The Legion comes …

So Legion creeps ever closer – after waiting so long for new content, suddenly there almost seems too much to do.  And a lot of it seems to be not particularly well documented.

Oh the bigger things that came with the pre-expansion patch were well known .. the wardrobe and the class changes for example.

But some things have taken me by surprise – the number of things that have gained “toy status” was nice and fairly easy to deal with, but then you look at your professions tabs – sneak a peek at the “unlearned” section (unlearned?  Doesn’t that imply we knew it once?) and realise there is a massive list of things that you have not yet learned – not even including the ones not in the game yet.

Some of these are new and can be bought off various vendors, but others are just patterns that you somehow missed along the way.  Most people will probably just shrug those off, but I just know at some point I’m going to want to start going through that list.

Speaking of vendors – I learned recently of a new vendor in the sewers in Dalaran (Northrend) that spawns only occasionally and then buggers off, who sells a toy and a couple of other interesting class-specific items.  I’ve still not managed to get him, although I now have a couple of alts parked where he spawns in the hope I’ll be lucky.  At least I used the time well, going through talents and sorting out my UI on the various alts there.

Once I’ve got him, I’ll have to work through the useful list on Wowhead.

Not long after the patch, the first Doomsayers arrived in the main towns.  You could speak to these to receive a pamphlet and, if you collected all 12, you gained an achievement – “It All Makes Sense Now“.  This achievement does not show up on your list until you’ve completed it, and takes a while if you’re doing it the conventional way as there is a cooldown between receiving pamphlets.

Currently, there is a trick to this, as the cooldown is removed when you die.  So what a few of us in guild did was find a doomsayer near a graveyard, then drop to our deaths close to it – resurrect taking resurrection sickness and run/fly back to the doomsayer for another pamphlet.  There’s some useful information on this post on Wowhead.

Then there is this new fishing thing that I only learned about yesterday.  I don’t know if it’s “as intended” or a bug, but suddenly fishing has become the big thing as people set up raid groups to fish in garrisons, to try and get the mounts: Riding Turtle and Sea Turtle.

I already had one of these, but joined a group just basically to see what it was all about.  I have the achievement needed in order to take part but it was difficult to get into a group regardless.  I signed up for 5 different groups before I managed to get into one – I wasn’t particularly prepared as my bags filled up pretty quickly (you have to loot the cavedwellers that spawn, as far as I can tell, in order to be in with a chance of getting the mounts) but contributed as much as I was able – yet I was still kicked out of the group, I assume for not fishing fast enough, although there was no explanation.

As least I’ll be prepared for next time – or may set up one myself so I can avoid those pug leaders that have a superiority complex.

The other thing I’ve obviously had to do, is sort out my addons – most seem to have survived the patch fairly well, but there was one notable exception – Auctioneer.  I know it usually takes a while longer than the rest to update, because there’s so much to it, but having gone through the 700+ salvage crates (!!) that I’d had stashed across my account, I had lots of stuff to auction off and just couldn’t wait.

I did a bit of research and discovered Auctionator.  For what I needed, this was perfect.  It simply checks to see if what you’re selling is already on the auction house and then gives you an undercut value to post with (which you can adjust).  In fact this part of it was much easier than Auctioneer.  So I’ve now switched to that.

I’d also been struggling with the wardrobe.  It is a brilliant system and a breath of fresh air as far as my creaking bags, bank and void storage were concerned.  The main problem was – I wasn’t really sure that everything was saved there, without checking first.

I checked the first few, then after that just the occasional thing, and then by pure chance discovered that one of the items I’d been holding on to was NOT stored by the wardrobe.

So I turned to addons again, did a bit of research and came across “Can I Mog It?” – which is excellent.  It will tell you if you already have a look stored in your wardrobe, if it was gained by a different item, if you can learn it, if you can learn it on a different character or if it can’t be added to the wardrobe at all.  It has the occasional glitch currently – boiling down to it sometimes saying you haven’t learned an item, but another class can – yet when you transfer it to that character it turns out you have already learned it.  But that is easily dealt with.

I can highly recommend that addon for anyone who is interested in adding to their wardrobe.

Now I’ve got all those sorted, I have a new mission to go back through various raids and instances to fill in the blanks – and to find all those tier tokens I have lying around, to get them exchanged for even more items!

Being “cheap” takes time …

I realised (following prompting) that once again I’d neglected this blog.  My main problem is a combination of poor time management and being “Yorkshire” which, together with having the attention span of a cocker spaniel, combine to make having a good chunk of time to write anything vaguely readable a bit of a challenge.

In effect, we’ve had lots of expense over the last few months that I’ve spent vast amounts of time trying to reduce to a minimum.  We’ve ordered a new car to replace the one that we’ve had for about 15 years and now is developing its own version of old age  – most problems for which the garage can’t find an easy solution.  We’ve had a computer that needed replacing, and a graphics card on another that also needed replacing – new school uniforms to buy (yet again!  grrrr), a college to sort out and decisions to make over what to do during the summer school holidays.

Being proudly “Yorkshire” originally, where the folk are renowned for having “short arms and deep pockets” (ie, they don’t like spending money!), I’ve spent huge amounts of time scanning the internet for various deals, vouchers, cash-back offers and doing research on all options.

We’re also, of course, in the growing season – admittedly here in the North of England it started off fairly late with the sun only deigning to appear within the last few weeks – so we’ve been harvesting and trying to work out what to do with a variety of home grown food including strawberries, raspberries, white currants, rhubarb and new potatoes.  We’ve also now got beetroot, two different types of beans, peas, courgette, salad leaves, sweetcorn, tomatoes and squash growing, that we’re hoping have had a suitable boost over the last couple weeks of sun.  Because looking at the current weather and the forecast that may be all they’re going to get!

I’m trying to make an effort to be organised .. I regularly write myself lists of things to do, I have a Google calendar that syncs up to my computer and phone that is chock full of things we need to do on certain days, together with “tentative” events that I know need to be done, but haven’t firmed up when, yet.

In between all that, I’m having to do the usual housework and tackle an ironing pile that just seems to grow of its own accord.

There is usually something wandering around the internet that talks of someone who starts off their day with just one thing to do, yet in the process keeps finding other things to do – finally reaching the end of the day and realising that one thing – it’s still waiting to be done.  That’s usually me, only there’s never only ONE thing!

“Selling yourself” works two ways ..

Alternative Chat made a blog post recently that was a bit of a departure from her usual posts, in that it was a request for readers to “sell” their guilds to her, in the hope that she would join them.

Which is fine, but I did wonder if perhaps she was selling herself short in the process (or perhaps failing to sell herself properly!).

When you’re looking for a guild, you’re basically looking for a new home whilst you’re in-game – people will spend hours playing and the guild you’re in, the people you interact with, can make a huge difference to how you perceive and enjoy – or not – the game itself.

In order to find a guild that enhances your gaming experience, you need to find one that “matches” your personality and play style.  There is really no point being in a casual guild that fishes for fun if your passion is PvP or raiding.

One thing that didn’t sit right with me on that post was firstly the overall feel that she felt she would be a “catch” for any guild – that guilds should be falling over themselves to have her join them.  Yet she said virtually nothing about what sort of guild she was looking for.

So take note … guild leaders and those recruiting for guilds are, usually, not just looking for warm bodies to fill the guild – they’re looking for people who have the same general outlook and enjoy similar things to current guild members; the same approach to the game.  And to ascertain this, they need information from the potential recruit.  A little bit about your real-life situation, how it may affect your time in game, whether you’re a focussed individual who has specific goals in-game or is just happy to dabble in various aspects; what times you normally play and how regularly; if you want to join in events, what days/times you’d be available.

The other thing that would ring alarm bells with a recruiter are saying things like “I’m in a dead guild, and it’s my fault”, “I don’t make friends easily” and “I have a L100 character who’s gear isn’t useless”.

The fact that there is also a proviso to her joining any guild, that she will write blog posts about it too, would also be off-putting for many.  I’ve seen her posts and, although they’re entertaining and often to the point, they’re also often a bit on the negative side.  Which I understand in a way – after all, people more often tend to write about things that annoys them, than stuff that doesn’t – and that type of post is more likely to gets responses. So the assumption is that the majority of blog posts regarding any guild she joined would be negative – and very few people enjoy bad press.

So I’m hoping Ms. Chat finds somewhere to hang her WoW hat and call home – somewhere she is comfortable, can let her hair down and be herself, with people who can accept what she is and what she has to offer (whatever that may be).

For others considering looking for a (new) guild, I’d say the following:

Be honest with yourself first and foremost.  Know what you want, what you enjoy and what sort of guild will suit that.  If you cannot work that out, you’re going to be exceedingly lucky to find a suitable guild straight away – and the more you “hop” from guild to guild, the less attractive as a guild member you’re going to be.

I do the majority of the recruitment for our guild and the first thing I’m looking for is an open and honest application.  Sometimes I can simply tell, from the amount and content on the application, if people are going to fit with us.  There is a specific demographic that has a much higher chance of “fitting” with us.  That’s not to say that those outside of the demographic will not fit .. but just that there is less likelihood.  And that’s not saying anything negative about them – it says something about us.

I’ve found that a much higher proportion of younger applicants tend to lie or mislead on their application forms – either by omission, misunderstanding or simply because they think the information being asked for is irrelevant.

A lot of questions we ask during the application process are solely to understand the person applying (and we always base our decisions on how we feel an individual will fit in .. it’s nothing to do with the character you join with – the character does not interact with others, it’s the person behind the character that does that).  One way we understand people is by doing an honesty check .. if you can’t be honest on your application, when you’re supposed to be showing yourself off in the best light, then you’re not going to be honest in the guild.

Now .. I’m not expecting anyone to come online and blurt out everything that happened that day, or tell everyone their deepest darkest secrets.  I’m just checking to make sure people are able to be honest WHEN IT COUNTS.  For example when we organise raids, we expect people to self monitor and be honest if they muck up – it’s much easier (and causes less drama) if we know why a wipe, for example, happened – because then we can work on it, try alternatives, try to avoid it happening again.  If there is a disagreement in guild, that people can be honest with themselves and each other – dishonesty leads to exacerbation of problems and drama – which we don’t like.

Once the honesty hurdle has been overcome, it is simply a matter of assessing if the person applying would fit.

Sometimes it’s an obvious rejection – we’ve had people apply from the wrong realm or faction (with no intention of moving), we’ve had people applying who are looking for a raiding environment we’re unable to provide – we’ve even had one person apply to join for a completely different GAME!  Other than the fact that quite obviously these people had not researched us properly before applying (and the first page of our website would provide all of the information these people needed to realise we were NOT the place for them), of course they were rejected because we were the wrong place for them.

Other times decisions take longer .. during which time I research their previous guilds, what sort of guild environment they were used to; their achievements – what they enjoy doing in-game and, sometimes, speak to previous guilds to find out more.

So all of that is worth bearing in mind.  Not all guilds will go to that trouble – some will do no research, some will do more – some will require voice chat interviews and “trials” before they will accept you.

This leads me to the second thing you should be doing if you’re looking for a new guild: research.

Once you have established what you want out of the game, what you have to offer, and what you’re looking for – you need to research guilds.  Don’t just accept the first offer that comes your way in trade chat – do a bit of homework.  It will save you time, effort and possibly upset in the long run by knowing what you are looking for, and then actually LOOKING for it, rather than keeping your fingers crossed and jumping from guild to guild.

The resources I would recommend are the Blizzard forums – check out both your realm and the “Looking for Players” forums.

If you’re interested in raiding, check out the Wowprogress website – for realms that are suitable for you, then the guilds suitable for you – often guilds will have recruitment posts describing themselves and links to their websites.

Take your time – watch trade chat, watch who talks on it, who advertises, what those adverts say.  Shift-click on character names in chat to see their guild name and then do a /who for that guild name to see how many are online – if there are only one or two online at a peak time for you, then it’s not the guild for you.

Have a look at the in-game guild finder (type /gf in the chat pane) and take note of guilds that look suitable.  Again do a /who for those guilds during your peak times.

Any that still seem suitable – search for them in your browser (use the guild and realm name) – you may come across websites for them and more information about them.

If they’re still suitable, speak to one of them in-game (check first to make sure they’re not in a raid or dungeon).

Make sure you find out all you need to know before you start an application process, whether that be filling in an application form or simply contacting someone in-game.

The Needs of the Many

I’ve not written anything for a looong time.  I’ve jut not had the time.  In theory, what with me only working part time, term times, I should have bags of available time rattling around, just waiting to be filled.  But either I’m just really bad at time management or somehow I’ve managed to fill that extra time with “stuff”.  I also know that in order to write anything here, I need to devote a decent sized, uninterrupted block of time and that just doesn’t seem to happen that often.

My brain is basically a shopping list full of things that have to be done.  Most of it is highly mundane – some of it I’m avoiding (ironing, again!) – and most of it just never ends.  It might get dealt with “for now” but then it just drops a bit further down the list waiting to sneak it’s way back up again.

This week, for us, it’s half term.  The schools are off and therefore I’m off work.  I tend to use this time to help catch up on stuff that’s been lurking on the list for a while, but also things that are more difficult to arrange during term time – stuff that requires the kids to be involved.

Unfortunately, so far this week, most of my time and concentration has been focussed on the guild.  And not in a good way.  I was hoping to sneak in some time to just learn to enjoy playing WoW again.  Recently it’s just felt like a job – logging in, doing maintenance (keeping the roster tidy, website up to date, guild vault sorted), trying to plan and organise raids, being online enough to be approachable if needed whilst getting dailies done.

A few weeks ago I bought the Legion upgrade and I’ve had that big “level up” button just waiting for me to select a character to boost.  I’ve just about settled on one, but despite that, so far it’s taken me two weeks to get to that character only once to start looking at it again.

Yet one person in the guild seems to be needing my time devoted to him.  This one person has had more of my time and attention over the last few days than my own kids.  For which I feel really bad.  And rather annoyed.

This one person has somehow been involved in virtually every problem that has happened in the guild over the last 18-24 months.  The amount of hours that have been devoted to dealing with “problems” that looking back on, weren’t actually massive problems until this one person got involved, is completely stupid.

Admittedly some of the problems that he has brought to our attention have been a slight problem – but the old adage “mountain out of a molehill” springs to mind.  There was no reason why spending a few minutes dealing with them would not have sorted them out.  Yet once this person gets involved, they suddenly spring into a size out of all proportion – things happen, people leave, drama occurs, massive amounts of time and effort are put into dealing with them.

Our guild prides itself (or tries to) on being an inclusive guild.  We cater to the casual player, the casual raider, the player who has never raided but would like to give it a go.  We base our whole rulebook on being nice to others, considerate and honest.  Being able to utilise common sense, being a grown up and knowing what is right and wrong, and speaking to an officer if there is a question or problem that relates to the running of the guild or raids.

Over the last year or so, this ethos has been increasingly more difficult to honestly use as our strapline – seemingly because of one person.

I have no proof that this one person has CAUSED problems, but the past speaks for itself.  He is either someone who has a remarkable knack for attracting and growing little seeds of a problem into something big without even knowing it, or it’s happening deliberately.

In virtually every other way, he has been an asset to the guild.  He organises events, takes part in events, helps out with advice to others and takes part in guild chat.

But he also has an ability to rub people up the wrong way – not a day goes by when he will say something that subtly puts someone else down or suggests that he is better than someone else.  I suspect at least one person recently has left because they could no longer deal with this, and several other people have alluded to it in passing.

He causes problems by either trying to avoid them, even when he is involved in them, or by sending us a little “oh just to let you know” message where someone else has spoken to him about something, and then he decides to pass that information on.  But he’ll do it in a manner that makes it impossible to act upon – vague information that “some people” are having “some problem”.  He views himself as the guild information gatherer, where in fact he appears to be gathering little snippets of chat, sometimes not even directed at him, focussing them and making them into something they’re not.

Even when drama has been dealt with and over for some time, he still likes to quietly tell people all about them, re-writing history so that he’s the victim or the bystander that just somehow got dragged into things that he couldn’t control.

But as I said .. I have no actual proof – I have hearsay and huge amounts of circumstantial evidence stacked up, but no one event is enough cause in itself to say “enough is enough”.

But we are getting to the stage where enough IS enough.  WoW is a game that should be enjoyed by all.  I realise that as I’m in the position I’m in, a certain amount of “non-fun” things need to be done, however, this one person is sapping my will to do any of that – which I’ve just realised is actually horribly disrespectful and unfair to all of those people who actually do enjoy the game, do enjoy being part of the guild and the events we organise.

We’re getting to the point where, unless this person grows up very rapidly, can look back at what has happened and be TRULY honest with themselves, they’re going to have to go. There is only so much leeway we can give in the hope that it finally dawns on them.

Because I still can’t believe that one person can deliberately cause this many problems yet still want to stick around, so my only conclusion is that they just don’t realise – that perhaps they have such an inflated view of themselves that they just cannot believe it has anything to do with them.

But it is causing problems for the guild as a whole, and for the officers and myself specifically, together with anyone else caught in the middle.  And I’m losing the patience to wait for the time when they understand their role in everything that has happened.

Until they can truly understand and be honest with themselves about their role in past problems, they’re not going to be able to control themselves to prevent it happening again in the future.

I feel I have some responsibility towards this person in order to help them understand what they want and need from the game, and how they interact with others, but there is only so much I can do, or am willing to do, especially when it has such a large impact on the guild as a whole.

And the needs of the guild as a whole outweigh the needs of the one person.