BBB note - eSnips does not like my purchased TSO -A Mad Russian’s Christmas being uploaded, so I had to snag a YouTube instead this time for Cassieann’s post - sorry.

Last week’s Raid Song of the Week had a number of comments posted and people talking about the music they use when playing. That got me to thinking about how I don’t play the game with music. I even have the in-game sounds turned off because I can’t stand that irritating “job’s done” message you get when you finish gathering quest items and the sound of swords clanging and stuff dying (I want to kill it, but I don’t need to hear it). Now true, I usually have the television in the background playing some show that our son is watching, such as the Backyardigans, Sesame Street, etc (which is probably more irritating than those in-game sounds).

But last Friday, I was in a festive mood and suddenly realized that I hadn’t hauled out my Trans-Siberian Orchestra CD that just has to be played at the holidays. So I dug it out and decided to use it while playing that evening. I’m not a raider yet, but I had some quests that required hours of grinding to kill various beasts and bad guys, so I thought I’d see if it made a difference to play with some rousing music on.

And I have to report that it did make a difference. Unfortunately, it did not enhance my playing ability. I was fighting along listening to the music and thought to myself that I wasn’t killing things as fast as I usually did and seemed to be taking a bit more damage than was typical. So I started watching my game play with a closer eye and realized that instead of paying attention to what I was doing, I was timing my Sinister Strikes and Eviscerates to the beat of the music. Oops!

So this Raid Song of the Week - Holiday Edition comes with a warning to use in battle at your own risk (or at least with more skill than I did)!

Cassieann

Unfortunately, I have zero time as I walk out the door to post the raid song of the week in time for those of you that like to read during lunch. I apologise.

I ahve to go do a lot of pre-holiday tasks, but I will return later this afternoon and get it up.

Again, I’m sorry for the lack of the raid song. I promise, though, it’ll be a fun-filled holiday special!

Lesson learned? maybe, maybe not.

The thing is, we have never had an application process before. Or a charter.

The way it has always worked in the past, literally, is that someone says in Guild chat, “Hey, xxx is asking for a guild invite, any Officers on?”

And about three minutes later, the message appears in Guild chat “xxx has joined the guild”.

The people who have commented that the last application sounded as though we had trust issues are obviously very correct, because we are only moving to an application because we have realized that we want to know at least a teeny bit more about the people that we are inviting into our family.

It’s now obvious to me that what I did, which was go through tons of progression guild websites looking for apps to rip off ideas from was the wrong idea.

Because raiding guilds, by default, are asking tons of questions specifically to weed out non-dedicated applicants. They want raiders that will work their butts off to earn a place in a top tier raiding guild.

We ain’t that guild.

What I need to do is come up with a compromise that will achieve our actual goals for an application.

We want an application that will help us get to know a little something about a person that is asking to join us, so when we meet the person in game to chat, we feel we have at least some basic idea of where the person is coming from.

And we would like an applicant to know that we are in it as a community, playing PvP, raiding, doing instance runs and shooting the shit in a comradely way, and we are looking for new people that also want to be in a long term guild and grow with us. Nobody has to do any particular thing, socializing is totally fine. But for those who do want to raid with us, we do not want people who are looking for a mid-level raiding guild to gear them up so they can move on. One night stands really aren’t our thang. If we wanted to add raiders who are only obsessed with progression and getting gear, we could swell our ranks in days… and within a month our guild would be shattered from the drama.

Is it possible?

I don’t know. I do know the application I threw together is crap. So I’m going to take a chill, relax, and have some dinner. Maybe I’ll actually play some WoW.

Been working on some Guild business lately, drafting a Guild Charter and Application form for posting on our website.

Since I’m up to my neck today, I thought I’d post my Application, as it stands now, and see what kind of feedback I get.

After all…. if there is one thing anyone can appreciate, it is the craziness of some of the guild apps floating around out here.

I keep finding myself wanting to go into ‘crazy DKP 50 MINUS!’ mode on writing it, just to see what kind of apps we’d get….

But I don’t. I guess I’m getting old.

Here we go!

Membership Application

Before you fill out this application, make absolutely sure you read our complete Guild Charter, so you know ahead of time what Legatum Ignavis is all about.

All applicants WILL have their character history checked at various data-mining sites, and any blatant inaccuracies on server transfers or guild memberships may cause your application to be rejected. If it is, you will be informed as to why.

Legatum Ignavis is very much a community of friendly players. By being honest with us, you open the doors for trust to begin to build.

Once the officers have had a chance to review your application, we will contact you in game via whisper or PM, or respond in your thread with more info.

If you want to contact any member of Legatum Ignavis in game to follow up, please do a /who of the person first to see if they are actively raiding or in an instance. It is considered rude to whisper someone that is obviously actively raiding, and it will NOT help your application progress. In fact, we may mock you openly over Teamspeak.

Please make a new post in the “Active Applications” Forum with your character name and class in the subject line, and answer all of these questions completely.

Copy/Paste the following into your application:

Character Name (Main):
Current Level:
Class:
Preferred Talent Spec:
Professions:

Do you have any alts that you play regularly, that you would also like invited to the guild? (If so, please list Name/Level/Class/Talent Spec/Professions):

Tell us about your previous guild history - -

Previous server (if not originally from Kael’thas):

Previous guilds with which you have been a member and approximately how long you were with each (be as complete as you can, including periods of guild hopping):

Have you held any special positions in previous guilds? If so, what were your responsibilities?

If you have been in a number of guilds over a very short period of time sometime in the past, please let us know why:

For every guild you have been with longer than one month, please let us know why you left, and why you are thinking of leaving your current guild:

How did you hear about Legatum Ignavis?:

What part of the activities of Legatum Ignavis attracts you the MOST? [Acquiring gear upgrades from raiding / seeing new end game content / PvP teams / socializing / leveling mains and alts / 5-man instances and Heroics] PICK ONLY ONE:

Grouping/Raiding

Do you know or have grouped with any of our members? If so, name the member(s), and what the instance/raid/qroup was for:

Do you plan on attending 10 man+ raiding events?

What times would you be available for Raiding, if that is one of your interests?

What attunements have you completed?

What Heroic Keys have you acquired?

Please provide a general description of your previous raiding experience:

Why do you play your class and what do you believe your role in a raid should be?

What websites or knowledge sites, if any, do you frequent to learn more about playing your class?

Getting to know you

Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Family life, hobbies, career, education. You are applying to join a family-friendly guild that is based on friendship and trust. We would like to know more about you:

As a member, what will be your expectations from Legatum Ignavis?

What do you feel you can contribute to the Legatum community?

How many other people play on your account (friends, family)?

Where do you live, and what is your time difference from the Kael’thas server time?

Have you read and understood the Guild Charter?

Mind you, that last line is a test. At the top of the Application, it says to read the complete Guild Charter to make sure you know what you’re getting into. At the bottom, it asks if you’ve read and understood the charter.

And a nice paragraph in the middle of the section of hte Charter, where I talk about behavior and not being rude or abusive, says to insert into your application, somewhere, a note about your favorite consumable food to bring to raids (not posts or scrolls), and to end that line with an asterisk (*).

Just a little something that ought to let us see, nice and fast, if an applicant really read teh charter or not.

The applicants I think we would want, would read the charter just to see what we were all about before making that level of commitment, and would see the little paragraph and treat it like a fun minigame.

And the ones that didn’t…. well then. Purpose served.

Thanks to Ryster I ran at level 2 on my little hordie Bigbearbutt to Ratchet, and then on the boat to Booty Bay.

I did not see a single bad guy anywhere near the road the whole run. Took less time to do then to tell about, and thanks to Cassieann, a fast swap of 100g was made for a crappy gray shield at the shared auction house.

MUCH better than a death march through Thousand Needles.

Sometimes, I just need someone to smack me about the head and say, “No, dummy. THAT way!”

Thanks for the boot-to-the-head, Ryster!