Is The Burning Crusade a homewrecker – er, guildwrecker?

‘Twas the night before Wintervale, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring… until WoW Insider started wondering if The Burning Crusade would wreck guilds like extramarital relationships (or the game itself?) wreck homes. Could all that lovely new content just around the corner after New Year’s potentially drive a wedge betwixt once-bound guildies and wreck many a rock-solid raiding group?

Because of all the new content – especially the two new races and new character classes – there could be a drift among members of a given guild, the analysis says. Some might wish to swap over to the new class or race , essentially starting over from square Level One. Those who don’t, however, face a dilemma: Does a guild hell-bent on end-game raiding press on to the new Level 70 cap and get back to the end-game ASAP, and to hell with their “slacker” members who went back to square one? Or do they wait, but miss out on those raids because their guild is woefully underlevelled?

The worst-case scenario is that the guilds themselves get shook up – members leave (or are kicked out), they all reform around new common interests, from end-game raiding to power-levelling to new casuals all over again. Based on our observation of player reports from teh intarwebs, we’re likely to believe this scenario, because we think the idea of “The Solid Guild” is really just an illusion. Between the tension and the drama and the differing interests (not to mention the demands of real life), people leave (or are forced out of) guilds all the time.

The way we see it, the “survival” of a guild’s membership in facing the temptations of Blizzard‘s The Burning Crusade may depend on how a guild is oriented:

• The more “professional” or “single-interest” a guild is – especially with regards to end-game raiding – the more likely The Burning Crusade may result to a shakeup in the guild – either the members change to reflect new interests, or the guild’s rules change to accommodate these new and disparate interests.
• The more “casual” a guild is – you know, “we’re all friends and we all just love to play” – the less likely The Burning Crusade will break the group. Rather, they may just witness whatever drama among the other (single-interest) guilds erupts after the expansion, shrug their shoulders, and get back to doing something they love to do together. Meh.

‘Twas the night before Wintervale, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring… until WoW Insider started wondering if The Burning Crusade would wreck guilds like extramarital relationships (or the game itself?) wreck homes. Could all that lovely new content just around the corner after New Year’s potentially drive a wedge betwixt once-bound guildies and wreck many a rock-solid raiding group?

Because of all the new content – especially the two new races and new character classes – there could be a drift among members of a given guild, the analysis says. Some might wish to swap over to the new class or race , essentially starting over from square Level One. Those who don’t, however, face a dilemma: Does a guild hell-bent on end-game raiding press on to the new Level 70 cap and get back to the end-game ASAP, and to hell with their “slacker” members who went back to square one? Or do they wait, but miss out on those raids because their guild is woefully underlevelled?

The worst-case scenario is that the guilds themselves get shook up – members leave (or are kicked out), they all reform around new common interests, from end-game raiding to power-levelling to new casuals all over again. Based on our observation of player reports from teh intarwebs, we’re likely to believe this scenario, because we think the idea of “The Solid Guild” is really just an illusion. Between the tension and the drama and the differing interests (not to mention the demands of real life), people leave (or are forced out of) guilds all the time.

The way we see it, the “survival” of a guild’s membership in facing the temptations of Blizzard‘s The Burning Crusade may depend on how a guild is oriented:

• The more “professional” or “single-interest” a guild is – especially with regards to end-game raiding – the more likely The Burning Crusade may result to a shakeup in the guild – either the members change to reflect new interests, or the guild’s rules change to accommodate these new and disparate interests.
• The more “casual” a guild is – you know, “we’re all friends and we all just love to play” – the less likely The Burning Crusade will break the group. Rather, they may just witness whatever drama among the other (single-interest) guilds erupts after the expansion, shrug their shoulders, and get back to doing something they love to do together. Meh.