Small Guilds and Raiding

Hey folks!

Today I want to share some thoughts I've had recently regarding small guilds and raiding. As you probably know if you follow this blog, I'm a member of a very small family-style guild. I'm talking less than 10 active level 80s, and only a few others who are still leveling. That said, the 80s in the guild absolutely love raiding. But the whole reason we left our last big raiding guild was to get away from all the drama and stupidness that comes with big guilds.

How do we reconcile these two issues? Here are some ideas that Fianna uses to remain a successful raiding guild despite our small size:

• Organize 10 mans. Even though we can't field a full 10 man group, we can field most of it. We organize 10 man raid runs every week and simply PuG the missing people, hopefully from friends lists but sometimes from Trade or LFG. We don't try to organize our own 25-mans, since this would be more like putting together a general PuG than a guild "guest" run.
• Recruit selectively. We're small because we only want people we really like in our guild, not just because we want to be small. The 10-man raids described above are an excellent way to scope out potential members. If a group member does really well, after the raid we let them know that they have an invitation to the guild.
• Maintain extensive friends lists. This is easier than ever with Blizzard's note feature. If someone was a great PuG, add them to your friends and note their specialty so you can invite them again. Also note any particularly bad players so you can avoid them in the future.
• PuG into 25 mans. With big friends lists and by getting to know people when they are guests at your raids, you can also often find out when other guilds need guests in their 25 man raids. This is a great time to get some upgraded gear that you don't normally have access to in a small guild environment.
• Form guild alliances. Get to know other guilds who might be too small to field full raid teams and ally with them. Fianna currently has two alliances, and are now officially teaming up with another guild for 25 mans.
• Host other events. Our guild has started doing weekly "retro raids" (yes I've talked about this before on here). We advertise in Trade and get as many people as we can for these old school raids. This kind of fun event lets people know who you are as a guild and is just one more way to meet people.

That's all I've got, hope these ideas are helpful to any of you out there who are part of small guilds!