Apex Raiding

Apex is a progression guild. We have very high standards for our members that we believe will lead to our success. In short, we would rather not raid than raid below our personal standards.

Skill

Apex members are expected to be some of the the best players of their class on the server. If a new spec becomes dominant they will be learning it. If someone better shows up they will be reading combat logs and theory to step up to the new bar. Players must come into encounters understanding both the strategic and tactical goals for every person in the raid. Apex also incorporates 'stupid mistake' tolerance into the ranking system. Consistent execution is rewarded, and repeated poor performance puts a person on the front lines for replacement.

Attitude

Pushing hard modes will be hard. A positive attitude in the face of repeated wipes is required. Furthermore, we require raiders to go the extra mile to cater to the needs of the raid. This may at times necessitate mid-raid respeccing, or running two raid specs. Apex members are required to be respectful 100% of the time, with 100% of the population; this includes raiding members, the wow community at large, and everything in between. This, along with drama, are handled with exceptionally little tolerance. Conflict will happen, but maturity is demanded.

Attendance

We think that a smaller roster leads to better teamwork. Therefore our attendance expectations are quite high. Raiding with Apex is not something you do 'when you can', it is a commitment to be there for you team members. If you cannot make at least 85% of our raid times do not bother applying.

We raid on the following days: (all times are in server time, which is PST)

Monday - 5:30pm - 10:00pm
Tuesday - 5:30pm - 10:00pm
Wednesday - 5:30pm - 10:00pm

Apex raiders not only agree to uphold these standards, but also demand to have them met by their fellow raiders. While we may sound harsh, we believe that a common understanding of these principles will allow everyone here to enjoy raiding as much as possible.

Our System

Apex guild ranks are based around a 5 tier system. Movement through the ranks is handled with a separate ladder of 'Apex Points' (AP). Each time a member receives DKP by attending a raid, they also receive 2 Apex points. Members lose APs by screwing up the 'attention checks' in raiding (Hitting flame walls, rocket strikes, flash freezes, etc) and causing a trash wipe by mistake. For each mistake, 1 AP is deducted. When a player reaches +5 AP they move to the next rank and their AP is reset to 0. When a player reaches -2 AP, they move down a rank and their AP is similarly reset to 0.

Officers move through the same ranks as members, but their ranks are stored using the in game character comment field as opposed to an actual guild rank.

Recruiting

Recruitment is done by application on our website, where it may be reviewed by all raiding members of Apex. When a raiding roster spot is open the top few applications will be interviewed on ventrilo. The interview will be conducted by the officers, but our raiding members are welcome to sit in and forward questions they would like answered to the officers.

Guild Ranks

Emperor - Guild Leader

Bonus: None

Responsible for promoting new officers and maintaining the vision of the guild as a whole.
Darth Lord - Designated Officer

Bonus: None

Ultimately responsible for recruiting new membership and managing the day-to-day running of the guild. This includes tracking DKP, administering the guild bank, motivating raiders, providing advice and light training to new members, and generally being a point of contact for the raiding core.
Masterblade - MVP

Value: 15 DKP / raid
Bonus: Officer Chat
Bonus: 20 DKP
Duration: 1 Week

MVP is a badge of honor, a status symbol, and a privilege reserved for a player that has gone far beyond what is expected of them in order to benefit the guild. Examples of this can include a player that designed a winning strategy for a complex and troublesome boss fight or encounter, or a player that somehow significantly improved the guild's reputation on the server, or contributed significantly in another way. This will be awarded at most once per week, and there will be many weeks were it will not be awarded. After one week with the title, the MVP is returned to their previous rank.
Sith Marauder - Rank 1

Value: 15 DKP / raid
Bonus: Officer Chat

Marauder is the highest level a raider can achieve before becoming a designated officer. This rank indicates consistent high performance in raids, coupled with an outstanding attendance record. It is our wish that all raiders achieve and maintain this rank within Apex.
Sith Knight - Rank 2

Value: 10 DKP / raid
Sith Warrior - Rank 3

Value: 10 DKP / raid
Sith Hopeful - Rank 4

Value: 10 DKP / raid

New raiding members enter the guild at this rank and can move either up or down depending on their level of proficiency.
Sith Outcast - Rank 5

Value: 10 DKP / raid

This is the lowest rank a raider can have. Remaining at this rank for too long will result in the member being removed from Apex. It is not a good place to be.
Sith Minion - Raider Alt

Bonus: None

This rank is reserved for the alts of raiders or officers.
Serf - Civilian

Bonus: None
Limitation: Requires a raiding sponsor

This member is in the guild at the request of a current raiding member. Their behavior is the responsibility of and reflects on that raider. They are not guaranteed places in our raids and do not need to maintain any attendance level.

Bank

Our guild bank will exist to support our raiding needs. When possible, supplies of common raiding consumables will be kept and made available for reasonable prices. While specifics have yet to be determined, we may allow limited donations for dkp in addition to the normal bank income from standby.

Loot

Loot in Apex is distributed through a DKP system. Players accrue DKP by participating in raids and as rewards for performance and promotions. When an item drops, an impromptu silent auction is held. The player with the highest bid wins the item for the second highest bid plus 1. No item will be sold for less than 10 DKP. In addition, there is no restriction on gear-type: A warrior may bid on and win a spellpower staff.

Some clarifications for special cases:

A BoP item receiving no bids will be disenchanted, with the products going to the guild bank.
A BoE item receiving no bids will go the the guild bank, where it will be bid on by the entirety of the guild for one week through in game mail. If it still receives no bids, it will be sold by the guild.
Reagent boss drops (hearts of shadow, runed orbs, etc) will be collected and deposited in the guild bank, where they will be available for purchase for DKP or gold.
Pattern drops will be distributed by rank, members of the same rank will /roll.
Vanity drops will be distributed by rank, members of the same rank will /roll.

All other drops with a quality of green or higher will be collected and given to the guild bank.

Earning DKP

DKP is given to players as an acknowledgment of effort, dedication, performance and material contribution. To this end, there are several ways to earn DKP in Apex.

Raiding - A fixed amount of 10 dkp is earned by all available raiders per raid day. This means both those in the raid, and those online and available to replace them if needed (standby). There is no partial credit for people that leave midway through a raid for any reason.

Donation - A limited amount of DKP can also be earned through the donation of needed items, mats, food and gold to the guild bank. The specific value of these donations will be kept up to date in the relevant bank tabs, and the total earned per week is capped at 10 DKP. Additionally, DKP cannot be earned in this manner when the bank is full.

Performance - As mentioned above, there will be one special rank, called the MVP, reserved for a player that has gone far beyond what is expected of them to benefit the guild. This rank comes with a one-time bonus of 20 DKP.

Tracking DKP

In order to prevent DKP hoarding and to encourage people to actually spend their points on drops, anything you earn will have a time based decay. We look at your DKP as a series of 'chunks' based on the day the DKP was earned. Each chunk has a 'shelf life' of 4 weeks, after which time it starts to deteriorate. Each chunk of DKP older than 4 weeks will shrink by 1 point per week. The system spends dkp from the oldest chunks first, automatically maximizing what is retained.

Standby

Standby is what you do when we don't have enough spots in a raid; and yes, it's going to be a part of life. The primary purpose of standby is to provide those members who were not able to fit into the raid with a way to maintain DKP equality with the rest of the guild.

What does Apex require to give this DKP?

Members on standby are the replacements if someone has an emergency and has to leave, internet dies, etc. A member on standby is expected to be able to accept a summon into the raid within 5 minutes of notice. If they fail to do this, the DKP is forfeit.
A small donation of mats / raiding materials to the guild bank. Values will be established here, but they will be based on a small portion of the raids time.

After fulfilling the donation requirement members may do whatever they please for standby, understanding the necessity to be quickly available. They can even go so far as to give someone their phone number, log out of the game, and go visit the neighbors (understanding that they assume the risks of their phone not getting service, etc).

Raid Feedback

There is a forum on our boards where we will post a thread after every raid. Links to wws or wmo logs will be there, as long as any other comments from the night (did we meet our goals, etc). We strongly desire our members feedback here on ways to improve the raid, and also ways for the raid leader to improve the job they do.

Strategy Responsibility

While this may take time to implement (lower priority), we plan to share responsibility through the guild for building our strats for boss fights. Members will take turns 'owning' particular fights. This doesn't mean they do all the work, everyone is expected to contribute to the discussion, but this member's job is to manage the info and guide our attempts.