Helping a friend of mine look into switching off our current server Scilla, mostly because of various issues in guild and also I'd say Population. More and more guilds are disbanding and everyone needs more members. In the case of our current guild its been too much change and too much edrama because of it.

I realize that WoW has a recruitment forum, but that seems to be hard to find a fit aswell as the fact its putting in alot of trust in someones advirtisement if your talking about transfering. The way I considered looking at first was going through some Realm forums and checking out progression threads and looking through some websites and asking questions on those realm forums.

Is there however maybe another way I'm not aware of like a website alota people use where guilds have profiles or something along those lines. Also if it helps any the level of player I'm talking about would be Gruul/Mag capable.

Any help I would really apprieciate.

By and large, a guild who goes through the trouble of using the cross-Realm recruitment forum is respectable through sheer resource-using. I'd trust it more than you think (my guild uses it).

Also, Progression Threads are an easy way to check that guilds are truthful - I consider that to come with the territory and should be part of any transferree's checklist of things to do (along with the guild's website, and talking with the guild management via a level 1 before hitting the Transfer button).

Worldofraids recruitment forum maybe, but usually the more top end guilds post there.

I'd have to say bosskillers at this point. We've received a number of exceptional apps from them.

Yes their ranking system is silly, but you are still going to at least get some idea of where many of the top guilds are.

Going to second bosskillers at it is a pretty prime destination these days. Also, don't discount the guild recruitment forum on the WoW site. I use this whenever I'm recruiting and it usually brings some good apps in. A good guild will have a good recruitment post that has all the details you need to know whether you may be a fit. The forum moves fast so don't be afraid to go 5 or 15 pages back to find an appropriate guild.

As an officer in a bit of a niche guild (PVE server with 9pm PST raid starts) we've had to rely heavily on off-server recruiting. The WOW Guild Recruitment forum definately can be effective as probably a 1/3rd or more of our membership is from off-realm and recruited via that forum. The main thing is trying to be as thorough as possible when interviewing possible transfers (would feel bad having their $25 go down the shitter) and I would suspect that the same applies to people that are looking to transfer. Our most succesfull transfer members usually made an alt on our realm and talked to a bunch of members beforehand as well as jumping on vent to talk with the officers.

1) Make an alt and talk to people in that guild, and not just the officers.

2) Hang around Shat city (if you can make it there as an alt), or IF/Org and listen to the chat.

3) Check the AH as prices can vary from 1 server to another. And it may give you an idea how to make some gold if you can buy low (1 server) and sell high (another).

4) Talk to people in other guilds, ask them questions about the server, the prospective guild, etc.

5) Make use of the Armory.

Curiously, what does that have to do with anything?

I suppose he meant that it might tell you something about the maturity of the guild leadership, or at least the webmaster.

I don't know - I don't think it has much bearing on anything myself, either.

If there is, the average age of the guild is either 12 or they're probably a group of people more focused on screwing around and having fun together than raiding. If there isn't, they're probably more serious (but not nessesarily better) raiders. Saying something like "swearing = good" or "swearing = bad" would be stupid, but you can learn a lot about a guild just based on what thier news updates are like.

It's not all-encompassing by any means. If you go to my guild's News page, all of our kill posts are like "LOL STOP USING IMAGESHACK NOOB" or things like that, when in fact, we're pretty hardcore and not immature at all. It's just the public face we put forward I guess.

BTW, that quote is almost directly what I said to the guild screenshotter on our latest kill. =(

I know my personal tendency is to respect someone who can express their opinions in more creative ways than %$#$, @$#&, and *@@#. Profanity makes me think you are less intelligent... I'm not sure why, but that's the impression I get. First impressions matter.

Uh, I didn't say that. In fact, the very next sentence (which you decided not to quote) says'Saying something like "swearing = good" or "swearing = bad" would be stupid'. I'm not sure how you then proceeded to conclude that I thought any guild with swearing on it's homepage is 'filled with 12-year-olds or are incompetent', as I certainly do consider both of those options bad.

But some still post images such as making a swastika out of their guild on Heigan (hi soj), which can tell you a lot about their atmosphere.

You said "If there [is swearing on the homepage], the average age of the guild is either 12 or they're probably a group of people more focused on screwing around and having fun together than raiding." Maybe I misunderstood, but it looks like you're saying swearing = pre-pubescence or "more focused on screwing around than raiding" (incompetence). Nevermind, I didn't want to start arguing semantics, the point is, while you CAN judge a guild's personality on what kind of language they use on their homepage, and whether or not that guild may or may not be a fit for the kind of person you are, you CAN'T use it as criterion to decide how well a guild gets things done.

Not focusing on success is not remotely the same thing as being incompetant. While farming something or other in Stratholme (NR shield?) a year or so ago, with five players in T2+ we managed to wipe on
Baroness Anastari twice because every time someone got mind controlled they'd get nuked so heavily they'd die before possesion broke. We had people who were willing to come to ZG only because they got to kill guildmates mind controlled by the piles (and sometimes Hakkar...). If you wanted a guild filled with 'more serious (but not nessesarily better) raiders', you'd hate it.

I really don't know how you can read that as saying that "swearing = shitty players" when I explicitly said the opposite multiple times.

The front page of a website should attract the kind of raider you want to have. Like it or not, potential recruits are going to see that first, and yes, they will judge your guild off the tone of your forums. I don't mind profanity in general, but it is an indication of maturity.

One thing to keep in mind before forking over $25 is that if you are going to join an established guild, think through it carefully. Many guilds now are experiencing high turnover and guilds tend to form little "cliques", the people who have been friends for a long time and remember wiping on Vael, C'Thun, etc and all the newbies. If you were previously part of a solid guild for a long time, your WoW experience will likely not be the same and you will slowly lose interest in the game.

People somehow think that joining a more "hardcore" raiding guild will somehow make their ingame time more enjoyable, I've seen most of the time the exact opposite to be true. Play to be with friends, not to get epics.

This is true, but it can also be a very positive experience. It's not something I would recommend if you think you have any options on your current server, since the culture shock can be severe. Raiding and raid management had gotten so frustrating with my old guild that I no longer wanted to log in. Now I'm raiding nearly every night with people whose level of play challenges me to improve my own play, and I'm doing it because it's fun.

The "hurrr ur 12 yrs old is school out today" burn wasn't even funny when people started using it 10 years ago.

But yes, the point is a guild's front page is a reflection of what you'll be dealing with on a daily basis were you to become a member of that guild. And if they post stuff like this, then you know right away they're a bunch of immature idiots who all think they're hilarious.

Definitely talk to the officers and members of a prospective guild to get a feel for the atmosphere you'll be dealing with on a daily basis. Don't rush into things and just transfer to the furthest progressed guild that will take you - you may well regret it a week or two down the road, but have nowhere to go for 3 months.

Other than that, I can say it has the potential for really revitalizing WoW for you, certainly did for me and my group of friends that transferred. A small group of a good players can be a huge difference to a raiding guilds core.

One the note of armory and talking to people, almost all guilds have a recruit rank in some form or another. Officers will almost always tell you what they think will make you want to join, PR has to be part of their job on some level to be anywhere remotely useful/successful. Recruits on the other hand likely went through something like you are, there were just in another guild so they are going to have a fresh perspective. Why did they leave their old guild? Why did this chose this one? Now that they're a member, how do the guilds compare? Is the guild full of Cliques? etc. You'll likely be treated the same way as all the other recruits, use them as your resource, since you're basically in the same boat.

I'm also reminded of a conversation I had with Wubwub once. If your first contact with an officer in the guild leaves you thinking "this guy is either an idiot, or pretending to be one to be funny" chances are he doesn't care about you at all, for whatever reason. If they can't stop talking about how great their guild is, chances are they're deluded (after all, they need to recruit people) or desperate. If they're up in your face trying to interrogate you about how good you are and your old guild, and they aren't Sebudai ...