I have some questions about the way that the new guild transfers will affect people. For some guilds, wanting to start a new life on a different server, maybe even a different faction will be a blessing. It will break them out of their existing ruts and enable them to explore greener pastures.
However, for the average player, I'm not quite sure how it will work out. I have transferred two characters in my years of playing WoW the first to build up my second Pally, the second to fund that Pally as my new main, and haven't transferred more partly due to the reluctance of having to actually spend more real money on the game. More importantly though, is the social aspect. When I left Aman'Thul to raid full time with a real life friend, I left behind relationships and the familiarity of a long established understanding of the server, its denizens, its economics, and its benefits (Oceanic time-coded server meaning it is day in game when it is day outside, and an almost total PvP dominance).
A few of those people I stay in touch with, a very few. I have added a couple to my Real ID list, but it isn't a substitute for being able to see them in Stormwind or Dal, to be able to help them with a quest, or whatever. Inevitably, those relationships have faded, leaving only a bare husk of what they were. Now I know that things change, but I miss some of those people. I miss seeing people who I had interacted with as you pass them by but weren't close enough to add as Real ID friends. If my current guild decided to transfer, (and I haven't had even the slightest murmur that anyone is even considering it) I'm not sure that I would wish to go through that again. It is not a nice position to be put in - do you stay with your guild and raid group or do you stay with the people you know in the wider server community? Which is easier to build up again? Which is more valuable? Questions that will have different answers for everyone, I'm sure.
It isn't fair to try to influence people to another point of view, and I wonder if ultimately, it isn't a selfish move for a guild to make which boils down to them saying: Chose this circle of friends/associates, or get left with another circle you weren't as close to, and to add salt to the wound, spend real money to remain with that particular group. Personally, I think that guilds who do transfer may end up losing a number of people who were, or felt they were, pressured into moving, only to realise that they don't want to be treated in that manner or that the things they thought were important were less important than they realised.
I believe that this issue sort of hinges on the type of guild you belong to. "You" being a collective term for the population at large.
ReplyDeleteAre you in a guild of friends, and people who love WoW who happen to raid? Or are you in a guild who's sole purpose is "raiding iz seriuz biznezz"?
I think this will be an issue for those guilds who travel around the server pool to see where they've got the best shot at server and world firsts, and also where recruiting for serious heroic 25 mans would be easier. In which case, I'd have to question why a person might be upset at having to spend $25 to move, but they're not upset that most of their free time is spent sitting in a chair banging their heads repeatedly on mobs for progression to capture the things their group is after. I think it'll make people think long and hard about the types of groups they want to be in.