Hello everyone! With Shadowlands coming out in November 1st and everything we've seen and know about Castle Nathria and Torghast, there is going to be a lot of people looking for a raiding focused guild, and if you are not looking for one, you might be looking to create your own raiding guild. So, I'm going to teach you guys not only how to build one, but more importantly sustain a successful raiding guild in the upcoming expansion.
WoW Shadowlands Raiding Guild
What Comes First?
Your first step will be asking yourself what is the reason you want to create a raiding guild, and you need to be 100% completely honest with yourself here. If your sole reason for creating a raiding guild is because you think everyone else is not as good as you are, and/or everyone else is stupid, you're going to have a very bad time running a successful raiding guild. These should be created with the intention of nurturing a fun, friendly, engaging and committed group of raiders. Being good takes time and training, why not help the process?
There's also the mission of your guild to consider. Are you looking to create a casual raiding guild where anyone can join and take a shot at raiding every weekend? Is it just for you and a group of close friends to do casual runs and have fun? Or are you going for the top spot in Mythic raiding in your realm? It is good that you answer these questions before you start gathering people up for your councilor officer core.
Now, it is also very important to not create your guild before you have enough people to sign the charter. What this means is, don't rush it. If you don't have the right people to create your guild, then it is simply a waste of time to create it because you won't have the input of the other core to steer the ship, so to speak. It'll be easier to get things started if you establish that core group of 5 people early on, because they'll not only help you establish the guild's "Mission Statement", but they can be there to keep things moving whenever you're offline.
Creating your guild with this group is especially important because if you all created the guild's mission statement, then that means you're all in the same page when it comes to managing the guild. This is incredibly important. You do not want people saying one thing in regards to an issue and then someone else saying something completely different. This will create problems. And don't get me wrong, problems will be inevitable in a guild, but you want to avoid as many as you can.
Once you have rallied up this group of people -and created your guild- you can start assigning roles and tasks to go along with these roles. This is going to be a very important part of keeping your guild healthy and active, because when it is up and running, there's going to be a lot of pressure on you and delegating these responsibilities will ensure things can be done effectively and will run smoothly in the beginning. The last thing you want is people just up and leaving your guild due to lack of activity, this is important starting a new expansion like Shadowlands since people are going to be racing to the PVE content (Namely raids or mythic+ dungeons) as soon as it comes out. So, having member that know what you're looking for in guildies is definitely a plus.
Also keep in mind, having too many members in your council can make the other members feel excluded and create an unwelcoming environment in your guild. So, try to keep that council within the 4 to 6 members.
WoW Shadowlands Raiding Guild - Assigning Roles In your Guild
Assigning Roles In your Guild
Now onto the topic of your guild ranks
- Guild Master
- Officer (Loot Council)
- Raider
- Alts
- Trial Raider
- Member
- Social
- Trial
This layout is a very standard one, it's one that's used by many a guild already and it's quite intuitive. However, this doesn't mean you can't mix it up and change the name of the ranks, maybe even use them to fit the theme of your guild. Don't be afraid to be creative. But do try to keep the structure of it, since it'll make it very simple to keep track of people in your roster and what their current role in the guild is.
So, to begin with your first role, we have the Guild Leader.This role is quite obvious, any guild needs to have a Guild Leader and this is going to be the person running the whole show as the guild master. However, it is important this person is not in charge of everything or you'll run the risk of the person getting burned out or stressed out over their role in the guild. It is also important this is an accessible person; someone everyone can talk to about any problem they may have. Whether it's an issue with another guildmate, an officer, raid scheduling, absences, in-game questions, etc.
The Guild Leader should be a person whose knowledge about the game is uncanny, they also have to be very clear and be able to get across what they're trying to say effectively. This won't only be the second person making executive decisions when it comes to raids, they will be the first person dealing with all the day to day work with general guild affairs. Now, given there are many guilds with just as many different goals, I will not say there is only a one-way road of going about doing this, but we can tell you from experience that there are better ways to go about things, as well as worse ways.
WoW Shadowlands Raiding Guild - The Raid Leader
The Raid Leader
This particular approach is a good cop/bad cop kind of situation. The person that's going to be the Raid Leaderwill be the person that's going to call out people's shortcomings during raids, their mistakes, he's going to keep them focused and push the raid team forward. That being said, this doesn't mean they have to be a complete jerk, their job is to say what needs to be said and when it needs to be said to keep the raid moving. They are -just as anyone else- a player, and they're also trying to enjoy the game. They can let loose, be friendly, joke around but when the raid starts, they are all business. On the other hand, the Guild Leader will be the person to come up at the end of the day and say "Good job, everyone", the person the raiders can go talk to after the run is done and the person to reassure them, while also being honest about what happens or has happened.
The Raid Leaderwill also be in charge of all the scheduling issues when it comes to raiding, being the raid itself, what people show up on time or even show up at all, who causes problems during raid nights, who's dying a lot, who doesn't take the whole thing seriously, all these things that affect the overall performance of the raid runs. But keep in mind it is up to the opinion of the entire core groupwhat is acceptable for the raider rank and what is not. Keep in mind, if you're striving for a competitive mythic raid guild, you can't be dealing with troublesome raiders, or people who are not committed when the race for Castle Nathria begins.
Recruitment
Next you need to have a Recruiting Officer this person, of course, is the person who is going to be recruiting people people for the guild. Now, before going into much detail, by far the best way to get good members, and active members into your guild is through connections and friends. Having other friends in the guild encourages players to stay, put some effort into the guild, since they're not just playing with a bunch of randoms, they're playing with people they know. Another very efficient way of recruiting members for your guild is by running public raids, using the looking for group tab. This method is good when you don't have a solid group of at least 30 people, because it allows others to view your guild, and see how you run bosses. Plus, it's an efficient way to use your time. Not only do you have the potential of recruiting new members, you also complete the raid and gear up your members at the same time. After it is all said and done, all your officer has to do is take the people they saw performed well aside and tell them what your guild is all about, your mission and if they'd like to join. Depending on how the run goes, some people might even ask to join by themselves.
Another important mission the Recruitment Officer(s) should be concerned with is the raiding trials. Not everything about the raiding process should be in the hands of the Raid Leaderbecause that's an awful lot of work. With all the things they have to keep in mind, keeping track of all the trials will just have your Raid Leadercrankier than they should be. Not to say they shouldn't know what's going on (the core should also be aware of how the trials are going) but they can't be in charge of everything. This job is particularly important because you're going to want to have a reserve of raiders on call every raid night. It's good to have between 22 to 30 raiders ready during these nights, because this will keep the pressure on the people that are going, and you also don't have to worry if someone doesn't show up for some reason.
These trials usually last a couple of weeks, however the time can be extended or even reduced depending on how the person performs. Someone that comes prepared, knows their role and mechanics, and maybe even helps out with consumables or anything else can have their trial time reduced or maybe even replace someone whose performance is subpar. On the other hand, someone that doesn't show up, is performing poorly or creates trouble can (and should) have their trial time extended, or even never leave the trial rank. It will be up to them to see if they up their game or if the guild is simply not for them. Your Recruitment Officershould be aware of this and if the person simply isn't worth the time and effort, they should make the decision (with the input of the core) of letting the person go.
Delegating Tasks
While we're on the topic of the Recruitment Officerit is good that we talk about delegating tasks. This is (like in any management position) one of the most important, and often overlooked, practices you need to get good at. No one person can run an entire raiding guild by themselves, it takes an insane amount of work and, honestly, no one person should ever have that much power in their hands. Having an officer core is what allows you to keep things fair and your guild members happy, that's why all of these important roles, like the Recruitment Officer or the Raid Leader, should be the responsibility of different people. They should never make big decisions without the input of other officers, but they also need to be able to perform their roles without having to ask for permission in every step of the way. Keeping this in mind, it is very important that the Officer Core has a place, outside of guild chat, where they can discuss important matters in private. Having a Discord group for the entire guild and one exclusively for the core is a great practice. This way the discussions can stay out of the view of the general members and things can be resolved in a contained manner.
Using the Recruitment Officer as an example of how delegating tasks work, this person should be in charge of actively recruiting members for the guild. This meaning, they are going to be the person that sends regular messages in the recruitment channel (probably even redacting the recruitment message themselves), looking into the possible prospects that are going to be entering the guild, checking their playtime, their raiding stats, their ilvl, so they can chose the best possible members. This doesn't mean other officers shouldn't have permission to recruit members (In fact it's encouraged that all the Officer Corehas this ability) but just that the Recruitment Officeris going to be the person doing this the most, their time off the raids will be mostly dedicated to these tasks.
Remember that your recruitment message should advertise your guild as a fun, but also focused and dedicated group of people looking for more like-minded players to push your progression towards the top.
WoW Shadowlands Raiding Guild - Players Development
Raid Players Development
Finally, we'll be talking about the subject of gearing up people who show promise when it comes to raiding but aren't exactly geared up or at the place where they can be effective in the harder content right away. You should always keep in mind that not everyone can be at the optimal item level right away, people do still have lives outside of the game and there can be situations that will keep them away from it for a while. This doesn't mean they're not good players, in fact, I know from experience some guilds have missed the opportunity to have really good players because they're unwilling to help them gear up. Just stick it out for a while with them, go to normal or heroic Nathria with them and maybe you'll find they're an incredibly valuable addition to your core mythic raid group. This also creates an entire group of people on your guild that will help it remain active in the off days. Not everyone can be raiding every day and this way you can have a few people that are usually going to be in, doing activities, maybe running mythic+ dungeons to help gear some people up. Honestly, tis could be the difference between a decent Mythic raiding guild and one of the top tier Mythic raiding guilds. It's about the community you can build around your guild and its activities and involvement.
This is also a very important practice because you'll want to have variety when it comes to classes and spec when it comes to your core group. It's all fun and games when you see an entire raid of mages taking on Lady Inerva, but this is very impractical, one boss mechanic can stop your run in its tracks. Also keep in mind WoW is a game in development, there will be patches, class balances and at any point any class can be very useful and viable to run mythic. So, nurturing a diverse group is a very important task for you and your Officer Core. There should always be a balance when it comes to the roles in the raid, usually during progression the most efficient way to run the raids will be to have two tanks, four healers and 14 DPS. But later down the line you might want to go with 3 healers and 15 DPS, it will all depend on your experience in the raid, the encounters themselves and how good your raiders are.
Always keep in mind, though, that WoW is still a game. Raiding competitively can be pretty serious business, but at the end of the day everyone's there to have fun and enjoy the game. We are all real people and that's probably the best part of having a guild, you meet people and enrich your life. People will come and go, but I assure you this will be an experience that you'll always be glad you had.
I hope this all helped you get a good start on your raiding guild, good luck with it by the way and don't forget to tackle Shadowlands with your head high!
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