Creating Useful Guild Ranks: a FAQ

Copied from the original posted by Aenea

Creating Useful Guild Ranks: a FAQ
a.k.a. What Do I Do With Ten Rank Slots?!

This is a compilation of responses to a thread started on the old forums about why and how to set up guild ranks. This FAQ exists entirely because of the amazing people on the Guild Relations forum. I’ve put it together in the hopes that others can benefit from our veterans’ experiences as much as I have.

This document does not go into detail on how to use the guild control interface. It focuses instead on the reasoning behind guild ranks – the problems good ranks will forestall, and the benefits that accrue to the guild as a result of a thoughtful, fair ranking system. For your technical questions, you’ll want to see Ashling’s Guide & FAQ to In-Game Guild Creation.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa … 3472&sid=1

Right, let’s get started.

1. Why would anyone care that much about making Guild Ranks?

Some Guild Leaders won’t care. But many of the larger, more long-lived guilds have found that having a fair and well-thought out ranking system can forestall problems down the road. Every good organization needs stability, and a ranking system that is clearly defined will provide that stability for its members. A well-designed system can also forestall some of the inevitable power struggles that many guilds face. When members feel they can work within and be recognized by the system, they are likely to support it.

Guilds are about people, and balancing the sometimes very different needs of very different people in order to make something bigger than any one individual. Careful ranks are one of the many tools you have at your disposal, as a Guild Leader, to solve the Problem of People.

2. So what’s my first step?

As a GL, your first step should be to read Wytch’s amazing guide. Much of this FAQ will build off your answers to the questions she poses: what is your guild about, and what do you want it to become? If you can answer those, most of your work will already be done.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa … 2432&sid=1

In case you haven’t looked at it yet, you should also read the official WoW guide to your guild control interface. It helps to know how this works.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/bas … ldtab.html

3. Okay, so really, what’s my first step?

Let’s start from the ground up. What do you want to do with new recruits? Most guilds institute at least one “trial” rank. This is the lowest rank, and is designed to give both your guild and your new recruit time to get to know each other. Privileges are limited – you don’t want a bad seed /gkicking all your members, or taking all of the runecloth from your guild bank. It’s generally useful to allow “trial” ranks to listen and talk in /gchat – it’s tough to get to know someone if they can’t talk.

Some guilds will have two trial ranks. Social guilds, for instance, might want a second trial rank to give everyone more time to get acquainted and comfortable with one another. Raid guilds, on the other hand, might have the “green recruit” rank and then a slightly higher rank for people who can become members once they meet level, gear, or attunement requirements.

The most important part of this rank is the promotion process. Think about what you expect from your members, and design promotion requirements to “test” these qualities in your recruits. For some the process could be as simple as a time limit – after two weeks, you gain full member status. A PvP guild might require a certain Arena rating. A PvE guild, where dedication and cooperation are vital to the guild’s progress, might want difficult level and gear requirements to help gauge a new recruit’s commitment. A popular choice for “testing” this kind of dedication is to require a tangible goal like 375 in a secondary tradeskill.

Gertrudis (Feathermoon) explains:

Q u o t e:
When you app to the really high level guilds, they make you do really crazy things, like have a toon with 300 fishing. Same deal. If you’re not willing to grind out something easy, for sure you’re not going to be there on wipe night number 47.
editor’s note: this quote was taken pre-TBC

(Some guilds with advanced progression will require things like attunement to the instances they’re running – this is as much a pragmatic requirement as it is a philosophical one, since a character can’t raid Karazhan with a guild if he or she isn’t attuned to it.)

Finally, make sure you let your recruits know what this process is! You are more likely to retain the type of recruits you want if they are clear about your guild’s expectations of them. A good way to do this is to post policies on membership in your guild website – that way a prospective recruit can decide before even applying whether or not your guild will be a good fit.

4. What’s the deal with members?

Members make up the core of your guild. In the last step you already decided what you expect from members, now it’s time to think about what privileges this rank should have. Guildchat Listen and Guildchat Speak are a default privilege of membership. Some guilds will allow members to invite other players, while other guilds will need to be more selective and reserve that ability for officers.

The complete list of privileges you will need to allocate are: Guildchat Listen, Guildchat Speak, Officerchat Listen, Officerchat Speak, Promote, Demote, Invite Member, Remove Player, Set MotD, Edit Public Note, View Officer Note, Edit Officer Note. See the WoW Guild Tab information for a fuller description of these privileges.

5. What should I do about officers?

This can be tricky. As GL, you need to think about how you want to lead your guild. Will it be a dictatorship? Do you want to have a council of advisors? Will you go all-out democratic? Your answer to this will determine the number and power of your officers.

A few warnings: many of the people responding to this topic cautioned that officers are in a unique position to help or harm the guild. You should promote people that you trust absolutely, because as a guild gets larger your officers will likely have more interaction with the membership as a whole than you will. This could lead to power struggles and even a split guild if you’re not careful. Trust and communication are vital between a GL and his/her officers.

This is also the argument for limiting the number of officers. Too many cooks in the kitchen, and all that.

Officer reponsibilities vary greatly, and largely come down to what kind of guild you’re running. Raid guilds, for instance, may have “Class Leaders” in addition to “General Responsibility” officers. Social guilds might give officers specific duties, like website maintenance or recruitment.

Here are some thoughts on officers from Fancypants:

Q u o t e:
There a few general ways to divide officer responsibility that I could think of:

•Class Leader: Each class has a specialty officer that is in charge of members of their class (promotions, questions, recruiting).
•Departmental: Each officer has a different department (Guild activities, recruiting, quartermaster, webmaster, Raid management, advancment).
•Committee: No one has a permanent duty. Assignments are given as they come up (who wants to be in charge of the next raid, activity or project)

I’m sure that some guilds have various hybrids of the three. Two examples:
– Have a Class officer Rank and then a General officer rank underneath it. You could divide the departmental responsibilities between the general officers
– Use the Departmental type organization for a few responsibilities, but divide the rest in the committee type organization.

Almost unanimously Guild Leaders said that letting members know how officers are selected is useful for preventing any concerns about favoritism or arbitrariness on the part of the GL. If you state clear policies for officer promotion, you encourage your members with that desire to contribute more and perhaps take on greater responsibilities within the guild. It’s tough to manage even the smallest guild alone, and creating a system that recognizes the talent within your guild will make your job much easier.

For a very in-depth look at the issue of Officers, see Aerte’s Officers: A Guide.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa … 3875&sid=1

An additional note on Class Leaders: these ranks can really shine in actual raids. Class Leaders often function as circus ringleaders – ensuring their assigned class knows the strategy, watching and correcting performance, and filtering suggestions up to the Raid Leader as needed. They can be invaluable for preventing Raid Leader overload.

6. What about in-between ranks?

Some guilds like to have a punishment/probation rank where certain member privileges are revoked as a warning to guildies who act up. For example, some GLs have a “mute” rank where people who abuse the guild chat are placed until they either /gquit or learn the error of their ways. Some like to have an Alt rank to distinguish all the Mains from their little siblings. Some like to have “honorary” ranks like Veteran where outstanding contributions are recognized.

An important in-between rank to consider is a Raider rank. This is most useful for Casual Raid guilds, where you’re trying to balance two sometimes contradictory goals – end game progression and individual prerogative. The most important problem to solve in that type of guild is how to keep the guildies who want to progress from clashing with players who don’t want the responsibilities of raiding.

A Raider rank helps differentiate the different goals and guild expectations of the players, allowing Raiders to get the first crack at clearing new content and still leaving room for more casual members of the guild to fill in when and where they like.

There are two main problems that this rank solves, at two different points in the lifecycle of a guild. Casual guilds just beginning their endgame progession often have trouble filling their raid slots. 15 people may be ready for a (20-man) Zul-Gurub run, but the remaining 6 guild members all feel like leveling their alts that night. A Raider rank allows you to create a class where that’s not an acceptable choice – Raiders raid, or lose their “first chance” spot.

Hardcore guilds, needless to say, can just require that members raid on raid nights. Period.

Casual guilds who are further along in their endgame can find themselves with more people who want to raid than available raid slots. Instead of making signups a first-come first-served process – which can discourage the people who’ve dedicated a lot of raiding time to getting the guild where it is – a Raider rank can make sure your committed players are rewarded for their effort in a systematic and transparent way.

Here are some thoughts from Wytch (Skywall) on the Raider rank, quoted from another thread:

Q u o t e:
Make a raiding rank – it really does help when it comes time for invites and it helps sort the really casual folks out from those that would like to progress. Be specific about what is expected of the rank. We are a casual guild and we call this rank “Incarnate” – this is the core raid group. We have 8 – 10 of each class in this rank and for the first 15 mins of invites they get slots – after that we open it up to our members, which represent the newest folks in our guild and those hoping to be part of the core raid group.

7. Well that’s all well and good, but can I see some examples of systems that have worked?

Oh, so glad you asked! Read on for the FAQ part 2!

Good Luck!

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Aerte
Level 60 Tauren Hunter
Guild: Blackrock Legends
Realm: Blackrock

Hey, you may just be in luck! BRL is fairly new, as we’re only about 7 months old, and still tackling some of these issues. I’ll just tell you how I went about doing it, what I’ve learned, and what has seemed to work.

1. Effective ranks: This will depend heavily on what type of guild you are. BRL started out as casual, so I had GM/Officer/Member/Alt ranks. Then we moved forwards into a medium casual and I added an Initiate rank. Now we’re chugging towards becoming a raiding guild, and so I’ve instituted a Raider rank (special/advanced/privileged)as well as the Class Lead rank.

2. Blizzard has thoughtfully restricted us to 8 ranks I believe. So BRL has GM/Officer/Class Lead/Raider/Member/Alt/Inactive/Initiate. This sort of allows me to move people around a tiny bit, but mostly people will just be Members of a guild.

A lot of guilds get creative, naming their ranks to follow the guilds general feel. I decided not to, because it gets somewhat confusing for people outside of the guild to understand your ranking system without full explanation. Furthermore, I felt it would be detrimental to name, say my Officers “Legends” because then it feels (to everyone else) as if they aren’t important. Military names are fairly common, such as general, sergeant, corporal, grunt…etc…

3. Like I said in #1, BRL has progressed from being small-casual, to medium-casual, and now into raid-guild. Previously we didn’t need to consider who would become a class lead, so until the need arose, I didn’t set up a rank for it. Now we need class leads so that officers can take breaks from always having to be in an instance for loot distribution. As a raid guild, BRL will need to really start focusing on newer content (BWL/AQ40) and has to get certain people geared enough to attempt this.

This is where my Raider rank is supposed to really help out. While BRL is new to it (it went live last night) I believe just about every large guild has something to this effect. The truth of the matter is that not everyone really puts 100% into the guild, and you’re going to need to reward those who do. Raiders get a few key privileges, such as loot priority (Officers can override a DKP bid in favor or a Raider when needed), auto-invite to 40 man raids, and raid consumables (pots/flasks/health stones.)

The flip-side is that there is a very limited number of Raider spots per class, so there is no way we’re going to cut our Members out of raids. I’d say that if we had only Raiders, we’d have about 25 members. PLENTY of room for everyone else! Also, Raiders are going to be evaluated bi-weekly and can have their rank stripped if they fail to meet the Raider standards.

4. GM – Guild Master
I am responsible for writing all guild policies and rules. I have the final word on all disputes, class questions, member infractions, and officer discussed topics. It is within my power alone to make alliances with other guilds, make deals with them, and decide which guilds we’re interested in entering trade agreements with. I get to make all the tough, cut-throat decisions regarding guild progress, well-being, and direction. It falls upon me to be impartial judge and jury, to lay the law, and to enforce final judgment.

Officers – Second in Command
BRL Officers are in charge of many things, ranging from guild health, to paperwork. Generally I recognize that everyone has their own special ability, and I try to play upon individual strengths for each officers assigned duties.

All Officers are in charge of discipline, member moral, keeping on top of their class responsibilities (loot rotations, specs, resistance gear requirements, etc..)and are required to be familiar with all boss fights and the related strategies. They are required to lead raids, settle disputes fairly and firmly, as well as be aware of any member-to-member altercations/infractions.

Specialized duties are assigned based on an Officers strength, such as my Warrior Officer’s ability to lead raids very efficiently and effectively. My Rogue Officer isn’t quite as effective leading raids, but every guild member recognizes he is the best person to bring member-to-member problems to. The Warlock Officer is very good at speaking up “for the little guy” and representing some of the more minority members’ concerns (I swear he just likes to contradict me sometimes!) My Shaman Officer was a gold farmer in his other life and he’s particularly good at getting the guild to provide the right pots and flasks needed for any specific raid. While that’s all going on, the Mage Officer is behind the scenes in PM’s. I’m pretty sure he carries a whip, because he is particularly effective in pointing out raid slackers and getting them to reform their bad behaviors.

Class Lead – In Command when Officer is Absent
We have two Class Leads at this time, but will eventually fill out their ranks. Right now CL’s are in charge of loot distribution when an Officer isn’t on the raid. I haven’t planned much else for them, except to be mini-officers when one isn’t around. They do have some disciplinary power, though Officer approval would be required for drastic measures.

Raiders – Specialized Rank for “A Team” Members
This rank is a special, highly-sought after position within BRL. It will be limited to a certain number per class, and is not to exceed that number without a prior vote and authorization. Members who wish to obtain this position must prove they deserve all the benefits befitting a raider, which include:
Prime raid spots
Loot priority
Raid consumables

Raiders will be expected to follow the strict regulations of their elevated status at all times, including, but not limited to:
1. Above 70% of 40 man raid attendance.
2. Specing for optimized raid ability
3. Exceeding the minimum required resistance gear for their class
4. Always on time for raids
5. Researching boss fights and new content

Officers will submit bi-weekly performance reviews and updates for all Raiders. Raider spots can be rescinded at any time for lack of responsibility and/or sub-par performance.

Members – We <3 Them!
This is just about everyone else, and they have no real responsibility except to get the required resistance gear, provide mats for anything they want made, and to in general, not be a$$hats.

Alts – Baby Toons
This is a rank for every alt, as well as members who’re not 60 yet.

Inactive – You’ve Been WHERE!?
Anyone gone for more then two weeks is put on Inactive status. More then three weeks unannounced, and they are removed from the guild.

Initiate – So You’re Trying Out, Huh?
New guys! There are restrictive policies about their raid attendance requirements and loot intake.

5. (See above) There is one Officer per class, and an Officer I call a “floating” Officer. He was the former GM of a guild we merged with and has limited time on-line, so his duties are not defined.

6. We basically picked the people who’re always on-line for raids, who help their guildmates out, who provide flasks/potions/health stones for the raids, and who’re more or less, the best of their class. These people were awarded Raider rank. Other then becoming a CL or an Officer, there isn’t much higher you can get without my explicit approval.

Whew! Anything I left unanswered?

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Foreseit
Level 60 Tauren Shaman
Guild: TheHate
Realm: Anetheron

http://thehateguild.com/rank – lists our rank guide.

1. Ranks seem to mean a lot to people for some reason. I see it as a means to motivate people to contribute to the guild.

2. We have a lot of alts, so the ranks are divided a such: Initiate, Member, Alt (of initiates & members), veteran, veteran-alt, officer, officer-alt, bank, twink, GM.

3. Our guild is about 70 accounts currently, and we’re semi casual. We’re just breaking into raiding content, and we’re fairly tight knit. WE don’t seem to have issues with people attending our guild-wide events (including raids) as we have a pretty strong tradition in that department. We had lots of alts so we needed away to keep track of them all, and we all wanted our alts to have the same priviledges of our mains. Except twinks which have the same rights as members.

4. What are the descriptions/responsibilities of each rank? http://thehateguild.com/rank says it all.

5. Inside the officer hierarchy, there is an unspoken hieracrhy where the older officers have more pull than the newer ones. While veterans are higher ranked than members & have priviledges, they seem to have the same say in guild management as a member.

6. Please see above. We’re still working out how to advance people regularly, but basically it seems rather hap-hazard right now. We’re toying with addressing this issue on a monthly basis.

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Gertrudis
Level 4 Troll Priest
Realm: Feathermoon

We have a ‘naughty chair’ no privileges rank for members who are under the influence or wreaking havoc in the guild. Those folks get locked out of Vent and the boards till we get a chance to deal with their situation appropriately.

We have an intiate rank, a non-raider rank, and an alt rank. Each has limited privileges. Initates and non-raiders can become full members only after a voting process and feedback from the class leads.

We have regular members, who all have the same rights and privileges. No one above the rank of member gets any special raid or resource privilege due to rank or role.

We have class leads, who give class orders in raids and various other tasks.

We have officers, who have specifically assigned roles (boards, banks, DKP, training, recruiting, raids, etc). There’s also an advisory rank equivalent to officer for those whose input is helpful but who can no longer devote the time to be an officer.

We have a GM, whose job is to sit in IF apparently idle for hour upon hour, doing aaaaabsoooolutely nothing. Or so rumor has it.

We don’t have cute names for our ranks. Always wanted them; never could make them work with the guild name.

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