how toimprove attendance participation?

[TheBigApe]

RL is tough... recruiting for ranged and healers in that "SPECIFIC" class is like hitting the lottery...

but when i do get some recruits for try outs... then it's like pulling teeth to get the registered raiders to come...

1) Signed up but no-show: Real Life has it's limitations... i understand... but damn... just a quick log in on the forums and let me know would be nice...
2) Signed up and Late Log ins...
3) Those that does not sign up...

i'm no tyrant... well, maybe in my office... i tend to be meticulous in nature... but what do you guys feel is a better "incentive" to get more participation?

i get some folks to sign up as trials.. .then my own guildmates are being unreliable... first impression makes a lasting one...

i've considered being a bit strict... no sign up, no raid, no questions... but this is me just venting...

but i do have considered, 3x no-attendance = loss of raid spots...

i am recruiting to cover for those "absences" as we do work on a rotation basis...
i would love to hear from you guys...


thanks in advance.

damned fat fingers strike again... i guess i can't edit titles...

[Reev]

What we do is we have a "member rank" which has no restrictions on it, a "raid ready" rank, which means they need to keep their gearing/enchanting/playing knowledge up to snuff, but no attendance requirements, and a "raider" rank. Raiders are required to attend 80% of all raids on a month by month basis, and to let us know on the forums or through signups when they won't make it. When it comes time for invites, raiders have priority over raid readies, who have priority over members. It's a strong incentive to become a raider, because people are rolled out almost every raid time, and members are almost always the first to be sent packing. So if you want to raid, you pretty much have to have raider rank, and show up 80%+ of the time and let us know when you won't make it.

[Fetzie]

If I have to deal with this I use three steps:

1. talk to them nicely, say that it is their sign-up laziness that is holding you back. See if they get the hint.
2. tell them that you don't want to, but you will recruit to replace them if you feel you need to. Usually this is enough of an incentive for people to start signing up. Reinforce the message that a raid spot is not something that they have a right to.
If this doesn't make them take the hint then
3. open recruitment for all raid spots.
absolute emergency brake situation:
4. run 10 mans for 2 ids to make it clear that you will only take people with you that are reliable. If they want their spot back, they will have to earn it back.

yeah I know I said "three steps"

Running a guild is like running a playgroup for young children. Sometimes you need to take away their toys for them to listen. But because these are people, any means of enforcing discipline could just make them not want to turn up at all (bruised egos, temper tantrums etc). It takes a lot of effort (and a bit of luck) to turn a situation like this around. That said, when you do turn it around, chances are your guild will be stronger because of it. You got rid of the lazy bums, and got some motivated replacements who actually want to raid.

You may want to add incentives to being a "raider", guild bank repairs, enchanting mats from the bank at a discount or for free. Or as reev said, a tiered system where a "raider" who has high participation gets higher priority over a low participation member. You can also say that those who turn up on progression nights have priority for farm nights.
Good luck

[briarfox]

We do what my doctor's office does. We charge a cancellation fee. IF you sign up for a raid and don't show without a) a good reason or b) telling me ahead of time, then you owe the guild bank 500g, and until it's paid your raid slot goes to one of our alts (who would be more then happy to show up, I assure you). As long as you let people know ahead of time it's going on, the response has been pretty good. That and we have a bigger bank coffer and can afford raid repairs more easily.

I dunno how you do loot, but we loot council for right now and attendance is one of those things taken into consideration. If you're a no call no show/late repeatedly/get yourself locked to another ID like an idiot then you move to the bottom of the loot list for that week (or possibly the next, depending on the situation and timing).

I look at it this way. This isn't Wrath anymore, where you can take a fresh 80 and be running icc25 heroics 3 days later. These fights may not be impossible, but they are the first tier of raiding for a whole new expansion. Gearing for and successfully seeing this content requires a lot more skill and dedication (at least for the moment), and being a part of a progression oriented raid team is, for a lot of people, a privilege. We've had a lot of success motivating our raiders with this concept, letting them know (with humility and thankfulness, after all they have all put in a lot of work on their toons too) that being in a progression raid means that you've demonstrated a knowledge of your toon, a willingness to spend time and gold getting better, and are concerned with the progression and reputation of the raid/guild as a whole and willing to work toward that even if it may be contrary to your personal plans (chosing spending gold on a new gear piece as opposed to something cosmetic like a mount. Not strictly speaking required, you can spend your gold how you want. It does say a lot about a player tho).

As long as that status quo is maintained, then you will continue to have the privilege of raiding. Should your dedication, attendance, or whatnot begin to falter, then we may reevaluate whether or not you deserve that privilege.

This may seem harsh, but I don't think that anyone who takes their raiding seriously would be opposed to it. If your raiders' actions demand extreme measures, then go for it, if for no other reason than if 1 person doesn't show, then 9/24 others are screwed. The 15 bucks you pay says you can play the game however you want, but if you chose to work with a group and make a commitment to go on raids, the 135 bucks the rest of the raid pays means show up on time and be ready to go (and stay out of the fire).

[Uranos7]

What we do is we have a "member rank" which has no restrictions on it, a "raid ready" rank, which means they need to keep their gearing/enchanting/playing knowledge up to snuff, but no attendance requirements, and a "raider" rank. Raiders are required to attend 80% of all raids on a month by month basis, and to let us know on the forums or through signups when they won't make it. When it comes time for invites, raiders have priority over raid readies, who have priority over members. It's a strong incentive to become a raider, because people are rolled out almost every raid time, and members are almost always the first to be sent packing. So if you want to raid, you pretty much have to have raider rank, and show up 80%+ of the time and let us know when you won't make it.

We use about the same method as this for all positions.
Permanent Raiders who miss 2 weeks in a row are moved down to Sub-Raiders. Then Sub-Raiders who either sign-up and miss or do not sign-up at all for 2 weeks are moved down to Pug-Raiders who if they do not attend in at least one raid per month are dropped from raiding. Of course if you are on and ready and we don't use you then that counts as an attend; and if they have IRL issues and let us know ahead of time then special consideration may be given.

[Exiledknight]

Are you a casual guild? Hardcore(or semi hardcore...however people want to call it, remember you don't need to raid 5 days a week)? This would make the steps to take drastically different in each of these....if you are hardcore, there is one answer. Recruit, recruit, recruit, and recruit more.

Bottom line is this, you need 25+ reliable people to run a 25 man raid and 10+ for a ten man, if they don't want to show then many others would love that spot. It may mean you snag a few people with progression lower than yours by quite a bit(hell they could have been in a terrible guild and be great players)or whatever you need to do until you know that every single night you will be able to raid without worry. As those with attendence issues see this, they will show up more and more, and RL will happen less and less, in the end you get not only more dedicated players but players who are worried about their raid spot and will perform much better. If these people start showing up and it appears you overrecruited, then perfect sit those who put you in this situation on the bench(be sure you are rotating throughout the night minus on progression)however here is the main issue, so many guilds are having attendence issues, that whenever I interview an applicant that is the first question they ask me(which I don't get because I haven't had more than 4 specific classes we are recruiting in months)and I know so m any guilds that have gone from 25 to 10 or had to merge to keep raiding that you will be fighting an uphill battle to get there....now if its for a casual guild, sorry can't help you there.

[phoenixflame]

Well as in the past what we have done is basicly what you had said but a bit more drastic.
1. if you don't show up 3times with in the week then you lose your raid spot, untell you can prove that you are deticated enouph to be on time and be ready to raid for the 3hrs of raid time. if you cant be here for the 3hrs of raiding then don't come at all. RL' has its place but not in a raid with other people having to wait,or have to cancel due to lack of attendance,set times are there for reason people set those times aside to do what they love to do.There is no reason to have people wait on one or two people to show up!
2.if you cant be on time give a heads up ahead of time.
3.DON'T LIE (if you don't feel like raiding there no reason to come up with a lie just say i cant make it that's that)

[Prucilak]

What we do.

1. Loot Council/Dictatorship Your attendance is a strong factor in determining who gets the item.
2. Raider rank gets free repairs on raid night, substantially discounted enchanting mats, free flasks, free food. Youd be amazed how many people like this perk and it costs less than what you would think. All BOE's that arent given to main spec are AH'd. Guildies can buy them for 50% off. Determining how much money is in the gbank (50k+) I will even take 50% of the BOE's sold amount and split it up amongst the raiders present when it dropped. I sold the 359 staff last night for 11k, I ended up giving 750g to each of the 7 members that were there. THAT is an incentive.
3. IF I have to pug someone and I like them more than you, and theyre willing to join the guild, your spot will most likely be gone.

So what do I have? Good attendance, people will tell me a week in advance if they cant make the progression raid, and they usually supply me with their replacement. Other than one isolated incident (guy is probably getting replaced due to attitude) there is no complaining about loot.