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5 Secrets to Picking a Good Guild

posted by: Serpentius Sun 25th Jul 2010

5 Secrets to Picking a Good Guild

by Ron Keith

Is there a more important MMO decision than choosing a guild to join?

A good guild helps you level faster, gets you through the tough dungeons, and gets you the best gear. A good guild helps you out and makes the game more fun. A bad guild will leave you soloing and constantly struggling and might even make get you frustrated enough to quit the game.

The guild you choose can be the difference between you enjoying an MMO and hating an MMO.

And yet, how often do you just join the first guild to toss you an invitation? Your guild choice shouldn't be treated as casually as picking a movie. (Eh, if it's bad, you're out 10 bucks, so what?) Picking a guild is usually something you're going to live with for a while: Even if you eventually decide to leave a guild, you're going to stay with your new guild a bit longer than your typical movie – Unless you're talking about Titanic (Just drown already, Leo.).

Possibly the best guild is one your friends are in. You all know each other. You like to hang out together and do the same things. You get along. Chance are you'll all start from the same point in the game and want to do a lot of stuff, together. After all, you're buds. Yeah, there's probably no better guild than the one your friends are in. (At least for you. See item 4.)

But it's not always possible to hook up with your friends. Maybe they're off playing Lord of the Rings and you really want to play Allods or Star Trek. Sometimes you're going to find yourself alone in an MMO and you're going to want to find a new guild.

What do you do? How do you go about finding a good guild?

1. Solo.

Yeah, soloing and pick-up-groups can really suck, but it's also an opportunity to meet other people in the game. Whether it's player-versus-player (PvP) or player-versus-environment (PvE) instances, many MMOs will throw your solo-butt together with other people from time-to-time. This is a perfect opportunity to meet people at your level who are doing the same things you're doing.

Chances are good some of these people will be in guilds. Talk to them. Don't be shy. Ask them about their guild and if they like it. Ask them if there are more people like your new-found friend in the guild. Ask them if you can join.

As long as you're not completely antisocial, soloing helps you meet people. It helps you find people who like doing what you do. And that can help you find a new guild.

2. Avoid endgame guilds.

If you're just starting out, avoid endgame guilds.

What's an “endgame guild”? An endgame guild is a guild whose members have done it all. Most of them are maxed out, they're in endgame gear, and they're playing the endgame almost nothing else.

There might be lots of low-level characters in an endgame guild, but a most of those are just alts of the core members.

If you're just starting out in an MMO, be very leery of joining a guild like this. Often they just want new members to help improve their guild ranking. They're not likely to help you much; they're too involved in the endgame to pay much attention to the guild lowbies.

3. Find a guild that likes what you like.

Do you like to PvE, grind the dungeons, and get all the sweet loot? Do you hate PvE and want to PvP?

Just as it's rare to find a player who likes to do it all, it's just as rare to find a guild that likes to do it all. Some guilds focus more on PvP, some more on the PvE. Some do one almost to the complete exclusion of the other.

What's the point of joining a guild that's hardcore PvP when you just want run dungeons? Or vice versa?

Oh, and avoid guilds that say they do like to do it all. They probably don't. Most guilds focus on one aspect of the game or the other, but not all.

4. Avoid clique guilds.

Let's suppose you've started a new guild with your friends. You recruited some new members for your guild, posted in the forums you're looking for members, and your guild is growing. You're pretty happy with that because your guild ranking is going up. You and your friends have a nice, growing guild. You get all the benefits of a ranked guild and you get to hang out with your buddies all the time and play.

What's not to like? Nothing... If you're one of your friends. But if you're not, if you're one of those recruited newbies, you're probably on your own.

Yeah, it's great to start a guild with your friends, but you're usually, if not exclusively, going to hang with those friends. Everyone else is going to have to work awfully hard to break into that circle of friends.

That's not good. You probably don't want to join a guild where the core members are all amigos. They're going to do everything together. Everything. When it's time to run the dungeons for the sweet loot, they're going to pick their friends first. When it's time to run the PvP scene, they're going to group together. Sorry, party is full.

A lot of guilds are going to have a core group of members who know each other; that's fine. But avoid guilds created by friends who just want to play together.

5. Look for experience.

Try to find a guild that's done it before. Find guilds that have migrated from other games and have a record of success. Why? Because, they get it. They know what needs to be done to succeed as a guild. If they ran a successful guild in another game, there's a good chance they'll do it, again.

Usually the more successful the guild, the more aspects of the game you'll get to experience, too. They'll know the secrets to getting into certain instances or where to go for certain boss spawns. They know how to tank certain bosses and how to win in PvP. They know how to play the game.

A successful guild usually spreads the wealth around, too. They want to see everyone succeed, because they know it's good for the guild. They know the more people who make it to the endgame, the better it is for the guild. They'll help you level and they'll help you get the gear you need.

Finding a good guild is never easy. Sometimes you'll feel like the MMO equivalent of Goldilocks: Too big; too small; just right. Too hardcore; too casual; just right. Look around. Talk to other players. Talk to people you team with. Try out your new guild. If it's not just right, don't be afraid to move on. Let the Guild Master know it's not a good fit for you and go look for another one.

Being in the wrong guild can make your MMO life a whole lot less fun, and what's the point of playing if you're not having fun?