The Dambusters

I’ve been thinking (and tweeting lol) about the phenomenon of ‘burnout’ in the game of WoW. Mostly my thoughts about the subject revolve around the fact that I just don’t get it, why people burn out. Why do they quit the game? I’ve never personally felt the need to just quit for an extended period so why do others quit?

Of course each individual has their own set of circumstances under which they play the game and everyone plays the game differently. What’s going on in real life often governs the amount of WoW time you are allowed (or you allow yourself) to play. But the way you play the game has a marked bearing on how long you will play the game too.

Someone who plays 24/7 for months on end, grinding and farming or raiding and gearing up, or doing PvP or whatever else it is they decide to do, will most likely hit a brick wall of pain which just sucks the interest and motivation right out of them. We have guys in the guild who are like that and fair play to them, they play either all-in or not at all.

All or nothing mentality is easy to admire because it’s the display of total commitment for the period they are in the zone and since World of Warcraft releases content in chunks as it does, the all or nothing type of player has no problem fitting in with WoW’s peaks and troughs of content.

People burn out because they just love it too much, put all their heart and soul in and invariably they get tired. It’s human nature. Imagine the most delicious chocolate cake you could ever think of and you get to eat it until you are full up every day of your life. What a great thought, that delicious cake every day, wonderful…..but after months of eating a big piece of that lovely cake every day, you’d get tired of it and want to try something else, maybe even just another flavour.

It’s the same with WoW if you overindulge. Some can conceivably play for hours every day and enjoy the thing just enough but not destroy their life in the process, therefore it fits in with their real life schedule. Others decide to sacrifice large parts of their real life sociality to play the game but can happily manage that. Some can only manage to play bit-part for a few hours per week and never really get into the thick of the game. The people prone to burnout will munch that lovely chocolate cake right up, every day until they just get so sick of chocolate that they quit eating until there’s a new version of chocolate cake out with a layer of strawberry jam in there. They’ll recall the good times of the first few days of eating large wedges of that delicious cake and the nostalgia will bring them right back in where they will delve headlong into that new cake version and lose themselves in the overwhelming emotion of it all 🙂

I play the game with a different mentality to most although I disguise it very well. I am sure I come across as the most committed guild leader around and I am exactly that. What’s different is that I’m an excellent actor. I’m not saying all I say and do is an act, no way! What I’m saying is that although I show all the symptoms of a devoted and deeply entrenched WoW addict, actually I am anything but that. I have a clear mind as to what I am trying to do with the guild as you all know which sometimes gets displayed as people who cross swords with my vision and plans might be brushed aside if they don’t fall into line with the way I see the guild.

I commit just enough to the game in time and consideration to ensure that the guild is really taken care of but it doesn’t detract from my life. What I want to do in life, I do. The fact I live where I live and I work where I work means that I do have spare time outside the job to give to my hobby and with a clear mind to operate with in the guild, I can make seemingly tough guild decisions without worry.

As the guild leader, you start to understand that the people of the guild are crucial but ONLY if they are operating with the flow of your own vision for the guild. If they are against the way you want the guild to be then there’s an opportunity to relay that conflict of interest, illustrate how you view things and await the guild member’s ability to conform. I am very lucky that everyone in The Dambusters is there because they share the values I’ve instilled in the guild and you all have your part to play in maintaining that trend as time goes by. You all respect my leadership and it shows clearly because although you can often get emotional about the way things are going, you all get on with it when it comes to the crunch and you see that even if you disagree with me at times, it works out.

I have that ability to be overpowering if I feel the need to make my point but I also have the ability to ask for help when I need a little bit of feedback. It’s important to listen to the community and to be able to communicate my views clearly for everyone to understand if they have enough interest to actually take time and read it.

Almost 5 years of leading this guild and not a moment of burnout has provided the guild with an unmovable force for dedicated direction. Since I have my trade career behind me and the support of my family to fulfil my hobby within a schedule I can manage, coupled with the ability to play the role of guild leader while not forgetting that it’s just a game and I’m not really the boss of anything (proven daily in game when I display shining examples of the fact I’m a professional NOOB) gives me a great platform to be the committed leader the guild needs to remain strong.

If you have returned from the wilderness of real life after a lengthy lay-off from playing WoW, things will seem very very different. If you’ve never been a member of the Dambusters and you’ve never played during Mists of Pandaria then your return to the game is surely full of apprehension and excitement to learn about all the ‘new’ stuff.

You could just crack on into levelling up your old 85 (or even 80!) and learn along the way about all the changes to your talents, the stat and rotation differences, the additions to the game like the new Darkmoon Faire, the pet battles, mana pools, the fact that BM is actually the top hunter spec (don’t even make me argue with you lil SV noobs)….

….the farm, the zones, world bosses, extra loot chance bonus rolls and how to get them, cross-realm zones, connected realms, the peoples’ legendary, the monk class, real PPM trinkets, linear progression, the changes to professions, the simplified raid buffs, flexible raiding, Raid Finder, scenarios and heroic scenarios, changes to PvP (*cough* I mean ‘the chain CC game’ *cough*), the Timeless Isle and getting ganked by your own faction!, valor of the ancients buff, alt char gearing, button bloat, mana burn being gone!…..and the list goes on and on and on……

Needless to say, if you don’t have an advisor then you’re gonna be doing a lot of reading on Icy-veins, WoW Insider, MMO Champion and Wowhead. Noxxic is decent but not as good as it was. Ask Mr Robot is good but since hit and expertise will be gone in the next expansion, no point in learning all about that now. There are simpler ways of optimizing your gear and at this stage, you’re unlikely to be doing too much taxing progression raiding. You could form an overly hasty and wrong opinion that too much has changed, you’re all alone and it’s all just too much to take in without all your old friends to guide you through.

Well my dear, that’s where the famous Dambusters come in. If you’ve never been a member of this guild then your opinion of how guilds operate is very different from how we do things around here.

In The Dambusters you have a solid support structure and an active, friendly membership who are famous for their welcoming committee and helpful nature while also being a relaxed environment for people who just want to get on with their own game without being forced to sign up to doing stuff every other day. You have the freedom of being able to play the game at any time you desire while having the opportunity to call out for assistance from a lively crowd any time you need. We have an organised structure of officers who all have specific jobs to do and who must focus on being there to aid the guild members rather than acting like they are there to dictate everything to their guildies as if they hold some sort of sheriff’s badge. That doesn’t happen here and if it ever might, it gets stamped out immediately by a multi-functioning communications system which helps keep the guild running smoothly behind the scenes precisely so that the players who just want to play their own game may do so without fuss.

Guys who might have been in raiding guilds before will no doubt recognise a lot of the raid talk around the guild but unless you are in contention for or are considered part of either of the two progression raid teams then there is absolutely zero onus on you to push towards a raid spot. Unlike a raid guild where likely most members are considered as potential raiders and are often pushed into raiding mentality, this guild has it’s roots firmly in the social/levelling side of the game and will never really change in overall mentality. You may find we have plenty good raiders around but they will never be elitist towards non-raiders and actually I have had to make sure that the very opposite doesn’t happen.

I take every aspect of guild leadership seriously unlike so many guild leaders around so any unguilded player out there who may be apprehensive about what being in a guild means (from an obligation standpoint) is wrong about what a guild should be. Here, I work my sodding ass off and take it seriously just so that my members get their money’s worth because they are part of a WoW community who does care about our members.

Who needs to play a game where your supposed friends in the guild only care about themselves or only want to use you?

Who needs a guild where everything is focused on an aspect of the game that you are not interested in currently?

What’s the point in having a community that pretends to be together as a group yet always try to outdo each other in order to fulfil some unwarranted personal ego issues which really have no place in a like-minded community?

When smart people make a new character, they often take time to consider the character’s name because they know the likelihood is that that character might reach end game and you will have to live with that name for a long time to come. It’s the same with a guild, smart WoW players carefully search out the right guild to join in order to ensure immediate and long term fulfilment of their gaming aspirations. The guild works the same way, we often headhunt people who we know will suit the community and any newcomer must apply to join by visiting our website, clicking the link and filling out a quick bunch of simple questions that introduce the guild and the new member. Even Pocahunter had to apply to join before she returned from the desert of splinter guilds, half-assed raid guilds only held together by the stringy elastic 10-man team that runs within and half-committed guild leaders who could quit game on a moment’s notice.

The Dambusters™ are built on solid rock foundations with transparency and communication at the heart of our community success. We have admirers from around the EU and even in the US, EU players spot us on the forums and pay their own realm transfers to join up with us. That is testament to the way we parade ourselves against the other guilds out there. We are able to strike a balance between different playstyles and activities while maintaining a constant force for good on our server.

If you have returned from a lengthy absence from WoW and are afraid of getting too deeply involved, make a new toon on our server, click the application link on the home page here and show us your personality fits us. Your next move could make or break your attempts to actually get back into the game so don’t lie to yourself that you just wanna go it alone. That’s only because your past has made it hard for you to start afresh with something new. If you’re back, you need to give the game a chance. Surround yourself with the right friends who want to help you back onto your feet and build you up strong again.

Welcome home!

/Salute

I have been doing a lot of thinking about how the guild views me as the guild leader. How decisions I make are taken by guild members and officers is something I spend time thinking about because it’s important that I can understand how people react to certain situations and different adjustments that are made as time goes on and the guild evolves.

Often I get feedback about my blogs from different folks and one common feedback is the old ‘was that blog about me?’ or maybe about someone else. Sometimes stuff happens that gives me an idea of something I want to blog about but rarely is a blog post totally inspired by one individual. It is much more common that I write a blog to explain what has happened, what I did about it and why I decided to do what I did. Also, what people can expect in future if we see similar occurrences.

What I’m interested in discussing today is the idea of a ‘yes man’ and actually more importantly to me in the case of guild leading, the people who will go out of their way to be a ‘no man?’ Or whatever the argumentative opposite to a ‘yes man’ actually is 😀

This subject all boils down to the fact that any community leader needs public yes men all around but private ‘principled supporters’ who are people who are ready to offer a counter opinion in private, or sometimes in public provided it’s within a healthy environment where emotional attachment can be left aside during helpful constructive criticism point giving. These ‘principled supporters’ are right to air their thoughts and opinions but they must also be dedicated to the cause which means public showing of strength and unity with the leadership.

There is no right or wrong personality with regards to this subject but it’s interesting to look inwardly and have a think what type of person we are. I had a discussion about this subject with my good friend and supervisor last night who is a Saudi national. We concluded that while it is important to feel the courage and self-confidence to be able to voice our own opinion about what we are asked to do, we also must remember that when push comes to shove, the buck stops with the supervisor in the case of day-to-day management of an aircraft servicing schedule.

Similar to the guild, the big boss of my company ain’t gonna ask me why our aircraft wasn’t ready for its flight test today, he’s gonna ask the aircraft supervisor who is delegating the tasks and not the guy who was testing the landing gear the night before.

Similarly, if my supervisor asks me to replace an equipment conditioning pipe and I have the brainwave that it will kill 2 birds with 1 stone to just leak check the pipe during ground engine runs instead of checking for leaks with cool air as detailed ‘by the book’, he might agree that this way is quicker but the safe way is to do the cold air leak check just to be sure the pipe isn’t leaking before blowing roasting hot engine bleed air through a potentially misaligned pipe.

This is just an example but it illustrates how differing opinions are welcome and listened to, and often acted upon but not always in keeping with the plans a leader has overall.

Another example could be that my supervisor asks me to delay fitting a panel on the jet which has a lot of complex equipment inside the compartment. I could just delay fitting the panel and go for the higher priority task but I notice the electrical tradesmen preparing to connect up all the cables inside the panel compartment. I could suggest to the supervisor that I go ahead and fit that panel right away before the leckies carry on and make my life difficult to fit the panel later due to the mass of tightly packed cables which would be in the way and slow me down considerably since I need to get my hand inside to access bolts to hold the panel in place. This is an example of a suggestion made from a different angle of approach possibly unconsidered and it’s conceivable the supervisor might have reasons to stick to the previous plan but just as easily he could adjust his plan of action and cut time of the original scheduled.

These examples are totally unrelated to guild activity, largely because being in the guild is totally voluntary and actually nobody needs to do anything unless they want to since nobody is being paid for their efforts. However, the specific tasks are not important, the people interaction skills and overall environment awareness are of crucial importance in all situations where you are asked individually or as a collective to follow the directives of a leader.

It takes a good degree of maturity to be able to be given a task, think about what the task entails and consider alternatives while also recognising that the guy dishing out the task has good reason for it. They might ask for feedback or they might not, either way you must be ready to carry it out to the end and provide a good result.

Some people just go right ahead and get on with the job, no questions asked. Some seem unable to carry out a task without questioning every aspect of it. Some think deeply about the task and offer thoughts, opinions and concerns as they arise only while recognising that the end result is the ultimate goal and not the debate in-between.

A yes man is every leader’s dream but long-term evolution isn’t provided by the yes man. The obedient, ever-ready follower is as noble as they come. A guild needs obedient followers because the guild leader needs to be trusted that his vision of the guild is final and hard workers who get stuck into tasks are highly valued commodities in any organisation.

The person who argues about every task is in danger of being viewed as an opposition to the establishment. If you can’t trust your leadership then maybe you need to change your company, or form your own company. In WoW’s case, if you don’t trust your guild leader then you need to change guilds or learn to trust a bit more.

What I need as a guild leader are people with balls! People who have the brass bollocks to stick up for me in public, shout in favour of their leader while using their brain power to consider all that is being planned and feel free in their own minds to point out possible unconsidered angles and potential undesirable outcomes that may have been overlooked while always being prepared to just get the head down, get on with the job and hopefully the guild leader has had enough vision to pull off the situation to a successful conclusion.

There are guys in this guild from each category and it is my intention to get people thinking, no more than that. There are people in this guild who I value greatly because they are able to voice their dissenting thoughts but at the end of the day, never fight so hard that they cut off their own noses because deep down, they trust their GM. Most likely out of respect because of certain decisions made previously that seemed dubious at first and turned out to be correct. Could be because I have upset all the odds and managed to create a successful community here despite the endless potential pitfalls. Could be that the guild leadership gets respect for fighting for a balance of gameplay in the guild which is very difficult to achieve. Might just be because the same guy made the guild almost 5 years ago so simply he must know his shit?

Some accuse certain officers of being ‘yes men’ or ‘GM’s pet’ bla bla but don’t let those people fool anyone, I have no favourites, well maybe Shethehunter but that’s different 😀
Maybe Shannie the lovable lil bugger but hey, just because an officer shows outward support for the GM, doesn’t mean the officer doesn’t brawl with me often about decisions.

Just look at Spyrot! He’s been called a yes man by a few sillies but trust me, that bastard has a fiery dagger and he ain’t scared to use it on his GM when he feels the occasion needs it. Wenya? She’s a blithering maniac when I upset her apple cart! No chance is she gonna let me just waltz around doing whatever I want without hearing about it. Jibbas? I’m sure that swine has it in for me, almost never agrees with me but the thing is, all these guys really just care an awful lot. They care that the guild needs to be heading in the right direction and often pass viewpoints that are at odds with me. That’s alright and I listen but when the push comes to shove, they know it’s Bigticket who runs the shit and I’m sure it’s clear to the guys that I mean well and I do consider my decisions before making knee-jerk reactions even though sometimes it doesn’t look that way.

As I have stated before, I don’t always have the luxury of time and deliberation, sometimes I must simply be ruthless, decisive and act bluntly in the good stead of the guild because we are an excellent fellowship which deserves decisive action to preserve our status as such.

So, principled supporters are the ideal guild members it seems. It’s not easy but with social awareness and maturity some make it look really easy.

*grabs breath, this was long*

/Salute

SUMMARY

Flex Mode minimum item level – 515
Raid Leader may remove underperformers after the 2nd and the 3rd wings!

From now on, the guild will require all participants in our Flex runs during the current tier to bring at least a minimum item level of 515 for the first two wings of the raid.

There are multiple reasons for making this change and the benefits it will bring overall should encourage the long-term stability of these Flex nights.

What I am finding is that it’s the same old members having to log onto their normal geared mains to carry the guys who really should never be in there in the first place. This is beginning to breed a feeling of apathy among the guys who usually do the boosting in Flex runs because they feel obliged to carry under-geared alts and rarely get the opportunity to bring alts of their own.

Ideally, an average ilvl of 530-540 should get most groups through the first 2 wings comfortably but then the difficulty ramps up and ends up really beyond the group by the 4th wing due to time constraints largely caused by guys who either don’t know what they are doing or can’t bring the power needed to bring bosses down without wiping a couple of times.

If everyone was at the same level of progression regarding fight knowledge and gear power then there would be no issue but I think that bringing the baseline up to 515 initially (this could change depending how it goes) will at least prevent guys bringing ilvl 500 newly dinged lvl 90s and especially protects the raid from the impending influx of boosted lvl 90s. These guys really need to be gearing up a little but in LFR and by getting a couple of crafted items before entering flex. We really don’t want guys to be taking the piss out of poor Kvestian(or whoever is leading) with his worn-out Zippo by bringing our newly dinged alts and expecting to get free flex gear.

We all need to come up to a minimum standard and do our duty to make sure the flex night gets past bosses as smoothly as possible because one day soon, I expect a full clear each flex night. It’s not too much to ask people to get that easy to reach minimum, especially if you are an experienced raider who knows how to gear up quickly.

Arguably, 515 is rather low as it is but the idea is just to set some kind of boundary figure with the proviso that there will be much higher geared raiders there either way. I want main raiders to feel like they have the option to bring alts without the need to keep the team afloat with their powerfully equipped main to offset the potential of having a couple of totally under-equipped freeloaders hoping for a few 548 items as a quick fix.

It was mentioned that the guild should mandate half of each raid team to be present for flex to boost but since that would be forcing people into gameplay they might not want to run, that would totally defeat the object of playing a video game and takes away freedoms of people we want to feel happy to raid in a fun place and not pushed into raiding as a chore. The Dambusters have the two dedicated raid teams and standards of skill in Ironwall and Stonewrought are much higher than is expected around the rest of the guild. This is not a raiding guild so the flex should be fun, a place to relax and have a laugh with your guildies to breed a good atmosphere and friendships on a weekly basis. The bonus is that people get geared while everyone is pulling their own weight and trying their best as a team unit to get kills together.

I am expecting a new lease of interest in the flex night and if there are some 515ish geared guys in there and there’s not enough power for the first 8 bosses then the baseline might need to be increased. Please remember that at any the Raid Leader is perfectly within his rights to be scrutinising people’s performance with a view to trying to clear as much of the instance as possible on the night and can remove people for failing to adhere to the way he wants to operate the raid night. In addition, the Raid Leader has the natural break points between wings to clear out players he feels will hold the group back as it progresses.

All these standards should be followed but at the heart of it all the primary objective is for all to have a fun time and kill bosses. My favourite saying, “you are all Dambusters Ambassadors” and I expect excellent attitude from the Raid Leader and all raiders in the team. No bullying, belittling or any other shit. Everyone has the right to a fun time so let’s get it done 🙂

/Salute

Sprawdale and Bailen have just been promoted to the rank of Flight Sergeant. Cryomaniac and Diputs have stepped out of their respective officer positions.

Diputs is struggling to find the time to play as much as he would like these days so felt guilty about leaving much of his previously excellent guild bank duties to his partner Shethehunter. I spoke with him on a few occassions and gave him time to keep trying but ultimately the job was heavily pushed onto poor Shethehunter and although the evergreen and reliable Wenya always puts her share of effort into guild bank maintenance, ultimately I knew I would need a sturdy replacement for Diputs to partner Shethehunter in the long term. I moved Sidney over from recruitment which I think he was relieved about and he seems to enjoy maintaining the bank these days with Shethehunter and help from the Wenya.

Sidney exclaimed that he is a little bit obsessive about certain things and although that’s not always a good thing, it most definitely is a valuable characteristic when maintaining a guild bank. Wenya and Shethehunter both have that characteristic as an asset to call upon during clean-up operations and I am really grateful to have such excellent and mature people looking after the guild’s resources these days. It’s a thankless task though it does have its little perks, the guild really needs that effort and I will keep trying to ensure our members appreciate the work being done in there.

Cryomaniac left his Flight Sergeant position as recruitment officer after a dubious conflab between a few of us officers became a bit too emotional for him to keep his cool. Amid some difficult times at home, another upset officer and a rampant guild leader, Cryomaniac relinquished his position and has informed myself and other officers of his regret since. I’m no angel in the story but without dwelling on the subject for too long, we have discussed what happened and managed as good friends and responsible adults, to put it behind us and learn from it. I am delighted he is back in good spirits with his friends and I don’t expect that much to change anytime soon.

Sprawdale and Bailen are both guys who command great respect around the guild and especially within the officer team here in The Dambusters. Bailen will take his place alongside the enigmatic and relentless Illia and my tanking buddy Meatblocker in the recruitment team. Sprawdale will finally become more involved in the top-end of the guild while I officially stamp his place as a Raid Leader in control of Stonewrought.

Both these lads caught my eye early on after joining the guild last summer while we were resident at Ragnaros and I knew they would both rise up through the ranks to take leading roles within the guild. They have proven to me and their officer team-mates that they are here for the long haul and are mature, reliable and very experienced guys. This guild has reaped the rewards of giving these guys a good home and we will continue as normal because what we are doing clearly achieves results.

A word about Kvestian. He’s a great guy and tough raid leader for Stomewrought while Sprawdale was afk moving home in the first half of February. He is keen and does an excellent job under difficult circumstances in leading many of the guild’s Flex runs. He has become part of the fabric of Stonewrought with his dogged determination and often fiery leadership. Sometimes this can upset people and ofcourse Kvestian could maybe tone the language down a lil bit but it’s difficult to try to stifle a guy with such passion for raiding who gets such good results. He led Stonewrought to their first Garrosh kill and is always a willing participant in guild discussions. The guild is getting a little top heavy with officer positions but in accordance with our motto, his hard work will be recognised with an officer rank if he continues in this form.

I am always studying the roles and activities of our officers and I do expect hard work from them to maintain their status. Anyone in this guild is able to be an officer if they put in the effort that I require from them. If the role they carry out is deemed valuable then I will have to consider rewarding them with that badge of Flight Sergeant sooner or later. The real hard work then becomes keeping it!

/Salute

The Flight Sergeants in the guild have a very difficult time so I think I need to clarify a few things about the rank which my rank description fails to do while also shedding some thought on how I have noticed some Flight Sergeants struggle with the position.

It’s really not an easy task being a Flight Sergeant because although they are fully fledged officers with important roles to perform around the guild, there’s still superiors to look up to in Warrant Officer positions and of course there’s also the big bad guild leader who often does his own thing seemingly disregarding perceived general opinion.

There’s a clear pecking order and often a Flight Sergeant will be expected to just go with the decisions of Bigticket. I’m seeing things from a totally unique perspective which is very different from that seen by a Flight Sergeant. For me, a Flight Sergeant has a difficult job because they see themselves as an officer yet find it difficult to come to terms that they can only affect certain clearly defined areas of the guild that I have deliberately created for very good reasons.

A Flight Sergeant is very important in the guild but maybe for much different reasons than they believe. I know some Flight Sergeants do a great job in managing their specific area while providing leadership and setting excellent examples and of course there’s nothing stopping a Flight Sergeant from becoming so valuable to the guild and intimate with the way I see the running of the place that they are well capable of stepping further up into the realms of Warrant Officer and the deputising guild leadership that requires.  As I say, being an officer doesn’t necessarily mean you have the right to start trying to dictate the way the guild operates overall and although your thoughts and opinions are very welcome, attempting to strong-arm them into the guild leader’s thought process is likely to result in disappointment for the Flight Sergeant who soon realises that guild morals and direction are the sole remit of bigticket.

Part of stepping up to Flight Sergeant means being pushed into situations where you must manage your own decisions carefully as you will be forced to choose whether it’s time to lead or time to follow depending on the circumstances.  The decisions you make as a Flight Sergeant have the potential to affect many guild members depending on your current role and there will be times when I will ask you to take on more responsibilities but in matters of overall guild leadership, there’s only one GM.  Sometimes decisions made by me will be wrong in your eyes but that doesn’t make them wrong overall and if you feel I could have done something in a better way then feel free to speak to me about it, ask my why I did what I did and for what reasons.  In these situations, I love giving out all the info I can think up and am only too delighted that someone has taken the time and interest to notice and willingness to understand the process I go through.  I wouldn’t recommend doing it on public chat channels because if I offer you my insight and you don’t like it then you could end up in an un-winnable war 🙁

So in summary, a Flight Sergeant is a crucial part of the guild through which important work around the guild is carried out but as with all rank-based social systems, there are times to lead and there are moments where you are fully expected to support your leaders and failure to do so could result in mistrust, splintering and general dividing of the leadership team.  With all this clarification, if you’re a Flight Sergeant reading this or consider yourself a future Flight Sergeant then please don’t be put off by the complexities I have described here because everyone in the rank is there because they are well capable of easily fulfilling the great requirements of this rank and excelling with the perks and respect that come with being a trusted member of the Dambusters.  If you support your guild leader, I will stick right by you and hold you up for all the guild to see!

/Salute

A briefly touched subject I discussed with Illia last night while he was selflessly helping me to farm rep with Steamweedle Cartel made me really think. He mentioned the tough balancing act played out in our guild every day and remarked that he can’t imagine how difficult it must be for a GM to strive for the balance between being pro-raiding while also being pro-social, pro-levelling and pro-anything else people want to do in the guild.

That really struck a chord with me and made me think about some of the troubles our raiders have at the moment. They are trying to raid in a guild which has to balance raiding with everything else. Recruiting for one of the 2 raid teams is made infinitely more difficult because we demand applicants don’t just see the guild as an opportunity to raid but instead they must see the guild as a Warcraft home, a hub from where people play together and only then, they should see themselves as potential raiders with either of the teams here.

An excellent raider may consider joining the guild but if it’s clear from their application that they see us only as a vehicle that allows them straight into raiding then they really do find themselves up against recruiters who are reluctant to let them join because of course nobody can guarantee a raid spot with either team. New applicants must become Dambusters first before being considered for a raid spot.

This is a tough policy to implement and it has prevented a few applicants from gaining entry to the guild recently. I have to make sure that all players in the guild are socially mature enough to contribute something valuable to the cause. Too many guilds are flooded with selfish trolls who only care about their own personal advancement and the way we operate our recruitment policy provides the guild with a crucially important gating procedure that stops new members from joining until we are satisfied they will not join and then immediately demand a spot on a raid team. This guild just doesn’t work that way and I don’t want it to so it won’t.

We do not want a situation where the amount of raiders sitting on the sidelines waiting for a spot starts to aggravate the rest of the members of the guild. If I start to see people whining about not getting a raid spot then I will remind them that this is not primarily a raid guild and if they want to raid then either work hard to actually be better than someone who’s spot they think they can take and grab any future opportunity that comes their way by being online well in advance of raid times and being totally ready and prepared to slot in smoothly to the team. If they do well then I have instructed the raid leaders to view them favourably for the next raid week.

Applicants with a low level character but a big heart actually have a distinct advantage for joining this guild. Ideally these types of people who have searched for the right type of guild and found us because of the way we operate our social structure are exactly what I’m looking for in potential new members. These guys are the future because they value the fine work we do as a guild and the amazing balance we strike here to provide a fun environment where we raid but also do much more over the course if a normal week.

That balance had forced us to shed our fair share of old friends over the years as they have found it difficult to understand just how difficult my job is to enforce such a balance to the guild. Some people want the guild to be a certain way, others want to work a different way but I’m right in the middle trying to raid in peace, give out weekly gold, try to win the monthly draw, try to think of the next guild meetup, the 5th Anniversary of the guild’s formation. I’m resolving disputes, I’m setting a dashboard that helps me to remember everything I need to do. I’m delegating important tasks that need to be done and trying to ensure the right people are there and doing it correctly so I need to be strong enough to let people know what needs to get done but gentle enough that they don’t think I’m a tyrant.

I rely heavily on the officers and the guild relies heavily on my decisions about who are officers and how well I monitor their work. I try to lean on them as much as possible while maintaining overall responsibility, meanwhile the amount of leaning I do on them can aid their development as a leader. Too much leaning and they may buckle under my intensity (not weight, fu) but too much leniency and they might have little to actually do. This is a delicate balance that needs a firm and fair hand with total precision or the whole house of cards could come crashing down around us.

Most people don’t see that, they see the results and make their own judgements but many don’t notice the amount of time, consideration and discussion that goes on behind the scenes here and all that makes this guild tick. My memberbase makes me so proud to be a leader here. My officers do an exceptional job and anyone I ask to carry out a specific task usually has the maturity and respect to get on and do it. I am very thankful of that and I expect it will continue and the guild will reap our rewards as we grow famous!

/Salute

As we have 2 recent additions to the guild bank maintenance team, I decided now would be the perfect time to review the particulars of the position so that the people doing the job have something to refer to other than the brief overview already posted on the job descriptions part of the website. This will also offer an insight to the rest of the guild as to what the guys are doing and what work goes in to managing the guild bank on a daily basis by these dedicated and trustworthy individuals.

Make no mistake, the guild bank is one of the most thankless tasks performed by any member of the guild and therefore I am very thankful and grateful to them for taking the time to carry out the mundane tasks of moving items around so regularly that it becomes clockwork. Tabs must be kept free of clutter and uncategorised mess by constant shifting and clearing old unwanted stock to create space for new and desirable deposits and that takes up valuable gameplay time.

I expect our guild bank managers to use the ‘mobile banking’ perk on cooldown while they are not busy in group activities or in otherwise taxing content so that they can cover as much uptime of bank activities as possible within reason. Rarely do we see a packed Grand Slam tab but at times when we have officers offline for longer periods and if people have left the task to others then it does happen but these days it’s pretty rare.

It’s also worth noting that certain comedian guild members might try trolling the bank staff by depositing a lot of stuff at once but in all honesty, I am never going to discourage anyone from depositing even the most worthless of grey items because it all just adds up since it can all be vendored and the guild can always benefit from the gold it generates.

Another point I wanted to mention is from a question asked by Gainnward last night. He asked about what he is required to deposit in the guild bank, if people are expected to drop gold in etc. and it gave me an opportunity to explain that although we encourage deposits of items and gold if you feel generous and I would always welcome the attitude that looks to support the guild first, it is nobody’s duty to actually do that. There have been times when certain guild members have ploughed in thousands out of sheer generosity and other guys have deposited valuable items such as a bunch of living steel belt buckles recently dropped into Gibson tab by Sidney. That kind of generosity is very welcome but it is in no way a requirement. Much kudos to the generous guild members.

Most guild members will be expected to use the guild bank wherever they need for items if they are available to them but I expect people to treat the bank with its due respect. There is no need to deposit gold to ‘pay for’ standard items in the general category tabs but on occasion Wenya will request that players withdrawing items like Spirits of War from Gibson (Raiding) tab be traded with a token payment to the guild bank since the items are viewed very desirable and could indeed be sold to the auction house for good profit. Ideally, raid teams in the guild take priority for these items of course.

Repairs are set per rank by myself according to the overall cash flow and capital balance in the bank at any one time. We subsidise our competitions using the bank balance, pay our weekly activity winner and also hold an annual meltdown birthday celebration using the guild bank. I don’t expect any member to pay their own repairs but I am aware that some do so and that’s their choice. I will try to tweak the allowances to a fair level wherever possible and hope that players get a sufficient allowance while I am aware that at times if you are dying a lot and at relatively junior ranks then your daily allowance won’t always last too long, under which circumstances you are ofcourse forced to foot the extra gear repair cost yourself.

Sîdney and Shethehunter are your current guild bank maintenance staff so if you have any queries regarding the guild bank and it’s operations then feel free to ask them. If they cannot respond then you are welcome to speak to me anytime.

/Salute

“Air Raider               This rank is afforded to guild members currently considered to be active members of the resident raid teams Ironwall and Stonewrought. This position allows a high guild bank repair allowance and access to Gibson bank tab for raid consumables and an allowance from the other tabs to the same level as ‘Sergeant’ rank.  In actual fact, this rank slots somewhere between Sergeant and Chief Tech in pure guild access permissions and stature.”

To fully understand the concept of the rank of Air Raider, it must be clarified that the guild bank primarily dictates this rank’s very existence.  Out of 10 ranks available, we use 1 rank to grant access to Gibson bank tab and permit additional guild repair funds as further assistance. Ideally I would increase that allowance but restrict it to only be available on raid days but the antiquated guild control system currently prevents such bespoke customisation I’m afraid.

The guild bank has 8 tabs of which only 1 is partitioned to allow our raid teams the ability to store raiding consumables such as gems, flasks, performance potions and enchants. Before becoming Air Raider rank a player must be considered a regular member of Ironwall or Stonewrought raid teams by their raid leadership. The rank will grant strong access to the Gibson tab and allow numerous withdrawals(10) and deposit deposit capabilities and is therefore very powerful with regards bank security. It’s for that reason that only those regular raiders who have also proven to be trustworthy Dambusters will attain this rank which as stated in the Guild Ranks quote above, is viewed by myself as somewhere between Sergeant and Chief Technician in overall stature within the guild Mothership community.  Any Air Raider who needs to be reverted to the normal ranks of the guild will usually take their place as Sergeant or Chief Technician depending on their perceived stature within the guild.

The additional repair allowance is offered to assist each raider who has already proven their allegiance to the guild and it’s raid teams and it is partially a reward for their continued pioneering prowess which continues to help this guild to elevate it’s status among the greatest community guilds currently operating in World of Warcraft. Aside from the raid teams which are marginally above average in global terms, this guild is very fashionable and we will use our growing stature to push on further.  Rather than focus predominantly on raiding within the guild, I also tend to watch over the bigger picture which for me is the slowly but surely and definite fulfilment of the potential we have as a total WoW community structure.  The guild has always been solid and because of that, we have massive potential to grow if we can maintain our standards so I demand top standards of our members including our Air Raiders who will prioritise depositing valuable consumables to Gibson tab and only withdraw enough items as required to raid with your teams.  Each raid leader of course can access the tab to benefit their team.

Since the guild only has 2 official raid teams, only Ironwall and Stonewrought raiders will be eligible for this rank for the foreseeable future and that is because the guild must retain it’s identity as a guild which is good for raiding but is also good for other activities within the game.  As the guild only affords 1 bank tab and 1 rank for it’s raid team members, everyone must remember that it’s been made abundantly clear by the way I structure the guild that the guys who don’t raid are just as important as the guys who do.  Air Raider is a special rank but an Air Raider is no more special to me than any other member of this guild so please remember that.  The guild bank system allows all ranks to access the guild bank due to our categorisation of the main accessible tabs of which 6 are available to all ranks except ‘Airman’ and ‘On Jankers’ so I expect non-raiders to appreciate that the guild provides a great deal of benefit to them as it does for our raid teams.

Keep in mind that the reason for the rank is to allow better support to our raid teams through the guild bank but that such support is limited to a small percentage of overall guild resources on the face of it.  A lot of work is put into the Gibson tab as it services many dedicated individuals but the Air Raider is there so that we can separate that tab from the rest of the guild whilst allowing access to the rest of the bank to every single ranked member of this guild, meaning player skill and experience matters very little since we find low level/geared characters with elevated ranks in the guild due to their social maturity and Dambusters mentality.

/Salute

Like anywhere else that has promotions and demotions depending on requirements at any given time, the guild is no different in theory when it comes to deciding who to promote, what the position is and it’s timing. Of course we all know this is only a game but it’s actually pretty good practice for certain learnable life skills we could one day rely on in the real world.

We are dealing with real people who have real feelings which can be hurt or inspired depending on the way things are done in the guild. This may all be on a voluntary basis with very little at stake but that fact only seems to magnify people’s reactions to certain events and I find that some people will be open and honest about things and others will be secretive as you would find in any organisation of people. As with anyone in a real life leadership position, I find myself trying to do my best to keep the right people in the right roles to cover as many of the tasks required to keep us running smoothly while always looking for ways to improve if possible.

I am acutely determined to ensure that people who don’t care are discouraged while I try where possible to encourage and use the examples of people who do care and are able to put their good attitudes into practice for the benefit of their friends in the guild. These people are the future of The Dambusters and I will not hold you back. One thing I would advise any budding officers, power can corrupt and I need my officers to feel like they are here to serve their community and not the other way around. Anyone with a feeling of superiority around here is liable to be kicked in the Big goolies and land with a painful, pride-bashing fall.

A long time ago, it became clear that if I wanted to evolve the guild into something people would be proud to be part of then the tasks required around the place would need to be carried out with precision as regularly as needed and if not by myself then by notable, trustworthy officers. Since then, I have hesitated to elevate too many people but over time and with a growing workload it became necessary to expand the leadership team to cover more and more tasks. There was a time when I would never have allowed a player who wasn’t known to me in real life to ever hold such strong positions as those filled currently by Spyrott and Wenya. Right now, I write this as a more experienced individual who knows that it’s possible to trust irl friends/family but that it’s also entirely possible that a stranger can really prove to be every bit as capable and valuable as an assistant GM in these circumstances.

Over the term I have learned the hard way that it is very much more difficult to remove a person from a coveted position after previously promoting them to it. With such high hopes, plans and expectations being the relative components to promoting someone to a newly formed role, trepidation, regret and sorrow are linked inextricably to demotion. The demotion could be for any number of reasons from the player becoming disillusioned and estranged from the guild and with declining motivation for the guild or the position they fill, to simply a real life problem that prevents them from playing. Each situation results in the job not getting done which is where I must come in and do my own job.

Usually the officer in the demotion corner will know what’s coming and I attribute that to the examples I have set in the past with this blog also having filled in some information gaps. I would like to make clear that if we need someone as an officer then they will be approached but I must take great care not to add too many officers that people have little to do and I then need to demote.

I have had to demote real life friends in the past for numerous reasons leading to the job not being done properly and this experience leads me to be very careful and deliberate in how I orchestrate the balance in the officer team. That said, there are some mighty fine people in this guild who have great potential and if you give it enough time then that potential will be fulfilled with a leading role which will benefit your guild.

Next blog post already mid-production (lol) is…
‘Ranks in Depth: Air Raider’ so keep an eye on the website for that.

/Salute