Temporary Change of Leadership

Hi All - Sean and I would like to announce an exciting change - you are getting rid of us for a while!

Sean and I are both switching gears job-wise, and our time on WoW will be intermittent. Chari and Leanne have agreed to serve as temporary co-GMs. We are really excited about this change, and think that you will be too. While we transition, feel free to contact any of us with questions you may have. Stay tuned for further information!

So a little more detail on my situation...

I have been working for my current client remotely (i.e. working from my computer at home) for the last 2 months or so which is why I have been able to be online so much. Also, that client was fairly close to home (an hour away) so that I could be home with Leanne (Ilea) and our 9 year old son Gryphon every night. That contract is pretty much over and I start my new contract next week and will have to travel there for most of the week...so I will be in a hotel M-Th nights. Any new contract has a period where the new guy needs to prove that he can help the project and that they will provide value and the first few weeks are crucial in that respect. Because of this, I will likely not be able to be online for WoW as much as I would like. That said, I expect that after a few weeks that things will settle down and I will be able to predict when my free time will be, and things can go back to (somewhat) normal play time (assuming I can find a hotel with decent internet). This contract has the potential to go on for 3.5 years, so I hopefully shouldn't have to do this again soon.

I also want to state that Tony (Asperse) is now the official raid leader of the bourbon team. In my opinion, he has been doing most of the duties for this position for quite some time now and so this announcement should not cause a great deal of change. When I asked Tony if he would be OK with this he asked me what the duties for this position would be so I thought I would take a crack at listing them.

Raid Leader responsibilities (as I see them):
- Researching of boss strategies and posting of strategy information on the guild website
- Scheduling of raids in-game (including what bosses to focus on and using the in-game calendar function to create the event)
- (To a lesser degree) Ensuring that there are sufficient supplies of raid consumables (flasks, feasts, potions, etc.). Note that this is really the responsibility of all of the members of the guild to provide...the raid leader just points out if there is not enough and then potentially uses guild bank funds to purchase these as a last resort
- Assembling the raid team in a timely manner. This includes filling any open positions with players from other teams (tacos) or if necessary, outside the guild (pugs). This also includes which toons are to be used (for players with multiple raiding toons)
- Identifying roster deficiencies to the GMs so that appropriate recruitment can take place. It is not the raid leader's responsibility to actually recruit (although we won't be hurt if you do), but we may want the raid leader to assess any new recruits in a raid environment to determine their viability.
- Distribution of raid loot in accordance with the guild loot rules. Ultimately, it should be the raid leader's decision to use an open roll or a loot council for a piece of gear for which multiple players could use. Again, the ultimate goal of loot distribution is to provide the guild with the best chance at downing future bosses.
- Ensuring that the current GMs are aware of any problems/obstacles so that they may provide assistance when needed

As always, I am open to comment on the responsibilities listed above

No, that's fine.

I think one of the first things we should do is sit down and talk about how were going to progress, basically get a time table set for starting firelands. I understand people still need different bosses from t11, so to me, an appropriate time would be 3 weeks from today (aug 9) at the latest, but thats something we'd have to discuss with tacos.