I am not filling out this form to be anonymous.  I’m merely placing it here because I can see that there is more than enough tension on discord, and I don’t want to fuel the fire.  I know I will seldom be invited to raids no matter what my numbers are, and I’m okay with that, but I feel the need to give my 2 cents.

Parses are percentiles.  Mathematically, that means that it’s entirely possible (and even likely) to improve, but not budge on parses because everyone else playing the game also improves over time through gear, skill, experience, etc.

Retech is 100% correct that the system encourages people to not be team players, but I also understand the opposition.  Personally, I look at the raid roster, and notice that there is no room for healers from week to week.  Again, I’m okay with that, but it’s something to think about.
What I think should be considered is that games are supposed to be fun.  Part of keeping a game fun is making sure it doesn’t have the same characteristics as a job.  Attendance and performance requirements aren’t fun.  Worse than that, there are probably some core raiders who would be happy to sit out from MC every now and then, allowing others to play, but feel obligated to continue because they’ll lose their spot if they aren’t there.  In other words, you have people who want to raid but aren’t welcome, and people who don’t necessarily want to but feel they must.  It’s a recipe for a toxic environment.

I tend to be very loyal to any group I join.  I also tend to have a great deal of patience and understanding when I get left out.  Unfortunately, during guild meetings, there has been a great deal of non-inclusive language and policy sprinkled with lip service towards understanding.  The values of an organization can be judged best through where they spend their time and resources.  It’s clear that this guild values people that have regular schedules and substantial amounts of free time.  The systems in place reward character performance over personal character.

I was glad to hear about Zate’s raid today because it was the first time since before raiding began where some attention has been paid to schedules; however, the concerns with the guild’s tone should be taken seriously.  A guild is a team, and that means working together and including members in core functions of the group.

Though I can’t pretend to have all of the answers to fix the current problems without upsetting people, I do have a suggestion.  Guild members can’t prove their performance if they aren’t in the raid, and the current members of the raid roster don’t want to lose their spots.  Perhaps there could be a clear, scheduled rotation for “trial raiders” to get into raids.  Basically, it could be a waitlist where they would know that the first 7 (or some other random number) would be guaranteed a spot that week.  The next few on the list would be in the raid if a core raider was absent or willing to step out.  The following week, the next several on the list would be guaranteed spots, and so on.  Core raiders could be offered the opportunity to step out for the week at the start of the raid without losing dkp because doing so would help their guildmates, and their own stress levels.

The key to this system is that trial raiders should know before raid night whether or not they are likely to be in that week, and exactly how many weeks it will be until they will get to raid.  I don’t think people are upset about not getting into raids.  It is highly likely that they are more like me, upset at the idea of never knowing if or when they will ever be able to raid again.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Antasmi