Who owns my guild?

     The Lonely Pally posed the excellent question of who owns a guild in Blogazeroth and answered it very well. We all agree that in Cataclysm guilds are more of a team effort than they were in Wrath. It takes more than one person to level a guild, it takes more than one person to make a community of players striving for the same goal and yet one person can completely destroy a guild and render months of work by a group of people meaningless.

     Guilds are always, despite the words of anyone in them, dictatorships in WoW. Sometimes you can have benevolent ones, they are caring and get input from all members, making decisions as a group with no one person having more say so than another. Sometimes the Guild Leader rules with a more iron fist, telling people what they should do and how it should be done in every aspect of the game while expecting total loyalty to his or her in-game goals. Both kinds of leadership can be effective and move guilds to where they want to be but in both the GL has the option of disregarding the time and commitment you have put into the guild and /gkicking you to the curb. Guild charters and rules clearly state what is and is not acceptable in your particular guild but it is always enforced at the discretion of your officers and GL.

     Most guild leaders would not kick someone without a very good reason. They appreciate the time and work you put into the guild as much as you enjoy the perks and camaraderie you receive from it. Officers normally respect the members of their guild and no matter how a guild is run they are normally full of like-minded people. When things went badly in a guild in Wrath, people talked out the issues and if they couldn’t find a way to be happy most left the guild to find a better in-game home. I have seen things change for the worst in Cataclysm, people who have invested a lot into a high level guild do not feel that leaving is an option unless they go to a guild that is at the same level or higher than their previous guild . Sometimes the grind back to exalted can lead to people to stay even when they would rather move on.

     I believe that a guild is owned by the people who work to make it succeed but that the structure of guilds in-game undermines this principle. All members who are active and contribute to the goals of the guild ensure it will prosper. I am encouraged to believe that Blizzard changing the guild talent trees into a set path is their first step towards changing the guild dictatorships into a democracy. I hope that when paid guild transfers become a reality there is a voting system to make sure the guild wants to leave instead of leaving this decision up to one person. As much as we would all like to think we had an equal stake in our guilds, it is up to Blizzard to make sure that we have ways of making decisions that reflect the wishes of all guild members.

Joys of Recruiting in WoW

This is my latest exploit into the world of multimedia recruitment. I hope it will be both amusing and educate people on our guild.

What I want in WoW most of all

As the previous post stated, I have been playing RIFT. I  have found one feature I love more than any other, 4 specs. I think that more specs should be implemented in WoW. It is not game breaking, it is just convenient. 

My main is a priest and heals for guild runs since my healing specs are so different I keep Holy as primary and Disc as secondary. Every time I want to do PvP, I have to respec. Anytime I want to do DPS, I have to respec. After I respec, it will only be a day or two until I am needed as one of my PvE healing roles and guess what? I have to respec. I don’t think it would annoy me so much if I didn’t have to reconfigure my toolbars with every change. The price is a little annoying as well.

I understand Blizzard’s stance that too many specs would invalidate the purpose behind talent trees being decisions with weight. I do however believe that 1 more tree choice would be a great thing. I would still have to make tough decisions. I would still have to respec. A nice alternative would be to have an option to save different action bar specs. I can save DPS, Disc, Holy and PvP gear sets, why can’t I save action bars with that? It would be the same level of choice without the extra 15 minutes checking and double checking that I didn’t forgot an important part of my rotation.

Rift Guild

A couple of RL friends and I are starting to recruit for our guild on RIFT. We are looking for players who are driven to enjoy everything the game has to offer without whining about how WoW did it. We understand that they are similar but are two separate games. We plan on seeing end level content in a reasonable amount of time. We would like players who can take direction, improve their play, don’t stand in fire and know how to pull the right boss or people who are fun to play with. The last is most important.
We offer a fun and funny group of players in return. We are split between US and Canada locale wise. We will be on the Keenblade server and we are Defiant. Our guild rules will be the same as the Guild Rules post on here if you are interested. The website is here but it is currently under construction so keep your expectations low. You can comment here for more info if you want. I am pretty optimistic about this one filling up quickly because people love my recruitment messages for the most part and they are a great group of players.

When Good Guildies Go Bad – Shared Topic

It happens to everyone sometimes; the fight they can’t master as quickly, the one person they can’t get along with or they have a slump in performance. What can you do to help? I would vote for a quick shout of “Daasss Boooot!” followed by /gkick but that might not suit everyone so I will try to help you help them.

1. Ask them what the problem is. This might seem dumb but if you don’t ask them why they are cutting up you might never know.
2. When they start to answer, pretend you are paying attention to every word by actively listening. Active listening is when you rephrase what you were just told into a question. Example: Mary: “I hate Igigi, he is a jerk who always makes fun of me for having lower DPS than Himmler.” Me: “So you feel like Igigi is making fun of your performance fail? How do you think I should approach him to let him know that is not ok?”
3. Help them. If they need help with performance, review parse logs to see how the top rated players of their class give priority to their spells; go over their gear, talents, enchants, and gems but be polite when suggesting changes. Do not say , “Paladins don’t need spirit as prot, newb.” Do say,  “I noticed you made some unique choices with your gems, the majority of players go with stamina but I was curious why you chose what you did.” If they need help with other players in guild, you normally do better middle manning then letting them work it out together. Example of what I mean by middle manning, Me: “Igigi, I have noticed that you have been a little harsh on Mary’s performance lately. I think this is making a negative feedback loop and affecting the whole raid. I would really appreciate it if you worked this out with her in whispers or if you want y’all could jump on vent, if you want a third-party I would be willing to moderate.” When I said middle manning it, I meant introducing the subject not playing “He Said, She Said” with the involved subjects. If a moderator is requested make sure you do not have a bias against or for either player before agreeing to do it.
4. Follow through. Just because the problem looks resolved does not mean it is. Wait a week and go over how the changes are going for your guildie. If the problem was performance, ask the player how their numbers are now, if they enjoy their rotation and if they feel that they need anymore help. If it is a problem between players, talk to each of them separately and let them know that you are just checking up if they were ok with how things are now.

Disclaimer, this is what I do in my family and guild. It might not work for you or your guild. The preceding was meant as a general guideline, please adjust for the individual situation. It works best when you are an officier.

Topic originator