There are many guides flying around these days targeting MMOs and their mechanics. With so many Gold and Leveling guides out there, it was bound to happen that someone would try to create something to help the struggling Guild Master. Enter the Guild Creation Guide by Doom Enterprises!

What surprised me most at this guide was that it was actually helpful. Perhaps I read a guide too many over my years of playing MMOs, but I find that the greater majority of guides either fail to convey their information well enough or are simply lacking in content. A few are downright scams.

This however, is a quite real guide and has a place in today’s ever evolving market. With so many guilds becoming close to household names in particular MMOs, the dream of creating a game-spanning, internationally recognized guild capable of surviving through rough patches and upheavals is shared by many players. The hows and whys are a problem, and here this guide can help.

Content: Coming in at 90+ pages of content, it explains guild creation and management in detail, with an emphasis on Guild Events and Guild Content (website, forums, artwork etc).

The guide starts with a detailed Chapter List and pays plenty of details to all the minor things that can go wrong when starting a guild from scratch. While it does deal with common sense knowledge, it is well presented and comprehensive. A new Guild Leader will find many useful tips in here, from Guild Types, Officer Information (promotion, roles) to Member Recruitment and Guild Rules.

As said before, a large focus is dedicated to Guild Content, in an effort to promote the idea of a lasting brand. Website, forums, artwork, guild colors, tabards and events are all covered and explained in detail. Even a few samples of guild created events are being given at the end, all of great use to a budding Guild Master.

Perhaps too much attention is given to Roleplaying Guilds and Events, whereas the greater majority of newly formed guilds will usually choose a more instantly gratifying path of either straight up PvE or PvP. Since many MMOs focus their attention on PvE and/or PvP, more information about managing and organizing this type of events would have been invaluable to many new guilds. A few common issues encountered by PvE and PvP guilds include loot distribution systems, priorities, organizing raids and group setups or handling specific issues that often arise in such events.

The biggest fault of the guide is that it is only addressed to guild leaders and officers, thus limiting its exposure. It is certain that many more would benefit from it would it include a lot more specific examples rather than so much general information.

Appearance: Except for the customary cover, the guide is bare of any pictures or images. This is not a bad thing, as the subject matter does not call for any specific visual aids and the guide is presented in a clean, brisk way that makes it very easy to read and follow.

In some chapters though, the lack of images does hurt the way information is transmitted. It is especially true when talking about Guild Colors and their significance, where a selection of specific examples of outfits and tabards would’ve helped much more than dry text. The same can be said of the Artwork chapter, sorely missing specific examples.

Overall the guide provides a good service to those that are trying to get a good guild started. It is a difficult process, as this reviewer can attest, and this little “instruction manual” can help the unwary avoid the many pitfalls of guild leadership.

Aside from some reasonably minor issues, the guide is a well designed, well written piece of MMO merchandise, and can save would-be guild masters from a lot of stress, anguish and disappointment. <!–[endif]–>

This reviewer’s score: 9/10.

This review was written by the editors at www.lorecore.com, a website dedicated to Age of Conan and World of Warcraft players, including guides, articles, news and reviews.