Guild Charter

We believe in helping out, but not handholding.
In raiding smarter and not harder or longer.

We respect off-specs, as long as they can demonstrate viability within our raids. We seek to explore new content and find fun in visible progression. We believe that officers first and foremost, have responsibility and not privilege. That competence leads to confidence, from which authority is derived.

We view loot as tools to assist progression, and believe that the best loot system is one that is least likely to cause drama

Structure Defined

Guild Structure
The guild will be managed by 2 co-gm's and 4 officers. Unanimous approval by the gm's and support from the officers is required for decisions to take effect. All members are encouraged to participate in the decision making process through various posts on our forums.

Our current structure is as follows:

Co-Gm or Council- Top of the food chain here, policy initiates from here first
Officer- Each officer has specific jobs that they do in the guild
Core- These members make up the progression raiding units of Vindication
Greenhorn- These are members that are either too undergeared to be in progression or they show the potential to be a core raider but are yet to reach that point
Recruit- These are new members that are currently being evaluated or are returning members being re-evaluated (see Membership section)
NRM- These are non raiding members, comprised of real life friends and family of our members
Alts- We allow reasonable amounts of alts in the guild. Only allow 1 non-level 80 alt in the guild
Eldrick's Cagee- Where people go when they are bad


Responsibilities
1. Renting a Ventrilo Server
Snuffyman is currently sponsoring our Vent Server. To keep the vent going donations will be needed by the guild (check in the private sections of the forums).

2. Guild Website/Forums
Snuffyman and Celchu will be the website manager.

3. DKP Officer
Krisshaman is currently in charge of uploading raid dkp data after each run.

4. Raid Leaders
Alaidea and Marudas will assume the responsibility of raid leader. Raid leaders, uhm, lead raids and distribute loot. They are there to ensure our success not only in progression raids but farming runs as well.

5. Co-Gm's or Council
Alaidea and Snuffyman are currently the co-gm's

6. Guild Bank
Snuffyman will manage the guild bank

7. Recruitment Officer
Royalnewb will assume the duties of guild recruiter, ensuring that our rosters are up to date and balanced.

8. Guild Relations
Snuffyman and Celchu will assume the duties of guild relations officers. Any officer can be contacted regarding any guild issues, however we ask that they are brought up in a timely manor.

Membership Back to top

Joining the Guild
We seek players with a positive attitude and have a good understanding of the game and their class. We are a raiding guild, so you should be spec'd and geared accordingly.

Your personality and class knowledge are 2 crucial areas we will look at when evaluating new recruits. However, we aren't here to gear out alts or aid in changing raiding toons. We are looking for people that know their class, have a sense of humor, and are able to immediately make an impact on our raids.

In addition, if you are able to craft or combine items beneficial to raiding (epic BOE gear, flasks, etc), please also let us know. Cooking and fishing skill is also highly desirable while first aid maxed is a must.

If you feel that you have what it takes to become a member of vindication please go to http://vindicationwow.net/join.html

After submitting your application, please register on our forums. We will be interacting with you through our forums, if you don't register or don't check the forums you wont know our decision.

**Again, please read all the instructions before submitting an application**

Becoming a Member
Upon entrance to the guild a recruit will remain a recruit for 2 weeks. A thread is opened in the recruit evaluation forum in order to evaluate the recruits talent and personality in the guild. Here, core members and officers will be commenting on your performance.

After 2 weeks a poll is opened for placement in the guild as a Core (raider), Greenhorm, NRM or 'not belonging'. After majority votes in a certain category the poll is done. For decisions that tend to be more 50-50 re-evaluation by officers will occur. For some recruits this process takes longer than others.

To be a Core
If for some reason or another a recruit doesn't get voted into the core, there are alternative paths to the core rank. Being a greenhorn does not mean you will not get to raid, it means your priority to gear decreases. For greenhorns, especially, chances will be given to get into raids because by definition the greenhorn rank is for those people that have the potential to be a progression raider but due to a lack of gear or experience at the time of their recruitment were voted greenhorn.

No earlier than 2 weeks after a recruits poll is completed, a greenhorn can re-apply for a core spot. To do this the greenhorn must announce to an officer their interest in being re-evaluated to be a part of the core. The officer then opens up the discussion to the officer group, if the officers feel that the greenhorn has improved significantly a poll  may be brought up to the core members. Same voting rules apply as above.

For NRM's, the process is slightly different. In order to be considered for a core spot, there must exist an opening in the desired class and spec. If such a spot exists the same process for greenhorns occurs for NRM's. For the most part NRM's are not considered for raiding.

Member Expectations
Our goals are to have fun and progress, therefore we would like to be as drama free as possible. This, of course, is a hard thing to accomplish and we ask our members to come forward to an officer with any and all problems they may have.

Continuing harassment, poor behavior and attitude will be met with appropriate action, on a situation by situation basis, by both the council and the guild members. Punishment may include, but are not limited to, a verbal warning, raiding cool-off period or being asked to leave the guild (of course we hope to rarely have it reach that).

We expect quality behavior to not only occur within the guild, but to others on the server as well. Remember, our reputation affects recruiting!

Members are expected to come prepared to raid with appropriate consumables. This applies for ALL raid content!!
Just because it is farm doesn't mean it shouldn't be serious. When invites are announced, groups are dropped so that the invite period can be as smooth as possible.

Members are also asked to check the guild forums at least 1x a week for any and all updates, voting and information for the guild. Most announcements that are of importance to the guild are made within our member forums. It is not an excuse if you are unaware of policies because you do not check the site. Typically, we open discussion about new policies a week or two before enacting it.

Leaving the guild/Re-joining the guild
If for some reason vindication isn't the place for you we wish you the best of luck in your search. We do hope that anyone pursuing such a path will give us at least a 2 week notice so that we may adjust accordingly. We treat all our members with the utmost respect and expect the same in return.

If for some reason you decide to leave the guild and do so on bad terms (including ninja xferring and cursing out Snuffy ) your return to the guild will most likely not occur.

All other instances will be dealt with in a case-by-case basis. However, the following structure and penalty will apply to all people re-joining the guild.

The officer group will discuss the person-in-question and their potential return. Things like past experiences, attendance and raid performance are all considered. The officer group will vote on the appropriate measure in bringing this member back, actions will include but are not limited to, Recruit status and immediate poll, Recruit status and 2-week probationary period then poll or full recruit status and re-vote. Those members that return that had a positive dkp will have it reduced to zero, while those who left with a negative dkp will have it remain negative.

If for some reason a core member leaves the game due to RL or other reasons and they are demoted to NRM, they are more than welcome to return to the raiding ranks. The process is a 1-week probationary period at the NRM rank (this does NOT exclude the nrm from raids) and an officer vote at the end of the 1-week period.

Demotion
There are a few reasons how a core member can be demoted to greenhorn or NRM. Because our spots in the raids are not guaranteed for anyone with the exception of the raid leader, if we find a core members performance is less than desirable that member will be subject to a demotion. Typically, we will give the member a notice that their performance is not up to standard and try to come up with suggestions and ways to improve. At that point a 2 week 'watching' period begins where officers will watch the performance of the member in question. At the end of the 2 week period the gm's will determine the members status. If a vote is deemed necessary all officers will vote on the fate of the member.

If by chance a member leaves for an extended period of time, they are subject to demotion. This will be handled by a case-by-case basis and will be greatly influenced by whether notice was given and length of time gone.

Raiding in VindicationBack to top

Invitations
During our learning phase, the Raid Leader will select individuals who can maximize our chances at progression. For farm raids, the raid leaders will factor in a variety of things in order to select who is invited. The factors include ,but are not limited to, DKP standings, guild standing (recruit vs. member), previous attendance, previous raid performance and current gear worn and desired.

Schedule
We raid 25-man content 3 nights a week, Thursday, Sunday and Monday, 5:30-8:30 server. There will be a scheduled 'break' during each raid to maximize our attempts on content. Although, we may spend the beginning of a week in progression fights, before the week is through an attempt at all farm content cleared will be attempted. Invites go out around 5 server and members are expected to be ready for the invite.

Availability
If you are going to be away for an extended period of time please post in the appropriate forum section. If you are online and cannot stay for an entire raiding period (5:30 - 8:30), please let a raid leader or officer know. Consistent afk’ing during raids or not showing up, not only wastes raid members times but hurts your chances at attending future raids. This includes anything over 5 minutes without a reasonable explanation (e.g. My internet connection crashed), all other reasons can usually be explained to an officer so we can get someone to take your place as soon as possible. Please, if you are going to leave after one or two attempts do not accept the raid invitation. If you are online and have not said anything to an officer or raid leader we assume you can stay for the whole period.

Attendance
We do not enforce an attendance policy, however, with a 3 night a week schedule we expect 2 or 3 nights a week of raiding from each raider.

We advise new recruits to have a 100% attendance so that core members and officers can have a chance to evaluate your skill.

Loot
We are using a zero-sum dkp system. More information below regarding mechanics.

We designed this system to be the most fair system that can occur. While loot council and bid systems utilize easily corruptible systems, with zero-sum the numbers cannot lie. Remember, there exists no good dkp system or loot distribution system. We are attempting to be fair in the distribution as well as trying to make sure we as a guild progress. Remember loot is the tool for the betterment of the guild and if you are the type of player that will take an item just for minimal (+1 stat) upgrade over someone that it would greatly improve their character...you are in the wrong place. We want loot to put us in the best possible place to succeed with minimal human interaction.

Although, we won't force people to pass on items in order for key classes to take it. Those type of selfish players do not last long within vindication. We want raiders that understand the importance of synergy between the 25 people in the raid.

DKPBack to top

Vindication uses a zero-sum loot policy. Which means what goes into the system, comes out of the system.

All loot values will be determined using EPGP, it's a mod that takes the item level of a piece of gear and creates a number based off the slot in which the piece of armor is used in.

The DKP will be separately tracked on a web page and typically will be reset by tiers (i.e. tier 9 and tier 10 will have their own separate dkp systems). The numbers on these sites will determine who will loot the item based off of who in interested in the item.

When deciding if you would like to take a piece of gear off a boss please understand the following rules.

A /roll is used to show interest for the item in question.

Once all rolls are in, the DKP officer will check the appropriate tracking site to see who is awarded the item. There is also a priority list in which must be followed to ensure that the loot is going to the best possible play for our progression team.

Looting Priority (greatest priority to least):

Officer/Core + Main Spec + Main Armor
Officer/Core + Main Spec + Off-Armor
Greenhorn + Main Spec + Main Armor
Greenhorn + Main Spec + Off Armor
Recruit + Main Spec + Main Armor/BiS
Recruit + Main Spec + Off Armor
Officer/Core + Off-Spec + Main Armor
Officer/Core + Off-Spec + Off-Armor
Greenhorn + Off-Spec + Main Armor
Greenhorn + Off-Spec + Off Armor
Recruit + Off-Spec + Main Armor
Recruit + Off-spec + Off Armor

We DO NOT invite NRM's or non-raiding members to raids.

The above is to be followed at all times EXCEPT for items that are best in slot for our current progression. For items that are best in slot, any class that would be utilizing the item for their main spec will get equal opportunity to loot. This will only apply to the CURRENT instance we are progressing through and will not include loot off of the final boss of that instance. Our goal is to clear the current progression instance and all gear gathered at that time is used to down that boss. Once the instance is cleared and final boss is placed on farm status (2-3 clean kills); the best in slot policy moves to the next instance in line.

For example, if our current progression level is ICC and ToC. The best in slot policy would apply to those pieces of gear that is best in slot up to Lich King and Anub. Once the Lich King and/or Anub are pronounced to be farm content the best in slot policy no longer exists for gear in ICC and ToC, but instead becomes activated in Black Temple and Mount Hyjal.

Again, our goal is to progress through instance content and if items are best in slot for certain classes it makes more sense to give them a fair chance to receive the loot rather then having to make them wait for all of the main armor people to get it. This avoids distinct problems we had in BC , for those times that we have been short and brought someone that doesn’t often raid progression OR have just returned from an extended break and receiving best in slot items over other members just because the item is not of their armor class. Although, as you get lower in armor you get less available options to choose from, a best in slot item not in the armor class is ultimately aiding the guild and the raid as much as the item in the hands of the armor wearing class.

Upgrade Policy

All items will be charged to the recipient for the entire full price with just one exception, something Vindication calls the upgrade policy.

The upgrade policy is as follows - If a raider takes an item in the current tier, then purchases another item in the same tier that nobody else wishes to have, that person takes the item for the upgrade price which is 50% of the actual DKP value of the item.

Example: Zelis has paid 300 DKP for the Forest Prowler Helm from the Illidari Council. Vindication kills Illidan Stormrage and the Cursed Vision of Sargeras drops from him. Zelis rolls for the item alone because nobody else wants it. Zelis is only charged 150 DKP for the item since he is upgrading his armor from withing the same Tier, which is 6.

The upgrade policy, however, does not transfer across the tiers.

Example: Zelis has paid 250 DKP for the Rift Stalker Helm from Lady Vashj. Vindication kills the Illidari Council and the Forest Prowler Helm drops. Zelis rolls for the item alone because nobody else wants it. Zelis, although he is the only one rolling, is charged the full price of 300 DKP since the Rift Stalker Helm is from the 5th Tier whereas the Forest Prowler Helm is from the 6th tier of raiding.

Off-spec

For those classes where the option to have off-spec gear exists, the price is 20% of the original value (80% off). For off-spec interest members need only to do the normal /roll and immediately indicate that it is for off-spec.

Changing Spec’s

We have always been a guild of understanding when it comes to spec'ing. However, people are brought in here to play a specific spec or to fulfill a specific role. We are not going to deny people who decide to change spec’s under the right circumstances, but there will be penalties for doing so to avoid complications within our dkp system and for fairness reasons when loot is involved.

When someone decides to change their main spec they will go into a 2 week probation period. In this 2 week period, all items for their new main spec becomes 50% larger in value.

For example, Snuffyman decides to change his main spec from resto to feral. The T6 bracers drop off of Kalecgos (with a value of 250 dkp), Snuffyman chooses to /roll. Because he out dkp’s other people that are rolling for the T6 bracers he would receive them at a cost of 375 dkp and not 250. With the way the zero-dkp system works, the added 50% to the item goes right back into the system and to the raid.

Because we believe that people who earn their dkp with us reserve the right to spend it how they want. We do not think it is fair for them to be denied any gear they worked with us in getting. We also do not think it is fair for them to get gear over people in their new main spec without any penalty. The added dkp penalty should deter people from rolling on gear and allow those people who have waited on the loot to finally get their chance.

DKP Reset
Within the 25man dkp site we will reset the dkp for each tier. In other words, for each 25 man tier content there will exist a separate dkp site. We are doing this to ensure that as time goes on people who no longer need gear from certain places don't get too far ahead of the rest of the guild and end up being able to get 3 or 4 pieces in a row without taking much of a hit to their dkp.

Guild BankBack to top

Guild Repairs
Guild repairs are on for all core members at all times.

Requesting Items
Any officer can get the materials for you. In addition, you can send an in-game mail to Snuffyman for any less than urgent items.

Raiding Items
Those items that are utilized within the raid (gems, planars and dust's) are free of charge as long as they are going towards something that is for their main-spec and was received within our raids.

For rare items lists will be posted on the forums.

Other Items
All other items are available to members for 50% of AH value.