1. Guild Mission Statement

Kith and Kin is open, friendly, and welcoming to all levels and all styles of play. We put real life first and try to strike the best balance between game and real-life time as possible for all of our members. We’re here to group, level, raid, and have fun without making the game into a job. We strive to be a place where the active raider, the sometimes raider, the casual gamer, and the alt-a-holic can all feel at home and getting the most out of their gaming time.

2. Rules of Conduct

This is pretty simple: Conduct yourselves in game as you would in real life. We expect integrity from our members in all things.

• Do not engage in camp or kill stealing
• Do not train
• Do not use racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or other forms of hate speech
• Do conduct yourself in an adult manner
• Do follow raid protocol and rules when raiding
• Do have fun!

2.1.  Zero-tolerance Policy

K&K employs a “near zero-tolerance” policy with regard to harassment or toxic behavior. We consider harassment to be any uninvited action against someone as a result of aggressive, pressuring, or intimidating behavior. This includes, but is not limited to, loot-shaming, mainswap-shaming, etc. 

We consider toxic behavior to be anything that attacks anyone who would be considered a protected class in the real world; i.e. if a someone is a person of color (POC), a member of the LGBTQ+ community, disabled, overweight, etc. Anyone, from recruit to guild leader, is governed by this policy and will be subject to swift repercussions as outlined in 2.2. Disciplinary Measures.

2.2.  Disciplinary Measures

While the leadership of the guild is not here to police anyone’s thoughts, there are times that disciplinary action will be necessary. To that end, we have developed a path of progressive discipline. Some steps / measures may be used more than once depending on the seriousness of the occurrence while serious infractions may skip steps and flagrant and egregious infractions may result in removal from the guild. The list below is in order of least to most severe discipline. All action taken is recorded by leadership.

In addition to the rules outlined above, other acts may trigger the need for disciplinary action. Some of these may be: Showing up for a raid and taking an extended and unannounced AFK, spreading negative attitude amongst other members, attempting to game or cheat the DKP system in some way.

3. Membership

3.1.  Ranks

The membership of K&K falls into 3 basic categories with different levels of rank within them. The 3 basic categories are: Leadership, Membership, Recruits/Alts.

Within leadership exist the ranks of Guild Leader, Senior Officer, Officer, Raid Lead, and Team Lead. It’s worth noting that within the leadership category we often find many individuals fulfilling several different roles.

3.2.  Attaining & Maintaining Rank

To attain certain ranks in K&K a player must maintain a certain level of engagement with the guild and with guild sanctioned events. This in no way makes a one member less deserving than another, but these work to ensure the betterment of the guild as a whole and do occasionally affect loot eligibility.

3.3.  Changing Main Characters

We want our members to play a character that makes them happy and is enjoyable to them, but to continue to have successful raids we need to maintain class balance and ensure that our raiders are well-geared and fully developed. Changing mains is therefore allowed in K&K, but it comes with certain restrictions and penalties.

If a class if closed to recruitment, main changing to that class is not allowed. Each expansion there will be a one week period where you are allowed to change your main once without penalties, but doing so disqualifies you from using the next expansion’s ‘free period’. The timing of this ‘free period’ will vary, but will generally be announced late in an expansion when the officers feel it is least harmful to the raid force.

Guild members can also main change outside the free period, but must pay a 20 dkp penalty. If they have less than 20 dkp they are ineligible to main change. They must also not have won anything in the past week in the primary or secondary rounds of bidding on DKP nights; and they are ineligible to bid in the primary or secondary rounds for the week following the main change.

After changing, a person has a one week period where they may change back to their original main if they experience ‘buyer’s remorse’. However, if a DKP penalty was paid it will not be refunded. Additionally, if the person wins an item using DKP during this period they become ineligible to change back.

The main change penalties may be waived for certain classes if the senior officers feel they are urgently needed by the raid force.

3.4.  Applying to the Guild

K&K currently has an informal application process. To apply to be a member of the guild all that needs done is to have a conversation with an officer in the guild Discord or post on the guild forums, then speak with an officer in-game. If the officers feel that person would be a good cultural fit, they will be tagged and begin their trial period as a Recruit.

3.5.  Trial Period

During a Recruit’s trial period they will accrue DKP at the same rate as other members of the guild. Recruits can participate in the regular silent-bidding system; however, they will only be able to win items that have been passed on by Raiders and Raid Boxes.

The trial period to advance to full member status is 2 weeks. During this time the Recruit should familiarize themselves with the charter, overall goals of the guild, who their class lead is, DKP and loot systems, and how to conduct themselves on K&K events.

If the Recruit attends two full raids they will be eligible for promotion to Raider rank, otherwise their Ranker rank status will be processed if they attend two raids within a 30-day period

4. Raids

As with any guild that raids K&K has established some rules to follow when attending a guild sponsored event. We aim to make the game and raiding as fun as possible, but sometimes we do need to enforce rules to ensure that we’re efficient and to keep us on track as we work towards our goals. The schedule and rules are below. There may be differing minimum levels to attend a raid based on the target, but a general rule is 65+.

4.1.  Raid Schedule

K&K officially raids 3 times per week. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We also set aside additional nights for things like epic help, lower-end targets, and planar trash farming. If it is necessary for a raid to start earlier, it will be posted in advance on the Raid Schedule.

• Tuesday: 8pm – 11pm
• Thursday: 8pm – 11pm
• Saturday: 8pm – 12am

4.2.  Rules of Engagement

4.2.1.  General Rules

Below are the basic rules to follow while participating in guild activities.

• Come prepared: Potions, resist gear, distillates. Guild Bank provides these, but it is up to you to request them.
• Pay attention
• Follow the raid leader’s directions
• Discord is a requirement in order to raid even if you are unable to speak
• Use /tell or /tt (tell target) for buffs from designated buff persons
• Flag yourself as AFK by typing /afk when away
• Wait for engage calls from the Main Assist (MA)
• Join class channels and set them to /autojoin
• Direct any questions that come up during events to your respective Class Lead
• Keep voice and /rs clear of chatter when bosses are engaged
• Do not verbally attack another member of the raid or guild
• Do not play a box in an exp group simultaneously on a raid

This will result in immediate disciplinary action ranging from a server mute up to and including removal from the guild.

As a rule, pets are not approved to be summoned prior to a boss engagement and must be summoned after engagement of the boss. This may change depending on the encounter at the raid leader’s discretion.

If you must leave a raid early, please let the Raid Window manager know, and also remove yourself from the DZ.

4.2.2.  Main Assist and Main Tank

To best facilitate the efficient and effective clearing of trash mobs the raid leader will designate a Main Assist (MA), a Main Tank (MT), and Off Tanks (OT). The MT is responsible for tanking the current main target, whether that’s a boss or trash while the OTs are responsible for tanking unmezzable mobs either during trash clears or during boss encounters.

The Main Assist (MA) is responsible for selecting the raid force’s target and will be a different designee than the MT and OTs. The raid force will wait for the MT and/or OT call to engage in /rs prior to mob engagement.

4.2.3.  Buffs

Buffs will be done in two different ways: partial and full depending on what the raid force is currently doing. Always send tells for buffs to those designated buffers.

• An officer will designate buffers per class with input from leads
• Always use tells for buffs

Partial

Partial buffs will consist of mana regen, haste, and cleric type 1 group HP buffs (Heroic Bond) and will be done for trash clearing.

Full

Full buffs will be done prior to boss engagements.

4.2.4. Class, Archetype, and Role Specific

Some classes have specific jobs and duties that require coordination. In order to effectively accomplish this, there are a few class-specific requirements. As a basic rule all classes are required to set their class channel to /autojoin, all healers (clerics, druids, shaman) are required to /autojoin kithheal, and all tanks (warriors, shadow knights, paladins) are required to /autojoin kithwar, and the pull team (monks, shadow knights, necromancers) is required to /autojoin kithmonk.

All coordination of class and archetype specific duties is to be conducted in the respective class channels.

Clerics, Druids, Shaman

• /autojoin kithheal
• Respond to class channel for mana checks
• Class leader will coordinate mana checks with raid leader
• Use the uniform CH Chain hotkey if in the CH chain

Warriors, Paladins, Shadow Knights

• /autojoin kithwar
• Use the uniform Defensive discipline hotkey
• Class leader(s) will coordinate MT and OT duties with the raid leader

Monks, Shadow Knights, Necromancers

• /autojoin kithmonk
• The monk class leader is responsible for coordinating the pull team
• The monk class leader is responsible for moving the raid from camp to camp while clearing a raid zone

Raid Leader

• Responsible for determining raid targets and schedule
• Decides when to do partial or full buff cycles
• Designates Master Looter (ML)
• Provides overall strategy and instruction for the raid; coordinating with all class leaders
• Sets raid-wide AFK breaks

Main Assist

• Responsible for picking the raid’s target
• May not be on the same target as the MT

4.2.5. Boss Engagements

Just prior, during, and directly after boss engagements Discord voice and /rs is to be clear of chatter. During this time the only people that should be speaking are those with a designated role that requires them to do so. This includes: Raid leader and assistant(s), class leads, and group leads.

Do

• Keep voice and /rs clear immediately before, during and after engagement
• Follow directions
• Wait for DPS to be called in

Don’t

• Discuss raid strategy mid-pull or mid-engagement (unless filling a role that requires you to do so
• Cause distractions for others

4.2.6. Voice and Raid Chat Etiquette

K&K isn’t here to overly regulate our Discord but we do need to follow some general rules of etiquette in order to keep things moving in a timely fashion. To that end no one except those designated are allowed to speak in Discord or /rs immediately before and during a boss encounter, and during loot handling. There will certainly be some celebratory chatter after a progression kill but be ready to quiet down when called for. If you have something important to share about an encounter or other question (ex. a question on DKP), please /tell the raid lead or another member of leadership.

Authorized to Speak During Boss Encounter

• Raid lead and assistant
• Monk lead
• Current main tank
• Designated “in and out” caller
• Enchanters to call pet breaks
• Clerics calling out battle rezzes
• Group lead to call out heals needed for group members

While incredibly rare, leadership may have to take disciplinary action in cases of infractions against the rules. These actions can range from a simple /tell to ask the member to quiet down, to server muting on discord, and in especially egregious cases, removal from the raid.

4.2.7. AFK & Non-Participating Players

As a general rule, flag yourself as AFK by typing /afk when away. Even better, let your class channel, group, or the raid channel know that you are going AFK, and provide an approximate timeframe for how long you will be gone. When you return, turn off your AFK tag by typing /afk off.

• If a player has to go AFK for longer than 15 minutes, we need to know so we can reshuffle group compositions to accommodate or replace that character with someone on the waitlist, if appropriate.
• If a player has been AFK for longer than 15 minutes after the originally stated timeframe, or 15 minutes without a stated timeframe, and the originally contacted person has not responded, they will be removed from the raid and replaced by the next person on the waitlist, if applicable.
• If a player is not participating in battle (e.g., is full mana and not engaging in boss fights or trash clears) we will consider them to be non-responsive AFK and we will follow the same steps up to and including removal from the raid.
• In extreme circumstances, a person can be removed from raid for other reasons if deemed appropriate by a majority of officers present.

4.2.8. Disciplinary Action

Disciplinary action is not entered into lightly and is always the last step in addressing an issue. Some raid rules are inherently more important to follow than others, and disciplinary action taken will be proportional to the egregiousness and frequency of the infraction(s). Actions taken will follow a progressive discipline structure, but some steps may be skipped depending on the impact, urgency, and egregiousness of the infraction.

Disciplinary actions are as follows:

• Request via /tell, or if urgent, a verbal request via Discord to stop or change the action or behaviour
• Temporary server mute on Discord
• Permanent server mute on Discord
• Removal from the raid
• Removal from the guild

4.3. Full Raids & Waitlists

4.3.1. Overview

5. Loot

In an effort to maintain balance between our hardcore and casual members, we’ve implemented a loot system intended to reward membership equally, yet still maintain guild progression.

Tradeable items that no main member in attendance for an evening’s raid needs are sent to the guild bank where they may be purchased at a reduced rate by any member for any purpose at a discounted rate.

As a general rule, guild members are not eligible to bid or roll on items that they can not readily equip (e.g., a level 68 can not bid on an item that has a required level of 70 or a spell rune that is for level 69 spells).

5.1.  Non-DKP Raid Loot Distribution (Off-Nights)

The purpose of this system is so that everyone participating knows what to expect from our non-DKP raids. And we tried to keep them simple. Many of you may recognize them as a slightly modified version of the original KnK loot rules before the days of DKP!

• Two rounds of rolls. /random 1000 for both rounds.
• Primary Round: One Primary roll per human per item dropped. One Primary win per human in attendance during the raid event. Each human may only win a single item from the entire raid event in Primary Round rolling. For example, if a Raid Box or an Alt wins in a Primary Round, their main or other box (or any other character being played during the raid) is ineligible to roll Primary for the rest of the raid.
  
• Secondary Round: One Secondary roll per human per item dropped. Unlimited Secondary wins per human in attendance during the raid event. All characters present during the raid event may win unlimited items from the raid event in Secondary Round rolling
• Some events (e.g., Plane of Time) will have Primary/Secondary rolls reset at some point during the raid (i.e., Phase 1-4 is one Primary roll, unlimited Secondary rolls; Phase 5-6 is one Primary roll, unlimited secondary rolls).
• If there are no rolls for an item in the Primary round, the item moves to the Secondary round. If an item has no rolls in the Secondary round, it will be marked as Free Grab and the raid may have their way with it.

If an item is not important to you, feel free to defer to a fellow guildie, even if it is a box. We favor Mains over boxes, but also want our mains to recognize the extra effort that some people put in to help gear up our mains by running boxes. Dead boxes don’t heal. Unless they’ve been sacrificed for Essence Emeralds…

6. DKP

6.1.  Loot Distribution System

As mentioned above, K&K uses a DKP system to distribute loot. DKP is handled on a per-person basis and not a per-box basis. What this means is that if you regularly multi-box on raids you will only earn DKP at a one-box rate, however you can spend your points on either toon, assuming your box has been approved by leadership for the Raid Box rank and it adheres to the rules listed in previous sections.

6.2.  Everything About DKP

We wanted to keep the loot system as simple as possible, and to that end we decided on DKP with a 80 DKP cap and silent auction bidding.

6.2.1.  Accruing DKP

There are several points available at each raid with the majority of raids being worth 4: 1 for being on time and 1 for each hour a member is in attendance. Additional opportunities for DKP are the pre-clear bonus, a raid being extended by the raid leader, and first-time boss kills.

DKP caps at 80. There’s also a 70% charge for changing main characters in addition to the loot lockout for that character unless the change is made when a new expansion releases that features a new class, and the change is to that class.

6.2.2.  DKP Awards

6.2.3.  Spending DKP

K&K has chosen to use a silent auction system. In this system, an item is linked in /rs and eligible members will be asked to send a /tell to the loot master (ML) with their bid (formatted ‘/tell Name @dkp #’).

One of four things will happen: Scenario A: there will be a max bid; Scenario B: there will be a tie; Scenario C: there is no bid amongst Raiders and the item is offered to Raid Boxes for bidding; Scenario D: there is no bid amongst Raid Boxes and the item is offered to everyone. 

• In Scenario A, the ML will announce the top bid amongst Raiders and the winner pays the next highest bid +1. In the event of a tie we move to Scenario B.
• In Scenario B, there is a tie of at least two Raiders’ bids. In this case, the ML will request that the Raiders involved in the tie /random 1000 with the highest roll winning the item and being charged DKP in the amount of whatever the tied bid was.
• In Scenario C, the ML will announce that no Raiders are interested and will offer up the item to Raid Boxes, Members, and Recruits. Ties are resolved per Scenario B. Please note: You must send your bid from your Raid Box character.
• In Scenario D, the ML will announce that no Raid Boxes, Members, or Recruits are interested and will offer up the item to Alts/Boxes who are in or not in the raid (they must at least be parked outside to be eligible). The item will be offered for open roll if it is non-tradeable or placed in the guild bank if it is tradeable.

In all scenarios, if only one person bids on an item or if an item would otherwise rot, the looter will be charged 1 DKP. If an alt loots the item, the item will be charged to their main for 1 DKP. The general rule of thumb is if you are earning DKP you are spending DKP. No items will be given away for zero DKP (with the exception of certain spells, augs, or other items from trash mobs that would otherwise rot or can be argued as groupable loot compared to the current era or gear caliber of the raid force).

6.2.4.  Raid Box Bidding System

Raid Boxes will have an opportunity to bid on certain items during raids with their main’s DKP pool, given they meet certain criteria:

1. Only one Raid Box allowed per player; main must be Raider rank (so if your main’s rank falls to Member, your Raid Box rank falls to regular alt/box)
2. Raid Boxes must be Max Level, sufficiently flagged for all current content (DKP raids), and have a minimum of 600 AAs spent
3. Raid Boxes can only bid with a main’s DKP during the second round of bidding, if no main Raiders are interested in an item
4. Maximum bid is 80 DKP
5. Raid Boxes may not participate in Priority Bidding System
6. Character must be actively played by the main and not carried through a raid
7. Character must be present at the raid and for the kill in order to bid on loot drops
8. Raid Boxes may take advantage of free Raid Box changes the week before and after expansion launch; changing a designated Raid Box outside of this window is not allowed. Choose wisely.
9. A round of invites will go out for all main Raiders at 7:45pm, followed by a round of invites for Raid Boxes at 7:55pm, followed by a round of invites at 8:00pm for main Members, Recruits, and Alts.
10. Raid Boxes must be approved by guild leadership and marked in the guild window appropriately. Raid Boxes can be demoted at any time at the discretion of raid leaders.

6.2.5.  Duplicate Items

If more than one of the same item drops, bids will be taken the for duplicate items simultaneously.

When there is 2 of the same item, bids are taken on both items together. The winners both pay the third highest bid +1. But you also never pay more than you bid. Several special situations are listed below:

Case #1: Several people bid on 2 of the same item. The top bids are 10, 5, 5. The two people who bid 5 /random 1000. The winners are the person who bid 10 and the winner of the roll. They both pay 5.

—–

Case #2: Several people bid on 2 of the same item. The top bids are 10, 10, 10. The three people who bid 10 /random 1000. The top two rolls win. They both pay 10.

—–

Case #3: Several people bid on 2 of the same item. The bids are 10, 8, 5 Priority. The winners are the people who bid 10 and 5 Priority (counted as 8 and automatically winning the tie). The person who bid 10 pays 9, and the person who bid 5 Priority pays 5.

—–

Case #4: Several people bid on 2 of the same item. The bids are 20, 15 Priority, 10 Priority. The Winners are the people who bid 20 and 15 Priority. The person who bid 20 pays 16, the person who bid 15 Priority pays 15.

6.2.6.  DKP Point Overview

Accrual

• Attendance taken at 8pm (Start), 9pm, 10pm, and 11pm (End)
• 1 DKP on-time
• 1 DKP at each hour
• 4 DKP for each raid

Bonuses

• 1 DKP for pre-clear
• 1 DKP for extended raid
• 1 DKP for each first-time boss kill

Spending

• Silent auction bidding
• Ties resolved with /random 1000

Cap

• 80 DKP

Decay

• No standard decay
• 20 DKP decay with main change
• 1 “free” main change during a specified time of an Expansion.