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I've been steady in about ten guilds my entire gaming span of eight years. There were good ones and bad ones but the pros and cons are always the same.

PROS
1)Access to end game content. When you've got a guild you can work your way up to all those super uber dungeons. You can't realistically do that in Pick up groups or by yourself. You need schedules, commitments and talent. Good guilds will eventually have all three.

2)Access to better loot. With the end game content comes better loot. You're more likely to get it with a guild you can trust then with a group full of ninjas. Of course there is still no guarantee, but at least you have a shot.

3)Friends. You'll see these people a lot so hopefully you make buddies. Otherwise (even with all the rules, commitment and hope for better loot) what are you doing in a guild?

4)Wider gaming experience, readily available advice, tips and tricks. You'll be with people that play better than you, have played longer, or have played a class you know nothing about. They can help you just as you can help them.

5)Safety in numbers. You will have more opportunities to travel as a pack. In addition, you'll have back up if someone is bothering you.

6)Reliability when plying your wares/services. If your guild is a big one, and old one, a well known guild, then people will be more likely to trust you. This is important if you need to make material trades before rendering services.

CONS
1)Helper burnout. In every guild are those people that can't seem to do anything by themselves. Maybe you're a sucker, or maybe you have nothing better to do... they'll call on you again and again and burn you out. The worst will be when you finally work up the nerve to say no and they accuse you of never helping. Ugh.

2)Rules and restrictions. Sometimes these change, but even if they don't there can be more there than you realized. My personal peeve are the pvp restrictions. I like pvp free for alls not restrictions based on who got attacked first. There are also loot rules, some of which are really complicated and favor older more powerful members. Some of these rules are of course necessary, but some are truly unfair. Keep your eyes open.

3)Suffering from bad Guild Rep. If you're in a guild of gankers you're going to be targeted by enemy characters. They'll think nothing of camping your body for hours. If you're in a guild that fights within its own faction you could be ruining your character rep for good. Be careful of this as well. Think and research before you join a guild.

4)Nothing you can't use belongs to you. This isn't always true but when it is it can be very hard to earn money. Especially if you only group with fellow guildies.

5)Your time is no longer your own. When there is a scheduled event and you are around you're expected to be there whether you feel like it or not. Get used to it, or get out while you can.

6)Guilds change even if you don't. You might not play for a few weeks and when you come back your entire guild is filled with strangers. This can be shocking to even the most open players. To these newbies you're the new guy and that can be annoying too.

Learn more about this author, E. Rae Fallesen.
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