Forged Alliance in Cataclysm

[draven]

update: as this thread has evolved, various changes have been made, with later posts updating information in previous posts. as always, policies are subject to change and will be updated when necessary.

greetings. i wanted to post a quick message to officially welcome everyone to the cataclysm and post a couple guild updates.

first, i hope everyone has fun leveling and exploring the new content, but keep in mind sleep is good for you

second, i will probably be making a few changes to the guild ranks. i'm not entirely sure what yet, but i will likely switch back to having raider and raider alt ranks due to the new lockout system. for those not aware, basically one toon can only be locked to one raid type, either 10 or 25 mode, so you won't be able to raid both on a weekly basis. i will request that everyone pick a main toon, and that toon will be given the rank of raider. other toons will be given the rank of raider alt once they hit 85. i also want to implement a policy for switching mains, but i suspect it will be a while before we have people with multiple toons at 85, so we have time to figure this out.

third, we will once again need to decide whether we want to run 25s as a guild. i will post a poll to get general consensus. if we do, we'll likely need to recruit, otherwise we'll just continue with 10s.

fourth, i would like to point out the new guild system that blizz has implemented. a decent overview can be found here:
http://www.wowpedia.org/Guild_advancement
basically it rewards us for working together as a guild, so please try to do so whenever convenient

i think that's about it for now, as always please feel free to post any questions / comments / issues and / or any fun cata experiences!

[draven]

the guild ranks have been updated. the about us page has been updated with the new ranks, a summary of the changes from wrath are:
- the Veteran Raider rank has been removed
- the Raider rank is now for each person's main toon. each person will only have one toon ranked as a raider, it will most likely be your first 85.
- the Casual Raider rank is now Raider Alt.

as some are already aware, i spent a little bit of time going through all of the characters in the guild spamming gchat / demoting everyone. almost everyone that appears to be actively playing is now at the Member rank. people that haven't been online for 3 months are now marked as inactive. if you feel you are ranked inappropriately, please let me or an officer know. also, a lot of the guild notes aren't correct, so if you would like your's updated, please let an officer know.

questions / comments / issues / suggestions appreciated as always

[draven]

greetings. a few updates:
under certain circumstances, people are no longer limited to having one character at raider rank if you have another that will fulfill raid needs. at this point, that would be a tank or healer. if you think you have a character that qualifies, please let me know. it should be noted that this does not, and most likely will not, apply to multiple dps characters.

also, there are two guild achieves that would be useful to have. the first is mix master, so that we can start making use of cauldrons of battle. if you're buying flasks off the ah, you may want to check to see how the prices of the mats compare. my rogue is an elixir master, i would be happy to make flasks if it helps us get this sooner.

the second is for people that love fishing or are just really bored, so that we can start making fish feasts. it would help while working toward this to focus on the fish required for the feasts: highland guppy, lavascale catfish, and fathom eel. you can dump the fish in the gbank if you want, i've plenty of space set aside to store them should we run out space in the gbank.

finally, the guild bank policy has been updated for cataclysm. more information can be found here. we hope to eventually be able to provide repairs, flasks, and food to all raiders.

[draven]

greetings. a few more updates:
first, for a variety of reasons, the rank of raider and what it means has traditionally been somewhat vague and confusing. due to the nature of cataclysm raid content, this is now going to change. there will be a minimum set of requirements that must be met in order to maintain the raider rank. there has always been the expectation that raiders should be "raid ready" and "prepared", but this has never really been clearly defined. the requirements can now be found in the General Guild Information and Policies thread.

these requirements are not meant to be exclusionary, they are an estimate of what blizzard thinks is neccessary to raid successfully. in general, they should not be difficult to attain, but if you have any questions about them, please ask, either here on the forums or in game. this is an incredibly complex game and there is a lot to learn about it, but knowing your character and how to maximize it is probably the most important thing to know. at times it can be overwhelming, but there are several of us that are happy to help anyone that needs it. also, elitist jerks is generally a good place to learn about your character, there is usually a thread for each class / spec with the essential information you should know. as far as gear, the armory also now has an "advanced" feature that audits your character and lets you know if you're missing anything.

there is a "raider" calendar event for 2/28. if you want to be promoted to, or remain at, raider rank, please accept the invite, and try to make sure you log out in your pve gear so that it is reflected in the armory.

second, i wanted to mention that the officer and organizer ranks will soon require an authenticator. i don't think this will actually affect anyone, but i just wanted to make sure everyone is aware.

finally, the guild is currently shopping for the items listed here if anyone would like to help out.

[draven]

greetings. guild ranks have been updated. if you are not currently ranked as desired, this is probably because of one or more of the following reasons:
1. i screwed something up
2. you didn't sign up for the "raider" rank guild invite
3. your gear was not properly reflected in the armory when i checked
4. you do not meet the new requirements for raider rank

for those that are interested in being promoted to raider, i will continue to put up "raider rank" guild invites on the calendar on monday nights every week. this isn't an actual event, it's just the easiest way to track things, so you don't need to be online for it. if you think you meet the requirements for the raider rank, please accept the invite, and make sure you are logged out in your pve main spec gear.
the invite status meanings are as follows:
accepted: you accepted the invite and your character needs to be reviewed
confirmed: you passed, good work
standby: the armory did not appear to reflect your main spec gear when reviewed
out: you do not meet the requirements for the raider rank. please look up your character on the armory, click on the advanced tab, and check the character audit for what you're missing according the requirements listed here.

if you have any questions or need any help with your character, please feel free to ask. thanks!

[draven]

greetings. a few more updates:
1. with the approach of 4.2 and the firelands raid, everyone should be aware the requirements for the raider rank will be revisited. these are still to be determined, but at this point i'm guessing that average ilvl should be 351ish. in order to maintain the rank of raider, you will need to meet the new requirements.
2. we're going to see if we can get a third / alt raid group going friday and maybe saturday nights. i don't expect this to be a consistent group, but more along the lines of if there are enough interested people online, we'll run something. the first invite is up for this friday (5/27), please accept if you're interested and we'll see how it goes. the invite is extended to raider alt ranked characters and higher. if you are interested in going, but are not a high enough rank, please let me know.
3. we still need Lavascale Catfish for fish feasts, so if you're bored and want to make some gold, fish some up and send them to fabank, preferably in full stacks.

i think that is all for now. questions / comments / suggestions / whatever welcomed as always

[draven]

greetings. a few more updates before 4.2 arrives:
1. in an effort to consolidate and simplify information, there is a new forum for raider information here
this forum will contain rank information as well as be used for reviews for anyone that has questions about their character.

2. the raider rank requirements have been updated for 4.2, and characters will be reviewed prior to the patch. you must meet the new requirements to maintain your rank as raider. anyone who has been raiding or running za/zg should not have an issue meeting the new requirements.

3. if you would like to switch your main, you should declare it now, assuming your new character meets the new requirements.

i think that is all for now, other than a good work and go team! we now have two solid, successful raid groups, and i'm curious to see how we do in the firelands. as always, any questions / comments / suggestions / issues / whatever appreciated

[draven]

greetings! since it has been a while since i've rambled about something in this thread, i figured now is as good a time as any to do so.

first, good work so far in firelands! clearing normal mode in both groups is a respectable accomplishment, and the heroic modes should prove to be a good challenge for us. as has been discussed, the nerfs were a bit of a disappointment, didn't make a lot of sense, and seemed to be too soon. it would have been nice if they were delayed a couple more weeks, or if they were implemented in a way that we had control over, but unfortunately neither were the case. in blizzard we trust doesn't quite hold true anymore, but it's not something i want to dwell on. instead we can now work on being better prepared for deathwing by farming easy mode and working on heroics.

we also now have the opportunity to put together a firelands alt raid and allow more people to see the content, although as some of us discovered last night, it would still need to be a relatively dedicated group with a decent composition, for example actually having enough tanks and healers. alternatively, there is also the option of easing off raiding a bit and focusing on pvp more. rated battlegrounds have been going pretty consistently and well for several weeks now, so if people would prefer more pvp we can expand that to both friday and saturday nights. if you are interested in either, make sure to check the calendar for invites and sign up.

finally, i want to let everyone know that the idea of a more progression oriented "semi-hardcore" group has been bouncing around for a while, and that is something we are going to try to put together for the next raiding tier. the goal of this group will be to kill deathwing on heroic mode in a relatively timely fashion. this idea is still in the early stages of development, but more information about this group will be forthcoming... sometime.

i think that's it for now. as always, any questions / comments / suggestions / whatever, please feel free to post and / or let me know

[draven]

greetings! since 4.3 is nearly upon us, it's time to update my cataclysm ramblings.

first, good work overall in firelands! i know there are some issues with raid groups that need to be fixed, but we're working on those and i hope we'll be able to sort things out for 4.3. also, a general apology to everyone in letting my duties as raid leader override my duties as guild master. i've been much more focused on group 2's progression than anything else, and i think that has been detrimental to the guild as a whole.

second, in order to figure out what we need as far as raid groups, i would like to get a sense of everyone's personal goals as far as raiding goes. there is a separate post about this here. please read it and respond to the guild calendar event.

third, the requirements for the raider rank will be adjusted for 4.3 and the current ranks will be updated accordingly. the new ilvl requirement will probably be 370ish. this may leave out a lot of people who haven't had the opportunity to raid much, but the new 5 person dungeons in dragon soul should enable people to catch up relatively quickly.

fourth, i'm thinking of bringing back the veteran raider rank. the requirements for this are still tbd, but the general idea is that this rank would be for people who are dedicated to heroic progression when the time comes.

i think that's it for now, any questions / comments / suggestions / issues / whatever are welcomed as always

[draven]

greetings! 4.3 has arrived. i've not much to say at the moment except that we're still working out raid groups and ranks have been updated.

if you did not respond to the "personal raid goals" calendar event, you may have been demoted. this means as of next week it is unlikely that you will be receiving raid invites. if you would like this to not be the case, read the post about the event and respond accordingly. the status for everyone who already responded has been changed. it doesn't mean anything, it is just the easiest way to keep track of things.

hope everyone is enjoying the new stuff, and good luck to us all in dragon soul!

[draven]

greetings! since the pandas are nearly upon us, the time has come to close out this thread. i think we've come a long way as a guild during the cataclysm, but we can always do better. if you have any feedback or suggestions as to how we can improve things, feel free to post here, or if you'd rather not post in a public environment for whatever reason, talk to me or one of the other officers in game.

also, if anyone has any feedback for me as guild master and / or thinks the guild needs a new overlord, please let it be known. i'm happy to continue enforcing my draconian rules and taking care of the other guild masteree stuff, but i'm sure someone else could probaby do a better job. i don't expect to change my guild mastering style much, but i'm willing to consider any feedback you may have and / or suggestions for a replacement. again, if you aren't comfortable posting here, feel free to talk to me or one of the other officers in game.

the only other news i have at the moment is that, assuming that i am still empowered to do so, ranks will be reset next week. new requirements for the raider rank will be determined when appropriate; they will be similar to the current ones but with an ilvl close to whatever blizzard uses for lfr. raid groups for pandaria have not been determined and will most likely be based on who levels first and / or is proactive about getting a group going, but i suspect we have a while before we need to figure such things out.

i think that is it for now, any other questions / comments / suggestions / issues / whatever are welcomed as always.
enjoy the last week of the cataclysm!