Let me float an idea past you.
This biggest problem that Fortune Favors faces at the moment is (in my opinion, at least…) our inability to keep level 80 characters in the guild.
Players will level up to 80, do some heroics, and then want to start running raids on a regular basis. Unfortunately, we’re a casual guild (and will remain so or else the GM will not meet the membership requirements). That in itself doesn’t prevent us from running raids, but as 80s start looking for more than we can provide at the moment they move off to find a raiding guild.
I understand this, but at the same time I’m not the first person to mention that if all the players who hit 80 and left had not left, we’d have plenty of interested raiders. Granted, that means they would have had to be patient for the people who weren’t 80 yet, so I’ll repeat myself again and say I understand.
But what if we had a raiding guild? One where the atmosphere of it was similar to that of the guild they’d stuck in until level 79?
Look at it this way – Cub Scout Packs are usually affiliated with a Boy Scout Troop. When the boys graduate out of Cub Scouts, they already know what Troop they’re going to. Their friends from before will still be there, and in many cases the leadership stays the same as well.
That’s the kind of situation I’m thinking of. Fortune Favors is not going to be able to keep 80s who want to raid because the 80s who want to raid all leave. It’s a catch 22 that many casual guilds lament and cannot fix without turning themselves into raiding guilds or walking the very fine line between stepping up recruitment and ending up on everyone’s /ignore list because a recruitment message got spammed way too often. It upsets me, but it would upset me less if I knew they were at least (for the most part) all heading into the same guild rather than scattering to the winds.
There are benefits and drawbacks to this. For my convenience as well as yours, I’m listing them below.
- DRAWBACK: Fortune Favors still won’t be holding on to 80s. It won’t solve our problem, it will just let us know those who leave are welcome in a good guild when they choose to go.
- BENEFIT: Players who hit 80 and want to raid would have, at the very least, a first guild to try out. They would know other 80s in the guild and perhaps (again, this is in the hypothetical stage) even some of the officer corps in both guilds would be the same people.
I have seen some 80s leave Fortune Favors and then guild hop because they didn’t feel they fit in with any of the raiding guilds they tried. I’d like to think their time with us got them used to a certain standard, but whatever the cause guild hopping should be avoided if possible.
- DRAWBACK: I can’t GM two guilds. It may sound egotistical to list this as a drawback, but I do so only because that means there would be fundamental differences between Fortune Favors and it’s affiliated raiding guild. My hope would be that with enough members in common the similarities would outweigh the differences, but anyone expecting a carbon copy guild would be wrong.
Ideally the raiding guild would be GMed by one of our Officers (since they became officers because they showed leadership qualities), but this plan is still in the “Tell me what you think” stage. We could very well just end up affiliated with an established raiding guild run by someone else instead.
- BENEFIT: The raiding guild would have a guild from which they could always find new members. They wouldn’t be limited to Fortune Favors for recruitment, of course, but it’s as nice for a guild to know where to go to find players willing to join as it is for players to find a guild willing to take them in.
I’m sure there’s more, which is why I’m throwing this out there to the guild. What do you think?
by Nia, on November 11 2009 @ 7:49 am
Good Post Splat. I know i left to see more end game and that I have. Not only have I seen many things, but my toon has grown in sense with that experience. I have even begun dabbling in the pvp arena and yes even joined a 2×2 team. I too think it is sad that our 80′s who left have scattered to the wind. The raiding guild sounds like a decent idea and perhaps even some arena teams would spawn from there. the only problem I see even with casual raiding guilds is people being on at the same time. Not to mention finding a knowledgeable raid leader. Someone who will be fair, and try to keep it “clean” so to speak. You get quite a mix of people. Raiding guilds require plenty of recruiting and the population changes constantly. It’s is a lot of work and I would be more than happy to have another branch of FF. It is a great guild! I will definitely give it great consideration.