Searching for the Right Guild

I get asked a lot about finding a guild and what guild leaders look for on applications. Getting in the right guild is important to your enjoyment of the game as well as the stability of the guild. If you get into a hardcore raiding guild and you can only play 3 hours a week, you are not going to be having much fun with that guild and at the same time, they are not going to be adding a “valuable” member to their team to obtain their goals and they will either kick you or you will quit and move on. Either way, a member leaving a guild makes ripples that could have been avoided. In a guild with good communication and procedures, these ripples will just die off and everyone will go on. In an unstable guild, the ripples of someone leaving can cause the entire guild to collapse. So you should be picky to make sure that you join a guild that will be fun for you, AND the guild should be picky so they will find the right people who can contribute to their goals as a guild and become a fully productive member.

You should apply for a guild just like you would a job. Do your research and find a good guild that fits with your values and goals in game. Most realm forums will have a list of guilds that you can go through and look at. I found a guild just by going into guild recruitment and saying “Raiding Level 70 holy priest looking for a guild”. I had quite a few people whisper me. Most said something along the lines of “We need a priest! We would love to have you! Want an invite?”, a few of the less picky types just sent me guild invites straight out, which got their guild put on my “No Way!” list. The smart ones responded one of two ways:

1. “What are you looking for in a guild?”/”Tell me more about yourself” or,
2. They began to tell me about the guild and their goals and values.

These are the only two answers that would get my interest. I would talk to the person for a good bit, ask any questions, ask them their position in the guild, inquire about their recruitment process, go back and forth, and finally ask for their website.

The reason I would instantly brush off the others is because if they were willing to recruit me based off of the fact that I am a raider and a 70 priest, then they are not overly picky and will be doing that with other people as well. One of my goals is not to be in a guild that self destructs within a month of joining, and random recruiting is a good way to accomplish that.

If I had a good conversation with the person, I would then travel to their website and check it out. My main purpose is to see the following:

• Guild Mission: Does it match your own? Do you want to go where they are leading this guild?
• Guild Values: Do they conduct themselves with the same values that you do? Do they allow cussing? What are their loot rules and if they have the current points posted I look at them and make sure that the spread is nice and not just a core group running raids and a few extras when needed. Do they allow minors in the guild? and so forth.
• Guild Forums: If you can view their forums, get in there and look around. See how they treat and speak to each other.
• Guild Rules/Charter: Check out if they have rules that you can appreciate or are they something that you are going to have issue with.
• Raid Progression: If you are looking for a raiding guild, make sure they are running instances that you are geared for and want to run. If you are used to raiding Illidan, and join a Kara guild, you might be bored. And the other way as well, if you are a Kara player and join a Black Temple guild, you may find it hard to get help to get you up to their level.

If you need more information after your first visit to the website, you can either catch a member in game or ask on their forums. I will intentionally ask a different person than I originally talked to in game about their site and ask the questions I have. This will help to make sure that others in the guild are not undesirables and I just happen to get the one nice guy he first time.

Now that I have my information, I apply to only one guild, the one that fits me best. DO NOT apply to multiple guilds. It will solve hassles and not waste everyone’s time if you ally to 3 guilds and then have to tell two of them to never mind….good luck getting in if you even need to apply again!

On my application I am very specific about what I want and how I think the guild matches my views based on the information on their website. Use as many examples as possible.

And one final point to remember: the more stringent and hoops you have to jump through to join the guild can be a hassle, but it is protecting the guild from inviting the wrong people. Once you are in the guild, this will protect you as well from having to deal with someone that you would not enjoy. So be patient and jump through the hoops. It will help in the end!