World of Warcraft™

Ladies and gentlemen, (and gnomes).... Do you have a guild that is failing? Is your membership lower so low that you can't invite your own alts? Are you on the verge of shutting your doors?

Don't worry, help is on the way!

The Raid and Guild Leadership Forum Regulars are now accepting applicants who need their guilds overhauled. Here is how it works.

Write a description of your guild, rules, playstyle, current issues, what you've tried, how you recruit, etc. Make sure you include: Guild name, number of current accounts, server, faction, days/times you usually are logged in to play and the focus of the guild.

One or more of our regulars will come help you resolve your issues. The catch? You have to be willing to do EXACTLY as we say for 3 weeks. You need to follow our instructions on who to remove from the guild and who to keep. You need to let us have control long enough to set things straight and put you on the path to success.

I'm sure many are saying "No, what happens if they come in and steal my guild"... Well, you can read through all the posts on this forum to see that we are committed to our own guilds. Our goals are to help YOU succeed. We will update the forum on what we are doing as we go and expect you to have similar input.

Most have seen those shows like Kitchen Nightmares or Extreme Home Makeover or Restaurant Impossible.... This will be similar. You have to be willing to let us rebuild for you and show you how to continue after the time is up and you continue on your own.

For the team: If you want to be part of the makeover team, please respond as well. We'll let the forum decide based on quality of posts as to who will be the best for each applicant.

Also, please make sure you've visited these links. It will help.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3049865456 - Understanding the Guild Menu
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3049835431 - Marketing your guild
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3082030282 - How to write your guild finder ad
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2878488619 - Guild leveling tips - post 4.2
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2957585984 - Successful Guild Leader
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3123037790 - Importance of a Positive Atmosphere
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2674640706 - General Information and Guide List

This is gonna be a good thread, I hope it's utilized :)

Posting on an off-server forum alt for now, but if you choose to help us, I can make an alt on your server and send you a mail with specific details.

Here's the deal: my BF and I have been in raiding guilds since BC on, but they ended up falling apart for reasons not involving us. One was really nice, but unfortunately most of those guys transferred off and then quit. Another two or three - a mix of online romances, officer rivalry, greed, etc. led to them breaking apart and people scattering to various other guilds. After the last fiasco, we said "enough" and made our own little guild. In LK, we were able to raid with friends from other guilds, but most of them ended up quitting in Cata as well. So, it's been boring for us this expansion.

The easy part is that the guild is just us and our alts, so there's no drama, no one to be kicked, no one to fight over promotions, etc. Now to the specifics:

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Guild level: 10 - almost 11.

Roles available: I mostly heal, he mostly tanks, but both of us have at least one geared DPS toon. So at least for dungeons runs, we have the most in-demand roles covered, and could use some DPS.

Goals: I'd like to have a small, tightly-knit guild for dungeons, casual 10-man raiding, and BGs (rated or unrated). My intention is to have a largely democratic approach - no officers per se, just a small group of friends.

We like doing pretty much everything - dungeon runs, current raids, old achieves, 2-manning old raids, BGs, world events, RP, etc. It would be nice to try LFR with a group of people in key roles (i.e. a tank, a couple of healers, a few good DPS), because you never know what the pugs will be like.

Challenges: we live in Europe. Yes, I know there are EU servers, but we have too much invested in these characters to start from scratch. It's tough to find people who want to raid in the morning/afternoon for them, and it's impossible for us to start raids at 3 a.m.

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I tried advertising on my realm forum, but no one was ever interested because we just don't have that core of 5-6 people, our times don't fit most people's schedules, and we have little to offer in terms of guild perks (no cauldron, no fish feast, no armadillo pup, etc.; just heirloom cloaks).

I don't like spamming Trade because it's already full of guild ads and millions of trolls. Okay, it only feels like millions, because as soon as you ignore a bunch, more pop up. But you get the idea.

I'm not averse to picking up a few people who are 80+ and helping them geared, but I also don't want to be used. I'm on the fence about this, but I'm inclined to give people a chance if they demonstrate they want to stick it out (and, of course, if we mesh). I'm definitely open to transfers whose goals coincide with ours. I don't want to babysit 12-year olds, but I'd take a well-behaved younger person (say 15 and up). We're in our early 30s, so I guess folks 25+ would probably be a better match, but all I really care about is maturity.

If you could help us find a way to get things off the ground, it would be greatly appreciated.

WoW... you guys are really going all out.

So, before we go further into this, how are you advertising (since you don't use trade)?
A few things I'd like to point out for you to consider. Most guilds are looking for the 80+ or even 85+ members. Are you willing to drop that down a bit? Running raids with level 60s and up might give them much needed experience. Not to mention that the longer someone levels in a guild, the more loyal they tend to be. Especially once they've learned to work with a specific team. Someone who is level 80 could be 85 in a week and then decide they want to move on to a more established guild. Whereas the level 60 will take at least a couple of weeks if not longer (especially if they are in that 62-68 I hate the BC block)

The time schedule thing is another slightly problematic issue, but also to your advantage in some ways depending on what the server time is. Try to remember that while the kids are in school, there are still some soccer moms, etc. out there that would fit in that timeslot. They will tend to be more mature. Also there is the retiree set. (Yes, there are retirees that play WoW) So you would need to tailor your advertising to best appeal to that mindset.

Your future members are not the people who troll trade, probably don't even talk much in trade. But many of them WILL be watching trade for PuGs. Start watching for these yourself. Start some PuG raids on your own and get a feel for some of the people that join in. If you like them, mention you are going to add a raid group to your guild.

One phrase that I would avoid when you do advertise... Close-knit. This brings to mind a clique that won't be as welcoming to new people. Every time I see that in an add I cringe. "We are a close-knit group looking for more people" It says we have our core group, but you can operate on the fringe if you like. Maybe "looking for a few select members to grow with us" is more appropriate, but sill a little on the excluding side. I'd have to spend a little time chatting with you and see the guild name before I could really recommend.

With all that said, let's see who else is up for this challenge. Since you are more raiding than social from what I can see, I'm probably not the best person for this one because I'm not a raider.

Hi Mystrea, and thanks for answering.

10/29/2011 06:18 PMPosted by Mystrea

So, before we go further into this, how are you advertising (since you don't use trade)?

Realm forums and guild finder. The reason I avoid Trade is because it moves extra fast, guild ads (even the short ones) tend to be ridiculed, and cringe-worthy conversations take place at all hours. I'm not even sure people get to see guild ads in the middle of that spamfest.

10/29/2011 06:18 PMPosted by Mystrea

Are you willing to drop that down a bit? Running raids with level 60s and up might give them much needed experience. Not to mention that the longer someone levels in a guild, the more loyal they tend to be. Especially once they've learned to work with a specific team.

You make a very good point. I haven't done a recruitment ad in a while, but I'll try one with a lower limit.

10/29/2011 06:18 PMPosted by Mystrea

One phrase that I would avoid when you do advertise... Close-knit. This brings to mind a clique that won't be as welcoming to new people. Every time I see that in an add I cringe.

I know what you mean. I don't actually use that phrase, but I used it here to explain what I would like to achieve. Ideally, I want it to feel like a clique when recruitment is over, since I'd only like to have about 10-15 distinct accounts tops. But I don't want mini-cliques or people feeling like they don't belong.

I can help in a supportive manner to any forum member that decides to take on leadership of a guild in need for 3 weeks. I can help with orgainization/recruiting what not. Unable to take over full leadership for 3 weeks as my schedule is so hectic (hence turning my guild inactive last year). Please let me know if I can be of any help in a supportive/administrative area.

Bless

10/29/2011 09:49 AMPosted by Mystrea

One or more of our regulars will come help you resolve your issues. The catch? You have to be willing to do EXACTLY as we say for 3 weeks. You need to follow our instructions on who to remove from the guild and who to keep. You need to let us have control long enough to set things straight and put you on the path to success.

I think this part may be dangerous. That's not really how those shows work that you're basing this off of. In fact, in most of those shows, there's usually one or two points where the person doesn't do what the host suggests (because despite how bad they're doing, they do tend to be more familiar with their particular situation than someone coming in blind). If you'd like to put the stipulation that it won't work if you refuse every suggestion, but... the other part is dangerous, especially when saying who to remove and who to keep. I'd keep that sort of general; let the decisions on "who" stay with the leadership, or you'll create a leadership void when you leave and it'll be back to the way it was, or worse.

Also, another thing I want to point out. In none of these shows do their hosts come in blind. They do quite a bit of research before "showing up". If this is going to be successful, you're going to have to be prepared to do the same thing... to spend a few weeks just familiarizing yourself with the guild to be able to identify the problems and make suggestions that work for that particular guild. It's not going to be an hour long tv episode is the point I'm making... you're going to have all the parts that get edited out to deal with too.

Just be sure you know what you're getting into... this is going to require a lot more time than 3 weeks to do a 3 week "makeover"...

(Edit because I realized I forgot to say "regardless, best of luck in the attempt!")

I really like this idea. It will definately help those in need if they take advantage and listen. Kudos!

I will help wherever is needed, will even xfer one of my FL 85s if need be.

10/29/2011 06:54 PMPosted by Vespina

when recruitment is over

If raiding is going to be an important part of what your guild does, then recruitment is NEVER over.

Depending on what sort of time commitment these projects would really entail, I'd be willing to help, though my specialty would be in raiding guilds. I'm more of a lurker on these forums than a poster, but I do keep up fairly often. I currently run a 6/7H guild that I started shortly before Cata dropped, and I've been in leadership roles in multiple raid guilds since Vanilla.

Getting to know the issues with the guild during the application process isn't part of the time I consider as the 3 weeks. The main issue is that the guild leader needs to come to this with an open mind and realize that what they currently are doing ISN'T working. (Otherwise, they wouldn't be here as an applicant, they'd be here as a team member) The goal isn't to change what someone else's vision is. Not to make a raiding guild a social guild or to turn an RP guild into a PvP guild. It's not to turn a "no holds barred in chat" guild into a "PG" guild. The goal is to take their guild vision and structure and show the GL how to make it work going into the future. When I talk about who to remove... I'm talking about potentially toxic members who are scaring away new members or making them feel like dirt. I've already been doing this for guilds on a smaller scale so I actually have been through the process. See this link

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3123037790

@Vespina - as Kalmia said, recruiting is never over. Once you get that core group established you will still want other members for fill-in for those times when people are out or on vacation. And people are constantly moving on for one reason or another. Some because they just don't enjoy the game as much, some because of real life issues, some because their friend/relative/former boss's roommate's aun't best friend's cousin is starting their own guild on another server. You never know the reason, but they will move on. You will usually be recruiting for at least ONE more person. That's why I say avoid the clique-style feeling. Getting to know your guildies is important, being a on-line family is great, just make sure you use words that don't engender visions of the high-school cheerleaders at one table, the science geeks at another table, and the glee club at a third, with the new kid standing in the middle and nobody willing to talk to them.

I personally think this is a great idea, I'm new to the R&GL forums but I've already seen and taken some great advise. It's a lot like what people like Dave Ramsey, Leadership Freak, Tony Hseih etc. do for businesses. Keep up the good work in helping the WOW community.

I just stumbled across this after making a thread looking for help for my guild. I am going to read this over a few times and go out on a limb...

Ready yourselves for a huge wall of text from your's truely

Histroy
Flashback to WoTLK; from the frozen wastes to the lush beginnings in Northshire <The Oblivious> had members from all levels and play styles together to form a population of over 1000. (Until hard cap). We had raiding, PvP, Players Leveling, Huge guild events of 30+ people and countless realmies at our 'guild fairs'. Weekly meetings and rewards were also common.

At this time we were a Social/Casual guild, we were doing everything quite well at everyone's own pace. Donations poured in hourly, members were always joining and guild chat was always flowing- though an odd spammer or offensive player would get in and be promptly kicked by an officer.

As a guild we done everything together, we recruited via trade-chat-ads and the odd person would mass recruit random people though it was discouraged as they would usually go inactive. When the pre-cata patch came in for the hard-cap on the guild population we never lost anyone and when we did others would promptly join.

This lasted a few months into cata, perhaps two or so. After this everything went down hill...

In The Now

We are a level 25 guild with less that 300 members left and about 250 accounts. Our rules are to avoid negative comments, no racism and to abide by blizzard ToS. This always gave us good reason to kick out offensive players. We are located on Kel'Thuzad and my usual play time is a few hours weekly and weekends vary.

Our current issue is we are no longer what we used to be, there is no raiding, no PvP, no donations or recruitment and worst of all guild chat has ceased. We no longer have 80+ players online at once doing PvP/Raiding as groups; we are lucky if we have over 15 online doing their own thing. Everyone is so antisocial.

The Future?

I want a future for my guild, I like my members but have few friendly members left. Everything is so dead now. I want my guild to go back to what it was, I want our glory restored be it even as a social guild with low raid/pvp progression.

The thrill of coming online and getting my officer's report in, being welcomed back and seeing people alive in chat, pvp and raiding was nice. It was part of the game for me and kept me playing. I do not like change a lot but I am willing to give some control for the three weeks... I need help, I just want my guild back to how it was.

Lustrous:

A couple of things you will need to define first so we can really help your guild get out of the slump you feel it is in.

- What are your goals for the guild and be specific. Ex: Casual raiding that sees and downs Rag. Or 50+ members socializing and doing Heroics, questing, leveling together. Even if both fit your goals, please define them for us in a clear manner.

- How much time can you dedicate to being the GM and being available for members to approach you with "issues", or facilitate groups to get people involved?

- How many officers do you currently have, and what are their roles and dedication levels?

- Do you offer perks out of the gbank for members? Ex: Guild repairs for specific rank and above. Members can use gbank freely to deposit greens and mats for others to use in order to help them level up easier.

- Fun events created for people to get to know each other. For instance, Scavenger Hunt with cash/item prizes, or an old school run into karazhan or something for fun. Good way for people to get to know each other is by smashing old content and having fun while doing so.


Once the above has been defined a little more, we can definately help you out. The goals and time invested areas are the most important topics to cover.

Thanks.

Lustrous, a few quick questions for you.

1) Is your goal to get a bunch more members or to get the members you have excited in the guild again?

2) How often are your officers online?

3) What TIME (your sever time) are you usually online?

4) When you have members online usually how many members at any given time? How many of those are level 85?

5) When was your last successful guild event?

6) When you are online what do you usually spend your time doing? What are the officers spending their time on?

7) Do your members spend more time doing dailies/quests, dungeons, raids, etc?

8) Of the 300 members, how many of those have been online in the last 7 days? How many have been inactive over 1 month?

I think before you bring in new members you need to breath some life back into the current members. My guild has gone through these periods of guild burn-out. When I see it getting slowed down a little too much I start planning an activity or bring out my secret add-on (which I will share with you free of charge).

I have an add-on that I use called "Guild Greet"... Now before the naysayers get started yes, it does macro'ed guild greetings... I have about 30-35 programmed in for people coming online alone. For example it might say "Heya XXXXX, I saved some cookies for you!" or "XXXXX glad to see you! I was going to share some cake but the gnomes got to it first" or "Look who tried to sneak in... XXXXX!"... There is also a set for achieves, for promotions, for people who logged out and logged right back in (dc's for example)... For that one of mine is "<watches as XXXX leaves, then comes back in, then leaves again and finally realizes that EXIT is posted on BOTH sides of the door>.... Silly? Of course. Annoying? Sometimes... but the difference in the atmosphere when I use it is like night and day. People tend to joke and tease more, they remember themselves to greet people when they come in (where otherwise they may not have even noticed). I have have a whisper sent to people as they level <grats on getting level 34... we'll get you to 85 in no time>. It has a few drawbacks, like the first time you use it, everyone is considered "New" but all you do is click through those or set the "Joined" greets to be similar to "Coming Online" greets until you've been through most of them.

If your guildies complain (and a couple might) let them know that if they will be more active and friendly in chat, you'll turn it off for a while. Most of my guildies prefer that I keep using it so I do, and I change the greetings around every week or so to keep them fresh and entertaining.

Lustrous, a few quick questions for you.

1) Is your goal to get a bunch more members or to get the members you have excited in the guild again?

2) How often are your officers online?

3) What TIME (your sever time) are you usually online?

4) When you have members online usually how many members at any given time? How many of those are level 85?

5) When was your last successful guild event?

6) When you are online what do you usually spend your time doing? What are the officers spending their time on?

7) Do your members spend more time doing dailies/quests, dungeons, raids, etc?

8) Of the 300 members, how many of those have been online in the last 7 days? How many have been inactive over 1 month?

I think before you bring in new members you need to breath some life back into the current members. My guild has gone through these periods of guild burn-out. When I see it getting slowed down a little too much I start planning an activity or bring out my secret add-on (which I will share with you free of charge).

I have an add-on that I use called "Guild Greet"... Now before the naysayers get started yes, it does macro'ed guild greetings... I have about 30-35 programmed in for people coming online alone. For example it might say "Heya XXXXX, I saved some cookies for you!" or "XXXXX glad to see you! I was going to share some cake but the gnomes got to it first" or "Look who tried to sneak in... XXXXX!"... There is also a set for achieves, for promotions, for people who logged out and logged right back in (dc's for example)... For that one of mine is "<watches as XXXX leaves, then comes back in, then leaves again and finally realizes that EXIT is posted on BOTH sides of the door>.... Silly? Of course. Annoying? Sometimes... but the difference in the atmosphere when I use it is like night and day. People tend to joke and tease more, they remember themselves to greet people when they come in (where otherwise they may not have even noticed). I have have a whisper sent to people as they level <grats on getting level 34... we'll get you to 85 in no time>. It has a few drawbacks, like the first time you use it, everyone is considered "New" but all you do is click through those or set the "Joined" greets to be similar to "Coming Online" greets until you've been through most of them.

If your guildies complain (and a couple might) let them know that if they will be more active and friendly in chat, you'll turn it off for a while. Most of my guildies prefer that I keep using it so I do, and I change the greetings around every week or so to keep them fresh and entertaining.

This post and the one above it are quite the same. I will go ahead and answer this one I suppose.


1) As I would like to see more members I would rather have my current members excited and happy to be in the guild. I feel this would be a good place to start as happy members attract happy players.

2) My last original officer is usually one a few hours everyday, sadly he is leaving WoW soon. My newest officer who is very devoted to her work in the guild is on a little less but still on daily. Even during down hours.

3) My time varies I am usually just before peak hours, during peak hours and late night. I am usually on daily during the week and on weekends I do my best to be online as much as possible. I have a lot of time on my hands lately.

4) We usually have 12 members online as an average, the most I've seen lately was 20. I would say about 25% or so are 85.

5) Besides one meeting about a month ago our last good guild event was at the launch of Cataclysm.

6) I am an altoholic, I spent my time leveling- though as of late this Paladin as I plan to try and get the guild in gear. My 85 Shaman is retired. Guild wise the officers and I try to get guild chat moving or at least try and recruit.

7) I have no clue what my members do, they hardly talk.

8) No inactives over 1 month and I would say about half were on in the last 7 days. We kick inactives after 29 days.

Additional: From my other thread and the other poster here.

- Donations are nice, they pay for repairs and let us keep withdraws open.
- Guild bank perks increase with rank... though no one cares.
- Ads; we have them no one is interested and if they are they join for a few days and leave. I usually mention our friendly atmosphere... yeah I lie when it comes to that now.

I am on server Dawnbringer, Horde guild Mark of the Paw. We are a relaxed guild and i like it that way. However we are small and have little raiding experience. Rading is what you want to achieve and we are having pitfalls. We dont have enough active members to form complete raid groups and are having to recruit from trade. Almost every person we recruit from trade is very arrogant and rude. We want to learn the raids and the group dynamics but we want to keep or guild highly respectable and put no pressure on our member to do/play any way they do not want to. After our last failed attempt at ICC as 85's I talked with the guild leader about our options. I have been in a heavy raiding guild before but my work schedule changes every week and the guild rules were report to every event or leave/be booted. My guild leader is not that assertive so they have given me full authority to do as needed to increase our raiding knowlege, fill our group, lead the raids, and present ourselves as a respectable guild that can raid. Any help would be appreciated.

We'll see if we can't someone with a raiding focus to help you out Glamsham.

Lust, I will try to get a toon in on your server over the next day or so. What is the best time for me to log in?

I'm on EST (Florida) time.