Officers' Quarters: Friends or content

Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes

Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

It's the constant dilemma of the casual guild member. You love the people in the guild, but you know you're going to miss all or most of the raiding experience. It's a particularly poignant decision when you're an officer in a casual guild. That's what one reader is facing this week.

Hi, Scott.

I have been in a wonderful casual guild for almost a year now. And have been promoted to an officer. I love all of officers/people in my guild and generally have a good time with them and try to organize casual events and things to do. We have been attempting Kara recently, but I don't think we will progress past the 2nd boss before Wrath comes out; however, we are not a raiding guild by any means and I can't really stress that enough.

Over the last few months I have started to out-gear a lot of people in the guild and have been considering moving just my 70 to a guild that only raids on weekends so I have a chance to explore some new content before it becomes obsolete. Recently I filled a gap in a Kara guild and after the run was asked to join. This guild would only really need me for weekend Kara runs and maybe Mags.

Is it fair for one of my alts (which I am trying to level for Wrath) to take over my officer position in my guild and only use my current 70 for raiding in the new guild, and to help out when needed?

My current GM seemed a little upset about the notion making it sound like I'm abandoning the guild and using them to gear up and leave (although I geared mostly from pugs) because they just started Kara (I was the one organizing it). However, I have every intention of helping out the guild with Kara anyway I can even though my only 70 is not in that guild anymore.

I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment. I don't know if what I'm asking from the other guild leaders sounds reasonable or if I'm just being silly. I don't want to press to many buttons as I have every intention of leveling with this guild when the expansion comes out.

Thanks for your time,

[Anonymous]

You're not the only one who's had to make this decision. It's a frequent issue that many, many Warcraft players have faced over the years. After all, most players start in casual guilds.

When you don't know what you're missing, it's easy to sit back and say, "I love my guildmates and I'm not going anywhere." But now you've had a taste of what successful raiding is like. You've seen something of what WoW's raids have to offer, and you want to see more.

I think you did the right thing by speaking to your guild leader before you made the decision. While I don't blame your guild leader for being upset, he or she should still appreciate your honesty and openness.

You have to look at the situation from your GL's point of view, though. You are probably one of the guild's better players, and certainly one of the more motivated officers if you're putting the raids together. Now, while you guys have just gotten your Kara runs off the ground, the man behind it is talking about leaving.

I know your intentions are good, but there really isn't much you can do to help out with Kara runs if your raid ID belongs to another guild. And offering your non-70 alt as an officer in your guild is a bit of an insult.

The bottom line is this: You need to decide what you value more, your guild or your gaming experience. Right now, with only six weeks till Wrath, I'd stay stick it out till 80. Try to get people motivated to succeed in Kara. There's no reason you guys can't beat Moroes and a number of other bosses in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, you could possibly attend the raids that the other guild runs that your guild doesn't run, like Magtheridon.

Eventually, however, you're going to face this decision again. There's no achievement for sticking with a guild even though you can't even get a five-player dungeon going.

But before you get there, if you like your guild as much as you say, why not try to get ten people to commit to casual raiding in Wrath? Ten people is a lot more manageable than 25, and that's all it takes to see all the content the expansion has to offer (eventually).

Use some early victories in Kara now to build momentum for hitting Naxx at 80. You may not be the only one who wants more raiding once you get a taste for it!

/salute

Send Scott your guild-related questions, conundrums, ideas, and suggestions at scott.andrews@weblogsinc.com. You may find your question the subject of next week's Officers' Quarters! For more WoW Insider gameplay columns, click here.