1. The guild's purpose

1.1 Mission Statement: Raiding with skill, dedication, and determination.

1.2 They is focused on PvE raids and all the guild's goals are set in this context. While we are usually a humorous and friendly bunch, we do require a high degree of discipline, dedication, and performance during raids.

1.3 All members of the guild are expected to prioritise guild raids over all other in-game activities. Although we do not have the toughest schedule in the world, we do take raiding very seriously.

1.4 Players who prefer other in-game activities or are otherwise unwilling to, or incapable of, working towards reaching the guild's goals should look for another guild.



2. The guild website

2.1 The guild website is our primary means of mass communication, discussion, planning, and organisation.

2.2 All members are required to check the guild website at least once every 48 hours and at the very least check their mail and the News page (also refer to section 8).

2.3 Participation in forum discussions is voluntary unless specifically requested, but as the forums is the only place where guild issues will be discussed formally, members who do not participate on the forums will not have any influence in the guild.

2.4 Information of general guild interest will only be provided on the website, not through in-game chat. It is every member's own responsibility to keep themselves updated through the website.

2.5 The website has a simple mail system that can be used for private messaging among all members of the guild. This mail system is the preferred means of contacting guild leaders and officers about issues that doesn't concern the whole guild (such issues should always be posted on the forums), not in-game whispers.

2.6 Guild leaders and officers can flag important website mails as "Official". Mails flagged like this will display a special icon. Such mails must be read within 48 hours.

2.7 This rule has been removed and is no longer in effect.



3. Joining the guild

3.1 If a player wishes to join the guild, he or she must submit an application on the guild website. The application will be viewable by all members of the guild, who are encouraged to submit comments regarding the application. After a certain review period (usually not less than two days, sometimes longer), the guild leaders and officers will decide whether to reject the application or proceed with an in-game interview of the player. Once such an interview has been completed, the guild leader or officer conducting it will decide whether the player is to be accepted into the guild for a trial period.

3.2 Upon joining the guild, all players will be On Trial for their first period of time. Durations of trial periods may vary and will be as long as is necessary for the guild leadership to make a decision about whether the player should be promoted to Member or removed from the guild. Asking when one's trial is over or pushing for a faster decision does not increase the chances of the outcome to be in the player's favour.

3.3 All members are encouraged to submit comments regarding trial members, both positive and negative, via website mail to guild leaders and/or officers. Such comments will be taken into consideration when deciding whether a trial member should remain in the guild after the trial period, but the final decision is always up to the guild leadership.

3.4 While on trial, players will not receive loot on guild raids (except loot considered FFA), unless nobody else need. For raids where DKP are used, these players will still gain DKP and will be able to spend it either during their trial on otherwise unneeded loot, or like other Members once their trial period is over and they are promoted.

3.5 If it is decided to promote a player to Member after the trial period, that person is required to make a 100g contribution to the guild bank prior to being promoted, assuming he or she wishes to stay in the guild. Beyond this, no members are required to donate anything to the guild bank, all other donations are voluntary (also refer to section 11).



4. Expected behaviour

4.1 All members are expected to behave in a mature and civilised manner towards both guildies and non-guildies.

4.2 Examples of unacceptable behaviour include, but are not limited to, excessive whining, name-calling, complaining, and general negative behaviour that causes bad atmosphere in the guild, as decided by a guild leader or officer.

4.3 The only official language in the guild is English. While we accept members of all nationalities, English is the only allowed language in guild chat, raid chat, voice chat (if used), and on the guild website. Everybody can send a mistell by mistake sometimes, but speaking in languages other than English on purpose when multiple nationalities are online is considered extremely rude.

4.4 Regarding in-game chats, members are expected to refrain from whispering guild leaders and officers more than absolutely necessary. It is always a good idea to ask oneself if it's necessary to whisper, or if it could perhaps be put in a website mail, guild chat, or raid chat instead. Excessive whispers may be considered a violation of this rule; "excessive" in this case is to be defined by the guild leader or officer receiving the whispers. The reason for this is that guild leaders and officers will often have several people whispering them at the same time, so each individual member must keep it to an absolute minimum in order to not overwhelm.

4.5 All members are expected to be loyal first and foremost to the guild. While we do not explicitly prohibit joining other raid groups, all members should exercise caution and common sense if choosing to do so to instances that we regularly schedule guild raids for. Members who are found to be needed for a guild raid, but are saved with any needed char to the instance with another group, are considered in violation of this rule. Also bear rule 1.3 in mind if considering joining outside raids on guild raid nights.

4.6 If a member is concerned with the behaviour of another member, he or she is encouraged to contact a guild leader or officer via website mail and describe the problem. It will not always be possible to act explicitly upon such concerns, but they will always be taken into consideration to the extent possible - in all cases, letting the guild leadership know is more likely to result in a resolution than keeping quiet.

4.7 Members are not allowed to put other members on their ignore lists. If a member is so bothered by the behaviour of another member to want to do this, he or she should contact a guild leader or officer so a resolution can be found.



5. Standing

5.1 The concept of Standing is used in the guild instead of more traditional sanctioning measures (such as warnings) in cases of violation of the guild's rules and guidelines.

5.2 Standing is a numerical value from 0 to 15, both inclusive.

5.3 All members of all ranks start with 15 Standing. If a member's Standing ever reaches 0, he or she is removed from the guild without further warning.

5.4 Loss of Standing will be issued automatically by the website or manually by guild leaders or officers as a direct response to violations of guild rules, policies, or guidelines. Guild leaders and officers may also subtract Standing in cases where a member's behaviour is deemed harmful to the guild in any way, regardless of whether the details of the incident are covered by these rules (also refer to section 12).

5.5 All members are able to see their current Standing on the guild website. Any losses are documented with transactions, briefly describing the cause of the loss and the expiration date of the transaction.

5.6 Standing transactions expire after 90 days. This means that if you, for example, have received -1 Standing on January 1st (so you are at 14 Standing, assuming this is your only transaction), it will expire around April 1st and you will be back to 15 Standing, again assuming this is still your only transaction.

5.7 Only guild leaders and officers can see other people's Standing, including their transactions.

5.8 Please refer to the Standing page in the Home section of the guild website (Member's Area) for a complete list of cases in which the website will automatically subtract Standing. As mentioned above, guild leaders and officers may furthermore subtract Standing at their discretion, usually (but not exclusively) as a result of violating these rules or other of the guild's policies and guidelines.



6. Technical requirements

6.1 All members are required to have stable computers and Internet connections with reasonably low latency. Disconnects during guild raids which (in the raid leader's opinion) affect the raid negatively, or similarly having low performance due to high latency (either hardware or network induced) is considered to be in violation of this rule. Exceptions may be made when latency is server induced, i.e. if the majority of the raid group is having unusual latency issues.

6.2 Certain World of Warcraft add-ons are considered mandatory on guild raids. All members must ensure to have updated versions of all mandatory add-ons installed prior to participating in guild raids. It does not necessarily have to be the very, very latest, but recent, working versions of all mandatory add-ons are required on all guild raids. The only exception from this rule is when no working versions of the mandatory add-ons are available, typically right after major patches.



7. Guild raids

7.1 Guild raids are scheduled periodically (typically weekly), depending on the availability of the guild's members in a given period.

7.2 Guild raids normally take place in the evening from 20:00 to 23:30 server time, with invites starting at 19:30. We usually aim for 2-3 raids per period.

7.3 Players who are signed up for a raid but not online and in the raid group no later than 10 minutes before the scheduled start time may be replaced with another player by the raid leader, at his or her discretion. All participants are required to be at the raid target (i.e. inside the instance) and ready to go at the scheduled start time.

7.4 All members are required to actively identify their availability on the guild website for every period. Even if a member is not available at all in a given period, this fact must still be registered on the guild website (also refer to section 8) for all raid periods.

7.5 All periods have a deadline for registering availability. All members are required to register their availability in said period before this deadline is reached. As soon as possible after the deadline is reached, the officer in charge of raid planning will schedule raids based on the registrations. Once scheduled, these raids will appear in the raid calendar.

7.6 Once a period's deadline has been reached, it is no longer possible to change (or add and delete) registrations in this period. However, once the raids have been scheduled, it is possible to sign off or sign up for the raids in the raid calendar.

7.7 If a member is signed up for a raid but realises he or she will not be able to participate after all, he or she must sign off the raid in the calendar as soon as possible. Signing off a primary spot on an official raid is always considered a violation, but signing off later than 24 hours before scheduled raid start is considered a more serious violation than signing off earlier (i.e. results in a larger loss of Standing). It is not possible to sign off raids later than 1 hour before scheduled raid start; at this time, inability to participate in the raid is considered the same as not showing up.

7.8 Not showing up (or showing up late) for a raid you are signed up for, or leaving the raid early, is considered a more serious violation than signing off the raid in the calendar too late, i.e. will typically result in a larger loss of Standing.

7.9 Members who are signed up as Primary Backup (i.e. listed under Backup players with sign-up type Primary) for a raid are still expected to be online prior to and at the raid start, to ensure they are able to fill spots if others do not show up. After the raid has started, those not in the group are not required to remain online, but as spots will sometimes open up during raids, it can be a good idea to do so anyway. Players who are signed up as Backup and are not able or willing to be online prior to and at the raid start are expected to sign off the raid in the calendar as soon as possible. There is no loss of Standing for signing off a Backup spot later than 24 hours before raid start, but it is still not possible later than 1 hour before raid start.

7.10 A guild leader or officer must to the extent possible be present on all guild raids.

7.11 All raid participants are expected to bring a sufficient amount of raid supplies for personal use to all guild raids. This includes flasks, elixirs, potions, buff food, weapon buffs (sharpening stones, mana oils, etc.) that improves performance of the character in question. In addition, some encounters require specialty consumables such as flasks or elixirs that increase resistances to some or all schools of magic; such consumables are only required at encounters where they're needed. All members are expected to keep themselves informed on tactics and strategies in order to know when and where such supplies may be needed.

7.12 All players who are online when a guild raid takes place are expected to make themselves available for the raid if they are needed, regardless of whether they signed up for the raid or not. Exceptions from this rule may be made under certain circumstances at the discretion of the raid leader; it is usually a good idea to inform the raid leader of any special circumstances that would hinder raid participation in advance. It is entirely up to the raid leader of the individual raid to decide whether a given reason for not participating upon request can be considered valid.

7.13 All members are expected to perform well on all guild raids. While everybody can have a bad day sometimes, players who are consistently found to be performing significantly worse than other players of the same class doing the same job with comparable gear are considered in violation of this rule. Performance measurements are based on recorded combat logs, typically parsed by an external application, not on in-game add-ons.

7.14 For more information about raid conduct and expectations to raid participants, please refer to the Guidelines page in the Raids section on the guild website (Member's Area).



8. Absence

8.1 Members who are going to be absent for extended periods of time (i.e. so long that they would be in violation of one or more of the guild's rules) should contact a guild leader via website mail and state the period of absence and the reason for the absence in good time before the period starts.

8.2 If the guild leader approves and considers the period and reason given valid, the member's website account will be marked as "Temporarily Absent" for the agreed duration. Accounts marked in this way will be exempted from the guild rules concerning website activity, raid availability registration, etc., i.e. the website will not automatically subtract Standing from such accounts.

8.3 Members who are absent from the website for extended periods of time without prior approval will automatically lose standing over time and subsequently be removed from the guild when they reach 0 (also refer to section 5).

8.4 Members who are absent in-game for extended periods of time without prior approval will be removed from the guild if they haven't been online for 1 month or more, regardless of their Standing.



9. Mains and Alts

9.1 The guild uses a very strict distinction between main characters (mains) and alternative characters (alts).

9.2 All members will have one and only one character registered as their main. This is the character they should expect to participate in guild raids with most of the time. Mains must not be respecced in a way that will change their role in raids without first consulting the officer in charge of raid planning, unless they are specced back prior to the next official raid, regardless of whether the player is signed up for the raid or not. Respecs that do not affect the role in raids are allowed, but the officer in charge of raid planning should still be notified so it can be taken into consideration when setting up groups that may require certain talents.

9.3 Members who like to play multiple characters may also have none or more alts in the guild. While raids will usually consist of mains, all members are expected to make whichever one of their characters is needed the most available for raids.

9.4 If a member prefers to play an alt on some raids (i.e. raids to a specific target), it should be stated in the notes for the raid availability registration, so it can be taken into consideration when raids are planned. It should be expected that mains will always have first priority, and that the member in question may still be required to play his or her main character instead of said alt, however.

9.5 All members are expected to have at least their main character specced in a way suitable for PvE raiding. Specs aimed more at PvP or soloing is allowed on alts, however.

9.6 If a member with multiple characters in the guild wishes to change which one is his or her main, the member must contact a guild leader via website mail and describe why and how it will benefit the guild. The guild leader will make the final decision about whether to allow the change, typically discussing the matter with the officer in charge of raid planning. Main changes that in any way can be seen as negative for the guild will generally not be allowed.



10. Loot

10.1 The guild uses two different loot systems on official raids. Which one typically depends on raid size, but the raid leader of each individual raid is allowed to make exceptions if he or she feels it is justified or even necessary for some reason.

10.2 On raids to instances that allow less than 25 players, we normally use regular rolls, with mains having priority over alts, to divide the loot.

10.3 On raids to instances or outdoor encounters that allow and are designed for 25 players or more, we normally use a DKP system, also with mains having priority over alts, to divide the loot. In all cases, DKP will only be used if a guild leader or officer is present on the raid, as only these ranks have the needed permissions to update DKP on the guild website.

10.4 Unneeded BoP loot will normally be disenchanted and the shard rolled for FFA; if no enchanter with sufficient skill is present, the drop itself will be rolled for FFA. Unneeded BoE loot of rare (blue) or higher quality will be looted by the loot master and go into the guild bank (also refer to section 11). Unneeded BoE loot of uncommon (green) or lower quality will be rolled for FFA. Unneeded BoE recipes for all professions will be looted by the loot master and go into the guild bank, regardless of quality. Unneded BoP recipes for all professions will be rolled for FFA by all present crafters of the relevant profession who don't already have them.

10.5 There will usually be a loot master on all raids, even if the in-game "Master Loot" setting is not used, which it usually is. Unless stated otherwise, this person will be the raid leader. The loot master decides what happens in any loot disputes and his or her decision is final and not base for discussion. We do not discuss loot rules - or any other rules for that matter - in the middle of raids.

10.6 On raids where DKP is used, it will normally only be items of epic (purple) or higher quality and instance (or outdoor boss) specific recipes of all qualities that are subject to being divided by the use of DKP. Items of lower qualities will normally just be rolled for.

10.7 All items are divided into the following four categories:

Gear and Recipes
All equipable items of epic quality as well as all instance/boss specific recipes are in this category. Certain quest items that lead directly to gear or recipes may also be in this category. When distributing items in this category, it will be on need-before-greed basis with mains having priority over alts, regardless of whether rolls or DKP are used.

Quest Items
Items that are needed for quests, typically in quantities larger than one, are in this category. Such items will normally not require DKP to be spent, unless they exclusively drop from bosses and in very limited quantities. The loot master of each raid will decide in cases of doubt.

Items of Guild Interest
Exceptionally rare items or items that need special attention and/or require large-scale efforts by the majority of the guild are in this category. Such items will typically be of legendary (orange) or higher quality, but may be of lower quality as well. The distribution of such items will usually be done by the loot master of the raid, disregarding normal loot rules, to ensure it will go to the player where it will benefit the guild the most. Long-term membership with unquestioned loyalty and high raid attendance will likely play a large part in making such decisions.

Personal Items
Items that are not directly related to gear improvement, and implicitly raid performance, are in this category. This includes items such as special mounts or other personal enhancements that have no influence on raid performance. Need will normally not be considered for such items; anybody who doesn't already have it and can use it and would like to have it can roll or spend DKP on it. Mains do not have priority over alts for Personal Items. The rules about trial members and loot (also refer to section 3) are still in effect for items in this category, however.

10.8 The details of how we handle loot on raids under both systems are described on the Loot rules page in the Loot section on the guild website (Member's Area).



11. The guild bank

11.1 We use the in-game guild bank as a repository for the guild's common properties. All members can view the contents of the guild bank, but only characters with rank Guild Banker can add items to and remove items from the bank. If a member wishes to claim anything from the bank or donate anything to the bank, he or she must send in-game mail to a Guild Banker character, not contact the owner of the bank character by other means. Guild bankers will usually be checked daily, please respect that the owners of these characters may be busy with other things than fulfilling requests when they're not logged on these characters.

11.2 The items in the guild bank can be purchased by all guild members with rank Member or higher. Players On Trial cannot request items from the guild bank. The purchase price for all items is around 50% of current going prices; very cheap items may be given away for free on request, at the discretion of the banker.

11.3 The bank will also store consumables, which may be handed out on raids under certain circumstances, typically if the consumable costs for individual progress encounters are substantial. This practice is limited by the availability of said consumables; while the bank may purchase raid consumables on the auction house, it will not spend excessive amounts of gold on overpriced supplies. Players should usually expect to pay for such supplies themselves, as the general rule (also refer to section 7).

11.4 The money in the guild bank will be used to purchase additional bank tabs as needed. In addition, it may be used to purchase raid supplies from the guild's members and outside sources, as mentioned above. If certain raid encounters require expensive materials, such as a boss requiring an expensive reagent or other item in order for it to be summoned, then the guild bank will normally pay for these.

11.5 Players who make consumables of raid-wide benefit available on raids can request reimbursement from the guild bank after the raid. Such consumables include, but are not necessarily limited to, repair bots and cauldrons. It does not include reagents needed for spell casting of any kind.

11.6 The bank may give financial aid to players on extremely expensive endeavours of common guild interest; this will usually be a result of receiving an Item of Guild Interest (refer to section 10) that leads to a quest, but may also be efforts to collect high quality resistance gear (typically for tanks) or similar. Such financial aid must be approved by a guild leader.

11.7 The guild bank does not under any circumstances give loans to members, regardless of their rank.

11.8 As mentioned in section 3, all members are required to make a 100g contribution to the guild bank at the time they are promoted from On Trial to Member. Other than this, all donations to the bank are completely voluntary, but of course highly appreciated. Players who choose to donate anything to the bank should do so without expecting to get anything in return; we do not track who donates what or how much. Donations must be sent via in-game mail to one of the characters with the rank of Guild Banker.



12. The governing of these rules

12.1 These rules are the law of the guild and must be obeyed at all times. All members are required to be familiar with the rules, if not able to remember every detail. Not knowing the rules is no excuse for breaking them.

12.2 Changes to the rules may be done by guild leaders, and may or may not be based on discussions in the guild. Such changes will be announced and detailed on the News page in the Member's Area of the guild website, no later than at the time they are implemented and put into effect.

12.3 Members of all ranks who wish to propose rule changes may do so by posting on the forums where the proposal can be discussed by all members. Whether or not to put proposed changes into effect will always be a decision entirely up to the guild leadership.

12.4 If something is not covered by these rules, or other guild policies and guidelines, it is not automatically okay to do. The guild leadership will decide whether it is okay on a case-by-case basis. If you think you have found a loophole or exploit, you can be pretty sure it will not be considered okay, but it is always a good idea to ask a guild leader or officer in cases of doubt.