August 13, 2008
Good Leadership
I’ve always been told I was a natural born leader. Which was always odd to me as I am shy when it comes to dealing with new people. I’d rather not call people I don’t know and I have a hard time telling telemarketers to buzz off. However, I suppose if I know those around me I can and do lead well. When I walked into being a leader in this game it wasn’t really a new thing. I’d worked at Safeway at the time. I started out a cashier like any other ordinary 19 year old. It only took four months to gain a management position and become the store’s bookeeper. I attribute it to the fact I don’t have it in me to be unfair or mean. Does that make me a good leader? I am not sure.
Currently my guild, Ale and Arms, has two seperate raiding groups. I say seperate instead of different because they are indeed seperated. They raid never at the same time, the members of each group are labeled. Each has its own set of officers, and each has its own loot systems and progression. Really its like having two guilds. One very progressed the other struggling and dying on the floor. I am currently an officer for the Late Night Team (LNT). How this came to be was because I simply got tired of sitting around. We’d had other officers, but they all quit on us at the same time. Then other members left and pretty soon we were left with not much. I went on a recruitment spree. I even posted on other realm forums (don’t do that, people don’t like it. Even if you are recruiting from the over populated alliance side to raid oddball hours starting at 1am). They still don’t like it.
In my career of being a guild leader or an officer Ive seen many different systems. Some my own. Some of them failed some of them were great. I of course have shared these experiences with my current co officers and leaders. Unfortunately they are pretty set in their ways and I can understand why, the Eve team is making great progression. It is only the LNT that is struggling. Sadly I can barely put together a Kara or a ZA for them anymore. In my current perdiciment I cannot raid myself, and the one other LNT officer seems to be skipping out on showing up.
I really hate to tell the LNT to give up. Some of these guys have really held on and have high hopes, others are brand new and though aware of the situation, they still act surprised when I fail to find the people we need. Its really kinda disappointing that I can’t seem to rebuild this.
So in the meantime Ive had them farm, Ive made gear charts for our newer people. Ive offered opportunities to members who felt comfortable doing it to lead in my place and encouraged. I’m afraid though that I’m running out of ideas to keep this train wreck moving. I don’t want to give up though. I’ve never run into this sort of situation where I couldn’t find the people to bounce back. I’ll keep plugging along though.
As for Eve? They have recently made a little comeback. They were struggling with Tanks and Healers but picked up a few more and they are back in the action. Their group is a little more strict then LNT is. They have a loot system with modified rolls and such, and certain requirements to raid like having food buffs and whatnot. I was never that strict with the LNT for the month or so Ive been leading it, as right now we are only managing Kara and ZA. If we ever managed to get further I too would have had to push them harder.
I don’t believe I am the world’s best leader. I do believe Im fair and honest. And honestly I don’t think I can rebuild this. Im not sure what to do with them now 😦 Here’s to hoping it pans out somehow.
July 23, 2008
Its A Mixed Bag!
Alright so I admit juggling the kids and WoW and keeping the house clean is a little tougher then I suspected it would be, but I shall prevail! Its been a couple of days since my last post and I apologize for that. So here’s the scoop on stuff going on lately:
- They made me their leader!
- Discussion of the new abilities currently tested in Beta
- It doesn’t matter how long I’m gone, they’re not going to forget me
- Success in the LNT
They made me their leader!
My friends will tell you they saw that coming. Hell I saw it coming. I don’t know what it is that where ever I go I get put into a leadership position but it seems to always happen. I guess im a people person. Ale and Arms was so kind as to grant me officership in the guild and charge me with helping to lead the LNT group. I’ve been recruiting heavily and lately have been leading runs in our other officer’s absence. I’m quite excited though, despite my original desire to, “lay low”. There is real potential here and it just might be able to get off the ground.
Discussion of the new abilities in Beta
If you take a gander at www.mmo-champion.com and scroll half way down you’ll see the posted patch notes for the current beta test. Posted there are some topics of major discussion for my guild. There are many concerns over the changes to the Paladin tank, and the removal of blessing of sanctuary. Also Righteous Fury says it increase threat generated by holy spells by 90 percent! That’s insane! There has been a lot of debate of what the Paladin tank will turn into but I think we’ll have to wait for more information before we can start to get a clear view. Shaman have also been a hot topic, but its excitement. Totems going raid wide and Windfury becoming a 20 percent base haste increase that is constant rather then a proc is a favorite among our melee.
It doesn’t matter how long I’m gone, they’re not going to forget me
I stopped playing my warlock last September, and traded over to the Alliance. Once I had disbanded my long running guild the tell hell became ten fold worse and I just wanted to be left alone. I had thought enough time would have passed and I’d have been forgotten, but it wasn’t the case. I logged in and 6 people immediately messaged me, and more after that. I did some SSO dailies just to try my lock out again, and then logged out. While I miss her, I’m not sure I can ever return to her full time. The expansion will decide her fate I’m sure.
Success in the LNT
I’ve been recruiting my butt off lately for our LNT team. I even went so far as to pull a no-no and post recruitment on other realm forums. (To justify it, we’re literally playing in the middle of the night, there aren’t many that can raid that hour). However its paid off. We had enough people log on and eager to go to run two Kara’s again. 5 more people and I’d have tossed em into Mag’s or something. Its looking promising and I’m excited to see it pay off! I have a lot of work to do first but we’re getting there! Wish us luck!
I’m also working on a post in my head that will be far more interesting then my daily rantings (I hope!) 😛 Stay tuned.
Altoholic's Are Us 