When it was first announced that Blizzard intended to release some sort of remakes of ZG and ZA, people seemed to have mixed feelings about it. Although most people seemed to welcome the opportunity to run through these awesome raid instances again (albeit this time as regular instances) some people seemed annoyed over the fact that Blizzard kept reusing old material, rather than coming up with new things. One question asked to WowInsiders The Queue was "why are people happy about the fact that they get to play old content all over again?" (paraphrased). I am one of those people who is overjoyed about getting to play these instances again, so I'd like to answer that question.
It's not really just "same old all over again"
Alot of people who are negative to Blizzard doing this, treat the remakes like if they were a newer version of the old one. First of all, very little about these remakes is like the old content. In fact, much like the SFK and DM remakes, the only thing that really is exactly the same is the surroundings. The encounters will be completely different. I can imagine the bosses will be true to their theme, ie panther boss about panthers, tiger boss about tigers and so on, but overall the instance will probably be nothing like the old thing except for the interior design.
It's about nostalgia
After a certain amount of time, people get nostalgic about old content, and want to relive the "good old days". Some do it by revisiting old content "manually", running through Karazhan just to get to relive that feeling that you had back then. But there is really nothing like getting a new way to experience old things. This has been used in games (and everywhere else) a thousand times before and it doesn't have to be a bad thing if done the right way. For example, basically everything in a game like Super Smash Bros is reused content. The music are remixed versions of old game tunes, the characters are all from old games and the arenas are versions of different levels from old games. The game would've been so much more boring if they hadn't implemented these nostalgic elements. I think in any game series fans would be overjoyed if the designers decided to implement something from the original game, or some other "old content" into a newer edition of the game. People overall enjoy to be able to replay things that they've enjoyed. Imagine if the newest Sonic game had a level which was exactly like the first zone of the first Sonic? Or if the newest Mega Man had a level which was exactly like Elec Mans? And so on. This kind of reusage of old content is constantly made, because most people enjoy them. You just have to make it at the right time. Reusing content from one game to the next might not be too popular, but these instances haven't been played since Vanilla and BC respectively. Plenty of time has passed since they were current content. Enough time to make them interesting again in my opinion.
Finding a new audience
An even bigger reason game developers decide to release old content all over again is to give a new audience the chance to experience it (aka earn more money). My list of awesome Snes games that I wish were re-released in a new version is long, and that's just from one gaming console. I have an equally long list from just about any old gaming console (FF7 remake probably highest on any of those list though). Same thing with old computer games of course. I have no idea how many Wrath babies there are out there, but plenty enough to warrant reusing old content just to give these people a chance to see these instances for themselves. Like I said, Blizzard are actually re-inventing the old content much enough to have them work nothing like the old raid instances did, but the feeling will still be there (I hope). Re-releasing content is tricky. You want to make it seem interesting and up-to-date for audiences today, without removing too much of the original feeling. This can be done in good ways like with Star Trek the Movie, or in bad ways, like with Tron Legacy. Good: Final Fantasy 1-3 remakes, Resident Evil remakes. Bad: Well I can't think of any bad game remakes right now actually...
They don't have to be mutually exclusive
It doesn't necessarily have to be that releasing old content in a hotter version means Blizzard aren't spending any time actually inventing new stuff for the game. I have no idea of course, but being the optimist that I am I believe they are spending exactly as much time developing new content as they would have in any case, and these old content remakes are just added flavor to the game, a way for them to give us something new to do without having to spend alot of time with it.
Like I said, I am really glad that they are giving me the chance to enjoy these instances again in a new and modern version. I have occasionally gone back there just to check it out, and Zul Aman is one of my favorite raid instances of all. I'm not sure if I'd like it as much if it really was just a revamp of the old content, ie the exactly same bosses just tuned for level 85 players instead. Come to think of it, I'd probably like that too. I never had a chance to raid ZG much when it was current, so for me that would be something new. And the boss fights of ZA were greatly designed in my opinion (Blizzard were kinda in their prime whe they designed the BC raid instances imo, or maybe I just enjoyed the game the most then for other reasons). I am definitely looking forward for these instances, and the only sad thing about them coming, is that the old versions will be gone forever.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Level UPPsala and Video Game Music
Like I mentioned on my blog, I went to see a video game concert this saturday called Level UPPsala (Uppsala is a big swedish city, so that is a word pun). It was awesome. I've been wanting to visit one of these for some time now, there have been several the last years. But I'm not the richest person around, so each time I've had to turn it down because I couldn't afford it. This time around I decided that I just had to check it out.
For this concert they had focused on four game series - Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Zelda and Chrono Trigger. Excellent choices if you ask me. They played a couple of songs from each game, and a couple of songs from other games as well. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to film, and eventhough I don't think they would've noticed if I had sneak-filmed, I am a law abiding citizen *ahem*. I did take a couple of pictures though, and this also gives me a good excuse to link to some of my favorite video game music tunes (whether they were part of the concert or not). The average age of people there was probably ~25 or so.
The first 30 minutes I just had to keep myself from fainting. It's difficult to describe what you feel when a concert of 70+ instruments play Frog's Theme or Final Fantasy 7 Battle Theme, but I think you can imagine that it is pretty overwhelming. The only bad thing about the concert was that they had a regular band (drums, electric guitar and electric bass) to add to some of the songs, and I felt that those instruments got a little too big a part in some songs. They definitely could've relied alot more on the classical instruments for some songs. But overall it was really great, and I hope I get the chance to visit another concert like this soon again.
And now, for some of my favorite video game tunes!
I've always been a huge fan of the various Battle Themes of the Final Fantasy series, and during this concert they played a medley of Battle Themes from Final Fantasy 8, 3 (I think), 7 and 10. It's really fascinating how they manage to make so many versions from the same theme, and they're all great. Below battle theme 1-8.
The same goes with the Chrono Trigger Boss Theme, which they unfortunately didn't play during the concert. I love how they totally freak out on the (fake) music organ in this song.
Speaking of Megaman (or was I?), pretty much any song from that game is awesome. This is current my cell phone tune - Megaman 3 Spark Man.
You can't really mention great video game tunes without mentioning at least one Zelda tune. Here are two great ones, Dark World Theme from Link to the Past (which is Loves cell phone tune, yes we are the nerdy couple) and Song of Storms from Ocarina of Time.
Love was a little sad that they didn't have more than one PC-game tune (Still Alive from Portal) in this concert. He's alot more of a pc-gamer than he ever was a console gamer. Heres one of my favorite PC-Game Tunes, from a game I've never ever played. Viking Battle from Medieval Total War (think I might've linked this before).
Speaking of Love, here are some of his favorites. Starcraft 1 - Terran Music. Deus Ex - Title Theme. Half Life - Valve Theme.
I could seriously go on and link another 150 tunes that I just love, so don't think I haven't linked your favorite song just because I don't like it. I have to stop myself somewhere. Needless to say I am a big fan of video game music overall, and I am glad that they have realized that this is a valid genre of its own, enough to arrange big concerts for it like this. If you've got a favorite video game tune, link it! I'd love to hear what other people out there like.
For this concert they had focused on four game series - Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Zelda and Chrono Trigger. Excellent choices if you ask me. They played a couple of songs from each game, and a couple of songs from other games as well. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to film, and eventhough I don't think they would've noticed if I had sneak-filmed, I am a law abiding citizen *ahem*. I did take a couple of pictures though, and this also gives me a good excuse to link to some of my favorite video game music tunes (whether they were part of the concert or not). The average age of people there was probably ~25 or so.
 |
| The concert was held in the assembly room of Uppsala University. |
 |
| It was basically packed with people. Good! Hopefully this will encourage more concerts of this type. |
And now, for some of my favorite video game tunes!
I've always been a huge fan of the various Battle Themes of the Final Fantasy series, and during this concert they played a medley of Battle Themes from Final Fantasy 8, 3 (I think), 7 and 10. It's really fascinating how they manage to make so many versions from the same theme, and they're all great. Below battle theme 1-8.
The same goes with the Chrono Trigger Boss Theme, which they unfortunately didn't play during the concert. I love how they totally freak out on the (fake) music organ in this song.
Speaking of Megaman (or was I?), pretty much any song from that game is awesome. This is current my cell phone tune - Megaman 3 Spark Man.
You can't really mention great video game tunes without mentioning at least one Zelda tune. Here are two great ones, Dark World Theme from Link to the Past (which is Loves cell phone tune, yes we are the nerdy couple) and Song of Storms from Ocarina of Time.
Love was a little sad that they didn't have more than one PC-game tune (Still Alive from Portal) in this concert. He's alot more of a pc-gamer than he ever was a console gamer. Heres one of my favorite PC-Game Tunes, from a game I've never ever played. Viking Battle from Medieval Total War (think I might've linked this before).
Speaking of Love, here are some of his favorites. Starcraft 1 - Terran Music. Deus Ex - Title Theme. Half Life - Valve Theme.
I could seriously go on and link another 150 tunes that I just love, so don't think I haven't linked your favorite song just because I don't like it. I have to stop myself somewhere. Needless to say I am a big fan of video game music overall, and I am glad that they have realized that this is a valid genre of its own, enough to arrange big concerts for it like this. If you've got a favorite video game tune, link it! I'd love to hear what other people out there like.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Stop talking about Rift already
It was really difficult for me to write this post. I feel like talk about Rift is everywhere, and I actually don't want to become yet another post about that haussed up game (which might or might not be awesome, I don't have a clue and I don't want to know. Yet). Whether I like it or not, something about Rift is being poked into my consciousness several times a day. I supposed that is how the internet works. It's difficult to hide from the things that interest people even if they don't interest you the slightest (another good example are talks about new expansions). At least some 5ish of the WoW bloggers I'm currently subscribing to talk about nothing but Rift at the moment, while at least 10-15 others talk about it on a regular basis. Even Wowhead has Rift-commercial! I don't mind people talking about other games than WoW now and then. In fact I love reading some thoughts/review on a game that someone has played. I write these posts myself occasionally. But I didn't subscribe to a Rift-blog! People can (and should) do whatever they like with their blogs. My point is not really to tell people to stop talking about Rift. I also realize that by writing this post I am actually doing the very same thing - talking about Rift. But my reaction to all the talk about Rift, and everyone elses reaction to Rift overall, got me thinking. Why is Rift in particular so interesting? So I decided to make a post not about Rift (not really anyway), but more about WoW vs other games in general.
I'll be honest. Although my first attitude towards Rift was exactly the same as it has been towards any new mmorpg the last years, which is modest curiousity, this was quickly turned to annoyance when people didn't seem to be able to talk about anything other than Rift. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who thinks stuff are uncool just because everyone else thinks it cool. You'll never hear me say "I liked that when it was still underground". But I couldn't help like feeling like there could only be two reasons for the overwhelming reaction to Rift. Either it really is an awesome game, or people just grasp for it because it is not WoW. When I read peoples blogsposts about Rift they can say stuff like "Rift is great because I don't feel like I have to be someone. There are new areas to explore. I don't know my class like the back of my hand, and neither does anyone else. When I join up with people we just play our way through, and it works. I feel so much more relaxed".
This is how it works in any new game. Rift is hardly unique in being able to offer a world that is unexplored and a gameplay system of which the gamers yet know nothing. In Rift, the leet-people are yet very, very few. You can run around with shit-gear and not a clue, and no one will give a damn. I can definitely see the fun in that. But this is also exactly what got people hooked to WoW 6 years ago. Although I never played Ultima myself, or EQ or all those other mmorpgs out there, I can only imagine that veteran mmorpgsers were saying the very same thing when they took their first steps in Azeroth all those years ago. WoW also managed to grasp all the new mmorpg gamers, people like me. People who had played a modest amount of computer games (in my case because I had a shitty mac) and who thought that a game like WoW was all they had been looking for. Easy yet compelling.
Between the dawn of WoW and the dawn of Rift there have been a heckload of good mmorpgs. None of them were shit (ok maybe some of them were shit), and they all could've been alot bigger if it wasn't for the fact that WoW had already snagged the market. People needed alot of incentive to leave the community that WoW had become, in most cases people chose the other game because it was not WoW. Personally I would've loved to play games like Warhammer, GW, LotrO and a bunch of other games alot more than I have, but I just couldn't pay for two games and WoW is where all my friends were. If the gameplays were equal between the two games, the community will be the tipping factor for most of us. And WoW has definitely built up a strong community.
So why has Rift suddenly become so insanely interesting and popular? Is it really that much better than the abovementioned games and all the other ones that I haven't mentioned? Like I said, I don't have a clue because I haven't tried it yet. My guess would be that it is a competent game with its strengths and weakness, just as any other game released the last 6 years. Just as WoW. Yet people seem to greet it like Messiah.
It might just be. It might just be that what really differs Rift from all the abovementioned games, and really any mmorpg released between WoW and now, is the timing. Rift might've managed to enter the scene exactly when people start thinking - "maybe I am done with WoW? Do I really enjoy this anylonger or do I just log on because I've always have?". We thought things would be better after the end-wrath chaos that broke up many big and small guilds and had many people "take a break" ie quit WoW alltogether. We thought Cataclysm would give us that joy of exploration and ignorance yet again. Yet the trend continues. People are still weary. I read blog post after blog post about guilds that are falling apart. About guilds that are having trouble getting their raids on the road because people don't sign. My guild is only one of many that recently has had a couple of its best members leave because they wanted to try something else.
What these people really want to do is save what is left of their enjoyment of the game. 6 years ago it was ok to spend 3 months and countless hours on downing a boss. Now people nerdrage after 2 weeks of failures. Remember when you had fun leveling a profession? When mining for 5 hours straight wasn't like pulling a tooth? The fun of many people in WoW today rests on a tiny, tiny thread and the slightest shake will have them give it all up. Personally I am still having as much fun as ever. I level my alts, I wipe my ass off in 25mans, I gear and regear and regear again, I do instances for the umptififth time. But even Love is starting to feel like he's lost some of the fun in WoW. He's playing less and less and has started looking for options (albeit not other mmorpgs yet). He's not alone, like I said I've seen this attitude among alot of guildies lately. At first they blame the guild, or the class changes, or the new expansion, then they move on and try to find their fun somewhere else in the game and when that doesn't work either (because they're really bored with the game) they decide to quit and look for something else. And who stands there waiting for them with open arms? Rift.
I'll be honest. Although my first attitude towards Rift was exactly the same as it has been towards any new mmorpg the last years, which is modest curiousity, this was quickly turned to annoyance when people didn't seem to be able to talk about anything other than Rift. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who thinks stuff are uncool just because everyone else thinks it cool. You'll never hear me say "I liked that when it was still underground". But I couldn't help like feeling like there could only be two reasons for the overwhelming reaction to Rift. Either it really is an awesome game, or people just grasp for it because it is not WoW. When I read peoples blogsposts about Rift they can say stuff like "Rift is great because I don't feel like I have to be someone. There are new areas to explore. I don't know my class like the back of my hand, and neither does anyone else. When I join up with people we just play our way through, and it works. I feel so much more relaxed".
This is how it works in any new game. Rift is hardly unique in being able to offer a world that is unexplored and a gameplay system of which the gamers yet know nothing. In Rift, the leet-people are yet very, very few. You can run around with shit-gear and not a clue, and no one will give a damn. I can definitely see the fun in that. But this is also exactly what got people hooked to WoW 6 years ago. Although I never played Ultima myself, or EQ or all those other mmorpgs out there, I can only imagine that veteran mmorpgsers were saying the very same thing when they took their first steps in Azeroth all those years ago. WoW also managed to grasp all the new mmorpg gamers, people like me. People who had played a modest amount of computer games (in my case because I had a shitty mac) and who thought that a game like WoW was all they had been looking for. Easy yet compelling.
Between the dawn of WoW and the dawn of Rift there have been a heckload of good mmorpgs. None of them were shit (ok maybe some of them were shit), and they all could've been alot bigger if it wasn't for the fact that WoW had already snagged the market. People needed alot of incentive to leave the community that WoW had become, in most cases people chose the other game because it was not WoW. Personally I would've loved to play games like Warhammer, GW, LotrO and a bunch of other games alot more than I have, but I just couldn't pay for two games and WoW is where all my friends were. If the gameplays were equal between the two games, the community will be the tipping factor for most of us. And WoW has definitely built up a strong community.
So why has Rift suddenly become so insanely interesting and popular? Is it really that much better than the abovementioned games and all the other ones that I haven't mentioned? Like I said, I don't have a clue because I haven't tried it yet. My guess would be that it is a competent game with its strengths and weakness, just as any other game released the last 6 years. Just as WoW. Yet people seem to greet it like Messiah.
It might just be. It might just be that what really differs Rift from all the abovementioned games, and really any mmorpg released between WoW and now, is the timing. Rift might've managed to enter the scene exactly when people start thinking - "maybe I am done with WoW? Do I really enjoy this anylonger or do I just log on because I've always have?". We thought things would be better after the end-wrath chaos that broke up many big and small guilds and had many people "take a break" ie quit WoW alltogether. We thought Cataclysm would give us that joy of exploration and ignorance yet again. Yet the trend continues. People are still weary. I read blog post after blog post about guilds that are falling apart. About guilds that are having trouble getting their raids on the road because people don't sign. My guild is only one of many that recently has had a couple of its best members leave because they wanted to try something else.
What these people really want to do is save what is left of their enjoyment of the game. 6 years ago it was ok to spend 3 months and countless hours on downing a boss. Now people nerdrage after 2 weeks of failures. Remember when you had fun leveling a profession? When mining for 5 hours straight wasn't like pulling a tooth? The fun of many people in WoW today rests on a tiny, tiny thread and the slightest shake will have them give it all up. Personally I am still having as much fun as ever. I level my alts, I wipe my ass off in 25mans, I gear and regear and regear again, I do instances for the umptififth time. But even Love is starting to feel like he's lost some of the fun in WoW. He's playing less and less and has started looking for options (albeit not other mmorpgs yet). He's not alone, like I said I've seen this attitude among alot of guildies lately. At first they blame the guild, or the class changes, or the new expansion, then they move on and try to find their fun somewhere else in the game and when that doesn't work either (because they're really bored with the game) they decide to quit and look for something else. And who stands there waiting for them with open arms? Rift.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Pointers for Successful Raiding
We're there again. The waypoint which all guilds seem to get to every now and then, where some people want to go one way and some people want to go another way. Everything was going just fine and suddenly you smash into a brick wall. Choices have to be made. Whom do you accomodate? Can you make everyone happy? Who decides which way to go? My guild is a dedicated 25 man raiding guild (one of the few left on my server), and so far we have been doing just fine. We managed to survive the end-expansion blues towards the end of Wrath by simply biting it through. Eventhough everyone was dead tired of ICC we continued to raid. We managed to gather a whole lot of people from other guilds who had decided to put the raiding on ice. Apparently people really wanted to raid eventhough no one thought the content was all that anylonger. When Cataclysm came, we were among the few guilds who had enough raiders to get started right away. Most guilds on my server didn't even have enough people for 10 mans, especially not considering the difficulty level of the raids. We started out with 2 10 man groups, of which both did well and somewhere around the beginning of 2011 did we start doing 25 mans again. Most of the current content did fall under our feet without much trouble. All around me I saw other guilds struggling to complete on 10 man what we had little trouble to complete in 25 man. We did really good progress. If our first struggle was at the end of Wrath, we had a small one before the 25 man started (where some people felt left out and things like it), we have now encountered our third issue. Hardmodes.
We have cleared everything on 10 man and just about everything on 25 man, so everyone in the guild agrees that 25 man hardmodes is the next natural target. We didn't have much trouble with Halfus (especially not after the nerf) and we managed with Chimaeron after a couple of (ok, many) wipes. Now we are currently struggling with Atramedes and have got him to 20% at best, when writing this (UPDATE, he is now downed). The problem with Atramedes is that he is easy, as compared to Chimaeron. The things you have to get right in that fight are fairly straighforward. In fact it is exactly like in normal mode, only you have adds and everything is less forgiving. Unlike Chimaeron, Atramedes is very little about split second decisions and perfect timing. And yet we fail. And right now we are having trouble deciding where to go next. Boot the failures asap, or work with the team we've got? People have different ideas.
This is far from the first time I've been in this kind of situation. This kind of issue was what got me to leave my old guild. I don't switch guilds lightly, the last 4 years I have only done so once, and that was when I thought there really was no other alternative, and I had struggled to get my old guild on their feet for months (or probably more). My current guild is nowhere near the situation my old guild was in, we still have plenty of time to adapt to the problem and actually do something about it. It got me thinking - how do we end up in these kind of situations and how can we avoid them in the future?
Plenty of good posts have been written about guild management and administrative issues that need to be handled for successful raiding. Alot hangs of course in having good, capable, enthusiastic officers (and guild leader) who make things happen. My points will cover an even more general area. Many of these things might sound obvious or easy, and they are in theory. In practice however, guilds often get trouble because they didn't practically manage to solve these points in a satisfactory manner.
Make clear goals
This is the very essence of a successful raiding guild. Whatever raid guild you decide to be, everything from 10 man casual "raid whenever we feel like it" to 25 man hard core "raid 4 times a week" need to make absolutely sure that everyone who raids know what kind of raid they're in.
If you aim to start a raiding guild or start raiding with the guild you've already got, no matter if you've done it before and just were on a break, make sure you've set the above questions in stone before you get started. This doesn't mean at all that you can never change them (I'll get to that) but people need to know what they sign for. Alot of unhappy faces will be had if person X thinks he signs for a raid where everyone has to come fully prepared (and does so) and person Y thinks he signs for a raid where it is ok that he hasn't got the rep epic gloves yet. They will both stare at eachother with irritation in the end and you need to be able to point towards the guild rules to avoid this kind of trouble.
Equally important is to have a clear plan for how you will treat people who didn't get into the raid group for one reason or another. Will you treat all reserves equally, although there might be different reasons for why they didn't get to join (player not good enough, or too many of the same class for example)? If you have some kind of token system (epgp, dkp), will you award reserves the same as people in the raid? Will you rotate reserves?
Some people can't tell several days in advance if they will be able to make it or not. Some people really prefer it if they can plan the raid into their schedule as soon as possible. It could be immensely annoying for someone who has a family to plan for a raid one evening only to notice that he was put on reserve. Equally bad is it for someone who works a job with short notice changes, where they might have to change their raiding plans at last minute notice, if they don't have the leeway to do so.
Get enough players
This might sound obvious again but in practice it really isn't. Once you've decided what kind of raids you want to do, you have to find enough people to fill those types of raids. How many people you need depends completely on what raids you want to do. Even when accounting for 25 man vs 10 man raids there are more factors that play in. Will you replace people who are having a bad day? In that case you need replacements and therefore need a bigger raid group than just to be able to fill your 10/25 man group. Some people must need to be reserves, so that everyone currently in the raid know that if they can't perform, someone else will be ready to fill their slot. If you prefer raiding as far as you can get with your group no matter of personal performance, you need alot less people on the reserve list, actually it might even be better to have as few people there as possible, or have some kind of system for rotating people.
Few things can lower peoples morales as much as raids that are cancelled due to lack of people, either it is pure amounts or lack of skilled people. Make sure you have a good foundation, and that you know how much you can count on everyone to sign, so that you know approximately how many people you have for each run.
Have patience, but not too much patience
Few guilds, not even the really leet ones, will replace someone for any mistake. Everyone does mistakes, and everyone needs practice and to have tried the fight some, before they can get it right. Even if you are in a guild who have decided to not give people too many chances, it's not always a good thing to replace someone who might have got a feel for things with someone who has to learn it all over, or get "warmed up". On the other hand, few guild get very far if they accept anything from their raiders. This is especially true in current content. Even if you have decided what kind of demands you're putting on the raid, in terms of gear/consumables/skills/knowledge, you need to have a plan for which mistakes to point out, and which are less of a problem. This too depends alot on the people you raid with. Some people find it ok that the raid leaders yells about every little thing, some people will only perform worse if you point out even near to meaningless mistakes. Your (as a guild and as a raid leader) level of patience too is something you have to make clear before you start raiding.
Be informative
Like I said, nothing has to be definitive. If you decide that your guild is ready to start a new path, or simply has to change to adapt to a new situation, make sure everyone knows about the changes and what they will mean. It is basically point one (Make Clear Goals) all over again. Just because you've been clear about the initial plans, doesn't mean you should stop being absolutely clear about any ongoing or actual changes to these plans. I have seen alot of times where a guild has one goal, officers/guild leader/raid leader decides to change those goals (which is totally ok in itself) but doesn't throuroughly communicate what these changes will mean to the rest of the raiders. Not only is there a chance that not everyone agrees with the changes, as soon as people start having different ideas about what the goal of the raiding is, you will have a foundation for arguments.
Treat everyone equally
It is so extremely easy to slip, when it comes to treating everyone equally. Yet there are few things that can bring more problems to a guild than when people don't feel like they are being treated fairly. There are many areas in which this can occur, and unfortunately this happens even if you are absolutely clear about the rules and even, probably, if you are 100% fair in your treatment of all the raiders. But every measurement taken to avoid unfair treatment will save you a whole lot of trouble. People who are being set on reserve are one big area in which this problem can arise. Make sure they know exactly why they are reserves and how they can change that in the future (which depends on why they were reserves of course).
The biggest reason problems like these arise at all, are rarely because of new players who join the guild. It is most often old players who haven't adapted to new content, but who presume they will be treated the same way as always. New players who might just see "a slacker who for some reason still get to be treated like the rest of us" will of course be annoyed. Make sure that being an old member, officer or anything really, won't exclude you from the rules. If your rules say that you will replace someone who is playing badly, this must include everyone in the raid (unless you have certain rules for certain members and everyone is ok with that). I have personally been affected by this when everyone was expected to use TS to communicate through raids, except one person who didn't have to because she "didn't like to talk on TS". I have written a whole post on this which I might post some day, but needless to say it was very confusing for everyone in the raid when someone got this kind of special treatment just because she was an old guild member.
It will be extremely difficult, and one could question if it is at all completely possible, but if you manage to get the above things under control, you are a big step closer to successful raiding!
We have cleared everything on 10 man and just about everything on 25 man, so everyone in the guild agrees that 25 man hardmodes is the next natural target. We didn't have much trouble with Halfus (especially not after the nerf) and we managed with Chimaeron after a couple of (ok, many) wipes. Now we are currently struggling with Atramedes and have got him to 20% at best, when writing this (UPDATE, he is now downed). The problem with Atramedes is that he is easy, as compared to Chimaeron. The things you have to get right in that fight are fairly straighforward. In fact it is exactly like in normal mode, only you have adds and everything is less forgiving. Unlike Chimaeron, Atramedes is very little about split second decisions and perfect timing. And yet we fail. And right now we are having trouble deciding where to go next. Boot the failures asap, or work with the team we've got? People have different ideas.
This is far from the first time I've been in this kind of situation. This kind of issue was what got me to leave my old guild. I don't switch guilds lightly, the last 4 years I have only done so once, and that was when I thought there really was no other alternative, and I had struggled to get my old guild on their feet for months (or probably more). My current guild is nowhere near the situation my old guild was in, we still have plenty of time to adapt to the problem and actually do something about it. It got me thinking - how do we end up in these kind of situations and how can we avoid them in the future?
Plenty of good posts have been written about guild management and administrative issues that need to be handled for successful raiding. Alot hangs of course in having good, capable, enthusiastic officers (and guild leader) who make things happen. My points will cover an even more general area. Many of these things might sound obvious or easy, and they are in theory. In practice however, guilds often get trouble because they didn't practically manage to solve these points in a satisfactory manner.
Make clear goals
This is the very essence of a successful raiding guild. Whatever raid guild you decide to be, everything from 10 man casual "raid whenever we feel like it" to 25 man hard core "raid 4 times a week" need to make absolutely sure that everyone who raids know what kind of raid they're in.
- How big? 10 man or 25 man?
- How often? Whenever you can/feel like it or a set amount per week?
- What setup? How will you treat reserves or replacements?
- What kind of signing? Do you want people to be able to sign long in advance or is it ok to sign the same evening?
- How demanding? Come as you are or fully prepared? (Flasks, gear, tactics)
- How serious? Everyone tries their best or replacing "bad ones". Penalties or no penalties?
If you aim to start a raiding guild or start raiding with the guild you've already got, no matter if you've done it before and just were on a break, make sure you've set the above questions in stone before you get started. This doesn't mean at all that you can never change them (I'll get to that) but people need to know what they sign for. Alot of unhappy faces will be had if person X thinks he signs for a raid where everyone has to come fully prepared (and does so) and person Y thinks he signs for a raid where it is ok that he hasn't got the rep epic gloves yet. They will both stare at eachother with irritation in the end and you need to be able to point towards the guild rules to avoid this kind of trouble.
Equally important is to have a clear plan for how you will treat people who didn't get into the raid group for one reason or another. Will you treat all reserves equally, although there might be different reasons for why they didn't get to join (player not good enough, or too many of the same class for example)? If you have some kind of token system (epgp, dkp), will you award reserves the same as people in the raid? Will you rotate reserves?
Some people can't tell several days in advance if they will be able to make it or not. Some people really prefer it if they can plan the raid into their schedule as soon as possible. It could be immensely annoying for someone who has a family to plan for a raid one evening only to notice that he was put on reserve. Equally bad is it for someone who works a job with short notice changes, where they might have to change their raiding plans at last minute notice, if they don't have the leeway to do so.
Get enough players
This might sound obvious again but in practice it really isn't. Once you've decided what kind of raids you want to do, you have to find enough people to fill those types of raids. How many people you need depends completely on what raids you want to do. Even when accounting for 25 man vs 10 man raids there are more factors that play in. Will you replace people who are having a bad day? In that case you need replacements and therefore need a bigger raid group than just to be able to fill your 10/25 man group. Some people must need to be reserves, so that everyone currently in the raid know that if they can't perform, someone else will be ready to fill their slot. If you prefer raiding as far as you can get with your group no matter of personal performance, you need alot less people on the reserve list, actually it might even be better to have as few people there as possible, or have some kind of system for rotating people.
Few things can lower peoples morales as much as raids that are cancelled due to lack of people, either it is pure amounts or lack of skilled people. Make sure you have a good foundation, and that you know how much you can count on everyone to sign, so that you know approximately how many people you have for each run.
Have patience, but not too much patience
Few guilds, not even the really leet ones, will replace someone for any mistake. Everyone does mistakes, and everyone needs practice and to have tried the fight some, before they can get it right. Even if you are in a guild who have decided to not give people too many chances, it's not always a good thing to replace someone who might have got a feel for things with someone who has to learn it all over, or get "warmed up". On the other hand, few guild get very far if they accept anything from their raiders. This is especially true in current content. Even if you have decided what kind of demands you're putting on the raid, in terms of gear/consumables/skills/knowledge, you need to have a plan for which mistakes to point out, and which are less of a problem. This too depends alot on the people you raid with. Some people find it ok that the raid leaders yells about every little thing, some people will only perform worse if you point out even near to meaningless mistakes. Your (as a guild and as a raid leader) level of patience too is something you have to make clear before you start raiding.
Be informative
Like I said, nothing has to be definitive. If you decide that your guild is ready to start a new path, or simply has to change to adapt to a new situation, make sure everyone knows about the changes and what they will mean. It is basically point one (Make Clear Goals) all over again. Just because you've been clear about the initial plans, doesn't mean you should stop being absolutely clear about any ongoing or actual changes to these plans. I have seen alot of times where a guild has one goal, officers/guild leader/raid leader decides to change those goals (which is totally ok in itself) but doesn't throuroughly communicate what these changes will mean to the rest of the raiders. Not only is there a chance that not everyone agrees with the changes, as soon as people start having different ideas about what the goal of the raiding is, you will have a foundation for arguments.
Treat everyone equally
It is so extremely easy to slip, when it comes to treating everyone equally. Yet there are few things that can bring more problems to a guild than when people don't feel like they are being treated fairly. There are many areas in which this can occur, and unfortunately this happens even if you are absolutely clear about the rules and even, probably, if you are 100% fair in your treatment of all the raiders. But every measurement taken to avoid unfair treatment will save you a whole lot of trouble. People who are being set on reserve are one big area in which this problem can arise. Make sure they know exactly why they are reserves and how they can change that in the future (which depends on why they were reserves of course).
The biggest reason problems like these arise at all, are rarely because of new players who join the guild. It is most often old players who haven't adapted to new content, but who presume they will be treated the same way as always. New players who might just see "a slacker who for some reason still get to be treated like the rest of us" will of course be annoyed. Make sure that being an old member, officer or anything really, won't exclude you from the rules. If your rules say that you will replace someone who is playing badly, this must include everyone in the raid (unless you have certain rules for certain members and everyone is ok with that). I have personally been affected by this when everyone was expected to use TS to communicate through raids, except one person who didn't have to because she "didn't like to talk on TS". I have written a whole post on this which I might post some day, but needless to say it was very confusing for everyone in the raid when someone got this kind of special treatment just because she was an old guild member.
It will be extremely difficult, and one could question if it is at all completely possible, but if you manage to get the above things under control, you are a big step closer to successful raiding!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
My UI - March 2011
Readers who have been following this blog for a while might remember that I completely redid my UI when 4.0 was released. That wasn't because I was unhappy with my old one, but simply because nothing of it worked anymore. I trashed it entirely. Since I, at the time, couldn't be arsed to redo my UI from scratch all over again, I decided to go with a ready-set one instead. I chose Tukui. Also, I replaced Clique and Grid with Vuhdo. Let's take a look.
This is what my UI looked like towards the end of Wrath. I liked it. Grid is nice and small compared to vuhdo which is alot bulkier. I used Xperl as unit frames and Dominos as bar mod. Dominos was nice because you could customize your bars pretty much the way you liked, moving the around the screen placing them where it fit you. The above was my healing layout, but I used another for tanking.
Here I chose to keep my main skills closer to my char, in the middle of the screen. This way I could easily see which skills were on cooldown. But then I had to change it all.
Messy eh? What is wrong in this picture? First of all, I feel like Vuhdo is taking too much space. Secondly. although Tukui is really neat and clean, it actually bothers me that I can't move the bars around. It forces me to place all my skills cluttered on the bars, and that's just not good. Target is at the bottom of the screen, which is ok, but I actually prefer it on top because the more thing I have at the bottom of the screen, the tougher it gets to target stuff behind me and move around. You will also notice that some bars are currently obscuring eachother, also bad (although not entirely difficult to fix).
I tried moving Vuhdo to the left part of my screen. It still doesn't feel completely right.
Then I realized I could just size down Vuhdo to be more minimalistic like Grid. This worked fairly well but I noticed one huge issue. Icons and things were still ok and visible enough, so was hp, but on the other hand the addon didn't always notice which character I was clicking on. Several times did it think I was clicking the character next to the one I was clicking on, which turned out to be quite dangerous before I understood what was the problem. I had to broaden the bars somewhat for it to work better.
Right now I am considering taking a couple of hours to rebuild my old Wrath-ui. Problem is, there are alot of things about Vuhdo that I really like. It is alot easier to use than Grid for one thing. Grid comes pretty "naked" which means you have to get extra features for just about everything if you want Grid to do that. That means Grid is small in itself, but also alot trickier to get to do what you want. Also it is basically like Grid and Clique in one, as the "clique" function is part of Vuhdo, saving up an addon (it wouldn't suprise me if Vuhdo takes more memory than Grid and Clique combined though, so this isn't a huge benefit). Vuhdo is very easily customizable, it also has a couple of smart-cast functions (like ressing out of combat). Oh the dilemma...
This is what my UI looked like towards the end of Wrath. I liked it. Grid is nice and small compared to vuhdo which is alot bulkier. I used Xperl as unit frames and Dominos as bar mod. Dominos was nice because you could customize your bars pretty much the way you liked, moving the around the screen placing them where it fit you. The above was my healing layout, but I used another for tanking.
Here I chose to keep my main skills closer to my char, in the middle of the screen. This way I could easily see which skills were on cooldown. But then I had to change it all.
Messy eh? What is wrong in this picture? First of all, I feel like Vuhdo is taking too much space. Secondly. although Tukui is really neat and clean, it actually bothers me that I can't move the bars around. It forces me to place all my skills cluttered on the bars, and that's just not good. Target is at the bottom of the screen, which is ok, but I actually prefer it on top because the more thing I have at the bottom of the screen, the tougher it gets to target stuff behind me and move around. You will also notice that some bars are currently obscuring eachother, also bad (although not entirely difficult to fix).
I tried moving Vuhdo to the left part of my screen. It still doesn't feel completely right.
Then I realized I could just size down Vuhdo to be more minimalistic like Grid. This worked fairly well but I noticed one huge issue. Icons and things were still ok and visible enough, so was hp, but on the other hand the addon didn't always notice which character I was clicking on. Several times did it think I was clicking the character next to the one I was clicking on, which turned out to be quite dangerous before I understood what was the problem. I had to broaden the bars somewhat for it to work better.
Right now I am considering taking a couple of hours to rebuild my old Wrath-ui. Problem is, there are alot of things about Vuhdo that I really like. It is alot easier to use than Grid for one thing. Grid comes pretty "naked" which means you have to get extra features for just about everything if you want Grid to do that. That means Grid is small in itself, but also alot trickier to get to do what you want. Also it is basically like Grid and Clique in one, as the "clique" function is part of Vuhdo, saving up an addon (it wouldn't suprise me if Vuhdo takes more memory than Grid and Clique combined though, so this isn't a huge benefit). Vuhdo is very easily customizable, it also has a couple of smart-cast functions (like ressing out of combat). Oh the dilemma...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)