Common Cataclysm Concerns: Guild Edition

 My guild has a problem coming up. Notably, it is a problem that all guilds are going to be facing in the near future. It is a severe issue, bound to spawn many more smaller issues, and I am here to tell you this:

It is going to be okay.

Despite the upcoming expansion’s name, Cataclysm is going to be a good time. Everyone is going to enjoy it in their own way. You can mostly count of the same names, the same faces, and the same general atmosphere. For the most part. There are going to be some notably differences though, and those are the things that we’re going to address. Personally, I’m an officer in my guild, so I’ll be approaching this from their perspective with a list of major issues that are coming up.

-“Why aren’t we raiding right now?”

I’m sure that you’ve noticed it happening. You normally have eleven or twelve for your 10-mans, or 28-29 for your 25-mans. Then, somewhere along the line, that dwindled. One night, you don’t have enough, and you grab someone’s alt, and do fine. Three weeks later, you look around at the five people on that night and, confused, call the raid. Why is this happening?

Well, first off, it’s nice out. People want to go and do things. A lot of your players likely just transitioned back to college. (They may have class, which they should have informed you of ahead of time, so you could make arrangements.) Alternatively, a lot of them just don’t feel like raiding, and so the reasons they had when you were pushing through wing bosses and the early heroics just seem more significant. I wouldn’t skip a night of progression on LK, but farming lower spire? Eh…I’ll pass. It happens. Notably, it happens more at the end of expansions. We’ve been in Icecrown Citadel for about 10 months now. That’s enough to grind on anyone’s patience.

The answer is just that. Realize that this is happening, be patient. Maybe cut down the number of raids you do per week. Or cut down on the farming. Set a goal for the raid – be it killing some boss, or getting your drake (or in my case, finally getting Heroic Lich King down. Wish us luck with that one!) Ultimately, you can’t *make* them play, so you have to work with what you have.

-“I’m switching to my [insert another class here] as my new main.”

This one is going to happen too. It’s just a fact. This guy’s been playing his mage all expansion, and just can’t stand how much more fun it is healing on his priest. With the expansion hitting, he decides to make the switch full time. This presents two problems – one now, and one later. Now, you need to worry about filling in the raid spot. Is the new toon equally geared? Is the new toon even the same role? Can he fit into your existing raid makeup? These are all good questions, and the answers to them will inform your decision.  It could be as easy as “Well, we had two mages, and no shadow priest. Your new toon is equally geared, because you’ve been diligently running it through weekend pugs and such. It fills the same role as the old toon. Come on in!” Or it could end with you no longer having a raid spot for the player. Most important to this is the following: Make sure they tell you. 

Our officer core planned months ago for this, and we’ll be formally announcing it soon. One month before Cataclysm hits (which, ideally, is 2 or 3 weeks after 4.0.1 drops), we would like to know anyone who is planning on full-time switching characters, and to what. This will let us start planning for recruitment, new assignments for various people (since we have a bunch of hybrids with dual-spec who can fill multiple roles) and make sure that the switchover is as simple as possible.

-“Why aren’t we raiding yet?”

My guild has two different 10man groups. Both of them are progressing in ICC Heroic. They’re completely autonomous, and we set it up so that no one group can poach members from another. Very simple, that’s not an alright thing to do.  However, the point is going to come when we have 10 people who are ready to raid, and they are not all going to be from the same group.

My last guild handled this poorly at Wrath. The first people to get to 80 started raiding Naxx. They got gear. Then, next week, when a bunch more people hit 80, they took the same 10, because they were more geared. In the end, a second 10 man group (with a lot of the less-dedicated players and all the DK’s) formed. We ended up with an A team, and a B team. The B team resented the A team, and eventually, we quit almost to the man, crippling the 25man efforts of the guild.

We’re doing it differently. Both groups are already established. We know who’s going to be on them (barring a whole mess of people quitting, which I’ll address in a little bit). When Cata hits, people in both groups are going to be racing for 85. I know my guild has quite a few planning on going for Realm First’s. Inevitably, they’ll be the first ones to hit, and they’ll start raiding and getting gear (likely with guildies). However, we’re setting a concrete date. On that date, official guild raids start.  We split into the teams we had pre-expansion and start going. If someone isn’t leveled by that date, they lose their reserved spot on the team, and we’ll try and recruit to fill it.

-“Why are we raiding this [10/25] man stuff? I want to do [the other one]!”

This is going to be a big one for everyone coming up. With the new changes to raid lockouts hitting sooner rather than later, every guild is going to be forced to come down on one side of the fence or another. Again, the key here is clarity. Just tell everyone what your raid is doing. If you want to be involved, you’re in. If you don’t, then you’re more than welcome to stay in guild (or not, depending on your group. Mine’s always willing to hold non-raiding members.)

Though, as an officer who basically reslies on the other 9/24 people to keep the raid going, you might want to do some informal polling. If everyone loves 25, and expects to keep doing 25’s, and you announce that <SupaAwesomeRaidTeam> is going to be 10’s from now on, expect anger.

-“So and so isn’t here/quit/wants us all to die/doesn’t want to raid!”

The problem of recruiting is a familiar one. However, we all luck out. With the expansion, one of the biggest barriers to recruitment is gone. First off, everyone’s level of commitment is at an all time low. New expansion and new content means plenty of people are going to be looking for homes. Moreover, some guilds will inevitably disband in the chaos, and leave a glut of highly skilled players on the market. There’s no need to worry about their level of gear, because hey, everyone’s replacing everything immediately.

Basically, don’t sweat it if you end up needing to recruit 6-10 people for your 25man. The only thing you need to worry about is their level of skill, and commitment to making your team run as best it can. With the difficulty level of heroics at an all time high, you’ll have an easy way to test out a new player.

In the end, a new expansion is a trying time for officers, and as a player, you need to understand that your officers are only human, but they're working their absolute hardest to make this system work. Please be kind to them. They want this whole guild thing to succeed even more than you do. Officers, understand that your members have voices too. They're people. They're not just names.

Personally, my guild has a well thought out plan for these issues, so I think Cataclysm is going to be an absolute blast!