Officers' Quarters: Prodigal raiders

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, available now from No Starch Press.

As Oscar Wilde once wrote, "I can resist everything except temptation." There will come a time when raiders in your guild are tempted to leave and join another group. Many things can prompt this desire: struggles in a new raiding tier, unhappiness over loot, personal issues with other raiders, scheduling conflicts, and so on. Losing raiders is part of the game, unfortunately. But what do you do, one guild leader asks, when they change their mind?

For the record, let me just say that I hate the Nefarian fight. My guild has had the normal mode on farm for months, and we still wipe to it all the time. It's a long fight, and all of the things that kill you happen well into it. Once you've got it figured out, it's not so much a test of gear or even skill as a test of your melee's ping, your raid's ability to jump over the strangely uncooperative pillar edges, and your kiter's ability to perceive the barely visible suggestion of fire that constitutes a raid-wiping hazard 8 minutes into the fight.

Anyway, my first recommendation would be to speak further with your two prodigal raiders about why they decided to pull their apps and come back. It sounds like one was unhappy with the amount of raiding your guild was doing, and I don't see how his problem has been solved unless you added more raids to the schedule.

What's really going on?

The real story could be that they were rejected by the other guild and came crawling back to yours. So, my second suggestion is to ask the guild leader of this other guild about what happened with their applications. Don't take your players' word for it. Guild leaders usually want to help each other out, so he or she is likely to be honest with you about it if you ask directly.

If it turns out they were rejected and they weren't honest with you about that, then they should no longer be welcome in your guild. I can't abide liars in online games. It's too easy to get away with it most of the time.

Is this the first time you've had trouble with them? If they've caused other problems, then maybe it's time to replace them. If this is the first time they've given you a headache, and if they've been honest, then they deserve one more chance.

A second and final chance

When players take that step to leave but then regret it and sincerely want to come back, they've learned something. They've realized what they like about your guild, and they've figured out that the grass isn't always greener. In these cases, they're actually more likely to stay than someone who has never tested the waters.

Before you let them off the hook completely, however, ask them what they plan to do in the future. Do they intend to stay for the rest of Cataclysm at this point, or are they still looking for other guilds to join? They may not be truthful with you, or they may simply change their minds later. Still, it doesn't hurt to have a conversation with them to gauge their intentions.

Of course, if they do this to you again, don't invite them back -- and make it clear ahead of time that you won't. You can't control what people do, but you can show them that there are consequences.

I don't recommend giving one of them the legendary staff just to bribe them to stay. That rarely works out well. However, if they truly do intend to stick around and you have no reason to doubt them, then treat them as you would any other raider until they prove you shouldn't. If it makes the most sense to help the caster build the staff, then do it. Just don't treat it as a reward. Treat it as a logical way to help the raid succeed.

/salute

Recently, Officers' Quarters has examined how strong new leadership can create a guild turnaround, the pitfalls of promising more than you can deliver, and lessons learned from Scott's own guild demise. Send your own guild-related questions and suggestions to scott@wowinsider.com.