Guildleader chores - Recruitment and misunderstandings

I often go out onto forums to look for players that are looking for somewhere to call home.  Most of the time the people are looking for "progression", "hardcore", or "mythic" so it's pretty easy to gloss over those people.  Every now and then you come across someone who would just like a nice bunch of people to play with, and then I go try my luck, after I scope out their skill level.

The last person I recruited was Constantine, who was looking for something more casual and wanted to play with his friends here, Exray and Aza, so I went through the usual questions and then let him in and raid.  He tends to prefer their company (which is fine) and he does good damage now after we got him geared up.

So when I came across this couple who were on Aussies on an RP server, I opened a dialogue with them when they were trialling with another guild. That didn't work out for them so they came back to me and wanted to see if we would suit.

I told them that potential guildies who want to raid do a maximum of two raid with us as PuGs because in my experience, if someone hasn't joined by then, they are unlikely to do so. Scruff, Sev's friend, was a classic example. Said he would come, but really, commitment isn't really his strong point.  Besides, he still had a good thing going with his old guild, so I wasn't sure what our guild could offer him other than a more casual raid, more game time with Sev, and a stable long term home.

So I brought them for Sunday raid which is more casual, but I forgot to mention that they couldn't loot over guildies.  So when they won rolls, I couldn't suddenly say that it wasn't fair - we are doing rolls after all to loot on Sunday raids - and so I let it slide.  They both walked away with loot that day.

They wanted to see what a heroic raid was like, and I said from the word go that loot in heroic is not like how it is looted on Sundays, and that it is EPGP based. They would be welcome to loot that we are sharding, but they wouldn't be able to bid on any loot that the main raiders wanted. I was surprised when they came back to me saying that they thought that was unfair, because they had contributed to the raid, and being unable to loot would mean they would be locked out of loot for those bosses for the week. I explained to them that it would be highly unfair if they did loot and decide not to join the guild because they would have taken loot from our guild. "But we aren't PuGs, we want to join the guild," they said, and after another minute of discussion, and they decided they wouldn't raid with us that week, I thought "You know, if I have to sit here arguing about loot then I don't really think you want to join, and I don't think I really want people who are going to be snarky about loot in the guild."

So I figured that they wouldn't join and left it at that.

I was surprised when they came back to me to come for Sunday again, and since it was Sunday and our numbers were low, I said ok.  I didn't count that as their second raid because we were doing achievements, so it wasn't really about loot. After the raid, they asked if they could come to a heroic raid and decided upon Wednesday. It appeared that they had realised that their stance on loot was a bit silly for trials and were happy to comply with whatever I wished.

So Wednesday rolls around and I mentioned to the raid that we would be having some trials turn up.  They turned up late, and a few guildies commented that it was a bad first impression, being a trial.  I wasn't so fussed - maybe they wouldn't show.  However they did show up and one was on a mage, the other on their rogue. Their DPS wasn't amazing, but they were well behaved. After that raid, they said they would like to join.

A comment from one of them made me realise that they thought they had to do two raids to be eligible to join.  They could have joined at anytime - there had been no major outcries against them joining. They asked if they could bring a different toon, and I said as long as it wasn't a tank, and was geared (at least 695+) then they could. I have always said that you can play any toon you wish to play and whatever spec you like.

The next raid day turned up the toons that they brought were a monk and mage. One raid member was upset because they felt like we were being used to gear up alts, which we don't allow, but that wasn't the case. Both of them came as DPS, and I didn't particularly mind what DPS it was as long as it was geared for heroics. And, as I said before, play what you are happy playing.  I told the two new members that whatever toon they chose they could not change until the next tier, or until 4 months had passed. If their DPS was better on a different toon, why would that be bad?

They weren't amazing, but learning new strats with a different bunch of people can be like that.  I had to gently remind them of what behaviour I expect from guild members and they seemed compliant enough.  The main reason they were keen was because our guild raiding allows for being late to raid due to work commitments.  Obviously we frown on people just turning up at whatever time for no reason, but if on a particular day you are always late because of work, study, family or whatever, we're OK with that as long as we know beforehand. All I am looking for are reliable regulars, who are not dreadful players, who are improving and who are tolerant and fit into the guild with the rest of us. That's for raiding though. Socials are different, of course, and I picked up a social player earlier in the week too.

And I don't think that's too much to ask.  But I wish that everyone else would remember that too! It's hard to make people understand the thinking of what I recruit for, that it's not just about someone who is an amazing DPS or healer, but someone who can play well in a team and be good to their fellow teammates.  To me, that's more important than being a ranked player, but I understand that not everyone thinks that way. I hope that people can understand a little more about why I recruit the way I do, and that though it may be hard to understand, in theory it should be better for the longevity of our guild.