I've drafted a purely subjective pros/cons list, based entirely on my own personal experiences within these three types of guilds. As a disclaimer, I am a M-F, 40+ hour per week employed person, and have both been a regular old member, a raider, and a raid class an guild officer. My experiences are not your experiences so your mileage may vary.
Friends & Family Guild
PROS
- Real Life > WoW
- A place for friendly conversation
- Supportive of your crazy ideas/specs/gear choices
- Often many other low level alts that could quest/instance with your low level alts
- May have a bored high level mage/paladin to run said lowbies through various dungeons, turning them into 10-minute loot piñatas
- You are not kicked from the guild when your DSL goes kaput and you can’t log on for two weeks
CONS
- Some members may only log on for conversation, which may start to drive you crazy as you spend an hour in LFG while everyone talks about the snowy weather
- Only so much character improvement you can do without heroics or raiding
- You spend more time in LFG than in instances
- Little – if any – assistance with leveling high-level professions
- Can be frustrating when you try to help out those with less game experience/aptitude and they continue along their original path
- May end up playing by yourself more often than not
- PUGs, PUGs, and more PUGs…if you can get into a PUG of course
Casual Raiding Guild
PROS
- Raiding a few nights per week
- Real life > WoW
- Common goal of raiding often means more folks who are interested in gearing up/improving their characters
- More folks to potentially do heroics with
- May have some help with professions or gear, as guild bank allows
- Vent chat during raids may allow for conversation and getting to know other players
- Raid scheduled typically decided upon by the guild as a whole, to adapt to the varying schedules of players
- Often run by adults who have jobs, and thus understand guild members have jobs, and that jobs> WoW
CONS
- Some players seem to interpret “casual raiding” as not requiring enchants, gems, buff foods, level 80 blues or better in gear
- Casual raiders may sign up for a raid when they have only an hour of play time, or while they are engaged n some other activity, such as watching a movie, babysitting, or slacking off at work
- On a night when the group is on a roll with making progress, often difficult to convince others to stay for another attempt or two
- Raid makeup can be fluid as more serious players gear up then move on to more progressed guilds
- Loss of players to more progressed guilds can give the raid leader/GM itch to turn raiding into SRS BUSINESS.
- May not have set raid members, raid dates/times, or have “everybody rolls” loot policies, which can become aggravating over time
Progression/Hardcore Raiding Guild
PROS
- Feelings of self-satisfaction and accomplishment downing new bosses and seeing new instances
- Ability to maximize your character – in gear, and with raid-only profession items/recipes
- Supportive team focused on progressing through content, and maximizing gear/enchants/consumables/strategy
- Usually have set raiding team and formal loot policies that are publicly known
- Typically have minimum standards of acceptable performance applied to raiders so fewer raiders – if any – can slack their way through raids and be carried by the team
- Fast progress can mean even your alts get decked out in tier gear; this can also save you from character burnout (of special concern to those whose mains tank or heal)
CONS
- If you join more than a month after they formed, unless they have “half” DKP, your DKP may never allow you to buy anything that wasn’t going to be sharded otherwise
- You need to cram all your after-work chores and time with your significant other into those 2 off nights per week
- There is always someone else who wants your raid spot. And during that week you are on vacation, they just may take it.
- 25-man raiding, like 40-man raiding before it, is not especially conducive to a convivial atmosphere. You may never get to know the majority of the folks you raid with…and for that matter, there may be a bunch of them you would prefer not to know
- The raid leader doesn’t care what emergency at work caused you to be a half hour late for the raid; he’s already replaced you… potentially permanently
- Hardcore guilds often attract young adults and those not employed or without outside obligations, which may make it hard for you to maintain 85% raid attendance at the time of day and with the frequency the other guild members can sustain