Help me understand guild hopping.

Having a tryout period is a great way to weed out potential hoppers, I agree. I know because when Tim was interviewing me I had a couple other guilds asking, and I couldn't promise I would stay. Also, if Im going to leave a guild, it will be in the first week anyway.

Some people are going to just be dicks regardless, but knowing what kind of guild you want is a good way to start. I always look for Gvg oriented guilds, and those will generally have fewer Whammos.

Interviews are key as well, although definately not fullproof. For example, Im mature, active, typically helpful, and at least have general background knowledge of pvp and pve things. Unless they are other requirements, I don't have much trouble getting into most guilds because of that..but Ive still been in far too many, which means I am a guild hopper.

Really, I think itd be easier to have more guilds that were strictly pve and pvp, if you want to do both thats fine, but I really almost never want to do things in pve..but the guilds that only want to gvg or HA ever are the ones with r3+/glad reqs. :/

I'll admit I've hopped my fair share of PvP guilds, but for good reason.

When a guild says "HA/GVG Daily!" and then you sit in the guild for 3 days, waiting for something to happen, in my mind, the guild is going nowhere, and it's time to pack my bags and search for a guild that does what they actually advertise.

I think it is silly to pay someone to join.Also think it is silly to pay to join one.
Also agree about people joining just to get goodies.I would drather have a guild with fewer people who want to play the game and have fun.There is nothing like a pug with folks that work together and do the mission.
The hard part is matching up to a good guild.Also the hard part is for guilds to find good people.
Some people will always be guild hoppers because they're looking for what in it for them.But Guilds have to respond to their members and not what is it for the guild....ie turning them into faction bots....oh well

I am a officer in a guild which perfectly suits me, But dealing with those hoppers gets annoying, REALLY fast. "So uh, do you people do GvG's?" I replied no: "k." *leaves*. I mean, why can't you ask it BEFORE joining a guild, since i ain't particulary wealthy i can't really afford to lose the 100g.

I have played MMO's for awhile and have been both a guild hopper, a guild leader and member.

I am relatively new to Guild Wars and it's social scene.

I took about 2 weeks to "find" a guild that fit my ideas, but you never know how a guild will be until you join it. You can read their website and vision, but reality is best experienced via experience. And sometimes there is a disconnect.

Not giving a guild a chance and leaving with in a few minutes is somewhat ridiculous. But, I think we all could see the possibility that there are some things that could trigger an abrupt response like that.

Getting to know people has it's challenges in real life and in virtual. We are generally much less forgiving in the virtual world.

I have left guilds before that struck me as a bad fit. Usually you can judge a guild by the behavior of it's leader and officers, so when that behavior is not what you approve of...you leave.

It's a 2-way street, civility should be expected from both parties.

Guilds are private clubs and sometimes new people just don't "fit in" and Guild Wars seems to make it much more tougher than most games because of it's fractured player base.

You have people spread over 3 campaigns, you have Heroes and Henchies, you have non-PvP'ers and PvP'ers, you have people that want to beat the game in the first 2 days of a campaign release and play for 18 hours.

Makes guilds a lonely place.

I always explain that i'll stay in the guild for a week as a trial period. Whenever I don't like a guild or it doesn't sit well with me anymore, I reinverse the person who invited me for the gold they used. I simply explain why its not the guild I am looking for. And go merily on my way with no hard feelings.

First thing I do is let the recruiter know I dont GVG or FF.I am strickly PVE.Never does any good.Shoot even within a few hours of joining I have hear we need you to come to GH to GVG or we need faction so you need 5 k of FF.Not all guilds are they way but you do run into them too often.
The person joining the guild as well as the recruiter should give each other info on what they are looking for in a guild/guildie right off the bat.

Even though there are many guilds out there, it's hard to find the right fit that includes but not limited to: personality between members, personality to non members, personality within the alliance, activities available and frequent enough to fit your preferred gameplay to name a few. Most often, the choice one lands on has a trade-off of some sort. Say you like to PvE high end stuff like FoW/UW regularly but the guild never does that, rather is bent on FF.......would you stay? Say you love TA, but everyone's PvE and plays alone with hero's........would you stay? To some those answers would be no-brainers, but there can be tougher trade-offs. Say you like to PvP/GvG and there's little or no time allotted or interest even within the guild........but the personality fit is there..........would you stay? Say there's nearly every activity you could think of happening all day........but you don't feel you fit in with your peers....would you stay?

Since no guild will be perfect for everyone's preferences of gaming, interpersonal communication, maturity and demeanor, or other amenities, it stands to reason that there will always be guild hoppers in any game trying to find they're home that has the most to offer they're personal needs.On the flipside there will always be hoppers that come to leech in some form (items/gold/help/etc) then leave once they've gotten or found out they won't get it. As a guild, the only thing you can hope to do is to present the facts of what your group offers in the most honest way possible, and continuously include your guild as a whole as to what they'd like to see more of, then try to make help make it happen. If there just isn't enough interest within the guild to follow through whatever it be, you've at least tried............in a month rinse and repeat. Try to ask people why they've left, and do it nicely for being all defensive won't get you the full answer(s), and be sure to use that information to see if there's enough interest in the guild to make it happen, otherwise it's pointless. Even though you've lost someone from not having it, you may attract some more by having it. All you can do is continuously strive for improvement, the ones that your guild fits for will stay, the ones that your guild doesn't will continue looking. It's a two way street, and the cleaner your street is, the more will want to move there.

my two cents...