GuildWatch: Let's all go to the movies
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 5th 2006 at 11:52PM
Blue Forge Fire (Bloodhoof-H) sent us two of their recruitment commercials to show this week. If you like this one, you'll love the one after the jump.
Yup, once again it's time for GuildWatch, your weekly dose of guild drama, downings, and recruitment notices. If you want your guild here, email us at wowguildwatch@gmail.com. To read GW, clicky linky below-y.
DRAMA
- Here's Blue Forge Fire's other vid. Funny stuff.
- Ninja Alert - Special Justice Edition: Kokusho, a priest formerly of Sin on Turalyon-A. He grabbed the Eye of Divinity from Domo's chest (only the Eye of Divinity-- he's one of those less grabby ninjas), and when confronted by the guild, said he had to because in his old guild he was second in line for it for the longest time but never got it. Whatever-- they /gkicked him anyway. Another guild on the server, The New Dawn, invited him-- only so they could tell him off /gkick him out again (nice!). Even lowbie guilds won't touch this guy-- looks like ninjaing didn't just cost him his reputation, it's about to cost him 25 bucks.
- Catalyst on Lightning's Blade-A is finally breaking up. Rumor has it a "Stalinist" dictator of a GM, 5-night a week mandatory raiding, "misplaced" DKP loot, and real-life funds stolen to make "this unholy monstrosity of a website" (the tipster's words, not mine) were too much, and the guild has finally given in and dissolved. Better luck next time, guys. (Update: Catalyst responds below.)
- This could be the best guild drama thread ever. Ok, so it's probably fake. In fact, I'm sure it's fake. But I still love it.
- Scarlet Menace on Hyjal-A dropped Grand Widow Faerlina, and sent video to prove it.
- Knights of Virtune on Perenolde-A downed Raggy. Noice!
- Adept Alliance on Eldre'Thelas-A also finished off the big giant fire guy. Pics or it didn't happen! Oh wait, here they are.
- Dominus et Nocte (winner of this week's Best Guild Name award-- because we're suckers for cool sounding Latin) on Feathermoon-A downed Ossirian with only four pallies left standing.
- With the onset of BC, guild recruiting must be at an all time low. Raid levels are dropping to 25-man, raid attendance is down for the holidays, and with PVP coming up, people just aren't looking for guilds or looking to recruit. That said, here's the few notices we heard about this week.
- S O U L S O C I E T Y is looking for members 40+ on Detheroc-H.
- The Grunge on Hakkar-H wants more peeps to start endgame raiding.
Filed under: Guilds, PvP, Features, Guildwatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Vlad Dec 6th 2006 9:42AM
You know I have been in Catalyst since it was created. I don't see it dissolving. Hell we took a break from raiding so people could PvP and level their alts. So Glory of War people left. That doesn't mean we dissolved. Actually if it did anything it put us at a good amount of raiders for BC. So next time make sure to research before you post some info you get from someone who got upset because they didn't like what was going on and they are just trying to bash a guild.
Wartoad Dec 6th 2006 9:52AM
Re: First video.
Oh, yea. Before I played WoW, my wife totally ignored me. But now that I play 3 hours a night, she's all over me.
With her lawyer.
Tylmarande Dec 6th 2006 11:40AM
Your information about Catalyst is pretty over the top, not to mention completely misleading. At no time was there ever "manditory" raiding, and as a former officer and one that has since left Catalyst, I can assure you that if any real life funds were donated in the making of the website, then they went exactly where the person donating wanted the money to go. As for the GM of Catalyst, Machia took two small guilds and forged them into an extremely high quality end game guild that was able to clear BWL just a couple months after first entering the dungeon.
I left because of my changing schedule, and the fact that I'm more about just casually playing with my friends now than raiding. Catalyst won't dissolve, and in fact I can see them leading the charge into the new BC content when it's released come January.
Mike Schramm Dec 6th 2006 12:26PM
I call them as I get them, guys. Did you not require raiding 5 days a week? Did you not have problems with DKP? I doubt my tipster's allegations aren't true-- I just think you feel differently about them. At any rate, good luck with the guild.
Tylmarande Dec 6th 2006 12:38PM
No, there was no required raiding whatsoever, and having been the one that updated all Catalyst dkp, there was never any problem with it....and if there was a discrepency (I'm human, I make mistakes), it was rectified as soon as possible to the satisfaction of everyone. You can stand behind your tipster all you want, doesn't make it true. Don't believe everything everyone tells you, instead, ask the people who were there and aren't afraid to stand behind their statements with their names. Thank you
Machia Dec 6th 2006 2:07PM
I normally wouldn't visit your site (in fact I never knew it existed), but someone threw up a link on our forums. Yea I'll just mirror Tylmarande's words here as my own. 5 night a week raiding? We raided Monday through Thursday.. take a look at our DKP page http://catalyst.dkphost.net/f/listmembers.php?s= and look at the dates. As far as mandatory raids? Nothing in Catalyst was ever mandatory, not raiding, not farming, not donating, not posting, etc. We raided from 7:45 to 11:00 4 nights a week.. hardly a demanding schedule. We had 15 officers who all helped make decisions in the guilds running. We held bi-weekly guild vent meetings so that members could air their issues and ask questions and make comments on recent changes we had made. We didn't allow drama posts, so if that is where the Stalinist reference is coming from then that is pretty laughable.
As for the "real life stolen funds" there was a pay pal donation site set up to help pay for the site maintenance and to help fund a new webpage. No one was forced to donate and a detailed and a consistantly updated recored was kept of the funds and where they were going to on our forums in a stickied post in our main forum. The new site is in production and will be one of the best if not the best alliance guild webpages on our server. We will feature video uploads, screenshot uploads, a Wiki page for strats, fully integrated roster with guild bank reporting, integrated forums, integrated dkp page, events posting, and more for our members.
As for the last bit, Catalyst is not dissolving. At the moment we have 145 members in the guild. About 20 who had once came from Glory of War have left to reform the guild because they want a more casual atmosphere when BC is released. Catalyst will remain an end game raiding guild going into BC. We won't be raiding until BC because there is no point, as almost every other guild on the server is doing. However, we will be pvping on a daily basis. We had 46 people logged in last night all pvping. Yea I guess we are shell of our former selves *boggle*.
As for this reporter or whatever you want to call yourself. Why don't you at least attempt some sort of verfication on your "informant" before posting up whatever drivel some disgruntled ex-member decides to bring you. You may want to change the name of your site to www.wowmisinformer.com I don't see how anyone is going to believe half of the lies written here if you continue this path of putting up "information" without it coming from a credible source and without verifying it.
I can provide screenshots, documentation or any other source to back up my claims. Can your "tipster" do that or did he do that? Highly doubtful. Nice try though at stiring up some sort of drama. Better luck next time though.
Mike Schramm Dec 6th 2006 2:46PM
Methinks the guild doth protest too much. Anyway, great to hear you're not breaking up. Party on.
Catalyst Raider Dec 6th 2006 4:21PM
To quote Machia's Catalyst rules:
In order to get ourselves on the right track with the release of the expansion coming around the corner (in about a month) we want to get solidified on our raiding situation. Currently we have 176 members in the guild, of those 176 the total of individual accounts is 110. So we really have 110 guildies that login and are relatively active. Even with this seemingly huge number of "active" guildmates our raids have an unusually dispropotionate amount of players on any given day. One day we'll have to many mages and the next not enough, one day we'll have to many warriors and the next not enough.
This is counterproductive to the goals we are trying to achieve within Catalyst. I would like to see more stability at our raids. Hence the reason for this post. To determine who we have that can raid 4-5 nights out of the week. Floaters/casuals will still be used to fill raid spots as needed as they always have been. However priority will go to those who are
available and who repeatedly show up on the nights they say they will. The full list of requirements is listed below:
What I would like to see is an "application" like the following:
1) Character Name:
2) Class:
3) Spec:
4) Available Raid Days: (Must have a MINIMUM of 4 available days) - Note :
if you are going to be a max of 30 minutes late then you may still put
down that day as available.
5) Will you be purchasing BC when it's released:
6) Do you have a high level of connectivity:
7) What is your connection speed:
If you apply to this you are agreeing to the following:
1) To show up to each of your raid days prepared (proper potions, consumables, repaired, resist gear, etc).
2) To maintain a high record of attendance (85%+) on the days that you've designated as your raid days.
3) Have a proper attitude at each raid and be prepared to spend entire days laying face first in the dirt.
4) To abide by the loot council's decision making process to best distribute loot in a fair and productive way to maximize guild benefit.
5) Actively participate at each raid.
6) Know and fufill your designated class/spec role at each raid.
7) Adquetly research your role in various boss encounters.
8) Perform needed tasks at a high level of competancy and without need for someone to hold your hand while doing it.
What we will be doing after we compile this information is determining our new raid days. We will be raiding Nax 2 days and AQ40 2 days. So your minimum 4 days will include both of those raids. BWL will be added as an after thought and most likely will be incorperated into our least attended day. With the new information we have, it will be apparent to see where our "holes" are for certain classes as well as allow us to more acurately recruit new members into the guild without "overcrowding" classes. This
list will most likely persist through BC (even with 25 man raids we will need 40 raiders for at least several months after the release of the expansion) and will most likely lead to rotations for those with less active raiding schedules. BWL and any other instance that is "Farm Status" will be raided for DKP and this will include Nax and AQ40 once those
instances reach that status.
Again just copy and paste the "application" from above into a post in this thread. Follow my example after this post. We will have a higher standard for these raids and for the members attending them. I won't tolerate people not doing what they are supposed to be doing, afks, rampant DC's, and plain incompetance. If you sign up and have the availability yet aren't able to maintain a high degree of raid ability you simply will be
moved as a floater and will not be given a gaurenteed raid spot.
The concept behind this is simple and if it looks familiar it is because it is. This was nearly the same "application" for our Praetorian raids back in the day. When we instituted that policy we noticed rampant increases in raid attendance, comprehension and member participation. It is our desire to bring that back to our raids as well as bring stability and a sense of direction back. We believe that this can be accomplished best by doing things using this method.
Catalyst Raider Dec 6th 2006 4:22PM
Post subject: Catalyst Raid Info
For various reasons (mainly bloated time constraints) Catalyst is again changing our raiding guidelines. We will also be implementing new requirements as well as a new raiding schedule.
First things first.
Raiding Schedule:
We will update the current schedule on the calendar here soon. For now there is a current raid listing found HERE in the Raiding HQ. Basically, the AQ40/Nax days are under constant change. As we make progression "spurts" and get closer to taking down a specific boss or wing we may switch out days for one another. Hence if we were close to killing Cthun we may make one or both of the Nax days AQ40 for that week. Notice will be given in advance as much as possible, however be prepared to show up a bit
early for raids and read the guild message of the day for the current most accurate raid zone for that day.
Raider Expectation:
We expect all raiders to:
1) Come Prepared - This includes repairing, consumables (mana/health pots at the very least)
2) Listen and execute Raid/Class Leader orders well
3) Listen to verbal commands
4) Not to whine and/or complain about loot
5) Maintain a stable connection (no DC's etc)
6) Minimize AFK's
7) Participate Fully
We've caught on to the people DCing when there is wipes and the raid isn't going well. It's no big secret that people have done that. Those of you who have heard "we need to talk after the raid" hopefully will have less future connection problems. Those with consecutive and continous connection issues will no longer be raiding with us. Unfortunately, DC's especially during boss fights can cause a wipe and it puts the entire raid at risk.
Loot Council Issues:
I don't want to even catch a wiff of someone being disgruntled or disappointed over not getting an item. Again we aren't here to gear up individuals, we are here to gear up the guild. As such we will take several factors into place when we decide on loot counciled items. Nothing is more disgusting then to have an upgrade go out to a fellow guildy only
to see a few people scoff or question why they got that item. Members who have issues with loot council judgements should be reporting those problems to Machia or Luminathor. Unneeded comments in raid/guild/say/tells/TS or anywhere else will be deamed as drama and will be dealt with appropriately. Be happy for your guildmates, eventually we will all be getting geared up.
BWL Loot:
BWL will continue to be DKP based however with the following changes. Those members who are completing their T2 set (whether or not they are wearing the items currently) will be defaulted their last set peice. If more than 1 person is having the peice defaulted to them then it goes to the person with the highest DKP total. If again there is a tie, then it is randomed between 1 and 100.
There may be times when the Loot Council intervens on certain bids (such as loot that obviously doesn't benefit a certain class) and legendary/extrordinarily rare loot. However, these situations should be infrequent as we wan't to encourage the use of DKP at these raids.
Raiders:
The moment a raider is in violation of one of the above regulations or falls below 4 WEEKDAYS (M thru F) of raiding is the moment when they are removed from the list and will become a casual/floater. At this point the guild will fill from available members within the guild and lastly actively recruit if there is not a suitable replacement within the guild.
Lastly, we've been exceedingly lax in how we've run our raids in the past few weeks. Testing out different things and trying to find out what works best as people's views and expectations of the guild change. However, now with the release of the expansion pending, we have decided to buckle down and take raiding "seriously". We plan do have fun but to get the most bang for our buck out of these raids. If raiding 4+ days a week is to vigorous for you and you don't think you can maintain that schedule please let me
know as soon as possible.
Also as a side note: M thru Th raids will no doubt be EXTREMELY expensive raids. These zones are both new content for us so be prepared to wipe and to wipe a lot. If that is something you cannot handle either financially or mentally then please ask to be removed from the list. We will not be able to make exceptions for certain people. We expect for members to be able to farm enough for repair bills and be able to bring the basic consumables to each raid. Extra flasks/protection potions will be provided on an as needed basis by the guild bank. However, all other consumables are the responsibility of the raid member.
Machia Dec 6th 2006 3:53PM
There is a difference between protesting and setting the record straight. Just thought the people who actually spend time reading this WoW styled National Enquirer gone wrong would like to know the facts. I for one won't be visiting this site again, as if I wanted real drama I'd load up our realm forums. By the way, Tylmarande the one posting above me is in the guild Glory of War, not in Catalyst. At least read the blog responses before responding in kind.
Machia Dec 6th 2006 4:07PM
There is a difference between protesting and setting the record straight. Just thought the people who actually spend time reading this WoW styled National Enquirer gone wrong would like to know the facts. I for one won\'t be visiting this site again, as if I wanted real drama I\'d load up our realm forums.
P.s. upon trying to respond again I wasn\'t allowed to make any further comments as my IP was blocked. I have however used an anonymous proxy to post up this response. Good to know you guys at wowinsider really go for the in depth information and block anything that disputes your erronous and one sided views of a situation.
Mike Schramm Dec 6th 2006 4:32PM
Machia, fyi, if you're still here, your IP was never blocked-- we've never done anything like that, and I don't see any reason why we ever would. You're free to post whatever you want. I've cleaned up a few of the double posts in this thread, but feel free to post away and say whatever you feel like saying.
As for GuildWatch itself, this column is supposed to be a "National Enquirer" gossip and rumors type of thing-- it's meant to be poking fun at how seriously people take this guild stuff. If you don't like rest of the site (which is very different from this weekly feature), that's your prerogative.
Finally, Catalyst Raider, you want to back that up with some commentary? What are you trying to show, that they *are* being draconian with their guild "expectations"?
Phareakik Dec 6th 2006 4:33PM
LAWLZ. What a dumb ass site. If people want to propogate drama, they can just go to the realm forums instead of hiding here. The only thing that this site is an "insider" of appears to be someone in GoW's anus.
Phareakik Dec 6th 2006 4:39PM
LAWLZ. If people wanted to stir up drama, then they should have the BALLZ to do it to someone's face, as opposed to hiding it on some Shitty little obscure site. Hahaha, the only thing that this appears to be an "insider" to is someone in GoW's ass.
GG and Q friggin' Q.
Machia Dec 6th 2006 6:52PM
What you failed to mention (and convieniently left out of your response) in your copy and paste forum post is that this was put into place ONLY for raiders who signed up to raid for those 4 days. This was ONLY put into place because of the raiders themselves bitching and complaining about the quality of the raids, lack of the raids, and general discontent over how the raid system was working. Players felt it was too lax. The changes were 1) voted on by the officers, and 2) discussed and reported at the general guild meeting with everyone excited about the changes it would bring.
Your own post shows that it was an "application" process meaning no one was ever forced into raiding or anything else. We didn't want to force those who weren't hardcore raiders into doing something they couldn't do. Rules and regulations are a requirement for every structured form of system. Grow up and get used to it. It was the only thing that could be done to accomodate the players who wanted more stability vs the players who logged in once a week. If you didn't like it fine. Obviously you didn't have the balls to speak up about it then and you obviously don't have the balls to speak up about it now. "A Catalyst Raider"? Use your real name or are you afraid that you'd be called out for whatever lies you feel like spewing. I hope you realize that whatever you are attempting to "uncover" or "reveal" is general knowledge to everyone who was or is currently in the guild. The posts are right up there in our forums. Also realize that although you may be disgruntled many of our members are very happy with the direction of the guild which is why we have 146 members still in it. Please refrain from making yourself look like an ass or at least put up your name so we can bring to light the full situation here.
Machia Dec 6th 2006 7:46PM
Mike, when it took 45 minutes for my 2nd reply to show up in 2 different email boxes, when my first one only took 3 minutes, I assumed that I was being blocked. Evidently, the server is just lagging. I personally don't see the point in this site (I honestly haven't looked at it much at all) because each server and even each guild has to deal with their own drama already, I don't take enjoyment in reading about other guild's drama. But I know magazines like NE and others do well so it makes sense to have a site similar to it. To each their own. I just wanted to get the correct word out and not have whoever else happens to read this site think that Catalyst is somehow going down in flames because one ex-disgruntled member is trying to stir up some drama. I don't know of another end game guild in WoW who hasn't at some point been in the same boat where some "anonymous" person gets PO'd about something and makes it their personal quest to try to bad mouth their previous guild and "friends". At one point in time we had 196 people in the guild. To think you can satify each persons goals and ambitions and somehow keep all of them working together cohesively, while still being friendly with one another is ludicrous. Either way I wasn't worried about this post or any of the other disgruntled posts in the past, however like I said I wanted to get the facts straight. This person has failed in whatever they were attempting to do. I just wanted to come here and let them know that.
Me Dec 6th 2006 10:30PM
Best. GuildWatch. Drama. Ever.
Inana Dec 7th 2006 2:29AM
Did you know that Machia's Stalin Like Butt insisted on Spanking my booty after each boss was downed??
Moron Dec 7th 2006 9:37AM
Less drama, more liking my videos :)
Mike Schramm Dec 7th 2006 10:58AM
Ha, I like your videos, Moron, but I like drama too, so I'm torn :D