Guide to Guild Banking

 About this guide 

This guide is a comprehensive guide to the Guild Bank. It is a combination of two guides, the Guide to Guild Banking by Rte and the Guild Banks Be-All End-All Guide by Evol.

"We need your help with this page! This page needs updating to current information, as well as some formatting changes (particularly in the titles of the first part of the article). Please feel free to help out by editing if you want."

So, you think you need the guild Bank, but where should you start?
At this moment there isn't a Guild Bank system implemented in game (though there are rumors going around that one is in works), so people are using alts as bank-keepers. What you will need to do is to create lvl1+ alt and get him to one of the major cities (try to keep him/her out of Outlands, simply because there is no Auction House there). It is also a good idea to choose the city that has Mailbox, Auction House and Bank located as close together as possible, it may not look like much, but believe it or not it will save you a lot of time in the long run. Also consider making one of your higher-level alts that you do not play anymore into a banker, having a banker with 300+ enchanting is very handy :).

Now that you have your banker you will need to equip him/her. You will need all of the bag slots filled with 14+ slot bags and preferably all the bank slots bought out and filled as well. If your guild isn't large you may just stick to cheapest bank slots and 14 slot bags, but for a larger guild investing in 18+ slot bags and all possible bank slots will pay off really soon (in terms of time saved).

If you want to split the workload on maintaining the bank between 2+ people be aware that sharing personal information between 2 people not in the same household is strictly brohibited by TOS/EULA and the punishment is account suspension. Therefore to prevent loss of bank character, and thus all the items in his/her possession, single person should handle account with the bank character.

Now that you have your toon set up for banking you are ready to receive your first deposit, but which deposits should you accept?
Well, there is no definitive answer to that question. It will all depend on your guild and your members. I can only tell you what works for our guild and what I've seen other people do.

First of all restrict all the "crap" out of guild bank. I know people may have best intentions sending another "Dagger of the Boar" down to Guild Bank, but all that junk is rarely used and just collects dust. So either tell your guildies that green "crap" is not accepted or just disenchant it on spot, enchant mats are always in demand and do not take that much space. Obviously all white and gray items do not belong in the bank :).

Here's a list of items that on my opinion should go into bank:
 * Boe blues/purples either donated or left unclaimed in raids.
 * Books, schematics, patterns, etc either donated or left unclaimed in raids.
 * Craft materials obtainable through raiding (core leathers etc).
 * Craft materials donated by the members (herbs, ore, etc ... once again, no "junk").
 * Disenchant materials from unclaimed items from raids (nexus crystals, etc).
 * Non-bop reputation items (bejues, coins, etc).
 * Gold through donations.

I do not believe that forcing donations from raid (be it gold from boss or boe items) is the good idea, that is why I left all the options of "force donation" out.

Also, depending on the size of the guild you may want to create more then one banker. If you decide to do so, the best way would be to split "responsibilities" between bankers, that is have bankers specialize in certain type of items (ie separate banker for equipment, craft materials, reputation items, etc). If you do so, make sure to name bankers accordingly (eg: GBequipment, GBcraftmat, etc). If you plan on having more then one bank toon, it may be a good idea to have 2+ people managing them (do not forget that sharing personal info, like password is prohibited by EULA/TOS).

Now that you have all that setup, how do you encourage people to donate stuff?
This question does not have a straight answer either. There are several ways you can accomplish this.

The easiest and probably best way would be "trust" system.
Basically, everyone donates unneeded items at their own free will and anyone can request and get any item currently in the Guild Bank. Even though this system is easiest to run as banker it is easily exploitable and may not be applicable to large guilds.

Another logical way to go is "point" system.
In this schema everyone who donates an item gains certain amount of points onto their account based on the quality/value of item (possibly linked to DKP). Then those points can be spent to "purchase" items from Guild Bank, once again based on their quality/value. This system prevents people from cleaning out the Guild Bank for personal profit (you cannot get more out of the bank that you have put in). However this system places an incredible amount of strain onto the banker: every item needs to be assigned value (can be done with some math formula based on item level/quality/etc for example), logs of all the donations and sent items need to be maintained, point system needs to be set up and used, and many more smaller things.

Another way of running a bank would be the "usurper" system.
Under this system everything that is not bop that drops in raids is sent to the guild bank and distributed by the banker (or guild leader) to the most worthy (MT, OT, people with high DKP, whatever the case may be). This system is fairly easy to use, however it will create unrest in guild ranks (especially if wealth distribution is based strictly on GMs opinion and not on some math formula). I'd say that this system should only be used by the guilds that are very serious about guild advancements (end-game raiding, pvp, etc).

Yet another way is "through-and-through" system (thanks to Karin for idea).
While using this system your bank is no longer bank, but a mail hub. Thus there is almoust no need for bags. Let me explain how that works. As soon as you receive the item in mail you send it out right away to the person that will put it to best use (ie active member with apropriate level). Advantage of this system is that no item is collecting dust in the bank but is used right away and absolutelly no work is required from the average member, this is best for casual/leveling guild. Disadvantage is that you will need to know the most deserving member for the item right away (addon could help you with that), also with that system you do not accumulate wealth. My oppinion is that this system is best used for green/blue items, but not consumables.

The above systems do not cover every possibility and nor are they mutually exclusive, feel free to experiment and/or mix and much the suggestions above.

How do I let my guildies know what is available in the bank?
There are several ways to do this:


 * First you can use one of the addons and/or online resources listed in the addons/resources part of this guide to display the content on your guild website.
 * There is always Blizzard's Armoury (it is beta, but still is functional and requires 0 work :P )
 * Or you could use addon that will allow people with this same addon installed to see what you have in bank (as long as you are online).
 * There is always an option of manually entering the items you have on the website or other online resource.
 * You could have people asking you if you have certain item in stock.

I personally prefer first option, simply because it is more customizable, always available to users and does not require anyone to install anything (except for the banker of course).

How to accept and process requests?
Once again there is no single best way, there are many, just choose the one best suited to your guild. Obviously if your distribution is prioritized (MT, OT, highest DKP, etc) you will not need to bother about it, just give out stuff to most "deserving" before raids as soon as you accumulated enough.

For the request/response type of Guild Bank firs you will need to set up a means of requesting the item. Something like a topic on the guild forums may be the best way to go. With it you have the list ready right away and in front of you.

You could also accept requests through in-game mail.

Or even design your own web-based ordering system or use on of the existing ones.

Some things I would suggest though:

Set up a date when you process requests and send out items (once a week sounds like a good idea). That will save you a lot of trouble, especially from people like "can I have that dagger now?". If you set up the date, try not to miss it and not send out items in any other day, this way everyone will get used to your schedule and will not bug you online a lot.

Well, all of that is nice and dandy, but it sounds like A LOT of work, is there a way to make the life of the banker easier?
Definitely there is.

First off, think about splitting bank responsibilities between 2+ members (do not forget about TOS/EULA restrictions on password sharing). Second, there is a number of neat addons out there that can automate a lot of boring, repetitive work.

Useful addons:

 * BankStatement allows you to see the contents of the bank and inventory of your alts anywhere.
 * CT_MailModadds a mass-mail capability to your mailbox. Also attempts to finish the name of the mail recepient from the list of guildies.
 * CT_ExpenseHistorytracks all your expenses.
 * Auctioneerallows you to see vendor and AH median price for any item.
 * RedBanker suggests the most "deserving" members for the item in bank.

Resources to display bank content:

 * Blizzard's Armory, the beauty of this site is that it is provided by Blizzard and thus updated automatically, you do not have to do anything, however the downside is that it is not customizable.
 * GuildToolSis a package of addon and executable that togather create a fully customizable html file that you can upload to your website. GTS also provides ability to display all the mail traffic for banker in similar manner.
 * RPG Outfitterallows you to host the Guild Bank content right on their website and provides a utility for the update. You can also host your guild's website with them for free.
 * DuckieBankallows anyone to view the content of GuldBank in-game. Downside is - you have to have the addon installed to view the bank.

Use the above resources at your own risk.

Ooooh, cool, it's working! So many nice things are being donated. Now what?
After some time the supply will outgrow the demand on certain items (most likely equipment and patterns) and you will be stuck with loads of unused expensive items that no one needs anymore. So what should you do with them?

Generally those items can be disenchanted and/or sold on the Auction House. However disposing of unwanted stock in this way has it's side effect - it brings in cash, and lots of it (I did not say side effect was bad). That is the time when person in charge of Guild Bank is put through the ultimate test. But lets say the person you entrusted with the burden of Guild Bank turned out to be trustworthy and the cash remained intact. What should you do with it? (Note that in large guilds the cash income can be significant, in 10s or even 100s of thousands of gold)

Portion of this cash can be stashed for "rainy day", ie when you need to push for that boss kill and every potion counts.

That gold can also be used to purchase items needed by guild from Auction House to be made available from Guild Bank.

It can be used to loan to guild members (to buy mount for instance).

It could be used to sponsor guild events.

Or even to play AH to gete even more gold.

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Just be sure to give the money back into guild (or at least portion of it), how you do it is totally up to you.

Is Blizz implementing a Guild Bank system?
Apparently they do, here's a teaser for you: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/ia2ca/wow2.jpg (shamelesly stolen from Madisor's post in general)

Are Guild Banks legal?
As long as you respect TOS/EULA you are clear.

That was a vague answer as to the legality of Guild Banks ...
If I say yes and you go out and do something against TOS/EULA you will blame me, I do not want that. I advise anyone to read on TOS/EULA themselves to make sure they aren't doing anything illegal.

Why Guild Banks?
Guild Banks were introduced in patch 2.3 in order to help reduce the need for player created banks, and also to reduce the temptation for "account sharing" which sometimes happened with such a system.

Where are the Guild Banks?
The Guild Banks are accessible through Guild Vaults, located in or near the NPC bankers already in use.

How does the Guild Bank work?
The Guild Leader has rights to set permissions for the Guild Bank in the Guild Information tab. Permissions are set by rank, just like other permissions.

The Guild Leader can set the maximum amount of gold able to be withdrawn per day, and can individually set whether a rank can view or deposit to each tab available, as well as how many items or stacks per day a player can withdraw.

How many tabs are there, how much do they hold, and how much do they cost?
There are six tabs available for purchase, each with 98 slots. There is no need for bags. The cost is 100g for the first tab, and the cost increases with each additional tab (250g, 500g, 1000g, 2500g, 5000g)

Can I use the bank for guild repairs?
Yes. Repair NPCs now have a 'pay for repairs from guild funds' button available if your Guild Leader has set up permissions for you to be able to withdraw funds from the bank. You can use this to repair up to your daily withdrawal limit, if you have the permission set as such.

In Patch 2.32 you will be able to set permissions to withdrawal for repairs only:


 * A "Withdraw-Repair Only" button has been added to the guild bank controls. If this is set for a guild rank, then that rank cannot actually withdraw funds from the guild bank, but they can still use that daily amount of money for repairs.

Is there a way to keep track of transactions?
Yes. In game, each tab keeps a log of the last 25 transactions, viewable when you visit the Guild Vault. In addition, the armory (www.wowarmory.com) shows the contents of each tab, and logs the last 1000 transactions.

When I try to set permissions, it keeps setting everyone to Guild Leader. How do I fix it?
Try logging in with no mods enabled to set your Guild Bank permissions. There is a bug in some mods (we haven't narrowed down which yet) that doesn't play well with the Blizzard UI when setting ranks and permissions. You can turn them back on once you've set your permissions.

UPDATE: It appears that this sometimes happens with no mods installed, but less frequently, to some players.

Can I name the tab something other than Tab 1?
Indeed. Right-click on the tab icon, and you can set the name and icon for the tab (much like you do when creating a macro).

Can I move items from one tab to the other?
If you have sufficient permissions, you can move items from one tab to another, and it shows as such in the bank log file.

Why can't I open my Guild Bank?
Assuming you have rights to view it, and are in the right place and clicking on the Guild Vault, some mods interfere with the Guild Bank UI. For example, if you are using dkpsystem.com, the older character profiler was named Guild Bank, which causes a conflict with the named Guild Bank in the game. In this case, a new mod was released with a different name (dkp profiler).

If you are having this problem, check to make sure none of your mods have Guild Bank in the name, and/or try disabling mods to locate the conflict or try turning all your mods off.

Do I need to use this Guild Bank?
Absolutely not. If you've already got a good banking system in place, or have never had a need for a guild bank, then there's no reason you have to use this one simply because it's in the game. However, if you do decide to use it, it is a convenient way to share items with your guild.

I don't want the Guild Bank used for repair fees. How do I turn it off?
Set the amount of gold available to be withdrawn for each rank to 0. In patch 2.32 there will also be a permission for withdrawal-repair only. See above.

Is there a way to set someone else up to run the Guild Bank other than the Guild Leader?
Not directly, though you can set a rank for them that has all of the permissions. The Guild Leader will still have to set permissions for ranks as well as purchase tabs.

How do I give a rank unlimited withdrawals of items or gold?
You can't, technically. What you can do is set them up with a ridiculously high number of withdrawals (like 100000) for each tab plus gold withdrawals and it will achieve the same thing.

NOTE: The Guild Leader always has unlimited withdrawals.

What happens to the bank if a guild leader deletes his character, transfers servers, or disbands the guild?
From Hortus:


 * ''You can not delete or transfer a guild leader character so those scenarios can not happen.


 * If leadership of a guild is transfered the new leader now has full access to the guild bank.


 * If the guild is disbanded the current guild leader gets all the items in the bank via his mailbox.


 * If the guild leader was banned, you would most likely need to contact a GM to get leadership transfered.''

How do I make a Guild Bank?
It's already part of the game. You just need to set permissions in Guild Information, and purchase tabs from the Guild Vault.

Do I have to purchase a tab to use the Guild Bank?
No. You can use the shared funds portion of the bank without purchasing any slots. If you want to share items, however, you will need to purchase a

Contributors

 * Written by Rte of Knights of Shadow on Arthas Server and Evol of Chupathingy on Akama Server.


 * Contributing authors:
 * Karin of Perenolde
 * Drysc, Blizzard Employee
 * Hortus, Blizzard Employee
 * Darias of Perenolde
 * Ben Dover

Original Posts: Guild Relations Forum and Guild Relations Forum