Shadowed Fates defines its rules carefully so that expectations and roles are clearly stated.  The goal of well defined rules is not to restrict the actions of our members, but to ensure the long term success of the guild, and therefore to protect the individual investments and contributions that every member has made to it.  Only through upholding our professionalism and high standards of conduct can the image of the guild be preserved, and only by maintaining our focus and discipline can we continue to achieve the goal set forth in our Charter: to be the best.



Guild Roles:  Although the rules of the guild apply to everyone, a successful guild requires that several roles be filled.

  • Guild Leaders:  Diamynd and Yeti are the guild leaders of SF, and their first priority is always the well being of the guild.
  • Officers:  The guild leaders can't be everywhere and do everything.  The officers act as a leadership presence in their absence.  The officers often lend a hand with organizing and directing groups and raids, distributing loot, handling issues, etc...  Another important officer duty is that of providing feedback to the guild leaders.  If an officer does not feel that the leaders have made the best decision for the guild in a given situation, or a member has come to them with a concern or issue, then the officer will bring the matter to the guild leaders so that it can be resolved.
  • Battle Leaders:  Raids are very busy times, and the leaders and officers are often too busy to deal with directing the raid on top of playing their characters and dealing with necessary daily guild issues.  The battle leaders often take charge of groups and calling targets during raids so that the whole guild doesn't have to stand around and wait every time Yeti or Diamynd is scrolled up in tells.
  • Members:  The majority of guild members fall into this category, but that in no way makes it ordinary.  Attaining the rank of "Member of Shadowed Fates" should be considered an honor.  And, the guild is honored to have these fine individuals amongst its ranks, for it is their hard work and dedication that has made SF what it is today.
  • Initiates:  New guild members go through an initiate period.  During this period of growing acclimated to the guild and proving themselves, initiates are outranked by other members when it comes to acquiring items, requesting guild assistance, or getting into full raids.
  • Alts:  We freely tag everyone's secondary characters so that members are always in communication with the guild, regardless of what character they are currently on.  Alts can be a fun diversion from time to time, and we encourage folks to combine that fun with developing a secondary that will contribute to the guild, whether as a summoning mule, with additional transmute timers, as a tradeskill gatherer, as a high level character that gives us additional class flexibility when needed, etc...  However, everyone needs to remember that their primary focus should always be on playing their primary, both for their own character development and to assist other guild members with quests, instance runs, etc...  Secondaries rank the lowest for items, raid slots, and obtaining guild assistance.

Attendance:  Real life comes first, but when you're online, the guild is your family.  We help each other out and everyone is expected to contribute.

  • Scheduled Guild Events:  If you are online, you must be there.  These events are normally scheduled days in advance.  Attempt to be there at the announced time so we can start promptly.  If you know in advanced that you will be late, then make sure you are repaired, have consumables, and are ready to go the night before.  If you will be unable to attend, respond to the event posting in the events forum stating so.  Attendance is tracked for all raids, and that attendance is a primary factor in our merit based loot distribution system.  A player is counted as being in attendance if they are online and available, even if they are not actually in the raid group due to the 25 character limit.  People may be shuffled back and forth between the raid group and the waiting list as the raid progresses, so folks should remain ready.  Many find that logging off outside the instance and playing a secondary while they wait keeps them ready without boring them to death.
  • Non-Scheduled Guild Events:  These come in a couple flavors.  There are always small instance runs going on, and members should be helping each other out with these when they can.  We know that folks want a break now and then to work on things on their own, or just to relax, and it's not a problem to not join because of that, but it is a problem if you're rarely or never helping out guild mates.  There are also sudden opportunities that can arise, such as a world spawn or it is almost Tuesday reset and we finally have Wintergrasp.  In that case everyone must instantly drop whatever they're doing and hurry to the zone immediately.

Public Conduct:  Members of SF must remember at all times that as wearers of our tag, they are representatives of our guild.  Members should always be polite to their fellow gamers, stay out of arguments in shout or other public chat channels (in fact the general channel is an immature spam fest best avoided entirely), never insult other guilds or players, and especially stay out of the drama and flaming that permeates the Blizzard Medivh forum.  We are a large and successful guild, and our name will show up on their from time to time.  Do not get involved.  Most the time the best thing to do is to let it die, and if something does need to be said, a leader or officer will take care of it.  In general, if you feel a need to scream about something, vent frustration with a bad PUG or BG raid, or just to act goofy or tell a bawdry joke, share it with your friends in the guild, not with the public.  Have fun (without totally crossing the line of course...) but present your best side in public.

Commitment:  Membership in SF requires a high level of dedication and commitment.  We can not accept the conflict of interest or sharing of time that would result from members belonging to another guild in WoW (or any other MMORPG) or having characters on other servers.  SF is not a guild of part time players.

Guild Strategies:  Members of the guild must obviously be introduced to our techniques and strategies to participate in our raids.  These are valuable strategies that guild members have died many times to develop and that you and other guild members will continue to die to fine tune!  At no time is any member ever allowed to share this information with anyone outside the guild.  Sharing of such information is grounds for immediate guild removal - no warnings, no second chances, and no exceptions.&nbps; This rule has become largely outdated with even the most successful guilds sharing their strategies freely in guides and videos these days, but keep it in the back of your mind for those times right after new content is released or if we come up with a unique and effective way of defeating a boss.

Cheating:  Cheating in any way is against SF rules.  No member will use add on programs to help with game play unless the software has been approved by Blizzard.  No member will use exploits or cheats in game to gain an advantage in either PvE or PvP.

Absence From the Game:  Members should keep the guild updated as to their whereabouts.  If a member plans on being gone from WoW for an extended amount of time, please let us know.  Members that disappear for more than a week without having told us in advance that they are going to be away will be removed with the assumption that they have left the game.  If they do return at a later date they may be denied reentry to the guild or have to return as an Initiate depending upon the circumstances.

Message Forums:  The private message forums are provided so that Shadowed Fates members may communicate freely between ourselves, plan guild events and strategies, discuss applicants and Initiates, etc...  Reading the guild message boards daily, knowing about planned events, and keeping any requested class spec or equipment lists up to date, are all mandatory activities.  Members expect and deserve privacy when on our private forums.  Never share your access to the board with anyone.

The Guild Channel:  The use of guild chat should always be kept to reasonable levels.  Whenever possible respond to questions with tells.  During events guild chat should be kept clear of all unrelated talk.  When there are no events in progress feel free to use guild chat with moderation.  Remember that it is guild CHAT, not guild SPAM.  Guild chat can be a fun and goofy place at times, but it still needs to be a place where all members are comfortable.  This means that non-light vulgarity, leet speak (woot, suxxors, pwn, "u r teh...", etc...), and sex or drug chatter (beyond subtle joking), is all expressly forbidden.  In addition, communication in all other channels at all times by guild members must be kept mature and professional to maintain our guild image.  And yes, we will officially warn members for saying woot, even in guild chat (especially in guild chat!), and guild remove them if they persist.  Anyone that has a problem with this can thank w00t boy Fazumar for permanently scarring us many years ago in EQ.

At no time will any fighting, insults, or whining on guild channels be tolerated.  Disputes between members should be discussed in tells, and folks finding themselves at odds with a guild mate are encouraged to contact a leader or officer to help get things settled.

Shadowed Fates Item Philosophy:  Items are not why we play this game.  We play this game to have fun, to be with friends, and to take on great challenges and overcome them!  However, items do make our characters stronger, which is a worthy goal for all of us and does provide much of the enjoyment in the game.  But, at no time can items be allowed to become more important than the guild, our friends, and our fun.  Shadowed Fates believes in putting items in the hands of those that can best use them to help us all.  This ensures that the characters fighting by your side are as powerful as we can make them, which helps to guarantee our success as a guild, and I'm sure you'll all agree that kicking butt is far more fun than dying.

General Item Policies:

  • On raids, item distribution is handled by the guild leaders, officers, or battle leaders.
  • While not much obtained outside of raids is needed by the guild, there are still some things that are and should go to guildmates or into the vault.  Current examples that come to mind are herbs for flasks, fish for Fish Feasts, rare gems, Nobles deck cards, and enchanting mats.  Remember, it's more important to contribute to the guild's raiding success than to put a few more gold in your pocket.
  • Items are distributed with the goal of strengthening the guild as a whole, and therefore will go to the character that can best use the item to help the guild.  A number of factors are taken into account when making that determination, with attendance, performance, and item balance (those who contribute similarly should have a similar number of epics) being some of the primary things considered.
  • Items always go to primary characters first.
  • Those present when an item drops receive priority with extra items held for others in the guild that could not attend or to be sold for guild funds.
  • Distribution may be by via /roll (after having pared the list down to a small number of highly eligible individuals), or an item may be directly assigned.
  • All greens or unneeded rares / epics that drop during raids are to be disenchanted so that the guild can provide its members with free enchants whenever possible.

PvP / Battlegrounds:  Shadowed Fates is first and foremost a PvE guild.  Raiding dungeons, completing quests, and killing the toughest critters in the land will always be our primary goals.  However, PvP, and especially arenas and battlegrounds, can be a lot of fun and some of our members really enjoy this form of challenge.  This is fine, as long as a couple of things are kept in mind:.

  • Balance:  Guild members must keep their play time balanced.  We know everyone is attending raids when online because they're mandatory and we would guild remove them if they didn't...  But there is more to contributing to our guild's success than just showing up on raids.  No guild member should PvP excessively so that they are not maintaining their consumables, collecting needing guild items such as herbs, assisting other guild members on quests and instance runs, and keeping themselves sufficiently funded for repairs and other necessary costs.  Members who show up to raids unprepared or who are always in the battlegrounds instead of helping other guild members who need their assistance will be talked to, and if it proves necessary, banned from the battlegrounds / arenas.
  • Professionalism:  PvP can bring out the worst in folks.  Enemy players do a lot of things that mobs never do - harrassing, taunting, exploiting, focusing on killing one person over and over to spite them, corpse camping, etc...  This can make PvP very frustrating and means that members will need to exert additional self control to remain professional and mature.  Insulting, bragging, acting cocky, using rude emotes, using exploits, etc..., are no more acceptable in PvP than they are in any other element of the game.  Members PvPing need to remember that they are representing the guild on the battlefields, just as they are in every other aspect of their game play.  Members who can not uphold our guild image and their maturity while PvPing will be banned from the battlegrounds / arenas.

Trade Policy:  Items needed by the guild are not to be sold or traded unless the trade is approved by the guild leaders or an officer.  Almost all items of value are BoP or BoE, so you can't use and then pass on items like in previous games, but there are still some world drops, recipes, or trade skill items that are needed by your guildmates.  Remember that just because you're on "your time" outside of raids doesn't mean the guild isn't still working for you.&nbps; Others off soloing or in instances may be gathering enchanting mats that will be used on your next epic, or may stumble upon a gem that will be cut for your next piece of socketed gear.&nbps; Therefore you need to always keep the guild's best interests in mind as well when you're playing, even outside of raids.  Since gathering skills are a main source of income for many, folks will often contribute some of what they gather, or the most needed by the guild items they gather, and AH the rest.  If you have any questions about whether or not an item is needed, or what a fair to both you and the guild way of handling mats is, ask an officer, ask on guild chat, or post on our forums.

Sharing Characters:  Due to the competative nature of the game, the value of our strategies that we have died to learn, and the importance of maintaining privacy for our members who rightfully believe that when they are talking on the SF guild channel, only SF members are reading, no member shall allow another person to play their character unless expressly permitted by the leaders.  A spouse or child on a secondary character on your account would probably be permitted.  Anyone with a character in another guild, would almost certainly not be permitted.

The Guild Leader's Decisions Are Always Final:  The leadership of Shadowed Fates always has the best interests of the guild in mind.  While these rules clearly show the philosophies and guidelines by which SF lives, these rules do not bind the hands of the guild leaders; these rules are subject to change.  At any time that events in the ever changing world of WoW cause the guild leaders to decide that the best thing for the guild is contrary to these rules, then the rules will be added to or changed so they continue to serve the guild in the future, or they may even be temporarily superceded by the judgement of the guild leaders to ensure that the right thing is done in a particularly unusual situation.  So consider these rules carefully and know that while they are the current guidelines by which the guild is run, they could be changed in the future to better serve the guild and it's members.




To apply for membership with Shadowed Fates, an applicant must:

  • be a highly skilled level 80,
  • be well equipped and experienced,
  • complete an application form (Apply link on the left),
  • and be interviewed by an officer or guild leader.

An applicant may also be brought on one or more raids as trial runs so we can judge your performance first hand.  Once all requirements have been met, if the offiers feel the candidate has the potential to be a valuable guild member, they will be invited as an initiate.  A post is then made on our Initiates Forum so that members can discuss and provide feedback.

  • An initiate spends a several weeks attending our events, getting used to our rules and policies, and most importantly, getting to know the members of the guild.
  • During this time guild members provide feedback in the initiate's forum thread.
  • Feedback is in turn provided back to the initiate so that they have an idea of how they're doing.
  • After several weeks, the initiate is usually either welcomed as a new member of Shadowed Fates, or turned down.
  • Occasionally, such as due to RL extenuating circumstances (the initiate was unable to play much during their initiate period), or at the discretion of the guild leaders, the initiate period may be extended.

Initiates must understand that they will not be top priorities for certain things.  This includes items, slots in a full raid, and for receiving guild assistance in obtaining items or completing quests.