Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 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 4 of 5)
Marius W. Sep 30th 2011 4:34PM
I don't think you replied to the right person. I didn't say anything about trust or the make-up of my guild. Im failing to see what I said has to do with what you said.
TimR Sep 30th 2011 4:45PM
No, I meant the reply to you. You're implying that a GM would be automatically ousted after 30 days, and so that time should be longer. My response to that is you should have a strong enough leadership core in your guild, that if something comes up and you are gone for a bit, it's not a problem. If you do need to be gone for RL, this way someone else can take over while you are gone, and then reinstate you to GM when RL is settled. The only reason I see to need a longer time period is if you do not trust whoever becomes the new GM.
Marius W. Sep 30th 2011 4:49PM
Really had nothing to do with not trusting people I put up at top at all. I think you read too far into what I said.
I understand what you are saying, just I didn't go that deep into it into the subtext you assumed.
I just think that 30 days is a bit quick to get ousted and it only has to do with getting ousted and nothing more.
Skarn Sep 30th 2011 6:10PM
Part of the theory is that the minimum amount of game time is one month. Thus it makes sense that if someone doesn't log in for a month that they will stop paying and their return date is unknown. In theory, if someone is going to keep paying, they are available to log-in and/or know what it going on.
Of course the reality is that many people take long breaks and don't ever stop their subscriptions because "I might log in tomorrow if I feel like it." Regardless, the logic is sound. 30 days is fine.
Noyou Sep 30th 2011 9:42PM
@Skarn
30 days is logical for you but not at all for me. 45-60 days sounds a lot better. The people on the east coast got hit with flooding and their power being ripped off for weeks, if not a month. You think their first priority getting things back would be to log into wow inside of 30 days? Does that make them a bad GM if they don't? There is a thing called real life that sometimes cruelly interjects itself into playtime.
Marius W. Sep 30th 2011 9:44PM
Whoa... Noyou agreed with me. o.0
Good times.. good times indeed. Hug? lol :P
Skarn Sep 30th 2011 11:27PM
@Noyou,
Yes, real life intervenes. That's exactly the point of the system. When real life pulls the guild leader away unexpectedly for a long period of time, the system allows the guild to keep going.
mournelithe Sep 30th 2011 4:14PM
Only thing GMs need to be aware of is to make sure the rank one down from GM is one you want to be next in line.
Theres a nice trick I use where the rank with second highest abilities is actually fourth in real rank, because it means while they can invite, they can't promote higher than their own rank. To get to the top rank you need to have an authenticator. Good trick for protecting guild banks
Sinderion Sep 30th 2011 4:23PM
Except for military, who usually get 1 month vacation a year(due to probably being shot at for several of those months) , arent most paid vacations 2-3 weeks max? Other than like, a mount everest expedition, or extended trip to Machupichu, I can't see what else couldn't be solved by some simple arrangement planned and executed well ahead of time. Few people would even be fully prohibited from logging onto Wow at least once in that 30 day window.
A friend of my brothers is hiking the appalachian trail(several months work), that would be cause for leadership to be passed on for a while in any event.
Waiting much longer than 30 days would start to put strain on the guild that should have been headed off with a change in leadership before the hiatus began in the first place.
I for one, like this shift from 'The guild belongs to the guild master'(which isn't bad) to 'The guild belongs to the guild master' + a bill of rights for members, now with only a first amendment - "Guildmaster must be present in guild once every 30 days to avoid his or her position from being called into question for the benefit of the guild"
Strawder Sep 30th 2011 5:09PM
I'm probably about to take an extended leave from WoW, and there's only one person I trust to leave things with. If he doesn't accept..... 0-0
Pryn Sep 30th 2011 6:12PM
I'm not to keen on the 30 days aspect, for the simple matter that its a single sub time period. If a GL is a bit tight on cash and skips a month sub, there is suddenly the possibility of the leadership changing hands. (Even the most lovely guilds have a high chance of having THAT guy, who'd click it 'just to see' or for laughs or some equally questionable reason)
To be honest I'd love to see a notifier to the GL B.Net email BEFORE the transfer takes place. Just a 24-48 hr heads up that this is about to happen and name X-Player who initiated the request to take over. It would give some time to review and make some contact for discussion or perhaps alternative arrangements.
Nicholas Tam Sep 30th 2011 6:14PM
Not fond of this, at least not in its current implementation. There should at least be a condition that the guild is level 3 or above, so it can't be disbanded by the person taking over.
I have a bank alt guild that I share with some friends and friends-of-friends (I set an extra tab or two aside for them), but I've been out of the game for several months and don't want someone to take over my bank in case I eventually return. Under the new system I'd remove them, of course, but I don't see why I should have to pay a month's subscription to safeguard my gbank if I don't wish to go back to playing the game right away when 4.3 hits. (Yes, they're people I know and I can instruct them through other means to not take over the guild. But what if they get hacked?)
I can see why this feature will be a boon to active guilds that suddenly find themselves paralyzed, but the guild system is used for a wide variety of purposes and many of these could be in jeopardy. To be on the safe side, the status quo seems fine, if admittedly bureaucratic.
jdryner Sep 30th 2011 6:14PM
This is a good idea, but it would have been better if you could replace a gm that is choking his guild to death by popping on once a day, logging off, not changing or doing anything, except playing a toon on the opposite faction, with the officers of the guild. Basically, all the members are just there to generate money, the ones who profit are the ones in the leader positions. Their wonderful reaction: '...you are free to leave...'
The new guild system benefits guild leadership more than it's constituent parts. What happens to you if you bust your tail to get exalted, but then the guild officers get "burned out"? You are stuck, that's what happens, and if you leave the guild, you lose the access to the items that you have worked hard to get access to. Not very fair, in my opinion, it should be fixed.
Noyou Sep 30th 2011 9:41PM
If you are that concerned about "what's in it for me?" then by all means you should make your own guild. Right now my guild is almost lvl 23. You could join it and rep yourself up and make use of all the nice perks. What did you really contribute to it? So, it swings both ways.
Amaxe Sep 30th 2011 8:24PM
"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."
So what happens if some player clicks on the guild at 12:01 am on the 30th day, snags the guild and then /gkicks everyone else before they log on.
I hope they have or develop some sort of defense if the scenario is not impossible.
radicaster Oct 3rd 2011 7:47PM
quoting OP:
"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."
So a random person would not be able to do it in any other situation that no one ranked above him/her, for an example an officer, or similar, hasn't logged on in a week, and if they haven't, well, then i would say the guild has greater problems.
All this pretty much does is that it allows an active officer to oust an inactive guild master.
The only thing i personally would change is that the guild master would get an email maybe a week before it happens, and that it wouldn't go to the first one who clicks, I would implement a voting system for everyone in the same rank as the person chosen by the system, about wether to oust the GM or not, and also who would replace him.
Amaxe Oct 3rd 2011 8:20PM
I assumed it was obvious that I meant of players qualified to take command.
Chokaa Sep 30th 2011 9:06PM
I don't know why some people are getting so angry. The current timeframe for 'deposing' an inactive guild leader is already 30 days. This feature just makes it so you don't use up GM time to do it.
Current system: AFK Guild leader for 30 days. Guild member(any member) sends a petition to have leadership transferred. GM transfers leadership to the next highest ranking person. If more than one of said rank, the most recently logged in.
New system: AFK Guild leader for 30 days. Guild member clicks a button to have leadership transferred. Officer online gets a note that says' you wanna be guild leader?'. Officer clicks yes.
Much more streamlined.
On another note, just log in ever 3-4 weeks or so, and it won't count you as inactive.
hooptiej Sep 30th 2011 10:39PM
The problem I see here is that at 30 days your officers will feel someone will HAVE to take your guild, or risk it falling to the quickest low rank noob that clicks.
My guild consists of 2 close personal RL friends, and a few puggers_-and im afraid if I fall on hard times and let my account lapse for a month or two(happened before!) i'll lose my guild!
The guild bank is 1 tab for all, the rest is personal storage for me and my gf(if my account is lapsed you can bet hers is too)- so I have one RL friend in another state I have to HOPE logs on, notices and claims ownership before one of the puggers notices, claims and boots us? sorry but this is plain BAD for guilds. DO NOT WANT: or I'll be cleaning out my guild roster as well. (sorry anyone I dont know in RL! but yer prolly gettin the boot!)
serrif Oct 1st 2011 7:41PM
If you're that worried about it, have someone you trust be the next highest rank. They'll be able to take it, and once you're back into the game, you'll be able to ask them for the leadership back. If your relationship with everyone else in your guild is so toxic as to make this not realistic, then I'd have to question what it is you're losing by leaving it.