Patch 4.3 PTR: Inactive guild leader replacement
Blizzard has announced a new guild feature that just went live on the patch 4.3 PTR that allows a guild to oust their inactive guild leader if he or she has been away for 30 days. The entire guild will be notified via the in-game guild notification news and events window that their leader is inactive, and members with high rankings will be able to request guild leadership. Transfer of the guild will happen instantaneously.
Active guild leaders have nothing to fear. This is not a system for deposing current leaders or voting out current guild masters. This system is in place to allow members of an active guild to wrest control of the guild's functions from an inactive leader, not perform democratic voting procedures. Many guilds are at the mercy of GMs to fix inactive problems, and this system frees up customer support for more important tasks.
The way inactive guild leader replacement works is pretty straightforward. If a guild leader's character is inactive for 30 days, a notification will appear in the Guild News & Events feed which can only be seen by guild members who are eligible to become the new guild leader. To determine eligibility, the game will look for the highest ranked character in the guild that's logged on in the past week, and any guild member from that rank will be able to request guild leadership simply by clicking on the notification.
As with many actions in World of Warcraft, clicking on the notification will open up a confirmation window which, once accepted, will transition leadership from the inactive guild leader to the first player to request leadership. If guild leadership is changed, the old guild leader will be notified via email to his or her registered Battle.net address. While some players may need to log out and back in before their Guild tab will visually update, the change in leadership will be immediate, with all ranks and permissions remaining in-tact.
Please note that if you're an active leader of a guild, this system should not affect you or your guild. The goal of inactive guild leader replacement is simply to allow guilds which have found themselves without leadership for a long period of time to resolve the situation on their own without the need to contact our In-Game Support department.
Inactive guild leader replacement is currently live on the PTR, but keep in mind that it may be difficult to test, as a guild leader will need to be inactive for a full 30 days before the option to transition leadership will become available.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
