Balancing guilds with solo play

I have seen a lot about the exciting guild incentives and mechanics planned for AOC which I am all for. My only concern is that this may require an environment whereby you HAVE to align yourself with a guild to be relevant in the game. Personally as a solo player I'm of the opinion that joining a guild should always be out of choice, not necessity. In which ways do you think solo play can be balanced so that solo players/small teams of friends can still choose this path?

One idea I propose is that solo players could carry out as questline to become a mercenary. Mercenaries would be neutral alignment but could be hired by guilds to assist in seiges and bosses etc. This way solo players are not gated away from content but likewise are still able to enjoy soloplay when they choose to.

Just as guilds can acquire reputation, so could mercenaries. At higher reputation levels your price as a mercanary would automatically increase. Reputation would be based on successful "missions"(hires) and feedback from guild seniors (e.g. a simple rating system).

Just as there will be a leaderboard for guilds, there could be s leaderboard for mercenaries. Perhaps this system would be tied to military nodes.

What are your thoughts?

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Ludullu

Dygz wrote: »

A non-citizen might only care about storing stuff that fits in their backpack or mule bags.
A non-citizen might have friends in many Nodes across the map who help them store stuff at their Freeholds.
No reason why you have to store stuff at a Node bank.
You don't have to be a citizen to defend a Node during a Siege. You just have to register as a defender.
Node citizens are auto-flagged as defenders for their Node.

I mean, from the RP standpoint, yeah for sure. But from a practical standpoint, if I'm a non-citizen and I have a shitton of gear/resources that I've farmed on my travels I'd rather keep them in at least some bank. And preferably a bank that won't be destroyed by other players when I might not be playing the game. Hell, I might do this even when I am a citizen of some node, if I can do that. Especially if I can place a freehold as close to another lvl1-2 node as possible. Easy caravan runs between the two while 0 risk of losing your shit during a siege. This will definitely have to be tested cause I think it could be seen as somewhat of an exploit.

Mag7spy

Dygz wrote: »

I mean... stabbing youself in the foot for no reason is your prspective - but...
Ashes is an RPG. Hardship from not being a citizen can be great for RP.

But, Node citizenship is not "strong incentive". It's just incentive.
So, there is no strong-arming. That's simply you exaggerating to try to support your playstyle perspective.

The positives from not being a citizen of a Node does not make everything more difficult. The incentives for citizenship make some things easier.

Having your stuff destroyed when you are a citizen of a Node is not a positive incentive.

It's very clear that you don't understand the solo player mindset and make up all kinds of weird attributes of what solo play in an MMORPG entails.
I'm not aware of needing a bathroom in MMORPGs, but...
Being homeless makes for great RP in an MMORPG.
Being a ronin makes for great RP in an MMORPG.
We don't have to cook our own food in MMORPGs. Taverns are a great place to grab some food while socializing with other players - and you don't have to join a group or join a guild to socialize at a Tavern.
For some people, freedom makes people happier than being formally or systemically tied to other people.
Some people prefer to roam the world without being tied to a location or a group.
Gandalf is a prime example of that. Gandalf typically is not concerned about losing a bunch of stuff he stored in some city.

Again, solo does not mean that you rarely interact with others.
Solo does not mean you rarely help others.
Solo does not mean you rarely fight alongside others.
Solo does not mean you refuse to be a citizen.
Solo means you rarely mechanically join a group or raid.
You can be in a casual guild and still primarily solo.

MMORPGs have many different playstyles.
"Good time" is subjective.[/quote

You are missing the point and being disingenuous to my post like a amber heards lawyer team.

Ill make some some other stuff then.

Very limit amount of storage.
Increase crafting / market cost.
Less access to quest that can give more item, gold or xp
no bonus houses may apply.
etc

You are trying to beat around the bush with solo by saying they can still do "social thing". Something hat systems can have a more strong armed approach to make them have to interact with people more else there is a lot of things they don't have access to. Where normally if they could do everything solo and not interact with people solo players will take the approach of just doing it yourself.

If you are being that stubborn preferring to be solo over joining a guild that supports your play style you normally will do things solo as that is the reason why you are solo. Having systems in place that boost solo will turn it more into a single experience game, all systems they have talked about and are creating are in contrast to it being a single player experience.

Does a solo player interact with other people time to time...Yes. But the whole reason why they go solo at the very core is you not have to interact with people or groups.

Else they would have again joined a small casual guild that fits their style, instead of being stubborn and saying i don't want to talk to people as much as possible.

This post should be more so talking about how people can form groups not trying to create a solo player experience in a game focused on PvX and group content.

Doesn't not mean there isn't solo content in the game btw, it just has a focus on groups and that is how a mmo should be and the reason classes are balanced as GROUPS not solo. Or is this another design you want changed?

KeeperBrGO

derp wrote: »

I become a mercenary.

OMG this looks pretty cool, it really is a flaw that should be acknowledged.
The solution you gave seems to be pretty solid.

Dygz

Sure that's what YOU would do - as a player who loves PvP and prefers not to solo.
But, Ashes is an RPG.
So... you can expect there to be people who focus more on the RP in MMORPG.

Who says that players who choose to be non-citizens will be interested in keeping a shit-ton of stuff?

KeeperBrGO

Azherae wrote: »

I dislike any system where the game has any role in mandating how much someone is hired for and in what way they are 'contracted'.

Several games have the "services", usually they appear as the community grow, often very formal and the price also follows the reputation in third party programs
but what I understand by contract is that both parties agree with that transaction. I also think that putting an arbitrary value in the maximum or minimum limit can be very when you want to pay by other means.

KeeperBrGO

NiKr wrote: »

MMOs are meant to be played in a company and not alone. There's way better games for solo or limited multiplayer gameplay, so why turn the only genre that supports huge groups of people working together towards one goal with adding mechanics and features that splinter that group into singular characters.

from what I understand he suggested that individually you can have tools to value the time he puts in the character to play all the content that the game may have, this implies that the game can be experienced at any speed

Ludullu

Dygz wrote: »

Who says that players who choose to be non-citizens will be interested in keeping a shit-ton of stuff?

Oh, I hope there's a ton of random casual players with 0 gear/resources to lose who are just enjoying the game. I'll be glad to help them whenever they need any help. But I somehow think there won't be thousands upon thousands of such people in a pvx game. What definitely will be present is a ton of competitive players who'll use any and every exploit-like mechanic in the game for their benefit. I can use a node bank w/o losing anything within it EVER and don't really have any issues transferring that stuff when I need to (cause I can run a caravan on the off hours), AND I don't need to pay taxes to do that? Awesome. EZ game for me.

But with all that being said, I am mostly a solo player. And I do like to RP in my own way (that is playing the class/profession/playstyle I chose). I will most likely create my own guild exactly because I want to play alone, but have a possibility to do group content when the opportunity presents itself. I've done so multiple times on several L2 servers and usually I'd get over 100 people in the guild exactly because the whole moto of my guild was "I ask nothing of you so you can't ask anything of me. But I will help you when I can". And people loved that shit. And all the solo people that joined the guild would group up quite often and just have fun. Hell, we even sieged a castle successfully. Hope I can achieve the same kind of thing in Ashes too (though I doubt we'll get a castle here).

But even while being a solo pvp enjoyer, I can still see some potential exploits in the game or gameplay problems that other people might have issues with. There's obviously exceptions to any rule (with you being the hugest example of such to pretty much every problem I've ever brought up), but not all rules should be tailored to the exceptions rather than the norm. And I personally haven't experienced, or even heard, about RPers being the norm in mmorpgs. Usually they'd have a server or two, out of dozens, that is the "rp server". Or at least that's what I've heard from people who've played way more mmos than me.

Ludullu

KeeperBrGO wrote: »

from what I understand he suggested that individually you can have tools to value the time he puts in the character to play all the content that the game may have, this implies that the game can be experienced at any speed

And the game already allows you to do so. You can sit in one location cutting down trees for a year and then sell those trees, buy some gear, level up and go enjoy some raiding with other people. What it doesn't give you is boosts for being alone, exactly because Intrepid wants to bring social gameplay back to mmos. You can still take your time getting to a point where a group is needed, but grouping up will still be required for high lvl content, and, if I understood derp correctly, he's fine with that.

derp

NiKr wrote: »

KeeperBrGO wrote: »

from what I understand he suggested that individually you can have tools to value the time he puts in the character to play all the content that the game may have, this implies that the game can be experienced at any speed

And the game already allows you to do so. You can sit in one location cutting down trees for a year and then sell those trees, buy some gear, level up and go enjoy some raiding with other people. What it doesn't give you is boosts for being alone, exactly because Intrepid wants to bring social gameplay back to mmos. You can still take your time getting to a point where a group is needed, but grouping up will still be required for high lvl content, and, if I understood derp correctly, he's fine with that.

I'm fine with that so long as it doesnt become mandatory to be in a guild to complete high level content. If me and my homies want to kill a boss but we're not in a guild it should still be possible (I'll accept it would be more efficient to be in s guild)

Mag7spy

derp wrote: »

NiKr wrote: »

KeeperBrGO wrote: »

from what I understand he suggested that individually you can have tools to value the time he puts in the character to play all the content that the game may have, this implies that the game can be experienced at any speed

And the game already allows you to do so. You can sit in one location cutting down trees for a year and then sell those trees, buy some gear, level up and go enjoy some raiding with other people. What it doesn't give you is boosts for being alone, exactly because Intrepid wants to bring social gameplay back to mmos. You can still take your time getting to a point where a group is needed, but grouping up will still be required for high lvl content, and, if I understood derp correctly, he's fine with that.

I'm fine with that so long as it doesnt become mandatory to be in a guild to complete high level content. If me and my homies want to kill a boss but we're not in a guild it should still be possible (I'll accept it would be more efficient to be in s guild)

Why would you not just make a guild for your friends......The idea people will refuse to me in a guild with anyone is a red flag. Like types that will join a guild to try to steal items or information then dip out constantly.

There is no game where you need to be in a guild really to do content. The point of the guild is to have the numbers around you need to do things with more easily. If the content your trying to do recommends like 20 people and you have 5 friends, you just spam in world chat and form a group. Though be ready for people to pk, bring bigger groups, ninjas your group stealing gear, etc.

derp

Mag7spy wrote: »

derp wrote: »

NiKr wrote: »

KeeperBrGO wrote: »

from what I understand he suggested that individually you can have tools to value the time he puts in the character to play all the content that the game may have, this implies that the game can be experienced at any speed

And the game already allows you to do so. You can sit in one location cutting down trees for a year and then sell those trees, buy some gear, level up and go enjoy some raiding with other people. What it doesn't give you is boosts for being alone, exactly because Intrepid wants to bring social gameplay back to mmos. You can still take your time getting to a point where a group is needed, but grouping up will still be required for high lvl content, and, if I understood derp correctly, he's fine with that.

I'm fine with that so long as it doesnt become mandatory to be in a guild to complete high level content. If me and my homies want to kill a boss but we're not in a guild it should still be possible (I'll accept it would be more efficient to be in s guild)

Why would you not just make a guild for your friends......The idea people will refuse to me in a guild with anyone is a red flag. Like types that will join a guild to try to steal items or information then dip out constantly.

There is no game where you need to be in a guild really to do content. The point of the guild is to have the numbers around you need to do things with more easily. If the content your trying to do recommends like 20 people and you have 5 friends, you just spam in world chat and form a group. Though be ready for people to pk, bring bigger groups, ninjas your group stealing gear, etc.

Was mentioned above but my reasoning for not wanting to join a guild is simply that I don't want to be forced into explicit organised events. I enjoy doing what I want to within the game without being told when I need to log in and what I need to do. Guilds always felt like work away from work. Maybe a more casual guild will be fine for me, I guess time will tell.

Dygz

Mag7spy wrote: »

You are missing the point and being disingenuous to my post like a amber heards lawyer team.
I'll make some some other stuff then.

LMAO
You, like Amber Heard, are just making up some crazy bs.
It's a shame her lawyers had to deal with that mess.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Very limit amount of storage.
Increase crafting / market cost.
Less access to quest that can give more item, gold or xp
no bonus houses may apply.
etc

Being a non-citizen does not increase crafting/market cost.
Being a citizen may decrease crafting/market cost.
A person who chooses to not be a citizen may not care anything about the economy or how much gold they can hoard.
Again, that's what friends are for.
Non-citizens might be able to craft at friends' Freeholds and be perfectly content with the basic costs...not caring about citizen discounts. And some people are content to just gather materials so their friends can craft - so they already get discounts via bartering their services. This is especially true for hardcore time/casual challenge players.

I dunno what you mean by "less access to quests and xp". You don't have to be a citizen of a Node to get quests from Node NPCs.

Mag7spy wrote: »

You are trying to beat around the bush with solo by saying they can still do "social thing". Something that systems can have a more strong armed approach to make them have to interact with people more else there is a lot of things they don't have access to. Where normally if they could do everything solo and not interact with people solo players will take the approach of just doing it yourself.

I'm not beating around the bush and I am not trying anything...
I have emphatically stated that there are numerous ways to play solo and also be highly social.
I suppose incentives are techincally more strong-arming than no incentives. But, it's actually just incentives rather than strong-arming.

Mag7spy wrote: »

If you are being that stubborn preferring to be solo over joining a guild that supports your play style you normally will do things solo as that is the reason why you are solo. Having systems in place that boost solo will turn it more into a single experience game, all systems they have talked about and are creating are in contrast to it being a single player experience.

I'm not the one being stubborn and disingenous.
Incentives are not synonymous with strong-arming.
Unless you're the mafia using gaslighting euphemisms.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Does a solo player interact with other people time to time...Yes. But the whole reason why they go solo at the very core is you not have to interact with people or groups.

No. The primary reason to solo is so that you are not obligated to meet group or guild expectations or requirements. So that you have the freedom to play when and where you want to play and to play the build you like, rather than the (META) build a group or guild dictates you must play.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Else they would have again joined a small casual guild that fits their style, instead of being stubborn and saying i don't want to talk to people as much as possible.

Maybe... maybe not.
That assumes they know how to find a casual guild that suits their playstyle - and/or that joining a guild is even an interest.

I stumbled upon a casual guild during the NWO beta.
The twitch chat of a content creator playing the game created a guild with the only requirement being you were a follower of that twitch channel.
And it was super casual. And we still mostly soloed, duoed or trioed.
A few of us would join the content creator when he ran a dungeon for the day.
If it hadn't been for that twitch channel I would not have joined a casual guild and I would not have been looking for one.

Currently, I'm part of two gamer communities:
TheoryForge - with my TheoryForge podcast co-hosts and its followers.
DoP Crew - a gamers who follow and play games with the game devs, Snipehunter and Ombwah. The latter of whom is currently a lead quest designer for Ashes.
Both of those communities form casual guilds in the various games we play together.
But, that's not going to be a very common experience for solo players.

Mag7spy wrote: »

This post should be more so talking about how people can form groups not trying to create a solo player experience in a game focused on PvX and group content.

This topic is exactly what it should be.
Especially for a PvX game that supports solo play.
Again, the devs already have some of the systems that the OP asks for.
The design already covers tracking the wins and losses for individuals who participate in PvP battlegrounds (Caravans/Node Sieges) - and even has progression paths for individuals interested in those rankings.
Don't have to join a guild for that.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Doesn't not mean there isn't solo content in the game btw, it just has a focus on groups and that is how a mmo should be and the reason classes are balanced as GROUPS not solo. Or is this another design you want changed?

But...
This topic is not really about solo "content".
And it's not about combat being balanced for individuals, rather than for groups.
The OP asked to have some method of being recognized as relevant even for those who have not joined a guild.
And the prime example was having some form of rank that lets people know that individuals have an excellent track record for winning their Caravan/Siege events even when they don't belong to a guild or even when they are away from their home Node.
And the primary purpose of that suggestion is so that people who may not recognize the individual who is far from their home Node might except the individual into their group - despite the individual not being a member of their guild or a citizen of the local Node.

I know your bias is strong - but you really should try to focus on what's actually being discussed instead of just doubling down on your knee-jerk reactions to a different playstyle from your own.

derp

Dygz wrote: »

Mag7spy wrote: »

You are missing the point and being disingenuous to my post like a amber heards lawyer team.
I'll make some some other stuff then.

LMAO
You, like Amber Heard, are just making up some crazy bs.
It's a shame her lawyers had to deal with that mess.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Very limit amount of storage.
Increase crafting / market cost.
Less access to quest that can give more item, gold or xp
no bonus houses may apply.
etc

Being a non-citizen does not increase crafting/market cost.
Being a citizen may decrease crafting/market cost.
A person who chooses to not be a citizen may not care anything about the economy or how much gold they can hoard.
Again, that's what friends are for.
Non-citizens might be able to craft at friends' Freeholds and be perfectly content with the basic costs...not caring about citizen discounts. And some people are content to just gather materials so their friends can craft - so they already get discounts via bartering their services. This is especially true for hardcore time/casual challenge players.

I dunno what you mean by "less access to quests and xp". You don't have to be a citizen of a Node to get quests from Node NPCs.

Mag7spy wrote: »

You are trying to beat around the bush with solo by saying they can still do "social thing". Something that systems can have a more strong armed approach to make them have to interact with people more else there is a lot of things they don't have access to. Where normally if they could do everything solo and not interact with people solo players will take the approach of just doing it yourself.

I'm not beating around the bush and I am not trying anything...
I have emphatically stated that there are numerous ways to play solo and also be highly social.
I suppose incentives are techincally more strong-arming than no incentives. But, it's actually just incentives rather than strong-arming.

Mag7spy wrote: »

If you are being that stubborn preferring to be solo over joining a guild that supports your play style you normally will do things solo as that is the reason why you are solo. Having systems in place that boost solo will turn it more into a single experience game, all systems they have talked about and are creating are in contrast to it being a single player experience.

I'm not the one being stubborn and disingenous.
Incentives are not synonymous with strong-arming.
Unless you're the mafia using gaslighting euphemisms.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Does a solo player interact with other people time to time...Yes. But the whole reason why they go solo at the very core is you not have to interact with people or groups.

No. The primary reason to solo is so that you are not obligated to meet group or guild expectations or requirements. So that you have the freedom to play when and where you want to play and to play the build you like, rather than the (META) build a group or guild dictates you must play.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Else they would have again joined a small casual guild that fits their style, instead of being stubborn and saying i don't want to talk to people as much as possible.

Maybe... maybe not.
That assumes they know how to find a casual guild that suits their playstyle - and/or that joining a guild is even an interest.

I stumbled upon a casual guild during the NWO beta.
The twitch chat of a content creator playing the game created a guild with the only requirement being you were a follower of that twitch channel.
And it was super casual. And we still mostly soloed, duoed or trioed.
A few of us would join the content creator when he ran a dungeon for the day.
If it hadn't been for that twitch channel I would not have joined a casual guild and I would not have been looking for one.

Currently, I'm part of two gamer communities:
TheoryForge - with my TheoryForge podcast co-hosts and its followers.
DoP Crew - a gamers who follow and play games with the game devs, Snipehunter and Ombwah. The latter of whom is currently a lead quest designer for Ashes.
Both of those communities form casual guilds in the various games we play together.
But, that's not going to be a very common experience for solo players.

Mag7spy wrote: »

This post should be more so talking about how people can form groups not trying to create a solo player experience in a game focused on PvX and group content.

This topic is exactly what it should be.
Especially for a PvX game that supports solo play.
Again, the devs already have some of the systems that the OP asks for.
The design already covers tracking the wins and losses for individuals who participate in PvP battlegrounds (Caravans/Node Sieges) - and even has progression paths for individuals interested in those rankings.
Don't have to join a guild for that.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Doesn't not mean there isn't solo content in the game btw, it just has a focus on groups and that is how a mmo should be and the reason classes are balanced as GROUPS not solo. Or is this another design you want changed?

But...
This topic is not really about solo "content".
And it's not about combat being balanced for individuals, rather than for groups.
The OP asked to have some method of being recognized as relevant even for those who have not joined a guild.
And the prime example was having some form of rank that lets people know that individuals have an excellent track record for winning their Caravan/Siege events even when they don't belong to a guild or even when they are away from their home Node.
And the primary purpose of that suggestion is so that people who may not recognize the individual who is far from their home Node might except the individual into their group - despite the individual not being a member of their guild or a citizen of the local Node.

I know your bias is strong - but you really should try to focus on what's actually being discussed instead of just doubling down on your knee-jerk reactions to a different playstyle from your own.

I think you just cast expeliamus irl

Mag7spy

Dygz wrote: »

Mag7spy wrote: »

You are missing the point and being disingenuous to my post like a amber heards lawyer team.
I'll make some some other stuff then.

LMAO
You, like Amber Heard, are just making up some crazy bs.
It's a shame her lawyers had to deal with that mess.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Very limit amount of storage.
Increase crafting / market cost.
Less access to quest that can give more item, gold or xp
no bonus houses may apply.
etc

Being a non-citizen does not increase crafting/market cost.
Being a citizen may decrease crafting/market cost.
A person who chooses to not be a citizen may not care anything about the economy or how much gold they can hoard.
Again, that's what friends are for.
Non-citizens might be able to craft at friends' Freeholds and be perfectly content with the basic costs...not caring about citizen discounts. And some people are content to just gather materials so their friends can craft - so they already get discounts via bartering their services. This is especially true for hardcore time/casual challenge players.

I dunno what you mean by "less access to quests and xp". You don't have to be a citizen of a Node to get quests from Node NPCs.

Mag7spy wrote: »

You are trying to beat around the bush with solo by saying they can still do "social thing". Something that systems can have a more strong armed approach to make them have to interact with people more else there is a lot of things they don't have access to. Where normally if they could do everything solo and not interact with people solo players will take the approach of just doing it yourself.

I'm not beating around the bush and I am not trying anything...
I have emphatically stated that there are numerous ways to play solo and also be highly social.
I suppose incentives are techincally more strong-arming than no incentives. But, it's actually just incentives rather than strong-arming.

Mag7spy wrote: »

If you are being that stubborn preferring to be solo over joining a guild that supports your play style you normally will do things solo as that is the reason why you are solo. Having systems in place that boost solo will turn it more into a single experience game, all systems they have talked about and are creating are in contrast to it being a single player experience.

I'm not the one being stubborn and disingenous.
Incentives are not synonymous with strong-arming.
Unless you're the mafia using gaslighting euphemisms.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Does a solo player interact with other people time to time...Yes. But the whole reason why they go solo at the very core is you not have to interact with people or groups.

No. The primary reason to solo is so that you are not obligated to meet group or guild expectations or requirements. So that you have the freedom to play when and where you want to play and to play the build you like, rather than the (META) build a group or guild dictates you must play.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Else they would have again joined a small casual guild that fits their style, instead of being stubborn and saying i don't want to talk to people as much as possible.

Maybe... maybe not.
That assumes they know how to find a casual guild that suits their playstyle - and/or that joining a guild is even an interest.

I stumbled upon a casual guild during the NWO beta.
The twitch chat of a content creator playing the game created a guild with the only requirement being you were a follower of that twitch channel.
And it was super casual. And we still mostly soloed, duoed or trioed.
A few of us would join the content creator when he ran a dungeon for the day.
If it hadn't been for that twitch channel I would not have joined a casual guild and I would not have been looking for one.

Currently, I'm part of two gamer communities:
TheoryForge - with my TheoryForge podcast co-hosts and its followers.
DoP Crew - a gamers who follow and play games with the game devs, Snipehunter and Ombwah. The latter of whom is currently a lead quest designer for Ashes.
Both of those communities form casual guilds in the various games we play together.
But, that's not going to be a very common experience for solo players.

Mag7spy wrote: »

This post should be more so talking about how people can form groups not trying to create a solo player experience in a game focused on PvX and group content.

This topic is exactly what it should be.
Especially for a PvX game that supports solo play.
Again, the devs already have some of the systems that the OP asks for.
The design already covers tracking the wins and losses for individuals who participate in PvP battlegrounds (Caravans/Node Sieges) - and even has progression paths for individuals interested in those rankings.
Don't have to join a guild for that.

Mag7spy wrote: »

Doesn't not mean there isn't solo content in the game btw, it just has a focus on groups and that is how a mmo should be and the reason classes are balanced as GROUPS not solo. Or is this another design you want changed?

But...
This topic is not really about solo "content".
And it's not about combat being balanced for individuals, rather than for groups.
The OP asked to have some method of being recognized as relevant even for those who have not joined a guild.
And the prime example was having some form of rank that lets people know that individuals have an excellent track record for winning their Caravan/Siege events even when they don't belong to a guild or even when they are away from their home Node.
And the primary purpose of that suggestion is so that people who may not recognize the individual who is far from their home Node might except the individual into their group - despite the individual not being a member of their guild or a citizen of the local Node.

I know your bias is strong - but you really should try to focus on what's actually being discussed instead of just doubling down on your knee-jerk reactions to a different playstyle from your own.

When i see a thread title balancing guilds vrs solo that has a lot of meaning that solo elements can actually hinder fun group play. But kk then lets get back to the original point on how the idea is not well thought out or just flawed to be skew to only be thinking of solo before overarching gameplay

Just as guilds can acquire reputation, so could mercenaries. At higher reputation levels your price as a mercanary would automatically increase. Reputation would be based on successful "missions"(hires) and feedback from guild seniors (e.g. a simple rating system).

Though I do agree guilds should have a rank reputation as everyone enjoys some form of leaderboards. A leaderboard for mercenaries is not needed. What the leaderboard should be is a per player bases that gives you a rank , number, etc based on what you do.

Leaderboards have nothing to do with solo play as far as a topic is concerned as it is a fun stat tracking useable by everyone. The point to create a weird segregation on a system that tries to reward a player for being solo in a group focused game is counter productive. If there is a rank per player that applies to everyone guild or guildless that is how it should be.

Which also goes back to the original thread name giving people system that pats them on the back for being guildless should be avoided. For the fact that guilds growing in the game helps create more content for people to experience.

Mag7spy

I think you just cast expeliamus irl

I am pretty much vader (from obi wan) for PvE players so not really. He was wise to use you against me....I'll just have to redirect to your post and the title of the thread.

Dygz

You can say it's flawed or skewed all you like, but still...
The suggested mechanic is mostly already in the Ashes game design.
And, yes, used by everyone instead of strong-arming people to join a guild.
Which is precisely what the OP wants.

Sigtyr

Create a guild called "Introverts Anonymous". No requirements, no discord, no need to acknowledge the existence of other members but still get to take advantage of buffs.

Also not sure if it was mentioned in this thread yet because I just skimmed, but I believe that large guilds will be unable to get as many buffs as small guilds as a sort of soft anti-zerg mechanic. In order to grow a guild past a certain point you will have to forgo stat buffs in favor of max member buffs.

Food for thought if the main concern here is not being able to thrive as a competitive solo player.

Ludullu

Sigtyr wrote: »

Create a guild called "Introverts Anonymous". No requirements, no discord, no need to acknowledge the existence of other members but still get to take advantage of buffs.

That's gonna be my guild

all the benefits and none the drawbacks

Mag7spy

NiKr wrote: »

Sigtyr wrote: »

Create a guild called "Introverts Anonymous". No requirements, no discord, no need to acknowledge the existence of other members but still get to take advantage of buffs.

That's gonna be my guild all the benefits and none the drawbacks

Which i think honestly is cool in itself and adds a story and some rp.

Ludullu

Mag7spy wrote: »

Which i think honestly is cool in itself and adds a story and some rp.

That's what I'm counting on. Make a reputation for myself and the guild of "all newbies/casuals welcome w/o any requirements". Help people out with whatever they want and just provide them with a story from the game. I've had several guilds that were the main reason I'd play on a server and would then be the main memory from that server. The comradery and just cozy vibes would enrich the game's experience. I hope to provide the same to others, to pay it forward in a way. And if I ever decide to go hardcore for a while, I could always change the GL to my alt and have any volunteers be my officers.

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