The DENRAVI Initiative: A Proposal on Server-Wide WvW Operations

Copied from hengeofdenravi.com:

I've asked everyone I know to distribute this thread as widely throughout HoD as possible. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Commander Valenna, one of HoD's WvW Commanders.

While I've talked to some of you about this idea, I'm hoping that many of you are reading this for the first time. If you're a WvW regular, good, if you've played it once or never played it at all, even better. I ask you to read the whole thing, I realize it's long. A comment at the end as simple as "This is good" or "I don't like this" will at least tell me that it's gotten attention. (Though obviously I'd prefer something more detailed)

My proposal is simple, we need to centralize our WvW planning and get things done as a server. How I believe we should do so is laid out below.


The Creation of a Centralized Serverwide WvW Planning Guild (Name TBD)

I'd believe we should create a central guild to represent Henge of Denravi in World vs. World.

What this isn't: This is NOT meant to be anyone's primary guild. This is not an attempt to steal members, build up anyone's personal army, or hijack the server. All existing guilds will continue to exist. Guilds are the strongest element of the HoD community. Guildmates are our friends and the people we play with every day. Guild groups roving in WvW are a formidable force apart from the main zerg and no one wants to take away from that.

What this is:
-A central planning and coordination body, with the idea being for people to rep the guild if and only if they are in WvW at that time.
-A contact list of WvW regulars.
-A way to encourage people to get on the Mumble server.
-A way for Commanders to see how many people they have online.
-A better version of map chat that's more secure against cross-server spying and works between all four maps.
-A way to centralize training and player development.
-A place for people to start getting involved in the HoD community and to keep people on HoD.


Why Val, Why?

We're all aware of our current WvW situation. We're losing the numbers game plain and simple. That said, even if we had the bodies on the field, our coordination efforts are far below those of even mid-tier servers.

Our numbers problem presents us a issue. On one hand, it's easy to say that we would like people to transfer here. But on the other, anyone who moves here is just as likely to move away once our luck changes.

Until ANet locks down server transfers, our primary, sustainable growth will likely have to come from new players. We see these people all the time in WvW, asking what to do and who's in charge. One of the primary purposes to this would be to keep these players on HoD and develop them into strong WvWers. This guild would promote www.hengeofdenravi.com and its mumble server to new players, and funnel them towards existing guilds in the community.

The other benefits to this are laid out above. That said, there are also downsides. I don't want to step on anyone's toes with this, I understand guild leader concerns with this venture. If there's anything I can do to assuage concerns on this, please let me know. I'm trying to be useful, not cause a drama-fest.


The Specifics (Things that need sorting out)

As stated, the idea here is to be as drama-free as possible. Assuming this goes ahead, we have a few things that we'll all need to work out collectively.

Leadership: Who gets to be in charge, plain and simple. We don't want this to be anyone's personal army. My preference is for some form of collective leadership (such as all the guild leaders who buy in to this) with a large number of officers in order to effectively bring players in.

Representation: Understandably, one of the biggest issues with this endeavor is representation. Many guild leaders would have an understandable objection to their members spending their time earning influence in a second guild. While not mandatory, the clear benefit of rep'ing while in WvW would be access to cross-map guild chat. What would be perhaps, less offensive, would be for one member in any given guild to rep the central guild and act as a liaison.

Membership: Who gets to join, how and when do they get kicked out. My preference for membership requirements is as low a bar as possible. Anyone currently interested in WvW on HoD should be allowed in, in my opinion. Non-HoD people would clearly be kicked, at least temporarily.

Guild Functions: I foresee having individual members responsible for different WvW functions. Having one person in charge of training, one person in charge of WvW events, etc... This makes the guild a useful tool for the server.

Relationship with existing guilds: My view on this is spelled out pretty well above. That said it would be nice to set it in stone.

The name: I like "The D E N R A V I Initiative [HOD]" or "D E N R A V I [HOD]". I imagine people have better ideas.


What I'm looking for with this thread

Suggestions, improvements, objections, comments, issues, accusations that I'm secretly Trahearne, the whole deal. Anything from small things like what it should be called, to big issues like the purpose of the whole thing. Feel free to talk to me in game (IGN: Valenna) if you're not comfortable voicing them publicly.

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Hello All. We're going ahead and launching HoD for a preliminary trial of how well it works out.

Is your guild interested in WvW? Do you want to be part of the coordinating effort that is HoD? I've laid out the benefits we hope to see in anothe thread (Original proposal here: http://www.hengeofdenravi.com/index.php/topic,587.0.html). In short we're hoping to improve coordination, facilitate central training, and help keep new members on the HoD server.

In short, there are 3 ways you can be a part. (A) Allow your guild members to rep HoD while in WvW. (B) Allow a guild representative to rep HoD while in WvW, and relay the information back to your team (C) Join but not rep the guild. Whatever comfort level your guild has participating, we hope that some improved coordination level will come about from all this.

I just need to know a few things.

Guild Name:
Leader Name:
How do you want to participate (If through a rep, their name):
Is there anything you'd like to see about the direction of HoD:

Participating Guilds
Guild Name: Hell's Disciples [HD]
Rep: Ceithlenn

Guild Name: Genesis Theory [GT]
Rep: Sunetta Aemiri

Guild Name: Charter Vanguard [CV]
Rep: Andrea B

Guild Name: The Light Keepers [LK]
Rep: Havvik Nightseeker

Guild Name: Cold Black Eyes [CBE]
Rep: Will of Tempus

Guild Name: Astalderea's Chosen [ASTC]
Rep: Audun

Guild Name: Contemporary Heroes [CH]
Rep: Blaeys

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Zimme here, I have been playing with these leaders for some time, the guild idea is good.
This morning when wvw reset we actually coordinate attacks on HoD BL and EB.
When the SF zerg lost SM and come to our BL, we are able to call back our people from EB to defend our BL.

I am willing to represent our guild in this combine effort of HoD.
what do you think keigo? if its ok then im going to sign up myself. i dont think all of our guild will join this guild, but im ok to rep our guild so that we could work things out with others

zimme, i think i won't mind to get you to represent but i do hope that you only need to represent for a short time frame only when required.

This basically means that you would help coordinate our guild with other guilds during major HoD battles.

At the same time, your role and responsibilities should remain the same. Which I hope i could keep you in our family and while being the most knowledgeable in WvW, i hope you could continue to give training sessions to guild members and educate them the importance of WvW.

Meanwhile, i'm trying to get the training courses up for the guild members and i would hope if i could get all my leaders to be our guild mentors.

In other words, i've no objections in terms of you adding another guild in coordinating WvW but that's where i hope you could learn and guide our guild as well.

Thanks!

Keigo
Shimmering Darkness GL