According to the Web site, The Crew of Blade’s Edge was founded June 4, 2008. (It was actually founded a few months before, but the Web site was started 6/4/2008.) That is one year ago this week. Much has changed in that time, but much has remained the same. We have lost some folks, and gained others. New voices have joined our vent, and others have gone silent. But one thing that has remained is the reason I started this guild, to have a place to play this game, and have fun. The unofficial motto has always been, “Good players, Great people.”
We are at our heart a casual/social helping guild. Over the months, it seems that maybe we’ve lost some of our casualness. At this time last year, very few of us were 70s. And the end game content was, as much of a pipe-dream as being a ranked guild. Hell, at that time I didn’t even know there were was a guild ranking system. I just wanted to play with my friends. Because I needed good friends, because I sucked at this game and needed someone to carry me. And you have all become good friends. And maybe it is that closeness that has detracted from our socialness in the last few months. Just like friends in real life, familiarity can breed contempt. Its not that we don’t like each other, it is just that we are feel close enough to each other that we don’t have to go out of our way to make each other feel welcome. We all know that we belong to in this Crew and can tend to take each other for granted. There is no malice in it, its just human nature.
A year ago, when the game was fresh and exciting to us all, and we were hoping to one day be able to get into a Khara group, to get epic gear, we needed to be better friends. We needed each other for info, for answers to the “How do I?” or “Where is the?” questions. Now, many of us have multiple 80s and we know it all, except the latest expansion.
Most importantly, we have had a core group of 10 to 15 players that have been together for more than a year. And that is saying something, when guilds come and go everyday. And most are full of more drama over stupid, petty things. The only drama we have right night now, is how are we going to get better?
The Crossroads
Which brings us to the present: We are at a crossroads. We are still a casual/social helping guild however, we also a raiding guild because if we are not raiding we aren’t doing anything other than dailies. However, we have a problem. We are just barely able to get enough folks together for 10 man raids on an everyday consistent basis.
On the other hand, we have a handful of people who have the gear and desire to move on to 25 man content and the harder 10 man content. And therein lies the problem: If the folks who want to move on to other content don’t help the folks who still need to do the 10-man raids, because they are doing 25-man or harder content (again no malice, just human nature), we don’t have enough for 10-mans. And if we try to do the harder content as a guild it is often a frustrating failure, because many of us don’t have the gear or experience to make it successful. We have talent, but lack experience and gear.
I have really be working my butt off to find a way to keep both the “haves” and the “have nots” happy and working together. And everyone has been very understanding. Thank you.
Please know that we are trying to accommodate everyone's needs, which is getting harder as we gain more members and our resources are pulled in different directions.
All guilds must find a balance between doing challenging content for gear and glory and developing a deep bench of quality players. Ultimately, a deep bench will be better for everyone in the long run, while gear and glory is awesome but short lived. Nobody is more focused on our guild rank than I am, but that is empty if we are not developing a full set of players.
Enter 8K
In an effort to accommodate “the haves” – those with gear – Two weeks ago, we entered into a guild alliance with The Eighth Kingdom (8K). For 25 man raids every other week. We’ve run with them twice, one 25 man OS and a week of 25 man Naxx that ended in frustration at one boss. All-in-all it was is a good partnership. They seem like good players and, and more importantly good people. We have a good working and social relationship.
As it turns out, our relationship with 8K is very good. And, at the moment, 8K are in much the same position we are in now. And our work with them and the impression that our great people and good players have left with is, this:
They want to marry us. They want to merge guilds. Our guild and theirs are about the same size. This of course, opens up many solutions and just as many problems. And many, many more questions. We have not even addressed questions such as who will merge into who? Will we move in with them or will they move in with us? Will we create a new guild? What about the guild bank? Who will be guild leader? Who will be the officers? None of these questions have been address and all of them must be.
I will attempt to outline some of the pros and cons:
Pro: It will make getting 10 man raid groups easier.
Con: It may make getting 10 man raid groups harder. Sure we might be able to get 10 man Ulduar groups but nobody will want to go to Naxx.
Pro: The more, the merrier.
Con: The more, the more complicated.
Pro: Together we are formidable.
Con: Together we focus on the wrong things. Gear and Glory not Team development.
Pro: More runs, more gear.
Con: More runs, more drama.
Options
NOTE: NONE OF THESE HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED WITH ANYONE.
1.) They all join The Crew. I would stay as GL and we’d allow some of their officers to retain their officership.
2.) We all join them. I’d no longer be GL and some of our officers would be officers in that guild.
3.) We create a new guild. Pick a new name and guild leader and we all join that guild. And officers are selected as if we are just forming. And we leave one of two alts in the old guilds just to have something to go back to if it all falls apart.
4.) One guild becomes a raiding guild and only lvl 80s will move to it. While the other guild will become a sort of farm team, a place to lvl to 80 and get the help you need, a safe place to keep low level alts. We’d have inter-guild chat to allow for communication with both guilds. This is sort of the one I like the best. It reminds me of the junior varsity and varsity model. Of course I would love to have The Crew be the varsity guild, but that is up for discussion.
There are many issues that would arise with any kind of change in the structure. We may lose folks. However, we are on the verge of losing folks if we don’t do something, We are truly at a crossroads. I am feeling pressure from all sides. There are those that feel we don’t do enough to help lower levels, and some that feel we don’t do enough to help those that want gear and those that have gear are pushing for more challenges and content.
One year ago, when I started this Web site, our biggest concern was who was going to win the 50/50 raffle for funds to purchase epic mounts. We have become the guild I wanted us to be when I started it. We are working on end-game content and are ranked in the top 100 on the server. I have no illusions that we will ever break the top 40. We have come far, and won much, but the journey is not over. And I, for one, want to continue this journey with the friends I have made along the way. They are good players and great people.
Please think about where we are as a guild, think about where you are as a player, think about where you want to be as a guild, and as a player.
I am not completely sold on the merger, but I have an open mind about it. I would ask all of you to do the same. Please come to me with suggestions, comments, objections, concerns, and compliments.
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