How to: Write a decent application

[Pietje]

As I see plenty of horrible applications, I decided to take a shot at making a good, globally accepted one. I'll start with some points you should consider before you start writing. Next up would be the application you should aim for. Enjoy.

1: Place yourself in their minds
How would you want to have someone apply? What would you want to know? Try to think like they would and your chances of succes greatly increase.

2: Know what you want
How much days a week do you WANT to raid, and how much CAN you actually raid? If a guild is looking for someone who can raid 5 days a week, and you want to raid 2 and you can only raid 2, don't bother applying. And another important thing is, are you prepared to farm for money to buy potions, flasks and other buffs (fe. food)? This also takes quite some time, as a good night of wiping can easily cost someone 100 gold.

3: Priorities
Do you want to raid? Or would you rather spend the night questing/leveling/whatevering with a friend? If your in a raidguild, they expect you to show up if they need you, even the 'casual'guild wouldn't like to cancel a raid because you would rather play with your friends.

4: Skill/gear/spec + attitude
Is your gear up to the standards the guild is looking for? This is always a big plus. If it isn't, though close to it, your skill and attitude might prove to be the things they will look for in you. Make sure you show them that you are capable of still being a valuable asset to their raidingcrew and that your no jerk. No one wants jerks, or 12 year olds actually acting like 12 year olds! Or older people doing so of course.

5: Can you handle denial
If you really hate to be rejected, don't aim high. If your joining a big raiding guild with loads of people, you WILL be left out of the raid as you are just a trial. If you can not handle that, don't bother applying to big, hardcore guilds. Rather look for a beginning one. And dont roll a hunter.

6: Do you understand the language
If the guild is a (fe.) Dutch only guild, do you speak Dutch and can you communicate in Dutch? If you can't, once again don't bother applying. Most guilds will keep English as their master language, so make sure you can make yourself clear and that you understand whatever they say.

7: Do you have a proper internet connection and computer
If your computer has trouble handling 5mans, imagine 25mans. If you disc every minute, you are not a valuable member either, as you can't do anything. Get these first!

8: Get ventrilo and teamspeak
Most, almost every, guild uses either one of these 2 programs for raidcommunication. Some require you to have a microphone, but most can live with the fact that you can listen to them. Having these installed already and having a microphone is a plus.

9: Think ahead
Is the guild in SSC or BT? Get some resistance gear which might be required. If the guild wants to start on Hydross the Unstable, and your a warrior, feral druid or prot paladin; get resistance gear. Initiative.

10: Guild required addons
Most guilds have a small list of standard addons you require to have. These include: KTM Threat Meter / Omen. Deadlybossmods / BigWigs. The rest differs per guild. Note that you have these and are used to using them.

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Now after you have looked into these points, you can start writing your application. Most guilds have their own required fields, and you should just copy paste these underneath this global guide. This global fill in form should contain most things a guild would want to possibly know about you.

Always try to answer as complete and long as possible, but don't start talking nonsense! Tell them what they need to know, no more, but be thorough!
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- What is your character's name and race?
Good: Bladiebla, human female.
Bad: bladiebla.

- What is your character's class and spec?
Good: I am a paladin, specced to heal (43/18/0). As you can see in my armory link below, (for example: I have chosen for 3/3 in the talent "blessed life" giving me a 10% chance to take 50% damage instead of 100%.) I know this is not perfect for raiding, but it comes in handy and I also play some arena's, thus my 18 points in protection. I am willing to respec if you want me to.
Bad: Paladin, 43/18/0.

- Could you provide us with a link to your armory?
Good: *link here*
Bad: *link to other profile site or no link*

- What is your /played ?
Good:I have a /played of 60 days and 15 hours total, 25 days 2 hours on level 70.
Bad: 15 days.

- Do you have any alts, and what is their gear level on (if 70)?
Good: I have a few lvl30- alts that I rarely play on, and a level 70 warrior. He is currently specced for pvp and has half epic gear to do this, and he also has a kara level tanking gear for prot.
Bad: Ab: level 2 rogue, Bc: level 5 hunter, Cd: lvl 21 shaman, De: level 70 hunter, Ef: level 70 rogue, Fg: level 70 priest, Gh: level 70 mage.
Note:Even though you show that you play a lot, this also notes you don't really put a lot of time in your main character (the one your applying with) and your not noting any gear levels. The lower level chars are useless to note, as no real time has been put in them anyway).

- What are your professions, and do you have any special recipies?
Good: 375 weaponsmith (mace specialty), 375 miner. I have no rare recipies yet.
Bad: 25 enchanter, 39 engineer. Cba to level them.

- What is your full real name?
Good: *real name here*
Bad: You dont need to know!

- Where are you from and how old are you?
Good: Amsterdam, Holland; I am 18 years old.
Bad: Russia, 12 years.
Note: It's not the Russia part that's bad (even though your inet sucks), it's the short answer including the age. If you can behave like a normal person, this shouldn't be a problem though and you should note that below.

- Can you behave like a mature player?
Good: Ofcourse, I am mature at all times. I am not a lootwhore or dramaqueen and I will behave as expected, I dislike persons who can't act normally. (if young: I know I am only 12 years old, and that this is something most people don't like, but I can assure you that this does not affect my judgement in any way and I will act as any other mature person would.)
Bad: Duh, ofcourse lulz.

- Are you the original owner of this account?
Good: Yes, and I have no other accounts and no one knows my password or plays on my account when I'm not around.
Bad: Yes, but my best friends in wow know my password but I trust em and my lil' bro' plays sometimes too!

- How good is your computer and how strong is your net connection?
Good: My computer isn't the best, a 2.4 ghz p4 with 1gig ram and a 256 mb Ati x800pro. I have adjusted my settings so I can play with a decent (15+) fps. I have a DSL line and my ms is rarely 100+ and I rarely disconnect.
Bad: A really good one, sometimes I have 20fps! I use a DSL but sometimes it just discs, no problem I fix by just resetting it.

- Do you own a mic, have Ventrilo/teamspeak and are you capable of understanding English and writing/typing English?
Good: I have both installed and I know how to work with them. I am afraid I have no microphone but I can understand what you are saying and if anything important has to be said I can just put it in chat.
Bad: No btu my englisch is very best and I can instal the programs neded in a mintue.

- Please detail your previous guild history and explain why you left these
guilds.
Good: * Make a nice list and clearly state why you left or even why you were kicked. Don't pretend to be a hero and that you made no mistakes at all if this isn't the truth. I once saw someone checking an application from a X-server applicant and all his guilds listed said they never knew the guy, and if they did the player was a horrible person though he said the guilds were awfull. Don't underestimate the GM's will to explore the truth! *
Bad: I wus in topguild of server and rest of the guilds sucked. I was to good for them.

- Note your progression so far, including any noticable pre-TBC kills.
Good:
Pre TBC: Cleared - Zul'Gurub, Molten Core, Onyxia's Lair, Blackwing Lair, AQ20, AQ40 up to twin emps. Naxx: Cleared spider wing. World Bosses: Kazzak, Azuregos, Ysondre.
TBC: Cleared - Zul'Aman, Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair. Serpentshrine: All but Vashj. Tempest Keep: All but Kael'Thas. World bosses: Doom Lord Kazzak, Doomwalker.
Bad: Killed mc, bwl and aq in pre-tbc and did kara gruuls maggies ssc and tk in TBC.

- Are you 100% available to raid at the days and times we need you?
Good: Yes I am, and I could also raid on *day* if it were necessary. Only reason I couldn't raid would be anything out of the ordinary and extreme.
Bad: No, but I can raid at *day* and *day* though. And Im not sure, if my other guild needs me I cant raid cus I primsed to help em. Oh and I have exams comin but no prob.

- Do you know anyone in *GUILDSNAME* that could vouch for you?
Good: No, but I am sure we could arrange a run with a few of your members or officers so you can test me. / Yes, I contacted Thingy and Thangy and they said they would put up a word for me .
Bad: No but I am good so no need.

- What is it that makes you a great player, an assett to our raiding team?
Good: I am very good at playing a *....*. I have played this character since the start of WoW and I still love playing it. I have lots of raiding experience and I know how to play it at it's best. I am always open to any suggestions though, but I am sure I can give your *...* a good competetion!
Bad: I rock and am always top of dps/healingmeturz in mylast guild and in5mans.
Note This is VERY bad to say and it annoys everyone up to the top!

- Why do you want to join *GUILDSNAME*
Good: Because your guild has an awesome reputation and a perfect progress. All of your members (and officers ofcourse) seem like very nice guys and I would really like to be a part of that. I would also love to see more of the end-game raiding content, as I am a big fan of lore and such
Bad: Cus your the best guild on the server and I wunt to raid.

Good: Thank you for reading through my application and I really hope you would consider me and I look forward to your response (and hopefully a trial! ). If you wish to contact me you can usually find me online on *list times and days, the more the better* either on *mainchar* or *most played altchar*. I will check back here too, obviously . Have a nice day and I hope to hear from you soon.
Bad: Ty for reading and see you ingame!


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Do note this guide is for normal/pretty hardcore raiding guilds. This will not work in guilds where people get payed to play (nihilium and such). Like I said on top, look at who you are writing this and adjust the guide to their level.

I hope I haven't forgotten a few important things, but comments are welcome This includes errors in grammar or spelling, as I can screw these up majorly sometimes. Oh, and that only goes for the "good" parts and titles and such, NOT for the "bad" lines. Thank you for reading this (or scrolling through) and I hope it will come in handy for atleast someone!

[Kurtiz]

Good read, but I always used

Bad: Ty for reading and see you ingame!

to sign off :S

[Drakee]

some of that stuff is just sucking up imo but GJ +rep =D

[Dutch-Ninja]

Nice man, good guide. Im sure (some) people use it. +rep

[leetness101]

Wtf...? Writing a descent program, what kind of title is that for something talking about raids... WOW... GG dude you finished the "I SUCK TEST" YOU EARNED NO REP

[Alth]

Wtf...? Writing a descent program, what kind of title is that for something talking about raids... WOW... GG dude you finished the "I SUCK TEST" YOU EARNED NO REP

Fail of the day...

+rep for a nice guide! Keep it up!

[shadowbladex]

Wtf...? Writing a descent program, what kind of title is that for something talking about raids... WOW... GG dude you finished the "I SUCK TEST" YOU EARNED NO REP

He got what he deserved. :banned:


Anyway, nice guide.

[Phaed]

haha very nice, when I apply to a guild I have to put a lot of effort into applying, because I have two major "Turn-off's" for guilds: I am not experienced in any BC end game instances, and I am 17. I make sure to let them know about both of them with the following:

Experience? : Unfortunately, I just recently came back to The Burning Crusade, and have yet to run anything past a 5-man. I realize that this might be a necessity to the guild, but I believe that I am a skilled player at my *class* and I will dedicate time to learning fights, even if that is looking up boss fights online.

Name/age?: Aj, 17, yes I do realize the preconceived notion that 17's are immature, snotty, and plain rude. Honestly some are, but I can gladly say that I can get serious when needed to, but at the same time have a sense of humor.

Thanks for reading through my application, hope to hear from you soon, if not good luck with everything.

Phaed/AJ




anyway, rant off.

[Zeildo]

Nice guide, it will help me a lot, +rep!

[Pietje]

Good read, but I always used
Bad: Ty for reading and see you ingame!
to sign off :S

It's just a bit short off and I think it's better to be a bit more complete and proper Leading to what Drakee said:

some of that stuff is just sucking up imo but GJ +rep =D

Very true, but it works like a charm .

Wtf...? Writing a descent program, what kind of title is that for something talking about raids... WOW... GG dude you finished the "I SUCK TEST" YOU EARNED NO REP

I know an application can also be a program, but after reading the first few lines you should've gotten the hint I was talking about another kind of application.

haha very nice, when I apply to a guild I have to put a lot of effort into applying, because I have two major "Turn-off's" for guilds: I am not experienced in any BC end game instances, and I am 17. I make sure to let them know about both of them with the following:

Experience? : Unfortunately, I just recently came back to The Burning Crusade, and have yet to run anything past a 5-man. I realize that this might be a necessity to the guild, but I believe that I am a skilled player at my *class* and I will dedicate time to learning fights, even if that is looking up boss fights online.

Name/age?: Aj, 17, yes I do realize the preconceived notion that 17's are immature, snotty, and plain rude. Honestly some are, but I can gladly say that I can get serious when needed to, but at the same time have a sense of humor.

Thanks for reading through my application, hope to hear from you soon, if not good luck with everything.
Phaed/AJ

anyway, rant off.

That's another way to put it. The experience in end-game raiding should only be a major issue when wanting to enter ssc/tk raiding guilds without any raid experience at all. If you have someone to vouch for you, this might even not be a problem, herioc gear these days is almost equal to T5.

Also, I think being 17 kind off makes people expect you can act maturely, as 17 is as close to 18 as 19! (sense, I make none!) Most guilds, including my own, make exceptions for minor age differences, as long as you act normally.


Thanks all for the nice comments so far

[Eskiimo]

Nice guide +rep! but is there really such thing as players who get paid to raiD?? OMG lemme sign up pronto!