HELP! I'm a new member of Voracity, and Del didn't tell me..

[Delauney]

This is the FAQ for new members. It has to do with our policies and perspectives on various things that I probably forgot to tell you about when I brought you into the guild. Being who I am, I've always been super jumpy about knowing what the right thing to do is in any given situation and I often get embarrassed when I do the wrong thing- even now! I'm sure there are many more questions I"m missing. I'll keep the first post updated as more come in.

Q: I'd like to donate stuff to the guild, but how do I know what the guild needs?

A: People put all sorts of things into the guild bank! Anything used for tradeskills (especially at higher levels) is always welcome, and all tradeskills have craftable items that can benefit a guild- basically, if you'd want to be able to find it in the bank, chances are we would too. If it gets too dusty, it gets sold or DE'ed and the money/mats go back to the guild bank.

Q: Who should I give the stuff to, since I don't have access to the bank as an initiate?

A: Please put "Guild Bank" in the letter area if you're mailing, and send or give items to our GM, Shelmann. His alt is Virgil.

Q: Are there rules about taking stuff out of the guild bank?

A: The items in the guild bank are not there to be auctioned. The items in the bank are meant to be used by our members, who have kind of a "take a penny, leave a penny" attitude. If you use stuff, leave other stuff. I have spare mats for my tradeskills laying around, so I try to put vellum, enchants, meats, glyphs and gems in the guild bank. When I was levelling up jewelcrafting, I used a ton of green gems from the bank, and now that I'm mining regularly, I have tried to keep it stocked back up. I suppose it could be dubbed a pay it forward sort of system. (I'm going to have to rewrite this more clearly at some point.)

Q: Who are the officers, anyway?

A: Our officers, followed by at least one of their alts:
GM: Shelmann (Virgil), aka The Master of Chaos
Larhymir (I know he has a warrior. Gharr?), aka The Voice.
Elvgren (Ardor, Second), aka The Curmudgeon
Tempestas (Dionysis, Captncaveman, Warriordude), aka Mr. Licious
Ashleaf (Fusoya), aka ... Ashpants, Super Ash, Boomchikin
Quenela (Triwah) Currently inactive, we're hoping he'll be back
Drezdinn (Aaravan, Drakk, Zaane), aka Can-you-fall-off-this-cliff-into-nothingness?-oh!-so-you-can!
Wolfromm (Fah, Ximelle, Saphfyre), aka Temp's clone
Del (Ellington, Hyacinthe, Delauney) aka me, she who stands in fires and wears the wrong gear

It looks like a lot, but we cover various functions, and we try to be available to a variety of people. Basically, if you don't feel like you can talk to a specific officer about an issue, try somebody else!

Q: So how do I get promoted?

A: Rank isn't really a huge deal in Voracity, beyond the initiate period. Once you're a member, we're all pretty much on equal footing. The only thing I found vastly different was the two bank tabs that I didn't have access to before, but could always ask if an officer would get me something if I needed it. Knight Commanders are sort of classleads who you can approach about specific functions of a class or role (tank, heals, dps). If you feel like your class isn't represented adequately in this area, or feel like you could add to the representation, please feel free to talk to Shelmann about it. Chances are good he'll talk to the rest of the officers about it and at least one of us will have noticed your contributions to the class. Promotion to officer comes in times of need- sometimes that need is specific and we know immediately who can do the job that needs to be done (See: Drezdinn) and sometimes that need is less about a specific job and more about seeing what a person can bring to the table.

Q: At what rank will I be allowed to raid?

A: Unless you are in the Possible Hack rank, you are allowed to raid, and encouraged to sign up for where your gear level says you can go, as found on wow heroes. (It's a good measuring stick, and if you're better than where your gear score puts you, we can work from there. We don't use it as gospel truth, but it's generally near accurate.)

Q: How do I find out about raids and why haven't I gotten invited to any yet?

A: There is a calendar on this very website that lists the dates, times, and signup sheets. Please signup on these sheets if you would like to come along. If you do not sign up, we have no idea if you want to go, or if you'd rather be levelling up your fishing, so chances are good that you won't get asked to fill in a slot (unless I know you well and know you usually like to raid.).

PLEASE NOTE: Signing up for a raid is a committment to the guild. We do not have mandatory raiding, and we understand that life happens sometimes, but we ask that you treat a sign up as a promise and honor it to the best of your ability. If you know in advance that you can't make it after all, it's helpful to let somebody know and remove your signup.

Q: Wait, what? Levelling my fishing? On a raid night??

A: As long as you don't sign up (which is treated, as mentioned above, like a committment) to come to a Voracity run and then blow us off to do something else, you are fully entitled to do whatever you wish when you're on. (It is also considered bad form to constantly skip Voracity raids in favour of PUG runs of higher level content, but this should be common sense.) Raiding is not mandatory in Voracity. We raid to have fun together.

Q: How do I get a raid spot?

A: We don't have raid spots guaranteed to anyone except the raid leader, presently Wolfromm (Ulduar) and Drezdinn (TOC, Onyxia, Malygos, others). You get to decide if you want to be considered an active raider, and sign up on the active raiders page. Then you sign up for the events that interest you, and you will be considered when the raid leader builds the group. Signing up is not a guarantee, as it's the job of the leader to pick the group that looks like it will be the most successful in the run. The better you are at your job, and the capacity you show for learning it better, the more likely you are to be invited frequently.

Q: What spec do raiders roll on?

A: We have a policy of "roll as you raid" so that dps isn't competing against the healers for gear. That means that when Wolf links to an item in raid chat and asks you to roll need on it, main spec, you're considering your main spec to be the one you're running in presently. It seems to work out better that way, based on past experiences, but we're always trying to keep it updated and fair. This is not a thread for loot rules/ideas or loot rules debate. I will lock all replies that treat this FAQ as such if this happens. (You can bring it up, but not here.)

Q: What if I never want to get invited to another Voracity run again?

A: Show up late with no explanation, repeatedly. Then complain that you never get to raid. Then, when you are worked into a raid, don't show up at all and when you do show up later, don't offer any sort of apology or explanation.

NOTE: I can forgive lateness with a polite apology and a valid excuse (work, traffic, my mother just let me know I need to let her cat in out of the rain because she's out of town for the weekend, etc) and I can even understand real life causing you to miss a raid (just had a baby, aunt made contact with alien life form, poor baby kitty (or child, or puppy, et al) just got sick). There are lots of things that can and do come up in life. I just want an apology and an explanation, as terse or detailed as you'd like. Just to show you care about the other 9 raiders.

Drinking and raiding also don't mix. Not in Voracity. It's an issue we take personally, and due to experiences in our lives, it is painful to watch. What you do on your own time is your business, but don't show up drunk. No matter what anyone's told you before now, you do not play better when you're drinking.

Finally, we are very touchy about racial slurs and intolerance. We have a lot of fun and are frequently inappropriate in our humour, but we do not find hatred to be funny in any way. Please approach me or another officer if you feel like you've seen racist chat on guild chat or heard it in vent, so we can clear it up straight away.

Q: I'd like to run some heroics with the guild. How do I do that, and what are some common rules?

A: I'd ask in guild and vma (our joint channel with the casual Mystic Lairds guild) and wait for a response. Usually people will jump to help if they know you're after something specific (I keep hoping for that polearm! Just 3 more badges! I only need the daily a few more days!), but don't pester them. It's good to see a person has a spark of independance now and then. When it comes to rolls, we greed on green, and need for blues/purples you need. It's usually polite to ask, but the answer tends to be yes. If nobody can use an item and there's a person in your group who can disenchant things, pass to the disenchanter. The mats from an all guildie heroic will be put in the guild bank. (We're apparently running low on dream shards. I may have to fix that by tanking more often.) If there's nobody to DE, then greed roll for vendor trash. Also, feel free to speak up if people are looking for more on guild. We can often shift roles around if necessary.

Q: What's this VMA channel all about anyway?

A: VMA stands for Voracity-Mystic Alliance. To join the channel, just enter /join vma. Then you can talk on it by using /4 (or whatever number it comes up as for you). Mystic Lairds is a larger guild than Voracity, comprised of great people we tend to like. The alliance was brought about this past summer to give our members another venue in which to find friends and people to help out with varioius things, including heroics, holiday events and raiding. We're distinctly different guilds and we draw strength from those differences. Wanagi and Andronnai are the co-GM's of Mystic Lairds if you have any specific questions for them.

That's all for now! Thanks!