Rusted Drake Farming

Our off night groups have taken a detour to visit Ulduar. We just got a second 10 man group through to get their drakes – minus a few people needing a few more dwarves, the meta requirements are completed. Not only is it nice to have completed this a couple of times, but to have a 310% mount as well for those that do not complete the holiday achievements. Alagon is on the agenda, holding the Starcaller title. For our 25 man raids, and this guild's focus, we are working through the same meta for the ironbound drake as well. For now, here's a picture of the 10 man drake:

Purchasing your titles - a Cataclysmic future

As always, in World of Warcraft, the time before an expansion usually sees many guilds folding, or some guild even go dormant. It's also a time where you see many new guilds get created. On Eitrigg, this time period had shown the return of a guild that was strong in Burning Crusade and around the beginning of Wrath only to disappear as people transferred off server. The top guilds on any server rarely completely disappear. The guild is still usually in existence when these types of things happen. Usually alts are kept in the guild to preserve the guild tag. In this case, the tag became active again. A few people transferred back in, and the previous members on server, who had left to join the remaining top end game raiding guilds, returned "home". The reformed guild started recruiting again. It completely crippled the top raiding guild on server, and threw server rankings out of synch at two guild ranking sites – since they allow cumulative kills to count. The reformed guild became server 2^nd – in a quick swoop just by the members it added on most ranking sites, without actually clearing the content as a group.

Most of this is just what happens these days with guilds, and maybe that will change with the guild changes in Cataclysm. What really just bothers me is seeing posts like this:

This is a post on the Eitrigg forums - selling drakes and titles. Yes, this is virtual currency. Yes, it is up to them if they want to do this. But has this become what this server and the gaming community here is about? The guild below is currently ranked number one, yet due to the mass departure of several of it's members, you can see below that they are asking for people to come and fill their raids with an enticement of the top performers getting gold. (Guess that means they have their own discipline priests and tanks.)

The point is.. back to why do you raid? Is it the prestige? If so, what prestige is to be had from buying the title so you can show it off, or the drake? There's other ways to make money for your guild. What's even worse is that most of the guild doing the selling of these virtual items hasn't cleared most of this content as a group on 25. 10 mans, yes, and rightfully earned that but as a guild, the 25 man achievements/hard modes were basically grandfathered in.

For me, a raid is about the guild. It's about the thrill of the kill. I've occasionally ran a friend through Stockades, or something similar to help them level, but I've never sold my services as in the post above. It makes the achievement or kill that much sweeter to earn it, than to be carried - to complete it with friends, with your raid group, and know that you did this on your own.

The expansion has obviously shaken up a few guilds on the server, but definitely not this one. As a guild that still farms drakes, we generally have people their titles in the first week of being in guild. It just is a bit shocking to see a guild selling these services when they still have folks that don't have it within their guild.

More achievements

Last night we spent some time on Deathbringer Saurfang Heroic mode, but without much avail – our composition was really light on ranged. We did complete Festergut and Rotface on heroic, which was by a vote since we could have also done Flu Shot Shortage as well. With that said, both bosses went down easily and we got our first look of Putricide Heroic. This is going to be a fun fight. It will also really put the pressure on people to keep up their situational awareness. Controlling the unbound plague is the most challenging part of this fight. After giving it a couple of attempts, we went ahead and flipped it to normal. We did the Nausea, Heartburn, and Indigestion achievement so that some of our newer members could get their achievements. After that, we quickly went to Frostwing Halls and healed Dreamwalker up on heroic mode. Great job Pallies!

Drakes Away!

As Wrath is ending and whispers of Cataclysm events are on the horizon, it has found us looking at what we need to get our drakes from Ulduar and ICC. We have been farming OS3D for quite a while now. As you can see, it's quite a collection, complete with a few folks having their Ulduar 10 drakes. For 5 minutes time, it's a nice invest in our members. We also opted to complete Full House again for some guild members that weren't present or joined afterwards. What are you planning to do or hoping to accomplish before Cataclysm launches?

The Wind Down of Wrath

Looking back over the content that Wrath brought us, the several changes that rippled through guilds, the different versions of raids and dungeons, and constant emblem changes with each content patch release, it's finally drawing to a close. This sense of impending closure is more brought on by the release of Operation Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall events. It seems by no means complete, but it is the start. These events bring back several memories of the last two expansions, and everything leading up to the expansion release. It also puts a sense of urgency in completing things.

We are shifting focus. While we want ICC 25 completed on hard modes and our drakes, it's also time to finish up the Ulduar ones as well. It's time to focus and buckle down on the few hard modes that are left, a drake waiting, and a very cool title. As we look ahead, there are also other things to consider. Guild dungeons to complete, quests, and achievements linger on the horizon. The entire guild perk system is looming ahead, to counter balance the ease of a faction change and/or server transfer, to disappear forever.

We almost have our first Frostmourne in guild, which will be quite an achievement. I'm excited about the future. There is a strong loyalty base in this guild, and with that, it means we have allot of new opportunities about to pop on the horizon. We are seeing our second Pirate's Day as a guild – with a new guild picture in the works. We're working on some cool new ways to recruit but honestly, while we had a drop in attendance the prior week, the roster is back to being very solid this current raid week. We've got an influx of healers, which is probably good because who knows what main changes Cataclysm will bring.

Many people say that Cataclysm will fix most of the things that Wrath broke. There are also many skeptics about, thinking this will be yet the end to this game. Personally, I don't see the game in a downward spiral, just a shift of focus. From a business perspective, it makes sense to cater to the masses then the few. Hopefully, Blizzard will have balanced that with the folks that want notoriety which comes from spending the extra time, pursuing the harder things that the game can provide, and offers a way to at least give some sort of way to differentiate between these players that strive for a higher level of game play, and the player that logs in on occasion. Something should be there for the effort. In a 25 man guild, I'm hoping the extra time we've taken on recruitment and to mesh up players with 25 man interest has paid off.

Looking back, this guild was formed for Wrath. I'll need to revamp our website opening pages, because at this point, we have weathered the many storms that Wrath has thrown at us. It's been a roller coaster of a ride. I know what challenges we faced as a brand new guild for Wrath. I'm glad we are facing a slightly different set of challenges for Cataclysm. I know some people may go but I also know we've many people that have raided together for more than a year. That fact alone gives me such faith in this guild for what we can accomplish in the next expansion.

Impacts of a Virtual World

World of Warcraft is only one of many MMORPGs available today. It does happen to have the largest subscription base, with clients spanning the globe. People are social by nature, not discounting the loners that prefer a solo play style. In the terms of content, it takes social interaction to be able to experience all that Blizzard offers. Yes, Blizzard’s scaled down some mechanics, allowing buffs in others, but to accomplish any of this, one has to be able to communicate effectively and listen- it takes social skills.

There has been tons of talk circulating the web on the benefits of guilds in the upcoming expansion. In some ways, I think this is a great move, because with all the other changes Blizzard has implemented, guilds (their structures and membership) have been impacted greatly. People move guild to guild, and server to server, using these infrastructures to get the “achievements” they seek. Other than human nature, there isn’t much cause for loyalty. I’ve raided since the days of Molten Core. The guild we had was a late bloomer, transitioning from a “leveling” guild to a “raiding” guild. It took much effort for the transition, and yes, naturally some people were left behind or opted not to take that path.

The relationships that you form in this online virtual world have impacts. I still remember a set of brothers in Puerto Rico that raided with us. I talk yet with folks on my original server that I rolled my characters on. The recruitment process I use now varies greatly from the process I used in the original release of World of Warcraft. No longer is it: “PST for invite or more info”. To accomplish the goals we’ve set, it’s much more vigorous. There is a written application, which is followed by a mandatory Ventrilo interview for any person applying to be a raider. Friends and family can be invited, but to raid, an officer group must cover our topics. This means every person that comes into this guild chats with me – anywhere from 15 minutes to upwards of an hour. It all varies by the applicant.

Honesty is usually best here, and I’m very frank about the expectations in this guild. If you are here to raid, you have gone through a two step process. We strive to find people that fit with our guild’s goals, atmosphere, and community. No system is perfect. As a female player in this game, I’ve had my share of unwanted attention, which I have quickly resolved. Today’s World of Warcraft environment has granted me a completely different experience. I interact with many people personally. Not only the raid lead (at the moment), but in recruiting and maintaining the guild, its raid roster, and everything in between, I handle many different types of issues.

Recently, I’ve had the responsibility to remove not one, but two different members. The guild itself has its own policies. No one is above them. A member who went through our process, gained membership as a raider, decided that as such, it granted a tolerance for policy. Patience only goes so far. It became obvious that the honeymoon period was over. Not only did this person have problems with existing policies and point blank questions that were answered differently on the application, this person proceed to go on about “issues” in the guild. There was only one thing in common. Every issue in this guild involved a female player. As a guild, we do have a high volume of female players, including many couples, too. The mindset is very much the same of our female population, and we can be an ornery bunch but no more than your average guy group of poker players. Occasionally, you do see guilds that refuse to recruit females because “they are high drama”. This experience was the second time I’ve seen that attitude represented. It was quickly ended with a “You aren’t happy here so you should find a guild to be happy at” and a /gkick. Callous approach on my part, completely. However, you have to understand, while I realize each player in this guild is undergoing real life to some degree or another, when it impacts the raid, repeatedly, then it’s time to reconsider why that player is here and what the damage could be to the guild. It only takes one bad apple to spoil a basket. Personally, I didn’t make the correlation with all the issues this person had until well after the fact. I knew that I looked into each issue, investigating it, and found no bias or reasoning there. It was later when a member said, “especially with the issues she has with female players” that it dawned on me – each issue was with a female player. This member was completely correct in the statement.

People come and people go in any guild. It’s part of the process. Guilds are living entities similar to businesses, but the payment for work is a virtual currency in the forms of achievements, mounts, and titles. I’ve known people from many walks of life, many areas around the world, and while some people may have little impact on me, there are others I do think of often. Many times, I find myself wondering how things worked out, and hoping that each player found what they were looking for in this game. Recently, after the experience above, I just realized the opposite is true. I’ve impacted many people, good or bad, in this game. Our shared experiences will lead to some biases, or even expectations. Yes, it’s a game. But it’s a game each player pays for, and each player invests themselves into. When people experience this game, real or not, the interactions are very real – it’s our social aspects and the nature of being human. My best friend, met through this game, resides in Georgia. That friendship is more real than most friendships that were formed in the “real world”. The point of this article is to make you, the reader, think about your actions in a virtual world, because out there, somewhere, is someone you have impacted as well.