Save the Guild Relations Forum

As of today the old WoW forums have been set to read-only access, and we’ve all migrated to the new community portal. I like a lot of the new forum functionality — like the avatars! — although I’m not totally sold on the design. One very disappointing aspect of the new site, though, is that the Guild Relations forum apparently did not make the cut.

The Guild Relations forum was created in 2006 to be a “place for the open discussion of any item important to guild structure” (Eyonix). It went along with the Guild Relations Program, which seemed to be Eyonix’s pet project. A handful of guilds were chosen as Program representatives, with more to be apparently added later. Nothing really came of the Program, but the forum thrived without it.

Over the years the GRF created one of the few civil, self-policing places on the old site. For the most part things stayed polite, if heated at times, and above all very helpful. Not sure which loot system you want to use? Need a second opinion about how your raid leader treats you? Do many guilds require authenticators for bank access? If there wasn’t a sticky already covering the topic, a slew of people with all kinds of guild-related backgrounds were happy to share their experiences.

Cataclysm is bringing in changes that emphasizes guilds, and I think the new 10/25 lockouts will foster the creation of a lot of 10-man groups. It’s almost ironic that Blizzard should decide now to cut the Guild Relations Forum loose. Worst of all, it’s been done without a word from the folks upstairs. There were threads asking about it on the old and new forums, and at no time did anyone respond. It’s kind of disappointing.

Whether you’re a guild leader or a member or someone who is looking for the right group, losing the GRF is losing a great resource. If you agree, I encourage you to post in this thread and ask Blizzard to reconsider. Thanks.