Guild Wars 2

I know most people wouldn’t think about investing in a guild hall by themselves, but that’s how I started mine out when HoT was released. I got some help from 4 other randoms after parting with my 100g for registration. Having saved a lot of my materials in the bank, I had no trouble getting up enough levels to start with thanks to the use of said materials and the favour of my guild being converted from influence.

I’m thinking it was about GH level 12 or 13 when I decided to get people in on my guild, having been a one-man show for most of its life. Some old GW1 friends were invited as well as some new faces. However, as much of a boon to their playing experience as a guild hall is potentially, I’m not sure they feel the same way as I do about having the benefits of the hall. What I mean by that is, I ask for donations to the guild hall as it’s approaching Lvl 40 and even though it is ultimately mine, I can’t be the only one to support it.

Half the problem is not having the support of the guild members, but the other half is they don’t feel like it’s their responsibility to donate. There seems to be a lack of empathy and recognition towards the hall. Admittedly, my guild is and always has been small, and the less people represent the guild, the less respect they have for it.

There’s a core of maybe 5 players that are regulars and have been for months, but others come in for a few weeks, don’t log in and I end up kicking the inactives after a month or so. Out of that core about 3 are regular donaters. The most numbers my guild has ever had is about 40, and that wasn’t for very long. We have active guild missions every week, but because of our irregular and small numbers, we can’t get a lot of activities happening, even though they’re unlocked and waiting to be done.

The other problem I’m faced with is the people I do end up recruiting are one-time players returning, or newbies lacking game experience, money and materials, and looking for mentorship. I’m happy to provide for their playing experience to the best of my ability, but sometimes I’d like some reciprocation, and if not to me then to the guild, and ultimately the hall.

So this is an exercise in empathy. If this were your guild, hall and guildies, how would you get people to donate to your growing guild hall? I’m looking for constructive advice from experienced people preferably from larger and more established guilds.

I’ll put up a couple of possibilities as to why they’re not donating for you to consider if it’s relevant.

Maybe it’s because they’re being asked to donate items worth gold that took time to get but they’re not seeing a reciprocal benefit for donating. What benefits do they get? Are the benefits important to them so it’s worth donating to get them? Do they get to decide what the guild builds next?

You say you kick inactives after a month or so. With a small guild is this the best policy? While no one likes to see a member’s list that’s dark, neither do people want to donate and help build a guild then get kicked because they took time off and they lose all their effort.

Are your members also members of other guilds that are asking for donations? It can get quite expensive if they are donating to more than one guild. If they’re getting benefits from other guild halls already then it’s going to be less important to them to donate and build your guild.

The Guild Hall needs to be relevant to players for them to donate to it. We have 3 semi regular playwrs in the Guild who contribute and between us, we have got to lvl 37 in a year, mostly because I have pushed as something we can do together (plus it stops me being tempted by another Legendary…). The remaining few rarely log in or use the GH, therefore don’t look at the current donations request in the MOTD.

Unless the Guild Hall is relevant to their everyday lives – which is harder in a small guild – they will have no incentive to invest in that as opposed to selling the useful mats for personal gain which will rank a higher priority.

Involving members in decorating, ensuring players know what sevices exist in the hall, guild meetings held there, pvp fights in the arena, changing up the decorations, weekly keg brawls, use of the portal for guild missions – these are possible ideas that may help.

I just put the materials required for the current upgrade on the MotD and it takes care of itself. We have around 3-6 people active and we are at lv66.

On the other hand I didn’t feel like contributing much to my other guild unless they asked me directly because they were working on the arena and I could tell from the rate that the PvP potions were being filled that this was going to be a waste of time and resources.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

… Maybe it’s because they’re being asked to donate items worth gold that took time to get but they’re not seeing a reciprocal benefit for donating. What benefits do they get? Are the benefits important to them so it’s worth donating to get them? Do they get to decide what the guild builds next?

Here’s the thing, I take them on tours of the hall when they’re introduced to the guild. As a way of saying ’here’s what you get, can we get some help building it so you can enjoy it as much as we do’. If it were still in the starting phases and I were strapped for funds and materials, I’d have no problem getting people to donate what mediocre resources they had to the hall. As it’s currently 39, it is getting harder to get particular resources like superior runes of holding for mine upgrades. These are not cheap items and I’m loathed to ask anyone for financial assistance in the guild. As for deciding what gets built next, I’m not sure they care one way or the other. And that in itself is part of the problem, I’ve gone to this effort of getting the hall to where it is now, and it’s gone largely unappreciated. “If you build it, they will come”… sounds familiar right, well even in the MOTD it doesn’t seem to affect very many people, because I’m still struggling through with minimal help.

You say you kick inactives after a month or so. With a small guild is this the best policy? While no one likes to see a member’s list that’s dark, neither do people want to donate and help build a guild then get kicked because they took time off and they lose all their effort.

People like less to see a guild’s member list so umkempt as to be populated with inactives for 6mths to a year. The very reason I kick these inactive players is because they haven’t made any substantial difference to the guild, haven’t donated, they’re usually repping some other guild instead and are either too new for significant resources to accumulate or they couldn’t be bothered with helping to fund a guild hall in the first place. In essence, my goals weren’t theirs and so it’s probably better they not be a part of something that is ultimately shared.

Are your members also members of other guilds that are asking for donations? It can get quite expensive if they are donating to more than one guild…

Good point. That’s why I ask for loyal guildies that aren’t part of any other guilds (and I already have a few) so they aren’t burdened with multi-feeding halls unnecessarily.

Randulf.7614:

… Unless the Guild Hall is relevant to their everyday lives – which is harder in a small guild – they will have no incentive to invest in that as opposed to selling the useful mats for personal gain which will rank a higher priority.

Involving members in decorating, ensuring players know what sevices exist in the hall, guild meetings held there, pvp fights in the arena, changing up the decorations, weekly keg brawls, use of the portal for guild missions – these are possible ideas that may help.

This seems to be the hardest thing about having a small guild that doesn’t wanna get too big… Anet didn’t really invest the time and effort into seeing how a small guild will do with resources in the mid-higher levels as opposed to an already established larger guild with hundreds of members, that doesn’t need to worry about materials or funds, because people give what they want and sometimes in surplus. I have 1 regular and 1 occasional donater of PvP potions for our struggling arena, which has been largely neglected as most of the players are PvE-based and don’t have a liking for PvP, like myself. The guild supports all game modes and encourages its members to keep doing what they like to do. Our weekly bonding session is in the Guild Missions which we keep going with religiously.

To Khisanth, our MOTD is updated regularly with materials which are needed, and now it’s also funds that are needed for upgrades. The guild leader is ultimately responsible for the hall and everything in it, but the members must recognise that I’m not made of in-game currency and can’t provide for everything in there without help. I believe there’s a lack of care-factor and a lack of involvement where this small guild falls over, as opposed to where a larger guild would succeed. More members have more of a say in what goes on and more opinions are valued; in a smaller guild it seems like quite the opposite. I keep recruiting for members that want to share being a part of this guild, regardless of size, as long as they’re loyal to the guild and can work together to help its growth. Am I being too utopian in my ideas for a small guild to have a good hall? Anet would seem to think so.

Valandil Dragonhart.2371:

Anet didn’t really invest the time and effort into seeing how a small guild will do with resources in the mid-higher levels as opposed to an already established larger guild with hundreds of members

First, guilds with hundreds of members don’t get nearly as many contributors as the above quote suggests. I’ve been members of max guilds with “sugar daddies” (and mommies) and even then, only a few contributed. Of course, it’s easier to find that few in a large guild than in a tiny one, but let’s not pretend that size is sufficient by itself.

Second, I’m not at all sure why it’s important for tiny guilds to have an easy time leveling the hall. Any guild can cap a hall and get the first few upgrades. After that, it seems reasonable to me that dedicated and older guilds have an easier time than the newest ones. (I can imagine that there’s room to quibble about where in the progression certain upgrades appear, i.e. whether the prerequisites are sensible; that’s not the same thing.)

Finally, keep in mind that improvements made to the Hall are permanent — these aren’t investments into the shiny-of-the-month. On that basis, there’s an argument to be made that it’s too easy.

Well what are your reasons for going for the particular upgrades? Most of the ones available are useless to most people. My guild got those upgrades simply because they are there and not because they are providing anything useful.

Khisanth.2948:

Well what are your reasons for going for the particular upgrades? Most of the ones available are useless to most people. My guild got those upgrades simply because they are there and not because they are providing anything useful.

This! The answer to “how do you get people to contribute to a guild upgrade” is “explain to them why the contribution is valuable”, at which point they will nod, and contribute.

It doesn’t even need to be in-game benefits. It could be “social approbation, and a shiny thanks in the MoTD” or something. You just need people to want to contribute, which means you need to give them a reason to want it.

I agree with the others that you have to make it relevant. Sadly, a lot of folks just don’t care about the guild halls in general. In my experience, it tends to be just a few people in a guild who drive a hall’s build up. Scribes tend to be the real whipping boys, IMO, but guild leaders are certainly expected to pick up any slack in donations. If you care about it, then accept the burden you’re shouldering. Be thankful for those who do contribute and shrug off the fact that most won’t.

Maybe give the MotD a break for a while or just mention some benefits, “Hey, be sure to pick up your map bonus or XP potion from the guild hall tavern! Enjoy your adventurers, everyone!” Encourage people to use the place. “Check out our latest guild hall jumping puzzle — just look for the green flag to begin.” or “Pop into the guild hall and see our latest trophy. Good job, everyone!”

Maybe just ask for a specific donation once per month for one week? You don’t want to be a nag, just offer them a guild service. “Thanks to those who donated mithril ingots last month. We were able to open the hall’s market. This month, please consider contributing a ______. We’re really close to unlocking waypoint discounts for everyone!”

Maybe I just missed it, but are we talking about NA or EU?

We consider our guild to be a small one, although we have arround 100 members by now. During the build-up time of the guildhall (0-40) we had ~ 5 active donators for materials/gold for the guildhall. We just liked the idea of a place for the community and each of us had personal goals with the guildhall:
- one guy wanted the pvp-arena
- one guy wanted the guild armor/weapons recipes
- one guy wanted the gathering nodes
- one guy was in for the potions/buffs
- one wanted to build and decorate the huge place

So we discussed a lot how to reach those goals, we helped eachother when we saw a certain upgrade close to completion. And if one of us had access to a quite rare and valuable resource, we contributed those as well. If we sold the stuff and made money out of the materials, each of us could have 2-3 legendaries.

As the others said, people need something to donate for. A mysterious void where you can put in stuff without knowing the results – we already have the mystic forge for that. Make sure your people are aware of the things they benefit from. Tell the PvP/WvWvW players about the potions/tavern-buffs which boost their loot. Make sure the legendary crafters are aware of the gathering-potion and the karma-potion. And tell all of them, how to get max % for all.

The gathering-nodes can be used for all the Heart of Maguuma daily gatherings, also allow your guildmembers to aquire tenebrous/shimering stones to later craft weapons/armor with special skins. This information is critical and if you mention that the gathering nodes include a leather/cotton node, you do get attention for sure.

Create the rank of the decorator in your guild, tell people if they have some ideas they can try out stuff in the guildhall. There are builders in every guild, you just need to find them. Once they see how much/less is possible, they will ask how to get better stuff and find a personal goal worth to donate for. You may also get one volunteer for a scribe, or do it yourself and offer the builders access to better decorations in return of some compensation.

The guildhall might be ultimately yours, but if you want people to use it and donate for it, you have to share it. We own gilded hollow. We have like 3-4 active builders now, still did not run out of decorations and some places became really beatuiful, even with basic decorations. If you have a JP player, he may want to create his own JPs. Give him some space in the guildhall to try things out.

The tour during the first visit of the guildhall is a great idea. We do that as well. But we do not actually ask for certain things. We had times where we worked for certain upgrades and placed an information about what was missing to unlock in the gmotd. But we noticed the results were a lot better, if we took a few minutes with our members and explained how the Treasury and the NPC work. That solved many unasked questions and people with that information simply just check their upgrades of desire and donate directly.