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Guildwatch: First come, first served
Time once again for Guildwatch, your weekly dose of guild drama, downed, and recruiting news from around the realms. Every week, we collect your tips, sort them out all pretty-like, and put them together in one column. It's all the guild news you can handle, all in one place.This week's GW starts right after the jump. And don't forget to send us your own tips for next week: wowguildwatch@gmail.com is the address. Click away!
WoW Insider Show Episode 20: Droods and drama
The 20th episode of our podcast is now live for your listening pleasure over on WoW Radio's site. On Saturday afternoon, Turpster, John Patricelli (our Druid blogger) and I sat down and talked about the last week in WoW. We hit on: A little listener email, including more Alliance slogans, and we helped a listener compare the different DPS caster classes. We talked a little bit with John about his other blog, Big Bear Butt, and how he started blogging for us here Playing the game in weird ways, including my idea to play a mute character If last week's AV changes will finally fix things Drama in a column about drama World PvP and how Blizzard could reward it And we just generally got a little silly in the second half-- Turpster recorded a funny gnome voice, and we all made our predictions for the year that's coming. Definitely give it a listen, as I think this is one of the best podcasts we've done yet. If you've got feedback of your own (or Fandral Staghelm downing pictures, because I hate that guy), send it along to theshow@wow.com.And don't forget that we do this every week. If you couldn't tune in to listen last Saturday, mark your calendars for this coming Saturday at 3:30pm EST to show up at WoW Radio and check the show out.
Guildwatch: Caught redhanded, but too late
Who could that be? A former officer of Death Squad-- they had some jerk get promoted to officer in their guild, and then grab their stuff and ditch them, leaving them nothing but this log full of stolen items. Not cool. Be careful out there.Meanwhile, there's lots of other guild news going around the realms, and this column is where we condense it into a smooth, witty form for you every week, and lay it out flat just for you. Click the link below to read this week's GW. And don't forget to send us your tips-- hit up wowguildwatch@gmail.com with drama, downed and recruiting news.
Guildwatch: Too much holiday cheer
Well, our Christmas wishes haven't come true so far-- the drama we've seen in 2008 has so far been pretty undramatic. But hey, there's still 364 days left, and that leaves a lot of time for ninjas, guildleader meltdowns, and drama bombs, so we'll be patient and see what comes.And if you see it before we do, be sure to tip off GW about it-- send an email with drama, downed, or recruiting news to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. The very first GW of 2008 starts right after the jump.
Officers' Quarters: A dangerous gift
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.It's the holiday season, and for many players that means extended periods away from Azeroth as we spend more time with family and friends. If your characters are a critical part of your guild's success, you may be tempted to give another player access to your account so they can help the guild in your absence. It's a generous and noble gesture, but in the big picture it's a dangerous gift to give. I would urge everyone to be a Scrooge and keep your account info all to yourself. And this week's e-mail shows why:What do you do as a guild leader, when you have two or three different people in your guild that have, in the past, shared accounts, and then one leaves the guild in an ugly way? Or at all?Especially if one has guild bank access?I know that, technically, sharing accounts is against the EULA, but among young teens it seems fairly common . . . especially in raiding guilds, where if a raid is short a priest, JohnnyX may have access to another guildies' account so he can bring the AFK player's priest on.What do you do if one leaves? The other two accounts are mostly played by the owners . . . but if the toon comes online, but the player isn't on a voice chat application, how do you know it is REALLY the owner, and not the player that left? Worse yet, what if the player had been booted?Is it right to remove other people from a guild because they have shared their account with someone else?
Guildwatch: Holiday wishes
Dear Greatfather Winter: Next year, we here at Guildwatch would like a year overflowing with drama. May all the high progression guilds break up under their own weight, may people take virtual loots way too seriously, and may each and every guildleader think they're the king of the world just because they got a bunch of virtual avatars to click the "Accept" button instead of the other one. We can't think of anything better than a year full of ninjas, drama, and guild breakups to fill this column with.Oh, and all the children of the world to join hands in a spirit of harmony and peace. You know, that crap about the kids.For this week's dosage of drama, downed news, and recruiting notices, click the link below. GW will be off next week for the Christmas holiday, but we'll be back in two weeks, so send us your tips right now!
Officers' Quarters: Two heads > one
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.I sometimes envy those two-headed ogres. Imagine if you could fill out your tax forms and play Warcraft at the same time. Hmm, has anyone actually done that? This week's e-mail comes from a pair of players who want to start a guild as co-leaders. Can a guild survive with two GL's running the show?I have a question or two I'd like to ask you, oh great guild master guru. My friends (RL) are all going to reroll on another server because most of them are new, while I have two 70's already. My friends count a total of around 6, maybe a 7th if he decides to join us on retail instead of private servers. We will start a guild of course and one of my friends (who has a 70 already) and I will be the guild masters. I will be the raid leader and such and he will be the PvP leader. We came to this agreement mutually and have decided that we will be each other's counsel. A small system of checks and balances, if you will. Our main reason for choosing ourselves is because of our extensive experience and we get along together, not to mention work like a well-oiled machine in almost all situations. While this will be our first time actually leading the guild, we have both been officers in several different types of guilds and we have sort of an inkling as to what we need to do.My question is: Is this bipartisan (excuse the loose word usage) leadership a good idea? And could you give us some tips on starting/leading a guild? Just the vital things! :D
Guildwatch: Worth every wipe
Week after week, you crash your head up against the wall on a certain boss. It takes time for people to show up for raids, and it takes even more time for people to release, come back, and rez after a wipe. Repair bills go up, raid attendance goes down, tempers flare, guild chat becomes awkward, and GMotD's get harsher and harsher. And then, one day, it all fits. That pull goes perfectly, everyone hits their marks ahead of time, and before long, you're looking at a dead boss and a window full of loot. "Worth every wipe"? It doesn't seem like it some times, but it is.This week's GW starts right after the jump. Be sure to send your downed, drama, and recruiting tips to wowguildwatch@gmail.com!
Officers' Quarters: A case of the blahs
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.From time to time it seems like most guilds go through a period where the officers just sort of lose interest. For whatever reason, they reach a point where they can't find the motivation anymore. This week's e-mail is from a guild member frustrated by her officers. I'm in a "casual" guild where casual means we don't have any military policies about raiding. However, we do raid Karazhan and much of the guild is interested in some light progression at least along the 10 man instances (and heroics).My guild, I am a member, not leader or officer, is suffering the blahs. From my perspective it seems like we have a few issues. The guild leader has lost interest in the game and doesn't log in much and the officers pretty much run the guild in lieu of the GM. However it seems like the officers are kind of burning out too, but don't really want to turn over any of the power to people with more interest.
Guildwatch: Inspiring action in all the wrong places
Pretty amazing Kael down seen above-- the server was going offline, and as you can see, with just a scant 15 seconds left, Reforged on Runetotem was able to grab all their loot. Whew!Right after the jump, you'll find this week's Guildwatch, your weekly look at all the drama, downed, and recruiting news you send us. The email address is wowguildwatch@gmail.com-- send us your tips there (anonymous or otherwise), and see them here next week. Click the link to read on.
Guildwatch: You can't trick people into gquit anymore
Or can you? The picture above comes from the terrific Wowbash, which has screengrabs of some hilarious guild chats. The one thing they don't have, however, is some crazy, off-the-wall drama arguments-- who's collecting screengrabs of those nowadays? Anyone seen any good ones?This week's Guildwatch, which has not only your drama feed for the week (we've got a famous guild disbanding this week), but also downed and recruiting news from around the realms. Hit the link below to check it out, and don't forget: send us your tips, anonymous or otherwise, at wowguildwatch@gmail.com. "Really?" GW has left the guild.
Guildwatch: Handing out turkey according to DKP
You know, a good raid is kind of like Thanksgiving dinner-- you all have to sit down together for a few hours, there's a raidleader who's barely in charge, there's lots of infighting and drama, and eventually, if everyone plays their part right, everyone gets their loot and gets to go home happy. It's heartwarming, really.Our weekly look at all that drama, downed, and recruiting news starts right after the jump below. And don't forget-- just like Grandma loves that cranberry sauce, we love your tips-- please pass them on down to us at wowguildwatch@gmail.com. This week, we're thankful not only for all the ninjas and loot whores out there who keep the drama rolling, but for all you tipsters who take your time to tell us about it.
Guildwatch: The march of war
Warning: The recruitment video above, for Rogues Take Zero Skill on Arthas-H, contains at least one bad word, and may also contain simulated illegal and immoral activity. Those under the age of 18 or with strong sensibilities need not watch it. Everyone else can watch a great guild recruitment video and laugh.This week's Guildwatch contains your weekly dose of drama, downed news, and recruiting notices, and starts right after the jump. Send tips to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Just like RTZS, we're taking over the world!
Season 2 of Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD kicks off soon
Apparently, the first season of Metropolitan Opera: Live in High Definition went over quite well, as the second season looks to hit even more venues and capture the hearts of more individuals in 2007 - 2008. Reportedly, the season gets started on December 15th with a live opera transmission of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, which will be the first of eight total broadcasts. Other features include Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Verdi's Macbeth, Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Britten's Peter Grimes and Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment. Over 600 venues in North America, Australia, Europe and Japan will be participating in the Met's upcoming series, and if all goes to plan, over one million people will be picking up tickets. Speaking of which, be sure to hit the read link for more detailed information on ticket prices, venues and schedules, and do be sure to let us know how things turn out if you take in a show or two.
Ye olde loot drama
Andrek posted an interesting thought on the forums: remember loot drama? Sure, there's still loot drama floating around-- as long as there is more players than loot at each boss drop, there will always be loot drama. And maybe this is just nostalgia rearing its ugly head, but it seems like Andrek is right-- Molten Core was home to far more loot drama (Rogue weapon! No, Warrior weapon! No, Hunter weap!) than Outland's raids have been.There's a few reasons for this. As players note later in the thread, Blizzard is much, much better at itemization now than they were back when we were raiding Ragnaros. And we're all in 10 and 25 man groups rather than 40 man-- fewer people means fewer arguments about who gets what. Not to mention that there's so much more loot now (and so many more ways to get it), that even if you lose that roll to a Hunter, you still get Heroic badges to turn in, or you've still got your Arena rating to count on.It seems like loot actually means a little less now than it used to, and that's a great change. It's too bad that the old "hunter weapon" joke might actually be becoming obsolete, but less loot drama means more fun, and no guildleader will argue with that one.
Guildwatch: A thing of beauty
There is nothing like a good internet forum argument. It's like an echo chamber-- the people involved just go back and forth, insinuation after insinuation is made, subjects change completely, and there's so, so much typing and nothing gets resolved. It's beautiful in its own way, really-- and that's why we love drama so much here at Guildwatch.We've got downed and recruiting news after the break, too, and don't forget to send us your tips: wowguildwatch@gmail.com. We promise to be anonymous, so the juicier the better-- send us the best news you got!
Guildwatch: Taking a holiday
You guys doing anything special for Halloween in your guilds? On the one hand, a Halloween raid of the old content might be kind of fun-- candy and costumes for everyone! (And plus, you could probably get some good costume shots for our contest.) But on the other hand, it's Halloween-- who wants to be raiding when there's candy to be given out in the real world? If you do end up doing something as a guild tomorrow night, be sure to send us pics and news about it next week.And in the meantime, send us anything else you got-- downed, drama, or recruiting news is all welcome at wowguildwatch@gmail.com. This week's GW starts right after the jump.
Guildwatch: Smooth sailing
I gotta say, it seems like things are going pretty darn well in Guildwatch land. After the drama of Karazhan, most guilds have things figured out, and while the majority of them are storming through SSC and eventually TK, a few are still running through Karazhan and Gruul. But everyone seems pretty happy, and there's almost no chance Zul'Aman will stop that-- if anything, 10 man instance lovers will be even more thrilled.So what's the next speedbump in guilds' futures? The onset of Death Knights? Whatever it is, you'll probably read about it here on Guildwatch-- click the link below to read about Drama, Downed, and Recruiting news from around the realms for the week, and don't forget to send us your own guilds' (or other guilds', for drama) tips at wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Onward!
Silvermoon University holds class in Azeroth
Silvermoon Unversity is an interesting little guild-- they go above and beyond the call of RPing over on Twisting Nether. The guild is run as a real university inside Azeroth. Instead of guild officers, they have "Instructors," new guildies are called Freshmen, and so on. "Higher education meets the Horde" is their motto. That's great.And it all translates into guild activities, too-- they take field trips in different subjects (right now, on their homepage, they have a piece of news up about a "marine biology" trip off the coast of Theramore), and apparently the people in their "School of Literature and Art" actually write and perform plays, too. If you look elsewhere on their site, you can even find a "yearbook," complete with quotes, "skills" (professions), and a place of birth for each character.Very interesting. Seems a little wacky to me, but lots of their characters haven't reached 70 yet, which means they must be getting a lot out of this roleplaying, enough to keep them from actually playing the game itself.[ via a slowly reawakening MBAzeroth ]
Guildwatch: Revenge on the old GM
Guildwatch is back again this week (as usual) with your weekly dose of drama, downed, and recruiting news from around the realms. After a slow past few weeks, our tipsters made up for lost time this week, and packed our inbox (at wowguildwatch@gmail.com if you've got tips of your own) full of dramatic drama, triumphant downing news, and interesting recruiting notices (we've even got a retro guild this week!).So click the link below to see this week's column-- you may want to be sitting down for this.
