Cathia recently responded to one of my latest posts in order to ask me an important question:
Hey matticus,im replying not because of iRaid but because i have an question,i role an holy priest myself and i have 1850 bonus healing but i still do kara and grulls only and i realy want more then that.Im waiting for my guild to go for 25 man raids but seems like is going to take more time before they start them.Should i leave them and adventure on an new guild or will that be incorect to them.Thx for your time
Well, you’ve just answered your own question. Your Guild will obviously want you to stay because your healing is an asset. But like you said, Cathia, you want to do more than what your Guild wants to do right now.
So what’s a guy to do right?
I was in your exact same situation almost a year ago. I was stuck in Karazhan and Gruul for about 3 months and I was getting tired and bored of raiding the same places. The first opportunity I had to depart the Guild, I took it and have never looked back since.
You can either stay in your Guild and raid unhappy or leave and try to find a new Guild that will satisfy your craving to raid. But do make your intentions known to your leaders, at least. Try to work out why you’re unhappy and what’s going through your mind.
I’ve got some bright readers here. Why don’t you folks chime in and let Cathia know what you think? Should this player leave for greener pastures?
I think before you jump ship you should take a look at one more thing – you want to raid more and better than Karazhan and Gruul. What kind of opportunities is your current guild developing for more 25 man content?
If the answer is none – and you’ve asked the leadership about possible future SSC/TK runs and they’ve not had any feedback that suggests there’s any guild interest – then I think you know your answer. You say it seems like it’s going to take more time – work out with the leaders exactly how much more time that is.
But you definitely want to know this before you jump headfirst into looking for a new guild, because if the opportunity is there to raid with you current group, but they need another few weeks to finish up (whatever), you’ve already got a history with them, and that will really help as you delve into more difficult content.
Also – Check out Big Bear Butt’s *excellent* post on finding a new raid (vs staying in the one you’re in already) – http://thebigbearbutt.com/2008/03/20/looking-for-players-in-all-the-wrong-places/
Hope that helps!
Greener pastures? Well, they say the grass is always greener…
Before you jump ship, ask yourself one simple question. “Why do I play?” LOL, now the hard part! Weigh all your answers.
Do you play for the social aspect? Do you have friends in your current guild? If so, you might want to stick it out because raiding with friends and people you like will be much more enjoyable than raiding with people who treat it like a job.
Do you play for the enjoyment of experiencing new content? Do you play for that precious upgrade? If this is the answer, then perhaps you do need to move on.
The question is simple, but the answers are hard. Weigh each one carefully and find what fits for you.
I have a friend that progressed much faster than the rest of us and left the guild. He joined a guild and helped them get through Kara, Mag, and Gruul’s. We stayed in contact and he groups with us when he can. Now he’s miserable because his guild used and abused him to their own ends grooming him for their main tank, but not allowing him to make any decisions or have any kind of say in the guild.
After five months he’s still ordered around by the GM on where and when he can go and hasn’t been promoted once. Although rank isn’t one of his priorities, it bothers him enough that the guild made him the main tank, but doesn’t treat him like part of the team.
If you do decide to move to a new guild, do your research on that guild first. Ask to try a few trial runs to get a feel before leaving your own guild. That way you won’t be out in the cold should it not go the way you hope.
Good luck!
Kyrilean nailed it.
If you play because you want to see Illidan before WotLK, move on. If you have friends in your current guild, stay in touch. Make your intentions very (VERY!) clear to your current guild, so at least they know its comming and can get a jump on trying to fill the void that you leaving will create. Seriously research any guilds that you would consider joining, and make sure that they have the same (or similar) goals as you do. Also make sure that the raid schedule and loot policy (if thats your thing) are acceptable as well.
If your guild is made up of friends, then stay and try and help direct them toward newer content. Be an agent of change, not of disruption.
My casual guild is made up mostly of friends. Time and again someone has left to go to a raiding guild. In more than half of those cases the person gets to raid but is eventually unhappy, because now he/she is a little fish in a big pond surrounded by strangers.
If the reason you play is mostly to kill bosses and/or get loot then your decision to leave is easier.
I’d make sure there is another guild out there that matches your raid schedule and progression needs & then make sure that they’re even recruiting.
There is no reason to leave your current guild if what you’re actually looking for doesn’t exist.
I know on my server guilds are always looking for healers but the ones in SSC/TK or BT/Hyjal are only looking for backup healers to ride their bench just incase their normal group doesn’t show up.
Just keey an eye out, ask around and if you find what you are looking for just notify your officers so you don’t burn any bridges incase the move doesn’t work out like you hope it will.
The answers you’ve received from some of the others are right on, and I’ve even been in the situation myself. I was in my guild for quite awhile and was even a class leader, but as this was at the very start of our progressions, and I was getting tired of every kara run being a 3-hour attempt to get through the skeletal horses and not even being able to down Attumen, plus the fact that we weren’t even raiding every week because half the time we wouldn’t have enough tanks or healers online to fill the spots, I decided to leave for a new guild so I could progress personally. I did a few kara runs with the new guild, but it never felt the same. I missed all my friends from the old guild and realized that they were the reason I really play the game, not so much for progression. Eventually the new guild fell apart and I went back to my old guild. I lost my class leader position, and it took me awhile to earn back a spot as an officer.
I’ve had friends who left the guild for progression reasons, progressed well in other guilds, but have had to move around from guild to guild as their current guilds fell apart and even though they stay in touch, you can tell they’re unhappy at some level. Sure, you can make new friends in a new guild, but you might miss some of your old friends as well.
So before you make the jump, think it over long and hard, and make sure you research any new guild you’re thinking about joining beforehand.
A suggestion from a guild leader: before you decide to leave, talk to your guild leader/officers! Unless you’re an officer yourself, or you have an extraordinarily open guild, you don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. Maybe the officers are, even now, debating whether to farm more or push for progression, and your input could help sway the answer.
I’m serious! Officers aren’t psychic. A bit of input from guild members about what they want can make all the difference in officer decision-making, especially when they’re trying to judge what direction the membership wants to take on a given issue.
If you approach them and they say “thanks, but we’re happy with our current schedule” or some equivalent, then you’re best off leaving on the best terms you can manage. But don’t give up on them until and unless you’re sure you want to move faster than they’ll let you.
first off, please talk to your officers adn guild leader. having been an officer at one time I can say Siha is quite right about us not being psychic.
If your current guild is not planning progression at a pace that you can deal with, talk to the leadership of your current guild and the leadership of the one you are considering running with. See if you can get put on as a backup for the SSC/TK guild while staying in you current guild. You would likely be a backup for some time anyway in your new more progerssed guild.
This would give the new guild a chance to get a feel for you and see if you fit their requirements. It also keeps you guilded with folks you already know, if nothing else farming badges for the new gear upgrades from sunwell (I want’s me that mace). Lastly, If nothing else it would give you a feeling for how the new guild would treat you once you were there. Check the grass and see if it really is greener. If you can get the leadership of both to agree to it, it really os a win/win for everyone invloved.
If you do decide to /gquit and move on, please take a few minutes to talk to your officers. Not only will it keep you from burning bridges you may want to cross again some day, but if there is one person feeling this way others may as well.
The guild leadership may assume everyone is content. At the same time you may not be the only one thinking about leaving. One thing to remember is the guild leaders cannot address concerns that they don’t know about. As the old saying goes “I can’t fix it if Don’t know its broken” Your bringing it up may help get your current guild moving more towards the content you want to see. Even if you choose to leave at least the leadership will know why.
Wow, thats quite a “wall ‘o text” I must need more coffee this morning =)
Make a channel for you and your friends from your old guild, and move on. Stay in touch over the channel.
if your guild can only do what pugs manage on a daily basis then i suggest applying to better guilds and if you can make their raids/get accepted…./gquit
About the time I was finishing the grind to 70, I joined my current guild. Most were still getting to 70 and getting Kara attuned. I wasn’t really focused on raiding yet and had friends in the guild, so their progression didn’t matter to me. Well as time went on the guild evolved into a “casual” raiding guild (yes I know it’s kinda an evil term these days). I raided with the guild for their progression, then pug’d into higher raids for myself. I’m at the point now where I can’t really Pug my progression anymore (at least not effectively) and the guild is kind of stalled on Lurker and VR. The obvious choice would be to explain to the guild and move on (hopefully amicably), but there is a problem with that. I am the mage CL and one of the higher DPSers in the guild. On top of that, I’ve played the peacemaker many many times, and I think quite a few people would follow me out the door. So there’s the conflict. I want to progress, but I don’t want to cripple my current guild by leaving. I have good in-game friends there and they are all really good people. I stay, reasoning that I play for fun, and it’s more fun to raid with people you like and have fun with than to progress. But as people continue to get frustrated and leave, it becomes harder and harder to stay. What to do? lol And sorry for the wall-o-text Matt.
Know what you want. Be honest, and talk about it.
If your guild does not provide you with this, by all means, leave. But keep in mind that you have to work for your goals. You won’t get anythin handed on a silver platter. 😉
Hey again, i informed my gm and officers about my decision and then kinda dindt accepted it at the beggining but then i had an long talk and they understood my point of view and let me go to another guild for new raid experiences.Now i have downde 3 bosses of ssc and 4 of za.Thanks for the help matticus and all you guys as well.Keep up the good work on this site. ^^
Lucky to find you, keep on the good workk guys! Best of luck.5
Oh o ho! very nice site!