How many times have you changed guilds?

I have been playing since the day was officially released. I have long ago figured out that guilds are there mainly for pvp purposes, imho that is, but that was not always the case at first.
I have joined about 4-5 guilds in my time but I have never really gotten into one that I could say satisfied me as a casual player, meaning mainly pver.
I have joined and helped recruit, run to places and level up and farmed fow and uw and done quests etc etc but... it never fails that when you really need someone's help for your new character its like no one is ever available. So I learned that since I really don't care (time restraints) much for pvp and such, the best thing is get my own guild get a nice cape, so as not to keep being invited to join, and enjoy the game that way. I have good days with pugs and bad days I have played enough to know all the hard missions and I hench as much as I can. But when its all said and done I really would like to find a guild that does enjoy the game for what it is. See how far your character can get, develop new strategies for beating missions and quests and some friendly banter.
Have you all had much success with your guilds? Are you still in the guild you originally started with?
I know there are ubber guilds but what about simple fun loving non demanding friendly casual guilds, has anyone found that elusive animal?
Just curious.

I know your exact feeling. Myself, I have been playing for 7 months found myself an easy input officer in 13 different guilds. Now my number is quite astronomical to yours in days played vs guilds in. Although I understand where your comming from, and I feel for those times "Hey guys, I've tried this quest x number of times.. I can't do it myself" - Followed with no reply.

After the tragedies in most of the guilds I was put into collapsing, or un-cooperative(spelling?) people. I made a decision to follow suit for my brother, and a war vet and his stepson. We together make our own guild. It has been very successful thus far, in approx 2 months I have been able to recruit 45+ members all playing with them beforehand, or being a "friend of a friend" to other guildies or related to one of the 5 officers I have put in place. We all enjoy playing together in any mission/quest/fow/HA no matter what the outcome. I am certain I am not the only one who knows of guilds like these. They exist, but they aren't the ones spamming in droknar's forge.

Even though I may not have played as long as you have, I want you to know your definitely not alone. My greatest suggestion to you, is to actually be guildless and do missions, keep a good hold on your friends list. It's more then eventually you will meet a couple of people playing together in the same guild in a mission/quest etc. Ask to join their party, see if you work out well or not, see what they are actually willing to do.

As much as there is player vs environment and player vs player built into this game there is more politics then both those combined. I tend not to get caught up in those anymore. I will recruit players im convinced contribute a positive attitude, willingness, and co-operation along with maturity.

EDIT: Also I should mention simple reasons why people don't help, it's usually because
A) In their opinion a waste of time
B) They have helped and gotten nothing in return before
C) They have helped, and gotten negative results in return
D) They are 12 years old, didn't read what you said/don't understand (This one is way more then often :P)

Well, ive only changed 3 times not including reforms or smurfs, first i was in for 3 months roughly, second 4 ish then about 7 in my current one, i dont really leave a guild unless it falls apart first, only ever left a guild once, mainly due to the shift between PvE and PvP.

Around 7 times.

First offcourse I joined a PvE guild, this guild was a guild that always kept stand. After we made a mistake with mass-recruiting the guilds expertise went down dramatically, offcourse. There is more people to play with, but more and more people who cant be bothered helping eachother out anymore which resulted me in leaving. (Sounds familiar eh?).

After that I went into Pvping more and more, so I decided to join a PvP guild after being guildless for a while. This was a guild with skilled and experienced players, but it wasnt what I was looking for (which again, resulted me in leaving after 2-3 weeks).

I think I have now found the guild I fit into most. Yes, I think I've found my place

EDIT: Like Divinus Stella said, not including reforms.

Never...I'm in the same guild I was in from the start. I LOVE my guild...it's me,my guy, whole bunch of RL friends and few ppl we met in GW who wanted a good home lol...We started it hmmmmmmmmm maybe 16 months ago? We all are mainly PVE lovers....our guild has no rank etc ...
Our guild rocks tho...we ALWAYS help each other with missions/quests/runs etc. We give each other needed materials, gold, weps etc..lol I'm constantly getting beautiful drops and thinking "XX will LOVE this!" rather than "I can get 100k for this!" and they're the same way...I'm always amazed when ppl say "I'm selling this to a guildie" or "my guildie owes me XX gold"...Ppl CHARGE their guildies for things :O weird...

*shrug* it's a question of priorities I guess...I dont care about guild rank etc I care about a fun guild...

Casual does not = PvE

I've switched guilds about 5 times, in all my time (Betas->Present) playing GW.

I had 2 guilds, my old one, and the guild I started with some friends which is the one im leading at the moment. Oh and I hate guild hoppers which is why I would never do it.

I'm still in the original guild for which I am a co-founder, Wizardry Players Guild. We started with just a few forum friends of Wizardry 8 and now have grown to 2 guilds plus allies so maybe 200 total.

We still remain casual and friendly, no requirements to do PvP or anything you do not wish to do, focused on PvE.

A guild is what you make of it. Participate in the community and it is good. Use it just to have a cape and hall and it isn't worth much.

In total, um: 9 guilds.

The first was a tiny pve guild that i joined when i had jus started GW. I think i met the members in some mission.

Then my first pvp guild. [LoA]. We held about r300-500 which i was really pleased with at the time. Still have a lot of friends from this guild.

When that broke up i joined XoO for a very short while, until [LoA] reformed as [ABLW]

When that broke up, joined [MP] which held about r100-150 and also won halls a bit. I got kicked from that, and my LoA friends in it also raged it.

Then we ([LoA] ppl+others) formed [xD], which held again about r100-150. When an officer there staged a coup d'etat and turned it into [FhS] i briefly joined another guild (forget the tag but of a similar rank) until

I got the chance to join [SiA]. My highest rank PvP guild and i think also the one that i spent most time in. We were in the top 10 for a while (peaking at r7), beat guilds like Rus, RenO, SB and EW, and consitently held r15-25. It broke up while i was on holiday >.<, and after a few weeks guild-less i joined

An offshoot of [DOGS] (who i knew from doing a fair bit of HoH with), which had formed to focus on GvG instead. [Fake] as this was didn't last very long, as our leader/tactics caller was new to GvG and really all the ex-HoH ppl found gvg hard going.

So finally the more committed of these people plus a couple more formed [Tash] where i am now. Hit r28 for a bit (although the ladder is rly screwed up this season so that's not so special) but generally around r40-50. However one of our monks just quit GW and the inactivity of the ladder freeze has come at a bad time morale-wise for us so i'm not sure how long it'll last. So i guess a new guild will be along soon

Potted history: lots of guilds. In my experience aside from the very best, PvP guilds don't last long You have to just find a new and hopefully better one each time, and try to keep in touch with / join new guilds with friends from the old ones.

Been in 3 guilds in total. First one was a guild formed up with real life friends. Since I was the only one who kept playing that guild kinda died, so after 2 months I joined another guild (mostly because I loved their cape :s). They had some nice people but awful leadership and after some months that guild fell apart. I then joined the guild I'm currently in, been here about 11 months and no plans in leaving.

First guild for me was one with RL friends - then they stopped playing and I joined a few PvP guilds, then quit, then started again and joined my friend's PvP/FF guild.

Then about 5~ PvP guilds including my own which died due to errors with the guild. And now I'm in one of my old guilds reformed.

I have had Guildies since the begining. I started a guild and am still in it. So only 1.

Only twice. First a PvE guild, then at about Wintersday got bored of PvE. Moved to a PvP guild in Feburary and now an Officer in it

I'm on my third guild.

The first, was small with a core group that GvGd a bit but ultimately fell apart due to inactivity.

The second, I just plain hated the people. They were immature and annoying to be around. This doesn't apply to all in there, but the big players.

My current one is similar to the first with bouts of inactivity as well. We're hoping Nightfall pumps in some new life into it.

Overall, none of the guilds I've been in have had more than 15 or so people, with rare GvGs. Alliance chat is interesting when we get beyond "hey."

I don't know any real life friends who play.

First and only guild. (9+ months now) I'm the lead so I won't be changing any time soon. Started out as a group of 6 friends and has extended into a 38 member guild with 'friends of friends' and in-game meets. Every once in a while I'll jon up with PuGs to look for a few more good members that can put up with our interesting styles and humor. There is a good spread of addicts and very casual players, both mainly PvE. All things considered, the guild has held together pretty well over time.

Sigh I really wish a guild like what you are saying would exist! I'm a PvE at heart.

After playing for more than 15 months I have changed 3 guilds.
I left the first one only because of the GMT, me living in Australia and them in the US ...... was hard to play togheter, but very nice guild.

The second one was a wish come true, but not enough people in it and after a while some guildies left to try PvP and GvG more often, because they got bored, and the guild died, so I had to go and find another one!

My third one is the one I'm in at the moment, very nice guild too, very helpfull and I really hope it wont go too much toward GvG and PvP and I wish it would help players, like myself, to finally get a look at UW - FoW and exploring a bit more around once we finished the missions and quests. I don't like to play with henchies or alone with strangers too often.
After all a guild is supposed to be friendly and helpfull, if you need to join a PUG or use henchies most of the time, what is the use of it for?

Ho well I think it is hard to find a Guild that is ideal so I must adapt and hope for the better.

30+ with ease, I've only ever come across one guild that I was content in but that guild broke apart due to people leaving to form their own guilds or moving on to PvP.

Mainly I leave guilds due to them either being dead or having a load of immature school kids throwing insults at each other in guild chat.

I will prob fly solo when I start playing GW again.

No switches for me. I've been with the Amazon Basin since February 2002, a little while after I started playing Diablo 2.

I've joined more guilds than I could possibly remember (seriously), and only in the last 2 months have I found two guilds that made me think 'I don't see myself leaving these guys at any point'. I did end up leaving one of them because they refocused as a GvG guild shortly after I joined, but they were still a great bunch of guys. My point is, despite how discouraging it can get, don't stop looking, and don't be afraid to leave a guild if it's not what you're looking for. Guilds aren't the sole domain of PvP, and in that regard, if you find a good one you'll know it.

Another thing. In all but two of the guilds I have joined, I joined because I or they were advertising in a trade city. And I've ended up leaving every single one. The two guilds I really appreciated being in (the previously mentioned one and my current one) I joined because I met a member doing a mission or just chatting in an outpost, we got along well, had a laugh and they offered me a place. I guess I'm saying that maybe 'looking' for a guild is the wrong approach (despite what I just said in the previous paragraph ).

I'm in my third guild which is the first one I'm not leader.