Guild Wars 2

[Skip this first part if you are already frustrated by this issue]
First, a brief History:
When the game launched, Anet decided to do something new with guilds, make them more nebulous and allow players to be part of multiple guilds. The result was that guilds who care about building strong communities either have to force strict policies, or deal with a “I’ll help you guys when I feel like it” kind of membership base. To me, this feels like being involved in an open marriage, and is at odds with what many people are truly looking for: Community Pride.
My optimism being strong, I held out hope that some form of alliance system would be created, but thus far not even a hint of such a thing… the system doesn’t promote guild pride, and here’s why:

[Okay, start here]

Emblems, and “guild” items, what?

Guild Backpacks – They’re okay, nothing fancy, and the guild emblem is so tiny it looks like someone’s mom sewed a patch on it.

Guild Back Banners – Expensive, not very impressive looking, and forces you to give up the cool back piece you worked very hard for.

Guild Armor – A total joke IMO. For a game that prides itself on fashion design, its clear that including a guild logo was not a priority. If I want to show guild pride, I have to wear armor that in most cases feels completely wrong when combined with every other armor in the game, aside from the most basic… Is it really that hard to have a tabard that sits over one’s armor?

Guild Weapons (generation 1) – The first generation guild weapons are nicely designed, but again, the guild emblem is small and looks slapped on… it was clearly an afterthought.

Guild Weapons (generation 2) – What? No, really, What? How are these “Guild Weapons” at all? They’re a set of weapons that are shiny and have absolutely 0 guild pride… this is a blatant message from Anet: “We don’t think guild pride is important.”

Guild Banners – Oh, that thing keep seeing all over trader’s forum that I click on to gain a buff but have no idea which guild it came from as I pass by?

Where does my guild pride live?
At launch I had high hopes. But here we are almost a year into the game and the ONLY major addition to guilds is guild missions, which honestly favor larger guilds, and provide no rewards which represent the hard work of a team. Every reward is based around the individual player, and none of these rewards (besides guild banners) do anything to further the guild’s pride.

So where’s my guild house? Where’s my guild hall? Where’s My guild’s permanent place in the world? There’s so much potential for guilds to really feel like they’ve built something worth having pride in, but it just isn’t there.

Why all of the fuss?
Anet bills this game as the casual gamer’s paradise, and the hardcore gamer’s dream, all wrapped into one… but I’m not seeing where player driven communities fit into this, and it has taken it’s toll on my long-time community.

The task of generating excitement, interest, and pride rests solely on the leaders of each guild… which if you’re a casual player, leading a casual guild, means you’re doomed to never be able to build any pride.

What should be done? (the 10 tenants of guilds in MMOs)
GUILDS SHOULD:
1. be easy to join [Mission Accomplished]
2. have multiple options to show guild pride [Needs a lot of work]
3. feel like they are part of the world, and have an impact on it [NOPE]
4. have the tools needed to manage a their roster, and keep people informed [Needs a lot of work]
5. have a place to gather, and display the accomplishments of the community’s ability to work together [NOPE]
6. have a way to forge bonds with other guilds, for the purpose of joining forces and accomplishing even greater tasks [NOPE]
7. have a way for guild leadership to measure contribution and give rewards to players who are extraordinary[NOPE]
8. have an easy way to list their community in-game for new players to browse and request membership[NOPE]
9. be able to work together in various challenges [Mission Accomplished]
10. be able to compare their accomplishments with other guilds in order to see how their accomplishments compare [NOPE]

If even 3 more of these tenants were satisfied, it could go a long way to improve guild culture.

I want to start with that I feel it isn’t ANet’s job to enforce pride in a guild, but rather we the players. The ability to have multiple guilds (in theory) is a wonderful thing.

As for your list:

1. I agree, although I would also state I wish every time you made a new character it didn’t default to represent no guilds (as opposed to the last guild you where in).
2. It could certainly use some work, but the Heavy guild chest has been gracing my main since I could afford it (and although I get sick of the under-layer scales, he looks pretty kitten rad IMO).
3. I think part of this could be done if there was a guild-equivalent of the commander tag. I don’t feel we will ever see much of an impact on the LS side of things, but I do still get the feeling when running with my guildies of a brothers-in-arms kind of thing.
4. You can change everything down to the title of a roster slot, and it provides a message of the day that everyone will see if they go to their guild page in-game. I know everyone would like more features (such as a last logged in), but don’t think its fair to call that a lot of work.
5. That is a great idea I would stand behind 100%, and hopefully one that will be at least partially remedied when they get around to adding guild halls.
6. An alliance system would be nifty, but outside of expanded chat channels I don’t feel that any of the current content would really benefit from it (outside of the larger zerg-led events, in which case that’s usually the roll of a Commander and squad). I think really that aspect is just a bit complicated due to the nature of the representation system (or maybe I’m admittedly just not understanding this one well).
7. For a while, the influence tab actually broke down gains a lot better than it does now (unless I’m miss-remembering). That being said, guild leadership itself can still reward people assuming they have something to reward someone with in the first place (example: I could give someone a stack of rare mats for buying drinks on the town and call them out in the MOTD), it’s just more on the leaders shoulders than so much on the guild. Partially complicated by the nature of account-bound items though (Hard to give away a event skin, for example, when they all start becoming bound to your account).
8. A guild finder wouldn’t be terrible in game. I don’t personally need it as my guild is essentially just friends or people I actually know, but I could see where it would be nice for some folks.
9. agreed. I would like to say it would be nice if you could work together with more of your guild to do some challenges (I don’t much like only being able to have 4 other people in the party – it works, I just always end up having a person or two I can’t fit in for dungeons or the likes).
10. I guess I can see where people like to compare others to them (I’m not very competitive, so it’s lost on me), but what would it measure? Number of completed missions? Total members AP scores?

I would say I do agree with the overall idea that it would be nice to see more guild-related features though. Although I enjoy my guild armor currently, I would like to see different things under that armor (even if it was just simple re-skins of the other normal/crafted armors with the heavy’s tabbard over it). I also completely agree about the second batch of guild weapons (how does something that’s devoid of a guild emblem at all represent a guild?). Maybe someday we’ll get lucky and they will find a way to work Capes back into the system (I’d replace my back item with it), or provide even more variety. Imagine a firework that would display your guild symbol when it went off? That would be well worth some change I think.

Thanks for the reply. On the points which we agree, it is important to note that “someday” is the only source of hope for any of these things to be implemented at this point.

And in my opinion it is Anet’s job to at least not put in place a system so devoid of features that it serves to hurt guild loyalty… Being that you’re part of a smaller guild and are not particularly competitive, this issue is not one you really experience.

I can tell you that logging in to a large roster of members, with 5+ of them not representing is disheartening. And what happens when I tell them we want 100% representation? Well, they either get annoyed because i’m asking them to give up other guilds, or they choose the other guild over mine. As a guild leader, you want to log in to a community of people who are all communicating and playing with each other… GW2 doesn’t require a group to play anything but the dungeons, so the rest of the time everyone is solo… so at least it would be nice to have a lively guild chat… but nope, they’re not representing so the guild chat suffers. See what I mean? It should at least not hurt guild loyalty, and it currently does.

I have pride in my guild because we’re a fun bunch of players and we’re always ready to help each other out.

We definitely better guild management tools.. but I firmly believe that guild/player housing is bad for the community so I’d prefer if they never add that. ditto for any measurement/comparison between players and guilds, this stuff is never productive.

Whats the point of guilds anyway? They take more then they give. Like all MMO’s be apart of guilds and parties they take away exp and loot and I have seen it happen here in GW2 anyway so I just stay away from them so I have no pride in them nor trust in them at all. Its just a way to make it take longer to level up.

If you don’t have guild pride, your guild might not be for you. I’m in EP and I’m very proud of that fact. I love my guild and would sooner leave the game than leave the guild.

RuneCrimson.7380:

Like all MMO’s be apart of guilds and parties they take away exp and loot and I have seen it happen here in GW2

Why even bother making up something like that when every player knows it’s bs?

I started my own guild to keep from being pestered about joining a guild but there is no one in it cause I do not believe in taking peoples stuff nor will I. If I am forced to have to party I only do it when I cannot beat something by myself after at least 40 times I will try it myself alot before I ask for help cause I know they will get the exp alot and it will take down half of the exp I would have gotten alone.

Its not made up I know for a fact it happens I have watched it more then once. If I have seen it happen how can it be made up?

RuneCrimson.7380:

Its not made up I know for a fact it happens I have watched it more then once. If I have seen it happen how can it be made up?

RuneCrimson, are you still on about this? It just simply doesn’t happen. And if you’re intentionally leaving yourself out of parties and guilds because you think it does, I feel really bad for you.

again I have watched it happen. But since no one is looking for it or even trying to see it it will never be seen. I have leveled up faster without parties and guilds then what I have seen guild members and party members I have seen. Cause they get less then what I do doing it alone.

RuneCrimson, the system simply doesn’t work that way. none of your xp is split by a grouping. you get the same xp if 2 ungrouped people kill the same mob as if 2 grouped people kill the same mob. I’d say go with a friend and test it for yourself, but it seems clear you’re not into making friends

RuneCrimson.7380:

I have watched it more then once.

Then please describe in detail how you witnessed a player losing experience because they were grouped in a party or because they were a member of a guild.

RuneCrimson.7380:

Its not made up I know for a fact it happens I have watched it more then once. If I have seen it happen how can it be made up?

Wait, I have seen it NOT happen, every time I group, so how can we be wrong when we see it NOT happen?

I have tested it Maulor. And to describe in detail I have killed a cave troll by myself gotten 200 xp for it by myself went with two people to do something and killed the SAME troll while the others stood back doing nothing and I got 50 xp and they told me they got about the same amount when I AM the one that killed it.

RuneCrimson.7380:

I have tested it Maulor. And to describe in detail I have killed a cave troll by myself gotten 200 xp for it by myself went with two people to do something and killed the SAME troll while the others stood back doing nothing and I got 50 xp and they told me they got about the same amount when I AM the one that killed it.

I’ve tested and have screenshots which show otherwise. Both alone and together gave out 46xp