Trade: LF good guild! PST!
Well you might want to be more specific eh? Good is a subjective thing. What’s good for one, is most certainly not good for all. Finding a good guild is like trying on jeans. I use jeans because as a woman I find them the hardest thing to find a good fit.
Do you want something skin tight that controls your every movement, may be a bit uncomfortable, and a lot of work to get into but hey, you look HAWT! Then maybe a hardcore raiding guild is “good” for you. Maybe you like the discipline, and work involved in attaining the final result, and don’t mind sacrificing some comfort to get there.
Me, I love my Levis. Soft, comfortable, they fit just right, and move with me. No work involved, they just slide right on like they were made for me. Comfortable, casual, and always cool. If you think that sounds good, maybe a casual guild with a raid here and there is good for you.
Then again, if you think about it, you’d likely find the hardcore players feel like their guild is the pair of Levi’s too!
What is Jess’ definition of a GOOD guild?
First of all, casual. I do like to raid, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t care for 25 mans. It’s too hectic and I get stressed. But I love 10 mans. That’s why Kara and ZA were my favorites in BC. I don’t like a lot of raiding, time wise. Twice a week is JUST enough for me. Always has been. I don’t mind an extra however, in the case of last week with Kel’Thuzad. Actually, THIS explains perfectly how I prefer to raid.
Social. Social is a top priority for me. Nothing annoys me more than guild chat that is so consistently ignored, that when you say something or ask a question, the only response is the melodic sounds of crickets chirping. This is of course understandable when the guild is all in dungeons or raids. That’s situational though. If it’s a constant thing, forget it.
Friendly! Absolute deal breaker. A guild, when you join, generally swarms you with welcome messages. However sometimes, after the initial rush is over, they get back to chatting with each other, seemingly forgetting you are there. This is where the player either makes an effort to squeeze in, and get to know people, or feels left out, and eventually leaves. If you’re not a naturally outgoing person, or not comfortably joining in conversations, this is hard to deal with. Now I DO believe it is up to the player to a point to make the effort. But it’s up to the guild members to make them feel at home.
Priorities! Real Life comes first! is Sidhe Devils biggest rule. There’s no guilt if you have to bail on a raid you signed up for to take care of something. There’s no whining if a raid can’t go off because people have commitments. I would even feel safe going on a raid while hubby is deployed, knowing if he called or IM’ed me during Naxx, they’d understand if I had to drop everything. Of course I’d still feel bad if I did, being a healer…lol.
Maturity. Another deal breaker. I like a mature atmosphere, where we can talk like adults. None of that l33t sp34k crap, no drama, and on occasion the funny innuendo, and four letter word, without it getting out of hand. Much like a night out with your buddies. I don’t mean dropping the F bomb every other sentence, I mean accepting “oh damn” or What the hell!! every once in a while in the course of conversation or excitement.
Inclusion! Don’t let members feel left out when groups form up. Ask in guild chat who wants to go. Don’t be Cliquish. Something Sidhe Devils has done that really impresses me to no end, is include hubby’s dk when a group wants to run BC stuff. See, hubby can come off as antisocial. In reality, he just doesn’t really talk much. He’s the kind of guy that only talks when he has something to say. Even at home he’s like that, I think he uses up all his words giving orders all day sometimes. Think Curly in City Slickers. I’ll turn around, and find him in a BC instance, or most recently in Mt Hyjal.
There you have it, my definition of a good guild. I’ve been pretty lucky, most every guild I’ve been in has met most of my some might say high standards, My current guild meets them all, and as a bonus combines my love of the game, AND blogging. Sometimes you’ll find what seems to be a perfect guild, but over time they change direction. But hey, that happens, and when it does. You hit trade chat and say…
LF good guild! PST!
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Gee, bit of a tall order asking for a guild like that. Teehee – great to have you on board Jess.
I definitely wouldn’t hit LFG if I was looking for a guild, but that’s me. I usually pick a guild based on my observations in game. Thankfully I’ve run numerous PUGs on all my toons so I know the ones that are good. When I’m in a guild, I’m usually low key. I can be talkative but that’s only when I have something to day.
I definitely go out of my way to help others too not only at my level but lower levels too. Having been in both positions. I’ve joined guilds as a lowbie, and I’ve also put high level toons such as my 80 Holy Priest in a guild.
Depending on the guild, some members at times will differently treat people depending on their level. In those cases the desire to help lower levels don’t meet with the same amount of enthusiasm as those near their level. I think that can make it hard for some lowbies especially to get comfortable with a new guild. Interaction is limited to guild chat so there’s really not a chance to play together until they hit end-game. In my Horde guild we had fun activities scheduled so all members could hang out, if they liked, in-game. It was great since lowbies had a chance to participate too. I guess that is one reason I will go out of my way to include lowbies not only in chat but quests and instances when I can. The majority that I have interacted with doesn’t want contants boosts just the occasional help from difficult quests, or simple interaction with others.
At times, it can get lonely leveling if you’re in a guild where the majority are playing together in-game at a higher level. I try to remember that. Thankfully I have a lot of Alts and have been able to run things with lowbies in every guild I’ve been part of it’s a lot of fun and gives me a break, and it gives them a chance to hang out with a guildie. Sure it’s just a game, but I don’t want to forget what it feels like being new and working my way up in level when most in the guild I’ve been parts of are already at the top.
Myself, I love PUGs and quickly met a lot of in-game buddies on the servers where I decided to make brand new toons (Zul’Jin and Kael’thas) so running things (even at the lower levels) with people at my level was rarely a problem. I was rarely able to do that within the guilds and that was largely due to myself. Quite a few guilmates, on both sersvers offered to run me through things but I really don’t like instance boosts. I have numerous alts and I still hate them. I don’t mind giving them but I hate receiving them. I only do that as a last resort.
I enjoy raiding, instances, and pvp so it’s nice when I find others into that too, especially my guldmates. I love the 25 mans, just my type of stress, finding the time can be difficult but I’m hoping to PUG a few with Deimonia. I was able to do that with my Holy Priest, the time that my guild raided usually didn’t work out for myself. I definitely didn’t want to leave the guild. I really enjoy them immensely but I was able to PUG 25 mans with some amazingly talented players.
I agree with all your points except the chatty guild channel. I can’t stand it! While I understand that most humans are social creatures and enjoy interacting with their fellows, it makes me want to go crawl under a rock. Sadly, this makes my job as officer and raid leader rather more difficult than it may be for most.
Sounds like the guild you are seeking is the Sidhe Devils
Sounds like my guild, if you allow me to compare to the great SDs. We started with my best friend, wife, and I, and grew to 100 players, all adults as far as we can tell. I think people are happy, you can never tell. We do retro raids and contests and so forth…As guild leader the hardest thing is the constant turnover, people come and go often, and it’s hard to get to know someone, help them gear up or whatever, then they are gone. Its also hard to design inclusive activities that people want to do. You can only do so much naxx10, and the retro raids are either too hard for our group, or too laughably easy. They should really have more raid dungeons than one at each level of progression.
I really have to work on inclusion. We are casual raiders (newly formed guild) but we need to do something that everyone can participate on. Great post.