4.12. Water Under the Bridge

The first gift my wife bought me.
Supports the swap trick without a mod chip.
I know. She's awesome.

Intake

Being married to a probation officer has its perks.

The biggest regret, looking back, was how easily I swept family under the rug. This was the six year mark as guild leader, but my sixteenth year as husband. Neglecting her to ensure the guild stayed focused through 40-Man raids was poor judgement on my part; very representative of life decisions thus far. Turn the clock back a bit further, and you'll come to learn about the day my wife was keeled over, puking her guts out with the stomach flu on the very day movers were arriving. They continued to cart boxes out to their truck, while I wrapped up "just one more round" of Team Fortress Classic. I was bona fide "Husband of the Year" material. One of my first offenses involved the purchase of a PlayStation game with money set aside for groceries. Street Fighter Alpha, to be specific. Great port, by the way. Included a fantastic remixed soundtrack that could be toggled on/off in-game; I highly recommend it if you enjoy 2D fighting games, and own a classic PSX.

Did I mention that the first generation PlayStation was the first gift she ever bought me? True story. So, on the downside, we ate a lot of ramen that month -- but if you came over to visit, there would definitely be some SFA going down.

Jul and I had come a long way from those early days of marriage, but it was only really now coming to fruition, sixteen years later. I hate thinking about how much she shouldered, particularly when Descendants of Draenor was birthed. It was unfair and unkind, wholly representative of my fixation on video games. It wasn't until around Wrath of the Lich King that I started to become aware of the impact my decisions were having on her, and slowly, I began trading excuses for acceptance. Eventually, we could have evenings together again, share in the day, and just plain talk. And Jul always gave an ear, particularly when it came time for me to broach the subject of people analysis.

I like to think my wife has proficiency in reading people -- since she made it her career.

---

"The word you're looking for is 'recidivism'."

"Sure, OK. Repeat offenders, right? And what's that look like for alcoholics?"

Jul shook her head, waiting for a response. She hoped I would finish the sentence, "...in what context? What kinds of crimes are we talking about?"

"Oh, I get it. Like domestic abuse or theft..." I said.

"Yeah! The demographics change based off of the type of crime."

I paused, cycling through all the ways I might try to criminally classify inappropriateness and abuse, which is about as close to a "crime" as a guild leader could get in categorizing d-bag guild members.

"Well, if someone is out wandering randomly in public, drunk off their ass, hurling insults."

"That could still be a number of different types, it could be civil disobedience...if the person is directing threats to someone in particular, it could be public harassment. There's public drunkenness, the list of statutes is long, and quite often it isn't really clear!"

"Public intoxication isn't really punishable in the state of Colorado is it?"

"You can plea down, though, from a more serious offense, and still end up serving probation."

This was becoming more complex than what I gave the original question credit for. Jul sensed frustration, "...what are you really trying to ask, here?"

"I...am struggling with whether or not I should let someone back into the guild. Someone that was verbally abusive to another player. The guy has a history with the drink. We've talked about it. He's remorseful. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt but...I just wish there was a way I could make a better judgement call on this."

"Look. Just because we have a by-the-book classification for each offense, that doesn't mean there's an answer for each individual person you can just look up. If you go into the office and have a pat response for each and every case that gets dropped on your desk...you're not doing your job."

She was right. The college kid that had one too many drinks after a party and killed his friend might be the same offense as a tipsy constructor worker accidentally dumping a load of lumber on a co-worker...but they're still two human beings. They have histories. They have agendas. Remorse is sincere or manufactured. People regret their decisions, or are indifferent. They are capable of growing...or not. What it takes to sort this all out is the read. Sitting them across the desk. Smelling the alcohol on them after getting a denial that they've gone near a bottle at all. Watching them fidget and turn away when asked if they're attending alcohol treatment classes. The crime is important to sort people into generalized punishment categories, but getting a read on someone is crucial in determining who gets another chance.

Except that I had no desk to sit them down at. No way to smell breath. No way to see fidgeting and dishonesty. All I had to work with was their voice over Ventrilo, and a history of bad behavior.

My wife passed her own sentence on the case, "Without knowing anything else, I'd say give him a second chance -- after it is made clear that this behavior won't be tolerated again. After that, he's out."

Mature assists Mashakana in clearing elemental
rifts, earning "Tripping the Rift",
Blade's Edge Mountains

Little Miss Chatterbox

"I've been contemplating having Bulwinkul come back to DoD. How do you feel about that?"

Lexxii seemed surprisingly casual about it, "I'm fine with it."

I checked again, offering her another chance to back out, "You sure? I mean...I'm not at all comfortable with his treatment towards you. It was completely out of line."

"No, it's fine. I mean, I was just really surprised...is all. When I started to make the suggestions about bite orders on blood queen, he just blurted that shit out over Vent and I was really just not expecting that at all. But...y'know. No big deal. Whatever."

"Ok, well...I'll have another chat with him about it. And to be clear, he'll be on an extremely short leash."

"Thanks. It's good to finally get some support around here. Y'know, Bullshark and I really feel like we've been welcomed by you guys, and to be honest, haven't really gotten any kind of support like that from guild leaders in the past. I mean it really got going with the some of the drama queens in Final Hour, and they would just throw us under the bus, y'know? It happened a lot. This is the thanks we get? It's pretty sad."

"We're thankful to have both of you. Have you given any thought to healing leadership in Cataclysm?"

"No! I mean, no, not at all, I didn't even know that you were changing the line-up!"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure what's going on with Guns, yet, but there may be a spot in the near future." The guild survey told a clearer story. Guns tied Eacavissi for "Officer Least Noticeably Helping Hanzo run the Guild." Not the greatest badge you'd want to pin to your chest. "Do you think you're up for the task?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, I have a lot of great ideas about how we could really get the healers more involved in some overall strategy discussion, I mean, when we get down to it, there could a lot more adjustment that we do between our specs, especially since I've already sort of bounced a lot of those ideas off Neps and he gets it, y'know? I mean, if we can push our throughput by going with more disc, I'm perfectly fine with that. I mean, I've pretty much been Holy this entire time, but switching to Disc was phenomenal on Sindragosa, it made that fight so much easier to deal with it. and we could do a lot more of that in Cata. As long as people chill out."

Discussions with Lexxii very often went this way; I didn't mind. It gave me a chance to practice listening, which is something a few guild leaders could use a lesson in.

"Give it some thought, and we'll talk more as we approach raid ready. I feel you're the best candidate because you know the healing assignments now, you're proactive, involved, and you're a first class healer."

As it stood, Lexxii was the strongest healer in the line-up. If the raid team could see past the chatter, she'd be fine.

Mature kills one of Falnerashe's alts,
wrapping up "Wintergrasp Ranger",
Lake Wintergrasp

Leveling The Field

Lake Wintergrasp was barren and empty. News of elemental spawnings began to trickle in from all corners of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Players going about their business were subjected to tremors, as the earth slowly shook, preparing to birth Azeroth's next coming attraction. As such, players diverted their attentions away from Northrend in an attempt cast themselves into aforementioned elemental invasions. And so, with the playerbase migrating away from Northrend, the scheduled outdoor warzone of Lake Wintergrasp held little value for players preparing for the next iteration of war.

I surveyed the list of outstanding achievements and noted that Wintergrasp Ranger remained unfulfilled. And it was here that I drew Shadowmourne once more, preparing to sink it into the alter ego of a ex-guildie who hadn't set foot in our guild in many moons: Falnerashe.

Years had gone by since The Tantrum. That's a lot of time for players to walk past one another on the same server. Each time Falnerashe ran by, en route to a dungeon, or off to participate in some makeshift raid somewhere, I took note of the guild name Triple Zero, for no other reason than it was not Descendants of Draenor.

Her exit had not been kind. She left us in the worst way possible, scathing accusations, fingers pointing and all of the blame sat squarely with me and my mistreatment of her group. She was disgusted, watching half-assed players rise to prominence in the 25-Man roster while she and her friends, folks like Lhaktar and Teras, remained sidelined. Though she never actually asked me for my reasons, I wouldn't have been able to pin them down. All I had was the gut to help govern my decisions; to an outcast guildie, it must have looked at lot like favoritism.

I didn't know much about how things went for her, post DoD. A few in the guild stayed in touch with her, Annihilation, Neps, the PvPers that would make the rounds, and throw together unofficial raids in the wee hours of the morning when the rest of us were trying to plan for the next work day. I was curious if she was still resentful, bitter about the exit. At the very least, I knew the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Lhaktar's passing, and knew that they were close friends. As much as Falnerashe and I had not seen eye to eye in those earlier years, I had to think the loss of her friend was rough, I would never swear that on any of my worst enemies.

So, I was surprised, then, when Drecca mentioned her in passing, over a conversation we discussed about knocking out a Heroic Lich King in 10-Man. Drecca said she'd been offering up services and they had been getting unofficial help from Fal for quite some time -- there wasn't a lot of activity in Triple Zero these days. I had doubts about approaching her, but Annihilation helped push those aside. "Dude, just send her a tell. Get the cricket chirping. You know she will..."

So I did. And she responded.

We talked about DoD, about Triple Zero. We talked about Lhaktar and about Cataclysm. She admitted there were things that went on that she wasn't happy about; I too admitted fault at not giving people management the focus it deserved. We talked about the proverbial water potentially having the possibility...maybe...of running under the bridge. And, of course, I had to make my pitch. Cataclysm was going to be rough, especially for the old-schoolers. Guild structures were going to come apart and pugging dungeons and raids would be a thing of the past. Did she want to put up with that? Should she have to? If I could commit to keeping her away from the drama, and mediating issues so all she needed to worry about was raiding, perhaps the 2nd time around might have a better outcome.

And lo and behold, Wintergrasp Ranger was something she was looking to wrap up as well.

So, Falnerashe and I agreed to wipe the slate clean, and start from scratch. And what better way to do that, then by driving our weapons into each other?

4.11. Cataclysmic Tactics

Vanilla era, Zanjina prepares to PvP while Bovie makes
an excellent suggestion for the future of WoW,
Orgrimmar

The Unforsaken

When Bovie confessed to us that she was, in fact, a 'he', it was admittedly both historic and awesome, but was not the most impressive thing I remember about him/her. S/he came out of the woodwork of Deathwing-US very early in DoD's history, when Vanilla was ripe, gold was scarce, and soloing level 60 quests often ended tragically. I secretly suspected. There were no shortage of female toons; digital busts, hips and waists powered by the hormones of teenage boys and middle-aged men uninterested chase-camming a dude. I was as guilty as any of them, having already rolled Uld, a female orc rogue, and Zanjina, a female troll priest. Gal players were out there, but they were far and few between. Many chose to downplay their gender in real life, an unfortunate necessity of the culture: in my experience, they were nearly always subject to harassment and rash judgement of their ability. Now, Bovie certainly didn't run around Orgrimmar announcing her lady parts to the server -- s/he was quite demure about it...which is exactly why DoD never really knew for sure.

I got that it was a tremendous weight lifted off his shoulders. The guild got a good round of jabs in, and the druid took it all in stride. For DoD, it was historic and awesome, but not the most impressive. The most impressive story about Bovie is that, mid-way through TBC, he took me aside in vent and made another confession: he was headed to law school. I asked how long it would take him; he guesstimated about three years, from baby to the bar exam. I told Bovie that we would miss him, but that as long as WoW wasn't going anywhere, neither would DoD, and I assured him that I would keep his spot warm in the guild. The virtual seasons came and went. TBC carried on, as did our struggles and redemption, concluding with Illidan's defeat. DoD was torn down and rebuilt. New stories unfolded in Northrend; Death Knights were everywhere. Naxxramas, all over again. The epic adventures in Ulduar. Breaching the gates at Icecrown, slicing through rotting flesh and undeath to put an end to Arthas. Now, WotLK was at the end of its life. And in the entire time, Bovie sat offline in the roster, his 'last logged in' status a constant reminder of the promise I'd made. 1 year offline. 2 years offline. 3 years offline.

...and then, one day in October of 2010, I opened the roster and saw his last logged in status: Today. DoD's official litigator was ready for his opening arguments.

---

Thorim's voice called out from inside my jacket. I was parked outside my son's school, concentrating on capturing Ho-Oh when Thorim began repeating his infamous phrase. I flipped the DS into the passenger seat and answered the phone. It was Joredin. I hadn't heard from him in years. He quickly brought me up to speed on the events that had transpired since he'd last set foot in Azeroth. We exchanged stories of job changes, of life changes. I told him of changes that were coming, both to the game and to DoD. He revealed the hacking event that caused his first retirement from WoW. How many players were lost to hacking over the years? Only Blizzard knows. Thankfully, they did something about it.

I told Joredin about the latest addition to the game: authenticators applied to player accounts could now be verified by guild leaders. I'd be tying certain ranks to their presence; additional permissions to the guild vault that wouldn't normally be considered sane. Trust goes both ways, and if I gave a little, I expected a little in return -- authenticators would be the first way to guarantee that trust was in place. In a virtual world shrouded by so many layers of anonymity, players sloughed off accountability like so much dead skin. "My account is secure, Hanzo, honest!" carries very little weight. In Cataclysm, I wouldn't be able to promote you to raiding status until an authenticator was attached and confirmed -- the game would physically prevent me from pressing the promote button.

Joredin liked the sound of that, and wanted to know what he could do to return to DoD.

"You've already done it," I told him, "be ready for your re-invite when I log on."

One of the few rare moments Mature pulled ahead
of Zedman in achievement point whoring
(Source: wow-achievements.com via The Wayback Machine)

Unhealthy Obsessesions

I stalked the shaman relentlessly for the better part of Wrath of the Lich King. Who was this orc that had the audacity to stay ahead of me in achievement points? Folks in the server-first raiding guilds like Enigma and Inertia had a valid excuse: they got through the toughest stuff before we even had a chance. But Unbridled Apathy, as far as I could tell, were either neck and neck with DoD, or falling behind. Yet, this player named for the last letter of the alphabet was continuing to stay first in this unofficial race to who had less of a life. And it ate away at me like "nerd world problems" tended to.

It was at the point where I was filling out spreadsheets just to determine the fastest, most efficient path to beating him. Some achievements might only take a few hours worth of work, while others would take weeks and weeks of grinding (particularly the ones involving reputation gains). Every time I gained a small lead on the Zed Man, it would only be a matter of days before he closed the gap and pulled ahead once more. I carried on in tortuous agony, queued for the worst kinds of PvP, participated in mindless clickfests, and camped for desperately sought-after creatures. I was determined to stay ahead of a make-believe nemesis who, quite possibly, had no idea I even existed.

[From: Zedmann]: Loq? He won't be up for another 3 hours. :(

I eyed the random whisper.

[To: Zedmann]: I hate my life.

He'd spotted me, hiding near some foliage in the southeastern corner of the Basin, one of the known spawning locations of the rare spirit beast, Loque'nahak. I needed him to finish Frostbitten. Every other hunter needed him to bring some concentrated coolness to their Beast Mastery game. The result was that he was never up. Never.

[From: Zedmann]: I've got them all on a timer now. It's a 6-to-8 hour window, his comes up again around 10:00pm. Only way to keep ahead of the hunters.

[To: Zedmann]: Staying ahead of you is a full-time job. You realize that, don't you?

[From: Zedmann]: lol, only thing we can do to compete with the hardcore raiding guilds.

The in.

[To: Zedmann]: So what's the deal with UA? You making progress over there or what?

[From: Zedmann]: Long story. It's all over the board, and I have RL stuff that keeps me out of the regular schedule. People are losing interest at the end. Raids are spotty.

The pitch.

[To: Zedmann]: Come join us. Our forces combined, no other guild could compete with such ridiculous levels of achievement whoring.

[From: Zedmann]: lol. It's complicated. ;)

[To: Zedmann]: Try me.

He was close friends with the leader of Unbridled Apathy, and in discussing it further, felt an obligation to remain. He was loyal, to a fault. Zedmann shouldn't have had to suffer the failings of a disappearing raid roster because of his friendship with the person in charge. I would never have demanded the same of my own people, nor expected such blind faith during imminent collapse. But Zedmann truly felt a bond with his guild leader, and assured me that he would be staying in Unbridled Apathy.

...which is exactly the reason why I continued to stalk him.

That kind of loyalty is hard to find. If I could wrap it up, package it, and sell it as a How To Guild Leadering LOL, I'd expect to make a small fortune. So whenever I re-engaged achievement whoring mode, I sent him whispers, and continued to harass him. I explained how he shouldn't have to bear the brunt of a collapsing guild, or a raiding roster not in tune with his restrictive RL schedule. I broke the Zed Man down, chip by chip, until eventually, the guild title underneath his name read Descendants of Draenor.

You've made a wise decision, achievement whore. It will be you, Joredin, and Bovie, that take up the mantle of our first 10-Man Tacticians.

If you're reading this caption, Zedmann, then
you know why I'm including this screenshot,
Zul'Gurub

Why We Want Your 10-Man

In order to support official 10-Man teams in DoD, I put together a list of all the things 10-Mans had failed at in the past.

• Assembled via word-of-mouth, leading to hard feelings / ostracization / accusations of double-standards
• Poaching of members between teams, due to miscommunication
• No guild-sanctioned title or leader, thereby shirking responsibility / accountability of the behavior of the team

My attempt to solve these problems came in the form of a new rank I introduced to DoD for Cataclysm: the Tactician. Tacticians were the new pseudo-officers of the guild. Thanks to the flexibility of eqDKP-Plus, I was able to grant them the ability to announce and schedule their own signups. This was especially helpful, as players like Joredin were forced into managing a schedule on a shared spreadsheet. Workable, but we could do better.

eqDKP-Plus took it a step further: they could even manage their own DKP pools, if they chose. These tools, coupled with the ability to see all the other 10-Man team schedules (and, of course, the 25-Man schedule) meant that the Tacticians weren't only asked to keep in communication with one another, they had no excuse not to. All the data they needed to coordinate schedules between teams was a single click away. My intent was to have this be the end to poaching, once and for all.

Outside of all the publicly announced rules and perks associated with running a 10-Man, players who chose to take up the Tactician mantle received an unofficial briefing from yours truly, to ensure there was no opportunity to misinterpret the needs of the guild:

The health of the 25-Man is of the utmost importance in DoD. Anything your 10-Man team does to jeopardize that health will fall harshly on your shoulders. Do not, under any circumstances, appeal to the members of the 25. If they reach out to you, fine; I'd ask that you clear 25-to-10 transitions with me first, before you approve their induction into your team. You will not sell the magnificence of your team to the 25.

If they could do me this one small favor, I guaranteed that they would be subsidized in raiding costs, guild repairs, ample raiding resources (flasks, mats to craft, etc.) from the vault, as well as granting them first dibs on any BoEs that the 25 produced. I would also expedite any recruitment they brought to the table, getting individual players or groups of players, grandfathered in -- so long as they met our minimum requirements. On digital paper, we had many rules, the result of so many common-sensical decisions gone horribly awry. Behind closed doors, I shared with the Tacticians the only one true law they needed to abide: Wheaton's Law.

Joredin, Bovie and Zedmann all fit the requirements for Tactician beautifully. They very much wanted to be a part of the 25-Man, but had their own reasons for spinning up a 10, whether to sate an unbridled hunger to raid non-stop (on alts, if it had to be so!), the unpredictability of their careers intervening at impromptu times, or of the demands placed upon them by their families. Each had their own reason to lead a 10-Man, and with Tactician in place, we could scratch each other's backs.

Heed my words, Tacticians: Do not let the 25 die.

4.10. GFY

Mature participates in the reclamation of
the Echo Isles, earning "Zalazane's Fall",
Durotar

Keeping Tabs on Tyranny

The Echo Isles were under attack. I raced Mature to southern tip of Durotar, preparing to rid Kalimdor of Zalazane. The troll's never-ending cycle of life and death had been in the hands of millions of Horde toons leveling their way out of starting areas, but this transition promised to end the cycle. Zalazane's Fall, the first of several events indicating the coming Cataclysm, would forever change the course of the zone. Future generations of trolls would begin their lives here, once the Echo Isles were returned to the Darkspear Tribe. In doing so, players implicitly restored Vol'jin to power in that part of the continent. Vol'jin had long acted as a faithful adviser to our warchief, and the troll had been rising in prominence, as of late.

An adviser of my own was about to get similar treatment.

"I'd like to give you a bit more authority than what you're used to."

Jungard sounded curious, "Oh yeah?"

"Look, you remember how it was. Bustin' ass in Mount Hyjal. Raids weren't easy. We needed discipline..."

He finished my thought beautifully, "...and the 'tyrant' was there to dish it out."

Jungard knew exactly who I spoke of. When he was a freshly recruited warrior, participating in his first DoD raids, Jungard kept his mouth shut, listened and learned. He knew how Blain led every raid with precision, the rogue's ability to pinpoint and correct minutia remained unmatched in DoD's leadership history. But with Blain's perceived super human attention to detail came the drama of players unable to handle his critique, his adjustments, his identification of their badness. They called him a tyrant, and Blain owned it. He even insisted that his rank be displayed as such, continually harassing me to update it to display "Blain - Tyrant" after every rule revision.

"You may have heard that our infamous tyrant is making his return to raid leading in Cataclysm."

"It'll be a welcome return."

I continued my broken responses, in between driving Shadowmourne into Zalazane's followers, "...here's the thing, Jung. I know now, after having lived through it the first time...Blain's honesty doesn't often mix well with the majority. Any other situation...I'd put this out of my mind. Except..."

I paused to gauge my phrasing.

"...we aren't going to have the same luxuries in Cata as we do today. Recruitment is going to be much more difficult. We're going to have to nurture more of who we have, rather than straight up discarding them. This is where you come in."

Jungard was the compassionate one. He, much like Neps, was the type of player who would drop what he was doing and help a guildy in need, regardless of their tenure. I never intended to be completely hands-off with mediation in Cataclysm, but I had the sneaking suspicion that my administrative needs would increase. Anything I could hope to delegate had to be identified; game/life balance was still a priority to me. Blain needed a better half; a number two that kept him in check.

"There's no more Ater, Jung. They worked very closely together. Ater mapped out strategies; Blain implemented them. Blain had no interest in putting up with people's excuses, but Ater added that human touch...he fought a lot of fires. There's no more Ater...but there's you. I want you to take this role up in Cata."

"Co-Raid Leader?"

"Well, I was thinking a little bit more..."

Blain fields a complaint from a guildy that was left
out of a 25-Man raid due to poor performance,
Black Temple

Who Offices the Officers?

The plan was as follows: restructure the guild ranks, putting Jungard above Blain in the hierarchy. Responsibility wise, they would lead raids together. Jungard would be Blain's backup to help manage the menial tasks that were proven to drive him overboard. My former raid leader attributed his burnout to the constant re-explaining of strategy, and to his lack of patience toward excuse makers. Having Jungard take these responsibilities off Blain's shoulders was a burnout reduction tactic...but it was only one part of a larger strategy.

Blain already shared his own plan with me for Cataclysm, and promised to make an announcement post on the forums to set the record straight. We had gone soft. We had grown too fond of farming as means of excusing progression decay; it was the Loot Paradox, all over again. Blain blamed this on Bretthew and Omaric's style, having shifted the mentality of the 25 too far into casual-land. It was music to my ears; I loved everything he planned to solve. But, it would be a tough pill to swallow, especially for the "Wrath babies": players who'd never experienced the pleasure of four hours a night, twice a week, for five weeks...on a single boss. I wouldn't have questioned Blain's iron fist in any other situation, but Cataclysm was too grim. If I'd learned anything thus far, there was an identifiable absence of self-esteem among a vast majority of the player base. It didn't make them all bad. Some could be saved: turned around, re-trained, and sculpted into half decent human beings/raiders. They just needed a bit of extra TLC, and this is where Jungard came in.

By putting Jungard over Blain, I explained to him, I could give Jungard final say. He could sit alongside Klocker and Neps in the advisory pool and give another empathetic, thoughtful voice to our progression strategy. Blain would push hard, that was never in question...and we needed to. But, by having Jungard above Blain in the pecking order, I'd have a solid enough voice to back me up, in the off chance we were pushing a little too hard.

"You have the eye for it. I trust your judgement. You'd co-lead in the instances, keeping Blain's plate clean. And in the off hours, keep your finger on the pulse of the guild. Are we keeping a good pace? Or pushing too hard? Those are the kinds of questions you'll be asking yourself."

Was Jungard up to the task?

"Oh, definitely...I'm definitely up for it. There may be a bit of scheduling I need to work through with my night classes, but I think I can manage."

"Good, let's make it last as long as we possibly can."

I told Jungard I would announce the co-raid leadership appointment next, then deliver the actual promotion in October. Keeping the two announcements separate was by design. To every guildy, Blain needed to be seen as the ultimate raid authority for DoD, and if there was even a hint that Jungard's promotion might undermine that, it was my responsibility to eliminate it. Once we set foot into Cataclysm raids, Blain called the shots. No questioning, no second guessing.

Tyranny would lead us to victory.

Elephantine and Graulm pose outside of Gadgetzan,
Tanaris

Sentimental to a Fault

"Gettin' a little work done, there? Good for you!"

Dave's voice was loud enough to break through the WoW music coming from my earbuds. I popped them out and spun around to face him, the eqDKP-Plus site behind me, and gave him my best Peter Gibbons impression,

"...well, I wouldn't exactly say I'd been missin' it, Bob..."

After slaving over the company websites for nearly three years, the boss and I both earned the right to mock the work (or lack thereof). Whether it was he, cursing at ridiculous requests behind his office door, or myself, cursing at ridiculous bugs behind my code, we'd gone through it together. We understood one another; we both wanted things to not suck.

Dave and I shared our love of things that sucked the best way we knew how: sarcastic mockery of items broken, and of attitudes needing adjustment. You can't always get away with that tone in a professional environment, though. But where there's a will, there's a way: a client-facing "code phrase" to use in public situations, free from HR scrutiny, and we'd wield it like a fucking machete. You'd like another round of completely unwarranted changes that have absolutely no merit whatsoever? Good for you!! You'd like me to undo all the work that I've just done? Good for you! You're having me stay late on a Friday because you left things to the last minute? GOOD FOR YOU!!!

"Good for you" happened to share its initials with another three word phrase...one that more accurately conveyed our feelings on the subject:

Go Fuck Yourself.

---

I took advantage of the downtime between projects, loading screenshots into the eqDKP-Plus gallery. I was a sucker for sentimentality and lingered on shots featuring the core's first appearance; players that made DoD what it was. A shot of me helping Kadrok with a quest in Ashenvale. A shot of Kerulak doing the happy dance alongside Gutrippa, shortly after purchasing the guild tabard. A shot of us about to take on Immolthar in Dire Maul, partnered with a priest who would go on to become my healing lead through the duration of Vanilla. So many faces...gone. Waxing melancholy skewed my focus, wishing for things that once were. Looking back with fondness was a perfectly human thing to do, so long as it didn't cloud your judgement.

I browsed through disorganized images hastily burnt to CD, and pulled one up that hit me right in the feels. It showed two players on mounts, just outside of Gadgetzan. One was an undead mage, an alt of mine named Elephantine. The other was a warlock, sitting atop his dreadsteed, his violet robes and shoulders matching a purple mask that covered an orcish grin.

Graulm.

Memories rushed to the surface. In the days before Graulm, guild leadership was little more than /ginvite and /gkick. Back then, "difficult" decisions were whether to run Zul'Farrak or Sunken Temple (it wasn't ST!), and the most complex logistics of any guild-related coordination was figuring out who had the key to Upper Blackrock Spire. Ater may have dominated my leadership mentoring-related memories, but turning the pages back further reminded me that others were no less important.

A Quiznos between Arapahoe and Curtis on 17th St., was where Graulm and I met for several lunches, back in '05. He told stories of EverQuest, and the demands of running a guild in a day where the 1% was a measure of who raided, rather than of financial worth. He gave me those first steps; the sorts of things that were taken for granted today. Why take the extra time to hand out Zul'Gurub tokens to guildies, instead of letting them roll? Loyalty. When you hold the keys to the car, players are less willing to look for another ride. Why do we need a private area of the forums, specifically for officers? Discretion. You mediate behind closed doors, particularly when the strategy isn't agreed upon. When officers debate an upcoming decision, it gives off an appearance of instability to lower ranks. For leadership that extended beyond basic button presses, Graulm advised on appropriate behavior, and helped keep tabs on unruly players who ran the risk of tarnishing our reputation. DoD had a six year long, rock-solid foundation underneath it, and Graulm was one of the first to pour the concrete.

The feels continued to ache from the blow of pulling up that screenshot. I considered Graulm a friend. I'll never forget the day he showed up at my front door, an air conditior gripped tightly while he barked out, "Where do you want this thing?" I pointed up our rickety staircase. With a single shake of the head, he gave me a "Damn!", then stomped upstairs with the 100lb unit in tow.

Over an in-game conversation, Graulm discovered I had no AC in my house. Jul, the kids, and I were at the mercy of a ventilation system from 1890, far too old to support a centralized air system. Without giving me a chance to decline the offer, Graulm produced one of his own unused units from his garage and brought it to my house as a gift, latching it in place in our master bedroom window. It ran faithfully for about 10 months before coughing and sputtering in a final gasp of freon-scented smoke.

...and it was the best 10 months of sleep I'd had since moving in. Before the unit, and after, my bedroom doubled as a kiln in the summer months.

I missed Graulm, and I hated how things had ended. I missed the early days of Vanilla, partnering up with him, exploring Azeroth, running dungeons, helping set the stage for our raiding days. I missed his screams of victory in those early months of our first steps into 40-man content. I didn't expect that Graulm would ever come back to the game; an unavoidable tragedy. When some players walk away from WoW, it's official. But perhaps some could be coaxed back, those still floating in the amorphous soup that was Deathwing-US.

I believed wholeheartedly what I told Jungard: when it came to recruits, the pickens would be slim in Cataclysm. Anything we could do to build and maintain our core was of the utmost importance. And if I was directing Jungard into putting effort into those who might be, did it not make sense for me to put effort into those who were? Forgive. Forget. Reach out to former guildies that I'd wronged (or had wronged me), agree that we'd made mistakes, come to terms, and move forward. Band together, for one last hurrah.

Oh, so that's what it's come to? That's what Cataclysm is going to force you to do? Sacrifice any remaining integrity and self-respect by going back to the people that wiped their feet on DoD and compel them come back to progression?

Good for you.

4.9. DoD+

"WoW Fan Art - Page 3"
Artwork by Jiein Hyun

There Will Be 10s

My guild revisions sat untouched. All the work to lay out a 10-Man culling strategy no longer applied; I couldn't remove them. My conscience, dulled over the course of the last two years, enjoyed a reawakening by staring at itself in the mirrors of my Mother's house. I didn't want to be like her, making decisions on no other grounds than because I can. Effort was necessary in order to make great things happen. DoD had long stood as a place for players uninterested in immature leadership and arbitrary rules. That summer vacation compelled me to reassess my strategy surrounding the 10s. Instead of lancing them like boils, I contemplated the other end of the spectrum: could DoD seduce 10s into joining?

It was a ludicrous question; I shook my head in disbelief frequently while walking this alternate path. A 10-Man team in Cataclysm was a self-sufficient guild. Logically, there was no reason whatsoever why a clique of tight-knit friends would feel the need to have themselves assimilated into a "faceless" organization like Descendants of Draenor...at least, at initial glance. The more I put myself in their shoes, however, the more reasons floated to the surface. Members of a 10-Man guild were no different than any other players I marketed to. 10s thought they were free from the complex underpinnings of a 25-Man guild, but I was skeptical. They shared the same stresses as any other team, just ot a much smaller scale. And when a guild mishandles those stresses, each member was an unwilling customer, discreetly shopping for a better deal.

I walked through the list of my own pain points, converting six years of workable solutions into a packaged product. Recruitment was always a worry. Let me take that off your hands. Bring your 10-Man team to us and you'll enjoy the benefits of DoD's never-ending recruitment. We have a wide array of people to choose from, and not all of them will be able to participate in the 25. Maybe they can help your cause?

Raiding can cost gold, both in repairs and flasks. The situation wasn't nearly as dire when compared to Vanilla and TBC, but the costs do add up over time. Let me subsidize your efforts. Bring your 10-Man team to DoD and I'll commit to issuing you a weekly kickback from the guild vault to help take the edge off. Why stop at gold? DoD's vault was thick with unused BoEs from the 25-Man efforts; Neps and I could only auction off so much, so fast. Why not reinvest those profits back into the 10-Man teams? BoEs might not make-or-break a 10-Man's progression, but perhaps such a gesture would give 10-Man guilds pause before rejecting a radical offer from a guild they'd otherwise never do business with.

There was no question in my mind that 10s would proliferate in Cataclysm. 25-Man guilds would collapse in great numbers, and while I scrambled to pick up the pieces of those fragmented teams, the 10s would overflow and dominate the server. It wouldn't be long before those 10s felt the same pressures I felt, as players acclimated to their more compact environment. Sooner or later, frustration and turmoil would lead to the grass-is-greener syndrome. For those teams with few people-management skills, miniature explosions would paint the server like a fireworks display -- my signal to come knocking. I'd offer my condolences to the formerly-known-as-10s, pitching Descendants of Draenor to those grieving widowers. But for the 10-Man guilds who fought desperately to keep it together, they would need help. They would need guidance, direction, and tools, so they could focus on enjoying the game. DoD could provide all these perks, and more.

It wouldn't be an easy sell; many would deny our necessity. It was the nature of the gamer to shove a big middle finger up toward anyone telling them what was good for them.

So, I wouldn't tell. I would show.

The "face" of DoD, circa May 2010
The main guild website (top), eqDKP
site (middle) and phpRaider site (bottom)

Look On My Works, Ye Mighty

Two and a half years had passed since I bid my previous job adieu. I still remembered with fondness the many conversations I'd shared with Ater as a fellow employee, side-by-side as programmers during the day, guild leader/raid leader pairings in The Burning Crusade by night. But I shed no tears for the working conditions and abuse. At my present job, life was spectacular. The boss trusted my judgments instead of challenging them. The positive feedback loop encouraged me to push myself even harder, hold my own work to a higher standard, deliver something I could be proud of. And when the time came to fire up some distractions at the office, I was never once made to feel the pangs of guilt.

Pushing the quality of my work produced a wonderful side-effect: free time. Late into 2010, I had more and more opportunities to break from coding, putting time into research. Traditionally, I sought knowledge of a technical nature: programming languages, debugging and troubleshooting, understanding what was happening at the bare-metal of the processor. But these days, I found myself seeking more "right brained" knowledge. Architecture and design considerations, usability, what makes sense to do when, based off of context. Inevitably, I often ended up back at people: their nuances, what drives them subconsciously, what motivates them. My intent was to become a better coder, but my research kept pointing me toward becoming a better leader.

My boss, Dave, repeated the message at every opportunity, "You really ought to think about management." Each time, I humbly thanked him. Professionally, I never saw myself trading code for people; I loved to fix things. Programming is a canvas that's never complete.

---

The quiet hum of a smoothly running company website freed me to investigate our own guild "face" on the 'net. It was sad. There sat the same dull, static HTML, unwavering since the game launched in '04. A single central column acted as our news of latest boss kills. To the left, I'd recreated progress bars to indicate how far along the 25-Man team had progressed through the current content. "APPLY TO THE GUILD!" yelled out in tiny caps above the faux progress bars, while an "Application" link on the right clung desperately to a PayPal button. This had been DoD's sole means of lead generation since the guild's inception.

There was a second site, charged with the responsibility of tracking the guild's DKP. I'd been using eqDKP for this task, built in the days of EverQuest, receiving minor updates along the way. Customization existed only in the form of alternate color schemes, which was about as effective as a can of spray paint on an Excel spreadsheet. I'd be foolish not mention the third site, our raid management tool. This was an implementation of phpRaider, which grew a bit over the years. The majority of changes went in by my own hands, fixing bugs that allowed players to sneak out of raids they'd been confirmed for, well after the cancellation window had closed.

All three sites needed some serious love. Guild portals were all the rage, jamming a million widgets and scrolling text down your throat like they were the natural evolution of Geocities. I refused to pay for a "solution" I could install and configure on my own. What good is a mechanic that can't fix his own vehicle? I dug deep into the web until my screen was filled with Umlauts.

The character profile management tool
 featured in eqDKP-Plus (Source: eqDKP-Plus.com)

Germany Is Our Only Ally

It wasn't difficult to see I'd landed squarely in Deutschland, given the huge black, red and yellow striped flag at the top of the page. The language barrier had minimal effect as my attention focused squarely on the screenshots. Character profile panels boasted in-game rendering, thanks to an integration with the World of Warcraft Armory. At the time, the WoW Armory allowed players to pose their character in one of many different frames of animation. You could have this in your guild site. Aesthetical niceties aside, the content management system boasted full character statistic importing, gear and glyph display, even supporting multiple specs. When compared to the ridiculous hacks necessary just to display an item hover in eqDKP, this package delivered functionality well beyond anything I expected to find....and the character profile was only the beginning.

Named in homage to the original eqDKP tracking system it was based off of, eqDKP-Plus was, quite possibly, the most advanced guild CMS I'd come across. The configuration panel alone listed 41 custom modules that could be enabled and displayed wherever I chose. Some of them actually didn't suck! Automatic achievement tracking? Check. World of Logs report integration? Check. GuildOx rank badges? Check. When I stumbled across the full phpRaider implementation, I just about fell out of my chair. And of course, there was the eqDKP system itself, tying loot earnings directly to the raids in phpRaider, which in turn, cascaded up into the news items. With a single button click, I could post the news of a boss kill to the homepage, include a photo of the kill, and display the loot that was distributed. It was the complete package.

...include a photo of the kill...

---

That evening, I dug into the photo gallery module. It allowed administrators to upload and tag images that could be featured across the site, in such places as news headlines or via a random "Pic of the Day" rotating widget. I pondered our six year history of screenshots buried on my hard drive as marketing collateral. If nothing else, DoD was stable. In my vision of 25-Man guilds collapsing around us, stability would be the most important selling point. The last thing anyone freshly ejected from a guild relationship would want...was to suffer through it again. The gallery module, an otherwise frivolous gimmick in the grand list of eqDKP-Plus functionality, suddenly became the single most important tool in my repertoire. If six years of screenshots couldn't vouch for DoD, what the hell else could?

And thus began the burning of 918 screenshots to CD.

Survey: WotLK in Review

Please take a few minutes to complete this survey. Your honest answers are very important, and will assist with the shaping of the guild as it transitions into Cataclysm. Thank you.

Section 1: Goals (General)

With the release of WotLK, a number of goals were set to shift the ideals and core values of DoD in a more positive direction. The following questions deal with whether or not those goals were achieved.

Overall, I felt like I was playing with peers than with a bunch of strangers.

I felt that there was much more knowledge surrounding the inner-workings of the game, and that members of the guild demonstrated a deep understanding of the game's mechanics, which led to expertly played characters.

I felt that the players were far more mature and responsible than what I had been previously exposed to, were respectful toward one another, and polite/helpful to those outside the guild.

Section 2: Goals (Raids) 

For WotLK, a number of core changes were made to raiding in the hopes of improving its efficiency, maintaining fairness, and rewarding players based off their dedication. Please answer the following questions regarding Raiding in DoD.

Raiding in DoD was a rewarding experience, and I looked upon it as recreation rather than work.

I felt that raids ran on time, and were extremely efficient.

I felt that raids were run professionally, and relatively free from wasted time and inappropriate behavior.

I felt that the sign-up / rotation system was a good idea, and that players were treated fairly, and given ample opportunity to prove their worth in progression.

As a guild, DoD progressed through new bosses:

DoD's raid schedule was perfect for my tastes.

I felt that DoD rewarded loot fairly and without bias.

I felt that I received adequate time to learn fights, and was given proper instruction by officers on how to perform.

I felt that my role officers were able to provide me with appropriate feedback on my performance and helped improve my play.

Section 3: Ranks

For WotLK, the DoD guild ranks were overhauled. Please answer the following questions regarding the changes that were made regarding guild ranks.

I felt that the guild ranks more accurately reflected a player's contribution to the guild than what I was previously used to.

It was easy for me to figure out who was responsible for what, based on what rank they held.

I liked the idea of the "Avatar" rank.

I thought the the "Avatar" rank was awarded:

I liked the idea of the "Elite" rank, and rewarding players whom were the most dedicated to the guild the ability to 1st-round items in raids.

I thought that those players who earned "Elite" ultimately deserved it.

It is a fair assumption to say that the players who did not earn the rank of "Elite" simply did not try hard enough, did not care about having the rank, or had caused a few too many "red flags" for it to be a risky bet.

Section 4: Hanzo's Way (Or the Highway)

In WotLK, the guild leader implemented a number of changes to the basic rules of what was allowed in guild and what he would use as grounds for swift retribution. Following are a list of questions regarding his tyrannical rule.

I think that implementing the age limit of "21 years or older" was a positive thing, and helped improve the quality of guild pool.

When I observed a player or a situation that got out of hand, I felt that Hanzo's resolution was typically:

If and when I got a little out of hand, it is a fair statement to say that Hanzo handled my personal situation in this manner.

If I had an issue, I felt that Hanzo took the time to hear me out and made an effort to resolve the issue.

I felt that the amount of people Hanzo put in charge was:

Overall, I felt that the people Hanzo chose to help lead the guild were:

The officer that I felt helped Hanzo the most with the guild was:

"Neps"
"NEPS"
"Jungard"
"Neps"
"Cheeseus"
"Neps"
"Jungard"
"Neps"
"Neps or Jungard imo"
"Jungard and Neps"
"Jungard"
"Neps"
"neps"
"Jungard"
"Neps"
"Ikey"

The officer that I felt helped Hanzo the least with the guild was:

"Gunsmokeco"
"Guns"
"guns"
"Ikey"
"Eacavissi :("
"Can't really pick one...they all did fine in my books"
"Eacavissi"
"Gunz"
"Guns"
"Eacavissi"
"Ikey"
"Eacavissi"
"Blain"
"No one. I put neps as the oen who hepled most, but Klocker is always around to help as well. I'm excluding raid leaders from this, as the questions pertaining to them was already asked."
"Kelden"
"Eacavissi"

Section 5: Guild Leader For a Day

In an alternate universe, everything is as it exists in Descendants of Draenor, except for one small difference: Mature is just another new recruit to your long list of Death Knights waiting to get into a progression run...and you...are the 6+ year long guild leader of the best damn guild on Deathwing. How would you do things differently?

The first three players that would be promoted to an officer-like rank would be:

"I like this alternate universe thing!

One person who's been in guild for a long time, but may have raised a few red flags is Aeden / Ben. While he can become drunk and disorderly, he only wants the best for the guild. I wouldn't hesitate to promote him to something other than raider.

Sixfold should also become an officer (or officer-like role). He's been more absent lately, but he's always been a great healer and steady attendance at raids.

Blaine. I am unsure of Blaine's current rank (apart from Tyrant.. not sure what that entails). While people have had disagreements with him, he's a very good raider, and when I've raided with him, always positive, looking for ways to beat an encounter."

"Daliah, Mangestu, Sarge" 

"Mangetsu, Lexxii, Joredin"

"For the most part I like the officer core the way it is. I do not like Guns as an officer for healing as I feel that his immaturity and ego get in the way of him being a good leader. As far as the healing officer role, i do not have a person that I would rather like to see in that position outside of Klockerr, and well we know all about that. I feel that Jungard is a good fit for his role as the melee officer and I am indifferent on Eaca as I have not had to deal with him directly, but he is a bit quiet for my liking as a leader."

"Ben, Sixfold, Mangetsu" 

"Jungard, Neps, Klocka"

"Neps first and foremost. As a long standing, faithful, dedicated, and selfless member of the guild the promotion of this individual would be a no brainer.

Jungard. Although initially selected as a roll officer, he has always taken the extra step in game mechanics and fight strategization. He demonstrates a raid leader initiative without trying to overthrow the current appointee, moreso to help with the weight the position requires.

??? - The third individual is a toss up. =/ I'm interested in someone who would place their e-peen second to getting a boss learned and downed. Guild advancement > personal advancement"

"Lexxii, Drecca, Mangetsu"

"Assuming we wiped the slate clean, in terms of officers and the like, I would say Neps, Klockerr and Guns"

"Seeing as how the people I would promote already are officers and I haven't played in some time I can't really think of three new people that I would promote."

"Aeden (Ben), Hellspectral, and Bonechatters."

"neps, jungard, guns"

"Jungard, Drecca, Hells"

The first three players that have long since worn out their welcome and I would take great pleasure in /gkicking are (if no current names, you are free to put in names of players that *were* kicked that you agreed with):

"None immediately come to mind. I think my mind purposely blocks out douchebaggery.

In all seriousness; I feel the quality control of applicant addmission is adequate with little need for improvement. I have not personally run into a problem scenario (or one that I can recall) in my almost two years with this guild."

 "Ben, Divinepants"

"None. I haven't been around long enough to see people get kicked (apart from Bulwinkle)."

"UNDECIDED"

"Deathonwings, Hellspectral and I agree with giving Bul das boot."

"Aethernight (He's not a bad guy, just a bad player... and he complains too much). Helmeron (I love the guy, but he's had a very bad track record never showing for runs and he almost never runs progression). Can't really think of a 3rd at the moment"

"Nobody in guild right now requires a kick.  Ok maybe I wouldn't mind seeing Aetherknight go."

"No one that has really worn out their welcome, but maybe a couple people who have been with the guild many many months, but no one knows them at all :( and in that, idk their names or who they are, but i do know that their are a few people here and there who got added into the guild one way or another, and never contribute at all in any way shape or form. Just log in for their own personal use, never talk in gchat, never respond to any of the guild, and then just log out. And no, these are not muted players."

"Well, I don't know if I would go as far as /gkicking, but I did not take well to all the alliance converts joining DoD.  Maybe it's just my old hatreds of the faction itself.  Did any of them even apply to join the guild?  There was a month or so of time where a few of them would join each week."

"I probably wouldn't boot anybody unless they did something really disrespectful to someone else in guild. Bulwinkul for example. As for bad raiders (Aether, Raina) I would just not rotate them in if I had the choice, but I wouldn't boot them from guild. Just let them run in their 10mans. It's a guild and people should be able to stay in guild to hang out and do whatever."

"Gunsmokeco: Simply put: Guns' attitude is beyond poor and the way he conducts himself as a Role Officer (as well as general member of the guild) is garbage! He may be a knowledgeable player, but his ego holds him back from being an asset to the guild. Crasian: I realize that he is not currently playing the game, but I figured to make mention of him as an example of the type of player I would not like to keep around. More specifically, his cut-throat approach to gearing up. I felt he did a real disservice to the guild by taking advantage of his elite status in order to always have the best of the best, while other players struggled to simply upgrade to a new tier. In my opinion, this does nothing but hold the guild back from progressing. Bulwinkul: Having witnessed the situation that lead to his /gkicking, I feel that the way he behaved was absolutely uncalled for. That sort of attitude toward your fellow player should have no place in a guild (let alone game) and would not be tolerated in 'mine'."

"Aethernight, Bullwinkle"

"Aetherknight"

"withheld"

"Fred, Rainaterror, Helmeron"

"Ummm, I am not that mean"

"Bul, Sentra, Pook"

I would change the Progression Raid Schedule to (Enter "as is" to leave unchanged):

"As is"

"AS IS"

"N/A"

"WED/THURS"

"as is. sometimes i wish we raided a little more but at many times throughout the year another raid night wouldn't fit my work or class schedule. Since 10 mans have the same lockout, and 99 percent of the people in progression we're running 4 days a week combined between 10 and 25 man. I honestly think you should add a third day. Maybe Tues for some server firsts."

"As is"

"as is"

"as is"

"as is, however i know that cata will bring same lockout 10s and 25s. My suggestion for that is to have prog focus on one raid, and 10 mans are in agreement to focus on another."

"Sunday is Fine.  Anything other than Friday night that people can agree on."

"No more Friday nights."

"Unchanged"

"Move towards cutting back hours instead of pushing mind-numbing achievements"

"As is. While the current schedule isn't the greatest (In my opinion, of course. I'm more partial to weeknights, personally), I do feel they are probably the most convenient for the majority of players."

"Sunday could be an hour later."

"No idea"

I would change the Loot System to (Enter "as is" to leave unchanged):

"N/A"

"As-is. DKP is fair."

"as is"

"1st round - starting at 70, main spec - starting at 20, off-spec - starting at 5"

"With the exception that this would be too difficult to keep track of for the master looter. Unless we had an addon to auto-track the bids, I would keep things the same."

"AS IS"

"as is"

"Jettison the first round bidding. Add a 200 DKP hard cap to keep the pts flowing, and potentially restructure the pts so that elites earn at 1.25 pts, while raiders earn at 1. If that isn't agreeable, then increase the 1st round to 100 pts, seriously make the elites think since they're at all raids anyways, they're going to be earning pts left right and center. "

"Elites spend more than 50 DKP in first rounds"

"as is"

"as is"

"make the first round bid a bit higher so that it can't be used as often."

"The first round maybe should be higher or shouldn't be able to be used more than 1 time a week."

"as is"

"as is"

"As is"

"I like the DKP system we are currently using."

"As is. DKP is probably the best loot system on the market to date. I'm a fan of Loot Council, but probably wouldn't recommend switching to it because favoritism gets the best of people sometimes and that would lead to nothing but trouble. In addition, I  would implement a "Don't be a dick!" policy. Gear yourself up, but do so with an understanding of what's best for your team, not just yourself. The same would be enforced with the Elite system. They, of all people, have a great deal of responsibility to look out for the guild's best interests."

"by the time I get in the raids, I pretty much get the loot that drops, the guildies are very nice in passing it on to me"

"As is... DKP is a wonderful thing. People that don't participate a lot of the time shouldn't get the loot that's deserved."

"Have less emphasis on the "elite" system.  Either you are a hardcore raid guild or you aren't.  Trying to do the best of both worlds ends up screwing over people in the long run."

"Revamp elite bidding in some way (larger minimum?) so that the advantage of 1st-rounding must be strategically used rather than be available virtually every week."

"As is"

"as is"

"as is"

"as is dkp has always worked, no reason to change it now"

I would change the minimum age required to get into the guild to (Enter "21" to leave unchanged):

"21"
"21"
"21 is fine, but I know a lot of very mature 18 yr olds who play... I say 18 with a long trial period to test maturity."
"21"
"21"
"19"
"21"
"18"
"21"
"21"
"21"
"21"
"21"
"18"
"21"
"21"
"20"
"21"
"25"
"18 (All members should be subject to observation. Age doesn't always equate to maturity)"
"21"
"21"

My additional changes to the guild would be:

"In my personal opinion, some red flags are less red than others. I don't consider being drunk for a raid (while still performing very well) a very red flag. A minor one, sure, but not one worthy to keep someone from being promoted. Some raids need fun characters.
While all promotions ultimately come from the guild leader, taking into consideration how the guild feels is also important. Some promotions can cause pretty big rifts between people/groups, whereas some others are well deserved and no one would complain.
Other than that, I've never noticed anything wrong with the guild and why change it if it isn't broken? There's a reason it's the best damn guild!"

"Stricter minimum requirements to become main-raid raiders."

"Can't think of any off the top of my head.  This is a pretty well ran ship you've got here."

"All in all Shawn, I feel that the way you and (for the most part) your officers do a great job leading this guild.  Our presence is known and with the guild tag comes a great deal of respect on Deathwing."

"The guild has been around since launch, keep up the good work. Just make sure Neps/Klocker keep Taba and Omaric in check."

"This is an amazing guild... I fucking love it and I'd never leave it for anything. I really would like to see us starting to raid a little more hardcore though... Our 25m raids generally have a lot of people messing around and not enough raiding for me. The fact that we haven't even started attempting H LK seriously by now should be testament to that."

"More structured raid leading, less goofing around during wipes."

"First, let me start with the positive stuff. I love DoD and I have been in it for a good while now. Being in this guild has enriched my experience playing World of Warcraft by a bajillion times. Sure, I have had my own scuffles with Mature but after I thought about what we was telling me, I realized that he is just being fair. I really respect him for that, and I cannot even imagine what it has been like to run this guild for as long as he has. DoD is the last dinosaur on Deathwing as far as Horde guilds go, hell probably even Alliance side too. I am very proud to be a Descendant of Draenor.

However, I do not like what some of this guild has become. A good chuck of of guild members have become extremely elitist. Elitist to the point of saying some pretty terrible things about other guild members. I am sure that I too, am guilty of saying some bad things about someone in the guild at some point in time but, I have never gone to the point of genuinely thinking that I am above any of my guildmates. I feel that as of lately, pretty much from Ulduar and on, I feel that DoD has slowly seperated into cliques. One being the elitist assholes, another being elitist wannabes, and then a small group of people who keep it fun and simply play to enjoy the game. It disgusts me, in game and irl, when someone actually feels that he is better than someone else. The specific example I can recall is a discussion where these particular elitist guildies were discussing how a particular piece of loot was 'wasted' on a fellow guildmate because he was not good enough to wield it. Reading that honestly made me feel horrible; to know that the DoD that I love was slowly turning into something terrible. These elitists are egotistical and just straight up assholes. I can honestly say that it negatively impacted my playing experience and I have been playing less because of it.

Now - I don't expect a guild leader to be able to control a mess like that. I know that a person cannot control how another person thinks, feels or reacts. Hanzo, I just want to make you aware of what is in the guild and what could potentially lead to problems in the future of this guild. I don't really have any suggestions as to what to do from here - other than to tell people to not be assholes and hope they listen."

"Drecca or Blaine raid lead."

"More COWBELL!!!!!!"

"Be more social.  Have in game meet and greets.  aside from general random (usually sarcastic and put-downish) guild chatter, it was very lonely.  The couple 'alt' raids i was able to attend with my 'Main'  I felt out of place, uniformed, and disliked because I was new to the area and didn't understand the logistics/fights as well as the others who have been through on multiple characters.  By the end I feel sure that I would not be picked up to run again with anyone, nor would I bother signing up out of embarrassment. Other events felt like speed runs and that i was missing out on game play rather then hurry to get the next boss for loot drops. I understand for the hardcore who have seen it a hundred times its old hat, but not everyone has ever done every single instance already."

"the way the 10 man teams are. I know there are a number of ppl who would like to finish up their drakes, but are without anyone in the team to be able to do this. Help from those who have their achievements, etc, would be nice - not essential, nice. Another guildy and I were talking of the fact that one of the responses for such a request was "we've done it, we're not doing it again"

"I am doing this for Cataclysm, not WotLK, all in all, as I read the rules and announcements I am LOVING the changes(at least in theory) that are being/have been made. I really applaud your efforts hanzo, you put a lot of fucking time into making this guild what it is, and it certainly shows."

"Rather than bashing people over guild chat or vent, speak with them individually about any questions or concerns. Also a new recruit performance review after a month so the new recruit can view some constructive criticism and maybe realize why they are not rotated in as often as they would like."

"You don't make changes to a team that's winning."

Section 6: Fun Stuff!

Time to generate some fun, raw statistics! For the following questions, you must pick someone other than YOURSELF.

My favorite guild member is:

"Mangetsu"
"Mature"
"Omaric"
"Aeden"
"Jungard or Gunsmokeco"
"Ben"
"I'm not brown-nosing, but you."
"Hellspectral"
"Jungard"
"Ekasra"
"ben"
"Klockerr"
"Ben"
"Neps"
"Ben =/"
"Fred (Daliah)"
"Jungard"
"Jungard"
"Rainaterror"
"Neps"
"Sixfold"
"Ikey"
"Neps, Moorawr"
"Neps"
"lexi"
"Ben"
"Mangetsu"
"Ben"
"Klockerr"
"Sixfold"
"Neps"
"Mature"
"Neps"
"Aeden"
"Neps"
"Plantxor"
"guns"
"Pook"
"Mature and Jungard imo."
"bonechatters, he is very open minded to those new people that need our assistance"
"Ben"
"Neps"
"Mangetsu"
"Drecca"
"Jungard"
"Mature"
"Hanzo"
"Jungard/Goldenrod"
"Dalans"
"Bullshark"
"Jemb/Goldenrod"

My LEAST favorite guild member is:

"Aetherknight"
"Ekasra"
"Scruffie (Ben)"
"Lexxii
"Lexii"
"Ætherknight
"Don't really have one, though Riskers made a Jew comment I didn't much care for one time."
"Daliah (Fred)"
"Deathonwings"
"Jungard"
"deathonwing"
"meh not worth saying"
"Deathonwings"
"Aether"
"Aethernight"
"Bonechatters"
"Rainaterror"
"Wings"
"Aetherfail"
"Blainne"
"Lexxi (undeserved elite promo, and lippy)"
"Gunsmokeco and Deathonwing"
"Deathonwing"
"bonechatters, duplicitous in the way he runs his team"
"Gunsmokeco"
"Aetherknight"
"Ben"
"Fred"
"Blain"
"Blainne"
"Fred"
"Deathonwings"
"Ikey"
"Me"
"nobody really... some people can be dicks at times, and sometimes more time than others. Those same people can be nice, too."
"a couple that like to run their mouth, but nothing a good shot of patron doesnt take care of"
"Aetherknight"
"Aetherknight"
"Aetherknight"
"Ben"
"Dunno"
"Nobody"
"none"
"Blaine"

The ex-guild member I miss the most is:

"Annihilation"
"Ater
"Bulwinkle"
"None"
"Turtleman"
"Cheeseus"
"Divineseal"
"Taba"
"Ater"
"Dalans"
"dalans"
"Dalans :("
"shim"
"Ater"
"Anni.. Who else?"
"Cheeseus"
"Anni"
"Chopliver"
"Dalans"
"Cheeseus"
"Bovie and Aterea"
"Anni"
"bregs (Breginna)"
"Annihilation"
"Cheeseus"
"Dalans"
"Cheeseus"
"Annihilation"
"Annihilation"
"Annihilation"
"Turtleman"
"Annihilation"
"MightyCow"
"/shrug"
"Dalans"
"undecided"
"Dalans"
"Aethernight"
"Ater"
"Dalans"
"noone"

The most exciting boss kill in a DoD Progression Raid for me was (Enter "n/a" if you did not participate in a progression raid):

"Mimiron"
"Sarth 3D"
"Heroic Professor Putricide"
"The Lich King"
"HM Mimiron"
"Heroic Sindragosa"
"Professor Putricide"
"illidan"
"Algalon"
"Bitch King"
"Leotheras the Blind"
"Kael'thas"
"Freya/Mimiron (Hardmodes)"
"Putricide Heroic, the day we finally killed that bitch. We also one-shot him that night iirc, epicness."
"H Putricide"
"H. Putricide"
"Heroic Deathbringer"
"3d sarth"
"Heroic PP"
"Putricide"
"Lich King 10man"
"Gruul (put me on the raiding map with DoD)"
"All"
"Lich King"
"Lucifron"
"Vaelastrasz"
"Lady Vashj"
"Razorgore"
"Firefighter"
"Mimiron Hard Mode"
"Archimonde"
"Sindy"
"Prof. Putricide"
"Team Si LK kill"
"lich king baby"
"Lich King"
"Kael'thas Sunstrider"
"Lich King"
"PP HM"
"Mimiron HM"
"Heroic PP!!"
"Any that took a bit to figure out the strategy."
"Haven't been around for real progression"
"all 11/12 Heroic ICC"

The ex-guild member I am glad is gone is:

"Crasian"
"Divinepants"
"None"
"Wyse"
"Divineseal"
"Kelden"
"UNDECIDED"
"Pollar"
"Azraella"
"Crasian"
"Shimmerice"
"bloodynukels"
"Kargor"
"Lol.. Shim."
"Bulwinkle"
"Bulwinkle"
"Illumine"
"Grimegore"
"Wyse I guess."
"Cheese"
"the prick loud mouth lock, ive blocked out his name"
"Lithium"
"Pollar"
"Azraella"
"Kurst"
"Evilexan"
"Crasian"
"Ekasra"
"Bulwinkul"
"Plainsrunner"
"/shrug"
"creepindeath"
"undecided"
"Chopliver"
"Dunno"
"Jemb"

In Cataclysm, I plan on raiding:

I know Hanzo is dead-set on playing his Death Knight in Cataclysm, but if it were up to me, I would totally force him to play his:

~~~

Thank you for your contribution. You may now send Hanzo a PM with the secret code:

"fantasmical"

to earn your Karma points.