Joining

About Us:

In case you don’t do your homework, or are incapable of using wowprogress, I will regale you with the brief and glorious history of Vigil. The guild formed from the embers of two giants of The Burning Crusade, Death & Taxes and Aurora, during Ulduar in 2009. The immediate success of the merge was evident when Vigil earned the second “Death’s Demise” title in the United States. Since then Vigil has maintained its position as a Top Ten US guild.

The history of a guild is only as impressive as their most recent accomplishment, though. Each content cycle leaves a myriad of broken links, the only reminder a community once resided there, and nomadic raiders in search of new homes. Guilds go through ten or twenty raiders in a content cycle without blinking.

You aren’t here because of what Vigil has accomplished in the past. Some of our members may lapse into dementia from time to time and talk of the glory days, but you are applying because of what Vigil will accomplish next. Vigil has proven content cycle after content cycle that is has the ability, desire, and dedication required to stay on the cutting edge. The officers have spent geological amounts of time leading raids. Our raiding core is stable, and we are constantly looking to add new members to it. Raiders that have the same goals that we do, are aware of the time commitment that is required to achieve those goals and will stick around. Being accepted to Vigil is the first step, and quite a small one compared to the journey that is required to be become a core raider.

We ask a lot of our members. No less should you ask of us. For individuals with the drive to go above and beyond the call; wearing the Vigil tag is a privilege as much as it is a responsibility.

We maintain a roster of 30ish raiders and plan to keep it at that. For raid encounters that are especially demanding on compositions, our members are encouraged to have geared alts that are raid capable. Our DKP system is /randoming with officer discretion, we have zero loot drama and plan to keep it that way.

Expectations:

A desire for success. A common trait among all of us is our determination to win, we will go to any length to achieve success. The group is only as strong as the individual. If one person doesn't want it as bad as everyone else, the group will fail. You need to be in it for the guild, the tag represents greatness. You must plan to play with us for months or years until we move as a group to another game. This is not a casual club, nor are we a revolving doorway. We take this game seriously.

You shouldn't be in it for the loot. We will do cutting edge content instead of farming old content. We will always choose a fight we haven't done instead of old encounters. We expect members to be looking out for what's best for the guild, not their character's gear. For example, if you are asked to sit on an encounter you want something off of, do it without complaint, don't start a drama fest because you want your purple pixels.

You are extremely well-versed with your class. You should know EVERYTHING about the class you play, including how to get every ounce of performance out of your character. You should know math. There are tiny nuances to every class that separate the good players from the great. We like our members to read up and know up-to-date information on their class and the game overall. If something changes in your class, you should be aware of how it changes your rotation/role/gearing/gemming choices. We only want the great. If you're a Warlock, you better be able to speak Demonic in real life. You should know you're a star, but you should be humble. Also, we expect that you will read up on fights before you see them, ESPECIALLY if it is your first time. We encourage you to ask questions, but we aren't here to cup your balls. All of these are signs of players that we are looking for.

Performance. Perfect play is often nearly impossible. However, we expect you to be maximizing your performance in every possible way. That means bringing consumables, knowing what's going on and how to avoid it, maximizing your DPS/Healing, and generally bringing your A Game. It's okay to fuck up once or twice, but admit that you fucked up, maybe mention to an officer the reasoning behind it, and don't let it happen again.

You need to be able to pay attention for long periods of time. If we're developing a strategy or dividing assignments and you're not at your computer or listening, it's a recipe for disaster. If you get back and say, what? I was watching Blossom, the complete collector's box set, you will be chewed out for your poor timing in watching the best series ever. We don't like repeating ourselves. In addition, you should be able to rationally identify specific details in different fights and be able to present these details to others.

You need to be able to tolerate abuse. You need to be able to shrug off being told that you fucking suck. If you can't deal with what is at times a high stress environment, then you may need to consider going elsewhere because you will only find that you are unhappy later. This is an environment where success and great gameplay is rewarded.

Responsibility. If there is one thing that you need to make sure that you do, it's take responsibility for your actions. If you messed up on a fight, don't deny it (partially because we can almost always see it on Recount, WoL, etc). We don't like to hear excuses, e.g. my Blossom DVD is skipping, and thus I got flash frozen. We expect you to take the criticism, change whatever you did wrong, and not let it happen again. This is another quality that separates the good players from the great.

You need to have a LOT of time available to you. We raid at least five nights a week during progression. We put in extra hours when it's needed. You need to have large sums of gold to purchase the required materials. You need to devote time to farming consumables outside of raiding hours. Members are expected to come to raids prepared with all necessary materials, including a stack of flasks, as well as many different elixirs and potions. We flask our entire raid. We drink potions to win. You need to be able to meet this requirement on a nightly basis. Most of us play at least 35 hours per week with at least 25 hours spent raiding (5 days/5 hours per night). This is subject to change on a whim. Raids are understood to occur Sunday through Thursday every week unless otherwise noted. You absolutely positively need to be extremely active. You need to be at the raid prepared and on time.

Attendance. At least 85% attendance is required to maintain Raider rank. We understand that you occasionally may have to be a little late, but if you want to be part of an endgame raiding guild you have to be ready to set aside a large chunk of your time. During first-week progress (like the launch of WotLK or Ulduar), we try to take vacation days, feign death from school, and stock up on energy drinks to stay up and raid as long as possible. Be prepared to do that, especially if you are joining during new progress times.

Don't piss everyone off. You should be able to blend with the rest of the guild. You should be patient. You should be mature. You should be calm. If you don't get your way, don't throw a fit. Don't be annoying. Don't fill our vent with stupid comments. If you aren't able to convey your thoughts in an intelligent and rational manner, we don't want you. You should not have any glaring mental neuroses.

Incorporate Yourself into the Guild. This is one that is not necessarily required, but is definitely recommended. Run 5- or 10-mans with guild members. Join up with people for PvP or dailies. Hang out on vent. We want to see recruits fit in with the guild. It shows us that A. You're enjoying your time here and B. You are here to be part of a raiding team not just collect your nerdpoints and pixels.

Check List:

Properly Gemmed - This is one of the first things we look at, and if you do it poorly your chances of getting a trial are nonexistent.

Completed All Bosses - If your current guild cannot even clear the most recent instance, chances are you do not have the experience we are looking for in trials.

Correct Professions - If you have a gathering profession, you should level something useful before you submit an application, assuming you want us to take you seriously.

Maxed Reputations - If you aren't exalted with Therazane, or the reputation required for your classes helm enchant, you should complete these before applying.

These requirements are fairly basic; if you can't meet them you should reconsider your aspirations for joining Vigil.