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
I then look at guild size, if visible. Do I want to be in a 300 person guild? Or do I like to be in a smaller tight knit group of folks, maybe 15 steady players that agree to meet up certain nights of the week?
I then look at where the players are from. NA, EU, Russia? Will our play times coincide?
Finally, I will look at who the guild leader and his associated folks are. I'd talk to them, see if they are people I'd like to be around that share a same strategy or goals long term.
It would be nice to see a tool in-game or out of game (like a community search function) that would address a lot of these questions right off the bat. As a guild leader, most of what I addressed above would be reciprocal in terms of determining whether a player would fit our group.
For me, I look for guilds that are smaller, welcoming (not just the obligatory "welcome!"), non-toxic, and willing to assist non-hardcore players with end-game-type content (aka, helpful). I'll never understand guilds that recruit for new members and when they (I) join, there's no way to "break" into the clique interactions. The SAME members participate in end-game, chatting, contests, etc. and non-cliques are treated as outsiders.
Class leads are important and they should be accessible. My guild in WoW had dedicated class leads that were REALLY helpful and available. It was amazing. I learned a great deal about gear, rotation, and raid play.
AOC: Keep up the great work! So looking forward to what's to come!
Basically an in depth excel style chart that shows metrics of individual member contribution in your guild to include:
Number value of every type of thing that can be deposited in guild warehouse (include percentage out of guilds total supply)
How much of their raw materials in the guild storage was used for certain projects (maybe include a history for what items were used and who they were from)
Time participated in guild events limited to (dev game content(PvP, grouped PvE, special grouped gathering events) and a manual option to add in RP time or stuff like, i don’t know if AoC will even something like this, the golden saucer in FFXIV or darkmoon faire in WoW
PvP/PvE: Stats on DMG, healing, deaths etc. for any sanctioned grouped content by the leaders
I know there’s way more categories and it could go on and on. The point is, having data and like this that is ALWAYS available in game through some guild menu will be beneficial for:
tracking member participation in the guild overall
Leaders can create/apply a fair point system based on real data for rewards, loot privileges etc. (also if materials for a building or structure were mainly contributed from one or two members they can get a little plaque on the structure saying something like “in honor of player name(s) contributions”
Historical data can be used to get a sense of individual improvement/decline, top performers by category (specific types of PvP/PvE content, bosses, raiders, guild wars, sieges, dungeons, instanced content etc), and overall guild health.
There is so much you can do with data like this to improve and tailor the type of guild you want as a leader, or how to improve you contributions to the guild as member in every aspect.
This data is already in the game, it just needs to be recorded somewhere that is easily accessible and customizable on what data you view.
Obviously we want active players who we can group with and do a range of content with, but that comes second to being a decent person. We just wanna be friends and have fun.
Our rules boil down to don't discriminate against other players, spoiler tag spoilers, no shady money transfers etc. It's simple enough but has actually put off some people so I guess it works.
Irkallu discord: https://discord.com/invite/CB3ZrnD
When I'm new to a MMO, I tend to be forced to guild-hop due to false advertising or toxic member constellations/ranks. I usually don't play MMOs with RL friends, so I find it quiet nice to see that AoC are kind of aware that informations are key in a guild-finding process.
First I look at their short description to get the “vibe“/goal of the guild and then I look at their member number. I often check out their discord/TS or website (if they have any) in addition.*
Then I tend to look at some general Infos like: who the leaders and officers are, maybe some tags (if Casual, Hardcore, Raid, Crafting, RP, language, etc.), founding date, look if I find an active playtime schedule and what is mandatory (voice chat, events, etc.).
If the game supports non instanced guild housing, I also like to visit their property and engage with members in the in game chat. Feels like walking in there to get the atmosphere before even asking to join.
my top 3 are: general description, member number and seeing who the leaders are (if you're able to get player insights by analysing them)
Guild leaders - what kinds of characteristics are you looking for in new guild members?
I use to run or at least take higher ranks in small to mid sized guilds (not 17k multi game guilds ^^'), often focused on world firsts or task specified optimisations. Also with not all that serious fun actions during off patches, even casually playing other games together for fun.
Overall they must be able to communicate at least in english, even if they share the same main language as I do (EU player here).
And here are my other priorities:
1) their understanding of the game itself, I like members who also consume informations and knowledge about the game we play. I don't mind if the player hasn't the same amount of hours in game, but I do mind if he lacks knowledge due to ignorance or lacking interest in learning.
2) how active they are, consistent (not explicitly daily) schedule so we can plan
3) how skilled they are (solid skill floor with high skill sealing potential, doesn't have to be there the potential and will are enough)
4) character, do they match to the rest of the guild. will they tilt the mood. do they know when it's fun and when serious time...**
5) able to think for themselves, or think with the team
___
*
Would be convenient to able able to link the website or discord/TS, maybe with GM approval and enough wait time to make it worth consider if.
**
Over all, just be able to tell what you think and feel. But in general they have to be open about gender, political position & religion (nothing extreme), sexuality, opinions in general, without making each of that aspects into major themes to discuss because it shouldn't value who you are and no ideas should be forced on others. And most important: be able to handle a healthy portion of humour and be reliable
- General vision/personality of the guild to see if you will gel with them socially
My personal experience as guild member (casual / pvp depending of the games) and guild master makes me agree with most of what has been said on this thread, especially with FollyStormborn's post and analysis.
Expectations from guild members and leaders change accordingly to the way they play the game (casual / PvP-PvE tryhard / RP, etc).
–
In order to answer the questions :
Guild members - what kinds of information do you look for before joining a guild?
- As a casual player I was looking for guilds small enough for me to be ablt to get along with all / most of the members. Behavior was the keyword here, since all I wanted was to have fun on the game with them.
- As a PvP player I was searching for guilds with active players that were invested into the game, know about their classes, the game mechanisms, and of course that take part into PvP event. All of that with people mature enough not to be toxic about wins and losses.
Guild leaders - what kinds of characteristics are you looking for in new guild members?
- What we were looking for was people with a positive behavior that shared the same vision of the game than us, and that would be accepted by the other guild members (voting system).
- In order to know about it, the applicants should first present themselves (player and character), their motivation to join the guild, etc.
- After that we would have discussions between guild members and applicant for each « side » to start to get the other one, and finally guild members were free to vote for or against the applicant.
–
That being said, as discussed above the information both members/leaders are looking for obviously change a lot according to the type of guild they seek/lead.
Thus it would be great to be able to get/display (as a guild point of view) :
1) Only general information for those who don't care about playing a very « requiring game », style :
- Name/Tag/Symbol of the guild
- Orientation (PvP, PvE, RP, Bunny raising...)
- Number of actives members
- Quick description + related Discord & co. if relevant
- Recruiting requirements
2) And a more complete one that would allow those who need it to add any kind of specific information (like all the ones of the previous answers to this topic + a great RP description, I'm too lazy to c/c all of them
So generally, I look for things like:
*How welcoming they are to "Seasonal Players" who play for bursts then leave for a while.
--Lots of guilds ask for active players but they rarely define that. I don't typically play only one game so I often find myself in a cycle of joining a guild then being booted when I take a break. In ESO I've joined the same guild 3 times now after being booted during my "off-seasons".
--It would be nice if there was some tool or UI to define the type of player you are when applying for a guild. Expectation setting and all that.
*Is communication mandatory?
*Name/Emblem of the guild. Is it silly or lore friendly
*What is their focus? Trading/PvP/PvE/Life Skills etc.
*Do they set overall goals that the guild wants to achieve on some sort of bulletin board?
--As a solo player, I am a more "Just Tell Me What To Do" type of helper. If the guild sets a broad goal of: "We need these resources for the war effort" or "Help defend this stronghold" then I will show up and help without any need for direct communication with someone.
*Accomplishments/Prestige. Is the guild well known? Do they hold a prominent asset?
--Essentially: Are they a proven guild?
When I do create a guild it's typically just for friends. Would be cool if even small guilds could have some sort of purpose or achievable goal other than just a nice group of friends.
As a developer that would 100% use this information for the guild, I'd like to add that it should be accessible through an API that the clan member should be able to control access on. As a clan leader you can say, "give us access or you can't be a member", but it should be a two way street on the access to this imo. Eve online does this VERY well.