Welcome to Saga!
Saga is a newly formed but friendly and open raiding community. At the moment, we’re a small community, a band of friends dedicated to exploring WoW’s raiding content together. We are especially looking forward to the upcoming expansion, hoping to see the new raid dungeons when Wrath of the Lich King hits the stores. It will take a lot of work and dedication to get this far, but we’re more than willing to put in the effort. Most people in Saga are between 18-30 years old, with a few younger ones and a few older mixed in. Regardless of age or nationality, we’re all here for the same reason: to have big laughs together, to look for new challenges and progress, and to be a real and valued part of the team. As a raiding community, we do not require applicants to become members of the guild Saga itself (although we do encourage guild membership, for practical and administrative reasons). To stay in touch with everyone in the community, we use the Saga channel in-game, as well as the news and forums here on the website out-of-game.

Ranks
Saga is made up of much more than just the guildmaster and officers, of course. Within the ranks, you’ll find the people who actually make our raids work! Veterans are the soul of Saga, people who have always been there for other and for the community, who do their job every time, consistently and well. This rank is one earned, with the people who hold it being well-respected, long-time raiders that are hard to replace.

If Veterans are the soul of our raiding community, then our Members are its heart, vital to the success of the whole. People who have attained this rank are fully-fledged members of the community, with access to the guild bank and the ability to bring alts into the guild. Members are expected to attend at least two raids per week, but have priority during loot distribution as they can bid as mains.

For those of us who cannot commit to raiding on a regular basis for whatever reason, we have the Casual rank. RL or in-game friends who would like to be in the community but don’t have the time or gear to raid with us, or members who go through a rough time and put raiding on the backseat for a while – this rank is there for these kind of people. Be aware that Casuals have lower loot priority than Members, but likewise have no requirement for raid attendance.

For members who want to have more than one character in either the raiding community or the guild, we have the Alt rank. Alts have the same privileges as Members, but have to give priority to mains when it comes to loot distribution. The Officer Alt rank is held by the alts of the guildmaster and officers. It holds many of the same abilities as the officer rank, allowing officers to perform guild management-related tasks without switching to their mains. Otherwise, this rank is functionally the same as the Alt rank.

Initiates are people who have recently been accepted into the raiding community. An Initiate has limited access to the guild bank, and has to give priority to mains while distributing loot. Once an Initiate has been in Saga for two to four weeks (depending on activity), the officers review his or her performance. If an Initiate has carried him- or herself well during this time, he or she is then promoted to full Member status.

Guild Expectations
Saga has only one expectation from its members: behave as adults, both towards your fellow community members and the people playing on the Steamwheedle Cartel server. As a member of the Saga raiding community, we expect you to act with a degree of respect and conduct towards others. Keep in mind when dealing with others that you are a part of a larger raiding community, and that your actions reflect on Saga as much as they do on you. We all know the lolboys and professional assholes out there – WoW has enough of them without our members contributing. While occasionally problems will arise within Saga as they will in any guild or community, don’t cause unnecessary drama about it. It’ll only make the issue that much more difficult to solve. If you find yourself with a problem and need help, whether inside the community or outside of it, inform one of the officers or the guildmaster – they can be easily reached via whispers, in-game mail or PM on the website.

Raid Expectations
Like any raiding guild or community aimed at progression, we strive to defeat difficult encounters. As such, we expect everyone to be ready before the raid starts, and to put in their best effort when going for new content.

• Saga’s raids start at 19:30 server time, and finish at 23:00. Invites start 15 minutes before the raid starts, at 19:15. Signup confirmations are made at least half a day in advance. Make sure you’re logged onto the character you will bring to the raid.
• We expect you to stand ready at the instance entrance at raid start time, with gear fully repaired, and carrying raid consumables. This means you have to bring a good supply of health and mana potions, class reagents, flasks and elixirs, buff food, and anything else required for your class and role. Read up on boss strategies beforehand, so you have an idea of what we’re going to encounter.
• Make sure you’re prepared for the raid IRL too! Prepare dinner, go to the toilet, fetch snacks and walk the dog before the raid starts. If you have to go BRB during the raid for one of these reasons, you’re delaying the raid – if you go BRB very often, you risk getting replaced!
  
• Sign up only for raids for which you meet the requirements. For most mains, this is not much of an issue, but if you have difficulty estimating what raids your character is geared for, you can run a character audit to check your stats at the Be.Imba website.

AFKing and going AWOL
Breaks are announced by the raidleader; DO NOT BRB in between, but make sure you have sorted everything beforehand. If you go AFK in the instance, we will not be able to replace you (due to the maximum number of people allowed inside the instance). Aside from causing delays, this will force us to attempt progression content with less than 24 people – not an ideal situation.

If you are expecting an evening where you’ll have to go AFK a lot, for whatever reasons, do not sign up for the raid. If you or one of your family members are ill, or if you have a highly unreliable connection for example, it’s probably best to take the night off. On the other hand, if you are expecting that one important phone call, let the raid leader know in advance. That way, we can take it into account. Of course, if you know beforehand that the call will take more than 10 minutes, we ask that you either do not sign up for the raid, or close down the game so we can replace you.

Should you BRB frequently outside of break times, you’ll get a single warning; if you BRB again, you will be replaced. It may sound harsh, but remember: repeated BRBs also repeatedly keep everyone waiting. If you go AFK for longer than 10 minutes, you will be docked a -250 EP penalty. Should you go AFK without notice, you will get a -250 EP penalty immediately, plus another -500 EP for every 10 minutes until you are timed out of the raid. Be considerate of the other people in the raid; don’t delay the raid without a very, very good reason. Signing up for a raid and not showing up without any prior notice (AWOL) will deduct 250 EP's as well, unless you give us a damn good reason not to (see Emergencies, below).

Emergencies
Emergencies can and do happen. We understand that situations may arise that will require you to leave your computer very quickly, leaving little time to explain. If your house is on fire, a family member has to be taken to hospital or a similarly urgent situation arsies, please, take care of yourself and your family first! Raiding take a backseat to these kind of situations. When an urgent situation occurs, we ask that you announce on vent that there’s an emergency, if possible, then close the game (Alt-F4). Shutting down the game will offline your character, allowing us to replace you and continue the raid. There are no penalties attached to leaving the raid in this manner - emergencies are bad enough already in their own right.

Loot Distribution
Saga uses the EPGP DKP system to distribute loot quickly, efficiently and in as fair a manner as possible. EP is given out not only for bosses, but also for raid attendance, timeliness and work performed above and beyond the call of duty (such as farming mats). GP is a fixed number of points, based on item value. For an in-depth explanation on how the loot system works, visit the Loot System page. 

Guild Bank
Saga’s guild bank is divided in three access ranks: Initiate, Member and Officer. At the moment, there are five tabs available. The first tab is accessible by anyone in the guild; the second, third and fourth tab can be accessed by members, and the fifth tab is open only for officers. Items that are important to keep track of are kept in this last tab.
Currently, the guild bank’s setup is as follows:

• 1st tab: Raid consumables (food, potions, elixirs).
• 2nd tab: Crafting mats and patterns (common or uncommon).
  
• 3rd tab: Crafting mats and patterns (common or uncommon).
• 4th tab: Alt upgrades (BoE blues, exceptionally good greens).
• 5th tab: BoE epics, crafting mats and patterns (rare or epic, primals), raid tokens (such as Marks of the Illidari).
  

To keep the guild bank from bursting at the seams, we ask that you do not deposit junk here. If you place greens in the bank, make sure that they are actually useful. Should you require anything from the officer tab, ask one of the officers or the guildleader to retrieve the item for you. Some items, for example epic gems, you can 'purchase' from the guildbank in exchange for GP.