In the "State of ..." Q and A, the topic of guild structure was bandied about a couple of times with regard to upcoming releases.
RTB
A Return to Britannia seems to be slated for sometime in May, and part of that discussion had to do with how to draw folks into the community that exists and by doing so substantially increase the odds that they would remain beyond the "free to play, for now" window.
Can we talk a little bit about what might make an in game community attractive to returning players, or new players, beyond the strategy of "Hey, here is a free bag of stuff to help you out!"
If the weight of luring folks back to stay awhile rests primarily on the shoulders of players, we need some tools to help us integrate them into our communities, places to go, things to see and do that are available to accounts with base area restrictions, and the loot tables that go with those areas. More on loot later, and in another thread.
VvV
Virtue vs Vice is a tentative for August. I like the timeline on this, if all goes relatively well, we can help new, or dated players prepare to participate in the high end of the game over the summer. This is good planning and the team should be commended for their aspirations. In the brief discussion during QA mention was made that, like factions and guild warfare, the guild as a unit would be the base entry point for participation in the system. Would it be the only entry point?
We have had a lot of discussion in the past about some peculiarities in the system that can create unintuitive experiences in this environment. So if we are talking about attention for guilds, does now seem like a good time to take a look at the rather elaborate way the game sees:
A: Guilds participating in in-game systems of interaction with other guilds. Frankly I have done very little with the new Governors system, but it sounds like there is guild involvement there. Is it a direct involvement or tangential? Factions? Guild wars? No one does this anymore, how will we test those mechaincs in a larger system if there is no one using it?
B:Alliances: it sounds like this mechanic is fixed, but we had some difficulties in factions, for quite some time, with regard to alliances.
All the above are mechanics issues, and, if we are to look at mechanics for guilds prior to the activity associated with RTB or VvV, then what other tools would be useful for guild leaders and members?
Static communication tools that deliver messages on log in?Could there be a guild and/or alliance message that appears after any system messages on log in?
Guild collection for Clean Up? Would it be possible to have a Guild House trash can that either collects a portion of the points accumulated for the owner of the house, or the GM of the guild, or a pool of points available to guild officers, or has those points (en toto) go directly to the guild for use by officers?
Other collection points: these are older and, I think I might be right in saying, mostly unused, now. They are mostly associated with ML but have ramifications for High Seas as well. Might there be some way to distribute points towards groups, or if the game sees a contributor as part of a group, that the groups sees some benefit from the contributions of its members?
That is more than enough for now. Your thoughts on the topics above are appreciated. Your thoughts on things I might have missed are greatly desired.
RTB
A Return to Britannia seems to be slated for sometime in May, and part of that discussion had to do with how to draw folks into the community that exists and by doing so substantially increase the odds that they would remain beyond the "free to play, for now" window.
Can we talk a little bit about what might make an in game community attractive to returning players, or new players, beyond the strategy of "Hey, here is a free bag of stuff to help you out!"
If the weight of luring folks back to stay awhile rests primarily on the shoulders of players, we need some tools to help us integrate them into our communities, places to go, things to see and do that are available to accounts with base area restrictions, and the loot tables that go with those areas. More on loot later, and in another thread.
VvV
Virtue vs Vice is a tentative for August. I like the timeline on this, if all goes relatively well, we can help new, or dated players prepare to participate in the high end of the game over the summer. This is good planning and the team should be commended for their aspirations. In the brief discussion during QA mention was made that, like factions and guild warfare, the guild as a unit would be the base entry point for participation in the system. Would it be the only entry point?
We have had a lot of discussion in the past about some peculiarities in the system that can create unintuitive experiences in this environment. So if we are talking about attention for guilds, does now seem like a good time to take a look at the rather elaborate way the game sees:
A: Guilds participating in in-game systems of interaction with other guilds. Frankly I have done very little with the new Governors system, but it sounds like there is guild involvement there. Is it a direct involvement or tangential? Factions? Guild wars? No one does this anymore, how will we test those mechaincs in a larger system if there is no one using it?
B:Alliances: it sounds like this mechanic is fixed, but we had some difficulties in factions, for quite some time, with regard to alliances.
All the above are mechanics issues, and, if we are to look at mechanics for guilds prior to the activity associated with RTB or VvV, then what other tools would be useful for guild leaders and members?
Static communication tools that deliver messages on log in?Could there be a guild and/or alliance message that appears after any system messages on log in?
Guild collection for Clean Up? Would it be possible to have a Guild House trash can that either collects a portion of the points accumulated for the owner of the house, or the GM of the guild, or a pool of points available to guild officers, or has those points (en toto) go directly to the guild for use by officers?
Other collection points: these are older and, I think I might be right in saying, mostly unused, now. They are mostly associated with ML but have ramifications for High Seas as well. Might there be some way to distribute points towards groups, or if the game sees a contributor as part of a group, that the groups sees some benefit from the contributions of its members?
That is more than enough for now. Your thoughts on the topics above are appreciated. Your thoughts on things I might have missed are greatly desired.
( sorry I had to say the last one lol)