gamerDNA Spotlight – Fyrdraek

Today marks the first day of gamerDNA’s regular “spotlight” feature, where we shine the light on a member or group in the community and see what makes up their gamerDNA. This week, we have an interview with the leader of Fyrdraek, a World of Warcraft raiding guild.  They’ve put a lot of time into creating the guild and using gamerDNA’s event system to keep track of their raids, so it is my pleasure to introduce their leader, Elilane.

gamerDNA: So why don’t you introduce yourself and your guild – who are you, what is your guild, what game does your guild play?

Elilane: My guild is called Fyrdraek. The name is derived from fire Drake (which means dragon) but we wanted it to sound unique so I renamed it Fyrdraek thereby giving the word Fire Drake a “Tolkienesque” twist.

We are a World of Warcraft Raiding guild (Alliance Side) that caters to busy people who can only raid twice a week and don’t want to make raiding seem like a second job, hence the schedule of just raiding twice a week 1-5 PM EST on weekends. The schedule allows people to do fun things during weekend mornings and evenings and helps them concentrate on real-life matters during the week.

Of course, since we only raid twice a week, raid progression is slow when we compare ourselves to normal raiding guilds that raid at least three times a week or more. However there is a niche for such a raiding guild (a guild that caters to people who can only raid twice a week) and ever since we started raiding we have never cancelled a raid.

Additionally, we started the guild late in the game when most guilds were into Black Temple and Mt Hyjal content and to illustrate how late the guild was formed, it was founded during the time when Wrath of The Lich King was announced and Sunwell was released. Despite this handicap, we were able to attract players and now were progressing in Tier 5 content (that is Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep). I guess the schedule also helps manage WoW burnout too!

gamerDNA: What motivated you to create this guild?

Elilane: Personally, I didn’t have the time to raid more than three times the week but World of Warcraft was the only computer game that interested me so I decided to make a guild that would cater to my limited time. Also as a challenge, I didn’t want to ride with an established guild to beat end game content and I wanted to experience beating end game content with my own set of people (In other words I wanted to beat endgame content by being an active leader as opposed to being a passive guild member). I used to be in more hardcore guilds that raided at least three times a week.

gamerDNA: What do you look for in a new recruit?

Elilane: I take a different approach to recruiting. Most guilds have high requirements, I accept people carte blanche without any prejudgment. This style has helped me form the guild faster too. Perhaps you can describe this as the “evolution” style of recruitment where if the species can’t adapt to the environment it becomes extinct, in our case if the recruit doesn’t fit us he either quits by himself or we kick him. i hate guild kicking people so more often than not they just quit.  But now since were a bit in the middle of tier 5 progression we try to accept players with at least Karazhan, tier 4, epic pvp, bage gear.

gamerDNA: So there isn’t really a “probationary” period where a new member isn’t fully inducted into the guild?

Elilane: In essence there should be but it isn’t practiced. New recruits can bid on boss loot drops but we use a system wherein the highest bid wins so veterans usually win loot because they have more points. However, since we now have an overflow of raiders, i am now instituting a policy where people with the consistent raid attendance and most number of token points get into the raid first.

gamerDNA: What do you see as the biggest advantages of being in a guild?

Elilane: Well the guild was made for raiding. Raiding is almost impossible without a guild. That’s the nature of raiding in World of Warcraft – It is a necessity if you want to see end-game content. Besides that, you at least get a higher chance of doing 5 mans and 10 mans because you already have a ready base of players to tap with when you want to do non-raid stuff (25 man stuff) but I seldom do 5 mans nowadays and 10 mans so i guess my members benefit from it!

gamerDNA: Do you see any disadvantages with being in a guild?

Elilane: In a way it takes away your privacy in the game. Especially if you’re a healer, healers get a lot of tells  (private messages) from guild members if they want to heal for them. That is why i am not surprised why some players have their own private account wherein their toon (character) isn’t affiliated with any guild. Another disadvantage is that you get spammed by guild chat, which isn’t good if you don’t like reading.

gamerDNA: Do you think that your guild will ever branch out to other games?

Elilane: Some guilds do branch out to other games but i don’t think my guild will because of our nature. We aren’t hardcore players so the likelihood that our players will like another similar game is slim and if we ever do branch out I would need to recruit new players that are into the new game like let’s say Warhammer Online or Starcraft 2.

gamerDNA: What do you think about the guild hosting system here on gamerDNA – what do you like, what do you dislike?

Elilane: gamerDNA is probably the most convenient site available to make a guild page. I’ve tried a lot of others but they paled in comparison with gamerDNA which provides the basic needs for a guild site with a touch of personal customization. What I think of as basic needs is the ability to post news and events on the main page and have a forum wherein members can discuss guild issues. The ability to customize the look and add our own pictures to the guild theme is what I think makes gamerDNA better than other guild sites that I’ve tried.

The improvement that I want from gamerDNA is the ability to show multiple events on the front page. A raiding guild has several events during the week and it would be handy if all the events for the week were listed on the front page, but right now we can only see one.

gamerDNA: Do you have any parting thoughts that you would want our members to know?

Elilane: Try to balance your gaming life! Spend time outside of computer gaming, exercise, hang out with family, hang out with friends, and don’t neglect your studies or work!

You can check out Elilane’s guild, Fyrdraek, by clicking here.

If you would like to create your own guild, give our group hosting system a try!

Thanks again to Elilane for taking the time out of his day to have a chat with us, you can check out his own gamerDNA profile by clicking here.

Do you think you have a group, member, or experience that you want to see on this blog? Drop us a line!

Tags: gamerdna spotlight, guilds, world of warcraft