I often find myself saying that Covenant is a casual raiding guild with delusions of being hardcore. This is not actually true. After pondering our existence for some time the best that I can come up with is the oft-used oxymoron “casually hardcore”.
Most folks who take the time to think about it consider a person’s, and by extension guild’s, playtime in WoW to exist on a continuum. At one end you have the ultra casual. These folks play the game at their leisure. They probably don’t raid and love to play alts. Their ultimate goal is relaxed fun at their own pace. At the other end you have high structured, completive, goal driven guilds. These players dedicate themselves to the game above all else and strive for world first progression kills. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle.
On a scale from one to ten, with one being playing hide and seek in Silvermoon and ten being guilds like Ensidia and Premonition, I’d say we are a seven. This is a precarious place to be. Because of lax recruiting rules, guild mergers, and other things we have three levels of players in the guild. We also have three ten man groups A, B, and C.
Note: The levels of player are not always indicative of which ten man group they are on as these groups formed organically.
The players in the first level are more of 8 to 9 on the scale. They are goal driven students of the game. They push themselves to complete the top level of 10-man content and min-max their toons. They are the mentors and leaders of the guild. These players are driven by gear, achievements, server progression, and bragging rights. They are Type A personality people.
The players in the second level are more of a 6-8 on the scale. They have many of the same goals as players in the first group but have been held back for various reasons. Time, real-life issues, issues in previous guilds have all put these players slightly behind the bleeding edge. They are also very goal driven and given the proper resources will join the first level of the hardcore in time.
The players in the third level are more in the 4-6 range. They aren’t min-maxers and generally have a lower level of play. This is either due to a lack of knowledge or a desire to play the game on a more casual level. This way of play is not bad, but it does not lend itself to successful raiding. Players at the third level who seek out knowledge to improve there play either on their own or through a mentor quickly move into level 2. These players also tend to be very loyal.
The one constant through all three levels in Covenant seems to be a desire to shift further towards the hardcore end of the spectrum. With the institution of DKP and recent forming of a third 10 man group this seems to be working well.
However a lack of a solid recruiting and application process as well as not having a system of negative incentives is hold us back from the top levels of play. These also seem to be a ways off so that could stunt growth in progression. However in the meantime the focus on balancing the needs and wants of all three kinds of players is more important to the heath and viability of the guild.
As players move up the levels and progress in their own toons the guild will progress better in content and we can make the call as to whether or not we want to ratchet up the intensity. We can’t become a hardcore progression guild overnight, but the path is visible. We just need to survive the process. As the GM is it my job to see that we do.
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