snip Kinda curious how other guilds are able to keep going
strong?snip

Defenders of Aleria (DOA) has to struggle to maintain our core
group, while at the same time staying big enough for planes, dragons etc..
The fact of the matter is that it is a constant struggle, and there have
been occasional blow-ups and splits etc. over the years. It does help that
the "core" of DOA have all been together for 4 years through a couple
different online games, although our original guildleader Kvasir left with a
few others during a split to form Phoenix Arising.

One thing I think that has essentially kept us intact and together
as friends is that we have a 100% agreement on new members. We temp tag 6
people for 1month at a time. If after 1 month even a single DOA member has
an objection, that person is not allowed into the guild. This may seem a
little harsh, but it has worked for us.

A big problem on Bertox is that Prophecy (the big bad guild of the
server) constantly tries to recruit those over lvl 50, and DOA and other
guilds have lost a number of good players to them. Prophecy can offer
literaly five hunts a week against either dragons, gods or big kunark
critters. The gear that is inherent to the frequency of those types of hunts
attracts the "gear hungry" types to them.

DOA is about friends first, gear and hunts second. We dont have a
level limit, but most of the guild falls into the 35 plus range with some
exceptions. Our membership numbers hang around 50...with 25 or so active
most of the time. For most of our big hunts, we act in concert with other
friendly guilds on Bertox.

Lago Bardoon of Bertox, 44th Composition, Defenders of Aleria