Patch 4.1: Guild Finder

Patch 4.1: Guild Finder

In patch 4.1 we'll be introducing the Guild Finder, a new system designed to enable easier and faster guild recruitment. Guild leaders and players who are looking for a guild to call home will use the Guild Finder to meet one another and begin communications that can lead to a prosperous membership.

The Guild Finder is intended to act as an in-game bulletin board for guilds that are actively recruiting. Previously in World of Warcraft, your options were limited. You would have to publicly post on your realm forum message board, or speak to other players directly via private messages or the chat channels. That can be a time consuming process. Guild Finder will allow your “looking for new members” message to work 24 hours a day, accessible to all of the characters in your faction, from anywhere in the game.

A new Guild Finder button will now appear on your Micro Menu if you're either a guild leader or currently unguilded.
 


As a guild leader, you will indicate one or more of the common guild interests (such as PvP, Raids, or Role Playing), a general time of the week availability you’re looking for (Weekdays or Weekends), and which class roles you seek from new members (Tank, Healer, Damage). The Comment field is where you can say anything you like about your guild and/or the sort of members you seek.  Do you only accept female orcs? Is your guild slowly transitioning from 10-person to 25-person raiding? Perhaps you’ll only accept new members who are available to play on Thursdays at noon? This is the place to say so, and help potential recruits determine whether your guild is what they’re looking for.

From the perspective of an unguilded player, the Guild Finder allows you to browse through a list of the guilds currently looking for new members. Just launch the Guild Finder, tell it about your availability, class role, and the sorts of guild activities you’re looking for, and then click “Browse Guilds.”  This will take you to the second tab, where you’ll see a list of recruiting guilds that fit your profile. Here you can read about them, and if you like what you see, submit a request to join.
 


Requests submitted to recruiting guilds appear in the Requests tab. From this third tab, guild leaders can examine potential recruits and proceed with the final steps toward new membership.

Whether you’re a guild leader looking to fill your ranks or a player looking for a guild that meets your strictest requirements, the Guild Finder provides an easy way to make new friends!

 

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Comments (1,260)

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Virman
Demon Soul
Virman
4/22/2011
shibby
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Starkzard
Bleeding Hollow
Starkzard
4/22/2011
This is cool, would be better for some hardcore guilds if you could actually make an app to get more information but that would be asking too much.

I guess this will keep trade chat a little bit more clean, atleast I hope so.
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Whopsie
Caelestrasz
Whopsie
4/22/2011
"Hardcore PVP tol barad Every Day breh"
I lol'd
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Goldren
Wyrmrest Accord
Goldren
4/22/2011
@Whopsie: gotta love Blizzard for their awesome shenanigans
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Mezcaal
Moon Guard
Mezcaal
4/21/2011
hm... no 'casual' guild type? feh.
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Notabare
Bloodhoof
Notabare
4/22/2011
@Mezcaal: no..... thats what killed this game to begin with..
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Crispydave
Drak'thul
Crispydave
4/22/2011
@Notabare: because Blizzard making more money from casual players is totally killing the game. If anything it helps it because they can devote more resources into making more content.
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Virman
Demon Soul
Virman
4/22/2011
@Mezcaal: wth is a casual guild? do mean lvling?
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Swiftey
Turalyon
Swiftey
4/21/2011
So ya... say goodbye to guild loyalty, say hello to bank ninja's, and to all u commenting about this and hoped for effects on trade chat? keep dreaming nothing will change trade chat it is the way it is because it is the easiest way to advertise to as many people as possible at the same time. I dont like it any more than you do but lets use our brains here huh?
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Xalrons
Shadowmoon
Xalrons
4/21/2011
@Swiftey: Way to stay positive!
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Corapeta
Dalaran
Corapeta
4/21/2011
@Swiftey: In truth, the only people who get ninja'd are people who are stupid enough not to set ranks and guild permissions correctly. Officers are Guild Bank police by simply being there. Just be a bit smarter in adjusting things instead of whining.
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Keilka
Khaz'goroth
Keilka
4/21/2011
Great idea, should have been done a long time ago really. Yeah, people will still advert in trade, but this tool should make things more effective for both guilds and unguilded players.
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Thornstarr
Cenarius
Thornstarr
4/21/2011
This needs to be accessable by more than just the Guild Leader. I like the idea but the other guild officers need to be able to use this. Especially for guilds that have more than one raid team.
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Blizzard added the "Report spam" feature so you could report people for using the trade channel for anything but trade stuff.... right?
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Yasimiah
Nagrand
Yasimiah
4/22/2011
@Evan: No that is for reporting spamers, you it puts them on iggy for some time, the open ticket button is for reporting.
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Krekentaur
Ravenholdt
Krekentaur
4/21/2011
Seems a little simplistic for more hardcore guilds, which normally require an application. The availability description should be a little bit more specific, such as a "We raid 9-12pm." kind of thing. That and the recruitment use should be able to be distributed to others, like a recruitment officer. I've seen firsthand what happens when the Guild Leader takes all of the responsibility, then goes away for a bit. Nobody knows what to do and the guild falls apart.
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@Krekentaur: I think the comments section pointing to the guild website would cover the hardcore guilds.
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Lorrax
Proudmoore
Lorrax
4/21/2011
Dig it! As long as Blizz doesn't make us wait another week for 4.1....
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Lorinall
Greymane
Lorinall
4/21/2011
It had better let you stay listed in the guild browser when you log off or get disconnected. And if it boots you whenever you queue for anything like the Raid Browser does, it will be fail.
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Maximusrex
Draenor
Maximusrex
4/21/2011
The tool is OK, but it can only be used by the Guild Leader is lame, the Guild Leader needs to be able to have the power to delegate powers, our guild has a recruitment officer, and she won't have access too this. A way to better articulate the times activates take place would be helpful as well.
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Opulus
Thrall
Opulus
4/21/2011
Did you guys really not leave a place for guilds to put raid times?
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Telthias
The Forgotten Coast
Telthias
4/22/2011
@Opulus: You can put that in the comments section
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Core
Trollbane
Core
4/21/2011
this is awesome! for the love of the gods please everyone use it! would be great to have trade channel not flooded with guild spam miles long. this is awesome.
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Levitator
Burning Blade
Levitator
4/21/2011
i like it. gj bliz. so just one question: when is it going live? :oP
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Grombrindel
Caelestrasz
Grombrindel
4/21/2011
<3 This, however it REALLY should be integrated into the Guild Ranks, so marked officer ranks can view requests as well.
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Grombrindel
Caelestrasz
Grombrindel
4/21/2011
@Grombrindel: ALSO D: What will guilds who are lead by a council do?
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Core
Trollbane
Core
4/21/2011
@Grombrindel: have a council member (preferably the actual GM) look over applications and present them to the council.
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Paco
Tichondrius
Paco
4/21/2011
Looks very promising, but someone other than the GM of a guild absolutely needs to be able to manage the tool. Similarly, people looking for new guilds need to be able to utilize the tool even when still guilded.

The functionality itself looks like a nice starting point.
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Soldiêr
Gundrak
Soldiêr
4/21/2011
JJOOOIIIINN UUSSSSSSSSS
Is zerg recruiting so we can all perk up and skin morez! ALL ABOARD!*
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Tamaska
Blackhand
Tamaska
4/21/2011
As somebody who just started playing a year ago and had their entire guild quit the game (they would rather faceroll through instances than learn to play the game) almost as I am ready to try raiding, this is a great addition. Between this and the VP changes this patch can't come soon enough.
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Loupy
Whisperwind
Loupy
4/21/2011
Can access to the guild finder please be granted to all characters, not just those who are currently unguilded? The currently proposed implementation seems to make things inconvenient for those currently in a guild but looking for one that's more their style, and requiring people like that to either drop their guild or create an unguilded alt in order to access the guild finder seems like a poor design choice.
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Lenna
Doomhammer
Lenna
4/21/2011
Two concerns:

A) My guild leader couldn't spell to save his life. Could you please let others edit the guild recruitment message? Exactly the same as how the guild leader can let others edit the message of the day.

B) Why not let guilded people see the looking for guild interface? Not only guildless people are looking for a new guild. Honestly I think this'll hurt the value the guild finder immensely if you don't let guilded people view who's recruiting.

fake edit: Where's the edit button for these comments? Had to delete and remake this post due to a grammatical error :X
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Andralynn
Zangarmarsh
Andralynn
4/21/2011
What Lenna said!

I have the same two concerns. The first concern is more that, though I am the guild leader, I have an officer designated for guild recruitment and would like to be able to let them use this guild finder feature.
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Grimella
Elune
Grimella
4/21/2011
Need to add age requirements and NC-17 warning to that as our guild has plenty nasty talk on it
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Specificity
Deathwing
Specificity
4/21/2011
I totally agree. I think there should be a "Family Friendly" checkbox or something of that nature.
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Loupy
Whisperwind
Loupy
4/21/2011
@Grimella: Although I think this is something that the GM could cover themselves when writing up the guild recruitment message, I also think that it's a common enough issue that adding it as a UI element would be a good idea. "Guild Chat Policy: family friendly / workplace professional / anything goes" would do the trick, as would the standard NSRB ratings.
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Layiaissa
Shandris
Layiaissa
4/21/2011
As the officer in charge due to my GMs real life issues, this would be much more useful if he could allow me to use the recruiting board as well.
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In addition to changing "weekdays/weekends" to "Monday/Tuesday/etc..." I would also add check boxes to specify "Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Late" as there are some guilds that cater to players with unusual schedules. I think that if you play mostly in the morning, you have a tougher time finding a guild than someone who plays in the evening and this tool could really be a huge help to these people.

Overall I like the idea; if enough people use it while searching for a guild or for members then it could be a valuable feature. Consider the above mentioned additions though, I think they're important.
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Bosou
Stormscale
Bosou
4/21/2011
@Ocrit: I'd like to second this, I'm available virtually every day, but only from 9-12pm. It's really hard to find a guild that is consistently active during those hours and I don't think the guild finder as it is will make it any easier.
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Crushedazn
Khaz'goroth
Crushedazn
4/21/2011
good good and some more good!