Monday (26 Feb) - CRACK! Goes the Guild

Monday (26 Feb) - CRACK! Goes the Guild

Lao, you may be glad you didn't immediately take up the guild offer. Wild had a ring side seat Monday afternoon, witness to that first public split in the MM guild that sent fissures in who knows how many directions.

It started out innocently enough. Monday morning, Bd (an MM raid leader) and a guildie were jawing at each other on the guild website. I thought Bd was making the better argument, but for the most part so few guildies actually read the forums that it would probably go unnoticed. The subject was the poor state of raiding in the guild and who's fault it was (on the guildies part) and what we should be doing to fix it (on Bd's part). I will admit to some bias in Bd's favor.

Scroll forward to Monday afternoon. Wild had a chance to pitch his own ideas to the guild leader (GL), who was also in game. I had asked what the results were of his request for all guildies interested in raiding to talk to him, send him an in game mail, or otherwise contact him. The GL whispered Wild, asking if it was a serious question (which took me back a bit). But then he said that response had been poor despite all the complaining. I could understand his frustration, as no one should be complaining that is not signing up for raids or showing up for them. In his opinion most guildies either didn't want to raid or felt that they could raid or not raid when they felt like it. He was tired of it, and explained that he was working outside the guild on a way to get raiding started again in MM. That sounded a lot like what FS did - bringing in a dozen new raiders from outside the guild. It worked for them, and they are still a successful raiding guild, although they lost many members because of it. And raiders like Wild weren't encouraged to stay.

Wild didn't get a chance to follow up on that as there was a rhubarb going on in guild chat. One of our newer guildies, Mbf, had asked guildies for volatiles for his guild crafting. Someone made a comment accusing Mbf of selling the items on the AH instead of providing them to the guild. An argument ensued, with Mbf's friends defending him and some others not so friendly making snide and accusing remarks. I don't know Mbf all that well, but I know that he is a bit of a wild card - but no more than other crazy guildies I've known, and not in a mean way, and I happened to like Mbf. Nor was it clear whether the accusations were just ribbing or serious, but -

The GL kicked him out of the guild. The GL was quickly peppered with questions, Mbf's friends loudly proclaiming he'd done nothing wrong and should be reinstated. The GL would only say that there was more to it than just that incident. One of Mbf's friends kept complaining and was then also kicked from the guild. Two more then quit the guild, one of our best new priests and a veteran tank. Painful.

Scroll forward again to Monday night. A raid invite had been scheduled for Monday night which hadn't existed earlier in the day. The raid leader, Mf, and the GL were in a dungeon at the time so Wild did some dailies and waited to see if there would be a raid.

The raid didn't happen, but while Wild was waiting our top shaman healer, Sh, who I have raided with innumerable times, made a fond farewell speech in guild chat and then left the guild. He was the third highest ranking member of the guild. A founding member of MM. And a friend. And he was gone.

Then things got better and also got more muddled than ever. Lady Hunter logged in. Wild hadn't seen her in game in two weeks! Yes, work was a beech, she said, and yes, she was going to be more available and planned to restart her raid group (which I expect will include Bd). Then she asked, "I heard there were some fireworks today?" So I filled her in.

She had some fireworks of her own to drop on Wild. Seems there have been some friction going on under the surface for some time, strong enough that some guildies were considering forming their own guild. Lady Hunter wanted to talk with the GL and get the full story. But Wild knows how to add two and two - Sh was forming up a guild and Lady Hunter was considering whether to stay or go. Wild was also sneaky. A little research revealed the name of the new guild. Only two names in that guild so far, neither of which I know and are likely alts, but I'll keep checking. Bd later sent Wild a private message on the website. There are several folks involved now, all friends, but no decision on jumping guilds has been made as we try to sort this all out.

What a mess. But stay tuned for more drama to come.