World firsts and what makes those who achieve them different?

World firsts are pretty much the ultimate accolade of the PvE part of WoW. They’re not only representative of being the first to achieve a boss kill but they also show the dedication and determination of the players who have achieved it.

As you would expect, not everybody can expect to get a world first. Primarily as only one first place can be claimed but also most/all of the players who achieve them have been subjected to the rather intensive application process.

One of the most striking parts of this process is when you begin reading the application form. Many, if not all, of the world-class guilds require their raiders to have ‘good control over their personal lives’. This level of dedication rules most players out there and then. Some may read this as being ‘you will have nothing in your life other than the game’ and that is simply not the case (it’s a very common misconception in fact), it just means that come patch release day you will have time booked off work (or something similar) so that you are available for a prolonged period to start clearing the new content.

Having control over your personal life is by no means a guarantee that you’re in, it’s merely preamble! As you fill in the form you will be asked very probing questions about your spec, gear choices and glyph choices as well as other things associated with the way that you play. Some guilds will even expect you as a raider to be an active member of the theorycrafting community (Ensidia being one example of such a guild).

Provided you have passed all of these initial hurdles and have made a good impression you are likely to be offered a trial with the guild. In the words of Nefarian; ‘Let the games begin’! As you raid with your new guild you will be watched by the class leader(s) for rotation as well as by everyone in case you make some subtle yet colossal mistake. As this is the world-class level, you will be held EXTREMELY accountable for mistakes and actions, particularly since the introduction of limited attempts.

If you do a good job and pass your trial then congratulations! You are now a world-class raider! As you would expect that is not necessarily an end to the proving yourself. As you’re now bearing the banner of the guild your behaviour etc. will reflect upon them as well as yourself as well as continually fighting with your fellow raiders for spots.

Just being in a world class guild doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get a world first (shockingly it takes work) and leads to the interesting bit of world firsts; the race.

The best examples of world firsts are from the Wrath of the Lich King expansion as only recent kills are recorded on the various websites that track guild progression.

The obvious suggestion for a world first would be the Lich King 25 man heroic. As this fight was subject to the limited attempts it is not very fair to use it as so many factors could ensure an attempt was lost before it was started properly. However for the sake of those who may not know or keep tabs on these things; the first 3 Lich King heroic kills were claimed by Paragon (EU-Lightning’s Blade), For the Horde (EU-Nazjatar) and Ensidia (EU-Tarren Mill).

Ulduar was the final raid of the Lich King expansion that was not prey to limited attempts and so probably serves as the best example. Supposedly it took Ensidia over 300 attempts to get Firefighter on 25 man (which earned them the world first on it) which is impressive/demented depending on your view point. Throughout the Lich King expansion there hasn’t been one guild that has consistently been getting world firsts it has been a series of guilds. Some have come and gone, others have remained at the forefront and some have appeared from absolutely nowhere and stolen kills at the last moment! The table below very briefly sums up who got what world first (for hard modes) in Ulduar just to illustrate how varied the winners were.

As you can see it was very varied in the end and as far as I am concerned this is a good thing as it keeps things interesting. It would be pretty boring to just see one guild getting all of the world firsts, let’s face it. ‘No king rules forever’ being a particularly applicable quote.

Next time I will be writing about what some of these world-class guilds are prepared to do to get a world first. That’s right everyone! I am mounting my very high horse and will be speaking about cheating! Gareth, get my ruler! There are some hides to be tanned!

Related posts:

1. Money makes the world go round
2. Feature Interview: Money makes the World (of Warcraft) go round!
3. The Soapbox: Messy Guild banks

Considering it’s a world wide forum for communication and a game in which you choose to play with other real life, living, breathing, human beings you would think that internet anonymity, however real that is, wouldn’t slip into a world where having manners actually improves and enhances your game play.

Emboldened by anonymity, it is easy to get carried away online. Intemperate messages can be sent off with no fear of redress, promises can be made that will never be fulfilled, crude innuendo is the order of the day. Mild-mannered computer geeks turn into determined stalkers, poking and prodding their victims, deluging people with whispers and spam.

From politeness comes reputation and from reputation comes invites to great guilds/groups which in turn can provide item upgrades and a fuller social experience, which is surely what its all about?

Fair enough World of Warcraft is a place of endless reinvention, where people hide behind multiple personalities; the shy and socially awkward become brazen and bullish, the uncommunicative become loud mouthed, but what impact does this have on other players and are you taking it to far?

Tethanes top tips to being a nicer WoW player

1. Watch your mouth

Make it a general rule that you will never say anything online that you wouldn’t be able to articulate directly, face to face without receiving a swift punch in the mouth.

2. Please and thank you

Remember your pleases and thank yous.You got a rez or a summon? A simple thank you goes a long way and the person will be much likely to provide the same service again.

3. Say my name!

Use peoples character names when addressing them. “Lock summon” or “Priest heal” is just the equivalent of you saying “Cleaner, clean” or “Oi you” it’s not pleasant and is so easily avoidable.

4. Bitching

Don’t be an online bitch, skulking behind the computer screen and dishing out poison. It will always come back and bite you in the arse.

5. The profanities

While we all get a little annoyed every now and again a constant flow of profanities in a group or by a raid leader is just pathetic. Use the language you were gifted with and remember you wouldn’t do it in a real life social environment, so why should a group of strangers have to be submitted to it.

6. Bugger off bullies

Don’t be an online bully: threatening and haranguing people you can’t see, who can’t fight back. Some people ask silly questions, but remember when you were low level. Just because they are asking something everybody else knows, doesn’t mean the question isn’t any the less valid.

7. Gold begging a no no

Don’t beg. Money is something that everyone needs and everyone is capable of earning. One of the most annoying things in game is to be hit up by someone begging for the money, instead of doing this, level a profession, do some questing or play the auction house.

8. You wouldn’t steal a wallet!

Don’t steal from your fellow WoW players. If you see someone fighting a mob near a mining or herb node, be kind. Most likely they are fighting their way through in order to get the node. Don’t steal it while they are busy fighting. You wouldn’t rob someone’s handbag would you!

Hopefully some people may take bits of this away with them and make Emerald Dream a much nicer place to be and if you don’t well I will happily oust the guilty parties to the rest of the server!

Related posts:

1. The Soapbox: Messy Guild banks
2. The Soapbox: More New Guilds
3. The Soapbox: Enterprise is NOT Star Trek

Firstly lets define spam

Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately.

Or in the case of WoW the use of a public chat channel to annoy people by repeating messages or linking totally nonsensical item followed by a comment and/or class ability to create something that’s supposed to be amusing, but fails worse than Bernard Manning at the MOBO’s.

Different types of spam

People looking for an item/group/guild/PUG member

This isn’t as offensive as some other types I will cover but nevertheless people should understand that repeating………….

/2 LF one healer ICC25
/2 LF one healer ICC25
/2 LF one healer ICC25
/2 LF one healer ICC25
/2 LF one healer ICC25
/2 LF one healer ICC25
/2 LF one healer ICC25
/2 LF one healer ICC25

Is not going to encourage any decent player into joining, rather they will just put you on ignore and carry on with their business. Rather limit yourself to using /LFR or maybe just slow down on the regularity you hit your macro button.

Guild recruitment

While we all understand that gaining new members is a priority for any Guild, advertising your bank slots and tabard every 2 minutes is just not going to produce that great an outcome. At best you may get an enquiry or two, at worst you will just create a bad reputation for your Guild from the outset.

Dirge

Apparently, it started with someone at an unknown RP realm who intended to sell this weapon with a more commercialistic approach:

“Making [Dirge] with or without your materials. get yours today! It’s [Dirge]tastic!”.

Shortly after people started to use this concept by making words of their own, usually swear words and has now progressed into people simply spamming the item link.

It’s stupid, annoying and utterly pointless, don’t do it.

Anal

Sometimes I wonder if people actually know what they are spamming about and if they did would they continue doing it. Apart from the fact it is once again repetitive and boring I have also been told that “it feels like a shit going backwards” who would want to promote that!

Unlike [Dirge], there are many different spells and items that can be used with it, varying wildly from “Anal [Dirge]” to “Anal Herbalism” even “Anal Professional Grand Master” always first for my report button you anal spammers perhaps need to try a bit, the question is will you enjoy it as much as you seem to enjoy spamming it.

The good news 

This addon will clear your trade chat and I love its name! Asshat will deliver you from all the asshats in WoW or a more extreme method can be found here.

The moral here is think before you type or just turn off /2 altogether and avoid the temptation.



Related posts:

1. The Soapbox: Messy Guild banks
2. The Soapbox: Enterprise is NOT Star Trek
3. The Soapbox: How Old Are You Again?

Now I realise that this is an extreme reaction to have but if you think about it, order and organisation makes everything more efficient, this is my logic. So here I bring you…

“Tethanes guide to keeping your Guild bank tidy so not to turn your Guild Master into a dribbling pile of nerves.”

I shall illustrate this with pictures of our own Guild bank from today and point out where my Guild members have gone wrong.

First tab

11 bits of fish is annoying for me….. but in the top corner!!! Don’t just click, put it in a suitable spot! And try and put a stack of 10 or 20 in, I just find 11 grrr well annoying.

Guildy tip: Stacks of 10 and 20 are your friend, don’t use the first tab for junk, take the time to find the right spot for your generous donation!

Second tab

Again, if your going to take stuff out have the decency to MOVE the other item to fill the spot!

Guildy tip: If you remove an item keep the tab looking tidy by moving a logically fitting  item to fill the space, make it visually pleasing!

Third tab

I’m pretty happy with this one, it reminds me of my wardrobe all colour coordinated. I will sell that one glyph and move the random one into for space it leaves.

Guildy tip: Your Guild Master likes this tab, don’t mess it up now!

Fourth tab

Agghhh all the different icon items are all mixed up, I will rearrange those and move that gem down.

Guildy tip: Put things in common groups.

Fifth tab

All those same type of herbs should be next to each other in columns not all over the bloody place.

Guildy tip: If you have a couple of herbs floating around, add enough to complete a stack, your Guild Master will love you and give you cookies.

Sixth tab

WHY IS THERE A PIMP CANE IN THE OFFICERS TAB.

I’m so obsessed with a tidy bank that people often sabotage my efforts for laughs. While standing at the bank and rearranging things with my usual tunnel vision, I realised guildies were giggling on vent, and found out they were standing there too, moving one item so that it was out of place, and then timing how long it took me to find the item and move it back.

The sickos, its a disease don’t you know. Leave my Guild bank aloneeeeeee.

Related posts:

1. The Soapbox: Spam, dirge and anal
2. The Soapbox: How Old Are You Again?
3. How to: Not apply to a raiding Guild

There are some things that should test the patience of every one of us. Waiting for summons for a badly-organised pug, being told at level 7 that “the game starts at 80″, the pizza that you ordered 34 minutes ago that promised to be delivered in half an hour, the list goes on. Then we have the less worthy frustrations that we will all at some point have someone whinging about in our face.

When is Cataclysm coming out?

Ignoring the fact that people keep asking each other this despite having no conclusive evidence one way or the other, the fact remains that for 99.9999% of the playerbase there’s plenty of unexplored content still in Wrath.

If you’re a raider, you most likely haven’t completed Icecrown yet. There’s also the Ruby Sanctum coming along to change things up a bit, and of course all of the difficult-to-get achievements related to both. If you’re less of a completionist and more just into having the best gear, there’s almost always going to be someone either better geared than you or quickly catching up so that should be a neverending goal for you.

If you’re more PvP-focused, Season 8 is well underway and the usual jostle for top ranking will probbaly keep you busy for a while yet. There are a ton of PvP related achievements for arena and battlegrounds, Wintergrasp and general world PvP, and despite what anyone says having the patience to get the Battlemaster title is still impressive. There are even random battlegrounds coming up to jazz things up a bit. Shame we’ll sometimes have to do Strand, but we’ll cope.

If you’re obsessed with achievements, well, do you have them all yet? And if you’re not even 80 and already impatient for Cataclysm then we both know you have bigger problems.

We had the exact same problem with Wrath, I recall for the latter half of TBC having an actual macro that said /g Nobody knows when Wrath is coming out, stop asking. I may have to revisit that idea soon.

What’s the quickest way to start raiding?

I hear this one all the time. A guildie just dinged 80, sees us faffing about in Icecrown, and immediately wants to gear up and come with. I tell them all the same thing.

If you have no raiding experience, suitable gear from endless heroics with silent speed-teams will not make you into a good raider. You don’t want to be the one wiping the group because you’re unused to boss mechanics like threat wipes and the famous too-hot-floor. The quickest way to start raiding is to accept that your guild/raiding team might want you to start at a slightly lower level and show you can actually handle these things before they let you in on progression.

You also may not necessarily be able to jump straight into heroics upon your last ding. While most people are overgeared for the early heroics nowadays and will take a newbie, if you’re trying to pug the system may actually not let you run anything but normals depending on how you’ve geared while levelling. Instead of raging, remember that this is actually for your own benefit.

And so on…

• I want to be 80. Levelling this, my first ever character, to level 20 has taken far too long
• I thought I’d try PvP, but I kept dying so I won’t try that again
• I want a new guild, but all the ones in trade are crap

I’m sure we can think of a lot more, but you take my point. Without actually using the word “moron”, apart from just then, I do wish these people would give a bit more thought to what they’re complaining about and quite possibly to taking a break from any computer game that frustrates them quite this much.

Related posts:

1. The Soapbox: Spam, dirge and anal
2. Soapbox: Emblems of Triumph
3. The Soapbox: Icecrown Gated Progression

Case 1: Loot drama

We’ve all been there. Someone beats someone else on a roll, or gets an item loot counciled in their favour, or whatever. However it happens, player A gets loot that player B wanted. And then it begins. Sometimes there’s “dissing” behind player A’s back, sometimes it’s made more public on the realm or guild forums. Sometimes people will even /gquit over this stuff. Now we all know that sometimes disputes about loot are warranted, but let’s face it more often they’re not.

Why does it matter?

If you’re passed over for, or unlucky rolling for, loot, why does it matter? Now I know there are instinctive reactions to this question like “it’s a big upgrade” or “I’ve wanted it for ages and now I shall cry” but I’m asking you to think about it properly. How will your life be affected by this? Will your guild disown you for having 9 spellpower less than the next guy? Will your wife leave you when she finds out your rolls aren’t up to scratch? No, all that happens is that you’re a bit disappointed and then you move on and most likely get whatever it was further down the line anyway.

So how do people deal with this?

The responses can vary, but they’re almost always ridiculous. I’ve heard them all, from refusing to raid until you get the item given to you, to hassling player A on Facebook or ninjaing the guild bank and switching server. Is congratulating the lucky recipient and quietly swearing to have your revenge (in this life or the next) really that difficult, really?

Case 2: Unfairness/Favouritism

It can happen in guilds, in pug raids, wherever, but the most common situation I’ve seen involves couples playing in the same guild. Yes I’ve known (and been part of) plenty of couples who play fair, but there are always those who don’t. It can mean “undeserving” players getting raid spots or epix, or simply a case of only offering each other help in guild chat while refusing to help anyone else, but these situations will always be with us. The question is how you deal with them.

The accused

If you’re being accused of favouritism, do try not to have an instant hissy fit without actually thinking about the accusation first. There are any number of idiotic knee-jerk reactions you could have to being criticised, somewhat similar to the techniques often employed to feel better about losing out on loot. Try skipping those for once and wondering why you’ve been accused in the first place. “Because they’re out to get me” is rarely a good reason.

Perhaps you’ve been subconsciously awarding all of the healing loot to that priest who promised to show you her boobs, or giving your significant other a guaranteed spot in all the guild raids, but whatever it is there’s no doubt an actual reason people are seeing you in a bad light.

The accuser

Good tactics:
Speaking to the accused privately, or taking it to a guild or raid leader. It depends on the situation, but whatever is going on the following can probably be avoided.

Bad tactics:
Guild quitting without telling anyone there’s a problem. Posting whatever is bugging you on the realm forum, complete with details and names. Talking about it in trade. Issuing an ultimatum (you stop doing that, or I’ll gquit!). Whinging about it on Facebook, the site isn’t even WoW-related you morons.

There are obviously an infinite number of ways that players act like small children on a daily basis, but things like anal spam in trade and begging for Stockade  boosts in SW are expected, so we learn to deal with them (pro tip: turn off trade). The surprises often come from people we’d previously thought were nice normal people, and those are the ones who really need to look at how they deal with situations and why it always seem to be them coming out on the losing end.

Related posts:

1. The Soapbox: More New Guilds
2. The Soapbox: Messy Guild banks
3. The Soapbox: Spam, dirge and anal

Your new guild will in all likelihood be disbanded by this time next month. Don’t you have any shame?

Guild Success Guidelines

Have an actual good reason to form in the first place

“We’re a raiding guild, but we’re also a close-knit team!”
It’s been done a million times, get over yourself and go join one that’s already out there.

“My last guild wouldn’t give me any loot when I was a trial member, my guild will be much fairer”
You had to wait a week or so for purplz and left? Well, I already want you to be in charge.

“What makes us different? We have the experience”
Oh well, you’re obviously way more skilled than anyone else on the server because you transferred to Tarren Mill for a week and stood next to someone from Ensidia in the AH.

“We’re open to people with lives and families, and won’t enforce raid attendance”
See close-knit team.

“I’ll show you, in 2 weeks we’ll clear all of the available content and then you’ll be sorry”
Good for you. Once you have a couple of wipes on a single boss and all your new members /ragequit, we’ll talk.

Grow slowly

Note this one doesn’t apply if you actually want a guild where nobody knows whotf that hunter who just logged in is, and guild chat is generally either about the next raid, or silence, or spam.

A new member should be integrated into the team, and that means not taking on too many at once and freaking out your existing members. If you are going to take on a  load all at once, make sure your members know about it in advance and are ok with it.

Get a goddamn website

Once upon a time in a land far, far away (Al’Akir) I was minding my own business in Durotar when I spied a guild recruitment macro in general chat. I asked for the website (guild websites are my pr0n), and was told the following: “We’re a raiding guild, why would we need a website?”. Hmm, let’s see…

• To allow members to participate in the community while afk
• To organise big guild events without everyone having to be online at the same time
• To display your guild rules and leave nobody with the excuse that they didn’t see them
• To keep people up to speed with changes to those guild rules
• To help your members get to know each other, particularly important for new guilds/members
• To track DKP/EPGP/whatever
• To provide information on the guild and an application form for potential joiners
• Etc

I replied with that list of very good reasons to have a site, earning me applause from the other lowbies around and a “stfu” from the recruiter. I’m sure that guild will still be going strong now….or not.

Quit spamming trade

That’s what /guildrecruitment is for, and let’s face it we all know the sort of people who hang out in /trade *pointed look at Tethane*. In fact, your new shiny website that you definitely have because you’re not an idiot will be bringing in a trickle of applicants anyway, so you shouldn’t need to spam anywhere too much.

Disclaimer

There are exceptions to every rule, I realise this. I also know that every guild needs to start somewhere, and I have no problem when people are genuinely trying to make it work. My problem is with the endless multitude of interchangeable guild “leaders” who have no clue what they want, except to be in charge. Bob was one of these guild leaders, his guild went away after he spent thousands of his own gold on bank tabs. Don’t be like Bob.

Related posts:

1. The Soapbox: Messy Guild banks
2. The Soapbox: Spam, dirge and anal
3. The Soapbox: How Old Are You Again?

Predictably, a lot of progression raiders seem to think the sky is falling, because they won’t get to down Arthas the night the patch is released. To be fair, it’s understandable. If raiding is all you want from the game, and Blizzard put a seemingly arbitrary limit on the rate you can get things done, I can see how that would be annoying. Let me offer up a different point of view, however.

We all know the “casuals”, which for some seems to be used as a form of insult, are for the most part loving the fact they have access to raiding content in this expansion where they did not previously. The 10/25-man split has been previously discussed in our comments on another post, where we were in agreement that it’s been by and large a good thing. Yes the most hardcore guilds have been left a bit bored by the end of things, and a bit less “special”, and I can definitely see why they’re up in arms about it, but the fact remains that for the majority of us this has been a good thing.

A similar argument can be made for gated progression. While it limits the speed with which the hardcore guilds can clear the place and stand around in Dalaran /flexing with whatever recognisable shinies they coax from Arthas, the majority of us will be seeing it as a chance to keep up a bit with the big boys without getting too serious.

Now, if you are one of those big boys, why not think of it like this?

To be number one, you need rivals. Guilds 5 bosses behind you are not rivals.  Gated progression means more guilds will be “caught up” by the time Arthas finally goes live, this in turn means more competition for that usually predictable number 1 spot, and that in turn means even bigger bragging rights for the winner. Everyone loves bragging rights.

Pro tip: If you don’t care about being number 1, but you just get bored when there’s nothing to raid….take up fishing. That’s a timesink if ever there was one.

Related posts:

1. Icecrown Citadels first guests
2. Soapbox: Emblems of Triumph
3. The Soapbox: Enterprise is NOT Star Trek

It dawned on me that firstly WOTLK armour is shite and the rehashed double colours tier sets are just lazy, but this post isn’t really about that, its more to do with the fact that both now and in the next patch players who have never even stepped foot in a raid will be found running about in Tier 9, and the question… is this fair?

For me WoW has always been about progression, I loved the fact that my “lock guru” had Tier 6 wings and super duper kit, it was something for me to aspire to and respect.

I had no issues that whilst FE were progressing through Karazhan and Zul’Aman using these raids to gear up to tackle Gruu’ls and Magtheridon’s Lair, the hardcore raiding guilds were in Black Temple, Mount Hyjal and Sunwell. We were all being awarded accordingly. But we don’t see that now, Naxxramus, Eye of Eternity and Obsidian Sanctum (bar 3 drakes) are all passed over and forgotten in favour of some heroic and daily grinding a VoA or 3 then straight into TOTC.

With the new patch we will see Heroics dropping Triumph badges and the Daily Heroic giving us Frost Badges so for 210 Triumph badges (around 10 heroics a day for 5 days) the newest level 80 player can be clad in full Tier 9 gear and for an extra couple of days have the rings, trinkets and other items to match.

I’m a strong believer in the “you get out what you put in” ethos and hate the fact that those people who really put the time in aren’t truly getting the recognition they deserve.

Now this isn’t a post pitting casual and hardcore players against each other, its not even about the relative easiness of WOTLK raids, what I am trying to say here is that I am perfectly happy if the case was true to not have access to the best loot available within the game or even the endgame content. I don’t play to the same extent as Hardcore raiders, so why should I expect to have and achieve the same things?

Being a casual player does not mean I want content made trivial simply because I either do not have the desire or the time to spend a many hours a week working on beating the endgame content. In fact, in many ways being a casual player demands more dedication, having limited time to invest in the game means I expect more from the time I play, which pushes me to be better and better in what I choose to do.

The simple fact is, I miss the sense of progression we saw in TBC, I miss the fuzzy shouty vent deafening roars on Vent getting that new item rather than “meh another epic, chuck it in the bag with the rest of them.” I miss doing /who Warlocomotif seeing him in Sunwell and feeling all proud that I knew someone clearing that content.

That all be told, the next instalment is yet to come, and I ,amongst many, wait with baited breath to see if so much about what we love about this game is restored with Icecrown and the next expansion.

Related posts:

1. Devil’s Advocate: Emblems of Triumph
2. The Soapbox: Icecrown Gated Progression
3. The Soapbox: Enterprise is NOT Star Trek