Damaged Goods Charter

Introduction:

Damaged Goods is a mid-sized casual raiding guild on the Khadgar server, Alliance side.  You can read about our members on The Armory.

First and foremost, Damaged Goods is about maintaining a fun, relaxed and helping guild with many real life friends and family. Ensuring the integrity of the guild and intimacy between each one of our members is our number one priority. We have fun, but we also recognize limits: we do not allow cursing or flaming other guild members.

The focus of Damaged Goods is to raid casually. This means, we raid on a voluntary basis, and we want to maintain the intimacy of a small guild. Currently, we raid Tier 5 instances three nights a week, and have 5- and 10-person runs on the other nights. We have a sister-guild relationship with
 Black Dogs, which has currently more of an emphasis on leveling and instances.  If you are a player who shares our values, but does not yet have a level 70 toon, you should consider contacting Licorice, GM of Black Dogs.

 

Damaged Goods was founded in January 2006, which makes it one of the oldest guilds on the server.  We survived the BC crises which broke up so many guilds because we value the relationships between guild members more than any other facet of the game.  In January 2008, we entered into a guild alliance with Black Dogs, and in April 2008, many of the raiding toons in Black Dogs merged into Damaged Goods.


Recruiting information:

If you are reading this charter for the first time, it is probably because you are trying to decide if you are a good fit for Damaged Goods.  There are two core expectations of successful DG members:

(1)    You should be an adult interested in a casual raiding schedule.  We require our members to be a minimum of 18 years old, but many of our members are over thirty with jobs and kids.   You are not required to raid, but if you prefer to play lower-level toons, you will find more people to play with in Black Dogs or a leveling guild.  We are not a “hardcore” raiding guild with mandatory attendance, assigned raiding groups, and DKP.  But we do take our raiding seriously.

(2)   You should be “other-regarding.”  We play as a team.  That means that we frequently give each other our raid slots, pool resources, and often decide loot according to who needs it most.  Requests for assistance are appropriate, but you should not constantly demand attention, resources, or assistance.   You are expected not only to follow the few rules of the guild, but also to conform to the guild culture.

Damaged Goods has a complete raid roster, and is not actively recruiting for any position.  People who want to join Damaged Goods for the “phat lewtz” or because “we raid a lot” are not likely to be happy in the guild.  But we do accept new members if we feel they would be a good fit with the guild culture.


Chat rules:

No swearing is permitted in guild chat, in public chat, or on Ventrilo. We feel that the no swearing rule goes beyond "bad words" and is a philosophy to help you think before you speak in all aspects of chatting with other people. Other guilds have been broken by the unintended consequences of harsh words, and we will not let that happen to Damaged Goods. We also take seriously how other guilds perceive the members of Damaged Goods.


Loot rules:

The standard loot rules are to click need for green bind-on-equip items if you will use (as opposed to sell) the item and otherwise to click greed for green bind-on-equip items. Pass on purple or blue items, as well as green bind-on-pickup items, and discuss who should get it. In raids, if no one can use a purple item, we disenchant it and keep the void crystal in the guild bank.


Communication:

As a guild, we use Ventrilo, chat, and mob marking to communicate. You can download the free Ventrilo client at http://www.ventrilo.com. 
The Ventrilo coordinates are:

Hostname: ventrilo4.ecgnetwork.com

Port number: 4408

Password: Damaged

Default channel: DamagedGoods

The standard kill order is White Skull, Red X, Blue Square, Orange Circle ("sun"), White Moon, Yellow Star.  Sun, moon, and star are typically used to indicate crowd control. For example, in a group of four mobs, the leader might mark skull, X, sun, moon; dps would focus first on skull while sun and moon were sheeped or shackled. If an off-tank strategy is being used, the off-tank takes the X. A leader may change the standard order, depending, for example, on which mob hits the ice trap.


Channels:

Damaged Goods maintains raid subchannels, and a toon is expected to join the channels relevant to his or her function.  The goal is to leave the main raid channel and vent as free as possible for the raid leaders.  The subchannels are:

 

(1)   Dghealers: All healers and paladins belong to this channel.  In this channel, paladins will work out blessing assignments, and all healers will decide healing assignments.

(2)   Dglocks: All warlocks belong to this channel.  They use it to assign curses, and to make sure that a rezzer has a soulstone up at all times.

(3)   Dgmages: All mages belong to this channel.  They use it to discuss crowd control assignments.

(4)   Dgtanks:  All tanks of whatever class belong to this channel.  Tanks discuss off-tanking assignments and positioning in this channel.

(5)   DGhunters:  All hunters belong to this channel.  Hunters use it to discuss misdirect and ice trap assignments.

 

We also use the channel dgbd as a joint sister-guild channel with Black Dogs.


Guild Ranks:

Rookie:  This is the rank at which new members enter the guild.  After three or four weeks, the Rookie will be invited to become a member or to leave the guild.  To become a member, the Rookie will have to pay their toon tax, which is 1/7 of each toon’s level, rounded, with a minimum of 1 gold.   Rookies have privileges to talk in guild chat and to post on the private boards.  They do not have any guild bank privileges.

 

Fearsome mooch:  This is the administrative rank we use to administer the toon tax.  Eventually we will probably be able to phase out the rank.  Everyone will be at this rank until they pay their toon tax.  Fearsome mooches have privileges to talk in guild chat and to post on the private boards.  They do not have any guild bank privileges.

 

Member:  This is the rank most people hold.  Members have privileges to talk in guild chat, to post on the private boards, and to withdraw items from the first two tabs on the guild bank.

 

Senior member: This is the rank for long-standing members of the guild, for former DG officers who are not currently occupying a Ministry post, for former Black Dogs officers, and for the alts of Ministers.  Senior members have privileges to talk in guild and officer chat, to post on the private and officer boards, to withdraw any item from the bank, and to invite new rookies in consultation with the Minister of Recruiting.

 

Minister:  This is the rank for a toon who has a specific administrative assignment in the guild.  These positions are spelled out in greater detail below and will occasionally change.   Ministers have privileges to talk in guild and officer chat, to post on the private and officer boards, to withdraw any item from the bank, and to invite new rookies in consultation with the Minister of Recruiting.

(1)   Channel Leader: Each of the raid subchannels has a leader who directs discussions on the topics of interest to its members.  When appropriate, he or she will help a guildie get coaching from a Senior Member of their class and spec.

(2)   Minister of Communication: This person is in charge of the guild website.

(3)   Minister of Finance: This person is in charge of the guild bank.

(4)   Raid Leader: The raid leaders explain and direct the raids, supported by the guildmaster and channel leaders.

(5)   Minister of Recreation:  This person is in charge of guild activities outside traditional raiding and instances.  He or she will help organize LAN parties, contests, and other events.

(6)   Minister of Recruiting:  This person is in charge of recruiting new members, screening proposed members, and guiding the review process of Rookies.

Guildmaster: This is the rank for the administrative head of the guild.


Calendar/Runs and Raids:

You will find that our peak time in the guild is primarily around 8:00 - 12:00 am server time with many members fluctuating on both sides from 4:00PM to 1:00 am server time.  Before you apply or inquire about joining Damaged Goods, be aware that these are the times you will find us on to help and raid with you.


Attendance at raids is never mandatory; some people simply do not enjoy raiding or have RL issues which interfere with a raid schedule.  You can sign up under the "Events" tab on this website to register for raids. Please be aware, however, that signing up does not entitle you to a raid spot.  The raid leader will select the raid group using the following criteria: (1) raid composition (tanks, dps, healers, special); (2) experience (content-dependent); (3) other raids that week (so everyone can go at least once); and (4) order of signup on the website. 

 

Please sign on for raids by 8:00 pm server time.  If you have not signed on or let someone know you will be late by 8:15, the raid leader is likely to replace you.  First pull is at 8:30 server time.  For more tips on being a valuable raid member, please consult the Raid Etiquette sticky thread.


Guild Bank:

The main purpose of the guild bank is to provide items for use while raiding.  Please do not donate lower level items; you may donate them to the Black Dogs guild bank or sell them and donate the gold instead.  When you take an item, please donate another item or gold of at least 50% of the value of the item you took.  Herbs are especially welcome.  If you have questions, please consult the Guild Bank Policy sticky thread.


Web site:

Our guild web site is www.damagedgoodsguild.com. Each member should join the free, easy-to-use website and check the forums at least once per week.


Required Mods:

We currently require Omen for all players and Healbot for healers.  You do not have to have the mods open on the screen if you choose not to, but you must run the mod for others to import your information.

 

You must also use either Deadly Boss Mods or BigWigs for raid information.  You can choose which boss mod you prefer; some people run both.

 


Concluding thoughts:

Following the successful merger with the raiding toons of Black Dogs, Damaged Goods is making serious progress through the end game content.  By following these rules, we can raid, have fun, and maintain our real lives all at the same time.