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When you play an mmo, do you usually join a guild?

2

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  • EvasiaEvasia Member Posts: 2,827

    I always join clan/guild when starting a new game but i always end up soloing hehe.

    My experience with clans is not that good but thats prolly my fault im just a einzelganger:)

    But i have rather good friends in Darkfall who trust me and play with them, im just not in there clan only when i sometimes need something i join and they dont care if i play like this, i help them they help me.

    Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
    In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.

  • mmoguy43mmoguy43 Member UncommonPosts: 2,770

    I seem only join a guild when there is something to get from it wether its raiding, more organized pvp, or if I'm playing with people I really know I'll join their guild. I usually don't bother to join a guild for a causal chatty atmosphere.

  • BademBadem Member Posts: 830

    I normally join a guild at some point, mainly for the guild chat with like minded individuals, sometimes it can take a few guilds, I remember one I used to play in.

    I was the go to Tank for raiding etc and then my Comp Blew up, i took about a month to fix and when I got back in i was no longer welcome to tank. The raiding had carried on adn another class had become teh 'Go To Tank' except he could not crowd Control Aggro as well as I could. When I asked to rejoin raiding I was told 'Roll another class since we have all the tanks we need' Despite the fact my tank was equally geared except I was not up to date on strats and the guild didnt want to go through learning curve again....

     

    But I will be joining a guild/linkshell in FF14 since it is a new launch and teaming up from day 1 can be fun and stuff

  • Jellyf1shJellyf1sh Member Posts: 40

    To be honest the only reason I join a guild is to stop all the 'hey mister, join my guild?' spam in the chat channel.

    I've currently got several level-capped toons hidden away inside a raiding guild somewhere.

    I've no interest in raiding (and very little in grouping). If anyone questions that (which they haven't), i'd just move on, no hard feelings.

    I guess it's like a symbiotic relationship - I get peace and quiet to carry on my solo endeavours, and they get a couple more toons to make their guild look busier.

    I never need help, nor do i offer it, outside of advice (which has a minimal impact on my personal goals for that session).

    As long as i say 'Hi' & 'Bye' when other members come and go. That seems to suffice. Everything is very civilized.

    Some may view this as a rather 'sad' existence, but this is how i choose to enjoy an MMO, and for me, it works rather well.

     

     

  • HedeonHedeon Member UncommonPosts: 997

    the time when ppl played with passion...  :)   get to wonder if you feel the passion for the games yourself?

     

    either way its rare Id join a guild, since I wont join one unless am certain its a game I want to spend time on, which I dont get in the same way in the later years, and well end up quitting before getting deep into the game. but do go through all the websites where ppl throw in their guild advertises and pick out those that seems to fit, then do the tour de guilds.

  • EbonyflyEbonyfly Member Posts: 255

    I don't think I really have a guild mentality. I prefer to make friends independently of guilds and play with the people I like but often this can be hard to do and almost impossible when it comes to raiding. With guilds it's always a mixed bag. There will be some people you like and others you don't get on with at all. So usually I will stay out of guilds for as long as possible or until I find one that seems just right for me.

    With friends i'm always happy to go out of my way to help them with something if i can but it is very different when someone you hardly know or perhaps even dislike expects you to help them or give them stuff just because you are in the same guild.

    The other thing I don't like about guilds is the politics that inevitably arise whether it's favourtism within the guild, petty inter-guild rivalries or some other nonsense. I just want to play with my friends and it is rare to find all your friends in one guild or indeed, a guild where all are your friends.

  • NephaeriusNephaerius Member UncommonPosts: 1,671

    I start out guildless for a while to get a feel for the game and then I seek out a guild as games usually become more and more group dependant as you advance. 

    Steam: Neph

  • Arctic2006Arctic2006 Member Posts: 31

    When I play I don't actively search for a guild. I usually just part for quests that are necessary and if I run across a guild that is real helpful, seems real good, or that I seem to click well I usually end up joining. However, a guild isn't a must for me when playing mmos, I've had some mmos where I have been in a guild and some where I haven't.

  • IhmoteppIhmotepp Member Posts: 14,495

    I don't play at regular times, like always on Thursday night at 7 pm. I can't make "guild meetings" because you have to show up at 1 pm on Sunday, or whatever.

    So generally no, I don't join guilds.

    image

  • ChessackChessack Member Posts: 978

    I'm a pretty hardcore RPer, and most games have very little RP outside of RP guilds... So I usually search for (or found) a medium-to-heavy RP guild in which I can be a member.  Generally I find that the overall quality of not just the RP but also the gameplay skill is quite high in these guilds, and I have had moderate to good success with them.

     

    I find playing without a guild in an MMO difficult and rather lonely. I don't mind soloing content but I like having the social interaction of guild chat, guild forums, guild meetups, guild RP nights, etc. I'd much rather solo quests but have the guild for other socializing, than do PUGs and have no guild.

     

    C

  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697

    I started with the realm, UO, then EQ. I didn't join a guild in any of those, you didn't need one for The Realm and UO, but it did make it harder for me to get things done in EQ. Fortunatly back then people were a lot more likely to let a random person into their questing. AC was the first time a joined a guild (an allegiance) and after realizing I played more and was leveling faster then the leaders I created my own allegiance.

     

    After that I did guilds in the next few MMOs I played, but at some point I realized it was just too much of a hassle and tended to take the fun out of playing. Too many guilds out there take these games more serious then real life, they want specific play/meeting times, they want to have a long list of rules for the guild, and they are almost always filled with ridiculous drama that I choose not to deal with. So for many years now I've never joined a guild, and I don't know if I ever will again. Games are meant to be games. Simply a fun distraction from the real world that brings fun with it. Games are not supposed to be an actual second life with meetings and responsibilities.

     

    If guilds were to go back to the old days of purely social fun without a lot of stupid rules and people who think they have power over other people because of some pixels, then I'd be tempted to join one again. But right now, far too many people who play in guilds forget that they are playing a game, not living a life.

     

    Also I hate vent, and at some point almost all guilds required it. I can type as fast as many people can speak so it isn't much of an issue as far as coordinating goes, and I find there are a lot of people who are annoying when in vent. Chowing down with their mic on, leaving the mic going while have conversations with other people outside the game, irritating voices, etc etc.

  • NeanderthalNeanderthal Member RarePosts: 1,861

    I've never liked the idea of guilds in mmo games at all.

    I like talking to people, grouping with people, helping people, and hanging out with people but I prefer it to be informal and as equals and because I want to do it.  I don't like feeling obligated to do those things with one specific clique of players whether I like them or not.  I especially don't like the whole idea of having a Boss lording it over me when I'm playing a game.

    My attitude about this goes right back to the beginning of my MMORPG playing.  I've never understood why so many people are so eager to have another player bossing them around in a game.  I hate that crap.

    I was in one friendly guild once upon a time, way back when, and that was nice.  But that was when we where all still relatively naive about things and didn't even know about raiding and hadn't even heard the term "end-game" yet.  But those days are gone.

    The last time I was in a guild was in Guild Wars.  Admittedly it was from a random invite and I should have known better.  I quit that guild not because I was being bossed around but because I'm too old to listen to the sex fantasies of teenage boys. 

    Edit:  Oh yeah, and I have to agree with SnarlingWolf about Vent.  I hate voice chat in these games and since that has become almost a universal requirement in guilds I'm even less likely to want to join one in the future.

  • erictlewiserictlewis Member UncommonPosts: 3,022

    Originally posted by SnarlingWolf

    I started with the realm, UO, then EQ. I didn't join a guild in any of those, you didn't need one for The Realm and UO, but it did make it harder for me to get things done in EQ. Fortunatly back then people were a lot more likely to let a random person into their questing. AC was the first time a joined a guild (an allegiance) and after realizing I played more and was leveling faster then the leaders I created my own allegiance.

     

    After that I did guilds in the next few MMOs I played, but at some point I realized it was just too much of a hassle and tended to take the fun out of playing. Too many guilds out there take these games more serious then real life, they want specific play/meeting times, they want to have a long list of rules for the guild, and they are almost always filled with ridiculous drama that I choose not to deal with. So for many years now I've never joined a guild, and I don't know if I ever will again. Games are meant to be games. Simply a fun distraction from the real world that brings fun with it. Games are not supposed to be an actual second life with meetings and responsibilities.

     

    If guilds were to go back to the old days of purely social fun without a lot of stupid rules and people who think they have power over other people because of some pixels, then I'd be tempted to join one again. But right now, far too many people who play in guilds forget that they are playing a game, not living a life.

     

    Also I hate vent, and at some point almost all guilds required it. I can type as fast as many people can speak so it isn't much of an issue as far as coordinating goes, and I find there are a lot of people who are annoying when in vent. Chowing down with their mic on, leaving the mic going while have conversations with other people outside the game, irritating voices, etc etc.

     Yea that hit the nail on the head.  Vent and TS.  I hatted both these applications.  The reason is as you said you would get som anoying folks.  They would not have there key to click on so there were broadcasting 24/7.  Nothing like hearing burping/farting and noises of eating in the background.   I finally got to the point the only time I got voice chat up was when we ran a raid.  Even then the raid leader would be yelling at the same bunch of jerks going hey dont be eating or slurping while talking.

  • Miner-2049erMiner-2049er Member Posts: 435

    In my last guild I went on an instance and they were absolutely rubbish (worse than a poor PuG) and then ninja looted the gear that should have gone to the one non-guilded guy in our party.

    The guild before that was okay until the guild leader started bragging about all the new gear he had bought after buying gold.

    I would never knowingly cheat, scam, buy gold or ninja loot. It seems to be increasingly difficult to join a guild with like-minded people.

  • kray0nkray0n Member Posts: 26

    I prefer to just PuG it instead of commit to a guild. In fact, by the time I'm forced to join a guild to progress is when I start looking for a different game, even if I miss end-game content.. that's where it usually gets boring for me anyway.

  • MuktukMuktuk Member UncommonPosts: 84

    No guild for me unless it is necessary for endgame.



    One reason why I play is to get away from my RL social life, not to make up for a lack of one.

     

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 44,063

    I always look to join a guild, but I have to confess, I never seem to find what I'm looking for. (in the end I'm a social misfit I guess)

    So I generally go from guild to guild, in EVE I'm on at least my 6 or 7 Corp and this has always been my pattern.

    It seems to be worse now than the early days, back then we weren't quite so segregated by leveling mechanics, now I find most guilds don't offer much outside of a glorified chat room, a far cry from my early days with Shadowclan or HC back in DAOC.

    Maybe someday I'll find "the one" that really fits..... but I'm not holding my breath.

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

    Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

    Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™

    "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon






  • SinviperSinviper Member Posts: 169

    Originally posted by Fibsdk

    I'm not a raider since I find the whole gather 40+ people fight 1 dragon get 3 items of loot stupid

     

    What game requires 40+ nowadays?

    Originally posted by --Name edited out--


    EX-PRO PLAYER IN WOW HERE.THIS GAME IS GOOD! TRUST ME IM USED TO BE THE BEST IN WOW BUT JUST A N00B IN AION. ITS CHALLENGEING , TRY IT!


    [Sigh, watch out guys, this dude's pro.]

  • erictlewiserictlewis Member UncommonPosts: 3,022

    Originally posted by Sinviper

    Originally posted by Fibsdk

    I'm not a raider since I find the whole gather 40+ people fight 1 dragon get 3 items of loot stupid

     

    What game requires 40+ nowadays?

     The max raid I have ever seen in any game is 24.  So yea what game needs 40 folks to do something??

  • MardyMardy Member Posts: 2,213

    I used to guild all the time.  Actually I used to run guilds in all the games I've played, ran raids, etc..  But ever since 2008 I haven't joined a guild since, and only made guilds for a small circle of close friends.  I think that's the trend in the genre, more and more people choose to not join guilds, or create their own small guild with people they know only.

     

    When you've played MMO's for a long time, you may start to grow tired of the drama that comes with guilds & strangers. In my case I'm definitely burned out from the drama that you simply can't avoid having a guild full of people.  Perhaps the fact that I'm 10 years older than when I first started playing MMO's have something to do with it, I don't know. But when I see guilds, I see lots of niche groups within the guilds.  Sometimes people don't even know each other except for raid nights, where people come together to take down bosses, loot, then rinse & repeat the next day.

     

    And of course it's inevitable to have loot arguments and annoying people that whines & cries about never getting what they wanted.  On top of that, I used to run guilds & raids all the time, and used to think people appreciated the time & effort I put into organizing it all.  Then I watch our best geared tank leave the guild for a guild who's 2 bosses ahead of us, I watched 1 friend out of a group of 6 cause problems in the guild so all 6 leaves as a result.  I've come to realize people don't give a crap about you, they don't appreciate the time & effort you put into getting people together, they don't care if you spent all the time organizing and prepping everything.  They just want their loot, and if they don't get it fast enough from you, they'll get it somewhere else.

     

    So for that, ever since 2008 when we were midway through BWL in WoW, I've said eff it I'm not gonna deal with the crap & drama anymore.  And you know what?  It's been great ever since, becauseI can go from game to game, don't have to be pressured to compete & perform, don't have to set my alarm clock for something.  I don't have to hear people whine, cry, moan, and complain about loot.  Screw guilds & raids I say image

     

    I think game developers realize this shift in the genre, that's why most games have shrunk their raid size.  They are trying so hard to keep people together to raid.  I suppose it's easier to manage going from 40+ to 20-25 player raids.  It should be less drama as you have less people in the bunch.  Good for them for realizing this.  But still, I choose to not take part in it.  That's just me, because I don't need it anymore.

    EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO

  • WarmakerWarmaker Member UncommonPosts: 2,246

    I've played a bunch of MMORPGs but have only been in a guild twice over all these years.  Once in SWG and once in LOTRO.

    Simply put, I don't like the guild commitments, but then again, going into a guild where there's little to no commitment is like a "busy ghost town."  There's guildies online, but nobody talks or helps each other, or worse, has alts that aren't guild affiliated that they rather play.

    I'd rather be non-guild affiliated and do PUGs or group with friends.  Do what I want, when I want, with who I want.  No hassles.  Sure, I don't get the wonderful perk of a guild helping out on a difficult task, but I'm used to doing things with my own efforts, anways, whether it leads to success or failure.

    "I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)

  • jaxsundanejaxsundane Member Posts: 2,776

    Originally posted by Amathe

    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?

     I've been in a bunch of guilds some I enjoyed more than others, my biggest problem with guilds at this point and time though is I have far too often been looked upon to take a position of authority in many of the guilds I've joined and after finally relenting and taking leadership positions I am forced to see exactly why I start out turning them down, too much work for a video game.  It is similar to why I don't raid and such the minute I'm forced to feel obligated to do anything in a video game is the minute the fun factor leaves for me.  After my last mmo hiatus I returned to LOTRO recently but am reluctant to join a kin because I don't want to see the things I used to have to deal with happening again.  I enjoy having a dedicated crew to run with etc but just am going to avoid guilds probably until TOR.

    but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....

  • TehJackalTehJackal Member Posts: 98

    Originally posted by Mardy

    I used to guild all the time.  Actually I used to run guilds in all the games I've played, ran raids, etc..  But ever since 2008 I haven't joined a guild since, and only made guilds for a small circle of close friends.  I think that's the trend in the genre, more and more people choose to not join guilds, or create their own small guild with people they know only.

     

    When you've played MMO's for a long time, you may start to grow tired of the drama that comes with guilds & strangers. In my case I'm definitely burned out from the drama that you simply can't avoid having a guild full of people.  Perhaps the fact that I'm 10 years older than when I first started playing MMO's have something to do with it, I don't know. But when I see guilds, I see lots of niche groups within the guilds.  Sometimes people don't even know each other except for raid nights, where people come together to take down bosses, loot, then rinse & repeat the next day.

     

    And of course it's inevitable to have loot arguments and annoying people that whines & cries about never getting what they wanted.  On top of that, I used to run guilds & raids all the time, and used to think people appreciated the time & effort I put into organizing it all.  Then I watch our best geared tank leave the guild for a guild who's 2 bosses ahead of us, I watched 1 friend out of a group of 6 cause problems in the guild so all 6 leaves as a result.  I've come to realize people don't give a crap about you, they don't appreciate the time & effort you put into getting people together, they don't care if you spent all the time organizing and prepping everything.  They just want their loot, and if they don't get it fast enough from you, they'll get it somewhere else.

     

    So for that, ever since 2008 when we were midway through BWL in WoW, I've said eff it I'm not gonna deal with the crap & drama anymore.  And you know what?  It's been great ever since, becauseI can go from game to game, don't have to be pressured to compete & perform, don't have to set my alarm clock for something.  I don't have to hear people whine, cry, moan, and complain about loot.  Screw guilds & raids I say image

     

    I think game developers realize this shift in the genre, that's why most games have shrunk their raid size.  They are trying so hard to keep people together to raid.  I suppose it's easier to manage going from 40+ to 20-25 player raids.  It should be less drama as you have less people in the bunch.  Good for them for realizing this.  But still, I choose to not take part in it.  That's just me, because I don't need it anymore.

    Eh I can disagree with this to some extent. Yes a lot of gamers are very fickle on many things not just guilds and I guess to say the guild effectiveness progressing. I still to this day miss the 40 man raids in WoW but I guess what it comes down to is that in a game such as WoW the whole gear thing, especially how overblown it became after WotLK, really killed the sort of family communities that guilds used to be within WoW. When I ran a guild and raids you have to pick your players very carefully. I have always tried to find people or join guilds that have people that are like the ones I associate with in RL. I remember having a very close nit guild of 60 or so people in a guild back in 40 man raid days versus coming into a split group of 40-50 or so members because of the smaller raid size. People want to go, people want to progress, and sadly people want loot :/

    Guild settings in games that dont rely solely on having to raid dungeons to get loot I find tend to be better communities. Back when I played SWG I found most guilds had little drama and people were together and stayed together because they liked each other. It wasnt "I need to be in such and such guild to get the best loot!" 

    Personally I couldnt play MMOs without being in some sort of guild because I play these games to play with other people and to make friends... some of which have lasted well after games have come and gone. Even to the extent of travelling pretty good distances to get together. I was probably spoiled from being in very good clans playing FPS games but it has become what I expect to find even in the MMO realm. 

    image

  • StarlightJunStarlightJun Member UncommonPosts: 56

    I think guild is good as long as they are not too serious and have rules like you have to play 20 hours or you have to do everything with them.

  • MardyMardy Member Posts: 2,213

    Originally posted by TehJackal

    When I ran a guild and raids you have to pick your players very carefully. I have always tried to find people or join guilds that have people that are like the ones I associate with in RL. I remember having a very close nit guild of 60 or so people in a guild back in 40 man raid days versus coming into a split group of 40-50 or so members because of the smaller raid size. People want to go, people want to progress, and sadly people want loot :/

    We had a close nit guild, probably was close to 70 members total when raids were 40 players.  Problem started when we joined a group of 6 rl friends.  Of course we all know, in a group of friends, there's always a troublemaker in the bunch.  So we had that troublemaker, one that complained all the time, one that caused drama & tension in the guild.  So when time comes to cut that guy out of the guild (as you said, you want people you can associate with in RL), that 1 person caused the other 5 to leave.

     

    And of course, those people had friends in the guild, so they started dragging others out of the guild.  If they weren't successful, they were harrassing people in my guild about how "unfair" I was to cut the troublemaker.  People we thought were good friends apparently didn't think we were real, they only viewed their rl friends as "real".

     

    Another example was when our main tank, best geared in the guild, nicest guy we know, left the guild for a guild that was only 2 bosses ahead of us.  You know how much it sets your guild back when you lose your MT when raids, back in BWL days, were actually hard and you needed all the gear you could get.  There was no 30% ICC raid buff as Blizzard hands out like candy these days.  It was all about gear and players, and losing your MT set us back a month before we could gear another tank up to be the MT.   Of course setting us back 1 month frustrated some players because they want their PHAT LEWTS so we lost a few more to other guilds, some to a guild that was 1 boss ahead of us.

     

    So before you say to find people who you would associate with in RL, I think most decent guilds do that.  But the inevitable drama still happens, the inevitable "guild crap" still happens.  And yes, even family guilds have drama.  Our guild started as a family guild, until someone was cybering someone's wife, and well you know how that went.  image  Ever heard a bunch of 30, 40, 50 year olds argue and fight over the vent in a game?  Yeah and people thought WoW's problems were kids only.

     

    Personally I'm just burned out of it all, but I'm glad some others are still enjoying it.

    EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO

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