Guild Wars 2

This is not an attack on guilds, or an attempt to insult anyone. This is just an unbiased view from a player new to PC gaming.

I switched from console to PC a few months back because I refuse to buy a next gen console in their current state. I had a preconception of how guilds in MMO’s operated. Which has turned out to be almost the polar opposite of how they actually work.

I had thought joining a guild would be like joining an organised team. Set daily schedules for different activities. Groups decided on ahead of time based on a balanced mix of skill to give the highest chance for success for all the teams. So for example: I thought an event of dungeons would go something like this:

Dungeon tour 21/09/2015 @ 19:00 GMT
Dungeons: AC-1+2+3, CM-1+2+3, TA-up+fwd, SE-1+3, CoE-1+2+3, CoF-1+2, HotW-1+2+3.

Team 1:
Team 2:
Team 3:
etc etc. And that that would be posted on the forums by the guild leader.

I thought this would be the case for all aspects of the guild. That if you were doing something with your guild, it would be a highly organised and smooth operation. After all, why else bother with a guild?

I had also thought that TS and guild chat would be dominated by a running discussion of tactics and game mechanics.

By now you are probably rolling around laughing at how naive that notion was. My experience of guilds has been largely positive and enjoyable but they are nothing more than a loose grouping of players. It’s very difficult to sync up with guildies. I like to run dungeons and I’ll sometimes manage to party up with some guildies for one or two of them. But even then, alot of the time I find people use guilds to get away with stuff that would not be tolerated in pugs.

As for guild chat… it’s just that, people having a chat; which is fine. I don’t know why their isn’t a ‘friend chat’ option though.

Anyway to summarise: I thought guilds would be highly organised, and informative.

Reality: A way to get guild commendations for ascended trinkets.

Pug life baby ^-^

I am in good guild that does do what you explain you want. Maybe you join one of the guild that spam in map chat. I do not know. My experience this is not a good guild because they just want to have many people and do not really care. There are good guild but harder to find. When you find it is worth though.

Depends on the leadership, really.

Some put in the effort, to get things organized and keep it that way. Some can’t be bothered. And some just want the position for the so called authority that comes with it.

Your expected version is exactly how my guild in Rift functioned back when I played it long before it became free-to-play. It was awesome.

I’ve not experienced anything like that in 3 years of guild searching in GW2.
As such, I remain guildless and a primarily solo player with very little dungeon experience (I like playing ranger) or dungeon skins unlocked (sig).

It may come down to roles. Other MMORPGs have roles that serve distinct group functions that can be filled or assigned to specific individuals.
e.g. For a 5-man dungeon
JavaSmiter is the primary tank healer
FlankStyle is Ranged-Damage Slot 1
InnerFace is Melee-Damage Slot 1
etcetera

You would think that having a game where everyone fills all the roles at the same time would make for dungeon runs to be more easily put together. Anyone can be anything, no more relying on or waiting for JavaSmiter to get online, or if they have something come up and cannot take part then the run is off for the night. Instead, anyone can fill the spot since each spot is identical to the other spots and do not require a special class/profession to succeed.

However, guild dungeon runs in GW2 seem to be reliant on using specific tactics within the dungeons instead of on filling the roles to do the dungeon in the first place. Basically, if you want to do the dungeon with a guild then it basically requires skipping everything that can be skipped, abusing ‘exploits’, bugs and cheap AI limitations to get the most rewards possible in as little time as possible. Basically, skip trash, stack bosses or abuse AI Line of Sight, and even exploit a bug that allows running two paths of a dungeon at the same time.

Dungeon running in GW2 really is a disappointment. Or rather, the guilds and players that require dungeons to be run in the above fashion or not at all are a disappointment. And in my experiences, this cheap fashion seems to be the only way guilds run them. :\

It depends on the guild. I’m a casual player, and would leave a guild that mandated a set schedule like that within 10 seconds of the joining them. If the one you’re in doesn’t work for you, look around and you’ll find one. There are plenty of guilds that schedule events, dungeons, etc.

StinVec.3621:

As such, I remain guildless and a primarily solo player with very little dungeon experience (I like playing ranger) or dungeon skins unlocked (sig).

If you want to do dungeon some time with you Ranger send me message. I do dungeon many time with Ranger in group and no problem. Not a guild invite but can make pug with you and help you do the dungeon.

I’d leave a guild like that in a hot second. Guilds are varied by style and some guilds fit that description you offer, but for many of us, probably most of us, the type of guild you’re talking about wouldn’t work.

Vayne.8563:

I’d leave a guild like that in a hot second. Guilds are varied by style and some guilds fit that description you offer, but for many of us, probably most of us, the type of guild you’re talking about wouldn’t work.

I think OP say they mostly want guild more organized not just some every time like a pug of people not really care. I do not think OP mean a guild that demand always do as we say or kick.

Qugi.2653:

Vayne.8563:

I’d leave a guild like that in a hot second. Guilds are varied by style and some guilds fit that description you offer, but for many of us, probably most of us, the type of guild you’re talking about wouldn’t work.

I think OP say they mostly want guild more organized not just some every time like a pug of people not really care. I do not think OP mean a guild that demand always do as we say or kick.

I don’t think most people want a regimented guild though. I really don’t. Because if most people did, there would be more of them. There aren’t….probably for a reason.

Or you just throw out in the guild that you gonna do ac all paths and who wants to join? and then you make the group of those that do. No reason to complicate it since dungeons in this games are just dungeons that you make in 10-15 min, unless you do arah.

Guild Wars 2’s content doesn’t warrant strict organization or intense gameplay training. Guilds are lax because the content is lax and easy. This isn’t going to change.

There isn’t really much that requires coordination other than guild missions. Dungeons/Fractals are incredibly easy. The best you’ll find is a hardcore WvW guild.

They’re as many types of guilds as there are types of people.

Ive been in military style guilds with a leader who demands respect.
Ive been in sarcastic guilds full of teenage boys.
Ive been in a racist guild where everyone desperately tried to ignore the leaders racism.
I’ve been in guilds that run schedules and the leaders work hard.
I’ve been in guilds that are casual and just have pickup groups.
Ive’ been in guilds that have 250+ people in team speak.
I’ve been in guilds where nobody will ever enter team speak.
I’ve been in guilds that are full of mean smart people.
I’ve been in guilds full of friendly dumb people.

The problem I’ve finally figured out all these years of guilds later……..do you research before entering a guild. Also do a trial period. Not a trial period for the guilds behalf. Do a trial period on your behalf to test them out. Be willing to leave if you’re not happy.

A few months of pc gaming and you’ve done it tried all the guilds eh? Funny it took me 10 years and dozens of guilds to get perspective.

Well at least your opinion isn’t definitive huh?

Ballistic.2570:

Which has turned out to be almost the polar opposite of how they actually work.
(…)
I had thought joining a guild would be like joining an organised team.
(…)
I thought this would be the case for all aspects of the guild. That if you were doing something with your guild, it would be a highly organised and smooth operation.
(…)
I had also thought that TS and guild chat would be dominated by a running discussion of tactics and game mechanics.
(…)
Anyway to summarise: I thought guilds would be highly organised, and informative.

Yes, some guilds are this way, others are not.

Ballistic.2570:

After all, why else bother with a guild?

Some people have more fun playing with friends than playing alone or with strangers. Some people like an almost military organisation, others dont.

Guilds are, after all, only a bunch of people. And different people have different likes and dislikes. The hard part with guilds is: Find the guild that fits your needs.

And: For the actual content, there is no need anymore to discuss tactics and game mechanics all the time in the guild chat (maybe there is if you are a speed-runner). Maybe this will change with new content (HoT).

I have seen guilds that are exactly what you describe and wish for, OP.

For something to be that organised, you need a lot of hugely dedicated people to help run everything. What you need to look for is a guild that has a relatively complex leader system and one that you’ll see hosting some sort of meeting once or twice a week.

Some guilds may not like sticking to such a strict schedule. Most reasonable guilds will have enough players that every day you’ll be able to do a full dungeon tour. The stuff that usually gets put in a schedule are things like guild missions, guild tequatl, PvP and WvW raids, or other more casual things like doing map tours or hide-and-seek. :P

If you haven’t found your dream guild yet, keep searching. There will always be one that fits the bill. However, I would recommend that if you find a guild that you like the atmosphere of (but they may not run a perfect schedule), stick with them. Maybe you could arrange your own dungeon tours and schedules?

you really only need 5 people to form a party. So if you really want to get away with pug, you should just run with the same 5 people all the time.

But I think part of guilds is to social. And more people look at it as a social tool.

I’ve been in several guilds now…

Organized PvE guilds
Organized Dungeon guilds
Organized WvW guilds
Casual guilds for social needs
Casual guilds for PvX

They all had the same guild missions at fixed times, in organized guilds it’s starting at time XX:XX in casual guilds you assemble at XX:XX….

Organized Dungeon guilds have mandatory builds for dungeons, and minimum requirements
Organized WvW guilds have mandatory builds for WvW and expect some things
Organized PvE guilds normally do not ask for specifics.

I’ve been in open guilds no represent required, many people join and socialize, pick up other players, I have been in mandatory represent guilds where I saw people kicked even for using storage guilds or PvP or WVW represents.

I’ve seen leaders who worked hard tro keep a guild together, I’ve seen leaders who tried to enforce their role (I normally leave these) and I’ve had leaders who didn;‘t have to do anything and still had a HUGE amount of respect…
I’ve seen leaders not doing anything and milking their guild for gold/ influence and just making guild cata’s and selling those… or asking taxes…

No 2 guilds are alike. I’ve been co-leader once , and officer (half a dozen times) in several guilds, mostyly because I run guild missions for my guilds, I run full guild missions in 45-60 minutes with 10-45 people depending on the needs of my guild, for commendations only, nowadays.

I’ve been in 12 guilds since launch of gw2 and still are in 3. I am leader of 1 (my bank), officer in a second (PvX/WvW) and ally to a third (world event). I am no longer looking for hardcore dungeon groups , I do not play PvP, I am at lvl 40 fractals so certain guilds are not relevant.

I think there are guilds for everything and everybody. Finding them however can be frustrating.

Remember guilds can be for
- teaching
- socializing,
- roleplaying,
- jumping
- world completion,
- world bosses,
- dungeons
- fractals,
- PvP,
- WvW
and more…

But I know only few players who can or want to do all..

Guilds run in completely different ways depending on what it’s for. My guild is a reasonably casual PvE guild. We do our guild missions every week at the same time and we run custom events when we can, but it’s fundamentally for socialising and making friends. That is exactly why I like being in my guild so much. I wouldn’t even leave the guild you’re describing because I’d never join it. However there are guilds that do what you’re wanting and take everything very seriously in an organised, regimented manner. The difference is you have to look for those rather than having them look for you.

I’ve wanted to join a guild since I started playing but can’t due to not knowing anyone else who plays GW2. At least I’m not missing much.

Ballistic.2570:

By now you are probably rolling around laughing at how naive that notion was.

Not at all. In a game with challenging raids, it’s necessary to get a lot of people to play at the same time, with some sort of planning and tactics. what you thought guilds were, can be found in those games (WOW, for example).

GW2 is about running the same old dungeon for the 300th time, or farming the same old spot for the 400th time, and ocasionally doing the new content that’s been designed as a solo challenge.

You don’t need a guild for that, you don’t need to coordinate with anyone, you just tag along, solo qeue, or whatever. It is liberating in the sense you get to play when you want how you want, but yeah, it turns guilds into just a group of people that sort of get along well…

Even most “hardcore” guilds in GW2 have barely any shedules.

One of the things I like most about guilds in GW2 is that the structure, organisation and purpose is almost entirely up to the leadership and members to determine, which means there’s more flexibility for everyone to find (or start) a guild that suits them.

If all guilds worked the way you expected I’d never be able to join one. I’m rarely able to say when I’ll be available in advance and definitely can’t commit to being online at a set time every day/week to complete content with a fixed group of people. So I’d most likely be excluded from guild activities, if not kicked out of the guild completely.

But other people do like that and there are guilds like that in the game. There’s also guilds that focus exclusively on one area of the game – like dungeon speed runners whose sole purpose in forming a guild is to not only complete dungeons together but to find new ways to do it as quickly as possible. There’s even one guild which exists for the sole purpose of coordinating an annual cancer research fund raiser in Lion’s Arch.

There’s a lot of guess work involved here and I apologise if any of it is wrong but I suspect the issue in your case is that you found a guild by responding to adverts posted in map chat and those are typically more casual ‘all inclusive’ guilds – ones who are willing to take anyone. Guilds which are more strict about their activities and requirements are usually more selective about who they recruit as well because they don’t want to waste time taking on people who don’t fit the guild. To join them you need to go looking for them.

If you want a dungeon guild specifically the best place to start is the dungeon section of the forum. Either ask around or simply read/participate in discussions and get to know some of the posters and then ask about their guilds.

From my limited experience, and from talking with others, it seems most guilds, while high in numbers of members, are very inactive by normal mmorpg standards.

Even with a lot of people online the game seems to lack a good reason to go serious with things. Like the OP stated when I played Rift back in the day, I bounced around a few guilds, they all were extremely active all times of day and very organized. The key to that was that endgame pve was actually quite hard, and required that level of coordination to run smoothly. Same goes for a lot of other games.

This game lacks that difficulty, since there are no roles and just about everything with the game is done casually, which is both a positive and negative.

WvW can require more organization, however that seems to include jumping onto the server based teamspeak and more or less rolling with a totally different crew in most cases….and not everyone wants to do WvW. I would more but I’m new and WvW doesn’t seem to get you much more than broke and in lame gear.

For pve “endgame” it seems just about anything goes, so when people do want to run fractals, its more of a guild based pug…basically “hey who wants to do it?” because it can be done like that.

Schedules include mostly guild runs/quests which are fun, but don’t really require much coordination for the most part.

I really hope they look to including some sort of mixed mode pve/pvp guild vs guild content that would require more “activity” from a guild beyond running a few guild related activites, and that some serious rewards be included in WvW to make it more enticing. Also the requirement of being on the right server for good WvW activity really limits the guilds you can join if you want WvW, since most of the big active guilds are multi server, making Wvwing with people you like difficult.

On the one hand the super serious, highly organized, guilds of past games are fun, but they do burn me out, I like the casual nature of the game honestly, though I wish there was something that required it in game for when I want it.

Interesting perspective. Guilds have always been a social group for me (been playing MMOs since the UO days). I definitely choose to do group runs with guildies over PUGs, that’s for sure, but it’s not as structured as what you were expecting.

We post guild missions, maybe a fractal run here and there, but most of the time if you are gonna run a dungeon, you just try and recruit in guild chat first before going to the LFG.

Sounds like you may want a meta guild. They definitely exist. I’m sure they do structured group runs like you are looking for.

TS…

you will see those during the early days of the game when it is extremely fresh, everyone are discussing how to conquer something and set a time to do it to conquer it.

now, 3 years into gw2, most old players are bored and used to the game, the game is actually very easy to conquer.

if you want to be part of those experience, you might want to join a newly launch game or a hardcore game. gw2 is causal game so the discussion part dont really last.

the only schedules we have in my guild are for guild missions, some large scale event like sw (used to do temples but well, after mega server we stop doing it becoz is juz hard to find contested temple at a fixed timing), wvw and meeting. nothing else.

It’s hard to find a good guild. Really hard.
Good news is that you don’t have to stay in them, or you can float several at a time until you find one or two you enjoy.

Regarding dungeons specifically the main difference between a guild group and a PUG group is that you (should) know what to expect with a guild group. But what that means varies between guilds.

In some it means everyone will be using meta builds, will know how to use them and will know the path by heart. They will all expect to skip and stack in the same places and will do it without needing a lot of discussion.

In others it means people will feel free to do things they would never do in a PUG group. Like attempting it on a necromancer in nomad’s gear, randomly start dancing before/after/during a battle, take a detour simply to see what’s there, play the entire thing under the effects of a bobblehead tonic etc.

In others it means first priority goes to people who want to level up alts (either by swapping at the end or playing the entire dungeon on a low level character) or those who have never done it before and no one will skip anything.

Whereas any/all of the above can happen in a PUG and unless you’re very specific about your LFG description and check first you can’t be sure what you’re going to get.

Basically what a guild should be is a group of like-minded people who have chosen to chat and/or play together. Which means the most important thing when finding one is to find one that suits your needs and expectations. It can be done, it’s just not always easy. Like forming/joining any group of friends really.

I’ve been in a guild much like the OP description. I’d think you can find that but it won’t be common. It takes a lot of dedication from the guild leaders to run a guild like that and often time external resources (teamspeak, guild forums, etc) are paid for out of the guild leader’s pockets.

I’d think a more common occurrence is that you find a guild schedules a time for a specific event (WvW, Missions) and otherwise doesn’t have internal interaction. Some may have a website, most won’t (guild admin has to run it after all). Some may have a TS or use the server’s TS with a private channel.

On the part about required builds. At one point i was in the leadership of that guild that had all the scheduling and website. I personally am too lazy to do admin. Anyway the thing about required builds was that nobody wants to be required to do anything in a guild (at least the ones I’ve been through). This even though having set builds and teams would benefit the gameplay significantly.

I suggested it several times and each time i had players revolting against the idea. They would claim I didn’t trust them to come up with a build that works (this was WvW guild). It wasn’t just trust, but I was trying to build a strategy for the whole team that I thought would work. I could never get the puzzle pieces I needed to build it cause the pieces refused to fit.

I think you’ll find the use of required builds in the harder core guilds but the average guild, even one with strong admin leaders, will shun this idea in favor of having more players and free will for them to choose.

Overall GW2 is bored and lazy now. It’s an old game. HoT is supposed to drum this up a bit and may do so for a while to come. Even then it won’t be as exciting an atmosphere as launch. The guilds you find will be as lazy as the game itself is now. Good luck finding a guild you want.

You know, you can always build your own guild. If you can’t find the kind of group you’re looking for, create it. Then advertise it on the forums and in-game. Look for others who want the same style of organized, set-schedule group content.

I have to say, it’s a lot of work to arrange and it takes time and effort to recruit like-minded individuals. If you want WvW as a guild, you should make sure they’re all from your server. If not, their time-zone should co-ordinate with yours. As someone else said, if you want to use voice-chat, you’ll be responsible for setting that up as well. Fortunately, this is a good time for it. Many are new or returning to GW2 in preparation for HoT and guild halls and they’re looking for like-minded people, too.

Whatever you decide, good luck. I hope you can find or create what you’re looking for here.

As a guild leader myself I can testify that GW2 doesn’t make our life easier when it come organizing stuff.

There is just not enough stuff to do in guild really.
- PvP is 5vs5
- Dungeon and fractal are in group of 5
- Hearts progression isn’t shared in a party so doing guild map completion will always go at the speed or the slowest members.
- Most World Boss are on a schedule and doing it with a guild won’t change anything.
- Guild Missions is becoming old repetitive content, too hard to small guild, but too easy for bigger guild and the reward is rapidly becoming not worth it after you bougth your ascended accessories and couple of unique reward.

There is very few type of content that is worth doing in a guild.
- WvW
- Triple Wurm, but you are better off with a specialized guild for that
- Temples or World Boss outside of the schedule
- Silverwaste can be done in guild, but doing it with a guild won’t bring you any advantage anymore.

So in the end, most guild activities must be though from start to end by the guild officer and it take time and effort.

Wow.

We are opposites, OP.

I expected to join a guild and have a great time chatting and enjoying the game.
Instead my experiences with guilds are nothing but maps, charts, and to-do-or-else-lists. What I wouldn’t give to finally find that fun guild accepting of me and my group.

(Queue worlds smallest violin)

I’m leader of a guild, but I’m not using this as a cheap recruitment thing.

I notice guildies come and go from my guild who use Guilds as an upgraded PUG, where they can bad mouth the random players and then the player fights back and expects us to kick.

Theyre not all bad, but finding one thats right for you(and for leaders to find players who are right for the guild) is a challenge.

every time I see someone saying that is just “stating unbiased opinion” I assume its actualy biased opinion :P

dunno why…..

but back on topic – that really depends on guild bro – did you really excpect that AN will somehow “force” organosation on guilds? every guild leader is leading his guild however he/she wants and if you don’t like how one guild works – just go to the other guild that will suit your likings more.

about “people use guilds to get away with stuff that would not be tolerated in pugs.” – in pugs a hellalota amounts of things that actually WORKS are not tolerated because pugs often have barely any idea what they are doing – also when running with pugs the potential teamwork is minimal if even exist lowering amounts of stuff that works – something that would work out perfectly when you are in a team with guildies and you use ts or other voice chats to coordinate it – will not work at all with pugs – not mentioning some really crazy ideas that sometimes pugs get out with….

pugs goes with the meta that is most popular at the point – while guild runs consists of other viable ways and sometimes also – better ways – but requiring a little bit of teamwork and coordination to pull out…

I’ve been playing MMOs for 10 years – been in a handful of guilds during that time. In GW2 I’ve only been in two guilds since launch – I left the first because I didn’t like the rules. The second one me and a friend started and is still going. Because we don’t want a revolving door we have a good conversation with all prospective members. Let said person know the pros and cons of being a part of our community and find out what they want from a guild. They get a sense of us, we of them. It is a method that works for us as we have very, very few people leave us. Occasionally we do turn people away and vice versa – rather have the honesty at the outset than have someone come and go two days later.

Ballistic.2570:

This is not an attack on guilds, or an attempt to insult anyone. This is just an unbiased view from a player new to PC gaming.

I switched from console to PC a few months back because I refuse to buy a next gen console in their current state. I had a preconception of how guilds in MMO’s operated. Which has turned out to be almost the polar opposite of how they actually work.

I had thought joining a guild would be like joining an organised team. Set daily schedules for different activities. Groups decided on ahead of time based on a balanced mix of skill to give the highest chance for success for all the teams. So for example: I thought an event of dungeons would go something like this:

Dungeon tour 21/09/2015 @ 19:00 GMT
Dungeons: AC-1+2+3, CM-1+2+3, TA-up+fwd, SE-1+3, CoE-1+2+3, CoF-1+2, HotW-1+2+3.

Team 1:
Team 2:
Team 3:
etc etc. And that that would be posted on the forums by the guild leader.

I thought this would be the case for all aspects of the guild. That if you were doing something with your guild, it would be a highly organised and smooth operation. After all, why else bother with a guild?

I had also thought that TS and guild chat would be dominated by a running discussion of tactics and game mechanics.

By now you are probably rolling around laughing at how naive that notion was. My experience of guilds has been largely positive and enjoyable but they are nothing more than a loose grouping of players. It’s very difficult to sync up with guildies. I like to run dungeons and I’ll sometimes manage to party up with some guildies for one or two of them. But even then, alot of the time I find people use guilds to get away with stuff that would not be tolerated in pugs.

As for guild chat… it’s just that, people having a chat; which is fine. I don’t know why their isn’t a ‘friend chat’ option though.

Anyway to summarise: I thought guilds would be highly organised, and informative.

Reality: A way to get guild commendations for ascended trinkets.

Pug life baby ^-^

I think one reason you don’t see that in this game is because people can be in more than one guild at a time. So people pop into one guild for WvW, and then another for running world bosses, and then bounce a round a few others to find out who is running guild events/dungeons/fractals. So you don’t need to be in one guild with a set schedule because many people can find people to do what they want at anytime of the day. That’s not to say that guilds won’t have some kind of schedule posted, its just that they tend to not be as structured. More like just having a MOTD that states days and times certain guild events will be running. I doubt there is any that have strict schedules fractals and dungeons though.

Welcome to PC gaming. You’ve made a solid decision as we are kewler and better looking than our console counter parts.

Any ways like many have said already it depends on the guild. I would like to add however it also depends on the content being offered. I understand you are new but to a lot of us we have been grinding more or less the same content for years. This translates into their being not as much urgency to acquire items. In addition the familiarity and difficulty of the content is also a likely contributor. Why go through the hassle of setting up schedules and teams for content that you will get through just fine with a group of strangers? With HOT and raids coming soon it may cause guilds to become more organized.

Erasmus.1624:

Guild Wars 2’s content doesn’t warrant strict organization or intense gameplay training. Guilds are lax because the content is lax and easy. This isn’t going to change.

Erasmus hit it on the nail. There’s no point of having such a tight schedule for things like dungeons, because it is simply not needed.

There might be a schedule for guild missions (and in fact most guilds that do those do have such a schedule), but again, there’s no need for any specific team composition. And i would laugh long and hard at anyone trying to enforce one.

Ballistic.2570:

After all, why else bother with a guild?

Everyone’s reason is different. Some people need guilds because they need help of others. Me, i’m in it for a social aspect.

this is a game, not work.

Some guilds do function like a company, pretty much the way you described. But there are less of those types of guilds in GW2 than there are in other games. I’ve seen multiple guilds in this game try to go from relaxed and casual to more structured and the end result is that they always lose a lot of members. The main reason is that this game is very casual friendly and so attracts players that play that way.

Biggest turnoff for me in a guild ad is “100% rep req”

Basically, “if you want to be our friend you don’t get to have any other friends”

Narrrz.7532:

Biggest turnoff for me in a guild ad is “100% rep req”

Basically, “if you want to be our friend you don’t get to have any other friends”

As the leader for a Guild Wars community guild that has been active for nearly 10 years, members representing us 100%, with the exception of bank guilds, has been essential to our long existence. For a time we had members that represented at their own convenience while we adjusted to GW2’s multi guild system (something they didn’t have in GW1), I found they became very detached from what our guild has and continues to achieve as a community, and simply became names on the wall of our roster rather than anyone of value.

But that’s the great thing about so many guilds, there’s something for everyone. For our members, there’s a friends list you can add non-guild members to

Baamoink.4281:

Narrrz.7532:

Biggest turnoff for me in a guild ad is “100% rep req”

Basically, “if you want to be our friend you don’t get to have any other friends”

As the leader for a Guild Wars community guild that has been active for nearly 10 years, members representing us 100%, with the exception of bank guilds, has been essential to our long existence.

Oh yes, it is definitely beneficial for the guild and its leaders. Noone disputes that. But if you have to enforce that, it only means that you and your guildmembers really aren’t friends.

Astralporing.1957:

Baamoink.4281:

Narrrz.7532:

Biggest turnoff for me in a guild ad is “100% rep req”

Basically, “if you want to be our friend you don’t get to have any other friends”

As the leader for a Guild Wars community guild that has been active for nearly 10 years, members representing us 100%, with the exception of bank guilds, has been essential to our long existence.

Oh yes, it is definitely beneficial for the guild and its leaders. Noone disputes that. But if you have to enforce that, it only means that you and your guildmembers really aren’t friends.

Basically this. To my knowledge, my ‘main’ guild has no rep requirement at all, but are still the guild i most prominently rep, because it’s fun to see and play with them out in the world, they’re fun people to talk to, guild chat is commonly amusing… etc.

A good guild should make you want to rep them and play with them, if they have to require those things, well, that’s probably a sign that that guild isn’t actually all that fun to be a part of.

well, there is no “guilds”, every guild is a unique organisation. It is completely up to you to find one that meets your expectations. In this regard, I do not really understand the motivation behind your post here. An LFG describing what exactly you are looking for would be more suited than this general complaint.

There are guilds like to one you imagined I suppose, though GW2 does not really encourage them just now.

- vast majority of casual playerbase that has no interest in such activities
- there is little or no opportunity for character progression in the game, so coordinating to run specific content lacks an incentive.
- as for dungeons, you are probably a little late to the party. Most people being interested in them will probably have finished them or run them into the ground. They are used as gold farms mostly and for running the most efficient parts you do not need any guild coordination, there is a scene of knowledgeable, good players that can easily PUG these dungeon paths in their sleep.

Algreg.3629:

well, there is no “guilds”, every guild is a unique organisation. It is completely up to you to find one that meets your expectations. In this regard, I do not really understand the motivation behind your post here. An LFG describing what exactly you are looking for would be more suited than this general complaint.

There are guilds like to one you imagined I suppose, though GW2 does not really encourage them just now.

- vast majority of casual playerbase that has no interest in such activities
- there is little or no opportunity for character progression in the game, so coordinating to run specific content lacks an incentive.
- as for dungeons, you are probably a little late to the party. Most people being interested in them will probably have finished them or run them into the ground. They are used as gold farms mostly and for running the most efficient parts you do not need any guild coordination, there is a scene of knowledgeable, good players that can easily PUG these dungeon paths in their sleep.

For a general guild, I can understand why you’d want majority rep. I’m in a good generalist guild that does PvP, SW, Mapping, Dungs, Guild missions, Fracs … they also have a WvW team but it’s on another server.

So I’m in another guild when I want to WvW (granted, that’s at most 10% of my GW2 time). It doesn’t IMO detach me from my main guild. But my main guild just doesn’t offer me access to that part of the game.

I’m also in a storage guild with friends, IMO, kicking someone just because they rep a few minutes to check another guild bank is just lame.

edit: sorry Algreg, I quoted the wrong post :p

Narrrz.7532:

Astralporing.1957:

Narrrz.7532:

Biggest turnoff for me in a guild ad is “100% rep req”

Basically, “if you want to be our friend you don’t get to have any other friends”

Oh yes, it is definitely beneficial for the guild and its leaders. Noone disputes that. But if you have to enforce that, it only means that you and your guildmembers really aren’t friends.

Basically this. To my knowledge, my ‘main’ guild has no rep requirement at all, but are still the guild i most prominently rep, because it’s fun to see and play with them out in the world, they’re fun people to talk to, guild chat is commonly amusing… etc.

A good guild should make you want to rep them and play with them, if they have to require those things, well, that’s probably a sign that that guild isn’t actually all that fun to be a part of.

A good portion of our current community joined in the GW1 era, and we don’t exactly ball and chain people into staying with us. Maybe it’s the sense of solid community, or the annual real life meet ups that keep them here. Our rep rule exists, and very rarely needs enforcing.

I feel it’s a false presumption that because a guild has this rule that they’re inherently a bad guild. We’re from the GW1 era where there was no ‘rep’ system, you either enjoyed being a part of the community and stayed. Or if it wasn’t the right place, you moved on. I dislike fair weather players or anyone that takes a foot in foot out approach. Our length of time together, and low player turn around is testament that how we do things has worked very well for us.

As I initially mentioned, that’s the great thing about so many guilds, there’s somewhere for everyone. We may not have the approach you’d want in your ideal guild. But to call us a bad guild based on personal preference is not correct. We’d just be bad for you.

Narrrz.7532:

Biggest turnoff for me in a guild ad is “100% rep req”

Basically, “if you want to be our friend you don’t get to have any other friends”

I expect (hope!) such a requirement will become a moot point once the updated guild chat comes out with HoT and you can then potentially see all your guild chats in one chat window

Mizuki Kusanagi.6584:

Narrrz.7532:

Biggest turnoff for me in a guild ad is “100% rep req”

Basically, “if you want to be our friend you don’t get to have any other friends”

I expect (hope!) such a requirement will become a moot point once the updated guild chat comes out with HoT and you can then potentially see all your guild chats in one chat window

Unlikely, imo – more likely more guilds will start requiring it. “what? you can still read other guild chat without having to rep them now! Why would you unrep us?” Well sir, you see, my other guilds are all also asking 100% rep now…

There are a plethora of guilds that play exactly how you’d like too OP, highly organised and structured, but they can be hard to find in-game as most don’t openly recruit there for obvious reasons. Forums and guild websites are way better. In short if you make an effort to find them, fill out a recruitment form and be proactive in your explanation of what your after you’ll find one in no time.

The more “serious” or structured guilds work as such for a reason, to find people like you and not endlessly have to deal with casuals or players that will waste their, and the guilds, time.

Looking for guilds in-game or in map chat isn’t the best way to find what your after.The majority have a zero tolerance when it comes to recruiting via such methods.

Astralporing.1957:

Baamoink.4281:

Narrrz.7532:

Biggest turnoff for me in a guild ad is “100% rep req”

Basically, “if you want to be our friend you don’t get to have any other friends”

As the leader for a Guild Wars community guild that has been active for nearly 10 years, members representing us 100%, with the exception of bank guilds, has been essential to our long existence.

Oh yes, it is definitely beneficial for the guild and its leaders. Noone disputes that. But if you have to enforce that, it only means that you and your guildmembers really aren’t friends.

If a guild requires 100% rep, it’s not doing enough to keep their members anyway.

Baamoink.4281:

I feel it’s a false presumption that because a guild has this rule that they’re inherently a bad guild.

perhaps – but what’s the alternative? Either you demand rep which which people would not give willingly – which i would say would make you a bad guild – or you don’t need to require rep to the extent you do, because people would rep your guild anyway, which makes the rep requirement redundant.

Of course, those are absolute positions – in reality, i imagine, most of your members would rep the guild regardless, while some few rep the guild only because they are required to. I would venture to say that for those people, your guild is a bad guild.

consider also: what do you actually gain from forcing people to represent you if they wouldn’t really want to? for every person who grudgingly complies and provides you with that extra influence boost, i bet you lose or fail to recruit 2 or 3 who object to being required to exclude their other acquaintances. people with a preference also seem more likely to be veteran players who would bring & contribute more to the guild were they to join – even if their time & resources are divided amoongst several guilds.