Running a social/raiding guild (beware the WOT!)

Apologies, this is one hell of a text crit.

Our guild has the joyous tag of social/casual raiding guild. We have aspirations to see all content that is released, and if possible, complete it on heroic. Most of us are willing to put in two or three good raid nights a week, are quick learners and know our classes.

I have seen a lot of blog posts over the last week regarding this kind of guild, and how difficult it is to run them. I really must concur with these comments.

We have 105 accounts – often seeing 30+ players online, and having more raid signups than we know what to do with. We have received requests for extra groups, extra nights on the calendar, and are regularly prodded by potential new members who want to raid with us.

From a class balance side of things, we have too many tanks (many who are upset as they have not gotten into raids yet due to the fact they would be getting carried, and were still trying to learn most of the fights on many of the current regular raiders.) and are shy on active priests and hunters.

One of the many catches we have is that we are a “social guild” and therefore most people get along and form bonds, and many people get friends/family into the guild – from a social perspective, we can’t really turn any of them away. These friends/family members then expect to get in on raids, which mean we have too many people wanting to raid, and it’s a hell of a juggling match.

At the current moment in time we have two 10-man Naxx groups going, and we regularly raid 4 nights a week – with the core raiders (main tanks, healers and officers) having little choice but to attend all these raids to lead, deal out loot and assist (we tend to be the better geared due to doing just this, so need to help for successful takedowns.).

We were originally running with one, but with the amount of swap out's we were doing to get gear and experience, we put the second one up as soon as enough healers were raid ready. The first group rolled with the hardest hitting and most experienced people – the result being Sundays Naxx takedown. The second group had some of the experienced players, and a lot of new raiders – who basically had to start from scratch – in 3 nights they managed to clear the Arachnid quarter. Not too bad, but some of the second group were regulars of the first group, and it was a very depressing week of raiding considering.

From this week, we are evenly distributing the geared and experienced people between the two groups, with the hopes of getting quite far, and getting lost of shinys for people.

Logistically this is a nightmare. We have some 7 or 8 tanks signing, (can take 4) are often a little shy on healers, and have craploads of DPS sign – almost entirely Death knights + rogues and druids.

It is hard to keep everyone happy, try to maintain a balanced group and try to evenly distribute skill, I have seen my wife – who has taken it upon herself to do all this work even though I was the allocated raid officer, spend upwards of 6 hours at a time trying to pick and choose raiders, for each and every run.

The results have been relatively successful raids, with happy raiders, but some unhappy souls on the sidelines who never get picked because they need to do pre-Naxx gear ups, or there just wasn’t space to cram in that third rogue/DK/Druid.

In a couple of weeks we will hopefully be starting heroic Naxx – this will mean we can get in more people to an evenings raiding, with a little less fuss.

We now have EOE as well as OS to contend with in addition to Naxx, and as such a 4th raid night is often going to be up on the calendar, again, this means that most of us officers and healers will be required to attend.

Over the last few weeks we have also had a discussion on the go on whether or not we should use a DKP system or a /roll system with optional loot counseling. At the end of a week of voting, the /roll system won. This should lift a lot of potential burden from the raid leading in the form of not keeping track of scoring, but it can be expected that there will be the occasional bit of loot drama – but to be honest, anyone that does this regularly does not have the right demeanor for our guild. We regularly see people passing for others, or people loot counseling amongst themselves, but at the same time there is that one person that yells “Hey! I have a blue/green!” and expects the loot should automatically be theirs.

In my opinion everyone is equally entitled, it’s a matter of generosity if someone passes for them – since they could have a better item from other sources. The officers will only loot council in a fashion that means people don’t get gear that they wont use by accident, or if a critical upgrade for say a warrior or a healer drops, they can push it in their direction – although at this point there is nothing like that kicking about to worry about. One concern is that the most regular raiders (the hardcore who have always been there on time ready to go, for every run posted) who are the best geared and the most experienced want a DKP system (of 11 votes, 5 were for DKP. Yes, this is a bad turnout for a guild with our number of raiders – but we shall assume the rest don’t give a damn.)

From a personal standpoint, I would ideally like to raid for two nights a week, and have more time to do other things – even if its just leveling an alt. (I’m an altaholic :p) We are trying to avoid burnout of the healers and officers, especially with the pending release of Ulduar that’s going to do all sorts of nasty things to our raid schedule. (Gear up runs in Naxx, trying to do Naxx and Ulduar on alternating weeks, etc.) The only issue at hand whilst doing this is keeping people happy that want to raid, both their time schedules and raiding desires.

We are all very proud of the community we have managed to build, and the raiding success we have achieved with relatively lax raiding rules (limited min requirements, no obligation to attend, unless you sign, and a large player pool to pick and please.) we have achieved a lot with a group of under geared players. Up until last week, when we could take down Patchwerk because we had the healers, we were getting a spread of DPS from 1200-2200 – averaging probably about 1500, and still clearing most of the content.

Gear is improving. People are getting experience, and soon there will be new challenges. Where to go from here I wonder? It should be a fun adventure, I just hope it doesn’t result in too much stress, or forced raiding. We wish to remain true to our goals, but remain relaxed. Blizzard has tailored the new content to suit us perfectly, which I’m not complaining about, so anything is possible.

-V