I had my Mage in a raiding guild for a few months in the winter, and had some great raiding times, and great times running Heroics with a new group of friends.

But, I kind of got burned out on the guild for various reasons, so I returned to my friendly social Friends guild that I leveled my first toon to 60, and then to 70, in, and I put effort into leveling my Priest to 70 and gearing her up.

With my Mage at 224 on the Be Imba! scale, my Priest is now level 70 and over 200 on the Be Imba! gearing scale which puts her as geared for ZA, SSC and TK, right up to the very end and nearly to the start of BT and Hyjal.

Many of my friends in the social Friends guild have toons that can run Heroics, now, and we’re PUGging Karazhan and Zul’Aman (those of us geared well enough)… but other than Sunwell Trash Runs, nobody but me has progressed into the 25-man raiding arena, and for the most part, it’s because they’re not quite far advanced gear-wise to get in. Because we all have a billion alts, and Heroics is the “goal barrier of acheivement” in this guild for all these toons.

Some players aren’t quite so altoholic-y and are getting their main toon close, and that’s great, but after that experience with the TK PUG where we downed 3 bosses (two which were first-timers for me) and had a great, quality raid (in so many ways), the little wish that I could join in on that more regularly, with a reliably good group, poked its head up.

Why I’m Not In A Raiding Guild

I’m not in a raiding guild because I have pretty high standards when it comes time to commit my time on a regular basis for something.

In real life sport, I expect my coaches to have a strong positive character. I expect my swim coach to be knowledgable and supportive and understanding of the fact that this IS a recreational swimming team, even though there are some die-hard competitors in the fast lanes. I expect my martial arts instructor to maintain a safe training environment despite the “violent” actions we’re practicing.

And what of my teammates/classmates? I expect them to put in their own efforts to, well, basically, not inconvenience me for the sake of their own convenience in what we’re both doing.

Online, this is a difficult thing to achieve for many reasons.

Like, the fact that the leaders in sport are often receiving some financial benefit for their work and training, whereas people leading high-end raiding guilds aren’t. In fact, raiding guild leaders are often paying money OUT to do what they do… for Vent servers, websites, etc… nevermind the time they’re spending in and out of game to be the well-versed leaders they are.

And members, too, aren’t being paid, which digs into questions of loyalty and being self-serving vs sticking it out for the guild (the last raiding guild I was in had a lot of turn-over - get geared, skip to a guild higher in the progression chain, which left us regulars unable to sub out even)

So in the end, my raiding experience showed me there was potential for great fun and enjoyment of the game, but it may not be easy to find a raiding guild that I actually feel comfortable in.

What Kind Of Raiding Guild Would I Like?

If I were to join one (since running my own is out of the question), and it would be a great one for me, what would that raiding guild look like?

Well, let’s see:

• Whether or not the guild has an age policy, new recruits are very carefully scrutinized for certain traits of independence along with certain traits of being a “team player”. Examples:
  • Guild history that doesn’t involve hopping around between raiding guilds
    
  • Exalted in Cenarion Expedition, The Sha’tar and Aldor or Scryer on main raiding toon.
    
  • Willing to PUG Heroics or other dungeons and quests without concern.
    
  • Enjoys his or her gear but doesn’t feel the need to tell everyone else about it, on and on (limited epeen measuring please, but congratulating each other on gear improvements/wins is awesome).
    
  • Always comes to raids fully stocked with consumables (food, oil, flask/elixirs, potions, any other helpers) and doesn’t talk about the fact that they’ve done it at all. It’s a normal part of their raiding experience and they don’t expect a pat on the back for it. Certainly asking others for these things would be an extremely rare thing, usually happening when there were an unusual number of deaths that night or the 25 mana pots you brought with you are running low after many long, pot-burning battles on a new boss.
    
  • Doesn’t require a summon for a scheduled raid unless the location of the raid was changed last minute. Parks their toon outside the instance if they’re on the stand-by list, and plays an alt so they’re still available in 20 seconds notice ;)
    
  • Has epic flying on their main raiding toon already and nobody talks about their repair costs in a “woe is me, it’s so expensive” way.
    
  • Maxed professions, including the secondary ones, on their main raiding toon, and knows the value of having done so.
    
  • Doesn’t share their characters with friend or family. We always know who we’re talking to when your character is online.
    
  • Spends time looking up information on websites etc and watching videos for things they want to know/get better at
    
  • AFK’s are infrequent outside of scheduled breaks, and are only rarely unreported beforehand. AFKing for dinner mid-raid? Replaced and penalized.
    
  • If a buffing class, gets everyone buffed up quickly after a wipe and gets mana restored for the battle quickly. Rarely, if ever, has to be asked for spot-buffing for individual deaths.

• Leadership is responsible and knowledgable
  • People’s time deserves respect. Start the raid on time, end the raid on time. Don’t reward people who arrive late or leave early with no prior notification, as that punishes those who came on time and stayed until the end.
    
  • Some discussions should be done in private. While peer pressure and a bit of public embarrassment is a good learning tool at some times, there are times it shouldn’t be the first attempt of behavior modification. Vent should be kept quiet during raids with very little extraneous noise.
    
  • Someone’s gotta be the bad guy when a new recruit doesn’t fit. I expect leadership to recognize early and remove the one who obviously doesn’t fit long before their 30 days probationary period would be over. Or heck, have test runs with a player before even recruiting them. If it’s a borderline case and someone who could be coached because they have a good attitude and get along with people that’s fine, but there are obvious cases at times and having them stay any length of time is grating ;)
    
  • I’m willing to make modifications to my playstyle as long as things make sense. If it’s done for some weird “I hate frost mages” reason, then I’ll have a problem with that :)
    
  • I’d really like to have leaders who are respected in the community, or at least when they get into PUGs or in with people they don’t know, they make a good showing outside of being a skilled player. Being in a top-end raiding guild is awesome, but it doesn’t make you God ;)
    
  • When I join something, I want to do well and fit in and be a great contributor. But different people have different visions of what makes a great contributor. If I’m confused about something, I’d like to be able to talk to leadership who are knowledgable and respectful, to get things cleared up.
    
  • Fair looting rules. Mains over Alts, Main spec over Off spec/PvP, PUGs get equal roll if they were required, spread out the goodies in a way that is good for the raid overall, no nepotism.

  Obviously, this entry is more as a way for me to think this thing through as the expansion draws nearer and my itch to join a fast-leveling group of non-alt-a-holics grows.

  Also, I had someone from a top-10 Horde side guild on my realm find my blog and entry about Be Imba! recently and initiate a conversation with me when I logged in on my Mage… and in reading their charter after that conversation and perusing the website, my interest is further piqued!

  Three raiding nights a week, with mandatory 66% attendance which allows for a player to raid only 2x a week, and a whole bunch of things in their charter which point to an adult, mature, respectful environment and a tight-knit group.

  I will ponder this further as I work to join a PUG I hear someone in this guild arranges every week on the same night and time… but doesn’t advertise on Trade. Woot, underground high-end raid PUGs!