05-15-2005, 04:02 AM
I think that there is great merit to Sabra's proposal that Lurkers on Stormrage undertake a responsibility to advance the level/power of the guild generally. Because there is too much noise on the other thread, I am starting a new thread in the hopes of encouraging a productive dialogue in the vein conceived by Sabra.
What I am aiming to get out of this is a stickied thread that describes a set of voluntary principles for Lurkers to follow. These voluntary principles are of course not rules, rather they are hortatory in nature. I would like us to think seriously and collectively about how we can change things from the way they are now so that all Lurkers would be better off and how we can model such changes so that we will all want to adopt them.
I begin with two observations that should not be controversial:
1. WoW contains end game content that requires group play (i.e., soloing is impossible).
2. Most people have real life commitments that prevent them from rigid commitments to Wow.
Per the above points, I have this premise: that we would all be better off in our gaming experience if everyone has at least one very capable high level character. This is so that at any time, regardless of who can or cannot be on, it would at least be possible in theory to form groups of 60s. The sense in Sabra's proposal that we begin aggresively to escalate each other's characters is that in the end we are all better for having a stronger population in the guild.
I have the following thoughts to expand on Sabra's starting point:
1. Guild bank - I previously proposed this and it was met with strong disfavor, but I think that might have been due to my error in describing the idea. Keep in mind that everything is voluntary. What I am basically suggesting is a take a penny, leave a penny system. In other words, it should be voluntary deposit and withdraw and no one should have expectations for it other than good faith behavior among us. Equipment is very important in WoW for some characters and a guild bank can really help if done right. Some degree of selflessness and sacrifice would be required. For example, the blue rifle that you found might be more useful to someone's primary character than to your alt. Or that green that marginally improves your equipment might be a meaningful upgrade for someone else.
2. Targeted questing - We should give priority to helping each other finish certain quests due to the rewards. It is not an efficient use of time to help someone hunt tigers in STV. On the other hand, we should always try to help people complete the Deadmines, or the Uldaman necklace quest, or the Big Game Hunter quest in STV, or the Crone of the Kraul quest in Razorfen Kraul, etc. because those quests result in equipment that significantly boosts the power of certain characters.
3. Pooled resources - It is much faster for a higher level char to mine copper, collect linen, etc. If we all take some time to donate resources to a common fund, this will decrease time that we spend individually gathering for alts, etc. More efficiency means less time consumed on non-leveling tasks.
4. Play choices - It might be the case that you would rather play your new alt than your level 60 character, but all of us should start to think of our time more altruistically. A decision to forego playing the alt on any given night might mean that a group of 60s can run for equipment. Similarly, you might be dying to level your hunter or rogue. However, you would be doing everyone a favor by leveling a priest or developing a tank. I think that for larger groups/raids situations, Lurkers can make up for our small size and inability to coordinate by always having healers and tanks available. Other dps oriented classes can be more easily filled in by on the spot recruiting from Basiners, etc.
Look, I realize that these are not fully fleshed out ideas and that some of my thoughts might not be fully or well described here. But let us try to talk about these things and others and see if we can make some progress, ok?
What I am aiming to get out of this is a stickied thread that describes a set of voluntary principles for Lurkers to follow. These voluntary principles are of course not rules, rather they are hortatory in nature. I would like us to think seriously and collectively about how we can change things from the way they are now so that all Lurkers would be better off and how we can model such changes so that we will all want to adopt them.
I begin with two observations that should not be controversial:
1. WoW contains end game content that requires group play (i.e., soloing is impossible).
2. Most people have real life commitments that prevent them from rigid commitments to Wow.
Per the above points, I have this premise: that we would all be better off in our gaming experience if everyone has at least one very capable high level character. This is so that at any time, regardless of who can or cannot be on, it would at least be possible in theory to form groups of 60s. The sense in Sabra's proposal that we begin aggresively to escalate each other's characters is that in the end we are all better for having a stronger population in the guild.
I have the following thoughts to expand on Sabra's starting point:
1. Guild bank - I previously proposed this and it was met with strong disfavor, but I think that might have been due to my error in describing the idea. Keep in mind that everything is voluntary. What I am basically suggesting is a take a penny, leave a penny system. In other words, it should be voluntary deposit and withdraw and no one should have expectations for it other than good faith behavior among us. Equipment is very important in WoW for some characters and a guild bank can really help if done right. Some degree of selflessness and sacrifice would be required. For example, the blue rifle that you found might be more useful to someone's primary character than to your alt. Or that green that marginally improves your equipment might be a meaningful upgrade for someone else.
2. Targeted questing - We should give priority to helping each other finish certain quests due to the rewards. It is not an efficient use of time to help someone hunt tigers in STV. On the other hand, we should always try to help people complete the Deadmines, or the Uldaman necklace quest, or the Big Game Hunter quest in STV, or the Crone of the Kraul quest in Razorfen Kraul, etc. because those quests result in equipment that significantly boosts the power of certain characters.
3. Pooled resources - It is much faster for a higher level char to mine copper, collect linen, etc. If we all take some time to donate resources to a common fund, this will decrease time that we spend individually gathering for alts, etc. More efficiency means less time consumed on non-leveling tasks.
4. Play choices - It might be the case that you would rather play your new alt than your level 60 character, but all of us should start to think of our time more altruistically. A decision to forego playing the alt on any given night might mean that a group of 60s can run for equipment. Similarly, you might be dying to level your hunter or rogue. However, you would be doing everyone a favor by leveling a priest or developing a tank. I think that for larger groups/raids situations, Lurkers can make up for our small size and inability to coordinate by always having healers and tanks available. Other dps oriented classes can be more easily filled in by on the spot recruiting from Basiners, etc.
Look, I realize that these are not fully fleshed out ideas and that some of my thoughts might not be fully or well described here. But let us try to talk about these things and others and see if we can make some progress, ok?