Blended Raiding: Subtlety of Wizards or Folly of Fools?

[Corvus]

What do you think about the concept of PtV sponsored and run blended (a mix of guild and non-guilded) raids? In addition to voting in the poll, please post your thoughts and concerns.

[Tioga]

A few points I'd make if we try this:

1) The PtV only raid should always come first. You take alts in to the blended run, and if you can only do one raid a week, do everything you can to make sure its the guild only run.

2) When we run blended, gear should be open season. If its not guild only run (or a single friend in from out of guild to patch a hole in the raid), everyone should have the same chance to win the gear be they in or out of guild. Everyone is (theoretically) doing the same amount of work, everyone should have same shot at reward. While this might mean no EP/GP for those runs for our members, I think its the only way the blended runs will feel successful for people from other guilds. A blended run is all about trying to make connections, maybe even get some people interested in joining up with our guild or a guild to guild merger. Consider the time spent there as marketing and not earning EP/GP. Build goodwill and contacts.

[Corvus]

Tioga wrote:

1) The PtV only raid should always come first. You take alts in to the blended run, and if you can only do one raid a week, do everything you can to make sure its the guild only run.

Exactly. Unless you've notified an officer and the reason is a scheduling issue, the only other reason you should willingly choose the blended run is because our guild-only run is full or one of the guests is a friend.

Tioga wrote:

2) When we run blended, gear should be open season....everyone should have the same chance to win the gear be they in or out of guild...

Actually Kearsarge, when they sign-up on the site, they'll be treated like any other new recruit, complete with allocation of starter EP/GP. That means they will have the same chance as anyone else and their efforts will be rewarded. It also means that they will have encouragement to join us again. This system will ensure that both guildie and non-guildie are rewarded for effort and not penalized by random rolls.

I am opposed to random rolls, especially since these "blended" runs might not always be elective on the part of our guild members. I won't punish PtV folks when they must join a run like this because the guild-only raid is filled.

Tioga wrote:

Consider the time spent there as marketing and not earning EP/GP

As two very wise RL's once argued: sacrificial considerations should only be the responsibility of the officers, not the members. Members run for gear and EP/GP. I believe this way will accomplish both giving our members a rewarding raid experience and allow the officers to build bridges outside of the guild.

[Rohann]

I like the above posts and agree to them whole-heartedly, but would like to amend that I would prefer that we aim our main goals toward Guild Only Raids, with the blended raids as an exception to the rule style.
By this I mean that if we can't fill the gaps in a raid, then we seek folks outside our own members to fill the ranks. At that time we work on both making the raid happen as well as possibly finding capable new recruits that have a chance to run with us, and each to see how the other works.
Much the same ideology that most guilds have raiders and non raiders prepared to hit an instance/raid.
I'd like to keep it as "in-house" as possible while not being afraid of picking up extras as needed from time to time. This keeps the loots and EP/GP where it should be , in my opinion.

[Corvus]

Rohann/Lomeq wrote:

I like the above posts and agree to them whole-heartedly, but would like to amend that I would prefer that we aim our main goals toward Guild Only Raids, with the blended raids as an exception to the rule style... I'd like to keep it as "in-house" as possible while not being afraid of picking up extras as needed from time to time. This keeps the loots and EP/GP where it should be , in my opinion.

Ahem.. from the October 16th SoTG

Ravth wrote:

In the near future, we will be able to field two equal, guild raids. Blended raids are simply a stopgap, a potential recruitment tool, and a way for us to project an active, high-visibility raid profile. In short, it's a means for us to grow, develop peer cooperation, and to field as many of our members as possible.

Here's the link.. you know.. in case you need to review

[Rohann]

Don't bust my balls, I read that after I posted this.