It'll probably stop some drama, actually. This happened rather recently:

http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/200236/blizz-take-guild-from-you-if-your-not-onlin

At least now, there will be very clear rules on how much a guild leader has to log in to avoid a problem.

Wow, that's messed up. Some precedence would have been nice.

There is precedence. I don't know if it is formally stated anywhere, but I know that I've heard from multiple sources that if a gleader is offline for 30 days or more, you can petition a GM for the spot yourself- even if you're the most recent recruit.

This way, you don't have to submit a ticket to a GM AND you have to be high-ranking in the guild, therefore probably an officer and someone who the GL trusts at least marginally.

Wish this had come sooner, actually. The GM in my guild left the game for 6 months where no one could touch the guild in any way, I was left alone with my GF, two friends and leveled the guild from level 8 to 20 in that time and I took up the mantle of replacement GM in that time (even though I didn't have the GM position, but I was the highest ranking Officer). I didn't know I could petition for the GM position or anything. Now he came back, stole the 20k gold me, my GF and my friends collected over that time with cash flow and he kicked all of us from the guild after I asked him why the hell he took all the money without telling anyone. Life's a bitch, eh? Now I started a new guild (we are 4 active members) and are barely managing to get to level 3. Wish I could've taken the guild and avoided all this drama, let's hope this new option avoids problems like this in the future for other people.

They are just automating the process. I had to do the same thing myself. I called a GM, who asked if the guild leader has logged on within 30 days. He hadn't for the past 3 months. So after a bit of shuffle, he handed the guild to me. I forget if it was because I requested, or I had the highest achievements or what. It also helped that I knew the GL IRL.

Personally, I think the 30-day logoff is a bit short, but it was a small guild, so 90 days with no membership, vault or policy control wasn't that bad. I'd imagine it'd be worse for a much larger guild.