Raiding FAQ

Raiding in AIE

I thought AIE is not a raiding guild, why do I see raid groups?

AIE is not strictly a raiding guild. Raiding is not AIE's focus, but many of our members enjoy it and we do encourage the formation of raid groups. But, we don't want any member to think that they are second-class citizens if they have no interest in raiding. What makes AIE different from a raiding guild is that guild leadership will not form any official guild raid groups and members engaged in raiding enjoy no special privileges aside from the satisfaction of standing over the cooling corpse of a downed boss.

All raid groups are the responsibility of the individual raid leaders. The guild requires the raid leaders and members to abide by the published Policies and Responsibilities. Other than that, all other aspects of the raiding (e.g. scheduling, loot rules, DKP, sign-ups, gear requirements) are determined by the raid leader.

Is there a guild-wide DKP system?

No, how the loot is distributed in a raid group is entirely the responsibility of the raid leader. Raid leaders are free to use any loot distribution system they like, but should ensure that the system they use is fair and clearly stated.

What raiding is being done within AIE?

There are a wide variety of raid teams running in AIE. Some teams are on the latest progression content, while others do older max level raid content, or go back and run lower level raids to obtain achievements and legendary weapons.

• See the Raid Team Summary list for information provided by the leaders of active raiding teams in AIE.
• The current raiding progression can be seen at the Raiding Progression page.
• AIE raid teams also each have a thread devoted to the team, on the AIE Raiding Forums.

Joining a Raid Team

How do I get into a raid group?

There are a few ways to see which raid teams are currently recruiting, and make your raiding availability known:

• See the Raid Team Summary to see which raid teams are currently recruiting.
• Raid leaders usually post in the AIE Raiding Forums to let people know when they are forming a group and what spots are open.
• You can also post on The Raid "Free Agent" List in the raiding forums.

What if all the groups are full?

Even if a raid group is full, replying to a posting to let the leader know that you are available as an alternate is a good idea. If you have the time and desire, you may want to consider starting your own group.

Starting a Raid Team

Don't I have to be an officer to start a raid group?

Definitely not! Any member can start a raid group. Just follow the steps below, to get your information up on the raiding pages.

How do I start my own group?

You can post in the AIE Raiding Forums to see if there are others who are interested. When you're ready to announce the group and start recruiting members, register for a wiki account - it may take a day or two to be approved. Once your account is active, create a new wiki page by typing the new page name into the search box on the wiki and follow the "Create the page" link.

On that page you should list all the information about your group that you want the current raid members and potential raid members to see.

• The name of your raid group.
• Your raiding schedule.
• The current roster.
• Whether you are recruiting new members or stand-by members.
• How you handle the distribution of loot.
• Gear requirements and expected preparation.
• Required add-ons.
• Details of your successes.

Then, just add [[Category:Raiding Teams]] to the page while editing it and your team will be listed with the other raiding teams.

How do I get my raiding team listed on the AIE Raid Team information pages?

• As soon as you start your raid team, you can add it to the Raid Team Summary page. The instructions for that are detailed in the Raid Team Summary Template. Include info about when you raid, and list any openings that you have available.
• Once you start killing bosses, you can add your team to the Raiding Progression for all to see. The instructions for that are detailed in the Raiding Progression Template.

Raid Team Drama

I heard that AIE was drama-free?

No guild is drama-free. But, AIE's leadership has put a lot of effort into compartmentalizing drama to prevent raid team problems from becoming guild problems. This is one of the primary reasons for our raid team model. While many AIE officers raid and run their own raid teams, no raiding within AIE is organized or managed at the guild level. All of our policies with respect to raiding are intended to ensure that most, if not all, problems that are typically associated with raiding can be managed by the raid leader instead of guild officers.

What is "poaching"?

Poaching is a term used to describe the act of luring members from one raid team to another raid team. As it's difficult to get a raid team organized, geared, and committed to the same goals losing members to another team is bound to create friction between guild members. A good example of AIE's attitude towards movement of members between raid teams was given in a forum post from November 2009.

I think it's important to remember that there are really only two rules that govern raid membership in AIE. The conflict arises when we fail to recognize the importance of balancing the two.
 

1. Every member of AIE is essentially a free agent, each of us is free to join a group or leave a group at our own discretion.
   
2. Every member has a responsibility to treat other players with respect and to act in good faith.
   

 
AIE offers you the former and expects you to return the latter.
 
What this means from the perspective of a raider is that there is nothing wrong with joining a different team for any reason. But, they should make an effort to do so in a way that cause the least amount of trouble for the group they are leaving. Telling the raid leader of the old group, and giving some lead time for the departure, is the easiest and surest way to achieve this. Setbacks happen, but unanticipated setbacks don't need to.

Personally I don't see active recruiting as being necessarily bad, but I think it is reasonable to notify another raid leader if you are recruiting members from their team.

I don't expect that there won't be arguments or hurt feelings, there is nothing we can do to prevent it. But I do believe that every member, if recruited or recruiting, should ask themselves, "what can I do to make this as least painful as possible for my guildmates?"