One of the most difficult things for any group to really figure out is the direction and purpose they want to pursue in the World of Warcraft. Many guilds struggle because they have no clear path, and still others struggle because they have a clear path with an inability to progress in that direction.

As with any project or organization, the easiest way to approach establishing a guild focus is to list the things you want to achieve, and build from there. For example, we in <devnull> sat down and created this list:

• Preserve a fun, casual atmosphere.
• Provide the challenges and rewarding experiences many of our members desire.
• Reward members who dedicate their time and show what is generally regarded to “raider” or “hardcore” traits.
• Ensure all guild activities are fair to all members.
• Promote guild events.

What this has lead us to is a very different approach and structure than practically every other guild I know of. After careful consideration, it was obvious the only way we could achieve all of our stated goals was to create an environment that allowed members to choose which path to pursue, and to provide those opportunities for them.

After getting the highlights written, we looked at some more specific things that we wanted to accomplish (written from our month or so before Wrath discussions):

• Consistent 10-Man Raiding, twice weekly
• Consistent Heroic Runs, one to three weekly
• Battlegrounds / World PVP / Arenas (interest limited to a select few), TBD

Sounds like a typical list, right? Generally speaking, yes. The problem we encounter, though, is that we either do not have enough people on a given night (due to real life concerns) to work on most of those goals. This is where the delicate balancing act between “casual” and “not so casual” comes into play.

As a guild leader you are going to have to decide how to approach this situation, how to make progress and work toward achieving the decided purpose of the guild, and how to balance the challenging arena of casual players and less casual players. Fortunately guilds generally attract members with similar mindsets and playstyles, which makes this much easier in practice than in theory.

Remember to keep your goals simple at first. The focus of the guild should be the underlying foundation that influences your decisions. You should have short-term and long-term goals, as well as an idea of how to keep things interesting when those goals are met. All of these things start to come together when you look at a sample “plan” that I’ve created (and simplified as goals):

1. Get 10 People to 80 without having burnout.
• Help players develop their skills (if they seem to want or need help).
• Run random achievement runs for breaks/fun.
• Pick encounters to do for no reason at all (i.e. solo Ony, 2-man BC heroics, etc.)
2. Run L80 Dungeons, and possibly Heroics, until gear level is comfortable to enter 10-Man content.
• Arena Teams.
• Wintergrasp and associated raid.
3. Obsidian Sanctum.
4. Naxxramas.

Once the overall focus, and subsequently some very specific goals, are down the real fun begins. This is where it is time to start really structuring the guild, and deciding who you want, or can trust, to help.

The next section, focusing entirely on guild structure, will be up next week. I’m going to try to use Tuesdays for the continuation of this series, and hopefully establish a standard posting pattern. Once I actually have that figured out I’ll post it here too.