What did a heroic Ragnaros kill cost us?

Every now and then a boss fight comes along that is known as "the guild breaker." 25-man Heroic Ragnaros justifiably earned this title. The last time this moniker was used as extensively was in Sunwell for M'uru. Sure there were tough fights in Wrath, but nothing like Sunwell, and certainly nothing like Heroic Ragnaros.

The difficult issue many guilds faced, and the very one that we did, was a choice between returning the commitment of dedication versus the very real prospect of stagnation. For us, it came down to clearly defining a starting roster, one which left many raiders on the sideline feeling marginalized by the guild.

Read more...

Progression vs. Gear

On Monday I made this post on the Big Crits guild forums and it was met with a bit of controversy along with some vitriolic responses -- to use Adam Savage's favorite term. I am partly to blame because my main point got drowned out in my supporting points. My main point was that as a guild we have goals, and achieving those goals may require some sacrifice.

Here's the original post:

Read more...

The First 150

When I first started Big Crits three months ago I had no idea what I'd get in terms of applicants. I was starting what I hoped would be an end-game progression raiding guild from scratch; it was me plus zero. A good friend and his wife joined me by moving an alt over, just to keep me company in guild, but he wasn’t going to raid. At the beginning it was just me stepping into a new realm, with nothing but a concept and a recruitment video.

In the face of this uncertainty I did what I always do: I made a spreadsheet. The results of which I’m just starting to dig into now. In the first three weeks of the guild I had 150 applicants and accepted 36. As of 6/30 we had 259 applicants, guilded 50, and at that time only added 7 to the social rank.

The best thing about a data set is all the different ways to slice and dice it. Today I’m reviewing the first 150 applicants, those who applied from March 9 to 31. Check out the fancy graphs analyzing Big Crits' first 150 applicants!

Read more...

Leadership Philosophy

A few years ago I started a blog dedicated to guild leadership. I folded it shortly after launching because I wanted to pursue my idea for Big Hit Box, but starting this leadership blog meant writing about leadership, which got me thinking about my own leadership philosophy.

I've managed people in real life and in game and have developed over time my own guiding principles to help me in my day-to-day life and decision making process. For me, the three guiding principles of leadership are:

• Communication
• Consistency
• Accountability

Why only these three components? What of loyalty? Or Motivation, order, friendship, respect, control, or any number of other principles that are absolutely applicable to leadership? There are no right answers but I believe that of all the principles these three are of the utmost importance; without even just one of these even the most powerful guild can fail.

Read more...