/Salute Dambusters!

It’s been a long time coming but since I have good news, it’s a great feeling to be bringing you a blog post.  I have been pretty much out of the game since September, only making fleeting appearances in-between then and now. My own personal inactivity has been enforced rather than chosen but I am delighted to be able to tell you all that I have returned to breathe new life back into the Dambusters.

Over the years I have made attempts to encourage our officers to take more responsibility with guild administration and while there have been times where that’s been possible, I am under no illusion that generally the officers are happy to help out while distancing themselves from bearing the burden of running the show.  I assert that could be the case because of who our officers are; I have specifically encouraged a certain type of person into our leadership team ensuring that anyone who became a little too bossy has been ruined for it.  So it is entirely my own fault that the guild has been left to hibernate in my absence since the bossy types are not in positions of influence lol. This has meant that with Bigticket being absent, the guild has faltered and for the first time such a long period of low activity has descended.  My own career changes have been detrimental to my WoW time but the long-laid plans I set in motion when I decided to make a life change are now coming together and I will be online much more.

People of course have still been playing, some of you have moved guilds temporarily and some may have found new homes they are happy to remain in.  That’s all part of the game and I respect that.  But The Mothership™ is back in orbit and it’s time for people to start planning their own comebacks if you want to be part of it again.

Most of the officer team will return for Legion prelaunch if not earlier and I’m sure plenty of Dambusters will also be back.  Spyrot will be leading raids in Legion and he is starting by pulling together a Dambusters raid of normal (and possibly some heroic) Hellfire Citadel this coming Friday 15th April which is on the guild calendar for people to sign up for and will require people to join our TeamSpeak server. The raid will require no previous raiding experience but an item level of 690 or higher. The aim is to have some fun and get a start on the road back to a more organised raid schedule in time for the next expansion.  Anyone who is interested in raiding more seriously should try to get involved because the guild will start off with all guns blazing in Legion.  We have a lot to discuss on TeamSpeak regarding events and scheduling and we also have our 7th Dambusters Anniversary edging closer so it’s about to be all GO!

Bonesi and Shethehunter have never really been away. Gierrod and Idioms will be back for Legion, Jolts is crazy busy with his work so we will see how things go nearer Legion time and Perrinaybara has been out of the game for too long so will rejoin the Dambusters normal ranks if he returns to the game.  Lonok is long gone so he won’t be returning to the officer team. Pocahunter (and her many alts) is already back in the game and she will carry out her officer duties diligently as she did in the past.  Spyrot’s thirst for raiding progression has taken him to another guild to chase those boss kills he craves which is of course the type of driven attitude I expect from a raid leader who will return and no doubt have his work cut out for him as he shapes a new team ready to hit the ground running in Legion. I hope Spyrot will receive the support he needs from the team as we look forward to becoming a main player in the Grim Batol progress rankings.

Lets make it happen Dambusters, I need all of you back to the Mothership so please make your plans and I will see you back in here where you belong.

/Salute

The guild has undergone a recent heavy swing towards raiding simply because the team is being managed by a dedicated leadership team and also because the team is running 3 nights per week which takes up more of each raid members’ time.

We often find that some of the most dedicated players happen to be raiders and as such, we see them online a lot. The guild also has an extensive community of players who are not considered part of the progression team roster but nevertheless provide great depth and character to the guild overall.  These people are crucial in that they add the balance to the pendulum of our guild which would otherwise become a pure raiding guild.

I’m talking about people who for whatever reason don’t or cannot commit to a specific schedule and the dedication needed to perform at progression level. People like Grim, Pocahunter, Yukfu, Shethehunter etc. These Dambusters stalwarts are just as important to this guild as the Idioms, Spyrot, Jolts etc. because without them, all influence would surely levitate towards raiding.

The primary motivation for my own determination to maintain this structure for the Dambusters is fear. Fear that we become just another raiding guild. Fear that the raid leaders decide they want to be the GM so take the team and create a new guild. Fear that the guys who don’t raid get stuck in a guild who doesn’t care about them since they can’t raid. Fear of raid drama causing guild implosion…

We have all seen guilds ‘merge’ together, guilds blow apart and guilds slowly die and I would guess that in almost all of these occurrences, the GM could have prevented the chaos by being clear as to the aims of the guild, the format of play the guild desires and by ensuring the people of the guild are compatible with that vision and further, they follow that vision enough in the sense that the essence of the guild is never lost.  I suspect a large number of guilds who disband do so also because their GM goes AWOL, proving that they don’t care about their guild enough to even bother planning how it will operate in their absence.

Too many GMs play for their own self interest. They see the guild as a vehicle for their own personal raiding advancement, or for their own monetary (in game gold ofc) benefit or indeed just to satisfy their own ego. The latter may be acceptable as long as the GM is fair and relays his message to the guild clearly and sticks to his/her ideals without wholesale changing of guild direction on a whim.  Twisting a guild’s direction constantly will lead to a crisis of identity and people will leave.

The way we operate as a community, we are massively enhanced by the raiding team’s outward appearance on the server leaderboards and inwardly appealing to members of the team itself. The guild benefits from having good players who are also good people that care about being here. Often the best of whom become officers and are asked to set examples to the rest of the guild. Some maybe should be officers but due to the way we manage the guild, not everyone can be an officer.  Some Dambusters are here only for certain reasons and have really no intention of becoming part of the family.  That’s fine but you won’t see me encouraging this attitude and they certainly will not be leading the guild as officers.

To caveat the obvious benefits of having an organised raid team, guilds are ever reliant on the happiness of that team and particularly it’s leadership. For me, that is a potential bombshell which is only in my control to a limited degree. It is my job to keep the entire guild happy and secure but other people’s individual happiness is something I have no real influence over. If a critical guild member became embroiled in a situation leading to an unpleasant exit from the guild, they could well attempt to drag other members out with them. This is something a raid team in particular can bring because raid teams have players who inevitably enjoy the challenge and want to be the best. If they see another team doing something they want to be doing, they leave and to compound their decision they will often tell others why they should follow and the very human nature of it will mean they are at pains to prove their decision was right.  Thankfully although this situation may be commonplace among raiding communities, it hasn’t been a factor in the Dambusters very often save for maybe very few isolated cases.

These concerns are what drive me to look after the ‘little guy’ in the community. The player who is just so happy to be here. Here’s a shortened example of one particular recent message I received:-

“Just wanna thank you for what you’ve done for the guild these 6 years. I really hope that you’ll stay as Guild Leader for as long as possible, this year has been fabulous. I’ve been in a few guilds, and this guild beats the others by lightyears! I also wanna say that what you do for the guild, you do it more then great, you always try to make sure that everybody can be (involved) with no matter what it is. The Whatsapp group is a positive thing, you get to know about things that isn’t in the guild calendar like that one (impromptu) HC BRF raid where I eventually got 4 pieces of gear. I finally wanna say once again, thank you for all the things you do for the guild!”

How can a GM not be moved by such a heartfelt statement? These testimonies are surprisingly regular and they serve to reinforce my stance that the whole of our community deserves my full attention regards overall guild leadership.  I would suggest other guild leaders should be doing all they can to follow my example.  In addition to this type of stimulus for sticking to my guns, the toxicity out there in the wider community strengthens my resolve even further to provide a safer guild environment not only for the social community members but also for our raiding players.  All Dambusters are a family and although the balance and keeping everyone happy is an everlasting struggle and test of our leadership skills, it is a very worthy cause evidenced by our relatively happy member base.

I appreciate all the help I get from my guildies and from my officers in particular.  They are aware of the difficult balance we aim to achieve here and are understanding of the decisions I make which maintain that balance.  It means provisions are made that don’t necessarily point to raid team benefit nor do they aim directly at benefitting non-raiding events but if we can manage to get more fun runs and more activities like some of the stuff we done last Saturday at the Anniversary event then we are on a very sure footing as a community.

/Salute

And the winner of the Screenshot Competition from the 2015 6th Anniversary is….

MINIHAVTORN

With patch 6.2 here and a new raiding tier, we have plenty to be excited about. The guild will surely again witness big changes in the coming weeks with the likelihood that returning players will appear and boost the skill level of the Stonewrought raid team.

The 6th Anniversary is only a month away and we have plenty of  preparations already underway for that. The 26th of July should be a big occassion and I hope to see as many of you as possible in attendance on that Sunday. It should last about half a day with plenty of idiots engaging in silly behaviour and plenty of prizes getting dished out. Most importantly tho, is the start time because that will be where we march as a guild in memory of fallen former Dambusters who are no longer with us. That aims to be a poignant moment and each of us should endeavour to attend at the start because one day it could be you being remembered.

There is much to do in 6.2 (HA that rhymes) with the biggest ever WoW patch to date and the opening of Timeless Isle 2.0 namely Tanaan Jungle, rep grinds, rares to kill, exploration to finish, dailies to do…and raids to farm. This guild will be going all out to ensure we continue our traditions as a social community guild who raids.

I have talked about fresh starts for our raid team members and while that will be an important aspect to our team’s immediate selection, I note that the raid leader job has been made to be agonising and certain attitudes towards the team and the guild must change from this day onwards.

A few Dambusters may have been feeling like they are uninterested in content which they have already done but it has come to pass on multiple occassions that the raid team needed it’s members’ full commitment and ended up falling short. If you believe you are too good to be doing the same content as your team then you can best believe you probably should find a new guild today!

As GM of the Dambusters, I will be forcing home an attitude of togetherness among my guild members who I expect to stand shoulder to shoulder with their fellow Dambusters through the good times and the bad. There are times when a progression boss will go down after some hard work and the team will feel good but there are also times when a few raiders fail to attend meaning without a 20-man team available, the group have no choice but to revert to heroic. That is the time when I am looking to see the people who want to be there no matter what the content is, no matter the difficulty, no matter what loot you get out of the evening. Times like those tell me a story about who will be there to save my ass when I need it most in the bad times.

I want to be able to call on my raid team mates and be proud to say we battled together and we made it. During more relaxed times, I feel it is our duty as skilled raiders to encourage a few of our guild’s less experienced players to join in and get that buzz of playing with the big boys. We should be setting an example of conduct and not just walking away because ‘meh, it’s not mythic so I don’t care’. We could be blooding future strong raiders for our roster.

Rest assured that as your guild leader, the raid leader I install to manage the team will do so with my full scope and as an officer team, we are determined to ensure we only take people who can be bothered to be there for the other guys in the team when the team needs, not the other way round!

As I have said before, this guild is about looking after your guildies at all times and that means when you’re raiding. Most of our members don’t actually raid to any competitive level. Some people in the guild actually really can’t stand raiders and the drama they can bring to the guild and it’s my own mindset that our raiders be particularly well mannered and shining examples of conduct to the rest of the guild.

Raiding has rewarded this guild with a great many benefits from some of the best people I have had the pleasure of playing with to some of the most committed officers and hardest working players we have had. However, any raider who acts like they are above it in our guild will get a rude awakening from me because I like nothing better than destroying an ego in a flash if I think they are undermining the guild in any way.

I know there are members of this guild who sit and snipe and my gaze is upon you, if you feel this blog post is aimed at you after what I have said then you’re probably right. If you cannot act like the Dambuster I expect then you should either politely make your exit now or be found out the hard way when I slam the door in your face. Everyone in my guild has an opportunity to show that they really are true Dambusters and display pride at being here with a willingness to trust your officers that we will do our best to move the guild forward.

Test my ability to pick out non-committal raiders who only log in to raid then bring an elitist attitude then you will find yourself in my sights, which believe me is not where you want to be. Stick it out and put in the work to feel really a part of the team and a friend in the community and you will rise up!

/Salute

The guild’s progression raiding has been using the ‘Suicide Kings’ loot distribution system since Siege of Orgrimmar and we have used it in the past too.

Stonewrought currently operate the KonferSK Suicide Kings addon which is used to allocate everyone on the raiding roster a spot on a numbered master list. Each new raider who joins the team is added to the bottom of that master list.

Each raid night, the selected team is taken from the master list to create an active list sorted in numerical order corresponding to their positions within the master list. When a piece of loot drops, the master looter will offer an item up to the raid team and whoever wants it may whisper the word ‘bid’ to the master looter.

From the bidding raiders, the one who is nearest top of the current active list will receive the item and immediately drop to the bottom of the current active list.
*Note this raid list is not the master, just the active which got pulled out of the master for that evening’s raiding and the final order from that raid night will slot back into the master list without disturbing any unused raiders in the master.*
Raiders may use their bids to claim any item that is put up for grabs by the master looter, even if the item is offspec. The reason this is acceptable is because of the consequences of taking the item. If a player is happy to drop to the bottom of the list for an item they have no intention of using then it’s their own problem and the next item that drops will likely be out of their reach.

Likewise if a raider wants to sit atop the list feeling comfortable that he will get first option on anything that drops only serves to benefit the rest of the team who can gather upgrades the number 1 raider is passing on.

This may appear to be a strange situation which requires further meddling but in my opinion a mental note by the raid leader about which players are acting in a way which doesn’t benefit the team on a regular basis. If the raid leader feels the player is deliberately trying to hold others back and gimping himself in the process then that player’s team commitment could come into consideration. By the rules of the loot system tho, there is no other need for governance and it’s is entirely possible a player may well simply only need 1 special item so he has every right to sit there and wait for it, if it ever drops.

We also have a way to minimise the frequency of gear being disenchanted because people may be afraid to lose their spot high on the list due to a minor upgrade. We implemented a /roll system to run parallel with the bids. If nobody bids on an item then anyone who /rolls on the item can win it. A suicide ‘bid’ always trumps any /roll but if you could use an item maybe as a minor upgrade or for an offspec then you may /bid alongside anyone else in the same situation. Highest wins of course, assuming there were no favoured suicide bids.

I think we need to consider a check for our raiders who do /roll on items because the nature of the /roll means that there are no consequences for winning it. Literally anyone could /roll to take an item and possibly have only interest in it’s vendor value. We must ensure the /roll item is usable on the character either on main spec or even offspec.

This brings me to ‘Bind on Equip’ items. Idioms and I have discussed using these BoE items only to either gear up the currently raiding team (not their alts) or to be used to help generate gold for the fast approaching 6th Anniversary this July. The proposal is that BoEs if not required as an upgrade on the night then they will go to the guild bank where they will be held on the bottom row of the Grand Slam (deposit) tab and offered at a 50% discount of it’s market value on a first come, first served auction basis.

This plan has been discussed and agreed by the guild bank management team who will help orchestrate the system. Any officer has access to Grand Slam tab but primarily offers to purchase the items should be made directly to Shethehunter or Poca where possible, and if they are unavailable then Idioms or myself.

I initially thought requests for items through in-game mail may be a good option but on consideration, it’s possible 2 different players could bid to 2 different officers for the same item therefore selecting who came first might prove controversial. I think it might be best to keep it simple and only allow items to be bought when the officer is online to ensure fairness.

Prices will be published at first using the guild Message of the Day and we will see how that goes before adjusting the publication of items/prices as required.

A good video illustrating the ‘Suicide Kings’ loot system can be found by clicking this link.

/Salute

Some people will try any dirty trick in the book to get their guilds some more members. The Dambusters have come a long way in our recruitment process over the years. Like any guild, we want to be able to retain our best members and discard any drama queens, selfish or ruthless players who only look out for themselves etc.

I get it that guilds would like to poach our players and massively reduce their own workload while attempting to woo our members into joining them. Needless to say, they can try to poach Dambusters knowing full well that we have done the hard work to get the right type of people into the guild the right way. They are targeting mature, friendly, helpful team players who have already made the grade at The Dambusters. This is the epitome of lazy, but incredibly sneaky guild leadership and I find it disgusting.

Imperius is a guild formed out of dispute with our guild because I dared to challenge the tearaway group who honestly took the absolute piss for too long. I am still hearing stories of their feckless attempts to poach our players and I find it hilarious that our loyal Dambusters almost always politely decline after hearing their well-flogged sob story about how that big bully Bigticket didn’t sit back and watch them wreck his guild from the inside.

They know full well how hard we have worked to keep such a solid guild and they know exactly what we built after they left. They surely heard our shoutout on Convert to Raid because I know for a fact their guild leadership listen to it. They know what a blitz our 5th anniversary event was and they are infinitely jealous. They just cannot enjoy their own new guild and their excellent raiding progress without trying to piss on our parade and you know something? It makes me even more proud of us, because such a powerful (albeit new) raiding guild glances enviously to us and the way we stood together and revitalised our guild. I’m sure they probably thought when they left us like they did, we would collapse but as you can see we feel liberated without parasites picking at our bones.

No longer are we under control by a dictator who won’t raid if they “can’t control everyone” who thinks they should be calling all the shots and gets pissy when Bigticket or Spyrot makes a decision.

No, The Dambusters have gone from strength to strength since Imperius took the disease away with them. I feel sadness that we lost good friendships who followed but naïveté is easily bought with female sob stories and downright twisted lies. There is no way I will ever stoop to such poaching tactics where we would make up lies about a guild’s leadership in the hope that it’s members will defect to us, no that is sheer desperation and hatred who does that. We are so strong that we will never be forced into such dubious leadership tactics and I’m glad about it.

Enjoy your own guild and try to make it as good as you can, the right way. Rest assured that thousands of top players and high powered Blizzard developers will have heard our name shouted on CTR and some will already know us.

Continue your hard work that makes you a community that is the envy of certain members of the WoW community. That warm rapturous welcome you are famous for which instantly makes a new Dambuster feel like a star! There’s a reason we are 5 years old, we do it well.

/Salute

s

Wow, so much has happened in my private life which for really the first time in my wow career has bumped my playtime right down the pecking order. When I go on holiday from work and travel home or elsewhere then I usually take a short break from wow but never have I had this situation before so it’s something unusual I’m dealing with.

My baby boy is doing great and his mum is a legend as always so although life has come rushing at us, we are mature enough to be able to handle it without too many surprises catching us out thus far. What it has meant is that I now rely more heavily than ever on you guys in The Dambusters to carry on and keep up the good work we have been doing as a guild. The officers have really impressed me and I am always in close contact when discussions are needed surrounding aspects of guild management. I am right here, just don’t have hours upon hours to spend on all my characters at the moment.

It seems I’m already able to raid as normal but I’m also glad that this is a long tail period of the expansion so I can just about get away with maintaining guild leadership responsibilities while tending to my family as a new daddy.

I am extremely excited about our upcoming 5th Anniversary celebration and have already banked a ‘Flag of Ownership’ which is OP and also the extremely rare ‘Amani Dragonhawk’ mount. Coupled with at least 155,000g and possibly rising it’s a fun day of camaraderie to look forward to that Saturday, it’s gonna be so epic!

Rest assured that although I am a bit busy at the moment, parenthood hasn’t come as an upturning life changer. Genesis and I have been around the block a few times and should be able to take our new little family member’s needs in our stride. There’s a lot of fun and madness to come but I’m sure we are ready for it all. We have good friends and family who have been down our road before and who’s advice we are listening to while pioneering our own journey. Baby Kelso is a good boy so far with a full character and just looking at him makes video games and other trivia pale into insignificance at the moment, there’s no doubt where my heart currently lies and that’s with my family.

That’s not to say I am unable to schedule ‘me’ time for Bigticket and The famous Dambusters and as time goes on that planning will get easier. You certainly ain’t losing me yet, I still look forward to our raid nights and managing our excellent officer team who are a pleasure to work with. As the expansion draws to a close, and for my 5 years+ of playing world of warcraft I still have never felt a hint of burnout. Maybe this new chapter of life is another timely twist that will ensure I will simply never ‘burnout’ and honestly, I don’t ever see that happening.

It’s a busy few days coming up for me but I’m looking forward to starting it off by ending this week’s WoW lockout period with a 1000g payout to the weekly activity winner as always, something I love doing. Then it’s raid night on Thursday night where I hope both the guild’s raid teams can crack on and at least whack the same heroic bosses as previously, if not maybe even more!

Keep a eye out here for more announcements regarding the anniversary schedule of events and a clarified distribution illustration of those all-important prizes! Heck, it’s only a touch over 10 days to go so I hope you’ve all booked Saturday 26th off in your schedules….

/Salute

Over the past few months, people have asked me about the way I see things around the guild heading into the next expansion. Some members of our guild are concerned about what will change in Warlords of Draenor and a few might be worried that the guild will be slow to adapt to the upcoming changes.

Actually it is my belief that The Dambusters are perfectly placed to adapt to the new raiding formats being introduced come 6.0.
Although the difficulty names are changing and Mythic must be 20-man, not a great deal really changes with regards to raiding. As far as I am concerned, The Dambusters have 2 10-man raid teams which we have amalgamated in the past with a few fringe players to get some 25-man runs done. That standard format will not change except for the fact that both 10-man teams will be expandable to take advantage of the future ‘heroic’ (currently normal) flexible-sized raiding capability meaning more stability in each team because the raid sizes can be adjustable depending on who turns up on a given raid night. That doesn’t mean people can just stop bothering to show up and still walk straight back into the teams, believe me.

Currently both teams are well capable of clearing normal modes in a week after months of progression practice. Who is to say that this guild will have an immediate capability for Mythics? If we do have that possibility then amalgamating both teams together will only be a case of a couple of players switching out roles. However, Mythics will depend largely upon the performance of both teams so if you want Mythics in the Dambusters at an early stage then the onus is on you individual raiders to take the lead set by Fridai, Spyrot and the other example setting players in each perspective team and really push on to prove readiness for Mythics.

You can’t suggest the guild won’t be ready for Mythics. Of course the guild is structurally perfectly placed to be able to support a Mythic raid team but that all depends on the raiders’ ability to do the job. You CAN suggest that a given raid team within the guild may or may not be ready but at WoD launch day, nobody will be ready so it’s up to all of us to get ready, and fast….I will be ready come raid start, will you? I can’t force you but after a few weeks if you have slacked when we needed you, will you expect an automatic spot in the team? Meh

Can the guild provide Mythics? Spyrot, Fridai, Jolts, Idioms, Meatblocker and myself will all be ready to lead from the front by example of effort. Will you? You can’t just request that the guild ‘does Mythic’ and hope to jump on the bandwagon. It’s up to each and every one of you guys to put the effort in and blast through heroics to show the officers that we have a capable team ready to assault Mythic raiding.

Personally, looking at the current climate within the guild, I would estimate a Mythic progression team running no later than 12 weeks into the expansion but it is entirely achievable that we could have a Mythic team up and running within 8 weeks. Asking me what our plans are for Warlords of Draenor is like asking a clairvoyant to predict the expansion release date…
I can only operate with the tools I have. I will certainly continue pushing people with raiding intent to commit to their respective teams and prove come launch day that they are ready to put in the work to level quickly to 100 and gear up for Heroic. It’s possible the guild will start with Raid Finder, clear Normal and then go for Heroics and as is expected the guild will not begin Mythic until we have the guild achievement for a Heroic clear. The sooner people get their work done and prove they can clear Heroics the sooner the guild can get into Mythics.

It is also of note that there are people who have no intention of doing Mythics so it is my aim to make sure the guild have a suitably organised schedule for guys looking to just do normals and maybe a bit of heroics. It is also my expectation that there are plenty of Dambusters who have little or no interest in raiding at all. I must continue to push PvP, the weekly activity competition and I will actively encourage anyone who shows interest and aptitude to lead other events, I do hope we can get back to some fun achievement/role playing old content runs where people can also try to get some smart transmog gear.

Raiding takes the most planning but let it be known that my focus has turned directly to the upcoming anniversary where I already have loot codes in place for a ‘Flag of Ownership’ and a rare TCG flying mount which I will reveal later.

I hope that the imminent Dambuster Draw will be a massive success and I expect to see a few really happy people get lucky this week. Get your 100g fee posted to Dambuster(Aggra) before cease play Thursday 26th to have a chance at the estimated prize pot of over 25,000g & a Sky Golem. You gotta be in it to win it!

Remember that although the Dambuster Draw has an entry fee and doesn’t require your online attendance, the guild’s Anniversary event will require no fee but demands your attendance. Only attendees on the day of Saturday 26th July will be eligible for prizes so please schedule that day to be available. I am preparing to release 150,000g, at least the 2 TCG prizes and possibly more to be dished out on the day!

The guild WILL be having our usual annual anniversary event next year for our 6th and by then we will be as solid as ever and a very good bet as a guild to be with. You guys are what makes this the place to be so put in the work you would expect others to put in and show your guild that you’ve done your part. I will continue to orchestrate a smooth passage to the new expansion so take control of your own characters, be responsible for your own small part of this big old guild and enjoy the upcoming content, if a Blizzard ever release the damn thing…

/Salute

The Dambusters will be fully 5 years old on the 26th of July!

What an amazing amount has happened over the years since I founded the guild back during Wrath of the Lich King. There’s been a steep learning curve throughout and although it’s been a bumpy ride, there are times when leading the guild has been immensely satisfying. The journey we have been on has been really exciting and the people who have come and gone have taught me a lot about how to manage people in this type of environment while trying to improve upon my game knowledge as much as possible.

There are stalwart members of this community who have stood by us through thick and thin and it really shows these days as our members tend to really feel they are part of the family and trust that the decisions being made at the top of the guild are for the benefit of the guild overall.

I enjoy reminiscing of the days when Crimsonious, Icebabe, Bås, Annelie, Boffelballe, Twingol, Manacle, Tealaria, Airyfairy, Era and countless other great friends were plying their prospective trades around Xavius. This guild were on Xavius when the great Method arrived, we were also there when certain other not so great raiding guilds arrived and The Dambusters always carried a strong and respected name around the server even among our horde rivals.

We still have people like Dreadzone(Maryhinge) and ofcourse Pocahunter(with her many alts) from those days. Diputs has been here a long long time as well as Dambusters legends such as Friday, Spyrot, Illia, Devilslotus, Horcore, Crystiel, Grim, Drsup and the brother Tinh/Thanh although these lads don’t get much game time these days.

There are countless who have come and gone or stayed with us and moved server to be here. Each one of you has affected the guild in some way and having had the opportunity to talk to every single one of you at some stage or other, I have learned well how to manage the guild.

The Dambusters will celebrate our anniversary by devoting a day on Saturday the 26th of July to pure guild fun! I will be talking more about this at the next Mumble meeting on the 5th of July and we will try to lock in some events for the day. Please try and clear your schedules for that full day if you can. Sleep well before it and be prepared to get very drunk in game at the wake of our annual march in memory of fallen Dambusters. We will tear up Stormwind with booze, destroy all horde on Timeless Isle and no doubt you will all get to have a pop at Spyrot, myself and the other officers in a free-for-all Battle Royale in the Gurubashi Arena for a big prize!

I am preparing for around 100,000 gold in prizes and at least 1 rare mount and possibly other TCG prizes. I hope to have a ‘Flag of Ownership‘ to give away on the day, which is possibly the most OP item you can get in the game!

I am hoping to carry out a gnome event where all Dambusters are to create a level 1 gnome and go for a run around. I fully expect that to get rowdy and no doubt we will come up with yet another reason to dish out some prize money. In addition, and as is the tradition at these events – the guild TOTAL activity list will be looked at and prizes will lean heavily on the top players in the guild. I also hope to get some sort of MVP style vote for the guild overall player of the year and possibly a vote for your favourite officer!

There is much to discuss and plenty of fun to be had. I know we are currently in the middle of a lull period with WoW as we await the new expansion but for me, there is nothing different. It’s an excuse for me to work on my alt characters and have a wide choice available to me regards which to level first as my ‘planned main’ for raiding in WoD. I understand not everyone shared my out and out devotion to the game but I hope that you will all consider boosting your WoW time for the next few weeks and maybe get those legendary cloaks on your alts (or mains if you are still hunting for it) meanwhile boosting your own weekly and total activity ratings. If you feel you are far down the list, try not to think you’ve already lost. We have had numerous dark horse Dambusters appear out of nowhere on our anniversary days and walk away with mounts and massive prizes so get involved, don’t be shy!

Can’t wait to really start putting stuff into place for this big day, any thoughts or ideas then please bring them forward for consideration but try to keep it simple 🙂

/Salute

It’s easy for people like Spyrot and myself to forget that not everyone is fully versed in how to keep their raid spot. It seems like a simple concept but it has become clear in the past week that there are guys around both Ironwall and Stonewrought teams who have been unaware that if they can’t attend then someone else must step in and if their substitute does well, they are likely to stay in the team.

As I say, this is a straightforward concept and although most people should be well aware of this, if this info helps even one more person to understand the concept then it’s been worth my writing about it.

Your Raid Leader has an extremely difficult and demanding job in trying to pull together the team while also having to know the encounters inside-out as well as being able to slot the right players into the right tactical roles for progression boss fights. You as a raider only have to know your own class and understand the fight mechanics that apply to you and be able to communicate with the team when required.

Central to all of this is the assumption that you’re actually there for the raid. The Raid Leader might have his perfect team list of players for a particular raid but the moment he finds out that someone can’t make it online, his job is turned upside down and he then must rush around searching for a substitute.

Nobody can deny that this is just a game and that real life issues crop up. We all have them, Spyrot’s internet and power have been known to suspiciously die right on raid time leaving the team without a Raid Leader. I have been known to mysteriously disappear into ‘work’ when I never work Thursdays of course! We all have stuff to deal with and the onus is on us as individuals to manage that as best we can. If something does crop up then we really should speak to the Raid Leader (or at least someone who will relay the message) as soon as possible so that he can try to rush around for a replacement. This stuff happens and we can all understand it’s just a fact of life.

The substitute who comes in has to immediately take someone’s place and do their best if they intend to be considered for a regular raid spot. It must be remembered that the likelihood is that the player who is ready and available to the Raid Leader in that moment of need, will likely be highly regarded as a saviour and if they do well then it would be absolutely wrong for the Raid Leader to then dump them afterwards in favour of the raider who jeopardised the raid by being unavailable at the previous scheduled gathering.

The reasons for your inability to attend a raid really does not matter since this is a fantasy world which can in no way compete with what can happen in your personal life. That’s the beauty of this game, because if someone cannot attend a raid then it’s of no emotional concern to a Raid Leader who needs to fill your spot, it just needs to get it done and the game rolls along without you. If you appear online and just ignore your raid team’s attempts to bring you into the team then don’t ever expect to be welcomed back in.

Don’t get me wrong with my apparent cold and calculated approach to a raid team’s attendance. I more than anyone can fully understand and empathise with people who can’t always log into the game when they wish they could, but I am simply spelling it out that no matter what nastiness goes on in the outside world, the show must go on. Every year on the Dambusters anniversary day this guild celebrates our community past and present. At the very beginning of the day’s events, we march from Northshire Abbey in Elwynn Forest in memory of Dambusters we have lost along the way. People come and go and that day is for us to remember our old friends who have disappeared or simply just gone elsewhere. Who knows what happened to some ex-Dambusters, real life could have taken it’s grip and they may never play again. Whatever the circumstances may be surrounding a former member’s estrangement from the guild, whether they fell out with us, changed faction or even passed away! in my eyes they will always be a Dambuster and we will be here flying that guild standard in their memory.

Same thing happens when a raider can’t make it, the team will soldier on and make you proud in your absence. It’s up to you to fight your way back in and help create that competition for places that keeps everyone in the team operating at their nervous best 🙂

You should be excited about the prospect of pushing your way back into contention for a raid spot by showing that although you couldn’t make the previous raid night, you’re gonna be ready and willing IF you are needed for the next run. If you are not required then you should carry on working on your character or maybe another character until your raid leader needs you again. If this arrangement doesn’t suit you then it might be time to find a new team because at the end of the day, we are all here to have fun and play the game to enjoy the experience. If you find yourself benched week after week then you either need to work harder, check to see if the team needs you on another class/role or consider either spending time doing something else or even finding a new guild. The last thing I want is an unhappy player spitting feathers around the guild. It’s happened before and I quickly recognise the symptoms and stamp any such behaviour out, believe me.

Raiders must keep in mind the guild they are in. The Dambusters is more than just a raid team and petty raider squabbles often meet with my more abrupt mannerisms. Be respectful of the team and hold your head high if you find yourself surplus to requirements for a time. Remember that the very next week, there could be an opening and if you’ve burned your bridges with the Raid Leader then you could find yourself overlooked when previously you might only have missed a week’s lockout and returned straight to the team if you had kept your cool.

A Raid Leader is the toughest job in the game so please make life as easy as possible on these guys and try to remember that there’s so much more to this game and this guild than raiding 🙂

/Salute