Officers’ Quarters: A disabled raider and cross-realm recruiting

This week in OQ: a raider asks about revealing their disability to future guilds, a guildless player wonders if other guilds have broken up the same way theirs did, and an officer wants to know if visiting other realms is a good recruiting strategy.

First up, let me just say that it’s not really the guild’s business. Your performance is your performance regardless of circumstances, and either it’s good enough for them or it’s not. They don’t have to know why.

That said, I don’t see any big advantages to withholding the information, as long as you’re comfortable telling them your personal business. If a guild is going to hold it against you, you probably don’t want to join that guild. You won’t know if they will or not until you tell them.

Keep in mind that there are different levels here also. If you post it in the application, then the entire guild will know about it. You could choose to tell only the officers first instead, and see how they react. Their opinions are the ones that matter most in terms of joining the guild, anyway. If you’re going to tell them, you should do so as you apply to the guild.

After joining, you can see how comfortable you feel with the rest of the guild before telling everyone. If it seems like a bad fit after a few weeks, you can walk away without worrying about the revelation. If it’s a good fit, you can tell people if you want to.

I think it was common during the early years of WoW. Many guilds were founded without much of a plan, just a group of friends who wanted a chat channel and more people to group with. As those friends got better at the game, they started looking for others of similar ability in order to increase the guild’s chances at success in group content. This often led to fracturing, where one faction wanted to become more serious and one faction wanted the guild to stay the same. The faction that wanted to get more serious usually either won out or left the guild.

Many of the players who were brought in when these guilds got more serious didn’t have the same investment in the guild as the original founders. If progression or competitive PVP started to slip, then they looked elsewhere. Thus, the guild was reduced to that original group of friends. At that point, they either have to rebuild or disband.

It’s very common, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it. If you resub, you can find a new home with as many of your old friends as you can. The fresh start will do all of you good.

To avoid this roller coaster, guilds should be created with a specific purpose and a specific set of policies that guide the leadership and members in fulfilling that purpose. Guilds founded later in WoW‘s life were more likely to begin this way. They avoided some of this drama. That doesn’t mean they succeeded, but they positioned themselves better for long-term success.

In WoW today, officers (and everyone in a guild) should do everything they can to recruit the players they need. I don’t endorse poaching, but it’s fair game to play on other realms and advertise/network with the players there. Limited your recruiting efforts to your own realm alone is often a losing strategy.

Granted, playing or even just chatting up players on other realms is a pretty big timesink with only a small chance of success, so your recruiting time may be better spent elsewhere. There are more effective ways to spread the word about your guild to all realms, instead of visiting one at a time. If you already have connections on other realms with friends or former guildmates who have transferred, that’s a solid reason to visit. You could also ask your guild members if anyone has friends on other realms, and start there.

Keep in mind that if you’re not raiding mythic, players can still raid with your guild without transferring. Transferring costs real money, so you’ll have to prove that it’s worth it for them.

Recruiting is a crucial topic, and I keep getting questions about it. Look for an upcoming OQ focused entirely on recruiting!

/salute