Officers’ Quarters: WTB raid leader

What should a guild do when no one wants to be an officer? This week on Officers’ Quarters, a concerned guild member wants to know how to recruit a player to take on an officer role, or even as a raid leader.

Let’s stop at “untested officer recruit.” This is a bad idea. I’ll list the reasons why:

• A new recruit doesn’t know the guild, its culture or history, or how its members relate to one another. This lack of knowledge and familiarity, combined with a leadership position, could lead to huge blunders, misunderstandings, and/or drama that drive away the few raiders you have left.
• A new recruit doesn’t have any investment in the guild or its long-term future. He or she has almost nothing to lose while your guildmates have 10 years at stake. It’s a big risk to hand someone like that the keys to the car.
• Even if your guildmates welcome this person, his or her authority won’t hold much weight simply because of their newness. Authority can’t be given, only earned.
• Finding a player who’s willing to step into a leadership role immediately upon joining a guild — especially a raid leadership role — is incredibly rare. If you do find such a player, there’s a high chance that he or she is a straight-up scammer, looking to make a quick score. Offering incentives like WoW Tokens or guaranteed loot, as some suggested, is only going to increase the likelihood of getting scammed. I don’t recommend doing that. The right person wants to do it because they enjoy doing it, not because of the sweet perks.

Be sure to vet this player thoroughly before you promote them. Don’t just talk to the person you’re recruiting — talk to other players who can vouch for them. Verify everything they tell you that you can possibly (and legally) verify. Let them remain as a regular member for a few weeks as they get acclimated. Don’t fast-track them too fast.

Here’s a better solution in my opinion: Everyone is now an officer. You only have about a dozen people. Maybe if you have a few new people, they’re your regular members. But the veterans all need to step up in this situation. Even if none of them has much time, if they can all combine to do the work of one or two officers, you’re ahead of the game without waiting for an unknown outsider to swoop in and save the guild.

When it comes to raids, I would suggest a more democratic approach. It doesn’t work in large groups, but for 10-12 players who have been raiding together for a long time, it’s entirely possible. My guild did it for 10-player Heroic raids throughout Mists of Pandaria. When there’s trust and respect within the group, you can all contribute to formulating the best strategy and you can all push one another to excel. You can take a vote on big decisions like which boss to tackle next, when to attempt a higher difficulty, and so on. One person still has to do the grunt work of assigning groups for bosses like Kilrogg, etc. It won’t come with all the other baggage of raid leading, though, so it’s likely someone won’t mind handling the logistical strategy stuff.

Such an approach would be disastrous for a 20-player Mythic raid, but for an intimate group I know for a fact that it can work. No one has to be the cat herder if you all share responsibility for the herd.

Poster1234 suggested a guild merger, and it’s something to seriously consider. If your vets can’t or won’t lead, that may be your best option. You’ll get to stay together this way, and you’ll make some new friends also. In this case, it’s far more likely that your guild would be the one to be “absorbed.” You can still keep the tag on an alt, so it’s not gone forever. However, it’s a drastic step and there’s no putting that murloc back in the ocean once you take it. Your guild leader must make sure that the vast majority of your guildmates are on board with this plan before you all go for it.

Whatever you decide, I hope you guys find a solution!

/salute