GuildLeader
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Forum post of the day: Be disciplined about healing meters
Mellere of Wildhammer posted a brief lament about her guild leaders treatment of a Discipline Priest. The discipline priest was below a Retadin on HPS. Without understanding the role of mitigation as a healer, the Raid Leader told him to go holy to bring up his HPS. The OP expressed disappointment in the RL at this action.Several responders posted that this is partly the fault of Blizzard as they don't take into account shielding and mitigation to healing scores in the combat log. Daerilla of Spirestone intimated that she did not want to see mitigation included in healing figures, because then people would take notice of how overpowered Disc Priests are in raids. There were some less-than-kind comments about the Raid Leader's competence.
WoW Insider Show Episode 88: Child's play
Here's our podcast from last week -- Lesley Smith joined Turpster, Patrick Beja of How I WoW and I to chat about the Martin Fury controversy, how Children's Week and Noblegarden are going on the live realms, and what we've been up to lately in the World of Warcraft. And as usual we answered your email, including sharing ideas for our upcoming video show (we're planning on doing it on May 23rd, so stay tuned for that), how to transfer away from a guild if you happen to be a guildleader, and both why Blizzard canceled WWI, and when BlizzCon tickets might go on sale.We also talked about the ongoing Children's Week Charity Auction -- bidding has slowed down a bit over the weekend, so if you're interested in helping out kids in hospitals by donating some money to buy them videogames, go on over to the auction page and find something to bid on. All the money raised goes directly to Child's Play, so get your bids in now while you can.And as we mentioned on the show, here's the schedule for the next few weeks: we'll have a show as usual next Saturday the 9th, and then we'll have a special midweek show on the 13th of May. And then on the 23rd, we'll be live on camera for the video show. Should be really interesting -- we'll see you then!Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
Guild leader wins Oscar
I didn't have any interest in watching the Oscars last night (so no, I didn't get to see Wolverine singing and dancing), but there was one piece of WoW-related news to come out of the big event. Steve Preeg is a visual effects artist who's worked on films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I, Robot, and last night, he won an Oscar for his team's work on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And that's not his only achievement: he's also done everything but Sarth 3D with the guild he leads.Yup, we've heard from one of his guildies that Preeg is a guild leader in the game -- he plays a Combat Rogue with 450 Enchanting and Inscription, and runs a progression guild that's downed everything but the big black dragon and his three companions. he's even done all of the holiday events so far (though he's rolling with the "Champion of the Frozen Wastes" title).So he's picked up some excellent loot, both in and out of game (Oscars are epic at least -- the drop rate is pretty low). Congrats to Preeg and his team on the Oscar, and to his guild, good luck with Sarth 3D. Maybe if Anne Hathaway showed up for that you'd have him down by now.
Guildwatch: His name is Rob Parkins
Whatever you do, don't get Rob Parkins angry. That's the lesson Nucholza learned when he watched a Warlock named Adriyel die to a double pull, and then nabbed one of the mobs (and the Fel Lotus it dropped) away. The good news is, Rob Parkins isn't for sale: Nucholza's account never did get "scrubbed." But be careful whose loot you gank -- you never know who's first cousins with Rob Parkins.That bit of funny drama and more, all after the break in this week's Guildwatch. And don't forget that your tips help fuel our column -- send in drama, downed, and recruiting notices (and make sure to include your guild and server, as in "US Cenarius-A") to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Whether it's your guild's proud downing, or a rival guild's juicy drama on their forums, send it to us so we can all enjoy it!
Happy Guildleader Appreciation Day
I love this idea that reader Marvin mentioned in the comments the other day (although I wish that he'd tipped us off about it earlier): Leiandra wants to create an official Guildleader Appreciation Day, a day to recognize all the great guildleaders in World of Warcraft and all the other online games. It's simple, too -- all you have to do to observe is just thank your guildleader for their hard work. Until Hallmark gets wind of this, that is, but there's a little while until that happens.She suggests that the day this happens should be the first full moon of April, which this year falls on 4/20 (snicker), or this Sunday. Leiandra also says that it's fine to extend the "day" to the day before and the day after, in order to get all the guildleader appreciation possible in. So today's the day it starts -- make sure to thank your guildleader this weekend.And we'll have to either include raidleaders, or come up with something else for them. Guildleaders do a lot of work, but raidleaders are out there in the trenches, too, making sure we all get the loot we need. If we're going to appreciate guildleaders (and we should) raidleaders need love, too.
Whistling a new toon
Jason over at Wife Aggro sends word about a good piece he posted on a subject I don't remember ever covering: how to switch over to a new main. It's an interesting thing to cover, and a situation that I bet happens more often than people think. But as Jason says, especially since the Burning Crusade was released, switching an alt up to your main is quite a task. In vanilla WoW, things weren't too bad-- you had to run BRD once or twice, run UBRS once, and you were pretty much set for endgame. But in Burning Crusade, there are lots and lots of keys and factions and questlines and decisions to deal with, so switching is a much tougher thing to do.Not to mention how your guild takes it-- dealing with grinding faction rep again is one thing, but "giving up" a character that your guild has helped equip (sometimes with epic gear) causes all kinds of drama by itself. And while it's probably easier if you're switching to benefit the guild, Jason is actually doing the opposite-- he's leaving his Holy Paladin for a raiding Rogue.Of course, this is still just a game, and you should play what you want to play. If that Warrior you've got just isn't doing it for you lately, you have every right to make that Druid you've really been enjoying your main. But you've also got to remember that this isn't a solo game-- especially in guild situations, switching from an alt to a main can have a huge effect. But if you handle it as Jason seems to be doing, by carefully considering all the consequences of such a switch, both you and your guild will be better off in the end.
Things I learned from WoW
Sydney has a cool list over on WoW Ladies LJ, about what she learned from videogames, and most of the items sound specifically like they're from World of Warcraft. Diplomacy and Leadership are probably pretty obvious, and we've already heard that some companies are seeing a stint as a GL in WoW as a bonus to the resume. But Sydney also learned the value of a savings account (because saving up for an epic mount might be the biggest amount of saving some players have done), math and economics from WoW. There's no question that the math can get pretty complicated, and if you can wrap your head around how much agility you need to break 25% on your Dodge, you're definitely on top of algebra, if not a little bit of calculus.But the two items I was most surprised by were that Sydney says she learned vocabulary and problem-solving from videogames. I don't doubt at all that they're true, but learning vocabulary is not something that's normally expected from playing games, either online or offline. Still, words like "mitigate" (her example) are used all the time when theorycrafting, and while there are a lot of jargon words floating around (you'll probably never use "tanking" in a real life conversation), just using that vocabulary can help. And problem-solving is obvious, not just in WoW, but in all videogames-- you could argue that all videogaming is simply being presented with a problem for the player to solve.I'm not saying that we should all play WoW all the time instead of going to school (sorry kids). But when people with self-control and a good center play videogames (as opposed to people who don't), all kinds of good can happen.
Officers' Quarters: New content, new challenges
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.With another BlizzCon behind us, the wealth of information about upcoming content has been at times overwhelming. As a player, I'm always excited to learn about what's around the corner. But as a guild leader, I worry about what kind of ugliness is going to crop up as a result of it. From the upcoming patches to the WotLK expansion, new challenges will arise to test the savvy, determination, and people skills of officers in all types of guilds. Just like the CEO of any good business, a guild leader shouldn't just react to challenges as they arise, but anticipate them and take steps to meet them head-on. Let's examine what's in store for Warcraft guilds and what we can do now to transition smoothly into the future.
Guildwatch: The anti-ninja strikes
Hey hey all, it's Tuesday, and not only does that mean you sleep in (instead of waking up at 5 am to play WoW), but it also means it's time for Guildwatch, your weekly look at drama, downed, and recruiting guilds from around the World of Warcraft.This week's GW starts, as usual, right after you click the link below. To send us tips on your guild (or any other guilds you happen to know about-- anonymous drama tips are welcome), throw a note to wowguildwatch@gmail.com.
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Desperately Seeking Hardcore Guild Leader
Are you a guild leader on the cutting edge of new content? Does your guild run like a well oiled machine? I would like to talk to you! I am seeking a few different leaders for a series of interview topics. A lot of people wonder what goes on in these big, hardcore raiding guilds, and you could possibly shed some light on that subject for us, the noobs. Also, your tips and suggestions on leadership would be appreciated by folks looking to tweak their own guild management style. It won't be a long, boring interview, rather a quick series of questions on one topic, maybe once or twice a week. You anonymity is guaranteed. Simply leave a comment stating your interest or email me and I will get back to you as soon as possible!
