With the addition of Ulduar to our raiding schedule, we would like to remind all guild members of certain policies/issues that may come into play in the future. We are anticipating heavy attendance for the first few weeks of Ulduar's release, as this has been the trend throughout BC and WOTLK. Everybody wants to see the new content ASAP, and as Guild Masters it is our job to ensure that the distribution of both raid positions and gear remains even and fair to players of all play-styles.

First and foremost, our current loot system, EPGP, has been specifically designed to distribute gear on a hierarchical scale based on the time put into raids + the degree of return from said raids (i.e. loot). We have spent considerable time discussing the inner workings of the loot system and, on a whole, we are impressed with the overall "fairness" of the system.

We had initially created a policy in regards to feral druid loot that enabled them to have offset priority over other classes due to their natural "dual spec" nature. Because of the addition of class-wide dual specs, this priority has been removed as it has been deemed an unfair advantage. All classes now share an identical loot priority as determined by the following order:

1) Main set upgrades for main spec have first priority.
2) Offset upgrades have second priority.

That shouldn't come as new information to anyone.

In the rare occurance of players wanting loot which is below their maximum armor class, the following priority is in effect:

1) Main set/spec upgrades for classes who specialize in a specific armor type (ie, rogues and druids always have main set priority over hunters and shamans on leather items).
2) Main set/spec upgrades for classes who do not otherwise specialize in the available armor type (but would otherwise be an upgrade).
3) Offset/spec upgrades.

This being said; if an armor item is contested, all classes of that specific armor class will ALWAYS have main set/spec priority over all other classes. Non-matching armor classes, however, will also ALWAYS have Main spec/set priority on such items over all offset/specs. This ensures that all classes are given the opportunity to pursue main set upgrades first. Off set/spec priority will NEVER have priority over non-matching armor class players main sets, regardless of spec or class.

In order to honor the EPGP system, some minor adjustments in regards to player ranks was necessary. If you recall, we do reserve the right to enforce a minimum raid attendance and in order to maintain fair gear distribution in Ulduar, all Wrath Raiders who have not been online in the past 2 weeks (unless under special circumstances) have been temporarily demoted to Member. This has been done out of anticipation of certain members re-emerging from an long hiatus and expecting gear priority. Because Wrath Raiders (and above) have always had priority over other ranks, we believe that this slight adjustment will compensate for the explained situation.

As far as raid positions are concerned, it becomes much more difficult to manage all guild members (especially on the first weeks of a new raid encounter) in a way that ensures proper distribution of raid spots. We ask that all guild members be mindful of the situation that the Officers are placed in. Raiding spots, as always, will be awarded based off of two things:

1) Raid "sense". We need X tanks, Y healers, and Z dps. This has first priority over the selection of raiders.
2) Rank. Players with specific rankings have priority over other players who do not also have said rank. Refer to the Rules and Regulations for the explanation of ranks.

Following the 2 important criteria for raid spots, all other guild members will be asked to join the raid on a first come first serve basis. I will apologize in advance to those who do not get an initial invite for the first Ulduar run. Unfortunately, Blizzards limits our raid sizes to 10 and 25 people and there isn't anything we can do about it.

This being said, if there are enough people online to allow multiple groups, then we will do our best to form them. Keep in mind, we are jumping straight to 25 man. Because of this, we basically guarantee a single 25 man run, with the chance of a 10 man run serving as copilot.

We are all looking forward to seeing some new content, and by the looks of things we will be spending quite a bit of time in Ulduar. Everyone will get their chance to participate so try to not have a conniption.