[Important] Guild organisation - read and voice your opinion!

Hello everyone,

Almost one month that we have started to play Star Wars. We had prepared ourselves, we had tested the game together in the beta etc. But i'm sure that everyone will agree with me, the experience of SWTOR is not exactly what we could have expected. For example, personaly, I find this game much more solo or small group oriented than what I expected. I find it difficult to keep a community organised, motivated and going on together. It's time to adapt ourself and re-organise us arround this new experience.

So now that we have a small team of level 50, and that we will probably start to raid very soon, it's time to give more structure to our dear community. Roster, looting strategy, way of behaving with each others, raid leaders and so on... That's all many little things that doesn't need attention during the leveling period, but need a lot of care once we start the end game. Why? Because even in the best and the most healthy community, drama can come out of nowhere for a loot badly given, or a misunderstanding concerning a raid spot if things are not clear.

That's why it's time to focus on our SWTOR rules and structures. SWTOR is a different game than WOW, and that Tera so it need its own set of rules.
The goal of those rules is to ensure a maximum of fun for everyone, in a relaxed, friendly, harmonious atmosphere where everyone have its place and no one feel forgotten or excluded.
How will we do that? Trow here your ideas, your wishes, your expectations of what is a good guild is in your eyes, and SWTOR officers (Majiin, Peter, Fredrik and I) will discuss about it, and establish the rules according to what we have gathered as wishes, informations and idea and our own experience in guild leading.
Everyone has his word to say in Whitestar, so don't be shy, share what your think and remember that if you say nothing you can't complain afterwards that's not how you wanted it to be.

To discuss :

• Roster
  
• Loot
  
• End game PVE goal and organisation
  
• End game PVP
  
• Guild events
  
• Guild rules (how to behave in Whitestar)

I was thinking about RP part.

For now cantinas and such seem kinda lame and I would like to avoid those if possible. So what would you guys think if f.ex. Elloa (IA) would make a RP onboard her ship?! IA ships are big and comapnions make a crowd aswell
Might be a good starting point.

Regarding the RP suggestion, I thin thats pretty good, it makes it available to all levels. There are a lot of potential RP places in the world, plenty of "hidden" cantina's, at the back of buildings in tatooine for example (altho probably overrun by barrens chat).

It would be good to get an Ilum pvp setup, everytime I go there it's either dead or the republic travel in packs.

Pve, not sure we need loot rules, atm everything just goes to Loden anyway
I'm all for raiding as long as it doesn't get too serious, sure people cant turn up in lvl 19 epics etc, but I dont like the hardcore mode anymore.
Loot rules for it, I think it's ok to keep it simple, as in companions dont need (unless no player needs), then let the roll decide. Weve been doing some flashpoints and it seems to work pretty well, with greens being needable for companions. That is however just 4 mans, if it doesn't work in bigger raids then I'd consider changing it. Most of us are old enough and decent people, so if someone had a green and a great piece dropped that was only slighty an upgrade for someone else, I'm sure they wouldnt mind passing.. at least i would pass as long as I know about it

I would also like to see more guild events, from world bosses to pod racing. It can be a very solo game
If you let it, but you have to remember that we can organize events that include everyone.

The past week the guild seems to slip away so It's very important we figure out something for real now.

First of all, we are missing about 7 players that haven't said anything regarding their abscence. If you guys see this, please leave a message why you are abscent and cannot play! If you guys don't say a word I'm affraid we'll have to open the recruitment again. So please, say if you are gonna stay or not and why you cannot be online so we know if you are still interested in Whitestar.

My second thought is the concern for some of our players playing on the republic sice. Without sounding whiny or too much QQ I belive this is a very wrong idea. Some people can alredy feel the Empire guild deserted and the community being split, this is something I don't want to see. Besides we should take into consideration that we actually had months of voting on what to have and the "Empire main/no republic alt" option won; this to avoid having a split community.

For end game I always said I wanted raiding. As Kinjazor said I don't want it ultra mega hardcore since I got over that in WoW. Spending too much time raiding gets old and boring. However I would like to see at least 2-3 days for raids for people that want. Maybe start out with 2 and see how it goes and how much interests we get. Spending hours and days on raiding gets old and leaves no room to do something else in game and It's not very enjoyable.

Looting should be respected to the players MAIN spec. DKP is something I'm not even gonna bother with at all. However I would like to see respect to players main spec. If you are a DPS and Tank loot drops the tank should have priority for this. Same goes for healing and DPS aswell. Some loot that can be used by both is no problem, though.

Rergarding the RP, It's not the best RP around as of yet but it will come. It will take some time to shape the server community. The first months are always like this in general. It's not entirely bad either. Some cantinas have interesting RP like the one on Tatooine. Hultays idea about RP on the ship is not a bad one at all either!

Behaviour in Whitestar is an essential part. Favorism, discimination and hatred towards other members is not allowed. We are supposed to be a community where everyone enjoys playing with each other ( ). If you can't follow these rules and are dominated by elitism ot other similiar feelings you might not belong here at all. So far everyone is very friendly of what I've seen and I like you all guys! ^_^

Guild events is something we should look into more. The only problem is you cannot really do Warzones in the guild since you only can queue 4 people at a time and have to regroup every time you leave the warzone. We could however maybe form groups to do Illum PVP together but open world PvP required everyone to be 50 at least.

I see it the same way kinda "Pubs" are just for funzies and to experience the Stories of Pub classes
"Whitéstar" is the gathering for peeps who want to do keep in touch on the "other side"

We could coordinate a weekly Guildoperation that would be awesome
i too dont want to get hardcore raiding as mentioned before

Considering the loot i haven't see any problems so far it works very good for the FPs at least
For ops we could go for the "One Drop person Thingie" for the first couple of ops
we will need to see how it plays out anyway before we can make a definite ruleset for ops

Well I will start off by saying I won't make any RP suggestions as I never really done any RP, I may join a few events but I'll probleby leave it at that.

When it comes to raiding this is something I would like to see, I done some raid leading in WoW and raided 3-4 days a week, I got to say however that is not something I will be able to or even have intrest in currently due to my life situation.

I would suggest we start running a few regular HM FP runs to gear people up first, no ide what kind of gear you guys have but I know there are a few that have been 50 for some time now.
Raiding is fun and even if we aren't going hardcore atleast to its the progression that makes it fun and going in with "noob gear" will make progression really slow.

When it comes to loot system there are a few diffrent ways to go, personaly I prefer to have an open conversation, as mentioned tanks should get tank gear, DPS DPS gear etc ofc, but we could simply enough use the need / greed then say "why" you need that pice, if its a weapon upgrade that will give DPS 1 10 increased damage and DPS 2 100 increased damage the raid and guild will benefit more from DPS 2 getting it the DPS 1. Simply enough keep an open conversation.

Would also suggest the useig of any sort of voice chat to ease the eye strain.

For PvP I would love to see some organized Illium runs, haven't even been there yet

So to sum it up as it may have ended up abit scitzo, been writing pices of it at work, the bus and now on the train.

1. Start with organized HM FP + Illium runs
2. Need & Greed let us know how big an upgrade it is, if you already got 5 pices this run mabey you can pass it to someone else that haven't gotten anything even if you need it more.
3. If you wana do RP I may show up as the akwerd drunk guy in the corner

All that HM FP talk is fun but I already got refused by our member to go with so I started pugging.

I'll now give my advice.

RP
Roleplay n SWTOR appears to be different than in other game. Atleast I see it like that. We have wonderful and very immersive story line, I don't see myself, to pretend that my storyline is different from my character, and that my background and my storyline are separated. It make no sense in my eyes. For me, Elloa is Cypher Nine. However this is not something you can really roleplay with, because you can't have 100 Darth Baras apprendice, and 100 Cypher Nine.
The game structure support badly roleplay aswell : instances, you meet few poeple etc...Which mean that roleplay will stay on a private or small group scale, or you will have to get introduced in teh RP community (join the rp chan, follow the rp forum etc).
At the moment, I don't want to bother with that honnestly. I've other priorities in game.

Another thing : while I really loved the story we agreed, I've the feeling (and considering the few answer on the "let's write our background together thread") that this story might be a bit too complex for super casual roleplayer. So I had proposed as a joke to Majiin, that we should roleplay a Hutball team. Well, it was a joke.... However, it could be very fun, and very simple to roleplay. of course, we can not really roleplay the matches themselves, but everything that happen in the backstage.

Raiding
i'm not there yet, but I think 2 days dedicated for raiding by week is a nice number. In addition of that we would have other kind of guild events (PVP, or social/RP), which still let us space for non playing evening.
I don't want to go hardcore, but I hope to see the guild do well, and enjoy challenges.

Concerning loot I'm agaisnt DKP system, including in a hardcore wowsih raiding environement. For me the obvious rules is what had been said already : Main spec > offspec/companion. Best geared are highly encouraged, but not enforced, to pass for less geared. (this because a well geared person should not be punished if he get some loot. Some well geared player have dedicated a lot of time for their gear and can really dream about that last piece of loot)


Guild behaviour
For this, I suppose that everyone know how to behave. But maybe, I'm just imagining it.
So I'll share what I find obvious : Whitestar is our family on the web, or something alike, which mean : loyalty, friendship, respect, support, affection between every members.
I can understand that sometimes it's impossible to please everyone, specialy when you have a problem of tank/healer, not much lvl 50, heroic lockdown, but I think that it's really needed to always favourise guildmates over pug, and also try to not form "sub group" inside the guild. Sub group will make some players feel excluded, and we do not want that.


Events
I'll try to organise regular guild events and guild meeting. The main purpose of those events will be to do something together. So, sometimes they might be "useless" in term of gameplay and character progression.


EDIT!

Republic
I'll not play republic for now. So I really hope Empire guild will stay the main focus as we agreed after three polls. I don't care about the reasons, and arguements. We have voted, and decided that we would play Empire. Now I've two character on Empire side, I really do not feel like starting a third one.

Elloa wrote:Republic
I'll not play republic for now. So I really hope Empire guild will stay the main focus as we agreed after three polls. I don't care about the reasons, and arguements. We have voted, and decided that we would play Empire. Now I've two character on Empire side, I really do not feel like starting a third one.

I'll only comment on this for now.
I see your point 110% and I agree, yet - I won't keep people from playing what they Really wanna play.

So, at the same server, we now have an Alt-Guild for people who wanna play Republic every now and then. Cause let's face it, it's gonna happen, so we might as well gather the ones we can at the other side.
Everyone who is a member in that alt-guild can invite members, so just give a shout out on Skype or something, and someone will invite you

This is not what we voted on, and I feel a bit like a hypocrite since I already got an alt there. But as long as we decide to play them as alts, I don't see a problem.
The community is what's most important, and as stated , people will roll alts, might as well do what we can to keep us all together

Because most things have already been said, i agree with almost all parts Elloa wrote. But i do want to add what Kinjazor said about world bosses. There a quiet a few of those fun guys out there waiting to be "visited" by Whitestar. Its a great way to form and test team-play with more than just 4 ppl.

World Bosses are an other great ide!

Heya.
I have one thing to say. Dibs on Acharial and Loden they are MY pets now, and you wont be gettng them back.
No seriously, Common sense will guide us well trough the galaxy, I dont feel like starting a new side again. I feel fine with the last three polls. I actually enyoing my bounty hunter more and more, havent got that far yet tou. I will on the other hand change if that whats the majority wants.
RP is something I dont have something to say about at the moment.
Loot, Need for need and greed for greed is what i generally feel works, no need for companions unless you ask first. And yea, rspect otherts peoples Main spec.
May the common sense guide us.

Now that we have taken the great descision of switching side, it's more than ever accurate to speak about our organisation, future goal and purpose.

Iv' the feeling that everyone agree more or less on what we want to do, but I'll summarise the situation, and you correct me if I'm wrong or if you disagree.

Raid :
- we will go for casual( 2 days/week) but well organised PVE end game.
- loot rules will be kept simple and fairplay witha Need-greed system. Main Spec > companion/off spec. Winner are encouraged, but not enforced to pass over someone who need the gear the most (this can include different parameter such as : less geared player, or player with a more important role in guild)


Guild event:
- Weekly social Guild events, and guild PVP will be organised to devellop our community and a strong feeling of friendship between members


Guild behaviour:
- The guild do not have a Law charter to enforce on their member, as we consider each member mature and wise enough to behave in the right way.
This is the WOW guidl charter we can inspire ourselves. (if there is something that need modification, just tell)

Be nice: Your character can be a bastard, but you have to be respectful, polite, and tolerant. Be sure that the player in front of you make the difference between your character and yourself.

Do not be greedy: Ninja looting and Loot whore behaviour is not tolerated. Beeing a dwarf is not an excuse.

Be loyal:
never forget that a guild represent a lot of real work from the officer crew. Act in consequences by advertising the leaders about your missing, others characters in others guilds, if you are planning to be less active on your guilded character. This to allow leaders to continue to organise the guild correctly.

Do not speak bad behind the back of your guild mates and do not apply in another guild.

Do not be saved to any instance currently raided with the guild, unless you asked to the leaders and received their approbation.


Respect your engagement: When you sign for any event, you have to show up for it. If you can't come for whatever reason (even if you can but don’t want to), warn the event leader or any officer about you missing as least 2 hours before the event, for easier organization.

Be open minded: Accept that we're all different. Our guild consists of people of different ages, from different countries, cultures, with different tastes and game interests. Be nice, and don't hurt your guildmates' feelings.

Be calm and polite: Don't keep arguments and fighting in open channels. If you disagree with or dislike someone, it's your right to! But instead of open fighting/harsh words, for serious problems, you can speak with an officer.

Be aware: Read the forums and keep yourself up to date. A lot of information is gathered here, help yourself!

Speak English : It's considered not very polite to speak/type another language than English in guildchat, raidchat or ventrilo.

Respect the Officer Crew : Officers give a lot of their game time, and a lot of themselves to organize the guild for the pleasure of everyone. Respect their job! Officers will always have final say

Recruitement
Closed for now, but shall we re-open? Shall we wait a little bit?

Seems fair and square to me.
As we are on an RP server, we may want to add some RP guidelines, like no silly names.

Maybe wait 1 - 2 weeks to see who will stay with us from our Empire friends before opening up recruitment again. I sure hope we can keep our band together.

Im more than willing to do RP/PVP - Im very inexperienced with PVE raiding but will join in and see how it goes :-)

For RP I have joined the RP channel and while its still in its infancy people are starting to organise things a bit on there (/cjoin RP)

For PVP I will have my full level 20 PVP gear today for myself and my companion and I also have the 24 gun for each of us - so will now be levelling up a bit more.