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Officers' Quarters: Brainstorming future perks
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. A few weeks from now, BlizzCon will reveal all about the next WoW expansion and the evolution of the game. Guild perks aren't really at the top of anyone's list of BlizzCon announcements, but they are nonetheless a big feature of guilds now. On that front, Mists took away more than it gave us. I'm hopeful that patch 6.0 will be more generous. Here are some much-needed perks that Blizzard could provide. Bait and Switch: While fishing, you have a 30% chance to catch extra fish. Fishing has received lots of support in Mists, but the act of fishing is still deadly dull. Apologies to the last two people who enjoy it, but it is -- by a long shot -- the one thing in WoW I can't bring myself to do. The profession desperately needs an overhaul. Blizzard mentioned back in 2009 that such an overhaul was in the works, but it has yet to see the light of day. Given that fish are often ingredients in feasts, noodle carts, etc., they are a commodity that guilds need. They are also the commodity that most guild members don't want to farm. A bonus to cut down on the time it takes to farm said fish would be very welcome.
The Guild Counsel: Speed up those slogging raids
If you ask guild members for their number one reason why they avoid making the leap from casual to a more focused, hardcore progression path, the answer would be time. Progress means raiding multiple nights for several hours, and that's time that many either don't have or aren't willing to give up. Ironically, one of the things that separates good raiding guilds from everyone else is their use of time. Cutting-edge gear and high DPS parses are fine, but even average guilds can progress quickly by making the best use of their time during the raid. And in addition, slow, monotonous raids suddenly feel vibrant and fun. Let's take a look at how to speed things up in this week's Guild Counsel.
Officers' Quarters: A sleepy guild leader
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Scheduling raids at a time that's convenient for everyone on your team is one of the toughest parts of raiding. No matter whether you're flexing or taking down Heroic Garrosh, it's an obstacle that every raiding guild has to overcome. But what can you do as the guild leader when you can no longer attend your own guild's raids? Hello Scott, I don't know if you've heard THIS one yet! Short and sweet. Normally, when players and raid times don't fit, the players just go find another guild with raid times that do fit. No hard feelings and I wish them luck. But, what is a Guild Leader of a dedicated raiding guild to do when the raid times no longer fit my schedule?
The Guild Counsel: Why won't they listen to me?
One of the most common reasons for guild leaders walking][ away in frustration is because members won't listen to what they're saying. It can be extremely irritating, because you're overseeing dozens if not hundreds of players, and it can feel like herding cats to get everyone to behave and work together. So why won't members listen to the guild leader? And what can the leader do to get members to "respect his authoritah?" Let's take a look in this week's Guild Counsel.
Officers' Quarters: Divided loyalties
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. When guilds shatter, everyone involved has tough decisions to make. This week, a raider is forced to choose between the raid team he loves and the friend who invited him to the guild. Just a few months ago, I decided to transfer my secondary character to alliance on my server, because the only friend I have left who plays had an active guild. I was hesitant to play alliance, but it has been working out fairly well so far. I originally wanted to join her raid team, but they couldn't fit me in. But I was approached by the leader of team two to join their team. I gladly accepted, and we dove headfirst into ToT. Well, last Friday, after we cleared four bosses in SoO, I had to run to bed. After I left, they made the choice to leave the guild. Every single one of them. Now, I don't know the details, save for there had been plenty of behind the scenes drama.
The Guild Counsel: You screwed up, now what?
When you're a guild leader, it can often feel like you're under the spotlight, and everything you do gets scrutinized by the guild. The leader is looked upon as the one to carve out a path, set goals, and figure out a way to get the guild to reach them. Every day, a guild leader has to make dozens of decisions, whether it's deciding who to invite, determining loot allocation, scheduling guild events, or making command decisions during a battle. No one is perfect, and it can be very hard to admit mistakes. If you're trying to build the trust of the guild, it might feel as if admitting a mistake will undermine your efforts or that the guild will lose faith in your leadership. So what should you do if you make the wrong call? Let's take a look in this week's Guild Counsel.
Officers' Quarters: No leader = no raid?
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. When your raid leader is absent, does your guild cancel the entire raid? This week, an officer is in a guild that does just that. Hi Scott, I've read a lot of your columns and I'm curious if you could offer some advise on how to suggest changes to a GM. Ok, I'm an officer in a guild that is focused on "casual progression" (if such a thing exists). We have regular raid times and dates that the whole guild is aware of, and use the calendar to build our raid groups. For some background, our GM is also our primary raid leader. When he is unavailable to raid, due to work or life, we typically don't raid. We have two tiers of guild officers, one to focus on class knowledge and guild activities, and the other who are raid leaders. The raid leader tier is short in number because some guild members don't want to lead raids and others because our GM doesn't feel they would be a good raid leader.
The Guild Counsel: Running an MMO guild on an empty server
Guilds and MMOs have a surprising number of things in common. They both want the game to succeed, they both want lots of players to be in game playing, they want people to be happy and having fun, and they both constantly struggle with attrition. That last one has been a particular problem for practically every MMO that's launched because after the first few months, populations begin to drop, sometimes dramatically. For MMOs that have multiple servers, this means some servers will begin to feel empty, and that can take a toll on the guilds that play there. When you're running a guild in a graveyard, it's harder to recruit, more difficult to find others to group and raid with, and harder to keep morale up. But is moving the guild really the best answer? Let's explore your options in this week's Guild Counsel.
Officers' Quarters: A sudden tyrant
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. People change. Their opinions and tastes evolve. Sometimes a guild that was right for you in the past is no longer what you want. That's all well and good, unless this person is the guild leader, and they are bringing the whole guild along for the ride. Hi Scott, I am writing because I really need your advice. I am at a point in my guild where I may have to leave and I do not want to. I have been in a guild for over a year and am now the co-gl. We recently server transferred from a low pop server to a high pop server. We have always been a casual 10 man/ social guild. We did pretty well during DS, but due to some ppl leaving the guild/ raid team we had to stop at the beginning of MOP. We could not recruit on the old server and transferred... And this is when the trouble started.
The Guild Counsel: How to make PUG raids work
There's one thing every guild leader dreads: It's raid night and your guild is short on numbers. You could call it a night and postpone it, but that will mean a dip in morale and an increase in frustration within the guild. Too many postponed raids will eventually lead to an empty roster as people move on to other guilds. An alternative is to PUG it and advertise for more guests in general chat. The upside is that you'll be able to do the raid, but inviting in the unknown can bring plenty of new problems. Like the misfit toys above, there are plenty of players who have their own set of flaws and can make even the best-planned raids a true test of patience. Can a PUG raid work, or is it a recipe for disaster? Let's consider that question in this week's Guild Counsel.
Officers' Quarters: When to give up
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Guilds are like a living body. A little blood loss now and then is alright, as long as you can replace it. But if you bleed members for too long, the wounds don't heal, the bleeding never stops, and eventually the body goes on life support. So it is with the unfortunate guild in this week's email: Hi Scott Firstly I'd like to thank you for your advise in Officers Quarters and your book. The Guild Leaders Handbook was invaluable when I was made GM. A bit of background of me and our guild. I joined this guild a few years ago as it suited my play style. We were only Raiding once or twice a week and getting through content nicely for a guild who's aim was just to see content. Over the years I made friendships with people in the guild and it's a great atmosphere to be in. I was made an officer and at this stage we had just enough active members to do 10mans once or twice a week. Some weeks we would have to pug 1 or 2 people. This is when we started to lose people. With a guild that has been around for 5 years this month is was to be expected that people would leave the game for various reasons. So I recruited more members to fill the gaps and a few more left the game. At this stage raids again were pug'd to fill the gaps. Newer members were leaving to other guild's due to not having a full raid team every week and more long term members left the game including the guild leader who passed the leadership to me.
The Guild Counsel: Building a roster from the ground up
When you're running a guild, it's essential to choose wisely when you're filling out your roster. Longtime guilds are successful at weathering the ups and downs of guild life because they've put together a team of like-minded people and have established a guild culture that suits everyone well. But it's hard to build a guild from the ground up, and it's no surprise that most new guilds don't last very long at all. Guild leaders need to grow their roster quickly because if there isn't enough manpower to take on guild goals, the few who have agreed to join will have second thoughts and end up leaving. How do you recruit quickly but avoid building a guild that's primed for drama? Let's take a look in this week's Guild Counsel.
Officers' Quarters: A runaway success
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Many guilds struggle to find recruits. The guild in the email below is not one of them. In fact, if you're looking for someone to blame about your recruiting difficulties, you might want to look at these guys. With seven raid teams and chapters across multiple games, this guild leader's problem isn't too few players, but too many. Dear Scott! I am longtime WoW-player (since patch 2.4) and reader of WoW Insider. This site is my favorite place to read news and articles about a game. Most important is that audience of readers is quite nice and constructive. It is always nice to read. This is one of the reason, why I ask for advice here. Currently I am leader of WoW-wing in middle size MMO-community, there are 250+ members. Half of our members play Guild Wars 2, another half plays WoW. Now we experience some growth problem... Initially it was planned to create PvE-oriented guild with at two raid teams at the best. We were recruiting mostly via our blogs. First raid team managed to clear MSV in three weeks in February and started to progress further. More progress, more people came to us. We were not hardcore or even semi hardcore raiders. We raid two nights a week, six hours in total. It is quite casual from my point of view, but seemed like we attracted an attention. Number of members started to increase pretty fast. Before the end of the April we had four raid teams and plenty of socials, who did want to raid, but anyway had a good time in game.
The Guild Counsel: What's the worth of a website?
On the "to-do" checklist of practically every guild leader is setting up and maintaining a guild website. It's a central hub that serves as a source of news, a resource base, and a virtual locker room where members can bond with one another. But websites come with their fair share of drama and potential problems, and game changes through the years have put into question whether guild sites are still relevant. Have guilds outgrown guild sites? Let's look at whether they're worth it in this week's Guild Counsel.
Officers' Quarters: Loot system for mounts
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. One situation that officers and raid leaders are frequently unprepared for is a rare mount dropping from a boss. Many times, players aren't even aware that specific bosses drop mounts, because they drop so rarely. Without a specific policy in place, you have to make one up on the spot -- which is not a great idea. One guild just ran into this problem, and they want to know the best system for mounts. Hi Scott, Last night the officers of our 25-man raid group encountered a bit of a dilemma. Heroic Ji-Kun dropped the Clutch of Ji-Kun mount and we, the officers, had to decide how to deal with it. We use the EPGP lootmaster system, but didn't have any rules in place for how our raiders should roll on the mount. After a brief discussion we decided that we would just put a free roll for all players of Raider status and it would go to the highest roller. Other officers began to bring up valid points for the future, the next time a rare mount drops. What sort of requirements should we put on who is allowed to roll on mounts the next time one drops from a boss? Most of the other officers are saying "Raider" status, at least 1 month with the guild, and 90% attendance should be required before we roll. I felt the attendance clause was a bit strict, because it's not a combat item and it doesn't enhance the raid's performance in any way. The others feel that we should be rewarding people for having good attendance, which I feel is a valid point.
The Guild Counsel: It's time to meet your fellow guildmates
While game conventions are usually focused on video games, panels, and really cool fan-made costumes, one of the best parts of going to a con is meeting up with fellow players. And for guilds, an opportunity to finally put face to names is a major moment. While players might shy away from guild meet-and-greets, it's actually a terrific opportunity to strengthen ties and cut down on the potential for drama in the long run. More importantly, it's an important step toward making gaming seem less "weird" and more like any other "normal" group activity or shared interest. In today's Guild Counsel, let's take a look at why guild members should come out from behind the computer screen and attend a guild meet-and-greet.
Officers' Quarters: Revisiting my Mists wish list
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. In January 2012, I wrote up a wish list of improvements to the guild experience that I wanted in Mists of Pandaria. We're at the point now in the expansion's life cycle where all major features have been revealed. The next big additions to WoW will come in patch 6.0. So let's look back at what we got in Mists and what we're still waiting for. Wish 1: Treat legendary items as guild rewards, not player rewards. Status: Granted, in a way In my original list, I wrote about the drama that legendaries created in guilds and wished for a way to reduce that drama. I suggested that a legendary item should be bound to the guild that helped a player to earn it, rather than the player. Instead, Blizzard took legendaries in a direction that no one expected: they created a quest line that anyone could complete. In doing so, they took away the drama factor. They released officers from the burden of deciding who would receive a legendary and who wouldn't. For most guilds, this has been a welcome change.
The Guild Counsel: Filling gaps when guild members leave
Imagine a scenario where a baseball team is heading into a do-or-die game, and as the coach is making up his lineup, he hears that his best hitter decided to take a break and take up knitting. Or a business manager who is scheduling a crucial demo of his new product with investors, only to find out that his star performer just took a job with a rival company. The result would be nothing short of catastrophic. Just about every guild leader who's been around for any length of time has had to deal with sudden and unexpected gaps in the roster, and it usually comes at the worst time for the guild. While it can cause no end of stress for the leadership and become a potential guild breaker, it's actually a natural part of the game and of guild management. Let's take a look at the issue of filling gaps in this week's Guild Counsel.
Officers' Quarters: Last man standing
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Guild leadership is a tenuous social construct. It's all volunteer. It's based purely on someone's commitment to a community of people, most of whom they have never actually "met." It's based on their continued enjoyment of a single game, over months and years. When you look at it that way, it's amazing how stable and long-lasting some guilds can be, thanks to dedicated and enthusiastic leaders. This week's email, unfortunately, is about a guild in a different situation. It's from an officer who, after a series of mishaps and disappearances, is the last leader left. Hi Scott, First off, let me say that I'm a huge fan of your column, it's helped me out a lot in the past. I'm currently one of 3 officers in a midsize guild. My guild has recently been hit by a perfect storm of bad events over the summer. The guild's raid team has seen moderate success since the end of Cataclysm, enough to keep 8 people interested in raiding. However, we haven't been able to fill a raid team since Mists of Pandaria launched. I'm the PvP officer for the guild, but our Guild Master put a horrible new rule in place (disallowing any kind of guild events on Raid Nights) in January that send our entire PvP team off to another guild. Ever since then I haven't been able to recruit and gear enough people to make a full team. All of the issues started at the beginning of June, when our Guild Master started logging on less and less. He'd only log on for raids, but after a few weeks, he stopped logging on at all. In addition to that, one of our 3 officers stopped logging into WoW completely in mid-June. My colleague and I just kept trying to drive up guild activity with events, gearing nights, and raids, just trying to keep the raid team afloat.
The Guild Counsel: EQ Next, guilds, and you
Once again, SOE Live has come to a close, but with all the news about EverQuest Next, there are several questions left unanswered, particularly when it comes to the social side of gameplay. Each week here, we look at questions related to guild leadership, but over the years, the design process of MMOs has had as much a role as anything in how guild leaders make management decisions. It's been less than a week since we first saw the EQ Next reveal, and there are already many guilds mobilizing and preparing for their first adventures together in game. So let's look at a few of the questions related to guilds and the social side of EverQuest Next in this week's Guild Counsel.
