Best Of

I went back through our backlog to look for raid policy stuff, but it was all scattered about. I am putting this here for any new folks that are jumping in during my reign of terror, so please point 'em here. If you're reading this FROM THE FUTURRRRRRE, it may not be relevant - depends on whether or not I'm running stuff.

Hello! That's all the small talk I have time for.

Timing
We raid on Sundays at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern, and on Mondays at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern. We raid mostly until enough folks get too tired to continue, and that's fine, that's all fine here, how are you?

Loot and gearing
I am starting another thread to discuss loot. I prefer master loot, some folks prefer personal loot, I would like your opinion.

As for rolls, if we ever do loot manually, it will be in a 'rolls rule' sort of format. I'm skipping out on loot council for a couple reasons - for the most part, most of us want our buddies to succeed, and I have found over time that people tend to be pretty good about sharing loot. I want to keep it this way. I don't want to prioritize people that are 'better,' because that's demoralizing to people who are trying but just not as talented. Everyone deserves that lottery-winning feeling. You helped down the boss, you get an equal shot at the goodies.

Additionally, BoEs will go on a need > greed basis. If it's an upgrade and you need it, you get first dibs. If you plan to sell it, wait for the greed roll. A common response to this includes "shouldn't the guild get this for the money?" Tragedy of the commons be damned, I trust the lot of you to assist the guild with money when we need it. @primesuspect will alert us if it gets bad, and we'll do guild dungeons or donate. I usually run things on the honor system, and I will continue to do so until tragedy of the commons rears its ugly head (here's hoping it never does)!

Finally, if you win a piece of loot, there are two things you need to know:

1. I don't tolerate any 'begging' for loot to get passed on. None. No coercion, no whispers, nothing. If someone mentions that it might be a better upgrade for someone else because they don't think you've noticed, that's fine... but you are under NO obligation to pass it on, and you are under NO obligation to feel bad for keeping what you won fair-and-square. I won't have any hurt feelings because you were forced to give a piece up. Yes, we will have days where someone sweeps the board with the loot - and the people that swept the board will come back and help us get more, and they won't roll on the stuff they already have! And you know what? If they don't come back, you won't remember it a month down the line anyway!
2. If you want to pass loot on to the next person who needs it, I absolutely encourage it. I think it is a wonderful thing to do, and I think you should be thanked out loud for it. I find that Icrontians tend to do this more than not, and it is absolutely awesome. This is the one major reason I'd rather do masterloot - I get to see shows of generosity like this.

Philosophy
The general raid plan is to attack raiding from a cerebral perspective - we're not running day-in-day-out to push muscle memory and burn you out on content (this is a game, not a job). Instead, I'm going to push you to think and come up with new ideas. I want you to rearrange your UI, find a better way to be a little bit quicker, cleverer, etc. I will ask you from time to time to look through your spellbook and find a way to use those stupid, niche spells you don't like. I will insist on weird strategies that don't make sense for anyone but our raid comp.

I cannot do that alone, so I also insist on a lot of chatter. If you have an idea or strategy, don't be silent. Don't pussyfoot around trying to hint that you have an idea - just spit it out. I promise you that if someone is being rude about your idea, I will give them all sorts of trouble for it. If you get hate-whispered for it, say something. I don't put up with bullying even a little bit.

Between being cerebral, a small raid slot, and insisting on chatter, there's one thing I really love in raiders - that's raiders that pick up slack. If you're a dps class that has spot-heals, throw a heal out when it's necessary. If you don't know when it's necessary, then I think you've just found a way to improve! Personal damage-mitigation cooldowns? You can never use 'em too much, but you can definitely use 'em too little! And let me tell you - I ADORE dual-spec raiders.

Speaking of picking up slack, you may have noticed that I tend to dominate the microphone. But I don't have to! I love when people step up and 'run' certain sections of the raid - every timer I don't have to watch is a little more attention I can focus on solving problems elsewhere. You wanna coordinate the healer chatter? Please do. Wanna coordinate ranged movement? Go for it!

Your name will probably get mentioned at some point. And it will probably be in the context of 'such-and-such, you're doing it wrong.' It will also probably be publicly. Please, please, PLEASE do not get upset or offended. Damn near every one of us knows every one of us. Most of us have attended each others' weddings, birthdays, parties, whatever. We are not trying to make enemies on the internet, we are just trying to progress, and more viewpoints involved in the problem solving process are better than just mine. Suppress any hurt feelings and remember - the people talking to you want to see you succeed, not make you feel bad. They like having you around. We're all in this one together.

Don't feel bad mentioning someone's name if they're doing something wrong, too. Keep it clean, keep it friendly, and don't make 'em feel bad - remember, these are your friends, all you're trying to do is get them to raid better. Add positive comments when you see anyone doing anything awesome or pro-social. If you notice someone is going too hard on someone else, say something. The worst thing that ever happened to me in this raid was when I was calling out a problem I saw and the guy took it personally - but nobody warned me that he was irritated and that I wasn't sensitive enough, and it led to hurt feelings. It sounds corny as hell, but it's legitimately on all of us to make sure the air stays positive.

Having said that, you are NOT allowed to call someone out on a grievance. I don't need that aired over mumble, or over some public channel. If you don't like something raid related by all means, speak... but if you have a problem with someone else and it's going to cause a fight, you tell me. If you think what you're going to say is going to make someone mad enough to leave, you tell me. If you are being chewed on by someone, you tell me. If you instead air something publicly, you bring everyone down, you cause people to choose sides, and you create a general crappy environment. Come to me instead. I'm here to be the bad guy when I have to. You are here to have fun. See? Your job is way better. Why would you want my job?

Above all, remember that this is just a game. When life calls, life calls. You wanna take a hiatus? Go for it - we'll be here to get you going again when you come back. Just keep in touch - what's the point of WoW if you don't get to keep the friends you've made?