Got Cash?

The latest release in the Blizzard Online store has created quite a buzz, and I might add, revenue base for the software company. Blizzard announced yesterday that they would be selling the Celestial Steed and Lil' XT noncombat pet online. The steed itself is unique in that it's a Bind On Account item that scales with whatever level of riding skill the character has. It's also usable in Azeroth as well as a flying mount. The cost? $25. It binds to a specific account, so if you have multiple accounts, I believe (I'll need to verify this) you will have to purchase the item for each account, even if they are linked to the same Battlenet account.

The concept of a mount having such usefulness is great – but geez, the queue lines were horrendous. Blizzard racked in money from all over the globe yesterday. Sparks of controversy appeared.. and much discussion. I think Lil' XT was almost forgotten about.

Topics in our vent channel included "I wonder if they will be allowing armor skinning" to other customizable options- or if you had an item and wanted it skinned like old Tier 3, if they would offer that. This leaves me wondering – is Blizzard going to the route of "If your pockets are deep enough, you can have what you want."?

All skepticism aside, the mount does look awesome and there were several in Dalaran and elsewhere last night – as we covered a variety of instances. With the money Blizzard made in just the first few hours alone while the digital item was on sale, who could really blame them for offering up other similar services?

I expect with a fan/customer base as large as Blizzard has, we'll be seeing new digital items added.

Noble anyone?

This year's Noble Garden came and went rather quickly, or it felt that way. The first couple of days, eggs were hard to come to by. Holidays always seem to bring the worst out in people, and in the game of World of Warcraft, this is no different.

Of all of the achievements for the title, I think putting bunny ears on various level 18 (gg Blizz because we can't cheat now) females was probably the most challenging. The annoying cool down on the Spring Flowers meant that even if you found the female race you were seeking, you may miss your opportunity as someone else dashed over and put bunny ears on your target.

By the end of the holiday, things had calmed down quite allot. I managed to secure this title on my lowly paladin, Holygoatgirl the Noble. It has quite a distinct ring to it, eh? (LOL) What about you, readers? Did you successfully accomplish what you were after or was this just a lull of a holiday for you?

The Revolving Door

Ask any raiding guild, and the recruitment officer will tell you – it's a job that is never done. It may wane, and the need may not be so urgent, but a guild is a living breathing organism. In saying that, people come and people go. Real life happens – schedule changes, significant other aggro, performance issues, computer problems are among the many culprits, not to mention, just plain burn out.

Recruitment isn't a fun task to undertake. Not only is it hard, but at this point in the game, there are lulls. Every major guild that raids is recruiting. Summer is right around the corner (and more people will step away or take vacations). This is where keeping a small bench allows the raid to continue on. Finding the people to fill your raid slots and positions isn't always easy. If you recruit, in today's World of Warcraft player base, you have to be aggressive. This means not just replying (and please read the person's post) but also following up with in game contact. You can either try to catch the person in game, or leave the person an in game mail with a way of contacting you.

Personal touches matter – and keeping in mind that these are people who are looking to "hire" for your team, so you need to make sure you're clear on your expectations, what you are offering, and you cover the potential applicant's questions as well. These steps can help minimize the revolving door effect, but it is the nature of the game. There are several sites that you can post on, and other steps you can take to maximize your success ratio. We conduct vent interviews- and I literally have a check list to go down on topics that should be covered. (Yes, Soth will roll his eyes when I ask about the Authenticator) The reason I have this list is to make sure I cover and standardize the process. It also makes sure that other officers can conduct the interview, and while we may not have the same style, we do cover the same material. We offer the chance to sit in on a raid, to make sure the person understands the type of atmosphere and expectations.

When you recruit a new guild member, it's a vested interest on both parts. We take steps to try and ensure that it is a solid fit. It doesn't always work but most of our turnover has more to do with real life than people just not being a good fit. Occasionally you get the person that is looking for the bigger better deal- but for the most part, these type of people show themselves rather quickly. Our initiate phase is designed to maximize exposure to the raid core, both progression and farm content. This way we can determine how you handle wiping, if you can follow instructions, and if the raid conduct is on par with the expectation. We don't recruit people to fail, but we do recruit to fill a specific role. We understand not everyone may be happy here, but with that, this is a guild - not a jail. Happy raiding!

But do I have to??

Guild ranking systems are many; in today's World of Warcraft, you have not only "progression kills" but you also have "achievements"- normal modes, and hard modes. With all this, it's no wonder that finding a ranking system is hard. There are many sites out there that claim to offer this service: WoWJutsu , WoWProgress, GuildOx, and a fairly new site: WoW Guild Progress. Each site approaches this ranking differently. WoWJutsu hasn't really been updated in months, more than likely years. It's pretty much obsolete. WoWProgress weights the ranking on how quickly you accomplished the kill, in comparison to other guilds on server and gives you a value. The longer you take to kill the boss, the lower the value. Guild Ox measures "progression" based on specific points/achievements; they also have a separate achievement tracking system.

Why does any of this matter? It matters when you start recruiting. It matters even more if you mainly recruit off server. As a guild that really marches to its own drum, where we constantly are defining ourselves, with our values/goals/missions – this is hard thing to digest at times. Content has popped quite quickly. With the release of new content, there are still "progression points" to be had in old content. The issue comes in that some of your raiders (and maybe even officers) really don't want to step back into the older content. As the person that does most of the recruiting, I know this is something that I do bring up in interviews, right along with achievements, hard modes, and lock outs.

It matters because some folks only see purples. There aren't any gear upgrades in Ulduar for any "progression point" we haven't done, but there are achievements. ToGC is slightly different, but only because trinkets are something Blizzard regularly fails at. There are still several BiS trinkets in ToGC. There isn't any justification to spends weeks working on old content, but there is justification to step back and complete these instances. Since we use Guild Ox as our ranking site of choice, there are several points that would move us up the ladder. The fight is simply "do I have to?" in typical a Steve Urkel voice from some raiders – others are more than happy to see the content. This will take some incentives, I'm sure- but to be able to recruit quality players, it's worth the investment.