To Guild or not to Guild?
by Damien Barrett 
Dec 6th 2005 at 3:45PM
I have a level 54 dwarf paladin character that has never been part of a guild. There was a time when I couldn't walk through Ironforge without being asked a dozen times if I wanted to join a guild, especially as my character reached higher and higher levels.For that particular character (my main), the goal has been to get him to level 60 without the the help of guildmates. Explaining to this politely to a few people who've asked me to join their guilds has been met with some puzzled replies.
Being part of a guild can be beneficial. Guild members often give lower members gold and appropriate items to help them get started. Guildmates often help each other out in solving or completing quests, or defending against a ganker. But being part of any group also has disadvantages. My very first WoW character joined a guild and it was very poorly run with infighting, disrespect, and an extremely chatty guild channel.
We'll be forming a guild related to WoW Insider for readers to join if they'd like. We've selected two servers (one Horde, and one Alliance) to build characters on. Once all WoW Insider bloggers have created characters on these servers, we'll have a post with their names as well as which servers (realms). Stay tuned!
Filed under: Guilds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Userless Dec 6th 2005 4:22PM
When I played in closed beta, I joined a guild and from there saw that it's much more beneficial to be a part of one than not. When the game released, my roommate and I started our own guild, but not being MMORPG players in the past, once people hit 60 the guild sorta fell apart. Now all my characters are in guilds run by other people.
It's nice to be able to help each other out and to have someone to talk to during flights or to get tips on talents.
Guilds are much better than going solo. Plus pickup groups really, really stink.
Barista Dec 6th 2005 5:09PM
Not sure if this has been mentioned, or what the feeling on this might be, or what the ramifications are, but I've done it when in a guild I was unhappy or bored with.
/gquit
and you're no longer in a guild.
Wowaholic Dec 6th 2005 9:48PM
I have a 60 mage on Deathwing. I started the with one of the larger guilds on the server, but it's now disbanded, as of a few week ago :( I have not joined another guild since, so I just PVP on that character. I'm now rank 10, guildless and groupless, all with just a few hours of play a night. So you can progress without a guild, but really only in PVP. For endgame instances like BWL, MC, ZG, a guild is a must.
Fabian Dec 6th 2005 7:16PM
Yeah I'm in guild with both of my characters. Both for the same reasons: I'm playing WoW to play with my friends, so I joined their guilds (I'm playing on two different servers, so I'm in two guilds).
Simple as that. So far it has been great fun. Even though I admire the willpower to do a self-reliant character and brin him up to 60, I opt for the 'more fun faster' option of accepting some twinking from my guildmates...
And so far it has only added to my fun, not vice versa.
Fallang Dec 6th 2005 7:12PM
I got my dwarven hunter on Kargath to 60 without ever being in a single guild. It wasn't easy... I did a lot more boring grinding than questing and to date I've only been in 2 or 3 raids. By not joining a guild I probably missed out on a lot of what the game is about. Maybe I'll roll a couple alts when I get an income again :P
vc Dec 6th 2005 7:11PM
Love the idea of a wowinsider guild.
John Naked Dec 6th 2005 7:47PM
The problem with not joining a guild is that if you want to progress into the high-end raids, you'll be SOL.
Try finding a 40 man pick-up group that has Onyxia on farm status.
ps to Bonechewer (Horde):
[Nybbas] 60 rogue lf guild pst
syco Dec 6th 2005 7:28PM
I have quite a problem concerning this. I have two other people who I play with. We're not interested in picking up more people, we know each other in real life (we live in the same building), so the umpteen million guild invites I get is just getting annoying. Why can't blizzard add an option to ignore all guild invites? They have it for party invites, and it's much less likely that you'd not want to ever be in a party, than in a guild. If three was enough to make your own guild I'd just do that, but you have to get 9 signatures, and I'm not fishing for signatures to get people to stop doing it to me. The hypocrasy alone...
CCK Dec 6th 2005 9:07PM
I'm pretty sure there is an ignore guild invite in the preferences
That being said, if you want to do end game stuff like Onyxia's Lair, BWL or Molten Core, you MUST be in a big guild. You'll never get 40 people together if you are alone, and if you if you do, someone will ninja the loot
shar Dec 6th 2005 9:14PM
I've made to level 27 (noob!) so far without party, much less guild, and I'm not very keen on joining, there were a few invites. do people really accept guild invite from total stranger? seems weird to me
Dr. Woo Dec 7th 2005 8:32AM
Anxiously awaiting the servers the staff signs up on! I'm there with a Troll Warrior.
Shynnee Dec 7th 2005 9:50AM
I've been in a guild since my first toon was level 1, I started playing when all my friends were already 60 and they just put me in their guild. Nobody was interested in helping my "noob" self but I have always liked having /g to laugh and chat with people.
Once I got to about 50 I ended up leaving all my real life friends to join a raiding guild because their guild didn't raid anything beyond UBRS.
Happily a core member of Provoked on Mannoroth Server.
Dr. Woo Dec 7th 2005 9:59AM
"Happily a core member of Provoked on Mannoroth Server."
Not part of "Illegal Danish?" ;-)
Shynnee Dec 7th 2005 10:16AM
lol I haven't seen Illegal Danish but there is "Forbidden Donut"
Chiablo Dec 7th 2005 11:10AM
I've got you beat. I have a dorf hunter that I was trying to get to 60 without ever having a mount.
I got up to 56 when my guild finally got sick of waiting for me to join them and they forced me to get my mount.
My next goal is to play a dwarf warrior who never wears pants!
jakk on the blackrock server Dec 7th 2005 7:55PM
i suggest the blackrock server for horde. there are never lines except on saturday nights and the bg is mostly even (unless i play. haha)
michael Dec 10th 2005 12:09AM
i would love to see a wowinsider guild! the last two guilds i joined (two different characters, a few months ago) disbanded instantly. it'd be nice to play with some familiar faces from here.
Junx Dec 13th 2005 11:09PM
I joined guild for two characters but the no one is on-line when I play which is Asian time. Before I joined the guild for my second character, I told them about my concern and they just said 'yeah yeah no prob' but I have never met any of the guild member. So I'm always solo and rely on the help of strangers I meet while working on the quest!