I’m lucky enough to have found a home in a great guild. Everyone is friendly, non-elitist and willing to help.

It’s the willing to help that had recently caused some strained relations between guild mates and also highlighted the divide between those who make things happen and those who want things to happen.

Recently, there was an incident where two raid groups were doing flex. The ability to have any number of people between 10 and 25 means that it’s an invaluable tool. A way of people to see new content and learn while being able to have the support of people who have done it before, while it’s slightly easier than normal mode but more challenging than lfr, and without the idiots screaming like children when things don’t go to plan (essentially, to complete lfr you should be so pro you would have soloed Garrosh HC while blindfolded otherwise GET OUT NOOB! *kick*) Getting back to the flex, RT1 and RT2 were in there learning the mechanics. On their own at their choice. This caused some issues. There had been a guild wide flex put up for the same day but had been taken down a day or two before. People had signed up, and then not logged in for a while to suddenly see it not there, to then look at the guild roster and see that there were many people in SoO, to then put two and two together and get five.

The divide in people’s attitude started to show when I got a whisper asking if they were doing flex. I had an invite to it still because I’m back up, but due to levelling my chars and only logging in on my main when the raid had already started I didn’t see it until it was too late. I replied that they were (which was true) this then caused uproar from two members. They saw flex as a way of being boosted by the main raid teams, and the only way they would be able to get gear. When it was explained that it was a raid for primarily RT2 to learn the tactics with help from people who had done it. It was then stated that it was on the calendar for everyone, it was then cancelled but they did it anyway, how was that fair? Unfortunately this was being said in whispers and in guild chat so that everyone could benefit from the argument.

The explanations that were being provided just were not good enough it seems. I had already said that for the purposes of getting gear we were trying to start a third raid team, however this was going to be “impossible to do” and we should be doing flex as it’s “there so people can get gear”. What people were failing to realise is that flex isn’t an easy way to progress. It’s harder than lfr and is there to enable you to just take an odd number of players in. It’s brilliance lies in the fact it enables your whole raid team to participate, back-ups and all so that everyone can keep up to date and standard before taking the bosses on in normal mode.

Many times it was suggested that they could take their own team in to do whatever they wanted. After much arguing it was decided that a guild wide sign up would be created for the Gates of Retribution. So anyone who wanted to do it could, no matter if they had experience or not. This also caused uproar for another member when they decided that they would voice the ‘opinion of the guild’ and log into ts, go into the raid channel and shout the odds at the people in there. It showed their true colours and they were swiftly removed from the guild. Needless to say they didn’t take too kindly to it.

The day of Flex came around and the person who had made a big deal about it and insisted that an event was made so that ‘everyone could benefit, not just the raiders’ wasn’t even online! He was supposed to be the raid leader but he didn’t even show up…

Where do you draw the line between holding people’s hands and letting go?
Should people expect to be carried through raiding by the more experienced members or should they make their own teams?
Should flex be used to boost people or is it better to be considered as another raid level along with normal and heroic?

It was frustrating to say the least. Many times I’ve said that we are getting the third raid team up and running, still people either ignore it or just don’t think it will work and then moan that they can’t raid. We are so lucky that there are a lot of really helpful people in the guild but they also need to realise that if they tried, they could form a team of their own. Some people it seems, just won’t get off their backsides.