How to run a guild that doesn’t suck

Video version of this guide:

There are timestamps in the video fyi.

This guide has a bonus Patreon video coming in the next couple days!

Inside the Patreon bonus video:

  • More extra assignment example sheets for the current raid tier bosses like the one above (so you can copy/paste or build off it)
  • More spreadsheet templates for your guild setup
  • Raidhelper discord tool tutorial (how to use it properly for your discord)

Video will be going live on Patreon in the next few days here:

Guide links and extra notes:

Role you need to fill:

  1. raid lead
  2. assignments + key role strats (strats + tanking assigns + healing assigns)
  3. recruiting (they don’t have to be an officer necessarily – but you always need a recruiter)
  4. admin (guild bank, sign ups, discord, loot issues, prios, roster changes)
  5. class leads (optional-ish)

What type of people should be officers:

  • high attendance and good ability at class/role (goes without saying)
  • recruiter needs to be very social/online a lot but not necessarily an officer type
  • admin should have some sort of basic tech ability to handle all the sheets/discord/sign ups etc. etc.
  • class leads are more of a knowledge base and don’t need to be officers (but you should have tank/healer leads involved in future strat/assignment discussions when possible)

How many raid days/time is ideal?

For the average semi-hardcore guild 2 days at 4 hours each is a good amount. You want at least 2 days and maybe even a 3rd optional day during progression if possible (can be removed when not doing progression raiding).

4 hours is ideal because it fits your flask timing (2x flask) and it also leaves more time in each raid to do progression/boss fights. Less than 4 hours tends to have awkward amounts of time leftover for raiding.

Ideal roster/group compositions:

This is roughly what an ideal semi-hardcore roster should look like with the group 7 bench being based on what classes you need for availability/roster flexibility (an extra hunter/resto sham/prot pally for example is just really handy to fill in comp dependant fights if someone is away):

These are the basic channels you should have in your discord:

  • recruiting area
  • announcements
  • assignments
  • attendance/absences
  • sign ups
  • tanking / healing / caster dps / melee dps
  • class channels
  • log channels
  • sheets channel (roster/strats/loot prios/dkp/bis list/attendance/loot won/guild bank)
  • officer channels (discussing strats/assignments/tank + healer changes etc etc)

How do I do sign ups?

You can get the raid helper bot for your discord here – https://raid-helper.com

I also have a Patreon guide coming up which has sections covering how to use the bot properly for your raid and streamlining the commands/opt ins to not be as messy. You can watch that on the Patreon here:

What you want in your spreadsheet:

  • Roster/attunes
  • Loot prior/loot won/bis list for each member
  • Assignments

There are a lot of things you can add but I’d say these 3 are must haves somewhere in your sheet.

How do I make raid assignment sheets?

You can make them using the raid plan tool here: https://raidplan.io/

What loot systems work best for what?

  • Soft res/rolling – good to start but not a long term solution as rng can end up with 1 person winning too much loot and loot not going to the right place
  • DKP/EPGP – good for attendance but doesn’t reward performance
  • Loot council – best method but requires a very knowledgable loot council team and no corruption (+ loot council members often sacrifice getting some loot to make sure they appear unbiased)
  • Wishlist – horrible system for most guilds and mostly only works well in a very hardcore, speedrun style guild with a stable roster and guild focused goals

Some guilds do like to use ‘that’s my bis’ if they do loot council/assigned loot (but you can also use a spreadsheet too if you prefer): https://thatsmybis.com

Raid leading basics (watch video for more detailed explanations):

  • Have a set start time and penalize/talk to people who are consistently late to pull/zone in on time
  • Assume your guild/members need hand holding for everything (because they usually do)
  • Have assignments set up ahead of time and call them out for everyone

Raid leading tools:

  • Lack of fight prep / next phase prep
  • No constant recruiting
  • No guild help (attunes/catching up raid alts and new members with quests + gear)
  • Class vs. class warfare (and player vs player too)
  • Unclear loot prio/assignments
  • Sudden officer retirements without prep/transition
  • Unequal raider effort (guild expectations)