The Egotistical Priest
An irreverent and opinionated discussion of the many classes
in the World of Warcraft gaming universe.
Guest post: The Core
by Kwane
Friends, today we have a guest post from one of our more…*ahem* advanced readers. This, I think, might be Book 1 of a series. Enjoy, and let the guest poster know if you want more!
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The Core
Hai. Der Ego crew asked me to write something (I have no idea why because frankly, I’m usually just full of if!). I asked, “about what?”. Two months later, I got a response: “…the trials and tribulations of dealing with that high end content might make for some interesting…”.
Um…yeah. 
**Kwane here - to be fair, he went on vacation and didnt bother to notify anyone *stern look*…also, replying to the question may have slipped my mind…now we return to your program already in progress**
That can easily be a series of articles, poems, traditional country songs, an encyclopedia, or a good ole soap opera.
So, lets just start with The Core.
Every guild has one and they come in all shapes and sizes. They make up the heart, soul, and impetus of the guild. The Core is the glue that holds a guild together and can also be the catalyst for one to explode. A guild will almost always go as the Core goes, good or bad. The Core is the muscle that moves the guild and the heart keeps it alive. Lose your Core and your guild is gone or at the very least it is no longer effective, especially if you do like I do and raid in the high end. Yes, I’m one of *those* guys. The hardcore raider chasing high endgame content. I may actually introduce myself later if the Ego crew deems me somewhat useful for their further nefarious purposes. If anything, I can fend off the other village
Officers are sometimes part of the Core, but not always. Quite frankly, they are part of the Core less often then you would think. The long lived guilds understand this and typically their officers aren’t part of the Core. They spend their time tending to the structure and planning and keeping the guild informed. This allows less time for them to play, but provides better playing time for everyone else. It is up to the officers to make sure the Core stays in tact, or when it changes that is still viable in the long run.
Recruiting has a lot to do with this, which is why sometimes you see an applicant who looks like a shoe-in to your guild, get ganked in the process - or suddenly a raid spot opens up and you have no idea why. It has been my experience (did I tell you I’m old?) that guilds lacking this structure eventually go away.
“Hildi…wth is the Core then?”, you ask.
Easy, these are people who show up ready to go all the time. They interact with the guild with positive outcomes. Drama doesn’t follow them (until they leave!). These are the players the officers trust enough to award the first sets of gear or recipes to. They are there in the hard times and the good times. They know their class ridiculously well and likely know yours too. They interact with the rest of the people in the game, not just your guild. They bring in new people, find strats, do the farming required for mats, etc… Essentially, these are the people spending a lot of time in game for your guild and not just doing dailies for themselves.
If you’re thinking, “wow, not too many of those people around”, you’d be right, and thats why Cores tend to be small.
“What’s this have to do with the trials and tribulations of a high end guild?” you wonder.
Everything. High end guilds go no further than their Core allows. Period. When the Core starts to fail and is not repaired, it is a long, painful decline, inevitably resulting in the break up.
As an example, I just lived through one of these. (I’ma suhviva!) Unfortunately it happened to my favorite guild. Ironically, when I left my previous guild a lot of people told me not to go to this one. (details to come if approved by Ego) I actually was planning to transfer off server and had been talking to some people that seemed pretty cool, but a friend of mine asked me to try these guys out before I transfered. Since leaving a server you have been on since day one is difficult, I stayed.
Turns out, the group of people I met were hands down the funnest, most inviting and welcoming bunch I have ever had the privilege of meeting in a game. We all hit it off, which was good because this was back in the days when people didn’t understand the uberness of a holy priest, never took them on raids, and even few priests understood the new order of healing in TBC. Things were good back then. We had a very solid group of players who in my opinion could nuke anything in game - and we did. I joined and two days later Kael was ganked. (/flex. lol no credit to me tho. It was all them). Hyjal and BT after that was simply awesome. We tore, and I mean TORE through content big time and fast (and yes, I understand the deal with MH and BT). I think we downed Illidan after just two weeks from our first sighting of him, and council was faster (and harder) than that.
Well, there is only so much arena/bg/dailies you can do before people like us become bored. The rotting of the Core started to happen in the off time between Illidan’s ‘dramatic’ speech and when Sunwell came out. In retrospect, we should have known by our performance on Kalecgos and Brutallus that we had not replaced our Core the way we should have, or at all. That bitch Felmyst was the straw that killed us. Actually it was probably Muru, since we knew with out troubles on Felmyst, Muru was really not an option. Sometimes we would miss 2-3 raid nights because we couldn’t even field an entire raid, and that was in between miserable attempts due to people not paying attention or the under geared people we recently recruited to fill voids in our ever diminishing raid army. The Core had no choice but to raid every day because the fringe members couldn’t be there.
Burnout for us was coming soon, if it hadn’t already hit. I know I was close to calling it quits. It was a sad spiral, that ended one day when the remnants of our Core got an offer we really couldn’t refuse.
Another guild had done what we didn’t. They recognized way earlier than we did that their Core was starting to go the road ours did (and several other guilds actually. Sunwell is having remarkable success in killing raiding guilds coughDnTcough). Propositions, what-if’s, counter proposals were made and finally the handshake happened and the remnants of our Core essentially was enveloped by the other guild. In the end it has turned into a win-win really. The new guild is a lot different and it is not exactly like the good times and fun we had before, but also a lot better. In fact, it is better than I thought it would be, and some of us even get some time off because the guild has so many competent raiders to field a raid.
Hence, there is my conclusion - it is more advice to you guild officers/leaders/and core members. Or even to people who watch the hardcore guilds. Watch your Core. With it you have a chance. Without it, you are nothing and unhappy.
So….what’s in your Core?
August 19th, 2008
You can’t fend us off!
Oooh, is that T7 gear?
…Maybe you can…
August 19th, 2008
Never heard it put quite that way before, well said.
August 19th, 2008
Wow. I think you managed to put into words what has happened several times … I even saw it happen once … wasn’t sure why the entire guild imploded, but now I understand.
New member to the authoring crew?
August 19th, 2008
Re: Illidan. It was actually the week immediately after we killed council for the first time. We had one attempt “for fun” that night, then the instance reset. After reclearing to Illidan, we killed him on the second night of learning.
Re: The new guild. I’m not sure it was a win-win situation, although I was definitely hopeful. Still, our numbers in the new guild are rapidly dwindling. Hopefully it works out for you though.
/hug old onion
August 19th, 2008
@ Nulien
lolz. Figures I’d get a correction from you
For the new guild, ja. It is not working out perfectly, but for the most part it is working better.
WTB tree LB’s!
@Kwane
(returns stern look!)
ahem. Vacations are most important! Besides, I never got any email while I was on vacation either
@Rival Village.
Just know….I’m watching you!
August 19th, 2008
@Hildi
I….uh….
*point Hildi!*
…damn.
August 19th, 2008
@ Hildi:
No can do on Tree LBs! Back where I belong now
August 19th, 2008
Its always odd to me, in that I think a lot of times he people in the Core, don’t know it. I know I was once in the Core of a guild, but I couldn’t see it myself until later, after I divorced myself from the guild. I think I have been in the Core of many a guild, now that I think of it in this light, though it seems I am never aware of it. I have a tendency to jump in with both feet, but then later begin to have buyer’s remorse. I think in social/leveling guilds, especially those with different players playing at different times of day, there can often be more than 1 Core, particularly as people filter away to raid. I always referred to them as cliques, often more defined by their level and progression and play time than by social animosity or preferences.
August 19th, 2008
quick side-note: Until the line ‘“Hildi…wth is the Core then?”, you ask.’, I had no idea *who* the guest poster was.
August 19th, 2008
Yeah you totally blew the whole anon thing Kwane. *mocks*
@Hildi: Best of luck in your new guild Hildi, sounds a lot healthier.
You need tree? don’t tempt me…
Spent tonight LBing at council, our first real night on them - 3% wipe
Can’t decide whether to yay or cry >.<
re: the article, QFT. I’ve watched a couple of guilds explode, from the inside, and this is exactly the pattern. Ultimately guilds are built on trust and a solid core inspires everyone else to stick around and keep trying. A fractured core leads to mistrust, miscommunication and a fast split.
Some further reflections…
If you aren’t in the core, that’s okay. Guilds need fringe too. Also, it’s pretty much impossible to become core when everything is okay.
When things start going wrong, that’s the time to step up to the plate. Even if all you can provide is a positive attitude, or documentation or whatever. It all has to get done by someone and just the effort is noticed.
Otoh, when the time comes, the core must step away. It’s a shame when a previously enthusiastic and committed member doesn’t recognise their own burnout, and sours the relationships which took so long to build.
@Ygg: to me a core is more than a clique. Generally everyone else in the guild or comm is there because they want to hang out with one or more of the core. They’re the Kevin Bacons that unite everyone. Often new members come from friends, or friends of friends, of core members.
In contrast, cliques are exclusive - you’re in or out and those who are in, don’t socialise with those who are out.
August 19th, 2008
@Eldr
He outed himself, I only added the stuff before the title and that little bit between the **’s
*Lobs blame back to Hildi….point Kwane!*
…
*And the crowd goes wild!*
August 20th, 2008
Ha. Actually, I didn’t know it was supposed to be anonymous, so I really wasn’t trying.
@ygg
There is only 1 core. I sort of wrote that from the raiding guild perspective, but it still exists in any other one, social or whatever. What you are describing are typical social factions that arise in any social situation. They are different. You are right in saying sometimes you don’t know you are part of it, but the same can be said about people who think they are but they really aren’t! Your raid leader and officers will likely know exactly who makes up that core.
Eldr is also correct in saying it is ok to not be a part of it. Typically it sort of just happens, it is nothing you can force, really. Really the designation shouldn’t be called out or put down on paper either, or you will run into problems. About the only thing you can say is that you can’t contain it, you can only hope to keep it intact and in the same direction.
@Eldr
That is truly harder than most of Illidan. The best thing for you right now tho, is that you get to taunt all the other healers with the meters 
hehe You should be dominating, unless they have you doing something other than rollng lb’s on the 4 tanks….in which case I say..GL! 
Grats on council progress
August 20th, 2008
A good guild leader will keep her guild intact, challenged, and aligned to their central principals without regard to sub-groups. A good leader is never a respecter of persons. There will usually be an amount of people that are willing to put levels of effort into a game that is on par with mid-range fortune 500 salaries. These people should be appreciated and valued. They do represent the leading edge in what can be accomplished under the banner of your guild. They will be the first people to get bored or get excited. However, I fear that to even define them with a term as ‘our core’ does a dis-service to everyone else in the family. It also sows the seeds for an us-them mentality that will eventually lead to the break-up described in the post. The post is great, and captures an aspect that is known but untangeable. I just fear that once you name it, you destroy it.
~V
Einstein was here.
Bohr was here.
Heisenberg may have been here. <— kinda like that.
August 20th, 2008
@EgoCrew
This is just a test of the emergency commenting system. I repeat. This is just a test.
test
also test
August 20th, 2008
Oh wow, great post and so very true.
Just last week, I got a guild invite spam or 5 - declined. Then I get two or three whispers… It’s worse on my unguilded 45 Warrior than on my 33 Priest, but sheesh.
Why? I’m not sure, but I got annoyed with it. After turning some fat profit in the Auction House, I figured - what the heck, I went and made a guild, bought a bank tab, made a Tabard for kicks, etc, etc.. I really did this as a ’shield’ vs. Invite Spams, Begging to Sign Charters (hey, I paid people to sign mine~~) and the like.
I invited my wife’s toon and a RL friend, of course. After which my RL friend says - “hey, why’d you kick all those people who signed the charter?” I told him I made it clear when I was ‘advertising’ that I was just making a small guild for us and was only asking for “signature service” for the money and there was no obligation - actually, no chance of staying in - but hey, everyone knew it when they signed - so that’s far.
But then he goes - ok, well when we gonna invite people? We can just invite whoever and see who stays? I was like… OMG NO, that’s why I made a guild of my own - to escape from horrid beggars and such in these other guilds. I wasn’t inviting ANYONE else.
Although, the thought has crossed my mind about actually trying to form a guild… But if I decide to… my plan was first to assemble a ‘core’ small group of players and let others ask to join. I hate spamming, I don’t want just anyone.
Ehhh - thanks for putting kinda what we all had ‘felt’ into a clear writeup
Most helpful.
August 20th, 2008
Thanks, I’m very proud!
We had three druids, so I didn’t get to totally dominate v.v
I did make first druid once though, with my puny 1765 +heal and no haste! /flex
I’m especially proud of this (and yes, telling everyone who’ll listen) because I have <6days played at 70 on this toon.
And yeah I was assigned to MT v.v
I’m currently playing my warlock as main, priest for Gertie and now druid for Council XD
Alts FTW!
August 21st, 2008
[...] loved Hildi’s not-so-anonymous guest post so much that I let it take the Tuesday slot instead of making it wait for the next available day - [...]