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Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place 5+ days each week. More information about testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
📝 Dev Discussion #72 - Guild Program 🤝
Dev Discussions are an opportunity to join in on player discussions about topics that Intrepid Studios want to hear your thoughts on. This is less about asking us questions, and more about us asking YOU the questions! If you do have questions about Ashes of Creation, keep an eye our social media channels for our monthly livestreams, check out the Ashes of Creation community wiki, or try the #questions channel in Discord!
In this thread, we’ll be discussing:
Dev Discussion - Guild Program
The community team here at Intrepid Studios is working on a Guild Program for Ashes of Creation. A Guild Program is something to foster strong development relationships with guilds.
The heart of many MMOs are guilds. Guilds provide folks a sub-community of the larger game community where they create friendships and memories. We as gamers at Intrepid Studios have been a part of these guilds for many years, and we have always dreamed of companies actually working with guilds. We want to ensure that we are fostering good relationships with guilds similar to what we want to do with Content Creators. ❤️
Quick Preface:
- So long as your guild's Intrepid Studios Accounts are in good-standing, no matter the size, this program would be available to you. No favoritism in who is invited.
- Intrepid Studios has no plans of this program providing advantages in-game.
- This is a community-run program, and would not take away from development.
With that, we’d like to ask you the following:
- What would you hope for in a Guild Program, including features, or opportunities?
- Have you participated in Guild Programs in other MMORPGs? If so, what features or initiatives did you like (or dislike) about them?
- What in-game activities would you like to see in a Guild Program? Example realm-wide events hosted by a guild that anyone can partake in.
- What kinds of features like website leaderboards or real-world swag, would best motivate your guild to participate? If you had to choose one or two things, which would they be?
- How would you prefer guild achievements and contributions be recognized - publicly with leaderboards and or social media, or privately with member-only perks?
Please don’t feel limited to the thought-starters above. If you have thoughts regarding this topic, please feel free to share!
As a reminder, this is NOT the thread to be discussing in-game guild feature requests. Off-topic discussions will be removed from this thread
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Comments
Since Intrepid is asking for a discussion of the Guild Program as a whole and is NOT asking for in-game guild feature requests (see the last paragraph in their post above), I think this is a great time to start fleshing out what everyone would like to see in a guild program.
I suppose someone could compare it to something like the Content Creator Program.
Your concerns of a program being for large guilds only is fair, so would you say you'd hope for this program to cater to small guilds?
I disagree with this. Being a social sandbox game the community is everything and also having the ability to both expand and network within and out of your guild are crucial in this games development as a community and a player base as a whole. The game is in ALPHA P2 soon to be in p3 the transparency of the long road of this game has been pretty clear by Steven. There have been very good changes and developments of this game in the past 2 years. It is continually growing and adapting.
The core mechanics of this game are fleshing out and they are listening to what we are saying.
My suggestion for the guild criteria, is we need a guild, vault or storage so members can donate to the progress of a guild. I think even tho glint is non tradable it should be a resource that could be inserted into said vault or storage (donations from members) to help level the guilds.
If this isn’t a viable insertable mechanic, then maybe allowing a % of experience earned from members go toward the guild leveling so everyone has an opportunity to contribute to the guild.
Maybe have a way to track contributions to the guild for recognition. Like a “log” of how WoW had implemented.
I do feel members going above and beyond should be shown.
Maybe work orders for the guild similar to the node buy orders?
Maybe have guild tabards and have them have different embroidery for ranks, or tributes members have made. Maybe even professions within the guild. Something to make them stand out not only among guild members but to other players within the server.
Don't like the idea of leaderboards or out of game recognition. Think a better incentive is that if your region wins the event then you get an item that is visually appealing and provides a buff. You would only have this item until just before the start of the next event.
Only out of game idea I like would be to hold a world summit maybe quarterly. This would involve Steven and a few other GMs meeting with all guild leaders / mayors. Topics can range from discussing changes the players want to see to moderating peace treaties for in game conflicts.
My dream for an MMO guild:
Guild Hall: trophies, achievements, leaderboards, epic screenshots as paintings and wall mounted weapons and armor that were earned with a plaque with the player it was awarded. The paintings should have a placard too that can be inspected to see which players were present at the boss kills. This is all to be on display at a guild hall which can be open for people to visit, should the guild desire it. Rooms/storage for the guild hall members to share items (guild bank) as well as personal storage you can assign permissions for specific members.
Guild Events: Whether drinking games, mini games, cards, poker tables for guild members to sit at and play with one another… having the ability to set up a meeting and have members go through a teleporter by a campfire or phased area from the guild hall for a player meeting… would be fun and amazing.
Guild Benefits: as guild accomplish more, having a system with unlock (cosmetic mostly) for members to enjoy. If these unlocks can be personalized (tabards, basic armor training sets for an alt to have something cool to wear early on- like an heirloom item, but it’s mostly cosmetic. Benefits for quicker skinning or tree harvesting or things that won’t wreck the game… but are convenience things to encourage guild membership. Message boards to request help on quests, guild quests offering payment to members if they can help with a task. All these can be unlocks as a guild levels up.
Guild chat channel for messaging, recruiting, and guild business. I would like to see the world channel free of most of the conversations that break immersion. City chat is way too crowded in most games. Trade chat, would be for trade and being able to silence someone for spamming in wrong channels for players so guild recruitment and trade chat does not wreck the chat systems.
Guild duels: having an arena or platform in the guildhall for guildies to duel. Maybe meters exclusive to the dueling so members can support and help one another with heal efficiency, damage rotations and work with each other in a non judgmental way.
I have lots more… but I’ll wrap it up.
In game, being able to clearly identify allies, and strike agreements (pacts?) with others. Everything from non-aggression to sister guilds.
A special guild map to show important guild information would also be really helpful. Locations, POIs, targets, people, events, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP31ixSBO7GHKLBefWVcJaA
- Clear channels to provide Guild mechanical bugs, feedback, and suggestions.
Have you participated in Guild Programs in other MMORPGs? If so, what features or initiatives did you like (or dislike) about them?- yes,
like - Being able to help in game guild mechanics evolve for the better, have broken or abusable features addressed quicker
Disklike- Larger / Mega guilds and/or celebrity guilds having more influence on the program usually to serve their own guild's prerogative. MMO's life blood is small to medium size guilds. They usually make up the majority on any server. Their voice is just as important.
What in-game activities, such as exclusive events or cooperative challenges, would you like to see in a Guild Program?
- PVE / Artisan / PVP guild objectives & quests both as a community guild and alliance activities
What kinds of features like leaderboards, exclusive titles, or real-world swag, would best motivate your guild to participate? If you had to choose one or two things, which would it be?
No free real world swag as it is always divisive for the community from my experience nor any reward that provides a competitive advantage in any form in game Guild official officially recognized tracks from historic recordings to in game titles to skins.
How would you prefer guild achievements and contributions be recognized - publicly with leaderboards and or social media, or privately with member-only perks?
leaderboards and/or social media,..see above as in game perks as rewards lead to potential abuse of mechanics in game to win and are have high potential for divisiveness and negative publicity.
Seems like this only works if folks don't interpret this as IS putting their hands in the soup to interfere with a realm's player/guild dynamic.
I'd be curious to know more about how those guilds would be selected, however.
I would love a Guild Program that balances teamwork with light competition. For example, guilds could work together on large-scale PvE events like world bosses, dungeons, or dynamic open-world challenges that require strategic planning and group coordination. In addition, introducing friendly competitive elements, like “Guild vs. Guild” challenges or timed raids, would add excitement and encourage growth without overshadowing collaboration. These types of opportunities would not only create strong bonds within the guild but also encourage healthy rivalries with other guilds. Rewards for completing group challenges, such as unique guild banners, exclusive guild armor sets, or shared cosmetic rewards, could reinforce the sense of teamwork and pride.
2. Have you participated in Guild Programs in other MMORPGs? If so, what features or initiatives did you like (or dislike) about them?
Yes, I’ve participated in Guild Programs in several other MMORPGs. What I really enjoyed were events that mixed cooperation with a touch of competition. For example, in one game, our guild participated in a large-scale PvP tournament where guilds fought for control of certain regions. While there was competition, the most memorable parts were the guild-based PvE events where we worked together to defeat powerful world bosses or complete multi-step quests. I disliked when programs leaned too much into high-stakes competition—like events that heavily favored top-tier players and created a toxic, all-or-nothing environment. In contrast, a blend of competitive challenges (such as races to finish special events or in-game contests) alongside cooperative tasks would have been more enjoyable and inclusive.
3. What in-game activities, such as exclusive events or cooperative challenges, would you like to see in a Guild Program?
I’d love to see events that blend teamwork with moderate competition. For example, guilds could face off in multi-phase world events, like defending a town against waves of monsters while competing against other guilds for the fastest completion time. Exclusive, seasonal guild challenges that reward creative thinking or problem-solving could also be great—like a “Guild Scavenger Hunt” where guilds need to solve puzzles, gather rare materials, or discover hidden areas in the game world. Another exciting idea would be cooperative raids where guilds can unlock special areas, fight powerful bosses, and earn rewards that can only be claimed if a group effort is made. If the rewards reflect both personal and collective efforts, like a unique guild crest or exclusive cosmetics for everyone involved, it will ensure that both collaboration and individual performance are celebrated.
4. What kinds of features like leaderboards, exclusive titles, or real-world swag, would best motivate your guild to participate? If you had to choose one or two things, which would it be?
A balanced leaderboard system would be motivating, especially if it recognizes both guild accomplishments and individual milestones. For example, leaderboards could feature categories like “Most Successful Guild Boss Kill” or “Fastest Completion Time for Guild Challenge,” alongside individual accomplishments like “Top Guild Crafter” or “PvE MVP.” Exclusive titles could be awarded for top performers, like “Master Guild Strategist” for those who excel in tactical guild events, or “Guild Champion” for overall contributions to the guild’s success. Real-world swag like limited-edition T-shirts, pins, or posters that feature the guild’s emblem would also be an exciting incentive. However, in terms of primary motivators, I think the focus should be on in-game rewards that show off a guild’s achievements, like rare cosmetic items or the ability to unlock exclusive guild content, such as special guild housing or personal items that reflect the team’s success.
5. How would you prefer guild achievements and contributions be recognized—publicly with leaderboards and/or social media, or privately with member-only perks?
I believe a combination of both public and private recognition would work best. Public recognition through leaderboards or social media could help showcase a guild’s achievements, inspire friendly competition, and motivate others to join in. For example, a guild’s victory in a special event could be highlighted on official social media channels with a screenshot of their success or a shout-out post. However, there should also be private rewards that make members feel personally appreciated for their contributions, such as exclusive in-game titles, guild-themed cosmetic items, or private areas in the game where only members of the guild can access. Member-only perks, like special guild vendors or custom guild-designed gear, would help ensure that everyone feels recognized and valued within the guild, even if they aren’t at the top of the leaderboards
What would you hope for in a Guild Program, including features, or opportunities?
Somewhat confused by the concept of a guild program. It reminds me of something like the CSM system in EVE, which i feel is not the way to go about it. Although seeking insight from the community and making the best objective decision is a great start.
Have you participated in Guild Programs in other MMORPGs? If so, what features or initiatives did you like (or dislike) about them?
Not sure what a guild program is. If you mean guilds get to meet with Devs and brainstorm, again it reminds me of the CSM system in EVE. It seemed to favor the bold which is great, but decisions made may not bode well with the majority of the community.
What in-game activities, such as exclusive events or cooperative challenges, would you like to see in a Guild Program?
I feel like Isolating large scale guild events into something that can be coordinated takes the fun out of the spontaneous and diplomatic nature of an open world PVP game with sovereignty to claim. Draw some inspiration from Age of Wulin, great systems included there.
What kinds of features like leaderboards, exclusive titles, or real-world swag, would best motivate your guild to participate? If you had to choose one or two things, which would it be?
Exclusive titles; but only for in game achievements like managing a level 6 node, or a castle which should come about organically.
How would you prefer guild achievements and contributions be recognized - publicly with leaderboards and or social media, or privately with member-only perks?
Publicly with titles. Leaderboards = oh no my immersion! There may be suddel ways to show the guild achievements without making a list. Maybe members get a small cosmetic change. Maybe the guilds territory has stuff (cosmetically) that others do not. This way players can just put 2 and 2 together to find out what a guild has done. Leaderboards will likely have a few guilds up top and the rest left in the dust demoralizing smaller or less efficient guilds.
Additional Suggestions:
-Base guild member cap increase (doubled or more preferably)
-Guild territory should be impactful to a node
-Guild territory can eventually be leveled to include a small passive income which can be distributed to the guild. Motivating people to build an entire territory on there own time without an immediate and direct benefit to them can be a struggle, this can help motivate a guild to contribute to "the big picture"
-Auction System for war declaration (Age of Wulin insprired) The more money in the guild bank the mre they can auction, if they win they get to pick a node to attack (that isnt on a defensive cd already) if they lose then somneone may be able to declare an attack on your territory. Allies can declare on each others terriories to ensure a few days of defensive cooldown (in good faith of course, nothing stops the ally from betrayal)
- Lock guild territories after war starts from people being able to enter that are not directly involved in the war. (Age of Wulin inspired) . This leaves room for better performance, less zerg problems, as well as opportunities for allies to chill outside of the locked zone and corruption kill enemy guild members who are trying to arrive late.
This is all i have for now thanks.
Perhaps something that will incentivize folks who are raiding to share the goods with the crafters and gatherers who are working WITH them. If you are a crafter and are excluded from raiding (for any number of reasons why), and the raiders bring back goods, drop them in front of you and say, "Make this for me. Here are the mats." That is GREAT and all, but uhh...where is the stuff for the crafter (let alone the gatherers)? They don't get neat gear, cool gear, stuff that will help them. Instead they have to work their asses off, finally get the gear (ie MAKE it), they worked hard at, and then get dismissed half the time by the raiders as being "useless", because they weren't participating the raids.
So that is what I would incentivize. Something that includes crafters AND GATHERERS in the raids. Not just a monetary, "Oh let me dump some gold on you for making the item...of course it will only be half gold, because I supplied you the mats. What you mean I should help pay for that gear you are wearing? Nah, that has nothing to do with me. Why aren't you making me my gear, NOW?"
Please for the love of all that is Holy, remember the Gatherers. They work hella long hours gathering all those goods, and get NOTHING. In every game, nothing.
I guess what I am saying is, try to make sure to include ALL of the guild community, not just the raiders. Make sure if you create leader boards for your guilds that you include your crafters and gatherers. Make people who don't want to raid feel included in total in ALL guilds.
Oh, and if you are doing in guild leader boards, don't forget one that records, "Survived Ambush ## times."
Now, we see a special program to distinguish one guild from another. Of course, a studio developing a game where half of the content headlines, if not more, start with the word 'drama', clearly lacks common sense. But even so, this is some kind of overkill. It’s not enough that there are people who threaten players with bans, not enough bans for killing streamers because the streamer is best friends with Steven; let's now create entire guilds with exclusive privileges. After all, any privilege means highlighting one guild, and naturally, people will flock to a guild from this program. It’s all quite sad.
People come up with the rest themselves.
For example, such guilds will have access to closed tests, receive information about exploits directly from the developers, receive incentives in the form of mounts and equipment. Well, etc. the list of everything that people come up with and add to this program can be continued endlessly.
Didn't think about the prompt in this way at first but love the direction and ideas you proposed, especially the guild hall and guild games.
Know Intrepid mentioned there would be castles eventually for guilds and that would allow for the siege system. But would be really nice to have a place that permanently belings to your guild, even if it is just a house somewhere on the map. And agree with the guests aspect, to have different permission levels for anyone entering the guild hall whether in or out of guild.
Love the guild games idea of having some casual games to play in game. But don't agree with the teleport aspect, would just tell the guild to meet at a certain time and everyone gets to the guild hall.
An off shoot from the guild benefits, would be nice to have custom guild banners and apparel. Know that allowing a custom cosmetic editor could lead to a headache for devs and possibly having to ban certain designs. Would suggest that custom designs are allowed but have to go through a review process and you wouldn't be allowed to change your design for a month after approved. The design would apply to banners in and outside the hall. The design would also apply to a cape the guild members wear.
1. What would you hope for in a Guild Program, including features, or opportunities?
-- A guild program should include map/mini-map location features. Guild associated icons (custom or/in-game) to identify members doing events such as caravans. There should be an absolute limit to how many members are allowed in one guild because I believe zerg alliances will kill this game completely. In terms of alliances there should be no more than 2 allowed alliances because this allows for equal competition and growth. Too many guilds are being created with the intent to have 3-5 smaller guilds under the same guild and I believe it's destroying the basic level of competition in order to enjoy this game. Freeholds need to be owned by guild leaders not random individuals with 100g. Having a quick invite to party feature for guildmates would be nice. Guild ranking system could be cool if we could challenge each other on the PvP and crafting somehow. Having the created rank shown by their name would be cool. An actual VISUAL graph of the hierarchy so new members can see would be cool. Some form of onboarding for new members would be cool. Guild banks are a must. Allowing guildmembers to sit in the caravan with you would be cool! GUILD FLAGS for caravans and freeholds would be dope. There should be some actual legit event that makes guild leaders meet to discuss city development. THAT would be sick.
2. Have you participated in Guild Programs in other MMORPGs? If so, what features or initiatives did you like (or dislike) about them?
-- I have not. This is the first time I've tested a game.
3. What in-game activities, such as exclusive events or cooperative challenges, would you like to see in a Guild Program?
-- There should be some sort of guild activity that if you can complete the challenges of different tiers shows your overall strength in crafting/raids/pvp. It would have to be INSANELY difficult though. None of that weak shit. Give us a challenge.
4. What kinds of features like leaderboards, exclusive titles, or real-world swag, would best motivate your guild to participate? If you had to choose one or two things, which would it be?
-- I think leaderboards would only interests PvP guys, while titles would interest PvE guys. A true motivator would have to be something along the lines of best guild within a node. It would have to somehow be plastered on the city walls, NPCs are saying their names. Things of that sort. Their guildhall/freehold highlighted on the map as a POI. Then leaderboards/titles can follow after.
5. How would you prefer guild achievements and contributions be recognized - publicly with leaderboards and or social media, or privately with member-only perks?
-- I believe both publicly and privately. People achieve for recognition so why not give them all the attention they've won? I think it's a fair trade.
The Adeptus foundation was designed for exactly this—to foster smaller guilds, multiple teams, and multiple servers into working together while keeping their unique identities and teamwork intact. It was created to support guilds and content creators, along with in-game activities throughout Verra.
If any smaller teams are looking for a place to grow or collaborate, feel free to message me or Adeptus on Discord. We’re always ready to connect and build something incredible together.
Thank you, Intrepid, for listening to your players and considering our suggestion. A team with leaders who listen to their fellow dreamers is bound for greatness in Verra and beyond.
If we're helping design the guild system, then guild storage with permissions, treasury with permissions, and a fleshed out friend or foe list for each guild would be wonderful.
I'd like to see more incentives for small guilds. The big overbearing guilds should be nerfed, perhaps by extra "taxes" that are lost as corruption as in any large organization, for starters
Outside the game, intrepid should make a list of the active guilds, list their numbers, and the server they're on, and let people browse from the website.
There should not be any exclusivity when it comes to guilds, there's already too much of a power dynamic in being a large guild, there's absolutely no reason to widen the gap.
- Careful consideration should be taken to ensure all guilds have an equal place in the program. Large zerg guilds should not have any inherent advantage. Failure to do so would cause more antipathy.
- Guild events, co-op events, maybe even events relying on guilds of a server to come together while guilds on another server attempt to accomplish the same thing. Having every guild put aside differences and work together to beat another server at an activity would be cool. Whether that's something like longest caravan run or whatever. Obviously they won't interact directly with the other server but you get the idea.
Have you participated in Guild Programs in other MMORPGs? If so, what features or initiatives did you like (or dislike) about them?
- Nope, can't comment.
What in-game activities, such as exclusive events or cooperative challenges, would you like to see in a Guild Program?
- Exclusive events I don't like. A guild program should benefit all guilds, not just those that have been selected to get involved.
- coop challenges see above. I'm not the most creative but coop things are fun when done correctly.
What kinds of features like leaderboards, exclusive titles, or real-world swag, would best motivate your guild to participate? If you had to choose one or two things, which would it be?
- not a fan of real-world rewards but exclusive titles or a guild seal to stamp crafts/letters/artisan things with or something like that would be cool. Cosmetics are a good option too.
How would you prefer guild achievements and contributions be recognized - publicly with leaderboards and or social media, or privately with member-only perks?
- depends on the implementation. Likely err more on the side of privately, but perks should be limited to cosmetic. Again, all guilds should have an equal chance. You already have the guild skill tree that allows guilds to have advantages/disadvantages and large vs small etc. Adding an extra bonus to guilds as rewards for this would just cause a snowball effect that is not fun for everyone else.
Popping in here to provide some more insight.
The heart of many MMOs are guilds. Guilds provide folks a sub-community of the larger game community where they create friendships and memories. We as gamers at Intrepid Studios have been a part of these guilds for many years, and we have always dreamed of companies actually working with guilds. We want to ensure that we are fostering good relationships with guilds similar to what we want to do with Content Creators. ❤️
Just to note, and we have updated the OP to include these notes:
Guilds are perfectly able to, and frequently do, "connect" outside the game of their own choosing, and can and do create "content" of their own volition - defense pacts, non-aggression treaties, alliances/coalitions, pve coop play, pvp coordination, and much more.
I also agree that, perceptively or in fact, any efforts in this regard will ultimately put even more favour on zerg/streamer guilds than already exists - and that's the last thing the game needs from an interest and retention perspective.
In my view, instead, put an absolute primary focus on developing the in-game features and functions that should have been in place pre-Alpha... as is so often said, "this is a social sandpark game"... if that's the case, then guild functions should have been prioritized alongside the most fundamental systems and loops in the game - I'm talking like basic movement interface, core inventory function, etc... that level of "basic".
Guild halls, very very large guild banks (given the massive variety of mats and variants), an extensive permissions system for guild member functions and bank access, iterate out the nascent guild progression and buffs system, a robust officer incentive system (in games like AoC, which is rolling out with striking similarities to EVE in this respect, being an officer is *work* - guild leaders need to be able to compensate officers in a meaningful way)... non-content guild events like raffles, auctions, 50/50 draws (all *in-game*) and the like... a fully featured alliance and/or coalition system... the list is long.
Going outside the game to provide guild incentives and features may be financially beneficial to Intrepid, but without the above mentioned in-game features, it's ultimately pointless.
Yes, Aion ( guild achievement (weekly/monthly/unique quests, goodies) ;
New World, (Territory managment ( system was not developed enought, would have loved some customisation option for the occupying guild)) ;
Throne And Liberty ( PVP content, BG's, Boss fights, territory capture) (There was an attempt at guild progression too, was cool but not significant enought) .
(PVP)I'd love the idea of BG's with a fair matchmaking ( not get placed against noobs when in top of the leaderboard), Guild wars over Goodies/Points/Bosses.
(PVE)Pve challenges ( bosfights, dungeons) to do at least once a week with the guild.
(COOP) Pve and PVP event while cooperating with other guilds, could be fun.
(FUN-Internal) Some fun internal competition that could be organised by leaders with an Ingame system. Some premade internal even templates for example: a fishing competition that could be initiated by guild officers in a specific duration for a specific duration.
Leaderboar, Guild goodies ( Mounts, skins), Guild HeadQuarters.
I would prefer In game Public Leaderboard
[*] Have you participated in Guild Programs in other MMORPGs? If so, what features or initiatives did you like (or dislike) about them?
[*] What in-game activities, such as events or cooperative challenges, would you like to see in a Guild Program?
[*] What kinds of features like leaderboards, titles, or real-world swag, would best motivate your guild to participate? If you had to choose one or two things, which would it be?
[*] How would you prefer guild achievements and contributions be recognized - publicly with leaderboards and or social media, or privately with member-only perks?
I get what you guys want to achieve with this, but surely there are better ways to go about giving tools to *players at large* to allow them to engage more with the community.
It's very alarming to hear that "in-game activities" would be given to these guilds. Will the events only be orchestrated for guilds who are in the program? Or given only to a specific guild as a result of them being at a certain standing in the program?
Features like leaderboards and titles I can vibe with. Those features would be nice to have a more formal understanding of guild hierarchy within a server and those features *also* don't involve direct action from Intrepid. In that regard, I don't think they should be tied to a guild program at all. This is something that every guild should get to enjoy. WoW does guild titles well with their guild achievements - and it's something that is open to *everyone* to obtain, even a guild with just 5 people in it.
Real world swag is too much. Rewarding guilds with merchandise that other players who aren't in an approved guild can't receive would feel **awful**. If Intrepid runs events, and allows any group to sign up for them (say a group of friends who aren't in the same guild for example), then giving away commemorative merch would be fine. As I understand the post and discussion so far, that wouldn't be the case. The only motivation I would have from this idea is to leave whatever group I am with to join a guild that's part of the guild program. "I could have got a Vek racial crest sweater if I was in *insert whatever guild here*? Ok - see you guys later! /gquit"
The achievements point brings me to my main point. All of this can be achieved without restricting it to a "program" that ties directly to guilds. Why does it have to be limited to guilds only? Can't citizens who are parts of different guilds get the same opportunity to group up for these events? What about friends who aren't all in the same guild? Or even random groups that don't know each other but want to participate in these fun and rewarding activities?
The restriction of this being only available to guilds - and guilds that get approved by whatever vetting process I imagine would be set up - is actively anti-community. It ignores the other player groups that will also be engaged in Ashes and want to engage in community events while also giving the feeling that Intrepid is playing favorites with guilds by only having certain guilds being able to participate.
Old Guard’s Ideal Guild Program Features – Based on Our Playstyle & Preferences
1. What would you like to see in a Guild Program?
2. Have you participated in similar programs before? If so, what did you like or dislike?
3. What kind of in-game activities would excite you in a Guild Program?
4. What external perks would motivate your guild?
5. How should guild achievements be recognized?
6. Any additional ideas you’d want Intrepid to consider?
For rewards I wouldn't want to see any in game items or something that would give people an advantage in game like you said, but maybe an exclusive skin that puts the winning guilds logo on a usually normal mount/shield or something like that, doesn't change the item whatsoever except for a little bit of customizability, or even a chance to be interviewed by Steven or other members of the Intrepid team, Idk about a lot of others but I would love to use meeting gm's for winning a guild event as bragging rights more than anything.
Also it would be very fun if there was an event that didn't give a single guild rewards for winning, but instead was a serverwide event that would require many of the servers guilds to band together towards a common goal. This could be something like exploring a newly unlocked area of the map, a massive world boss that requires tons of people (this one is iffy as it has a possibility of being cleared by a massive single zerg), or if it's just for fun and no rewards, maybe a where's waldo where you need to find Steven lol. As a small content creator and someone that helps to run a guild I do love the idea of a guild program, but I think there's a fine line that needs to be worked around to make sure nothing favors massive guilds, or favors small guilds. As long as events are fun, and fair to everyone I think it would be very fun.
For the actual program, I think a leaderboard of all the guilds that participate could be a good idea, but it will almost always be dominated by massive guilds no matter how much work is put in from smaller ones. I think the best way to go about making a good guild program would be to hold events for all guilds in the program, and assist guilds that are a part of it in running their own events, I know that there was a couple guilds on my Vyra server that banded together to run a pvp tournament a while back, and seeing Intrepid step in to assist those guilds with promotion or commentating or anything else would be a great thing for everyone.
Problems: I'm going to base these on what on the CC Program benefits.
- Intrepid Studios will help promote your content on our official channels
Promoting guilds is seen as putting a "Stamp of Approval" on that guild. Just like with content creators, people want to be part of whatever guild has that stamp on.
- Equipment - Ashes of Creation-themed package with shirts, water bottle, keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, headset, mic, etc.
- Same thing here, people will want ot be part of the guild because it might lead to them getting merch, same with sub time and any other giveaways.
Cool In Game Perks:
I know I said that there shouldn't be any in game advantages, I do see maybe a couple of ways that there could be in game rewards. The thing that comes to mind deals with guild housing. Maybe there could be Guild Program (GP) specific skins for furniture, something that would provide NO advatage but would be something only that guild could enjoy.
So overall my main concern is that even if you're not directly benefiting a guild and giving it an advantage, just the guild being in the program itself would give an advantage. Please rethink/reallllllly look at player feedback for this because somehting like this can really shape the game in a bad way.
Another suggestion would be to set up a forum category (or some other avenue) specifically for guild related issues. It doesn't need to be as extravagant as EVE's CSM, but a smaller version of that might be useful.
Perhaps guild program events could also be centered around charity events. I know Intrepid missed Extra Life this year due to timing and Steven wanted to get back to that, and those events are very positive.
In any case, I would recommend starting the Guild Program as an informal initiative and then, if positively received, adding more announced events. It is good to remember that we are primarily here for the game itself, not the social media interactions. Any large investment of time into non-game community events might backfire since people will wonder why resources and personnel are being utilized this way.
There is also the risk that favoritism accusations will arise. (In case this sounds silly, Intrepid should be aware that many groups in the community discovered, despite what we were told during the livestream about pre-A2 access, extra pre-A2 access keys and closer dev communications were given to certain guilds and not others. The favoritism concerns are not totally without merit.) In a competitive game like Ashes, Intrepid's every action will be scrutinized by the more competitive parts of the community.
Those are the potential positives and negatives that I can envision from a Guild Program, along with a few starter suggestions: PTR testing, a guild-centric feedback mechanism, and charity events. Thanks for reading!
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PS I would not consider any community event directly managed by Intrepid to be "community-run." Extra Life, for example, is a great community-based event but it is not a "community-run" event, since Intrepid employees and mods managed the entire process. A good example of a community-run event would be some small PvP tournament or WoW's World First Race. In the World First Race, the event is presented by the guilds themselves with other community streamers/presenters involved. Blizzard observes but does not directly manage the event presentation, nor do they officially declare winners and losers.
Apologies, this was a matter of semantics. I edited the post to "community team-run" for clarity.