Exalted with <Fidelity>

 

I'm excited to have finally reached exalted with Fidelity! I have mixed feelings about the restrictions on the ways you can increase guild reputation, but once I figured out the various reputation and guild experience caps I hit the daily circuit pretty hard. I'm pleased that Blizzard are also increasing the amount of guild reputation rewarded for raid bosses, and I'll continue to try and round up guildies for guild heroics which is much more entertaining than dailies.

My dailies of choice were the Tol Barad, and it just so happened that hitting exalted coincided with enough commendations to purchase: [Reins of the Drake of the West Wind].

 

Working as a Team

<Fidelity> recently completed Working as a Team, with inscription being last cab off the rank. I leveled Zenborg's enchanting to 525 reasonably quickly, and then realised that I didn't have the reputation required to contribute to the achievement. Shortly after that followed at least a week of ranting to my guild mates, real ID friends and IRL loved ones about how, "GAH! I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO QUEST ON MY ALTS". So after drowning my sorrows at the conveniently located Dwarven pub (so close to the auction house!), I got Zenborg into the Deepholm series of quests, Therazane dailies and finally just blowing through Mt. Hyjal for kicks (and the head glyph). After all that, I'd bagged us a tick for Enchanting (Blacksmithing and Mining were no-brainers) and manged to secure the shoulder and helm enhancements while I was at it.

I like the design of the [Banner of Cooperation], and how different it is to the battle standard for completing the Heroic dungeons as a guild. I'm wondering when Bliz will add a carpenter profession.

While the guild roster has been in a state of flux, we've got some momentum going for raiding and are at 5/12 and having a blast. As always for guild news, check out the blog.

New Expansion, New Beginning.

New Year! I’ve been having a ball with Cataclysm, but the last month has been completely flat out for work, so a few things have taken a back seat. With the new expansion and new year, it’s a great time to write about a new beginning.

For Cataclysm I founded a new guild called <Fidelity>, and left <The Ancients> where I had been GM for a couple of years. It was a very difficult decision, but the move was an important one to make, at the right time.

<The Ancients> is a fantastic guild, but as a large, social, raiding guild I could not see myself keeping up the commitment to the schedule I had been running. Also, with the change to the flexible raid lockout system, the niche of running a normal mode 25 man team and a hard mode 10 man team wasn’t going to exist even if I did have the time to continue running it. So we left the guild in good hands, and still keep in touch with many of the players we had enjoyed both Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King with.

<Fidelity> is designed as a small guild, raiding less nights per week, with only a single 10 man team. In order to focus on many of the other things life has to offer, we have reduced our scheduled game time so we can have some more flexibility, and avoid burnout from a sense of obligation and time pressure.

I was a little overwhelmed with the support I got for the decision to create a new guild with a different focus, and pleasantly surprised that a lot of my close in game friends shared a similar vision for Cataclysm. So with a number of keen raiders, and some friends and family in game, the guild has grown to a total of 13 players, and we’re having a fantastic time. Rather than repeat the tales, I’ll let the guild speak for itself... so if you’re interested head over to our blog, forum and website and take a peek.

<Fidelity> is shortly due to begin our raid schedule, as the holiday period winds down. We’re still looking for our last healer, and a couple of people to fill our locum rank so we’re excited to meet some new people from Dath’remar and beyond. If you’re interested in joining <Fidelity>, please check out our recruitment page.