I feel bad for the player in question somewhat. The guild he was going to was going to be very demanding and I knew he would not be ready for that. I believe he raided once or twice with them and was given the boot

That’s the way we think about it.

Our guild does have a policy to kick players who apply on other guilds forums, everyone knows that, no bad feelings BUT we’re not going to invest gear and time in players we know for sure aren’t going to stay with us. We try to stay friendly with the players who leave and that has made for some of the best “PuGs” on the server.

So, in short, when you go, you go.
Because think to yourself: why get upset? Most guilds do the same to other guilds. They recruit players who are already a bit geared. And where do those come from? Yes, guilds lower on the ladder then yours is.

So, either you take in levels 1s, guide them on their way to 80 and gear them up yourself, or you’re being a bit of a hypocrit when someone with a bit of gear leaves, because you take other people from other guilds.

Recently we did have quite an epic guildleave.
Right after reset, we were starting on ToC 25 heroic and after our 2nd try someone tells that he had been accepted by a higher guild and left. He was however saved for the rest of the week with 2 tries on his name, unable to join his new guilds raids for a week

In my eyes i did nothing wrong there as long i already have help the guild as much as i could (by xfering for that reason to play with them) and in 3 months i think i did give a lot of time for things to improve. Now… things didn’t went how i was hopping so without making a lot of drama i just left.
I don’t know how it was in your guild but for me, when i see that GM and some officers are casual players and the aim of guild is nr 1… on server… that really doesn’t fit good.

I think there are a couple of issues

- RLs, GMs and Offs tend to see a player leaving as a treason, a vote of no-confidence in their technical, organizational, or social skills. It is the case sometimes, but not always. Many WoW players are young, and want to see new things, sometimes change for the sake of change. So, don’t fell threatened, misjudged… if one of your player leaves. They probable had other reasons, however misguided.

- A player is an investment in gear, boss training, skill training. A player leaving is a major loss to the guild. Which is why gear should really be allocated fairly, proportionally to someone presence in raids and play quality. And players who are below par in their performance, understanding and implementation of strats, mastering their class… should be booted. “below par” obviously depends on your guild, but it’s soooo frustrating to invest loot, time, effort in a noob that soon leaves… save yourself the aggravation, he/she’ll probably be happier in a guild more in synch with their skill, even if he gets fewer shinies.

There is kinda the same issue with players who make IRL breaks, or WAR/AOC/Aion breaks. To me, how they go about it matters a lot:
- did I get advance warning, after the fact statement, on no warning at all ?
- did they NEED stuff right up to the last minute ?
- did they / do they still pop up on the forum fro time to time ?

In any case, I make it clear that anyone is welcome back, but quality of treatment upon return will be propotionnate to quality of departure, and that they are expected to get back to our level mostly by themselves, grinding heroics, 10-man pickups … unless they did all the right things before leaving.

Near the end of August, I knew I was going to be away for a vast portion of September due to a few personal trips. I gave the officers a good 2 weeks notice before any absences would occur. Immediately I found myself getting benched from raids due to not being available for about 3 weeks in the upcoming month. I would only get the call if all other raider assets were unavailable and spots were still required to be filled. Then time came where I was unavailable. There was a few nights where I was able to get access to a computer with Wow, and when the guild called due to people DC’ing or general fail, I went in to help as best I could, whether they be kills or wipes on Twins 25-Heroic.

During my week between unavailability trips, I was called out to raid the Wednesday/Thursday, then told that for Sunday’s raids that I would not be invited because I was going to be away another week (why was the first two days of a reset period okay, but not the third or fourth?). In this time, an item dropped that I could use, I bid on it with DKP, and one of my friends who is an officer had to argue that I should receive the item based on me having the highest DKP – they weren’t going to award it to me otherwise.

Finally when I came back, I was told I wouldn’t be invited because I had been away too much. I could maybe have understood if it was true, but when I only missed 2 weeks of raiding on my own accord, and the rest due to their choices – I lost interest in raiding at that point and have gone social.

I apologize for the wall of text and I don’t intend it to be a QQ. I just want to give a example of situation that a raider has to consider when she/he must go away, even if it is temporary. Unfortunately not everyone who plays the game can assess things in a logical and clear manner; some even less so than others.

Ultimately I think everyone just has to do what is best for them, and while its nice to give lots of notice and be all proper, the game lacks any sort of agencies who will protect your rights as a ‘worker’ (raider) against the decisions of your ‘employer’ (Guild officers) and vice versa. At the end of of the day, we all pay the same subscription fee for the same game…

I was working as a barman in central Cardiff at a very rough bar full of criminals and prostitutes. It was the most intimidating place I have ever been in.

I also wasn’t very good at pulling beer. Vast oceans of foam would fill the glass with a millimetre of gold at the bottom while Vinny Jones’ evil twin scowled at me across the counter.

I did two nights and after getting paid the second night told the boss I quit. He, surrounded by six scarred 6′2″ bouncers, gave me a long evil stare. He then told me I was the F-ing worse barman he’d ever had that I’d F-ing left him in the F-ing lurch and that if he wasn’t so F-ing nice he’d have my F-ing legs broken. He told me “go on then, F off!”

He then thought for a moment and added “Oh and by the way, you’re barred!”

I was so glad I got my money before telling him I was quitting.

If they leave on Saturday it messes us up for the rest of this week, if they leave on Tuesday it messes us up for the coming week. It may be that your players simply don’t know it makes a difference – I wouldn’t.

As for him getting an item I think you need to see them, as others have commented, as payment for services rendered rather than strategic assignments for beating future bosses with. How is that item any more key to future successes than all the other purples he’s wearing?

Also you seem to be saying that had he told you he was planning to leave you would not have given him an item you felt he had earned. Isn’t that rather unfair?

Lastly should he have told you before he left? Having been in the same situation sometimes you get told to just jump by your new guild. You will have been negotiating joining them for probably a couple of weeks and get a tell saying ok, “gquit and I’ll invite you”. It’s the end of a long stress-filled process.

Of course it’s more classy to say give me a moment to say good bye then I’ll send you a tell. But if you’re nervous about getting in you don’t want to do anything to appear uncooperative to your new guild.

And clearly, as you’ve already implied had he told you significantly earlier you would have stopped paying him for the work he put in. With that policy (and Loot Council) you will rarely get people tellling you they plan to leave because it costs them.

I was interested to see another commentator mention that this player has done this three times. I’d not be angry that he left but I’d be very reluctant to take this guy back.

Good luck with the recruitment. Conquest sounds like a fantastic home for WoW raiders!