Adding a Guild PvP Division

I suspect that this is an option that guilds have considered at some point. After all, in Cataclysm, one of the methods guilds can gain reputation and experience is through rated battlegrounds and rated arena. It was something I had considered for a while since a good number of players in the guild do love their PvP. But as it is, I do not have the time to organize players and run the necessary strategies for a successful PvP team. Not only that, I’m the last person in the world who should do any sort of PvP. I only have enough time to invest seriously in raiding or PvPing (and I much prefer raiding). What I do have is the resources and the infrastructure to support a group of dedicated players.

Conquest is now expanding

But I found a solution.

A couple of players in the guild were leaders within the QueueQ cross-realm pre-form group. After a bit of discussion, it was decided we would have both PvE and PvP interests in mind. The commander of the PvP team would have complete control of his group. As long as the recruits he selects adhere to the basic standards and ethics of the guild, they would be welcome. Just because one player is accepted into one part of the guild doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be green lit into the other. A raider shouldn’t expect an immediate invite into a dedicated PvP team and vice versa. Obviously on days where either groups are shorthanded, we’ll consider all of our options. Common sense, right?

Naturally there were a few concerns.

What about players who both raid and want to commit to PvP? Would scheduling affect it? – PvP nights would not coincide during raid nights. They would be held on other days to maximize availability. We also minimize incidents of players having to choose between say arena or raiding to get their points in.
What would the voice infrastructure be like? – I had to rearrange and setup a few extra channels. Now we’ve got two battleground channels and a channel called the waiting room. Any player in the waiting room can be dragged up into the battleground channels when players are needed.
Gear acquisition? – There is a concern that PvP players would want to duck into raids, get PvE weapons, and leave. Loot council helps address that. If we reach a point where our progression oriented players don’t need weapons anymore, then we’d be able to work something out. Otherwise, raiders get priority.

Why PvP?

Why not stick to something simple? Why not just stick to one primary focus of the guild instead of splitting it into two? I guess I wanted to diversify a bit more. It doesn’t hurt to be a little ambitious. Even though they’re not players I have any say in handpicking, I trust the PvP commander has the right people skills and instincts. Not only that, I mentioned earlier about the guild perks. Having multiple methods to gain guild experience will be beneficial in the long run.

Additional exposure

Just like how running an alt raid for a guild can help drive additional exposure, running weekend PvP premades is another way to attract attention. With two capable preform leaders, we could fire off two 15 mans and a 25 man raid at the same time.

Now if players ask whether or not we’re a PvE or PvP guild, I tend to reply with both. I’ll continue to oversee the raiding team along with my officers. Anyone inquiring about PvP gets directed to the PvP leaders. This all looks fine on paper. Now it’s just a matter of determining whether or not it’ll work. I’ll never know unless I try. This is a chance to change up guild beliefs and philosophy for a bit. If PvP battlegrounds is something you’re interested, you might want to check us out.

I do remember reading about one other guild that was going to do the same thing. I can’t remember so I at least know that there’s someone out there who will undergo the same types of problems or issues. Has your guild thought about extending into formal, organized PvP?

18 thoughts on “Adding a Guild PvP Division”

  1. Our guild is pretty casual but we’ve talked about doing rated bgs as well as raids, doing it the same way you guys are setting it up. They would not be set up on the same days. We’re a smaller guild then most so our raiders tend to just have alts that focus more on PvP. We did a few premade bgs this expansion and alot of people enjoyed it. We weren’t good at all and it resulted in alot of laying on the ground and such. But it’s a different aspect of the game that can be enjoyable if you do it in groups.

    I suggest trying to have bg groups for those that aren’t serious about the bg itself, kind of like an alt run. They would still need the gear but it’s more like going to release pressure when they hit a large speed bump in the raid scenario and want a change of pace.

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  2. I think it’s a fascinating idea. Being that my schedule can’t accommodate raiding, being part of a PvP group would be very much fun.

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  3. I’ve been thinking about something similar for Cataclysm, because I found myself enjoying PvP a lot on my priest. We won’t recruit for PvP (all the potential problems you already enumerated sound like a major pain), but I hope we can get a team going in the guild (plus some friends of guildies, probably, since we’re fairly small).

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  4. That sounds fantastic, Matt. If I weren’t starting a Ph.D. in the spring and have my time completely consumed, I’d be apping for the PvP section of the guild. I loved the people when I was in Conquest, but my times never lined up with raids (silly work and grad school), and unfortunately, I can’t make the same mistake again.

    Still, it’s a fantastic idea, and I wish you all the best. I’ve been toying around with a PvP guild idea. A more casual guild idea, that is. But I just don’t think it’s in the cards, no matter how awesome it sounds.

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  5. In the past our guild, Bloodforwhiskey, has been PVE with some very casual PVP on the side. There has been a lot more interest in including additional PVP in Cata due to the changes. I like the idea of POCs for PVP activities. Much of the time now the Raid leaders are running these and I’d like to see others step up into these roles. Thanks for the post, good stuff.

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  6. Sounds like a-whole-nother level of fun for your guild. In fact, I could see more and more guilds per realms turning into “mega guilds”. Bigger guilds with more interests than just raiding, or just PvPing.

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  7. I’d love to get something like this rolling for my own raidguild, we have few avid pvpers but not nearly enough for rated BGs I fear.
    still waiting on a european equivalent to queueQ. =/

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    • Start one up. Since patch changes have taken away the ability for cross-realm premades to work right, I’ve heard from a number of people that they were waiting for the official QQ guild to hit their realm. In the mean time, we had two QQ leaders on our PvE roster, their 99% win-rate going untapped. If you build it, they will come… yada yada.

  8. Yes and yes.

    My vanilla WoW guild didn’t just branch into PvP, we actually switched into it completely just a month before TBC launched. This wasn’t as much by design as it was by happenstance. We were bored of raiding, ours was the second guild on the server, but we had beaten C’Thun (yes the original version) recently and although Naxx wasn’t particularly difficult, we just couldn’t make it past that bastard known as Patchwerk.

    A few of us started forming groups for AB. That expanded further into the GM getting involved (that would be me). Then we downloaded PvP specific addons and formal invites started going out. Pretty soon we were steamrolling through AB on a daily basis, we had all respecced and rearranged out UIs to be a bit more PvP friendly.

    Of course then TBC came out, and we went straight back into raiding.

    But for a while, I really couldn’t see us going back to being a PvE guild…

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  9. Our guild is doing the same thing. I was just reading your other article. I could see some internal strife with a “Mega” guild housing smaller guilds. The issue would just be ensuring as you basically stated, the people that get recruited adhere to the same rules/ethics/expectations as your own guild represents – if you lose that, you’ve lost what you have built.

    We’re currently bringing in a PvP leader that is experienced and have further meetings this week concerning it. We’re also forming our own premades to aid in the recruitment process.

    Best of luck Matt.

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  10. Thanks for the post Matticus,im still pushing and trying to maneouvre my guild into a PVP subsection to help cope with PVE absences as well as the guild reputation but PVE players still tend to be averse to change.

    I hope your efforts work well and ill keep my eyes peeled for an update on your progress in the future?

    Ive not given up yet but its an uphill struggle as i mentioned in my mail.

    Good luck and again nice work on the website,it looks HAWT!

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  11. Noticed from a few comments that people are talking about PvP on-the-side as a casual off-night for raiders. That can be a fun stress-reliever for sure, but anyone who’s doing that should really brush up on their strats before heading into rated BGs. This isn’t just your normal BG with a ladder component tacked on. I suspect you’ll be heading up against multiple complete arena teams joined together to form a 10 or 15 man, or QQ-style strat based groups where killing the opposing faction is the last priority. I highly encourage everyone to check out the new pvp systems being put in place, but don’t be soured on the concept if it’s more than what you were expecting. I’m sure with practice and a willingness to give it the same dedication to have for raiding, it’s not far out of reach.

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