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.

Blizzcon just finished and I’m sure we’ve all heard the new announcements by now.   New race: Pandaren.   New class: Monk.   Demo computers were available to see both the Pandaren starting zone and give the new class a whirl.

WoW fan sites have posted the details of all the new World of Warcraft announcements, ability lists, gameplay trailers, etc, but I thought I’d do something different and talk a little bit about how actually playing the new monk class felt and give my own impressions.

Remember, all of these details can change between now and when the expansion goes live, and probably will.

Basic Information

Monks are a new hybrid class; they have specs that will allow them to heal, tank, or melee DPS.  They are heavily martial arts themed, aiming for the archetypal monk class.  They are not a hero class, and will begin at level 1.

They wear leather and will share their gear with rogues and druids, depending on their role.  They start in leather gear from level 1.  They can currently use fist weapons, polearms, staves, and 1-handed swords or axes. As healers, they will use offhands rather than shields.  The current plan is for tanking to lead towards 2h while DPS and heals will use the 1h weaponry.

They will use stances, presumably similar to a warrior and based on their role.

They are available for every race except Worgen and Goblin.

Resource System

Monks use a unique resource system different from the current ones in game. They have an energy bar, called Chi, which functions similar to that of rogue and cat druids by refilling quickly to a hard cap.  This is paired with a combo points-like system, but this is where it departs from the familiar.  Monks get two sets of combo points — Light and Dark Force — and these are tied to the player and not the thing you’re fighting.  They do not appear to decay (although they probably clear at log out) so you can carry them from fight to fight.

Your basic attacks cost Chi but build combo points of either the Light or Dark Force or both.   You then spend those force points on special stronger attacks.  Unlike the finishers that rogues and cats spend their combo points on, these abilities don’t scale based on number of points – they cost a flat amount.  Because of this, you will not be capping your points and then spending them, but rather using a rolling priority system of using both as needed.  The playstyle ends up being very different than the usual “point-point-point-finish” feel of other energy classes.

Blizzard has said that when Monks are spec’d for healing, their Chi bar will be replaced with a Mana bar.   It was not explicitly stated but seems obvious based on their design goals that the class will still keep its Light and Dark Force bar for healing, allowing it to maintain its unique feel in all three talent specialisations.

Abilities

Here are some of the spells & abilities that were available in the demo:

Level 1 Abilities

Jab
40 Chi – Melee Range, Instant
Requires Stance of the Drunken Ox, Stance of the Fierce Tiger.
You jab the target, dealing 5 damage and generating 1 light force and 1 dark force.

Jab is your basic attack. This is the button you are hitting the most to spend your Chi and generate your Force points. I imagine you get different ones later as you level and based on spec.

Tiger Palm
1 Light Force – Melee range, instant
Requires Stance of the Drunken Ox, Stance of the Fierce Tiger.
Deals 10 Physical damage, deals 5 additional damage if the target is above 50% health.

Level 2 Abilities

Roll
50 Chi – Instant
Roll a short distance.

Roll is a mobility tool to keep you moving around the battlefield (and, when out of combat, to appease your pining for that mount that is eighteen levels away).  It costs only energy, so you can zoom around as often as your bar refills.  It’s very fun for getting quickly from enemy to enemy or just getting around faster.  You can roll in any direction, including backwards and sideways.

Level 3 Abilities

Blackout Kick
2 Dark Force – Melee range, Instant
Kick with a blast of energy, causing 28 physical damage to an enemy target. If the target is killed by blackout kick, you are returned 1 Dark Force.

Level 5 Abilities

Flying Serpent Kick
8-40 Yards range, 25 Seconds Cooldown, Instant.
Soar through the air towards a targeted enemy, knocking them down and stunning them for 2 seconds.

Spinning Crane Kick
Instant, 2 Lights and Dark Forces
Requires Stance of the Drunken Ox, Stance of the Fierce Tiger.
You spin while kicking in the air, dealing 23 damage every 1 second to all nearby enemies within 8 yards. Movement speed is reduced by 30%, last 6 seconds.

Some other abilities were loosely discussed at the various panels, but were not in game to try.

Auto-Attack

Monks do not have an auto-attack like every other class.  Blizzard developers said they wanted the monk to have a “street fighter feel” where each button press from the player is an attack from your monk.  This is very unique to the game, and it is controversial enough that this may end up not going live (in fact, I would predict it will be in and out of the beta several times before a decision is made).  There are some concerns about that, and I’d like to address them the best I can for a player who has only played the first six levels of the monk class.

The first worry I have heard expressed (totally justifiably) is that this will make playing the Monk very spammy.  I’m sure those of us with Warriors heard the announcement and were thinking old school Heroic “I eroded a hole in my keybind” Strike.  The good news is that it does not feel like this at all.  Your Jab costs enough that you are not hitting it a million times a minute, but fast enough that you don’t feel like you’re standing around waiting for energy regen (usually… more on that below).  You are also limited by your GCD, which is current the same 1.5 seconds of most players [note:  I am pretty sure Jab is limited by the GCD]. The playstyle is fast paced but far from overwhelmingly or spammy.

However, the lack of auto-attack does have some weaknesses that need to be addressed eventually.  It is annoying when you find yourself in a situation with neither Chi nor Force points and you’re up in some mob’s grill unable to do literally anything but stand there.  That might not happen often, but it can happen in numerous circumstances:

When moving quickly from fight to fight, the small delay before your opening attack could prove frustrating in those situations where you’re racing to tap a rare mob and have to stand there waiting for the precious energy to claim it as yours.

As a raider who currently plays a rogue, I can think of a lot of current situations in group play where I am swapping to an add and auto-attacking it until I have enough energy to use Mutilate.  This would be very frustrating to find myself in that position as a Monk, chasing an add but doing literally no damage.  I can think of a lot of situations where the add dies before I get enough energy for that special, making my only contribution my white damage (or perhaps I am pooling for when I return to the primary target).  For a monk, there would have been nothing.

I can also see it being problematic from a tanking perspective, where one at least builds minimal threat in the seconds before or between breaking out a special, especially if you’re juggling multiple mobs at once.  Those white attacks can often be the difference between you or the healer tanking in those first microseconds of a pull.

There are also the circumstances of when a mob has a sliver of health left, and one would finish it off with auto-attack. A Monk would be forced to use its resources which perhaps it wanted to save for the next fight. At the very least, it would be a bit overkill.

The other thought that occurred to me is doing old content.  When I was working on Loremaster, I often had to bare-knuckle auto-attack mobs that I needed to get low but not kill for some quests.  If a Monk can only use specials, how would he do such quests?  A level capped Monk would surely one shot these low level mobs in a single Jab.

That may sound like a lot of problems, but they are very situational.  I actually like the feel of the gameplay and being in total control without the auto-attack, so I hope these issues can be resolved in a positive way that allows Monks to keep this unique flavour.  Perhaps a no-cost but super weak attack with a cooldown to use in those situations?  Still, I wouldn’t be at all shocked if Monks went live with auto-attack like everyone else.

Healing

My disclaimer here is that this is all based on Blizzard’s conjecture and will [very probably] not end up like this on live.

They want the heal system to be unique and involve damage reflected into AoE healing for friendlies, rather than the traditional three-cast-time-heal bread and butter for current classes.  For example, Blizzard envisions moves like this to be the means through which a Monk heals its party:

Statue of the Jade Serpent
5 Sec Cast
Summon a statue at the target location. Anytime you deal damage, a nearby friendly target within 20 yards of the statue will be healed. You can have up to 3 Jade Dragon Statues active at a time.

I have serious doubts that the class with go live with things like this as their primary means of healing.  It’s too different, too hard to balance and seems like the kind of thing that would end up overly powerful in some circumstances and too weak in others.   Statues radiating heals seems like it would be very awesome as a raid healing, but what about five mans, or high movement fights?   What about when the healer needs to keep up a tank taking a lot of damage?  What about when the monk is forced to move out of melee for whatever reason?  It’s a very big move away from the “we want all the healers to be able to do successfully do all roles” design goal that Blizzard just implemented, and against the homogenisation that all other healers faced in the last expansion.

The current design goal for healing is to heal through DPS, making the Monk the true melee healer.  This is something they’ve toyed with trying to achieve with Holy Paladins with limited success.  The difference is that Blizzard wants even healing Monks to do “massive” damage and for that to be the vehicle for their heals.

I’m not sure what the implications of that will be for gameplay if we have one healer who is able to contribute significantly to DPS while the others are not. The worry is always that the other healers will be less desired if a raid could instead choose one that helped with those tight enrage timers — a variation of this was voiced frequently when Death Knight tanks were doing a lot of damage and while it didn’t end up proving true, DKs did ultimately receive a series of nerfs in this area to bring them in line with other tanks.  I can see this also having negative PvP connotations if your arena player can both DPS and heal effectively at the same time.  And what of the shadow priest, whose passive raid healing was nerfed because it was too powerful in conjunction with strong DPS?

I suspect that when Monks are being beta tested and tweaked, we will find them being homogenised into the same foundation as the other healers, with the [fast expensive heal], [long, big heal], and [slow efficient heal] and the moves like the statues and vampiric-embrace-like abilities will be dropped to supplemental, expensive AoE heals like Prayer of Healing or Tranquility.  I think they will use melee attacks to add the flavour of their class and to earn the Force Points to do unique and different things with their heals in order to keep their very unique class feel.  I suspect they will not end up doing significant damage as healers, and may perhaps be more in line with a tank or smite-spamming Disc priest.

Tanking

We don’t know much about Monk tanking, except that it will probably involve using staves and polearms and the gearing will be about the same as current Bear druids.

Overall Impressions

Despite being somewhat similar to rogues (my primary reason for being uninterested in feral cat), I found the Monk to be fresh and engaging and am definitely interested in leveling one up in Mists of Pandaria.  Monk is definitely appealing to me a lot more than Death Knights did initially (the DK class and starting zone was amazing but I found the resource system cumbersome and the pace at which you get abilities as a hero class overwhelming).  I thought the resource system here was unique and fun but still very intuitive and user-friendly. The abilities are fun, simple, and well paced.  Roll is super cool.  That handful of levels I got to play in the Blizzcon demo was very enjoyable.

I love hybrid classes and I’m interested in trying both tanking and healing as this new class.  I’m already thinking about which races I will choose for each faction.

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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