As for what I discuss and post on my blog, that is entirely my own business. I do not need to confirm or discuss with other players who weren’t involved about such heated conversations. I know what was said to me and I also know that it is not representative of the entire guild. There was no misunderstanding at all here. It was quite clear and quite crystal.

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Nice to see you’re reading the blog. I’ve got no clue about Carnage, but I can’t help thinking that the best thing to do–for both Carnage and Conquest–is to bury the hatchet and move forward. There’s enough prizes out there for everyone to get them, in their own personal style and preferred environment.

That said, I think Matt’s justified in saying whatever he’d like on his own blog. That is why we blog–at least in part, it’s about freedom of speech. Our readers are likewise free to read, or not read, or to respond, or not respond. And of course, a person’s emotions are never wrong or inaccurate–emotion is subjective by nature. A blog, mind you, is one of those places to share that kind of thing. I assure you, in-game no one gets as much information about the World of Matticus bloggers’ thoughts and opinions as they would from reading the blog! Such is the nature of the medium we write in. It’s a conversation with ourselves which we invite others to read. As such, it can’t be taken as gospel either–it’s more what the writer thinks about or wants to consider, not necessarily something they’ll put into practice every time.

After a raid, I usually scheduled some guild PvP time. Nothing like beating on others to knock the stress out of ya. However, if you mean you want a real life sort of breather, I enjoy reading, writing, and crafting actually. A walk could be good for you too. Walk on down to your local ice cream shop or something. It’s good stuff. Feel better, You’re doing great!

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As for the poaching allegation, have you considered catching your old GM and telling him/her what you put down here? If nothing else, it would put the two of you on the same page, and if it’s general members claiming you’re poaching, probably put it in perspective for that GM.

Our previous GM (just stepped down after 3 years) would play Dota after raids to relax.

Edit: Clearly I need to stop being distracted when I am writing comments (or refresh the page) so that it doesn’t look like I completely ignored the ones before mine. : /

As you well know, I don’t usually reply to blogs or forums. However, since you specifically bring up Carnage and member “poaching”, which your readers are reading into, I feel obliged to post.

I play Maeve, the current GM of Carnage. As far as I know, no one in Carnage has accused you of “poaching” our members, and certainly not for the purpose of destabilizing the guild. We are aware that you’re still in touch with our members, with whom you have your own individual relationships and we’ve never discouraged them from continuing those relationships.

I am aware that at least one member is considering joining your guild, and as I told him last night when we were discussing it, “ultimately it’s your choice and your decision, I can’t make it for you.” I did ask him to consider the matter fully, given Carnage’s members, officers, and its record of stability and consistency.

But let’s be clear and honest about the situation here and as presented in your post. You *do* have intent and influence. The statements you make your goals for your guild are arguments to persuade people who agree with them to join you. That is influence. You want members, particularly people you know who are skilled players, to join you. This is motive, whether you want to quibble about it being conscious intention or not. As a GM, everything you say and do will be seen by most people through this perspective. In the case of the member who is thinking about joining you, you are recruiting him.

There is nothing wrong with this. As Kimbo says in his reply, this is the nature of guilds. Everyone has to decide what they want for themselves and if their guild provides it. This is especially true during an expansion.

It is wrong, however, is to blog about unattributed accusations about member poaching and attempted destabilization from your former guild without much investigation into whether such accusations were made. You could post about poaching generally without naming and implicitly defaming your former guild.

I have no doubt that harsh things have been said by Carnage members about Conquest. I’m sure that former Carnage members in Conquest have similar things to say about Carnage and some of its members. But members do not decide policy and they don’t carry the weight of a GM. If you have an issue with something a Carnage member says, you should bring it up with me, so I can deal with it appropriately. As you well know, there is a lot of context to things that are said, and a lot of misunderstanding that stems from miscommunication. For you to raise those things in a blog post without confirming them or discussing them with me is, in my opinion, inconsiderate and disrespectful.

If relations between Carnage and Conquest were so bad that Carnage is concerned about destabilization and member poaching, would we have allowed some of our members, including an officer who you invited personally to tank, to attend your raid last night? As it was, the lack of communication about the raid and those invitations put one of our members in a situation where he felt caught between his loyalties and bailed on one of our 10-man raids. Ultimately it was his decision, choice, and failure, but the situation was one that could easily have been avoided with more communication in-game and less reading about things after the fact on your blog.

Obviously you are rocking it out and take heart in it! People are reading your posts about the guild and responding, always a great sign you have it right. You are listening to feedback, and from a raider always a heartening sign from a raid/guild leader.

But Joveta is right about deligating. If you are going to be raid leader hand off heal lead to a trusted healer. The more comfortable your guild becomes with eachother and their skill in Wraith the easier your job will become. Once they gel together as a raiding unit some of what you micromanage now will take care of itself.

Give yourself a pat on the back, if you have trouble unwinding then find something that will help you step down from the high that is raiding. That burst of adrenaline you get during the raid needs to be worked out. If you are looking for something in game perhaps 5mans which were mentioned before or an alt to work on would help?

I’ve found two points key to keeping my sanity while raid-leading.

First, have some way of forcing a mental ‘blink’. I keep a drink handy, and nothing you can drink too fast. I find a Bloody Shame (tomato juice, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and a generous helping of hot sauce) perfect for this- it’s spicy enough to snap my all-devouring focus on the screen between wipes, trash pulls, and boss kills. That in turn allows my mental processes a sort of ‘reset’, if you will.

Second, have some way to unwind later. I used to just throw myself into the battlegrounds queues, but of late months those have become cesspits. For a while I’d fly around Nagrand harvesting motes with my mote extractor. Fishing works as well. Running a five-man with guildies is fun if I’m not leading. Lake Wintergrasp combat is glorious if it’s open. Soloing an older instance. If none of those things seems to appeal, I’ll do pushups.

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