Breakfast Topic: Getaway guilds
by Robin Torres 
Jan 31st 2010 at 8:00AM
In a getaway guild, you can level a character without having to deal with your home guild's drama, responsibilities and requests. Sure, you want to be there for your guild and you don't mind helping out your friends, but sometimes it's nice to just play the game without all of the extra baggage that comes along with an ambitious guild. Of course, you can solo incognito or on another realm, but in a getaway guild, you have the social interaction without the expectations.
Do you belong to a getaway guild? Or is all your WoW playtime in one guild and you just stay out of Azeroth when you need a break?
Note: If you like the idea of a getaway guild, but aren't in one, you are welcome to join It came from the Blog on Zangarmarsh, U.S. Please see our FAQ for any questions.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
mdt0310 Jan 31st 2010 6:58PM
My guild (also on Zangarmarsh) is probably far more like a "getaway guild" than it is a "regular" one. None of us feel a particular obligation to the game and so (for each of us) when life or other interests come first, we just don't play. Beauty of a small group of actual friends is we can call each other and say "dude, can you come on in 20 minutes? We want to do Pit of Saron."
It suits me quite well. I could never function in a group who took a MMO more seriously than we already do.
uncaringbear Jan 31st 2010 8:16AM
It's kind of sad when you have to get away from something that is supposed to be your get-away in the first place. I hope that made some sort of sense...
Dreamstorm Jan 31st 2010 8:23AM
It does.
WoW is an 'escape from RL' to many. Sometimes the 'drama' in an active guild is important to your own personal development and sometimes you just don't need the sh*t next to any sh*t from your RL situation. If you don't any more drama, a getaway char on the other faction or on an other server can be a great help.
MasterAsh Jan 31st 2010 2:28PM
It is pretty bad, but someone like my old GM was incapable of understanding just how wracking she was on my nerves. I never had a get-away guild, though, because having toons in other guilds was grounds for a gkick. I had unguilded get-away alts. But then I stupidly mentioned them to her and she would pester me over and over again about having them in the guild.
I'm no longer in any guild right now, but I do have a get-away toon from even my friends. I'm a very introverted person, and there's many times I don't feel like being social with anyone.
Knob Jan 31st 2010 8:16AM
I'm very lucky in the sense that I'm in one of the top-100 raiding guilds and also one of the friendliest bunch of guildies I've ever had the pleasure of being with in my entire WoW lifetime. I know the general stereotype of a successful raiding guild is one where most of the members are pricks who create drama for no apparent reason but I've not experienced that at all. Either I'm very lucky or the stereotype is propagated by those that cannot get into raiding guilds and justify it by saying raiding guilds are bad.
I'm happy that my main raiding guild is also my getaway guild.
Heather Jan 31st 2010 11:52AM
You have no idea how jealous of you I am. LOL So very jealous.
Meijnrr Jan 31st 2010 2:26PM
By any chance are you recruiting rogues capable of 9k?
Bananacup Feb 2nd 2010 9:26AM
Yeah, most raiding guilds have their drama, but it's not like they're at each other's throats 24/7 like some people believe.
I mean, if you acted like that all the time you'd never get anywhere.
Lumorei Jan 31st 2010 8:16AM
I'm in Zangarmarsh, but it's hard to find any Ally Getaway Guilds. Pity.
Sintraedrien Feb 1st 2010 3:14AM
Just so you know, I'm in the process of setting up a mirror guild on alliance side of Zangarmarsh, gonna call it Allies of the Blog. If I'm on my alliance char, send me a tell. (Kaltraedrien) ;)
Prissa Jan 31st 2010 9:03AM
I've tried to have getaway toons. But in the end I miss my guild. I always send them back there. All 10 toons I have on my server are in my guild so I don't miss anytime with my guildies. Recently I did make an opposite faction toon on another server to honestly experience something different and also at the time I had just played bad cop to the raid and felt pretty crappy. I did need some alone time. I guess I'll see how long that lasts :P
Swifteye Jan 31st 2010 9:08AM
I don't do guilds anymore; just can't take any more of the drama. None of my toons are in guilds anymore (well, except my banker, who has her own personal guild bank), and I haven't felt this relaxed in quite a while.
I do find it humorous, however, when I PuG... invariably someone will comment on "Wow, you're really nice, I thought any 80 who didn't have a guild was automatically a dick who couldn't keep from getting kicked out!".
Heh. Nope. Every time I play now is a getaway; I have enough stressors in my real life and I'm not taking on any guildie problems in addition to that.
jcgoodman Jan 31st 2010 9:13AM
YES! This is how I keep my WoW sanity.
I have two raiding toons. For years, I had one who was a rank-and-file member of a hardcore progression-oriented guild. The people there were fun, but also self-centered, foul-mouthed jerks.
When my wife started playing, she and I joined a rather casual, family-oriented guild, with polite, mature people... who sometimes drove me insane with their lack of game skills. I eventually became raid leader for this group.
So when the pressures of hardcore raiding got to me, I had the casual guild to fall back on. When the frustration of playing with less-than-able raiders got to me, I had the hardcore guild to fall back on. When I was tired of being a grunt, I had a position of leadership to take care of, and vice versa.
The only time I came close to quitting the game was when my leadership position with the casual guild started taking up so much time that I quit the hardcore guild, leaving me with no fallback position.
Anyway, it works. And to those of you who say that "I don't need a fallback, my guild is perfect", have you been a member of that same guild for three years? If not, you haven't seen your guild at its worst yet. Someday, the honeymoon will be over, and you may find that getting a little something on the side will save your marriage.
blackone Jan 31st 2010 9:27AM
I guess I don't need a getaway guild because I enjoy the company of my fellow guildies most of the time. The only time I do not, is when I really don't want to talk to anybody and then I just play on a guildless toon on a different server. I don't quite get the point of a getaway guild unless your main guild sucks.
Website Jan 31st 2010 9:31AM
When I want to "get away" from stuff going on in game, I just turn off the game and go do something else. I don't feel the need to escape to another server...
JBurg Jan 31st 2010 9:35AM
isn't really a getaway from the guild thing for me. A year after switching to the Alliance I found myself missing the Horde. I'm happy on Alliance side, but I did want to go back "home" to visit if not to live. The guild gave me a plenty of social interaction with no expectations while trying out a new class. I'm having fun on my new mage.
If you'ld like to try out hop on to Zangarmarsh and hit one of us 'lurkers' up for an invite. Already had at least 1 new player this morning.
Redcow Jan 31st 2010 9:44AM
I love my guild, don't get me wrong. Have always enjoyed the atmosphere and the raiding and the RP. But every once in awhile you just need a break from the ordinary. As a guild/raid leader and someone whose played the same character for 5 years and so has a 'following', sometimes the ordinary involves alot of whispers, not necessarily drama just things that need my attention, that can't be avoided without hiding. I have different levels of 'secret alts' that actually don't get played very often, but they're nice to have when I need to escape for a day. If I really want to get away, I go Alliance side. I've made a few friends on that side, only two or three know exactly who I am. So I can still be a little social and play and have no expectations of me.
Yeah, WoW is just a game. An escape from RL, a hobby. But like any hobby, if you take responsibility within it like guild leadership, it takes on some aspects of a job. There's nothing wrong with that though so long as your willing. Officers of a community service group, leaders of clubs, they willingly take on the responsibility and no one looks at them funny when they decide they just wanna go to the beach for a day. :)
michael.separovich Feb 4th 2010 10:36AM
if any of you are ever on barthilas horde side try slackers of the horde, we tend to go through alot of people from high end guilds, they come to relax for a few months then they quit and we see them lf2m ranged dps for icc25 guild runs.
strange how it works isnt it?
Glassneedles Jan 31st 2010 9:55AM
Last night one of the other officers in my guild was talking about how we should form a guild on the Alliance side of our server and have it officer only for when we needed to get away... Everyone else thought it was a great idea. My guild has problems
Ewok Jan 31st 2010 9:55AM
Yeah, I have a getaway guild. I love it :D
Sadly the guild I was getting away from used to be a getaway guild. :( I ended up leaving, and now I don't need to get away as much.