Firat off I did full read all the comment so if this was brought up earlier forgive me.
In my experience (which is limited I'll admit) The zerg guilds have mass amounts of people feeding them. The leaders will pick and choose their favorites and the rest of the masses will realize that they are putting in their time and resources to help the 1% of the guild become stronger and they are getting nothing out of it. Even in the large guilds people will form clicks and will eventually realize that they aren't getting anything out of it. part will break off and leave until the 1% is all alone. They will be upset and leave the game.
One mechanic I can think of is to help limit the accumulation of power could be that as a node could be in constant decay. Something that needs a constant flow of resource to maintain its status. The thing is as the node grows and needs more resources to maintain and grow the surrounding area spawns less and less resources. So unless a guild put forth a concerted effort to expand and draw resources to the capital it will lose its ranking. this could cause a guild to move to more prosperous lands and through node decay eventually leveling down this causing more resources to spawn.
Also, some of the discussion around 1000 members of a zerg guild will roll 9000 casuals isn't taking into account that rival guilds will form alliances and they will work together to fight the zerg, because some people just enjoying being the underdog. Personally, I think mega guilds are good for these game because it gives smaller guilds to get out there and make those alliances, bringing a richer gaming experience to those who detest being in a large guild. It's challenging and takes a lot of work, but that's what makes it more rewarding when the mega guild falls. Not all the hardcore players will lean towards a mega guild.
This is all my opinion based on a very limited knowledge of this game and mechanics.
@davyj0427 Well, good news. Many of the things you have suggested are already planned or are in place. Nodes need a constant stream of resources/exp/activity being "fed" to stop atrophy. Nodes will auto delevel over time if abandoned. Resource spawns are not constant. Once depleted they will spawn in another random location. Not in the same node, could be the other side of the map.
Guilds are going to be member capped in the 250-300 range. To even get to that member level they have to give up significant guild perks by spending their limited guild tree points on guild size vs other more desirable perks. Guild alliances are possible, but the point you made of cliques and factions make managing mega guilds like herding cats at the best of times.
And finally throw on the no financial incentive to running a mega guild. There will not be a mechanic of auto tax paid by members. Guilds in other games that management exists mainly to profit off of member actions will find that there is no incentive for them in Ashes. Controlling a castle does not mean they get to **** the treasury and run off with the funds. Same goes for city mayors. Dodgy guilds will try "membership fees and dues" and will get laughed at by anyone with half a brain.
@UnknownSystemError Wow thanks for the info. I really like the sound of all those things. I backed during the Kickstarter but this has fallen off my radar until recently. Looking forward to learning more, and to help test during Alpha 1. I appreciate the response.
In large open world sandbox games massive guilds and their guild leaders are important content creators. Their back room dealings on discord will decide when invasions happen, and how much conflict will be on a given server. Hopefully their is enough reason in game to push them to fight each other. Personally I am excited to see how the politics of this game turns out.
My my guess is that it will be a lot like watching society form. It will be messy and violent to start but as economies, and social structures develop things will start to settle down. This is where highly political wars will start. My fear is that the PVE side of the game will give guilds more reason to work together then fight each other. There needs to be systems in place to keep conflict high.
Comments
In my experience (which is limited I'll admit) The zerg guilds have mass amounts of people feeding them. The leaders will pick and choose their favorites and the rest of the masses will realize that they are putting in their time and resources to help the 1% of the guild become stronger and they are getting nothing out of it. Even in the large guilds people will form clicks and will eventually realize that they aren't getting anything out of it. part will break off and leave until the 1% is all alone. They will be upset and leave the game.
One mechanic I can think of is to help limit the accumulation of power could be that as a node could be in constant decay. Something that needs a constant flow of resource to maintain its status. The thing is as the node grows and needs more resources to maintain and grow the surrounding area spawns less and less resources. So unless a guild put forth a concerted effort to expand and draw resources to the capital it will lose its ranking. this could cause a guild to move to more prosperous lands and through node decay eventually leveling down this causing more resources to spawn.
Also, some of the discussion around 1000 members of a zerg guild will roll 9000 casuals isn't taking into account that rival guilds will form alliances and they will work together to fight the zerg, because some people just enjoying being the underdog. Personally, I think mega guilds are good for these game because it gives smaller guilds to get out there and make those alliances, bringing a richer gaming experience to those who detest being in a large guild. It's challenging and takes a lot of work, but that's what makes it more rewarding when the mega guild falls. Not all the hardcore players will lean towards a mega guild.
This is all my opinion based on a very limited knowledge of this game and mechanics.
Guilds are going to be member capped in the 250-300 range. To even get to that member level they have to give up significant guild perks by spending their limited guild tree points on guild size vs other more desirable perks. Guild alliances are possible, but the point you made of cliques and factions make managing mega guilds like herding cats at the best of times.
And finally throw on the no financial incentive to running a mega guild. There will not be a mechanic of auto tax paid by members. Guilds in other games that management exists mainly to profit off of member actions will find that there is no incentive for them in Ashes. Controlling a castle does not mean they get to **** the treasury and run off with the funds. Same goes for city mayors. Dodgy guilds will try "membership fees and dues" and will get laughed at by anyone with half a brain.
My my guess is that it will be a lot like watching society form. It will be messy and violent to start but as economies, and social structures develop things will start to settle down. This is where highly political wars will start. My fear is that the PVE side of the game will give guilds more reason to work together then fight each other. There needs to be systems in place to keep conflict high.