To Merge or Not to Merge? (With DnA)

TLDR/Wall of Text Crits you for left eye version at the bottom.

Back when we first started this train in January, I had no idea where it was going. If anything "off the tracks" was the most popular answer--look who's wearing the engineer's hat.

The guild looks a bit different now than it did way back when. Some good friends--Igor, Allura(aka Gaminail from Kel'Thuzad), Taelara and Lance/Cunegonde have either left or can only be with us here and there. Somewhere in the back of my head, there was the idea all along that we'd need to expand a bit. Not having done this whole GM thing, I had no clue how to do that. Honestly, I still really don't--except that somehow I think we've gotten things right.

I don't know what stroke of good fortune caused Lucin, Sanura and Ertai to look at the gajillion servers and pick Terrokar, but they did... and they've been here almost since the start. Our resident Sith Lord, Dick Cheney... er Llibill pointed Narav in this direction. (PS, you must send him your 1 copper as tribute... do this, you'll get a mail back with 2 copper. Nevermind that mail costs 30 copper to send. Just do it.)

I could say the same thing about Thanatas, Deavious, Flayre, Tarok, and our newest addition, Eviscerate. And you are an addition--I have a guild house made of Legos that keeps getting bigger every time we add someone. TBone is that unfinished room in the basement, you know the one with the water heater and boxes from 4 moves ago that never have been opened...

There's a question that's coming up and that I'm going to need to answer soon... Do we stay the nice, sizeable Lego house that we are right now, or do we grow to be a mansion. Mansions look nice and give you a lot more space and opportunity--they're also a lot harder to maintain and to keep all of its guests happy.

(Get snowballs in-game and throw them at me if you hate this analogy.)

What I want to say is this. I like where we're at. We're progressing well, and we're progressing intelligently. There's a lot of cooperation going on. We're making friends in other guilds. There's a real positive vibe going.

The guild DnA has proposed that we merge our guilds together. I've been thinking about this for 3 weeks, maybe a month, and I'm no closer to having an opinion than I was at the outset. This is where I need your help. Do you want to do this? Or do you want to leave things as they are for the time being?

My thoughts: As it stands, both of our guilds are probably missing a few pieces for Kara--though I think we're more complete. Combined, we'd have enough.

That's a strong upside. The downside is that we'd have enough for one group, but not two. That leads to nightmares of scheduling, who goes, etc. I want everyone we have to be able to go if they can. I feel like if we'd merge, I'd be risking that.

Other things to consider--they'd like to form under a completely new guild tag. I'm not completely averse to it, but I like our identity, as the Voltron Force. My vote would be for "Form Blazing Sword" if we would rename... but I'd rather not. Thoughts? If you secretly hate the name/theme, then this might be a chance to make a new suggestion, get everyone in favor of it and savor your tag every day you play.

Also the question of guild structure/authority. We're a very contrarian guild in this sense. We really don't have any structure--everyone has /ginvite privileges. If you want your own rank, you get it. Just ask Secretary of Donuts Yurack or the Guild Hobag of the week (currently that Clothlion nub, I think).

I don't want to have officers, ever. I don't want to have structure and authority, ever. I want everyone to work together as equals, to have a voice as equal to everyone else. Most of all, I don't want you to think that this decision--merge or not--is one that you don't have a say in. You do. And I want to hear it.

I think that Prophetus and others are mostly good with this conception, but I'm not entirely for sure. I really don't want to give this up--I think it's a big part of what makes us who we are and why we have our good energy going.

I want to end the post with what I think the best reason to do this is. I really like the people from DnA that I've played with. They've been nice, and they're a lot of fun--witness the Halaa of a good time we had world PvPing tonight. DnA is on board with this idea, from what I gather. It is up to us.

I need your thoughts though--post comments, talk to me in game, etc. Prophetus keeps asking me for an answer--I figure I owe him one, one way or another sorta soon.

TLDR/Dodge Wall of Text version:

-I talk about how much I like all of you. Except for TBone, who is that unfinished storage room in the basement of this metaphorical home we've built. I think Yurack's corpse is in it, causing it to smell. Or is that Hunk? Don't get too close to water heater bud, one more of those and the pilot light could asplode.

-DnA wants to merge with us. Our home could be come a mansion. But do we really want a mansion?

The upsides:

- Seem to be nice and fun to play with
- A more solid Kara group and probably a little quicker.
- More people to instance/quest with.
- More resources, a JC at 350+, so San won't have to feel guilty about having to keep leveling to keep pace with JC. (We love you for doing it though!)
- Form Blazing Sword? (I still love it)

The possible drawbacks:

- Guild renamed? No more VF? Oh noes!
- People being left out of Kara/feeling left behind?
- Would they want officer structure/authority? I like everyone as equals.
- If so, could Yurack handle a demotion to Undersecretary of Donuts?
- Does it make sense at this point?

Are there alternatives--e.g. guild alliance with agreed loot rules/priorities, etc. for Kara?

I need your thoughts.