Not to be confused with noobs. That’s part 2. This is with new people to your guild.

All guilds have some form of attrition. Real life, other games, other guilds all steal away your members and cut your numbers. If you have a good guild with good people, this isn’t a huge concern. You will get new recruits just from people being attracted to the awesomeness. Or the fact you raid in a time slot that is good for them, they like someone else in your guild, they heard you took down Yogg, or they had a good experience with one of your guys who said, oh you should check us out if your guild is the sux. This influx is the result of people just looking for a home, for whatever reason, and it is where a large number of your newbies will come from.

Now here is the really IMPORTANT part. Ready?
These newbs are the foundation of your guild in 3 months or less.

Remember that all guilds have attrition. This is approx. 25% every 3 months with a guild of 60 or so active unique members. Which means every 3 months you lose a 4th of your guild. You have to replace these losses somehow and that is with these newbs. Each new recruit has the hidden potential to bring other recruits, be the main tank, heals, dps chart topper, pvp arena master, raid leader and officer. This newb is going to be important in the future of your guild.

So how do you keep your newb and turn them into a core member of your guild?

1. Do not greet them with foul mouthed jokes and jibes. Your newb may love joking around and goofing off. They may cuss like a sailor. But they might not. You don’t know them yet and they don’t know you. You have to get to know them.

2. Do not treat them like a second class citizen. Everyone understands that you aren’t going to get bank access the first day, but make all the “limitations” clear. No bank access, no g or power leveling from members, no begging are all good limits to have. What isn’t good is no vent access, no standard forum access, no calendar viewing, no ability to have input on discussions. I am not saying you should listen to every word your newb says and give it the same weight as your raiders, but if newb makes a good point, or wants to be a part of a discussion, you need to welcome them, after all one hopes they will be a raider soon enough.

3. Do not boot them from their first raid. If someone joins a guild to raid and then gets bumped from the first raid, no matter your reasoning, you have just told them they are not going to be raiding with you. Think of it more like Fight Club. If this is your first night, you have to raid. Also this is a great point to induct them into what is expected of a raider. Vent, Mods, Flasks, Food, Glyphs, Enchants, Gems, Strats, if your newb gets even some of them right, and rolls with what they miss, you might have a solid raider on your hands. In fact I once found a guild that made it policy that if you wanted to join as a raider, you were required to be present for the first raid lockout and if you missed even one night, they booted you from the guild. It was your way of showing your dedication to their guild, be there or be gone.

4. Make sure they get *something* on their first raid. It is counter intuitive, I know, but hear me out. It falls in with #3. If someone comes to a raid and walks away with nothing, how long are they going to put up with that before finding somewhere new? I am not saying let them grab every purple, or even that they shouldn’t pay their dues, I am saying that people like Epics. If they get Epics, they will be back. They will jump through your hoops. They will get enchants, gems, food, etc, for Epics. They will bust their butt for you and the guild if it means Epics. My second raiding guild had a great DKP system that meant usually if more that a few items for a class dropped in a raid, the newb would get one of them. If the newb got it, they were stoked, and also pretty much guaranteed not to get anything else unless all the core raiders passed on it until they had been raiding for a month or so. (Note: This rule can have some shift if say for example nothing but bad gear for their class drops for the whole raid. I have been in Uld twice where nothing good for caster dps dropped.)

5. If you have *That Guy* in your guild, keep him away from the newbs. Every guild has one. For the most part they can be useful for identifying problems. These are the guys that wear the title of Elitist Jerk proudly. They know everything about most classes and they want to tell you what you are doing wrong. Have an officer or a GM pull this guy aside or in whispers and make sure he understands you value his services but if he doesn’t keep his mouth shut around the newb for at least a month, you will find another EJ who can do his job. The best example for this was in the guild that had a newb rank: Foundling. A foundling was someone who was new, might be raiding, and was working through their newbness. Our EJ was not allowed to even speak to the Foundlings until they became full fledged members, unless they spoke to him first or asked for advice.

6. Try to include the newb. Explain guild in-jokes. Explain relationships. Explain the goober that keeps dying in every fight. The more you make them feel included the more they feel like home. If the newb understands who Rapido is, they will understand why it is your “Fail” rank. If your newb knows that Bubbles is a 40 yr old Marine and is married to Ieatbabies, they know *not* to hit on the chick with the hot voice on vent.

7. Not every newb works. This is vital for any guild. Newbs are important, but are also potential poison vials. Be ready to have to baby sit them for a few days and maybe even have some talks. At the end of their newb period it can even be good to let them go. You might need people, but they need you more than you need them. If they don’t play well with others, politely show them the door.

Good luck, and happy hunting.