Breakfast Topic: How Do You Choose a Guild?
by David Nelson 
Oct 30th 2006 at 8:00AM
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Inspired by the great comments in our PVP threads last week, I started a new alt on a PVP server. Darrowmere to be exact. The server is only a few weeks old, I got my priest to level 20, and all seems to be going well. In fact, I am so annoyed with my current guild, I might make Darrowmere my permanent home. Now I need to find a guild on the server. Some people seem to have no problem with this. They see an ad in the forums or a catchy message in the looking for guild channel, they join one, and that's that. For me, I have never had a good experience with that. I have been in two guilds long term, and in both instances I grouped with some guys in the guild several times and got to know them before I ever thought to join. I always thought that getting to know some folks, deciding if they are a fit, and then joining is the best way to do it, however, maybe I am being an overly cautious wuss. Now on an established server with numerous endgame guilds, these rules really don't apply, but on a new server, with a constantly fluctuating guild situation, perhaps I need to be less picky, join and just check them out.
So what do you guys do? Join a guild and just quit if it doesn't fit? Or are you really picky like me?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
DÖT Oct 30th 2006 8:11AM
I usually just let the guild find me...On my last server I was on my way to do a WC run when I ran into Seven Paths to Sins on their way to hit The Crossroads...it was a really good guild but I just got sick of some of the people who were always on so I left...The guild I am in now Legions of Hell, which just got up and running yesterday, was started by a warlock who I always ran into so we started questing together. Guilds are fun and its good to have people around who are willing to help quest but if the drama flares up I am outta there.
Avenge Oct 30th 2006 8:15AM
I am kind of like you, I will never join a guild that puts their recruitment in the LFG channel. For one it means to me that they are desperate for people and they just take in whoever, at the same time you have the people who are too picky and try to be snobs about letting people in their guild. Such as this one time someone whispered me asking if I would like to join their endgame guild, so I go to their website and fill out an app, a few hours later they want me to come on teamspeak and they give me an interview. I felt as if I was applying for a job or something. Like if I said the wrong things they wouldn't hire me. I just wanted a guild that I could expirience the end game content, and get some descent gear, well by m saying that I wanted to get "geared" I guess that was something they didn't want to hear. I mean who doesn't want better gear. Especially if you are a paladin. Oh well been running solo ever since farming for the rest of my Lightorge.
gen Oct 30th 2006 8:30AM
I usually try to remain guildless as much as possible until level 60. I don't like joining guilds that advertise in the LFG channel either as it does mean some sort of desperation just to up their numbers. I've experienced soloing most of my levels up to 60 and just PUG'd the majority of the instances I needed.
The one thing I hate the most about "guilding" is when I'm just walking around in a city and all of a sudden someone invites me to their guild without even asking me. I don't like an extensive guild application process either. So note to those that run guilds: it's not a job. We're here to play and have fun.
Overall, I've been in two guilds in two realms: Elders of Turalyon (on Turalyon) have a simple application process on their website and was a non-pressure guild that helped each other a lot. It's too bad they recently disbanded. On Kul Tiras, I was part of Hand of the Valar which my co-worker and his g/f were a part of. Valar gave me my first look at endgame (MC, Ony, ZG). But if I knew of the drama that will be in there, I would have left long time ago.
Liilou Oct 30th 2006 8:56AM
Same here, drama starts - I'm out. I'm here to play and have fun - not relive high school.
Dr. Woo Oct 30th 2006 9:03AM
I'm picky about my guilds. So much so that I made my own after several bad experiences.
P.S. Is that supposed to be some WoW-ized Sephiroth?
GamePlayer Oct 30th 2006 9:09AM
Your tactics completely coincides with mine I too so constantly I do!
Asei Oct 30th 2006 9:35AM
I honestly joined a guild based upon repeated runs of instances with current guild members in PUGs... It turns out I joined an AMAZING guild (Decepticons, Stormreaver) and we just downed Rags after 2 weeks, and/or 6-8 attempts...
We had a discussion about guild makeup last night, and there are plenty of guilds out there with large numbers that have different sets of raiders on every raid night... we've been lucky and have had the same core set (with a few exceptions here and there) of raiders that show up for our 3 night a week raids... it doesn't overburdnen us, and we still run 20 man raids on the off nights where we can't get 40 people together...
All in all, I think if you're unhappy with your guild situation, bring it up to your Guild Leader... if he's a total dick about everything, you're welcome to find another guild... it's all about the people, so find a guild that has the people you're looking for...
Decepticons, Stormreaver FTW!
Sickle Oct 30th 2006 9:37AM
I found my current guild in a similar way. I was picked up as the 5th in a scholo run when they were short of dps. After they had a chance to see I didn't get upset about dieing or bad luck with loot they very politely asked me if I'd consider putting in an application.
I took a couple of days to check out their webiste, talk to friends who knew them and even a couple of friends from the guild I was leaving before I did so. I've been with them for 6 months now. We were all fairly new to being 60's and have had a chance to learn and experience end game together. I've had some great times and have never regretted making the move.
Sylythn Oct 30th 2006 10:04AM
I keep an eye out for guild names when I'm in PUGs...if you get a good experience with a player in a PUG, there's a better chance of their guild being a good experience for you too.
And of course, references from real-life friends are always a sure thing.
The other thing I look at is guild names that I see very frequently - indicating big, active groups.
Roger3 Oct 30th 2006 10:38AM
I'm a guild leader over on the Aerie Peak server, and my standing rules on recruitment are that we ONLY recruit people we have grouped with or friends and family of current guild members, it makes for an extremely tight-knit guild and cuts down on drama.
Bloodmagick Oct 30th 2006 10:44AM
I actually stumbled across mine kinda strange. I had spent 60 lvls in a guild made up of some of my RL friends, who had no desire to participate in any endgame content. I did. So I left, and then was trying to find a good endgame raiding guild. I asked a pretty famous player on my server, Spikespiegel, if he knew of any good guilds for what I was looking for. He recommended Evil Empire, and I now have 2 60's (Warrior and Lock) in the guild, and am working on a 3rd (Drood). All in all, a great recommendation from an excellent player (if you're reading this, Spike, you RAWK!) led me to an excellent guild that has really made me feel welcome, and is kicking endgame content's ass, slowly but surely.
Jason Oct 30th 2006 11:45AM
I've had several guild over the course of playing WoW for the almost 2 years it's been out. I've joined some guilds by them finding me. Others I've joined after a mostly inguild run of . Recently, I've started running with Wraithsteel Legion, Azjol-Nerub H. They're very much a casual guild, but one that thoroughly enjoys running instances. Occasionally we'll have a tard night, and just about anyone that's on will raid up for a night of tardedness. This can be anything from rolling every alliance flight master on a continent, to ganking every leader in stormwind. Camping the WSG exit in Ashenvale is a good time, too.
So, if any of you crazy folks actually read this:
We are Wraithsteel, the Legion of the Night. In darkness we arrive, and by darkness we depart. All fall before the Legion!
Bill G Oct 30th 2006 11:51AM
In my single server experience, there are two main kinds of guilds. The friendly, buddy guilds, that are great for folks up to 60, and raiding guilds, which are necessary for raiding at 60.
I have been in both, and both have their uses. The friendly guilds tend to get members by random grouping and meeting, or by RL friendships as most folks described above. The good raid guilds on our server all have application processes and are more or less serious about the process. Some classes are in high demand and even mediocre players in those classes are in demand, other high population classes are pretty much shut out of easy invites to prominent raid guilds.
Druid dude Oct 30th 2006 12:01PM
I was in an end game guild, second farthest guild on the server. We stagnated badly. 6 months and only 3 new boss kills. Constant attrition and leeching by the top guild on the server sentenced us to be nothing more than a gear-you-up-in-BWL guild. Despite the efforts of many, including myself, we were stuck. It got to the point that I just couldn't stand another day in BWL, and left that guild and enough DKP for more than 2 full tier 2 sets.
I couldn't see going to the top guild on that server, would feel too much like a traitor. That meant a server transfer was my only option.
There would be little point in joining another guild that was in the same sistuation as the one I left. I knew I had to get in to a guild that was at least as far along as the one I left, and one that was *progressing*. This limited my options quite a bit.
So, I started at the WoW Realm Forums. I plowed through almost every eligible server's forums, checked out all the top guild's websites, read their rules and a bunch of posts trying to get a feel for each potential guild.
After tons of research, I decided on a server that had several guilds in Nax, and contacted the top guild, a pretty uber raiding guild.
The application process for any raiding guild is at least fairly formalized. For some, it is extremely strict and can be rather lengthy. I understand why it is this way, and believe it is not only wise, but needed. Some of these guilds have been together 5 or 6 years, since days of playing EQ together. They are not going to just randomly invite any player. Anyone joining their guild has to be stable, skilled and consistent. A detailed application process is needed to reduce the chance of getting players that are just in it for the loot, or are just going to cause problems in their tight knit group.
Mat Oct 30th 2006 12:32PM
Sense of humor, because if the members can laugh and have fun, I'll have more fun too.
Chleo Oct 30th 2006 12:07PM
Sometimes you just have to get lucky.. I was guildless until level 49 on my priest until I got in with what could only be described as the best guild ever :)
Gog Oct 30th 2006 12:31PM
All the guilds I was in pre-60 were started by common friends and only had about four or five real people in them as well as our 300,000 alts.
Once I hit 60 I decided to branch out an join an end-game'ish guild and I found that it was a terrible fit for me. I am not fond of being a guild with 250 or more... the guild chat was unbearably immature, racist, and homophobic. I'm not a prude by any standards but I still found the topics they discussed to be incredibly obnoxious and on Vent they were even worse.
After a few days I talked to the guild leader and we parted ways. They had fun playing and interacting how they did, and I didn't. There were no hard feelings and I still keep in contact with some of the people from the group.
About a day later my girlfriend found another end-game'ish guild and they have been just fantastic. All very cool, knowledgeable, and active. Of course there are some problems here and there but about 99% of the time it's a lot of fun.
I think if it's not working out, just leave. There are a billion servers and even more guilds so be as picky as you want. I only had to join two to find one I liked.
Jackovas Oct 30th 2006 2:15PM
I myself stay guildless until I group with a few people for a couple days / weeks. I don't ever join a guild that advertises in-game.
I normally high-tail it out of there if the members are 12 years old, and whine all the dame time, also if none of the members have a sense of humor.
Thankfully, after returning from England for 10 months (no wow!!) a bunch of my local friends decided to pick up the game so we have about 20 locals in a guild in Dunemaul :)
Goodluck with your new server / guild!
frodo Oct 30th 2006 1:45PM
My guild is a bunch of real life friends and aquaintences linked through comic books, animation or podcasting. It's neat to have a bunch of people who are actually entertaining for a living to talk to on WoW. Breaks the doldrums.
Moose Oct 30th 2006 3:01PM
I have to admit. Finding a good guild is tough. I have been in a few where it just seemed like it was part of the good ol' boy network. Not real helpful. Luckily for me, I have plenty of real world friends that play so we started our own guild. We look for people who just want to have fun. While we would all love to do the end game stuff, I don't know if we will ever get there. We have recruited some people that we have run across questing and have only had to boot one person from our guild. We try to quest with someone a few times just so we can get a feel for the person. Most of us our in our 30's so we do try for a little more of a mature crowd because we don't want to offend anyone. I have to admit though, it makes a huge diffence if you can find a guild where the people actually try to help you. If one of our new guildies has a problem with some high level ganking him, we have no problem running over there to help. If you can, try talking to the people in the guild and see if they are a helpful bunch or just want to work on there own goals.