The phrase “guild bank” can mean two things. The first is a character that is used by the guild (either shared or not) that holds items and distributes them based on the guild’s policy. Sometimes the character is simply an alt but other times it is an actual account shared between multiple members (which are a violation of the Terms of Service). These characters are often the major source of inner-guild drama due to the ease of the account owner taking the entire inventory of the guild’s bank.

The other meaning is the feature introduced in World of Warcraft patch 2.3 that allows guilds to have an in-game bank that is shared between the entire guild. Working similarly to the personal bank, the in-game guild has its own permission system is in complete control of the guild leader. The guild leader can hand out permissions to groups, purchase additional tabs, and can take and remove anything they choose. It’s a great alternative to a one character guild bank. Keep reading to find out about making an alt for your guild bank. If you're interested in a guide to the official guild banks then click here

Alternate Character Guild Bank

To create an alternate character guild bank you must first choose a player who is both very active and very trustworthy. It’s important to emphasis trust as the player who either controls and/or owns the account the alternate (alt) is on has complete control over the items given to it. There is rarely an instance of Blizzard intervening from someone stealing all of the items given to the character so trust must be emphasized.

Once the player is chosen who is usually an officer or the guild leader then they make an alt for the guild to send items to. Some guilds do choose to use a separate account and share it between multiple members but I must stress that this is against the games Terms of Service and will result in the account being banned if caught being shared. So it’s best to have one person manage it. The character should be something easy to remember but shouldn’t really involve the word “bank” since that looks like some malformed gold seller name. Something catchy, maybe a guild joke, should be used. Since people will need to remember the name to send items to.

Once it is set up then the guild should get together the funds to buy the maximum bank slots along with the biggest bags the game currently handles.  Then the maintainer should set up an organization system where each bag handles either a type of permission (stuff x people can take out) or a type of item (like herbs or potions). The character should also store excess gold and be ready to take donations.

Multiple addons allow for the character to put its inventory on the Internet but lots of guilds also just choose to post a list of items that guildies can claim on their forum. Usually a good rule is if it’s not usable by someone in the guild and you’re sure of it the alt should be able to auction it for profits for the guild. Like a guild of all max level characters should easily be able to auction off anything that isn’t the max level or usable.

The guild should work together on rules for who can take what. Obviously tanks should be able to claim repair fees from the gold stash along with potions, you can use DKP for really good BoE items, and the guild’s crafters should be able to take any resources needed for guild related item creation.

That’s a topic of its own though and your guild should work together to establish the rules along with who is allowed to decree rule breaking. Since there are times when the items are needed for something and it might be against the set rules (i.e. maybe a tank needs an item made that requires a lot of guild mats) and someone or possibly a group (or council) should be allowed to give the yes or no.

So in summary you’re given absolute flexibility when it comes to a player ran guild bank. It doesn’t cost a lot and you can ensure that control is maintained by very few people. You can also have more space than the game sponsored banks since multiple characters can be made to handle various things. The cons are that the person who owns the account can just run away with everything. If that person is the guild leader then it’s not really much different than the official banks. It’s also a lot of effort and depends on someone to be online.

I wouldn’t honestly recommend this option except for guilds starting up and guilds that need a true customized solution.

Follow this link for page two which goes into details about the official guild banks and managing them.

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