The new Looking for Raid (LFR) tool is a new avenue of advancement introduced in 4.3 for characters.  Out for a few weeks, the feature has had enormous popularity with players.  For those of you who haven’t experienced it yet, here is an overview based on my experiences using it.

LFR is raiding with training wheels.  To compensate for throwing a bunch of strangers together, many of whom will be inexperienced or underskilled or just bad as following directions, the fights are stripped down and tuned to be very, very easy.   They are designed to be successfully done provided at least half the raid is conscious and capable of following basic instructions, a difficulty level that is arguably necessary to ever get anything killed in such an environment.  As a result of their ease, they offer low quality loot — just slightly better than the new heroics — and lack the perks of regular raiding like achievements, epic gems and Valor-points-per-boss (LFR awards VP only for completion), or the ability to work on the tier’s legendary.

To use it, one queues through an icon on the menu bar like with random dungeons, and is automatically matched up with 24 other players.  It can be done multiple times a week (although you only have one chance at loot), and will not lock you from doing the raid on normal mode.

Organisation

The group is composed of two tanks, six healers and seventeen DPS.  The fights are designed to always use this same comp, so there is no need for dual spec or talent switching during the raid.

Raid leadership is on a volunteer basis.  To queue as a potential leader, one must check the box on the queuing window along with their usual role – same as is done for the LFD tool.  If the raid leader leaves, a new one is assigned from amongst the other volunteers.  Raid leaders get no special perks or powers and mainly exists as a way of saying “yes I will give any new people instructions if they want them.”  Unlike with a real raid group, here the leadership rarely is required to do anything different than any other raid member, although you shouldn’t volunteer for the job if you’re not interested in explaining the fight mechanics.

Players are in and out of the raid group constantly.  It is not uncommon for people to leave mid-fight, or to start a boss down a few people.  The tool is very efficient about replacing these people the instant a group leaves combat, but the fights as also easy enough that the empty spots are rarely a problem.  For this reason, no player should feel intimidated about having to bow out before a run is finished; it is possible no one would even notice.

Niche

LFR has such a huge scope of utility across all spectrum of players, that it’s hard to just pin as “raiding for casuals,” although this is the thing it is typically billed as.

However incomplete that statement might be, though, it is still very much true.  With the difficulty level so low, even someone who has never played in a raid environment can stumble through it successfully.  The tool is an amazing way to let players see the raiding content they might have not otherwise dared to try.  The DPS checks are minimal, and even a few stronger players can balance out a handful of inexperienced ones.

Additionally, with the [currently] very short queues for DPS and healers, players who don’t raid due to lack of time may also find LFR to be an exceptional tool.  Not longer do forays into raiding content require regularly scheduled groups and hours and hours of attempts learning new bosses and farming old ones.  Instead, these players can opt for a limited “demo” version of the raid instance on their own schedule as an alternative to seeing nothing at all.  Currently, both wings of Dragonsoul in LFR take about an hour each and with so many players in and out constantly, it is not harmful to your teammates if you need to bow out even earlier.

Another advantage is that LFR provides a way for all players, serious or casual, to have an opportunity to try raiding on an alt that they wouldn’t have otherwise raided on.   Whether you just want to get more familiar with that class, or take a break from your main, or practice with them for a potential re-roll, the tool can fulfill this niche.

The LFR tool can also be extremely helpful as a tool to help seasoned raiders become familiar with the fights in advance.  Although the stripped down nature make it nearly useless for learning the mechanics themselves, seeing even the basic version of the fight can be helpful in figuring out position, learning spawn points for adds, what that special mob or ability looks like visually, and getting a general feel for the way the particular fight works.  Instead of just watching that tankspot video, now you’re immersed in it, and you can control the camera angle and zoom yourself. Paired with a written guide or a video, I’ve found the LFR tool to be immeasurably helpful in understanding a fight.

Finally, let’s not discount the huge advantage LFR provides for gearing up new players, alts and rerolls and for filling in gearing holes on raiding characters.  It also allows for main raiders to get their set bonuses faster and get small upgrades more often, and the nerfed tier pieces will still work towards completing a set bonus.  Lastly, as a source of Valor Points, you might choose to get the currency to buy those VP items through LFR rather than LFD.  Although its steeper item level requirement means you can’t just waltz in as a fresh 85, the requirements can still be met by doing the new heroics rather than raiding.

Success Ratio

Queuing at least once weekly on four characters, I’ve had very good luck in terms of success with my LFR groups.   Most bosses take just one or two tries to down, with ample forgiveness for mistakes.  Trash wipes typically only occur when someone facepulls several packs or the boss itself (or both in the case of the slime boss).  The worst group I’ve encountered spent 45 minutes just on the first boss of part 2, which is still a good deal faster than a real raid might take, and they still went one to one shot every following boss.  In the best group, I’ve cleared part 1 of Dragonsoul in just over a half an hour on my lunch break.  The raid is definitely succeeding it its goal to be painless and easy.

Loot

You can roll on loot for each boss in LFR once per week. Once you’ve already beaten that boss, you will be ineligible to roll on loot from that boss again during the week if you continue to queue.  Many of the items are now limited to particular appropriate classes (ie, a rogue cannot roll on a strength sword).  Roll bonuses are given if you are ‘need’ rolling on an item for the spec you are queued as, so if a piece of intel/spirit mail drops, the resto and elem shaman will have an advantage on it over the enhance spec’d one, but the enhancement shaman may still roll for their offset without worrying about the item getting dusted.

The system is far from perfect and is still peppered with bugs and oversights, but overall it is a large improvement over LFD.

Attitudes

Just as any environment in which anonymous strangers are thrown together and forced to interact, LFR certainly contains its share of jerks.  Every group has the one DPS who spams Recount after every attempt to brag about his numbers, and the other guy who spends more time bitching about the weaker DPS than he does doing his own job.  You do encounter those two people who get in a fight over something petty and insist on holding up the entire raid so they can bicker over it.  And yes, there is the guy who tries to publicly shame anyone who makes a mistake or taunt everyone who dies with “newb!”   There are also people who are abusing the system by joining then going AFK, and those lazy people that don’t want to help with trash or run back after a wipe.

However, I have been largely impressed by the bulk of groups.  For every asshole throwing a tantrum, there are three people telling him to shut up.  I have encountered players who have made special effort to explain the fights to the people that ask, who give helpful call outs and reminders, who present solutions instead of complaints.  There are those people who are cheerleaders and in the face of others bitching can say, “we were really close, we can do it, we just need to be a little more disciplined.”   There have been people who win duplicate loot and gracefully hand it out to the second highest roller.  I have seen more people booted for being a jerk than I have for making mistakes or doing low DPS.

Overall, I’ve found it to be a smoother and more enjoyable experience than doing PuG five mans.  The jerks are diluted in a sea of people, and the bad players don’t hurt the raid’s success and there are always at least a couple good and patient players to help teach the inexperienced what to do.

My conclusion on LFR is that it is a wonderful tool that many people will find useful and/or enjoyable.  Since it is only a few weeks old, I suspect that once the novelty wears off and people are capped on valor goodies, the demand for running it will decrease and queue times will grow.  Nevertheless, it is reasonable to believe it will still be one of the most popular game features Blizzard has ever implemented in WoW.   Love it or hate it, the thing is clearly a hit.

As Blizzard scrambles to bribe healers and tanks back into the LFG Randoms using pets and mounts, I would like to talk a little bit about one reason why we’re struggling to find people to fill these needed roles. More specifically, I’d like to talk about what it is like as a healer using the LFG tool this expansion.

The shortage of healers is due to many factors. It is true that some players just prefer DPSing. It is equally true that many people don’t like the additional responsibility that comes with playing a tank or a healer. It may also be the case that some healers were dissuaded from healing this expansion due to the increased difficulty. However, it is also because many healers have started queuing for heroics as DPS (or forgoing randoms entirely) because they are tired of being the punching bag for other players who can’t handle the increased difficulty. Of these points, only the latter one is a legitimate problem, and it is the one I am going to address.

Choosing Pew Pew Over Heals

I consider myself a decent healer on my restoration shaman. I have healed extensively since classic WoW, both in PvP and PvE, in hard modes and regular content, and doing so has been some of the most fun I have in the game. I like the increased challenge in heroic dungeons in theory, but I hate the indirect consequence that has turned every bad PuG into a nightmare of finger pointing and name calling. Healing for LFG PuGs has gone from something that was mildly frustrating on occasion to being completely unbearable anytime there is a bad player or two in the group. As a result, I just will not heal heroic PuGs anymore. If I need to random, I will take a queue that is 45 minutes instead of 5 minutes to do something I enjoy far less, just because I don’t want to deal with being the scapegoat for every other poor player in the game.

This is not an issue unique to me; I have multiple friends in the same circumstances: great healers who just don’t want to put themselves through the torture and abuse of healing PuGs anymore. I have spoken with many more who feel the same, both in-game and on the forums. Players like this may not be the majority but there are obviously enough of us to merit discussion. And while this is our choice, it does impact your LFG queue times by aggravating the existing healer shortage, which is an issue Blizzard is trying to fix as I write this very post.

LFG Heroic Dungeon Climate

In Cataclysm, heroics are designed to be more challenging than Wrath on several levels. Crowd control is more desirable and often mandatory if the team is not overgeared. Avoidable damage is far less forgiving than before, often one-shotting or severely injuring players who don’t pay attention. Healers are no longer responsible, as some like to put it, for “healing stupid.” Although design has shifted, player mentality about how heroics are “supposed” to go has not. Players still expect to be kept alive and at full health regardless of how they play. I would have thought this would have improved as the months passed and more and more players experienced the new content, but it hasn’t.

Of course, it is no surprise to anyone that there are a lot of bad players in heroic randoms because we’ve all encountered them. There are players who take the same nonchalant attitude towards heroics on their grossly-undergeared, fresh 85 tank as they might on their raid-geared main. There are tanks who refuse to use CC because their “threat is fine” even though they take massive amounts of unnecessary damage, or who are incapable of doing a pull without breaking what CC was used. There are tanks who don’t know how to kite, who are trying to tank in DPS or PvP gear, who don’t use their defensive cooldowns, or who chain pull without watching mana or waiting for the rest of the group. There are players of all varieties who stand in void zones, get cleaved by the boss, are terrible at interrupting, or who ignore the adds that need to be killed. There are lots of players that don’t run away from insta-gib mechanics, pull aggro by attacking the wrong mob or laying in too early, players who often suck at positioning, break CC or have no idea how to apply it in the first place. And of course, there are the garden-variety-bad DPSers who put out about half the amount of damage they should be, making the fights far too long.

Dual Spec:  Healer/Scapegoat

Healers have always had increased responsibility by nature of their job. They are also used to fingers being pointed at them when things go wrong (both with and without merit). Unfortunately the difficulty level of this expansion has made things far, far worse. In the past, healers could cover for people’s mistakes. And while PuGs have always full of jerks, before they were appeased by how smoothly runs went no matter how badly people played. All those stupid mistakes before really didn’t matter. Now they do. Now the people who play poorly will die. If they don’t die immediately, they run the healer out of mana later. And when that happens, the player who gets berated or booted isn’t a DPS or tank. The player who is punished the most for mistakes isn’t the person that made them: it is the healer.

It is no consolation to a healer to know that they were not at fault when booted from a group after already investing 45 minutes in a dungeon; knowing it was someone else’s mistake does not give back time lost. The fact that it is the DPS who fails at a mechanic does not make the healer feel better when they have to spend an entire dungeon being berated every time that lousy player dies. The knowledge that healing is designed so healers can’t always keep everyone topped constantly does not filter out the players demanding heals, cursing or name calling when they don’t get them immediately. It doesn’t console the healer to know that after they leave the party (either by choice or by force), the party is going to have the same problem with the replacement since the issue is the group itself. The healer is not comforted through the scapegoating just because they know that the reason they ran out of mana wasn’t because they were using improper spells but because the DPS was so bad that the fight lasted twice as long as it was supposed to. It doesn’t matter who is really to blame when a dungeoning experience has ceased to be fun and started to be legitimately stressful and draining any time a healer gets a group that is less than stellar.

Now What?

To clarify for people who tend to skim articles: this is not a complaint about Cataclysm heroics being more challenging. While I understand that some healers don’t like the new design, I’m not concerned with those players; you can’t please everyone. Overall, most healers — myself included — seem to enjoy actually having things to do in heroics, unlike Wrath heroics where we were barely needed. And the reality is, healing is not really that much harder once you learn how to manage the new playstyle assuming people aren’t taking excessive damage.  However, it seems like a design failure when an indirect result of the difficulty level is that players who like healing and prefer to heal refuse to do so because being brutalised by other players — who regularly do take excessive damage — has made a job they previously loved into a miserable experience.

Blizzard obviously can’t control the actions of their players, but their design does influence the environment and attitude, and one could argue it is precisely that design that is encouraging players to act poorly. As long as the punishment for failing at a mechanic is damage to a player, healers will be blamed regardless of whose fault it actually is. Between this and the fact that you need addons for tracking fails or discerning death reports (the default combat log is too incomprehensible for the average players), it far too easy to shift the blame towards the healer because the punishment for every mistake is damage, the very thing healers are tasked with solving.

I don’t know of an elegant solution to these circumstances without reverting heroics to super easy and giving healers godmode again, which I don’t think anyone wants. However, I think the issue is worth discussion. There has to be some other way to keep the challenge level while keeping individual player responsibility from drifting to other players. Perhaps possible alternative solutions should be explored, whether it is changing the consequences for failing at mechanics to something that gimps DPS or threat (like Putricide’s slime debuff) rather than damage or deaths, or making it easy to see why someone died or why things went wrong within the default UI.

What do you think?  Have you had similar experiences?  Have you been kicked from a PuG you were healing for someone else’s mistake, or seen it happen to another?  Do you still heal in LFG PuGs?

As Tier 11 raiding rolls along in the new Cataclysm expansion, it has been noted by many players and guilds that recruiting is becoming an increasing challenge, more than ever in the past. Although well-known, highly successful, and/or very large guilds might not face this issue, the average small guild is struggling to stay afloat. Although multiple factors are surely at play, I think the biggest culprit is the [otherwise-awesome] new guild system.

When the new system was announced and Cataclysm dropped, players scampered to create new guilds or align themselves with an existing one in order to take advantage of the new advantages. However, this may have been done haphazardly, because the landscape now looks like there are too many guilds with too few players. Instead of a hypothetical fifty guilds with solid rosters of active players, most servers ended up with a hundred guilds that all needed additional members to succeed in their goals. In an ideal world, or at least one without repercussions for moving guilds, this probably would correct itself in time as players who wanted to raid but couldn’t with their current guild would shift allegiances, and failing guilds would collapse or merge into others to create a sustainable amount of guilds that matched the demand of the players who wanted to raid.

However, this is complicated by the second major factor: Guild Reputation. With the new guild system providing lots of minor perks, rewards and advantages to players, Blizzard also introduced guild reputation to require individual contribution and to encourage guild loyalty. Unfortunately, what “encourages loyalty” also discourages moving on when appropriate. Players who might have otherwise been more open to seeking other opportunities and investigating new guilds now feel locked into their current one because they will lose their reputation level, which took months to earn. While there are probably far less fickle guild hoppers out there, there are now also swarms of people who feel pressured to remain in guilds that are not a good fit for them or that they have little personal attachment to (or are even downright unhappy with) or guilds that simply don’t have enough members to raid successfully.

This makes recruiting extremely difficult for these guilds. Guilds are petitioning players who don’t want to leave their existing guild because they will lose their reputation and potentially many of their perks and rewards. These recruits take a big risk to surrender all of these things for a new guild that might not even work out for them long-term. And if existing, established guilds who actually have things to offer new members struggle to be appealing enough to justify this risk, then for new guilds looking to start from the ground up it is arguably impossible to recruit. On top of all of these roadblocks, all these guilds are recruiting against dozens and dozens of other guilds in the exact same situation

A year ago, I would have told a good guild struggling to fill their ranks to keep trying. Today, I am not so sure this is good advice. All around me, I see guilds full of awesome people and great players who were extremely successful in prior expansions but are unable to even get a raid off the ground now. These are the kinds of guilds that would have been swimming in recruits before but now are only stagnant or worse.

So what can guilds do? Unfortunately, although there are some options, there are no easy solutions.

First, both guilds and individual players need to really heavily consider if what they have is worth hanging on to. A lot of players are so enamored with their reputation, guild levels and perks that they haven’t considered what they are giving up to keep them. Are they worth never being able to field raid? Are they worth being grouped with players you don’t get along with? Are they worth an empty, inactive guild?

Second, I think a recruiting paradigm shift is needed. Guilds to stop recruiting players and start recruiting other guilds. There are tons of guilds out there who are dying because they don’t have enough players. The remaining players may want to stick together, and they may be enticed by the opportunity to merge with a similar guild, especially if the immediate results are enough people to be raid viable. If you can find a like-minded guild or two, sit down with your remaining players and work out a position for absorbing new groups into your ranks, and how you will handle bank permissions and leadership. It won’t be easy, but it may be necessary for your survival.

If a merger isn’t appropriate for your guild for whatever reason, consider forming a guild alliance.  Approach other small guilds who are trying to recruit and see if you can combine forces to make raiding progress together.  Although your guilds will not be “credited” with achievements with less than 80% attendance, this can actually be an excellent way for smaller guilds to stay in the raiding game.  A shared chat channel and standardised rules and loot policy can help pave the way for a smooth allegiance.

Good luck to all those out there fighting to keep their place in the game world!

Although the expansion is a few weeks yet, the great cataclysm that is tomorrow. Our world will be forever changed, so now is your last chance to visit those places of nostalgia, finish those epic quest chains and say goodbye to all the things that are going away.

As an additional reminder, make sure you log out in the old world if you’re not a mage or engineer, since the portals in Dalaran and Shattrath are going away and it’ll be a long trip home otherwise.

Although it is hardly news by now, Cataclysm is bringing a world of new guild features and guild support. Although still in beta, where things can and do and will change, I’d like to put out a solid overview of everything we are anticipating so far, based on announcements, blue posts and beta posters.

Watch out, this is a hefty post!

Guild Experience & Leveling

Much like players, guilds will earn experience points in Cataclysm and earn levels. Each level earned will unlock rewards for guild members (see “Perks” below). Guild experience is earned by all members of the guild by achievements, questing, doing dungeons and raids (boss kills), and successful rated battlegrounds. In the case of the latter two, groups must consist of 80% guild members to generate this bonus.

There is no cap on how many people in the guild can contribute to guild experience, but there is a cap on how much experience can be earned per day. This allows smaller guilds to keep up with larger guilds with effort.

Right now, feedback on the beta forums seems to indicate that guild experience is easy to earn and that guilds are leveling at a pretty swift pace.

Guild Reputation

Guild reputation is something earned by guild members that grants them access to particular rewards, advantages and impacts their contribution towards guild achievements. It is earned in a similar way to experience points – through questing, boss kills and rated battlegrounds — but on an individual basis based on a player’s sole contribution rather than by a guild group (although rep gains will be increased if this is the case). Reputation levels affect the player alone.

This information is not publicly available to other guild members or officers, nor can higher ranked players (including the GM) grant additional rep to other players.

Right now, feed back on the beta forums indicates that guild reputation is fairly difficult to earn.

Guild Achievements

Some of these may be redundant from various incarnations of the achievement (names and numbers are always being tweaked). I’ve sorted them and cleaned out duplicates as best I could, but I’ve left achievements that had the matching names but different numbers or vice versa, as I’m not sure which version will go live. I’ve included the rewards where I know it.

General Achievements

• Everyone Needs A Logo – Create and purchase a guild crest.
• It All Really Adds Up – Spend 100,000 gold on guildmember repairs.
• That’s a Lot of Travel Time – Complete 50,000 quests as a guild.
• A Daily Routine – Complete 25,000 daily quests. Reward: Battle Standard of Coordination
• You’ve Been Iced – Figure it out.
• Working as a Team – Obtain 525 skill points in all professions and secondary professions. Reward: Banner of Cooperation
• Critter Kill Squad – Kill 50,000 critters Reward: Armadillo Pup
• Profit Sharing – Loot 50,000 gold from creatures.
• Time To Open A Savings Account – Loot 1,000,0000 gold from creatures as a guild.
• Extended Storage – Purchase the 7th guild bank tab.
• Guild Vault (wip) – Purchased all 8 guild bank tabs.
• We Are Awesome – Obtain three of the legendary weapons listed below.
• We Are Legendary – Obtain all of the legendary weapons listed below.
• Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros – Guild Edition – Wielder of Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros.
• Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker – Guild Edition – Wielder of Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker
• Warglaives of Azzinoth – Guild Edition (WIP) – Wielder of a set of Warglaives of Azzinoth.
• Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury – Guild Edition – Wielder of Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury
• Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings – Guild Edition – Wielder of Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings
• Shadowmourne – Guild Edition – Wielder of Shadowmourne
• Guild Level 5 – Reach guild level 5.
• Guild Level 10 – Reach guild level 10.
• Guild Level 15 – Reach guild level 15.
• Guild Level 20 – Reach guild level 20.
• Guild Level 25 – Reach guild level 25.
• Realm First! Working as a Team – First guild on the realm to obtain 525 skill points in all professions and secondary professions.
• Realm First! Nefarian – First guild on the realm to defeat Nefarian in Blackwing Descent on Heroic difficulty while in a guild group.
• Realm First! Al’Akir – First guild on the realm to defeat Al’Akir in the Throne of the Four Winds on Heroic difficulty while in a guild group.
• Realm First! Sinestra – First guild on the realm to defeat Sinestra in the Bastion of Twilight on Heroic difficulty while in a guild group.
• Realm First! Guild Level 25 – First guild on the realm to reach guild level 25.
• A Class Act – Reach level 85 on each of the classes listed below. Reward: Shroud of Cooperation
• Stay Classy – Complete the classy achievements listed below. Reward: Guild Vault Voucher (8th Tab)
• Classy Humans – Reach level 85 of each of the Human classes listed below.
• Classy Night Elves – Reach level 85 of each of the Night Elf classes listed below.
• Classy Gnomes – Reach level 85 of each of the Gnome classes listed below.
• Classy Dwarves – Reach level 85 of each of the Dwarven classes listed below.
• Classy Draenei – Reach level 85 of each of the Draenei classes listed below.
• Classy Worgen – Reach level 85 of each of the Worgen classes listed below.
• Saving For A Rainy Day – Loot 100,000 gold from creatures. Reward: Guild Herald
• Guild Cataclysm Dungeon Hero – Complete the heroic Cataclysm dungeon achievements listed below while in a guild group. Reward: Standard of Unity

PvP

• Are You Not Entertained?! – Earn a 2200 rating in the arena with a team composed entirely of guild members.
• Now That’s an Achievement – Earn 5000 guild achievement points.
• Kill Squad – Get 500,000 honorable kills.
• Guild Gankers – Get 1,000,000 honorable kills.
• Creepjackers – Get 2,500,000 honorable kills.
• City Attacker – Kill 500 enemy players in any Horde home city.
• City Attacker – Kill 500 enemy players in any Alliance home city.
• Active Duty – Win 500 Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
• Call of Duty – Win 1000 Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
• Tour of Duty – Win 1500 Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
• 5-Cap Crew – Win 10 Arathi Basin matches while controlling all 5 flags in a guild group.
• Alliance Slayer – Complete the slayer achievements listed below. Reward: Guild Page
• Orc Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Orc races listed below.
• Human Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Human races listed below.
• Night Elf Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Night Elf races listed below.
• Dwarf Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Dwarf races listed below.
• Draenei Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Draenei races listed below.
• Worgen Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Worgeni races listed below.
• Tauren Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Tauren races listed below.
• Undead Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Undead races listed below.
• Troll Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Troll races listed below.
• Blood Elf Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Blood Elf races listed below.
• Goblin Slayer – Get an honorable kill on each of the level 85 Goblin races listed below.
• Tol Barad Brigade – Win 500 battles for Tol Barad while in a guild group.
• The Peak of Perfection – Win 100 rated Twin Peaks matches with a score of 3 to 0 without dying while also getting at least 1 killing blow while in a guild group.
• Guild Gankin’ in Gilneas – Win 100 rated the Battle For Gilneas matches with a score of 2000 to 0 while in a guild group.
• Storming the Beach – In a rated Strand of the Ancients match, capture the Titan Relic in under four minutes 100 times while in a guild group.
• Guild Commanders – Earn the Commander title on all of the classes below.
• Guild Champions – Earn the Champion title on all of the classes below.
• Guild Marshals – Earn the Marshal title on all of the classes below.
• Guild Generals – Earn the General title on all of the classes below.
• Guild Field Marshals – Earn the Field Marshal title on all of the classes below.
• Guild Warlords – Earn the Warlord title on all of the classes below.
• Guild Grand Marshals – Earn the Grand Marshal title on all of the classes below.
• Guild High Warlords – Earn the High Warlord title on all of the classes below.
• Guild Battlemasters – Earn the Battlemaster title on all of the classes below.
• Call of Battle – Win a ranked arena match while in a guild group.
• Guild Rivals – Earn the Rival title on all of the classes below.
• Guild Duelists – Earn the Duelist title on all of the classes below.
• Guild Gladiators – Earn the Gladiator title on all of the classes below.
• Now That’s Teamwork – Win 1000 Rated Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
• Stick Together Team – Win 2000 Rated Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
• Stick Together Team – Win 2000 Rated Battlegrounds while in a guild group.
• The Perfect Guild Storm – Win a rated Eye of the Storm match with a score of 1600 to 0 while in a guild raid.
• Guild Gulch – Win a rated Warsong Gulch match with a score of 3 to 0 while in a guild raid.
• The Buddy System – Win 500 arena matches with a team composed of guild members.
• Killing With Friends – Win 1000 arena matches with a team composed entirely of guild members.

Professions

• Skinnin’ For A Livin’ – Skin 10,000 corpses.
• Dust, Dust and more Dust! – Disenchant 10,000 items.
• Dinner Party – Place 5,000 Feasts.
• Set the Oven to “Cataclysmic” – Cook 5,000 Cataclysm cooking recipes.
• Bushels and Bushels – Gather 50,000 herbs.
• Mix Master – Create 10,000 Cataclysm flasks.
• Better Leveling Through Chemistry – Create 25,000 Cataclysm flasks. Reward: Big Cauldron of Battle (Recipe)
• Mighty Miners – Mine 50,000 ore and rocks.
• Gemcrafter Extrodinare – Cut 25,000 gems of at least superior quality.
• Master Crafter – Craft 1,500 Epic items with an item level of at least 359. Reward: Cloak of Coordination
• The Pen is Mightier – Create 25,000 glyphs.
• Making History – Complete 500 Archaeology projects.
• That’s A Lot of Bait – Catch 10,000 fish from fishing pools. Reward: Seafood Magnifique Feast (Recipe)
• That’s A Lot of Bait – Catch 50,000 fish from fishing pools.
• We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat – Catch 100,000 fish from fishing pools.

Classic Dungeons & Raids

• Ragefire Chasm Guild Run – Defeat Taragaman the Hungerer.
• Deadmines Guild Run – Defeat “Captain” Cookie.
• Wailing Caverns Guild Run – Defeat Mutanus the Devourer.
• Shadowfang Keep Guild Run – Defeat Lord Godfrey.
• Blackfathom Deeps Guild Run – Defeat Aku’mai.
• Stormwind Stockade Guild Run – Defeat Hogger.
• Razorfen Kraul Guild Run – Defeat Charlga Razorflank.
• Gnomeregan Guild Run – Defeat Mekgineer Thermaplugg.
• Razorfen Downs Guild Run – Defeat Amnennar the Coldbringer.
• Scarlet Monastery Guild Run – Defeat the Scarlet Crusade within the Scarlet Monastery.
• Uldaman Guild Run – Defeat Archaedas.
• Zul’Farrak Guild Run – Defeat Chief Ukorz Sandscalp.
• Maraudon Guild Run – Defeat Princess Theradras.
• Sunken Temple Guild Run – Defeat Shade of Eranikus.
• Blackrock Depths Guild Run – Defeat Emperor Dagran Thaurissan.
• Lower Blackrock Spire Guild Run – Defeat Overlord Wyrmthalak.
• King of Dire Maul Guild Run – Defeat each wing of Dire Maul.
• Scholomance Guild Run – Defeat the leaders of Scholomance.
• Stratholme Guild Run – Defeat the evil masterminds inhabiting Stratholme.
• Guild Classic Raider – Complete the classic raid achievements listed below while in a guild group.
• Molten Core Guild Run – Defeat Ragnaros.
• Blackwing Lair Guild Run – Defeat Nefarian.
• Temple of Ahn’Qiraj Guild Run – Defeat C’Thun.
• Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj Guild Run – Defeat Ossirian the Unscarred.

Burning Crusade Dungeons & Raids

• Guild Outland Dungeon Hero – Complete the heroic Burning Crusade dungeon achievements listed below while in a guild group.
• Heroic: Hellfire Ramparts Guild Run – Defeat the leaders of Hellfire Ramparts on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Blood Furnace Guild Run – Defeat Keli’dan the Breaker on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Slave Pens Guild Run – Defeat Quagmirran on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Underbog Guild Run – Defeat The Black Stalker on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Mana-Tombs Guild Run – Defeat Nexus-Prince Shaffar on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Auchenai Crypts Guild Run – Defeat Exarch Maladaar on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Escape From Durnholde Guild Run – Defeat Epoch Hunter on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Sethekk Halls Guild Run – Defeat Talon King Ikiss on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Shadow Labyrinth Guild Run – Defeat Murmur on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Opening of the Dark Portal Guild Run – Defeat Aeonus on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Steamvault Guild Run – Defeat Warlord Kalithresh on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Shattered Halls Guild Run – Defeat Warchief Kargath Bladefist on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Mechanar Guild Run – Defeat Pathaleon the Calculator on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Botanica Guild Run – Defeat Warp Splinter on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Arcatraz Guild Run – Defeat Harbinger Skyriss on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Magister’s Terrace Guild Run – Defeat Kael’thas Sunstrider on Heroic Difficulty.
• Guild Outland Raider – Complete the Burning Crusade raid achievements listed below while in a guild group.
• Karazhan Guild Run – Defeat Prince Malchezaar in Karazhan.
• Zul’Aman Guild Run – Defeat Zul’jin in Zul’Aman.
• Gruul’s Lair Guild Run – Defeat Gruul the Dragonkiller in Gruul’s Lair.
• Magtheridon’s Lair Guild Run – Defeat Magtheridon in Magtheridon’s Lair.
• Serpentshrine Cavern Guild Run – Defeat Lady Vashj in Serpentshrine Cavern.
• Tempest Keep Guild Run – Defeat Kael’thas Sunstrider in Tempest Keep.
• The Battle for Mount Hyjal Guild Run – Defeat Archimonde in The Battle for Mount Hyjal.
• The Black Temple Guild Run – Defeat Illidan Stormrage in The Black Temple.
• Sunwell Plateau Guild Run – Defeat Kil’jaeden in Sunwell Plateau.

Wrath Dungeons & Raids

• Guild Northrend Dungeon Hero – Complete the heroic Northrend dungeon achievements listed below while in a guild group.
• Heroic: Utgarde Keep Guild Run – Defeat the Utgarde Keep bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Nexus Guild Run – Defeat The Nexus bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Azjol-Nerub Guild Run – Defeat the Azjol-Nerub bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom Guild Run – Defeat the Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Drak’Tharon Keep Guild Run – Defeat the Drak’Tharon Keep bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Violet Hold Guild Run – Defeat Cyanigosa in The Violet Hold on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Gundrak Guild Run – Defeat the Gundrak bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Halls of Stone Guild Run – Defeat the boss encounters in the Halls of Stone on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Halls of Lightning Guild Run – Defeat the Halls of Lightning bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Oculus Guild Run – Defeat The Oculus bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Utgarde Pinnacle Guild Run – Defeat the Utgarde Pinnacle bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Culling of Stratholme Guild Run – Defeat the Caverns of Time: Stratholme bosses on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: Trial of the Champion Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in the Trial of the Champion on Heroic Difficulty.
• Heroic: The Forge of Souls Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in The Forge of Souls on Heroic difficulty
• Heroic: The Pit of Saron Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in The Pit of Saron on Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: The Halls of Reflection Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in The Halls of Reflection on Heroic difficulty.
• Glory of the Lich King Raider – Complete the Northrend raid achievements listed below while in a guild group.
• The Twilight Zone – Guild Edition – With all three Twilight Drakes still alive, engage and defeat Sartharion the Onyx Guardian while in a guild group..
• Alone in the Darkness – Guild Edition – Defeat Yogg-Saron without the assistance of any Keepers while in a guild group.
• Just Can’t Get Enough – Guild Edition – Defeat Kel’Thuzad in Naxxramas while killing at least 18 abominations in his chamber while in a group group.
• You Don’t Have an Eternity – Guild Edition – Defeat Malygos in 6 minutes or less while in a guild group.
• He Feeds On Your Tears – Guild Edition – Defeat Algalon the Observer while in a guild group without any raid member dying to Algalon at any point during that raid lockout period.
• Call of the Crusade – Guild Edition – Defeat every boss in the Trial of the Crusader while in a guild group.
• The Twilight Destroyer – Guild Edition – Defeat Halion in The Ruby Sanctum while in a guild group.
• The Frozen Throne – Guild Edition – Defeat the Lich King in Icecrown Citadel while in a guild group.

Cataclysm Dungeons & Raids

• Guild Glory of the Cataclysm Raider – Complete the Cataclysm raid achievements listed below while in a guild group.
• Blackwing Descent Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in Blackwing Descent while in a guild group.
• Throne of the Four Winds Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in Throne of the Four Winds while in a guild group.
• The Bastion of Twilight Guild Run – Defeat the bosses in the Bastion of Twilight while in a guild group.
• Guild Cataclysm Dungeon Hero – Complete the heroic Cataclysm dungeon achievements listed below while in a guild group.
• Heroic: Blackrock Caverns Guild Run – Defeat Ascendant Lord Obsidius on Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: Throne of the Tides Guild Run – Defeat Ozumat in Throne of the Tides on Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: The Stonecore Guild Run – Defeat High Priestess Azil in the Stonecore on Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: The Vortex Pinnacle Guild Run – Defeat Grand Vizier Ertan in the Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: Grim Batol Guild Run – Defeat Erudax in Grim Batol on Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: Halls of Origination Guild Run – Defeat Rajh in Halls of Origination on Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: Lost City of the Tol’vir Guild Run – Defeat Siamat, Lord of the South Wind in the Lost City of the Tol’vir in Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: Shadowfang Keep Guild Run – Defeat Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep on Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: Deadmines Guild Run – Defeat “Captain” Cookie in Deadmines on Heroic difficulty.
• Heroic: Shadowfang Keep Guild Run – Defeat Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep on Heroic difficulty.
• Baradin Hold Guild Run – Defeat Argaloth in Baradin Hold while in a guild group.
• Heroic: Cho’gall Guild Run – Defeat Cho’gall in the Bastion of Twilight on Heroic difficulty while in a guild group.
• Heroic: Nefarian Guild Run – Defeat Nefarian in Blackwing Descent on Heroic difficulty while in a guild group.
• Heroic: Al’Akir Guild Run – Defeat Al’Akir in the Throne of the Four Winds on Heroic difficulty while in a guild group.
• Heroic: Sinestra Guild Run – Defeat Sinestra in the Bastion of Twilight on Heroic difficulty while in a guild group.

Reputation

• Diplomacy – Raise 15 reputations to Exalted.
• Ambassadors – Raise 25 reputations to Exalted.
• Dungeon Diplomat – Earn exalted with the dungeon reputations listed below.
• Raid Representation – Earn exalted with the raid reputations listed below.
• Classic Battles – Earn exalted reputation with the classic battlegrounds listed below.
• United Nations – Raise 55 reputations to Exalted. Reward: Dark Phoenix Hatchling

Guild Perks & Rewards

There are two primary types of rewards to guild members: those rewarded to the guild, and those rewarded to the individual. Most of the perks and rewards in the game are unlocked by the guild earning a particular level or achievement

Guild rewards include things like earning extra materials, money, rep, or honour in guild groups, or the ability to buy more guild bank tabs, stronger consumbles, or being able to summon guild members.

Individual rewards are unlocked via level or achievement, allowing interested members to purchase these rewards with gold, provided they have the corresponding level of reputation. However, there are some rewards are free to players, and some do not require rep. These include pets, mounts, guild heralds, and other vanity items.

Heirlooms earned through the new guild system will be unlocked by guild level and must be bought from the guild coffer for a hefty flat fee. Once purchased on the guild level, individual guild members can buy their own heirlooms for own use with their alts. These heirlooms are for different slots than those in Wrath, and work from 1-85.

Leveling Perks

The following are the guild perks granted as the guild levels. Some of these are only unlocked and must be purchased further for the guild to use (like bank tabs):

Level 1: Fast Track (Rank 1) Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 5%.
Level 2: Mount Up Increases speed while mounted by 5%. Not active in Battlegrounds or Arenas.
Level 3: Mr. Popularity (Rank 1) Reputation gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 5%.
Level 4: Cash Flow (Rank 1) Each time you loot money from an enemy, an extra 5% money is generated and deposited directly into your guild bank.
Level 5: Fast Track (Rank 2) Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
Level 6: Reinforce (Rank 1) Items take 5% less durability loss when you die.
Level 7: Hasty Hearth Reduces the cooldown on your Hearthstone by 15 minutes.
Level 8: Reinforce (Rank 2) Items take 10% less durability loss when you die.
Level 9: Chug-A-Lug (Rank 1) The duration of buffs from all guild cauldrons and feasts is increased by 50%.
Level 10: Mobile Banking Summons your guild bank. Instant, 1 hr cooldown
Level 11: Mr. Popularity (Rank 2) Reputation gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
Level 12: Honorable Mention (Rank 1) Increases Honor points gained by 5%.
Level 13: Working Overtime Increases the chance to gain a skill increase on tradeskills by 10%.
Level 14: The Quick and the Dead Increases health and mana gained when resurrected by a guild member by 50% and increases movement speed while dead by 100%. Does not function in combat or while in a Battleground or Arena.
Level 15: Cash Flow (Rank 2) Each time you loot money from an enemy, an extra 10% money is generated and deposited directly into your guild bank.
Level 16: Guild Mail In-game mail sent between guild members now arrives instantly.
Level 17: Everyone’s A Hero (Rank 1) Increases Heroism points gained by 5%.
Level 18: Honorable Mention (Rank 2) Increases Honor points gained by 10%.
Level 19: Happy Hour Increases the number of flasks gained from using a flask cauldron by 100%.
Level 20: Have Group, Will Travel Summons all raid or party members to the caster’s current location. Unlimited range, 6 sec cast / Channeled, 2 hr cooldown
Level 21: Chug-A-Lug (Rank 2) The duration of buffs from all guild cauldrons and feasts is increased by 100%.
Level 22: Bountiful Bags Increases the quantity of materials gained from Mining, Skinning, Herbalism, and Disenchanting by 15%.
Level 23: Bartering Reduces the price of items from all vendors by 5%.
Level 24: Everyone’s A Hero (Rank 2) Increases Heroism points gained by 10%.
Level 25: Mass Resurrection Brings all dead party and raid members back to life with 35 health and 35 mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. 64% of base mana, Unlimited range, 10 sec cast

Guild UI

The Guild UI is changing pretty significantly, as well. The new guild social pane will now show:

• Guild experience bar
• Upcoming events
• Recent achievements
• Your Personal guild rep

Additionally, you will now be able to use your guild members list to pull up information on your guild mates’ professions to see if they have particular receipes. You can do this even if they are offline.

Guild leaders also have new advanced control over ranks and permissions. Previously, you could only add ranks in order of their power, so if you messed up and forgot to add the Office rank before you added the Peon rank, you had to go through and add a new rank, demote everyone to it, promote the peon rank to officer and the new rank to peon, and then promote all the members back accordingly. The new interface will allow you to shift entire ranks up and down. You can now also force certain ranks to use authenticators, if you want to make sure officers are using them or to create special ranks with more bank access to reward people for their security. The option to set the permissions for each rank is supposed to be less buggy and cumbersome, as well.

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