Guildleader Chores - Is now the time to recruit seriously for Legion?
Recruiting at any time is a pain in the ass for most guilds and officers, but I am wondering if this is a good time to start picking up people for Legion.
And I don't mean picking up the large lot of disgruntled players whose guilds have collapsed and are looking for a new team. I'm talking about picking up returning players whose are guildless and looking for a new home. That's the kind of player that seems to be wandering around at the moment.
It's actually a good time for me to pick up some more casual players. Our guild has been a bit light on the casual players this expansion and I feel like they add a more social feel to the guild. At the beginning of the expansion there were tons of them - so much so that people were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of members and tended to retreat into little groups and not socialise outside their groups. And many of them were short-lived also - and we also couldn't accommodate many into our raiding schedule because we were just too full. I fully admit now that I did not enjoy that aspect of our guild in the early days.
But now, there are quite a few people picking up the game - there are new players, looking for a friendly home where they can learn to play quietly in peace, with other nice people around that they could ask advice from.
In the last month or two we have had a number of new members - interestingly, a large number of Death Knights. Is that because they start at level 55? But if you look at the new DKs in the guild we have 4 - Fynol, Mauve, Celaena and most recently Arthix. However, there is a curse that overshadows the Death Knights in the guild... they all suddenly disappear or stop playing or switch mains! We also have a running joke about DK's who smoke (because of one DK in the guild who was notorious for constantly needing to go for a smoke whilst we're doing trash) - and it's such an injoke now that I ask every DK who joins if they are a smoker.
I have been trying to be very strict though with the people I invite to the guild - just the other day a new member said something that was very awkward. The player in question was surprised that I was of asian origin, and asked for further clarification, and then said they were glad I wasn't an asian from a particular country, because "I'm not racist, but I hate all -insert-race-here- because all the ones where I live are f-wits."
I said not to say that again, and they tried to justify themselves about how it wasn't racist and I said enough, and then Crooked even said "When Navi says stop, I think you should stop," and then they kept going saying that we were being childish by not listening to their reasoning. I said that it is one of the guild rules NOT to have any racist talk, and they kept insisting that it wasn't racist, but Kyxyn stepped in and said firmly "We've asked you not to say it, because that talk is a guild-kickable offence. This is your last warning." And that was the end of that. Obviously I am too soft.
After that, I have done my best to clearly outline to every potential new member the kind of behaviour I expect from a Frostwolf, and I the rest are much more meek and mild, more wallflower than singing sunflower. I have always been very firm about guild rules, but perhaps I should be more firm in will as well, using more stick and less carrot.
Celaena and her partner, Reyuk, are the only two who currently have the potential to be raiders. Their story is interesting because she originally applied through guild finder some months ago, and we had a chat, and after some discussion she decided that she would stick it out with her current guild - not because there was anything wrong with our guild, but because I chatted to her about her circumstances and didn't want to rush her and gave her some suggestions on how to make her situation better. She even thanked me for being so friendly and it obviously left a good impression, because later when the guild she was not turning out as she had hoped, she came back to me because she thought we were a nice guild. Celaena is a relatively new player and still learning her way around the class, and I hope that either of our DKs (Duck or Dan) could give her some useful tips on how to perform her best in raids.
So, now might be a good time to boost guild numbers, but I don't think that recruitment now will reflect on any raiding numbers in Legion. Even Crooked commented on the people online - on quiet nights, we used to have nobody on but now with all the casual players, we now have more people on than we used to. It's no longer a ghost town when raids aren't on. I think I like this change.
I will have to put a cap on new recruits when the expansion hits, I think. Just to stop us from being overwhelmed with people, and making our current guildies feel uncomfortable. I think we'll do 3 a week, at the most? Or is that just a silly idea? In some ways, I think it's a bit like how people feel about Syrian refugees - everyone agrees that they want to help, but when refugees flood the gates with huge numbers, everyone gets a bit frightened and threatened and cliques form - the refugees stick together and the original countrymen stick together. If a few refugees came at a time, it would be easier for them to get to know the people already there, and for people to get to know them too and be part of a community. If you let many in at one time, they will tend to stick together and not mingle with everyone else and in return not everyone will want to mingle with them. Which is exactly what happened at the start of WoD!
And I don't mean picking up the large lot of disgruntled players whose guilds have collapsed and are looking for a new team. I'm talking about picking up returning players whose are guildless and looking for a new home. That's the kind of player that seems to be wandering around at the moment.
It's actually a good time for me to pick up some more casual players. Our guild has been a bit light on the casual players this expansion and I feel like they add a more social feel to the guild. At the beginning of the expansion there were tons of them - so much so that people were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of members and tended to retreat into little groups and not socialise outside their groups. And many of them were short-lived also - and we also couldn't accommodate many into our raiding schedule because we were just too full. I fully admit now that I did not enjoy that aspect of our guild in the early days.
But now, there are quite a few people picking up the game - there are new players, looking for a friendly home where they can learn to play quietly in peace, with other nice people around that they could ask advice from.
In the last month or two we have had a number of new members - interestingly, a large number of Death Knights. Is that because they start at level 55? But if you look at the new DKs in the guild we have 4 - Fynol, Mauve, Celaena and most recently Arthix. However, there is a curse that overshadows the Death Knights in the guild... they all suddenly disappear or stop playing or switch mains! We also have a running joke about DK's who smoke (because of one DK in the guild who was notorious for constantly needing to go for a smoke whilst we're doing trash) - and it's such an injoke now that I ask every DK who joins if they are a smoker.
I have been trying to be very strict though with the people I invite to the guild - just the other day a new member said something that was very awkward. The player in question was surprised that I was of asian origin, and asked for further clarification, and then said they were glad I wasn't an asian from a particular country, because "I'm not racist, but I hate all -insert-race-here- because all the ones where I live are f-wits."
I said not to say that again, and they tried to justify themselves about how it wasn't racist and I said enough, and then Crooked even said "When Navi says stop, I think you should stop," and then they kept going saying that we were being childish by not listening to their reasoning. I said that it is one of the guild rules NOT to have any racist talk, and they kept insisting that it wasn't racist, but Kyxyn stepped in and said firmly "We've asked you not to say it, because that talk is a guild-kickable offence. This is your last warning." And that was the end of that. Obviously I am too soft.
After that, I have done my best to clearly outline to every potential new member the kind of behaviour I expect from a Frostwolf, and I the rest are much more meek and mild, more wallflower than singing sunflower. I have always been very firm about guild rules, but perhaps I should be more firm in will as well, using more stick and less carrot.
Celaena and her partner, Reyuk, are the only two who currently have the potential to be raiders. Their story is interesting because she originally applied through guild finder some months ago, and we had a chat, and after some discussion she decided that she would stick it out with her current guild - not because there was anything wrong with our guild, but because I chatted to her about her circumstances and didn't want to rush her and gave her some suggestions on how to make her situation better. She even thanked me for being so friendly and it obviously left a good impression, because later when the guild she was not turning out as she had hoped, she came back to me because she thought we were a nice guild. Celaena is a relatively new player and still learning her way around the class, and I hope that either of our DKs (Duck or Dan) could give her some useful tips on how to perform her best in raids.
So, now might be a good time to boost guild numbers, but I don't think that recruitment now will reflect on any raiding numbers in Legion. Even Crooked commented on the people online - on quiet nights, we used to have nobody on but now with all the casual players, we now have more people on than we used to. It's no longer a ghost town when raids aren't on. I think I like this change.
I will have to put a cap on new recruits when the expansion hits, I think. Just to stop us from being overwhelmed with people, and making our current guildies feel uncomfortable. I think we'll do 3 a week, at the most? Or is that just a silly idea? In some ways, I think it's a bit like how people feel about Syrian refugees - everyone agrees that they want to help, but when refugees flood the gates with huge numbers, everyone gets a bit frightened and threatened and cliques form - the refugees stick together and the original countrymen stick together. If a few refugees came at a time, it would be easier for them to get to know the people already there, and for people to get to know them too and be part of a community. If you let many in at one time, they will tend to stick together and not mingle with everyone else and in return not everyone will want to mingle with them. Which is exactly what happened at the start of WoD!
Haha ... that guy who reckons he's not racist :p "I'm not racist because I'm only singling out that race from a particular country, not the entire race ...". I was accused of being racist once, when I wouldn't let someone under 18 apply to our 18+ guild. Which kinda proved one of my reasons for not allowing it ..
ReplyDeleteI recruit constantly. But then I don't have a "proper" raiding guild as such .. we're just finishing up normal HFC at the moment, we don't have a set team, we're never going to get to Mythic and we're generally inclusive for raiding - anyone can come along as long as they don't make too much of a muck up of it.
We don't have a set raid team, some raiders work shifts, others can't raid every week and they virtually all have loads of alts, most of which they're happy to switch to at any time, so we're happy to accommodate new people.
I don't recruit actively very often though. I have the blizzard advert up on the realm forums and I have one in the guildfinder in-game .. together with one on various ranking sites etc .. these usually generate 4-5 applications a week, roughly? Of those, I probably reject 1 out of the 5, and that seems a fairly okay number. Then you get the occasional accepted app that never turns up :p
The majority are pure social, or social with the hope to raid without the experience, but it seems to work out.
We have enough online so that the new people don't outweigh the regular guild members, and they get integrated really quickly (socials tend to be, well, sociable!). On average, we'll have about 15-20 people online concurrently on an evening. Especially at this point in the expansion I find that people get bored easily and often don't log in for a while so, yes, it could be interesting closer to Legion when they all start getting a lot more active.
I'd not like to recruit much faster than we are at the moment .. the current incoming just about balances those who are getting bored, or who are busy with real life stuff .. but much more and I'd get concerned that we would start to lose our identity.
I think a lot of it is down to attempting to filter out the ones who may not fit before they even join, although it's not always easy.
I don't like losing guild identity - I think that's an essential part to the guild. I found that when you have a small intake they integrate way better and there seems to be less friction. That's why I don't like to absorb another guild or take a large group from another guild because they won't settle into the guild as a group unless I'm really lucky.
DeleteI just hope everyone that joins is a great addition to the guild. But you you win some you lose some!
Indeed .. you can't be 100% right 100% of the time. But you can slant things in your favour a bit :p
DeleteI think the number you recruit/aim to recruit is partly personal, and primarily based on the size and activity of your guild.
If you have a guild full of people, but there's virtually no chat, then it only takes one or two to envelope it's "identity". Alternatively you could have a much smaller guild where everyone chats, and everyone gets along, and you could probably take a few more without even noticing a change.
It really depends on whether or not you have a decent number of "regulars" .. we often have the same people on virtually every evening (and not necessarily the same people, but others who are regularly on at other times of the day) - these people have been with us for years and are basically our "core" membership. When we get new people, they usually tend to integrate by default, because there are more of the "core" to instill the guild identity. And then it doesn't take long for those newer members to be fully integrated and carry out the same role for even new members (*fingers crossed* :p )
At the end of the day it's a fine line .. you don't want too many people all at once (you don't even want too many people full stop, as far as raiders are concerned, especially not if they're all gravitating towards a certain class or role); you also don't want to put the brakes on and then realise you need more.
And there's Legion to consider. I've not noticed a huge number of people coming back to the game at the moment in preparation for Legion .. although that may increase as more people get interested in the pre-sale for the level 100 boost. Currently the numbers I've seen seem to be roughly balanced between those joining and those leaving (even if temporarily).
However .. bearing in mind the numbers that suddenly turned up for previous expansions, Legion isn't likely to be any different .. especially with the movie out not long before release. At that point I'd expect quite a lot of new/returning players coming along.
Our average raid size more than doubled at the start of WoD .. over and above any other expansion. Most of that was due to returning players (to the game, not necessarily our guild).
What I would say about recruitment though, is that for longevity, I prefer to recruit people around this time - you don't get a LOT of returning players (because they're waiting until closer to the expansion) but you do have those who don't easily get bored - who continue to play when other people have blasted through content and can't be bothered any more.
*Edit ... apologies if I've posted multiple times .. I'm having massive problems getting comments to work .. I've had to post as anon rather than Sprowt .. perhaps it's a Wordpress thing. :-(