70! (Everyone Does This, So I Guess I Should, Too)

Well, this actually happened a few weeks ago, but I've been slacking. I have a lot of new screenshots of some pretty cool stuff from the expansion that I plan to upload and display. Be patient.

I guess while I'm here, I'll give you all a guild update.

We've been getting to level 70 at a fairly decent pace, most of us while trying to enjoy the new content and immerse ourselves in the new storylines and plots. In the meantime, I've been prodding my guildies into getting attuned to Karazhan, which requires visits to the Caverns of Time, Sethekk Halls, the Shadow Labyrinth, Steamvaults, and Arcatraz, to name most. It's a lot of work, but we've been managing fairly well. I have some goals and deadlines set up, and hopefully we'll be "raiding" Karazhan by March 2.

While doing that, some of us have been trying to manage some arena teams and games. I made a 2v2 team with a feral druid last week. We managed to get about 370 or so arena points in a week. We figure if we keep an average of 300+ arena points per week, we'll be getting some decent gear upgrades soon enough.

My issue is that I am a combat mace spec rogue, and I've been using the Grand Marshal maces from the original game. There are few mace upgrades. The absolute best ones require the wielder to be a macecrafter. I'm not one. The next best (somewhat easily available) maces are acquired via the arena. For those of you who know anything about combat maces, you'll appreciate the fact that, for once, Blizzard thought about mace spec rogues by making two separate arena reward maces, one designed perfectly for main hand (slow, high damage range), the other for off-hand (fast, low damage range, high dps). The issue I have now is that my maces do about 60dps each. Almost all the new weapons in the expansion run from 70 to 100 dps easily. My raid damage has dropped tremendously, since I'm still using my old maces. I'll post here again if/when I get new maces. Should be fun.

Also, I'm implementing a new loot system in the guild. The old one we used was a modified Suicide Kings system, which works well for a nice, tight group, but doesn't account for a lot of variables. Ultimately, it relies a lot on luck, which I don't like so much. I prefer raw merit plus other deservedness factors. My new system is a DKP-style system. I'll lay it out briefly here:

Everyone in an official raid who is present and assists on a raid boss kill will immediately acquire 5 points for a mini-boss, 10 points for an end-boss. The loot master will link all of the items and then adjust everyone's points to reflect the boss kill. The loot master will then link a single item and ask for bids. It's a silent bidding process. Anyone who wants the item may whisper the loot master with a bid that is at least 2 points (there are no negatives in this system). Whoever has the highest bid will win the item, and will be charged the equivalent of the second-highest bid plus one point.

So, if Bob and Nancy bid 10 and 5 points respectively for an item, Bob will win the item and pay 6 points. It's kinda like Ebay.

The points are immediately accounted for on our dynamic loot chart. There are rules for ties, and if no one wants to bid, which are all very simple and straightforward. The object of the system is to provide a modicum of guaranteed reward for those who regularly attend raids, but a lack of excessive burden on the guild loot officers.

I'll let you know how it works out.

Valete, amici et amicae!