My Guild is Terminal Stage...

I'm in a situation I've experienced many times in guilds, and I can see how it's going to end. My guild is dying. It might look fine on the surface, but it is slowly, surely dying. This is not about a single member or loot or any drama - my guild is not dying because some genius stood in the fire last night and wiped the raid. That can be 'cured'. This is an interminable sickness that will ultimately break up the guild if not addressed soon. Here are some symptoms:

-Scheduled raids get canceled more and more frequently due to attendance issues.
(Players are not interested in logging on, would rather play other unguilded characters, or have real life responsibilities)

-Although we have scheduled raids starting on the hour, things never get going until half past. Players are not prepared or ready to go on time.
(Late players, Tank/offset gear is in the bank, busy respeccing to raid spec, hearthing to get missing reagents/consumables...)

-Sloppy play once in the raid.
(AFKs, slow wipe recovery, muddled tanking/healing/dps assignments leading to wipes)

-Low levels of guild management.
(Almost zero recruiting by guild leadership to fill gaps in roster, new members are far below level cap and will not be raiding for weeks/months from when they join. Chronic healer/tank shortages.

-Some key players have constant connection problems. We spend on average 20-30 minutes per night waiting for offline players, and usually one or two attempts a night are wipes partially, if not fully due to disconnects.

I'm not claiming to be completely free of all of these symptoms, but I am always on time and prepared, and when I make a mistake I know why and rarely repeat it. I feel like I am contributing more to the guild than I am getting back from it.

Since my last post, where two weekends ago we finished half of Ulduar very rapidly, we have not even gotten past Ignis. Its really frustrating to wipe over and over on a boss we conquered for two consecutive weeks. I'm sure I'm not the only guildie feeling down about it.

All of the above symptoms, individually, can be overcome with corrective action. But combined together, they sap the energy and momentum of a raid, and waste everyone's time. This is especially important as our core group have only about 2-2.5 hours of raid time a night. When we start late, and 30 minutes or more is wasted for various reasons, it gets old quick. If things aren't turned around soon, the death of the guild is inevitable. I have seen it happen many times to guilds I'm in. Overall activity is down in spite of recent progression, the MT is often MIA, and more raids are called than actually take place. I know a dying guild when I see it.

I have had some conversations with the guild leader and his attitude is a mix of 'It will get better this weekend/soon' and 'It can't be helped, just do with what we got'. It's nice to have faith in your fellow guildie, but to me all the inconsistency is frustrating and to a degree inconsiderate to fellow guildies.

I've considered myself a casual player in that I cannot always log on consistently the same time to match a regular raiding schedule. I don't like 'teh srs bznss' aspect of WoW that can cause stress and drama. I gravitate towards casual guilds with loose structures. Often, these guilds eventually implode, but I am used to it. I am complacent to have a guild dissolve around me, then go off in search of a new one. But now, after raiding regularly for the first time since vanilla WoW (I don't think I entered a single PVE raid from June 2006 to September 2008), I'm hooked, and I'm looking for a place to play.

For the second time in my WoW career, I am thinking of leaving a guild I am heavily invested in. The last time I left a guild was in 2006, when I was in a hardcore progression guild with a crazy schedule and overzealous leadership - it was too hardcore for me. This time the guild is too lax! Where oh where are you, Perfect Guild That Matches Me Perfectly?

After tonight's raid, I am going to let the GL know that I plan on looking for another guild if the situation doesn't improve soon. I don't want to /ragequit after a bad wipe, or sneak on and /qguit when no one can see, or avoid logging on even if I want to. Perhaps this is just a lull and it will improve. But I don't think I can cling to this sinking ship much longer.