Looking for advice: Starting my own guild! (pardon my ramblings)

[Teebone]

So I've pretty much have done everything there is to do in WoW except 1) level every class to max and b) ran my own guild.

Working on a), so I need advice on how to do 2)!

I created my guild, have a great name for it locked down (I honestly expected Rocket Surgeons to be taken, yay popular new memes!) and just leveling my warrior and questing I got it to level 5. SO: what to do... I have a checklist, and I am looking for advice on each item. My ultimate goal is casual to semi casual raiding with PVP and achieves mixed in. I want to keep things fun, so I'm not going hardcore. My guild is Horde side of Suramar US. I need members. I know I'll have to start with all levels and go from there. I know how to keep the controls locked to prevent vault theft, and only family member who have authenticators can get in. And me. So without further ado, my checklist:

1) Much as I loathe them, I may need a mass invite add-on to at least get some fresh meat on the table. Need a decent one. So far Super Guild Invite is looking the way to go.

&) Every guild needs a website. I, however am more broke than launch day of Healthcare.gov. Free web hosting with guild tools would be nice. I saw one but damn if I can remember it...

c) MONEY. MONEY. NEED GOLD. Best things to farm so far for guild (and my own) funds are battlepets. Or make them. If I had MONEY. Suggestions? If I up my membership through mass hysteri-err.. hypnosis- DAMNIT recruiting people of their own free will! YES! That's what I meant! will cash flow guild perks help solve that issue at least a little bit?

4) We all know the Horde has trouble keeping healers and tanks from turning Ally. I made my Horde main a warrior for the reason that maybe I will need to MT. At the very least I have a DPS spec I can use that is currently not so bad. What should I be looking for in tanks and healers for my guild? People that need gear and have a pulse obviously, but... I have a gut feeling there's more to it than that.

Oh, my goal is flex before the next expac. At the very least my loot system will be flawless. If you need, roll. Limit two per customer (items). I know what classes need what, been here since final phase of beta. I will permit no loot drama. No officers abusing systems. AND ABSOLUTELY NO PLAYERS MORE TOXIC THAN I AM. I can be a bit random, you see. Some might even say, psychotic. Fun, yet psychotic. Like a fine cheese adorning a cracker with just a bit of spicy mustard.

Where am I again? Oh right. I'll take a large waffle fries with that sandwich. Thanks again!

[Halicia]

will cash flow guild perks help solve that issue at least a little bit?

no. don't count on the perks providing any substantial form of income.

my advice is that if you want a 'casual raiding guild that does flex', just start doing flex. a mass invite addon wont get you players that want to do the same things you do. actually DOING those things will though.

wait until you have some officers before establishing ranks & rules. otherwise its not 'their' guild, its just your guild and some ppl that you play with.

[Vaelorian]

Just know that you will most likely (exceptions are there to all those naysayers) will attract kids and noobs with the super addon thingy. It is so frowned upon, you even yourself frown upon it. So why be that guild? Why join the ranks of the retarded guilds when you could do a lot better?

A decent guild starts out as a group of people you are friends with. The more friends you have the better (not that one guy you ran a dungeon with 2 years ago and haven't talked since with). And the more friends they have the better etc etc.

Meanwhile you setup your website and spam sites with a very decently written recruitmentpost.
Meanwhile you do PUGS in order to gain more skilled people for your guild.
Meanwhile you ask your fellow guildies to do the same (without having the option to invite anyone btw... just direct them to your website or you)
Meanwhile you set up a decent officer section.
Meanwhile you think about a good rulebook for your guild that is friendly and logical.
Meanwhile you think about how hardcore you want to be as a guild.
Meanwhile you want to think about who will raidlead.
Meanwhile you might want to think about a system that is fair in terms of rotation (raids)

Just a friendly remark (which you might not find very friendly). I would never ever join your guild. The way your post is made reeks of "whatever man". It seems like you are very much not GM material. "I need gold" for example... really you need gold? You think a guild needs gold?

It is sad to say - very hard work - to be a succesful GM. And you don't seem to really want to do any. The fact alone you had to come here and ask for advice to me seems like you want a layout of a guild and copy it. Well let me tell you: even if you did copy such a thing, it still would fail. You cannot copy someone else's formula to run a guild. It depends solely on YOU. What kind of person YOU are. You have to think about things that you think are important to your guildies. More importantly you should not do that alone. You should get together with your friends who would like to join your newly started guild and talk about this. The best ideas will come up. I hope you prove me wrong.

Edit: actually the only thing that I can think of reading your post - is that you want to sell your guild sooner rather then later and in the meantime have some nice gold income before you kick your guildies out.

[Deleted]

I think your priorities regarding why you're making a guild is totally wrong

[Shahad]

I think the world does not need yet another social raiding guild.

[Tart]

Make sure you have a core of players mate as starting from scratch blind is hard. Super guild invite is dreadful and most people wont join as they will be looking out for a high perk leveling guild. And tbh using that to find raiders is silly without knowing anything about them.

If you have a few friends or people wanting to raid then make up the rest of the raid team with pugs. If the environment is good you will start to get people wishing to join and raid with yourself.

Now as someone said above there isnt a blueprint to follow to a successful guild. Starting small is key then build your empire over time, dont try to run before you can walk in terms of promising what you cant deliver. You will no doubt have arseholes come and go so dont get disheartened and give up.

Best of luck.

[Teebone]

I may not have been clear about everything, and thank you!... even the most harsh of criticisms are welcome. I know it will be a long road. I know I won't be 'that guild' people will want to join right off. I also don't want to be 'that other guild' that people steer waaaaaay clear from because of 'that thing about the drama' or 'they just seem like that type of people' even though I am that type of people at heart ^_^

This is why I came to you folks for advice. I wanted to talk to real wow players, hopefully those that have done this before. I've watched them grow from nothing, be nothing, be everything. I just see this as my chance to create something in WoW instead of obliterate it. The need of gold? Well... maybe I feel like I wanna give back to people. My friends, they all left wow save only for 2-3 that have already helped me.

Vael, you're right about the spammer. Screw that lazy shit, I'm better than that. adam, kevk, thank you too. I welcome everything said, even that. Tart I didn't get started with nobody at all.. but the few that helped me work hardcore hours like I do and ones that aren't as optimal for playtime. Whereas I'm nearly at a second 90 alt for RS, they have one toon each in the 40s. (all of us have established Ally mains)

I think asking (yes, spamming trade et al) for folks of all levels in a respectful manner, non mod, I establish myself with new people. Running a FLEX is a good idea. I may establish myself with with veterans. I need to consume souls that are willing, spare the flesh. I mean make more friendships =) and looking at it all, if I am to start doing this I need to gear myself better and assemble a full tank set in the process of doing all of this.

I think I also need to join a few randomly assembled things by other players as well. RIGHT! Get out and mingle. That's the order of the day. Thanks again everyone!, and further comments/advice, thanks in advance!