What do you expect from your Class Leader?Follow

Ok, I am in a guild where I have both my 70 hunter and 70 priest. I play them frequently enough for them both to be considered "mains". A while back, I was the Class Leader for our guild's hunters. The guild ended up getting quite a few hunters, so I offered to head up the priest class, which needed help. So I was moved from hunter Class Leader to priest Class Leader.

Now, after several months of my replacement hunter CL being active, our Guild Leader is not happy with his performance (after discussing this with him many times), and I have been asked to step back into the role. I accepted. I do like the previous CL as a person, but the hunters in our guild were not developing very well, which was sad to see.

First of all, if you were in his position, how would you feel about me? How would you act? I plan on treating him like the same person/player that I have always liked. I expect that he will be angry and some of that will reflect towards me, but I am going to try and not take it personally. Basically how would you handle this situation if you were me?

For the most part, in our guild the class leader roles do the following:

Attend guild meetings to talk with other class leaders and our Guild Leader regarding guild progression in raiding, PVP or Arena groups we've formed, basically any type of issue that may be neeeded to be addressed .. or how we can help one another.

We manage our individual classes by assisting people with questions, or concerns, keeping a constant feedback to make sure that each person feels comfortable and happy with their position in the guild. (I personally keep an ongoing dialogue with my assigned class to find out which people prefer which specs, what they enjoy doing most in the game (pve/pvp)and I try to help them achieve what makes the game fun for them - as well as good for the guild) We also make it a point to rotate people in and out of raid groups based upon each individual's effort towards making the guild stronger, as well as determining which individuals may need certain gear from different places. If someone has a question that I don't know the answer to, I will find it.

I'm not a number cruncher, and I don't know everything, but I can manage people reasonably well. I'm not a push over, but I do think that happy guildies makes for a fun game and good guild progression. Self centered loot whores will not get very far.

So I'm asking for feedback from the rest of the hunters out there. What do YOU think constitutes a good Class Leader? Do you have any examples of good leadership? Bad leadership? I'm looking to learn from the rest of you .. maybe there's something out there I can learn from that I haven't come across already.





Edited, Jan 1st 2008 5:09am by wildsimian

Doubleposted

Edited, Jan 1st 2008 9:27am by Nubkek

Among all the teaching and such you need to do, I suggest testing your hunters somehow.

Something like trying to 5-hunter instances. There's no better way to train the use of your character than fighting for your life.

Take 4 hunters on a trip through Normal Ramps, with pets not allowed to growl except on bosses. All that trapping, feigning, and kiting will be good for them..

It sounds like you have thought it through, and have what most people would expect of a CL. I don't think you will have any problems there.

Personally I would really think twice about stepping up as CL after a friend of mine got fired from the post. I guess it all depends on how well you know the guy, how you think he will take it, and above all, how much you want the position.

About your leadership question, it very much depends on how serious your guild is. If it's a performance-oriented hardcore raiding guild, I think you will need to be very clear on what you expect from your hunters. It will create a lot less animosity if you kick somebody from a raid-spot who didn't live up to a pre set goal, than if you just tell him afterwards that "sorry, you're not good enough".

If it's a more casual guild, I guess your role is more to be a uniting force, and to keep up-to-date so that you will be able to answer questions about spec, gear etc.

And in my work, I try to live by a few simple rules:
-Never say anything bad about a co-worker behind his back, and don't accept that others do it either.
-Always give negative feedback in private.
-Always give positive feedback in public.
I think these rules are applicable for a guild too.

Well, my friend that got fired took the news well enough. Actually he was happy not to have the pressure on him anymore. So all is well between he and I.

I agree with the poster who said that class leaders can be more of an annoyance when the players have reached certain content and know what they are doing. At that point I think it's basically just making sure everyone is happy with the raiding schedule, and no one is being left out.

My guild is a casual guild that's serious about raiding. I guess that's the best way to put it. We have members now that are stepping into 25 man content and ZA. We also have other members that are just stepping into kara.

My guild doesn't have Class Leaders. We are a 'friends' guild.

Having said that, I know what I could've USED as a Class Leader when I first started playing WoW. Here is the list of things I think they should be:

• Patient to a fault. The role is to lead, not rule.
• Teach, don't tell.
• Demonstrate, show, not berate and show off.
• Understand and listen, you never know when someone has a good new idea.
• Set up training situations and courses. (Related to teach don't tell)
• Evaluate and stay organized. You are the guilds voice- stay informed!
• If you have a set of Guild rules, stay on top of them and follow them yourself. If you find one is bad: change it! Don't ignore your own rules!
• Interact closely with the other Class Leaders, make certain EVERYONE is on the same page and knows what to expect from each class and spec of class.
• Make sure your class members are aware of all resouces, like Alla and other sites. Make sure you keep tabs on Guild resources for your class. Nobody should get anything out of the guild bank that you have reserved for anyone in your class without you approving it. Let those who want to learn earn their guild items. A nice piece of gear always makes a great reward for hard work.

If I had someone like that 2 years ago, Thal would've been 70 much sooner... ^_^

Ok. Thank you very much for your feedback.

With my guild the way it is, there will be some teaching (or I rather like to call it "sharing information") going on for some .... others are pretty much set on their own.

I'll need to spend my time talking to everyone, there's nothing worse than being ignored.

That's one of the reasons I came here for input. I've been in guilds where hunters feel they take a back seat to other classes. And yeah, sometimes we do. But I don't want anyone to feel that they aren't integral to the success of the guild. Working together we can all shine as a very strong class for our guild.

1) Good communications skills;
2) Good knowledge of the game mechanics as they apply to Hunters, and of the game in general;
3) Good knowledge of the current and upcoming raid encounters and the role of Hunters in them, either via experience or through study;
4) The ability to teach;
5) A strong sense of fair play;
6) The ability to point out deficiencies without becoming confrontational;
7) Tough, but fair.

Less itemized, the Hunter class leader should understand in depth the Hunter class, the role of Hunters in groups and raids, and the game mechanics as they pertain to Hunters especially and in general. S/He should be able to teach without provoking defensiveness or argument, but needs to be firm enough to not coddle slackers. S/He needs to have a strong sense of fair play, especially if S/He has a voice on a loot council and/or a voice in deciding who gets the Hunter raid spots.