Thinking of starting a GvG guild - need help/advice/tips. - Guild Wars Forums

Reikai · Jun 05, 2006, 10:41 AM // 10:41

Well, I can say I'm pretty experienced in GuildWars. 12 months, with GvG, HoH, and PvE experience.

However, one thing I have never actually gotten around to doing, is to make my own guild. I've joined some decent guilds, and done my thing, however, there is one big problem. No one ever plays during my Time Zone (GMT+9.)

Another "big" (some might agree...) problem I find, is that many "GvG Geared" guilds eventually turn into HoH/fame farming guilds... which I'm not exactly a big fan of.

Therefore, for the first time, I am thinking about creating my own guild.

As stated, one/some of the biggest problems I face are finding people who play in my time zone (GMT+9) and like to play GvG.

I don't really want to start spamming LA, or HA for recruitment, because I don't have that much time to actually do that ... ( and the people you pick up are probably sub-par anyway.)

Finally, guild management. I have no idea how and when to promote people to officers. I don't want the guild to become a PvE geared guild... so well yeah... I don't want to blindly just make people officers, and have the guild roster filled up the next day :/

Anyway in a nutshell, what tips/advice I'm looking for:
- How to find people who are in my Timezone.
- How to find people interested in GvG
- How to choose when to promote people to Officers.
- How to make sure people stay in the guild, and won't leave the next day because the rosters not full/we havn't gotten enough people to GvG.
- How to manage the guild.
- How to pick good/decent people. *I don't exactly want to be dealing with total newbies/n00bs.*

TheYellowKid · Jun 05, 2006, 01:00 PM // 13:00

Quote:

- How to find people who are in my Timezone.

Even though you say you dont have time the quickest way is to spam around with your location and aim and hope for the best!

Quote:

How to find people interested in GvG

could be tough ive tried to get more GvG minded people and am actually looking for someone to organize GvG's constantly but as yet still lookin

again spamming is all i can think of unless you have friend IG that can help you or suggest people

Quote:

How to choose when to promote people to Officers.

I promote based on:
Experience: This is in terms of how long they've played so i kno they kno at least the basics, even though this in itself doesnt gaurantee that they will be any good.
Activity: As officers i need them to be as active or more active then me, offline for 3 days without a good reason = instant demotion, it gives other members a bad image when officers and leaders arent online that much. In the Guild i was in previous to starting my own there were some officers i never saw online, in my Guild now all my officers are online everyday 90% of the time.
Communication People who dont use Guild Chat or dont seem friendly wont make the cut, random talking in the guild makes it seem lots more welcome, ive lost count the amount of times ive come online seen 6/7 people in my guild online and said hi and no ones replied, also if ive never chatted to the person and neither have my officers they cant be officers because they feel like strangers, as officers you have to feel you can trust them and with my Guild atm i feel lucky with the officers i have.

Overall though you have to go with gut reaction at the beginning and not rush the amount of officers, atm im going for 1 officer per 10 people but if any exceptional people come along that will bring a lot to the guild they may make the cut.

Quote:

How to make sure people stay in the guild, and won't leave the next day because the rosters not full/we havn't gotten enough people to GvG.

Be active! Thats the main thing i would say and talk to your members. You will always lose people that goes hand in hand with guilds, but with your goal you would prob only need 12-15 people and with organised times (forum ftw) then you can hopefully make sure that when you want to GvG they will come. Also be regular with your matches 1 a week isnt enough and people will definetly leave prob 2 - 3 a day would be a nice aim. Also maybe join an alliance with a like-minded so that if your numbers are short you can pickup subs from another guild making sure you can reach your goal.

Quote:

How to manage the guild.

Not sure 100% what you mean by this but make sure you have the essentials:
Forum - so you can organise times to meet, strategise and plan builds. Getting everything down so others can read and critique helps loads
TS/Vent - Make sure you have some sort of voice communication, i use TS and works fine with 6 of us on their (that was the most i had on their but shouldnt be a prob with 8 or more) www.nickserve.com is what i use, its free and easy to set up. Make sure on the forum you have details on the server address, password and setting up etc and test the codec your going to use. Also make sure everyone has the client BEFORE your getting ready to go into a battle, trust me its annoyoing as hell waiting for people to reroll then get TS then ask you the details. ive waitied maybe 20 mins or so to get started once not even including getting everyone into my GH lol

Quote:

How to pick good/decent people. *I don't exactly want to be dealing with total newbies/n00bs.*

Play with them! Thats prob the only way give them a test run if they dont meet your requirements give them the boot or help them learn, if you have an alliance Scrimmages are the answer! Other then that i have no idea most people lie when it comes to detailing their experience or they sell themselves short, i kno i did in a FPS i used to play then got told i was pretty good and invited to a clan, surprised the hell out of me lol

Think thats about everything i can think of.

Also (and hope this aint against the rules) but my guild is in an alliance with some good GvG guilds one was ranked 150 or so in the last ladder and one of the others seems to mainly do GvG so if u want to join when u've got your guild sorted out let me kno (IGN: Jace Ventro) cos i want to set up inter alliance scrimmages on a regular basis so my guild can get better and UH always seem to have experienced GvG players on to help out. Im not AL so its not a definet but worth a shot if u want to join an alliance quick

Good Luck, guilds are a lot of hard work at times but having good officers eases the burden a ton

dansamy · Jun 05, 2006, 03:19 PM // 15:19

If you are serious about starting your own guild, it's best to start with a small group of dedicated friends. These will be your officers as well.

And is GMT+9 the same thing as US Pacific time?

TheYellowKid · Jun 05, 2006, 07:20 PM // 19:20

not everyone has that luxury tho, ive only met one person on GW that i kept in contact with from another guild and he was my first invite everyone after that were randoms, but luckily so far i havent made a bad choice with my officers, my initial ones were people who i learned had been officers and leaders previously through talking to them (i didnt directly ask them people can lie lol) so far ive had 6 officers, 2 have left so far.. one 2 help a friend and another to start a sister guild.

Ventius Hozza · Jun 05, 2006, 09:33 PM // 21:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansamy

If you are serious about starting your own guild, it's best to start with a small group of dedicated friends. These will be your officers as well.

Indeed, this is probably the single best way to start and maintain your own guild without risk of failure. If you play a lot (which I'm assuming that you do) then you'll pick up friends (which I assume you have done) and the people who you play with the most are probably best for you to begin your guild with, as they are in the same time zone, or roughly, they won't quit and they are competent at what they are doing.

The guild officer number should be pretty small compared to your members, maybe one per 5~6 members or so and promote them when you are satisfied of their commitance to the guild, and acknowledge their dedication. To keep people interested, keep telling them things will change, and prove yourself right. Being online often is also a good morale booster as some new members might be disheartened if their guildmates (especially the leader) is not on for 2days or more without notice.

Yeah, I'm not a leader myself, nor want to be one but I know what I'd really want in a guild and... yeah stuck for words. PM me ingame if you want any clarification or anything like that.

GL with the guild, let us know how you got on

Reikai · Jun 06, 2006, 08:25 AM // 08:25

The thing is, most of my "friends" are already in guilds, and don't really need another guild :/

MrScaRy · Jun 06, 2006, 11:30 AM // 11:30

oooh! Reikai! i was in the same team as you in HoH doing rspike and yes Japanese accent ftw

anyway, one thing to make sure is to decide whether you're going to be a competitive gvg guild (aiming for rank, record etc) or just a guild with a probably larger player base, that is more relaxed, just gvging for fun not caring about rank that much etc..

nohooiam · Jun 06, 2006, 04:22 PM // 16:22

reikai, why dont you join Chaos Sanctuary or Supernova Japan?

They're in an American PvP alliance, so you can still play with the English crowd.

Ventius Hozza · Jun 06, 2006, 04:28 PM // 16:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by nohooiam

reikai, why dont you join Chaos Sanctuary or Supernova Japan?

They're in an American PvP alliance, so you can still play with the English crowd.

Depends on rank etc., anywhos the thread is about creating a guild, so the only other option I can think of that's pretty failsafe is convincing your frirnds to leave their existing one... which will be hard but not impossible. Failing that, I suggest joining one of their guilds, or similar...

Sorry, starting a guild from scratch with no friends to help is pretty tough

llsektorll · Jun 07, 2006, 05:42 PM // 17:42

a have a few advices for you

1. DO NOT SNAG A TOP 100 GUILDS BUILD... find a build that is effective for your guild... it is not the build that makes you win it is dependent on the players that run the build that decide how effective it is. I know it is easier said than done but once you find it you can expect yourself to be atleat top300...

2. FIND SERIOUS PLAYERS... doesn't have to be serious all the time just when it counts in battle...

3. The most important is TO GET A GOOD LEADER... you know a good leader when you see one... they are cool headed and calls good tactics... leaders that say i wish to be the leader are rarely good ... most just want to be leader for the power and just end up not having the right criteria to push the guild to higher rating.

4. Try to refrain from "I have a friend who wants to join" invites... they tend to be bad players just getting reffered in...

Good luck and have fun

Da Deathblade · Jun 07, 2006, 06:03 PM // 18:03

Ya, and if you don't think your ready to lead a guild...you should join an already established PvP guild and stick with them for a while and see how a good leader leads, and you might be able to get some good ideas on how to run a guild from that. Also, Chaossanctuary and SpNv are very good guilds, hovering in the top 100 range as they always do. Their in the TLA alliance which is a good thing to consider getting ideas from :P Question is are they recruiting?

Good luck!

Senator Tom · Jun 07, 2006, 09:37 PM // 21:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by llsektorll

4. Try to refrain from "I have a friend who wants to join" invites... they tend to be bad players just getting reffered in...

are you calling yourself a bad player? you wouldnt be in the guild you're in now if i hadn't referred you

Forsaken Druid · Jun 08, 2006, 12:57 AM // 00:57

My suggestion is to go pre or post ascalon, most people therre tend not to have a guild and you can get them pretty ez. also alot of my friendships tend to have started there, its a good spot.if you want a good guild then don't advertise it, advertising guild enlistment is a risky business, you don;t know who you are getting.

nohooiam · Jun 08, 2006, 08:36 PM // 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forsaken Druid

My suggestion is to go pre or post ascalon, most people therre tend not to have a guild and you can get them pretty ez.

this is fine for a casual pve guild.

unfortunately, the OP wants to start a competitive GvG guild.

Zui · Jun 09, 2006, 09:01 AM // 09:01

1. Get friends to be officers. Promote only players that you trust to officer.

2. Get a fourm. Spam in some PvP place that you're recruiting for a new GvG guild, and give genral info along with a link. Have an official application process, require them to post whatever information you deem relavent. Also tell them they shouldn't apply unless they can make the time you're planning to do GvGs. Do not make any exceptions to the applications process, unless you already know the person, and know they're what you're looking for. No friend of a guy who got in invites, those always end in disaster.

3. Play with serious applicants in TA. Make sure you use voice chat. This should, in the end, weed out all the players who just won't work. Have the good ones guest GvG with you if you're big enough, or just invite them after you know they're what you want.

4. After you have a team of decent players, go through and work out your build. If you're unsure of it, post it at a place such as here and let other people give feedback. Test the build, make any improvments or changes as needed. Master your one build, then move onto others if you want. Playing am eitirely different build every time is just not that great since you'll have little practice or experience with it.

5. Try to work out as much pre-determined strategy as you can. Odds are you're going to have to change it up, but having somthing can help alot with those "what do we do" moments that some teams tend to run into often. Pre-defined splits, and res orders are really great. Pre-defined tactics for certian maps or against certiain general types of builds are good too, even if it's somthing as simple as who gets the flag at the start and who gets the repair kit on warriors isle, or somthing as simple as a pre-defined inturupt chain against a spike. As always, mistakes happen, and plans need to be changed. Alot easeir to change your plan if you have one though, and your mistakes usualy aren't as bad when everyone is doing the same thing, instead of one player saying "retreat" 6 people falling back to footmen, and two falling back to the guild lord, then everyone wondering what the others are doing.

Hopefuly this helps.

Acca · Jun 09, 2006, 02:07 PM // 14:07

Which region of the game are you in? North America? If so it's no surprise that there aren't many people in your timezone online.

Anyway, even though Australians are by default put into the European region, I know a lot of us (for some reason..) move over to the North American region to form guilds and such. Australia's timezone ranges from GMT +8 to GMT +10 this time of year, so as far as your timezone is concerned looking for Australian guilds might not be a bad idea and should be relatively easy to do.

That is, unless the Australian guilds you contact have a problem with non-Australians (it was implied above that you are Japanese so I will assume you are living in Japan, can't think if why anyone would have a problem with that but nowhere is without its abundance of morons), or you have a problem with Australians (but then again, who does?

).

I was going to respond to the other aspects of your post but then I read the replies, and most of what I would have said has been covered. Good luck, though.

Jun 05, 2006, 10:41 AM // 10:41	#1
Reikai Krytan Explorer Join Date: Aug 2005 Profession: R/	Thinking of starting a GvG guild - need help/advice/tips. Well, I can say I'm pretty experienced in GuildWars. 12 months, with GvG, HoH, and PvE experience. However, one thing I have never actually gotten around to doing, is to make my own guild. I've joined some decent guilds, and done my thing, however, there is one big problem. No one ever plays during my Time Zone (GMT+9.) Another "big" (some might agree...) problem I find, is that many "GvG Geared" guilds eventually turn into HoH/fame farming guilds... which I'm not exactly a big fan of. Therefore, for the first time, I am thinking about creating my own guild. As stated, one/some of the biggest problems I face are finding people who play in my time zone (GMT+9) and like to play GvG. I don't really want to start spamming LA, or HA for recruitment, because I don't have that much time to actually do that ... ( and the people you pick up are probably sub-par anyway.) Finally, guild management. I have no idea how and when to promote people to officers. I don't want the guild to become a PvE geared guild... so well yeah... I don't want to blindly just make people officers, and have the guild roster filled up the next day :/ Anyway in a nutshell, what tips/advice I'm looking for: - How to find people who are in my Timezone. - How to find people interested in GvG - How to choose when to promote people to Officers. - How to make sure people stay in the guild, and won't leave the next day because the rosters not full/we havn't gotten enough people to GvG. - How to manage the guild. - How to pick good/decent people. I don't exactly want to be dealing with total newbies/n00bs. Last edited by Reikai; Jun 05, 2006 at 10:44 AM // 10:44..

Jun 09, 2006, 02:07 PM // 14:07	#16
Acca Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Australia Guild: Pirates of the Searing [YoHo] Profession: R/	Which region of the game are you in? North America? If so it's no surprise that there aren't many people in your timezone online. Anyway, even though Australians are by default put into the European region, I know a lot of us (for some reason..) move over to the North American region to form guilds and such. Australia's timezone ranges from GMT +8 to GMT +10 this time of year, so as far as your timezone is concerned looking for Australian guilds might not be a bad idea and should be relatively easy to do. That is, unless the Australian guilds you contact have a problem with non-Australians (it was implied above that you are Japanese so I will assume you are living in Japan, can't think if why anyone would have a problem with that but nowhere is without its abundance of morons), or you have a problem with Australians (but then again, who does? ). I was going to respond to the other aspects of your post but then I read the replies, and most of what I would have said has been covered. Good luck, though. Last edited by Acca; Jun 09, 2006 at 02:14 PM // 14:14..

Jun 05, 2006, 03:19 PM // 15:19	#3
dansamy Chasing Dragons Join Date: May 2005 Location: Lost in La-La Land Guild: LFGuild Profession: Mo/Me	If you are serious about starting your own guild, it's best to start with a small group of dedicated friends. These will be your officers as well. And is GMT+9 the same thing as US Pacific time?

Jun 05, 2006, 07:20 PM // 19:20	#4
TheYellowKid Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Feb 2006 Guild: Mina Sucks [Blz]	not everyone has that luxury tho, ive only met one person on GW that i kept in contact with from another guild and he was my first invite everyone after that were randoms, but luckily so far i havent made a bad choice with my officers, my initial ones were people who i learned had been officers and leaders previously through talking to them (i didnt directly ask them people can lie lol) so far ive had 6 officers, 2 have left so far.. one 2 help a friend and another to start a sister guild.

Jun 06, 2006, 08:25 AM // 08:25	#6
Reikai Krytan Explorer Join Date: Aug 2005 Profession: R/	The thing is, most of my "friends" are already in guilds, and don't really need another guild :/

Jun 06, 2006, 11:30 AM // 11:30	#7
MrScaRy Academy Page Join Date: Jun 2005	oooh! Reikai! i was in the same team as you in HoH doing rspike and yes Japanese accent ftw anyway, one thing to make sure is to decide whether you're going to be a competitive gvg guild (aiming for rank, record etc) or just a guild with a probably larger player base, that is more relaxed, just gvging for fun not caring about rank that much etc..

Jun 06, 2006, 04:22 PM // 16:22	#8
nohooiam Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Apr 2005 Guild: Forsaken Sanctuary Profession: Mo/Me	reikai, why dont you join Chaos Sanctuary or Supernova Japan? They're in an American PvP alliance, so you can still play with the English crowd.

Jun 07, 2006, 05:42 PM // 17:42	#10
llsektorll Desert Nomad Join Date: May 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada Profession: R/	a have a few advices for you 1. DO NOT SNAG A TOP 100 GUILDS BUILD... find a build that is effective for your guild... it is not the build that makes you win it is dependent on the players that run the build that decide how effective it is. I know it is easier said than done but once you find it you can expect yourself to be atleat top300... 2. FIND SERIOUS PLAYERS... doesn't have to be serious all the time just when it counts in battle... 3. The most important is TO GET A GOOD LEADER... you know a good leader when you see one... they are cool headed and calls good tactics... leaders that say i wish to be the leader are rarely good ... most just want to be leader for the power and just end up not having the right criteria to push the guild to higher rating. 4. Try to refrain from "I have a friend who wants to join" invites... they tend to be bad players just getting reffered in... Good luck and have fun

Jun 07, 2006, 06:03 PM // 18:03	#11
Da Deathblade Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: CA Profession: W/	Ya, and if you don't think your ready to lead a guild...you should join an already established PvP guild and stick with them for a while and see how a good leader leads, and you might be able to get some good ideas on how to run a guild from that. Also, Chaossanctuary and SpNv are very good guilds, hovering in the top 100 range as they always do. Their in the TLA alliance which is a good thing to consider getting ideas from :P Question is are they recruiting? Good luck!

Jun 08, 2006, 12:57 AM // 00:57	#13
Forsaken Druid Ascalonian Squire Join Date: May 2006 Location: In a undisclosed location Guild: Legends in Blood Profession: Me/E	My suggestion is to go pre or post ascalon, most people therre tend not to have a guild and you can get them pretty ez. also alot of my friendships tend to have started there, its a good spot.if you want a good guild then don't advertise it, advertising guild enlistment is a risky business, you don;t know who you are getting.

Jun 09, 2006, 09:01 AM // 09:01	#15
Zui Desert Nomad Join Date: Mar 2006 Guild: The Benecia Renovatio [RenO] Profession: Mo/	1. Get friends to be officers. Promote only players that you trust to officer. 2. Get a fourm. Spam in some PvP place that you're recruiting for a new GvG guild, and give genral info along with a link. Have an official application process, require them to post whatever information you deem relavent. Also tell them they shouldn't apply unless they can make the time you're planning to do GvGs. Do not make any exceptions to the applications process, unless you already know the person, and know they're what you're looking for. No friend of a guy who got in invites, those always end in disaster. 3. Play with serious applicants in TA. Make sure you use voice chat. This should, in the end, weed out all the players who just won't work. Have the good ones guest GvG with you if you're big enough, or just invite them after you know they're what you want. 4. After you have a team of decent players, go through and work out your build. If you're unsure of it, post it at a place such as here and let other people give feedback. Test the build, make any improvments or changes as needed. Master your one build, then move onto others if you want. Playing am eitirely different build every time is just not that great since you'll have little practice or experience with it. 5. Try to work out as much pre-determined strategy as you can. Odds are you're going to have to change it up, but having somthing can help alot with those "what do we do" moments that some teams tend to run into often. Pre-defined splits, and res orders are really great. Pre-defined tactics for certian maps or against certiain general types of builds are good too, even if it's somthing as simple as who gets the flag at the start and who gets the repair kit on warriors isle, or somthing as simple as a pre-defined inturupt chain against a spike. As always, mistakes happen, and plans need to be changed. Alot easeir to change your plan if you have one though, and your mistakes usualy aren't as bad when everyone is doing the same thing, instead of one player saying "retreat" 6 people falling back to footmen, and two falling back to the guild lord, then everyone wondering what the others are doing. Hopefuly this helps.