World of Warcraft - Guild Questions (and others)

[lazarus]

Okay, I'm doing quite well with my first toon. I'm a Tauren druid, specializing as a feral kitty. I'm level 82, wandering around questing in Mount Hyjal. I only have quest gear outfitted so far, but my dps is fairly good (I consistently ranked 2nd or 3rd in my last instance).

Thing is, the guild I joined when I first started has basically disbanded. So, I'm wondering.

Do I need a guild? What for?

And how do I pick a good one and join it? Are they realm specific? How do I avoid the stupid? (I read somewhere that the "cooler" the name, the lamer the guild. "Order of black death" would thus be lame.)

While I'm talking about WoW, one more question or two. Honour points and gear. Is this the "bind on account" gear I've heard of? If so, should I be outfitting the toon I have now, or the toon I'm doing next? (It's going to be a tank, a warrior of some race I haven't decided yet.) I've read about the max gear you want for your druid kitty, do you get it through honour points or through instance drops?

Thanks. I've only been playing since December, and have many questions all the time. :D

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

1. Guild choice can be tricky, as there are some good guilds out there...

...and some very, very bad guilds. It depends on what you're looking to get out of the game, actually. If you're planning on doing the "end-game" content (raiding) you may want to seek out a guild.

Some raiding guilds are "casual" raiding guilds (like the one I was a member of for two years) and don't have a super-urgent competitive drive to raid the latest and greatest content. The raiding guilds that call themselves "hardcore" raiding guilds tend to be more...obsessive about raiding. Membership is usually stricter there, and they expect you to attend scheduled raids (often more than four times a week) in order to "keep your spot" in the raid.

Note that this all varies by guild, actually. It's nearly impossible to completely categorize each guild. Most guilds will have corresponding websites for applicants and discussions outside of the normal gametime. Most well-organized guilds will have their "mission statement" on their website for potential guild members to review.

The best way to determine if a guild is a good fit is if you play with them. All guilds are limited to the realm where they're located; there are no cross-server guilds (at least they can't really communicate with each other across servers). Getting to know various people in various guilds on the server you're on is the best way to find a guild you may want to join.

Before Cataclysm, guilds really only offered another chat channel and a bit of event scheduling assistance, but with the introduction of guild levels in the new expansion, joining a guild can be rather beneficial. The guilds can "level" as its members gain levels and reputation, adding benefits to all guild members such as +5% xp or rep gain (or even skill gain) and even guild mounts. The more quests you do, the more your reputation with the guild increases and the more benefits you can enjoy

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

Disclaimer: I should tell you that while I do not play WoW right now, I was an officer in a guild for over a year and a half. I left the game for personal reasons (Not having to do with my guild at all. They're great people)

[lazarus]

2. so

Is the best way to spot a good guild to just notice who you're teamed with in instances, and spot the mature and good players and keep an eye on what guilds they belong to?

I see guilds advertised in the trade chat stream all the time, but have now way of figuring out how to filter the truth from the hype. :|

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

3. That can work, but with the new cross-server dungeon system, it's hard to get an all-server group

It is, unfortunately, a bit of a crap shoot at times.

[lazarus]

4. sigh

This is looking difficult. I'll just try a guild out and see how it works.

I'm really not ready for a guild yet. I'm still leveling my first toon.

[romana]

5. I play WOW off and on

I have yet to find a decent guild. Just not lucky in that respect at all. So I end up grinding by myself, which is probably why I keep dropping the game.

[Salviati]

6. They're adding a guild finder tool in the next patch:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2657799

So that may help you find a guild that matches your needs and playstyle when you decide you're ready to look for one. Depending on how well it works out as a tool...

[lazarus]

7. that could be really helpful

thanks, that looks fantastic.

Not sure about the "Call to Arms" feature in random instances. I appreciate lower queue times, but DPS will never be called to arms, so I'll miss out on all the goodies (until I level up my tank).

Any word on when this patch comes out?

[Ohio Joe]

8. heh

Blizzard NEVER gives release dates... Just... "It's coming and will be here when it's done" :D

[Salviati]

9. the rate of changes on the test server has slowed down quite a bit...

so it will likely be "soon" (tm).

I guess the nice feature about the call to arms for us DPS (arcane mage here) is theoretically shorter queue times, which is a good thing if it pans out.

[lazarus]

10. I agree shorter queue times would be nice

My next toon is going to be a tank warrior, though. Especially with the call to arms feature. Goodies!

I toyed with tanking my druid, but I'm still a relative noob, and that's a lot of responsibility for someone who likely doesn't know the instance very well. I dual specced to bear, though, so once I learn to tank on my warrior I can flip my druid over if the wait time is too much for a given instance (or if the guild needs a tank for a raid, I guess).

[lazarus]

11. so the new patch is out

and WoW is now buggy as hell. I can't get it to run right, and none of my addons are working.

Grr....

[LynneSin]

12. I kinda thought that too until I saw the Guild Perks

As guilds gain experience (from doing raids, dungeons and just having guild members hunting) they gain levels. I was in a level 15 guild and there were all sorts of perks including half price repairs, experience bonus, and a bunch of other stuff.

Honestly, I've found being in really large guilds the best only of the perks and you're less likely to be bugged - you can just sorta go on your way un-noticed.

But large guilds also means killer raids & dungeons - which sometimes bring some top notch equipment not found anywhere else.