Hi there,

I'll take a stab at this...

Accessing the guild bank is a bonus, but it will depend on your level of membership... for example, in my guild (Heralds of Arkay... shameless plug) everyone can deposit but only the top two ranks, (officers and guildmasters) can withdraw. So if a recruit or a member sees an item they want, all they do is ask us to retrieve it for them.

If you're grouped (guild or not) or solo, the amount of exp you get is determined by how many people are attacking the mob. Say I solo a mob in coldharbour and I get ~900 exp... If another player attacks with me, we both get ~450 and so on... though i think there's a limit to the sharing... We had about of 8 of us running a circuit (some grouped, some solo) and the least amount of experience I was getting was ~250 per mob. Yes, it's less... but the speed and efficiency offsets this.

Where guilds really shine for me is the social aspect. Playing a mmorpg in isolation seems dreadful... even if you're not actively grouping with others, having a number of people to trade stories of success/failure/intrigue really gives the game that little something extra that I always miss in offline games. Plus if you're ever stuck on a boss, or are tired of PUG dungeons you always have people you know you can count on.

Bottom line, it's up to you whether or not to join a guild... As long as it's not a hardcore progression guild, you can still play solo while having a crew of fun people to laugh with.

If you would like to see what the guild life is like (without pressure of grouping/content rushing) hit me up in game @TotterTates.

-edit-
FYI: we play on the US megaserver