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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPatch 4.3 PTR: Inactive guild leader replacement
by Mathew McCurley 
Sep 30th 2011 at 2:30PM
Active guild leaders have nothing to fear. This is not a system for deposing current leaders or voting out current guild masters. This system is in place to allow members of an active guild to wrest control of the guild's functions from an inactive leader, not perform democratic voting procedures. Many guilds are at the mercy of GMs to fix inactive problems, and this system frees up customer support for more important tasks.
Inactive guild leader replacement
In the event that a guild leader takes a leave of absence and remains inactive for an extended period of time, it can be difficult for some guilds to carry on as normal. To help assist with these situations, we're introducing a new system in patch 4.3 known as "inactive guild leader replacement" that will allow players of the appropriate rank to take over leadership of a guild from an inactive guild leader via the Guild tab.
The way inactive guild leader replacement works is pretty straightforward. If a guild leader's character is inactive for 30 days, a notification will appear in the Guild News & Events feed which can only be seen by guild members who are eligible to become the new guild leader. To determine eligibility, the game will look for the highest ranked character in the guild that's logged on in the past week, and any guild member from that rank will be able to request guild leadership simply by clicking on the notification.
As with many actions in World of Warcraft, clicking on the notification will open up a confirmation window which, once accepted, will transition leadership from the inactive guild leader to the first player to request leadership. If guild leadership is changed, the old guild leader will be notified via email to his or her registered Battle.net address. While some players may need to log out and back in before their Guild tab will visually update, the change in leadership will be immediate, with all ranks and permissions remaining in-tact.
Please note that if you're an active leader of a guild, this system should not affect you or your guild. The goal of inactive guild leader replacement is simply to allow guilds which have found themselves without leadership for a long period of time to resolve the situation on their own without the need to contact our In-Game Support department.
Inactive guild leader replacement is currently live on the PTR, but keep in mind that it may be difficult to test, as a guild leader will need to be inactive for a full 30 days before the option to transition leadership will become available.
The way inactive guild leader replacement works is pretty straightforward. If a guild leader's character is inactive for 30 days, a notification will appear in the Guild News & Events feed which can only be seen by guild members who are eligible to become the new guild leader. To determine eligibility, the game will look for the highest ranked character in the guild that's logged on in the past week, and any guild member from that rank will be able to request guild leadership simply by clicking on the notification.
As with many actions in World of Warcraft, clicking on the notification will open up a confirmation window which, once accepted, will transition leadership from the inactive guild leader to the first player to request leadership. If guild leadership is changed, the old guild leader will be notified via email to his or her registered Battle.net address. While some players may need to log out and back in before their Guild tab will visually update, the change in leadership will be immediate, with all ranks and permissions remaining in-tact.
Please note that if you're an active leader of a guild, this system should not affect you or your guild. The goal of inactive guild leader replacement is simply to allow guilds which have found themselves without leadership for a long period of time to resolve the situation on their own without the need to contact our In-Game Support department.
Inactive guild leader replacement is currently live on the PTR, but keep in mind that it may be difficult to test, as a guild leader will need to be inactive for a full 30 days before the option to transition leadership will become available.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
Gendou Sep 30th 2011 2:42PM
Not sure I like this - and I'm the guy in the Rank 1 position to depose the GM.
Sarahjane Sep 30th 2011 2:46PM
Well, if you take over the guild, you can promote whomever you want to take your place.
Narayana Sep 30th 2011 2:54PM
What's not to like, then? You're not forced to depose him of his rank- it's just an option. With the advent of guild levels, an inactive guild leader can be a very crippling issue- you can't simply up and leave the guild, but you may not have all of the powers given to you to properly run the guild in the absence of the GM.
Sure, this may be problematic for people who disappear for 30 days as a normal course of business, but the worst thing it does is force such a GM to think ahead and maybe name a chosen GM in advance- not really a bad thing.
Eirik Sep 30th 2011 3:02PM
... or you can promote someone else to guild leader.
The assumption built in is that higher rank = more involvement in the guild. If you want "honorary ranks" that are not intended to be functional, move them elsewhere.
Noyou Sep 30th 2011 9:04PM
If you have officers in your guild you can trust and give them similar power, there really is only a couple things that they can't do. They can't boot anyone with the same rank, they can't add ranks, they can't change permissions for rank or guild access. Everything else they should be able to do just fine. I don't see how it would "cripple" a guild. Now if the GM has everything on lock down, and limits his officers already, that is a different story. If this is the case, you might want to find greener pastures long before he goes inactive.
Scott Sep 30th 2011 2:44PM
When is the ability to rename your guild going to appear?
Jamie Sep 30th 2011 3:06PM
I'm sure that feature will be a premium feature, much like renaming characters.
Noyou Sep 30th 2011 9:11PM
Right now anyone can petition a GM to have a guild renamed. However, it is a one time only service. If it does get added I wholly agree it will probably be a paid service.
Phoenix Psaltery Sep 30th 2011 2:45PM
What's not to like? If my guild leader was gone for more than a month and there was no easy way to remedy it, I'd be ticked. This is a good feature.
Squiggie Sep 30th 2011 2:58PM
I was once in a guild where the leader was gone for years, and we were still pretty big and did regular dungeon runs and a few raids. Why is a guild leader so important anyway? As long as there are officers to take care of the bank and invite, promote, etc.
Bronwyn Sep 30th 2011 4:49PM
Depends on your guild, really. In one of my guilds, the GM keeps everything on lockdown to avoid hackers (We only have to ask if we need something, so it's not a big deal), but if he disappeared we'd kind of be left adrift.
Telwar Sep 30th 2011 11:05PM
So, what happens when the officers get bored and leave? No guild leader, no new officers. No new bank tabs, either.
brain314 Oct 1st 2011 2:57AM
I had to call a GM to take over my guild. The guild leader cancelled his WoW account and we were okay for a while, but the vault and policies were woefully outdated. New members couldn't be promoted properly and access the vault, so I took over to fix all that.
Angus Sep 30th 2011 2:53PM
The 7th tab in the bank is pretty limited in my guild. I am the only person that can grab more than 1 item out of it a day.
If I were to go inactive for a month, again, it would suck for the officers and I'd expect a new GM. (wife had a baby before Cat so this wasn't an issue before)
Eirik Sep 30th 2011 3:05PM
Your wife had a baby before the cat did?
Eirik Sep 30th 2011 3:04PM
Note:
To determine eligibility, the game will look for the highest ranked character in the guild that's logged on in the past week, and any guild member from that rank will be able to request guild leadership simply by clicking on the notification.
Which is to say, if the GM AND the top officers are all incommunicado, it continues down the ranks until it finds someone that logged in in the last week. If most of the guild went to Tahiti for a month, that "guy who logged in" might be the raw recruit at the bottom of the totem pole.
NightRayne Sep 30th 2011 4:07PM
This^^. This is the part I have a bit of a problem with.
I'm GM of a very small guild, it started as just a bank guild for my toons, but a couple months ago I had a couple people see me in a major city and begged to join my guild because they loved the name of it. I explained it was just a bank guild etc, but they still wanted in.
I was feeling nice so I let them join with the understanding that they will stay at the lowest rank and not really have any privileges (as I wasn't looking to run a "real" guild right now). However with these new changes I get nervous, if I don't login for a bit they could take the guild, even though they have the lowest rank.
I'm due with my 2nd child in January, suffice it to say that as my due date draws near these guys will be politely (with a letter explaining why) gkicked from the guild, at least temporarily, as my time is going to be taken up with a new infant and a toddler lol.
brain314 Oct 1st 2011 3:05AM
I wonder if you can set up a ranked chain of your own personal alt characters as a sort of chain of command to take over the guild when you become inactive. Thus, each toon would add an additional 30 days minimum for when a guild leader boot is requested. Of course, it could be longer than 30 days per toon if no boots are made.
Jamie Sep 30th 2011 3:05PM
Coming to an Officer's Quarters near you!
"Help!! I was made the new guild leader because the guild leader liked me but my guilds falling apart/staging a military coup because of it!
I swear that they all liked me before I was made Guild Leader!!!"
Camo Oct 2nd 2011 8:07AM
Achievement earned:
Coup d'Etat - Seize control of a guild with an absent leader. Awards "the Backstabber".