For anyone who has been in really successful and enjoyable guilds...

What has made it successful? Do you run lots of guild events? How do you organize those events? With a website? How do you rank up in your guild? What's the best way to get players involved?

I'm actually a GM and my guild has grown to a fair size. Not huge by any means, but it seems to be doing well. We've got all the typical benefits including a Discord server and a Website. That said, I haven't really started running any type of events just yet though I've got several people who are interested in helping out in the way or organizing and teaching content, etc.

I'm not looking for anything super particular, just any advice or ideas from people who have had good guild experiences

Thanks friends!

I'm in a big guild. I was initially extremely skeptical about them, and past experience has suggested they are basically worthless, however, this one has enhanced my enjoyment of the game. Like your guild, they have a website and discord [which i was reluctant to use at first] and they run events and ops groups. I definitely like that they have helped me get a lot of cheevos that I had written off as impossible or unlikely to get, and while I wouldn't say there is a sense of camaraderie with all its members, I think it's pretty strong among the discord users. Maybe it's actually hearing them talk and realizing they're not just NPCs with particularly dumb names, but real people on the other end.

I think the tipping point to how you feel about a guild is when you are willing to do things like join discord/website, participate in activities, talk, not because you want greater access to their guild bank or think of guildies in purely utilitarian terms [how can you benefit my playstyle?] but because you actually enjoy doing those things and helping out. It certainly came as a surprise to me.

Does your discord have a bot that plays youtube? I hadn't realized before [because my computer is a piece of junk that needs to devote all its processing power just to play the game] how enjoyable it is to do pvp while listening to your favorite tunes, or doing an ops campaign while David Bowie is playing.

I'm in a small guild that does regular events. From FP/OP's runs (with vets and new players), datacron hunts (I finally got the fleet one and the datacron master achievement ), world boss runs, to PvP battles... they're always doing something. Now because of my schedule I don't get to participate in a lot of it (they tend to schedule a lot of stuff while I'm at work ) But whenever I log in there are always 60+ people online. Always helpful, always recruiting....

My point is schedule a variety of events that cater to different players. Reward those who contribute. (Ex... make your weekly conquest goal and be entered into a drawing to win ______) And weed out any disruptive elements... because those players will drive people away.

Good luck with your guild.

Events are good. Regular schedules also help. I ran one of the largest guilds on The Progenitor at the start up to mid 2012. We had responsible people for all the different parts of the game, like a warzone teamleader, an RP manager, OPs coordinator etc. These people knew what their role is and we held regular meetings, usually in the Coruscant cantina (forgot the name), where we discussed how things are going.

When our guild eventually disbanded after the mass exodus of summer 2012, we merged with another formerly big guild. There they had organised their week into something like this:

Mondays: PvP evening

Tuesdays: FPs

Wednesdays: OPs

Thursdays: ...

I don't remember what and when, but everyone always knew what was going on. I believe that this was a good thing for the guild members.

Running a very big guild is a tough job and takes a lot of commitment.

Good guild leadership, planning, and management is the key in my experience.

A good guild leadership team sets a theme(s) for their guild activities and administration and then feeds and nourishes it accordingly. Having a clear focus and purpose (whatever it may be) and recruiting to this focus and purpose is key. Ongoing management to said focus and purpose is also key.

A lot of guilds fail in MMOs now days because they are created mostly for the purpose of guild perks and have wide open recruiting polices to get volumes of numbers, with little real management and administration by the leadership. As such.. these guilds tend to recruit "transient players" who MMO hop.. and then complain that their guild membership is not active and the guild is dying. This is not limited to SWTOR.. it's epidemic across MMOs... which is why I support tight recruiting criteria for a guild.... even a very casual guild. Not ever guild is right for every player.