I mean, screw him for trying to be inclusive and welcoming, right?
Stories like that honestly make me feel worried about trying to find a guild. I’m not a great player, but I feel like I could be okay if there was a group out there willing to help out, give me a chance, and help me grow as a player. I feel like all guilds out there these days only care about those who are already great at the game, can already perform and put out numbers. What place does someone like me have here?
Not at all, my friend. I have no narrative and make nothing up. I simply call it as it is.
And you’re incorrect. People play the game differently and don’t conform to your narrow view. 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting players of all skill levels in your guild. But if someone isn’t geared or good enough for a heroic raid, then they shouldn’t be on the heroic raid team. They should be on a normal or LFR team, or even a mythic+ team. A heroic raid is usually filled with people trying to get progression loot or the AOTC achievement, so it just isn’t the proper environment for teaching a new player.
I didn’t mean to imply there was no place for new players in a community, sorry for doing so.
hehe…just realized who I was talking to. I’ll leave it at that and let you do…you.
It’s all good, and I’m sorry too. I just had a big flashback when I read that post. It was in MoP and this guild, one of the higher end ones on my server, was needing a DPS DK (my main at the time). Dunno how I got their attention but they invited me to come to ToES one night. I did the best I could, but it was my first time there as a non-LFR run. I was told that my numbers weren’t what they wanted and I couldn’t have a spot on the raid team but that I could stay in the guild. I did stay for a while hoping they’d help me out and bring me to runs occasionally but all I really did was serve as a cheerleader for them. I was asked to sit in the temple and log trade chat one night as they were set to be the server first Ra-den kill and they wanted to see folks reactions. I dutifully did that as I thought showing as a “team player” would buy me some clout but nothing happened from it. They transferred to another server as a guild and I didn’t follow, and that was the end of that one.
I really have had a lot of bad experiences with guilds in the past, lol.
Would your guild have run with that person in a normal run or anything? In my experience not a lot of guilds will backtrack to help those lagging behind.
Honestly, no, it was one of my main problems with a guild. If you wanted to catch up, then you had to do LFRs and PUG in normals for other guilds to catch up. I actually volunteered to run a normal raid team, but nothing ever came of it.
I have thought about starting a guild myself and making it what I think a good guild should be, but I just don’t think I am charismatic enough to do it.
Sorry for that bad experience, I know what it’s like to not make raid team. In fact, the majority of my time on my heroic team was spent trying not to get cut from the team. I practiced nonstop every day for weeks. My work paid off. By the end of the guild, I was one of the best healers on the team. Then the guild dissolved due to drama and not being able to complete heroic, everyone joined other guilds, and I simply didn’t follow anyone.
No.
You and your guild already have the benefit of not having to go through LFG to find people for raids, m+ , pvp, etc. You’re not entitled to anything further.
If your membership is down, and you can’t find more people, that’s your problem.
This defeats the purpose of having an incentive like a guild hall if you don’t need to be in a guild to access something similar. Right now you really don’t need a guild to do anything. Which is why guilds need incentives to get people to take a chance on guilds again.
If you don’t want to be in a guild fine but you will not get the incentives or something like them as a solo player. There are many different types of guilds, I was in one that was just about being in a guild to avoid annoying “join my guild” whispers. And with the option to make your own guild you can do that too. Being guildless is a choice, not something that is forced on you.
This is not true for all guilds. There are plenty of small guilds that do have to use LFG or pugs. We are not entitle to anything in WoW but tools to help build a better community help. Ignoring the fact that things like LFG, LFR, and cross realm hurt guilds without giving them anything to help them is not correct.
Let’s not resort to personal issues you may have, when this thread is about being inclusive of all gameplay types and all sorts of people from all walks of life and how we can get them all to interact and find positivity in group content.
You don’t much need charisma as much as you need to dedication to keep people social and active in all sorts of ways. It’s not easy. It took me five years to learn how to run the guild smoothly and another few to get it to run on its own— and I’m still learning what works and what doesn’t. 
Why do I always see posts where other people want to force players to play the game in a manner that suits them, when they could just play how they want, and other people could choose not to, and no one suffers? Lol
I don’t care about guilds. In my experience guilds are typically comprised of two types of players:
Good players who’ve known each other for years and don’t interact with new members (unless they’re a trial raider).
Social invites who mainly join guilds hoping people will help them gear/do content they can’t get invited to while trying to pug (usually wanting carries). You can’t even ask in g chat if someone wants to run a key because the decent players ignore it, and World Quest Smith tries to guilt trip you ‘Oh sure, I’d love to run your 15 key if 189ilvl is okay?’ Then you just feel awkward.
If there’s ever been such a thing as a successful, inclusive guild that does all the content they advertise and makes sure everyone in the guild is tended to–I’ve never encountered it, and I’ve played this game since BC.
I network for the content I want to do, and belong to a few different discords full of people I like, and enjoy playing the game with but we’re mostly on different servers. Take that away from me and I’ll just quit the game.
No one is forcing anyone. I’d suggest reading through the comments to see all of the different things we’re talking about.
And I have. As have others. The point is to see how we can dispel the negative images, help those who want to do group content through this community and not an outside one, and find ways to better communicate.
Absolutely no one is trying to take anything away from anyone. Please read through this thread. You’ll see what we’re talking about.
To summarize,
They want special treatment, ie: Cosmetic items, which are only available to (certain) guilds to acquire, so they can stand out like the special snowflakes they are.
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This is false and quite offensive. It was one idea that someone else came up with in an entire thread of 230+ posts. Don’t be insulting or put others down for their ideas.
I never said anything like that. I believe all guilds should be able to unlock cosmetic items, even the small family guilds. I really dislike the system we have now that only benefits very large guilds.
I would like to see a guild currency put in place that players can take with them from guild to guild. People would earn that currency by doing things that contribute to the guild so raiding, grouping for world content, mythic+, pvp, or donating need items to the guild bank. This way people can work on earning currency for cosmetics while trying out the guild. If it is not a fit for them they can move on to another guild having lost nothing but some time.
The only benefit guilds get out of this would be people trying out their guild and hopefully staying. While on the other hand people looking for a guild can earn currency and buy cosmetics if they are available.
Appreciate the honesty there. And yep, in those situations I wonder why I’m even in the guild if I can’t count on them for support. Been in many guilds that I felt didn’t give a damn about me.
For sure. I’m just tired of the exclusion and the pressure. I just want to be able to play a game where I can practice and have fun, not have to play it like we’re in a Rocky montage.
Except, if you give guilds all the incentives, you’re essentially forcing people like me to have to settle for the next mass-invite guild that gets thrown my way. A guild that may or may not be miserable to be in, with no sense of comraderie. You’re giving guilds all the power and all the leverage.
Being guildless needs to be a viable option with its own benefits as well, so that (theoretically) guilds would need to make themselves appealing to join.
Incentives aren’t necessarily items or perks. Incentives are reasons to post their guilds on the forums, talk with players better, be more open, get the tools they need to communicate better and recruit in a non-obnoxious manner.
In a game like this, it will always be about group content to a degree. But there’s no reason anyone couldn’t stay guildless if it’s what they prefer.
See I can’t guarantee that because if people are doing a timed run they don’t have time to respond immediately. We’re also not a PVP guild, so pvp activities are not really something most of us enjoy. Likewise, we’re only active in the evenings after work/school. Asking for help during off hours might not yield a response, at least not quickly.
You might be a good fit for a super casual massive mega guild with lots of people who do lots of things casually all the time.
I think it depends on the guild.
Some hardcore guilds expect people to be ready for raiding from the day they join.
Mediumcore guilds and casual guilds may be less demanding.
If I can do it you can do it.
I mean, the game was built on group content at max level.
It was revolutionary in that it allowed leveling to be solo.
But its built on the tank/dps/healer trinity, and using different class’s strengths and weaknesses to overcome a large enemy. They eased up on the numbers though at only 40 instead of 72 like EQ.
Has the game been “actively making you feel bad” for 17 years? At some point I would have thought players would have moved to a game that more sought their style.
Those would be nice, I can agree there.
I wouldn’t mind that if this community weren’t so self-serving and exclusionary.
Timed run I can understand. And if folks were busy, I would have at least appreciated some acknowledgement. “Hey we’re busy atm, but we can help you later.”
That would be more than I ever got in a guild.
It’s just the worst feeling ever when you’re trying to do something like the Gurubashi arena, and you’re forced to go it alone, but your opponents are somehow able to muster a small guild army to help them. I just wish I could be that person, lol.
Eh, I always believed those would be the worst kind of guilds for me. The mega casual mass-invite guilds where you’re just a nameless blob of letters in a sea of green. That’s not really what I’m looking for.
That’s not really true, lots of people are capable of things I’m not.
Not to the extent SL has done.