[NA||PvX||TC] Remnants of Hope [RoH]: A true gaming community

[Skaal.9362]

On 11/11/2021 at 1:09 PM, Ajjaxx.4029 said:

This has already been one of the best experiences I've had joining a guild in an MMO.

Thanks Ajjaxx!  Great to have you in the guild, and happy your experience with RoH is going so well!

[Maladie Morose.1764]

I'm still a trial member, but my experience thus far with the members of the guild has been stellar. You honestly couldn't ask better from a community of dedicated members and leadership. And I genuinely mean that. I've been in large, coordinated guilds before and this one has already surpassed any expectations I had. They go out of their way to hold weekly events to bring the community together, and I think that's one of the things I love about it. It has that feel of the first time I played an MMO, especially WoW, and naturally met people over time from just doing things and interacting with one another. 

I haven't been able to interact with them as much as I've wanted to over the trial period, but I highly recommend checking them out and giving it a shot. It might seem daunting, but it's well worth the application process and they're happy to read through everything you put on there. I was honestly and happily surprised with how much some members liked everything I ended up typing because I got carried away. Everyone has been welcoming, friendly, and happy to answer any and all questions I've had. 

A lot of love and care goes into the guild structure, and it shows. 🥰 Me finding this post has been such a wonderful thing to help me get excited about GW2 again. And since its a gaming community, there's all sorts of things and places to check out to meet new people and to have new experiences. 

I like the idea of being able to try other games with the guild due to the divisions they have. Having those options with a friendly, open group of people on top of the weekly events they hold for each game they're active in leaves me wanting to try new things. 

I feel that says a lot. I cannot stress enough that you, too, will be pleasantly surprised, especially if you're used to guilds who have all the numbers and no substance. 

11/10 would apply again just because 👾

Edited November 13, 2021 by Ethereal Nova.3795

[Skaal.9362]

Nice to see people catching up with the story in tonight's Living World Season 3 guild event!  We welcome all kinds of players, wherever they are on their GW2 journey.

[Skaal.9362]

So . . . many . . . guild  commendations from last night's Guild Missions!  Bring on the Boxes of WvW Supplies!

[Devorstator.8735]

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Edited November 19, 2021 by Devorstator.8735

[Skaal.9362]

Experience of a trial member as posted on reddit:

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I'm nearing the end of my trial membership and I've found the inclusivity of this guild really allows anyone of any background of the game to feel welcome. It's tough finding a guild with the accepting and unbiased mentality this community has, plus it's nice to see such a bustling crowd throughout the day on Discord and in game-chat that clearly enjoy everyone's company.

 

[Skaal.9362]

From our reddit thread:

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RoH is a fantastic community filled with great people! Joining the guild earlier in the year was one of the best moves I've made. Always lots of people around that are friendly and helpful and we have groups and departments for every area of all the MMOs we play!

 

[Skaal.9362]

Our crafting officer is sponsoring a legendary and precursor give-away to celebrate his birthday! 

 

@RoH guildies: last chance to sign up is today, so get your entry in!

[Skaal.9362]

Congratulations to Pike, winner of Bolt in today's giveaway!

[Mongoose.5876]

Tried to apply on website and it says its sending an email to me to confirm my account but it doesnt, ive tried 2 emails and resent the email...

[Skaal.9362]

Hi Mongoose!  Please message me with the username you used to register and I will ask our Web Admin to force the verification email.

[Mongoose.5876]

1 hour ago, Skaal.9362 said:

Hi Mongoose!  Please message me with the username you used to register and I will ask our Web Admin to force the verification email.

done

[Nljsa.9247]

I'm curious about joining but more than anything else concerned about being overwhelmed by numbers. I can have pretty bad social anxiety, especially in larger groups, and I'm worried that with such a big community I will feel like fading into the background to avoid anxiety. Does RoH have anything to help with this?

[Skaal.9362]

Hi Chatagi!  Thanks for your post.  I'm going to talk to the community and ask for the perspectives of people in a similar position.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Skaal.9362

[Skaal.9362]

 

Chatagi,

Your question prompted a LOT of discussion on our Discord--thank you for posing it!  One thing I learned was the significant overlap between our members with social anxiety and our hard-of-hearing members, who both struggle with big, loud events.  The short answer to your question is that we have lots of size-limited, single-speaker events like fractals and Living Story groups as well as big, socially-chaotic events like guild missions.

Here are some longer answers, from different members (people knew their comments would be posted):

 

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I wonder if the idea of Discord and joining up with people you barely know contributes to what this person is feeling. While I'm very talkative once I get to know people, I actually tend to not talk/type only for the first couple of times I'm in a voice chat. Knowing that I don't have to jump in to talk is perfect because it allows me to be as social as I currently feel. As a trial member who just did their first event last night, I definitely did feel a little shy/overwhelmed seeing the GW2 voice chat so full, but I felt more comfortable by the end.

 

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Some things to consider before tackling social anxiety.

1) The "culture" of RoH is great. I have not experienced any negativity or drama since joining a couple of months ago. Leadership/Members have been great in contributing to this.

2) Leadership/Members are extremely approachable and helpful. I constantly ping them in guild chat or individually for help.

3) RoH does a little bit of everything. Personally, I only really knew WvW, but now I am doing several things in game because of exposure through the guild. One should be able to find something they are comfortable with.

4) This is not a performance-based guild. My individual performance, or lack thereof, in any event does not determine/impact the happiness of others. I wiped several times the other night in WvW, and there was no finger-pointing, frustration, name-calling, etc.. To the contrary everyone stays upbeat, and the focus is always on positivity.

5) Participation is encouraged, but not mandatory after trials are over. For Trials, it’s just two events in two weeks. Not bad.

6) Anyone needing to be acclimated with anything will usually find someone to help or guided to someone/something that can.

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Social Anxiety
1) The purpose of the trial is two-fold. RoH gets a chance to see if a potential member is a good fit for the guild. One also gets to see if they like what the guild has to offer. This is a perfect opportunity to see if it works for YOU.

2) Other than maybe guild missions or WvW, I wouldn’t say I feel like I am in a large group. Hopefully this helps curb some of the anxiety. I also don’t play weekends, so my view may differ to that of other members.

3) Some people in the guild are helpful, gravitate toward the ones you feel truly enjoy helping others. It shouldn’t be too hard to find someone. It is also OK if you don’t.

4) Discord. Trust me, I get it. Some people think I don’t have a mic. I barely greet when joining an already in progress large voice group. I’m apprehensive about posting things like the one I’m doing now. At the end of the day, they are just happy I participated and joined them on an event. The bar is low, if not, non-existent on discord. Mostly just play nice and things will be fine.

5) Sometimes one builds things up to be bigger than what they are causing anxiety. Reach out to someone with any questions, comments, or concerns. I have been reassured and de-stressed by several leadership/members in a constructive manner.

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Skaal.9362

[Skaal.9362]

More answers:

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sure RoH is huge on the surface but most players' experiences probably don't reflect that, and our events have a good balance of intimate settings where u can be heard versus certain events w enough names in the discord channel for the overlay to adorn the entire left side of ur screen

a lot of people mind their own business anyway and are rather respectful in populatedd voice channels
+ i've only ever seen people be encouraging/accommodating/patient when ppl choose to speak up

 

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I don’t particularly struggle with this myself. But, I’ve worked with quite a few people with crippling social anxiety. There’s almost always underlying trauma around judgement/mockery in a group setting and large groups, especially when new, are particularly triggering. Best approach is exposure therapy in manageable doses. You already do a really good job with events. But, having having people assigned to basically mentor trial members will get their comfort level up knowing they have 1-2 people they can trust. Then having new member events specifically kept small to 6 or less to increase exposure and comfort while keeping it manageable during the intro period would go a long way to helping someone like this. It would def require more people being put in dedicated positions to keep from overburdening any one person. But, that would be the way to deal with it. 

 

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I think the guild's structure already allows for help with this. none of the trial requirements - except maybe some posts on the forums - really require any type of communication more than "x" to join up for things. Additionally, at least 3 of our scheduled activities (sPvP/fractals/strikes) actually organize us into smaller parties based on needs.

 

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I like ROH because I tend to dive in and dive out of the community for months at a time. Y'all are always re-welcoming. Never once felt like a second class citizen.

 

 

[Skaal.9362]

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While not serious I certainly have social anxiety and I have not been able to attend much due to my schedule but I have not felt overly pressured to join in and everyone I have spoken to so far has been very nice, welcoming, and helpful.

 

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I've found that RoH can feel as big or small as you want it to.  Some of the in game activities can get a pretty big crowd going.  It can be challenging to keep track of all the different people who pop up in the general channel.  On the other hand, once you split things into game divisions and play times, you'll start seeing the same half a dozen or so regulars that it starts feeling like a small group of close friends.  Add to that how hard everyone works as a group to be inclusive and supportive, I think RoH is a really good fit for someone with social anxiety.

 

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I feel RoH's size is a plus.  In a small guild, everyone has more pressure to join everything.  Here, it's easier to find a quiet place to join a few friends and not have to do each night's big event.  Having a lot of people around only means it's easier, when you want, to find help. 
 That, coupled with the way RoH's members take care to look out for and respect each other, makes RoH the safest feeling guild I've enjoyed.

 

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My thought, I’ve met a lot of people in RoH and there are a lot of people I haven’t met yet. Even though there are so many people I have a few people that I always hang out with but it’s nice to have others around

 

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I have the same issue of both social anxiety and hard of hearing. That's why I'm not on voice discord in any server very much. What I like is that I can participate without feeling pressured to participate. And the more I get to know people, the more comfortable I am speaking up and jumping in to things.

 

 

[Skaal.9362]

And finally:

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Speaking as someone with generalized anxiety, events with a set structure (things on the calendar) were easier for me to participate in as a new member than casual, on-the-fly groups people get together in chat. The first event I did was a small group calendar event specifically geared towards newer players / members. That really helped because signing up was as easy as rsvping and I knew ahead of time when it would happen, so I could make sure I was ready for it. It was also a small group, so I didn't feel overwhelmed, and it was geared towards newer players, so I felt less performance pressure. Also, VC is one of the things that can be very intimidating for someone with anxiety, especially when in big groups, and especially when you're new. There's no rule you have to be in VC for most things, but that's the general convention, and anx makes you sweaty if you're the only person not following the convention everyone else is. So I wonder if there are ways to make it easier for people to participate without being in VC, when possible. Text chat only events? Stating up front / normalizing that it's fine to have mixed-media groups and you don't need to be in VC? Not sure, but could be more comfy for some folks with anxiety or our Remnants who are hard of hearing if it was easier to participate in things via chat instead of VC.

 

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I can actually be more comfortable in VC than text when it's a small group (like a 4-person dungeon) for learning.  It's so much easier to ask questions and get tips on voice than trying to keep up with text while other stuff is happening.  Of course, this only applies in very small groups.  A big crowd on VC is still a big crowd to someone with anxiety.

 

Probably more than you bargained for, but there it is.  Hope you find what you are looking for!

Edited December 3, 2021 by Skaal.9362

[Veritas Vita.4732]

On 12/1/2021 at 12:54 PM, Chatagi.2571 said:

I'm curious about joining but more than anything else concerned about being overwhelmed by numbers. I can have pretty bad social anxiety, especially in larger groups, and I'm worried that with such a big community I will feel like fading into the background to avoid anxiety. Does RoH have anything to help with this?

Hi Chatagi! First off, thanks for being vulnerable enough to be honest about your concerns about joining the guild. That takes a lot of courage, and I admire you.

 

I'm Esse, the recruitment officer for the guild, and I personally take great care with trial members who have expressed battles with social anxiety. We recently had someone similar to your case that did not feel comfortable joining us in voice chat. We still ran dungeons, map completion, and fractals together and had a blast. They even type lol's to my very bad puns. At the end of their trial they felt comfortable enough to have a conversation with me in voice and we both were near tears at how great their experience was with us. I hope this is the case for all our trial members, including you if you wish to join us. 🙂

[Nljsa.9247]

I'm taken aback, nearly to tears. This whole response has been incredible. It's very nice to see that you all care enough to go through so much effort for a single potential member is very telling. I would love to see if I can find a place within your guild.

[Anole.8937]

I've been with the guild for a short time but in that time I've meet one of the most helpful and supportive guild mates I've ever had. They are always willing to lend a hand and give advice if needed. There's fun events that everyone is welcome to regardless of experience hosted weekly.  If you are looking for a welcoming and accepting guild then look no further 😄

[Skaal.9362]

Great Chatagi!  Look forward to seeing your application. 

I have heard reports of difficulty with the verification email step.  If you have any, just DM me the username and email you use to register, and I will take the issue to the Web Admin.

[Skaal.9362]

Had a lot of fun with four Trial Members in today's raid training run. People learned . . . and Vale Guardian down!

[Sanzenin.4063]

 

I recently completed the trial process and became a member. I'd randomly stumbled upon a recruitment post and clicked over to see a well put together website that spanned multiple games, a great organizational structure with checks and balances, and a detailed application process that was a little daunting at first (I'm not that comfortable writing about myself) but ultimately did a good job of allowing the guild and myself to see if we were right for each other.

In the two weeks of my trial I've tried several things (some for the first time) with guild mates and look forward to doing a lot more. I've found everyone to be very welcoming and down to earth, with a lot of patience for explaining things to people who are new to an activity.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy that I applied as it feels like I finally found my GW2 home.

 

That's great to hear Skaal. I'd thought about signing up for that as I'm hugely interested in learning the GW2 raids. I knew realistically, however, that I wouldn't be able to tear myself away from FFXIV this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to join a training run in the future sometime. This is Terigan btw...not sure how to change my display name here.

[Vall.4786]

RoH is a great group of people! Very nice and welcoming