question about guilds...

[_______________Hobie]

i guess i'm fairly new to mmorpg's since ao is my first. having said that, i'm also one of the left-at-12.6-just-came-back guys so i'm not really an ao newbie. my background is more in fps type games(ut in particular) and i was in a clan there, but guilds in mmorpg's always seem like a different animal altogether.

in fps games(well, ut, anyway), the process of joining a clan was pretty straightforward. you play with people from different clans on public servers. if you liked playing with a certain group, you'd go hang out in their irc channel if they had one. then if it seems like a right fit(skills and attitude-wise) you'd ask to join or more likely they'd ask you to join. of course you had clans that weren't so personal and just let in anyone who was skilled, but you always had that opportunity to develop a relationship with a clan before you joined.

guilds in mmorpg's, on the other hand, seem to be extremes. some people have been playing together forever and moved from other games. others just seem to be almost strangers that just joined a guild because they wanted to be in a guild.

i've been asked to join 1 or 2 guilds in my time on ao, but i never really felt comfortable accepting. even if the person asking seemed nice, i'm hesitant joining a guild without at least knowing what the rest of the people in that guild are like.

so i guess my question is, how does one become framiliar with the different guilds in the game and what the members in those guilds are like? it seems a lot of guildies know what the other guilds are like, but for the unaffiliated like myself, where do i go to learn more about this or that guild?

how did everyone else get into their guild? i'm sure a lot of mmorpg veterens knew they wanted to be in a guild when they started this game, so how did you find the right one for you?

just a few questions i thought i'd throw out there.

[______________Barron]

One of the best things you could do is check out the organizations section of the main site...it lists all the guilds alphabetically and gives you some basic info.

Most guilds have their own websites, so Id recommend taking a look at some...also, talking to current members, especially the officers, is always helpful.

Here's the link to the start of the org pages...

http://www.anarchy-online.com/conten.../orgs.html?l=a

With guilds in AO, just make sure it'll be a good fit...a lot of guilds are heavily into RP, some into power leveling, some into PvP...again, the individual web sites will help with that...

You also need to note which server they are on, RK 1 or 2, and their side affiliation...but Im sure you knew that..lol.

As for me personally, I was lucky enough to get into the last phase of Beta and lucked into grouping with a bunch of folks that told me about Div 9...it was just forming up in anticipation of the public launch, so once we were open to the world, Div 9 was one of the first to get formed in game and has consistantly been one of the key organizations on the Omni side of the struggle...I started out a lowly grunt and am now 2nd in Command of this big bunch of palookas..ROFL!

[Thyrra]

good advise from barron.

my guild has a trial membership period of two weeks. you can see if you like the guild, and we can see if we like you.

i would think that other guilds have a similar thing going on.

[______________Barron]

Yes..Thyrra is correct..a great many guilds have level restrictions (ours is 25th btw), and all new recruits to Div 9 go through a training academy of between a week to 4 weeks of basic guild-type training...nothing too strenuous or hazing-like...but as soon as you're on our roster as a cadet (on our site), we get you added to the in-game guild channel so you dont miss out on all the fun..heh