Maltare's tips for starting a guild

Im trying to follow your advices and i think im succeeding in most of them.
My guild has a forum and we use a public ts server. Barely anyone was active on the forum so i started to kick those that refused to register on the forum. Now we first were a PvE guild and just recently changed to a more PvP/GvG guild. Me and the officers started to recruit more people for PvP/GvG and those ofcours want to play alot of guild battles. Now the problem is that they often arent online at the same time and we end up with something like 6 members to play.

Now my question is: should we play with 6 members and 2 henchman then? If we lose and lose rank some will be dissapointed but i think those that played would be happy because we played. Rank isnt such a big deal for most of the members since we have some less experienced players who can learn the game then and ranks will be reset soon anyway.


Grtz,
Haldir Quindiniar

Well I am not an expert but the way I do is like this;
I don’t run Guild Battles every day, but I use the forums to promote any event for example; I open a topic and say something like "we doing Guild battle (or whatever you want to do)... on Saturday(or any other day of the week) 19:00 GMT, sign you name if you can take part. Like this I know what I can expect. Sometimes there more than enough people online and I ask anyone for a GvG? On the sign up you nickname I always advise to write what build they are bringing for we don’t end up with 8 warriors or some crazy thing like that.

When ever we are short I/We don’t do GvG and go for some group farming even if some places you can farm with 2-3 people I don’t mind going with 5-6 as long everyone is having fun.

I love the Thread well build.

That’s why I think information in the forums is important and the people that are disappointed will at least know that the event was going on. And try to come up with a day were everyone is available, its only 8v8 wait until 12v12 (j/k).

What i was more refering to is that everyone wants to be recruited in a rank 100 or better guild, with atleast 15 active members on at all time, and to gvg on the days that they play. Realisticly you will never find that. And those players that demand stuff like that, or constant help as far as items go, generally they turn out to be rank XX players from IWAY farming, who arn't very good, and don't contirbute.

I'm far more interested in if you fit in to my guild when recruiting. I mean sure feel free to demand stuff, but have something to give in return. I would rather have someone who is on once a week, and talks in guild chat then a guy who is on every day that you have never met, who's the greatest GVG'er in the game. Your inflexable about real world stuff. Alot of these players are inflexable about stuff in the game, and what the guild should be. They always end up in a guild that lies to them, and then they try to find another guild.

Excellent advice, this really should be stickied. All guild leaders and officers should read this and anyone who thinks the job of being a leader or officer is easy should too .

Great thread. Alot of useful information you got in there. The only thing I'm curious about is what you consider the best place to recruit for your guild is. I've noticed that Ascalon is overrun with guilds trying to recruit there and while many people in presearing are eager to join, they are just as eager to leave. So where do you consider the best place for recruitment?

I'd say don't actively recruit. We just recruited the players we played with in a PUG that seemed to fit in well. Doing a mission with half a guild and half PUG's is a good way to see who fits in and who doesn't. I remember starting Abadons mission and bonus with 2 guildies and winning it with 5. That's 3 new members that asked to join us

Having a forum also greatly helps. Our recruitment thread is currently at it's 4th page, and all we have to do is see who seems to fit in.

The guilds you see spamming in cities are desperate for members, which is not a good sign in my opinion. I'd rather have a guild I've seen in action and that seems to work well together. I prefer quality over quantity.

It will be a slow start, but you'll get good members this way. Word will spread, and soon you'll grow so fast you have trouble remembering everyone's professions, location etc.

That is a good rough idea...

To me a good leader "attracts" people and the guild forms around him. The success of the guild then depends on the leaders ability to choose officers and deal with "drama".

Did you look for people that weren't in guilds to join your PUG or did you just find them while looking for a group? (asking because I may try that method of finding people to recruit)

Also,I tried something similar to that,but I would look for guildless people to do a mission with and at the end ask if they would like to join my guild.

I just did a normal PUG, without looking who was in a guild or not. A lot of members mentioned that their guild was dead, inactive etc. If you see a player you want in your guild, you can ask them to join.
Lately, I have found that I have more players asking to join my guild rather then me asking them. I think this does increase the quality of your members, as they actually want to be in your guild. Seeing several capes together and having fun with a group can make a lonely player want to join fast.
You can also steer the conversation to guilds (if you cleared Abadon's and are waiting on the ghost you have plenty of time). You'll find out soon enough who is in a good guild and who is still searching for a guild that fits him/her.

Don't expect every PUG to become guildies. A lot of them aren't what you want in your guild, and (thankfully) a lot are in good guilds already. But if you are doing a mission as a guild and need a few more, consider using PUG's instead of hench. As long as your guild can carry them if needed (still no guarantee that player knowns what he is doing), you can take your chances.

A lot of our guilds members have been found this way. Several we asked to join us, and dozens asked to join us. Everyone wants to join a guild that has fun, knows what it's doing and is friendly. Act the way you want them to act, and see what you can find

Thanks for the reply.^^

really good post...this is very helpful.

I'm looking forward to the release of
How to be a good Guild Member

Very good information...

I have just started up my own guild, and i have found it hard so for now i don't have anyone in my guild but me. Right now im working on getting a guild hall, which opens up alot of opportunites. I also Am going to start on a guild website. But I know how to do all of that, but this helps me on a daily basis when i will start to get members. Thanks alot for the tips..

hi i have a guilg thats been around for about 7 months and until recently we havent actively recruited.this site has been very helpful as i am the guild leader and i am very active and always willing to help . becuz of the helpful tips and great feedback we r up to 10 members in 5 days mostly due to myself and my 2nd in command officer.the problem that i am facung is now their r ppl who havent been on in 2 to 5 days and they just joined do i kick them out and lose members or do i let them stay and give them warnings ?
i want my guild to b fun active and comuntiy friendly but i want loyal active members as well is this ti much to ask

That would depend on how active you want your guild to be (daily activity, a little casual or casual?).
I think you need to establish a cut-off point, and let that point be known. Kicking people without them knowing what they did wrong might backfire, but following your rules usually does not. As long as everyone knows the rules, and as long as you follow your own rules, you should be found.

A Guild announcement can be the key, but I really recommend using your forum to lay down the rules on. This way everyone can look at them and comment, without any info lost. I'd put the adress of the forum in the guild announcement until it's known enough.

RP, as a PvE guild, has a core of 30-40 member on daily, but also a lot that skip a few days (exam period now - may affect your members too!). We have a 3 months cut off now, but we will look into that because we are nearing our limits.
I'd suggest to be as lenient as you can while still sticking to what you had in mind forming the guild.

Thank you for this post. It will help my guild alot we are reorginizing the guild since we had up to 24 players on the guild and half would be away for 2 months or more. This did not help keep active players so they would leave. THus the only active players basically became me and the officers and a couple of regular members. I started kicking the ones that left for wow and AOC that were off for 2 months. Of course warnings were on the website and ingameguild anouncement Now we are rebuilding. I hope to have some dedicated PVE players soon. I wish I could do GVG now, but that will take a while to grow into.

Again thank you for this helpful post

i was in your exact same postion only a little while ago this site has also helped me more than i could say.my guild went from 15 to 5 now back upto 27 members that have been very active.but i mostly owe it all the the hard work of one of my officers who i was lucky enough to have recruited .her name is silvia nightblade and when i recruited her she was also having the same problem with her guild as i was having with my guild.after we had talked for a while and i dont know what i said but she asked if she could join up with us and the rest is history.i made her our guild recruiter and she hasnt let me down she has taken us from 6 members to 27 mebers in no time at all.i told u that so that i could tell u this dont get discouraged u r only 1 really good member away from going where u want to go in your guild.i gave my officers jobs because it will help them feel wanted and important as well,and i am no different.so good luck to you trust me with a little work and a little luck it will get better.

I think there is one thing that can help with nearly all the questions asked here is having a strong definition of the guild you want to be. This is far and away where the most time should be spent. Define what you want the guild to be and make sure people know. Explore the implications. If you want to be small and play regularly then the members need to be very active. If you want to explore lots of build and battle styles then members need to have well developed characters (and lots of unlocked skills if you are PvPing).

Now recruiting is easily. Recruit the kind of people who would be members of that guild vision. Tell them what you expect very clearly up front and what you expect to be able to offer them. If you don't know exactly how you want the guild to be and what kind of members are required to make it a reality then its like drawing numbers out of a box. One thing I always tell new recruits is that the guild will not likely be perfect for them and I expect them to work hard at making the guild and its membership successful. Recruiting in a hurry is usually a mistake. Don't misrepresent the guild to your recruits.

Now firing is easy too. Remove people who don't contribute to the vision (and it doesn't have to be nasty either). If you expect players to be friendly, or play regularly or play with the guild or PvP when called etc, then if they don't do it then they are not really part of the guild anyway. They will probably be happier elsewhere. The only hard removals are for things that are hard to define. Removing people because they just don't fit or can't help but fight with other members is the hardest because you have to make a decision that can't be arrived at by pure logic. Thats the hardest. In all cases never do it emotionally. Be friendly, you liked them well enough to invite them once, you should like them well enough to wish them the best wherever they are going.

The second most import thing is know that a guild is never finished. A successful guild will always have a list of aims that its working towards. The members will know what those aims are and whats expected of them. But you will never arrive at the destination. Because as you arrive there, there will always be another goal to chase or another problem to overcome. Member X will always be upset with what member Y said about their build or something.

Running a guild can be a very rewarding experience. But it can also be very depressing and even lonely. You might have to remind yourself of the good times when you are down.

Hope that helps somebody.

Cheers,
pin

I would like to point out Guild Leaders to need to take time out and do real life commitments especially if you are an adult.They may play a few other games as well so they want a week or few days to play those and not to mention their health.That is why you have officers as I am a Super Moderator on one of the oldest and biggest gaming sites that deal with Star Trek Clans.It is no differerent than being a Mod or Admin on this site.

Thank you for this guide. My friend and I are starting a guild soon and this guide has given us great advice.

I hate to break this to you buddy but guilds need to advertise. I think that EVERY successful and good guild in the game has advertised at some point.

Wow, it got stickied did it? Anyway, glad it's helped you all out, by the way, any of you fine new pioneers recruiting Looking to restart my playing of this game!

-Malt

Bravo, bravo!

This is wonderful, Malt! While there is little here that I hadn't figured out already, what I did learn from it is invaluable. Better yet, I think it would be a good motivational tool and reminder. I'm gonna print it and tape it to my desk!

I would like to add one point on recruiting. As you are recruiting members (by advertising in towns, via guildmembers or other means) you may find it hard to find good members. I have experienced that it is just a matter of time. In my experience (i have a PvP guild) out of 5 recruited 5, 1 is really worth keeping. Others need training or are just really crap. Even after i did screening before taking them in. Dont be scared that when you recruit, you will have to kick the horrible players or people that leave. Keep the spirits up and keep recruiting, you will find the good players eventually and they will stay

I have never seen a good pvp guild advertise. I think good pvp guilds are formed when pppl consistently play wif each other on the same team, & value each other on their team .. rather that pick some1 eles if they got complete frredom of choice.

Late last year, 3 of us, who are part of a much bigger guild whose members play WoW, moved to GW. We wanted to GvG, but knew it would be a long time before we could get 8 good players.

So we just did Team Arena for months and months, with the 3 of us + a pickup person of the night. We learned the game and got pretty good (were getting 60+ consecutive wins), and so we very slowly recruited people this way, one at a time, over a period of months. Eventually we had enough people to GvG, and we made it into the top 100.

Unfortunately the two of us leading are professionals and work full time, one is doing an MBA, so our playtimes were limited - we were also PST timezone, and many others in the guild were EST. Some people went inactive, and others left to join guilds that were more active and in their own timezone. We've been inactive since March basically, as it's just two of us now, but we'll probably build up through Team Arena, or join up with another guild.

But I'd highly recommend Team Arena as a way to pick up people, even if they're already guilded. It's much easier to see if someone is good when it's just 4v4.

Hey this is only my second post ever on guru but im glad i came to this 1!

Im a guild leader myself and it's strugling. But now i just finished reading every single 1 of the posts in this thread. They sure have helped. Cause my guild is goin downhill right now but this advice will definatly help.


Admin/Mod good job on skitcying this thread.

Very nice post and comments.=D
I have one question about Teamspeak. Is it really required to have a good guild? Because I have microphones but they don't seem to work for me.
Now I wonder should I still get a server so other guildies can make use of it, or is it not important enough to bother?

well like title say congrats for the sticky the post really derved it.

Im leader of TOL (Temple of Love) guild with about 18 months old with about 40 members (1 leader + 16 officers that magnage the guild + 25 players), so i though i could post here our personal experience in manage a guild.

- use always as rule a trial period to every new member 1 to 2 weeks is enough for see if a guy is mature enough for be part of the guild and if any problem on that time dont accept the new member

- create specific rules on guild and explain them well to new members
one ex = no beg for materials or money if any members think he can help he will do it, as personal opinion i prefer to help a new member to learn how to farm or run then to give him money or materials.

- better procedure to get good and mature members is not spam in cities asking for them.
Whe all have found in parties players that seem cool guys and whe would like to invite them to join ... so what i usualy do is add them to friend list after that i and some officers dayly say "hi" and chat a bit with them and ask if they need help on anything, if they need i usualy get 3 or 4 guildies and go help, after that player see that he receive more help from our guild then from the guild he is in it will be HIM that ask for join.

- create a rule to put players out of guild after some period of inactivie - 1 to 2 months will be enough unless he have a strong reason for it, theres no point in have a big roster if only 1/3 of them are online from times to times, this rule works too for officers just demote them after 1 month of inactivitie if they didnt gived any reason for inactivitie.

- Other thing more important then get new members is keep the ones you have already many good solutions for that on this threat and i agree with most of them,

- join in partie as often as possible
- help members as mutch as you can (teach them how to farm, builds , missions, quests, etc...)
- recognize the effort of a good member - make him officer is a good reward
- Solve as fast as possible any problem between members, meetings on GH on local chat is a good place for talk about that without other guild members intervention.
- regular Officer meetings on GH local chat, discuss the guild and new members and what it can be done for improve the Guild.
- and many more just use your imagination and remember that in the end of day this is only about a game and having fun playing it

This is a wonderful thread. I am leader of a guild that is relatively new to GW but most of us come from one or the other of two clans I lead or co-lead in another game.

The only thing I would add to this thread is to spend some time considering how to develop leadership skills in your community. The newb who comes in all gung ho but steps on everyone's toes may have a skill you can get them to focus on while you gradually and gently encourage what leadership skills they have. Leadership is an art, in game and in the real world. It takes being a quick decision maker and a strong personality but it also takes knowing when to sit back and let others take the credit for accomplishments.

I have two people who are excellent in PvP. I have named them our General's and have asked them to lead our trainings for that part of our guild. Both of them have different personalities and strengths. I see my role as to sit back and only step in to help them to learn from each other. They are already taking their role very seriously and working together beautifully (and I don't say that because they might read this post).

All in all, I think anyone who plays has some skill worth developing for a guild. However, some would just take too much time for what I have to give in a game. After all, we all have a real life too. I pretty much do what the others here have mentioned in terms of determining who is worth my time and who is not.

Leading a guild is really fun. That might be the other part that is missing. These posts emphasize the work. But the community that results can result in some really deep friendships that last over time and are there for you when real life crises come up. In my opinion, it is worth the work. Definately.

Hey I've tried a few times to make a pvp guild but they've all failed. The first three can be dismissed because I was new at the game but the fourth was rather dissapointing. I simply cannot get a decent group of peopel together for a pvp guild. They all say "GVG NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and so I end up with for 5 recruits I make four peopel leave. Within a SINGLE DAY. no patience at all! Its horrible! So what I'm trying now is to make a signup for a guild with 3 different sign-up areas a)experienced player which will start as officer and able to gvg b) inexperienced who will not gvg till proven worthy, and c) a guest sign up with the requirements to be an officer. The point of the sign-up is once I get 40 signatures I'll make the guild nd invite them all so nobody will be "gvgless"

I've been going through forums and everythign but everyone has a guild. I looked through the "looking for guild" and sent over 30 messages and put links to the guild forum I made and so far I have two signatures that are both in guest only.

So I think its fair to say that creating a decent pvp guild is impossible because there's too many established ones. Well looking for a guilds that "will gvg soon" I've found more "player x has left" than "Player y is ivnited" in every single one of them. A person even with several friends that had top 100 guild experience started a guild that I joined. The next day I ended up being guild leader with half the guild size if you get my meaning.

PvE is easy because you don't NEED a set amount of players at any time to do anything loke you do for gvg or HA.

Being very new to the game, and its community, this has been an interesting read. I know from other (types) of online games that it is hard to build a 'core' for any group, in this case guild, but if it works, it is almost magic.

Now I have been rather rash, and feel free to call me stupid for it , but I already started a guild without even having been in one as a regular member. Yeah, I know, I would probably tell anyone else not to do that. Gain some experience in the game, get a feel for what a good guild is, do the routines, be the follower when you start...

Heh, I guess that I just know that I am a not so easy member, because my expectations would definitely always be higher than what the guild could give give me. I decided to skip that bit and head on with our own guild straight away.

Maybe time will prove us wrong, and we'll abandon our 2-men guild to join a larger one.

Anyway, I can't think of anything that was missing from the first post. It's just basic team building, and yes, organizing is a big part of it.

I did read somewhere in this thread that guild leaders end up 'sacrificing' the fun they have in the game, because their time will be taken up by other things than their own missions or something... I disagree with that. I think a good leader will enjoy those tasks, and not see it as a sacrifice or loss.

i agree with the advice on guild making. i sometimes though have periods of inactivit because of my job im on call 24/7 (in the united states air force).
i hate it really badly that there times as a leader that im inative some times for more the a week. though i do call my officers(yes i do have all of my officers phone numbers and we keep in close contact at all times out side of the game as well. i normally tell them wats happening and if theres something that needs to be done i ask them to do it for me and 90% of te time it gets done. i trust them more then my own brother lol. I just dont want to fal in the category of the really good leader..when hes on kinda of person i do my best but i wih i could do more at times. can any one shed any light on wat i could do to make the situation better?

how much money should you currently have to start a guild?

I'd say enough for a hall+basic upgrades e.g. priest of balth, merch, storage.

Great Guide btw.

Good guide. It's nice to see what really amounts to some basic relationship common sense condensed into one summary. A lot of people should read this, guild leaders and wannabe guild members alike. Some people already know these common sense rules but never jotted them down, while others can seriously benefit from reading this.

Great thread indeed.

I've been a guild leader for little less than a month now and found this thread to be very helpful since it made me realize that more people are struggling with being able to lead well. I became a guild leader after our leader (and a lot of active members) left to play Lineage. I took over the guild when it was half dead, (probably the only correct term) and then decided to radically change a lot of things.

In the time space of 3 weeks I changed the cape, the hall, promoted officers, recruited like hell (since our number was so low people left due to inactivity) and then we got our GvGs back up. I can't say the struggle is over, yet, but I feel we're back up and have a stable community once again. It's now that I can truly focuse on what I want to do. Yesterday I made the most radical move yet, by kicking 17 members from our guild and keeping only the most active ones.

As for advice for all of the people who became a guild leader like me, don't give up. It's a hard struggle to bring a half dead guild back in and it takes a lot of your time and concentration. If you show that you don't want to give up on this guild then your guildies will most likely follow. I will not say that all guilds can be saved but I do believe that if you put some effort into it and show that you really do care it will make a difference.

The satisfaction of having an active guild chat or GvGing with a ( nearly) full guild team is in the end all you need.

This should be stickied


I was looking for help on google when this showed up.... Even though it it three years old it should get a



STICKIED!!!!!!!



SHOW A MODERATOR! this helps me a FREAKING TON

Most really succesful guilds are are tiny guilds with only 10-15 real players in it