I recently joined a great guild called the Dungeon Lords, but it made me wonder what exactly guilds are for. Anyways, I've come to accept that, although the Guild Hall serves no real purpose an guilds are essentially just groups of people who don't know each other but are willing to cooperate, they can mean much more with a little effort.

1. Guilds and Friends:
Guilds should be, ideally, large groups of people who are at the same level and work towards the same basic goals. Whether those goals are as simple as crossing the Chasm or as complex as taking out Lord Vanaduke, you know you have your guildies to help you. In essence, you can communicate at some level of friendship, even though you usually won't know the other players, IRL. So, the more guild members treat each other like friends, the better things will often go in terms of dungeons, crafting, or SK in general. I was surprised to find this out myself, since it usually seems like guilds are just there for the titles and the promotions. Which is lame, and (thankfully) not always the case.

2. Guilds and crafting:
Guilds are a great resource for friends if you want to craft an item. More than often SOMEONE in your guild will already have a recipe fr the item you want to craft. If people within the guild are generous and kind, crafting is much easier, since people will give you mats or offer to make a simple recipe. You can return the favor by trading mats they need back. This mechanic is great, in that it reduces the number of people running around the Bazaar madly shouting WTS and WTB, in addition to speeding up the time it takes to craft something.

3. Guilds and Dungeons:
The guild can also be really great at communicating in dungeons. If you're low on energy, sk if you can hop on board someone's dungeon run at the start of a loswer level. Or, if you suddenly find yourself stranded in a graveyard, ask some guildies to join you and help out. Or, for the more hardcore, organize a dungeon run with your guild mates and pick who's gonna be a tank, who's gonna snipe, etc. With a guild, you always have someone to party with. In the case of bosses, you've always got someone reliable to do a run with you.

In my experience with guilds, just a little bit of kindness goes a long ways. Simply sharing mats with guildies can make the difference between the Knights of Good and the Knights of Not-so-kind (why would you join a guild like that, anyways?). So, why the heck did I make this thread? Great question...I don't really know. Just kind of hoping that people who are unsure of whether to join a guild, or who are already in a guild, are friendly and generous with their guild mates. A little bit of kindness goes a long ways?