I have been daydreaming about creating a guild.

I've already done the whole high-end raiding guild thing. Had a LOT of fun doing it but in the end it just became too much of a time-sink and I wasn't able to continue on like that.

I always thought it would be fun to start a mid-level guild with newer players who don't know much about raiding and some experienced players who know the strategies. Taking this new guild and incorporating raid guild policies and strategies into lower level content seems like it would be a cool project.

The goal would be to strengthen the guild through the natural progression (epics, Velious armor farming, etc.) and attempt to become another powerhouse guild. If dedicated people worked at this goal, they could be a powerful force after a year or so.

However, by the time the guild became a lvl 65 raid machine, the huge time-sinks would already have been reappearing and I wouldn't have the time to do that all over again. But, I think it would be fun to try and build it towards that and then let the members keep their guild and do their thing.

Does this sound like a stupid plan? Would it be a waste of time for me to attempt? Would there be anyone here remotely interested in "starting over" to work on this?

Just wanted to see some opinions and hear any input on an undertaking of this kind. Thanks. :)

i am leveling a warrior currently and i was thinking about this EXACT idea yesterday haha

You'd probably have a VERY hard time keeping a large percentage of the guild from jumping to higher end guilds as they leveled up and got some AAs. Most of the old progression is obsolete these days.

It's a shame things have to be that way. Maybe it's the masochist in me, but I really think the game would be a much better place if people still had good reason to go through the entire game in order.

Had a LOT of fun doing it but in the end it just became too much of a time-sink and I wasn't able to continue on like that.

First let me say I have never lead a guild and have NO wish to do so. I was an officer in a small guild called Mark of Honor, and just as an officer I spent hours outside and inside the game *just* helping to run the guild; the guild leader spent twice as much. If you are serious about forming your own guild, you need to reconsider how much time it will take you to accomplish your goal and the day to day running of a guild. (Since you seem to mention a time sink as a reason you lost the fun).

It'll keep you damn busy, no doubt.

If I even knew about 5% of the hassle, stress, time involved, frustration, hard time, fights, discussions, business like freetime that I was facing when I found LotJ at lvl15, I wouldn't have done it. Never! I'd have run for my life screaming.

This is my tip. Think about it.
I love my guild and I fight for it every day and will always do so, but I'd still prefer having my last 3 years back and never touch this EQ Installation disc at all.

Taino summed up my feelings perfectly.

Regards,
Nydia Ywalmoriel
Autonomous Collective

Most of us would have preferred that you never took up the game as well Taino. *ducks*

Another thing, don't go into it without some very capable officers in place. There's no way I would have survived the first year, much less 3 years without a terrific group of officers. Try to do it all yourself and you'll burnout quickly.

You'd probably have a VERY hard time keeping a large percentage of the guild from jumping to higher end guilds as they leveled up and got some AAs. Most of the old progression is obsolete these days.

It's a shame things have to be that way. Maybe it's the masochist in me, but I really think the game would be a much better place if people still had good reason to go through the entire game in order.

I totally agree with Sanchek. The game would be a much better place.

To me, seeing people in Time or E Planes that haven't even cleared ToV or in some cases a lesser zone is disheartening in a way. I know the whole SSRA/VT time sink can get aggravating, but to miss that part is missing a part of EQ that "bonds" a guild through hard work and learning teamwork together.

The flagging has created a situation where one can basically sit back while waiting for a guild to kill a mob for a flag so they can progress to the next level, with little or no work on their own. Luclin basically forced you to earn your way into a zone.

I know the whole SSRA/VT time sink can get aggravating

Between Comm1/2 and the ME shard camp and /random, I'm probably on my last leg of the EQ beast. I've seen so many drop and not received those pieces that I have spent hundreds of combined hours trying to aquire. The only thing I have achieved is not giving 2 cents about dying any more.

The Commander camps wouldn't be so bad if i could solo them (druid).

'I know the whole SSRA/VT time sink can get aggravating, but to miss that part is missing a part of EQ that "bonds" a guild through hard work and learning teamwork together.'

- Holy hell, haven't heard such drizzel since Hartmut's JFK theories.
To miss that part of EQ, as a guild, actually brings you more together. To take the non-VT route requires so much work, and so much dedication. Instead of blowing through VT and gaining 30 items a raid, tackling your way from lower Luclin to higher PoP means you're doing significantly harder enounters, with significantly lesser equipment, for significantly lesser reward.
And it will bring you together both in accomplishment and proudness, like no other.

' Luclin basically forced you to earn your way into a zone. '

- Luclin pales in comparison to PoP in this respect.

/blink Halo...

Don't judge the work it took to conquor and earn your way into VT initially. Especially if you never had the drive to earn it yourselves.

It was tough, very tough to work VT. Before the spoilers, before the drops for the keys were fixed before the spoonfed info and while you have guilds pushing you every step.

Hell, I can remember camping the FG portion of my key for over 40 hours. Others in the same time frame have similar stories. You EARNED your key and you were suitibly rewarded with 5 long months of camping VT...../twitch.

Christopher...

Having just gone through the exercise of getting my VT key recently, I can confidently say it is still a major pain in the posterior. I have spent the better part of three months farming my own shards and helping guildies get theirs (after all, to mean anything your guild has to have enough keys to field a raid force in VT). Farming shards that just * won't * drop* and the joys of fighting with three or four other guilds over Comm2 drops and the Emperor's spawn for rifts is only the beginning. Now we get to fight with other guilds over VT spawns while learning the ropes there at the same time.

There is a lot more to it than just racing a guild for a once a week spawn and failing a few times till you get a strategy that works. There is a tremendous amount of drudgery involved *plus* the racing for spawns and wiping till you get the tactic down. The only benefit is really the better drop rate once you do succeed and the bragging rights to say "yeah, we paid our dues".

I'm not questioning the validity of the VT route Fandros, or the "work" required to be put it.
I'm addressing the drivel that suggests any other such route cannot do what the VT one does.

There's always more paths to fun than just the so called "True and just" path.

I don't doubt it's hard to suceed in PoP without VT level gear.

VT is such a time sink I can understand wanting to avoid it. And with LDoWelfare expansion there really is no need to use VT to gear up methinks.

Christopher...

Instead of blowing through VT

Blowing through VT is not something a guild does.

It's a bit more work just getting the key parts to enter the zone than it is to kill a flag mob.

Leading a guild can be a blessing and a curse.
I agree with most here that have been there/currently leaders of guilds.
You are a figurehead amongst others. Officers make/break a guild.
If you try as a leader to do it all, you will burn out and fail.
Leading others can be very challenging. be prepared for disappointment as well as joy in your tenure.
Make a charter/rules and stick by them. do not stray from your goals and be completely fair/honest to all of the members.
This in my opinion is the formula for a successful guild.
I was a guild leader some time ago and decided to step down because of the disappointment from training/leveling/gearing members and then watching them leave.

'It's a bit more work just getting the key parts to enter the zone than it is to kill a flag mob. '

- That couldn't be more general. There is also a big difference between boredom and challenge - long and dull camps and hard mob fights.
Killing Rydda'Dar, for the Jokers, was harder than any key this game has to offer. Trust me.

Ok, you probably all sensed this coming, but I had some real work to do for a change.

I've been part of the leadership of pretty much one guild for a long time now. It's changed names, done some mergers, had it's ups and downs, but it's pretty much been one guild. We've slowly done every bit of content the game has from square one, right up to the middle of PoP. We're a good year behind EW. We have been for about 2 expansions now, but the collective will that guides our guild isn't in a hurry to "finish."

You'll find that there's a lot of guilds, right now, who seem willing to take any number of level 65 characters and throw them relentlessly into the elemental flagging mobs -- many of whom who've never so much as killed Trakanon or King Tormax -- who'll never step foot in Temple of Veeshan or into Ssra. It is sad, I think, that there's so much game out there that you'd be in such a hurry to finish it.

Every guild that isn't Eternal Wrath will lose people to guilds above them. That's the nature of the game. Sometimes you'll do the dirty work for them, by showing people that "raiding is fun" and they'll grow faster than your guild.

If you intend to see the entire game, in order, make sure you have people who understand your vision and direction BEFORE they join your guild.

Nydia posted

Taino summed up my feelings perfectly.


Off topic - Did she accuially post something that wasn't 14 pages long?...

What can I say, I was a few hours from grading deadline and didn't have time to meander through composing one of my usual novels. We all have our off days... ;)

I actually did think about it, but then the pile of papers glared back at me. I still haven't slept to speak of since Sat night, so I'll spare y'all a particularly incomprehensible post this evening... :P

Regards,
Nydia Ywalmoriel
Autonomous Collective

I joined my first guild at level 10 and eventually wound up as it's leader. As an officer, I spent a great deal of time out-of-game doing research and taking care of administrative things for those above me. Later I became the Second-in-Command and the situation became worse. Upon becoming the guild leader, I was already spending about half my online time doing guild officer stuff and it seemed to level out at that point.

After a year with that guild I left because my real life friends who play EQ wanted to move on and start another guild. It was a little over a year and a half ago that I founded Sors Aeternus guild.

I learned a great many lessons from the time I spent as the guild leader of the first guild. One of the first lessons I learned was that you have to have good officers. Be prepared to spend almost as much time offline as you do online with administrative tasks. Something that makes the job a great deal easier is something that became a buzzword in corporate America a few years... "empower". If you give your officers a clear and concise outline of what's expected of them, then they know where the boundaries are and can help keep things running smoothly.

If you truly love and enjoy EverQuest and want to give something back... start a guild. However, as was mentioned earlier... be prepared for disappointment, upset, and frustration.

I love my guild... they are my extended family. If you decide to start a guild, treat everyone fairly, with respect and dignity and you should do fine.

One word of caution... it will happen eventually.. it always seems to come up somehow...

If you have real life friends in your guild, be prepared to make some decisions that are not going to be popular. You may have to face the choice of doing what's "right" or what will keep the real life friendship. That's a tough choice... a decision one way will show your guild that you do in fact treat people fairly, the other will keep your friend(s) but cause you to lose face/respect of your guild mates. Yes, it's only a game... but what are we without our honor?

Good luck to you and if I can be of any assistance, please send me a tell.

Only Advice i can give you, i've seen this happen to numerous good guilds, and it's been the end of them.

Don't try to make everyone happy, you will just end up pissing everyone off.