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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.
Lets talk guilds
ArchivedUser
Guest
Hey Ashes-
I want to ask a pretty open-ended question from you guys, or rather a few. Its about guilds.
Firstly- what game had the best guild system? What did you like about it? What do you NOT want to see within the guild system or interface in Ashes? Lastly, what do you want out of a guild in Ashes?
Hanging out in the community discord, I've noticed quite a variety of backgrounds and have seen that reflected in some of the conversations. A couple people would like restrictions on larger guilds (out of concern of Zerg guilds taking over), a lot are particularly interested in the utility designed specifically for small guilds, but mostly in the grand plethora of information there is to speculate about- guilds don't get brought up too often.
So lets talk guilds!
I want to ask a pretty open-ended question from you guys, or rather a few. Its about guilds.
Firstly- what game had the best guild system? What did you like about it? What do you NOT want to see within the guild system or interface in Ashes? Lastly, what do you want out of a guild in Ashes?
Hanging out in the community discord, I've noticed quite a variety of backgrounds and have seen that reflected in some of the conversations. A couple people would like restrictions on larger guilds (out of concern of Zerg guilds taking over), a lot are particularly interested in the utility designed specifically for small guilds, but mostly in the grand plethora of information there is to speculate about- guilds don't get brought up too often.
So lets talk guilds!
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Comments
<strong>Best system so far:</strong> World of Warcraft
<strong>Why?</strong> WoW's guild system was the first which introduced guild reputation and rewards, guild achievements. It actually rewarded you for carrying your guild's banners. I know, that there are some different approaches out there, but the guild system of WoW was actually working. I could handle a facelift, but hey, the game is 12 years old, and still kicking.
<strong>Worst system so far:</strong> Destiny
<strong>Why?</strong> There was not even a mature guild system! Seriously Bungie, how were you able to create an MMO game without a serious guild system? Okay, you were able to join to a group in the official website of the game, add your PS / Xbox account name, the admins of the group even could see you online but this has no manifestation ingame! No guild vault, no guild social place, not even a damn table in the bar in the Tower - wait! We were not allowed to visit the bar at all! Damn!
A guild in an mmo has amazing potentials. I mean like guild-spaceships to transportation vehicles, where one of the guild member actually the pilot of a drop ship (sci-fi ofc.) carrying the others into battle / raid / dungeon / whatever, build a castle together, defend it, lay siege on another castles, breed a dragon which can carry like 20 peoples, anything.
I really, really hope, that some day someone with the enough money will make a game, where a group of people belong to the same guild will be able to create amazing things together, and we won't hear excuses like "<em>technical limitations</em>".
The ONLY thing guilds should have is Guild Halls like SWG where they can do different things with and let the social aspect of the game flourish because guilds are not tied to in game Systems. The only in game systems that guilds should be tied to is choosing to help their nodes out they they chosen as a group of people via the Social Aspect of the game not this is the highest level guild everyone join it.
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I really, really hope, that some day someone with the enough money will make a game, where a group of people belong to the same guild will be able to create amazing things together, and we won’t hear excuses like “<em>technical limitations</em>“.
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You will have Technical Limitations if you let the Developers DESIGN a system for guilds. Let Guilds be Guilds because they can add people to the guild and have a guild hall that will let members put vendors in there, or manage how the guild hall looks or the resources that are stored for the guild or have a bank in the guild hall where members can donate money. You add WOW Guild shit and there will only be Zerg Guilds because no one will want to join and play with Small to Medium Size guilds because they will not have the PERKS built into a GAME'S System. Just leave guilds be guilds and learn from what happened in SWG. They had Player run cities with multiple guilds in 1 city. On Wanderhome we had 1 city with 18 Guilds in it, many were small to medium size guilds. We were able to have a player run base and defend it, we also had attacked and destroyed several player run bases. Also my guild was a small guild at that point where it was just a commando team who took out all heavy weapons from player run bases and AT-STs. No Guild systems needed and guilds flourished
Guilds just need to be Guilds and Social group of players. No system required around them outside of Guild Halls and Banks. Let the players choose what they want to do based on what they want to do today, not on HAVING to level the guild just for a Perk just so more people will join.
1. Customization. Be able to name ranks, strong permissions controls/customization for ranks. Think bank access, guild real estate access, guild currency allowances, repair allowances, calendar permissions, etc.
2. Multiple guild memberships. I know most of us want to commit to one guild and be done with it, but multiple guild memberships are really helpful for alliance-based MMOs (which I think AoC will eventually become). I could see a 'family' guild, 'main' guild, and 'alliance' guild with varying degrees of allowed rewards/restrictions.
3. Guild calendar. I know this can be done externally but it's nice to have an in-game guild calendar.
4. Guild currencies. Being able to gain guild reputation from doing stuff that generates a guild currency and then spend guild currency on guild benefits/swag is cool.
5. Customizable guild swag. Think import your own guild symbols.
Probably more, but I'm a fan of the above.
1. Customization. Be able to name ranks, strong permissions controls/customization for ranks. Think bank access, guild real estate access, guild currency allowances, repair allowances, calendar permissions, etc.
2. Multiple guild memberships. I know most of us want to commit to one guild and be done with it, but multiple guild memberships are really helpful for alliance-based MMOs (which I think AoC will eventually become). I could see a ‘family’ guild, ‘main’ guild, and ‘alliance’ guild with varying degrees of allowed rewards/restrictions.
3. Guild calendar. I know this can be done externally but it’s nice to have an in-game guild calendar.
4. Guild currencies. Being able to gain guild reputation from doing stuff that generates a guild currency and then spend guild currency on guild benefits/swag is cool.
5. Customizable guild swag. Think import your own guild symbols.
Probably more, but I’m a fan of the above.
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They already said that players cannot join multiple guilds on 1 character in the one video. Most of the other stuff is not bad or will tie people to that they MUST DO X TONIGHT TO LEVEL THE GUILD FOR Y PERK which is good.
<div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/lets-talk-guilds/#post-5985" rel="nofollow">Glavus wrote:</a></div>
Key elements worth having in guilds:
1. Customization. Be able to name ranks, strong permissions controls/customization for ranks. Think bank access, guild real estate access, guild currency allowances, repair allowances, calendar permissions, etc.
2. Multiple guild memberships. I know most of us want to commit to one guild and be done with it, but multiple guild memberships are really helpful for alliance-based MMOs (which I think AoC will eventually become). I could see a ‘family’ guild, ‘main’ guild, and ‘alliance’ guild with varying degrees of allowed rewards/restrictions.
3. Guild calendar. I know this can be done externally but it’s nice to have an in-game guild calendar.
4. Guild currencies. Being able to gain guild reputation from doing stuff that generates a guild currency and then spend guild currency on guild benefits/swag is cool.
5. Customizable guild swag. Think import your own guild symbols.
Probably more, but I’m a fan of the above.
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They already said that players cannot join multiple guilds on 1 character in the one video. Most of the other stuff is not bad or will tie people to that they MUST DO X TONIGHT TO LEVEL THE GUILD FOR Y PERK which is good.
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I am going to correct myself. #4 I do not agree with because while guild currently is good which should just be 1 currently in the game having guild specific Mounts, or XP Buffs or any of that stuff kills small to medium size guilds. The Guild earning gold to help with repair bills or to buy mats to build defenses is one thing, its another when you add in guild XP buffs and shit because people will flock to only large guilds because there is No possible way to balance Small and Large guild leveling progress without hampering large guilds. Outside of Guild Banks, Guilds getting gold for repairs from people selling gear on their vendors within a node where a guild is, and gold from killing things within that node. You unbalance Guilds and make the large just more powerful.
There is no need for that. This is coming from someone in a Large guild. Leave Guilds a Social experience outside of ways to help guilds help out their nodes.
Also no need for Repairs from the guild. This is not WOW with Raiding or FFXIV. Let people who need Repairs buy Repair kits from crafters, if you have a private Guild only vendor where crafters charge less Cool. Or allow Crafters to repair the gear directly. There should be no going to an NPC for repairing gear.
Good insight from folks. I'm a bit on the fence myself.
To address some of Helz points: They are going out of their way to make sure small and medium sized guilds have engaging content thats appropriate to their guild's size. I never played SWG, but I like the idea of guild housing (Sw:TOR or GW1 for example). I like alot of what Glavus is saying, minus the multiple guild contracts. I think being apart of a guild should be a commitment, but I'm obviously coming from a raid and PvP background where participation is required to progress.
Good insight from folks. I’m a bit on the fence myself.
To address some of Helz points: They are going out of their way to make sure small and medium sized guilds have engaging content thats appropriate to their guild’s size. I never played SWG, but I like the idea of guild housing (Sw:TOR or GW1 for example). I like alot of what Glavus is saying, minus the multiple guild contracts. I think being apart of a guild should be a commitment, but I’m obviously coming from a raid and PvP background where participation is required to progress.
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In SWG we had Guild Halls. My guild that I ran had Vendors that myself and my guild mates each had so we could sell our wares from our Crafting accounts because you could only have 1 character per server per account which was a bitch lol. But thats how we made money hand over fist. We also decorated the hall, we had a chick who use to do all that for us, plus several rooms with crafting stations and piles of mats. Dam those were the days guilds work together because they loved to play together not because they were level 25 and had all the perks.
That is why I will fight against systems that will kill guilds because guilds are social pieces to the game they are not nor should be designed towards advancing a level of the guild only to sell to the highest bidder. Or be designed that only max level guilds only get perks. The perks of a guild should be working towards a common goal and the social aspect.
Yeah I can see this. Honestly I'd be more interested in a 'family,' 'guild,' and 'alliance' mechanic, where you can pick one of each and each has different restrictions. Aka:
1. Family. Say there is a low membership limit but people in the same family can pretty much access everyone else in the family's stuff. Family limit would be small enough that you couldn't raid with just them. Idea is to have a super close-knit relationship option for farming/small scale pvp/socialization.
2. Guild. Standard suite of stuff for varied levels of content.
3. Alliance. Only guilds can declare membership in these and there are limited number of things an alliance can do. Maybe declare sieges/wars with other alliances where killing 'at-war' alliance members generates a resource of some sort. Guilds are going to do this anyway so really just a way to facilitate.
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/single-character-or-multiple/page/2/
Things I find necessary for any guild interface are:
- Character name/Account name
- Class
- Level
- In-game location
- Online/Offline/Offline for how long status
- Join date
- Guild rank
Things that I would LIKE to have:
- Contribution tracker (for node and/or castle progress)
- Message of the day
- Calendar**
- Rank customization
- Guild house**
- Guild bank (currency only, used to possibly pay for guild declarations and member payouts)
- Guild payout system to members
- Guild only vendors (to buy and sell gear between members)
Issues that I've been dealing with for the past 4-5 years in MMOs is that there really isn't a good, in-game support system for leadership teams that are trying to set up a large, organized guild. I have made countless spreadsheets, calendar event pages, email lists, google forms, forum posts, etc. just to maintain the level of organization needed. Now, I've done it (and happily, love my guilds), but it'd be nice.. FOR ONCE, to have <strong>some </strong>of those features included and built into a guild interface.
I understand the conveniences I mentioned and talked about aren't needed/wanted by some people but wanted to share and provide a viewpoint from someone with experience leading larger guilds.
Important note: I started out in small guilds and recognize the draw to and value of them- so please do not think that by speaking for large guild management I want to take away from features/content/anything from small guilds :)
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<blockquote><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/single-character-or-multiple/" rel="nofollow">Single character or multiple</a>
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Hmm, I think the only thing thats been addressed with this is Steven's comment that was basically, allowing different characters of an account to be in different guilds would allow for some interesting spy mechanics. When I can, I'll see I can find his comment on it.
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Do you mean the basic statistics? Like for forum avatars/profiles?
Nope xD. Maybe with the new forum revamp :D??
Most of what I've seen from Nivhawk, helbelz, and Glavus I agree. I think having alliance battles ( guild battles), would be just as great as a siege which I think that's what they are going for with grand scale player battles. Also being able to have something that keeps track, or organize different events/among other things, would be great.
In terms of guild currency, I see the appeal and how it adds to your guild compared to another guild, I don't really see the need for it especially if your guild has crafters and you just pay them with normal currency and items/mats. I can see if there is specific guild items that can only be purchased through guild currency ( given by the guild for what you have done for the guild, or some other method). I just don't see how the guild currency could be helpful, especially if you just stick with regular currency and get revenue through repairs and items bought from guild crafters could be helpful in the long run for the guild itself. I just can't really think of other ideas, which again I haven't really played much games involving guild currency so I have open ears for it :).
Shadowbane (I'm bias):
Why? Because so much about it made your guild tags mean something. The guild system had 2 hierarchy's. There was your "Guild" and your "Nation".
The Guild was your basic Clan/Guild. A single entity of your friends or whomever you played with. You would have a set of Guild Tags hang over your head for all to see.
A Nation was a conglomerate of guilds. Basically there would be 1 "power" guild which others would Sub under. The effect was that the guild tags over your head would have 1 large tag for the nation you belong to, and then a second smaller tag for your guild. If your Nation and your Guild were the same then both tags would be the same.
This made it so that small guilds could maintain some individuality while enjoying the benefits of a larger guild because you shared communication, resources (potentially), and all had the same target on your back.
A guild could still have their own city even if subbed to a larger Nation.
Each guild still had their own "guild chat" with rankings while also having a /Nation chat to quickly communicate with everyone.
You could easily see anyone online for both your Guild and Nation.
It's an old game so there are some cool ideas that have come along since then which could be used to spice it up a bit, but I really found this system to be perfect for creating an advanced political system (the game was entirely PvP focused), and keeping individuality alive.
edit - Primarily I just want a system which clearly identifies you. This means you can't be tagged to 6 different guilds and just freely swap between them with a click of a button. If you want to swap guilds then you have to completely drop your tags and go to the new one. Then, it also needs to show if you are frequently dropping tags to switch alliances.