Guild Wars 2

I have noticed a number of guilds refuse to allow members to be members of other guilds, or if they do, require that representing only apply to your 1st guild choice. Of course guild 2 does not want to let you in unless you represent THEM!

It is a little irritating to me to limit my choices when the game was set up to allow this to happen. Stick with one, or lose any benefits to pursue another, effectively bouncing around to find a good fit.

Is there a chance that guild choice could be per character instead of per account? I think that would resolve the issue, but what reasons are there for not doing this?

Well – from a GM perspective – don’t join a guild that wants exclusive representation.

I don’t ask for exclusivity, but I wrestle with players that take advantage of guild vault and any other perks that we have (including crafted gear from other guild members) and then play in another guild with said gear.

It’s also frustrating to hear members complain that there’s nobody else online in the guild so they flip rep. I’ve seen multiple members representing other guilds at times because they wanted more people to play with – and if they would have been patient enough to stay in place for a while they would have all been able to form a group together.

In the long run I’m trying to earn exclusivity by just being a better guild option. But ultimately it’s YOUR decision to be in the guild in the first place, and your responsibility to be a good member of the guild that you joined. If you don’t like the guild – move on altogether. Again, I don’t ask for exclusivity but I understand why some guilds do.

Thanks for your perspective! I do understand that I have the right to pick and choose my guild, and if exclusivity is a deal breaker, to move on.

I was really looking for a solution to the issue that would benefit both sides — such as individual guild membership. Perhaps someone will have other options that would address the problem with a viable solution.

It would be a good option to either allow the system to work as it does – or give players the option to make single characters exclusive to a guild BUT with the added result that the one character can only be in one guild at a time. What are your thoughts on this LeahV?

I’m a guild leader and I am happy about the multiple guild choices. For me it means that if an AI’er wants to do something like speed clear dungeons they can find somewhere to do it, or if they want to be a top sPvP tournament player they can do that too. I don’t have to make my guild be everything for all people and I still won’t completely lose my guildies to those activities — they go, play, come back. That’s the whole point of multi-guilding I think.

When recruiting I tell people flat out that I won’t always have something that will keep them entertained and they are basically responsible for their own happiness. It seems to work out really well for everyone in the guild, including taking a load off of leadership.

Turpenstein.8213:

I don’t ask for exclusivity, but I wrestle with players that take advantage of guild vault and any other perks that we have (including crafted gear from other guild members) and then play in another guild with said gear.

As a leader of a small guild I very much agree with this. I and many others ask for exclusivity (although I don’t strictly enforce it) because without it we have no certainty of loyalty and trust and if people just use the guild whenever it benefits them and jump ship when it’s convenient, then ultimately I don’t want those people in my guild in the long run. It’s as simple as that. There’s plenty of guilds to chose from that will be more lenient on this. If a guild makes you want to switch tags, then it must mean that guild is not for you. Keep looking until you find that group of people that make you want to never jump ship

I think the root of this idea was guild alliances and groups of friends in separate guilds that want to play the game together , not for players to have options at their disposal and play guild roulette each day.

Turpenstein.8213:

It would be a good option to either allow the system to work as it does – or give players the option to make single characters exclusive to a guild BUT with the added result that the one character can only be in one guild at a time. What are your thoughts on this LeahV?

I would not have an issue with one character per guild! Thanks for the support!

LeahV.5482:

I would not have an issue with one character per guild! Thanks for the support!

That’s actually a good idea and makes much more sense than the current system imo

One character per guild is not a multi-guild system. It’s the same system every other game has had (except GW1 which was account wide of course).

As a guild leader, I personally love the system as is. It forces the burden on the guild leadership to provide a place that players wish to represent. That means that guilds become more meaningful. Unfortunately, it does move into territory that forces some communication outside of the game (facebook group/page, twitter, forum, etc) but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The only reason a person should ever be kicked from your guild for not representing is:
1) they’ve been shown to never represent even when doing something with your guild
2) they never represent and never do anything with your guild (in which case they would be kicked for inactivity normally)

We don’t enforce exclusivity. Some people are also members of RP guilds but prefer to group or WvW with us since we use voice. Lot of RP’ers don’t use voice. Whatever their reasons, thats cool.

kousei.5914:

One character per guild is not a multi-guild system. It’s the same system every other game has had (except GW1 which was account wide of course).

As a guild leader, I personally love the system as is. It forces the burden on the guild leadership to provide a place that players wish to represent. That means that guilds become more meaningful. Unfortunately, it does move into territory that forces some communication outside of the game (facebook group/page, twitter, forum, etc) but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

I like the way you think too! It seems to me that some guilds think it is up to the individual to measure up instead of the guild.

Good discussion so far — any more opinions?

RoBlade.7859:

I think the root of this idea was guild alliances and groups of friends in separate guilds that want to play the game together , not for players to have options at their disposal and play guild roulette each day.

Alliances for both players and for guilds. Why couldn’t we have formal guild alliances where the guilds gained some benefit by an actual connection in the game, along with shared players?

Actually I really wish we all had better information and tools at our disposal in all manner of our relationships – be they with people or guilds. We should all be able to post our personal info for others or only guildies to see, make notes on friends and guild mates and guilds, track activity, etc. I think we have a pretty sparse amount of info and tracking available right now. I mean – how cool would it be if there were a separate contacts page where we could add people for the sake of recruitment? Then they wouldn’t show up on either persons friends list as a friend or a follower.

I’m starting to rabbit trail there – but the point is that more data would help us all to make better choices where guilds and membership is concerned.

Except you’re rabbit trailing with some really good ideas. We can only wish for now..

LeahV.5482:

Is there a chance that guild choice could be per character instead of per account? I think that would resolve the issue, but what reasons are there for not doing this?

Not sure if you are aware LeahV but when you choose to represent a guild on one character you can go right ahead and represent another guild on another character. It does work and I would also advise against guilds that require exclusive representation. A guild needs to prove they want you as much as you want them.

It is respectful to rep a guild when you are doing guild runs with them of course, I believe that is fair.

I’ll take the option of shamelessly self-promoting Whispers of Acoma while I am here A PvX guild that are mature, friendly players. If you are stuck you need only ask us, we don’t require much from you but we would ask that you check forums or log on to teamspeak once in a while. Our info is below in my signature

Turial.1293:

LeahV.5482:

Is there a chance that guild choice could be per character instead of per account? I think that would resolve the issue, but what reasons are there for not doing this?

Not sure if you are aware LeahV but when you choose to represent a guild on one character you can go right ahead and represent another guild on another character. It does work and I would also advise against guilds that require exclusive representation. A guild needs to prove they want you as much as you want them.

Thanks Turial!

I was aware of being able to rep differently on different characters, but this particular guild seems to require all chars all the time. I appreciate knowing that this attitude is not rampant among guilds. I have 3 RL friends and a RL sister in the guild, and we have been thinking about creating our own just so we won’t have the hassle.

I am on Darkhaven at the moment, but I will consider changing servers for a more flexible bunch.

Thanks again, and lets keep the discussion going!

It’s like asking in RL, “Why are you with the Crips, when you’re representing the Bloods?” Or… “Why are you a police officer yet you’re representing firefighters?”

Idk.. I guess im just too traditional then. When i see a guildmate represent us, it’s one of his/her way of showing loyalty and being proud of being in my guild. My guild is really well rounded so we have never had any problems of them joining a different guild for other activities. And if we ever needed more people to party with, we’d just party with others.

It depends on the guild you run too. I run a small guild, and if members do not represent that guild, that small guild becomes awefully quiet and won’t be able to do anything together. Therefore, I expect you to represent us all the time. However, I am not that strict about it and give people opportunities to try out other guilds as well without being swiftly kicked from ours. I think that is a big plus from this system. I do not require trial members to represent us all the time as I think this time is to see if we fit them, but I do motivate them to do so. In our guild I happened to have noone so far who did not have the same idea about the guild, so the discussion did not pop up yet. But we have a rank in place for people representing multiple guilds and are therefore somewhat prepared and not completely against the idea. If a member who we had a lot of fun with decides to represent another guild because they are looking for something we do not offer, then I prefer to have them still representing us every now and then if only for the chats.

If there were multiple guilds who have connections with each other and their guild represents every guild with the connection to do different parts in gw2, then that’s just pure genius and i approve. But if a guildmate was to not represent your guild when you’ve just used your time and resource to recruit this person, then it’s somewhat demoralizing to the guild tbh.

Lets be honest though, on normal occasions the ones that are representing different guilds most likely have ulterior motives (good or bad) and can be viewed suspicious.

A successful guild is a guild with members representing full time and being proud that they’re exclusively in so and so guild. No matter how small, medium or large.

Just because something is a feature doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

I just don’t understand this multiple guild feature, and what benefits it provides. To me, it is a license to bounce from guild to guild, glutting along the way, and taking advantage of each guild’s community for self agendas. That may not be a bad thing for an individual whose only goal is to satisfy his lone gaming experience, but it surely gives Guild Leaders a managerial and recruiting nightmare.

I’m old school. I like the idea of belonging to a single guild and building that guild together with like minded individuals. Guilds that are focused, have good leadership, and dedicated members have a good foundation for attaining success.

I’ve been searching for a ‘classic guild’ since launch. Are there any out there?

This has been good discussion both for and against! Perhaps the multiple guild option is there so an individual has a chance to find a guild that fits them. Otherwise you have to by design “bounce around” to try out various guilds.

There is also the fact that there are Role Playing Guilds, PVP only Guilds (along with those that say they are PVx, but really mean WvW and sPVP), I have heard of the formation of a cooking only guild, a dungeon only guild, etc. If you are not a perfect fit, but do have a good time in one, forcing exclusive rep turns it into you only being an influence battery — not a good feeling.

I hope that someone from Arenanet will weigh in on the reasons they chose this system, and their thoughts on its use for both individuals and guilds.

Thanks folks!! Any other input out there?

I think it’s an interesting topic and something that doesn’t have a right or wrong answer. It’s good that Anet have thought about it and added it into the game I think as afterall they want to make Guild Wars 2 stand out againt the competition, of which there is a lot out there. It’s a situation where you can’t please everyone but having the option there gives players that want it the chance and for those that don’t they can simply ignore it.

I think it’s a great idea for people looking for a guild as you see many posts in this forum with people looking and they get all sorts of replies, picking someone on face value isn’t easy so being able to give them all a chance I think is helpful.

I think it also gives something extra on your other characters, there are several people that limit characters to a certain aspect of the game, like they may have a mesmer that they only sPvP on so having that character in an sPvP only guild makes sense but if for some reason they then decide to branch out with that character and go on a dungeon run they could swap to a PvE guild already with another charcter without having to leave the sPvP one.

That being said it does have down side of like other people have said allowing certain players to abuse guilds and their bonuses but in my opinion people like that are the ones that can harm a gaming community and I don’t think a system or a game should be painted in a bad light just because of that.

As the Leader of a very small guild having people not represent you can have a very big impact but I think as long as they still participate in some guild activities like once a week or something then you are still both benefitting and if you have managed to recruit good people then chances are if you whispered someone you were going on guild WvWvW spree then chances are they would join in (if not currently in the middle of something.)

What I want to see is a decent guild alliances system, where people that swap guilds would be able to really shine as they would be able to help bring guilds together. That way both guilds should benefit from the representation of the alliance with the secondary guild recieving half influence or something like that.

That’s a bit of an essay there lol, sorry about that :P but personally I like the idea but I think it could be improved by a more rounded guild and alliance system. Also if anyone is looking for a small guild in Aurora Glade then you can check out the links in my signature below.

In Guild Wars 1 AI was a part of a 5 guild alliance. We didn’t farm faction, or try to own a town, the alliance was a social entity with each of the guilds keeping their own unique flavor, but coming together for events and outtings. The alliance kept me playing the game a lot longer than I would have otherwise, and I doubt that I’m the only one.

I am still hoping every day that A-Net will implement alliances like they had in GW1. That one shared chat channel made all of the difference in the world to me. These days I really miss my allies. Sometimes a few of them choose to represent my guild and that’s always nice, sometimes we scoot over and represent one of their guilds, but it’s never the flow of conversation that it used to be between all of us at once. Allowing multiple guilds is nice, but it doesn’t even come close to providing alliances.

What I’m asking for is definitely not shared guild chat — our chat gets raunchy sometimes, and it isn’t something my allies would appreciate. But the separate channel for alliance chat was great. I want it back.