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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast 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 2 of 3)
Joseph Smith Jan 31st 2010 9:58AM
My main guild is already a "social guild" but we've lost a lot of members recently so it's hard to be social with yourself. That being said I'm a huge altoholic, and I know that my BElf on Zangarmarsh will get some levelling love soon. I may try levelling bgs or instances. Never done those before...
Sir Broose Jan 31st 2010 10:35AM
After a particularly rough year, including 2 guild splits, one of our officers formed a get-away guild on the Horde side of a different server (our main guild is Alliance) with it's own vent and everything. All of the remaining officers and some of the longest-standing members came over and rolled brand new toons. Since no one had 80's on that server, we were all starting at square one, broke and, for most of us, doing things we had never done before by leveling the other faction. There was no raid drama, because there couldn't be, and it felt like an all new game.
We spent quite a bit of time over there for about a month, still playing a bit on the main server, so our original guild didn't evaporate. It was a good break, and it helped us remember how fun it can be to just play the game together, with no progression issues to worry about.
That get-away guild still exists, although it doesn't get a lot of action, now that our main guild is rebuilding and functioning well again. But we do still wander over there and play from time to time, especially when our main server is down or acting a bit quirky or laggy.
Michael Dudley Jan 31st 2010 11:20AM
I think Juice Box on Firetree qualifies. We have about 340 accounts (something like 800 toons) and everyone's there pretty much just to level and chat.
Seraph Jan 31st 2010 10:48AM
I rolled some opposite faction alts to get away with. Good times!
Jason Jan 31st 2010 11:16AM
A group of my guild mates and I created another small guild on another server to get away from the drama of our main guild. We play alliance as mains but went horde for the getaway.
mousethful Jan 31st 2010 11:42AM
I'm not in any getaway guilds, but I do have a few getaway characters spread out across a couple servers. It's not that my main guild is something that I need/want to get away from. In fact, it's just the opposite. I love my guild. They're the best friends and guildies anyone could ever ask for.
But sometimes, I don't want to jump into happy fun time and talk to a bunch of friends. Sometimes I just want to have some peace and quiet and do some solo questing with an alt. Usually, it's after a long day of schoolwork, or if my roommates have been extra noisy lately. I always go back to my main guild, but it's nice to have somewhere to escape to when I feel like it.
Tommirritant Jan 31st 2010 11:42AM
Got two Getaway guilds... One on Al'Akir EU (Tho that's draining lately) and one on Spinebreaker EU where I play nowadays and moved most of my characters too...
Love to have a char where you can hide from the drama in the big guilds
slythwolf Jan 31st 2010 11:43AM
I only have the two guilds, which are really the same guild since we just have a guild for each faction on the same server. I haven't felt the need to get away from them, but maybe that's because we're a social guild(s) made up of people from an online knitting community (and partners, and a few offspring).
There's occasionally drama, I won't deny that. But I just stay out of it. One of our officers gquit last week; I still don't know why. I don't want to know, really. I'm there to hang out with my knitting buddies and have fun.
And sometimes raid, way behind the cutting edge of progression. We're going to ToC10 again tomorrow, yay! (We do hope to get into the ICC raids before Cataclysm comes out, but I'm not sure how likely that will turn out to be.)
Eric Diaz Jan 31st 2010 11:48AM
The guild im on is a casual guild. I couldnt do the raider, progression guilds. It would ruin the game for me and id quit and i cant have that. I like playing no pressure.
Mau Jan 31st 2010 11:48AM
My main guild is Horde, and a RL friend invited me to her Alli guild on another server, at first I could play with them 1 day a week, but since the new patch, I just can't... QQ
Tirrimas Jan 31st 2010 11:50AM
My main guild isn't a hardcore raiding guild, but there are certain pressures on level 80s that I need to get away from now and then. I rushed leveling so I could play with friends. I don't raid (though I'd love to), and I'm almost at the end of 5-man gear progression for my hunter. I'm working on Loremaster, but it's not much of a challenge when you can one- or two-shot almost anything in the wild.
I rolled a new hunter on a different server and joined a guild made up of Ravelry members. It's a community for yarn-lovers (knitters, crocheters, spinners), and spans the gamut of playstyles. Most are very casual players. It's an entirely different game there, and I'm finding I enjoy the role of "mentor". It's a nice place to go and slowly level, savoring the experience in a way I wasn't able to on my main. It's nice to get away from theorycrafting and math and "is this REALLY an upgrade?" for a little while.
Brewmeister Feb 1st 2010 4:17PM
This is exactly what I've been doing recently, although it wasn't intentional.
Of my 3 80s, I prefer to play my warrior. One night I came home from a night out, not going to lie, a bit intoxicated. Logged into my warrior and after some funny conversations and emotes, I accidentally hit /gquit instead of ./gquit. There I was, drunk and guildless, with no officers online to invite me back.
So I waited a few days, still logging into my other 2 80s in the same guild, hoping one of the officers would log on, but they were a no show. So for the time being, I decided to join a newly started guild. They had a few 80s already, but mostly new players levelling their first toons ever.
I now really enjoy playing with people who don't always talk about BiS gear, and arena comps, blah blah blah. I now level up a new alt (paladin yay!) with brand new players, trying to pass on any nuggets of wisdom I can to make their life in azeroth easier.
Sleutel Jan 31st 2010 12:22PM
Oh boy, do I have a whole range of options.
1.) My main. This is the one I raid on, and the one who's in a hardcore raiding guild. One of my best friends is in the guild with me, but we only recently transferred to that server (a couple of other friends came with, but they're not in the guild yet), so we don't know anyone else very well yet.
2.) My other 80 and most of the other alts I actually play. These are scattered across a few different servers and both factions, but the common thread is the other people who have alts in these guilds. There are four of us who play together a lot; of the guilds these alts are in, we run all of them, and for many of the guilds, we're the only members (intentionally).
3.) My mid-40s Hunter. This is an alt I rolled in the guild that's mostly made up of people from a message board I post at. None of my other friends are in the guild, and most of them don't even know which server it is or the character's name
4.) A super-lowbie Rogue, unguilded. Most of my friends don't even know it exists.
So, I have #1 to get my raiding on, #2 for when I want something more casual and/or to spend time screwing around with my good friends, #3 for when I'm feeling like I need to get away for some Megan time but still want some company, and #4 for when I'm having a completely antisocial day.
Kabuki Joe Jan 31st 2010 7:14PM
This. I have one character of every class with four level 80s across four servers including US and Oceanic, both Horde and Alliance. I have my main that raids, my sub alts that are in casual guilds that raid sometimes, then sub sub alts that are either unguilded or just leveling for fun. Alt-itis is a beast for getting getting away but at least I always have full rested, ha.
GardenOfRage Jan 31st 2010 12:27PM
I've taken a much more casual role in WotLK that I had previously in my guild. I've been dedicating more time now to leveling my alts and getting them ready for Cataclysm, in which I'm planning on playing a larger role. In the mean time my brothers, a RL friend of ours and myself have made our own guild just for our alts. It's great for loading the g-bank with different mats for leveling our professions as well as a nice getaway.
Aloix Jan 31st 2010 1:34PM
Hmm, no.
Of course, my main/only guild could probably be considered a 'getaway' guild, and I know that a couple of people have in fact used it as such. Quite casual.
Regardless, I've become sort of an 'anti-altoholic' lately anyway (personal choice, nothing against ppl who chose to play otherwise of course!) so getting me off of my main is just not happening. :D
neminem Jan 31st 2010 1:38PM
My primary, and indeed, only guild is both my raiding guild and, I suppose given the nature of your description, though I wouldn't have thought to call it that, my get-away guild. It's just my guild. We raid on Friday and sometimes Sunday; the rest of the time we're pretty relaxed. It helps that everyone in the guild is at most a couple degrees of separation from knowing everyone else in real life, though.
Well, technically, I have a getaway guild on a different server in that once, when Runetotem was unexpectedly down for an extended period, I logged in to a random server that was up, found tons of others who'd done likewise, and jokingly suggested that we create a guild for ourselves. Then it actually happened - "Server Down", on Cenarius. But I doubt anyone's logged into it since, what with Runetotem being pretty darn stable after that.
Superthrust Jan 31st 2010 2:37PM
Dual Core is now recruiting on Aerie Peak! (Alliance)
Hanfyren152 Jan 31st 2010 3:09PM
Got 3 80s and a 70 spread out over different servers really is great when you want to get away :)
styopa Jan 31st 2010 3:27PM
Pretty sad that you guys need to 'get away' and relax from the stress of your...entertainment?
I feel into that trap in a previous MMO. Never again. Now I actually play *gasp* FOR FUN.