I recently got this achievement the 'easy' way. I didn't spend time collecting anything other than labor. The only other currency to donate that at the time was somewhat worthwhile were the Heroic Shards, Adventurer Shards, etc, you get from doing Stronghold Heroics(those Shards are worth 10 Guild Marks each).
However, that was really slow and took more time that I wanted so here's what I did:1. I went to the market and bought as many black Ice Crafting Masters and Grandmasters as I could. (
You only need 20 Grandmasters and 20 Masters OR 120 Masters to most efficiently fill the Guild marks. Grandmasters are worth 2,500 Guild marks, and Masters are worth 500 Guild marks. Common colored people are only worth 100 Guild marks, and white are worth 10 so definitely not worth using!)
2. At the time I did it, I was able to buy all the Crafting people I needed for around 30,000 Astral Diamonds.(
That will vary, but since Black Ice Crafting was currently inactive, those were really cheap. I was able to get some Grandmasters for less than 1000 Diamonds, and Masters for less than 300 Diamonds.)
(
It will be different for everyone else, but how I searched for these crafting people was this:
Go to the Market, in the top box select "Professions", search box put "Master", then search. Switch the search feed to "Buyout". Then you can see the cheapest current blue people for sale. Next switch the Rarity to "Purple" to see the cheapest Grandmasters.)
3. I used the first method detailed below, the "Random Guild Method" to get my Guild Marks.Note: A new guild maxes at 16,000 labor, so the best is to simply contribute one Grandmaster and one Master to the guild for 3,000 guild marks.
Note: To donate any currency to a guild, you most go to the Guild Stronghold map, cross the bridge, go slightly left into the Stronghold and straight to the back wall. There is a raised platform at the center of which is a Mimic; if you press on the mimic, you can see all the currencies that you can donate.
Note: Characters must be at least level 15, not in another guild, and in the same map instance of Protector's Enclave to create guilds!
Note: To make a guild, you talk to the Guild Registrar close to Knox in Protector's Enclave.The Random Guild Method:1. Once you have enough Masters and Grandmasters to donate, keep an eye out whenever in Protector's Enclave for someone saying something like "Need help making new guild!"
2. Help them make the guild by joining their group.
3. Once the guild is made, quickly donate a Grandmaster and Master for 3,000 Guild Marks(sometimes get paid a little something for helping)
4. Leave the guild!
These Random Guilds were very helpful and happened most often on the weekends.
I used this method for the majority of my Guild Marks! You only need to join/donate 20 guilds total for this! Over time this worked very well for me.
The Guild Spam Boosting Method:If you want to get this done faster, there's this 2nd option:
This second method is the boosting method which I never actually tried before I finished the achievement but is really really easy, just takes a little while and requires the host to be organized.
Setup Phase:1. You need at a minimum 5 people including yourself. I recommend going up to 8 people in the session to speed things up, 8 because that's the max? party size on the One currently.
2. Make sure everyone has their crafting people ready to donate.
3. Everyone add each other on friends lists.
4. Everyone has two characters ready to go if necessary(one character can only hold 30,000 Guild Marks and it doesn't count across characters)
5. Everyone meets in the same instance of Protector's Enclave.
Boosting Phase:1. Host determines order and everyone remembers who they are behind.
2. Host begins by inviting 4 people, making a guild, then immediately kicking all 4 helpers from the guild, rushes to the Guild Stronghold, and starts donating crafting people.
3. Right after the host has make his guild, person #2 invites 4 into his group, makes a guild, kicks everyone from the guild, and goes to his Stronghold and starts donating.
If you time it right you can constantly have 2-3 people donating. The bottleneck will simply be the people getting to the Stronghold and getting back!
Very important: whenever someone is leaving the Stronghold to go back to Protector's Enclave, you must invite someone in the session who is in the correct instance of Protector's Enclave into your group otherwise you will most likely end up in the wrong instance of Protector's Enclave and have to wait 2 minutes to change.