LF Guild: How To, and How Not To

The main parts of this are something I wrote up for our officers so they had some info on things I checked when receiving an application for our guild. However, for the sake of my blog audience (as small as that might be currently ^.^), I went back and added info for players that are on the other side of the process and applying to a new guild.



As the semi-official 'recruiting officer' for Narrischkeit, I get to see the applications before anyone else, and I'm often the first to respond once I've posted the app in our forum. As such, I've tried to make things easier for me, and created a list of sites that I go through that do most of the work for me =)

These tips are directed towards those applying for semi-casual -> hardcore raiding guilds. If you're applying to a social guild, or just joining a group of friends that you know, then some of this information will not apply to you.

Before filling out any application, read all info about the guild that you can find. Above all, make sure that you have read their policies, raiding schedule, and the steps for application. For example, don't post your application on their Recruiting forum when the directions state to PM it to an officer.





First and largest stop: http://www.wowarmory.com/

Profile tab: Do they have their professions leveled? Do they look class appropriate? (IE, BS on mage may send up flags)

• If there is something odd going on with your professions, perhaps with your choices or levels, make sure and include an explanation in your application. One of our current initiates has never leveled a profession past 70 for example, and for that alone (and what it says about him as a player) I will not be recommending him to become a raider. Professions are some of the best ways to improve your character, not to mention bank account. An 80 without professions, or with low professions (Yes, even you Death Knights) is a sign of laziness, which is NOT something I want in a raider that is being considered to contribute to our progression.
  

Talents and Glyphs: (Check everything for second spec if applicable) Do they have all their talent points spent? Do they look like reasonable raiding talents? Do they have a full glyph page? Do the glyphs look spec appropriate?

• Please please please please log out in your PvE spec, glyphs, and gear. I have had to postpone so many reviews because the player didn't take 3 seconds to swap gear. Remember, you are trying to get the guild to approve of you, and just about anything will leave an impression, for better or worse.
• As with professions, make sure that you can rationalize any odd talent points or glyphs. For example, a tree spending a two points differently doesn't typically worry me, but if they dropped points into feral instead of balance, I would want a extremely good reasoning behind it.
  

Reputation: This can tell you a lot about the history of the character. High Classic rep, they raided in vanilla. High Horde (or Alliance) Forces rep, they've PvP'd alot. High Burning Crusade rep, they played a lot and possibly raided in BC. High LK rep, they've done some grinds at 80. The only rep I look for specifically is Sons of Hodir. Unless they are a scribe, this is the only way to get the BiS enchants for their shoulders. An 80 that has not even begun this rep sends up major red flags to me.

• A few key reputations for a resto raider are going to be Sons of Hodir to honored (and hopefully exalted) for the shoulder enchants, and Wyrmrest Accord to revered for helm enchant. However, check your other factions as well. If you're 300 points away from Argent Crusade exalted, and sitting there with a blue ring, I'd expect you to finish that rep out and purchase the upgrade. Do your homework, and work for the reputations that can benefit you.
  

Achievements:

General: Do they have Epic? How close are they? How long ago did they reach 80?

• Not much you can do here other than standard gear upgrades. That said, don't forget that your rings and trinkets can be swapped around so that you get credit for both slots if you don't have 2 i213 items.
  

PvP: Here, just basically glance at their HKs. If it's very high, it's likely that at least some of their attention will be taken away from raiding.

• I'm not saying don't PvP... However, this can be a early warning for us to keep an eye on the time that the recruit spends in arenas or battlegrounds, and make sure that their raiding performance is not getting short handed.
  

Dungeon's and Raids: How close are they/do they have Champion of the Frozen Wastes? How many emblems have they collected? Next, check their progress on Glory of the Hero, Raider, and Ulduar raider. See what they have and have not accomplished, and in what size group.

• This can both be an indication of experience and skill level. Someone sitting there with Heartbreaker is going to give me a heads up that they (almost always) know their stuff and are nicely geared.
  

Professions: Are they going to be able to feed themselves? Did they take the time to level FA or fishing?

• If you have an alt that has high level secondary professions, make sure to note that in the application. This will never be a make or break point, but it can show a player that's going to put forth that little bit of extra effort to improve their character. Of course, they could just be an achievement junkie, and it tells me nothing ^.~
  

Moving on, we have http://www.pugchecker.com/
Pull up their character, and this will tell you not only what instances they have done, but how many times they have cleared it on each level. For Naxx and Ulduar, it will give you the numbers for each boss. Also tells you the average iLevel for their gear.



Next up, is http://www.warcraftrealms.com/charhistory.php
This site will try to tell you approximately when the character was created, about when they hit 60, 70, 80, etc, and most importantly, their guild history.

If you see that they've bounced around between 9 different guilds since they hit 80, then you know that they are likely to do the same with us. Commitment issues and all that.

• If you are one of those that has moved 9 times since you hit 80, be prepared to provide detailed reasons for each and every move. If the application does not ask for guild history, I wouldn't typically include it there, but you might leave a note stating that you are willing to provide info on guild history if requested.
  

After that, zip over to http://be.imba.hu/
This will tell you many things, such as how far off the hit/defense/etc cap they are, gear that has missing enchants or gems, or incorrect ones, where their gear upgrades would likely come from, and where they should do well.

• Before applying anywhere, take the time to look at your character in detail on this site. If it does warn you about missing, wrong, etc items or enchants, you'll likely want to spend some time on your gear before submitting an application. For example, if you see a message like this: low level items, upgradable enchants, misenchanted items, unenchanted items, empty sockets then you will likely not be accepted into a hardcore raiding guild.
  

Finally, take a glance at http://wow-heroes.com/
This will also tell you what instances the character should be focused on, but more importantly, it will tell you where their current gear came from, what gems they have in what pieces, what enchants they have on gear (and if it should be improved). This, in my opinion, is the easiest place to look through their gear piece by piece to see if it is good for their spec. A mace specced rogue using swords is bad, a holy priest wearing hit gear is bad, and so on.


And as with everything else, take with a grain of salt. That mage might have leveled BS for min/maxing purposes, to take the time to ask them about any major issues you come across =)

And as an applicant, be prepared to explain anything and everything... Knowledge is power!
*sagenod*