When I was still actively playing Philippine Ragnarok Online in 2003-2006, I was very competitive and always made it a point to have my guild in the forefront of the guild sieges. At the start, quality can compensate for quantity. With the right gear, builds, and strategy, you can easily hold off or invade castles that had twice or even thrice the number of opponents. This was the golden age for my guild, especially since I was able to bankroll equipment being one of the first forgers in the server. My guildmates acted as farmers, gathering ingredients that I would turn into elemental weapons which we sold so we could save up to buy Hydras, Tharas, and Marc Cards.
Expansion Became Inevitable
When Philippine Ragnarok Online’s population started to breach 15,000 just for Chaos alone, we realized we needed to beef up our army. We were slowly being routed by bigger and badder guilds and we couldn’t just stand as 2 guilds anymore. It was at this time that I decided to start a massive recruitment drive. Our guild, the Shadow Circle, ballooned to 13 fully equipped WoE guilds and we were finally able to launch major offensives and defensive maneuvers, especially in Geffen, which was our favorite city.
Here are the lessons that I learned in expanding one’s guild. I’m sure you guys have more input so feel free to give your comments and suggestions!
1. Make a RECRUITMENT POST in all the related forums to your game and your server. If you have unofficial forums, go post there as well. Make sure to post the qualifications that you require for potential applicants. Be very specific – if you want Wizards of a certain, build, level, and even player attitude, be diligent enough to post everything.
2. WORD OF MOUTH / VIRAL MARKETING is very effective. Have your existing guildmates bring their RL and in-game friends inside the guild. It’s important though that you screen them properly. You might also want to post guild promotional videos on Youtube, EB pictures, and other community-centric content to the rest of the members of the server. Show them that you have a thriving, fun, and active guild.
3. This proved to be the most effective for me – AIM FOR THE HEAD, THE BODY WILL FOLLOW. Go direct to guildmasters which you think fit the profile of your guild. Instead of recruiting members one at a time, start absorbing and merging guilds into your own. Be very wary though as the quality of all the members in the guild that you will absorb is not top notch. In Shadow Circle, out of the 13 guilds we made, 9-10 were made through this fashion.
How about you guys? Do you have anything to tips to share?
FYI – I’m still sick and I’m still at home (huhuhu T.T) Bawal OT, please. ^^
Click here to read my Weight loss System which let me get rid of 50 lbs. in 5 months!
Caine Excellence on March 13, 2008
i Dont know if the TIPS above Will Work
PLAYERS today don’t follow without any reward
shagojyo on March 13, 2008
4. RGM> WIth supplies
Pulse on March 13, 2008
the problem with applicants today is that they seek guilds that have very high salary and offer large amounts of supply @_@. Gone are the days where people siege mainly for the sake of making their guild topnotch.
ask ko lang, why is there an ad here wearing a bikini?? (looks at the upper right part) @_@
Judicator on March 13, 2008
what’s to expand? if u have only 2.5k+ players still OL at ur server… and that’s not even a 100% sieging users..haha.. thats baldur btw.. times do have change.. ^_^ though ung AIM FOR THE HEAD, THE BODY WILL FOLLOW strategy still do occurs.. hehe
joel on March 13, 2008
speaking of guild extension!! bugged guild ko dhil naglagay ako ng skill sa guild extension! lv13 n un.. bigla nagreset after ko ilagay sa guild extension skill.. then i tried distributing the skill points.. ayon.. naging empty yung guild skill.. ngayon lumabas n yung 5 guild skills kaso kulang prin un! :pif: tyr server.. mag1week n :e11:
LadyLaz on March 13, 2008
Try nyo mag-pub ng “RGM>galante ang GM”. Lolz.
Seriously, loyal members are few to come by these days. Maswerte ka na kung makakita ka pa ng isa o dalawa. Plus, with the politics going on in pRO, you would have to be extra careful about getting members who are actually deployed to spy on other guilds. Especially that Agit Lords is fast approaching.
Also, you can’t rely much on the recruitment. Marami dyan, pagkakuhang-pagkakuha ng supplies ay mag-leave guild with a nasty comment to boot! Hays, I really miss the old days…those days were fun.
But your Tip #3 is still somewhat effective. That’s how we got most of our numbers before…huhuhu…Loki Alliance days…hays…
Fred-ster on March 13, 2008
d maiiwasan na gusto tlga ng player ung me sweldo ska supplies. what differs us from other guilds is just that ung sweldo namin e ndi kasing taas ng sa iba (average of 1m lng samin kada siege, while ung others nkita ko nkapub with sahod averaging 3m or more kada siege) and ung supplies namin e konte lang din (pampadagdag lang sa sariling sikap ng player).
ang hnahanap namin more on the attitude kasi un ang primarily lumalabas pag siege time.
Wauks on March 13, 2008
Buti na lang nung panahon namin di pa sikat ang sweldo :heh:
Rocky on March 13, 2008
Ngayon kasi LAGANAP NA ANG DUPING NA WALA NAMAN GINAGAWA ANG LU kaya may pondo na ang mga GM para magpasuweldo ng milyon milyon plus unlimited pots.
evincar on March 14, 2008
ung marami pang pa sweldo ung ung pinaka marami members /heh
nakakatawa pero yun ung totoo
Frithiof on March 14, 2008
Another good way to recruit loyal and eager members is to positively build up your guild’s reputation. I know a lot of players who were absorbed into a guild because they looked up to the guild as a whole. I myself was intrigued by a friend’s guild called Thunderlight which was affiliated with Shadow Circle. I joined Thunderlight when I was still a leveling swordsman and they helped me eventually become a Crusader. From there I eventually joined Shadow Circle Dragoons, SC’s cavalry guild in SC’s sieges, and the rest is history.
^ That’s another good way to recruit loyal members. Don’t just recruit members by saying things like: R> lvl 80+ . Go around Midgard and make friends even with those who you think are “Weak” just because they’re still only at their first job, etc. and go help them out as a true friend would. It really pays back to help a player get stronger and better himself as they will forever be in your gratitude. That’s one way to find true loyalty.
Of course, now a days, most RO players are already Veterans and already have their respective affiliations, hence making it hard to find young blood to recruit. But believe me, everyday there are still new players who go online for the first time to see how the community is. If you know how to treat them right and make them feel right at home, he/she may eventually be absorbed into your fine guild. I’m sure you guys have seen movies/animes or played RPGs that featured a young recruit who was taken under the wing and mentored by a veteran of an organization of sorts. As newbie as the young recruit is at the start, he eventually becomes an elite member of the organization and is very loyal to it. It’s the same effective concept in guild member recruitment. /no1
Artemis on March 14, 2008
expanding a guild today is hard. Lalo na kung mukhang suweldo ang halos lahat ng players. Mahirap ding makipag-compete sa isang malaking guild na mayaman ( or yumayaman dahil sa madaming bot harvesters at bot taxers)
Nowadays madaming players sasali sa maliit na guild, todo pa boost, todo hingi gamit then pag lumakas na, biglang lipat sa malalaki at nagpapasuweldong guild.
Loyal guild members are hard to find.
bigjoke on March 14, 2008
i agree with frithoif. personally, nagsimula akong walang gamit and mababa level. may guild na umampon sakin nuon kahit hunter lang ako nuon. walang gamit masyado. ngaun one of the elite members na ko, i mean isa na ko sa mga nag lelead sa mga bagong members and tumutulong mapalago pa yung guild. nasa pakikisama din talaga kasi yan ng gm. dapat d ka masyadong tahimik dahil na oOP mga members. try to talk to them once in a while para feel at home sila. you dont have to give them items or zenny. just be a friend online para magtiwala sayo guildmates and maging loyal sa guild mo.
awts on March 14, 2008
natatandaan ko tuloy ang GSIS
ally ang Grand Lethal, Suste, Insu at Shadow Circle!!!
Mga BS ang GM…
Wauks, Weightless… yun na lng natatandaan ko…
mav~mia on March 14, 2008
For me.. being an old timer in Iris… Seeing that RO has gone past its peak. I would go for trying to befriend old timers.
In Freya there are a lot of old timer guilds that went inactive, quit, or has simply gone into oblivion. My guild was one of those. However it’s not necessarily the whole guild. Maybe it’s just that the GM decided to rest for a while… leaving it’s members as wanderers. That’s why we get to see a lot of “pa-ampon” nowadays.
As for me I’m still a wanderer. Trying out the new guilds that came up.
Patatas on March 14, 2008
Sa mata ng isang member, I would like to agree with you guys on #3.
The remnants of Shadow Circle in Valkyrie just got adopted by Bozanian Beast Fighter (me, kelvs, Fallen Lothario, etc…) And we just started being active in sieges again just last week.
It was an old fashioned guild; no salary, all are helping each other, and pure menyakness…
I know it hurts to be called an old timer but being sorrounded by people who still play RO the old fashioned way is really something. People nowadays treat this game as 2nd life so they actually demand highly ingame on the same way as they demand for their SSS and philhealth benefits IRL.
But I do agree though, that by giving out salary and extra benefits (free pots, gems), guilds baloon like rabbits that you suddenly see yourself defending against ten lvl 15 guilds who want to take a chomp on your agit.
I miss the old chaos… /sob
Creator.Base on March 14, 2008
hindi lang po sa try na kaka experience ng guild bug pati rin po ung trip guild ko sa baldur >.< pag sali ko dun sa isang novice amf naging lima sila sa guild members na sabay sabay OL pero iisang character =))
Silver Chain on March 14, 2008
@ awts
We know what happened to the GSIS, sayang lang talaga nagkalubuan ang Insu, those were the good old days
Anyway, mahirap talaga magrecruit lalo na pag starting guild ka na walang capital gusto ng lahat sweldo and supplies which you can’t always provide lalo na pag gipit ka talaga
Masaya dati ng kanya kanyang dala tapos yung sweldo is optional pag nakakuha kayo ng agit para parang reward nalang.
The Angel-Killer on March 15, 2008
@Patatas :: i really definitely agree wid you…i REALLY miss the good old chaos…grabe it really taught me and my older bro a lot of things and heck, we tried even to bring up a guild (which was not successful) coz of the guild craze…bsta un times na wala pang sweldo, wala pang mga competition of money and everything…as if everyone is really2 having fun during sieges…tapos un alliances : Pentagon, Brotherhood, GSIS , and many many more…
everything changes tlaga and all good things sometimes must come to an end…sana bumalik ang dating masayang siege…un play for the fun of the game and everything ^_^ ..
Dodge113 on March 15, 2008
I agree with Frithiof. Build your guild’s rep, and things will follow. Worked for me and Van Horn (Valhalla server), when we found ourselves guildless due to Caps’ hack and breakguild issue. The only guild we felt was worth it was Justice guild, and we never moved since.
macy on March 15, 2008
I miss the old days of PRO ung tipong mgkguild k lang you needed to pay pa 10k sa GH hehe..
Another tip. For those na wala pang good equips help them. Mas mbubuild ung loyalty dito. During the time when I was still with Alliance, salary was not an issue, they helped me during my levelling days like leeching sa GD and ever famous HO sa Alde Baran. When I transferred with Coalescence at the middle of RPC 06, supplier were given by the GM’s and other well off players. I also helped by brewing bottles for acidbombers for free as long as they have the materials ^^ heheh
blue on March 18, 2008
RGM> 85+ __m + supplies
^ ganyan na kadalasan makikita sa mga pub ng nagrerecruit. Fortunately, our guild still has its loyal members from the old days, that’s why when we planned to create a new one, we just had to approach them, and sila na rin mismo nagsabi na di na raw need ng sweldo. And they even offered to help with the supplies so we can recruit more. And probably maganda yung pag-alaga ng old GMs namin sa kanila, kaya usually we get to recruit iRL friends to play for our guild..
mountaindew on March 19, 2008
the truth is, recruiting the “loyal” guild members is not that easy
Individual Recognition is the key. when a known guildmaster lets someone know that he recognizes their potential, the person will have an enormous boost of confidence and morale. thus, gaining their trust and eventually, their hand in battle.
i know this because this was the main reason why i joined my current guild.
Ottavio on March 20, 2008
^ I strongly agree on mountaindew’s comment.
solo boy on March 23, 2008
Good day people
searching for a build thread, tapos napunta ko dito. I started RO during beta days pero never had a guild. never experience woe. Quitted Ro after several months kasi wala na pang load kasi na focus paglalaro ng MU at dota. Finally got back when valkyrie arrived (kasi libre na) as usual solo boy pa rin. lvl 98 vit knight here and finally planning to get a guild to experience woe naman. Binasa ko lahat ng replies sa thread na to regarding recruiting members with zeny and supplies. Wlang pinagkaiba to sa ibang games like MU Online Philippines. I was a GM there pero dinisbanned ko din kasi wala naman ang brotherhood and loyalty kung wala kang mabigay na gamit at zen sa members mo. Yung iba naman kakabigay mo pa lang ng gamit at zen alis na agad wala pang 1 minute ^_^. And finally what i noticed walang pinagkaiba ugali natin mga pilipino sa real life pag dating sa pera at power. Like i our goverment na lang. lagay dito,lagay dyan,suhol dito,suhol dyan to make people loyal to them (parang zen+supplies in game) tapos kapit naman mga tao na mukhang pera kaya nagiging corrupt ang government. Hindi na ko nagtataka kung bakit mukhang pera most of the filipinos you can see it ingame. Almost all MMORPG ran,lineage,etc. Pati mga vendors sa Pronters ex. Quest items Fluff/Trunk = 1k. Amf pati fluff/Trunk binebenta ng 1k. Sige alam ko OT na ha. Bye sharing lang po