⚡ Guild Creation and Management on MG Horde

Moon Guard
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Creating and managing a guild is a tough job. Combined with a growing server that has suffered some hard times, and you have quite a monumental task on your hands. I’ve seen quite a few enthusiatic people come over to the Horde with wonderful intentions and ideas, but it doesn’t always work out the way they had hoped. I’ve created this guild creation guide to inspire new GMs for the Horde, but to also prepare them for the long road ahead.

(Disclaimer: I wrote this post quickly. It is subject to change and editing!)

Step 1. Becoming a Guild Master (GM)
Great! You think you might be ready to volunteer. But before you take another step, there are a few personal attributes and motivations you should consider to see whether you are cut out for this job.

a) What is your reason for wanting to start a guild on MG Horde?

Here is a list of potentially good reasons for wanting to start a guild:

  • You want to see more of a particular type of roleplay e.g. nightborne, pandaren, zandalari themes
  • You’ve looked around, but can’t find a guild that suits your playstyle, timezone etc
  • You’ve moved to MG with a group of friends, and now you want to start a community
  • You want to help MG Horde because it has a faction imbalance
  • You love the Horde and you want to find other like-minded individuals
  • You’d like to form a raiding, mythic, or PvP team that you can rely on and have fun with

Here are some not so good reasons for wanting to start a guild:

  • You want people to pay you more attention and to give you the respect you deserve
  • You have some brilliant ideas and someone needs to implement them
  • You want to tell other people what to do, to have authority
  • You’ve just moved here from another server and you want to take over
  • You want to tear MG down and are looking for other like-minded trolls
  • You want to create a guild, but someone else can do the rest of the work
  • You want a cool name tag, but have no interest in talking or socialising with others

Always remember WHY you wanted to start a guild. This is your seed. When things get tough, and it feels like the roof is caving in, you will need to return here and ask yourself this question again. Have you achieved what you set out to accomplish?

b) How much time do you have?
Running a guild is equivalent to a part-time job. For GMs of very large and complex guilds, it can even be a full-time job. You need to consider your real life (RL) priorities BEFORE you start a guild.

1 hour per day, most days, as a minimum.
1-3 hours per day is recommended.
3+ hours per day - only if you don’t have much else in your life.

YES, you can have a job, and a family, and run a guild. But it will be one of your main hobbies. Don’t expect to be able to maintain 4-5 other hobbies/sports/TV shows as well. If you don’t have at least an hour a day that you could set aside to running a guild, then don’t start one.

c) Do you have commitment?
What I’m mainly talking about here is focus. If you’re the kind of person that likes to play 30 different alts, and 6 other games as well as World of Warcraft, then it’s unlikely that you’re going to make a good GM. You must commit your available time and energy to making the guild grow, and become established. That doesn’t just ‘happen’. You have to MAKE it happen. That means being around as much as you can be, without burning yourself out.

Stick to 1 character only for a minimum of 3 months.
A 2nd character alt is okay, PROVIDED that character is also in the guild.
Once the guild is established, then you can relax a bit more.

Most of us have the time required to run a guild. But committing yourself to a task for months on end takes a great deal of discipline. Not all of us have it. Do you?

d) Are you self-motivated?
This is about two things: vision and action. Lots of people have great ideas, so the first one is quite easy to fulfill. However, the second criteria is not. I often see people ‘looking for help’ to try to bring their ideas to fruition. This is okay, so long as you have done the majority of the ground work yourself. You have to have made a plan, and are ready to allocate someone else a small, well-defined portion of work. What is not okay, is vague and grandiose ideas, when you have no idea how they are going to work out in practicality.

You are the GM. You must have the initiative and problem-solving skills to figure out what the guild needs.
You must be willing to start the engine, and describe to others how your plan will be carried out.

People who wait for dire circumstances to arise before addressing a problem do not make good leaders. You must be able to detect the early signs of things that could go wrong and deal with them early. You also must be aware of others’ needs, and not just your own. You must be strong and determined enough to drag the chain of responsibility.

e) Do you have good communication and organisation?
The bread and butter of being a GM is organising other people. This means creating events, updating calendars, managing discords and/or websites, and general promotional work. You have to be able to communicate with other GMs respectfully. You have to be able to approach complete strangers, and see whether they will be a good fit for your guild. If you are shy, anxious, disorganised, or don’t like talking to other people, then being a GM is not going to be for you.

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Step 2. Researching your guild

After reading the above, you’re not phased. You think you have what it takes to make a good GM. Now it’s time to take some action. Well, sort of. There is still some planning to do. The worst thing you can do, is rock up to MG Horde having been here for 5 seconds, make a guild completely on a whim, and expect it to succeed. It won’t. Do your research first!

a) Research the server.
Be aware of the problems that you will encounter on MG Horde. We have a relatively low population compared to Alliance. Yet, we are not as small as some other servers. We have a high standard of RP that is creative and flexible. Know the differences between MG and WrA - a few hours on forums, and you will have a fairly good idea.

b) Assess the gaps in the guilds available.
It is really important to NOT duplicate another guild that already exists. If you do this, not only will you immediately create conflict and competition, but you will always be at a disadvantage, because the other guild will be more established. If you have been a member in a similar guild, but are dissatisfied with it for whatever reason, then it is fine to create your own - but make it distinct in its own way. Every successful guild caters to a specific niche in the community. See what guilds are around presently, which guilds have failed and why. Do your research on forums BEFORE you commit yourself to a guild theme.

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Step 3. Creating your guild

Now that you know your server community and where its strengths and weaknesses are, it’s time to start working out where your guild will fit in the big picture.

a) Decide your GM character.
Pick your favorite class to use as your GM character. Even if you have to re-roll completely, that’s okay. If you’re going to be playing this character, to be forging an identity with this toon, make it one that you LOVE. Don’t pick a new class that you haven’t tried yet - that character should be an alt. Pick something that you are comfortable with, especially if you intend to RP with that character. Something that you’re not going to quickly get sick of.

b) Pick your guild theme.

This is a huge and important task, and there are several ways to do it. I’ve given some ideas below.

(i) Figurehead inspiration (RP)
You can actually use your GM character RP ideas as a basis for the formation of your guild. You are going to be the figurehead, remember. Everyone will be essentially following you, and looking to you for guidance and inspiration. If you chose a druid, are you looking to create a nature-themed guild? If you chose a paladin, perhaps you are looking for a more military-based guild. A rogue might be more inclined to lead a thieves’ guild. You can use your character’s name in the guild name, but just make sure it doesn’t come off as sounding too egotistical. If this is your route, make sure you have a comprehensive and detailed RP profile.

(ii) Storyline theme (RP)
Is there a particular questline or raid dungeon that you just absolutely love? Perhaps you love the denizens of Ahn’Qiraj, or the thought of taming and riding dinosaurs. Maybe it’s a faction you could see your character becoming absolutely devoted to, like the Dragonmaw Clan. Use these ideas as the basis for your guild, but write your own story to expand and detail what you already know. Use NPCs as important figures in your story. A storyline theme requires a decent amount of research. You don’t want to contradict lore that is accepted cannon. When you are recruiting, you need to have a 1-page story ready to go to inspire people.

(iii) Racial theme (RP)
You can make a racially-exclusive guild if you want to go full-hog and captalise on this. Or else, you can make a single race the focus, and let all of the other races join if they wish. Or you could pick two races that work well together - blood elves and nightborne, for example. Or darkspear and zandalari trolls. The relationships between the races you have chosen will form the theme of the guild. If you choose a single race, then what clans and cartels are available? You will be encouraging your members to get to know their character’s identity, and how think about how they interact with other races of the Horde. The easy part about racial guilds is generally that there is heaps of interesting lore that is readily available.

(iv) Class theme (RP)
I don’t see this as much on Horde, but plenty on Alliance. It may be suited to a larger population. A class theme guild is one that focusses on the lore and schooling of a particular class e.g. death knights, hunters, shaman, druids. There is often an academy with apprentices and masters. There are rituals and sermons about how to play your class better. You don’t have to be exclusive to that class (it does make it harder to form groups for PvE and PvP), and there can be many assistants, medics, and guards that accompany the guild. Divisions would exist for different spec of that class. This concept would work really well if combined with a faction e.g. mages and Kirin Tor.

(v) Adventure guild (RP)
Perhaps your members are drawn together because of a particular RP activity they enjoy. For example, a travelling caravan guild, a pirate ship, or a performing dance guild. Perhaps a merchant guild that consists of tradesmen such as bricklayers and bakers. Or maybe you like to get together to practise war dances, before charging into battle. There may be sparse lore, so you will be writing a lot of your own stories. Be aware that an adventure guild needs to have a strong focus on EVENTS. As your RP is group-based, you will need to provide ample opportunity to get together as a guild and carry out these scenarios.

(vi) Raiding or PvP guild
Obviously these types of guilds don’t need to worry about themes so much, but do have a think about how you will make yourself different to other guilds filling this niche. Is it the timezone or raid nights that you have chosen? Maybe you’re a late night guild, or one that has rated battleground teams running at 8am in the morning. Or will you let your progression speak for itself? Maybe you have an advanced core team that you can build on. How will you reward your members that are loyal and work hard? Is your guild name so memorable that people will want to be part of the ‘cool’ club? The best part about leading a raiding or PvP guild is the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when you have a team of competent people that you are also friends with.

(vii) Spam invite or social guild
These guilds essentially succeed because they are often very large, and therefore are never dead or inactive. There is always someone to talk to, even if you don’t know that person from a bar of soap, at least it’s someone! Throw in a few events like a raid or a social movie night, and you’re golden. There is often a very high turnover over members, but the plus side is that they are very easy to get into. If you are thinking of leading a guild like this, it is your guild name, number of achievement points (perks), and choice of guild banner that are your selling points.

c) Pick your guild name
A lot of thought needs to be put into a guild name. Silly names are fine for non-RP guilds, and in fact, that is a great way to let your prospective members know that RP is not your thing. I hear the Rainbow Princess Patrol is still going strong! Picking a suitable RP guild name is a bit more challenging because you also need to represent your theme with your choice of words.

When picking a guild name, make it memorable.

I cannot stress this enough. It is really important to make your guild stand out, to be important in some way. There are a few words that I see commonly in guild names, and these are fine to use, but please add in something unsual. For example:

Common words: black, league, order, silver, blade, knight, shadow, tribe, clan, council, red, light, dark, silent, circle, united, chaos, bound, little, house, wicked, pride, steel, grey, war, valor, unholy, syndicate, sun

If you combine two or more common words, your guild name may be a bit forgettable. Pick a single uncommon name, or combine with things like place names, character names, interesting adjectives or verbs.

Common word + uncommon word = perfect!

Remember not all names will be available or allowed, so make a guild charter before you get too attached and check that your choice is okay.

d) Create a website or discord, and a forum recruitment thread
It doesn’t need to be fully fleshed out, but make a start on this before you make the guild, or very shortly afterwards. New members will want to know immediately what you have planned for the guild, and rather than having to explain it over and over again, do a little preparation so you can direct them where to get more details. What you should have planned before creation:

  • the guild name
  • the guild theme
  • the name of your GM character
  • background RP story (a few paragraphs is enough) - if applicable
  • an idea of guild rank names
  • the sorts of events you will run (if any)
  • the goals/visions/future directions
  • the types of members you want

e) Obtaining signatures
It’s only 5 names now, so yes, you can run around paying people to join your guild for signatures. But why not be a little more prepared and have some of your guild concepts fleshed out and ready to go? Many people who sign guild charters are happy to stick around if they have some idea of the direction the guild will take. Use this as a marketing opportunity. Yes, it might take a little longer, but joining a guild that has 5 members already is far more enticing than a guild that has only a GM. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot before you even start!

f) Creating a tabard
Think about colors are suitable for the theme of your guild. Some colors are also affliated with certain races - green for goblins, red and gold for blood elves, purple for undead etc. Remember that this design will also go onto your guild banners. If there are other similar guilds on the server (which you would know about from doing your research!), check to see what design they have chosen. There’s nothing worse than turning up on Horde Guild Expo night, only to have the same banner as everyone else!

The tabard is also a symbol of pride. Make it so your members will want to wear it. What colors and symbols will fit with their transmog outfits?

g) Set up the guild bank
I highly recommend having at least one ‘freebies’ tab that is open for members to use, both for deposits and withdrawls. People enjoy helping the guild. It’s also a handy mobile bank! Set a limit of 10-20 items if you’re worried someone might join and clean it out. If you lock away the guild bank completely, it shows that you don’t trust your members, and you’re not willing to help them.

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Step 4. Establishing and Recruiting

The early weeks of a guild are CRUCIAL to its survival. The most important thing is to engage your members in some kind of activity, to get them involved and interacting with other members of the guild. But how do you do that?

  • Greet people as they come online, and acknowledge their achievements
  • Ask guild members if they need help with anything e.g. a quest
  • Offer bags and gold if you can spare them
  • Guild inductions are a great way to initiate RP. Try and meet your new members as often and as soon as possible after they join.
  • Invite guild members to RP with you at a specific location e.g. The Wyvern’s Tail (give them some teasers about what is already going on)
  • Ask if anyone would like to run X dungeon with you
  • Work on guild achievements with your new members
  • Give new members roles to fill so they feel they belong and are needed. For example: “you are now our guild blacksmith”, or “I have assigned you to the X division”
  • Give them promotions early, and make it clear what they need to do to earn their next promotion

Remember, as GM, you will need to work really hard to get the guild off the ground. Don’t recruit too fast, or you will find yourself forgetting names. 2-3 new members a day is recommended. Start small, grow slowly. Allow the members to get to know you, and each other.

a) Recruiting
Recruiting for a guild is very much a balance between time efficiency and filtration. If you spam invite people, you have very little filter, but you have very little time investment other than downloading an addon and setting up a macro. At the other end of the spectrum, if you go around RPing and interviewing every single prospective member personally, you could have a great member, but you have spent a great deal of time to achieve this.

The reason this is an important consideration is because guild members can be pretty whimsical these days. If they guild quit after an hour or two, and you have just spent the last four hours into talking them into joining - that can be pretty frustrating and a complete waste of your valuable time.

So what I recommend is to find a method that is somewhere along the scale between time efficiency and filtration that you are comfortable with. To help you decide where you would fit, think about the size that you want the guild to be. If you’re looking to build a large, casual guild, then you’re going for max time efficiency with little filtration. If you want a tight-knit small RP guild, then you’re looking at max filtration.

People find guild advertizing very annoying. It doesn’t matter how you do it, people will get cranky. That’s why those people are not GMs, or they run solo in their lonely one-person guilds. The majority will understand that you’re working hard to establish a guild, and promotion and recognition is everything. One thing you CANNOT do, is wait for people to come to you. It won’t happen. The more exposure you get, the more you ask people to join, the more members you will receive.

I’ve put together a list of recruitment methods, in no particular order:

  • a recruitment thread on forums
  • a listing in the in-game WoW guildfinder
  • reading RP profiles and striking a conversation with them
  • a macro posted in Trade chat
  • standing next to a banner and chatting to walk-ups
  • sending a macro whisper to unguilded toons
  • a guild recruitment spam addon
  • referrals/word of mouth
  • running RP events
  • raiding/mythic/pvp invitations and tryouts
  • attending the Horde Guild Expo

Which one is best? Any. All. Pick the ones that feel right to you.

b) First RP events
When the guild is small, there is no need to go all out creating events. Simply attend public events, and invite guild members to accompany you. When you have a feel for the guild, and the types of members you have attracted, then you can start creating your own. In the meanwhile, an IC channel (custom-made) is a great way to engage members that might be reluctant to stop questing/dungeons/BGs to come and RP. A conversation between 2 people can be listened to by many!

When you do make a guild event, plan it well in advance. 1-2 weeks minimum. Advertise it in the guild message of the day, on the in-game calendar, on discord and forums, and talk about it in guild chat to build excitement. If you have time to make an image poster, this will attract a lot of attention and interest.

c) Dealing with quitters
There is not always a lot of incentive to stay in a guild. The main sticking factors (your retention factors) are:

  • the friends they have in the guild
  • the events they have attended and enjoyed (including dungeons)
  • their liklihood of finding something similar/better
  • the opportunity for progression
  • a lack of drama/negative behavior

If you find you are losing a lot of members, consider which of these factors might be the reason. It is important to understand why people leave, and not to get angry about it, or to take it personally. Sometimes there is nothing you could have done, and it had nothing to do with the guild. People delete characters. They transfer off the server or faction change. They get sick of one character and want to play something else. They become inactive for months, even years. As a GM, you have to be able to handle it and not let it affect you.

The best thing you can do, if you see someone quit the guild, is send them a polite whisper or letter. Something like “I’m sorry you left X guild. Was there something we could have done better, or was there another reason for you leaving? Any feedback is appreciated!” Because you know what, sometimes people are just embarrassed about being inactive. Talking can coax them back. Or sometimes they had RL reasons for leaving, but they never told you. Most people will not offer any explanation for quitting, but always praise those who do, and keep the door open for them if they want to come back. Don’t ever shame someone for leaving.

If you feel angry or frustrated about people quitting, revisit your original reason for making the guild. Can that still be fulfilled without that person? Are there others that are still in the guild that could help you accomplish that goal? Most likely, the answer is yes. You just have to put aside the rejection and the hurt, and keep going, no matter what people throw at you.

d) Build your officer crew
As your guild becomes larger, as a GM you will need to learn to delegate tasks to other people. You simply will not have time to attend to each member’s requests personally. You can do this while the guild is small, but once you get above 20-30 members, you should defintely be thinking about constructing a support team.

The goal for your officer team is to be able to run the guild in your absence. I think of it like a Star Trek crew without the captain. Always have a first officer ready to take over when you’re on an away mission. Have protocol in place for when the unexpected occurs! Above all, TRAIN your officers to be able to do what you do. It needs to be at the point where if you took a holiday, you didn’t stress the whole time about the guild falling apart while you’re away.

Unfortunately, even members that look like promising officers will let you down. Many members will be ecstatic about being promoted, then suddenly vanish off the face of the planet at the thought of all that responsibility. Officers may last for years, but generally I find, it’s more likely to be a few months. How do you keep them around? Definitely wean them in slowly. Give them a job, but a small, specific one, e.g.

  • keeping the guild bank tidy
  • taking notes at a guild meeting
  • doing an RP induction for a new member
  • making bags to give to guild members
  • posting photos (screenshots) of a guild event

You can also assign officers a specific division in the guild, so that they feel like they have authority, even though they are underneath you. Draw up a tree diagram of the GM and the officers and post it on your website or discord so that members understand the rank structure of the guild. You can even add pictures and a short bio so that members feel closer to those in charge. The aim is to encourage members to not only go to the GM with their problems. If you can delegate some of the responsibility to your officers, it will greatly ease the burden and workload.

Always keep good communication with your officers. Let them know they are needed and appreciated. Don’t try to be a perfect GM. It is okay to go to your leadership and express whatever concerns you have, and struggles you’re having. Let them support you.

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Step 5. Building long-term reputation as a guild

(I’m all spent writing this for now. I will continue later!)

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Could take “horde” out of the equation and all of this information would still be relevant. Nice guide, couldn’t have said it better myself. :slight_smile:

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Thanks Aran. I just haven’t played Alliance for a while, so I didn’t want to assume the guild scene was exactly the same. Best wishes to you!

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