When you’re looking for a raiding guild to satisfy your raiding needs you’ll often find that you are required to fill out an application, or app for short. DO NOT PANIC. I am here to help you with some simple guide lines for what not to do when applying to a guild you hope will want to take you in and feed you, and love you, and hug you until the end of your raiding days!
Tip #1– Write in chatspeak for faster reading
All recruiters need to get through your application quickly so they can get on to do more important things. Speaking in chatspeak, or L33t can help them accomplish their task much more quickly. They’ll be so thankful that you’re sure to get many wonderful follow-up questions asking you to go into more detail about your answers! Often people will respond with things like “Please explain?” or “I don’t understand what your answer is!” This is a natural response that people trying to find out more about your wonderful personality and raiding skills. After you explain (again using chatspeak so they can absorb your answers more quickly) will often use to apologize for their own lack of knowledge and try to gain understanding of how a well-educated raider, like yourself, feels about their own class and skill set. Don’t be perturbed by comments such as “Your application is poorly written, and it looks like you took 20 seconds to fill it out.” This is an example of the a member of the unwashed masses responding to the inferior knowledge he or she has about anything to do with raiding. Disregard everything these people say– they are haters who don’t appreciate real talent (like yourself) and need 2 l2play nub.
Tip #2– Minimal details make you mysterious!
Mystery is the spark of life in any relationship, and that’s what you’re trying to build with your future guildmates during the application process. If you let them know all of the other experiences you’ve had with different raid groups, and what kind of gear you’re wearing under that tabard, what more is there to learn about you? Who wants to raid with someone who has spilled their life story on the first application? Better hold of until the third or fourth raid to mention that time you went to ToGC with your buddies and Gormock got a little crazy with the enrage timer. And don’t even think about posting a WOL or WWS report– TMI buddy, TMI! If you’re going to give it up that easy what kind of relationship are you going to be able to build. No, telling people things like that will ensure you only get called in when they’re lonely on a monday night and just need a little fun. You don’t want to be the raid booty call, do you?
Tip #3– Bashing your former guild shows you know how to give criticism!
Obviously, you’re leaving your former guild for reasons that were entirely their fault. How better to show that you can recognize who the best is than telling your future guildies each and every one of your former guilds faults? Things like “they seriously suck dick and don’t know shit,” and “The raid leader is a nub who needs to l2p and stfu!1!” show your dedication to success and that you don’t tolerate poor performance from anyone, including yourself!
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Alright, I’m sure you all know these are things not to do on an application. Applying to a guild is like applying for a job– you need to impress the people you want to take you into raids. An application is their first look at you. How can they know you’re actually a great healer if all of your answers are either illegible or contain very little detail about your experience? Forcing the recruiters to dig into your armory or various other sites used to find out the minimal information about you may defer them from even looking into your background. By spending time on your application you give the same impression as someone showing up in a suit– you’re prepared, know what you’re talking about, and you’ll be an improvement to their team, rather than a detriment. In putting the minimal effort into your application is the equivalent of showing up in ripped up jeans and a “Who farted?” baseball cap to an interview for your dream job. Or in other words– L2play nub!
The first time I wrote out an application for a raiding spot it was for my current guild. Knowing what irked me from looking over applications for Surge, I was nervous to present myself to someone who would over look all the details of my application, check their truthfulness where possible, and basically judge my personality to see if it would fit with their current guild. Not to mention if my class was even needed. It can be a very nerve-wracking experience for anyone involved.
Now-a-days I spend a good chunk of time looking over new applicants for Prototype. Sometimes the applications are wonderful, eloquent, and other times…well other times you just want to ask the person “What were you thinking?!” What’s the best advice I can give you when you’re applying to a guild?
1. Understand what you’re applying for
You don’t want to apply to a guild that’s working on the normal Plagueworks when you really want to be doing hardmodes. Nor do you want to apply to a 25 man guild when you’re happier in a ten man raid. Do the research for the guild, and you’ll find a home you’ll love rather than a place you will be uncomfortable in.
2. Research a question if you don’t understand it
The number of times I see “I don’t know how to take a screen shot D,:” or “What is WOL?” on an application is kind of baffling. There are a number of resources literally at your fingertips to discover what something means, or how to do something that is required for the application. Google, the WoW forums, the thousands of WoW websites out their all have the information you’re looking for. If your application requires a parse (a.k.a. world of logs or one of the other programs out there that record data during raids like healing, deaths, activity, DPS, etc.) and you don’t have one available you have two options. Either explain that you don’t have one, or go to the WoL website and install their program to record your own parse the next time you’re in a raid, even a pug group. The option I would choose is number two. Not only does it show what you’re capable of in a raid, it also gives you the opportunity to look through the log and see what you can improve on before you hit the “submit” button on your app.
3. Type in a program that has spellcheck
It helps tremendously if the readers can understand what you’re saying. When I wrote out my application I copy/pasted the form into a Word document and answered the questions that required explanations on that page so I could ensure that my grammar and spelling were correct. Even your email has spellcheck abilities, so type in there if you don’t have a word program.
4. Always give the most truthful answer
No matter what kind of experience your previous guild has, if you haven’t accompanied them on all of fights you don’t have that experience. People will know that you’re lying as soon as they open up your achievement tab in armory, and a lie generally means an automatic “no”, no matter how great your gear is. Even if your experience is limited it is better to tell them simply what it is, and how you plan to improve instead of fibbing or not even mentioning what you have accomplished.
5. The answer to “What can you improve on?” is never “Nothing!”
This is a fairly open-ended, tricky question. You don’t want to list to many things and enumerate every fault you have. However, saying “Nothing” makes you look cocky, and paints you as a potential problem when criticism time comes around. My answer to this question was my PvP skills–now hold on, I know PvE isn’t always impacted by PvP, but let me explain. Personally, I believe that a healer who can keep up in the frantic pace of a PvP enviroment is going to be exponentially better than a healer who just does PvE, because they will have faster reaction times, and know the skills of their class better. The best thing you can do is be honest; if you feel you need to improve on researching fights say so, or if you need to work on understanding other classes abilities, or any number of possibilities, explain as honestly as you can, giving a short response to fill in the “why.” When I read a response where the person actually puts some thought into how they can improve it shows much more potential than any amount of experience, and bodes well for them making improvements for the betterment of our raid group.
6. Bashing your former guild does not make a good impression
Joking aside, ranting about your former guild in an application is the equivalent of whining about your ex-boyfriend to every guy you meet at a bar: you come off as petty and a drama queen, and no body wants to touch you with a ten foot pool. Stay away from inflammatory statements like “They suck” or words will negative connotations. No matter how justified you feel you are in your comments, does anyone really need to know that your former guildleader “sucks eggs?” It comes off as immature, and people reading it will doubtless wonder how you got yourself into such a hostile situation. Personally, anyone yelling about how their former guild is “teh sux” gets an automatic pass from me; too much drama incoming to be worth any amount of skill.
Honestly, most of these things are common sense. Keep them in mind, and although I can’t guarantee you a spot in the guild you want, you’ll have a good chance of finding a place that makes you happy!