The next update to the site will be to the Raids section. It is a large update, basically rewriting most of the Raids section along with all of our calculation scripts, so we would love to receive any feedback from you guys first to see if you have any suggestions or concerns.

Raid Pools
Our old "Raid Sets" feature is being changed to "Raid Pools" and being enhanced.

How Raid Pools will work is, if you run multiple dungeons and want to keep the DKP separate from them (so that members cannot earn DKP in one dungeon, and then spend it in another), you can assign raids to different Raid Pools. A Raid Pool will then be filterable throughout the Raids section so you can only view content from that Raid Pool.

Attendance, DKP points, raids and items can then be filtered so you only view the content from a specific Raid Pool; if you are a large guild or raiding multiple dungeons and wish to keep track of DKP separately, this will make it much easier.

Our Raid Set feature currently does this also, but is quite limited, especially in the UI, so it is not as useful as the Raid Pools will be.

Raiders Separated from Characters
Currently, the DKP system depends on Characters tied to Members on the site. This has posed quite a few problems:
Members needing to add chars to their account to receive DKP
Members deleting chars from their account and having the DKP lost
Members adding chars that are not raiders, which then takes up space in the DKP section
Guilds attempting to run raids with players from other guilds, who then have no characters

To solve this, we will be separating the Raiders from the Characters. In the Raids section, there will be an "Edit Raiders" section, where you can add/edit/delete raiders. You will also be able to flag raiders as inactive and specify if a raider belongs to another guild then your own.

This will mean it will be entirely up to the Admins to populate the raiders, but should be a much more manageable solution.

When we do this update, we will run a script which loops through every character on your site, and creates a raider for you named after the character that has all their dkp. (ie no dkp will be lost or anything from this update)

Character Pools
Similar to Raid Pools, a Character Pool will allow you to pool together the DKP you earn from several characters and treat it as one.

The purpose of this is, if you have go on a raid with your main character, but then have to sub in with your alt to fill a healing role or so, and you want the dkp earned on your alt to count as your main character, you can then create a Character Pool and put all your characters in it; then DKP earned from any of them works towards the same pool.

After discussing the first three options, here is a concept screenshot of the new Standings page, which includes Character Pools and members from other guilds.



If you have no character pools, and no members from other guilds, then the Standings page would look very similar to how it does now.

Attendance
The Raids section will be getting an attendance page, very similar to the standings page, that will show the attendance of all members. Like the standings page, you will be able to filter the Attendance by Raid Pool (so you can see who is attending what dungeons), and you will be able to filter it for specific periods of time (so you can see only the attendance for the past month or two if you want).



Raid Details Page
Viewing a Raid will receive many UI enhancements to show more information and be better organized. We will also be allowing you to add a "Notes" section for the raid to include any information about it, and we will be enabling Comments on a raid, so you can have discussions specific to it.

Raid Adjustments
Currently how a Raid Adjustment works is you select a Member, enter a reason "was late", and then an amount -5 dkp. This way is difficult to enter many raid adjustments, especially if you are handing out the same one to multiple members.

Raid Adjustments will be changing so instead you pick a name for the adjustment, "was late", and an amount, -5 dkp, and then you can mass add/remove members to it, similar to how you can mass add/remove members to raid hours, raid events and raid items. This should make it easier to work with adjustments that are assigned to many raiders.

Raid Items Get Their Own Page
Raid Items will be getting their own details page. The details page will embed the popup tooltip of the item, showing game-specific information about it if it is available. It will also have a history for the item, showing what raids it has dropped in and who has bought it. Comments will also be enabled on this page.



Feedback Request
Some of these are pretty big changes to how the Raids section currently works, so if you have any feedback or suggestions we would love to hear them. You can post a comment here or send an email to staff@mmoguildsites.com

Along with adding new features we are always looking for ways we can improve the site. With the last update, we changed the popup box to be centered in the browser and have an overlay behind it, dimming the rest of the site and making the popup box stand out more. This change made room in the bottom right corner for the notifications.

We have received some mixed feedback with the popup changes, and based on some of the feedback we have moved the popup box to the bottom center of the browser, closer to how it used to be.

We will be testing some layouts this week to see what is the best solution we can come up with, but we would love to hear any feedback you may have on this - your thoughts on the position of the popup box, the notifications and the overlay are all welcome.

Also one quick note, the live previews that were enabled for some content, such as editing forum posts, have temporarily been disabled with this update; they will be re-enabled within the next few days.

Our one year anniversary for MMO Guildsites is coming up next month, and to celebrate we will be handing out prizes in appreciation to our customers for all the great support this year! We have finished confirming our prize list and wanted to share it with you guys, so here it is:

1x Nvidia 8600 GT Video Card:
128-bit GeForce 8600 GT Video Card (540MHz clock)
256MB 128-bit GDDR3 Memory (700MHz clock - 1.4GHz effective)
PCI Express x16 Compatibility (PCI Express Compliant)



2x Nvidia 7900 GS XT Video Card:
256-bit GeForce 7900 GS XT Video Card (480MHz clock)
256MB 256-bit DDR3 Memory(700MHz clock - 1.4GHz effective)
PCI Express x16 Compatibility (PCI Express Compliant)



1x Logitech X-230 2.1 Speaker System:
Logitech X-230 2.1 Speaker System Black 32W RMS FDD2
Frequency Directed Dual Driver (FDD2) satellite technology produces a uniform sound field for full, rich sound
Ported subwoofer design displaces more air for deeper bass



1x Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard:
Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard Black Silver Programmable Backlit Keys USB



1x Steelpad Headset /w Microphone:
Steelpad 5H V.2 Headset W/ Microphone


Stay tuned next month for our one year announcement and to see if you are among the winners!

*note: the prizes are being awarded to site owners only, you must own a site to be eligible for a prize

The next update we are going to put live is to the Guild Bank section - we have a lot of new features planned for this, including customizable item categories, tracking money and splitting/joining stackable items - but we would like to hear your thoughts on uploading.

We would like to make it easier to mass upload Guild Bank data and would love to hear any suggestions you guys may have. For example:

- If you play World of Warcraft and use an addon to manage your Guild Bank that has an export function let us know about it and see can see if it can be supported. *if you could email us a sample output from the export function that would be helpful =)

- If you play another MMORPG that has a similar feature to WoW's addons that allows you to export bank data let us know.

- If you use a speadsheet or another means currently to handle your Guild Bank and find it easy to do so let us know, and we can look at adding a comma seperated list or xml import feature.

Basically any method that would make it easier for you to import Guild Bank data we would love to hear about it so we can look into supporting it during this update.

Please either post here in the comments section or send us an email to staff@mmoguildsites.com

We are in the process of creating a Guide for our site, which will cover how to use our Theming, DKP system and more; until it is ready as I receive many requests I have decided to put a temporary guide here for the DKP.

Our DKP supports two types of DKP systems; the more standard DKP method where members earn DKP from killing bosses and a newer type of DKP called zero-sum.

Standard DKP

Templates
Our DKP system is based around Templates. You will create a Template for each type of raid (instance) you will go on. The template serves several purposes. First it acts as a set of defaults to hold what values and events happen on that raid which are worth DKP so you do not have to enter them every raid, and second it acts as a filter so you can view DKP, attendance, etc only for that type of raid.

As an example say we make a Molten Core template (World of Warcraft instance dungeon); We set the template to be worth 5 DKP for attending, 0 DKP hourly [hourly DKP is optional], and we set up 3 events in the template ( 1st event: Killing Ragnaros - 10DKP, 2nd event: Showed up on Time: 1DKP, 3rd event: Killing Lucifron - 5DKP).

Now we can create raids off this template and do not always have to add those events or DKP values, any raid created from this template will have these events and values.

Some guilds use seperate DKPs for different dungeons also [meaning you can not spend DKP you earned in Molten Core for Blackwing Lair items]; with templates you can accomplish this also. From the standings page you can filter out data based on the template to see how much DKP they have earned for that dungeon. In addition, you can have multiple templates for the same dungeon [such as a template for a short molten core run vs a full molten core run] and have them count as the same type of dungeon by setting their Raid Name to be the same in the different templates. ie one template has Template Name set to "Molten Core Short Run" and the second template has Template Name set to "Molten Core Full Run", and both have Raid Name set to "Molten Core". Then raids added using either template both count towards "Molten Core".

Note: Your Raid Templates must have at least 1 event if you use the Standard DKP system

Adding Raids
Once you have a template setup you can begin adding Raids. When you add a raid it asks you which template you wish to use, what date the raid occurred on, and what DKP system to use.

After you fill in these values you are taken to the Raid Edit form where you may begin adding characters, items, hourly DKP and adjustments for the raid.

Start off by adding Characters to the Raid Events they participated in. While you add any data to the raid the Raid Summary at the bottom will begin to fill in you can check to ensure everything is totaling properly.

Once you have added Characters to the Raid Events, begin adding items that were purchased on the raid. Items must belong to a Raid Event and a Character.

Next, if you choose to use it add hourly DKP for attendees. You enter the number of hours for each character and it is multiplied by the hourly DKP value you set in the raid template.

Finally, make any additional adjustments. To add position adjustments use a positive number [like 5], to add negative adjustments use a negative number [like -5].

After you have entered all your data check the raid summary at the bottom to ensure it looks correct. Then click the "Back to Raid" link at the top or bottom of the form. This will take you back to a statistics summary of the raid and what dropped.

And you're done!

Zero-sum DKP

Zero-sum DKP is a kind of weighted round robin system, where items have a set value before the raid begins, and when one drops they lose DKP equal to the items cost, and everyone else gains their share of the items cost.

ie 11 members attend a raid where an epic sword drops. Epics were determined to cost 50 DKP before the raid began. Player "Snarf" takes the sword and loses -50DKP; the other 10 players get 50/10 DKP or 5 DKP each. A player cannot bid on an item until they catch up to other players or get to a set DKP value (such as 0).

Zero-sum DKP still relies on Templates as normal DKP does, but uses them much more simply. A Template for Zero-sum has no default values and no events to add; it only has a DKP System [set to zero-sum], a Template Name and a Raid Name [used to filter data for each dungeon, as described above].

Once you've created your templates you can begin adding raids.

Adding data for a zero-sum system is much easier.

Start by adding Items which dropped during the raid along with who bought them and how much they were worth. Once you've added an item you can add who help participate in getting the item. Each participant except the buyer will receive their share of the item's DKP value. This will update in the Raid summary at the bottom to clarify what has been added.

Once you are done adding items and participants you can add any necessary adjustments to the raid. To hand out bonuses use positive numbers [like 5] to hand out penalties use negative numbers [like -5].

After you have entered all your data check the raid summary at the bottom to ensure it looks correct. Then click the "Back to Raid" link at the top or bottom of the form. This will take you back to a statistics summary of the raid and what dropped.

And you're done!

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We are very anxious for feedback on our DKP system so if you use it and can think of any enhancements or suggestions do pass them our way and we will see if they can be added.

While we tried to make entering data into our DKP system very fast and straight-forward, we realize some players like to be able to do it ingame and export the data; we are aiming to start creating Addons for games that support them to work with our DKP system and other parts of the site in Mid-February.

Just in time for the weekend we've added 3 new themes to the public list.

Beige n Blue - "its beige...and blue"


Dee Green - "fun with limes"


Dee Red - "what if limes were red!"


These themes are more creations of the fabulously quirky mind of Severed Pinkies.

Public themes are meant to help you get started quickly with your guild site, providing a base theme you can use and customize to your needs...of course you can easily design your own as well with the Theme Editor. To use one of these themes for your site just sign in and click the "Apply to My Site" button next to each theme.

We've added two new themes to the Public Themes list.

Tropa - "a dark mellow theme"


Setis - "a squishy blue theme"


Both themes are designed by Severed Pinkies. To view all themes by her you may search the themes list for 'Severed Pinkies'.

Public themes are available for anyone to use for their guild sites. They may be directly applied to your guild site or loaded into the Theme Editor to be modified (for example to change the banner graphic or the theme width).

We will be regularly adding new themes to the public list, which help to demonstrate some of the uses of the Theme Editor as well as provide nice starting themes for new guilds.

Anyone can, and is welcome to, contribute to the public themes list.

We've thrown up a quick survey to help us gain some insight into how important people feel having a guild website is and what aspects in particular make it worthwhile.

This will help us focus on the features users feel are more important; making our service more useful.

If you have a spare moment we would greatly value your opinion!

Take the Survey!