User:Anaea/Guides

= So You Want to Be a Furbolg: A Guide = ''This is a guide to obtaining the quest item: Dartol's Rod of Transformation. The rod allows you to assume the appearance of a furbolg for three minutes.''

Your Manual to Becoming - and Staying - One of Azeroth's Most Underappreciated Creatures

To know your enemy, you must become your enemy, as the saying goes. And there is no enemy more fierce and numerous than the Kalimdor furbolg. Once a proud and peaceful race, the furbolg has fallen prey to the madness twisting much of the Western Continent. Now only its vicious cunning separates it from the beasts that otherwise prowl the land. Well, that and the fact that they spawn like rabbits.

How, then, does the hapless reputation grinder defeat such a terrible foe? By killing them, is the simple and boring answer. But for those who seek to truly know the furbolg, to study the mysteries behind its sharp beady eyes - to those adventurers I dedicate this guide.

Ashenvale: What The Heck Does This Have to Do With Furbies?
Your journey begins at the Inn in Ashenvale, where the fierce huntress Raene will ask you to find her friend Teronis (or, his body, as it turns out). How do I know she's fierce? She's got two wolves. You go girl.

Quest Name: Raene's Cleansing

Objective: Find Teronis

Teronis is located at Lake Falathim, which is most easily approached by traveling back north-west along the road from Ashenvale. When you reach the footpath that would take you to the Zoram Strand, leave the road. You can follow that footpath, but head south when it veers north. Soon you should discover Lake Falathim. Coordinates: 19, 43.

Oh noes! Teronis bit it. Looks like you'll have to deliver the bad news to Raene. But wait... she mentioned something about a gem?

Quest Name: Raene's Cleansing

Objective: Find the Glowing Gem (i.e., Murloc Slaughter!)

Teronis' corpse gives you a journal (how emo) but what you really need is a [Glowing Gem]. This will drop off of one of the random murlocs in the Lake Falathim area. It took me about 20 kills to get the gem, but at level 60 that was only 20 Smites so it's all good. Mmm, clam meat.

Time to backtrack to Ashenvale and tell Raene the bad news. Raene decides to pass the buck, and directs you to a dryad up in the Hidden Moonwell. She also leaves you with the journal, which means if you're at all like me it'll be sitting in your bank for about a month. Thanks for that, Raene.

Hidden Moonwell: Go Fetch!
Quest Name: Raene's Cleansing

Objective: Find Shael'dryn

The hidden moonwell isn't too hard to find. Follow her directions, and head east from Ashenvale. Look for a little sitting area to your left, complete with a weird glowy elfy lamp-stone. Head north at that point, and when it looks like the flat area goes either west or east, head west. You should start seeing little elf driveway-lights in the ground heading towards the moonwell. Shael'dryn is all by her lonesome there. Coordinates: 53, 46.

Quest Name: Raene's Cleansing

Objective: Find the Wooden Key (i.e., Treant Slaughter!)

and the Chest

to get the Iron Shaft

Shael'dryn sends you off to find a wooden key that was (somehow) picked up by the corrupted treants near the border of felwood. I'm not positive if there are location limitations here, but when I tried the group of treants closest to the border with Felwood I didn't pick up the key. It dropped for me off a treant near the chest itself. Coordinates: 54, 35.

Once you get the key, head to the little side grove on the west side of the road heading up to Felwood. There are ruined pillars all around the grove, and the box was to my left as I entered. The [Iron Shaft] is *cough* inside the box, naturally enough. (I swear I toned that joke down.) Go tell Shael'dryn the good news!

Quest Name: Raene's Cleansing

Objective: Find the Iron Pommel (i.e., Slime Slaughter!)

Ha, it's not over yet. Shael'dryn tasks you with finding a box once carried by Druids. But the druids are dead. And she doesn't know what happened to the box. It might be somewhere vaguely eastish in Astranaar. I guess the "needle in a haystack" quest got old for her.

Little does she know that you, ever the hardy adventurer, have this guide to... er... guide your steps. Head east from the Hidden Moonwell and wander on over towards the Barrens. You're looking for Rotting Slimes, and they're all over the place so you can wander a bit southeast of Splinter Tree Post, or follow the path to the Barrens and veer north from there. One of the slimes will drop the box, which you can then open to obtain the [Iron Pommel]. Coordinates: vaguely 76, 76.

Time to go get that pesky dryad lady off your back!

Quest Name: Raene's Cleansing

Objective: "Charge" the Rod (oy vey)

Kidding! You have one more task to complete before you can go your merry furbolgy way. After you return the pommel, Shael'dryn will give you the completed rod. But wait, something's not quite right with our rod. Why, it needs a little mojo, of course!

The rod gets charged at a hidden shrine, which you might have seen as you were wandering around looking for treants. If you look at your map, west of the path to Felwood you'll see a funny little break between the southernmost and the northernmost set of mountains. The start of the path to the shrine is located sorta in the middle of the southernmost set. Coordinates: path at 54, 50; shrine at 56, 49.

Let your rod bask in the magical glow - in other words, right-click it when you're at the shrine. Congratulations! You now have [Dartol's Rod of Transformation]! Your life as a furbolg has begun!

Astranaar: A Choice Awaits You
If you're doing the quest for your rod, you can stop as soon as you've charged it. That's it! Done! Drop the quest and be on your merry way.

If you want to push the envelope a bit, you can continue on in the sequence. The quests are all called Raene's Cleansing (helpful) but you can continue through the following steps: return to Shael'dryn with the charged rod (step 7) return to Raene with your charged rod (step 8) find Krolg south of Mystral Lake (step 9) kill Ran Bloodtooth (step 10)

As long as you DO NOT return to Raene with the head of Ran Bloodtooth and the Rod of Transformation, you're golden. Once you turn in that part of the quest, your furbolg days are over, never to return.

Oh, and Horde don't get to play this game. Sucks to be them!

Enjoy your charged rods, my friends, and remember to use your power wisely. o.O

''Author's Note: I wrote this guide up as a favor to my guildies, who wanted to know how to don their own snuggly furbolg costume. Because it was originally written for a private forum, there may be some mildly inappropriate language remaining. I tried to clean up the off-color words I noticed, and apologies if any remain!''

Additional Contributions
Kissmi of The Forgotten Coast:

Now the mischievious among you may be thinking, 'ZMG! I can get this and mages won't be able to polymorph me! I'll be like a Druid but with mad unsheepable Furblog skillz!'

Sorry to you creative thinkers but you can still get polymorphed. Having said that though, some mage brains may still think you're a Druid in mongrel Moonkin form or something so may not sheep you because of habit or ignorance.

Treseax of Thrall:

1. The cooldown (1 min.) is shorter than the duration (3 mins) of the effect, so you could effectively stay in Furby form as long as you keep on refreshing it before it fades.

2. You can cast spells, used ranged weapons, melee, even fish while in Furby and some items may be visible on your character while you do... but,

3. Any damage you take will drop you out of Furby. :-(

4. Furbolg form DOES NOT alter your faction with Timbermaw (nor any other faction) neither temporarily nor permanently, except with that one Furbolg NPC (Krolg) which the rod was intended to be used for... so don't think this is your free pass thru the tunnel to Winterspring.

5. Furby doesn't have a dance emote like a druid Moonkin Form. So sad! QQ You can keeping hitting X (to sit/stand) randomly to create a very weak impression of a dancing emote or even mix in some other creative emotes to simulate dancing, but I don't think it's worth the effort. Just thought I would throw that in though, in case you were bored and felt like experimenting.

6. You used to be able to mount while in Furby by: a.)using the Rod, b.) using either a Noggenfogger Elixir or a Savory Deviate Delight, c.) get on your mount, d.) and finally, remove the effect used in b. However, I believe Blizzad removed this ability to "stack" costume effects as one cancel's the other now. I don't know why they like to take away all the really fun stuff. /sigh

7. You can use the Rod while it is in your inventory to gain the form, and it doesn't need to be equipped. I could have sworn it was once instant cast and could be done on the run, but now seems to be a 2 sec. cast.

8. As Kissmi already mentioned, Furby doesn't make you immune to polymorph, nor will it break you out of it.

= Creating Useful Guild Ranks: A FAQ = a.k.a. What Do I Do With Ten Rank Slots?!

This is a compilation of responses to a thread started on the old Guild Relations forums about why and how to set up guild ranks. This FAQ exists entirely because of the amazing people on the Guild Relations forum. I’ve put it together in the hopes that others can benefit from our veterans’ experiences as much as I have.

This document does not go into detail on how to use the guild control interface. It focuses instead on the reasoning behind guild ranks – the problems good ranks will forestall, and the benefits that accrue to the guild as a result of a thoughtful, fair ranking system. For your technical questions, you'll want to see Ashling's Guide & FAQ to In-Game Guild Creation. http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=11963472&sid=1

Right, let’s get started.

Why would anyone care that much about making Guild Ranks?
Some Guild Leaders won’t care. But many of the larger, more long-lived guilds have found that having a fair and well-thought out ranking system can forestall problems down the road. Every good organization needs stability, and a ranking system that is clearly defined will provide that stability for its members. A well-designed system can also forestall some of the inevitable power struggles that many guilds face. When members feel they can work within and be recognized by the system, they are likely to support it.

Guilds are about people, and balancing the sometimes very different needs of very different people in order to make something bigger than any one individual. Careful ranks are one of the many tools you have at your disposal, as a Guild Leader, to solve the Problem of People. :)

So what’s my first step?
As a GL, your first step should be to read Wytch’s amazing guide. Much of this FAQ will build off your answers to the questions she poses: what is your guild about, and what do you want it to become? If you can answer those, most of your work will already be done. http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=17532432&sid=1

In case you haven’t looked at it yet, you should also read the official WoW guide to your guild control interface. It helps to know how this works. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/guildtab.html

Okay, so really, what’s my first step?
Let’s start from the ground up. What do you want to do with new recruits? Most guilds institute at least one “trial” rank. This is the lowest rank, and is designed to give both your guild and your new recruit time to get to know each other. Privileges are limited – you don’t want a bad seed /gkicking all your members. It's generally useful to allow "trial" ranks to listen and talk in /gchat - it's tough to get to know someone if they can't talk. :)

Some guilds will have two trial ranks. Social guilds, for instance, might want a second trial rank to give everyone more time to get acquainted and comfortable with one another. Raid guilds, on the other hand, might have the “green recruit” rank and then a slightly higher rank for people who can become members once they meet level or gear requirements.

The most important part of this rank is the promotion process. Think about what you expect from your members, and design promotion requirements to "test" these qualities in your recruits. For some the process could be as simple as a time limit – after two weeks, you gain full member status. A PvP guild might require Honor Rank or time spent in a guild's town raids. A PvE guild, where dedication and cooperation are vital to the guild's progress, might want difficult level and gear requirements to help gauge a new recruit's commitment. A popular choice for "testing" this kind of dedication is to require a tangible goal like 300 in a secondary tradeskill.

Gertrudis of Feathermoon explains:


 * Quote:
 * When you app to the really high level guilds, they make you do really crazy things, like have a toon with 300 fishing. Same deal. If you're not willing to grind out something easy, for sure you're not going to be there on wipe night number 47.

Some guilds with advanced progression will require things like attunement to the instances they're running - this is as much a pragmatic requirement as it is a philosophical one, since a character can't raid Molten Core with their guild if he or she isn't attuned to it.

Finally, make sure you let your recruits know what this process is! You are more likely to retain the type of recruits you want if they are clear about your guild’s expectations of them. A good way to do this is to post policies on membership in your guild website – that way a prospective recruit can decide before even applying whether or not your guild will be a good fit.

What’s the deal with members?
Members make up the core of your guild. In the last step you already decided what you expect from members, now it's time to think about what privileges this rank should have. Guildchat Listen and Guildchat Speak are a default privilege of membership. Some guilds will allow members to invite other players, while other guilds will need to be more selective and reserve that ability for officers.

The complete list of privileges you will need to allocate are: Guildchat Listen, Guildchat Speak, Officerchat Listen, Officerchat Speak, Promote, Demote, Invite Member, Remove Player, Set MotD, Edit Public Note, View Officer Note, Edit Officer Note. See the WoW Guild Tab information for a fuller description of these privileges.

What should I do about officers?
This can be tricky. As GL, you need to think about how you want to lead your guild. Will it be a dictatorship? Do you want to have a council of advisors? Will you go all-out democratic? Your answer to this will determine the number and power of your officers.

A few warnings: many of the people responding to this topic cautioned that officers are in a unique position to help or harm the guild. You should promote people that you trust absolutely, because as a guild gets larger your officers will likely have more interaction with the membership as a whole than you will. This could lead to power struggles and even a split guild if you’re not careful. Trust and communication are vital between a GL and his/her officers.

This is also the argument for limiting the number of officers. Too many cooks in the kitchen, and all that.

Officer reponsibilities vary greatly, and largely come down to what kind of guild you’re running. Raid guilds, for instance, may have “Class Leaders” in addition to “General Responsibility” officers. Social guilds might give officers specific duties, like website maintenance or recruitment.

Here are some additional thoughts on officers from Fancypants:


 * Quote:
 * There a few general ways to divide officer responsibility that I could think of:
 * Class Leader: Each class has a specialty officer that is in charge of members of their class (promotions, questions, recruiting).
 * Departmental: Each officer has a different department (Guild activities, recruiting, quartermaster, webmaster, Raid management, advancment).
 * Committee: No one has a permanent duty. Assignments are given as they come up (who wants to be in charge of the next raid, activity or project)
 * I'm sure that some guilds have various hybrids of the three. Two examples:
 * - Have a Class officer Rank and then a General officer rank underneath it. You could divide the departmental responsibilities between the general officers
 * - Use the Departmental type organization for a few responsibilities, but divide the rest in the committee type organization.

Almost unanimously Guild Leaders said that letting members know how officers are selected is useful for preventing any concerns about favoritism or arbitrariness on the part of the GL. If you state clear policies for officer promotion, you encourage your members with that desire to contribute more and perhaps take on greater responsibilities within the guild. It’s tough to manage even the smallest guild alone, and creating a system that recognizes the talent within your guild will make your job much easier.

For a very in-depth look at the issue of Officers, see Aerte's Officers: A Guide. http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=34203875&sid=1

An additional note on Class Leaders: these ranks can really shine in actual raids. Class Leaders often function as circus ringleaders - ensuring their assigned class knows the strategy, watching and correcting performance, and filtering suggestions up to the Raid Leader as needed. They can be invaluable for preventing Raid Leader overload.

What about in-between ranks?
Some guilds like to have a punishment/probation rank where certain member privileges are revoked as a warning to guildies who act up. For example, some GLs have a "mute" rank where people who abuse the guild chat are placed until they either /gquit or learn the error of their ways. Some like to have an Alt rank to distinguish all the Mains from their little siblings. Some like to have "honorary" ranks like Veteran where outstanding contributions are recognized.

An important in-between rank to consider is a Raider rank. This is most useful for Casual Raid guilds, where you're trying to balance two sometimes contradictory goals - end game progression and individual prerogative. The most important problem to solve in that type of guild is how to keep the guildies who want to progress from clashing with players who don't want the responsibilities of raiding.

A Raider rank helps differentiate the different goals and guild expectations of the players, allowing Raiders to get the first crack at clearing new content and still leaving room for more casual members of the guild to fill in when and where they like.

There are two main problems that this rank solves, at two different points in the lifecycle of a guild. Casual guilds just beginning their endgame progession often have trouble filling their raid slots. 15 people may be ready for a (20-man) Zul-Gurub run, but the remaining 6 guild members all feel like leveling their alts that night. A Raider rank allows you to create a class where that's not an acceptable choice - Raiders raid, or lose their "first chance" spot. Hardcore guilds, needless to say, can just require that members raid on raid nights. Period.

Casual guilds who are further along in their endgame can find themselves with more people who want to raid than available raid slots. Instead of making signups a first-come first-served process - which can discourage the people who've dedicated a lot of raiding time to getting the guild where it is - a Raider rank can make sure your committed players are rewarded for their effort in a systematic and transparent way.

Here are some thoughts from Wytch (Skywall) on the Raider rank, quoted from another thread:


 * Quote:
 * Make a raiding rank - it really does help when it comes time for invites and it helps sort the really casual folks out from those that would like to progress. Be specific about what is expected of the rank. We are a casual guild and we call this rank "Incarnate" - this is the core raid group. We have 8 - 10 of each class in this rank and for the first 15 mins of invites they get slots - after that we open it up to our members, which represent the newest folks in our guild and those hoping to be part of the core raid group.

Can I see some examples of systems that have worked?
Oh, so glad you asked! The original version of this guide, posted in the Guild Relations forums, has many, many examples of guild ranks from various guild leaders. The link is here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=11963391&sid=1

Finally, once you've decided on how to structure your guild, you might need Icon's A Guide to Recruitment for New Guilds. http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=11872705&sid=1

Good Luck!