Running A Sky & Dyna LS.. HALP! ; ;

One of my friends came up with the genius idea of "You should start your own Sky/Dyna LS.."

Just looking for some idea of what sort of workload it'd be from some people that've already been leader of one (or currently are leader of one >.>)

I have a fairly good knowledge of City Dyna's, I've done Snow, so it would only take a bit of reading up about to get up to scratch with that IMO. Never done a COP Dynamis, which I know puts me at a pretty big disadvantage as a "leader". (This is actually my biggest worry >.>)

I've done 99% of Sky, with the exception of Kirin.

Generally speaking I don't have much of a problem making a fair set of rules that don't usually disadvantage people.

At the moment, I'm not seriously considering it, I'm just thinking about it until I have an idea of what sort of work I need to do.

I co-lead a CoP dyna shell for a short period of time. there is quite a bit of planning and work involved. you're gonna need a dedicated bunch of people and a dedicated puller. you need to decide on if you are going to fund or if it's gonna be everyone pays for themselves. drops, points, and all that stuff too.

don't know much about leading sky. sorry >.<

I've "lead" my social LS through City Dyna and Sky, in the sense that I've told people what to do, but generally sat on the back burner because it was so early/late for me when they did runs, so I had either just woke up at 3am, or just got in from work, either way I was tired XD

I'd have it "fund itself", after the first few runs where (hopefully) a decent LS bank would've been established.

Generally, Puller/Tank/Healer's wouldn't be a problem to get, a few friends have shown a bit of interest in the idea, and they can fill each role.

Its a huge workload - half the time, sackholders won't even do anything to help (either out of laziness, or because they don't feel its their "place").

One thing to look at is how many people you're going to end up having - a good 18-36.

There's planning, there's tracking points, there's tracking who has what job(s) at what level(s) and what job(s) are equipped. On top of all the orginizational and planning things, you have to manage, babysit, and punish people accordingly - its really hard to keep track of 18+ people at once, but as the leader you have to.

Furthermore there is the stress involved with it, whether from drama, or just from having to make sure you can afford your next drama, making sure people are coming, making sure you have the right jobs coming, and recruiting. It is a LOT of work, and ends up basically being a job.

I think the most difficult thing I find, is keeping track of who *** up/starts drama and so on. I use FFDKP for points and attendance, which lessens the workload a lot, but then you still get to manage ***, like points system, making sure everyone knows what the point system is and so on.

What can get really frustrating, is if you don't feel the shell is ready to take on <X-Dynamis> or <X-God/pop NM> and everyone else thinks they ARE ready...can get rather annoying.

Depending on what job you're going as...you're gonna be unable to notice 98% of what is going on. Like pulling as COR in Dynamis - I'm constantly pulling and Light Shot-ing crap. If it wasn't for sacks and concerned members pointing out ***people WEREN'T doing, some people woulda gone by without being notified/punished accordingly.

Its like running a circus and a daycare for HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE 2 year olds at the same time.

For every ~10 people you need an experienced sack that knows wth they're doing and what they can do as a sack. It'll help, but most people come straight to the leader anyway, instead of going to a sack.

3 main things as someone who currently co-leads a shell.

1. Make very clear rules that everyone has to follow
2. Enforce those rules exactly as you say you will
3. You have to be able to be the bad guy, as lead its your job to get ***done and not stroke ego's. (this is the hardest thing to learn imo)

This ^

And amen.

It really depends how much "Free time" you have that you don't want to use on the game. Just like a few of the other people have stated on here, there is alot of planing to go about on both events. It can involve alot of stress when things doen't go planned. Dealing with these things with a cool head is what it takes to be a good leader. It just depends on weather you can handle that kind of resposibility.

Hello,
I run a successful Sky/Sea Linkshell.
We have been running for about 10 months.

Some key points were already said. You need to have some very dedicated people that you can count on as officers.
Those people will be your backbone, so take care of them.

Admin-wise, I spent about 5-10 hours per week updating the website with points, lists of "who got what" and other paraphanelia.
The hard part starts when people begin getting the items they want.
If your shell does not progress after a while, you will have people getting their items and leaving.

When it comes to Dynamis, Littledarc hit the nail on the head.
There is a HUGE amount of planning and working with other major Dynamis LSs.
My best recommendation would be to start the Sky LS, with some Sea, at first.
When you get in a good pace and you aren't overwhelmed, ensure you have at least 40+ members(estimate 6 months).
Then, take it to the next level and start Dynamis.
At the beginning (first 2-3 months), start with only cities (Bastok/Sandy/Windy).
When your LS can do those without a problem, move to Beucidine and Xarc.

Remember this, the hardest part in being a leader of anything has to do with 2 things:
1) Finding people you trust to help you as officers.
2) Deligation of certain duties to relieve you of the stress that will come with being a leader.

~Yote

I would have to agree. I co-lead a Dynamis Linkshell, and we just started digging into the CoP dynamis. However it really is the work behind it that makes this job hard. You really need a committed leadership team of about 6 to help you out, because I can garunteed you won't be able to do this job alone. Getting the people can sometimes be difficult too, for new people to do this it's not too difficult, since it's fairly simple what everyone has to do inside of Dynamis. And don't worry about the CoP Dynamis, for someone that is just starting out, and getting new members, you're defiantely going to be doing a ton of City Dynamis. I'd suggest you get a hold of other Dynamis leaders and ask them for advise or online links that can help you out. I know quite a few resources online that can help with maps and TE's and so forth.

But like I said, the run itself is the easy part, it's the job behind all the runs. As Aledacia said, there is a ton of things you need to do. I would suggest starting up a free forums online so you can keep all the information in one place. Also work and Excel are extremely helpful.

You're going to need a couple of people to do this but here goes:

-Find members that you need for Dynamis, each job is important but some are vital for certain Dynamis's, and you need to make sure you have enough of them. For example PLD's or BLM's are always in constant need.

-Decided on how you'll handle how Relic is distributed. Point list? Bids? Need to figure this out early and post it asap so people can figure out how you'll do this so they can decide if this Linkshell is for them.

-A list of all the members that are updated each week along with their points.

-Are you going to sell currency or give it away for relic weapons?

-Are you going to do paychecks? And if so, how?

-Who's going to take care of the Relics (AF2) when they drop and decide who recieves them?

-Who's going to check that everyone is on time and there for the event, and stayed until the end?

Anyways, this is only a few of things that you must make sure you know. Be prepared for drama, it will happen when someone doesn't get there way. Make sure you also have time for this. It can be a part time job if you're not prepared in advance with a good team.

Furthermore, if you have any questions or ideas that you'd like to discuss you can always message me on here. Good luck on starting your own shell! I hope I didn't disuade you not to, just wanted to prepare you. Dynamis really can be so much fun.

(By the way.. I didn't even mention Sky.. I couldn't imagine doing them both at the same time. XD)

Probably a really important one to prevent shitstorms of bitching from members is to keep track of everything. Mark down and archive when, where, what and who did events, what drops were, who got drops, when the event ended, when people showed up and left, etc.

It's probably a pain in the butt for those aiming to have a light hearted EGLS, but really those two terms rarely go hand in hand. If anything take a screenshot and save it in a special folder to mark attendance. It goes a long way and saves your butt in the long run.

WTF 40 members ??

And LOLOLOL at the 2nd one, so perfect.

This ^

Absolutely.

If you can't be the bad guy, and especially if you can't muster up the balls to kick people when they are messing up your shell, then just stop before you start.

Figure out who your most capable and loyal people are and make them your sackholders. They don't have to be the most experienced or best geared, they need the right attitude and discipline.

People need to be reminded a few things on a regular basis:

1) The shell is bigger than any one person
2) Get stuff done first, then screw around
3) You wear the daddy pants

Regarding 2):

It's a lot more fun for everyone to mess around when you're kicking *** and taking names than when you're getting the floor wiped with your sorry butts because people won't follow simple instructions.

?? Are you talking about stage 1 relics ? Seriously who care about that ?

Haha, no.. The relic armor. =) No one cares about Stage 1 relic weapons. XD

I think people use "AF2" nowadays for whatever reason. Technically your LV52 piece of NQ AF is called AF2. Not only does "relic" NOT sound stupid, it's what SE also calls Dynamis armor so there's absolutely no reason not to.

Haha, there is a lot of debate over it.. I normally just stick to Relic. =)
I'm not quite sure if your statement was trying to say I should switch it or not, so excuse the miscommunication. XD

Well you said right before

"-Are you going to sell currency or give it away for relics?"

So you use relics for weapons and armors :/ Tarutaru is confused o.o

Oh.. You are right.. That is a bit confusing huh. :P

Relic Weapons and then Relic Armor. =) I will edit it so it makes more sense, thank you for pointing that out. ^^

Thanks for the replies, been awesome reading over them.

It looks like I covered 99% of the bases.

I definitely don't have a problem kicking people who like to cause needless drama. I work on a pretty simple system, I'll let something you do slide once.. then you're out >.>

As for rules, I'd be thinking something like this:

2 points per full run, 1 point if you enter after 15min of the designated entry time, or leave 15min or more before the end time.

Lotting 100's would be allowed after 2 runs.
Lotting AF would be allowed after 4 runs.

Lotting would be something like:
City AF/Relic Armour: Job 70+ Cost: 2 points
Snow AF/Relic Armour: Job 73+ Cost: 5 points
100 Currency: 1 point. (1 per run)

Any AF/Relic designated "FREELOT" by a LS Officer will cost 2 points to lot, with no level requirement.

Armour that FREELY DROPS will result in no reduction in points.

You'd be able to designate 2 lots per run, a main and a sub.

As a main lot, you have full lotting rights along with anyone else who has that AF/Relic or 100 set as their main. As sublot, you only have the ability to lot if no-one else wants to lot it.

Sponsored Runs:

Players would be allowed to sponsor Dynamis runs once every month, assuming they have at least, 50% attendance. Anyone sponsoring a run will receive all singles that drop, and will be allowed to lot 100s if they are designated as a lotting priority (main or sublot).

---End >.>

There was a bunch of other stuff I thought of while I was typing this, but talking in LS and on MSN at same time, I forgot what it was XD

That's a general idea of what sort of thing I'd be looking at, obviously I'd make sure they were "perfect" before I made them 'official' XD

I refer to the AF1 set as the number of the quest tbh. From AF1-1 (weapon) to AF1-6 (Final Quest Fight). And I refer to the "Relic" Armor as AF2.
Then the "Relic" weapons as "Relics".

As for the leading a Dyna / Sky Shell...
It's really not all that hard. You mainly just need to think on your feet and be able to dictate/micro-manage.

For Dyna, people love to *** about others 'claiming' their zone. I'd suggest using FFXI-Dynamis.de for the calendar. It's a very, very nice setup and a breeze to use.
It sounds like you have some pretty good experience in Dyna, so you should be fine there. It really depends on your role in the run. I myself started off trying to do everything other than pulling in the run and out of it... And let me tell you... THAT's a lot of work. Once you get some good, loyal sacks you can start assigning tasks like saying who gets to lot what, pulling, main assist, etc.

As for the Dreamlands (Bubu/Quf/Valk) zones, excluding Tav, you really just need a good zerg setup like Xarcabard. Get 15 uber DD's with 3 Brd's and some healers in addition to a tank or two and a puller and you should be fine for them.

With sky... The hardest part imo is figuring out who's up there killing what and when an NM for a pop-item is going to repop and then getting your group or groups where they need to be. Killing the guards isn't all that hard and for Kirin, if you have a good zerg setup, he is amazingly weak.

Then, for both events you have to deal with whiners...
"This wasn't fair." "You should change this." "Why didn't you explain this rule to me better first?" "I didn't see that in the rules." "Why'd that person get the item over me?" etc. etc.
Just make sure you spell out your rules so simply that a 10-yr old can understand them and you shouldn't have "too" many problems. That way when someone has an issue you can tell them exactly where the rule is detailed out.

Hmmmm... I think that's all. >.>

I'm a stern believer in "Relic weapon" for the weapon and "Relic armor" for the armor. Then again, most people don't want to take an extra half second to type the word "weapon" or "armor".

Yes, 40 members.
People don't start doing "low-man" Dynamis.
In starting a Dynamis Shell, it is very difficult to pick and choose the jobs you want.
For that reason, most shells go entirely DD heavy, with some BLMs to nuke statues.
In the beginning 40 members will seem like not enough.
Mainly, because people WILL make a lot of mistakes and die.
Having 40 ensures you have maximum back-ups.
After all, it's not called "die-in-a-mess" without a reason...

~Yote

Especially when most people use u, r, y, etc. for full words and can't distinguish between contractions and possessive... YOUR =/= YOU'RE

SE calls it Relic Armor. Store your 5/5 set from dynamis with a NPC. It asks you if you would like to get either your AF armor(52-60) or your Relic Armor(71-75).

Anyway back on track. I wouldn't reccomend letting members lot on the 100's if you are wanting to do payouts @ the end of the month. The shell I am in currently lots all coins and all Wootz Ores. Normally we have very good payouts per month.

One last thing. You shouldn't need more than 30 memembers for dynamis and 24 Max for sky. It all depends on the level of skill the members you accept.

:Edit. Make sure if you are planing to do this to check the compitition of the other shells in the zones you want to do. One of the biggest problems in sky is that I see on my server is that leaders doesn't take the time to see how many other shells are running during the same times that he/she would like their shell to run. 6+ shells all starting @ the same time on the same days can really suck.

Or just make sure everyone uses the same calendar. >.> http://FFXI-Dynamis.de people! It's for all servers and sooooo easy!

To bad their isn't a Sky calender to see who is running on what days.

Another good thing about having everyone pay for a share of the Timeless Hourglass (10k or however much it may be) is that you end up getting a lot of money back if you get to lot the currency and money drops, which is like investing in your members, so they can get more gil to buy better gear.

I do however recommend you keep the 100s to fund other endgame events. Could use the profits from those to buy Sky triggers or something like that. You never know when the need might come up.

Calendar issue has been a problem on Odin for a while. Too many zone jackings occuring with people not using it.

I completely forgot about payouts XD

Personally, I didn't intend on payouts, would they add more incentive to come along over straight-up chances at 100s?

Great hearing about the different systems people use, etc.

Meh. I've never seen a need to have an LS bank for Dyna or fund other events with profits from Dyna. My LS does sponsored runs. All runs are free to enter except the 500k from the sponsor. The sponsor then gets to lot all big drops (100's/ores) up to 1.5 mil and all singles as well. After the 1.5 mil, all big drops become free-lot.

Edit:
Yeah, we have like 3 shells on Fairy that outright refuse to use the calendar and then *** and moan when they can't enter a zone because you scheduled it weeks ago and are already inside when they start to gather. But really... I find it funny b/c people talk about 'stealing' zones. SE put the 'you get kicked after 15 min of not fighting' feature so people couldn't steal them. And a zone is only 'yours' once you break the glass and enter. Until then, no one has any claim to it whether they scheduled it on a site that's used by many others or not.