Guilds! Guilds! Get Yer Fresh Guilds!

I have the privilege of being the recruitment officer for my guild. It's something that I enjoy doing overall, since I do like meeting and talking with new people and I really do believe in what our guild is and what we represent. But sometimes I get slightly frustrated with the state of guild recruitment in WoW. It seems like players don't have one specific, easy-to-use place to look for a new guild, so players up to this point have come up with all sorts of ways to do it.

What are the normal ways to advertise your guild?

You could advertise in your realm forums: This seems to work the best, particularly since it's primarily seen by people who are already playing on your realm and it's the first place most people look when they decide it's time for a change. The bad thing about the realm forums is that they only reach a limited number of people. There might be a slew of people out there that would be a great fit for your guild, but they just haven't found your server yet. You also open your guild up to possibly being trolled, although most of the time the trolls will leave you alone as long as you don't have a bad reputation.

You could advertise in the official WoW recruitment forums: Honestly, these forums are a mess. They have them split into two boards, one for Alliance and one for Horde. If you actually peruse those forums they have hundreds of posts, all with a slightly varying but generally similar subject line: 11/12 25H - 12/12 10H Pro Core LFM Heal/DPS/Tank. First off... that is soulless and reads like a line in an IT hardware catalog. Second, all of these posts have been bumped hundreds of times, probably several times a day, and those boards move FAST. Wait an hour and you're on the third or fourth page already.  So you're left furiously bumping your recruitment post so that you might possibly get seen among all the eye-bleeding pandemonium.

The other side of this method is that the guild representative can peruse those forums for players who are advertising looking for a new guild. Again, this is hard on the eyes and involves scanning through about 20 pages of posts, searching for a needle that might not even be in the haystack. But, it can also be very rewarding if you do find some promising players.

You could advertise in trade chat: Oh yes, we've all seen it...

Knights of The Azerothian Hamster are recruiting all classes, all races, all levels! We are a fun, friendly, mature guild with 5 bank tabs, a tabard, and a website! PST for more info!

Granted, the KotAH might be a really fantastic group of people. But that advertisement really doesn't tell anybody what the guild is about. Most guilds would need to be "fun" and "friendly" in order to retain members, and "mature" could mean several different things. Most guilds also have bank tabs, a tabard, and a website, so that's not necessarily something to brag about. Even worse, if you're advertising in trade chat there's no telling what kind of folks will see it and want to join. The few times that I've tried it, I've generally gotten whispers like "invte now plz" or "i join ur guild". Responses like that get put on /ignore.

What are some alternate methods?

Alternate guild recruitment websites: Sites like lookingforguild.net are a good option if you are looking for a quieter and much more user-friendly place to post. I really like their layout and it's much easier to search for recruitment posts by faction, battlegroup, server, server type, playstyle, raid times, progression... just about any possible criteria you might have can be filtered. Plus, you don't have to deal with trolling. The bad thing is that of course it's a third party website, so you likely won't be seen by as many people.

If I could shoot for the moon, I'd love it if Blizzard implemented a similar system on their website. Then instead of maintaining server guild lists and individual recruitment posts, a guild could set themselves up once and be done. Entries could be easily changed and maintained at any time to reflect guild needs.

Mentions on fansites: Probably one of the more difficult things to do. This includes getting mentioned on WoW.com or in podcasts. First, you have to do (or plan) something really nifty and unusual. Then you have to notify those outlets about what you did, and hope and pray that it's a slow enough news day for them to take notice. If they do mention you, what kind of recruitment that'll generate is a bit iffy. I've seen some guilds grow by leaps and bounds after a WoW.com announcement, and I've seen others that didn't see any new recruits at all.

Multi-media: Of course, if you're so inclined you can always start your own WoW fansite, podcast,or YouTube channel and make your own splash. Look no further than the Instance podcast or the MooingDruid's Crimson Blood Clan videos for great examples of this. This isn't an option for everybody but if you have the resources and the creative and technical talent to do it, go for it!

What kind of results can be expected?

A few months back, I went on a recruiting spree for my guild. I tried all of the above methods for two months, except for the trade chat (of course) and the multi-media option... my skills aren't quite up to that point yet! But here's the results we got with a fairly detailed post describing our guild:

Server Forums : 13 recruits
Guild Recruitment Forums: 11 recruits
LookingForGuild.net: 2 recruits
WoW.com: 2 recruits

28 recruits over a two month period... not bad! However, don't get too excited yet.

15% of the applications were rejected outright.
30% of the recruits were invited but didn't make it through our associate period.

So really, we ended up with a little more than half of the recruits actually becoming full members. We're still quite happy with those numbers, as we got some really excellent players that fit with the overall group dynamics and atmosphere. It's important to not get discouraged when recruits don't work out. If it isn't a good fit for both the guild and the player, it's much better to acknowledge that and give each other a friendly "Best of Luck!" before moving on.

What about you folks? Have any of you discovered any other unusual methods of recruiting that have worked pretty well for you?

LotRO for WoW Players: Professions

Ah, professions. Some people love them, some people hate them. Some people tolerate them, since they might give them benefits like an extra 10 points of Stamina or a Uber-Trinket of the Hidden Temple. Professions in LotRO are set up a bit differently than what you're probably used to.

Professions in WoW are fairly straightforward. You can choose any two of eleven possible primary professions, plus you can take all three secondary professions. The primary professions are divided into Gathering Professions (Herbalism, Mining, Skinning) and Production Professions (Alchemy, Inscription, Blacksmithing, Engineering, Jewelcrafting, Leatherworking, Tailoring, Enchanting).

With me so far? I thought so.


In LotRO, you don't quite have the freedom to mix and match professions like you do in WoW, but they make up for that by giving you three professions instead of two. Professions are grouped into clusters called Vocations, and each character chooses one cluster:

Armsman: Prospecting, Weaponsmith, Woodworker
Armorer: Prospecting, Metalsmith, Tailor
Explorer: Prospecting, Forester, Tailor
Historian: Farmer, Scholar, Weaponsmith
Tinker: Prospector, Jeweler, Cook
Woodsman: Farmer, Forester, Woodworker
Yeoman: Farmer, Cook, Tailor

The professions listed in italics are gathering professions, the others are all production professions. Take note that each cluster has one gathering skill and one production skill that work well together: Farming + Cooking, Prospecting + Jewelcrafting, Forestry + Woodworking, and so on. Then they give you one additional skill that doesn't exactly mesh well with the other two, this is to encourage interdependency on others within the community. It's your option if you want to level the third profession up or not. Some players do, some players don't.

Professions in LotRO don't offer passive bonuses or crafter-only items like WoW does, so feel free to choose whatever profession interests you.

Tip: If it's your very first character and you want to make money, try the Explorer vocation. You'll be able to gather ore and wood, both of which sell well to other players. Hides drop off of enemies, and you can use those either to level Tailoring or to sell. If you don't have any interest in crafting at all, but don't mind gathering extra stuff to sell, then Explorer is for you!


Let's go through each profession briefly:

Cook: Produces food. Consumables are very useful in LotRO, either giving you a static buff (+12 Agility) for a certain amount of time or providing a benefit (+100 health and +100 power every 5 seconds) over time. Food is what will help get non-healing classes through tough encounters, and is necessary for instances and raids. Cooks need a Farmer to produce their raw produce.

Jeweller: Makes necklaces, rings, bracelets, etc, similar to the WoW Jewelcrafter. Relies upon a Prospector for ore and ingots.

Metalsmith: Makes heavy armor and shields. Relies upon a Prospector for ore and ingots.

Scholar: Makes potions, buff scrolls, clothing dyes, and housing paints. Scholars are unique in that they collect their own materials: relics found in ruins throughout Middle-Earth. You can buy them on the Auction House, but they tend to be very high-priced. They also use some of the byproducts from Farming to make paints and dyes.

Tailor: LotRO tailors make both light and medium armor. While anyone can collect hides, Tailors rely on a Forester to process/cure the hides before they are able to be used in Tailoring.

Weaponsmith: Makes melee weapons: swords, daggers, clubs, etc. Relies upon a Prospector for ore and ingots.

Woodworker: Makes ranged weapons: bows, staves, and spears. Relies upon a Forester for treated wood.

Prospecting: Mines ore nodes and processes them into ingots for Jewellers, Metalsmiths, and Weaponsmiths.

Forestry: Collects wood for Woodworkers, and cures hides for Tailors.

Farming: This deserves a little extra explanation: While this is technically a gathering profession, it's not gathering in the sense of farming stuff while you're out questing. Farming is similar to a production profession in that you have to actually go to the farm fields and sow your seeds, harvest them, and them process the harvest into usable crops. You can buy your seeds and soils from vendors quite cheaply, but you'll be investing your time into the profession and doing a lot of repeated clicking. If you enjoy taking a break from the action, doing repetitive actions in a farm field while chatting it up in the Shire regional chat, or if you like to multi-task while reading or studying, Farming might be a really good fit for you. If you're more action-oriented, limited on game time, or get bored easily, Farming might be just really frustrating. Cooks use the food that Farmers make, and Scholars are able to use some of the byproducts of Farming for dyes and paints.

Tip #2: If you have two characters that you want to level simultaneously, and you don't mind investing some time into crafting, try the Tinker + Historian vocations. They are very complimentary, as you'll have a Scholar for potions, a Jeweler for jewelry, a Weaponsmith for melee weapons, an ore collector to supply the Jeweler and Weaponsmith, and the Farmer can send raw materials to the Cook.

LotRO for WoW Players: Classes

With LotRO going Free-2-Play this fall, Turbine is preparing for an influx of new players. Of course, a good number of those players may be folks that have played, or are currently playing, World of Warcraft. For many of those players WoW was their first MMO, so I'd like to start a series of guides made to help make the transition a bit easier.

There's some differences in the class structure between the two games, and classes that seem like they might be similar on the surface, usually aren't. Here's a breakdown of LotRO classes, their possible counterparts in WoW, and an idea of the inspiration behind each type of character.


Guardian

The primary tank class. These guys charge into the fray and taunt the enemies away from the rest of their teammates, absorbing most of the damage (and relying on a great healer) so that the DPS classes can do their thing.

Armor: Heavy Armor

WoW Counterpart: Warrior. This is probably the closest match to a WoW class among any of the classes.

Tolkien Inspiration: Thorin Oakenshield, Eowyn

Races Available: Man, Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit

Champion

Champions are a very strong melee damage class... they like to get up close and personal to their enemies. They also have excellent AoE (multiple enemy) damage and, if traited correctly, have the ability to be a secondary tank. They use a combo points system, similar to a WoW Rogue.

Armor: Heavy Armor

WoW Counterpart: Here's where it gets tricky. Since the Champion is high melee DPS and uses combo points, it's reminiscent of a Rogue, but without the saps, blinds, vanishes, and other tricky abilities. You could say that it's also similar to a fury or arms Warrior, since they wear heavy armor. Champs are also great at melee AoE, similar to a Death Knight.

Tolkien Inspiration: Gimli, Boromir

Races Available: Man, Elf, Dwarf

Burglar

Burglars are sneaky, sneaky fellows. They do melee DPS, but also provide valuable support to their party via tricks and opening conjunctions, which are special party maneuvers that provide extra damage, healing, or power to the team. Burglars tend to do less damage than, say, Champions, but their party support is very strong and useful. Solo, Burglars are able to walk away from almost any fight due to all the tricks they have at their disposal, and 6-man Burglar teams have been known to be very successful.

Armor: Medium Armor

WoW Counterpart: Rogue again, although they do less damage (comparatively) than a Rogue and they don't use combo points. However Rogues also don't have as many party support abilities and don't have the ability to start conjunctions, so it's not an exact fit.

Tolkien Inspiration: Bilbo Baggins, of course!

Races Available: Man, Hobbit

Captain

Yet another melee fighter! Captains are a jack-of-all-trades class. They can do melee damage, but their real strength is in the buffs and heals they provide for their party. The trademark of the captain is a herald, a pet (of sorts) that provides benefits to the Captain and the party. It's part DPS, part heals, part buffing, and part pet class. They could probably off-tank in a pinch as well.

Armor: Heavy Armor

WoW Counterpart: The Captain is about the closest you can get to a Paladin. However, you get a pet (or actually a sidekick) that follows you around all the time, wielding your banner, so that is unique to this class.

Tolkien Inspiration: Aragorn, Eomer

Races Available: Man Only

Hunter

This is probably one of the most common classes in MMOs. Hunters are a high-damage class that operates primarily at range from the enemy. You'll use your bow and arrow to kill enemies before they even knew what hit them, although you also have the ability to fight close-up if needed.

Armor: Medium Armor

WoW Counterpart: Hunter, but wait! Not so fast... LotRO Hunters do NOT have pets, so if you're looking for the primary pet class, Hunter isn't what you're looking for. They are also similar to the WoW Mage with their high DPS and ports for themselves and party members.

Tolkien Inspiration: Legolas, Legolas, Legolas

Races Available: Man, Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit

Lore-Master

Here's your pet class! Lore-Masters wield a staff, have several pets to choose from, and use the power of ancient lore and knowledge to defeat foes and aid their party members. They can also heal and restore power to their teammates, and have good crowd control capabilities.

Armor: Light Armor

WoW Counterpart: They're similar to Hunters and Warlocks due to their pets, and Mages due to their use of magic. Since they also provide healing and power (mana) to their teammates, they are also a bit like Shadow Priests during the Burning Crusade days.

Tolkien Inspiration: Lore-Masters, along with Rune-Keepers, are about the closest thing to a magic-using class that you'll find in LotRO. Since magic-users are supposed to be few and far between, both Lore-Masters and Rune-Keepers tend to be a subject of debate among lore purists. Considering their love of animals and usage of ancient lore, the closest match to a character from Tolkien's works would probably be Radagast the Brown.

Races Available: Man, Elf

Minstrel

Minstrels are primarily a healing class, but they can be powerful damage-dealers as well thanks to an ability called Warspeech. They're known for healing allies and defeating enemies with the power of wicked riffs and stirring melodies on their instruments. There's a number of different instruments that a Minstrel can choose from, from the lute to the drums to the bagpipes to a cowbell. I'm not kidding, there is a cowbell.

Armor: Light Armor by default, Medium Armor can be added via a class trait.

WoW Counterpart: Priest, considering their healing style. They're also able to go into Warspeech mode for damage, which corresponds to the Shadow tree for Priests.

Tolkien Inspiration: It's hard to pin down a specific character for the minstrel. In Tolkien's universe, the power of song is mentioned from the beginning of the universe to Elrond's songs in Rivendell and Galadriel's songs in Lothlorien. Elves are certainly known for their songs, and judging from the scene at the Party Tree and later in Bree, the hobbits know how to boogie as well.

Races Available: Man, Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit

Rune-Keeper

Rune-Keepers are one of two advanced classes that were introduced with the Mines of Moria expansion. They're a mix of healing and damage and have an interesting mechanic: The more you cast a particular type of spell (healing vs. damage), the more powerful those spells become. However as you cast more damage spells, your healing abilities become inactive, and vice versa. They're very good at either role, but have a difficult time switching between damage and healing in combat.

Armor: Light Armor

WoW Counterpart: No class in WoW has a system quite like the Rune-Keeper. However, most of the Rune-Keeper's spells are effective over time, reminiscent of a Restoration or Balance Druid. Also, the spells that a Rune-Keeper casts are lightning, fire, and frost based, so if you like the flash and sizzle of the Mage or Elemental Shaman, the Rune-Keeper might be a good fit.

Tolkien Inspiration: Honestly, there's not really a precedent for Rune-Keepers within the lore. While it's certainly true that runes and words of power exist, specific wielders of those runes are never mentioned. Chalk this one up to creative license from Turbine... but it's a darn fun class.

Races Available: Elf, Dwarf

Warden

The Warden is the other advanced class that was introduced during the Mines of Moria expansion. Wardens are probably the most difficult class to play in LotRO but amazing when played well. They are considered a tank class, and use a number of basic abilities to form combos, or gambits, that unleash their real class abilities. They can heal themselves, dish out a good amount of DPS, and can survive almost anything.

Armor: Medium Armor

WoW Counterpart: None really. I guess you could say they're similar to a Bear Druid tank since they are a tank class with medium armor, but that's about where the similarities stop.

Tolkien Inspiration: I'm going to go out on a limb and say Strider and the roaming Dunedain. While Aragorn seems more like a Captain later in the trilogy, I see him as being more Warden-like while patrolling the ancient kingdom of Arnor.

Races: Man, Hobbit

So, in conclusion:

Warrior: Guardian
Paladin: Captain
Rogue: Champion, Burglar
Mage: Lore-Master, Rune-Keeper, Hunter
Warlock: Lore-Master
Hunter: Hunter, Lore-Master
Priest: Minstrel
Shaman: Rune-Keeper, Champion
Death Knight: Champion, Guardian
Bear Druid: Warden, Guardian, Champion
Balance Druid: Rune-Keeper
Resto Druid: Rune-Keeper, Minstrel
Kitty Druid: Champion

Which class is best? There's really no good answer to that. Every class has it's strengths and weaknesses, has it's own unique playstyle, and is valuable in a group. It's all a matter of personal preference, so try a few different classes until you find the one that's a good fit for you.