(WoW) Tightrope Walking
It's hard being a small "casual" guid with aspirations toward raiding. No matter size and focus, there's generally going to develop some amount of drama, but when you're small each little bit hurts more. And when the guild isn't built around a single goal, that's more opportunities for conflict.
It's been difficult of late to field a full group of 10, and we're usually on the edge of that. Oh, there have been some weeks when we had 14 or 15 present and willing to participate, but that's pretty rare.
Currently... We're down one regular raider and one non-raider due mostly to finances. That's understandable and probably a good sign of priorities, I don't fault them at all, I just miss them. There's no telling how long that'll last. We're down another pretty regular raider due to computer issues, and will be until it's replaced.
And we just lost one person who was a regular raider through the end of WotLK, but hadn't quite gotten into it during Cataclysm in a "rage quit" from the guild. Though, really, I feel like that's been building for a while, as they almost never have anything good to say about the game and didn't seem to have a good handle on what they wanted.
I tried to get a better feel for where people stood at our meeting a couple weeks back, but the answers to my question "who wants to raid?" were... half-hearted or misleading in many cases, it seems.
Not everyone thought about what that entails. Raiding the current tier of content is not easy. It requires awareness and responses some people find stressful. It require some degree of effort and commitment outside the raid, in gearing up and learning fights. Lacking these things means you're more likely to be the guy who stands in fire and dies, or who contributes the least to a fight. I feel that's something of a disservice to those with you.
But...
If you don't want to raid, that's fine. You might be invited, but you're not forced to go.
If you want to raid, but you don't want to put the energy into it... That's okay too, as long as you realize it makes you less than desireable on the roster. Part of a raid leader's job is to work toward success, and if there's a choice between two players, usually the one who performs better (due to being more invested) is going to get picked. If you don't want to try harder, this is a consequence you need to accept. If you get in, yay. If you don't, you should already know why and not go complaining and moping about it.
The sad part for the "rest of us" right now is that leaves us at nine people who can reliably show up Saturday night to raid. We could probably find a tenth from outside the guild, but... that doesn't appeal much to me, making it less of a group-of-friends experience (and creating possible bad feelings on loot distribution).
It's been difficult of late to field a full group of 10, and we're usually on the edge of that. Oh, there have been some weeks when we had 14 or 15 present and willing to participate, but that's pretty rare.
Currently... We're down one regular raider and one non-raider due mostly to finances. That's understandable and probably a good sign of priorities, I don't fault them at all, I just miss them. There's no telling how long that'll last. We're down another pretty regular raider due to computer issues, and will be until it's replaced.
And we just lost one person who was a regular raider through the end of WotLK, but hadn't quite gotten into it during Cataclysm in a "rage quit" from the guild. Though, really, I feel like that's been building for a while, as they almost never have anything good to say about the game and didn't seem to have a good handle on what they wanted.
I tried to get a better feel for where people stood at our meeting a couple weeks back, but the answers to my question "who wants to raid?" were... half-hearted or misleading in many cases, it seems.
Not everyone thought about what that entails. Raiding the current tier of content is not easy. It requires awareness and responses some people find stressful. It require some degree of effort and commitment outside the raid, in gearing up and learning fights. Lacking these things means you're more likely to be the guy who stands in fire and dies, or who contributes the least to a fight. I feel that's something of a disservice to those with you.
But...
If you don't want to raid, that's fine. You might be invited, but you're not forced to go.
If you want to raid, but you don't want to put the energy into it... That's okay too, as long as you realize it makes you less than desireable on the roster. Part of a raid leader's job is to work toward success, and if there's a choice between two players, usually the one who performs better (due to being more invested) is going to get picked. If you don't want to try harder, this is a consequence you need to accept. If you get in, yay. If you don't, you should already know why and not go complaining and moping about it.
The sad part for the "rest of us" right now is that leaves us at nine people who can reliably show up Saturday night to raid. We could probably find a tenth from outside the guild, but... that doesn't appeal much to me, making it less of a group-of-friends experience (and creating possible bad feelings on loot distribution).
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