World of Warcraft

[RaceBannon42]

New thread!

So I know several of you are in leadership positions in your raid/guild.

How do you handle people who want to join? Do you have minimum standards? We could ue some more people but the apps we get are all so terrible.

This Elemental Shaman who applied today isnt hit capped, has nothing but his weapon enchanted. His top proffession is tailoring at 150, his second is skinning at 1. He's gemming mp5! He says he's 11/12 icc but he is 6/12 in 25 and only 8/12 in 10.

I know we aren't world beaters. In the grand sceme of things Fire and Blood is pretty mediocre. But we are still the top guild on the server. We arent that desperate. I mean no enchants? thats not even trying.

[Angeleyes]

I won't be a leader much longer. Totally burnt out, and not playing any of my guilded toons at the moment. I hate the leading, and the anger that is going on in current content. If I didn't know for sure I would have to give up WoW for school in a month anyway, and I would app to you guys Race :). Hell I might anyway if you need a disc/holy priest as a 3 week stop gap. I really really wanna down H LK, but every H Sindy blistering cold results in 2-3 instant Knock Outs it seems, and I am really worn out on Sindy after 2 months of it...

Anyway, we tend to put down:

'Full on x class. Feel free to app at a later date'

or

'We see X,Y,Z problems with your spec/gemming/etc. With these issues, it is clear that you are not ready to immediately contribute to the content we are clearing. If you have questions, whisper Class Lead, and please feel free to app at a later date.'

That being said, if a app looks like a good prospect and seems to have the gear they have in order... But the gear they have is all badge/VoA/PVP we are often willing to do a friends and family invite, and take them into our GDKP alt run on Saturdays. We have it set up so our main recruiter runs it. If these guys aren't blowing up fail bot and rank watch, we will generally bring them in for the first two wings the following week to try to get them some gear. If they come back the next night, with shiny purple gems, and fresh enchants on the gear they won the previous night, that is a good indication that they are ready to raid with us.

[Kalbear]

Right now it's pretty tough to recruit. Guilds are either 12/12 (in which case everyone who has spent months watching people die stupidly on HLK wants to join them) or 11/12 (in which case you've got tons of people who want to join some other guild who is 12/12). If you don't have a niche or something that will specifically draw people to your server, you're going to be digging in the trenches of the server itself - and that tends to be fairly well trawled at this stage of the game.

I guess I'd try to emphasize what is unique about FnB. Is it the raiding culture? The achievements? The loot system? The nights on/off? PvE vs. PvP? Being the #1 guild on QD helps recruit on QD, but it's not that great for getting off-server folks to play with you.

If I were trying to recruit more, I'd try to emphasize the high consistency of raiding and the desire for progression even after loot has been surpassed (like Anub), and try to sell people on a raiding culture. There are a lot of people whose guild has imploded, but FnB's leadership and core members have stayed fairly strong for a couple years now. Emphasize the maturity, the desire for people to know their stuff, and state that you expect all new recruits to be on top of their game both in theory and in practice.

You'll still get shitty recruits. But you're big enough that you don't need to waste time training people up or holding their hands. At this point they should come good to go. Don't accept anything else.

[Lyanna Stark]

Ouch Race, that just sucks. 0.o

As our guild is definitely not one of the top ones, we're always trawling that bottom of the barrel for potential gold but it's definitely not easy to come by.

That said, I don't think even we would have accepted someone who had no enchants, wasn't on hit cap and had only the easiest possible stuff done, which you can be carried through easily.

And let me tell you we do accept some real clunkers still just to get the warm bodies.

If you are at HLK tho it should be easier to get a couple of people to consider server transfer from "dead" servers. At least on the EU realms we've had more than a couple of people transfer from apparentlty "abandonded" servers. Dunno if the US is the same, but here it seems to happen quite a lot.

For Cata we are definitely going to niche ourselves as a ten man guild only, and with no members under 18 years of age. I do think niching is important, since a raid guild is not only about progression, even if that is really important too.

You can always stipulate that recruits sort their gems, enchants and professions before they even get considered too

Or at the very least, to sort their gems and enchants. Professions may be harder for people, especially if they recently swapped, but yeah the times I swapped I normally max out the new one within a week tops. :o

On a totally unrelated note, I have started making raid guides in Paint. For some bizarre reason, my 15 min efforts seem to yield better results than TankSpots guides and videos and StratFu combined!!

[Inigima]

I don't currently recruit for my raiding guild but I am about to start. I know that our main recruitment officer has a chat with each one, but I'm not sure what he asks. As I find out what he looks for I'll report back. We have issues filling our 25man consistently, so we don't have the same need for immediate excellence that you do -- so we usually stick them in our 25man and see how they do. If they're terrible, they're gone.

Personally if I were recruiting for hardmode runs I definitely wouldn't take someone who wasn't hit capped or enchanted. If they won't be thrown in right away you can babysit them if you really want to, but if they're raiding with you right away in 25H, they really need to know their shit off the bat. Hardmodes aren't a joke.

I don't think I'd be bothered about them not having leveled professions. But I suspect most players you'd want would probably level their professions of their own accord.

[Inigima]

Hell yeah! Progression. First guild tries on H Festergut and H Rotface (10man). 2-shot Fester and 1-shot Rot. Even though I am a scrub who ate 2 out of 3 Vile Gas -- and I was ranged, the easy one to dodge. In my defense, it's hard to see through the blight and I have Squawk & Awe over the middle of my screen. :P

EDIT: Got heroic Spyglass too. That was nice.

[Inigima]

Wheeeee triple post.

I've been asked to be an officer in my raiding guild and among other things I've been tasked with making an app template for new recruits to go on the website, which is being redesigned (another new officer is going to be spearheading that project). This has a lot to do with what Race asked -- but what would you put on an app? I don't normally apply to guilds -- I joined guilds that my friends were in and proved my worth -- but I've seen a lot of goofy apps that showed me that the guilds who used them took themselves way too seriously for my taste. What kind of information would you want a prospective raider to supply? I don't want to waste anyone's time when they app, or cause my guild to come off as pompous.

[Tyrellius]

A lot of guilds nowadays ask the candidate to use his own template. Its just another way of seeing if they can use their brains and put across the needed info in a clear manner.

It'd be handy to check out other guilds on your realm and take a look at their templates, it'll be easy for you to spot people that copy/paste one application everywhere.

Being an officer, that way leads to anger, which leads to hate, which to totally screw with your gaming experience.

(Unless you're a masochist, in which case, enjoy)

ETA: Click me

[Daeric]

Our recruitment process is fairly straight forward. Did you attend the same Uni as us and know at least one of the members, if so your in.

[Greywolf2375]

Being an officer, that way leads to anger, which leads to hate, which to totally screw with your gaming experience.

(Unless you're a masochist, in which case, enjoy)

This is true, but it also provides new an interesting ways to combine swears when people can't friggin figure out how to NOT hit buttons or bite their intended target. So there is an upside to it...

[RaceBannon42]

Being and officer/gm sucks a lot of the time. It can be a ton of work and even more frustration.

However, It can be rewarding as well. I think I get a lot more satisfaction out of my guilds accomplishments than if I was just a member. Plus I get the occasional joy of booting out someone I really really hate. :P

Besides who else would I trust to run my guild?

Here is our current app.

[TerraPrime]

I say depending on what your think your guild is, some apps are auto-rejects.

If I am recruiting for a raiding guild who's working on clearing HLK, and I get an app that is like the one that Race described, I wouldn't give it a second thought in rejecting it. This person obviously does not know what he/she is doing for raid. Now, if I'm working for a newer guild who's just clearing 7/12 in ICC, then I might take a chance on that person on a probationary basis. Give them a few clues, then watch if they follow.

Still, as with all recruits, you don't really know what you get until they raid a few times.

But frankly, with FnB being the top guild in your server, you should be able to pry some other ready-to-go raiders from the smaller guilds without much trouble. If you are looking for a spot to fill, just let the words out and/or contact specific people you know who will work out. That's mostly how my current guild recruits. We need a disc priest? Well, our hunter has a friend from his old guild who's a decent disc priest, so let's ask her. They come over for a trial run or two. If it works out, and she likes our guild and we like her, then she quits her old one to join us. Something along that line.

[Tyrellius]

I'm pretty sure Msfarenheit's application has been linked somewhere on these boards already, but if you get an application like this, I believe the guys a keeper.

Apps like that come from stating not having a template.

http://www.stickfigureninja.com/wow/application-audio.html

[Inigima]

Haha that's awesome.

Thanks guys, that was helpful. I drafted one up today and it's already been approved.

We did heroic Valithria (10) tonight so, more progression. Yay!

[Tyrellius]

Poor Msfarenheit is in a leadership position again in Anointed, if I remember correctly.

Grats on your progress dude.

[RaceBannon42]

Well after a 24 hour server downtime we had ICC crash on us during LDW on Wednesday. then last night the authentication server wasnt working and half a dozen people could not get looged in for raid. We finally got some in but not enough to do Heroic Sindy. We ended up 23 manning Ruby Sanctum before calling it for the night.

We also had 3 people say they didn't have time to raid anymore yesterday. 2 were recruits so not a huge loss there. Added a new mage last night, which is good since one of the lost recruits was a mage, and our only other mage can only make 1 night a week right now. Stupid aussie time!

We got a couple of pretty nice applicants last night. Not in classes we were looking for, but right now we need bodies, and these two seem to actually be good.

Anyone know a good Holy Pally looking for a raid?

[Mack Kilimaro]

Ugh, I feel you guys on the recruiting dilemma, and also the attendance boss. Due to a variety of factors, 5/10 of our 10-man team that was at 9/12 H-ICC a month ago has turned over in that time. We've got some people in the guild who are interested in stepping up, and they're nice, but three of our best DPSers are gone and really none of the new folks in the group have done any of it on heroic except Gunship.

I'm honestly kind of scared to even try heroic Marrowgar right now. I think it's going to be back to a couple of weeks of running the shit on normal to try to fill in some gear gaps and even get a better hang on the normal fights before trying all the heroic shit. That leaves me frustrated because I'm tired of normals, and sad, because I miss our GM, who was our best DPSer. And I wanted to kill heroic LK for her and I just don't see how we're going to be able to do that now.

Meh. Maybe a miracle will happen. Either way, this amount of progress in Wrath for a guild that could barely clear Kara in two nights post-3.0 nerf in BC is something to be proud of.

[TerraPrime]

then last night the authentication server wasnt working and half a dozen people could not get looged in for raid. We finally got some in but not enough to do Heroic Sindy.

Yup. Got that problem last night. Could get to my character selection screen, but could not complete the log-on. Tried for over 1.5 hr. Then gave up. So we didn't get to continue our heroic ICC10 run.

[Inigima]

Anyone know a good Holy Pally looking for a raid?

If only I had the time. Would love to raid with you guys.

I really like that question on your app, by the way, about how the applicant feels about going on raids where there isn't loot for him -- but how do you avoid getting the canned answer that you presumably want?

[Angeleyes]

You look for a well thought out reply. For example "If the loot dropped can help a guild mate, or the guild, for progression content than it is totally worth my time."

Or something honest like "I do not enjoy it as much as raiding bosses that will drop loot, but I understand that it is a necessary part of being a good raider"

As opposed to the canned "It is not a problem at all, I enjoy running cleared content for the lols and my sense of self esteem" or some variant thereof.

It is kind of like Varys' question for Tyrion, "Who Lives?" The 'correct' answer is less important than seeing what the answer tells you about the applicant.

We have some really good Holy Pallies in my guild, none that are interested in apping I would imagine. I can refer you if you'd like though.

In other news, I have begun to consolidate all of my accumulated wealth into Liquid Gold, in preparation of my subscription running out on the 27th. All the enchanting mats are selling really well, and my 20ish epic gems went like hotcakes! Still trying to sell Glacial Bags at a > 400 gold price, as I have 4 of them in my inventory it could return a chunk of change. Otherwise I will just equip them on an alt over Netherweave bags (My main has been 'bag capped' for about 18 months now hehe). At the moment I am just over 24k gold, which puts me at a pretty happy place going into the Cataclysm. Enough that I can spend money, and feel comfortable DEing quest greens instead of selling them, but not so much that I can no longer have fun making more. Felt good buying 10 Primordials and selling them on the spot for a cool 6.5k. :laugh: