The selection of a guild: it’s not quite marriage, but it’s a commitment that could turn into a long-term relationship, perhaps impacting—positively or negatively—the rest of your WOW career.

Unfortunately, when a player joins a guild the chances are that it won’t work out. Most of us have the experience of joining a guild, perhaps naively as new players, and then discovering that the guild was not a good match. It’s important to find a guild with the right climate. Some players excel in a dog-eat-dog highly competitive environment; others would be unhappy with that, and do much better in a more laid back, laissez faire-type environment. You have to know yourself, and you have to know the kind of climate you need to ensure that you grow and develop as a player both in-game and in-RL as a result of membership in the guild. 

We encourage applicants to gain information, including about player turnover, how long players usually remain active in the guild, opportunities for advancement, and what percentage of applicants and new members actually become active long-term members of the guild. Those are dimensions of quality. 

Above all, the most important criteria for selecting a guild are the quality and commitment of the members and officers. Factors to consider when evaluating the quality of the guild include the rate and level of boss-kill progression, gear score of players, and any titles and achievements earned. If no one in the guild has any titles or achievements that you are interested in, then this may indicate that another guild would be a better fit. 

A key question with respect to match, also, is whether the activities of a guild mesh with a player’s particular interests. You can have a great raiding and progression guild, but if a player really enjoys some roll-playing or pre-made BG’s, and the guild doesn’t provide those things, then another guild might be a better match. Alternatively, many players want to raid almost every night of the week, and are willing to pay almost any price to compete among the best raiders and pvp’ers in the world. These players will not be satisfied with a guild that isn’t equally highly motivated. 

One obvious step for evaluating a potential guild is to visit with its members. Often, part of the guild application process involves running an instance or raid with the guild, during which prospective applicants have a chance to interact with members and officers. Although usually done under the auspices of a try-out, where the applicant is expected to prove themselves worthy of guild membership, this process is also an opportunity for the applicant to decide if they really want to be a member of the guild. Applicants should take advantage of the “/who <guildname>” and “/whisper <guildmember>” functions in WOW to get to know the members of a guild they are thinking of joining. These kinds of interactions can reveal much more about a guild than server rankings and recruitment posts.

The entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in ancient Greece was inscribed with a piece of advice: “know thyself.” Doing so will go a long way toward choosing the right path. Another piece of advice, perhaps from a different source, although you never know, is to “do your homework.” Thoroughly researching your options is the best way to ensure selecting wisely. Finally, if all else fails, you can take solace from the fact that “nothing is irreversible,” although let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Unleashed is a pve guild focused on end-game progression. Our over-arching goal is to experience and master the high-end content in WOW that is only possible to achieve with a highly skilled and motivated group of players working together. We raid Sunday through Wednesday from 7:30-11:30 server time. 

We are not professional computer gamers. We all have goals, ambitions, and responsibilities outside of WOW and therefore choose to generally limit our raiding to no more than four nights per week. Hence, in order to achieve our in-game goals under the constraints of our real-lives, we expect our members to “bring their game faces and their Nikes” when it’s raid time. During raids, we don’t want to hear about the girl you met last week, what your sister’s doing with your mom in the other room, what soda or junk food is next to your keyboard, etc. During raids, we want to hear about what you’re doing to make the raid successful. We want to achieve as much as we can in the time we have. Like Gandalf said to one of the hobbits (I forget which; it’s in the movie): ‘It’s not how much time we’re given, but what we do with the time that is given to us.’ All the fun stuff about your sister, your mom and Mountain Dew needs to happen outside of our raid time. 

Ultimately, we are looking for players with the maturity and focus to consistently perform at a high level in 10 and 25 man raids. Our raiders must be in RL situations where their time is their own and they can spend 4 uninterrupted hours raiding on raid nights. It’s not ok if you regularly have to go AFK to change diapers, eat dinner, do chores, placate significant others or smoke outside during our raids. If you like to raid high or drunk, please don’t apply. Casual and moderate use is your business, but if it’s a priority for you, then please take it elsewhere. Players must be ready for content that is progression for Unleashed. That means heroic ToC and Algalon (some hardmodes still not down, but applicants should be geared enough for Algalon). Players must know how to prepare for encounters by utilizing resources such as Tankspot, ElitistJerks, Bosskillers, etc. Players must be able and eager to show up on time consistently and regularly. Players must have a positive attitude and work well with the players we already have. We want players who can take things in their own hands and make things happen. Players with a “give me the ball!” attitude. Players who can make a difference as to whether a boss goes down through their force of will and unwavering focus and determination. Players with the skill and desire to put the raid on their shoulders and say “Rally to me!” when it gets tough. Also, just as importantly, players who know when it’s time to say “good night” and go back to their lives.

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