It’s now only 6 weeks before Cataclysm comes to the World of Warcraft, and with so little time we need to take a moment to look at the upcoming changes to guilds.

In case you don’t already know, Cataclysm will be introducing a new guild advancement system that provides guild members with added perks based on the guild's level. There will be 25 levels in total which will be providing some epic perks. Guild members will earn experience for the guild in four different ways:

  • Completing quests / daily quests that reward experience
  • Killing any dungeon / raid boss with a guild group/raid
  • Winning a rated battleground with a guild group/raid
  • Earning a guild achievement

To qualify as a guild group or raid, the group must consist primarily of guild members (you will see the guild tabard on the mini map). You need 4+ out of 5, 8+ out of 10, 12+ out of 15 or 20+ out of 25 members to be guild-mates.

There also will be a cap enforcing daily limits on the amount of XP you can earn, preventing the uber-guilds from leveling too quickly. Blizzard feels that the cap should be high enough that you won’t notice it, but low enough to prevent guilds from leveling in one day.

The guild perks list is quite extensive, with lots of goodies for guildies. The perks unlock level by level as the guild progresses. What are these epic perks? Here is the complete list by level:

  1. Fast Track (Rank 1): Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 5%.
  2. Mount Up:  Increases speed while mounted by 5%. Not active in Battlegrounds or Arenas.
  3. Mr. Popularity (Rank 1):  Reputation gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 5%.
  4. Cash Flow (Rank 1): Each time you loot money from an enemy, an extra 5% money is generated and deposited directly into your guild bank.
  5. Fast Track (Rank 2): Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
  6. Reinforce (Rank 1): Items take 5% less durability loss when you die .
  7. Hasty Hearth: Reduces the cooldown on your Hearthstone by 15 minutes.
  8. Reinforce (Rank 2): Items take 10% less durability loss when you die.
  9. Chug-A-Lug (Rank 1): The duration of buffs from all guild cauldrons and feasts is increased by 50%.
  10. Mobile Banking: Summons your guild bank. Instant, 1 hr cooldown
  11. Mr. Popularity (Rank 2): Reputation gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.
  12. Honorable Mention (Rank 1): Increases Honor points gained by 5%.
  13. Working Overtime: Increases the chance to gain a skill increase on tradeskills by 10%.
  14. The Quick and the Dead: Increases health and mana gained when resurrected by a guild member by 50% and increases movement speed while dead by 100%. Does not function in combat or while in a Battleground or Arena.
  15. Cash Flow (Rank 2): Each time you loot money from an enemy, an extra 10% money is generated and deposited directly into your guild bank.
  16. Guild Mail: In-game mail sent between guild members now arrives instantly.
  17. Everyone's A Hero (Rank 1): Increases Heroism points gained by 5%.
  18. Honorable Mention (Rank 2): Increases Honor points gained by 10%.
  19. Happy Hour: Increases the number of flasks gained from using a flask cauldron by 100%.
  20. Have Group, Will Travel: Summons all raid or party members to the caster's current location. Unlimited range, 6 sec cast / Channeled, 2 hr cooldown
  21. Chug-A-Lug (Rank 2): The duration of buffs from all guild cauldrons and feasts is increased by 100%.
  22. Bountiful Bags: Increases the quantity of materials gained from Mining, Skinning, Herbalism, and Disenchanting by 15%.
  23. Bartering: Reduces the price of items from all vendors by 5%.
  24. Everyone's A Hero (Rank 2): Increases Heroism points gained by 10%.
  25. Mass Resurrection: Brings all dead party and raid members back to life with 35 health and 35 mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. 64% of base mana, Unlimited range, 10 sec cast
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Beyond perks, there will also be rewards available from guild vendors. These will include mounts, mini pets, vanity items, recipes, rare reagents and guild heirloom gear. These will be unlocked as your guild progresses through guild achievements. However, your personal guild rep must proportionally high enough to be able to take advantage of these rewards. The reason for this is that it will help to reward longer standing members over newer members, and prevent people from joining guilds just for the rewards.

Gaining guild rep/experience is simple: Any quest that rewards experience to you will also reward guild experience, including dailies. The amount of guild reputation earned is based on the amount of guild experience rewarded.

You also must however, meet 3 requirements before you can use guild rewards:

  • They must be unlocked via guild achievements.
  • You must have the required amount of guild rep.
  • You need to have the gold to buy it.

Even with these requirements, it will be easy for active members of guild to be able to take advantage of the rewards. I personally cannot wait to ride around on my scorpion mount with my guild colors on it, or the dark phoenix, or the heirloom gear… Actually, I want all of it! In the beta, it has been easy and quick to gain rep through questing, so I imagine we will be seeing a ton of guild mounts in the near future.

Whether you are in a hardcore raiding guild, or just a small little guild of real life friends, there will be something new and fun for you to enjoy. From perks to rewards there is truly something here for everyone. With just 6 weeks until the launch of Cataclysm I don’t imagine perks will be changing too much, so we can probably take all this information all the way to the guild bank!

What are you looking forward to from the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm guild changes? A perk, or maybe a reward? Are you one of those players who are guildless or maybe a guild of one, and worry about being able to earn rep? Tell us what you think!