Last Updated 12/15/2009Who We AreThe Knights of Valour is first and foremost a raiding guild. Our main goal is to have a reliable group of mature raiders tackling any dungeon or end-game instance Blizzard can throw at us. We don't neglect our player's attitudes or the guild atmosphere however - one of the main things that the founders of this guild were tired of was the lack of maturity and organization present in other raiding guilds we had tried before forming the Knights. Getting cool looking gear is always fun, but it's even more fun honing our skills and gear to be able to tackle the next big challenge of a raid instance. There are plenty of raiding guilds that you join because they can take you places even though you can't stand anyone in the guild itself – this isn't one of them. We're also a guild of adults; not necessarily due to content, but due to the lack of commitment and maturity we've found in younger members ("My parents are making me log" is not a good reason to call a raid).
The Knights, above all else, value commitment, and loyalty. Despite common misconceptions, raiding is not particularly easy - it requires dedication to guild and raiding role, so that you can be as effective as possible within that role. Commitment to the raiding itself means that the Knights are expected to put the time and effort to make sure that they are always prepared and ready for a raid, show up on time, and show up consistently. That last part is important – while it's inevitable that RL will interfere with your schedule, how you handle that will determine how effective and reliable a raider you can be. Loyalty is important for the survival of the guild itself, as we can never climb beyond Naxxramas if everyone is focused only on themselves. This is due not only to the direct impact, of players leaving the guild for what they perceive as greener pastures, but due to the indirect impact it has on the guild atmosphere when there's a portion of the guild only in it for themselves.
Beyond the raids themselves, a Knight has to understand how to get the most out of their class and gear, and work not only on improving themselves through gear outside of the raids, but through bettering their spec and/or understanding of the class (and also understanding what constitutes an upgrade in the raids!). Everyone has a broad raiding role - do you DPS, heal, or tank? Beyond that, there are the specifics to each class and talent spec, with almost every class/spec having some kind of responsibility beyond their main role (maintaining buffs/debuffs, removing enemy buffs/friendly debuffs, movement, change of roles, etc). Each class has a wide variety of talents and abilities, and knowing which talents to take and which abilities to use when can play a pretty big part in raid effectiveness. And of course, all of the above depend on the ability of the player to use and understand them. A Knight needs to understand and possess all of the above to be truly effective.
Hopefully that helps clarify who we are and what we're looking for - if you're still interested in joining the Knights, please send Jimmy a /tell, in-game mail, or forum PM.
History of KoVThe Knights of Valour were formed August, 2007, by a small group of friends (Jimmy, Manichee, Dragonlily, Rhiiannon, Photas, Emilysis, and Lianala), who had tried and failed to find a raiding guild that could match what they were looking for. Since then, we have definitely had our ups and downs - Karazhan, Zul'Aman, Gruul's Lair, and Magtheridon's Lair have all been fully cleared, and our previous height we were able to take out four of the six Serpentshrine Cavern bosses. The summer of '08 hit us hard though - what started as a slow trickle of players disappearing on summer vacations and lack of interest became a crippling flood when two of our main tanks left, taking the resist sets that the rest of the guild had spent a large amount of time and money on. At our lowest point, in late July, we weren't even raiding. We began slowly rebuilding however, focusing more on quality players rather than simply recruiting warm bodies. When Wrath of the Lich King came out, we were ready for it, levelling up and clearing all of Naxxramas + Obsidian Sanctum less than a month after the expansion was released. So far we've cleared Ulduar to Yogg-Saron, and easily handled Trial of the Crusader (Although we're only 1/5 for Trial of the Grand Crusader); with the Icecrown Citadel now upon us, we're devoting all our time and resources on ending the threat of Arthas once and for all!
Raiding RequirementsThe raiding requirements are short and sweet. If you've got any questions, please feel free to contact me.
1) You must be level 80. See the bottom of this post if not.
2) TeamSpeak 3 is mandatory for raiding. A microphone and the ability to speak in TS3 is not required, but having the software, being connected, and listening is.
3) Boss warnings (BigWigs) and a general raid addon (oRA2) are required during the raids. See HERE for more details.
4) Sign-up for the raids you will be attending using the in-game calendar. In the event that we have more members online and ready for a raid then slots, priority is given to those who have signed up in advance.
5) Invites for raids go out an hour before the start time. This hour is intended to be used for preparation for the raid. By start time, you should be inside the raid entrance, and ready to begin raiding.
6) Gear is important, but less than it has been in the past. There's a large amount of crafted and rep rewards available to make a very solid set almost immediately after reaching level 80, and all these require is a little work to get. Potential recruits aren't turned down based on lack of gear as a general rule – although they will be removed at the end of their Squire trial if they've made no effort to acquire the gear and instead expect the guild to gear them (through only raiding or expecting guildmates to provide free upgrades).
Raiding ScheduleTuesday - Icecrown Citadel, 7PMST-10PMST
Wednesday - Icecrown Citadel, 7PMST-10PMST
Joining Under Level 80There have been several people interested in joining the Knights who aren't max-level yet, so we decided to allow this as long as there are a few things clear and understood:
1) You must be level 68 or higher.
2) You must be active, and reach level 80 within three weeks of joining the guild. If you aren't active for at least the first two, you will be removed. Ideally, you should hit 80 as soon as possible.
3) Any help from guildmates is completely optional and should not be expected. We are not a levelling guild, and don't really have any kind of support for levelling - people may help with a tough group quest or instance, but this is certainly not required of anyone. We focus on end-game content - level 80 quests, heroics, raids. Asking for help occasionally is fine, but anyone spamming guild chat for help with low level instances/quests, or constantly harassing members to help them, will be removed.
4) While levelling, you will remain in the Page (Alt) rank. The Squire trial will begin once you hit 80.
