Regular readers may have noticed the dearth of posts the past few weeks. In that time, I searched for and found a new guild: Seppuku, a 3/7 M 2-night guild on US-Stormrage. As of this posting, the guild is looking for a few more ranged DPS, hoping to round out the roster to 24-25 raiders.

Why find a new guild?

If you are happy in your current guild, you should strongly consider staying there. Changing guilds, especially if it involves paying real life money for a server transfer, brings with it some risk and uncertainty. Have a specific reason why you need to look for a new guild. I was very happy with my past guild (Dinosaur Cowboys, a 4/7 M 2-night guild on US-Sargeras), except for one thing. It was located on “my” alliance server where I had over one million gold and 12 90+ alliance toons. It raided 2 weeknights, which is ideal for me right now. It had a great atmosphere, a long history, and a positive raiding environment. It was well organized, and I liked the people. The only problem was that the guild didn’t think it needed me. It had 36+ players step into the raid in the first three weeks of mythic, and outside of the dozen or so “core” members who were getting nearly 100% time, playing time was pretty sparse. I was only seeing about 25% of the mythic pulls. I am fine with sitting some, but 3/4 of the time was far too much. On the week before I left, I saw 0 of the guild’s 3 mythic farm kills and did not get in at all on the second raid night. I had raised the issue with the officers after the first week and hadn’t seen much improvement in play time. I was on the fence about leaving because the guild was otherwise a perfect fit, but sitting for the entire night as multiple players were rotated in made it clear to me that I had to leave. The guild is progressing well through The Emerald Nightmare with their current roster management system, so even though I was the only balance druid and performing well, there’s a sense in which they really don’t need me. I think that my dedication and my performance (e.g., my most recent mythic Ursoc kill, on Raphkin, vs theirs) indicated I could have helped push progression there, but ultimately I wasn’t getting the chance to prove it. I enjoyed leveling up and doing mythic+s with them, I made a few friends, and I got some good raid time and logs in on heroic (where I was never sat). I enjoyed my time there and left at the right time. I wish them well, and might consider playing with them again under the right circumstances. I wish I hadn’t had to leave, as I had seen the guild as a potentially permanent home.

How to Select a New Guild - Your Requirements and Application

Alright, so I had a clear reason for leaving and decided to leave. What was I looking for in a guild and what did I bring to the table? Put effort into figuring this out and creating the outline of your application! I’m going to copy/paste my guild “Looking for Guild” post below to show you what I went with. Ultimately, this part is up to you - what exactly are you looking for, and what can the guild expect from you? Even if you don’t post it publicly, spending some time thinking about what you want in a guild is important. A trap players sometimes fall into is always wanting a more progressed guild. Faster progression is great, but only if you have the skill and commitment to be a consistent player there. Also, if you are happy in a guild doing heroic, think hard about whether mythic is right for you. Mythic likely involves some bench time, and while I am fine with a bit of bench time, some players aren’t. My post, which I used as an application template:

General:

• Btag: Raphael#1142.
• Current WoW Character: (Character name and url of armory).
• Raiding Spec: Balance Druid (27 AP, 871 ilvl).
• Offspecs: Restoration Druid (16 AP), Guardian Druid (13 AP).
• Emerald Nightmare Raiding Progress: 7/7H First week, 1 Mythic Nythendra kill, Multiple pulls on 4 mythic bosses.
• _UI: (http://imgur.com/kpCBygw)._
• Heroic Kill Logs: Best are all 90+% (url of logs).
• On my one mythic Nythendra kill I died to slow ticking damage from Rot while receiving little healing, with Barkskin on cooldown from a previous Rot.
• I welcome you to examine my mythic progression logs (link to logs), I’ve done great on mechanics and DPS when in.
• Mythic+ Progression: Three weeks of M+10 completed, hope to continue that streak.

About me:

• I play WoW because I enjoy playing Mythic Progression. I simcraft my class, read and participate in Balance Druid theorycrafting (checkmywow.com Balance profile is based partly on my suggestions), make and use weakauras.
• I optimize my gear and consumables (best enchants, gems, crafted gear, pots, flasks, vantus runes and runes as applicable).
• I am dedicated: I do most AP and gear world quests, I have 100% attendance in Legion and historically 95+% attendance, I research and contribute to strategies on guild forums, I speak up and contribute to a positive atmosphere.
• I maintain a class guides compilation and blog about Warcraft/raiding with 20,000+ monthly views.
• _T18 on Holy Paladin (Anphar-Sargeras), US 167 M Archimonde, as healing officer and later GM of the no-longer-raiding 2-day guild (http://www.wowprogress.com/guild/us/sargeras/Cake+Plantation/rating.tier18)._
• _T17 on Balance Druid (Eenheid-Aerie Peak), in 's 2-day raid team in Tier 17 (I finished tier 8/10 M; weekend team would have been around US 375 if apart from the US 90 weekday raid) (http://www.wowprogress.com/guild/us/aerie-peak/Alone/rating.tier17)._

Hard requirements of what I am looking for in a guild:

• Reasonable playing time. I am fine with sitting occasionally as needed, but I am not interested in a bench/backup position. My ideal guild specifically needs ranged DPS.
• No racism/no slurs/no excessive vulgarity.
• A guild that raids 10.5 hours per week or less, 2 or 3 nights per week, between 6-12 pm EST and does not raid on Friday or Saturday. No “optional” heroic clear on a 4th day.
• 9 hours per week or less is better, 2 nights per week is better, 7-11 pm EST is better.
• Well-defined new member/“trial” period; feedback if you want players to make adjustments, especially when asked.
• Actively progressing in mythic, not “we need just a few more to do mythic."

Very-nice-to-haves:

• Guild is (my Current Faction); on (my Current Server).
• Active, friendly guild outside of raid times, people doing M+s and PvP.
• Strong guild history prior to Legion.
• In the US 100-300 progression range currently and/or in past raids.

Thanks for reading. Respond here and/or add me on BTAG if interested.

How to Find a New Guild - The Search

Alright, so you know what you want and are ready to apply? How do you find the guild that’s right for you? I asked a few friends, and got great advice from one in particular. Here’s what I recommend, in rough order.

1. If you know friends in a guild that would be a good fit for you, reach out to them.
2. Make a post on the official LFG forums; if a guild posts something specific there and contacts you, you know that you might be a good fit for them.
3. Scan wowprogress for guilds meeting your criteria.
4. Scan the LFG forums for guilds meeting your criteria.
5. Make posts on other sites and forums, or scan posts on other sites and forums.

Make a text file or spreadhseet with your top choices and guilds that contact you. Record the URL of your application, BTAG of anyone that contacted you, and your application status. Especially early in an expansion, you may get a lot of interest, and it can be hard to keep track of unless you have a system for doing so. I ended up applying to about 10 guilds, some of which contacted me, some I found on wowprogress, and some I saw on the LFG forums. I was BTAG added by another 10-20 guilds that I did not end up applying to. Most of my wow friends were in guilds that would not be a good fit for me, unfortunately, failing to meet one or more of my hard requirements.

The Results

I was only declined from one guild that told me that they did not like my performance. I was declined from a few more that said I had a strong app but were hesitant to add a third or fourth Balance Druid. I was also BTAG added by a few US top 100 guilds that wondered whether I might stretch my 10.5 hour maximum raid hours per week requirement, which was a nice ego boost. I was tempted, since raiding with stronger players is generally more fun for me, but ultimately I set my time requirements for a reason. In the end, I had several great choices to pick from. I first eliminated the 3-day guilds, since I would prefer not to commit three nights a week to raiding right now and I had some strong 2-day choices. I also eliminated a few horde guilds, since they were not obviously better choices than the remaining alliance guilds and, all things being equal, I would rather not pay for a faction change. The last few were very hard, all alliance guilds that raid during the times I want to and seeming to have great atmospheres. I ultimately decided to trial with Seppuku. I am only one week in, but I am optimistic about my future here. The core of the guild is very strong, and I enjoy raiding with the incredibly proficient other balance druid (who is also GM/raid leader!). Look out for a logs comparison post in the very near future. I have enjoyed doing M+s and chatting with the guild members outside of raid times as well. Changing guilds directly addressed the issue I had with my former guild: I went from being in on 25% of mythic pulls, 1 mythic kill, and 0 first kills over three weeks to being in on 100% of the pulls, 3 mythic kills, and 1 first kill in my first week there. And, I was promoted to Raider after one week. If you want to check out a few other resources on finding guilds, I list a few on the General Raiding Guides page. I hope that I do not find myself looking for another guild any time soon.

Comments:

wrathsome - Oct 1, 2016

That is one helluva journey and grats on the arrival to a new place to play. Fresh personalities can be really great and I am sure you will fit in. In life, in game and even in animals; there is a “pecking order” for any group – just assume that you are the bottom for now! The tendency to try to assert and prove yourself to move up in their eyes can be hard to manage. Good luck, I anticipate some fun progress posts in the coming months.

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