Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
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.