Promethean is a Horde progression raiding guild on the Malfurion realm. Our goal is to provide an original and creative raiding environment with an emphasis on longevity and the fostering of a stable long-term online gaming community.
25 man raid times: 8:30 PM - 12:30 AM (EST) Sunday through Wednesday 10 man raid times (optional): 8:30 PM - 12:30 AM (EST) Thursday through Saturday Loot system: Loot Council Current roster size: 28+ Expected attendance rate: 80% Website: Promethean Guild
The beginnings of Promethean can be traced back to the early days of World of Warcraft; sometime around the release of Blackwing Lair (summer of 2005). At such an early time in the game, many guilds found themselves under the hold of a common affliction: the so called leadership would be enveloped in a struggle of power which, in turn, led to a very chaotic style of raiding rather than one blessed by formal process and organization. The membership of the precursor guild to Promethean found itself being torn apart by the conflicting interests of leadership at that time. Unavoidable chaos ensued and the inevitable boom happened. From the dust, Promethean was forged with the purpose of bringing creative and boldly original styles of leadership and raiding.
The first and most important action we took upon the creation of Promethean was to apply the process of iterative development to guild management, which is still something we use today. Essentially, iterative development means we take a collection of guild, raiding, and organizational policies and we try them out for a set amount of time. Once we have used the policies for a sufficient amount of time, we evaluate the effectiveness of the policies and tweak, augment, or remove certain pieces of the whole policy puzzle. Iterative development over the past couple of years has allowed us to increase raid efficiency, progression and member satisfaction while at the same time decreasing poor play, drama, and instability.
Over the years we’ve had many successes and failures to match. The most notable of our successes was during the Burning Crusade, where Promethean soared to become one of the top 20 US guilds. We’ve also had our fair share of failures ranging from dropping the ball on progression to more critical errors such as losing perspective of the bigger picture and our initial goals. However, we realize our failures are the necessity to our success. The statement that “many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up” (Thomas Edison) rings louder and louder every day in the minds of our leadership and membership.
Expectations
When a player is looking for a new guild and a guild is looking for a new member, matching expectations are critical to the success of the “player-guild search”. Even a slight mismatch in expectations will leave one or both parties unsatisfied (especially now, in the days of 3 day transfers where “pay to try a guild” is a viable option if you have the resources). As such, we feel it is of the upmost importance that we outline what you can expect from Promethean and what we expect from you.
From Promethean you can expect the following:
Planning and preparedness: When it comes to raiding, we aim to have a plan of approach to the encounter(s) we will be working on. We also aim to know as much about the encounter as possible. As such, the membership and leadership will invest a significant amount of time into researching and studying encounters. The results of the research are then published to our forums such that the results can be discussed publicly. The publication of results serves a dual purpose. One, it allows us to see who is contributing to getting bosses down which allows us to judge the quality of our leaders and members. Two, it allows us to have everything documented such that new members who are coming onboard can quickly catch up to the collective knowledge of the guild and understand very quickly the methods by which we beat encounters and function as a guild.
An environment where self and group improvement reigns supreme: Our players are extremely critical of themselves and others when it comes to gameplay. Our leadership is extremely critical of itself when it comes to the way the guild is run. Every day is an opportunity to improve upon something that is lacking.
Constructive criticism: We, the leadership, understand nobody is perfect and everyone has room for improvement (which makes criticism a necessary evil). We also understand that it is very difficult for most people to take criticism well. When we find someone (or the raid) is lacking in some aspect, we first look for observable data to prove deficiency. For example, if someone is constantly dying on an encounter, we examine death logs to pinpoint why they are dying. Or, if we are constantly wiping to a boss enrage timer, we look at a variety of things such as proper consumables, proper rotations, uptime, and minimal movement. Once we have obtained the observable data, we look at ways of fixing the problem. We then present the observable data and the solution(s) to the problem to the appropriate parties and expect a quick fix.
Additionally, as far as member/guild performance feedback, we hold monthly one-on-one sessions with each member where we collect feedback about leadership and guild performance issues. The leadership also talks to each member about what they can improve on and how they can work on it. Our goal to create excellent players and the only method of doing that is with a process of constant feedback and refinement. Additionally, every Tuesday, before the new raid week begins, we hold guild meetings where we discuss what needs to be worked on this week, both in terms of raid content and raid optimization, and any pending guild issues.
Lastly, initiate feedback meetings are also held after each raid night in order to make sure new recruits are performing up to par and are acclimating themselves to the new guild environment. The initiate feedback meetings also provide a great forum for new members to voice their thoughts and opinions which at the end makes the guild environment better.
A (mostly) drama free environment: We’ve dealt with virtually all types of drama common to a raiding guild over the past 5 years. We’ve also devised solutions to deal with different drama scenarios. At the end of the day, we have very few drama-related incidents. The most important aspect of drama management that we understand is that no matter how amazing a player might be or how senior they may be, if they are one that causes a lot of internal strife and problems, they should and will be removed and replaced.
An online gaming community: The long term goal of Promethean is not just to be a “great” World of Warcraft guild but also to be a long term community that will continue to play World of Warcraft and other online games of interest together.
Our Expectations
First and foremost, we are looking for players who will be long term members. We are not searching for what are commonly referred to as “bench” players. We are searching for people that we can add to our current team who plan to stick around for the years to come. As such, we are looking for people with a passion for online gaming and World of Warcraft.
In addition to the aforementioned core characteristic, we are also looking for skilled and analytical (logical) players who are able to quickly adapt to changing game situations and environments. It would be awesome if you had most of the following characteristics:
You know exactly what you want out of a guild and make sure your expectations match ours
You are extremely loyal (given that the aforementioned expectations are met)
You learn from your own and others’ mistakes quickly
You do not make the same mistake twice
You love to analyze your own and others’ gameplay
You are able to take criticism well (really think about this one and be honest with yourself)
You should be outspoken and comfortable in partaking in group discussions on Ventrilo about performance and strategies
You are able to formulate strategies and transfer them into text form
Frequently Asked Questions
Assembled below are some of the common recruitment questions people usually ask. Please look through here before contacting one of us.
1) What are your raiding hours like?
We raid 8:30 PM to 12:30 AM (Eastern) Sunday through Wednesday.
2) I hate filling out applications. Is it really necessary? Can I talk to you about it in game?
You must fill out an application; and please, take time out to fill it out in detail. We use the application to get a slight insight into your personality and see whether we should take time out to talk to you more. You can message any of us in game to talk about anything you want to talk about, but you must fill out an application. No exceptions!
3) How does the application process work?
After you fill out an application, an officer will review your application and then will either send you a PM on our forums or will actually log onto your server and send you an in-game mail if we are interested in proceeding further. At this point we will work out a convenient time for everyone where we can meet on Ventrilo and have a chat (so its important that you have a working mic). The chat will consist of a few officers and possibly some normal members. During the chat we will ask you some general questions, any questions that came up pertaining to your app, give you some additional information about the guild, and answer any questions that you may have. During the entire chat, we will be trying to assess your personality as well.
After the voice chat is concluded, we will ask you to leave the channel at which point we will make a decision on whether you have been accepted or not. After we have made our decision, we will inform you of it at which point you're free to decide whether you want to join the guild or not.
When you are invited to the guild, you will be required to read through our new members guide which will set you up with the appropriate Ventrilo and forum accounts, and familiarize you with the guild rules.
For the next two weeks, you will be required to maintain near perfect attendance and will most likely be provided with lots of feedback as to how you are doing. If everything goes smoothly, you will become a member at the end of the two weeks. Note that, while being an initiate, you will not be able to bid on loot unless no member wants it.
4) I can't make raids or will be late on day X. Can I still apply?
Our current optimal attendance requirement is 80%. Being late on some days may be alright, as long as you give notification that you will be late on such days and make this information available when you are applying to the guild.
5) What is the age range of players in the guild? What is the minimum age requirement?
Most players in Promethean are in their mid twenties to early thirties with some outliers of course. You must be 18 or older to join.
6) What type of humor is common in Promethean?
Dirty humor. Dry humor. Usually intermingled with a decent amount of profanity and vulgar language. Its all in good fun. If this offends you, please do not join.
7) Will I have a guaranteed raid spot if I join Promethean?
The answer to this question is completely dependent on you. If you are a dependable, analytical, quick-to-learn-type of player with a team-oriented personality then you are indeed guaranteed a full time raiding spot.
8) How do you deal with drama?
We try to talk to the parties involved and bring control to the situation at hand. Most of the time this works rather well as we're experienced with dealing with a variety of drama situations. However, if we have a very emotionally unstable person who somehow managed to get through the application process, we are left with no choice and will remove that person. We will not sacrifice the enjoyment of the rest of the guild because of one person's inability to be a member of a team.
If you have any further questions that have not been answered in this FAQ, feel free to message Amiye, Ashellia, or Methods.
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