Hey soul its been a while since i've watched the stream due to work etc,but i'm watching every video you are putting out. A question i have for you that could be a topic for a video is how do you keep players around after progress is done? In the past 5 years or so i've been in every position going from the newbie raider to officer to GM/RL to stepping up and being a newbie again in a world top 300 mythic raiding guild back to just being HC only casual raider being promoted to officer a while ago. An issue i've encountered in multiple guilds especially in the hc only guilds is that once progress is done and the final boss in hc has been killed interest,participation and attendance will dwindle down week by week to a point where it starts to hurt the guild itself on raiding nights to the point where previously smooth boss kills will feel again like a progress night because we are lacking the players that were there when we initially killed the boss or shortly after on rekills the following weeks. I completely understand that people have stuff to do outside of the game like work,school,family etc or simply taking a break or even quitting the game because they don't enjoy it anymore but they kept playing because they wanted to kill the final boss in the raid on hc and won't be active anymore once that boss has been killed. My issue lies more with players that use hc only guilds like the one i am in as a stepping stone to move into a mythic guild after we are done progressing and on top of that other people leaving aswell because of the above mentioned reasons. What i have noticed in multiple guilds i have been in is that every single time once the final boss has been killed and the team has gotten curve after 2-3 weeks suddenly a couple players dissapear,gquit or simply don't sign up for the raids anymore, causing the following reclears to be less smooth because you will have less players which for most bosses means it will be harder (lets say going from 17 players to 11 players) this will have a snowball effect where less players----->harder reclears----.less motivation---->more people leaving--->etc. We do have a core group of raiders that will keep raiding and will stick together even in the down time but that group isn't enough to fill an entire raid team, we are constantly trying to recruit new people but as a hc only guild in my experience it is quite hard.( could also be a topic for its own video) How do you exactly stand out and recruit as a hc only guild? because the way the game is designed content has become more and more approachable towards the pug players with things like community,lfg system cross realm raiding,personal loot and now discord (even though that is not by blizzard rather the wow community). Over the years there has been less appeal to raid in a guild and more just to clear a raid in a pug with the lfg system instead of joining a raiding guild and get your clear that way. on top of that on almost any given server there are loads of hc only guilds so its hard to stand out among the dozens of other guilds that can provide you the exact same thing being a set schedule, relaxing atmosphere (due to it being only hc) and a garenteed curve achievement eventually. TLDR: how as a hc only guild do you avoid bleeding players after the end of any raiding tier durning the downtime between the next raid or even the next expansion and having to constantly recruit new players which causes the team and especially the officers/gm to be constantly having the feeling of having to play catch up where once we have recruited new players and bringing them up to speed with the rest of the raiding team. by that time we will have a couple weeks of solid raid progression with the same group, the final boss dies and the cycle will repeat itself. final note yes we do (or at least attempt to) do optional alt runs,achievement runs,m+ runs etc trying to keep people interested but some simply don't have alts or have any interest in meta achievements or have 0 interest in doing m+ outside of the weekly 10 for the cache. and apologies for the horrible grammar and spelling since english isn't my native language. Thank you for reading through this horrible mess of a wall of text.
@@supermanthegod1785 Given the nature of the guild as Breezy describes it. I imagine the next question would be. Well can you play this game in whatever form that takes? And then take you along anyways.
I've been in a few guilds, two of which really meant something to me. The first significant guild I was in is where I met my girlfriend of 8 years. We're getting married in the spring. The second important guild is the one I'm in now. My girlfriend is our guild leader and raid leader and we have some awesome friends in this guild. Yeah, there are awful, toxic horrible guilds. But the good ones, man...the good ones can change your life.
Thanks for this. Learning how to run a small guild and slowly reaching the same conclusions as I go. Very motivating to keep going despite some hiccups we're facing. How I like to say: the loot will come and go but friends is what will stay!
Fun to get a sneak peak behind the curtain :). Was fun to get your 10 lessons you learned as a GM of a guild. I think it could help new players or returning players remember what to look for to maximize their fun in the game.
I'm really happy for you, Soul. I have only once been lucky enough to be in a guild like how you describe yours. It was back in TBC and I remember applying to this wannabe progression guild after most of my Warcraft 3 clan that I came over to this game with, had moved on. They were looking for a tank for their second Kara team, and I was accepted. Over the course of that expansion and in to Wrath, that was the most fun I ever had with the game and it all came down to my guildmates. They were a kick in the pants and even though we were serious about progressing, we all just generally enjoyed playing with one another. Sadly, the guild broke up when SWTOR came out and the guild moved to that game. Since I was one of the only ones left on WoW, I became guild master and tried to start over, but could never get it off the ground. My toons are now in all different guilds, (I have a 110+ of each class, 4 of them 120) but I've never been able to find a guild with that spark that my old TBC guild had. Anyway... Sorry so long. I'm happy for you, Soul! Keep it up, man!
Thank you for this!! I’m a new GM of a classic guild on westfall. I have a really good community so far but always looking for ways to improve myself and help others, as well as keep the guild growing. Appreciate you and all the comments!
Loves the video. I’m a GM and Raid Lead of a fairly long standing causal guild that raids. Many great points... don’t think my guys would wait while I went and got tipsy with a buddy during progression but... you got some loyal dudes man!! Keep on keeping on and much love from the EU servers.
What I liked best about being in a guild was how everyone helped each other out. We didn't buy flasks, gear, or anything, we would just farm mats and have each member craft items as we needed them. I remember when I was an officer, I would get groups together and help members run dungeons for gear, mats, and recipes/schematics. I would also set times, for one or two hours max, where we would all get together and farm mats for professions, and have a good time laughing about silly stuff. I made sure there was always a variety of things to do, and tried not to do the same things two days in a row, unless we were very close to completing a new dungeon, etc. The whole point was that we were there to escape real life and have fun. Some nights, we would even spend time just exploring new scenic areas of the game. In the early years of WoW, it was popular to use Ventrillo. I set it up so that their were many channels. The officers had their own, which only they had access to, but their were other channels for members based on their type of play for the day. There was a main channel everyone would log into, but for people not in the raid, or for those levelling up fishing or just farming, there was another channel. I even set up a couple channels guildies could go into and have their own music playlists playing in. There was a message next to the channel which would display the song being played, so if you wanted to listen, you could just jump in. It is amazing how much these little quality of life aspects help make a guild function better. I would rather be part of a good casual raiding guild than a hardcore one. The whole point is to have fun while progressing. I'm hoping Blizzard isn't forced to make any changes to Classic WoW. Everyone will have to be in a guild to progress, and a lot of the nice older guilds, hopefully, will come back.
I came to a similar opinion on just how special my guild is. The Empire has been on Garona since vanilla and we are still chugging along. I am still having fun and I realize just how lucky I am to have such a great wow family. Funny enough our one big split came durring fire lands as well. We came to the same conclusion of it wasn't as important for us to be on the cutting edge as it was to be inclusive of our members. Thank you for sharing. Problems can always be found if you look for them in wow, but the same can be said about fun and friendships.
I'm the GM of my guild we've been around going on 14 yrs strong now and Every one of your points hits home with us. It's exactly how I run my guild. We have members from ages of 17-64 and we all have a ton of fun each night Doing w/e. Raiding,Dungeons Farming mounts,Helping alts.Etc.....Honestly my Guild is only reason I still play WoW they aren't just guildies their my gaming family and I love each of them.
Very cool vid Breezy! So much of what you've said rings true about my own experience in various guilds on Draenor. When I was first introduced to WoW, back in '05 Vanilla. A coworker of mine gave me one of those old 10 free trial cards. And yeah as soon as I started figuring the game out, it was oh wow what order I use my abilities actually matters to the fight I'm participating in. Toni was playing Alliance in a guild called Souls of Soldiers. So sure enough that's where I started out. A few months later big drama that I didn't witness caused a big chunk of the guild to splinter off and I went with them to the guild Manifest Destiny. I gotta say, you really do sound like someone I'd get along with very well. But after all these years on the Alliance side. Yeah, I'm not faction/server hopping. But, I do really appreciate you doing this video. In fact one of the things you talk about, one of your hunters passing away and how hard it was on everyone. Really struck home for me. You see my sister and I were residing in the same household and WoW was one of the common activities that we both really enjoyed. On 1 March of 15 she died very suddenly. And after taking care of all the various aspects that RL tosses at you when something like that happens. I finally settled into a workable routine and even found time for WoW. The problem was, as soon as I'd start getting into the various activities. I catch myself saying or just thinking. "Hey we should go here and do that thing with that guy at that place" Insert whatever details you like to that. But then I'd look over, see her desk empty, and it would just hit me like a ton of bricks. It was bad enough that I spent the next four years away from WoW just to avoid being triggered into that same old grief. So yeah I totally get what an event like this can do to a groups dynamics. In fact, I found your video because I was looking for information about how to use the guild finder. I kept thinking that I must be really stupid to not see how to access it. Well actually that was the video just prior to this one that I watched. Anyways, I have what now amounts to an alt bank guild with what I think is a very cool name. Abyss. Well who knows maybe 8.3 will see this feature see the light of day. Being able to invite offline characters into a guild would be such a good thing for me. I mean really, not having to rely on someone else just to get your own alt invited into the guild. Um yeah, sign me up right now. Cuz I'm sold. Anyways, I guess I'm rambling here. If anyone has any advice on how to restart a guild and build it up recruitment wise. I'd sure appreciate the insights. Ciao for now. And I hope your day treats you well.
I'm in a different MMO but THANK YOU re: the 'leader doesn't have to be an "expert"' which feeds back to micromanaging. Leaders should lead: set structure, inspire, set some level of boundaries/expectations and goals - let people who know things come to share their expertise (theorycrafting, world bosses, heroic raids, PvP).
the guild where i play on Classic is going through a hard time, i might have to take the lead, or at least some kind of lead, and your video is exactly the kind of message that i needed to hear. Thank you :)
THIS!!! This is why the game keeps on trecking even though the social side of the game has deteriorated much over the years, guilds keep that part of the game strong. Being in a guild is the ultimate cure to all this negativity surrounding Blizzzard news, as well as expansions having rough starts. I don't raid much anymore, but I am happy to be a part of what feels like my WoW family. I finally have a little suggestion for your content Soul! Since you seem so tight with your guild experience, you could once in a while share an old guild story with your viewers. If you think the story is interesting or entertaining enough, it could be just what people need to hear why guilds can make the game so much better. Happy New Year!
Main lesson to remember. Some Guild masters and officers have ran a Guild for nearly 15 years. New members will come in and be angry they aren't in a leadership position within months. Players come and go.... make your loyal players who are in it for the long term your leadership!
I just watched your video and I really enjoyed it. I have many toons in several realms, and in many different guilds. I have "inherited" several of the guilds, but they are all basically dead except for my alts. I always hesitated to join guilds because most wanted to do raiding and I freeze at that word for the most part. I got a bad taste for them when doing Naxramus(?) once, and then another raid at another time, but I don't remember which one that was. Before WoW, I had never played a game like that before and was very "green" at playing by the normal standards. But anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that I appreciated seeing the GM's side of the guild.
You're speaking as a GM/RL. Some of these first points don't apply, or apply less, to just a GM. As just a GM, I fully admit I make a horrid RL, and let the RL make all the raid decisions, know all the raid comps, etc. If someone wants to know something about a quest, lore, an achieve, or other "casual" info, I'm your woman and they know that. We lost our RL at the start of Legion, and many of the raiders slowly trickled away after that when I couldn't find anyone to take his place. So now we are a guild of complete casuals that mostly don't raid, do our own thing, and most of my guildies have alli mains anymore, so I'm like a home for horde alts, which I'm ok with. I don't think I could handle a "true" guild environment anymore, I've gotten too used to playing on my own, on my own schedule, getting stuff done when I want and not when someone else wants. I still have my guild, the random people still log in and we talk. It's all I need.
Dragyngrl Dragyngrl it disappoints me to read this because I see this is a running trend with female guild masters. It’s not okay to always say ‘I wouldn’t make a good raid lead”!. Please take as little offense to this as possible but it’s time you LEARN to raid lead or else all you got is a casual cess pool. A long time ago, the dude who said he’d raid lead when we made my guild left too but you know what I did? I got good. I worked my ASS off. I met people willing to teach me and help me grow as a raider and leader. I researched, . I networked. I led pug after pug after pug and the people that were with me then respected me enough to stick with me. 3 and a half years later I am the GM and Raid Lead of an established knowledgeable and well respected server top 20 (albeit casual) social raiding guild. It’s fine if you have a casual place. We have an open door policy and casuals of all walks of life are always welcome but raiding is what brings your guild together. Why make a guild to simply have a 2nd trade chat? As a guild leader it is YOUR responsibility to pick up slack in ANY area and just letting your guilds raid scene die .... that’s not cool sis! I’m apologize for a little tough love but If you have been a GM long you have learned to be manny things, a friend, a therapist, a banker, a mathematician, so why is a raid lead any different than all this either hats you have learned to wear. My guild is a heroic and sometimes early mythic progression guild. To be honest the level at we raid happens to be my skill cap for a reason and there is nothing wrong with that. If you feel heroic raiding is too intimidating there are plenty of other players just like you who want a normal progress team. Anyway, said enough. Good luck. Just remember there is nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it and good luck.
@@BabyRhino I take no offence, however, it may make more sense if I extrapolate on my circumstances. I've been GM of this guild for 11 years, and it was only up until Legion when I could not find a raid lead. I have known for quite some time that raid leading was not my forte, and it became more difficult for me to even just RAID as time went on. See, I have Multiple Sclerosis, and I had to learn how to play through hands that could no longer feel the keyboard, muscles that will just randomly spasm for anywhere up to an hour, MS medications that can cause extreme drowsiness, and other MS related issues. However, I did learn to play through those issues in order to raid. Recently, however, my medical issues have become too much, and I had to withdraw myself from even helping out the raid teams of the several guilds I had connected with. I have had MS nearly half my life (I was diagnosed at 20, I am now 41), and have learned when I need to step back, when too much will possibly throw me into a relapse, and I knew that this was one of those times. The reason the RL we had left was life issues, and he was one who had lead the team for 5 years. Before him was a friend that lead the team until he had decided to go full Mythic raiding, and my group was nowhere near ready for that at that time. We were casual Normal/Heroic progression, and for the people I had, that's what they wanted, which was fine, they were having fun. After 11 years I am too connected to the guild, to the super casuals that have been here since day 1, to disband the guild. Perhaps someday if/when my MS decides to give me a break I will again try to find someone to RL for me, but I know with all the issues my MS causes me, I cannot RL and GM. Even now when I try explaining things I KNOW I KNOW (such as how an achieve is done), it becomes difficult, as the words are there, I know WHAT I want to say, they just won't come out. It happens even when having regular conversations. Can you imagine a RL like that? It would not be condusive to a successful team. I do what I do because I realize my limits that have been imposed by this disease. Believe me, there are many times I have wished I was "normal", and could realisticly do everything I have wished for my guild, but what I am able to do, I do to my best ability. Those that have stuck with me, with the guild, know my limits, understand my disappointment at myself for not being able to do everything, and they understand my daily fight to be as "normal" as I can be. So no, I take no offence. You had no knowledge of my, or the guilds, backstory. We've had a great 11 years with some terrific memories, hopefully we will have some more awesome years in the future.
First, you look very good for 60.......I enjoyed this. You gave real feelings for people that you spend a lot of time with, in game and outside of game. You have very good points on what a guild could/should be. I have been in a few guilds...I prefer not to remember them. Hope your festive season was good. Positive thoughts and comments....much needed at this point. Thank you.
i've been saying this for years of your gear point. it drops when it drops and not get frazzled when your best in slot doesnt drop. I've been apart of too many raid groups including raid lead or assist for years, this video is preaching to my choir. It does not help my jaded raiding on wow hope.
I'm glad that some people find enjoyment from guilds. I've never been so fortunate. Every time I work up the ability to join one or start raiding again, I almost always encounter some dreaded loot council or niche group that runs that guild that basically exploits everyone else in the guild, and most of those people being exploit hate it, but "tolerate" it because they feel that being in a guild is necessary to "winning" at the game.
I know that I've been in over a dozen raiding guilds and probably a two-dozen "casual" guilds over the decade and a half that I've been playing. Inner circles, loot councils, and plain-old favoritism was overly abound in all of them. While I have friends that play most of them feel too "locked" into their guilds to leave so that we can create our own guilds. Raid/RBG schedules lock us in from grouping together as well. My experience isn't unique, in other words.
i guess i have been lucky or you have been unlucky depends on perspective i guess, i'm assuming you are doing hc raiding in that case all i can say is if you don't like the current guild you are in just leave and find a different one. BFA isn't in the best position right now especially within the community perception so there are a metric fuckton of guilds recruiting their ass off trying to find new players because so many guilds are just bleeding players left and right.personally i've found it easy to be accepted into any hc only guild if you are at least a decent player and will simply show up to the raid on a consistend basis and prepared. On the matter of your friends being fragmented all i can say is thats what BNET is for to keep in contact and being easily be able to do anything together outside of mythic raiding before the first 100 worldwide kills and having the faction restriction.
Guild leading freak! Ive lead top notch guilds and seen rise and fall the difference between you and me is paranoia PTSD settles in after 5 years til this day my best rains resulted in world chaos, truancy, and overthrowing over head management. Ive been banned more then 5 times from one game I feel like a tyrant still to this day from outspark fiesta online to soldier front all the way to warface 2019 pandemic. The best tactic is placing people in the correct roll in mmorpg. Build against character weaknesses, take the enemies as jokes and play tactical, timing is everything in certain maps. 3 seconds from round start can equal death... These days i dont lead by choice because life takes over
New guild master here. We plan on raiding in wrath of the lich king, I’ve been trying to think of guild events that will build synergy and give out cool prizes
Tldr....time for a revolution and to overthrow the dictator named Soul....start printing pamphlets 🙃 Good for you Soul and wish if others would learn these great lessons as well 👍, funny some know about these issues yet still fall to the same treadmill over and over, lesson 6/7 really screwed up my last 3 guilds I gave up and went solo for the past year+
It's a good way to have a guild but these kinds of guilds are rare and getting more rare as time goes on so it's very hard to find these guilds especially if you can't move server. Which is a real shame.
My guild was complete freak show of power and buyouts due to my descent into the work force in 2009 If i want someone rubbed out, framed, or thrown in gaming jail it happened.
Dont wanna sound like a dick, but running like-yours guild, guild that doesnt progress mythic and doesnt need to deal with stuff like strict 20 man raiding, benching, performance expectations, preparing raid comps and such, it's such an easy work. Honestly, on your level, when someone is being toxic or dick, kick him, you are done. Then you just need stable flow of new people and make a friendly collective :) In my guild, I need to actually think what I am doing to not hurt our progress team, so it doesnt affect another 20-30 people. If I do one bad decision, whole guild can go to hell because people are striving for it and it depends solely on you. You can do stuff you do with players on any level with any raid comp, with a bit of leadership. But when you start progressing mythic, stuff gets way harder and problems you start facing are on completely different level than yours. Believe me there is nothing more hard than having to bench long time guildmate because he is not catching up with others for some reason. It gets more competitive, some people dont catch up and feel left out, better people tend to be more toxic, this shit is hard. Just a bit disappointed, though this kind of videos will be done by someone who is actually leading a more progressive guild and solving actuall issues. You are talking about leading the guild but in the end you end up saying, that you are glad that you can avoid a lot of stuff that you should actually be doing. What is the point then? When you just wanna play the game as you say, dont make a guild lol.
Advice to everyone watching this video, If you are ever in a guild where your GM often goes AFK during progression raiding nights and is apart of your raid team to have * beers with friends* leaving the rest of your team hanging, Leave that guild, he / she does not respect your time or you as a person. But if you find someone disrespecting your time and you as a person to be *fun* then ignore my comment and join a guild like SoulsoBreezy here, i am sure their are tons of people out there ready and willing to take advantage of you and your time.
I can't find a guild like the army works because without rules, this goes wrong. I'm in a "HPS race" with à monk in my guild, he as a little more hps thank me, but he as 8 ilvl more than me. Hé is a really ass hole he comes in raid with 45 min late, and say" I come we down the boss". I'm so pissed of his behavior, I try to catch him at ilvl that way I could be n°1 healer and change his behavior. How to deal with such asses.
My guild is a pure social guild. We don't do anything in the game together. No one likes the current Shadowlands release.That's fine. I get it. I have other toons.
Alternate title could be "How not to run a mythic raiding guild." Don't hold people accountable. Don't worry about people missing raids over and over. If someone goes afk for hours at a time, it's fine. Choose being nice over progression. :)
You shoud like say in the name of the vid. "social or pleab guild" you are not playing the same game as the mythic guilds and running a guild like that is wayyy diffrent
Not being cocky, I just get asked a lot:
US - Bleeding Hollow - Horde
We're not actively recruiting, but we have an open door policy =).
Just became the gm of a new guild [lifeboat] same server. Hope to see you guys around !!
Hey soul its been a while since i've watched the stream due to work etc,but i'm watching every video you are putting out.
A question i have for you that could be a topic for a video is how do you keep players around after progress is done?
In the past 5 years or so i've been in every position going from the newbie raider to officer to GM/RL to stepping up and being a newbie again in a world top 300 mythic raiding guild back to just being HC only casual raider being promoted to officer a while ago.
An issue i've encountered in multiple guilds especially in the hc only guilds is that once progress is done and the final boss in hc has been killed interest,participation and attendance will dwindle down week by week to a point where it starts to hurt the guild itself on raiding nights to the point where previously smooth boss kills will feel again like a progress night because we are lacking the players that were there when we initially killed the boss or shortly after on rekills the following weeks.
I completely understand that people have stuff to do outside of the game like work,school,family etc or simply taking a break or even quitting the game because they don't enjoy it anymore but they kept playing because they wanted to kill the final boss in the raid on hc and won't be active anymore once that boss has been killed.
My issue lies more with players that use hc only guilds like the one i am in as a stepping stone to move into a mythic guild after we are done progressing and on top of that other people leaving aswell because of the above mentioned reasons.
What i have noticed in multiple guilds i have been in is that every single time once the final boss has been killed and the team has gotten curve after 2-3 weeks suddenly a couple players dissapear,gquit or simply don't sign up for the raids anymore, causing the following reclears to be less smooth because you will have less players which for most bosses means it will be harder (lets say going from 17 players to 11 players) this will have a snowball effect where less players----->harder reclears----.less motivation---->more people leaving--->etc.
We do have a core group of raiders that will keep raiding and will stick together even in the down time but that group isn't enough to fill an entire raid team, we are constantly trying to recruit new people but as a hc only guild in my experience it is quite hard.( could also be a topic for its own video)
How do you exactly stand out and recruit as a hc only guild? because the way the game is designed content has become more and more approachable towards the pug players with things like community,lfg system cross realm raiding,personal loot and now discord (even though that is not by blizzard rather the wow community). Over the years there has been less appeal to raid in a guild and more just to clear a raid in a pug with the lfg system instead of joining a raiding guild and get your clear that way. on top of that on almost any given server there are loads of hc only guilds so its hard to stand out among the dozens of other guilds that can provide you the exact same thing being a set schedule, relaxing atmosphere (due to it being only hc) and a garenteed curve achievement eventually.
TLDR: how as a hc only guild do you avoid bleeding players after the end of any raiding tier durning the downtime between the next raid or even the next expansion and having to constantly recruit new players which causes the team and especially the officers/gm to be constantly having the feeling of having to play catch up where once we have recruited new players and bringing them up to speed with the rest of the raiding team. by that time we will have a couple weeks of solid raid progression with the same group, the final boss dies and the cycle will repeat itself.
final note yes we do (or at least attempt to) do optional alt runs,achievement runs,m+ runs etc trying to keep people interested but some simply don't have alts or have any interest in meta achievements or have 0 interest in doing m+ outside of the weekly 10 for the cache. and apologies for the horrible grammar and spelling since english isn't my native language. Thank you for reading through this horrible mess of a wall of text.
I don't have 2 hands can I still raid?
@@supermanthegod1785
Given the nature of the guild as Breezy describes it. I imagine the next question would be. Well can you play this game in whatever form that takes? And then take you along anyways.
Woah we’re on the same server!
I've been in a few guilds, two of which really meant something to me. The first significant guild I was in is where I met my girlfriend of 8 years. We're getting married in the spring. The second important guild is the one I'm in now. My girlfriend is our guild leader and raid leader and we have some awesome friends in this guild. Yeah, there are awful, toxic horrible guilds. But the good ones, man...the good ones can change your life.
How did the wedding go? 😃
Divorced?
Update?
Thanks for this. Learning how to run a small guild and slowly reaching the same conclusions as I go. Very motivating to keep going despite some hiccups we're facing. How I like to say: the loot will come and go but friends is what will stay!
Fun to get a sneak peak behind the curtain :). Was fun to get your 10 lessons you learned as a GM of a guild. I think it could help new players or returning players remember what to look for to maximize their fun in the game.
I'm really happy for you, Soul. I have only once been lucky enough to be in a guild like how you describe yours. It was back in TBC and I remember applying to this wannabe progression guild after most of my Warcraft 3 clan that I came over to this game with, had moved on. They were looking for a tank for their second Kara team, and I was accepted. Over the course of that expansion and in to Wrath, that was the most fun I ever had with the game and it all came down to my guildmates. They were a kick in the pants and even though we were serious about progressing, we all just generally enjoyed playing with one another. Sadly, the guild broke up when SWTOR came out and the guild moved to that game. Since I was one of the only ones left on WoW, I became guild master and tried to start over, but could never get it off the ground. My toons are now in all different guilds, (I have a 110+ of each class, 4 of them 120) but I've never been able to find a guild with that spark that my old TBC guild had. Anyway... Sorry so long. I'm happy for you, Soul! Keep it up, man!
I really appreciated this. It has given me aspirations to form my own guild in hopes of finding/building a community that I used to have back in wotlk
Thank you for this!! I’m a new GM of a classic guild on westfall. I have a really good community so far but always looking for ways to improve myself and help others, as well as keep the guild growing. Appreciate you and all the comments!
Breezy, this specific video hit close to home for me. You have earned my love and trust! Instant sub, much love man.
I miss my guild from wrath and cata from time to time but I'm happy to have found PoW. Definitely a big reason I haven't quit completely.
Loves the video. I’m a GM and Raid Lead of a fairly long standing causal guild that raids. Many great points... don’t think my guys would wait while I went and got tipsy with a buddy during progression but... you got some loyal dudes man!! Keep on keeping on and much love from the EU servers.
We did end up killing the boss we had been stuck at for a week or so even with soul drunk as hell, so it all worked out.
And then there's Mak
What I liked best about being in a guild was how everyone helped each other out. We didn't buy flasks, gear, or anything, we would just farm mats and have each member craft items as we needed them. I remember when I was an officer, I would get groups together and help members run dungeons for gear, mats, and recipes/schematics. I would also set times, for one or two hours max, where we would all get together and farm mats for professions, and have a good time laughing about silly stuff. I made sure there was always a variety of things to do, and tried not to do the same things two days in a row, unless we were very close to completing a new dungeon, etc. The whole point was that we were there to escape real life and have fun. Some nights, we would even spend time just exploring new scenic areas of the game. In the early years of WoW, it was popular to use Ventrillo. I set it up so that their were many channels. The officers had their own, which only they had access to, but their were other channels for members based on their type of play for the day. There was a main channel everyone would log into, but for people not in the raid, or for those levelling up fishing or just farming, there was another channel. I even set up a couple channels guildies could go into and have their own music playlists playing in. There was a message next to the channel which would display the song being played, so if you wanted to listen, you could just jump in. It is amazing how much these little quality of life aspects help make a guild function better. I would rather be part of a good casual raiding guild than a hardcore one. The whole point is to have fun while progressing. I'm hoping Blizzard isn't forced to make any changes to Classic WoW. Everyone will have to be in a guild to progress, and a lot of the nice older guilds, hopefully, will come back.
I came to a similar opinion on just how special my guild is. The Empire has been on Garona since vanilla and we are still chugging along. I am still having fun and I realize just how lucky I am to have such a great wow family. Funny enough our one big split came durring fire lands as well. We came to the same conclusion of it wasn't as important for us to be on the cutting edge as it was to be inclusive of our members. Thank you for sharing. Problems can always be found if you look for them in wow, but the same can be said about fun and friendships.
I'm the GM of my guild we've been around going on 14 yrs strong now and Every one of your points hits home with us. It's exactly how I run my guild. We have members from ages of 17-64 and we all have a ton of fun each night Doing w/e. Raiding,Dungeons Farming mounts,Helping alts.Etc.....Honestly my Guild is only reason I still play WoW they aren't just guildies their my gaming family and I love each of them.
How is the guild npw?
@@arti342ak Still going strong
Very cool vid Breezy! So much of what you've said rings true about my own experience in various guilds on Draenor. When I was first introduced to WoW, back in '05 Vanilla. A coworker of mine gave me one of those old 10 free trial cards. And yeah as soon as I started figuring the game out, it was oh wow what order I use my abilities actually matters to the fight I'm participating in. Toni was playing Alliance in a guild called Souls of Soldiers. So sure enough that's where I started out. A few months later big drama that I didn't witness caused a big chunk of the guild to splinter off and I went with them to the guild Manifest Destiny.
I gotta say, you really do sound like someone I'd get along with very well. But after all these years on the Alliance side. Yeah, I'm not faction/server hopping. But, I do really appreciate you doing this video. In fact one of the things you talk about, one of your hunters passing away and how hard it was on everyone. Really struck home for me. You see my sister and I were residing in the same household and WoW was one of the common activities that we both really enjoyed. On 1 March of 15 she died very suddenly. And after taking care of all the various aspects that RL tosses at you when something like that happens. I finally settled into a workable routine and even found time for WoW. The problem was, as soon as I'd start getting into the various activities. I catch myself saying or just thinking. "Hey we should go here and do that thing with that guy at that place" Insert whatever details you like to that. But then I'd look over, see her desk empty, and it would just hit me like a ton of bricks. It was bad enough that I spent the next four years away from WoW just to avoid being triggered into that same old grief. So yeah I totally get what an event like this can do to a groups dynamics.
In fact, I found your video because I was looking for information about how to use the guild finder. I kept thinking that I must be really stupid to not see how to access it. Well actually that was the video just prior to this one that I watched. Anyways, I have what now amounts to an alt bank guild with what I think is a very cool name. Abyss. Well who knows maybe 8.3 will see this feature see the light of day. Being able to invite offline characters into a guild would be such a good thing for me. I mean really, not having to rely on someone else just to get your own alt invited into the guild. Um yeah, sign me up right now. Cuz I'm sold.
Anyways, I guess I'm rambling here. If anyone has any advice on how to restart a guild and build it up recruitment wise. I'd sure appreciate the insights. Ciao for now. And I hope your day treats you well.
I'm in a different MMO but THANK YOU re: the 'leader doesn't have to be an "expert"' which feeds back to micromanaging. Leaders should lead: set structure, inspire, set some level of boundaries/expectations and goals - let people who know things come to share their expertise (theorycrafting, world bosses, heroic raids, PvP).
glad to know I'm not the only GM that runs there guild like that Happy New Year Soul hope you have a Great year
the guild where i play on Classic is going through a hard time, i might have to take the lead, or at least some kind of lead, and your video is exactly the kind of message that i needed to hear. Thank you :)
Soul, I admire you a lot bro. This video really shows how incredible you are man! Good for you bro!
THIS!!! This is why the game keeps on trecking even though the social side of the game has deteriorated much over the years, guilds keep that part of the game strong. Being in a guild is the ultimate cure to all this negativity surrounding Blizzzard news, as well as expansions having rough starts. I don't raid much anymore, but I am happy to be a part of what feels like my WoW family.
I finally have a little suggestion for your content Soul! Since you seem so tight with your guild experience, you could once in a while share an old guild story with your viewers. If you think the story is interesting or entertaining enough, it could be just what people need to hear why guilds can make the game so much better. Happy New Year!
Of course you feel comfortable in your bubble. Doesn't equate to the condition of the world as a whole.
Main lesson to remember. Some Guild masters and officers have ran a Guild for nearly 15 years. New members will come in and be angry they aren't in a leadership position within months. Players come and go.... make your loyal players who are in it for the long term your leadership!
I am also a GM and this really hit home with me. Good video bud!
100%. My guild has the 'feel' you're talking about. We're a family, who raids. Family first
I just watched your video and I really enjoyed it. I have many toons in several realms, and in many different guilds. I have "inherited" several of the guilds, but they are all basically dead except for my alts. I always hesitated to join guilds because most wanted to do raiding and I freeze at that word for the most part. I got a bad taste for them when doing Naxramus(?) once, and then another raid at another time, but I don't remember which one that was. Before WoW, I had never played a game like that before and was very "green" at playing by the normal standards. But anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that I appreciated seeing the GM's side of the guild.
I kind of wish I could join your guild right now, it sounds so chill TT; I need you guys in my life lol.
"...don't really care about gear."
Me: Ight imma head out
#10 also hits all points. I jumped around 6 guilds in Legion before finding my current (awesome) guild. No regrets.
You're speaking as a GM/RL. Some of these first points don't apply, or apply less, to just a GM. As just a GM, I fully admit I make a horrid RL, and let the RL make all the raid decisions, know all the raid comps, etc. If someone wants to know something about a quest, lore, an achieve, or other "casual" info, I'm your woman and they know that. We lost our RL at the start of Legion, and many of the raiders slowly trickled away after that when I couldn't find anyone to take his place. So now we are a guild of complete casuals that mostly don't raid, do our own thing, and most of my guildies have alli mains anymore, so I'm like a home for horde alts, which I'm ok with. I don't think I could handle a "true" guild environment anymore, I've gotten too used to playing on my own, on my own schedule, getting stuff done when I want and not when someone else wants. I still have my guild, the random people still log in and we talk. It's all I need.
Dragyngrl Dragyngrl it disappoints me to read this because I see this is a running trend with female guild masters. It’s not okay to always say ‘I wouldn’t make a good raid lead”!. Please take as little offense to this as possible but it’s time you LEARN to raid lead or else all you got is a casual cess pool. A long time ago, the dude who said he’d raid lead when we made my guild left too but you know what I did? I got good. I worked my ASS off. I met people willing to teach me and help me grow as a raider and leader. I researched, . I networked. I led pug after pug after pug and the people that were with me then respected me enough to stick with me. 3 and a half years later I am the GM and Raid Lead of an established knowledgeable and well respected server top 20 (albeit casual) social raiding guild. It’s fine if you have a casual place. We have an open door policy and casuals of all walks of life are always welcome but raiding is what brings your guild together. Why make a guild to simply have a 2nd trade chat? As a guild leader it is YOUR responsibility to pick up slack in ANY area and just letting your guilds raid scene die .... that’s not cool sis! I’m apologize for a little tough love but If you have been a GM long you have learned to be manny things, a friend, a therapist, a banker, a mathematician, so why is a raid lead any different than all this either hats you have learned to wear. My guild is a heroic and sometimes early mythic progression guild. To be honest the level at we raid happens to be my skill cap for a reason and there is nothing wrong with that. If you feel heroic raiding is too intimidating there are plenty of other players just like you who want a normal progress team. Anyway, said enough. Good luck. Just remember there is nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it and good luck.
@@BabyRhino I take no offence, however, it may make more sense if I extrapolate on my circumstances. I've been GM of this guild for 11 years, and it was only up until Legion when I could not find a raid lead. I have known for quite some time that raid leading was not my forte, and it became more difficult for me to even just RAID as time went on. See, I have Multiple Sclerosis, and I had to learn how to play through hands that could no longer feel the keyboard, muscles that will just randomly spasm for anywhere up to an hour, MS medications that can cause extreme drowsiness, and other MS related issues. However, I did learn to play through those issues in order to raid. Recently, however, my medical issues have become too much, and I had to withdraw myself from even helping out the raid teams of the several guilds I had connected with. I have had MS nearly half my life (I was diagnosed at 20, I am now 41), and have learned when I need to step back, when too much will possibly throw me into a relapse, and I knew that this was one of those times.
The reason the RL we had left was life issues, and he was one who had lead the team for 5 years. Before him was a friend that lead the team until he had decided to go full Mythic raiding, and my group was nowhere near ready for that at that time. We were casual Normal/Heroic progression, and for the people I had, that's what they wanted, which was fine, they were having fun. After 11 years I am too connected to the guild, to the super casuals that have been here since day 1, to disband the guild. Perhaps someday if/when my MS decides to give me a break I will again try to find someone to RL for me, but I know with all the issues my MS causes me, I cannot RL and GM. Even now when I try explaining things I KNOW I KNOW (such as how an achieve is done), it becomes difficult, as the words are there, I know WHAT I want to say, they just won't come out. It happens even when having regular conversations. Can you imagine a RL like that? It would not be condusive to a successful team.
I do what I do because I realize my limits that have been imposed by this disease. Believe me, there are many times I have wished I was "normal", and could realisticly do everything I have wished for my guild, but what I am able to do, I do to my best ability. Those that have stuck with me, with the guild, know my limits, understand my disappointment at myself for not being able to do everything, and they understand my daily fight to be as "normal" as I can be. So no, I take no offence. You had no knowledge of my, or the guilds, backstory. We've had a great 11 years with some terrific memories, hopefully we will have some more awesome years in the future.
First, you look very good for 60.......I enjoyed this. You gave real feelings for people that you spend a lot of time with, in game and outside of game. You have very good points on what a guild could/should be. I have been in a few guilds...I prefer not to remember them. Hope your festive season was good. Positive thoughts and comments....much needed at this point. Thank you.
Heeeey, first vid of the year!! Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas🎄🎅🎁.....and wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year!! 🎊🎆
Hey Ateesh, Happy New Year!
Hey Lorrie, Happy New year to you and your family too 🎆📣🍻
i've been saying this for years of your gear point. it drops when it drops and not get frazzled when your best in slot doesnt drop. I've been apart of too many raid groups including raid lead or assist for years, this video is preaching to my choir. It does not help my jaded raiding on wow hope.
Thank you I plan on starting my own, caveout, shoot the shit, sounds familiar from a career field! Thanks brother!
yup , thank you for your service! (SME) sold you out XD
I'm glad that some people find enjoyment from guilds. I've never been so fortunate. Every time I work up the ability to join one or start raiding again, I almost always encounter some dreaded loot council or niche group that runs that guild that basically exploits everyone else in the guild, and most of those people being exploit hate it, but "tolerate" it because they feel that being in a guild is necessary to "winning" at the game.
you've must been in some shitty guilds then i've been in a couple guilds over the past few years and never had such an issue with guilds
I know that I've been in over a dozen raiding guilds and probably a two-dozen "casual" guilds over the decade and a half that I've been playing. Inner circles, loot councils, and plain-old favoritism was overly abound in all of them.
While I have friends that play most of them feel too "locked" into their guilds to leave so that we can create our own guilds. Raid/RBG schedules lock us in from grouping together as well. My experience isn't unique, in other words.
i guess i have been lucky or you have been unlucky depends on perspective i guess,
i'm assuming you are doing hc raiding in that case all i can say is if you don't like the current guild you are in just leave and find a different one. BFA isn't in the best position right now especially within the community perception so there are a metric fuckton of guilds recruiting their ass off trying to find new players because so many guilds are just bleeding players left and right.personally i've found it easy to be accepted into any hc only guild if you are at least a decent player and will simply show up to the raid on a consistend basis and prepared.
On the matter of your friends being fragmented all i can say is thats what BNET is for to keep in contact and being easily be able to do anything together outside of mythic raiding before the first 100 worldwide kills and having the faction restriction.
Guild leading freak! Ive lead top notch guilds and seen rise and fall the difference between you and me is paranoia PTSD settles in after 5 years til this day my best rains resulted in world chaos, truancy, and overthrowing over head management.
Ive been banned more then 5 times from one game
I feel like a tyrant still to this day from outspark fiesta online to soldier front all the way to warface 2019 pandemic.
The best tactic is placing people in the correct roll in mmorpg.
Build against character weaknesses, take the enemies as jokes and play tactical, timing is everything in certain maps.
3 seconds from round start can equal death...
These days i dont lead by choice because life takes over
Even as a member of a good guild #8 really is true. We're all there together, gear doesn't really matter.
New guild master here. We plan on raiding in wrath of the lich king, I’ve been trying to think of guild events that will build synergy and give out cool prizes
Guild race
Tldr....time for a revolution and to overthrow the dictator named Soul....start printing pamphlets 🙃
Good for you Soul and wish if others would learn these great lessons as well 👍, funny some know about these issues yet still fall to the same treadmill over and over, lesson 6/7 really screwed up my last 3 guilds I gave up and went solo for the past year+
Awe Soul! I love my guild :)
I have been GM of Circle of Divine Hippies on Silverhand for I think about 10 years.
It's a good way to have a guild but these kinds of guilds are rare and getting more rare as time goes on so it's very hard to find these guilds especially if you can't move server. Which is a real shame.
Good contribution. Schedule is very important, habit, consideration that "mature" ppl have lives outside wow.
"Prisoners of Warcraft" fuck man I wish I thought of that.
I didn't. I thought agagaga that's dum okay I'll join anyway
i got a question for you,how do you decide who to promote to officer how do you know they deserve it?
I want to find a gild like yours .. !
My guild was complete freak show of power and buyouts due to my descent into the work force in 2009
If i want someone rubbed out, framed, or thrown in gaming jail it happened.
ups for the wow music in the back!
Too early for bob's wisdom More BOB
They should put an age requirement for this Game
can we get a updated one this was a great vid just started my first guild after being officer for a couple years, becoming GM for are second guild :)
I am 12 and on the title screen? It said 11 so can I still watch this?
You run your guild like I do :) That is why we have been around so long :)
And hey, Firelands schism is how I joined raid group. So I'm appreciative ;p
Dont wanna sound like a dick, but running like-yours guild, guild that doesnt progress mythic and doesnt need to deal with stuff like strict 20 man raiding, benching, performance expectations, preparing raid comps and such, it's such an easy work. Honestly, on your level, when someone is being toxic or dick, kick him, you are done. Then you just need stable flow of new people and make a friendly collective :) In my guild, I need to actually think what I am doing to not hurt our progress team, so it doesnt affect another 20-30 people. If I do one bad decision, whole guild can go to hell because people are striving for it and it depends solely on you.
You can do stuff you do with players on any level with any raid comp, with a bit of leadership. But when you start progressing mythic, stuff gets way harder and problems you start facing are on completely different level than yours. Believe me there is nothing more hard than having to bench long time guildmate because he is not catching up with others for some reason. It gets more competitive, some people dont catch up and feel left out, better people tend to be more toxic, this shit is hard.
Just a bit disappointed, though this kind of videos will be done by someone who is actually leading a more progressive guild and solving actuall issues. You are talking about leading the guild but in the end you end up saying, that you are glad that you can avoid a lot of stuff that you should actually be doing. What is the point then? When you just wanna play the game as you say, dont make a guild lol.
PoW mantra - "It's not a problem until it's a problem"
i can't stands guilds that won't give you a second chance from a mistake that you did
Advice to everyone watching this video, If you are ever in a guild where your GM often goes AFK during progression raiding nights and is apart of your raid team to have * beers with friends* leaving the rest of your team hanging, Leave that guild, he / she does not respect your time or you as a person. But if you find someone disrespecting your time and you as a person to be *fun* then ignore my comment and join a guild like SoulsoBreezy here, i am sure their are tons of people out there ready and willing to take advantage of you and your time.
Where is your Join option to send some scrap your way to help support the channel?
This made me really wanna be in your guild but, i main alli, and i am on the way wrong server T^T
I can't find a guild like the army works because without rules, this goes wrong. I'm in a "HPS race" with à monk in my guild, he as a little more hps thank me, but he as 8 ilvl more than me. Hé is a really ass hole he comes in raid with 45 min late, and say" I come we down the boss". I'm so pissed of his behavior, I try to catch him at ilvl that way I could be n°1 healer and change his behavior. How to deal with such asses.
My guild is a pure social guild. We don't do anything in the game together. No one likes the current Shadowlands release.That's fine. I get it. I have other toons.
Alternate title could be "How not to run a mythic raiding guild." Don't hold people accountable. Don't worry about people missing raids over and over. If someone goes afk for hours at a time, it's fine. Choose being nice over progression. :)
JBrandonMercer123 as a GM of a mythic raid guild, I would agree but he said he was super casual at the beginning
jesus 11 years
And this video was four years ago
o no cool dude
Correct psychology. Call them by name too, if possible
Just posted a video about my own thoughts about being a GM. Check it out!
really like ?
You shoud like say in the name of the vid. "social or pleab guild" you are not playing the same game as the mythic guilds and running a guild like that is wayyy diffrent
U can please some of the people some of the time bu no all of the people all of the time. Be fair, consistent, and active.
something
I made this comment from my grandma's. Get bent soul
Wow... that intro did not age well
Well..it aged about two years but otherwise I have no idea what you're talking about