Raiding Constitution
5th July 2016
The Team
Whoever is raiding on a particular day is part of the team. Pugs, friends, regulars, guild members… everybody is treated equally. All we ask is that each member of the team respects the guild’s rules.
Signing Up
Guild members should always sign up to the calendar events well in advance of raids to guarantee their place. Events will usually tell you the requirements for signing up, but if you have any questions, please ask an officer. If you sign up, we expect you to arrive prepared and in plenty of time, and we expect you to stay for the full duration of the raid (usually 20:20–23:00 server time, but check the calendar). If you know you will be late, or might have to leave early, make sure you let an officer know with as much advanced notice as possible.
The team works best when it is reliable and consistent. Therefore, failing to turn up when expected, or leaving without warning, will make it less likely you’ll be accepted onto the team in future.
Who Gets Priority?
We will endeavour to take all guild members who are signed up and who meet the criteria for a given night’s raid. For progression raids that span multiple nights (that’s almost all of them), priority will go to those that joined us the previous night, though we will always do our best to accommodate as many guild members as possible. For example, let’s say that Monday’s raid is a continuation of Thursday’s. If you can’t make it on Thursday, but you’re signed up for Monday, then Thursday’s team members will get priority when forming the team for Monday; in the vast majority of cases we will be able to expand the team to include you, but sometimes, either because we’ve hit the group size limit, or doing so would be impossible due to the raid makeup, we may be unable to take you.
Raid Leading
Darkspear Never Die’s raid team has more than one raid leader: Ross, Shinda, and Khantos comprise the raid council. They share the role of leader, and can all make executive decisions during a fight, like who should and should not receive an in-combat resurrection. Ross has final final say, though rarely exercises that power, as the council is normally in agreement.
The raid council welcomes feedback from team members, so feel free to contact them outside of raids if you have a question.
Loot
Loot rules will be decided before each boss, depending on the raid makeup and how much gear the team needs from that boss. A progress boss is normally done with Personal Loot chosen, because it increases the chance of the team getting useful items. Once enough people need nothing from a boss, we’ll switch to Master Looter, unless the raid makeup is really skewed.
Tradeable loot belongs to the player it drops for; however, if they do not need it, we ask that it be put up for a roll. Similarly, if a piece of loot drops that is a minor upgrade for you, but a major upgrade for another regular member (or would complete their tier set, for example), please consider allowing the gear to go where the benefit would be greatest. A well-geared raid group benefits you, whether or not you personally get loot, allowing for faster progress and more loot!
You will be judged on your teamsmanship (or lack thereof)! :)
Obviously, some trading is impossible cross-realm, so these rules only apply where trading is possible.
Raid Etiquette
The whole team must be civil and polite at all times. Raiding can be stressful, exciting, and sometimes frustrating, but team members must not allow that to turn into animosity, anger, or rudeness. If you feel this is unavoidable, and you are too angry or stressed to perform, whisper one of your raid leaders so you can step out temporarily or for the remainder of the raid.
We expect team members to come to raids prepared for the fights, both tactically and materially. That means knowing the fights we'll be tackling (by reading guides and watching videos, if you have no previous experience), having any add-ons installed that the team use, and having seals, flasks, potions, and runes ready before the start of the raid. We also expect everybody to make good use of potions (e.g. one pre-pull, and one mid-fight) and healing tonics.
During fights, team members are encouraged to speak up on voice comms about important mechanics as they are playing out, but debates and conversations must wait until after the fight. If you die, don’t forget that the rest of the team will likely still be concentrating, so the fewer distractions the better.
After a wipe, we tend to evaluate what happened, to see what we can do better on the next pull. Between fights, therefore, all team members are encouraged to make suggestions or give advice, if they noticed anything or anyone in particular need of improvement. That doesn’t mean shaming someone for their mistakes, but rather helping your teammates improve their skills.
All final strategic decisions rest with the raid council.
Ethos
We raid for enjoyment and for the challenge of defeating difficult bosses. We’re not too interested in cheesing mechanics, and “we need higher DPS” will be our last solution to wiping. It is very rare for wipes to be caused solely by low DPS; the vast majority of wipes are caused by mistakes. We will not remove a well-playing (but low DPS) member, if there are still other people making critical mistakes. We want everyone in the team to improve and defeat bosses together, and that means everybody taking ownership of their own shortcomings.
New Members
We aim to accept people of all skill levels, and will give as much assistance as possible to assure that individuals can perform at the necessary skill level required for current progress. This might entail spending some time with a new member before they join a raid, helping them get up to speed, and will probably entail a few trial nights to see what might need to be worked on.
Removing someone from a raid, or the team itself, will only ever be a last resort, either for disciplinary reasons, or if that person is obviously and consistently preventing progress. That doesn’t mean we won’t give them another chance in the future, it just means more work will be needed to get them up to the required level of the team.