Progression, especially in a small guild, is dependent on everyone doing their utmost to attend. But, more importantly (in my mind), each individual has a duty to not let the others down. There are always going to be those with a more casual attitude towards raiding than others, but there must be a mutual understanding of several factors:
The difference between your dedicated and casual raiders.
I avoid the word 'hardcore' purposefully here as it's a term open to interpretation these days. By 'dedicated' I mean those that will move things around and have set days where raiding is the priority. It might even be an idea, if you have a large enough guild, to separate these members out into different raids thus ensuring the casuals don't piss off the dedicated and vice-versa.
The differing value of game/raid time.
For some, any time on WoW at all is precious and must be spent wisely, especially for raiders who must account for their consumables, professions, gold etc as well as show up to raid - all within an often limited timeframe. It is natural that those with full-time jobs/families are going to place a higher value on the time they're online than those who are students/on flexible schedules, and raid members need to be considerate of the value others place on being there.
Knock on effects..
It's also important for raiders to realise that people may have moved things around, left work early, declined a social invitation on raid days in order to attend. For example, I told my boss to his face that I would have to be back by a certain time yesterday, he was fine with it but it's still not an easy thing to do. We were at a tradeshow and myself my boss plus two other colleagues left at an earlier time to suit me and my schedule which is based on the fact I said I would be somewhere at a certain time. I take my word seriously, in-game and out, because we are dealing with other real people with other real responsibilities, be it work, family or socially related.
I am very fortunate, my guild ran a couple of HCs with me instead last night with the priority on getting a couple of upgrades for me, which we did and I'm very appreciative of. But I still sense in some (by no means the majority) a blasé attitude towards raid cancellation, which isn't right or fair if you consider what some people have to do in order to attend.
~Reala
