The guild broke up... amicably?
by Matthew Rossi 
Sep 10th 2007 at 2:40PM
Tipster Ryan Carter tells us that his former guild, and the Action News Team, is doing the unthinkable and breaking up without calling each other names, trying to steal each other's loot before quitting the game forever, or the other delightful consequences of guilds being dismantled. A post on the main page of their website containing a screenshot of the GM's decision seems also remarkably free of the bile, rancour or disdain I've come to expect from guild breakups. Our tipster tells us that some folks want to move on to raiding while others have joined a new guild he and his wife have started, and the GM post does seem to corroborate that it's just a case of folks wanting different things out of the guild.Part of me wonders if this can possibly be on the level: surely there's some weird drama going on with all guilds, yes? My first guild, way back in my old alliance days (this is when Maraudon and Dire Maul were new, let me put it that way) exploded in an orgy of recrimination when our first player to 60 wanted to go raid and left to do so. I later followed that player to a raid guild before a combination of real life and burn out led me to leave for the Horde, and my current guild raids but casually... so I've seen a few different guild management styles by now, and usually there seems to be more of a 'seething-cauldron-of-petty-emotion' burbling under the surface when a guild busts up. But in this case, I hope it is true and they're all riding off into their own individual sunsets. Vaya con dios, and the Action News Team, vaya con dios.
How about you, gentle readers? Have you any tales of painless guild disbands to share?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Social Conventions, Guilds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Geren Sep 10th 2007 2:48PM
My guild that I just left (and was GM of) disbanded nicely. We simply had a split of people who were casual, and people who wanted to be more hardcore. So we have split up and are moving in our seperate directions.
Merus Sep 10th 2007 3:00PM
All the time, it's nowhere near odd. It's just that there's so many immature jerks in WoW that have to ruin it for everyone else.
Ryan Carter Sep 10th 2007 6:41PM
Yup, it is true. I am (or was) a guild officer in ANT. A few ppl weren't happy about the split but most of us are okay with it and know that our 70's have been wanting to move on for some time. We were one of the largest (and well-respected I might add) guilds on our server, and it is because we had a lot of great ppl. Our guild website will be up for everyone to connect and stay friends as well no matter where we all end up.
-Ryan
tmklein Sep 10th 2007 3:03PM
guild my friends were raiders in and me just a member of just disbanded or well is in the process of disbanding. no drama at all. just wasn't working.
Heraclea Sep 10th 2007 3:13PM
I belonged to "and the Action News Team" on Azuremyst. That is pretty much it. Some of the guild officers believed that administrative stuff was starting to impinge on their enjoyment of the game.
Some wanted to move on to more formal raiding schedules. Others wanted to raid more, but mostly to experience new content. Many more are still levelling alts.
"And the Action News Team" was a fun place that felt like family. I am sad to see it breaking up. But not angry at anyone.
jamphat Sep 10th 2007 3:24PM
just a few days ago the guild i was in broke out in flamewars, then disbanded. now all but one member have joined a new guild:
[expletive]ED [aforementioned player]S MOM
Scruffy Sep 10th 2007 3:52PM
Our guild "lost" a lot of players recently in what COULD have been quite a mellow affair.
Here's the setup: GM wanted to merge with Guild X. Most of the first posts about it were cautious but willing to go along. Higher rank dude vetos it since we've just tightened up as a group of friends and family. GM apparently was ok with that and said if anyone still wanted to go, they could with no hard feelings. Suddenly, while helping some 60s quest, boot boot boot boot boot boot, and a serious case of WTF.
Rather than explaining that they were going to the other guild and having them /gquit as they see fit, he just fucking kicked them which seriously disheartened me. Wow, there goes a dozen members. Playing really seems fun now! HA HA.
Sorcefire Sep 10th 2007 4:03PM
This is probably somewhat off topic, but I am curious to see what the readers would have to say about guilds that break-up due to guild members wanting to play horde, pvp, and on another server all at the same time. Surely this has happened to others besides myself have experience something similar, but it's such a case of a guild totally imploding and the players aren't even on the same server to vent against anymore. Any thoughts?
Morlock Sep 10th 2007 4:10PM
Absolutely. The raiding guild that I belonged to for the last few months split without any turmoil. The officers were quite simply burnt out and didn't want to run the guild anymore, some transfered, some quit playing, some stuck around but went to other guilds on the server. Guild bank items were returned to those who donated and other items were distributed fairly. However, I should add that it was an adult guild and did have an application process to weed out the immature players, creating a guild made up of people with similar laid-back personalities, I'm sure the same usually doesn't happen in a guild with open invites. We were all sad to see the guild fall apart since it was an awesome group of people and players.
Askren Sep 10th 2007 8:50PM
Doubtful anyone cares, but I've been in a similar situation. Myself and a group of my (now) very close friends, were all brought together by chance to form an all paladin guild based on PvP and 'vigilante' style activity. We became the best friends ever, until our GM who brought us together, told us to help him power level a mage, and eventually deserted us. We stayed together, formed a new guild, and it was awesome.
But then the time came that we were all 70, and what do you know, still paladins, and that meant no endgame for us. So, what did we do? We split up. On the best terms anyone could, because we knew we had to join other guilds to do Kara and beyond. We still used our old Vent, and acted like a guild would, and kept our alts in the old guild. It worked, and even now when the server literally died (every level 70 Xferred off of it. Srsly.), we're still together.
S'my 2 cents. Enjoy.
-Askren, , formerly of The Forgotten Coast
Juliah Sep 10th 2007 4:16PM
Like others have said, amicable partings happen all the time, even with guilds that have been together a long time. This is, of course, a good thing. :)
Bilo Sep 10th 2007 4:17PM
I was also apart of "and the Action News Team" on Azuremyst and for the 6 months that I was, it was the greatest time I had ever had playing a video game. Very pleasent atmosphere, barely any drama, and one of the most respectable guilds on the server. Been in this guild from 1-63 but life goes on.
Marcelo Abans Sep 10th 2007 4:27PM
I call Shinnagins. Sorry slow day work with me people.
hamiltonerics Sep 10th 2007 4:31PM
My first real guild with my main was Druids of a Crimson Fang (A-Smolderthorn). It was an all Druid guild, and my best times in WoW were during TBC with those guildies!
After I left to join a raiding guild that I was kicked from a few weeks later to another raiding guild that I no longer raid with (follow that?), I heard they broke up. The really active players all moved on. But I miss it, I really do. I'm leveling a Shaman now... maybe I'll start a Blueberry guild. Having something truly in common, even just an eccentric class choice in game, makes the guild a rewarding experience. I don't think they broke up harshly, but it was sad news. A sad, sad day.
Aralaz Sep 10th 2007 5:28PM
I still don't quite understand why people can't stay in a guild when they have different endgame goals? Maybe I'm not hardcore enough but honestly who cares if some people aren't interested in raiding. They can still hang out and chat if there is no genuine animosity.
Is a guild a social network of like-minded people? Or some organizational machine for conducting efficient and timely raiding? I'm curious what other people think.
ENCLAVE Sep 10th 2007 5:31PM
My guild, Enclave just had it's main tank, raid leader, and several core members transfer off to another server with a guild with better progression because we had attendance problems and poor member attitudes.
Baerstan Sep 10th 2007 6:18PM
I've grouped with some of and the Action News Team and they were always a great bunch of people, sad to see ya guys go :(
rick gregory Sep 10th 2007 6:26PM
I guess I don't see why guilds have to actaully disband over stuff like this. Why can't folks either all be in the guild but pursue different interests (ala Aralaz's comment above) or why doesn't one group just leave and form a new guild if that doesn't work, i.e. the raiders form a new raiding guild? It seems odd to disband a whole guild because some want to do one thing and some want to do another.
Coherent Sep 10th 2007 7:37PM
Even a guild that disbands amicably represents a serious failure. For better or for worse, someone created the guild to fulfill a certain purpose. More people joined the guild on that premise.
But when a guild breaks apart, it basically means that it's not going to be doing that job any more. When a guild dissolves in a very un-amicable manner, it just means that the guild members resent the time that they've spent in the guild.
It's a bit like a marital dispute that ends a relationship. When a guild implodes, quietly or not, it means that the emotional investment into that guild's future was a waste of life.
Unless, of course, you're completely cynical and you believe that the only reason to be in a guild is for the phat lewtz.
If a guild breaks up amicably, it simply means that nobody wants to waste breath on the subject any more. It simply represents an even more total failure than a guild that explodes in open rancor. It means that nobody even felt enough passion about the guild to get angry when it died.
To the point: Wouldn't you much rather have been spending all that time in a guild that wasn't going to break up at all?
robodex Sep 10th 2007 8:04PM
The guild I was in for about a year and a half recently disbanded. There was an obvious split between the hardcore and the casuals and a lot of people were starting to feel unhappy about progression. Instead of letting the guild collapse, the GM basically said "alright guys, I'm going to keep the guild around but anyone who wants to leave is free to. We aren't raiding anymore, and we won't be expecting anyone to stay."
Unfortunately that night the GM was fooling around with guild settings and somehow bugged it so everyone was an officer. Someone then disbanded the guild. Nobody was really angry about it (most went to a guild started up by old members,) it was very amicable and people knew it was coming.