Highend Guild Creation & Management explained!

In MMO games there are many different types of guilds and people. Ranging from people who play the game 1-3 hours a week to people who play 70+ hours a week, World of Warcraft serves a diverse player base from around the globe. In order to experience the game to its fullest potential, players playing this game need to rely on their “social” skills and knit a web of connections and friends inside the game with whom they can play the harder content of the game with.

1. Introduction
1.1 What is an Uber-Guild?
2. Creating a guild.
2.1 Leader
2.2 Officers
2.3 Members
3. Guild Management
3.1 Guild Charter
4. Raid Formation
5. Loot Distribution
6. Common reasons for a guild failure.
7. Conclusion

1. Introduction

For some of the more casual players, being in a guild will be more about the chatter and banter of small group situations – such as the 5 man “dungeon instances”, where as the players who might play 70+ hours a week it will be about conquering all of the hardest content the game has to offer as well as max’ing out their character in every possible way. These types of players are usually referred to as “Power Gamers”. The casual types are commonly divided into two groups of players – “Casuals” and “Non-raiders”.

“Casuals” are players who play roughly 2-8 hours a week. They may or may not log on each day, and will usually not commit to any in-game activities that could conflict with real life ones. While playing the game at their own pace, they explore the game world at a much slower rate than other players. This kind of player will never really run out of things to do in the game, or places to explore.
“ Non-raiders” is a term used for players who may play the game a fair amount (10-40hours a week, perhaps more) but are in a situation where they can not or will not commit to an in game schedule on a weekly basis. While most of these players may sometimes play more hours pr week than a power-gamer, they most likely have real life obligations that prevents them from joining a larger raiding guild – or, they simply do not want to commit larger chunks of time on a weekly schedule to raids. Whatever reason they might have, though, these are people who usually are fairly vocal about their needs vs. the raider’s needs when it comes to the content that is being produced. While playing the game a larger amount of time pr week they will complete content much more rapidly than the “Casuals” and before too long end up in a situation where there is nothing new to do until even more content is released, when the cycle starts anew. This trait is one they share with the “power-gamers”, or “raiders”.
“ Power-gamers” is a category which consists of two different types of people. One is the “Raider” who is a person that will commit to a set schedule in game where he or she attends guild events such as raids in order to progress their character and it’s equipment to new levels, and the other is the “Hardcore gamer” who usually is thought of as a player who plays pretty much from the time he or she wakes up or gets home from work, to the time he or she goes to sleep – every day. Common traits these two types of players share are that they both raid a good amount in order to further progress their character. Having completed most of the 5 and 10 man content at a fairly early stage, raiding and PvP is usually the only option left for these types of players to pick if they want something to do in game.

This guide will be focusing on the play styles of “Raiders” and “Hardcore gamers”. Building a guild tailored towards this kind of environment is far from an easy mans job. There is a lot of work that needs done on a continuing basis, both in the spotlight and behind the scenes which I intend to focus on in the later chapters.

1.1. What is an “Uber-guild”?

An “Uber-guild” refers to a Guild which usually consists of the most dedicated and talented players on each server or faction which is usually ranked #1 or #2 on it’s server in terms of raid progression. Uber-guilds are always the first to beat new and unexplored content, in a fairly short period of time after said content becomes available. Consisting of highly dedicated players who will put a massive amount of time into learning and defeating large scale raid encounters, these players can in some ways be compared to members of an official sporting team – building a camaraderie and teamwork specifically tailored towards each persons strong points as well as weak points. It can be said that while many casual gamer guilds are referred to as “family guilds”, it is my experience that the level of friendship and dedication members of a successive uber-guild show towards one-another signifies a greater accuracy to the idea of a family – working through tough and hard content and problems together as a team. Last, but not least, members of an uber-guild will almost always develop a strong sense of loyalty to their team of players.

2. Creating a guild.

Now that you have learned some about the different types of players who inhabit an MMO, you may be thinking “Great! I want to make an uber-guild!” Building a successful guild is a tough road to walk down, let alone maintaining it. In this section you will be able to read about the concepts which are required in order to create and manage a successful raiding guild.

The first step in creating a successful guild is determining the goal of your guild. In our case, the goal is to thrive as a successful raiding guild, aiming for the #1 spot on your server. The most basic requirement for creating a guild is recruiting members. Travelling through some of the major cities in WoW you will often see shouts and out-of-character advertisements about “Guild X is recruiting levels y-z for (insert goal here)”. While that certainly may be an available option for gaining a large player base for your guild swiftly, it almost always results in the recruitment of so called “bad apples”, in other words: Players who can not, will not, or are incapable of functioning in a team environment where acting civilized is a requirement. Without trying to beat around the bush, I am talking about “kiddies” who think that ninja-looting items or attempting to create anarchy in the guild is a fun thing to do for no other apparent reason.

The best way of creating a guild aimed for success is to already have a group of friends or contacts in game who share your ideology for a guild. These players can usually be called the “founding core”. Going from here, drafting out a guild idea together and setting up a guild structure and leadership is the first course of actions. Let us take a closer look on the hierarchy of a guild.

2.1 Leader

The Guild Leader is always the most important person in a guild. This is the person who both officers and members will look to for both stability and reliability. Also often functioning as a problem solver for disputes among individual members and members/leadership, the guild leader role is not one to be taken lightly. It is my experience that it takes a certain type of person to lead a guild – it is not a job that anyone can take on and succeed at. The main point to realize about leading a guild is that it is very time consuming and in many cases stressful if the guild is having some problems. If I were to list requirements for a person I would want as my guild leader, it would have to be the following:

• Respectable
• Decisive
• Impartial
• Dependable
• Honest
• Dedicated
• Cooperative
• Selfless
• Charismatic

As you can see these are not qualities that everyone has or can learn easily. It is important for a Guild’s Leader to be respected by its members. Sometimes there are choices that need to be made that are not always too popular, so having a decisive leader one respects though not always agree with is a must. Failing these criteria will very often lead to guild drama, arguments and can in worst case scenario lead to the guild falling apart. While making the rules for loot distribution it is extremely important that the guild leader is impartial to any one person or class with his or her decisions. Getting into a situation where members accuse their leader for being biased or partial to officers or single members with their choices or actions does not make for good team work. Remembering that the team as a whole should be the primary focus in this area makes for good leadership.

As mentioned above, running a guild does not come without its trials. Members of guilds will often counsel with their leader on disputes or other problems they might be experiencing. Knowing that they can depend on the honesty and cooperation of their leadership when an issue should arise makes for stability within the guild. However, this being said, it is important for the members to know their limits also. A very good leader once told me: “I will help if I can, but these people need to realize I’m not their shrink or personal advisor either”. Essentially what he was saying was that personal problems should in most cases be kept personal – there is no reason to involve the guild or its leadership in issues that can and in most cases should be sorted privately in tells.

These are just some of the roles a guild leader fills though. Maintaining a battle plan over what encounter to do in what order, a primary goal for the guild and a plan on how to get there also lies within the responsibilities of the leader. Therefore, a guild leader must not just have the character traits mentioned above, but also a comprehensive knowledge of the game. Encounter dynamics, class strengths and weaknesses, requirements and pre-requisites for completing content are equally important to have a strong knowledge of.

Lastly, taking on the role of a guild leader is a huge responsibility. In essence, you are expected to provide plans and goals for over 40 peoples spare time in order to succeed as a team. I can’t stress enough how immensely time consuming it is to lead a guild or a clan, so if you do plan to step up you better be prepared for “overtime” work.

2.2 Officers

Almost every guild has one or more officers. It is the officers’ job in the guild to extend and supplement the responsibilities of the guild leader on a level closer knit to the actual member base. Typical jobs delegated to the officers by the leader are those of day to day management. Recording RPP points at raids, taking attendance, managing the guild bank and handling recruitment are amongst the most common jobs for officers to take on. Officers also function as problem solvers in disputes between guild members and other players, should those instances occur.

It is my belief that there also are some criteria a person must match in order to do officer jobs. For example, the person who is to be in charge of recording Attendance to raids and managing the RPP system needs to be a person who plays a lot and is almost always present at raids. Not only for the sake of making sure the right data is recorded, but also because it is best for a guild to have one person in charge of that department whom members can consult with should there be any issues. Also it is important that this person is impartial, selfless and honest when managing the RPP. An officer who awards himself or others more points than what he should be makes for some traditional disputes and accusations of a corrupt leadership. Many a guild has fallen apart due to officer misconduct.

Another role which officers fill is the role of the Guild Bank. The person the leader chooses to put in this role absolutely needs to be an honest person with a strong sense of loyalty and integrity. Most people have heard of guilds where the person in charge of the guild bank has quit and taken the whole bank with them, either for personal profit or out of spite. Other situations are ones where the person in charge of the guild bank actually spends or sells parts of the guild bank for personal profit or gain – either for items in game or for money via gold selling websites. My recommendation is that whatever person you chose to be in charge of the guild bank should be a person you have known for a longer period of time whom you trust completely.

The last of the most common officer roles is the one of the recruiter. This person is in charge of dealing with recruitment applications, and also actively recruiting the people or classes the guild needs. Assuming that your guild is striving to become an uber-guild, there are some very important points to mention about recruitment. First of all, there needs to be a solid screening process of the applications your guild receives. Most notably, people with a seriously bad reputation such as ninja-looters, hackers / exploiters or extremely disruptive / immature players need to be declined by default. Having such people in your guild, although they might be a decently skilled player of their class, will only be disruptive to the guild and its functions in the long run. One of the worst reputations a guild can get is that they recruit anything that applies, even known bad eggs. It shows a severe lack of integrity amongst the guild leadership – which in turn reflects badly upon the guild as a whole.
It is also important for the guild recruiter to make sure that players who are accepted into a recruitment period are players who can actually regularly attend most if not all of the raids – thus being of actual value to the guild. It is counter beneficial to recruit a player if he/she can’t raid, despite how good of a friend that person might be to either members or officers. Equally important is it that the recruiter doesn’t over-recruit classes the guild does not need. Keeping class/guild composition balanced is very important in a raiding guild. In having too many or too few of a class can in many cases lead to content being a lot harder than intended. Imagine going in to raid with 2-4 healers total to cover 40 people in the raid – obviously it won’t work.
Depending on the guild’s set rules for recruitment, making sure the recruits match the required keying to locked zones, or gearing of resists for such fights also fall under the responsibility of the recruiter. In closing, it can be said that the person in charge of recruitment needs to be a person who has good communications skills and works well with people in general.

2.3 Members

The “worker-class” faction of a guild. These are the people who make up the guilds roster, the actual team itself. Members have in most cases little to no authoritative responsibility over the guilds functions, but do have certain individual responsibilities. Most mature and successful guilds will require their members to act civilized to other people and to each other. Having members of a guild going out of their way to cause problems or disrupt other guilds’ raids is a common situation amongst less dedicated guilds with a less mature leadership. Much like with a guild’s officers and leadership, the members present the face of the guild to the public. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the roster one sets up is one who will not degrade the guild’s reputation. However, it is also important to point out that players are responsible for their own actions and that not everything a member does or says should reflect on his or her guild tag. In example; It is the nature of many members of an uber-guild to mostly socialize with its own guild members or cliques, leaving the impression to less mature players that they are “elitist” and anti social, etc. While at first glance this may seem like a very negative thing most people actually realize that the reason most uber-guilders stick to themselves is because they enjoy playing with one another and are very used to and comfortable with each others play style. In the end, it is neither the leader nor officers’ job to police or baby-sit their members.

3. Guild Management.

Having explained the roles of guild officers and the leader, this section is devoted to explaining how to manage a guild on a larger scale. As mentioned above, uber-guilds dedicate a substantial amount of time each week to raiding together. The best way of going about this is to talk with your members and figure out what days are best suited for raiding, and what times to start and stop that best fit the majority of your membership. For a guild to be successful in learning and progressing through new content, it is my recommendation that the guild raids at least 5 days a week during the learning period. If the majority of your roster is east coast American, then it will be most beneficial to tailor your raid schedule around that. For example, 6pm EST – 11pm EST is the most common raid schedule for an east coast guild to follow. If your members are mixed east coast and west coast, reaching a compromise will be required for your guild to function optimally. Remember, it is important that members feel that they both are able to attend most of the guilds functions as well as giving them some breathing room to de-stress after a potentially busy work day.

When it comes to planning out how to work with content progression, there really are not too many options to pick. In fact, it is my experience that effort put in = guilds overall rewards. This means that in order to be a successful #1 guild, you really have to work hard for it. When handling new content where failing the encounter repeatedly every night is unavoidable, it is important to have both a leadership and a roster that does not easily succumb to giving up or chaotic frustration. It is important for the guild that its’ members have a certain mentality around such gaming where they understand that failing encounters is part of the learning process and that it is required in order to be part of the front line.
Many guilds rely on waiting for content spoilers and pre-made strategies to be released before taking on the new and tougher stuff. In order to be a successful uber-guild this is not an option. The guild must learn to deal with frustrating encounters where seemingly little progress is made through each attempt until finally enough experience with the encounter is obtained and everything clicks together. It is my experience that finally achieving a victory in these circumstances “tastes” all so much better than reading a walk-through as one can really feel one’s efforts and learning becoming reality and second nature. Whatever source of motivation you should chose for your guild, it needs to be something that the guild can centre around and share. My personal motivation lies in trying to be one of the first world wide to beat an encounter. Fame and glory is, after all, something most people attempt to achieve in one way or another in life. Everyone is good at something, and some try to be the best at what they do – even being a guild in a fantasy game.

That said; let’s go back to the subject of raid schedule and how to work that out with goals such as the ones described above. Personal experience has taught me that the best route to this is to split up your raid schedule and plans into two phases. One being the progression part where there is a lot of raiding each weak while learning and beating the new encounters, the other being the “reap the rewards” phase where you can settle down to 2-3 nights a week or raiding where your guild beats all the content available in a short amount of time. Once content becomes “farm-status” (this term implies that the encounters are well known and relatively easy to beat on first try each time) the amount of time spent in clearing a zone’s worth of content decreases drastically. The zone you may have spent 3 months learning to defeat may end up in a one night clear, leaving many days “free” where members can do what they want – be it PvP or concern themselves with real life stuff. In essence, the guild works hard and puts a lot of time into learning a zone, gets it on farm status, and then “reaps the rewards” by collecting weekly loot in a short amount of time.

3.1 Guild Charter

The guild charter is sort of the blueprints of a guilds structure and goals. It represents the work and ideals of the guild’s leadership and membership combined. Usually written on a guild’s website or recruitment section, it is usually a summary of what is written above – allowing potential applicants to identify what type of a guild you are and what kind of people are in the guild. There is not a whole much more to say about this subject other than that whoever you chose to write the charter should be someone who is good with words. It is your own personal “we rock and this is why” statement which will attract or reflect applicants.

4. Raid Formation

As mentioned above, it is important to tailor your guilds roster to fit an optimal amount of each class to attend raids. Your class balance determines in many instances the difficulty your guild will have with different encounters. Raids in World of Warcraft have a cap of 40 people per raid. Therefore some class distribution lessons are in place. For Alliance, a good raid composition to aim for is:

7 Warriors
7 Priests
6 Rogues
5 Hunters
6 Mages
4 Paladins
3 Druids
2 Warlocks

Of the warriors, you should be aiming for having 2-3 fully protection spec’ed capable of main tanking. 2 should be aiming for half tank half damage (31-5-15’ish builds) and 2-3 should be aiming for full damage (20/31/0 fury builds). This leaves you with 5 tanks to tank and off tank trash; with 2 “oh shit” options to slap on a shield and pick up an untanked mob. The 4 Paladins leaves you with one buff of each type for raids for each member. Any more than 4 paladins is mainly a waste as druids or priests offer more to the table as additional healers. The Druid Combat-Rez ability comes to mind as particularly useful on a lot of fights.
Mages, Hunters, Rogues should all be specced for doing as much damage as possible. Obviously, they need to watch their aggro and positioning and whatnot.
Priests and Druids are your pure healers in the raid. These are the players you should be looking to distribute around the groups that will require the most healing. While paladins do make good healers, they also in many cases are busy with using cleanse on both tanks and the rest of the raid – taking from their mana and heal time.

5. Loot Distribution

I have already covered most of the loot distribution systems and points in another article found here:

http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/article-101-1-a-guide-to-rpp-explanation-examples-and-summary.html

6. Common reasons for a guild failure.

As with everything in life, things have a beginning and an end, though some things end much later than others. Guilds are no different. There are many reasons for a guild breaking up, though some are probably more common than others. Of the most common reasons is burn-out of the player base, loot disputes and drama going out of control in guild.
When it comes to burn out, reasons are most often a guild pushing too hard at moving a guild in a direction that doesn’t fit the overall mentality and wish of the rest of the guild. Examples are guilds attempting to compete at a high end situation, wiping to mobs over and over and feeling as if they’re getting nowhere. There are some solutions to this, however, the most obvious is realizing that the guild isn’t going to be going where the leadership wants it fast enough – something that again may lead to leadership leaving the guild or quitting the game altogether. Many guilds though, seem to take a break from the hardcore grind for a week or three, and then try to get back into the groove of things. It should be noted that taking a break like that may often result in members quitting playing as they “discover” the real life they have been neglecting in favour of the game. In the end, in a situation such as this it boils down to the core members of the guild. If they stick around and attempt to work things out, the guild will most likely work out after all. If they quit or leave however, well, lets just say it is a downwards spiral from there.
When it comes to loot disputes, the cause and effect are a lot more obvious. Anything from accusations of corrupt officers handling loot to some kid throwing a fit because he or she didn’t get item X can cause a ruckus. It is my opinion that in cases of loot complaints the leadership has to take a firm stance on the subject. In the case of people complaining about not getting item X for whatever reason, it needs to be made clear that it is not the end of the world. Creating a scene and throwing a fit will not get anyone anywhere, nor will it solve the dispute. I firmly believe that players who are more interested in the loot and gearing their character than the teamwork and pride in their accomplishments make for poor members for an uber-guild. The recruiter should be on the lookout during recruitment periods on how a player acts, what he or she focuses on mostly and last but not least if the person seems greedy or has a history of greed and whining with other guilds. For such players, it is better to not let them into the guild in the first place.
Another common reason for a guild dissolving is drama getting out of control. It is important to realize that most people play these games as a source of enjoyment and relaxation. Logging on to having member X complaining or whining about something on a constant basis in guild chat gets old – extremely fast. It is also important to mention that the guild, as a whole, is not interested in hearing about your cyber threesome dramas and how person X over the internet has a broken heart because of you. I am a firm believer of keeping private matters private, and as far away from guild chat as possible. If drama gets out of hand in a guild, the first thing that will start happening is people stop logging in. The overall morale sinks and the guild is much more susceptible to losing quality members to guilds with less of an emotional baggage. I am of the opinion that there needs to be a zero tolerance on drama in a guild. If someone starts causing a ruckus they should be given one warning, and then if it continues they should be guild removed. Chances are, if they can’t change after one warning they won’t at all, and keeping them in guild will prove quite counter-beneficial.

7. Conclusion

So now that you have read this semi-comprehensive guide over guild creation and management, I wish you the best of luck in creating your future guild. Obviously, my examples and answers are not the only options in many of the cases; however they are in fact tried and tested over a long, long period of time. I have been a part of guilds that failed, and guilds that succeeded – and currently, I’m in the same guild that I joined back in 2002. Should you have any questions for how to solve problems with your guild, feel free to make a comment here and I will attempt to answer questions as I have time.

With that there is only one thing to say: Have fun defeating encounters, and make sure you take pride in your work!