Charter

We want Sapphire to be a welcoming community where people build lasting friendships, enjoy playing together and achieve ambitious raid goals.

• Community: We include new members and make time to play with people outside our usual circle of friends
• Improvement: We prepare for raids, learn from mistakes and help each other improve
• Accountability: We follow through on commitments, own our mistakes and hold officers to the same standards as everyone else
• Respect: We welcome people from different backgrounds, treat others with kindness and listen when someone asks for help or raises a concern

Sapphire has a 40-player roster and a small bench. Four 10-person raid teams form two 20-person raid teams, and all four form the 40-person raid team.

Roster focus

Leadership builds the roster for the two 20-person raid teams and keeps all four 10-person raid teams strong on their own. The 10- and 40-person raids accept some compromises for this. Leadership can change this focus if another one serves the guild better.

Raid goals

Communication

Talking during raids is fine. Everyone stops talking when someone dies. Leadership force-mutes the raid when it needs to give instructions.

Realm and faction

• Realm WoW: Forever One realm for everyone
• Faction Alliance
• Ruleset PvE

Officers take on whatever the guild needs and stay active and available to settle disputes. Their work covers performance management, community building, recruiting, onboarding, logistics, research, investing and guild resources.

In Raid

By default, each officer leads one of the 10-person raid teams and tanks for it. Tanking keeps tank loot and tank assignments free of drama and gives the officer direct control of pacing, pull timing and positioning. An officer can play another role with approval from the guild master.

Loot Priority

Officers get no more loot, and no better loot, than anyone else. To avoid a conflict of interest, officers take lower priority on contested items and don't vote on items they want.

The guild master can give an officer priority on an item when it matters to the raid team's success. The guild master decides this before the item drops when possible, especially for a highly contested item like a legendary, and explains it to the raid team.

Officers make up the Loot Council by default and learn the loot needs of as many roles as they can.

Open Spots

One officer position is open. If you're interested, talk to Sapmagic.

This is the usual week. Officers set up each night's raids week by week, so a night can run a different mix, such as a 20 on a Tuesday.

Raids run from 7 to 10 PM Pacific, and the guild master doesn't move them for individual schedules.

Attendance

Before raid

Online and in Discord 10 minutes early

Can't make a raid

Call out on the site at least 48 hours ahead

Longer absence

Tell your team lead before it starts

30 days without a word

Inactive on the roster

We use loot to help the raid clear faster and more consistently. Drops are limited and random, so we can't give everyone everything they want. We want everyone to feel that their time and effort count while putting the raid first.

Showing interest

When an item drops, tell us how much you want it:

Major

Best in slot, or a big upgrade.

Minor

A small or situational upgrade.

Off spec

An upgrade for the second spec of an approved flex role.

Outside raid

Useful for farming, dungeons or PvP.

Appearance

For collecting or looks.

What the Loot Council weighs

We consider these factors together when awarding an item. The priorities guide our decisions without fixed percentages.

High priority

• Performance: We consider preparation, consumable use, mechanics and how well you perform your role
• Loot history: We consider your upgrades per week and when you last received a major or contested item
• Upgrade magnitude: We compare how much each player gains. We may give one player several tier pieces to complete a strong set bonus

Medium priority

• Attendance: We consider reliability, lateness and missed raids. We don't count absences against you when you communicate them well in advance
• Benefit to the raid: We consider what the raid needs for upcoming fights, such as tank survival or healing throughput

Lower priority

• Activity and effort: We consider work outside raid, including dungeons, reputation, raid strategy discussion and helping others gear up

Priority between roles

When an item suits several roles and raids are going smoothly, we usually give it to a DPS player because damage speeds up clears. We prioritize other roles when the raid needs it, for example:

• Healers, when stronger healing lets us bring an extra DPS player
• Tanks, when we need better tank survival to clear new content
• Off specs, when someone needs to cover for a player who will be away

Other drops

We award recipes to designated crafters first. Once those crafters know a recipe, anyone who can learn it can roll.

We keep materials, BoE items and unwanted loot for the guild. The Loot Council decides how to use them. We plan who receives legendary items each phase.

Loot Council members

Loot Council members don't campaign for items they want or vote on them. They can answer questions about their gear and loot history.

Loot Council members take slightly lower priority on contested items. When we award one of them a contested item, we explain why in more detail.

Transparency and disagreements

We explain the main factors behind contested loot decisions. If you disagree with a decision, tell your raid leader so we can talk it through outside raid.

We give out a lot of items and sometimes make mistakes. When we do, we admit it and make a plan to fix it.

Loot conduct

We expect you to care about the raid's progress as well as your own gear. If you pressure players over loot, disrupt raids over a decision or try to manipulate loot priority, we address it under our performance standards. Officers follow the same rules.

Leadership talks with every candidate before an invite, over voice in Discord or in writing. Leadership invites a candidate when it is about 90% confident their views on loot and raid goals match the guild's. Otherwise the spot stays open.

What the conversation covers

• What Sapphire is, how it raids and what it aims for
• Whether you can make both raid nights every week
• How you see yourself fitting in, such as core raider or fill-in
• Your view of the loot policy and how you handled loot in past guilds
• What you want from the game and from the guild

Players joining together

Leadership takes extra care with players who join together and talks with each one individually where possible. A large group can shift the guild's culture. Inviting more than two or three players together needs approval from the guild master.

Grounds for removal

Officers can remove a player, with or without a warning, for behavioral issues, failing to perform their role reliably or unreliable attendance without communication. The guild master decides whether a player gets a warning and a chance to fix a problem first, based on whether it looks fixable.

Behavioral issues

We expect everyone to make raiding workable and enjoyable for the people around them. Strong performance gives no one extra leeway on behavior. Grounds for removal include:

• Placing an undue burden on others by repeatedly neglecting preparation, assignments or other responsibilities
• Insulting, belittling or snapping at people, including when a pull goes badly
• Taking frustration out on others through yelling, hostile remarks or sulking that disrupts the raid
• Starting fights or repeatedly upsetting or alienating other members
• Slowing the raid with repeated naysaying, arguments or refusal to follow the raid leader's boss strategy
• Harassing, griefing or mistreating other players on the server

Ask for help when you need it, and raise concerns constructively. Once the raid leader chooses a fight strategy, follow it and give it a fair attempt. Discuss unresolved disagreements outside raid.

Preparation

Before each raid, raiders:

• Have full enchants and the consumables the fight calls for
• Run the addons leadership requires
• Learn the boss strategy
• Finish their attunements, and bring resistance gear when a fight needs it
• Review their logs from the last raid

Feedback

We ask for feedback and help each other improve. Anyone can give feedback in good faith.

Giving feedback

• Choose a calm moment and use a private message for feedback about one person's play when possible
• Describe a specific action you observed and how it affected the fight
• Suggest one practical change, then listen to the other person's perspective
• Check your understanding before drawing conclusions; you may be missing information
• Keep frustration, sarcasm and personal judgments out of the conversation

For example: “You were out of healing range when the adds spawned. Can you stay closer to the healers for that part?”

During a fight

During a pull, interrupt with feedback only when someone needs to act immediately to prevent a wipe. Keep the call short and actionable, such as “Move closer, you're out of range.” Save rotation advice and other detailed feedback for after the pull or raid.

Receiving feedback

Assume good intent, listen and ask questions to make sure you understand. Thank the person for raising it. If you disagree, talk it through calmly at an appropriate time. Seek feedback regularly, including when things go well.

If you're uncomfortable giving feedback directly or need help resolving a disagreement, talk to your team lead. Bring concerns about an officer to the guild master.

Consistency

These standards apply to everyone, officers included, and no one gets more leeway than anyone else. The guild master has final say on removing an officer. Officers act by consensus where possible and bring unclear cases to the guild master before acting.

We share WoW: Forever's single realm with every other player. How we treat people reflects on all of us.

• We treat guildmates and other players on the server with respect
• We keep slurs, harassment, politics and NSFW content out of guild chat, Discord and raids
• We don't start or pursue feuds with other guilds or players
• We remove members for conduct under our performance standards, and those removals are final