Successful raiding requires a certain degree of organization and commitment. When you choose to raid with Sanctuary, you are committing to certain responsibilities in return for the opportunity to experience new content. One such responsibility is deciding which character will be your main focus for raiding purposes. This is done to strengthen the raid as a whole, as well your character. If a main focus character is not declared, all of your characters will be considered alternates for loot distribution and raid invites.

Think about the character you want to declare as a main focus because it will be the one that we, as a guild, will put effort into equipping and counting on when we go on raids. We strongly encourage members to play the character they enjoy rather than the one they think the guild needs. You will enjoy the game more that way, and the raid will likely enjoy a more skilled and reliable team member in you as a result.

Even so, there may come a time when, for whatever reason, you decide that your chosen main focus is not really what you wanted after all. You may change your main focus, but it needs to be approved by leadership (namely, the raiding leadership) as it may have an affect on overall raid effectiveness (and, therefore, the other members).

There is one and only one raid leader. It is the person with the solid gold crown next to their name on the raid tab during a raid. This means that, regardless of whether you think there is another way to do something, it isn't your place to give out orders in the raid channel. This leads to confusion and contradictions. When the raid is confused, bad things happen like needless wipes.

Sometimes the raid leader may appoint tasks to others. If that is the case, they are then granted domain over the handling of that task. This might be a healing group leader or an off-tank leader or whatever is necessary.

In all honesty, all any of the leaders wants to do is help everyone else have a fun time with their chosen form of entertainment. To help facilitate this, a chain of command is set up. If you have questions, ask your class leader. If your class leader does not know, they will ask the raid leader. This will help keep unnecessary raid chatter down. Unfamiliar encounters will be described beforehand so please be patient. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions about things you are not clear on. Your part in the plan is as essential as anyone else’s and, if you don't fully understand what that part is, it is better to get clarification.

Raids are announced and planned well enough in advance that there should be no excuse to coming without the necessary equipment. It is only considerate to do so before the announced raid time as others will be waiting on you. So collect your food, water, potions, ammunition and special equipment before the raid starts. Don't forget to repair. While we do try to keep a repair bot ready in case it is needed, they aren't cheap to manufacture and certainly won't be used up for the benefit of just one person.

For a raid to qualify under the raid point system, it must be a 25-man raid, and placed on the raid schedule at least 24 hours in advance. Any raids that are not posted in this fashion and not led by an officer will not see points earned and spent, and will instead have loot distributed by a manner decided upon by all the members of the raid (typically a “need before greed” system). In those cases, the rules below are all to be ignored.

Raid points will be awarded in the following manner:

• Standard Points

  1 point for being on time to the raid (i.e., you are actually in the raid group and at the staging area, typically located just inside the raid instance)
  1 point per full hour of raiding

• Points Awarded on an Overflow Basis

  If you arrive on time, but do not make it into the raid due to overflow, you will acquire points at the same rate as those in the raid, i.e., one (1) "on time point" and one point per hour on stand-by. If you do not arrive to the raid on time, you will acquire points at the rate of a half (0.5) a point per hour on stand-by. If someone drops from the raid you will be called in. You would have to keep your main online and waiting at the zone or be able to get to the zone within a few minutes of being called. Camping to an alt would also be allowed but would need to be available as soon as needed. If you need to log due to real-life commitments. You will receive points earned up to that moment for remaining in stand-by.

• Points Awarded for Raids That Are Cancelled Due to Lack of Attendance

  If a raid has to be canceled due to lack of attendance then everyone in the raid will still receive points via the standard points system for coming out.

• Minimum Bids

  For rare (blue) items, the minimum bid is 1 point
  For epic (purple) items, the minimum bid is 5 points
  For legendary or better (orange, red, etc.) items, the minimum bid is 10 points

• Bidding

  All items of rare (blue) or better quality will be bid on by raid points. When an item drops, all members in the raid who can use it are called to send bids to an officer.

  Bidding is done in a silent auction format in order to promote a “bid as much as you feel you need the item” system. The mechanics of this are that everyone sends their bids to the officer in a tell, so everyone's bid is held secret from everyone else's. In this way, someone with fewer total points can easily outbid those with more, especially if the item is a larger upgrade for them. Few people would spend a large amount of points on something which is a very minor upgrade for them.

  After everyone has submitted their bids, the item is awarded to the person who bid the most points, and that many points are deducted from their current total.

  You may only bid points that you have earned on previous raids. If you are unable to meet the minimum bid requirements any current points you have and any points you would have earned that night will be taken up to the minimum bid amount and you will be back at zero.

  Only one item may be won per raid. This prevents one person from winning every item on a raid. If you have won an item already and another upgrade appears and it would be randomed off for greed, then you may receive the item for minimum bid.

  In order to hasten guild progression, the main tank (MT) has the option to automatically win first-time drops of set items (e.g., Warbringer, Destroyer, Onslaught, etc.). Once such items are awarded, the MT is set back to 0 points. This option may not be exercised for jewelry, weapons, shields, or other non-set items.

  First-time drops of rare or better crafting recipes that create BoE items or enchantments will go to officers or senior members of the guild of the appropriate profession. This is done to maximize the chance that that these items and enchantments will remain in the guild and stay readily available to our members. Subsequent drops and other crafting recipes will be distributed to raid members of the appropriate profession by random roll.

• Epic Bind-on-Equip (BoE) Items

  All Epic BoE items that receive no bids will be sent to the guild bank. Each item will be held by the bank for at least one week. If raiding mains that fulfill the conventional criteria for "needing" the item request it during that time, the item will be awarded to one of them by random roll no less than 24 hours after the first request was made. All other guild members may offer to purchase the item for fair market value if no raiding mains request it. Otherwise, unclaimed items will be sold at leadership's discretion, and the proceeds will be deposited in the guild bank. All requests for guild bank BoE items must be submitted via a post in the Bank Requests forum.

• Bind-on-Pickup (BoP) Items

  All Epic BoP items that receive no bids will be disenchanted and the resulting components (typically Void Crystals) will be placed in the guild bank to provide high level enchants for the members of this guild.

• Trade-Skill Items

  Trade-skill materials acquired during raids (e.g., Soul Essences, etc.) will be placed in the guild bank. Needed materials may be requested from the bank when you, or someone who is crafting an item for you, have the necessary skill and/or reputation to use them.

Raid points may not be transferred across characters under any circumstances. This is to avoid favoritism of people lending each other points, as much as it is to avoid players with many alternative characters obtaining pieces of gear, preventing other players from gearing out their main characters.

In certain special circumstances, a player may be asked to play one of their alts at a raid. In that case, any points earned with their alt will be transferred to their main character's pool.