Quote Originally Posted by Eli85 View Post
Why do you think raid groups tend to be revolving doors? People get tired of the bullying mentality of raid groups and choose to move on. The raid community will not grow positively until positive atmospheres are reinforced. And yes, you can have mature, respectful, positive atmospheres with bleeding edge progression. I've been in them. I've lead them. Sadly, they are not common, and thus potential raiders are driven away from raiding.
To be fair, while this approach may work on average, you have to consider the group dynamic. All players and their respective attitudes are not equal. Some people not only prefer but actively improve in an openly blunt environment. What you may call "toxic," they call "honesty." As for the frequency in turn around. It's disingenuous to attribute bullying as the sole factor. Being blunt myself, many people simply lack the skills to clear Savage but don't like hearing it. This is why the term "elitism" has lost all meaning. You are more likely to be accused of said elitism for merely offering advice than for sticking your nose up at those "filthy casuals." And that petty attitude isn't reserved for the hardcore mindset either. I know someone who intentionally refuses to heal tanks wearing 270 Slaying accessories regardless of their capabilities. Why? They hate the supposed "meta" so much, they have unintentionally become just as petty as the so called elitists.

Something worth keeping in mind is players who openly insult one another may still have an overall positive atmosphere. They simply go around it a different way. To use Xeno as an example, you'll have half as many people talking about how chill and helpful he's been while others hate him. Ask his opinion about his static members though and he'll gush over all of them. Basically, it works for him and people with similar mindsets.