It's time for another update, and this time around I'm going to talk about when to change guilds. To really have a background on where I'm coming from on this post, it would really take some familiarity with a blogger named Gevlon, AKA Greedy Goblin. His perspective on the game is often refreshing and he always attempts to look at things from a new perspective. He likes to challenge social behaviors and point out where they are unproductive or counter-productive, and suggest a more productive behavior to replace the default 'monkey' responses that are almost automatic.
From a raider's perspective a guild is a team that advances through current end-game content together, first tackling the normal encounters, then moving on to hard-modes, achievements, etc.
There are a lot of important aspects to a raiding guild's progression. A good recruiting staff, a loot distribution method that helps the guild's advancement through the content, and skilled players. If any one of these is missing a guild's advancement can be slowed, stopped or even reversed. By reversed I mean not able to take down bosses that they previously killed. This happens when skilled raiders leave the guild to go elsewhere, and the main reasons are lack of advancement and a perception of unfair loot distribution.
So this brings me to the aspects that should be weighted when evaluating your current guild in making a decision to move on.
1. Progress. How often is the guild downing new bosses? Progress rates vary wildly between guilds. If a raid is composed of 100% skilled raiders, then the guild will advance quickly, as that percentage approaches 0% the progress will come to a halt. By a skilled raider, I mean someone who optimizes their performance for the best possible output for their role, and who is capable of responding to events in a boss fight as they are needed to kill a boss. This relates back to having skilled players in the guild.
2. Attendance. Is there a full 25 man team with enough skilled players on standby to fill a 25-man raid for the current progression raid? This relates back to a good recruiting staff. A guild can be great, but if a few skilled players quit the game or leave the guild, the guild's progress will slow or halt very quickly unless those players are replaced with equal or better players.
3. Loot distribution. How fairly does your guild distribute loot? There is a risk vs reward aspect to loot. The lowest geared players are often going to be the newest recruits to the guild. The best advancement of the guild would be to give loot to the player with the lowest ilevel gear in that slot when the loot is optimal for his spec, or if the loot is not optimal for any spec give it to the player with the ilevel item who it is not optimal for. This of course is quite opposite to most loot distribution systems, and the reason for it is simple, players can quit a guild anytime they want with no repercussions. This is the risk. Most loot systems delay new players from getting loot one way or another or limit the amount of loot that new players get. However you have to consider how quickly you are getting geared. After a month or two in a guild you should have a fair chance at getting gear, if 25 pieces of loot drop you should have a fairly good chance at landing a piece that is optimal for your spec. Each boss on 25-man drops 4 pieces of loot, so 25 drops equates to roughly 6 bosses, which should be easy even for a guild that only raids twice a week.
So setting aside the emotional aspect of the decision, here are some firm items you can use to weight your decision: 1. Progress, 2. Attendance, and 3. Loot Distribution. If you find any of these aspects lacking it's always best to first bring it up to your guild officers, or guild master. Give them some time to fix the issues, but if you think you have given them sufficient time, and the problems continue then it's time to start looking. Put in applications with other guilds quickly, because sometimes the application process can take a long time.
