First and foremost, we are a raiding guild. That is our focus. Its what were good at and its what were built to do. Long ago, some of the top players of Hellscream go together and decided to form a guild made of elite players only. To our delight, Smells Like Victory has become one of the best guilds on the server in record time.
"Our focus is on raiding and comradery, and we are built on the philosophy that a guild can succeed in challenging content without drama."
Goals
"Our primary goal is to conquer all end-game raid instances". In order to achieve the primary objective, we must achieve the following secondary objectives:
Be on time and prepared for all raids with the necessary materials to succeed.
Perform every raid with full concentration, dedication, and skill.
Gear our raiding body sufficiently in the instances we have on "farm" status to be prepared for our next step up.
Educate our raiding group sufficiently on the "farm" instances so they completely understand every fight and are prepared for the next step up.
Make frequent attempts at the next boss in the chain of advancement, even if it means wiping several times a night.
Recruiting
We have developed a very solid raiding core in recent months, and therefore do not plan to heavily recruit at all. There will be opportunities for various positions within the guild as time goes on, so all are welcome to apply on our forums. However, unless we are in need of a certain class one should not expect immediate acceptance. All applications are saved for future reference, just in case.
Suitability - applicants need to have geared themselves up to be able to participate immediately in our raids. Their gear should demonstrate an understanding of their class and the encounters we will be facing. The gear sets a player has built for themselves says a lot about their dedication, competency, and preparedness. An applicant's gear should reflect that they have done everything in their power for their current situation to prepare themselves the best that they can.
Sponsorship - if a current raiding member can attest to your skill, that sends a very strong message to our raiding team. You should find a sponsor within the guild and demonstrate your skill and competency to them.
Enthusiasm - good attitude is key to success. There will be times when we constantly wipe while learning the new content. We as a guild must remain calm and determined in order for us to go anywhere. The will to succeed is far stronger than having the means to succeed.
Respect - Understand that our foremost commitment is to our guildies. If you are disappointed with our response, you should deal with it respectfully. If we have issues with your application, the best thing you can do is respectfully prove us wrong.
Friends and family are welcome to join the guild for purely social purposes. Keep in mind that our foremost duty is to our raiding team, and if these persons wish to join that team they will be held to the same standards as any other applicant . While we will do our best to accomodate these people and their desires, understand that we will not be obligated to prioritize them for raider positions.
Members/Ranks
Council - The guild leadership has this rank. Council members will help guide the guild to success. SLV has no single guild leader. The council acts as a unified entity making decisions based on joint efforts to see what is best for the guild. Feel free at any time to contact a council member in regards to ANY conflict or situation and they will deal with it quickly.
Raider/Member - Raiders and Members are both part of the core raid group. Raiders have maintained above 75% attendance in the last month. Loot distribution is the same between them, except for certain items (crafting patterns go to raiders first). Raiders can be invited before members, but composition is always the most important element in forming a raid.
Initiate - A friend of someone in the guild. These players are not taken on 25-man raids.
Recruit - New recruits are this rank when joining guild.
Alts vs. Mains
We do not like alts on raids. Period. Our goal is to plow through as much high-end content as possible, and bringing alts to raids slows us down by spreading gear too thin as well as having people play roles that they're less familiar with playing. Our raid's time is important, and as such we would rather recruit new people to play on mains than bring in alts. That said, gear that will be used on a main will NEVER go to an alt. Mains have priority on all SLV raids for 10 or 25 man raids.
Smells Like Victory Guild & Raid Rules
This section may seem extensive and somewhat hardcore, but as a hardcore raiding guild, we need to maintain order and keep everything running smoothly our progress falls apart very quickly. With this in mind, we want a guild based on serious intention on completing high end content without the drama. With that disclaimer out of the way, lets get to the meat of it!
General Rules
Treat others - both in and out of the guild - as you would like to be treated. All guild members must treat any other guild members with the utmost professional respect at all times.
Follow the rules and direction laid out by the officers & leaders of the guild. In the end they are there to maximize all members enjoyment & progress. None of us is more important than anyone else. Those who cannot follow rules or consistently break rules will be demoted and, if the behavior continues, booted.
Forum participation is mandatory. We spend a lot of time working on the guild website so that we don’t have to constantly tell people the same things over and over again. Chances are if you do not know what is going on, its because you are not spending enough time reading the site. Failure to participate on the forum will get you demoted and ultimately removed from the guild if the problem persists. We discuss and prepare for encounters on the forum, and as such its required that every active raider be up-to-date on the forum. Raiders need to read the latest strategy discussions prior to every encounter so we dont have to waste valuable raid time discussing it.
Raid Rules
Ventrilo is required on *all* guild raids. As of the posting of this rules set, having a microphone available and setup is also required. You can download Ventrilo here. Ventrilo server information is available on the forums.
Follow the instructions of the raid leader. Respect those who are leading the raid.
Arrive fully prepared for raid. You will be sent back if you are not. Repair your gear, and bring any resist gear appropriate for the zone we're raiding.
Raid add-ons must be installed and working at the raid start time.
Class-appropriate reagents are required and are not supplied. When in doubt, bring more than you think you need.
Breaks will be scheduled for roughly every 2 hours on “long" raids. Try to keep your AFKs down to this scheduled break time.
Raid Invites will go to Raiders in good standing first. We use an invite mod, but the actual choice of members is manually done based on class needs to be successful at the raid. Raid start times are published . You are expected to be there and ready to pull at the start time. Do not be in flight. Do not be in AV/AB/WSG. Do not be “finishing up a 5man". Be at the raid site, ready to go.
Vent Specific Rules
While we assume that Vent is 18 & up, keep the foul language to a minimum please. Its not considered "mature" or even "cool" to drop the f-bomb every 30 seconds, even if you are over 18.
A good rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t speak that way in front of your grandmother then don’t speak that way in Vent.
The raid leaders will generally assign people to announce things during boss fights. Please keep chatter to a minimum. Ventrilo can easilly go from a useful tool to garbage with the whole guild screaming . The raid leaders and assigned members should be the only one speaking during boss fights.
Lets keep racism and homophobia out of Vent. Were all from different parts of the world. What may be perfectly acceptable where you come from might be hideously appalling elsewhere . You never know who is sitting out there on the other side of the net. Disgustingly heinous South Park-ish insults are fine, though.
These rules have been in effect (99.99% of them) since we began raiding. As of 9/12/06 they will be enforced strictly which the following penalties can be enforced based on the severity:
Immediate removal from the raid with no dkp awarded at that raid.
Last on invite list for future raids.
Removal from the guild permanently.
Please understand that we intend to be very strict about these. If you are unable to meet a specific requirement, you need to discuss it with a council member and be given express permission for the requirement to be waived. As of the posting of this charter, you are fully aware of what is expected of you, and it is entirely in your power to fulfill these expectations. Dont get angry at the council for holding you to these standards or imposing their penalties, since you knew about them well in advance and made a conscious choice to neglect them.
