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When you play an mmo, do you usually join a guild?
Amathe
Member LegendaryPosts: 7,630
I used to love being in guilds. I liked getting to know the people and playing with them. I even formed some guilds of my own, one of which became popular.
But lately I haven't enjoyed guilds as much. I'm not seeing the same esprit de corps and quality of friendships as before. Now I am much more likely to be unguilded, or if I am guilded it is more for the raiding and little else because I don't identify with the members as well as I used to.
What about you? Do you belong to a guild, and if so, do you enjoy it? How important to your game experience is your guild?
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Comments
I usually do but always end up leaving them as well shortly after. It doesn't take more than a few bad apples before I realize I'm better off enjoying the game without all the melodrama
I'm not a raider since I find the whole gather 40+ people fight 1 dragon get 3 items of loot stupid. I like something to show for my efforts and not 20+ raids down the line. If a game comes along that changes current raid mechanics in mmorpgs i may change my mind.
Usually if you want to do more than just solo content a guild is a good place to be.
Now having a good guild I'm sure mainly depends on the leadership or "chemistry", all else would trickle down from this being in place or not being in place.
Also in times when there isn't a good selection of games to play people tend to get restless and discontent. Pushing through those times is a good sign of a good group or guild.
PIRATE LORDS
I have had some really great guilds in the past. The last one I was part of when I went back to play WoW again for the 3rd time was a RL friends guild. He was an officer there and I guess for the most part it was alright... but yeah I really didnt have the feeling of closeness that I have had in the past. There also were some internal drama problems within the guild too. When Blizz made the change from 40 mans to 25/10 mans it really split up the communities of a lot of servers because it made it hard for guilds to really have a lot of people but still be close. Oh you cant go to 25 man because you dont have this or dont know that or we dont have room. Oh you have to go to this 10 man and yadda yadda. I got really fed up with everything pretty quickly once I got deep into the endgame again. It just wasnt as fun and then people were so uptight and serious but they all seemed to be sub-par players in my book too. I couldnt really just tell my friend "hey this guild sucks ass lets leave" so I eventually just said screw it and managed to get a 3.8 GPA for the semester instead XD
All I know is when SW:TOR comes around all of my RL friends from HS that I have been gaming with for about 8 years now are going to be forming our own guild. Looking how SW:TOR is most likely going to be small grouped based for end game versus the large raids or thats what im expecting. I will at least have a say who will be apart of our community. When I ran a guild in WoW back in the 40 man raid days there is a lot more room for people coming to you and bitching, but I have still found, being the boss is where its at because you can control every aspect and if you dont like something you can just change it.
I am a very hardcore gamer and I have high expectations for people to meet when they take part in my groups or my personal community. Now top that off with mature people at least 18 years of age... pref 20 and up... you can have a great guild and atmosphere.
Sorry this subject can get me worked up a bit XD
If I'm soloing I'll usually join a guild only if i get a random invite but other than that I'll join a guild if my friends are playing in the same game and are in one.
I used to in the old days because the community was much different, it was more passionate. Unlike many seem to believe, it's not just about maturity. Adults have squabbles and drama too, they are capable of deceit, jealously, etc...
Gamers these days don't have the same passion for the simple joys of the game like they used to, I don't blame them because it's mostly something that has been caused by their surroundings and the gaming culture as it is now but the old guilds... Seniority didn't matter as much, it wasn't about who you knew, who had the most powerful equipment, DKP, raiding, knowledge of the game, being online all the time etc.
You could log in and be treated like you'd been there all along just because people cared more about the pleasure of gaming itself rather than forming secret social bonds, and hating on "noobs,", hoarding loot, cliques, etc. There wasn't as much pessemism and focus on equipment and min/maxing like there is now. It's all about end game, nothings about the adventure of getting to end game anymore or the experiences you have getting there.
A clan used to be able to have a nice gradient of people from hardcore, to casual, to semi-casual to only-logs-on-once-a-month. Now everythings broken down into hardcore only, casual only, etc.
It's hard to explain I guess, everything was different back when. Games were new so we just enjoyed the experience of partaking in something that was new and wonderful.
I tried no end of guilds when I played WoW, every guild just sucked, people don't talk to you, most are too small in numbers and so you end up being the only guild member being online and you get the stupid ass hats telling you they want you to do X like battlegrounds which I didn't want to do at all, non of them want you to be your friend anyway.
Most WoW guilds are raiding guilds so no chance of finding a guild anyway.
It depends. If I can find a good guild, one where people aren't pushed to raid or have to fit "standards", then sure, I'll join a guild primarily for social reasons. However, if I have to be a certain level or do a certain thing, then screw 'em. I'm not playing the game to impress anyone, I'm doing it to have fun. There are some really nice social guilds out there and there are some real crappy ones. I avoid crap where I can.
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I either join guilds with players who I've played with over the years or research relaxed family style guilds or guilds with very open and easy going people.
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I usually join a guilde, but then I end up making my own. It always seems to work out that way.
I love being in a good guild with fun level headed people who like to do things and help each other out.
On that note, I've come to the point where I don't guild up until A-I come across a good one and give it a chance or B-Hit that point where I absolutely need a guild or the game's over. Sadly, B tends to happen way more than A as A is almost nonexistent for me. =(
The MMO community in general has seemed to really have tanked over the last 5 years. I miss my good old FFXI linkshells. In that game I had so many guilds with so many awesome people it was almost impossible to decide which linkshell to put on first when I logged in. Sadly, even FFXI fluttered out for me ~2 years ago when I quit. I was pretty much dominated by my end game linkshell and had no time to join my 'socials' for their events. IDKWTF happened tbh.
Since at this point in my MMO career I prefer raiding, a guild of quality players is a must. I do not feel the need to be all "buddy buddy" with folks, a nice civil and courteous group that knows how to kick a@@ and take names is just fine by me.
Other than raiding I dont like guilds all that much. Too much damn drama that at times I have seen spill into RL with these obsessive players of MMOs. Just imagine "the Guild" on crack.
Current Games: WOW, EVE Online
I often join either a casual gaming guild or a roleplaying guild within a couple months of playing. The reason it's that long is because I don't want to join a guild until I am sure I will be in the game for a while. If I'm still around after a month, I'll more than iikely still be there for 6-9 months more.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
You said it perfectly wjen you stated in two different parts "in the old days because the community was much different, it was more passionate because Games (MMORPGs) were new so we just enjoyed the experience of partaking in something that was new and wonderful.
A tiny mind is a tidy mind...
First guild I was in, in WOW was pretty big. Over 200 at one point but it also split three different times due to politics. I stuck around for quite awhile until an ingame friend asked if i wanted to play with him and some of his RL friends. Great guild, the kind you liked to help out in instead of feeling obligated to help. But more on topic, if I find a group of nice casual folks I do if not I dont.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Well nowdays guilds have went down the hill in the games I have played, and the reason is most folks have moved on to other games.
Back in the day in EQ, and in SWG, and AC you needed a guild. They helped you out. You were a group of like minded individuals who all did a lot of stuff together. Back then you need a lot of folks to run content.
Games have changed, and so have players. The have become more solo easy, and there are of very anti-social gamers out there nowdays.
It used to be you joined a guild to do the hard stufff. nowdays guild just exist, sometime there not even enough folks online in EQ2 for me to do squal, you got to pug things a lot. I was watching this ine LOTRO, other games have had the same problem.
Your guild was to big and you got lost, or your guild was growing but stuck with more folks than needed so you would wind up with 9 folks needed to do a six man.
New games get a lot of new guilds and thing work until it either gets to political, or to klick-ish like. Or the guild leader wants to worshiped as a god, and calls you at work going wtf dude you need to be at home helping run the raid.
OH well I like smaller ones now days, and when I am un-guilded the worst thing you could do is random drive by invite me.
My 2 cents worth and its not worth much at all.
Well the problem is that most games now no longer tailor to those kind of people at all, it is all about being a leet player that can be there at Raid time and say's nothing at all and just shuts hits trap so you can get the elite gear. Sorry but I see something wrong with that kind of guild so I try not to fall into that, it is nice to play and do the epic things, but if that is the kind of attitude people are going to have it will not cut it with me. Even with that said, I have been in some decent guilds but the guild drama tends to kill it for me, so I am a contridiction in terms, I dont want the drama but I also dont want the leet guild that must have the cookie cutter end all be all mentality either.
I generally don't join guilds. There are times where I did join a guild that was rather big but then realized that what they were after didn't suit my agenda. In those large guilds I found more people like myself so we basically went and made our own guild. That way I could keep all the undesirable idiots out and only keep the people that fit my kind of gaming mentality. Usually it works out better that way. However more often then not you'll find me guldless and lovin it.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
No.
"We got rid of the trinity." How'd you do that? "Now everyone can heal." Sounds like you just took the mechanic and spread it thin. "Well no, there's one class that can do it better than others." I see, so they're healers. "No. They're.." -mind asplode-
I drag my friends to every game I play and more often than not we'll make our own guild. It will start out small, just us, and depending on how long we play the game for it may grow. We've had some incredibly fun times this way. I prefer it to joining a large, faceless guild full of people I've never met who care nothing about me. That's not to say that all guilds are like that, but most that are out recruiting are doing so just to have more people to help them achieve their goals (which is fine), but they usually care little for the goals and desires of the individual members, in my experience anyway. I'd prefer to be guildless for a good while before joining a guild, or form one immediately with friends. I almost never join a guild that invites me very early into my time with that game.
Occasionally, i'd say the majority of my time in mmo's has been without one though.
PuG's/friend list work just fine for me, both pvp and pve.
I usually wait until it's necessary. If I can solo and pug dungeons to max level I'll stay guildless for a while. If the game is open PvP or has low level PvP I'll join one early. Doesn't mean I'm anti-social or hate to group, it just means I hate random idiots and the drama in guilds.
I almost always join a guild. Every MMO I've ever played has been more fun that way.
With a new game (launch), I'll usually wait until the dust settles, and people figure out if they like it or not. There's usually so much turmoil at that point, guild survival is not a certainty.
But in an established game, I'll usually join one quickly (if I didn't already come in with a guild).
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
I play WoW.
With the inclusion of the Find Group mechanic, I feel my inclination to join a guild to be about 5%.
While Find Group is convenient, it really did take away from the social aspect of the game.
Sure, you can still do the same stuff as before, but for us lazy people who WANT GEAR NAO, it really killed our social building skills.
Click button. Get group. Raid. Done. Goodbye, forever, random person.
Needless to say, I'm not in a guild, and I don't have many friends online...
Ho hum.
At least my Paladin kicks ass.
Guilds now are mostly just about being on top and how useful you are affects joining and staying, same cam be said with just about every other aspect of an mmo. Everyone seems to be stuck on serious-mode these days, it's gotten hard to find anyone that plays a game just because it's fun anymore.
Even the definition of "fun" seems to be focused on being competitive for most people now lol.
So not only have I not joined any guild's for years, but I also tend to solo my way all the way through, only exception of course is when I happen to find like minded players at mid-high levels. I say mid to high because all new players are well.. new, and there to just have some fun, but then later on when they get a foothold their attitude can change pretty quickly.