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Officers' Quarters: Leveling as a guild in Cataclysm
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available this spring from No Starch Press. The weeks after an expansion goes live are a strange time for guilds. After months of working as a team toward a common goal, most members go off on their own to level up through solo quests. Since raiding at the cap is impossible and raiding old content isn't nearly as interesting as questing in the new zones, your guild can find itself strangely fractured during this time. This week, one guild leader wonders how to keep a guild from falling apart during the leveling process. Scott, I was a member of a "raiding" guild in The Burning Crusade (they didn't do too much raiding), but I hit level cap a week before Wrath of the Lich King came out. The guild basically came apart at the seams before anyone hit level cap. Then they tried to reform again a little before ToC and nothing really worked out. Now I'm running my own little raiding guild and don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past. What keeps a raiding guild together through the leveling process? I was thinking about putting in incentives in our loot policy for people getting to cap, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. What are some things I should be doing, and what are some things I shouldn't be doing? Thisius Hells Vanguard Sisters of Elune (US)
The Daily Quest: Idle thoughts
Here at WoW.com, we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Vol'jin is obviously thinking about something very important. Maybe he's just analyzing plans for the upcoming liberation of the Echo Isles. Or maybe he's thinking about the sheer joy of punching Garrosh in the snoot. Or maybe he's just pondering which is better, cake or pie. Deep thoughts there, Vol'jin -- let's take a look around and see what everyone else is thinking about: Bible of Dreams is thinking about civility, and how it applies to World of Warcraft. The Pink Pigtail Inn has a lot of good thoughts about jumping in game and why people do it. World of Warcraft Philosophized shares some thoughts on group quests and Kantian ethics. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
The Daily Grind: What do you think of group questing with NPCs?
I'm very ambivalent about questing, I have to be 'in the zone' or motivated by some reward, be it loot, lore, money or the kudos of helping out a guildie. Some days I just can't face seeing another giant yellow question mark floating over an NPC's head as I wander Azeroth -- which makes me glad to be level 80. There were times when group quests were more like mini boss fights and the call would go out across the server to an able band of players to help kill one of Gruul's kids or that giant spider in the corner of Terrokar Forest.However recently, as I worked my way though the Wrath quests, I noticed that rather than making you collar your friends for the group quests, WoW has taken a few leaves out of Guild Wars' book and provided you with the occasional elite NPC or army of earthen to help you down giant elites which would probably pawn you and your friends otherwise. It's a nice mechanic that gets just enough usage in WoW to stop group quests feeling nightmarish. But I wonder, is this mechanic something you'd like to see used in many different MMOs or do you think this works best in Guild Wars? Do you prefer it to the old fashioned group quests or feel like a group should mean a group of players rather than a bunch of NPCs? Speak up, constant readers, and tell us in the comment box.
Learning from the newbies
Playing over someone's shoulder is always an interesting experience. You get to learn from what they do and interpret their experience from an outside perspective. But what's really interesting is not what the experienced player does -- rather it's what the inexperienced player does.Psychochild just tackled this very topic over on his blog as he watched his better half get addicted to playing Lord of the Rings Online. While she avoided the temptations of Meridian 59 and World of Warcraft, Psychochild notes that it was a familiar setting that got her into the game.
Officers' Quarters: (Group)
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.With every expansion comes a slew of new quests, many of whom have that word at the end that's both aggravating and exciting: (Group). It's exciting because the rewards are generally better. But it's aggravating because now you need a few extra hands on deck to move forward with the questline.Finding help with these quests is easy when everyone is still leveling. But eventually most of your guild will be 80, and those lagging behind or leveling up secondary characters won't have as much luck finding groups. In a month or two, guild chat across every server will be filled with people asking for assistance. In small, tight-knit guilds, it won't really be an issue. Ironically, it's usually people in the larger guilds who have trouble finding groups -- and we as officers can wind up providing most of the help. This week, one reader wants to know how to prevent this scenario.Hi Scott. I'm the assistant GM of a guild with over 400 members (225-250 accounts), and an issue that keeps coming up is the lack of response for help, either with instances or quests. The problem I have faced personally is that at one point I went out of my way to help anyone who has asked and eventually had to make an alt to hide on. If I logged onto my main I couldn't accomplish anything that I wanted to do since all I did was help others. This also happened to one of my Officers. Then there are those who won't help anyone at all unless there is something involved that they need.
Officers' Quarters: Cracking the whip
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.Remember when The Burning Crusade launched and everyone was in a big hurry to ding 70? Apparently some guilds are still leveling up. This week's e-mail doesn't mention whether these are new players or rerolls, but the problem is the same: What should you do when the people you're counting on just aren't leveling up fast enough? I am a member of a small guild on Gul'dan server. I sympathize with and thank K for sharing his guild problems. Our guild is a lot younger and most likely smaller than his is or was at one point, but as we progress to get our members leveled up and geared up for raiding I can already notice a slight discontent, similar to what K described. We are very casual right now and our leader is letting the guild "breathe its own air", by not imposing any strict rule. This is done to allow the players to feel comfortable as they level up. The only real rule, more of a suggestion I would say, that we ask our members to follow, is to disregard any dungeon quest and just concentrate on leveling up as fast as possible, without having higher levels running you through areas.
Ask WoW Insider: Who pulls?
Welcome everyone to Ask WoW Insider, where your questions get answers every week. Last week we looked at whether there are really people without alts, and this week we turn our attention to group strategy. David wants to settle the matter about who should be doing the pulling in groups: Now, this may just be me, or does it seem strange when people talk about hunter or mage pulls? I understand that in certain cases there is a need to have a hunter pull, especially with Misdirect, but when it comes down to it, any time I run something I never get to pull (Hunter here). Not that it's much of a complaint, more of a curiousity. For the most part Warriors will have a ranged weapon, Bears will use Faerie Fire, and Pallies will go with Avenging Shield. I just usually find it more complicated to pull with a hunter and then have the tank grab the aggro, when they all have ranged capabilities for pulls. I might also have been spoiled with all my tanks, as it has been months since I've PuGed a tank and we never seem to use CC in any instances anyways. Thought this may be a viable question, or maybe I'm the only Hunter out there that has been spoiled like this? What say you folks -- should hunters or any one class be doing the pulling in instances or in groups? Are there classes that should never pull? Should warlocks have "Wait for sunders!" mandatorily tattooed on their virtual eyelids? Who should pull -- let's hear it! Think of the glory and fame that could await you here on Ask WoW Insider -- your name up in lights! If you'd like us to link to your guild site or personal blog, we are happy to promote you if we choose your question. So send 'em in to ask AT wowinsider DOT com!
