How busy is your server?

My current project has me working on recruiting, as we have a need for a few players in a few different aspects of guild life.  Our realm isn’t offering good solutions for us at the moment so I’m recruiting aggressively for off realm players to transfer in.  This has been very successful so far as we have quality players that seem to be good people coming to us.  One question directed to me during this process that had me completely flummoxed was, “How busy is your server?”.  

I know that Llane – US, PvE – is a medium pop server.  The last time I looked at WoW Census when it had data, which is never up to date and is currently showing a zero Horde population, the Alliance side had a few more players than Horde, but not an egregious population shift that was slanted more one way than another.  

Between Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, I joined the realm and was absolutely shocked at how quiet trade chat was.  There were items for sale, groups forming, guilds recruiting… but not scrolling past at break neck speed where I couldn’t keep up.  I found it to be extremely pleasant in comparison to Magtheridon and Dunemaul, where I had formerly resided.  There was an actual sense of community on Llane!  People in different guilds talked to each other!  I saw more than dick jokes in trade chat and I was thrilled.  Although I had rolled a toon here looking for something to do and wanting to hang out in-game with a few real life friends that I rarely had a chance to see, I knew I had found a home.  Between expansions I saw the realm population dwindle, hit an all time low, and suddenly bounce back.  There were nights where I had to queue to log in because the realm was so busy, during multiple expansions, and not just at the release.  I feel that Cataclysm was not as successful as a WoW expansion and it held player’s attention even less than usual, therefore the post xpac attrition was even more noticeable. 

So last night when a potential off realm recruit asked me about how busy the server is, I fought back the urge to ask why it mattered.  In fact I recall now in several “Looking for Guild” posts on the Battle.net forums that a major reason for leaving their current guild was “the realm is dying”.  Why does that matter?  Perhaps I have a skewed perspective?  Our guild is robust.  Through thick and thin we work together.  If we need something crafted or farmed – we do that for each other.  Very few people in our guild PuG raids because if they want a raid spot they have one.  With the advent of the dungeon finder we no longer have to PuG instances and if you ask in guild chat at any given time for some company for a faster queue time or just better chance at having a very good group, someone nearly always helps.  We rarely have to cancel an event due to lack of interest.  More often we have people stumbling over themselves to volunteer to sit if there are too many. 

Why does it matter if trade chat is bustling with activity or has three people selling stacks of embersilk cloth and one guy trying to put together a 25m PuG?  Is this purely a question based off of wanting to play the Auction House?  Are you hoping that if the guild falls apart there will be other guilds waiting to snap you up from the guildless abyss? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.  I hope that people are not so short-sighted that they don’t understand that with an unpopular expansion like Cataclysm, there will be a very deep lull on most realms.  In fact, unless your realm hosts the top 200 best raid teams across the world, you’re probably experiencing lowered realm populations and less activity as well. 

 

Keep the discussion going at our website: http://the-wolfpack.guildzilla.com

Mists of Pandaria Release Date

September 25, 2012

I’m excited for new content and new guild experiences.

Are you springing for the Collector’s edition?

What are you doing now to prepare for MoP?

Are you hoarding items to play the AH?
Will you fill your quest log with completed quests to level quickly on release day?
Are you watching every video about the new raid content?

Comment here or continue the discussion at http://the-wolfpack.guildzilla.com

Fishing – an Epic Adventure or a Whale of a Tale?

I started playing World of Warcraft in “Vanilla”, a few months after the release.  I played another MMO before that.  My guild mates were slowing disappearing from Guild Wars and heading into WoW land only to never return (it seemed).  They would pop into our TeamSpeak once in a while to talk about this or that quest, these epic monster battles, the non-instanced word, these weird food buffs that also made your character drunk and this totally foreign concept of in-game professions.  I was completely intrigued, but of course immediately poo-pooed the entire thing as a silly fad that would never stick around – much like color television and FM radio. 

Coming from an old school, table-top roleplaying game background – I felt the pull of WoW and all of these neat “extras” that seemed to make the game experience just a little more in-depth and meaningful.  I eventually hopped into WoW when the last of my Guild Wars buddies made the switch.  

This was my second MMO – my other previous online gaming experiences were limited to first-person shooters.  I had a difficult time making a smooth transition and found everything to be completely intimidating.  My friends leveled up quickly or had already reached level cap and were riding horses and participating in mysterious things labeled as BWL and MC.  I was embarrassed to ask what that even meant.  I spent my time wandering alone in a zone until I came across a quest giver or something killed me.  WoW was not as pretty as Guild Wars, but there were some hidden corners that intrigued me and spots where I was certain no one else had ever been in before.   I had very little interest in leveling quickly.  I was told that dungeons were the really hard areas that were like small raids and that I wasn’t ready for them yet.  It scared me.  I continued walking around the cities and outlying areas, exploring.   

One day I stumbled onto a fishing trainer.  I had a few silver from some quest turn-ins but I had spent most of my gold on Dwarven Stout earlier in the day.  I trained in fishing, but I couldn’t afford a fishing pole.  I completed three quests (only intending to do one but they were back to back) and managed to make 78 silver in that process.  I bought a fishing pole.   It changed my WoW-life. 

I was pulling up fish with cute names and discovering that I could eat them to heal up.   I mentioned how cool this was to a guildmate and they asked me how the sushi was and maybe I should cook them for better benefits.  I CAN COOK THE FISH?  This just got better!  I soon discovered that my delicious seafood meals were not the only treasures of the rivers and seas.  One day, I fished up a box.  I stared at this mystery item in my bag and .  HOLY CRAP there is linen cloth and 50 silver in this thing!  I can get rich from fishing!  Why isn’t everyone doing this? 

Fishing became an all new adventure for me.  I was on a PvP server and often found myself all alone in the scary world of contested territory.  It didn’t matter that I was quickly developing an allergy to PvP, I had to fish.  A guildmate asked me one day what I was doing all alone for hours at a time at Lake Everstill in the Redridge mounts and why I was still level 15 for almost a week?  I explained in surreptitious whispers that I had found a gold making scheme beyond my wildest dreams in fishing random boxes up out of the lakes and rivers.  “Oh, you found the pools of floating wreckage”, he said.  The what!?  “There are these swirly pools that let you catch four or five boxes of treasures before they disappear…. wait, have you just been randomly fishing and hoping you catch a box?”, he exclaimed.   I was dismayed.  There were fishing secrets that I had yet to discover.   He taunted me.  I needed to get to South Shore to fish at the docks, but South Shore was a level 20-30 range area and with its proximity to Tarren Mill, it was often a veritable war zone.  That settled it, I had to level.  I got to go to this mysterious adventure called VC.  It wasn’t until months later that I learned the instance was actually called Deadmines.  I quested like mad and kept an eye out for recipes that let me cook fish.  I’d sometimes see one for a fish I’d never heard of and would wonder where I could find these things.  I dinged level 20 and headed for South Shore with stars in my eyes.  It’s a long walk.  I died a lot from the opposing faction camping the road.  I had a massive battle with a large bear killed me at the city limits.  I was almost to the promised land.  And then it happened.  I saw the magical fishing pools of treasure.   I fished and fished and squealed in delight at the [Tin Axe of Suck] [Cloth Belt of Agility] and bolts of silk and mageweave.  This was unbelievable.  Look at all those people standing around or walking past me to kill murlocs and naga.  They are fools and I was going to be the wealthiest little Warlock on the realm, maybe in the entire game. 

I was hooked, so to speak.  I kept begging my friend to tell me where more of these mysterious fishing treasures could be found.  Unfortunately it seemed that I needed to get to the promised land of Feralas, but I needed to be level 40.  More quests and more instances and I knew that I needed a horse because this walking thing was horrible.  It was going to be expensive to get a horse.  I needed to fish more. 

One day my friend came right out and said it, “you’re only leveling to get to interesting places to fish!”.  I hung my head in shame.  It was true.   I was caught.  He fed me tidbits of information on better fishing poles and new cooking recipes that used fish.  Those Stonescale Eel?  I could make a killing selling them to alchemists.  He became my enabler. 

Fast forward to the summer of 2008.  I re-rolled a toon on my current realm, Llane – Horde – US – PvE in order to hang out with some friends.  Unfortunately, this seemed to be a time where not many people were on, including my friends.  It was the end of The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King was coming out in November.  I had raided and leveled on another realm, relegating my fishing to just a hobby status.  As I found myself on a new realm with nothing, literally starting over and turning a new leaf, I began work on bringing up a hunter to level 70 so I could jump right into WotLK content.    I found that my hunter pet needed to eat… fish.  Old habits died hard and I found myself exploring the horde-side fishing spots.  The realm population was close to full by the end of the summer and I was only level 30.  I decided I was content and didn’t mind being guild-less.  Orgrimmar was hopping, trade chat was entertaining, and I was ready.  Everyone was speculating on the new Death Knights and talking about the new raids.  I was looking forward to the fishing achievements. 

The expansion released and fished like a mad-woman – cheering at every achievement obtained, every milestone earned.  I had no one to share this with.  I assessed my tidy sum of gold and decided to take the plunge. 

I’m going to start a guild so I could have someone to talk to while I fished.   November 20, 2008 – The Wolfpack was born. 

Fast forward to now.  We are in the top 10 of horde-side raiding guilds on our realm – top 20 of all guilds realm wide.  There are nearly 500 toons in our guild of almost 200 accounts.  We have regular events that are non-endgame raiding.  People genuinely like each other and look forward to logging in to play a video game.  I call it a huge success and not bad for a wacky start.  To this day I’m still fond of fishing and sometimes find myself at a swirling pool, teeming with fish, reeling them in when I need to think or just want chat with the guild. 

May your hooks be sharp and your bait plentiful.  Happy Fishing. 

~Kat

Pet Peeves – What gets you hot under the collar in Raid?

Much like family, your raid team is a group of people who you enjoy spending time with but after a while they can set your teeth on edge without even trying.  Usually this can stem from certain social triggers, also known as Pet Peeves.  

Recently I took an informal poll in an online WoW Community to talk more about Pet Peeves that occur when raiding.  My first impression after reading the huge number of responses as people aired long pent-up grievances: We are super lucky and have it good.

The top examples of egregious behavior that were given:

1. Consistently do not run back in after a wipe and expect to be rezzed
2. Not showing up on time
3. Not showing up prepared, especially if they have been on alts prior to raid – yet the raid toon has no gems, enchants, flasks or food
4. Not signing up for a raid and being upset that it was cancelled due to lack of interest
5. Not eating/drinking anything after a wipe or rez and expecting to be healed up to full
6. Multiple people (who are not raid leads) calling out commands
7. Use of major cooldowns (timewarp/bloodlust, for example) when the raid lead has not called for it
8. Showing up to raid drunk, or getting drunk during the raid
9. Refusal to accept input about performance and taking each suggestion as a personal attack
10. Questioning every decision made about the raid (such as strategy) and refusing to accept that the raid lead has made that decision for a reason.
11. Not taking accountability for a wipe so the group can understand what happened and either try again or move on
12. Taking accountability for a wipe, but spending 20 minutes going over every detail, play by play as to why they didn’t do what was expected of them
13. Clicking Ready – when they are, in fact, not ready
14. When the raid lead calls for a wipe – JUST DIE so the raid can recover and continue.
15. Having to remind people to buff
16. Spoon-feeding raid information because people didn’t look up the strat

I don’t know how some of these guilds continue raiding under those circumstances!  We have crossed the line once or twice on a few of these in my raid team – but generally are responsible people.  It was also interesting to be called in as a sub on an alt for our other raid team and seeing how they behave in vent and in raid.  It made me think that my group is a bit lax!

Keeping all of this in mind, what aspects of the game when working with other people can grate on your nerves?  What are YOUR raid pet peeves?

keep the discussion going, or learn more about us at our website.

Casual Raiding – possible?

One of the difficulties surrounding guild leadership, for me, is maintaining a playable and enjoyable environment for everyone.  I did take on the herculean task of trying to run a well rounded guild that did not focus on one aspect of the game, yet remains firmly planted in the “casual” side of life.

What does casual mean, in terms of raiding in a World of Warcraft guild? 

To me, it meant that our raiders are not expected to be full time raiders; where all aspects of the game are centered around raiding and most of the time spent is in a raid.  This means two or three nights of raiding for a few hours, not marathons of three to five nights a week – four to six hours a night.  That’s when being a raider turns into a part time job and there is certainly more to life than being married to a video game that is supposed to be just for fun.

The problem therein comes from those that are too casual.  The schedule is taken for granted.  People regularly arrive late, leave early, have kid/wife/husband/girlfriend aggro or don’t show up at all.  This is where I have to put my foot down and explain that nine other people rearranged their real lives in order to come together for this (albeit small) obligation and you have let them down.

Our little guild is 5/8 in Heroic Tier 13.  I can’t help but wonder at the weeks that we’ve missed due to absences if we couldn’t be closer to 8/8 Heroic a lot sooner than now.

So, how do you maintain a balance here?  Yes I do believe real life comes before pixels.  No I do not think everyone gets a free pass because life has happened to them.  There are many people, including myself, that look forward to raid nights and have to shift a few real life events around in order to do so.  Is it time to change guild philosophies?  Is it time to divide raid groups into casual, semi-hardocre and hardcore?  I never want to alienate my guild mates, these are people that I have spent a huge amount of time with online and am very fond of – quirks and all.  I do want to see my guild grow, progress and earn more accolades because each individual in the guild is deserving of them.  They are all fabulous, fun, interesting people that deserve a digital feather in their helms for choosing to make guild life grand.

Time to put the thinking cap on and figure this out.

~Kat

New World of Warcraft Gaming Mouse

Yesterday at E3, SteelSeries (a premium gaming accessories company) announced a new mouse specifically designed in conjunction with Blizzard to function seamlessly with World of Warcraft. 

From the press release:

Evoking some of the most iconic images from Blizzard’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game, the new Wireless Mouse brings players an ergonomic, 11-button layout, with illumination and pulsation options that help immerse players in the game. The SteelSeries Engine software guides players through an easy, in-game integration set-up with drag and drop functionality of World of Warcraft commands, full button remapping, macro creation and the ability to save an unlimited number of game profiles.

“We brought to market the first MMO gaming mouse more than three years ago with Blizzard, and since that product launch, we’ve been working to improve and perfect what the MMO community has wanted and asked for – from the size and button shape to the hardware and wireless functionality. The World of Warcraft Wireless Mouse not only answers players requests, but we’re confident that it will impress players by arming them with state of the art hardware features and an exceptional user experience,” said Bruce Hawver, SteelSeries CEO.

Dark stone-gray in color, the mouse sports a translucent, subtly illuminated World of Warcraft world map background and the swirling Maelstrom design behind the rune ring and World of Warcraft logo. Its silver, matte finish on each of the 11 ergonomically placed buttons is made with a rubberized, soft-touch coating that is hand-sweat resistant on the sides of the mouse, providing users with a comfortable grip for long raiding sessions. The technology for the new mouse is premium-quality with pro-grade switches and a laser sensor that reaches up to 8,200 CPI. In addition to its color design and hardware functionality, players will immediately notice enhanced features including:
• Large, oversized top buttons for a more comfortable reach
• Distinct modification on each of the left side buttons for more accurate clicks
• Smooth ticking scroll wheel

The player’s precision and control will be enhanced with the ability to assign all 11-buttons and multiple macros from directly within the World of Warcraft game interface. In addition to in-game support, the intuitive drag & drop interface of SteelSeries Engine software empowers Windows® and Mac® users to:
• Program all buttons with more than 130 preset game commands
• Create custom macros and/or use the in-game macro scripting language

The sleek docking station features a matching rune design with white illumination along the outer rim; it operates as both the charger and receiver, which powers the World of Warcraft Wireless Mouse and is compatible with both Windows® and Mac®. For convenience, the mouse can also be wired by plugging it directly into the computer and the battery will charge while it’s connected and in use.

Technical specifications include:
• Frames Per Second: 12,000
• Counts Per Inch: 8,200
• Lift distance: 2mm – 5mm
• Battery type: Lithium Ion
• Wireless battery life: 16 hours
• Charge time: estimated 1 hour from low to full charge
• Compatible with all current MMO titles
• 6.5ft cable with mini-USB and USB

The World of Warcraft Wireless Mouse will be available in Q3 2012 on the SteelSeries Web Shop and in select retail locations for $129.99 / €129.99. For additional product information please visit http://steelseries.com/g/world-of-warcraft. Be sure to follow SteelSeries on both Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on product availability, contests and news.

As a gamer with a first person shooter background, I found that often “the best” hardware can provide optimum boosts in your gameplay.  When I eventually transitioned to WoW, I looked sadly at my Logitech G9 mouse and G15 keyboard and wondered if they were now functionally useless to me.  As a healer that utilizes Healbot in WoW, I have come to rely heavily on my G9’s mutli-buttons.  I’m not a macro user (although certain guildmates are major proponents of them) and I have an entire array of macro-able buttons at my disposal.  (Except they do not function with my MacbookPro as of the date of this blog post…). 

The price is steep for this new mouse; however, the in-game functionality, easy to use scripting makes it a little easier to swallow.  Also, as much as I love the design of Razer products, their quality and reliability has declined over the years while their pricing has remained the same. 

How do you feel about your gaming hardware?  Is a mouse specifically designed for WoW at all useful to you? 

For more discussions, visit our website at http://the-wolfpack.guildzilla.com

Pre-Expansion Blues – A Guild Leader’s Bane

Looking back on previous expansion release dates:

1. World of Warcraft (“Vanilla”) was released on November 23, 2004
2. The Burning Crusade was released on January 16, 2007
3. Wrath of the Lich King was released on November 13, 2008
4. Cataclysm was released on December 7, 2010

I have to raise an eyebrow at those on the Battle.net forums loudly declaring predictions that Mists of Pandaria will release this summer.  I theorize it will be a fall/winter release so that means we have (probably) six more months of plugging away at Cataclysm content.  This does seem like a long time for the game to be in closed Beta (since March 2012) but this leaves time for bug fixes, continuity issues and a short open Beta before implementation of the introductory quests and long series of patches prior to the release.

What does this mean to me?

Here we are, one year and six months since the release of Cataclysm.  It seems like it was just yesterday.  On our home server, Llane, I’ve watched the Horde-side numbers dwindle rapidly once Firelands – and then Dragon Soul – was completed, LFR was run until non-raiders were as geared as they would ever be and all faction reputations were raised to exalted.  There wasn’t a lot left to do.  For the non-hardcore raid groups, like ours, we’re still plugging away at progression and I for one am happy to be doing so.  This still leaves a less than vibrant community on our realm.

I’ve said a few, hopefully, temporary good byes to several guild mates as they departed for different pastures (SWtoR, Rift, D3, etc.) who stated they would be back for Mists of Pandaria – whenever that happens.  I’ve also said a few difficult good byes to guild mates who aren’t returning to WoW as they just aren’t interested in the game anymore and feel the direction of the new expansion just isn’t what they want in an MMO experience.

This means I have five or six more months of cheerleading under my belt.

Many moons ago I was a noobie Guild Leader and watched in horror as my guild fell apart before my eyes at the release of Burning Crusade.  I had no idea back then how much blood, sweat, tears, effort, time and hair pulling goes into making a smooth, fun and interesting gaming experience for a group of 12 players.  Fast forward to now and we have 450-ish characters housed in our beloved guild (of approximately 140 accounts).  The demands are amplified.  Each whine of frustration during a raid, each announcement in guild chat of boredom is quicksand under the foundations of everything we have created and I feel like I need to do more to keep everyone happy.

There are guilds falling apart now, new baby guilds littering the realm, people rage quitting raid teams/guilds/realms and WoW.  I’m so proud and thankful that we have none of that nonsense.

All I can say is I’m finally excited about the upcoming expansion.  I think this will not only bring fresh content to us, but new players, returning players and some really wonderful changes to the experience overall.

Hang in there.  Believe in The Wolfpack a little longer.  I predict a lot growth, opportunity and more fun in the future.

~ Your Fearless Leader

Kat