Advice about joining a guild

[Alegar]

I am generally a soloer. I join for raids and occasionally join groups for quick exp, but even then, I rarely say anything in chat (except for "Caught in the Web" and "The Fall of Truth" raids, which are rare, and I have to start myself to get them comms. Then I kinda have to communicate.). I have a bit of social anxiety and mostly want to be alone, even in a MMO. I had ignored guilds and when asked to join, would thank the person for the offer and then say, "No thank you." However, today I looked at the guild buffs. There seem to be a lot, and they seem quite nice. Now I am torn between staying by myself sans-buffs or joining a guild.

The thing is, I joined a guild in another MMO once. After that, I felt like I had to pay attention to chat. "What if someone asks me something? I don't want to be a jerk and ignore people." This made me anxious and I ended up leaving.

So, my questions are:
1. If I were to join a guild and then turn off guild chat, would this be unacceptable?
2. I saw that leaving a guild causes a reduction in the renown I would have brought in. Does leaving cause hard feelings?
3. Are those sweet guild buffs enough to really consider joining, or am I just being starry-eyed over nothing?

Thank you for your time.

 

[Rakehell]

I think a lot of that comes down to the guild. Some are so loose and others less so.

I known I am on Khyber and we have a small guild where everyone is either singles or in family pairs (I.e. father-son) and everyone actually just plays on their own. It's just a spot for the guild buffs for each of us. Occasionally we each say hi, but there is zero expectation to socialize. For some people, that is completely opposite to what they want, but for others it is perfect.

 

[TrinityTurtle]

Guilds vary wildly in this regard. There are some that are very tightly knit and talk about everything and anything to each other all the time. Then there are big megaguilds purely about buffs where a person can just do thier own thing, never look at guild chat, and no one will notice.

There is an alternative option, create your own. Smaller guilds get larger renown bonuses. It will be a slow project, but several people have done it and it's a goal to chase. You can get large amounts of renown from sagas instead of taking the xp, and to be honest, there is so much xp in the game now it doens't really hurt to trade an toon xp goal for a guild one if you are interested. Also Saga's break the guild level per day limit.

 

[Alegar]

Thank you for the replies.

TrinityTurtle, I will consider your suggestion. It sounds like a promising idea. Thank you.

 

[Arcanaverse]

Guild buffs are awesome and can make quite the impact. Not critical obviously, but quite useful.
When asked, ask about their policies. Each server tends to have some guilds that are just 'open' guilds that people join and leave frequently and have no mandates on interaction levels.

Odds are, these are the folks sending you invites, but won't hurt to double check.

Plus, who knows, maybe you'll make some new friends. I recommend giving it a try.

 

[FaceDancer]

I feel your pain. Invites are awkward at best and I'm not well versed on raiding or questing outside of my very small clique. I'm very much the solo player as well for the most part. The only time I team up is on the weekends occasionally and that is with family (we usually just call each other on the phone for communication).

So we have a total of three people in our guild and we just hit 50th. guild level. There are quite a few benefits to being in a guild (especially if you're lower level where it really helps). Cannith crafting, item sellers/buyers on board, item repair, etc... Communal chests can be nice, but it helps if there's some etiquette to their use. Just make sure you clearly understand and respect the rules of the guild you join & ask questions about what their expectations are of you (there should be a healthy flow of give & take in that relationship).

 

[Deathbringer]

I play most of the time only with my brother, guild interaction in the two servers am in is minimal, I would like to do Raids more often though...

 

[Alegar]

I wanted to thank everyone for their advice.

I have decided to create my own guild for now. I like, not just the asocial aspect, but TrinityTurtle's idea of a long-term goal. I enjoy having goals for which to strive in my games. While I have a long ways to go on the past lives, I feel this will add another level to that. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

Thanks, TrinityTurtle.

 

[WargamerIV]

Thank you for the replies.

TrinityTurtle, I will consider your suggestion. It sounds like a promising idea. Thank you.

If you take TrinityTurtle's advice and create your own guild, you should create a total of 6 accounts (5 ftp accounts work fine) and log into each account at least once every 2 weeks to get the biggest small guild renown bonus (for some reason a 6 account guild gets a bigger bonus than a 1 or 2 account guild). It doesn't matter how many toons you have in the any of the 6 accounts as long as there is at least 1 toon in the guild in each account. You can also bring along a toon (or more) into the quests and have them wait at the entrance so that they will also get renown as you run the quest and if you run to the end you might get a named item you can pass along to your main toon.
Had you done this a few weeks ago you could have used the code to get access to most of the older content for free on the extra accounts.

 

[Alegar]

Thanks for the idea, WargamerIV. I'll try to do that.

 

[Bjond]

Guild buffs are awesome

This part alone makes them worth trying. Most are pretty laid back about your other concerns, too.

I felt like I had to pay attention to chat. "What if someone asks me something? I don't want to be a jerk and ignore people." This made me anxious

So, my questions are:
1. If I were to join a guild and then turn off guild chat, would this be unacceptable?
2. I saw that leaving a guild causes a reduction in the renown I would have brought in. Does leaving cause hard feelings?
3. Are those sweet guild buffs enough to really consider joining, or am I just being starry-eyed over nothing?

Thank you for your time.

These are all normal concerns and speak well of your character; ie. don't be shy, you'd make a good guildie!

Unless the player is brand new to MMOs, everyone realizes you might be AFK , focused on doing something, miss guild chat, or even just not up for tossing your 2c into it. I wouldn't go so far as turning it off, but that's me. As an officer of Silver Legion on Cannith, I feel a bit obligated to pay attention and chat when I can. Much less so when I wasn't one. Even so, there are those who are MUCH more chatty than I am.

Most guilds are fine with you joining in on chat or not as it suits you. Some few guilds are very focused and might have particular other requirements, such as joining guild raids, but you'll know right away when asking about those -- they'll be very upfront about what they want and expect.

Leaving does unfortunately sometimes cause hard-feelings, but it's typically not about the renown. Renown over 150 does nothing. If you leave, it might drop from 200 to 199 and then get refilled that same day. Renown isn't the issue. It's more about people feeling a little hurt that someone might be leaving because you dislike them.

I like most people and thus like to stay copacetic with everyone, even those that decide to leave. It doesn't bother me and I feel bad if someone in guild directs even a little drama toward someone that leaves. Our guild, for instance, has a kid-safe chat rule in both discord and guild chat. This is not for everyone -- many like to cut loose in games.

I'm OK with either kind of chat . I rather appreciate the extra discipline because I do have v.young nieces. Many guildies have tiny children that watch them play. It's a kick hearing a kid caught on voice shouting out "Kill the spider Mommy! Kill it Kill it!"

 

[TrinityTurtle]

I wanted to thank everyone for their advice.

I have decided to create my own guild for now. I like, not just the asocial aspect, but TrinityTurtle's idea of a long-term goal. I enjoy having goals for which to strive in my games. While I have a long ways to go on the past lives, I feel this will add another level to that. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

Thanks, TrinityTurtle.

You're welcome, I like to help people out. And I understand there is a wide variety of people in the world, and forced socialization is not good for everyone. I wish you well on your guild renown journey. Also a tidbit you may already know but some people forget or were out of the game a long time so just in case because I've seen people arguing about this in game - there is no more xp loss until the 'vanity' levels above 150 where the only thing you get is a color chnage on the guild name shown to others. All buffs and usseful things can be acquired by 150.

 

[Altra]

I'm OK with either kind of chat . I rather appreciate the extra discipline because I do have v.young nieces. Many guildies have tiny children that watch them play. It's a kick hearing a kid caught on voice shouting out "Kill the spider Mommy! Kill it Kill it!"

We used to play another game with friends, and you'd hear a tiny voice call out "let's go kill somethin' " She was hilarious.

 

[Dude]

If you take TrinityTurtle's advice and create your own guild, you should create a total of 6 accounts (5 ftp accounts work fine) and log into each account at least once every 2 weeks to get the biggest small guild renown bonus (for some reason a 6 account guild gets a bigger bonus than a 1 or 2 account guild). It doesn't matter how many toons you have in the any of the 6 accounts as long as there is at least 1 toon in the guild in each account. You can also bring along a toon (or more) into the quests and have them wait at the entrance so that they will also get renown as you run the quest and if you run to the end you might get a named item you can pass along to your main toon.
Had you done this a few weeks ago you could have used the code to get access to most of the older content for free on the extra accounts.

So I only have to have the FTP accounts log in every two weeks and I don't have to do anything else with the toon on those accounts? I created my own guild a while back and have leveled it to 52, but doubling my renown multiplier from 150% to 300% sounds like it would really speed things up.

 

[Samyel]

Alegar I would join a guild. The buffs are worth it, just the xp shrine alone is worth it. Just tell the guild leader you have social anxiety and would prefer to be left alone but that you will contribute renown to the guild when it is available.

 

[Labuff]

Alegar I would join a guild. The buffs are worth it, just the xp shrine alone is worth it. Just tell the guild leader you have social anxiety and would prefer to be left alone but that you will contribute renown to the guild when it is available.

Just wanna say, just playing creates a "passive" income of favor: for example, just killing monsters periodically gives 5 favor, and when finishing a quest, instead of any of their rewards, you can instead grab a Favor reward (low level dungeon rewards gives 50, mid level gives 150, etc.)

 

[Alegar]

So I only have to have the FTP accounts log in every two weeks and I don't have to do anything else with the toon on those accounts? I created my own guild a while back and have leveled it to 52, but doubling my renown multiplier from 150% to 300% sounds like it would really speed things up.

This is what I did, and it seems to be working so far. I made a new character on each. Ran through the tutorial mission (no way to skip it), then skipped Korthos and went to Stormreach where my main was hanging out and invited the characters to my guild.

I have to admit that it feels a little cheaty, but if it is allowed, then I guess I will do it.

Thank you all for the continued input.

 

[Dude]

This is what I did, and it seems to be working so far. I made a new character on each. Ran through the tutorial mission (no way to skip it), then skipped Korthos and went to Stormreach where my main was hanging out and invited the characters to my guild.

I have to admit that it feels a little cheaty, but if it is allowed, then I guess I will do it.

Thank you all for the continued input.

Thank you for posting this. I went ahead and made four more F2P accounts (I already had one) and it's a significant difference. I only wish that I had known about this earlier to level my guild faster, but the guild levels will be flying now. The main thing I'm trying to get is the 5% XP bonus, which should make all the TRs a little less burdensome.

 

[Dvinesword]

I play most of the time only with my brother, guild interaction in the two servers am in is minimal, I would like to do Raids more often though...

What server are you on? I run a guild on Thelanis and my guild and two other run a combined raid nights on Wednesday and Saturday

 

[Purple Haze]

Hi Alegar,

I just wanted to add my two cents here as my situation somewhat mirrors yours, though in my case the difficulties with grouping are a little more severe - namely that i struggle to even try in the first place, let alone do anything with the chat. I can attest to the effectiveness of the solo guild option & i'm sure there are plenty around going that way. I'm kind of conflicted with this whole issue because the spirit of the game and dnd in general is of course a team thing, but i stopped pushing myself to open my games to others, just would get anxious about maybe being judged, or not meeting expectations, or making errors that might spoil the experience for others - silly for the mostpart because most of the folks i've come into contact with around the game have been very positive in nature.

I tried the guild thing once with mixed results. The people were friendly and I was able to experience for the first time how it was to play in a little group (with people i'm comfortable around i really enjoy that), but whenever planned activities were organized (raids or more social things - find the person and win a prize etc) I would go missing - or donate prizes but not participate in the event. I've no idea what was so daunting about such things that they caused anxiety but I left after a while because I felt there was no point being in there if i wasn't going to join in. It wasn't a complete failure on my part though - some of the people I met in there I went on to form a little group with and enjoy many happy hours of questing, which was great. I find i'm more comfortable around newer players to the game - happy to share my experiences & help them progress some. With the more seasoned players I always have this complex about not being good enough - of course in groups I do have fairly serious shortcomings due to my lack of experience in that format.

TLDR - If joining a guild just for the buffs, the way you've gone about it is the correct one in my opinion.