Guild Wars 2

There have been a lot of guilds here posting in their recruitment threads “Must represent our guild only” or “Must represent our guild 100% of the time on all toons” whats the point?

They say it’s because they want to look for “loyal members”, the truth is GW2 was set up for people to join multiple guilds at the same time, and for any guild to ask that you just represent one guild is not “proving your loyalty”, it is proving their greed.

Think about it for a second, guilds who ask this of their members are wanting only 1 thing, influence points for their guild, which in most cases you have no control over how it is spent, and in even more cases don’t even get to use items purchased by these pts.

The question would be to everyone here looking for a guild, what would be in it for you? over 50% of the guilds that ask for 100% representing is also guilds that count most members as just a number, why else would they ask for you to rep the guild 100% of the time?

Comments like this “we have made and are continuing to expand on an active community that does a hell of a lot of content together and that is the reason we ask for this" is a great example. Now I don’t know this guild, or its leadership, but just by this comment I can see that it has nothing to do with “Building an active community” because truth is, while you may not be representing the guild at the moment, you are still showing up on the list as online, so if there is something going on, it takes a second to whisper a person. If they can’t do this, or want to limit the game for members, then to be honest they are not worth the time to invest in.

Now yes, it is time for a shameless plug, Mythdren doesn’t require members to rep the guild 100% of the time, instead we use what GW2 has given us, by also setting up house guilds and sub-guilds (created by the membership) to give members other options while still enjoying a structured home, and even this is optional. Check out our recruitment thread HERE . But there are also guilds out there that is just as active, but don’t require members to just rep their guild 100% of the time.

Sirendor.1394:

I personally think it’s best to represent one guild only. If you start not representing, it’s not worth having a member in your guild, cause they tend never to represent again.

I really disagree with this. For many people, myself included, being part of a large guild means I’m irrelevant for the most part. Finding another party member can sometimes be as haphazard as finding a PUG. You just have a more specific pool to choose from. However, the larger guilds offer the opportunity to participate in large scale social events and now, guild missions. Having an additional guild or two that focus on things where a player can be more than a number and source of influence is important. You have access to a larger world for massive events and/ or WvW content and then a smaller, reliable group for completing content in a way that you enjoy.

No, the system isn’t meant for every player and every guild, but it’s certainly relevant for quite a few.

Why join a guild if you’re just going to sit in it and not spend any time doing activities in that guild?

Order of the Grey (Crystal Desert) doesn’t believe in limiting players to one guild either. For players who want to take advantage of it, ANet has allowed for the joining of major guilds, minor guilds, special interest guilds, and social guilds all on one account. The definitely makes it easier for people that want to take advantage of the wonderful things a large guild has to offer in addition to have the benefits of a more personal guild group to explore content and be social with. Check us out if you’d like to see more about how we make this work. I really believe the community will benefit from these systems.

http://orderofthegrey.com

Senility on Sea of Sorrows – does not restrict our members from being in other guilds, we have ranks for representers and non representers. We just would like to know why our members are not representing and what as a guild we can provide for them. We also have members in friends guilds and have a separate rank for them also.

I do find the multi-guilding system redundant in Guild Wars 2 – they state the multi-guilding feature is to help provide more community – but I find it is segregating people due to not seeing all the guild chats you belong to – and having to only represent one at a time.

In order for us as a guild to provide boosts and do guild missions, yes we need to earn influence and if we have half our members not providing any influence and then reaping the benefits of our boosts when we have them activated – then yes we feel used.’

As guild leaders and officers we work hard to provide a fun gaming environment for our guild members.

I can completely understand some guilds wanting active members and I don’t think it is selfish.

Every guild has their own rules and every person that joins a guild has the choice to join or not.

I personally think it’s best to represent one guild only. If you start not representing, it’s not worth having a member in your guild, cause they tend never to represent again.

As it stands representing works like this:
- Person a joined guild x. Represents guild x.
- Person a joined guild y. Represents guild y and stop representing guild x.
- Person a spends all his time in guild y.
- Person a looses all contact with players of guild x.
- Person a never represents guild x anymore.

NEXT step: – Person a joined guild z. Represents guild z.
and so on.

I don’t think you should have guilds if you are going to behave like a butterfly, drifting from one flower to another and on again. This isn’t what guilds are about.
Guilds are about hanging out with a group of friends you get to know better and better, enjoying eachother’s company and doing activities together!

If you feel like this approach is the one for you, please check the guild I’m in.
http://oldboys.enjin.com/aboutus
or on forums
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/guilds/The-Old-Boys-OB-Gandara-are-recruiting/first#post1185913

Emrys.8130:

Sirendor.1394:

I personally think it’s best to represent one guild only. If you start not representing, it’s not worth having a member in your guild, cause they tend never to represent again.

Having an additional guild or two that focus on things where a player can be more than a number and source of influence is important. You have access to a larger world for massive events and/ or WvW content and then a smaller, reliable group for completing content in a way that you enjoy.

That, sir, was my exact point. When you start hopping guilds you never get to know the people in it and never actually become anything else than another non-representer, a number, and nothing else. When you forbid non-representers, you make sure there is a guild feeling.

Sirendor.1394:

Emrys.8130:

Sirendor.1394:

I personally think it’s best to represent one guild only. If you start not representing, it’s not worth having a member in your guild, cause they tend never to represent again.

Having an additional guild or two that focus on things where a player can be more than a number and source of influence is important. You have access to a larger world for massive events and/ or WvW content and then a smaller, reliable group for completing content in a way that you enjoy.

That, sir, was my exact point. When you start hopping guilds you never get to know the people in it and never actually become anything else than another non-representer, a number, and nothing else. When you forbid non-representers, you make sure there is a guild feeling.

Unfortunately you’re missing mine. Sometimes in a large guild, no matter how much you represent you may never get a “guild feeling” or be relevant. I commend you if you are able to guarantee that in your guild, however there are many guild leaders who are not so skilled, nor do they probably care if their 469th member feels at home. Thus the option for having an additional guild is necessary.

Emrys.8130:

Sirendor.1394:

Emrys.8130:

Sirendor.1394:

I personally think it’s best to represent one guild only. If you start not representing, it’s not worth having a member in your guild, cause they tend never to represent again.

Having an additional guild or two that focus on things where a player can be more than a number and source of influence is important. You have access to a larger world for massive events and/ or WvW content and then a smaller, reliable group for completing content in a way that you enjoy.

That, sir, was my exact point. When you start hopping guilds you never get to know the people in it and never actually become anything else than another non-representer, a number, and nothing else. When you forbid non-representers, you make sure there is a guild feeling.

Unfortunately you’re missing mine. Sometimes in a large guild, no matter how much you represent you may never get a “guild feeling” or be relevant. I commend you if you are able to guarantee that in your guild, however there are many guild leaders who are not so skilled, nor do they probably care if their 469th member feels at home. Thus the option for having an additional guild is necessary.

Well that is not an issue concerning representing. That is an issue concerning what a player wants. If you don’t want to be in a big guild and be a number, then why did you join it in the first place? The choice for a guild should be one strongly considered.
You have to make sure this is the guild you want to be in, those are the people you want to be with… In this point of view representing is just a solution for laziness.

~Kiwipearls, while I can see your point, telling a member that they “Have” to rep your guild and your guild only (not in your case since your don’t do that) is only for the sake of influence pts, which normal members won’t be spending or even being able to use, so what is the point.

And the multi-guild system isn’t “redundant”, but I do see how you could think so. Being able to join up to 5 guilds at the same time allows the player the option to diversify his/her gaming experience. now while it is true that you can’t get any influence pts if nobody reps the guild, this shouldn’t punish the players by having to restrict their game play, instead I would say to those guilds to find ways to keep the members wanting to rep the guild.

Now there are players who just want 1 guild, and those types of guilds would be perfect for them. All I am saying is the "You are required to rep us 100%) doesn’t look very appealing to most players, especially when these guilds are offering the same thing every guild is offering when you think about it.

~Emrys, if I see anyone looking for a guild on your server, I will throw your name in as an option smiles

~Sirendor, while I do not agree with everything in your post, you have made a very strong argument for being in just 1 guild! I thank you for that.

I think that the issue shouldn’t be “what’s in it for the guild if members don’t rep it” I think that above all else it is the members that should be considered. They are the very heart of the guild, to be honest, the leadership no matter its form works for the members, not the other way around. If they stop representing guild x, then guild x is doing something wrong.

Call me crazy but I tend to always think about what the members want or need, and to be honest, I hated the setup in WoW and other MMORPGs restricting you to only being in 1 guild and that’s it, though they did allow you to be in different guilds on different toons, that made for a bunch of unknowns. This system is better because even though a member is not representing a guild, you still see when they are online, and so you can still choose to communicate with them at any time. Really it is as simple as a whisper “hey we are going to be doing this, want to join in?”

Sirendor.1394:

Emrys.8130:

Sirendor.1394:

Emrys.8130:

Sirendor.1394:

I personally think it’s best to represent one guild only. If you start not representing, it’s not worth having a member in your guild, cause they tend never to represent again.

Having an additional guild or two that focus on things where a player can be more than a number and source of influence is important. You have access to a larger world for massive events and/ or WvW content and then a smaller, reliable group for completing content in a way that you enjoy.

That, sir, was my exact point. When you start hopping guilds you never get to know the people in it and never actually become anything else than another non-representer, a number, and nothing else. When you forbid non-representers, you make sure there is a guild feeling.

Unfortunately you’re missing mine. Sometimes in a large guild, no matter how much you represent you may never get a “guild feeling” or be relevant. I commend you if you are able to guarantee that in your guild, however there are many guild leaders who are not so skilled, nor do they probably care if their 469th member feels at home. Thus the option for having an additional guild is necessary.

Well that is not an issue concerning representing. That is an issue concerning what a player wants. If you don’t want to be in a big guild and be a number, then why did you join it in the first place? The choice for a guild should be one strongly considered.
You have to make sure this is the guild you want to be in, those are the people you want to be with… In this point of view representing is just a solution for laziness.

Sirendor, I think I have found the part missing in your logic, you seem to think that representing and what a player wants is two different things. See what a player wants has everything to do with representing a guild. You talk about how members need to feel part of a guild, and so if they do not represent that guild they will not feel part of it, well I’m sorry you didn’t get the memo, but members don’t feel as if they are part of a guild because of the leaders mistake, not their own.
See you have 2 types of leaders, those who think the members work for the guild and it’s leadership, these are most often the people who have to be first to get something, and the members work how he/she wants it. Then you have other leaders who understand that guilds only work if the members are happy, because the leadership works for them.

For example, I have designed a guild which allows members to be part of a large guild (even spanning 3 servers) while at the same time have the comfort of being in a small tight knit family style guild as well, and on top of that opening the doors for them to be leaders themselves by not only encouraging them to create or be part of sub-guilds, but will help them recruit for it. And if we take a hit influence wise, I balance it by spending gold buying drinks for influence pts. I do this not because my members are lazy, or because I just don’t care, but because I do care about the members needs above my own ambitions for the guild, which by the way, my vision for the guild is based off of the members needs, not my own. They create the story, we as leaders are just the storytellers.

Mythdren.2475:

~Kiwipearls, while I can see your point, telling a member that they “Have” to rep your guild and your guild only (not in your case since your don’t do that) is only for the sake of influence pts, which normal members won’t be spending or even being able to use, so what is the point.

Influence points benefit all members when the boosts are activated. How can you say normal members won’t benefit?

I am pretty sure my members love having their karma boosts, magic find etc etc and feel proud to have helped us earn the influence to purchase them – for them.

Multiple guilds would be much more beneficial and have a sense of community – if we could see the guild chat of all the guilds we have joined. But only seeing guild chat of the one you choose to represent makes it an annoying system.

I was excited about being a member of more than 1 guild when the game came out – but for me, representing and then not representing was too much of a hassle. We’ve also found members that were in multiple guilds ie one for WVW or Spvp – always forgot to switch back to representing us and felt really bad for forgetting.

And if every guild is offering the same thing as everyone else, why not just be in one guild?

Senility guild always cares about what our members want from their gaming experience and I am pretty sure a lot of guilds do. And if guild members are the very heart of the guild…why can’t they represent most of the time?

In all honesty, I prefer to join a guild and stick with that guild until I grow of it or if I’m displeased with how it is progressing. In my opinion, the whole point of a guild was to get to know other players and become friends with them so you would feel comfortable asking them if they want to run a dungeon/raid/quest. In WoW, I liked that there were small guilds to join. The largest guild I joined in WoW was less than half the size of my incredibly large guild in Guild Wars. By introducing the multiple guild system, Anet has essentially taken the fun out of guilds and friends in the guilds. I would be okay with Anet’s system had players not felt inclined to guild hop every time their mood changes. Another downside to Anet’s guild system is how large the guilds can be. What is the maximum, 400? 500? That’s a hassle when everyone in the guild is trying to chat at once during an event. Even guild hopping won’t stop that from happening. The only benefit of multiple guilds I see is when you can’t get a group for a dungeon, so you guild hop to find a group. Maybe I’m the only one that thinks this way, but sticking with one guild is what I prefer best.

That is very true Kiwipearls, very good point! But I wasn’t talking about the boosts, thought that was a given, but can your members choose which banners to purchase? Can they place them? Would they be able to quo builds? Or is their hard work determined by you as guild leader, in turn the person who demanded that they only represent your guild? (Again not in your case since you do not demand that) This is what I am talking about; the logic is flawed and limited. Some leaders feel that the members serve them, and serve the guild, when it is just the opposite.

I said that the guilds that demand people rep only their guild act as if they have something better to offer then other guilds, when in fact they have the same things, voice chat, website, we do this, we do that, but you seemed to think I was talking about every guild being identical.

For example reading your guild recruitment page, you look for very specific things, and even put an age limit to ensure a mature environment, because age always determines maturity, this is the limited thinking I spoke of earlier. Though I will say your guild name does match the thinking, so that is a plus. I am sure that your members do enjoy the boosts they get from the guild when you allow them to have it. ((winks)) Fun fact, medieval lords would also say the same things about their servants, again it’s all in the thinking.

I thank you for your post Kiwipearls, it was most enlightening.

I’m a guild leader, and I have to say I just feel more connected to most the players who represent all the time. There are some exceptions, but the full-time reppers tend to be more ‘into’ the guild. They talk more, join in the convos more, hang on the forums more often, etc.

I also don’t feel it’s my responsibility to whisper members who are online but not repping to see if they want to join a party when there are members who are online AND repping all the time.

I get the multiple guilds, but I don’t like them. I think they make fractured communities and the content should be designed to be more accessible by guilds of all sizes rather than members having to join guilds to do the things they want to.

I am a part of Tribe because I really enjoy all the different types of people I get to meet and the friends I get to make. Because we’re a multi gaming guild I can travel with them to other games.

Better question, instead of why be forced to join just one guild, why not join the right guild for you?

Tribe – we’re recruiting active personable members.

Mythdren.2475:

Sirendor.1394:

Emrys.8130:

Sirendor.1394:

Emrys.8130:

Sirendor.1394:

I personally think it’s best to represent one guild only. If you start not representing, it’s not worth having a member in your guild, cause they tend never to represent again.

Having an additional guild or two that focus on things where a player can be more than a number and source of influence is important. You have access to a larger world for massive events and/ or WvW content and then a smaller, reliable group for completing content in a way that you enjoy.

That, sir, was my exact point. When you start hopping guilds you never get to know the people in it and never actually become anything else than another non-representer, a number, and nothing else. When you forbid non-representers, you make sure there is a guild feeling.

Unfortunately you’re missing mine. Sometimes in a large guild, no matter how much you represent you may never get a “guild feeling” or be relevant. I commend you if you are able to guarantee that in your guild, however there are many guild leaders who are not so skilled, nor do they probably care if their 469th member feels at home. Thus the option for having an additional guild is necessary.

Well that is not an issue concerning representing. That is an issue concerning what a player wants. If you don’t want to be in a big guild and be a number, then why did you join it in the first place? The choice for a guild should be one strongly considered.
You have to make sure this is the guild you want to be in, those are the people you want to be with… In this point of view representing is just a solution for laziness.

Sirendor, I think I have found the part missing in your logic, you seem to think that representing and what a player wants is two different things. See what a player wants has everything to do with representing a guild. You talk about how members need to feel part of a guild, and so if they do not represent that guild they will not feel part of it, well I’m sorry you didn’t get the memo, but members don’t feel as if they are part of a guild because of the leaders mistake, not their own.
See you have 2 types of leaders, those who think the members work for the guild and it’s leadership, these are most often the people who have to be first to get something, and the members work how he/she wants it. Then you have other leaders who understand that guilds only work if the members are happy, because the leadership works for them.

For example, I have designed a guild which allows members to be part of a large guild (even spanning 3 servers) while at the same time have the comfort of being in a small tight knit family style guild as well, and on top of that opening the doors for them to be leaders themselves by not only encouraging them to create or be part of sub-guilds, but will help them recruit for it. And if we take a hit influence wise, I balance it by spending gold buying drinks for influence pts. I do this not because my members are lazy, or because I just don’t care, but because I do care about the members needs above my own ambitions for the guild, which by the way, my vision for the guild is based off of the members needs, not my own. They create the story, we as leaders are just the storytellers.

My guild categorizes in the 2nd category. We work hard for our members, but if you get people who don’t like to be in the group, cause they don’t ever talk to us, since they aren’t representing, that influences our members negatively. They don’t enjoy watching at a wall of mute people. I think it’s the duty of the guild leader staff to keep the guild healthy, by ensuring that the number of non-representers doesn’t go high into the sky.

I believe this is working for a familiar atmosphere where your members can feel at home, and where they like to be.

Mythdren.2475:

That is very true Kiwipearls, very good point! But I wasn’t talking about the boosts, thought that was a given, but can your members choose which banners to purchase? Can they place them? Would they be able to quo builds?

Hi ya again.

If we had members queuing items to build queue and using banners – we would not be able to manage our build queues and influence effectively if everyone was spending it.

Our guild leaders look out for the members and not themselves – and this is what is promoted.

I just think guilds allowing members to spend influence would be chaotic and there would be selfish members using them all the time.

Just a thought to ponder on.