Charter (Summary of Policies for New Applicants)
This is the official charter of the Surprise Pull guild. It is a statement of our ultimate objectives and how we plan to get there. Please re-read this on occasion, as information is frequently updated; guild members are expected to be familiar with the content. Applicants should read it, so as to guarantee they are making the right decision by joining us.
Why Apply to Surprise Pull?
Your main desire is to be a serious raider and steadily progress through end-game raids.
You want to raid with other mature players who know how to have a good
time are interested in getting to know one another (not just raid
together).
You want a chance to play your character at their best capacity.
You want to actively contribute to making your guild better.
You want a guild with competent and organized leadership that encourages progression and understands how to do it efficiently.
You want a guild that will support and respect each other’s ideas and opinions.
You want to make a commitment to a guild, not just gear up and jump ship for another guild/server.
You believe dedication to the overall progression of the guild is more important than that of your own character.
YOU HAVE A VOICE. We don’t want members who will silently hate on us for not making things better than they see it. It is your obligation to point out potential problems and work with us to resolve them, or find a place that better suits your interests.
General Member Expectations
Self-progression: Members are expected to gear
themselves up outside of raids as much as possible. There are many
excellent crafted and badge items. It is not the guild’s responsibility
to get your raiding gear; you help the guild by gearing yourself.
Attendance: This is a RAIDING GUILD. If you can not EASILY
commit to attending 3/5 raid nights, you are in the wrong place. If you
are online, you are raiding or hoping to raid as a standby.
Specs: Theorycraft and get it right. We don’t want to
waste time with those who show up to raid in a PvP spec. You should not
be changing specs after you have joined the guild unless some major
class change or guild need merits it. If you have selected an offspec
and you are geared as a priority offspec the same holds true. There are
penalties associated with “selfish spec changes”. If you have questions
about this ask a leader.
New content: You are responsible to know beforehand
the strategies for the bosses we are working on. They are posted on the
forums with links to fight videos and other resources. New content
requires a great deal of effort and patience. If you cannot stick
around until we succeed, you do not belong in the guild. The same holds
true if you are easily frustrated, like to come only when loot is
guaranteed, or can’t take criticism.
Don’t pug 10-man raids or new content 10-raids! This
sends a message that you don’t care about guild progression. We rely on
the availability of our members each week. Further information on what
can be pugged and what should not be is listed on the “Raiding” forum
board.
Don’t setup/lead progression raids if you are not a “Raider”:
In the past, our initiates have made Surprise Pull look bad by doing so.
Unless you are the rank of “Member” and know what you are doing, do not
setup any raids in or out of the guild.
Ventrilo: Use it! There’s nothing like live chat to
share good times with friends. We want to get to know each other and
recognize each other’s voices so that raids run more smoothly. At a
bare minimum you must be able to hear, if not speak. Immediately before
and during boss fights, during complicated trash pulls, or at other key
times, speaking in the raid channel is limited to the raid leader and
other ESSENTIAL communications from raid members. Frequent, irrelevant
interruptions may cause you to lose your raid spot. During raid
down-time, feel free to talk all you want.
Forum activity: The forum is a place to hold guild
discussions and a valuable resource for all members new and old. Your
participation makes us all better players. We do not require responses
(although it is encouraged), but reading at the very least.
Raiding Information
Sunday – Thursday, 7:00pm – 9:30pm PST (Server Time Zone)
**Continuing past 9:30pm is at the discretion of the raid group and will likely not happen often.
Farm Night Raiding: Farm nights are used to gear people; to either “catch up” under geared and/or fill in for priority raiders such that progression nights are made easier. Farm nights are NOT off nights and those who attend benefit from points similar to that of regular progression nights. However, the expectation for attendance is smaller. Consistently missing Farm nights will be noted and it may jeopardize future raid spots for progression as well as obtaining loot. Participants will often be decided via the calendar.
Friday and Saturday:, You are not expected to dedicate your weekend evenings to raiding. Sometimes a good number of people are around and something can be organized (farm or old-world content). Sunday is NOT a weekend evening.
This means first pull at 7:00pm. Invites will begin well before the raid start time (~10 minutes prior). You are expected to be ready with groups disbanded, gear repaired, consumables purchased/farmed, and the fight read up on well beforehand. Failure to do so may jeopardize your spot in the raid as well as your ability to acquire loot (in any form).
Everyone needs to have enough consumables for the night. (Flasks, Food Potions, Reagents, etc.)
Bring enough for a whole night of 10s progression attempts. Use
off-raid time to prepare yourself for raids and do not rely on the
guild bank to provide you with every single item that you need.
Do Not Go AFK Without Warning. This is a sure way to lose your raiding spot and perhaps your place in this guild. If it is an emergency, be sure to whisper the raid leader or an officer first and wait for their response (Do not just announce it in raid chat). If you’re going to be gone longer than a few minutes, talk to an officer, make a plan with them, and sit yourself out (You must also zone out). Please take responsibility and do not make the entire guild wait on you.
Raid Signup: You are expected to use the in-game
calendar to sign up for raids in advance. This gives us an idea of who
is planning to attend. If you do not sign up you may miss out as well
as lose your raid position. We need people who will commit and we can
rely on.
Signup is as follows:
Accept – You will be at the raid on time.
Decline – You can not make the raid OR
You will be at the raid but late due to “whatever” (Do not consistently
use standby; you are expected to show up to raids on time) If you need
to decline because you’re going to be late, let someone know why
beforehand.
If you are going to miss a raid night:
- Use the in-game calendar system to decline
- Post on the forum if you will miss more than one raid night
We use a loot council first and foremost, that reinforces its decisions through the use of the the EPGP system (http://code.google.com/p/epgp/wiki/Home). Raiders and standbys earn/lose “effort points” (EP) for raiding and build “gear points” (GP) for obtaining loot.
Procedure for rolling on loot:
1. Item is linked in raid by Master Looter and mainset roll is called. Example: [Helm of the Vanquished Defender] Mainset
2. Whisper and link current item(s) it would replace to the Master
Looter. You have a short time to whisper the link, do it quickly. GP
will be calcuated accordingly.
3. If no mainset requests, Master Looter will call for offset roll. Example: [Helm of the Vanquished Defender] Offset
4. Whisper for offset. Offset priority will go to more “raid-necessary”
offsets such as regularly off-tanking individuals or regular
off-healers. There is no GP cost for offset.
5. Any item not requested will be disenchanted for guild bank use.
Loot Order – Priority will be considered in each of these in this order:
- Mainspec
- Sidegear (Lower GP cost items that benefit your pre-agreed and assigned Mainspec such as ranged/throwing/etc.)
- Priority Offspec (these are pre-agreed priority offspecs that trump all other offspecs)
- Trial (trials are charged GP as if they are normal members)
- Offspec
- Alt/Social (socials are charged GP as if they are normal members but their priority band is same as Alts)
Standby EP is awarded in order to make sure those who were able to attend but aren’t accepted into raid do not get left behind in points for loot decisions. You must be online and available to receive standby EP. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are on the standby EP list. YOU must contact the Raid Leader or Master Looter, since your standby status is not automatically credited.
Decay is applied weekly to keep EPGP credit between all guild members even and fair. This prevents GP from getting too high for active members that their chances of receiving loot disappear entirely. This alteration of values creates a balance when distributing loot according to our rate of progression, items being earned, and inactive/active members.
New Members receive loot during the “Initiate” phase if no other member of standing will need it. With regards to points alone, you should start seeing an equal opportunity at loot 1-2 weeks into raiding, assuming you’re actively (3-5 days/week) raiding with us. As a new member you may receive, but in general have no entitlement to loot until you show some form of allegiance to us.
Disputes are handled by the Master Looter and he/she should be contacted directly with your question or concern at the end of raid
The Merits and Demerits:
Group Merits (EP Gain):
- All players will receive “X” EP per 15 mins while online
Individual Merits (EP Gain):
- Randomly the raid leaders/officers may look at who is flasked/food buffed/etc. during a raid and those who are will be rewarded EP.
Individual Demerits (EP Loss):
- Pug any 25s raid that has not been completed during the week
- Leave a raid before it is called (Warning ahead of time is excusable)
- Cause a raid wipe or potential raid wipe
- Show up exceptionally late for a raid.
- Self-wipe because of failed action. (i.e. void zones, laser barrage, etc.)
- Failure to come prepared
- Disconnect for more than 5 minutes (Situational)
- AFK for any reason during raid time
- Looting while in combat
- Delay the raid start
- Not sign up for a raid or sign up and not show up
Guild Master – Oversees every aspect of the guild
Officer – Assists in raid planning, guild bank and recruitment
Membership
Initiate (~2 weeks)
- Only gets loot if it would otherwise be DE’d.
- Not eligible for “special” drops: mounts, bags, spoils, etc.
- Not eligible for bank items.
- A probationary category of at least 2 weeks. Lack of obvious improvement in gearing themselves will lead to removal (meaning, although they probably won’t have raid spots, they should be on during raid times as an alternate, and be doing heroics/crafting/farming during that time.
Member
- All types of players: casual, leveling, gearing, friends, etc.
- This rank also includes “secondaries” that are working to take up a primary spot.
Member+
- The average player who can be relied on for the most part
- Expected to be raiders who are on time, ready, and prepared AT LEAST 3/5 nights easily.
- Eligible for loot and guild bank items
Adept – Reserved for the guild’s best. While anyone is capable, certainly
some people will never have the time to commit or the ability to
achieve such a rank. This rank is lost a lot easier than it is gained.
By no means is anyone entitled to this rank indefinitely.
- Guild dedication
- Been in the guild for a while (4months+ at minimum currently)
- Attends more than the majority of raid nights (5/5 and rarely less)
- Use the forums. They stay on top of what others are posting, and are therefore aware of issues and can help to resolve them and better guide the guild to success
- They are helpful in a variety of ways
unique to each person; support the needs of other members in addition
to their own. (Examples follow)
- They can help guildmates with theorycrafting, gearing, etc.
- Donate time and energy to keeping the gbank with mats/food/pots
- Encourage (and assist with) gearing runs to help out the guild, run guild events to support teamwork and unity
- Raiding Competency
- Excellent knowledge of main spec and consistent, above-average-for-class/gear performance. These are folks whose dps/tps/hps does not fluctuate widely attempt after attempt. For these guys, once a fight is learned, there are never more issues and it runs smoothly
- Always prepared during raid including knowing fights or actively researching unknown fights. They know when to be on, and what to bring. They sign up and post known problems on the forum.
- Demonstrates strong raiding skills and consistently is able to navigate fight mechanics with minimal challenges (ie: moves out of fire).
- Personality
- Sets a positive example for other members in their actions and statements within the guild and outside
- Keeps disagreements (significant ones) with guild leadership private from other members by handling them in tells instead of openly in guild
- They are way beyond just not being a trouble maker, they actively work to represent the guild at the highest level on the server
- Knows how to be mature and doesn’t cause unnecessary drama.
- Benefits
- Eligible for “special” drops first: i.e., mounts
- More access to guild bank items
- First chosen for (reserved spots) in new content raids
Other
Alternates – Note: Trial Members are not entitled to have alts in the guild
Alternates – Other Notes
The guild requires you to have one main character that you will raid with regularly in a consistent spec.
You will be allowed to have one alt per “Initiate”, two alts per “Member” or 3+ alts per “Adept” pending officer approval (no bank or twink alts please). Inactive alts (1month+ of no activity) will be removed from the guild. Sorry, we’re not an alt stable.
Raid spots and loot will be offered to your alt only if that
class/spec is needed at the time by the raid, but they will not be
favored above main characters when it comes to loot distribution for
mainset AND offset.
Misc. Raid Notes
Those with gathering professions that choose to collect from
npcs/bosses are not entitled to keep the loot for themselves. If
something is downed by the guild (whether trash, boss, deposit, etc.),
the items are expected to be submitted to the bank following the raid.
These items are shared and redistributed throughout the guild as
requested through the bank system or utilized for future raid mats
and/or material upgrades. Any item quality above gray should be
deposited.