Good, keep it in your clipboard (Ctrl + C). If players are smart, their topic will contain their faction, name, class, realm, and server type. When I started doing this, I sifted through the first ten pages. Everything after page 10, I safely assumed that player had already found a guild otherwise it would have been bumped up to page 1 or 2 by now. Take the time to click on posters of interest and read their own application. Compare it to your shopping list and see if there are any similarities. Scroll down the reply list and see if the original poster has responded to any of the Guild requests or he’s withdrawn his WoW Resume.

If he has, press the back button and continue sifting through the pages and repeat the process.

If he’s still a free agent or has made no signs showing that he’s signed with a Guild, then post your ad, press back and continue sifting anyway.

Here’s how you can bring your Guild to the top of his list:

If that player has posted additional contact information, use it. Send that person an email or add him on to your MSN list. Want to take it a step further? Make a new character on that player’s server and try to send him a tell. If he’s not online, make sure you rolled a mage or warlock, kill a few boars, and send him an in game mail saying Hi and leaving him your contact information saying that you are very much interested in speaking with him.

If you’re an Alliance Guild, I recommend rolling a Human because Stormwind is so close. Im unsure about the Horde side. Undead perhaps?

Why would you do this? Why go through all this trouble for a player?

Chances are, there are a lot of Guilds vying for that player. Make every effort you can to get noticed. The key is to attract his attention. Player’s are not likely to apply unless they know you exist. But on the other hand, if you show initiative, I think most players would be flattered. At the very least, you will be noticed first. Think abut it for a second. If you’re jobless and you get a call from a company asking you for an interview, wouldn’t you be excited? I know I would be. A Guild isn’t so different from a business after all.

Recruiting within the game

The next method is ingame recruiting. Post a message in trade chat outlining your needs but be sure to cut out the stuff you don’t need. You want to include the class you’re looking for, your progression, and your website. I personally believe raiding Guilds need to have websites so they can maintain a presence of some sort and remain competitive if they need to recruit. I don’t know how else to explain it. There’s just a sense of professionalism between Guilds with a site and a Guild without. Anyways, the reason I said post in trade chat is because th Guild Recruiting Channel isn’t automatically joined by players who are already in Guilds. If a player is interested, they should theoretically message you asking for details.

Here’s an example of an in game ad that I use:

[Level 9] LF to join! Raids are Mon, Tue, Th,6 – 930 PM. Rated BGs Wed, Fri and weekends. Visit our new site – nerzhulconquest.com 1/12 25 man, 2/12 10 man PST for details/questions. All classes may apply.

Running instances

The last method is the most tiring but allows you to evaluate the individual skill of a player. At the end of the run, let the other players know that your huild is recruiting. If they have any friends who are interested, tell them to send them your way. With any luck, they will pass the information on to their friends and you will have skirted the unethical practice of poaching players from other guilds. You’ve indirectly said to tem that you are recruiting. If they’re impressed with you and your guild, they’ll check you out. You cannot get accused of stealing players because thy did it voluntarily, right? After all, it is not like you directly said to them “Hey, our guild’s doing this and we need players. Interested?” But alas, that is a discussion for another time. The point is to generate player interest via word of mouth.

Now that you have a solid set of applicants, the time has come for the interview process. This can either be done in game or on a voice server. I generally prefer ventrilo. I like to hear a person and listen to how they answer my questions. If you’re speaking to a player off server, it is absolutely doubly important since transferring characters is not cheap. Ask them a question even if it’s already been answered by tem in their application or such. If there is a discrepancy between answers, alarm bells should be going off in your head and you need to make sure it’s clarified. If he posts one thing and says another, be sure to follow up on it. Here’s a few sample questions that you can ask:

What’s your raiding experience?
When are you able to raid?
What kind of gear do you have? (With Armory open)
Do you know anyone in the Guild?
Why did you pick our Guild?
What are your professions?
Do you have any questions?

The last question is important because you want to give that player an opening to help dispel his or her concerns. Such topics may include loot distribution, raiding frequency (backup or starting raider), etc. It would suck for a player to transfer and then immediately regret it. It’s just common courtesy. The point here is to ensure that the Guild is a good fit for the player and vice versa. If he aces your interview and you think he is a good fit, then tell him to transfer and sign him immediately.

If not, and here is were I find things interesting, then just let him know. For some reason, there are people who exist who do not seem able to or are unwilling to say no. Jut tell them that “Sorry, you don’t match what we’re looking for in a player. Good luck to you!”

There you have it. A start to finish guide on how to pick up and recruit players. I hope my experience as a recruiting officer helps and hopefully you’ll pick up the players you need to succeed in higher end content. Now get back to raiding!