What exactly is "casual"?

Okay, so I have to admit, I was a little taken aback last night when a guild member approached me about not being included in the 25 man raid invites.

Let me set the scene first before I go any further.

Last night, a group of us went into the Eye of Eternity just to see if we could down Malygos since we as a guild have never done it. It was nothing formal, nothing we were all anticipating, just my husband throwing some folks together and seeing if we could get him. My goal was to actually get on a little before it was time for us to go and talk to some people about raids and make sure invites were on the calendar for Sunday's raid. However, real life happened and my father-in-law decides to drop in unexpectedly and help my husband with something. So much for getting on early. So we scarf down dinner since his dad's sitting there waiting on him and then I haul tail upstairs and get us set up. I log in and then get him logged in and just do a quick set up on the calendar with just me and him in it so I can do invites later. But at least I got it started.

Okay, now to chat it up with people about the ten mans. There's a couple on not in a group atm so I pst them and let them know we're starting raid three, here are the times, can you make it, blahblah. Okay cool deal, I've talked to most of them now.

It's ten minutes til raid and Kroff has made it upstairs and is sitting at his desk doing invites for the raid. I'm still chatting with a couple of people and all in all my head is not ready for Maly yet. But we get in there and start trying it out.

About half way through our raid time, a guildie pops on, reads the guild message which states that invites will be on the calendar today for the 25 man run. They state over guild chat that there's no invite, were they left out? I state "no, we just haven't gotten to it yet" and Kroff throws them an invite and so now there's three of us on the list. That guildie appeased we continue pulling and when we take breaks I start throwing in people I know that are on the list to go.

Over the course of about half an hour in between wipes, I'm up to about 20 people. There's still five spots I haven't put on the calendar yet. Five. Here's where the fun begins.

So a guild mate pops on and immediately whispers me "yea, so why am I being left out of the 25 man raids?"

Excuse me?

Seriously, I have been doing invites for half an hour in between pulls, there's five spots, and you want to know why you're left out? Are you kidding me?

So in essence, one of his friends has read the invites, seen his or her name and then ran and told this other person who's now questioning me. Nevermind the fact that there are still FIVE spots that haven't been filled yet. Hmmm...maybe, just maybe, you're in one of those spots. You want to give me two freaking seconds before you jump my case?

Yea, I was pretty peeved, but the whole "why am I not being included" question was not what pissed me off the most.

Let's continue.

So I quickly explain, "you're not left out, I haven't finished invites, please give me a minute as I'm doing this in between tries." So they apparently checked the guild list and saw oh hey, there's a group in Eye. You would think at this point a person would be like "maybe I shouldn't bother her right now, she's doing something pretty important." But no...nope, that's not what happened. I get a guilt trip. "Eye, oh dang, that's what I need for my achievement. Yea, well I just wanted to make sure I was raiding, that's kinda why we're here." (No, that's not exactly what was said, but what was implied.)

Now I'm getting angry.

Here I am, trying to tank Malygos and I've got this person whispering me complaining and 1. not being included in an invite list that's not complete yet and 2. basically telling me that my guild isn't raiding enough for him. I'm sorry, the last time I checked, Sacred Pack is NOT, I repeat NOT a hardcore raiding guild.

I will not make my guys raid 6 or 7 nights a week and I will not cater to the quarals of one person fussing about not raiding enough. I try my level best to do what's best for the guild as a whole. Hellfire! That's why we're raiding in the first place! Everyone's been asking for it. Everyone has expressed an interest in raiding and that's what we've been doing.

I don't mean to beat a dead horse but come on! Can you cut me a little slack? I've been running over numbers and classes and specs and people for the past WEEK trying to get three raids set up so my ENTIRE guild can run 10 man Naxx. I've been busting my butt for these people, and all I've gotten so far (granted it's only been one night that I've told we're doing three raids) is complaints. Complaining and mumbling and grumbling and this or that.

Please get over yourselves. Really, just get over it. I'm totally cool and totally open with taking concerns and complaints privately. I'm down with that. That's part of my job description as GM. But what I won't take is gripping about policies that this guild has set in place from the very beginning. We are NOT a hardcore raiding guild. We raid casually and we do it in the best interest of the guild.

When we start Naxx 25 next week, not everyone's gonna get to go. It's a fact of life. 30+ people will not fit into 25 man Naxx. It sucks, but that's the way it is. That's the way Blizzard made it and like or not, we have to adhere to that if we're going to raid. I'm sorry. I apologize now if you're not on the invite list. It's nothing against you as a person. We want to take everyone and I promise that we will get you in there in time. But the list that's in place was chosen to conform to the right specs and classes that are needed in a 25 man run. There are going to be times that people can't make it, then I will get those guildies not on the list in that run. We'll fill spots as needed and everything will work out. So if you're not on the list, just hang in there with me. You'll be in the ten mans for sure, please let that be enough for now. We're doing our best.

Back to where I was originally going with this.

Casual. Please define it.

To me a casual raiding guild is one that does not make raiding it's top priority. It comes in second to PVP, questing, instancing, or just general hanging out having a good time. Casual consists of raiding a couple nights a week but not being required to raid 7 nights a week. Casual also means you go with the flow, if a bunch of raid members are going to have to miss for whatever reason, we don't raid that week. We don't want our comrades to be left behind because of RL. It happens.

So if you are a member of Sacred Pack or interested in becoming one, get this in your head right now. Raiding comes second. We are a family first and raiders second. And that's not going to change as long as I'm around.