This week’s blog Azeroth shared topic asks: “What spell would you most want?” It was inspired by the fact that in the upcoming Mist of Pandaria expansion, Druids will be getting a new spell
called Symbiosis, which will allow them to “trade” a spell with another
player, based on the player’s class and combat role and the Druid’s
specialization.
This one was a no brainer for me– I’ll be crossing my fingers that I always have a shadow priest in my party so I can borrow their Mind Sear. Now, its tooltip doesn’t make it sound like all that: “Causes an explosion of shadow magic around the target, causing 152 to 163 (+ 15% of SpellPower) Shadow damage every 1 sec for 5 sec to all enemies within 10 yards around the target.” But what it DOESN’T MENTION is that you do, in fact, create a shadowy purple explosion of damage in a large circle around your intended victim. Purpley bolts of doom for everyone!
When I play my boomkin, it’s always the mind sear button I try to reach for, from the many hours of shadow priesting and the joy that spell has brought me in so many dungeons and raids and city leader strikes. If my druid had it in her arsenal, it would be her go-to AOE spell. And her targets would never see it coming…
I know I shouldn’t love any of my vanity pets more than others, but I have to admit it: I do have my favorites. here are my top 5 favorite vanity pets, not in order because I really can’t rank them:
Spectral Tiger Cub. I wanted this guy ever sine I saw him previewed on a TCG promo back in the day. This little guy also wins the prize for being least expected birthay present ever.
Hippogryph Hatchling. This was my first ever super rare vanity pet. I’d received a box of the TCG cards as a gift from my SO after a particularly tough week traveling for work, and this loot card was in it. Totally unexpected and so adorable. I was totally annoyed when a vanilla WoW guild mate’s boyfriend bought her one of the cards off eBay after she’d admired mine in our raids.
Wind Rider Cub. Yet another awesome present from my SO. He is so adorable, and I love it when he flies along behnid me.
Singing Sunflower. It’s so nice to be out in the middle of nowhere and have this little pet start singing to you. You’re never lonely in Azeroth with this little lady by your side.
Moonkin Hatchling. I whined and pined and dreamt of having a mini me for my boomkin. And then this year, our dreams came true with the adorable moonkin baby! I seriously stood around in Dalaran dancing with this little cutey for a solid half hour after getting him in the mail.
This is that point in a new expansion when beleagured officers come face to face with foaming at the mouth guildies. Already I have seen friends’ guilds break up, splitting off into 10-man raid teams. I have seen friends nerd rage at being left out again from a guild heroic. I’ve heard people rage about the horrors of trying to complete a quest in HoO that actually requires killing all the bosses…oh wait, that last person was me.
All this excitement naturally got me thinking about the expectations we all place on our guild officers.And the expectations they have for their guilds in return.
What I Expect From My Guilds
I have to start by saying that, of course, there are more flavors of guilds with a more diverse palette of objectives than there are flavors of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. These are my opinions based upon my five years of playing WoW. From my perspective, people join a guild in order to either be a part of a group activity (such as raiding or RP or BGs), and/or to have a supportive social environment in which to pursue their goals.
For me personally, my list of guild expectations goes something like this:
Good players with whom to go do stuff. That stuff may include 5-mans and raids, or BGs, or lowbie antics.
Raiding. Sooner or later, I know I always want to raid. I am fine with not being in a progression raiding guild, having done that in the past when my schedule allowed, but that’s not a primary motivator for me now.
Nice people to talk to in G. Not PC people, or suck-ups, mind you, but genuinely pleasant people with whom I can talk about WoW, or in the best case, RL topics of interest.
Vent or some other sort of voice chat. Communication is key for raiding or BG groups,; and text only just doesn’t cut it.
Twitter and/or forums/guild website. Some topics need to be talked through outside of game. And strategies need to be shared for raiding. Some folks like to fly by the seat of their pants and just listen to the RL tell them the fight. I am not one of them. I like to be prepared.
Reciprocity. I try to be helpful whenever I can, be it with my time, helping out in an area I am familiar with, or with crafting. I don’t expect tit for tat, but an environment wherein I’m always helping or donating to the guild but can’t obtain any help myself becomes tiresome.
Personal accountability. It’s hard to find. And many folks tell me to get over it and deal with those looking to live in their own little bubble. But this is one of my core beliefs, so I’m not backing down on it.
What I Expect From My Officers
As someone who has both been an officer and not been an officer in a variety of guilds across both factions and several servers, I’ve seen many different guild management styles. And let’s just say I’ve seen some pretty cringe-worthy officer behavior. But I’ve also seen some rock stars. Hence, my list:
Acknowledgement. I kick butt. I show up to raids on time and prepared. I help out. Like anyone, I do want some acknowledgment for what I bring to the table. No one wants to feel taken for granted, or worse yet, invisible.
Open communication. I was in a serious raiding guild run by officers that several of us referred to as “the shadow council.” Not only did they not share information out to the guild, they didn’t share it amongst themselves. I want to be able to talk to my officers about issues that arise and have them listen. This doesn’t mean I expect everything to be changed to how I’d like it, but I do want to be heard.
Organization and Management of the Guild. I like my officers to be thinking about guild activities and getting them going. I like a moderated forum if it’s a big active guild. I like an Officer presence in G chat to quell uprisings and dramas before they boil over. And I like a guild bank that’s somewhat organized and not full of junk no one could sell in the AH.
Consistency. I am not a fan of guild policies that fluctuate. Or decisions based on whom a GL likes best that day. I expect consistency in policies and procedures.
What I Expect, as an Officer, from my Guildies
That’s right — your officers have some expectations of you too. They’re volunteers, after all, putting in extra time and effort to make the game more fun for themselves and for you. Here are some of my expectations of my guildies:
Patience. Yes, I know you really want that shiny item from the gbank. But it is not, in fact, an emergency. I am happy to help you when I am free, but if I am in the middle of doing something else, you will need to wait, and not to have a hissy fit.
Acknowledgement. You do realize that officers spend a bunch of time behind the scenes keeping things running smoothly, right? You do know those raid strats didn’t magically find their way into the raid’s ears, yes? When all you hear is complaints, it becomes a lot less rewarding to be an officer.
Assistance. If you know of drama brewing, tell an officer sooner rather than later. That goes double if you are the person with an issue — talk to an officer. And if you want some rare item crafted for which I don’t yet have the pattern, rather than complaining about my not having it yet, offer to help me attain it. An officer is not your personal dungeon slave or crafting bee; you want some assistance, offer us some as well.
Maturity. Please understand that I am not your mommy. And that your guildmates do not owe you anything. A guild is not just a captive audience for you to talk at and to harangue about doing runs with you. Please do not behave like a two-year-old. Becuase it does not please me to have to treat you like a naughty child who needs a scolding. Really, it doesn’t.
What about you? What are some of your key expectations from your guild and its officers?
Cataclysm has marked the return to random dungeon groups for many people. Some of whom seem to to be unclear on some of the common courtesy’s of grouping with strangers. This Friday Five goes out to them…
DON’T queue until you are ready. This is especially true for tanks and healers: you know you will get an instance almost immediately. So don’t queue, come on inside, then tell us you need a 5 minute AFK. We hate you. And will kick you out of there as soon as the timer allows us to for that.
DON’T be afraid to ask questions. You know how right before a boss fight, the party leader will often say “so has everybody done this?” I know it can bruise one’s ePeen to be the only one raising their hand, but if it’s your first time in Vortex Pinnacle, speak up. Heck, even if it’s not, if you are running with a bunch of strangers, ask them how they want to handle the fight. Make sure you understand who is in charge of cc’ing the diamond. Double check if this is a go stand in something or a kite through or a run away from fight.
DON’T run back to the entrance to turn in your quests. No, the group doesn’t want to wait 5 minutes for you to go turn in your quest, no matter how excited you are about that quest reward item. This is a pretty surefire way to get kicked out.
DON’T ignore party chat, especially when it is directed towards you. If someone is asking you a question, you need to respond to it. “Paladin X, are you lost?” crickets. “Paladin X, why are you back at the entrance to the instance?” crickets. “Paladin X you aren’t keeping us all waiting here for 4 minutes now turning in your quests and not replying to us are you?” crickets. /vote to kick.
DON’T be a primadonna. We don’t care that you blew your uber mega DPS cooldown on that last boss 200 feet over there and it won’t be up again for 5 minutes. Your meter humping is of little interest to the group. Really. I promise. It’s up to you to manage your CDs and buffs, not the group’s obligation to stand around waiting for your to feel everything is optimal for you for each fight.
BONUS: DON’T tell the group how every other group you’ve done this instance with has done it faster/more smoothly/without the boss casting meteor/whatever. The expansion has been out for a little over a week. Saying stuff like this marks you as a pretentious git. Get over yourself and learn how to have a good time!
So far I am enjoying the new dungeons. I especially liked being able to run around in boomkin form on a camel in a dungeon, as seen above. Now THAT’s what I call a fun time in a dungeon — boomkin DPSing from a camel’s back.
Now that December 7th has come and gone, and level 85s are already complaining about how bored they are and my what long dungeon queues they have, I bring you this Friday Five, covering how I have spent the last 3 Cataclysmic days…
Wading knee deep in professions. When I log in a new character, the first to-do is to visit all their profession trainers and train so I can start getting those professions skill-ups rolling. Of course I forgot to do that for my Alliance druid’s skinning (that trainer is all the way out in Old Town SW, and thus was forgotten), so although she skinned plenty in Vashj’ir, you didn’t gain any points for it, alas. So far, have been pushing the levers on working on my horde-side tailoring, fishing and cooking, and herbing; alliance side the most headway was made with alchemy and inscription, but tailoring and enchanting are moving along as well.
Checking out the new starter instances. Given that we need to up our ilvls in order to use LFD for the later instances, I’ve been making sure I do the starter instances as soon as I can find a group of friends or guildies interested in doing so. And yes, I have been equipping dungeon blues to replace my ilvl 251 pieces on the druid. The SP has built a set of crafted gear to meet the new ilvl requirements as well, but is still hanging on to some 264/277 pieces.
Questing and dungeoning with guildies. I easily maxed out my guild reputation from the week over the course of each toon’s one evening of playtime, thanks in large part to questing with my SO (which kept me focused and moving forward through the story lines) and dungeoning with guildies and friends which kept us out of what I’ve heard has been a 40-minute LFD queue for DPS.
Leveling slowly but surely. I’ve only had a few hours each evening to play, as I’ve had a full plate at work this week. But even with the limitation of just 3 or so hours per night to play, my druid and my shadow priest are each halfway through 81.
Sightseeing. I’ve yet to do an aerial tour of Azeroth, or even get started on my archaeology, but when I am out in the new areas, I am making sure I stop to smell the Cinderblooms, and to take plenty of screenies. That can backfire sometimes though, mind you. Such as the case with the screenshot you see on this page. Wouldn’t you agree that is is terribly unfair that I was able to ride this adorable seahorse whilst in boomkin form in performance of the quest? But that once I received my very own seahorse to have and to hold, I was unable to ride him except in caster form? I’m being opressed!.
How have you been spending your first few days in Azeroth? Speed leveling one toon to 85? Making a killing in the AH? Or taking your time and rolling new alts?
Psychocandy was born at the start of January 2006. She was my very first WoW character, and my main up until Spring of last year.
Did I mention that I actually leveled her as a healer? Yes, I did that becasue I wanted to ensure I understood the healing role and would be ready to jump into main healing 5 mans and raids once she hit 60.
I’d already had the raiding bug from the moment I rolled her, thanks to watching my SO raid ZG every week for several months. This is how my level 58 self ended up in Molten Core, healing.
I wasn’t a maxed out restoration druid though. Up until Patch 3.0 I had a hybrid build of my own design (not the somewhat more common Dreamstate druid build.) I was never ever a tree. I was a crazy regrowth spamming caster lady. And I kicked everyone’s butt in the healing department. 🙂
With Patch 3.0 I went Boomkin. I’d flirted with it earlier in BC, and after the changes to restoration healing made tree pretty much mandatory for performing well, it seemed like a good idea to make that swap. And once you start boomkin dancing, it’s hard to go back…
BONUS: My character’s name is Psychocandy. You may call her Candy for short. No, you may not call her Psycho. She’s named after a song. Go listen to it.
Next time: Anexxia gets the trip down memory lane.