Maybe with some more community attention this can get fixed, we have tried numerous times to get this fixed via tickets but there has been no resolve yet. Please help us.
I’ll keep it quick and easy. (Try to anyways)
Back story : GM (Smurrfetteqt) and I created this guild in 2010 and moved it 2 times. We were a long time semi successful raiding guild with some decent achievements and a couple realm firsts, Eventually we found a long time home on US Arthas.
GM and I quit WoW temporarily due to real life.
We passed GM to a long time member. Let’s call them “BL”
Long time member (BL) transferred the guild to another realm without our permission. (OK, not the end of the world)
Guild died on new realm. Only player ranked 5+ or above remaining is BL. We were able to get invited to the guild actually but very low level.
Long time member BL passed away unexpectedly in real life. (RIP)
GM and I finally come back to WoW, attempt to get guild back.
Blizzard acknowledged Smurrfettqt as being the original Leader of our Guild. Yet they are refusing to make an exception even with providing links and evidence that we lost our long time friend BL in real life and the guild is pretty much stuck in Limbo.
We asked cases to be escalated and even asked for the Guild to be moved back to our original (DEAD) realm - no luck and no sympathy. Instead get ready for this…
Even after linking BLs obituary and the fact BL hasn’t logged in since that day (all verified by Blizzard) OMG! Do You know what The Blizzard support team told us to do? THEY TOLD US TO ASK BL’S FAMILY TO SEE IF THEY WILL GIVE US ACCESS TO HIS ACCOUNT!!! How unacceptable, insulting and hurtful. INSTEAD OF SIMPLY RESTORING THE GUILD TO THE PROPER GM - WHICH THEY ACKNOWLEDGED WE ARE THE ORIGINAL OWNERS OF THE GUILD.
Maybe if this gets enough attention we can attempt to move on from this.
This is easily fixed.
Restore GM ownership on new realm.
Move Guild back to the original Realm (Arthas), as stated by customer support that the original GM will ALWAYS have full control. So why not fix it?
Let us and our friends move on from this. We may have a flow of old friends coming back as well, let’s keep the good times coming and move on from this please.
Thanks for listening.
FOR THE HORDE
Kettler
Asst GM / Former MT of From The Internet on US-Arthas
Welcome to Customer Support, not to be confused with Customer Service. This forum is one for players to assist other players. It is not a contact point for GMs, Devs, QA or any other staff save for our SFAs. They are the only Blues here, and they are here moreso as an info desk capacity and to keep us lot of hoodlums in line.
My usual spiel taken care of now - I do offer my condolences and sympathy to you and your friends for the loss of an old friend.
Now as for the guild - if your other friend was the original GM back when the guild was created, only they can be the ones dealing with Blizzard. Even as a co-GM, if they were the titled GM then it is only something they can process through. The ranking system does not allow for two GMs, so even while you may be their co, it does not read like that within the guild system.
In the black and white of guild ownership, if the other person was the original GM, then unfortunately you do not have a dog in this race. If it is you personally going through your account and trying to manage all of this for the other GM, that could very well be why it’s being denied. I’ve seen guilds returned to their original GM in the past, so that is the only thing I can think of that is preventing it from happening here.
Once you transferred the guild over to another player, it became their guild. They could chose to do with the guild what they wished from that time forward.
I’m not sure if the name of the guild could be released, it seems an easier task unless there is an active guild with the name on the realm you wish to go back to.
Thanks for the reply. That’s fine if a MOD needs to move it go ahead. Posting on my phone so the UI is a bit condensed. Yes, The original GM has been opening all of the tickets. I have made this post out of frustration from the lack of sympathy and compassion.
Since the guild was transferred they are claiming Smurrfetteqt as not being the original GM…, as such this leaves a very huge flaw in their system they are trying to “protect” GMs. Again we never gave permission for this transfer to happen.
hijack guild some how (inactivity / scam, etc)
simply transfer the guild then they will do nothing to protect the original GM
You did give permission for the transfer to happen, when you made the other person the guild leader. At that point they had complete control over the happenings of the guild, full stop. There is no passing guild leader to someone else to hold it while you still have a say in anything that happens.
The moment that guild lead was passed to another player, it became 100% their guild to do as they please with. The previous guild leader and yourself don’t get any say from that moment on.
Your best option is actually to start the guild over on the realm you want it on (assuming the name isn’t taken).
If this has already been looked into by the GM group (Blizz employees) and they have said that no exception can be made, then that’s your answer unfortunately.
Once you gave over the guild leadership to BL, you lost any right to the guild in any fashion, unfortunately. Within the rules of the game and all of that, they didn’t need to ask for permission since the guild became theirs to do with it what they wished, as Kozzae pointed out. Morally (I suppose?), they should have asked if you all kept in touch after you left the game, but that holds no weight in the black and white of what guild leadership is here in the game. Your GM passed the leadership. With that, they passed on any rights in the decision-making for the guild itself.
I can understand the sentiment and I empathize with you guys, but I say what I say as how things are dictated through the rules of guild management - not to be cruel, just the cut and dry of the rules.
Was the original GM on a different account at the time they were GM? People transfer characters and bounce around accounts sometimes, perhaps that could play a role in why they cannot seem to be verifying the OG GM as the original?
And too, again from the black and white perspective thing I keep hinging on - this article. I know it wasn’t a dethroning, but still.
This discussion is more focused on the lack and willingness to actually help their customers in a difficult and extreme situation. Rather than stick behind their “standards” they could actually help. We don’t care as much about the server being moved, we are just trying to get the guild returned to the original GM in an extreme situation (RIP).
You mentioned that you were able to get invited back into the guild. Is there someone in the guild of sufficient level to take leadership? Or has someone already taken leadership?
My guess is that either someone else already took lead or is going to be able to take lead once 90 days has gone by.
It’s very sad to hear about your long time guildie passing away. That’s never easy, but there are still rules for the GMs to follow especially when it comes to guilds.
I am sorry you lost your friend, Kettler. That makes this more complicated in ways - but as far as guild succession, not really since the guild was essentially his from the moment he was promoted to leader.
Looks like there are no ranks eligible for dethroning.
While you are welcome to continue to address this in tickets, I’m pretty sure the advice you’ve been given is the only possible way forward given the circumstances.
If they are stating that they must have contact from the account holder or next of kin in order for the guild to be moved, then that is what it is. They often require a death certificate in order to change the holder of an account or make any changes to that account - a former guild member providing an obituary might not rise to their requirements. For all they know the person’s family might want to take over the account and use the guild at some point, or it might be unclear that it was the same person who died.
You can ask them a few times if an exception can be made given the circumstances and evidence you’ve provided but there’s no alternative way forward.
Blizzard has, very rarely returned a guild to the original GM when the current one is inactive and they don’t have rank to get it through the auto dethrone system.
I don’t know what the rules are for those exceptions. The examples I have seen were where the Original GM was dethroned or compromised, not where they willingly gave away the guild leadership.
Policy they have to follow is pretty strict. They are not supposed to hand over GM leadership to anyone not designated by the appointed (and you did appoint them) GM.
They CAN grant account access to a family member in the event someone passes but that has a lot of govt documentation involved. That would get someone access to the account to appoint a new GM.
I realize that is kind of convoluted, but that is the current system in place.
I have a Very similar situation and Im not even asking for GM position. I just dont want to have to build a new guild bank for alts make my toon second i dont care. they had some issues with people applying and robbing the GB so they made all tabs deposit only while I was taking my Since Cata break from WoW. Well now none of them has gotten on in 4 months or longer and im screwed lol.
This is where the issue is. The guild’s leadership has every right to have the guild bank as open or closed as they want. In the event the guild does not permit access to the guild bank to withdraw items or gold, then there’s nothing that can be done. It belongs to the guild, in as far as the guild members have access. The GMs will not intervene in your situation either.
The highest ranks (also long time friends and members) were un eligible for dethrone, due to their member levels. It seems our friend BL wanted to make sure we had the guild ready for us when we came back, but unfortunately, he left us unexpectedly way too soon.
Not sure why Blizzard is not considering the human factor and ignoring customer empathy for long time customers and respectful community members.
BL had the option of putting you guys in the higher member levels. That would be a sign he wanted the guild to be ready if he left and you came back, putting you in position to dethrone them if needed. But they specifically chose to leave everyone so low that they wouldn’t be able to dethrone, a sign that they wanted to keep the guild even during an extended abscence. Obviously circumstances have changed - but that’s at least in part why blizzard might want actual proof that they died and not just your word.
Because while you are being sincere, you understand how other people could start using this excuse. Once they do it for some, they would do it for all. Everyone is treated the same, no matter how long you’ve been playing.
It’s not easy for the humans behind the GM job to deny this type of request. But it is the current policy.
GMs can only do what the Powers That Be allow them to do. It’s likely that they would love to help you guys, but there are rules in place that they must adhere to. In an ideal world, you guys would have kept your toons in place as the GM and rank below it, and elevate BL to have a rank that gave him a wide range of permissions to help manage lower ranked folks and guild bank but not the full run of the guild so that it had not been transferred and all of this wouldn’t be an issue. And even more ideally, your friend would still be here with you.
Again, I am absolutely sorry for your loss and the headache that you are going through with this. They just have protocols they have to follow, else they wouldn’t have a job. As Orlyia said, you can keep trying to push it through tickets, maybe there’ll be some way it can be done. I’d just keep your expectations low at this point. I am sorry.
