Leaving Your World of Warcraft Guild

Leaving your guild in World of Warcraft is not always easy. You may have developed a lot of friendships in there or perhaps the guild helped you get geared up and you won loot over other guildies who plan on staying in the guild.

So you feel guilty, right?

Perhaps you can't decide if you should leave or not. Here are a few things to consider.

1. Do you tend to ignore /guildchat due to its content or overspamming?

2. Are the raids, website, or PvP groups unorganized and falling apart?

3. Do the guild rules feel unfair to you? (ie. Are Officers taking advantage of other members?)

4. Are you just ready to move on because you haven't been able to make friends?

5. Is the guild expecting too much out of you?

6. Is the guild not expecting enough out of the members?

7. Is there a lot of in-game drama or flame wars on their guild website?

8. Are there members within the guild making you feel uncomfortable?

There are a lot of other factors why someone may be leaving a guild. But it is all up to you in the end. Since it is just a game, remember that the point of logging in is to have fun, so if you are not having fun in your guild, it is time to move on.

Before leaving look into what kind of rule does the guild have for re-invites if you decide the grass is not greener on the other side? If they do not accept re-invites, make sure this is your final decision.

So now let's say you have made the final decision to leaving the guild. What next? I know for many people this is a scary thing. The reason why people hate leaving sometimes is because they know that if there are a lot of people online when they leave, others may PM and directly ask, "Why?"

It's not really a bad question. Many people ask out of curiosity and not to harass you to come back. Some guildies may ask because if there is a problem within the guild, they may want to know about. Officers or guild masters may ask so that they can look at ways into improving their guild.

Different Methods to Leave the Guild

Stealth Mode -

This is used quite often. I have used this method before. Basically you stay in the guild for longer than you expect to stay in the guild, so that you can watch for the amount of people online. You wait until the least amount of people are online, (or preferably no one) and quit the guild then. If you did not know anybody in the guild or associate with anyone, you may be able to escape without ever being asked.

Goodbye Note on the Kitchen Table -

Some people, when they leave a guild, they like to post a note on the forums for everyone to read. Many guilds will not keep such notes on their forums for long as it could give them a bad rep if notes like these are flooding the forums. These notes are probably best to write if you have been a long standing member and you want to make sure everyone understands so that you can leave on a good note. A lot of times, rumors and hearsay can change things. If you have a note, at least everyone will be able to see it for themselves. Just remember that the moderator of the website will probably delete it fast.

The Drawn-Out Goodbye

I have seen people do this before. I have seen people do this both on the note that they loved everyone in the guild but they had to move on, but have also seen others viciously attack each other in guild chat until they are finally kicked or finish up and leave. I honestly don't like drawn out goodbyes. The only time I think they are okay is if you are a long standing member and everyone keeps carrying on the conversation with you. If no one is really responding, then talking to yourself forever will make people go, "Um...is he gonna leave yet?"

When leaving a guild, if you wish to leave in good standings, remember that there are people out there that will scrutinize what you do. If you just won some epic item that a lot of people were wanting to win, but you were trying to blow all of your DKP, (or you knew you were leaving soon but rolled anyway) and then left the guild the same day or a few days after winning, people will look down on you.

I think that how you handle yourself when leaving a guild is important. You never know who will show up again when you are looking to do a group. You don't want people saying, "Oh there's that spaz that had the long drawn out goodbye" or "There's that ninja who won the loots and /gquit."

I left a guild on pretty good standings. I left due to a friend of mine getting wrongfully /gkicked. I ended up staying in the guild one month after the initial kick to try to patch things up with the officers. When that did not happen I ended up leaving. I won a nice epic, but after I won it, I did wait a couple weeks before quitting. My goodbye was pretty short, and I did it in guild chat. I didn't really get too many PMs because people were probably expecting me to leave a lot earlier than I did.

It turns out that after the expansion hit, I regrouped with many people from this old guild. Since I left in good standings we actually ended up forming our own guild! You just never know if you'll meet up with your old guildies again.

Lastly, what to say?

There is really no cookie cutter method on this. But here are just a few phrases people say, (if you choose to speak in guild chat before the /gquit)

"Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I had a great time in this guild and I made a lot of friends, but it's time for me to move on and try new things. Message me if you guys ever need anything."

"A couple of real life friends and I just started a family guild. I wish you all the best. Good luck!"

"I have been so busy with real life lately that I cannot put as much time into the game as I once did. I cannot commit to a guild as much as I use to, so therefore I am going to be moving this toon out."

There are many things you can say to the guild before you leave. And sometimes, it is best you say nothing at all. It all depends on what kind of guild participation you had in the first place. The best thing to do is to try to leave the guild the best you can. If you were wronged somehow, having a spaz attack in chat and flaming the World of Warcraft forums won't help you in the future. Not everyone will know the whole story, and sometimes those who are buddy-buddy with officers may look down on you more if they are feeding them with information, and then they see you acting in such ways.

Good luck on your journey in World of Warcraft; and good luck finding your in-game home.