Our guild has forged a raid alliance to complete 25-man Naxxramas. So far I’ve been on four runs for two different raids. The group has cleared the Spider Wing, Plague and Military Quarters, as well as Patchwerk and Grobbulus in the Construct Quarter. We’ve worked well together and the loot distribution has been fair. So everything is good right? As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend!” While we have had success, this is not a balanced alliance and our guild is on the short end.
If you are planning to form an alliance with another guild you want it to be a partnership. If you are joining to do raid content you want it to be,
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a joint-run based on an agreed upon schedule with each guild allowed to fill half the raid.
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The run should be posted on all raid members’ calendars regardless of the guild they are in.
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You need to keep all of your guild members in the loop as things progress, and you need to let them have a say (especially if it looks like it’s heading for a merger).
In our situation we are,
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joining the other guild’s scheduled Naxxramas run.
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We are providing six raid members and they have 19.
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The run is not on our calendar so we need to log on shortly before the raid start time and hope we get to go.
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We are using their loot rules, which so far have been fair. They are planning to switch to a DKP system for the next run so it will be interesting to see how that works out.
So what does this all mean for us? Well if the status quo remains then it will continue to be a win-win situation. If, however, the dynamics of the alliance continue to shift in the other guild’s favor we’ll have to decide to join their guild or dissolve the alliance.
If a merger is not in the offing then we then have the risk of losing players to the other guild. Why? Inevitably friendships are going to evolve as we raid together. It’s possible that some of our members might feel more at home with the other guild. Since we are progressing, going back to the way things were may be viewed as taking a step back.
I personally wouldn’t mind seeing our guilds merge, but it’s never an easy move. We all seem to get along and we are working well together. I really like the 25-man content and gear, and topping their dps meters is fun too :p
These are interesting times for our guild. Stay tuned…
