Guild Wars 2

I’m a WoW player, having started in 2009 during Wrath. Leveling sped by and even though I expansion capped, I made it into heroic raiding by the time Arthas was ready to be taken down. But over the years I enjoyed WoW less and less. PvP is just a crowd control duel. There are less and less veblen and positional goods, and those that remain (mostly raiding gear) retain value for far too short a time. The lore is completely ruined by the wacky leveling changes, and there is no interest in fixing leveling problems (including balance). General immaturity, rudeness, and carelessness rule the social atmosphere.

I tried several games back at the beginning of 2013 with a WoW friend when trying to find something better, and ended up loving GW2. The dynamic events, especially the way they encouraged ad-hoc grouping (without actually grouping), amazed me. The personal stories, voice acting and all, enthralled me. The professions weren’t exactly what I’d like, but they blew WoW out of the water. And the class that I expected to hate, turned out to be exactly what I always wanted: a primarily “support” class.

By by two months later I was max level (a very rushed process), decked out in yellows that I mostly made myself, and unsure what to do next. Without a global chat channel I had no idea how to meet people or form groups or find a guild, and the LFG tool that I’ve since heard about didn’t exist back then (that I know of). I ran across one or two guilds, but they didn’t seem very active and the leaders were not attentive or interactive. I left GW2 by spring/summer and haven’t been back since. I’ve been playing WoW, having missed healing, but I keep finding myself wishing it was more like GW2.

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So that’s what I am now. I’m looking to come back to GW2 and give it another shot, though my buddy missed healing too much and is sticking with WoW for now. I’d like to find a good guild, welcoming and supportive, who will help me get up to speed with what I’ve missed. I’d like a close group of friends, but not in a way that doesn’t welcome others to join in; I’m a relatively social person at heart but pretty quiet until I get to know people and I tend not to join in unless invited. I’m always happy to help out and teach others, and I treat everyone with respect; I expect the same in return.

I enjoyed WvW the few times I tried it, and would like a guild that has some PvP involvement. And I’ve always been interested in those group missions I kept seeing pop up but never got to do. I have a feeling that working up through fractals as a team may be my biggest source of enjoyment (though I don’t know for sure as I could never find a group to even try a dungeon), so I’d really like to make sure the guild I join does those. I LOVE fun little events just held to play as a group, and I’ve always been fond of groups working together for a common cause (grinding/farming mats for a guildie, working towards an achieve together, etc).

I’m still playing WoW and I’m not sure where I’ll end up or if I’ll keep playing both, and I’m pretty sure I’ll head back to at least try WoD. I also work two jobs right now and have a family. So my time will be pretty limited; I can’t promise to be online too often. However, if there is a set day and time when the guild does certain activities I can probably be pretty reliable. Weeknights at 6:30 pm EST or later work best for me. Weekends are possible, but more tricky.

I’d really like a guild with active leadership and membership. I ran a raiding guild in WoW and know how difficult the job is (and how thankless!). But I also know that leadership can make or break a guild. And oblivious members who aren’t dedicated to the group, or to making group activities work, leaves social interaction in a constant state of ambiguity.

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Thanks for taking the time to read. If you think your guild would be a good match, could you please tell me a little about it and tell me how you think I’d be a good fit for the group (or the group a good fit for me)?

Heya Nbostaph! I played WoW for a bit, too, although not as seriously as you did; I never did end up in a raiding guild, although raiding looked like a lot of fun. I mean, I did one or two raids once in a guild, but nothing like progression raiding. I left WoW before the Pandas and ended up falling in love with GW2. And it’s funny what you said about liking a class you thought you’d hate, because I tried engineer during the beta and hated it, but I gave it another shot almost a year ago, and I ended up loving it. =P

I really think you’d love Ember Solace. We’re a smaller guild, and we definitely have that welcoming and supportive atmosphere. Our guild members genuinely care about each other — right now in guild chat, we have people wishing someone good luck on a first date tomorrow. =) And there’s a whole thread on our forums where people have shared their experiences with chronic illness.

One of the key components of our guild is being newbie-friendly and welcoming to everyone. We even have a Newbie Officer, Falunel, who is great at helping people out with everything from personal story quests to build ideas. Plus Fal hosts regular Ascalonian Catacombs Story Mode dungeon runs for people who have never done a dungeon before.

There are some people in the guild who are talking about starting a progression Fractal group, so I think you’d enjoy participating in that. And as far as fun little events go, Fal is hosting a trivia event tomorrow night, and we had a Leveling League event earlier (low-level guildies group up together and lay waste to a map).

It’s definitely okay if you’re still interested in WoW; we have members who split their time between GW2 and other MMOs or other games in general. And we also understand about jobs (I’m working more than one, as well) and families. We’re really laid back and casual, and we have spontaneous events and groups during the week, too. Plus we have a calendar on our forums where anyone can schedule an event, so you could always create an event during a time when you know you’ll be free, and then invite others to join in. =)

Leadership is definitely important to a guild. I’m the guild leader of Ember Solace, and I work hard to make the guild successful. Part of that is knowing my strengths; I’m great at organizing forums and creating a welcoming environment and truly caring about people. But I don’t always have the social energy for frequent parties in game, which is why we have officers with specific duties. We just finished the application stage to appoint both a PvE Officer and a PvP Officer, and we’ve had several other people step up to assist with lots of fun activities.

We have an application process to ensure that people will be a good fit for us, and that we’ll be a good fit for others. If you’d like to know more about us, we have a recruitment post here on these forums, plus you can stop by our forums and peek in on our GW2 section and read our Purpose & Principles. And of course if you have any questions about anything, please feel free to reply here or send me a PM. =)

Hi there!

After reading your post, I think you would really like our community. I’ll try to keep it short and to the point, and will leave you with a link to our website if you’re interested in finding out more

Ignite The Fire [BURN] is a casual-hardcore endgame PvX guild on Blackgate. Our focus is on player improvement through various PvX means, in a social environment where you can learn and grow. Though we have a hardcore tag, please don’t misinterpret this as elitism. Attitude is first and foremost in creating a healthy community, but I also believe it’s important to strive for a goal.

Having a clear direction will motivate your members to reach new heights, no matter what stage of the game they are at. A player with an open mind who wishes to improve their gameplay will go much further than one who just wants to play the game- it’s always more fun to play with positive people who know what they are doing than positive people who do not. I have founded and run this guild since November 2012, so we are very stable and have strong foundations.

We are a really tight knit community with multiple weekly events and various competitions. Member interaction is always important, and we’re small enough for everybody to know each other while being large enough for people to have company at any time of day. We pinpoint players who we think would like our community, so you definitely won’t be a number in the masses.

Currently we run Screenshot Competitions, Gathering Nights, all guild missions and have an upcoming Valentines event. We do frequent lotteries and giveaways as well as hold random parties and go on picnics. Much of our playerbase are active in your timezone, so you definitely won’t be short of company.

Feel free to check out our website, we have event info and extensive guild info posted there. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll be happy to answer them!

ignitethefire.enjin.com

Thanks for your time, I hope you’ll consider us!

-Yuki