Finding a Good Guild is Tough!

[Draegan]

I've been looking for a guild to join ever since I moved onto Mal'Ganis.  Moved to Mal'Ganis prior to the expansion because the Horde population is healthy and I've been looking for a guild ever since.  Naturally I'd like to avoid the ones where everyone is an idiot which seems to be 80% of the ones out there.  I've been scouring the WOW forums for recruitment posts and looking around the top 50 or so according to wowjutsu.com.  I want to be part of a guild that can play the game competently.

I have three things going against me.  First I'm a Death Knight.  Since the game is saturated with them it's tough getting in a guild that watches their roster.  Second, I'm not 80 yet (if I only didn't have a job, friends or family the things I could accomplish!).  Third, like I mentioned before, I don't know anyone. 

Has anyone ever attempted to get in a non-hardcore raiding guild before and not know anyone going in?  How did you find them and how did it turn out?  I was in a guild for a year and a half with a bunch of awesome people a while ago and I pretty much stumbled on them accidentally.  I having problems this time around though.  I guess I should start writing down guild names of people who arn't blathering idiots as I do 5 mans.

[Ratman_tf]

I guess I should start writing down guild names of people who arn't blathering idiots as I do 5 mans.

A good first step.

My current guild is based around a message board community, so I kind of knew they weren't 'tards before even joining. It meant making a new character on their server, but I have yet to regret it. (Naxx is wednesday. First Wrath raid for us! Woo!)

[Dren]

I guess I should start writing down guild names of people who arn't blathering idiots as I do 5 mans.

This.

Seriously, good guilds don't actively recruit.  If they are recruiting, something is wrong.  Guilds show they are good by being good.  They get good people because good game playing attracts good players.  The only guilds that break my little rule are the huge raiders.  They can sometimes turn guilds into mini-companies and will have waves of recruitment going on.

I found my latest guild the same way I always do.  I fall across them and find their play style and quality to be exceptional.  I then ask, "Can I try your guild out to see if we are a good fit?"  The discussion that follows will be the final nail in whether they fit your playstyle or not.  At the very least, you'll get a webpage URL to look for and get more information, etc.  At the very worst,  you'll try a guild out for a few weeks and end up quitting it.  It is worth the shot.

[Draegan]

Yeah.  My last 2 guilds that I've been in over the last year or so were guild recruiting due to a split and randomly looking one up on wowjutsu and finding a url.

I've only done 3 dungeons so far so here's to hoping.

[ClydeJr]

My current guild is based around a message board community, so I kind of knew they weren't 'tards before even joining. It meant making a new character on their server, but I have yet to regret it. (Naxx is wednesday. First Wrath raid for us! Woo!)

I did the same as Ratman, I joined up with a guild where I was a member of their community (Ars Technica for me). I've been playing with them through CoH/V, WoW, and Eve. The human-to-asshat ratio is always quite high.

[Morfiend]

I would say that keeping your eyes open is the first step and constantly using the /who command. Use it on players acting the way you would like your guilds to act. Browse the WoW forums, and see who isn't being total douchebags. Do /who on guilds constantly to see what their online member base looks like. You dont want to join a guild that cant run what you want to run.

Next, after you have a few guilds in mind, find their website and surf those for a few days, that should help narrow it down. Once you have a few in mind, send a tell to a member and ask about their recruiting policy, if they have a recruiter, great, if not ask for an officer or GM, and have a chat with them to see if their goals and ideals are right for you.

Hope this helps.

[Rasix]

Has anyone ever attempted to get in a non-hardcore raiding guild before and not know anyone going in? 

Yeah, back in TBC that's how I got into what is my current guild.  Luckily I saw a post and then talked for a while with some of the GMs and found it to be a good fit. The guild eventually dissolved and merged into an even better situation (higher pop, still relaxed).  Then there as a bunch of drama, a guild split, and a realm transfer for some people.  Still, I decided to join the folks that stayed for WoLK after trotting around solo for a while.  I rejoined because I knew what I was getting, a decent bunch of people with which I can get groups with and an overal maturity level I can tolerate.

There were a few other guilds I thought might be a good fit, but most had one major negative: a heavy slant toward raiding.  Some of these also came with required attendence, which is a non-starter for me. Heh, towards the end of TBC I started getting raiding guilds trying to poach me due to a big shortage of raiders on my server.  I just couldn't go to a 3 day a week system even if it was with times I could easily meet. 

The best advice I can give is start looking at the guilds of non-asshats you encounter. Also, sometimes guild listings on the server boards can help.  Not necessarily recruitment posts, but a guild will typically put down a little about itself. That's how I got directed toward what became in my current guild. Also, don't be afraid to leave the guild if your needs aren't being met.  I should have left my first guild long before they ended up merging into something I liked, because they just didn't have the critical mass of lvl 70s able to do some of the things I wanted to do.  So, check their populations and make sure it'll work for your goals.

Good luck.  I still don't consider what I have currently to be my ideal situation, but there's only so much you can do on a low pop server that has an exteme lack of raiding capable guids. 

[Gobbeldygook]

A guild stole our best healer.  So we merged with them and took our healer back.  We're doing nice in naxx.

I guess I should start writing down guild names of people who arn't blathering idiots as I do 5 mans.

This, but the whole 'lack of 80' thing means you're condemned to friends & family guilds for now.

[Draegan]

This, but the whole 'lack of 80' thing means you're condemned to friends & family guilds for now.

Yup.  I don't need a guild to get to 80 by any means, but I like to do my homework for when I get there.  I've leveled the slowest with this expansion than any other.  I'm enjoying the process but I'm going to hate not having a steady pool of people for heroics down the road.

[ClydeJr]

Slightly off-topic but I do find it amusing when I see guild recruitment messages in /1 and one of the things they mention is "We have a tabard!" Is that really a big selling point? That your guild was able to scrape together the 10g for the tabard?

[Rasix]

Slightly off-topic but I do find it amusing when I see guild recruitment messages in /1 and one of the things they mention is "We have a tabard!" Is that really a big selling point? That your guild was able to scrape together the 10g for the tabard?

Not only do they have a tabard, but they have 171g in the bank!

I saw a lovely guild recruitment spam the other day mining in Ungoro.  It was your standard net-speak travesty, complete with some ridiculous punctuation.  The kicker was "PST to Babypoogreen for an invite".   

[Valmorian]

Slightly off-topic but I do find it amusing when I see guild recruitment messages in /1 and one of the things they mention is "We have a tabard!" Is that really a big selling point? That your guild was able to scrape together the 10g for the tabard?

Not only do they have a tabard, but they have 171g in the bank!

I saw a lovely guild recruitment spam the other day mining in Ungoro.  It was your standard net-speak travesty, complete with some ridiculous punctuation.  The kicker was "PST to Babypoogreen for an invite".   

Almost makes me want to join it so I can destroy it from within.. Mwahahah!

[Morfiend]

Slightly off-topic but I do find it amusing when I see guild recruitment messages in /1 and one of the things they mention is "We have a tabard!" Is that really a big selling point? That your guild was able to scrape together the 10g for the tabard?

Thats funny. I saw some one say this exact thing in /1 yesterday. And I remembered thinking "wtf, a Tabard, really? Your advertising that?".

[Fordel]

But don't you understand, that particular guilds tabard is AWESOME.

 




At one point, the 10 gold for a Tabard was actually quite a feat, it took our resident catass to save enough to buy our guild one.

[Selby]

And I remembered thinking "wtf, a Tabard, really? Your advertising that?".

Same here.  I discussed this with several of the members of my current guild and we all laughed about how pathetic a guild has to be to advertise that they have a tabard!

My current guild was found through a random /1 advert.  They occasionally do it from time to time.  It had a decent number at the time but has really fallen off lately.  I stick with it because the 4-5 people who spend time online enough are fun, even if we can't field 5-mans much yet (I re-rolled a healer since we have none).

[bhodi]

Mal'Ganis? Horde? Join the goons.

[Chimpy]

If you are Horde on Mal'Ganis you are probably going to find a lot more of the asshats than you might on other healthy population PvP servers as there are a ton of Elitist Jerks fanbois who rerolled there and had this big plan to level to 80 and get into EJ.

But my time on MalGanis was short and only in the Belf noob zone as I cant stand levelling.

[WindupAtheist]

Someone made a post on my server's official forum on how they were looking for a guild. I replied and mentioned how I was 73 and still guildless because I hadn't met anyone good and didn't want to join the sort of random chuckleheads who /ginvite every unguilded person they see in Stormwind. This prompted an officer from a smallish no-kiddies-allowed guild with intentions of doing 10-man raiding to contact me in-game and give me a recruitment pitch.

So far it's been great. Everyone is just leveling and doing five-mans and the people are a blast. We have tons of tanks and healers and I get to run tons of instances as ret spec and get gear without having to subject myself to pugging. Everyone has kind of a cracked sense of humor that I can get along with. Sample conversation:

<Newbie has joined the guild>
Leader: Welcome, Newbie. (Bla bla bla general introductions.)
Newbie: Great, as long as you're kinda casual it'll work out good.
Leader: Yeah, we're all pretty laid back about things.
Me: Master, I managed to level up. May I have a scrap of food now?
Leader: LOL
Other guy: Maybe a drop of water? Even the Chinese gold farmers pity us!
Leader: Give me their names, I'll put a stop to that!
Me: Yeah, it's xbxbsbsv, xdhvdghbvh, and fuibfkjfsk.
Other girl: I vote no, let them suffer!
Me: I'll remember this next time you grind enough rep to ask for a bathroom break.
Other girl: Fine, if your shoes get wet it's on you.
Me: With how slow you level I'm surprised we haven't all drowned in pee.

It's pretty awesome so far. 

[Merusk]

The ones I giggle about are "We have a tabard, AND 2 guild bank tabs! We plan to raid 25-man Naxx in just a few weeks!" with no mention of Vent, or how close they are to even having the ~50 people you need to regularly field 25 man raids.

[Sjofn]

There's a guild on our server called <We Have a Tabard> and it makes me laugh every single time.

[ghost]

Slightly off-topic but I do find it amusing when I see guild recruitment messages in /1 and one of the things they mention is "We have a tabard!" Is that really a big selling point? That your guild was able to scrape together the 10g for the tabard?

Would you join a guild that didn't have a tabard?

To the OP.......good guilds are very hard to come by.  My best luck has been to be in one of the hardcore raiding guilds in "friend mode", which some of them have.  That way you get away from the kiddies.

[Modern Angel]

If you are Horde on Mal'Ganis you are probably going to find a lot more of the asshats than you might on other healthy population PvP servers as there are a ton of Elitist Jerks fanbois who rerolled there and had this big plan to level to 80 and get into EJ.

But my time on MalGanis was short and only in the Belf noob zone as I cant stand levelling.

Be sure to generalize the server since you made it to level 10 there.

MalGanis is fine but it's got its share of tards and most of the guilds that are worth a shit aren't recruiting. I'm in Serious Casual but we don't recruit, unfortunately. EJ doesn't recruit. Guilds like Keen Formation and zZq will probably recruit but it's something you'll have to keep an eye on and not on the official forums.

The main problem is that the game is incredibly top heavy on a few servers now and the guilds at the top don't need to recruit since people flock to them. The honest to god best thing to do is find some like minded people and just get your own thing going, not relying on getting into something already established.

[Draegan]

I have no interest in joining a hardcore raiding guild.  I would if I had the time, since most of the people in those guilds have a similar mindset of playing games efficiently and not sucking.  However I don't have the "game first" and catass mentality anymore that I would need to have being a noob in a guild like that.

As far as "friends" mode, I doubt that would work as I don't know anyone on this server.  Shit, I'm not even level 80 yet.  My life has gotten in the way since before thanksgiving so I havn't had the time.  Though I'm closing in on level 77.

(Side comment:  I've only hit up BT, HF and now Dragonblight, but Dragonblight is an amazing zone.  Love the quests.)

I'm basically taking a look at the wow.com forums every once in a while and hoping to catch something I want, though "casual" friendly guilds turn me off since even though most people are awesome in those, they really suck at playing the game and just lead me to more frustration.

Ran Old Kingdom last night in a pug.  It was terrible.  I wrote down two guilds to avoid at all cost.  It's a start.

As far as starting my own guild.  I did that in AOC.  I don't want to do it again, I just don't have the energy to do something like that.  Plus you can't start a guild with one person.

--

To MalGanis folks:  Any recommendation other than the two above to keep an eye on with recruitment?

[ClydeJr]

Slightly off-topic but I do find it amusing when I see guild recruitment messages in /1 and one of the things they mention is "We have a tabard!" Is that really a big selling point? That your guild was able to scrape together the 10g for the tabard?

Would you join a guild that didn't have a tabard?

Yes, since having a tabard is way down on the list of things I look for in a guild. I'd be more concerned about having a decent number of people on during primetime and the quality of people (lack of douchebags, not being constantly bombarded with expletives and racial/homophobic comments in chat). Besides, with the new champion thing where you wear other tabard's for rep, I probably won't wear the guild tabard that often.

[kildorn]

Slightly off-topic but I do find it amusing when I see guild recruitment messages in /1 and one of the things they mention is "We have a tabard!" Is that really a big selling point? That your guild was able to scrape together the 10g for the tabard?

Would you join a guild that didn't have a tabard?

To the OP.......good guilds are very hard to come by.  My best luck has been to be in one of the hardcore raiding guilds in "friend mode", which some of them have.  That way you get away from the kiddies.

Of course I wouldn't join a guild without a tabbard.

Hell, why do you think there are only 12 people in the Sons of Hodir, they don't have a fucking tabbard, either.

[ghost]

Slightly off-topic but I do find it amusing when I see guild recruitment messages in /1 and one of the things they mention is "We have a tabard!" Is that really a big selling point? That your guild was able to scrape together the 10g for the tabard?

Would you join a guild that didn't have a tabard?

Yes, since having a tabard is way down on the list of things I look for in a guild. I'd be more concerned about having a decent number of people on during primetime and the quality of people (lack of douchebags, not being constantly bombarded with expletives and racial/homophobic comments in chat). Besides, with the new champion thing where you wear other tabard's for rep, I probably won't wear the guild tabard that often.

This is funny.  I've played WOW for about 3 years now and have never even owned a tabard, much less worn one.  I agree it is a bit of a ridiculous concept.  The champion tabard may be their way of phasing it out.

[Dren]

The new faction tabards for 80 lvl content has killed all other tabards for me.  I have my Wyrmrest one on all the time right now.  Gonna get me a red dragon mount baby.  Plus, it is nice to look at and my butt doesn't look big.

[Ratman_tf]

There's a guild on our server called <We Have a Tabard> and it makes me laugh every single time.

 

[Righ]

Plus, it is nice to look at and my butt doesn't look big.

Your butt looks so big in it that people are using you to test the extended view distance in their UI.

[Dren]

Plus, it is nice to look at and my butt doesn't look big.

Your butt looks so big in it that people are using you to test the extended view distance in their UI.

All for the cause man.

[Modern Angel]

I have no interest in joining a hardcore raiding guild.  I would if I had the time, since most of the people in those guilds have a similar mindset of playing games efficiently and not sucking.  However I don't have the "game first" and catass mentality anymore that I would need to have being a noob in a guild like that.

As far as "friends" mode, I doubt that would work as I don't know anyone on this server.  Shit, I'm not even level 80 yet.  My life has gotten in the way since before thanksgiving so I havn't had the time.  Though I'm closing in on level 77.

(Side comment:  I've only hit up BT, HF and now Dragonblight, but Dragonblight is an amazing zone.  Love the quests.)

I'm basically taking a look at the wow.com forums every once in a while and hoping to catch something I want, though "casual" friendly guilds turn me off since even though most people are awesome in those, they really suck at playing the game and just lead me to more frustration.

Ran Old Kingdom last night in a pug.  It was terrible.  I wrote down two guilds to avoid at all cost.  It's a start.

As far as starting my own guild.  I did that in AOC.  I don't want to do it again, I just don't have the energy to do something like that.  Plus you can't start a guild with one person.

--

To MalGanis folks:  Any recommendation other than the two above to keep an eye on with recruitment?

Here's the zen koan about this game: there is nothing more hardcore than sucking. By that I mean that it's better to be with hardcore folks raiding two to three nights a week than wiping for four months on Archimonde. Trust me, don't be scared. The "casual" raiding guilds have far more drama and spend far more alloted time sucking ass than the serious raiding guilds. We were top 100 in BC (I wasn't, since I was on hiatus at the time) with three nights a week, sometimes two. Compare with my old "casual" raiding guild who spent four to five nights a week, every week, to down Illidan a week before the 3.0/nerf patch.

Which would you rather do? Debate semantics in your head about casual vs hardcore or just bite the bullet and try something new?

[Rasix]

I imagine he doesn't have the time flexibility to be in a hardcore raiding guild (I don't). They're a better playing experience, that's for sure. Not bad socially, but the environment started to creep me out after a while.

[WindupAtheist]

I imagine he doesn't have the time flexibility to be in a hardcore raiding guild (I don't). They're a better playing experience, that's for sure. Not bad socially, but the environment started to creep me out after a while.

I think I know what you mean, but I wouldn't mind hearing you expand. I have a friend who... Well she's a nice girl, but to be perfectly frank she's a total poopsocker. I've listened to her talk about things, even sat in her guild's ventrilo, and yeah. Past a certain level of hardcore, people are just sort of creepy. Even if they're friendly and polite, it's like they're members of some weird religion you're not a part of.

[Tarami]

I think I know what you mean, but I wouldn't mind hearing you expand. I have a friend who... Well she's a nice girl, but to be perfectly frank she's a total poopsocker. I've listened to her talk about things, even sat in her guild's ventrilo, and yeah. Past a certain level of hardcore, people are just sort of creepy. Even if they're friendly and polite, it's like they're members of some weird religion you're not a part of.

May be that subconscious realization that they're not ever spontaneously talking about anything that isn't directly related to the game. I've had that a few times.

[Slayerik]

Well, if anyone wants to join me and some RL buddies taking our time, leveling up, and doing 5 mans like every other night gimme a holler. I'm on the Ysondre server.

We have a tabard! Oh yeah, and vent. We are pretty much east coast.