Guild ethos

This text outlines a vision for Interesting Times, setting out our policies and our ethos for members and those who’d like to join us. If you are interested in raiding with us, you should also read about our approach to raiding before you apply.

Who we are

Interesting times is a Horde guild on Chamber of Aspects (EU) and was founded in October 2016.

While the guild is new, many of our members are older relative to the game population and have been playing since release. Between us, we have a lot of experience in progression raiding, raid leading and guild management.

We are a "friends-and-family" type of guild. That doesn’t mean we all have to know or be related to each other in real life, but it does describe the close-knit, friendly atmosphere we're trying to establish.

We're a small, group-content guild. We don’t want a huge roster as we prefer to grow organically and focus on finding people who fit our community well. We believe that the social aspects of the game – enjoying playing through content together – are more important than end-game progression.

How we are managed

Interesting Times is run by an officer team who are the only members with the rights to invite, promote, demote and remove members. The officer team takes decisions collectively and, once made, these decisions are final. For major decisions that affect the direction of the guild, the Officers will consult with the members before arriving at a final decision. Where conflicts or disputes need to be resolved among any of the members, the Guild Master has the final word.

A respectful, active community

Our aim is to provide a community in which it’s possible to enjoy the game in the company of other adults. The language of the guild is English, although our members come from many different European countries and different cultural backgrounds. We ask members to be respectful and considerate when communicating with each other, especially as English is not the first language of most members.

Participation is the lifeblood of our community, so we encourage members to take part in the activities we organise or to organise their own events. Participation is never enforced, but the way we see it, if you never participate and never communicate with other members you’re not really a part of the community.

The guild bank is a resource for the benefit of all members and we encourage you to use it, but don’t abuse it. Give about as much as you take. Mats and gear from the bank should not end up on the auction house.

We don’t tolerate bullying, abusive language or harassment of any sort in the guild and will act to protect the community from any kind of nasty behaviour.

Alts and Mains

We'd like you to join the guild with a character that you intend to play actively. We are not a parking garage for forgotten alts. You're free to join with your alt if your main is engaged in another guild’s activities - all we ask is that you log on occasionally and participate actively in the guild community.

You're free to have as many alt characters as you want in the guild, but you must designate one as your "main character”. There are a few other things we ask of anyone who wants to participate in guild raids, but we’ll cover those in our Raiding Guide.

Inactive members

Sometimes, it's good to take a break from the game so you can focus on real life for a spell. If our members let us know in advance, we're happy to let their toons stick around in the guild while they take a break.

If we haven't seen you in a while and have not heard from you that you're taking a break, we'll temporarily park your characters to see if you return. If we still haven't heard from you after six months, we'll remove your characters from the guild and write to you to let you know why. If a member is absent this long with good reason, but returns to find themselves out of the guild, all they have to do is let the officers know what happened when they get back online and we will happily re-invite.

Raiding guidelines

Here is our approach to raiding. If you are considering joining us to raid, please be sure you are happy with this approach before you apply. If you are an existing member joining the raid for the first time, you should also be familiar and happy with how we approach raiding.

Goals

We aim to clear the Normal and Heroic content in a tier and have fun doing it. We have no ambitions to create a Mythic team.

Ethos

Our ethos can be summed up as ‘Respectful Raiding’, we understand the importance of treating other players in the raid in a respectful manner, which includes respect for other people’s time. Be excellent to each other, show up on time prepared for the raid and all will be well.

Our raids are well organised and disciplined, with prepared strategies and very experienced raid leadership. We know what we’re doing and bosses go down regularly. If you are new to raiding, we are a good place to learn the craft of boss killing.

We take a casual approach to raiding – we have no mandatory attendance rules, we don’t focus on the performance of individuals and we aim for a very relaxed atmosphere in the raid. This works because our team love to raid and don’t like to let each other down.

Raid times and sign ups

  • We raid Wednesday and Sunday from 20:30 to 23:00 server time (central European Time UTC+01:00).
  • We take a 10 minute break about half way through the raid.
  • Sign ups are on the in-game calendar - simply reply with Sign or Tentative. Feel free to drop a line on discord to clarify
  • If you’ve signed up but can’t make it at the last minute, it’s considered good form to let us know on discord ASAP.

Raid communication

  • We use Discord for voice communication and English is the language of the guild.
  • You must be able to listen, a willingness to speak is a bonus.
  • You must configure push-to-talk as open microphones are a distraction no one needs.
  • Friendly banter between pulls and during trash is fine but during boss encounters, only the Raid Leader should be talking.

Loot System

  • We use the Personal Loot system unless otherwise noted.
  • Personal Loot allows trading pieces to other raid members – please offer pieces that are not useful to you.
  • Feel free to ask if you see someone getting a piece that might be useful to you.
  • If several people are interested in the same traded piece, we’ll /roll with the highest roller getting the item.

Raid Strategies

The raid leader will spend a moment before each boss explaining our strategy and assigning roles and tasks. This is usually enough for Normal bosses. On Heroic bosses, mechanics start to matter and it’s a good idea to have read some strategies or watched some videos before the raid. Here are our favourite sources:

Video Channels: Written Guides:

We appreciate input and ideas from team members, but the right time for this is between pulls.

Addons

Here is our list of required and recommended addons for raiding:

Basic Raid Hygiene

This stuff is basic common sense, and falls under the ethos of respectful raiding.

  • Have your gear pieces enchanted before the raid.
  • If your gear has gem slots, you should have useful gems in them.
  • Have enough flasks to last you through the raid (3 will usually do).
  • Bring at least two stacks of your stat food. The Guild provides Feasts during Heroic progress raids.
  • For Heroic bosses, bring enough of your class’ combat potion. They shouldn't be necessary for Normal difficulty bosses.
  • Rune usage is not required. Feel free to use them on progression bosses if you have them, but don't go out of your way to farm them for raids.
  • The guild pays for raid repairs from the Guild Bank. The guild also provides Auto-Hammers for repairs when needed.

Finally, let’s talk a little about wiping. Wiping, and wiping repeatedly, is a big part of raiding. When we wipe, we accept it with good grace and look at what we need to learn from the last pull. We don’t need negativity and we don’t tolerate people blaming other members. Keep your head, focus on your own performance, work together and all will be well.

And most importantly: Have Fun!