Comments on: Is Too Many Any Better Than Too Few?

By: Maalin

Maalin — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:34:37 +0000

I think the answer to your question varies with realm. On my realm I wish there were more raiding guilds. I don’t have a main raid spot in my guild, but I don’t see anywhere to go either. And to a certain degree the guild perks are a trap in that I’m unwilling to just abandon them without a good group to move to. For now, I raid 10 man with other non-main raiders and some raiders’ alts. It’s fine, but I’d prefer a more frequent, committed progression group.

Also, if you are making progress then why are you recruiting? My own bitter story: after 11/12 lk hm my guild replaced me without so much as a “gee, we’d like to see some changes.” I hope you are working with your lower performers and giving them a chance to get it together.

By: TM

TM — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 04:37:59 +0000

Absolutely, recruitment through all the standard methods should be on-going. I only meant my list for a guild at a crisis-point, for whom regular recruitment wasn’t working anymore. I in no way meant to imply that your guild was at that point.

By: paperclip

paperclip — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:37:56 +0000

Too many guilds may be bad for guild recruiting, but it is good for players. If you have immediate soft spots in the roster, then recruiting top notch applicants is important, but if you have room to take a longer view, you can take the time to train up new raiders. The introduction of guild rep makes your investment less likely to be wasted by the member jumping ship. Obviously this places an incremental burden on raiding guilds, but it is probably good for the game as a whole (and definitely good for Blizzard, who can maintain accounts which might otherwise be closed for players who can’t bridge the gap to raiding.)

By: Meliika

Meliika — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:57:02 +0000

Very true, but as some of the startup 10 man guilds crumble, a few more raiders will be released back into the pool and will go on to help fill up some empty spots in other guilds (both 10 and 25).

Some 25 man guilds may also break apart or morph into 10 mans, but for some reason I can’t really define I find this a less likely scenario… just like large companies can usually endure rough times, but little startup companies often can’t.

I do think that a natural balance will eventually come about, and whatever happens, it’s very interesting to observe from a purely intellectual point of view. Kinda like a social experiment.

By: Wugan

Wugan — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:49:16 +0000

One difference for 10 man recruiting is that we simply have a lot less spots to fill. That can make it seem like less of an endless job, and more of a temporary search to fill a hole when it opens up.

I do agree that running a smaller roster means 1 no show can be a big deal. Although, in a 25 if 1-2 of your best tanks/heals don’t show up, that can just as easily cripple a raid as well.

By: Beruthiel

Beruthiel — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:01:22 +0000

I do not disagree that 10s and 25s have their own sets of challenges, but I do think that they share in the recruitment challenge

By: Beruthiel

Beruthiel — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:59:25 +0000

I think too many is a problem. It’s the dame reason that you can’t have 10 coffee shops within a block of each other. While lots of people want coffee, there are too much supply and not enough demand.

By: Beruthiel

Beruthiel — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:53:50 +0000

Only time will decide that factor, and I think you would be surprised at the fortitude some guilds can exhibit

By: Beruthiel

Beruthiel — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:52:03 +0000

We do try to fill positions before we ever get to the cancel raid point, and we have a large F/F pool that can help out in a pinch.

Recruiting should be a bit of a perpetual thing, so that you always have a pool of applicants to review. But that doesn’t make it any easier or alleviate the problems involved

By: Beruthiel

Beruthiel — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:46:46 +0000

I definitely think that the guild leveling system makes people think hard about changing guilds, but I believe that was part of Blizzard’s intent in their drive to make guilds important.