26.3.11

Surprise Me

A friend of mine and his guild recently transferred off their (very) dead server of Drak'Tharon to Stormreaver. I rolled a death knight named Vindin over there and joined their guild as a friend. I'm slowly leveling, and as I don't have a main or anything over there, I'm starting with no gold and no BoAs. I hit level 60 fairly quickly, but didn't have nearly enough gold for a flying mount (only had 100g or so).

While running around handing in quests and selling grays, a level 70 pally opens trade with me twice. I think he's accidentally doing this, so I close it and continue emptying my bags. Then he spoke.


That was the most unexpected and coolest thing that a random person has ever done for me in WoW.

So thank you, Lokisk of Stormreaver US. You are awesomesauce.

14.3.11

Skills to Pay the Bills

This is a BlogAzeroth Shared Topic, posted by amaranth608 from Specced for Drama.

What is your favorite profession and why?

I'm going to have to say my favorite profession is a toss up between Alchemy and Herbalism.

Yes, Herbalism.

I find running around picking flowers to be soothing. I also get a little thrill taking a node from under a hordie's nose. I even picked up Herbalism on my druid so I could farm faster (she has 310% flying while the shaman only has 280% - plus flight form = overpowered)

Alchemy is great because I can make my own flasks, potions, and transmute meta gems and truegold for money. The extra stats and length of flasks is awesome, too. Flasks from our guild cauldron last three hours for me! Not to mention the Flask of Enhancement that I can pop in arenas or when I just feel like getting an edge in random heroics without popping a full blown flask.

Plus it gives me this mad scientist feel. I get the image of my shaman cackling to herself in a corner while glass vials clink against each other.

Hee.

9.3.11

Face Smashing Tools

This is a very belated response to a Blog Azeroth Shared Topic, "What is your favorite weapon?" posted by Dangfool. I originally came across the topic on Fannon's blog, Dwarven Battle Medic.

I get very attached to gear rather easily. I love things that look epic, and replacing my epics with quest greens while leveling to 85 was a sad experience. I saved most of my level 80 gear, and sometimes run old stuff to get tier tokens and weapons so I can put them on and AFK in Stormwind and feel cool. (Even though I'm not.)

Generally, my soft spot is staffs. Any staff that just has a really awesome model I want to keep. My druid still has Origin of Nightmares from Naxx 25.

She also owns:
Twisted Visage (Ulduar 25)

Grand Marshal's Glaive (honor points)


Lupine Longstaff (ToC) and Shaft of Glacial Ice (ICC).

My shaman is carrying around Staff of the Plague Beast from Naxx 10.



I also like weapons that match, such as Aegis of Damnation and Hammer of the Astral Plane. I find both of these to be incredibly ugly, but they match! And that is cool.



P.S. Yes, my druid is wearing gear to match the level of the weapon she's modeling in each picture. I'm that much of a nerd. And I kept/farmed up that much gear. Yes, her bags are pretty much full of random junk.

8.3.11

Death to the Ugly Guy!

For a few raid nights now (probably at least 3, I think it's actually 4) we have thrown ourselves against Cho'gall and hit a solid wall. Lots of wiping.

I mean, LOTS OF WIPING.

We usually raid for about 3 hours 3 nights a week. So 3 hours full of Cho'gall smirking at us while we died lovely, horrific deaths was very frustrating to say the least.

I'm happy to say that we put together a 10 man group today, a day we don't usually raid, and wiped that smirk off his face. Also poked out his many, disgusting eyes. Ew.

Basically this is a post patting myself on the back, with a bit of bragging to boot. Even if Cho'gall decided not to drop a tier token for me.

(Jerk.)

Nefarion, you're next! I foresee many wipes in my future!

P.S. Drop my tier token, you hooker.

5.3.11

Problem Raiders: Should you give them an ultimatum?

Before I dive into the meat of this, I'd like to point out that I am not a guild master, merely an officer. I know different guilds handle problem raiders in a variety of ways, and this post is merely my opinions. If you disagree, I'd love to discuss it :] But flaming isn't tolerated and, as usual, will be used to toast my marshmallows.
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Problem raiders. Most guilds have them at one point or another. They come in all sorts of lovely (and by lovely I mean horrible) types. How do you deal with them? Here's a couple suggestions you can use to help alleviate your guild and raid of this phenomenon.

The Low DPS: These guys can be the hardest to deal with because a lot of the time they're genuinely nice people. Of course, sometimes you get the ones that just won't take your advice out of pride and get very nasty when you point out their mistakes, but most of the time, to me at least, the guys with consistently low DPS aren't jerks. The best way to come at them is politely. First, give them a good inspect and try to see if perhaps their spec is off, or if they're gemming wrong. Ask them if they're hit/exp capped. Find out their rotation. Their low DPS might be because they're stacking the wrong stat, or using the wrong rotation, or simply dying really early in the fight from standing in the goo. Work with them to fix it, especially if they reliably show up to raid.

Sadly, sometimes people are just bad no matter how much you work with them. At this point you have to make the hard decision to bench them or not.

The Whiner: We've probably all been this person once or twice, but a consistent whiner can bring an entire guild's morale down. Whether they bitch about loot, guild rules, raid times, or guild rank, it gets old very fast. Try to nip it in the bud early - whisper them and try to find out what's upsetting them. If the problem can be easily fixed, do it. If they continuously whine, you'll just have to tell them "This is the way things work. It's worked out pretty well for us for awhile, so unless you have a constructive suggestion to change it, please stop whining about it." Either they'll shut up or they won't, and again you'll have to make a decision to bench or guild kick them.

The Bad Attitude: This person is a lot like the whiner, but more aggressive. They might not complain about specific guild things, but more general things like "I'm so bored. I don't want to be here. I could be doing better things right now." Again, send them a whisper and try to find out what the problem is. Give them the benefit of the doubt at first - they might have had a bad day at work/school/etc. If they consistently have a terrible attitude that they're very vocal about, send them a firm message that they need to quit it or there will be consequences. Consequences can include benched for the night up to a guild kick. Decide what's best for your guild.

The Random AFK'er: This guy is really annoying. Pulling trash? AFK. Ready check on boss? AFK. They might even go so far as to mute Vent/Mumble (this has happened to me). Here I say go with the three strike message. The first random AFK let slide, maybe with a mention that they should let you know they're AFKing. The second ask them to warn you before they AFK. The third, give them a firm reprimand, especially if this is all in the same night. After that, start the consequences. A raider that's AFK most of the time is a worthless raider and a person who is always ready would be better to fill the slot.

The Unprepared One: Unprepared means they don't have flasks or buff food (if your guild doesn't provide it), they didn't repair before the raid, or they don't have the proper gear with them if you need them to switch specs. They also might be consistently late to the raid or never bother to try to learn the fights beforehand. They're usually a time sink as you wait for them to log on, or get their gear together, or go repair (if you don't have repair bots), or buy flasks/food/pots. Again, I suggest a three strike system. An unprepared raider is nearly as bad as an AFK one.

The Meter Whore: They spam the DPS or healing meters after every fight, boast about their position on the charts even for trash pulls, and constantly put down other raiders. Their ego is bigger than your entire raid put together. The problem with these guys is they love topping the meters so much, they're more likely to tunnel vision and make a mistake and get themselves killed.
Example:
Back in ICC, we were working on Rotface, we had a pally healer who was pretty damn good. He thought he was godly though. He got the debuff, ran out, stopped, healed the tank, died. We asked him why he didn't cleanse and run - his response was if he stopped healing the tanks they would die since he was carrying the heals. He really thought he was the sole reason the tanks were alive. /sigh

Meter whores are another one that's hard to deal with because they do tend to be exemplary players. However, constant meter spamming and putting down other players will also lower guild morale. If you see other players getting frustrated and fed up with the meter whore, politely but firmly tell them to stop the bragging. If they refuse, start the consequences.
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In conclusion, should you give a problem raider an ultimatum?

Eventually, yes. What the ultimatum is depends on the what type of raider they are and what works for your guild.