Summer, Ruiner of Guilds
Posted by 
iTZKooPA on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - 24 Comments Tags: Guild, PvE, PvP, gm, guild cohesion, guild retention, keeping a guild together, officers, patch v3.2, raid leaders, ruiner of guilds, summer, summer gaming, tips & tricks, v3.2
iTZKooPA on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - 24 Comments Tags: Guild, PvE, PvP, gm, guild cohesion, guild retention, keeping a guild together, officers, patch v3.2, raid leaders, ruiner of guilds, summer, summer gaming, tips & tricks, v3.2 
No, it isn't the name of the latest Legendary item to appear in Azeroth, although it certainly possess that kind of power. Summer, with all of its sunshine, growth, and activities, may not be in Azeroth directly, but the season is a force to be reckoned with nonetheless. With school over for most kids, nearly every human being is going to want to enjoy their few months of sunshine. Me? Well I turn in to a freckled lobster when those rays lick my skin, so I do my best to avoid the giant ball of fusion.
Here's the rub, my guild isn't full of pale Irish people who's only natural UV defense is to catch a tan through a screen. Due to this pesky little "evolutionary" trait I have found summer to be an incredibly boring period inside World of Warcraft, at best. At worst, it's nearly caused my (two times former) guild to collapse, twice, and my former guild to all but disappear from the WoW. Now I am fearing if my current guild will have a similar fate.
Looking back, it seems like previous summers were set up to be a disappointment. By the time kids left school the most recent content was incredibly stale. To boot there was nothing on the immediate horizon, a dangerous pairing of inactivity and zero hype. I would never think that Blizzard would plan such a thing on purpose, after all, letting people escape the game for too long is dangerous, but the early days of WoW were marred with inconsistent content development that caused these unfortunate coincidences.
Fast forward to June 2009 and it looks like we might be safe. First and foremost, Ulduar is still fresh to nearly the entire playerbase - especially Chinese players, a group that hasn't even received Wrath yet! Backing up, or filling out if you prefer, the new raid content is the excitement around Patch 3.2. We already know some basics, and major changes, have an inkling of the upcoming Battleground and have been teased with massive additions to the Argent Tournament grounds. As guilds begin to put Ulduar on farm (I don't see this happening for at least another month) players will increasingly turn to waiting for the next big thing. But the hype can only hold onto us for so long. I think Blizzard timed Ulduar correctly, whether by coincidence, or on purpose, who knows, but here's to hoping Ulduar stays fresh for the summer. If not, then let's hope that Patch v3.2 comes out in a timely fashion.
Has your guild been destroyed or nearly so by a past summer? Do any of the GMs, officers or raid leaders have any tips to keeping things running during these lax months? The second time All That Remains almost failed we rolled the bored players into PvP groups and tore apart Magtheridon's horde for a solid month. The mass genocide of five races held us over till the end of the summer. Twas an interesting way to save a hardcore PvE guild to say the least.
We'll see how things play out, but I am looking forward to spending a portion of my lazy summer days in Azeroth. I just hope there will be others to play with.
Reader Comments (24)
FIRST???
Yes bangsmegee you are FIRST!, the first moron of this post.
My guild caved in on it self last week, I think alot of it had
to do with summer. I do seem to play alot more when I'm
stuck inside all winter.
I have been in the same situation. Its a shame that so meny guilds split up during summer. I have lost some
in-game friends during summer, but i dont think there is much to do about it. We cant force people to stay inside playing wow.
Good post as allways!
Last summer i lost a guild also to the summer. THis year easter changed half of my guilds rooster and this summer made me quit wow:)).
I'm with the school bragade that can only really play DURRING summer, this is my time to shine...I'm actually to busy durring the "winter" months.
Our GM did something pretty smart. Since the inevitable pull of the outside was wreaking havoc on our guild's participation, he created an alliance with a fellow guild on our server and we merged for the summer. This allows those of us that want to stay around to progress through Ulduar the freedom and manpower to do so without feeling guilty. And once fall rolls around, we are all welcome back to the fold to continue our journeys together.
Wait...it's summer?
*looks outside*
Woah!
My guild, and many others, have suffered from similar membership problems. I've tried to keep a positive outlook, but I wouldn't be surprised if we just eventually gave up and let it collapse.
I'd go find another guild to play with, but it just wouldn't be the same!
Its summer all the time where i live... LOL
Grr... I hate the sun.
So goddamn bright, and hot! D:<
If you haven't realised, I am incredibly pale. :S
I'm a college student, and I'll agree I seem to have more time to play WoW during the school year than the summer. Either I'm working or hanging out with people. During the year I don't really go out nights on weekdays because of class, but during summer I'll go out more often with friends, which would be the time I'd be going on WoW at school.
On the flip side, one of the only reasons my guild really stays together anyway is because we're all good friends, and want to stay together. We rarely would have enough people on for a dungeon or raid.
Try being an officer. And being on constantly during Summer.
Actually, summer has refilled my guild that had emptied out during the winter. Thank God.
Not much changes between Winter and Summer for my tiny little guild. We're only about 50 or so members. Most of which are alts of myself and the officers. The rest haven't been on in weeks. Sadly I'm the "effective" GM of the guild because the real GM is a trucker and is almost never on. Especially so during the summer I would imagine. Not sure what the other officer does, but he's Canadian, so who really knows? =)
Yeh alot of guilds have slow progression during summer, like myself this summer, a week in france 3 weeks in ibiza then im going to be chilling out. Wont be on WoW for about 5-6 weeks but who cares? =D
my guild makes summerrules
not more than 3 days off or its a kick.
So i left the first day that rule came on.
I wanna play wow when i want and nobody is gone push me if i dont want to.
Well i live in England and its hardly ever blooming sunny here so no worries about everyone from my guild (who live in England oddly enough!) leaving to go sunbathe. =P
lol im irish and i take offence of that
My guild is gradually caving in due to only having one team doing Ulduar 10 and not caring about the second team, thus not being able to go do the 25 man version.
I love the sunshine, if only it would come out a bit more often (working evenings and weekends in England FTW)
i nthe past summers summeer has been my best times its the time whear i can get the more done then the whole year i basicly do what ever i want during the summer i enjoyed the midsummer festival its gives me jitters that its onlly 4 days away on the other i just got into a sirious guild that actualy do have a life and this gets me scared
I find the summer a great chance for the people who do play in the summer to progress as the bigger guilds start recruiting as some of there players disapear leaves more options open especialy on my relm
My guild is 75% friends irl so summer is not really a cause for concern. We are very casual and don't kick people for missing a week or two.
I Always feel like my guild takes a summer-sleep in summertimes. It slows down in the beginning. people start to slack..
And when the temperature is getting lower and lower, we slowly awake.. and start spamming raids again.
I dont really mind, i like the sun :)
Good post.
We have all adults on so summertime we're just as busy. The few that take a leave have to wait for openings for raids come fall. No problems from the summer.