Infiltrating the Alliance: The Top Five Things To Do When Joining a New Guild

As many of you probably already know, I recently faction changed and server transferred to join a new guild.  Generally speaking for most people, joining a new guild can be quite a trying time; there are all these new people and a billion-and-one new things to get used to. New people, new raid strats, and sometimes even a whole new city and server dynamic.

Today before raid I decided to fly on out to Dragon Soul to be ready to zone in as necessary, completely forgetting that I am now on a PvP server and thus risked being assaulted by Horde characters.  Thankfully this didn’t happen because I remembered at the last second, but it could have been really bad.

I even got to crack a joke about there being too many Alliance on my gunship….and I didn’t know who to kill first, the Alliance or Blackhorn.  Thankfully it seemed like a few in my guild share my same love for the Horde, but I wouldn’t have known that unless I spoke up…which brings me to point number one:

Speak up! You’ll never know the answer to your questions if you don’t ask.

•  Don’t be afraid to check if you’re required to bring food and flasks, or ask where you can find your healing assignments for the night.
• Don’t be afraid to let someone know you’re unsure of a strat, especially if it’s a fight or a difficulty mode you’ve never done before.  If you need help with something, always ask!
• If, after your first night of raiding, you feel like you were lacking, seek someone of your class, or your class lead, out and ask for things you can do to better improve your performance.  You don’t want to invest a bunch of money in a transfer only to have it not pan out.
• Say HI! when you come online, a lot of people sometimes don’t realize there’s a new person unless you put yourself out there to let them know you’re available for dungeons and what-not.

Your new guild won’t know you don’t know something, unless you tell them.  So let them know!  It will make everyone’s life easier in the long run….but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t come prepared.

Be prepared! In all facets of your character.  This means if you’ve moved from 10 man to 25 man and you have to change your spec, you should do it before your raid begins.  Usually I keep food and flasks on me anyway just in case someone decides they don’t want to drop any more feasts for the night, and the same goes for flasks.  In addition if there are fights you are unsure about you should at least make an attempt to research them and understand them prior to joining the raid force for an evening.  Then, if there are things you still don’t understand or aren’t sure about you’re left with point number one…SPEAK UP!

Be open-minded not everyone is just like you.  Going in to a new guild there are always going to be differences, so tread carefully.  I personally try to stay out of conversations that don’t directly involve me as much as possible.  This way I avoid saying something that someone might find offensive.  That is, at least until I’ve gotten more comfortable and I’m more aware of the guild’s atmosphere.  Sometimes this can take a week or two, or sometimes you can get the general feel in just a couple of hours, but always, always be mindful of what you say.

Be patient not everyone does things the way you are used to doing them.  At this point you may have been raiding Dragon Soul for 20 straight weeks using the exact same strat every time.  Suddenly you join a new guild to do heroic progression and a lot of their strats are different.  The other thing is, especially if you’re joining a guild that is higher progressed than you and is still working on some fights, you’re going to have to expect a few nights where you just wipe.  This is what progression sometimes is.  You work on something, seemingly beating your head against a wall, but not realizing that you actually are getting a little bit better every time.  Patience is something that is necessary for progression, and sometimes it can be very difficult to keep that patience especially if you see someone messing up the same thing every pull!  Just try not to get frustrated!

Be yourself.  Just because you’re watching what you’re saying doesn’t mean you should clam up and hide.  Your new guild can’t get to know you if you’re just completely silent at all times.  I was in a guild a long time ago who would call every person who claimed to be a girl, “Bob” until she would talk in vent.  Even though we were just teasing we all knew it could be really easy to offend a new recruit, so we didn’t ever press the issue.  It was just meant in fun!  Try to joke around and get into the culture of your new guild.  It will make your transition all that much easier.

Most of all have fun, remember it is just a game.  Ultimately if you don’t have fun in your new home it won’t be worth it anyway.  So always above all else try to have fun, but remember: Speak up, be prepared, be open-minded, be patient, and be yourself.

Good luck wherever you end up!