Math Makes my Head Hurt

A lot of people seem to be under some confusion about how exactly the guild patron system works so I did a spreadsheet for it. The first 9 rows are just a calculation of the guild status gained per writ, depending on how many patrons you have. I just plugged in 4,000 status per writ as an example.

If you want you can sign up for this site and then copy my spreadsheet and plug in your own numbers. It's free and I didn't see any ads. But, if you have a spreadsheet program, it might be simpler to just make your own. Just do the following:

For less than 12 patrons divide column B (status points) by 12.

For more than 12 divide column B by column A (number of patrons).

The result will be the status points added to your guild level for each writ (or heritage) you complete. Of course, you have to input the correct number of status points per writ. That way you can see, for example, how many writs you need to run each week to gain a certain amount of guild status points.

Now, let's get a little more complicated. Here's a common problem: Let's say you have a patron named Bob who quit EQII. Bob went to play Guild Wars, to go find himself in Bora Bora or whatever. But his status points are still there. On the other hand, you are carrying the weight of an extra patron, which reduces the status gained for each writ you complete.

So, what do you do? Cut Bob loose and lose the status or keep plugging away with less status per writ? Well, one solution would be to see how many status points you are away from Guild Level 30. Then you can do a calculation similar to the one I did in rows 11 to 16.

In my example, the absent patron was the 13th patron and had 50,000 status points. So, what I did was divide the remaining status points by the status received per writ with 13 patrons. That will give you the number of writs needed to get to 30. But what if you want to cut him? Well, then you first need to add the absent patron's status to the total status needed and divide by the status per writ with 12 patrons. You can see in my example that if you are 300,000 status points away it makes sense to keep him. If you are 700,000 status points away then cut him loose.

If I'm incorrect in my calculations please let me know - I'm really not that good at math.

I think the patron system does the job adequately but I also find it can be a fuse for a guild drama bomb. There are at least three possibilities for trouble: One, other patrons who get annoyed at an underperforming patron; Two, a patron who is sick of doing writs and gets frustrated; Three, people who feel left out because they are not patrons and want to contribute to the guild. It's a delicate situation for any guild leader.

On another topic, even if you read my Haiku humor post on Friday, there are now some reader contributions up so scroll on down!