I need Help to Rescue my Small Guild.

I need Help to Rescue my Small Guild.

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Posted by: Saxon.1908

Saxon.1908

I am posting this in the hopes of gaining some useful advice on my Guild current situation. And constructive feedback any of you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Some background.

So I played GW2 for about 2 months and joined a few guilds in that time, and none of them quite suited my needs. When I eventually found somewhere I felt at home I was suddenly booted fro not representing 100% of the time (I had 2 sets of friends playing who don’t get along, so I had to be in one Guild for each group).

This annoyed me and my Friend so much we decided to start our own guild and we made Masters of Ascendance [MOA]. Our first rule was that no one ever had to represent any set % of time, so long as they were participants on some level. We had few rules and a casual attitude.

For the first few months things were smooth, until we lost a few key members (stopped playing) and then we found there wasn’t always someone on. Then when a member logs in and finds no one on, he reps elsewhere and then so does the next guy and the next guy. Sooner or later they stop even checking to see who’s on.

Then the Guild missions Came and as you probably can guess things got worse. We struggled to get enough people on at any one time (we have several spanning time zones in the guild) to complete them and soon it just became easier for members to get their rewards with Larger guilds.

Now when someone loggs in they see 10 people on and 8 people not repping many choose to rep somewhere that has more people actively participating. Now organising even an all-guild Dungeon run can be hard, and the frustraition from that is also causing people to go elsewhere.

I don’t want to fold on the guild. A lot of my time and Gold has gone into it, we have developed all the Guild Traits to level 5 or higher and we have all our Bank tabs. But If I don’t do something soon we may loose everyone.

I’ve concidered altering our “No minimum” Represent rule, but at this stage that will probably just force a lot of people out, including fence sitters. But atleast then when I introduce someone new to the guild they wont see a long wall of non-repped members.

Has anyone in a similar situation been able to turn it around? How did you do it? We need to make some changes soon, but I’ just not sure what.

(edited by Saxon.1908)

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Posted by: Cassy.6315

Cassy.6315

No I don’t have experience running a guild, but life experience I do have. I suspect you’re just going to have to bite the bullet so to speak and set down rules, call it a reshape/restart or whatever and find new members. But you already know that really don’t you?

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Posted by: ashammer.2359

ashammer.2359

Hey Saxon,

I saw this post and then saw your reply to another post looking to combine smaller guilds. I have a guild on SF called Wrath Incarnate (WIN) and am interested in talking to you about some possible options. Here is a link to my recruitment post so you can get an idea what my guild is all about:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/recruitment/Wrath-Incarnate-WIN-on-Sorrow-s-Furnace/first#post2149278

Right now I have a great group of players, all very helpful and great along quite well. I however would love to do more for them in the way of more scheduled events, Missions and general guild activity that quite frankly my schedule doesn’t allow for.

My guild has a stable player base and is in no way losing players to other guilds. We also have a soft partnership with another guild on the server to help out with Mission and filling spots on dungeon runs and whatnot.

I understand that you have put a lot of time into the guild you currently have, if I was in the same position as you I wouldn’t want to let go of it either. I’m not too sure what to suggest other than when you do see guildies on get involved with them right away. I always tried to put down what I was doing to group up with another guildie and show them that it was a better game to play when you’re in a party. I got lucky in the early days of my guild and recruited some dedicated and loyal people I guess.

Either way I live on the East Coast and generally pl[ay from 10pm EST until 1am EST. I’ll be on tonight and tomorrow night (Guild Bounty and Trek night). Toss me a pm here, in-game, or where ever if you want to discuss this a little further.

My guild website is in my sig down below. Take care!!

—Ryazz

Guild Leader – Wrath Incarnate
http://www.wrathincarnate.com/

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Posted by: WynterRaven.7208

WynterRaven.7208

Hi Saxon

It is very difficult to create a guild and keep it going when the game has so many guilds for people to choose from. I have a small guild, started it from scratch and it is humming along nicely at around 40 players, which is where we wanted it to be.

We didn’t want to set rules about mandatory representing, so we just ask that when a member joins they let me know if they are not intending to rep a lot of the time. If someone joins and then never reps, I give them a few weeks and then I kick them as I don’t want that person in our lists if they don’t even want to spend time getting to know us. That is really want it comes down to, why join a guild and never represent it?

My advice would be to search for new members, look at the recruitment forums on this site, talk to people in the game and invite them, whatever you need to do to invite new players and be specific with them, tell them you would prefer they represent your guild being that you are small all influence you get will help. When you have a consistent group, then you can remove some of the people who never represent. Perhaps email them and tell them you are removing them for inactivity and that they are welcome to re-join but you want them to represent and be an active part of the guild.

It won’t be easy and it will be a slow process but it is worth it, you will find the kind of players you want to be in your guild and you will also slowly remove all those who are not representing and eventually you will have a nice group of players and all the dead wood will be gone.

Best of luck and if you want more specific details, feel free to send me a message or add me in game, happy to help if I can – not that I am any sort of expert, I can only share what I know, but I have manager experience in real life so I find it useful to use that skill when managing the guild as well.

Sincerely,

Wynter Raven

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Posted by: Saxon.1908

Saxon.1908

Some great Replies, thanks for your support People.

Ryazz, I will keep an eye out for you online and we can chat.

Wynter, Thanks I think that’s solid advice and I think it helps to put things in perspective for me. Thanks.

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Posted by: ashammer.2359

ashammer.2359

I’d definitely agree with what Wynter said. Currently we have a rank set up for those who are from our Alliance guild and thus do not rep unless they are doing a dungeon run or Guild Mission, we call them “visitors”. Otherwise those who do not rep ever and do not contribute are place as a “Initiate” for a while and after a while its time to let them go if they do not contribute. I do send these people mail to let them know and if they want to come back just to let me know.

It is a tough balance, but i’ve tried my best to embrace the multi-guilding in this game and try not to take it as an insult.

Good luck!

Guild Leader – Wrath Incarnate
http://www.wrathincarnate.com/

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Posted by: alcopaul.2156

alcopaul.2156

Embrace multi-guilding. And unlock guild missions since it is the only reason for casuals to represent and stay in guild.

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Posted by: Luvpie.8350

Luvpie.8350

You should talk to all your current members and see if they interested in repping your guild solely & tell them what kind of guild you making.

I found that if you can have 10 people in guild that rep you ALL the time vs 30 people that rep you when they want/can, 1st option is better. Multi guild application is a great idea in theory but a true guild will always have the same playerbase which forms the core and sets the attitude of the guild. When you allow members to rep other guilds etc they don’t see your guild as ‘their’ guild and just another tag where they go to do pve or wvw or guild missions.

I revamped our guild 2-3 times now. We have had players stop playing, its the nature of the game where there is no sub fee. Some members do come back but you also constantly have to keep recruiting and people that like your guild will stay and become part of it. You should also recruit for the timezone in which you & your friend play most. People need leadership to show up and organize events.

Worst case scenario try looking into alliances with other small guilds.

Apply @ Fang-Gaming.US
Follow @twitch.tv/Luvpie

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Posted by: Saxon.1908

Saxon.1908

Easier said then done, Alcopaul.

I opened Bounties quickly and we hit them every weekend for a while, but numbers dwindled and now we hardly get enough people to do it. We’ve been saving to unlock the next one now for about 6 weeks, but we’re still 20k influence short and gaining influence slowly.

Until I can get more people ON and interested bounties won’t succeed. And if found those people who don’t represent most of the time will come if invited, but STILL wont make a habit of repping at any other time.

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Posted by: ArcTheFallen.7682

ArcTheFallen.7682

I lead a guild from a different realm (PvP) that is also a no-rep guild (100% no-rep with some exceptions such as tournaments), and I have actually made it work out for the most part with a drop-out of maybe 5 people out of 50-60. I find that the key to getting people involved, is to just invite people to do things—and do it often. Just because someone doesn’t rep you, doesn’t mean they don’t like you. They are still in the guild, and somewhat expect something out of it. Whispering them, inviting them to events or dungeons will let them know ‘Hey, I’m active and want to do fun things with you and others!’ which then normally triggers a base relationship between you and the non-rep member. If you continually keep up the connection with them, they will more than likely respond with more guild activity.

People will represent you if they like the guild and have people to talk to in the guild. The more you try to get your members involved, the more they feel like they are a part of the guild.

I don’t believe in forcing people to rep. You can establish a title system or a ‘rule’ per say, but I feel like that won’t set up the atmosphere you intended at first. I would just get in the habit of getting some activities going on and then getting people together for them often.

As for guild missions, I’d work with a larger guild or hire mercnaries to help you finish them. Once you establish firm relationships with your current roster, you can expand and probably handle guild missions yourself afterwards.

Remember that people keep guilds for a reason; they also rep other guilds for a reason. Give your members a reason to rep your guild not a rule. Show them that you are fun guy who does fun things that they’d like. You should see better results and better relationships form.

[VZ] Sky Avalon – Guardian (Main)
Master of all Professions
sPvP Rank Dragon – 8 Champ Titles – Ruby Division

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Posted by: RedJustice.1548

RedJustice.1548

I might suggest also that you look to recruit small groups of friends as you ‘restart’. If people come in 2s or 3s they will want to be sharing a chat with their friends— hopefully guild chat. Then as other people are invited they will see there are people on being active in your guild and that should help you build up again.

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Posted by: Saxon.1908

Saxon.1908

Thank you Arc, it’s reassuring to know that small no-min-rep guilds can survive. I’m going to try and do what you suggest and see how it goes.

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Posted by: ArcTheFallen.7682

ArcTheFallen.7682

Thank you Arc, it’s reassuring to know that small no-min-rep guilds can survive. I’m going to try and do what you suggest and see how it goes.

I wish you the best of luck. It may be a rough road though depending on how distant they are at this point so it may be better to ‘restart’ like someone suggested before. The hardest part is if you feel alone and lose the drive; never let that happen! If you ever need +1 for any content, feel free to shoot me a whisper.

[VZ] Sky Avalon – Guardian (Main)
Master of all Professions
sPvP Rank Dragon – 8 Champ Titles – Ruby Division

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Posted by: Saxon.1908

Saxon.1908

I’ll add you to my friends list. TYvm

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Posted by: Rayean.8726

Rayean.8726

Hey there! I was actually in your position in my previous guild; the GW2 division activity dropped from about 30-40+ at launch to just 1-2 people online at a time (Most times it was the same one person, or me.). A fellow officer and I underwent a major revamp of the division: We recruited our butts off, established new ways to keep people interested, and soon went from that 1-2 to 5-6, then 6-10, then 15+. As far as I know, they still have activity and are doing well!

Here are a few things that helped us!

1) Establish a goal. You need a good end goal – it could be “I need 6 people for constant RP nights” or “We want to always have enough to do dungeons so often, or guild missions”

2) Talk to your guild members! Communication is very important, try holding a guild meeting (perhaps once a month, even!)and see what everyone is looking for. Maybe they have the same goals as you and will help work towards them. Approach them individually as well; let everyone know the happenings and what you are all trying accomplish – you may see more representing if they all want to get to that next level of Guild missions! While being a guild with a Min representation goal is admirable, don’t be shy to let them know “Hey, we’re a home for you! We don’t want to pressure you into any particular heavy rules, but anytime you think you could help us out on influence and represent so we can all hit that next level of missions it’d be great”

3) Don’t get discouraged. People WILL leave! They’ll ind something else, or they may stop playing; such is the way of an MMO guild…what’s important is to not let it get you down and to keep forging ahead. It sounds simple, but it’s hard in practice. We lost our whole pvp section when rebuilding (All…4 players. But still, it was a hard loss) twice over.

4) Have fun. That’s it – you have fun!

5) Organization and Delegation – Having someone(s) on to let everyone know when things are coming up, or putting it in the message is a simple, yet important lifesaver!

6) Having an accessible calendar helps, A LOT. I know a lot of people don’t do it, but having a site with something as simple as a calendar people can put events on is AMAZING. It lets everyone know when stuff is, and what they will be doing.

Above all (Sorry, this was and is a long read) not everything works for everyone. Consider trying to do a contest where people recruiting those they run into earn points, or try to hold a server event and get people interested in your guild. Don’t ever be afraid to branch out in new ways; the worst you can do is fail and start over. Everyone above me has offered fantastic advice; all of us who have lead, created, and held onto guilds know that the one of the most important…if not THE most important thing is Quality. Quality over quantity makes the best community – You could have 300 members but if they don’t all get along…well that’s a headache for the higher ups on a daily basis (Heck, it is even with 60-100, I know from experience XD). A group of 10-20 tight knit players can last through things others would crumble over; and a friends to help you out and place your trust in is a commodity you’ll never have enough of. If you ever need to talk about anything or are looking for ideas, just let me know in game and I’ll be happy to answer (assuming I’m not AFK staring at the Traders in the Grove)

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Posted by: Noroz.9527

Noroz.9527

Hi there! I have read some of the replies here and I agree with a lot of it.

However, I’m here to add my experience.

I was in the same spot you were in, I didn’t find a guild suitable for my needs, and I’m a leader, not a follower.

I started with no rules other than to be respectful and to listen. It started out with a lot of non-reps, so I implemented a few rules.

“Rep at least once a week, or you will be kicked” was one of them.
The once who didn’t got kicked. Simple as that. You need to be strict when it comes to things like these to avoid these issues.
We hit 50 members, and decided to clear the roster.

Went back to probably 20.
Then we went to 100.
Cleared, went down to 50.
Now we are 170 members iirc, and the majority reps. Everyone reps at least once a week, and if they don’t, they are kicked.

It does suck, having to kick people, but it is part of being a guild leader. Just recruit more and more people, and you’ll see which ones rep. Keep them, kick the others.

Being a guild leader takes a lot more work than people expect. I am a nice guy, but I know that I have to be strict when I have to. That’s the only way you can lead a guild effectively. You’ll see influence skyrocket when you hit 20 active members. (We went from maybe 1k influence a day to at least 10k influence a day).

Be strict, but fair.

Commander Noroz Vi Britannia
Northern Shiverpeaks
[AS] Artificial Strife