How many times have you changed guilds?

7 times.

First guild -can't remember the name- was pretty fun, totally random though, did GvG with them and other stuff, but I didn't join that until I got to the desert. I became inactive for 4 months and the guild was pretty much dead when I returned.

Second guild was with a mate I've played diablo with, he told me he had made some friends and asked me to join it. Unfortunately his mate and his mate's friends became inactive a few weeks later, resulting in a search for a guild.

Joined a pvp Guild, but that didn't last more then a few weeks as I didn't like the persons in it, nor the discussions about why I was busy with something else.

I was guildless for a long time again, chatting with people in Fishermans Haven, getting to know some of them and in time I joined a small Guild with only 2 others in it.... then my brother got GW as well.

So he joined my guild, then the leader left, leaving just 3 of us. I had already been talking and playing with members of DotB, they seemed like a decent bunch of people (and they are), so me and my bro joined that Guild.

I had great fun in DotB, and the alliance that was formed when Factions came out. I think I was in it for over 6 months before I left it to get into some more pvp (100% pve guild didn't suit me after some time). Still feel bad that I just decided to leave without telling anyone......

Joined AnSy (alliance guild), but it had way to much E-drama at the time. The day 6 officers decided to leave I decided I had enough drama for some time and formed my own personal 1 man guild!

Which lasted about 3 weeks.... then I started recruiting... 20 members now, 12 log in daily and we do lots of stuff together

Basically I'm hoping to get the same community feeling I had in DotB in a mixed pve/pvp guild, one hell of a task, but ... go Void!

Just two - Edrama between BF officer and GF leader within the first month or so = OMG RUN AWAY!!!

So me, my husband, brother, and two recruits we had managed for our first guild followed us to MEEP and that's been that! Our guilds anniversary is the same as the NF release ^_^!

3 guilds in 15 months.

The first one died, all the officers left etc.
Second one was finnish only,but they didn't have any activities/mature players so I quit.
I've been in my third guild for about 6 months now. And I'm not sure how long this guild will live.

I've been in about 10 guilds, two that I really liked, but people started to leave, etc. I would get invited to guilds that promised to be active but turned out to be something else entirely. One had most of its members in Europe and that did not work out at all. Fun guys though.

My biggest issue is time zones. Being on the west coast and getting told that GvG practice is at 8 PM Eastern makes it a little tough.

I am in a big guild now, just starting to get a feel for the members, I like being a part of something that is really big as our guild is the head of a ten guild alliance.

I read this thread with a lot of interest.

We are a large PvE guild and most of the members have stayed with us a long time and hence our size.

The pupose of the guild is to be fun, and helpful. We really push "Play with Guild Mates" a large amount. That may not be for you, but we DO clearly explain this in recruiting.

We use this simplified guild expectations in talking to new prospects:
"All members must stay active, never beg and always try to team with guild/alliance members"
We also point out that registration on the guild site is required, and answer questions. This often takes 20 -60 mins per prospect and many are turned away as they don't seem like a good fit and would likely be unhappy.

Now, all that said...

It is frustrating when someone joins the guild and quits in the first 24 hours for no apparent reason. This has become ever more common recently.
The officers want to KNOW if someone is unhappy, or see's a problem.
The guilds are largely a refelection of it's members. If you join a guild, be active! If you just go off solo, you should probably be playing a FPS.

We try our best, and I am sure most established guilds do.
I don't have all the answers and there has to be a ceratin level of realistic expectation.

If you sign on at 3:00 am and want a guild 8 man team with Naphui... chances are, its not going to happen.

This is a real helpful thread to all Guild Leaders
Its good to know WHY people leave (guild hop), but it shows we must stay diligent in screening ppl, make sure they know WHAT your guild/alliance really is all about and what is expected of them before sending invite.
Even then Ive seen a huge leap in guild hopping recently. Dont get too deperessed , most everyone is seeing it.

I do ask 'Members" to please speak up in your guild, dont just quit, and quit and quit from one guild to another. GLs will never know why they lost another member or what YOU need to make the game better for you.

Just some feedback from the GL perspective

Never. Been leader, playing for 16 months+ and learned this: You Get More when you Give.

No beggers pls k thx lawl

6 guilds in 16 months. Leader of 3 of them, but various reasons I had to give them up. And when it comes down to it I don't have the time, or the dedicated officers to be a good leader. I ended up in DgnE and really am quite happy there. There is usually a couple who want to hoh, deep, uw, fow, ab, etc.

Kailin Aer you've pretty much hit the nail on the head!

Sometimes school and work or life or PC crash of dewm happens so we let our members stay on the list of inactive for a month, if they don't log on its the boot! If they come back and want back in no biggie we are always happy to take them back. We used to not care about inactivity but with more and more members pouring in we had to =/ This included some of my brother's friends and while its unpleasant to kick them its for the good of the guild in the long run. And yeah you REALLY need to speak to your GL or one of the officers if you have a problem, we can't make it better for you or other prospects if we don't know what the issue is.

I've been in 2 guilds in the past 17 months. One was a guild I had joined with a coworker. He didn't want it to grow and I did, so I split off and started my own guild last April and we've been growing since then. Since I'm the guild leader, guild hopping really wasn't an option for me.

Still with my original one - The Eyes of Texas [BEVO].

Hard to leave a guild with such an awesome name.

I have been in 4 guilds.
The first one was pretty stupid, I joined them when I first started playing and had no clue whatsoever. The where all further in the game, so I never could play with them ,and they didn't even know that you can get to your guildhall by that button in the guild menu...at least they didn't tell me.
The second one was a guild mostly of people I know in real life. Quite nice, but they became more and more inactiv over time, and then they had a big fight with my boyfriend an he left, so I followed shortly.
The third was I guild I found in a forum. They seemed nice at first, but when I joined I found out they where narrow-minded and old- fashioned. They kicked me, because I defended someone with a name they thought immoral.
Now I'm in a two man guild with my boyfriend.

Been in the same one since launch.

I've been in guilds since release. I joined 3 over the first 2 weeks of the game, then found my guild I've been with for 16-17 months now.

I have changed guild for about 3 times. I begin with a very friendly and nice guild. We did alot of missions and quests as a team and help each other out alot. But them the guild went inactive for a long time. Than I moved on to another guild that a online friend created. After a while, the guild sorta dissappear. Than i went into another guild for about 7 months (same thing like the first guild: very friendly, helpful and do alot things together). Finally i got into Rare after going around guildless for few days.

This is my third guild.

I've gone through 3 myself. The first I stayed with for 6+ months, and they were good, but then the leader left, and the guildmates started leaving. the second guild I was an officer in, and tried helping others when I could, but they kicked me from being an officer for being away (on a business trip) for 5 days. I left shortly after that. I joined a 3rd guild for the Kurzick factor, but the guild got small and their alliances were completely immature.

Now, I am freelancing it for now. As the original OP said, I'm looking for that perfect balance of fun, active guild that has a serious, PvP section to it. My other requirement is that it be a mature guild (tired of dealing with a bunch of 12 year olds in these guilds).

Time zones- absolutely! I welcome practice GvG and getting together as a group, but I mainly play at 9PM PST (after the kids are asleep) and as such, it is very hard to get together with players on the East Coast or even Midwest.

3 guilds.

The first one was a PvE guild, and really great. The people were helpful and fun, and we a had good time while it lasted. Then the leader went to join her husband in WoW land, and it just wasn't the same without her there. Eventually I left, and ran into some other former members later on who said it slowly fell apart.

The second was a PvP focused guild, who said they did PvE, but didn't really. The leader wanted to get on the GvG ladder, and had somewhat of a bootcamp alpha-male mentality. The internal politics and power tripping bothered me from the start, but I liked a couple of the members a lot and gave it a go. Then I made a mistake by posting a link here on guru to an excellent oline GW comic one of the members did, because it was so cool and I thought it would help attract attention since they were actively recruiting. I got dressed down pretty hard by the guild officers and certain members for jeopardizing their privacy, disrespecting the unspoken rules, stepping beyond my station... it reminded me of being back in high school. So I just left.

The third was my own guild-of-one, setup for the Factions preview event so I could join Alliance Battles, and to avoid the onslaught of invitations that hit after Factions came out. I still have the guild, but rarely use that character account anymore, except for farming. Too many players found out that I was a woman and just wouldn't stop hitting on me. Almost every time I logged on there would immediately be a ping from one of several creepy guys who had me on their Friends list (wish Ignore would remove you from someone's list), and this one kept pressuring me to join his guild, and simply wouldn't take NO for an answer. It got to where I was avoiding logging on so much, that I just bought a second account and mostly use that now with male characters.

This time around I've been remarkably guildless the entire time, without a single serious Guild invite, just the ocassional "wanna join my guild?" whispers from total strangers. It's certainly a different experience when the players think you're male.

SMS is my 5th guild (4 if you don't count reforms)

I was in some lame ascalon tab recruiting guild (ahhh, back in the day, lots guildless). I sorta stopped playing May > December. Then I went on, everyone inactive for months, so I left. General Typhus contacted me, and I joined his guild, Soldiers of Entropy. A lot of crap happened between there, and the reform, to Guillotine Tactics [GanK]. Stayed with them all the way until the core officers and leaders went out and bought WoW. I soon left with a guildie, and she made a crazy guild. I soon left that and applied for SMS. SMS is fairly insane.

Wanna join my guild? lol, just kidding...

Honestly, I can imagine your story is far more common than ppl think and very frustrating.
I have been extremely fortunate to have a great lady as my XO for a long time and one of our favorite allies is also run by a lady.

Keep the faith, we arent all creeps

most of the guild are used to having the ladies around in game and in AB, so call us for a guest invite anytime...
well, unless you are Luxon :0 lol