I do my best to support the guild raids, whether I have the flag or not. Where my biggest heartburn occurs is when we do not start anywhere close to the announced starting time. Those that show up on time are rewarded by standing around, usually over an hour past the start time, while we wait for more people.

I'm not sure how the other guilds do it, but when I've tagged along with other guilds, they meet, they move to the target, and they take it down. Perhaps it is because they are required to raid. Personally, I'm not interested in raiding 5 days a week or more, I'm certainly not advocating that we initiate that policy.

I applaud our allowing non-alliance members to join in after a certain point. Not because I wish to help flag other guilds, but because it helps us get enough to make a raid happen.

I do not have a solution for how to make this work more efficiently. I wish I did. I'd like to say, just start the raid on time and do what we can with what we have. That being the case, we probably wouldn't have enough to do any major mobs.

Summer is typically a slow time for most guilds. This time of year many people have other things to occupy their time. Guild membership seems to drop and the uber raiding guilds start gathering up what they need from guilds like those found in the alliance. I've seen it happen several times in my 5 years of playing EQ. But I know if I'm patient, we'll get through the summer doldrums and things will improve in the fall.

Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.

Mori