Hello Guildies!
We have been having discussions as to how we, as a guild, want to approach the Wrath of the Lich King expansion upcoming on November 13th. We have seen with the Burning Crusade how not properly planning for expansions can destroy guilds (both raiding and casual). Before rumors settle in and incorrect assumptions are made, we want to keep everyone informed for how we want to progress as a guild moving. Please take a few moments to read over this information and become familiar with our approach to the upcoming expansion.
Raiding:
TDU is a raiding guild first and foremost. We love new content! With that being said, raiding will eventually be stopped completely while we level our mains and alts to 80. We would love to continue raiding all the way up until November 11 (and see Illidan fall as well as Sunwell content) however this might not be the case. As long as we have the attendance and willing people, we will continue to raid current end-game Burning Crusade content on our normal schedule! We would still encourage all our guildies to co-operate with Kara runs, ZA runs, Gruuls/Mags runs, SSC/TK runs, etc in the downtime before WotLK.
Although we are going to be on a leveling "hiatus", we will resume raiding new 80-man WotLK content beginning January 6th 2009! Get those toons leveled, geared and ready! Does this mean that you have to wait until then to raid? Nope. If you want to get 9 or 24 of your guildies or friends together and start doing the 80-man content, go right ahead! This simply means that the guild sanctioned runs will not officially start until January 6th, this should be the day following reset however, we do ask that you be cautious in the raid you participate in the week leading up to the 6th as to ensure you are not locked out of our first guild WotLK raid.
Our current plan is to have 3 10-man teams to raid the 10-man raiding content in WotLK. This will probably start with 10-man Naxxaramas. We want to be clear regarding these 10 man "teams" - we have no intention of having the same fixed teams. We will be compiling groups in many different group make-ups with the intention that we all get used to playing with different players and play styles. This should also discourage the perception that we want to develop a 10-man "uber" team - which has caused problems in the past. Once we get a good understanding of the 10-man instances and their mechanics as well as the gear to move on, we will begin doing 25-man raiding hopefully towards the beginning or mid February. We want to stay aggressive and remain ahead of the curve with new content!
Also, be patient as we learn the new content. Every guild learns content at different speeds! We hope to progress rapidly but don't get discouraged if we get to a slowing point in our progression. We'll get it - it's just a matter of time!
Officers:
TDU has a good officer base now however with our progression plans in WotLK we will be looking to recruit from our ranks to help us lead raids and the guild. If you are interested in becoming an officer, get noticed being an effective leader. Assist guildies with their raid runs, put together and lead raid runs, respect your guildies in any type of constructive feedback that needs to addressed, help maintain good relationships with other guilds and PuGs that you are involved in, assist officers with class understanding and boss fight strategies, maintain a healthy sense of humor, etc. Although we cherish our longtime TDU members, longevity and seniority in this guild have no bearingin an officer selection decision.
Loot:
The issue of loot is always an interesting subject it seems as there is never a "de facto" standard for loot distribution. As officers of TDU, we want to do what is best for you as a raider for our progression. Our current system is a good system but sometimes causes issues because people are unsure of how the loot distribution is decided on. We wanted to find the best system we could and our research helped introduce us to the EPGP syetem (which stands for Effort Points and Gear Points). We plan to adopt this system and have it in-place and working from day 1 of our raiding in WotLK. We encourage you to read about it and understand it so that the transition to using it will be much easier. You can find out all the information regarding the EPGP system here:
http://code.google.com/p/epgp/
http://code.google.com/p/epgp/wiki/WhatIsEPGP_v2
Leveling:
Leveling is a pain for some and a joy for others but we have to get those toons to 80! Everyone levels at different rates but please don't worry about your pace. Also, leveling Death Knights will take a little longer. If you can't get to 80 before January 6th 2009, we will not exclude you from raiding altogether. We plan to have many teams running the content so get to 80 when you can and be patient while we work out the details! The officers have made a commitment to level their toons alongside your toons so we will try to be available as much as possible to assist in any way we can! Ultimately our goals are the same: to get to level 80 as fast as possible to prepare for raiding content. This is also a great time to figure out what toon you enjoy most and which one you will consider your main. And remember - THERE IS ONLY ROOM IN ANY RAID FOR A FEW DEATH KNIGHT MAINS!
I would like to finish this post with a statement of what to expect from the coming months involving the expansion.
What to Expect with Wrath of the Lich King:
- Guildies will come and go! Yes, it's a sad fact. Some guildies will find new homes outside of TDU and others will find a new home here at TDU. Some guildies real-life situations will change for the worst and others will change for the best! Old members will transfer back, return to the ranks, regain interest in the content, etc. The membership will be in a state of flux for a period of time. Don't think that the state of the guild will remain the same forever! We will adapt to the changes as well as use them to help us progress!
- Recruiting will be in overdrive! TDU is a raiding guild and will continue to be after the expansion. Our #1 goal is to retain the family of TDU'ers we have now and expand our ranks to some new guildies in the coming months, in addition to that we would like to double the size of our active playerbase. We need your help! If you run a great PuG with someone with the right attitude and that can play their class well, tell them about TDU and gauge their interest level in becoming a part of our team! We don't want to poach people from our partner guilds however we would like to find some new people to get to know!
- Quin and Mara are getting married so will need to take some time away in the mid-December to mid january to go meet her parents. This is great news for them! Don't think their absence means we're losing them! They will return in mid-January ready to join the ranks ! We will start raiding without them and they will play catch-up. Right now we are discussing raid leadership roles and team makeup and will have these issues resolved before January 6th.
- The game is changing and so are play styles! Everything is changing! New talents, new spells, new gear, new mechanics, etc! Please be patient with our guildies as they learn all about their new toons abilities! We essentially have to re-learn all of our classes and be comfortable with them enough to perform at the highest levels. Be patient and offer only constructive feedback.
All in all, the transition to WotLK will alter the game and make it more enjoyable. There will be a transition period but if we tackle it head-on as a team, we will get over the hump and return to raiding and having fun in no time. If you have any questions/concerns and/or feedback, please feel free to contact myself (rendstriker), Quinarius, Aitrune, Frike, Ethanos, or Morpheusse. Thanks and we look forward to tackling Northrend with all our fellow TDU'ers!
Contents:
1. What is EpGp?
2. What does our guild use EpGp for?
3. How is EpGp calculated?
4. How much is a boss kill worth?
5. How much does an item cost?
6. What is compression?
7. How do I know where I stand?
8. What are the details of how our guild administers EpGp?
9. Where do I complain?
1. What is EpGp?
EpGp (which stands for Effort Points/Gear Points) is a World of Warcraft loot system. EpGp is set up to reward players (through priority on loot) proportionally to the amount of effort they have put in (through trying to kill raid bosses). The basic idea is that someone who is raiding twice as much will receive priority about twice as often as someone who is raiding half as much. You can learn more about EpGp here.
2. What does our guild use EpGp for?
Our guild uses EpGp to determine loot priority for item drops in 10 and 25 man instances. This includes gear that drops from bosses and trash loot.
Recipes are also awarded based on EpGp.
3. How is EpGp calculated?
EpGp is simply the quotient of your Ep divided by your Gp (and if you remembered the word quotient, give yourself a cookie, I had to look it up). If you have 400 effort points (say from a couple of boss kills) and 200 gear points (say from a drop), then your EpGp ratio is 2 (400 divided by 200). 400 effort points and 500 gear points and your ratio is .8 (400 divided by 500). Your ratio can never be negative (even if you had only 1 Ep and 1,000,000 gp, it would be something like .00000000001).
4. How is Ep awarded?
Boss kills are assigned a value based upon where the boss is in our raid progression. Over time, we may change the values to reflect where a boss fits in with our progression. In addition, wipes on progression bosses (those not killed previously) will compensate players with 10 Ep. In addition to this Ep of 25 is awarded to all players in the raid at the time of the first pull. A further 25 Ep is awarded at raid end.
5. How much does an item cost?
Each item you are awarded has a set value based upon its rarity, item level and slot. If you just want to know the value, you can download the mod and values will show up in the item tooltips. We also reduce values somewhat for slightly off spec items (i.e. Cloth gear to paladins, etc). For more details on that and other specifics see #8, below. If you want to understand the math behind the values, you need to look at the formula that the EpGp developers came up with.
From the EpGp website:
The EPGP Mod also adds a tooltip line to items displaying the GP value of the item. The GP value is computed using the item level and the equipping slot of each item as follows:
GP = 0.483 * 2 ^ (ilvl / 26) * multiplier
Item value is computed using the following:
Uncommon (Green): (itemlevel - 4) / 2
Rare (Blue): (itemlevel - 1.84) / 1.6
Epic (Purple): (itemlevel - 1.3) / 1.3
Slot value is determined as follows:
Head/Legs/Chest: 1
Shoulder/Waist/Feet/Trinket: .75
Ring/Cloak/Wrist: .5
Wand/Relic/Idol/Totem: .5
Main hand weapons: 1.5
Offhand weapons: 0.5
Some items have 2 multipliers and they are used depending on what is the primary role
of the receiver:
2h weapon: 2 or 1 (1 if it goes as an OH to a TG warrior or to a hunter, 2 otherwise)
1h weapon: 1.5 or 0.5 (0.5 if it goes as a MH or to a hunter or a tanking warrior,
1.5 otherwise)
ranged weapon: 1.5 or 0.5 (1.5 if it goes to a hunter, 0.5 otherwise)
shield: 1.5 or 0.5 (1.5 if is a tanking shield, 0.5 otherwise)
6. What is compression?
In order to ensure that newer raiders have, over time, a chance to receive their fair share of drops, we will compress (decay) the standings. This will not change anyone's position (the person that's first will still be first, second will still be second) or anyone's EpGp ratio. What is done is both Ep and Gp are reduced by 10% per week. Since Gp changes at the same rate as Ep, your ratio never changes.
For example:
Awesomeness, a druid, has 500 ep and 200 gp. His ratio is 2.5. Supercooldude, a rogue, has 400 ep and 185 gp. His ratio is 2.16. At the end of the week, Ep and Gp are reduced by 10%. Now Awesomeness has 450 ep and 180 gp. His ratio is still 2.5. Supercooldude is now 360 ep and 166.5 gp. His ratio is still 2.16. The only difference is the size of the gap between them going forward. Your ep/gp ratio will never change because of compression. You will never "lose" points, since ep and gp compress at the same rate. The only effect of this change will be to keep us closer together, which will ensure a good distribution of loot throughout guild members who choose to raid and allow newer raiders the possibility of eventually getting integrated into the standings.
7. How do I know where I stand?
This one is easy. Anyone can view the standings by downloading the mod. In addition, we will try to post standings regularly on the website, but if you have the mod you can view the standings in-game in real time.
8. What are the details of how our guild administers EpGp?
Okay, so we have some rules in place to help us administer the system. Remember, we still want loot to go to where it will help the guild, so even if your mage is waaay ahead on EpGp, you cannot take the plate helm. Sorry.
So here are the rules:
8.1 Items that drop from a boss will be awarded in the order they dropped.
8.2 There is a 250 point Ep minimum to receive PRIORITY (there is NO minimum to receive an item).
8.3 Each item will be offered first to the highest EpGp for the exact class(es)/role(s) for which it is best suited. That means leather goes to rogues before hunters, cloth to priests before druids, shaman, pallies. Bows/guns to hunters first, etc. Then it will go "up" a level for armor, or be opened to the run for items of more general applicability (bows, guns, etc.). In determining priority, it is your RAIDING role that is considered. If you are primarily dps for raids, the fact that you heal for arenas is not considered for PRIMARY suitability. If you want to be a tank but are dpsing on a raid, you must inform the raid leader before the run starts that you want to be considered a different spec for priority purposes. You are free to roll on something, though, if the primary folks can't use.
8.4 Within a class/role, Ep will be offered first to the highest ratio person first, then proceed downward.
8.5 Remember, the idea is gearing the guild so we can progress and experience more content. If an item is a small upgrade or sidegrade for you, it helps us all to pass it to someone for whom it's a big upgrade, if possible. This doesn't mean that you have to pass on one of a very few items that may be an upgrade for you, or something for which you've been waiting a long time, but it's something to be aware of.
8.6 Passing on upgrades (as opposed to sidegrades) is discouraged UNLESS it's for the reasons discussed above in point 8.5. If you pass repeatedly, you may be spoken to by your raid leader. Passing on upgrades hurts the whole guild.
8.7. Totally off spec items (i.e. pvp, soloing) are a 25% discount (please note that with the advent of dual spec capability this discount will rarely be applied)
8.8. Enchants, plans, recipes etc. are first given to a player who will make the item most valuable for the guild. If you are on a seldom-used alt or can't run regularly, we may send it somewhere else regardless of EpGp.
8.9. Mounts (ashes of A'lar, etc.) are awarded by the loot master to players regarless of priority to reward commitment to the guild and stellar play. Legendaries are rewarded in the same manner. Legendaries have a fixed value of 600 GP
8.10. Situations that are not outlined above or in a linked post will be handled at the discretion of the raid leader.
9. Where do I complain?
If there is anything you don't like about the EpGp system or how we've implemented it, please direct your complaints to Rendstriker. He hasn't had much to do with the loot system, but he deals with criticism better than most of the rest of us. But seriously, any officer can help you with a question, but Quin has probably spent the most time futzing around with the system, so you can also ask him stuff.
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The Black Temple