Officers' Quarters: Dark pacts, Part 2
by Scott Andrews 
Oct 8th 2007 at 11:00AM
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.
Two weeks ago, Officers' Quarters presented Part 1 of an in-depth look at guild alliances -- how to avoid all the negativity and actually make them work. I talked about assessing compatibility, communicating, and keeping your finger on the pulse of your own members' feeling about the other guild. This week, we'll talk about leadership roles, loot rules, and more!
Leadership
The leadership aspect of a guild alliance is less like the relationship metaphor I used in Part 1, and more like the U.N. Do you want your pool of mutual officers to be a neutered governing body that talks a big game but never actual does anything? Or do you want to crack your knuckles and get down to business? For the latter, you're going to have to make some tough decisions and compromises.
Who will lead the raids? Will it always be the same person or the same guild, or will these duties be shared? Who will be main tank? Who will assign healing? Details like this might seem insignificant when you're first starting out. Most people will be happy to be raiding at all. But all it takes is a disagreement over whose tank is better geared to start things off on a sour note that can never be overcome. Making these decisions can be the first true test of an alliance. If you can't even agree on who's tanking, it's never going to work.
Members of one guild can easily start to feel like second-class citizens when their officers and their best tanks and healers are reduced to a passive role. So make sure that responsibilities are shared to a certain degree. And definitely make sure you work all of this out before you zone in.
Loot
To some it's the only reason to play. To others it's just a means to an end. No other issue can flare into an argument faster.
Some guild alliances use a mutual DKP system. Others each keep their own internal system, but have a separate way to divvy drops between the guilds. Loot can create some sticky situations. For example, if a boss has three drops, one guild is going to get one more drop than the other. Basing who gets the third drop on who has more people in attendance that night might be fair, but it can lead to a separate disagreement about who gets to bring how many people, or who isn't well-geared enough to attend. You can alternate who gets that third piece each week, but what if a guild doesn't want the third drop on their assigned week? Do they get two weeks in a row, or have they forfeited their loot?
In my opinion, the /random system is usually the best and most fair, at least for deciding which guild gets first dibs, or who gets the odd piece. Just designate a roller from each guild and let the chips fall where they may. No one can argue about luck, though you can certainly complain about it. Whatever your system is, don't wait till after the boss goes down to make decisions about this crucial detail.
Patience
The other guild may not like to handle things like scheduling the same way you do. They may not get everyone to the zone quite as quickly as your guild does. They may be a little slower with buffing or running back after a wipe. You will encounter any number of small annoyances, mainly because you are used to doing things one way or used to certain things happening in a more timely fashion.
These are the moments that will repeatedly test your resolve and your patience. When those moments happen, it's tempting to express your aggravation. But every time you do this, you chip away at the goodwill between your guild and theirs. It is much better to politely ask if someone needs a summon to the zone, or if the buff assignments have been given out, etc. After the raid, if something really bothers you, discuss it with the other officers to see if it's an issue that warrants a conversation. If they agree that it does, bring it to the other guild's officers privately.
They may not agree with you. They may tell you that you are being unreasonable. This is a hurdle. Before you leap it -- or crash into it -- weigh this one issue against the good that the alliance has brought and the fun that your members are having. Is it worth undoing all you have accomplished over this one problem?
Mergers
This is a big enough topic for another column entirely (and someday I'll write that column). For now, let's just say that when the offer of a merger is put on the table, we are back to my original relationship metaphor. A merger offer is like a marriage proposal. It's basically a permanent step and you should consider it very carefully before saying yes!
A successful guild alliance takes a lot of hard work. It can also be a big risk. But the reward can be a better playing experience for everyone involved and a bigger circle of friends to enjoy Warcraft with. Has anyone out there been part of a successful alliance? Tell us about it below!
/salute
Send Scott your guild-related questions, conundrums, ideas, and suggestions at scott.andrews@weblogsinc.com. You may find your question the subject of next week's Officers' Quarters!
Filed under: Guilds, Officers' Quarters (Guild Leadership)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sylythn Oct 8th 2007 11:19AM
One thing to be VERY careful of in alliances is comments when people start to get frustrated. Inevitably you'll have someone say something in a way that makes it sound like it's only directed at "their" people. It's really important to immediately turn this around and make it about ALL the raiders in the group being addressed. Otherwise you end up with animosity and cliquish nature to the group...instead of being "our(plural) raid" it becomes "I can't wait for the day we don't have to bring THEM along".
Sliver Oct 8th 2007 11:28AM
I'm the guildmaster of Team Hannibal on Shattered Hand (EU) and we've played in an alliance with Skull Squadron starting on Molten Core and ending with High King Maulgar down. Then Skull Squadron died :(. Didnt have alot to do with our alliance but well, thats where it ended.
We've played together for years and even while both guilds could do Karazhan on their own we still chose for a combined dual raid.
We set up a mutual DKP system & a mutual forum. Mutual channel for the officers ect ect. But the most important thing is and was to avoid any difference between a member of guild A & B. Clear rules that are equal for every member of the 'raid-alliance'. Avoid the us-them feeling at all times.
Taintedmage Oct 8th 2007 12:43PM
Officer of Abyss and Necro Chronicle(Undead only guild) Lothar server. We have a really good alliance all are usually adressed and everything works out great unless we find someone lacking in their job. We pretty much got rid of the DKP system since well personally I hate it maybe the others do to IDK. Also since we are an Undead only guild Abyss comes out with the things we lack (like druids) and we usually have all the spell casters warlocks, mages, a few priests, and our guild leader being a tank.
Scruffy Oct 8th 2007 1:52PM
Mergers suck.
First one bombed horribly though we did get stragglers who are quite awesome peeps.
Second was to be an alliance (with mutual GEM channel), but that bombed about the time our GM started booting people left and right.
Third was to be considered as we had been approached with an offer. ...but then the GM who talked to us apparently bailed and joined some other guild.
Make everyone fill out an app. Take who you can. Offer help. Quest and run instances with them.
I can't stress the latter enough.
Rob Oct 8th 2007 2:33PM
I think it depends on the character of the GLs merging. I was second in command of a small guild in Blackwater Raiders, and our GL never displayed much enthusiasm for running the guild; probably because all he did was referee intra-guild fights. Not much fun there. Eventually he decided he would step down as GL, and someone proposed a merger with another guild. It's been a week and so far it's a really good situation. We now have enough people to do 5mans of whatever level, and the new GL is very active in the guild (this is key, if your GL doesn't play much, it will be a problem!). So far so good, but now the new GL has twice as many people to manage. But anyway mergers can be greater than the sum of their parts.
Calyne Oct 8th 2007 3:49PM
The guild i was in merged with another guild about 2 weeks ago. We were a small guild who had cleared kara months ago but couldnt recruit enough active members for 25 man raids. We ran joint gruul's lairs raids for a couple of weeks to make sure that a merger would work between the guilds. The other guild seemed a nice group of people and we even downed gruul. Since the merger everything has been going great.
Cailleach Oct 8th 2007 3:54PM
Saints of Elune (Eonar-A) has been in a guild alliance with our dear friends Assertus de Justum, Brothers of the Red Eye, House of Fallen Angels, Knights of Arathai, The Thirty, and Tyrants in Society (alphabetically) for well over a year now. We've rocked ZG, struggled in MC, put the smackdown on heroic bosses everywhere, and stayed friends.
Loot is easy. You can roll on loot if you do the work to help get us the loot in the first place. We use no fancy dkp, just need before greed and you get one blue a night. With the exception of a couple of specific pieces that we gave preference to our main tank/main healers, that never seemed to be a problem.
We go in and out of raiding phases, but we chat w/each other on our chat channel, run 5 mans, pvp, quest, and generally are all friends while maintaining our identity. Maybe the real secret to alliances is maturity and reason. We're grownups and we remember it's a game, not an ego trip. What's not to love about that?
slunk Oct 9th 2007 1:14AM
I was second tank, and warrior officer for a raiding guild that initiated a merger with a friend/casual guild. A few co-guild raids were run with excellent results. Our guild leaders were pushing hard for a merger. Most of the officers of the other guild were quality players, looking to raid, but did not to abandon their friends.
As the merger was pushed onto them more, their top players forced the merger, saying they would abandon the guild if the merger didn't happen.
The merger went through, their guild was divided. The low level, more casual players either never made the transition, or they made the transition, and slowly left the raiding guild.
The raid after the merger, the original main tank, who happened to also be one of the original co-guild leaders, quit showing up for any raids, except 20 mans on alts.
I was then left juggling more than twice as many warriors, aswell as main tanking and leading the raids.
In two or three weeks, I burnt out, and took a break. I ended up taking on too much, as I cared too much about making everyone happy and making everything work out.
Soon after, the co-guild leaders who forced the merger, went back to their old server, tempted by the promise of mobs on farm.
During the merger, I had voice concerns over our guild forcing the merger. In the end, it ended up being more than a merger. We ate that guild.
The guild lasted for many months, with the leader of the guild that was destroyed doing alot to make it work.
This kind of drama has me leveling a new character. I dread getting to 70. I do not want to have to deal with all the BS again.
What should you take away from this? Beware of people raiding your guild for members. If you are considering a merger/alliance, make sure the guilds have a reason to trust each other before the merger.