Breakfast Topic: How do you and your guild benefit one another?
by Andrew Ross 
Mar 30th 2011 at 8:00AM
While I'm a veteran MMOer, I often end up coming back to WoW, at least for a few months. I have friends who play, but as soon as I come back, they change servers, get busy, or stop playing, which is partially why I only come back for so long.
I've been in guilds in other games, but WoW guilds to me are much more ... impermanent. Raid progression would do something to kill the guild out from under me, so I figured, for Cata, I'd try a PvP guild. However, we're a few months into the expansion, and I'm not getting the PvP I came back for. I have to raid again, which is what always drives me away. The guild perks aren't really anything I need, either, especially since I avoid alts and reputation and I love BGs, so I'm always rolling in honor. The other day, I stopped and asked myself, "What has my WoW guild done for me lately?"
While people may complain about how bad the WoW community is, I think its accessibility brings in a good mix of people, and often I can find a few who I honestly enjoy. I do things I don't normally want to do in WoW because I want to see my guildmates happy. Even when we lose in PvP, my guildies stay motivated for the next game, rather than exploding, unlike my real-life friends. In essence, my guild's given me a reason to keep playing that transcends just the game.
What's your guild done for you lately? Did they help you get an awesome mount? Maybe they helped you with a dream achievement or feat of strength, or maybe something we often overlook when looking for guilds.
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
adam200 Mar 30th 2011 8:09AM
Recently, my guild has helped me with group quests while leveling through Northrend and helped in getting me the Time Lost Proto Drake, as well as crafting epics for my main. Perks don't hurt either.
Kurtis Mar 30th 2011 8:17AM
I'm in a casual raiding guild, with as much emphasis on "casual" as "raiding". Since we only raid two nights per week, that leaves a lot of time open for other stuff too. We PvP together, quest together, level alts together, get guild achievements together (currently the #1 Horde guild on our server) and help each other out with everything from professions to personal achievements.
Several of us are currently working on completing the Stay Classy guild achievement, and have gotten a lot of help from other members of the guild. Yes, heirlooms make a difference, but we've also gotten tons of crafted items from various other guild members as we level.
MusedMoose Mar 30th 2011 8:23AM
Right now, the benefits I get from my guild are twofold: the perks, which are self-explanatory, and the great people in the guild, which is self-explanatory in a different way. ^_^ One of the rules of our guild is to help each other out when we can, and it works out really well; back in the WotLK days, a guildie helped my DK get Quel'Danas, and more recently, I made a trip out of my way to Nagrand to help another guildie through some group quests. Little things like that, along with grouping together for dungeon runs, makes me feel like I'm helping the guild and getting help in return, which really seems like what it should be all about.
razion Mar 30th 2011 8:24AM
When one of my guildies is killed, I go and kill their assailant. When I'm killed, they come and kill them. I feel the love in every body that mounts the floor.
Miri Mar 30th 2011 8:27AM
I'm usually the one helping out guildies (it's 6 people total), but my husband (another guildie), helped me out with a couple living elements transmutes and fished up the necessary fish for the Vial of the Sands while I flew around Outland to unlearn my Transmute Spec and swap over to Elixir. He also got me the Goblin discount so I could save about 5K on the the final mats.
We share the crafting duties, since we're the only people with LW, Enchanting, Inscription, JC, Blacksmithing, and Tailoring at the Cata levels.
Other members supply me with Outland cloth so I can keep everyone's alts stocked wiht 16-slotters, and if I do a lot of glyph crafting, they might send me some herbs to restock my supply of inks.
JoeRandom Mar 30th 2011 8:29AM
Playing since early BC, I've been in two guilds so far. My first guild was raiding 25 man in BC, which on our small RP-PVP server was already considered fairly "elite". I've met some ig friends there, but it was always a little impersonal.. raiding was, what really mattered. With WotLK, the guild broke up, and getting frustrated at my chances as a PUG raider on a very small RP_PVP server, I made the decision to switch to the biggest RP-PVP server we have in EU. With me came two guys I felt close to, from the old guild. We spent the most of WotLK as PUG raiders and freelance PVPers, with some success but ultimately, I felt I need a real guild. So I chose the conservative way and wrote a thread in the official forums.
As someone answered, I had a testraid and they were fantastic. Witty, mature folks with a large guild consisting of mostly casuals and a few who liked raiding. But nothing smelled of "elitism" here, they were crunching hardmodes family-style.
I applied, my older teammates too, and we joined them some weeks before 4.0 hit. What they have done for me? Well, they are the reason I log on. Without them, WoW is really just a fancy game. But chatting and being on TS basically is where the fun is. This year, we'll have a RL guild meeting and it's going to be awesome.. I personally think the social aspect is far more important than whatever e-peen you're trying to achieve ingame.
Billlop Mar 30th 2011 8:29AM
Well i stay in my guild for the people. Sure we may not have good progression (only 2/12 on normal so far), but the people are always friendly and willing to help.
Sir SpankalotUK Mar 30th 2011 8:34AM
A guildie gave me 4,100 gold I needed to get the 280% flying speed, but don't worry going to pay it forward as soon as possible. Resto Shammy for hire ;)
Shoryl Mar 30th 2011 8:52AM
I am one of those people who can't leave well enough alone, I guess. I'm the GL of a very small (12 players) guild. We have an even smaller active player base. Being GL of a social guild feeds my need to organize things.
My guildmates give back in a lot of ways. We're achievement junkies, and when I note that we're close to getting a guild achievement, they are right there to finish it up. So far, they finished two in less than 24 hours. :)
Noyou Mar 30th 2011 4:29PM
This. I am also guild leader of a small casual/social guild. We work together on various achievements all the time. Help each other thru group quest, rep etc. WOuld have liked to have had the guild system during Wintergrasps hay day as most of us would be running it. Still waiting for a couple guildies to come back so maybe we will be more into running Tol Barad as a groups- if we can get in that is.
@Andrew Ross. You are exactly the type of player I would not want to help in my guild. I like investing in people. People who are active/social and give back once in a while. We have a few guildies like you who me me me their way thru the guild always with a hand out or an "I need help with X". They also disappear for months at a time. What is my incentive to help a player like you? Shouldn't I as a guild leader focus on someone who has a couple alts who has proven they are here to stay (as much as you can be on WoW) rather than someone who rolls one toon and may not log on for weeks at a time? A guild is and should be you get what you put into it. Nothing more nothing less. It is a home and a network for you to enjoy the game more. If you don't need one or feel it "Does anything for you" then you should not be in one. If nothing else the guild perks to me are worth it alone.
BigBadGooz Mar 30th 2011 9:01AM
Being in a progression guild other than making sure im personaly equipped for raids the guild offers skilled players to down content other than that its what we do in between raids.
Wilroar Mar 30th 2011 9:03AM
Joe random Siad is best in his last Paragraph. The people we hang out with in game and on voice chat.
Malozing Mar 30th 2011 9:16AM
My guild has been doing Achievement night. We all get together to help each other get you guessed it achievements, and if the guild as a whole gets it, all the better. It's players' achievements first.
Gracandrea Mar 30th 2011 9:16AM
I came online one evening and found out that my guildmates had started to get together to farm mats for my crafted epics. :) I'm our guild's MT and was being somewhat slow about gearing (We're a very CASUAL guild) and though another member (my cousin) had offered to make me gear if I got the mats, I had to spend time farming the gold to get the mats because I'm a herbalist/alchemist. (Great for raid flasks, not so hot for raid gear.) Suddenly my OT and his wife figured out what was going on.
I had the gear by the next morning - four different people had donated their transmute cool down for me.
But I'll help new 85's get their gear (I don't mind running regulars) and we all help alts out. My priest was having trouble with the lobster fishing daily because she was getting one shotted. One of our other officers came with his lock, cast a water breathing spell on me and sent his voidwalker after the shark and let me get my daily done. :)
We have several that will craft for guildees and I provide flasks for free (though I take all donations for volatile lifes in particular.)
My guild rocks. I love it.
(Icecrown server, Order of Blackstaff, look me up if you want to join, but expect family friendly and casual)
Chokaa Mar 30th 2011 11:16AM
Blackstaff? Like, a saga of Recluce reference? WIN!!
dannyleitner Mar 30th 2011 9:42AM
Friends/voicechat/activities/roleplay/one player needing another...i dunno really
Nadia Mar 30th 2011 10:20AM
Our guild has a tradition of building choppers for our members when they go above and beyond either in game or real life. We do this in a scheduled event that all guild members are invited to.
After giving someone a chopper, we have a mounted parade through the Stormwind Harbor through the Trade District and then to the Keep. All told, the gift and parade usually take about 3-4 minutes.
Last month, we had a guild member who passed away. We had already made his chopper but didn't have a chance to give it to him.
So, we gave it to his son.
We added the Cathedral District to our route this time, because our guildy and his son were both Paladins. The parade went on for nearly 10 minutes, with many salutes and people even setting off fireworks.
Malozing Mar 30th 2011 12:52PM
That was a really nice way to honor your guildy. /salute to you and your guild.
Preston Mar 30th 2011 10:18AM
Honestly, my guild is a gold drain at the moment. I have faith in us, though. We have a pretty solid 5 man group running heroics for gear and points. You have to start somewhere, right?
Brasso Mar 30th 2011 10:24AM
After a couple of real life friends and good friends made in game stopped playing, I moved to another server AND switched factions to be with another friend made in game. When he stopped playing, I was left with the guild he was in. I guess I sort of got lucky that they appreciate me as much as I appreciate them. I have quickly risen through their ranks and grown to be great friends with them as well. We're pretty good on progression but I enjoy their friendship more than anything.
If you're on US-Runetotem, give us a shoutout: "Hott Jerky Patrol Unit" is the name.