Revised 9-25-2015 by the Duskrain.

What follows is a list of rules required to raid with an explanation on how the officer team handles a guild/raid member who has broken the following rules.  Please keep in mind that raiding is an extremely competitive activity and the rules are here to keep things fair for everyone and considerably reduce the workload of the officer team.

All rules are subject to change without any prior notice as decided by officers.  Please check back frequently for updates.  Ignorance of the rules is not an acceptable excuse for breaking them.

A list of general guild rules can be found here: Iced Earth Guild Rules

The start of Iced Earths raid week is Tuesday and ends on Wednesday.  Raid times are 8:30PM - 11:00PM server (Central). We pull at 8:30p server, if you aren't there, we will do the content without you.

Current Loot Rules:

1.) Main>Alt

2.) Main Spec>Off Spec

3.) One Epic + 1 Tier or Two Epic limit per raid week.  Additional gear may be awarded depending on circumstances, such as no one else rolling on it that have priority.

4.) If a piece of gear like a trinket is critical for your class/spec over others, please say so in voice chat.

5.) Someone getting the 2nd or 4th piece of tier will generally take precedence over someone getting their 1st or 3rd piece of tier.

General Raid Rules:

Raid signups will be posted on the in game calendar at least a week before a raid takes place.  

The decision on who is accepted and who is not will be based upon raid composition, availability of the member, reliability, past performance, and other factors determined by the raid lead with input from officers.

1.) All regular raiders will be invited by the calendar.  If you are on the calendar, you are generally expected to be there, regardless of what you set your status to.

2.) If you have any problems being at a particular raid either on time or at all, you can notify an officer using ingame mail, text chat in Discord, or directly by voice on Discord.

3.) If you are going to be consistenly late to raid due to a scheduling issue, please make arrangements with an officer. 

4.) There is a 3 strike rule for raid invites.  If you decline 3 raid invites, another will not be sent, even upon request, you will be sitting out.  Exceptions may be made for extenuating circumstances.

5.) You must be on WoW, in the instance, and ready to go by pull time (8:30p).  This includes having all flasks, potions, food, seals, and any other provisions you may need to last throughout the entire raid. 

6.) Your gear must be fully enchanted and fully gemmed.  Even if it's just the cheap gems/enchants.

7.) You will not be allowed to leave the instance during raid to get items.  One can do so during breaktime, but you must be back in the instance and ready by the time break is over.  Expecting someone to summon you back is not acceptable.

8.) Officers have the right to override any rule in the best interests of the Raid/Guild.

9.) If you are having any problems in guild or raid, please talk to an officer.  If we don't know there is a problem, we can't fix the problem.  Don't be shy, we will always help if we can.  Communication is key to keeping our guild and raid team healthy.


In Raid Rules:

1.) Discord and speakers/headphones are required to raid.  (A mic is not.)

2.) You must be able to hear the instructions given out in raid at all times.  Therefore you must be in the same channel as the rest of the raid at all times.  Do not mute the channel or any officers or raid leader for any reason.

3.) Keep Discord clear during boss fights and strat explanations unless told otherwise by raid lead.  All questions you may have will be answered afterwards.  All chat during these times should be focused on the boss.

4.) Pay attention at all times to what's going on around you.  This means listen to instructions on Discord, stay out of the fire, don't be excessively chatting with other people at times when it could effect your performance..  (Includes in game messaging, Discord private chat, or user to user Discord chat.)

5.) Follow all instructions given by the raid leader/officer team.  If you are told to wipe, please find a way to expedite your death.

6.) You must be able to consistantly perform at or above the average of a typical person with your class, spec, and gear.  This means do your research on your class and know how to play it.  We won't badger you for occasional low dps but understand that if you can't perform, we won't take you or will sit you out.  This also includes being able to perform special tasks such as CC, keeping threat, keeping your target alive, etc.

7.) In the event that you wish to go AFK you must tell an officer.  There will be no unscheduled AFKs allowed without a good reason.  There will be scheduled breaks in raids and they may be adjusted by an officer if someone needs an AFK for a non emergency reason.

8.) For scheduled AFKs, there is a set amount of time to be AFK, be back and ready when the scheduled AFK is up.  Being back late for an AFK is the same as being late for raid.  (Scheduled AFKs will generally be 5-10 minutes with another possible 5 minute AFK as needed and will be determined by the raid leader/officer.)

9.) We require the use of a boss mod (Either DBM or BigWigs.).  You will also need EPGP Lootmaster to be assigned loot.  All other addons are up to you as long as you are able to perform.

10.) Know the fights.  Our goal will be to provide those in the raid with a video that everyone will watch.  While you can watch any videos you like, the video we provide will generally be the strategy we are using on that boss.  For this reason, this will be the video everyone must watch. Other than specific assignments and any addition information the raid leader wishes to hand out, this will be the only strategy discussion before a fight other than questions players may have.  We will not break down the fight ourselves other than the important highlights, as it tends to be a waste of time and players tend to lose focus.  Research should also be done by individual players to fill any gaps regarding the fight we will be attempting before the raid.

11.)  Do not attempt to rush the raid along.  The raid will proceed when the raid leader/officers determine the raid is ready to proceed.  Doing so only wastes time and frustrates the very people who are trying to make yourself and the rest of the raid successful.

12.)  Do not argue with the raid leader/officers.  Of course we want our raiders to suggest possible strats or ideas, but not during the raid unless specifically asked.  Any such discussion can be handled before or after raid.

13.)  Control your temper.  Raiding is frustrating, if you can't handle it, don't raid.  Keep in mind we always have persevered in the end.  We will progress.  One bad raid night is no reason to fly off the handle and threaten to leave guild or other such things.  (On occasion an officer or raid leader may call someone out on doing something they shouldn't have been and even remove that person from raid.  This is necessary sometimes to get people to pay attention and get stuff done.  Don't take it personally, it's just business.  Again, if you can't handle it, don't raid, this is a mainstay in almost every raiding guild in existance.)

14.)  There is to be no excessive drinking in raid.  If you have a few beers, fine.  However, if we feel you are too intoxicated to raid you will be kicked from the raid and take appropriate action.  If you are being loud, talking too much, being argumentative, are unintelligable, or your performance is suffering, this will be cause for removal.

15.)  All toys are banned during raid times, no exceptions.

On a more general note, anything and everything about a raid is up for discussion at the end of a raid when we're not pressed for time.  Suggestions, complaints, and observations can be handled in the relatively stress free time when a raid isn't happening.


Punishments:

Obviously there is no point to having rules if you don't have an effective way to enforce them.  Eventually someone is going to break a rule and we as an officer team have several different ways we may handle it.  Below is a small example list of punishments we may use for a rule breaker followed by ways a member may appeal a decision by the officer team.  These punishments are meant to deter people from breaking the rules.  It also goes without saying that punishment isn't decided by one person, but by officer team as a whole. 

Please keep in mind that this list is only some of the ways we may decide to punish offenders and that it is decided on a case by case basis.  What one person gets for breaking a specific rule may not necessarily be the same punishment as another person gets for breaking the same rule.

Verbal Warning:  This may be given out in lieu of any further officer action.  The officer in question may decide that you only need a reminder of the rule and will talk to you about it.

Temporary Loss of Raid Privelege: This could take multiple different forms of length depending on severity, the typical loss being a week but up to indefinitely.  (Indefinite meaning "Until we know you are ready to be serious and do what is asked of you.")

Permanent Loss of Raid Privelege:  This is obviously the most severe form of punishment as it applies to raids.  In this case a person has done something so severe or consistanty breaks rules to a point where having them in any raid is detrimental.  Most likely this person will either be gkicked, asked to leave, or told that they have no chance of coming to another raid with us.

So that everyone is aware, you can dispute either the fact that you broke a rule or the punishment.  Simply notify an officer before the next available raid week that you wish to dispute the offense or the punishment and you will have an opportunity to discuss with officer team what you feel the issue is.  However, after the discussion, whether we amend our decision or not...that decision is final.  Also note that being respectful and calm when conversing with the officer team is going to go a lot farther than yelling and being and ass.

Punishing someone you talk to and play a game with every day is a hard thing to do for anyone.  The officer team does not want to have to punish anyone, but we will.  These rules are to be followed and they are very clear.  As always, we would be happy to explain any of the above rules and clear up any confusion a member may have about them.

Updated 5/1/2017