A problem I have with the Guild system

Hey guys,

I consider myself a decent Guild Wars player. I only have one character that I play, my beloved ele, but with this character I have finished all 3 campaigns, gotten Protector of Tyria (along with numerous other titles), completed all but one of the end-game prophecies quests and Sorrows Furnace quests with heroes and henchmen, and solo-farmed the money for a set of Obsidian armor, and all four Vabbian headsets, in under a month. Yet I have done pretty much all of this by myself. And despite the fact that the game is called Guild Wars, I have not been able to find a good community of players that I can call myself a member of.

There is no actual system within the game for finding a guild to play with. A guild with which you share common in-game goals with. If you want to find a PvP or PvE focused guild, a mix of both, or one that just simply likes to have fun, it can be incredibly difficult.

I was in a guild with a close bunch of friends, but it dissolved when they all bought World of Warcraft, and ceased to play Guild Wars. Even when I was part of that guild however, because of conflicts of interest and no clear vision of what direction the guild should take, essentially no guild-related play ever happened.

After this I sought a new guild; one that shared my goals and what I wanted to achieve in the game. The question of how to do this soon arose. I had no other contacts in the game to find guilds through word of mouth, and as a general rule all guilds that spam for new recruits in trade channels are soulless entities that suck in new players, who wallow in a murky pit of unfriendly guildmates and lack of events until they are wise enough to haul themselves out and join a better guild. So, rant over, the question I pose is this.

How did you find your guild?

Is it luck of the draw? Being somewhere at the right time? Or something else?

All I want is a guild focussed on high-end PvE play. One that I can help, and that can help me in return. One that I can form strong friendships in, and really enjoy the game with. A tight-knit community of good and helpful players. Surely there are enough decent people in this game for such a guild to exist?

P.S. If it is not against the rules here, I would ask that if anyone is a member of such a guild, and would permit me to join, please inform me. I would be more than willing to join a guild such as the one I described above. So, by all means, let me know.

I feel your pain, try this link http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=9

You'll see "looking for guild?" on the top of the page, it's a sticky can't miss it. Advertise yourself there, pve, pvp, number of active memebers, whatever you fancy. This is the best way to find the right guild for you, I think. In game spams recruiting are well,....not good. Good luck finding the new guild.

Well for me, I've actually only been in two guilds. The first belonged to someone I met in GW, the second, and the one I'm still in, is...a friend's xD I've known him for a long time so yeah.

My guild is pretty much on and off and we don't even schedule stuff, but everyone is really cool with each other and well, if there are enough people on, we'll just hit AB or something. Personally, I think if you want to find a good guild, just try to join one with a group of friends and slowly get to know the other people in the guild. Chances are, if you join a guild by yourself, you wouldn't find much fun in being there.

Also, a word of advice =P Unless you want to join one of those alliances that hold HzH or Cavalon...joining guilds that spam for members in general isn't the way to go =D Those usually...usually, fall apart because of guild drama.

I found my guild by asking for help in a quest. The leader of the Guild was then only one who didn't treat my question like I was a noob which I wasn't. After completing the quest I was invited and have been there for 10 months now. If you want a guild use the search function as I am now an officer and that is the first place I look to see if anyone is looking for a guild. Also advertise yourself in the bigger towns letting people know what you are looking for in a guild. You can also do quests with guild groups and see how they work with you. Finally make sure you feel that you have asked all the right questions about the guild and how it will fit you and you will fit it. Hope this will help you in your quest for a good guild for you.

That's the part i totally agree with. Found my guild the same way. Well, it was me who offered help to my future guildies, but there's no big difference.

IMO --> Don't do it. Never. U will get tons of offers from teen guilds with kewl cape and all other BS u can only imagine. It's very unlikely that leader or officers of rly helpful, mature guild will recruit ppl this way.

Another way is to try "looking for guild" section here, on guru.

P.S. U can pm me in game if u need help with smthing, cause i'm PvE player mostly. I'm not trying to force u to join my guild, just offering help. Good luck, mate.

I found my guild here in this site. There is a guild recruitment section here. I stated my specifications about a guild that I like. Some guilds pm'ed me and here I am today with the guild that invited me. I never looked into another guild again and am currently satisfied with their camaraderie. I think you should do that too. If you don't like your guild then find a new one, that simple

It is a crap shoot. I was able to find my guild when 2 of my RL friends got in. I helped on a few missions and they liked what they saw. Most times you will get a guild invite when an officer of a guild likes what he or she sees.
Btw I totally agree in not advertizing that you are looking for a guild in chat. Makes you look desperate. Also when looking for a guild make sure you are guildless. That is how my guild looks for decent players. A guildless player that is decent will get more invites than a player who has a guild.

I found my guild by posting my "player profile" at Guru, GWO, and Guild-Hall, sometime in June 2005. And after that, the core players simply formed a new guild. I think that's one of the best ways to do it, if you don't know too many people in game.

I should comment on how my own guild looks for players:

We don't. We have enough friend referrals that we never send blind invites, and we don't check forums looking for players anymore (though we used to, and we found a pretty good group that way). There will simply be some guilds you won't be able to get into unless you apply to them directly and ask to join. So you should be prepared for that as well in your search.

I look for a post like looking for mature guild in the message. I also do not invite all who post this way but it is an option to get names. That said a good active guild is your best bet for questing with real ppl. Find a guild that fits you, ask for a quest invitation, check out the guild hall and maybe talk to other members of the guild. Hope you find what you are looking for, goodluck.

We are a small, tightly knit group of friends. Most of the people in our guild were members/officers of another guild. The leader was taking things way to seriously, to the point of going on a screaming rant at one of the kids in the guild. We all wanted to just play and have fun so we quit and formed our own guild. Our only rule is to have fun. We help each other out, when ever we can. We have nothing orgainized and most of us are usually on in the evening, eastern time. We have a few people on the west coast.

We all get along so well, there are times I, or anyone else, will get on for just a bit to just chat and check in with folks.

I used to be in two good PvE guilds. I met the first one by pugging UW groups with a friend and got a really good one. After playing together for about 3 hours, they asked me to join. The second one I started myself when I already had a fairly large friendlist and we started out as about 10 people. Friends invited their friends and I never really needed to spam guild invites until the guild was in a decline, at which point it didn't really help.

I'd say the best guilds are formed through friend-lists (this applies to PvP even more than to PvE). So, if you're interested in end-game PvE, go to those areas. Look for pugs in FoW, Urgoz, DoA... whatever you like... when you find a good one, or even just one good player, ask if you can join their guild if they don't ask you first.

My first guild, that I was with for about a year, I found via a friend, who had teamed up with a member of the guild in pre-searing a month or two after Prophecies came out. My second guild, which I have been in for about 6 months (there was a long floating around period inbetween) I found when I ended up being the only non-guild member in a UW team (we cleared it, even after a few ppl had to call it a night). They were pleased with my play, we had a bunch of fun, and I joined the guild right after that. So yeah, long and the short of it, its kind of random who you run into and when.

When I came back from my Boycott of GW I joined an amazing guild. I was picked up as a pug on a FoW run and was recruited by the coolest bunch of people I'd ever met. Unfortunatly there was some drama within the guild and we ended up branching off to make our own new guild.

Im happy with the way things turned out now though, our guild is 5 alliance's strong, full of active, nice, helpful members. I stopped playing guild wars for guild wars a while ago, now I play because I enjoy the company of my fellow guildmates and to me thats all guild wars is about now-a-days.

And Ivy you mean ass you never PM me anymore! : (

I found my guild.....wait...they found me heh. A group of IRL friends of mine and I formed a guild a couple months after the game was released. We've stuck together the whole time and have picked up a few other peoples that we have met in game.

Most of the people that joined my guild that don't know the main members IRL met us in RA and were just generally good people who liked to have friendly banter while playing.

My advice is just to start playing PUGs. Make sure to be vocal in the group, just find stuff to chat about while running from one place to another (good place for this is Tombs but eles generally arnt used there). If you meet any people in there who strike you as fun, ask em if they would mind playing with you some other time. Add them. And start playing with em regularly. If you stil like em, ask about their guild. If you like it, join, if not, start over again (keep the person as a friend though).

Who knows if you gather enough cool friends you might be able to start your own guild *shrug*.

Finding a good guild that is friends instead of aquaintances is great I must say though.

My Guild is my FPS Clan - We started through HALO PC 4 years ago and have started branching out into other games. Guild Wars being one of them. I have known my guild members / clan mates for a long long time. We are a friendly bunch who try to help anyone in game where we can whether they are guild members or not, granted we do like screw around some times. we mainly focus on PvE some PvP when there is nothing else to do. But it defiantly helps being friends with the people you play with.

my guild is me, my hubby and his brother.....dont need much more now for the game...and did I have a choice????

Found my guild through someone who recruited in public. Couldn't have been more lucky. It's a great guild with a great alliance with 95% friendly people that help you no matter what.

Oh the irony, yes I'm vague. You'll see what I'm talking about in a few days time

What a big tease you are. It would be ironic if they did away with guilds. We then could call it NO Guild Wars.

well by luck i guess and by knowing many ppl for example in the guild i am now i met an officer when i was still in the previous and we did a little ha together and when my pre guild was disbanded he invited me to his and this happens all the time

We have a title hunting and elite missions guild so everyone is on the same page and we play together quite a bit.

Similar interests seems to help

I found my guild by sheer luck and very happy that I did. I mapped into a town and saw a rather informative and well written ad. Replied giving the guild a chance and have been there since. We, the guild as a whole, had a divide of pve vs pvp players. We decided a split was best for us all and since then we've had a tight nit pve guild. Ours is a bit different then others as we're ran by the 5 founding members rather then 1 leader and officers. We now focus on high-end pve game play, ie UW/FoW, RoT, and title acquisition. If your guildless and interested in one feel free to get ahold of me here or in game at Kaibutsu Kiseragi.

my problems are probably rooted into the community, everything i do in relation to guilds seems to go sour after some time,destruction by inactivity, drama, good friends turning into jerks >.>

right now, im rather alone ang guildless barring two or three people i talk to regularly, and bothered by guilds.

my last guild was a promising one attempting to climb the guild ladder, died due to conflicting interests, and managed to kill most of my high end pvp interest after getting to see what its really like, I figured its not worth my time.

my interest in GW now is mainly rooted around whatever friends i have left, making new ones if possible, and whatever disracton HM and EOtN offers.

(and yes, im in the market for a good guild, but i take convicining, and will probably post in the approprite topic)

Ps: anyone looking to recruit me SHOULD look at the lfg topic in the guild area, my post there is far more detailed.

All guilds have their ups and downs and conflicts, but all you have to do is ask how long they have been in existance and it will give you an idea about their stability.

But you want to avoid using that stereotype too much. I've seen some good guilds advertise publicly. And I've had the pleasure of playing with some of those guilds and they are not "teen guilds with kewl cape and all the other BS". Yes, many of them are guilds run by teenagers who think they are leet and whatnot. Sometimes other guilds advertise in public because:

1) No one uses the Party Search Panel;

2) People looking for a guild look on local chat (though this doesn't mean the guild they eventually join is that guild)

3) Advertising on local reaches everyone in the district who may be looking for a guild

Now, that's not to say that every helpful, mature guild does this as I know for a fact it isn't. It might not be the most effective method of recruiting, but it does work.

i have been in some guilds that were long lived, still managed to die within a month or two of me being there =p

and no, its not me >.>

finding a guild is probably the worst part of gw imo ><
out of like 20 guilds I've only really been in 2 good ones that I didn't hate the people and had fun... The first one I found through my friend that got me started on guild wars but the leader had to go into surgery so he promoted someone else to leader but he didn't get leader back so we all raged I still talk to most of the people from that guild but I doubt we'll ever be in the same guild again
The second one I found on here in the lf guild thread I was in it for about 4 months but recently some of them got angry that we were starting to suck in gvg so someone raged and others were busy with real life so everyone left mostly and I still talk to a lot of them too when they sign on.. Now I'm in between guilds but I'm not sure if I want another gvg guild or not cause it seems everyone's always raging at each other T_T
But yea I would try the lf guild thread, you can usually find a decent guild with it

What can i say? I think u r totally wrong And u obviously think otherwise. OP should read and decide.

The best guilds I have been in I heard of: once after a PvE PUG, once or twice through advertising, but unfortunately I find the best way to get into a worthwhile guild is to know people, which leads to the paradox of not knowing people so you can't get in a guild so you don't meet anyone etc. You just gotta keep looking around until you get that one lucky break, either from meeting someone or joining the perfect random guild.

The guild I am currently in, [AMBR], I found through some friends who were members of a dying guild. I met them after being reinvited, then kicked from a guild I had spent the summer in, then me and the Guild leader had a fight, and I was booted.
That same day, I was wandering around in arkjok ward, and I saw two of the three active members talking about their guild. It wasn't a spammed ad, as it is part of their policy to never spam. It was more of a "Come join us, 'cause we are lonely" sort of thing. We have gone through three guilds together though which brings me to my current guild. It's awesome! If you are looking for a guild, just do things that you like. eventually you will find some people who are in a guild that share your interests.

I have only been in 2 guilds over the past 9 months of GW and the first one was a two person guild, me and the leader. I really liked playing with people I knew and the leader had a really busy RL, because of this I was forced to make lots of friends. Then one day by sheer luck I did a mission with someone and they thought everyone did a good job so she asked if anyone wanted a guild invite. So me not really wanting to leave my current guild at the time just added her and thought maybe I will join later. Then I made the biggest decision of my gw career(yes I know I am a nerd >.<) and asked for an invite. I got it and all of the officers,GL, and myself have become great friends. Also a few very active members are friends with me also.

Ahh yes a 88 person casual guild makes for some really kind members. [/notadvertise]

But the one I'me in (2nd) is one I found basically saying LF GOOD GUILD 50 + people!!!! And it's wonderful. Also I recruit some great people all the time with recruiting spam. they are usually kind and I enjoy helping them out.

I spammed in Lions arch and got picked up. Been with the guild for 18 months now. Guess I got lucky.

Hmmm.... A new way to search for guilds?.....

Never join a guild that says their cape is cool. What you think is cool and what they think is cool are two different things.

Never joing a guild because you think their cape is cool. A guild should have a lot more to offer than a cape. If you want a cool cape, start your own guild and you can have the cape just the way you want it.

Never join a guild that spams. Why do they think you didn't hear them the first time?

Never join a guild that makes the first n people officers. Officers have responsibility, and immature officers can do very nasty things!

Having said all that, yeah, it's hard to find a good guild with common purposes. So ask in the cities and outposts for a guild. Chat with whoever wants to invite you and ask questions. Time zones are important. Join the guild even, to try it out, it costs you nothing and it costs the officer 100g to invite you.

Then in guild, ask people for company to do missions, quests, whatever you have in mind. See if you get responses. If you're not getting the feedback you want, leave. Rinse and repeat.

Thanks for the responses guys. Inde hinted at what may be a guild-search function, which I believe would alleviate somewhat the problem mentioned.

And also, I believe I may have found a guild, which is excellent.

Nice to hear you may have found a guild.

I picked my current guild after a Tombs run with a 'guild team', at least 4 or 5 were from the guild.
I played with several members before and the way the whole team played was fun. No rushing, making lots of fun when someone made a stupid mistake.
Got invitation afterwards, discussed my situation (inactive guild, but real life friends, so they get priority) with leader and my former guild and decided to join.

Also, don't be shy to ask for invitation if you think you have found a nice guild and played with some members.
I for example, don't recuit people, exception people I played with a lot and I feel add value to the guild. But I know some people I have played with will get invited right away if they ask for it.

*cue dramatic music*
Oh darn, someone left the X-Files theme on.


Anyway, I don't believe Arena Net ever expected Guild Wars to take off the way it did, and so wasn't fully prepared for issues like this. I imagine a fair amount of them will be addressed come Guild Wars 2, but as that's a few years off, who can really say?

I joined the guild I'm in presently after some PUG PvP, after a teammate asked to join their guild, and then they went ahead and extended the offer to me; I usually pretend not to hear those requests, as in my experience, being guildless is often less of a nuisance, but I took it on a whim, and after a bit of settling in, it was actually rather fun.

The guild has since largely died due to players moving on to other games, but seeing as I rarely actually play Guild Wars anymore, I don't worry about it too much. If it's disbanded, it's disbanded.

Congratulations on the good fortune with guild hunting.

All right, while I know that this isn't as good as probably any solid in-game method would be, we've opened up our Guild Connections forum here on Guru.

Here you will find a place to announce your guild news and events, recruit for your guild, post your introduction as a player looking for a guild, find PUGs and more. We hope the community will embrace this new section and please remember to read the forum stickies in this area for the correct formatting and information you'll need to include in your posts for the best visibility. In order to keep the recruiting and LFG posts as up-to-date as possible, please note that we will be purging these forums every 2 weeks.

Guild Connections
->Guild Announcements, News and Events
->PvP Guild Recruitment
->PvP Looking for Guild
->PvE Guild Recruitment
->PvE Looking for Guild
->PUGs and Grouping

My guild consists of me and a couple of friends. We occasionally help one another out but by and large we are loners by nature so we just leave one another alone. Basically we guilded so we could use guild chat instead of constant whispers.

i found my guild while doing gate of pain. sometimes you just gotta play around with people. if you like them, and theres more then just one or two in the group, then you might get a general idea of how the guild is.