Guild Wars 2

The guild system in this game is amazing. Influence, guild perks, building, emblems; allowing players to be in multiple guilds at a time, however there is a huge flaw in the current system.

I find it almost impossible to recruit anyone to a newly formed guild, at least on my server (Isle of Janthir). I believe it is due to the fact that people join the few (many?) guilds who now have all the influence perks already built. Why join another guild at that point?

This is a huge flaw because it firstly eliminates any kind of competition between guilds. What really is the deciding factor between two guilds with max perks? The name? The emblem? The community? Assuming its any of the latter then you’ll find yourself using the account guilds system, rarely if at all, to basically pick and choose between guilds with maxed out perks, completely trivializing the system.

Any new guild trying to carve out an existence stands no chance. It was my interpretation that the idea of allowing players to be in multiple guilds would be rewarding for everyone. If all I care about is my main guild then I’ll represent that one while staying in a couple other guilds that suit my fancy. I’ll meet more players, I’ll have more options, and I’ll be helping out two or three guilds in the process. This isn’t the case from my experience. Its more like WoW where people choose one guild and that is it.

I have a couple ideas to maybe make the prospect of joining a new guild more rewarding, but I was kind of hoping to throw this out there and see if others are experiencing the same issue as well as possibly brainstorm a few ideas.

My Ideas:

1) Promote the idea of players being in multiple guilds. Maybe give players who are a member of but not representing a guild a small percentage of active guild bonuses.

2) Provide a guild recruitment system, some kind of interface that allows players seeking guilds to browse recruiting guilds and/or post that their guild is recruiting. (A sub-forum seems a bit primitive nowadays don’t you think?)

3) Give players who join new guilds some sort of incentive. Maybe a buff or something that encourages players to go around and do things that generate influence and get the guild on its feet.

I am sure there is some give and take to all of this, but I think its worth some discussion.