Raiding is a large of part of this guild. Our goals are to push through the highest level of end-game content that we can without losing ourselves and compromising our guild members along the way. To do this we must enforce a reasonable set of rules and guidelines to both ensure progression and uphold our ideals. Listed in this section is all the individual policies we hold true to ensure these goals are met. If you intend to raid you should be familiar with all of these policies. Keep in mind we do not require raiding nor do we shun players for not raiding or taking a break from raiding. Its open to all but required of none. Raid at you own ability but do so to work with others and not just for yourself. Raiding is a privilege and a responsibility. You are privileged with the ability to raid by your guild and those who raid with and responsible for being mature, reliable and patient with your guild and its raiding progress. We are both proud and happy to raid with you. See you in the dungeon.
Important Raid and Group Information:
The Tribe defines dungeons in three stages:
Progression into unfarmed content is determined, by not limited to, the number of raiders who have geared and are ready for the next level of dungeon. Progression is NOT determined by the previous dungeon reaching farm status. At times dungeons must be farmed for a period of time before the next level can be reached.
As stated Farm Status is determined when each boss in a dungeon is beaten at least 3 times without it being attributed to a glitch.
TPUG status is determined when the oldest farm status dungeon has been on the schedule long enough and new dungeons or newer farmed dungeons need to take its place.
The Tribe leadership must make these choices to ensure too much time is not wasted and progression is put to a halt. Sometimes it is not favorable for a dungeon to go off the schedule but it will still be necessary.
While the Tribe is not considered a "hard-core" raiding guild, we still do raid quite frequently and certain standards apply when you decide you are going to raid in this guild. These aren't rules put into place to simply punish people but rather to ensure respect for fellow guildmates/raid partners. These rules and guidelines are for the betterment of our raids and ultimately the betterment of our guild.
When you sign up for a raid, you are making a commitment to 24 (or 9) other people that you will be logged on and ready to go at the designated time for invites. This does not mean simply logging your character 5 minutes before a raid starts and standing around requesting a summons. Many people rush home from work, put the little ones to bed early, and do other things of similar nature in order to raid. Please respect your fellow raiders by being on time, logging onto TS before the raid, and getting yourself and your character prepared to raid for the set time. This list includes but is not limited to:
If you happen to be put on the alt-list, your responsibilities are still the same as if you made it into the raid and all policies still apply. The alt list is designed as a back-up in case there are issues with any of the original raiders, which happens frequently. Just because you didn’t make initial raid roster doesn’t mean that the raid won’t need you anymore. If you don't hear from an Officer or Raid Leader by first pull, feel free to check in to see if you are needed.
Obviously there are many circumstances in real life that make some of these things difficult. Following are scenarios that are deemed unacceptable for raiding and associated consequences. Emergency situations are usually handled on a case-by-case basis with a Chieftain.
Disciplinary action will escalate with each offense. The first offense will result in a warning. The second offense will result in a suspension of 2 weeks. The third offense will result in a suspension of 3 weeks. The fourth offense will result in a suspension of 4 weeks. After 5 offenses, a player will be permanently banned from raiding.
Valid reasons for being late include, but are not limited to:
*Should the Officers become aware that a player has provided false information or reasons for being late, disciplinary action will be taken up to and including potential guild removal.
Non-valid reasons for being late include, but are not limited to:
Valid reasons for a no-show include, but are not limited to:
Non-valid reasons for a no-show include, but are not limited to:
All of the following are options that are available to notify the raid of potential lateness/missing and all must be done at least 30mins before muster.
Raid sign ups are posted by Sunday, the first day of the raiding week. Each sign up has a series of rules and guidelines for how they fill up.
The method of updating signups is simple. Each player is added on a first-come-first-serve basis. The player must sign up as a specific character or characters designating into specific roles by their class and spec. As each person signs up they are entitled to an open spot if they can sufficiently fill that spot.
Some other factors may apply but above all we do not weight our players by anything but their raw ability to fill a specific role in a raid such as healer or tank. We do not offer special favors or give priority to anyone based on guild rank or seniority.
Each sign up will list any special rules for updating as they might apply.
For any official raid sign up Main Characters are given priority for spots over Alternate Characters at all times until the day of the raid.
Players may offer any and all characters they have capable of that dungeon but only their main character will receive standard priority.
Players may sign up only their alts if they are prepared to be alt listed until the day of the raid.
Players should only sign up characters they are willing to bring. If they do not wish to bring a character then simply do not offer them when signing up and they will not be added to the alt list or the raid the day of the raid.
Alternate Characters are still needed from time to time to fill roles that no Main Character signed up can fill. They are an asset to a raid at times but above all this guild has the responsibility to one player and that one player's committed Raid Main.
Each player by defualt is only allowed to sign up themself for a raid. Multiple signups are only allowed under the following criteria:
Each player who joined the Tribe at the maximum level, or reaches the maximum level while in the Tribe, and wishes to raid must declare a raid main. This means they much choose a character they wish to raid with who will have all the privileges the Tribe provides for the purposes of raiding.
These are the basic privileges your raid main will get:
When joining players must state which character they intend to raid with if they intend to raid at all. That character will become their raid main once they reach the guild rank of Tribesmen without exception. New players may not change their raid main until 3 months after reaching the rank of Tribesmen.
All other raid-capable characters are considered Alternates (Alts). Alts get lower priority on sing ups than mains and it is suggested that Alts pass on loot upgrades to mains. Alts are only used on a needed basis to help complete a raid's roster. This only applies to official runs posted by the guild leadership and not internal pick up groups.
After a period of time a player may wish to switch their Raid Main to another character. They may contact their current Class Champion and request this change. The Class Champion will review the change with the officer corp and submit a response to the player after a necessary amount of time to discuss it.
If a main switch is approved the player should immediately change their signature, however main switches will not go into effect until after the next set of raid sign ups begin.
Switching too often can only hurt the current raiding progress and the guild as a whole. To ensure this does not happen too often we use "The 3-6-9 Rule"
The 3-6-9 Rule:
When a main switch is approved for the first time for that player they may not switch again for 3 months. If they choose to switch again after that 3 months then they will not be able to switch for 6 months. And after that 6 months if they switch again it will become 9 months. The more often you switch the longer you will have to commit.
Raiding is a commitment and part of that commitment is pushing one character through the raiding progression. However, we understand that players stop liking some characters or lose enjoyment so the option to switch is still there for you if you wish.
During special circumstance such as new expansions the main switching restriction may be reset.
When you declare a raid main you declare it as both a class and spec. The spec, or choice of talents, is the most important part because it determines the role you will fill in a raid like healer, tank, dps and so on. If through the course of raiding you decide you wish to change your raid main's spec you may have some descisions to make.
First, check with your Class Champion and your class forum. You may not be required to do anything when you switch your spec. For example some classes are DPS only so changing your spec will not change your role in a raid. In those cases you do not have to contact anyone.
In other cases when changing your spec completely changes your role in a raid you should contact your Class Champion. The spec change will then have to be discussed to determine if it will help or hurt our current raiding situation. For example you may have a healer spec during a time when healers are needed and wish to change to a DPS role when DPS is not needed. This is a problem your Class Champion must discuss with you.
If changing your spec helps the current raiding situation you may be given an exception. If a new spec hurts the raiding situation then it will be treated as a Raid Main Switch and use the same 3-6-9 rule as Raid Main Switching. This means that changing your spec may mean you are locked into that character and that spec for 3 months the first time, 6 months if you switch again after that and 9 months if you switch again after that. This goes hand in hand with the Main Switch rule so you may not switch both specs and then you main immediately after.
This rule is enforced for the same reason as Raid Main rule, because switching too often leaves big problems for raiding progression. However unlike Raid Main switching spec switching has far more exceptions. Always check with your Class Champions when making big changes to your raiding character.
Each raid following the release of the expansion Wrath of the Lich King has both a 10-man and 25-man option.
Raids will always be filled on a first come first serve basis going by who can fill the needed roles. Above all the goal of each raid is to accommodate the most amount of players that sign up.
10 and 25 man raids will be considered seperate and given their own status (farmed or unfarmed). They will be scheduled as such so players know exactly what they are signing up for.
However, situations may arise were we accomodate more players by doing mutliple options like a 25-man and a 10-man, or even 3 10-man raids. In those sitiatuion raid sign-ups will reflect how the raids will be split up. Always refer to the sign-ups often before your raid for updates.
Circumstance may force schedule changes that we cannot control. Reasons may be total number of healers, how many can raid on certain nights, etc. Changes will be posted and discussions may be started to explain the reasoning behind changes.
The guild leadership can not be held responsible for cancellations and delays that occur after noon the day of the raid. This may cause one of the raid timers to not happen despite who signed up first. There is only circumstance to blame in these situations but we will do everything we can to help those raids should problems occur.
The ultimate goal is to exclude as little people as possible but only exclude due to circumstance and not by design. This means we want to help as many of our raiding members as possible but some may have bad luck due to the first-come-first-serve basis of the sign-ups and the number of role slots available.
A Go or No Go decision will be made no earlier than 10am server time but as close to 12 noon server time as possible the day of each raid. This means using a predefined set of criteria ranking officers will determine whether a raid will go as planned or get canceled.
The criteria is as follows:
If one or more of this criteria is met a raid may be declared a No-Go
This criteria is subject to change and unforeseen circumstances may call for cancellation of a raid.
The guild leadership cannot be held responsible for cancellations and delays given by players after Noon the day of the raid. Only circumstance is to blame when a raid is canceled at the last minute.
At this time all loot from bosses on raids will be distributed in a free roll fashion. This means all party members should pass on all BoP loot and interested parties should /roll 100. The highest roll will win the piece of loot. Each piece should go the character who is best suited to use the item as an upgrade immediately.
The Tribe makes the following recommendations on loot:
Some exceptions to the previous recommendations:
Above all else, respect what the Raid Leader's choices. Raid leaders will help instruct the raid on those best suited to roll for the item. Any loot questions during a raid should go to your raid leader, however if possible save your questions until after the raid so you do not slow down its pace.
The 3.1 content patch introduced Dual Specs to the game and thus the following are rules on how dual specing should be followed for raiding purposes:
The ranking system allows players to attain certain ranks based on the gear and experience they gain while progressing through more and more difficult dungeons. The ranking system places player into a tier which will sometimes give them priority based on the dungeon they are ranked for.
Ranks are based on difficulty of one or more dungeons. When a player reaches the requirements for a rank they are entitled to the highest priority for the dungeon or dungeons that share that rank.
Example:
3 players sign up for a Rank 2 Dungeon. Player 1 is Rank 1, Player 2 is Rank 2, and Player 3 is Rank 3. Player 2 is given the first available spot on the run. Players 1 and 3 are given equal priority for the remaining spots.
Rank priorities are used to ensure the people who need and meet the requirements of the dungeon get to go first. Those who are undergeared and inexperienced for the dungeons as well as those who's gear and experience exceed the dungeon are given spots afterwards.
Rank prioirties are only enforced until Noon on the day of the raid. After that everyone gets the same priority.
The Main vs. Alts rules always superceeds this rule, meaning regardless of your ranks Mains will be given priority.
Dual spec players can and should be ranked individually by each spec they choose. Only the Main and Off Spec can be ranked, no other gear sets can attain rankings. Even the ranking of Off Specs can affect your signup priority.
For additional rules and explinations see the categories below.
To attain a rank for your character or characters see your class forum. Each Class Champion will set forth a set of criteria or simply request you contact them to discuss your ranking one-on-one.
Ranking criteria is based on by not limited to the following:
Class Champions may employ as much discretion as necessary to accurately fill the ranks players request. This means you should listen closely to your Champion and accept the direction they ask you to take for optimal raid proficiency.
Rankings are not a right you can demand, they are privilege and a guideline for players to follow to meet the requirements the Tribe has asked of them. By accepting the criteria for your rank and listening to your Class Champion you prove you are ready to become a important member of a raid.
No player may be discriminated or given special favor for ranks regardless of guild rank or otherwise. Every player is entitled to each rank if they put forth the effort to meet their requirements. Frequency of raiding will not affect your rank unless ranks change while you are away from the game and you no longer meet the requirements. Ranks are a free and open system meant for all players to utilize, not a select few.
Champions should be contacted personally, not by way for public forum. You ranking requirements are private and the ability to work with a champion is a privilege. When requesting a rank DO NOT send only links to the armory. The armory is not always accurate or even on line. Please send a list of the stats your Class Champions require.
See your Class Forum for these details and criteria. Contact your class Champion with any concerns over ranks first.
When a dungeon reaches farm status it may not necessarily have rank restrictions and priorities. Only raids which state that the signups will be Rank Enforced will hold these restrictions.
Dungeons on farm status and put together as a Tribe PUG on off-nights will not be Rank Enforced. Farm status will be determined by the guild leadership and clearly stated to the guild.