Officers' Quarters: Left behind
by Scott Andrews 
Feb 9th 2009 at 1:00PM
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.In the WoW universe, a guild can change practically overnight. Someone quits or a new person joins, and the guild is never the same again. Logging off for a while can feel like traveling through time when you finally return. You take a modest break, do some important real-life stuff, and then you come back to an entirely different landscape. This week, one reader wants to know how to readjust to a guild that's nothing like the one he logged out of just a short time ago.
Dear Scott,
I am a fairly casual player [. . .]. As such, I am a part of a fairly casual guild without strict raiding rules that was founded by a group of friends wanting to do end game content together during the BC days. [. . . M]y two friends eventually quit WoW altogether for different reasons, and I was left as a senior member to a pretty awesome and friendly guild! I don't mind saying that i was a sort of "character" in the guild, and got along with everyone and entertained with my antics and helped with my knowledge and well-geared toon. Especially through WotLK and its patches I proved myself to be very reliable as an officer and a functional part of our core raiding group (I was about 3rd or 4th highest DPS in guild for awhile).
Well, I had to take a trip to visit an old friend of mine for awhile, and informed my guildies I'd be gone for a week or so. Well . . . That week turned into nearly a month, as when I returned home my computer decided to explode and fry its motherboard. So i shipped the computer off, hoping to get it back soon so i could continue to play with my WoW buddies and get the guild further along!
Now, as i said, when i last played before taking my vacation, I was well known in the guild and a fairly personable and vocal player. We weren't very hardcore at raiding, so we were still in the beginning steps of guild raid progression in WotLK. I personally had only completed Vault 10-man and The Military and Plague Quarter of Naxx (also 10-man) with the guild. I knew the guild had already been progressing when I wasn't on, but I wasn't really ready for the change of dynamic when I finally got my computer back.
My guild had beaten all of the current raids on [Normal] and Heroic. They had enlisted NUMEROUS new and outgoing players into the guild. They had reorganized leadership and raid schedules and were leaning away from the "casual" nature of the guild, though not nearly "hardcore" . . . I don't think anyway. But the first night I logged back on I was overwhelmed by the number of people talking in vent and in g-chat. I could barely get a word in edgewise! The first full night I was on we cleared 10 and 25 man Vault and Sarth, which to my casual self was just NUTS (though very fun :). Unfortunately i noticed that I had gone from 3rd highest DPS in the guild to not even in the upper half of the 25-mans. It was a bit disheartening. It seemed that although i was missed by the older members, that I wasn't exactly an essential part of the guild anymore. They had new leaders, better DPS, and new personalities to be the face of the guild.
So i guess my question is do you have any tips on how to readjust to this "new" guild? And have you ever heard of someone going through anything similar?
Thanks for your time, sorry for the long letter :)
Z
As I read your e-mail, Z, I was certain that your story, like so many I receive, would end in disaster. I figured you'd come back to a guild that had disbanded or replaced you and kicked you out. In your absence, many terrible events could have unfolded. Compared to any of those outcomes, you're a lucky guy!
Take a moment to appreciate the resilience of your guild. They lost some key officers and then had to do without your leadership for a fairly long time. But instead of imploding, they flourished. That's a very good thing.
Even so, I can understand why you're feeling a bit left out. While it can be a burden at times, it's great to feel needed. Now all of a sudden both that burden and that good feeling are gone.
Don't despair -- you are still important to the guild. For one thing, every guild needs an officer who can make people laugh and put them at ease in the face of adversity or drama. Also, the nature of the guild has changed somewhat, from being highly casual but moderately successful to being highly successful, yet now only moderately casual. This is your chance to make a difference.
You are still an officer, and an officer's job is to make sure that guild members are still having fun after some big changes. It sounds like most people in your guild are having a blast. But is everybody enjoying it?
Get yourself caught up to speed. Find out how it all went down. Talk to the people who made it happen. Then talk to your members to make sure everyone is just as happy about this new world order. Sometimes when a guild makes this transition, long-time members who aren't able to keep up with everyone else just stop getting invited to raids. No one helps them to play better. No one reaches out. They just become irrelevant. Hopefully this hasn't been the case, but as the casual face of the guild, you should be the one to make sure it doesn't happen.
As far as your DPS goes, talk to one of the people who plays your class and beats you on the meters. Get some advice about how to improve your game. Then encourage that person to reach out to others of the same class to help them improve, too.
You don't want a guild environment where the best players are set apart from the guild as shining, unapproachable paragons. Rather, these new people should help other members to do their jobs well. That way, no one gets left behind.
But even in this ideal scenario, there will be future conflicts about the direction of the guild. Older members will look to you to speak for them. Don't let them down!
/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! For more WoW Insider gameplay columns, click here.Filed under: Officers' Quarters (Guild Leadership)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
T Feb 9th 2009 1:12PM
What does that book have to do with creationists? I don't agree with them either, but don't confuse creationists with Christians.
Tora Feb 9th 2009 1:19PM
In the words of Lilo and Stitch... no one gets left behind, or forgotten!
Exarkun Feb 9th 2009 1:22PM
I have read the entire section, and i believe that a guild can change within the leaving of a person. With my guild, our guildleader left and made his cousin the leader. Thou he is a awesome person and he is trying his best to lead on the guild, people are beginning to get anoyed by the fact that some people play this game for their fun. We are not raiding regularly but once a week or once every 2 weeks. We used to have a close and solid player base in our guild but since we started recruiting, i have a DK on a different server and on the horde side. Just to get away from the "stress" from the new people complaints. People are seeing wow as a job sometimes and not as a game! (wall of text ftl.. :/ sowwy)
Bushz Feb 9th 2009 1:40PM
Wow "T"...interesting considering creationists are a xtian majority..or that's the _other_ type of xtians...its so hard to keep track of who's who, with every church splitting every day.
Drow Feb 9th 2009 1:45PM
Wow...seems you need to get caught up. Not sure how long you guys were 80...but it seems you were going very slowly through the 10-mans. Once you left for a while, they were able to plow through the game just like everyone else, so that's good. My guild doesn't even run Vault unless it's an off-night and we aren't saved, it's usually so minor we PuG it, so doing that and both version of OS (I'm guessing with no drakes up) is pretty common.
Our raids tend to be Naxx25 where we clear all 4 wings, then the next raid night we top that off and finish the last 2 bosses and move onto Malygos25 and get that done. The other night we do OS with various amounts of drakes up depending on our mood, leaving us with several off days where we make our own 10-mans mostly for acheivments (got The Undying last week!).
time to hit up boss-killers and PuG some 10-mans for some loot or something!
Rob Feb 9th 2009 2:00PM
My guess is that they are pretty casual. Our guild is casual and not focused on naxx. Now that we have a bunch (something 100) 80s we have people interested in doing naxx. We started last week and cleared the spider quarter. I just hit 80 on my hunter and hope to join them this week. This is my casual guild (horde).
My alliance guild is hard-core. They hit 80 with a few days of expansion, within two weeks they were doing naxx, within a month they cleared it with 25 ppl.
Really depends on the people I think. Many/most of the player base simply aren't wanting to be serious 3x a week raiders.
tk3030 Feb 9th 2009 2:06PM
Your guild =/= every guild. Your raid schedule is not relevant. Not everyone is "plowing through the content". Some people are very happy to be in casual guilds that are just starting 10 man content.
That said, it sounds like the OP's guild is making strong progress, and if everyone's happy, it's a good thing. Hope he's not disappointed that life moves on without one person and doesn't get hung up on the ego thing. A lot can change for DPS between a month of gearing and patch changes. Make sure you're up to date on any changes for your class - eg. if you're still playing BM the way BM worked a month ago, no wonder your DPS has fallen. If your guildies have T7.5 and you're in heroic blues, no wonder you're not topping the meters.
oscurotoro Feb 9th 2009 4:39PM
So you're experience was you were a valuable guild member by pulling fourth dps in 10-man vault and the first 2 wings of naxx.... With 2 tanks and i'm assuming 3 healers for starting content you realise you beat one dps. Well congratulations...
Stephen Bick Feb 9th 2009 1:55PM
Admittedly this is the internet, so I won't expect any level of maturity or coherent arguements, but just because you don't believe something doesn't mean you have to mock it, or that doing so makes you look smart.
A comment like 'That pic gives me creationist shudders......so....ignorant....and cold....' is a really convincing argument. Yeah, you got me there. My whole life view has been completely changed. Yeah.
If you don't have anything worthwhile to say, zip it.
Alanid Feb 9th 2009 2:02PM
as as i was read this line, i was SURE i would see a "BOTH RELIGIONS SUCK LOL!" post, but i haven't yet, maybe i need to give it more time...
Trilynne Feb 9th 2009 2:20PM
Sounds like your pride took a hit, coming back to a bunch of new people who had cleared content without you and got the gear(and dps) to prove it. I'll be hard for awhile, but I'm sure you'll be back to being that helpful, entertaining person that you were before.
I went through something similar when I switched guilds nearly a year ago. I was well known in my first guild, which was an rping guild, and when I logged on nearly everyone would say hi to me, I loved talking to the others in the guild, and I was kind of the center of attention a lot(hence me being a tank xD I love it). When I switched to a raiding guild, I became just another person, no one really knew me or anything. But slowly, people learned my name(and how to say it right over vent :P), they learned that I was a good tank to run heroics with, and I proved that I was a damn good raiding paladin tank, too. Now I'm an officer, and many people say hi to me when I log on, I love talking to people, and I get to be the center of attention as tank and raid leader. So never fear! You'll regain your place. ^^
automator Feb 9th 2009 2:22PM
I'm in nearly the same situation as the letter writer. In TBC, I was one of the keystone members of my guild. Involved, always on time to raids, knew the fights, brought buff stuff, among the best 3 geared players, knowledgeable of my class and other's classes ...
Then right before WotLK hit shelves, I had to take some time off. While away, my guild merged with another guild, and everyone was taking steps into Naxx while my poor main hadn't even stepped into Northrend. When I came back, players who recognized me would comment on how their alts were more geared than my main. I was a nobody in the newly merged guild.
However, I stuck it out, and kept being myself without forcing people to pay attention to me. Am I the "go-to" guy that I used to be? No, but my name is being rebuilt.
Fuseitana Feb 9th 2009 2:30PM
"...overwhelmed by the number of people talking in vent and in g-chat."
I thought that was a telling comment. If he's using the guild as a stage to practice his stand up act then he's not gonn'a be happy playing second fiddle to the new members. But, if he's just commenting that it's a lively place, then it's all good.
darian Feb 9th 2009 2:38PM
The ultimately irony here is that the book is about the apocalypse, not creation.
Next week on WoW Insider: Hiram sees a picture of a baby and complains that old people are ugly.
PeeWee Feb 9th 2009 3:01PM
Well, if you leave a guild with progression open through the easiest content Blizzard have ever created (perhaps with the exception of Deadmines and Stockades), what do you expect? Some 30 people to sit on their hands while you are away?
Ardal Feb 9th 2009 3:19PM
I had one of those situations where I left for a week to visit family out of state, and while I was gone, the Guild Master's account got hacked, the guild bank was emptied, and everybody had dropped the guild, with the exception of a couple alts people had left in. Since then, I've found a new guild, but at the time, it was pretty messed up.
Boaz the Dwarf Feb 10th 2009 2:48AM
I kinda understand your feelings there. My guild cranked up about 8 months before Wrath came out and all of us were noobs who hit 70 in Outland together and had to figure out this whole raiding thing together. I was a Fury warrior and would up respeccing prot so that we would have a dedicated tank and i ended up leading my guild through 3 Kara clears. We are casual for sure but we hit the ground running in Wrath. Well shortly after Wrath hit our Main Healer's son transferred to our server and joined our guild. He was a druid tank who had cleared most of Naxx when he came over and he loved to PuG. He was better geared and already knew all the fights. I really felt left behind. We have worked it out somewhat but I'm still playing off tank in Naxx. So we'll see how it goes. Good luck with your guild!
Nikkodemus Feb 9th 2009 3:29PM
To T:
Left Behind is a book that certainly espouses creationist ideas and is extremely literal in Biblical interpretation. Of course, that said, its still a work of fiction, so I also am not sure why the OP is so affected.
To be honest, these guys are small potatoes next to L. Ron Hubbard :-p
Tony Feb 9th 2009 6:34PM
To sum it up:
Guy who wrote the letter is computer illiterate, had to send his computer away to get fixed instead of just buying and installing a new motherboard himself. Guy finally gets his computer back (probably a Dell or Hewlett Packard), logs on WoW and realizes no one cares about him any more.
Guy realizes that he isn't as important as he thought he was. Welcome to the internet and congrats on being new to MMORPGs and guild life. You finally have some experience under your belt.
The Claw Feb 9th 2009 6:37PM
"..Of course, that said, its still a work of fiction.."
Just like the Xtian bible!