Officers’ Quarters: Raiding rifts

In this week’s OQ, a raid team faces a rift between two factions, a guild member is unhappy about the lack of social interaction in a raiding guild, and a social raiding guild has new members who aren’t performing well.

The first thing you have to do is acknowledge this difference of opinion. Many times it’s a topic that is only addressed in whispers, with each side trying to erode the credibility of the other to the officers. The officers need to bring the discussion into the light.

Then the officers should talk among themselves and among their members and decide what kind of guild they want to be. Either way they go, not everyone is going to like it. You will probably lose members no matter what at this point. But you can’t let things continue as they have.

This situation usually occurs after long periods of recruiting without explicitly defining your guild’s raiding culture. Once you decide, you can recruit members who know that this is kind of guild you are. If they don’t fit that expectation, you shouldn’t bring them on board. That way, hopefully, you won’t reach this point again.

I also want to mention that if people are raiding only for personal gear upgrades, not for guild progression, then they’re not necessarily the kind of players you want on your roster.

The guild sounds like a bad fit for you, Astrosapien. They seem focused on raiding, and raiding doesn’t sound like your priority at all. I think you’ll be happier in a more social guild, and there are plenty of those out there looking for others who enjoy the social aspect of the game.

You should explain to your current guild why you are leaving, but don’t insult the raid leaders on your way out. Just say you’re looking for a more socially active community and that’s enough. Don’t burn any bridges when you don’t have to.

This is exactly the kind of situation that raiding guilds (even “casual progression” ones) should have a pre-existing policy on, so that you don’t have to invent a solution to it. When this happens, and you start making up rules, it makes the people it affects feel singled out. It’s too late for that at this point for your current batch, but your officers should spend some time thinking about what constitutes low enough performance to be removed from the raid on progression fights and whether they want to run that kind of guild.

Keep in mind that recruiting isn’t always easy for guilds like yours. You’re probably not going to bring in too many players who are already top-notch raiders. Turning the raiders you have into adequate ones is usually easier than finding raiders who don’t need any help. In your position, I would continue to help them. It may not be a matter of gear, talent, or even rotations. For some players, it’s just “hand mechanics.” Maybe they’re keyboard turning and that’s slowing down their reaction time. Maybe they just aren’t hitting spells fast enough, either because they just need to hit buttons faster or they’re clicking abilities instead of using keybinds. Maybe their game settings are too high for their machine and their game is running slow. Look for less obvious problems.

If they really are holding back your team, then sitting them for progression fights is an option, if your officers want to do that. In the long run, though, if you help them develop into solid raiders, they’ll be grateful to your guild for giving them the opportunity. They’ll be more likely to stick around when things get tough in the future. A great raider that you recruit is more likely to have “grass is greener” syndrome the moment the raid team faces a challenge.

/salute