Unforeseen Events

Today patch 3.0.2 goes live. I was just barely able to start the install before I had to scurry off to work. I'll probably give my impressions about the patch tomorrow.

Last night something kinda bad happened. For those unaware - about 3 weeks ago myself and about 6 players split off from our old guild and created a new one. It was half from lack of progression, and half about just the way the guild was generally ran. I think we had 5 officers from the old guild, plus a couple experienced vetrans. The new guild had the GM (me) + 4 other officers, everyone else was just a regular member for the time being. So we are a new guild - basically on a break until WotLK hits and we can start leveling again. We are going to focus on clearing 10 man content, until we can recruit enough to do 25 man content.

Three of our members decided to leave to play with friends. They had played with the same group of players since about the day they created their characters if I remember right. I can not blame them one bit. I play with my RL girlfriend and dad. If they were in another guild, I sure as hell would leave to play with them. I think these friends are more virtual than RL, but the same theory can apply.

One was a Holy Paladin. It's obviously bad to lose a healer in any capacity. When the guild was first drafted, we were tossing ideas around. How many officers? Who is GM? You know, the typical stuff. I was willing (and wanting) to take on the GM role. Especially as I didn't think anyone else really had the motivation to do so. With the exception of this Holy Pally... Her and I talked about it a bit privately and decided that I would take the responsibility for the time being, and possibly pass it off if I felt over burdened (I was going to be the RL and MT without a doubt, adding GM in there could cause a person to go mad!). We didn't really have a ranking system in the guild as far as 2nd in Command or anything. But if we did - she would probably have been #2. Both for the ability to play often enough to handle guild issues, and in skill of the game. So her leaving has obviously put a damper in my spirits from a Guild Leader standpoint.

Another player to leave was a Warlock. I'd tell you his spec, but by the time you read this he would have changed it all ready. Hands down the best Warlock player I had ever had the honor of playing with. Long story short, did a PUG Botanica run with this guy 3-4 months ago - before we were in the same guild. His ability to CC flawlessly, while still maintaining top spot on the DPS charts blew my mind. He is the one that essentially introduced me to the others. He was working his way into learning about guild and raid management techniques. I think with time would have been an outstanding raid or guild leader. So yeah...losing the best Warlock you have ever played with? Not good.

The third player to leave was a Priest. He would play both Holy and Shadow depending on what was needed. I did not get to play with him very often, especially as a damage dealer. His healing ability was definately top tier. Knew what he was doing as a healer without a doubt. Another tragic loss.

One of the players left before I logged in last night, the others left about 30 mins after my logging in. I was devasated by it when they told me - but completely understood. I freaked out a little bit. I was the only one online when the 2nd left and didn't have anyone to vent to. About 30 mins later 2 of my officers came on, and I told them what happened. They did their best to calm me down. They eventually did. Mostly by telling me they would play whatever character or spec was needed for the guild to get through Naxx (they both have multiple 70's).

This overall made me calm down and happy. Also gave me relief in who I choose to be officers for the guild. Our conversation last night gave me much more confidence in our guild than I have ever had - even after losing 3 outstanding players. We are going to go full steam ahead when WotLk hits. We will likely need to pick up 1 or 2 solid players to fill our roster for a 10 man raid. I don't think that will be too much of a problem really. We have a lot of flexibility in our roster right now, so we can take nearly any class and spec - save maybe tanking specs. I think we have 3 potential tanks in the guild out of 8 players right now. Obviously healers are always welcome, but we will be able to make due getting DPS players to start with.

We obviously are not too crippled as we are not raiding right now. We have lots of time to recruit those extra 2 skilled players. Has anyone else ever had to deal with something like this?