I think Gevlon is missing the core reason the majority of players shy away from progression style raiding. The solution to his problem is difficult at best and unfortunately he has become a victim of his own system. We can all agree that he is a master at identifying M&S and FailPlayers, his solution will not involve either of these groups.
Gevlon’s major problem is he has created a haven for a class of players he has yet to identify. For lack of a better term, lets call these players the “good enough’s”. The GE’s far out skill the M&S Gevlon hates and the GE’s are nothing like a FailPlayer. No this group is just that, good enough. They enjoy the game on a level somewhere below hard core and a notch or two above casual.
GE’s are not afraid of wipe penalties, and being called out about their play. If they make a recognized mistake, they will rarely make it a second time. They will be properly gemmed and enchanted and they will also be decent at their chosen class/spec. In fact everything they do will be good enough to keep them in the mix.
The GE’s avoid progression because there is no need for them to be there. Once the others have done the heavy lifting, the GE’s will come in and reap the rewards. Remember, as soon the guild figures out the fight, most GE’s only have to see it a time or two and they will no longer make any glaring mistakes. With every subsequent attempt their play will be just good enough to keep them from getting noticed.
Increasing his “newb tax” is nothing more than a subtle form of and attendance requirement. Without attendance requirements and his group staying well within the rules, how do you force people into progression raiding? You can’t! The GE’s AVOID those types of requirements on their play. Gevlon is fighting progression because the GE’s are not motivated by the kill. They are not motivated by server first or BiS gear. Nope. This group enjoys the game their way and no amount of shoving, bribing or threats will mold them into progression raiders.
This very group of people are the bane of wanna-be progression guilds and god sends to those same guilds. How can that be? Because these are the people they depend on when the “raider” ranks become sparse. Out of necessity they pull in the GE’s to help keep things moving. They also know the GE’s will be able to get the job done. Of course they will, they are not pro’s but they are good enough.
Hard core guilds expect all players to follow very strict attendance rules and demand top performance. Casual guilds have minimum attendance policies and depend on solid performance. GE’s can not survive in HC guilds so they avoid them, hence they are avoiding progression. Casual guilds allow GE’s because they need them. If the casual guild stops relying on GE’s they are forced into the HC category.
Gevlon survived in his previous HC guild because he was paying for his spot and he was good enough to stay off of the FailMeter. Now he runs a causal guild that comes with none of the M&S nonsense but is packed with GE’s. He dreams of progression but can not motivate his ranks of GE’s to develop HC attitudes about the game. He can’t force them into submission because that will defeat the purpose of The PUG. He is stuck just like thousands of casual GM’s who are pining for HC progression.
None of this will matter in the end. Because of his GE haven he will continue to do far better than the average M&S. He will be able to chart his progress and I have no doubt they will clear all the content. Unfortunately for him, he has voiced his desire for faster progression and we now know he won’t see it. Because none this can’t be measured he is isolated from failure, but The PUG will never really be what he is trying to achieve. But will it be good enough?
Being a Good enough player, I have raided with the ‘Good enough’ players, on an at most once a week basis for over a year now.
GE players can be convinced to wipe a lot. In two years, I have done progression (for me at least) raiding – i.e extending raids, and not repeating bosses. They are not usually traditional ‘guild’ raids, but they are not trade pugs either. For (most) of us, it is about doing better than we did last week. Boss kills are icing. Improvement on last attempt is bread and butter.
Some of us (me included) can not find time to raid during the week. Others raid on alts. Some would rather play with friends than raid with strangers.
No one is required to attend. Inital invites are provided on the calender, and can be accepted or declined. Players may leave the raid for whatever reason. If we have replacements (or can organise them quickly) we continue. When we don’t have replacements, we call it.
It requires some encouragement for role choices. Due to role requirements at the end of Cata, the extended group (of about 13 regular players) has 7 tanking toons, 4 healing toons, and countless dps toons (with most toons capable of filling more than one role).
We take too long between attempts. Every wipe has a (hopefully brief) ‘what/why/how to fix’. If we don’t know what/why/how to fix, we call the raid for a week.
Players have generally not completed bosses in their current role (eg now healer instead of DPS; now melee instead of ranged), and the majority have not completed the bosses at all.
This takes some social skills, and in terms of gear – out and out boosting. At times I have provided gear or advice on where to find information to improve performance. I also take advice on performance. Where I do have strict rules is on appropriate ways to provide feedback. Constructive feedback including what and how to fix is welcome; The boss/adds are there to grind our faces in the dirt; so any negative comments are to be directed to me only.
The Graveyard Spirit Healer was chosen as the design for our guild tabard symbol.
43 different raid bosses in Northrend as a once a week, good enough raider was OK. In Cata, I gotta catch em all.
Edit to the above : our role requirements at the end of Northrend influenced the number of available tanks.
Must learn to proof read before hitting the submit button.
The one thing that can “force” a good enough player into progression is boredom. I avoid farm raids whenever I can simply because I’m bored by doing them. The only way of doing something else is a progression boss.
Progression raiding can be challenging and rewarding, but it is also very demanding, even when done on a not-so-strict schedule in a raid with no hard performance requirements. And frustrating. There are competent players who want the challenge and the excitement, but not the stress that comes with progression. Running mostly farm content in a solid raid seems like a good compromise. Unfortunately, that puts them on a collision course with progression raiders who feel (and not without reason) that they are carrying the guild to boss kills while losing much needed gear to freeloading “GEs”. “GEs” in turn feel (also not without reason) that for as long as they meet their obligations in terms of raid performance and attendance, nothing more can be asked of them.
It ends up being a really hard problem to solve. No amount of motivation is going to make progression fun for “GEs”. At the same time, progression raiders grow more and more annoyed as week after week begins with severely overfilled farm raids and ends with progression raids being called over attendance issues. No boss kills, no recruits. No recruits, no hope of progression. Attendance dips. Eventually farm raids become “progression” again and players from both sides start leaving in frustration – progression raiders don’t want to wipe on old content, “GEs” don’t want stressful progression. This was the beginning of the end for my Wrath raiding guild.