I like the idea of guild housing better, lets you socialize with your guildmates more.
Would be even better if you located them in some place that had to be defended but that's not really the focus of this title.
Have one building in town basically be a "guild hall" that is instanced. i'd prefer no instancing, but oh well. Give us something. Have some vendors in the guild hall, maybe a cantina (for the really freakin organized ones), etc.
Rift didnt launch with a guild bank either....Rift is Game of the Year to some.
If all that ends up happening is a guild bank, it will show Bioware doesn't understand what "guild features" means. Guild banks are nice and should be basic, don't get me wrong, but there needs to be something of actual substance.
If i wanted to have my awesum SWTOR experience spoiled by little brats asking for help when google is right there, ( or listening to ppl contantly swearing like sailors on the vent ) i would have worried, but for the most part forget about a guild till you start raiding.
If i need to socialize I have real life friends, I'm in games for fun and spare time. I see guilds only as end game feature. But as organizing guild (so far by my experience 95% of guilds are as good as soloing all) takes a lot of energy and time, impossible coordination of time schedule of various players ..... game that want to be sucessfull and appealing to get a lot of players MUST be SOLO FRIENDLY. No matter what you guild lovers and group play lovers would like to have. Period.
Unless in real life somebody manage to make all players or at least great majority to have ALL working/school hours between, let say, 8am and 4pm and staying at home between at least 5pm and 22pm to be able to play "group games" of yours. Then game could count being sucessfull if "group or guild friendly". Period. This are simple facts of life.
So far swtor is on throne of all games of all times together with wow. But I still love a lot Rift.
The only reason I nearly left wow years back, as i was so frustrated, would be if stayed to much group oriented with to many elite quests. Never ever ever ever In any game would like to spend WEAKS to find group to do that silly guest for fire mount of warlock. Never ever. in second i realize I'm in such game I'm never returning subscriber.
I admit the only game heavily relying on guilds and group play can be the one where MAJORITY of members are also REAL LIFE FRIENDS. Otherwise forget about.
Well swtor is still a fantastic game and I'm sure bioware will release some huge updates to the game. Now for the guy who said that these basic features have been in mmos for over a decade now, I'de like to call him on that, not to many mmos are even a decade old save everquest, UO and madden, he'll wow is only 7 and that game when launched was barebones so you need a stronger foundation on your argument there bud.
Ummm...the problem is that the subject calls for an extensive analysis of guilds in a game format. There are numerous problems both for a company (cost/time) and for individuals in a guild (RL time zones/availability/level etc..).
I am a former game designer for TSR and Pacesetter Games (PnP), now retired and enjoying my free time with oline MMO gaming as my hobby. I have extensive ideas about guild systems in a game along with RL understanding of corporate abilities - and limits. NO - I am not applying for a job. And NO - I do not belong to a guild in SWTOR, yet. I fully enjoy the solo w/companion system.
But I also understand the vital necessity of both PvP and guilds in a game. I can't apply to represent a guild at the summit - couldn't afford the trip anyway. But I can give a little input as an example of ideas - which the OP article asked us to submit.
Have guild ships be able to 'flag' for PVP. There should be a minimum percentage of active guild members on board (10% for example) before allowing the guild to flag. Once flagged for PvP then a window showing any other guild ships who are flagged would be available. This would allow the guild time to organize their activities based on RL - round up fractions for nitpickers. The window list would also include the number of active players on the guild ships. Guilds could arrange assaults between them as well.
Combat would be a boarding action. Since the computer architecture seems based around '5' this would be a factor in a boarding action. Each guild would post a 'victory bond' from guild funds which would go to winner. Mutually agreed on victory conditions would come from a list provided by Bioware. It would also be interesting to allow counterboarding as a basic option.
There also exists the possibility of a PVE ship to ship combat, not for mutual destruction but to provide 'events' that would occur on the ships being boarded. Hull punctures that smash corridors, falling structures, blocked doors forcing alternate routes, explosions, power failures etc...affecting all combatants.
There are far more details to be considered for this idea but you get the point. Guild players should have more in the future for the health of the game. Period. Really sorry for the wall-of-text.
I am afraid they might be too late when they release guild features ))) I liked the bonuses provided by guilds in Warhammer Online - really made you want to join the guild even while leveling and even if you won't be raiding later on ))
I have to ask...who does the beta testing for these games? do they get real vets like the posters here, or just grab a bunch of twelve year olds who just wanna blow stuff up?
I ask because it seems to me these things really should have been obvious in beta and fixed before release. It's not like these games are new with no history of what works and what doesn't. Do the devs listen to the feedback? I've never been in a beta test so am wondering why something as basic as a guild system would have been missed.
Some guild features (like ranks and banks) are obvious quality-of-life things, but other guild systems have to be handled with care, imo. My husband and I tend to play MMOs with a small group of family and friends, and we always get excited when we have enough of us playing the same game at the same time that we can get our guild created.
We were really excited when the talk of guild leveling in WoW came about. And then we discovered it pretty much squished small guilds, because the perks you could get from being in a huge raiding guild (which I wouldn't join if you paid me; I don't need that much drama, lol) so far surpassed what we could achieve with the number of players we had...in spite of the fact that we were all regular players.
To be clear, I'm fine with the idea that some uber raid items are out of my reach as a small guild player...I get that those things take a lot more time and effort, and if I'm not putting that in, I'm fine with not getting the rewards. But guild rewards are supposed to be about enhancing your social/team/guild experience, and the team feeling our small group of close friends is no less valid than a bunch of strangers filling out an application on a website and running raids two nights a week.
WoW's system could actually have worked really well if they had given a little more thought about the rewards tiers and how that would affect different guilds. Some of the lower level tiers brought rewards that would have been meaningless for us as a small non-raid guild, and some of the rewards we really wanted were effectively out of our reach in any reasonable time frame.
I hope Bioware uses their customary genius and finds a way to make it so that playing with your friends is an enhanced experience, but playing with 150 strangers isn't required to get the good stuff.
Comments
Have one building in town basically be a "guild hall" that is instanced. i'd prefer no instancing, but oh well. Give us something. Have some vendors in the guild hall, maybe a cantina (for the really freakin organized ones), etc.
If all that ends up happening is a guild bank, it will show Bioware doesn't understand what "guild features" means. Guild banks are nice and should be basic, don't get me wrong, but there needs to be something of actual substance.
If i wanted to have my awesum SWTOR experience spoiled by little brats asking for help when google is right there, ( or listening to ppl contantly swearing like sailors on the vent ) i would have worried, but for the most part forget about a guild till you start raiding.
Guilds in a single player game like SWTOR? Meh.
The game doesnt promote socializing, guild cities or anything of that kind, so why bother.
If i need to socialize I have real life friends, I'm in games for fun and spare time. I see guilds only as end game feature. But as organizing guild (so far by my experience 95% of guilds are as good as soloing all) takes a lot of energy and time, impossible coordination of time schedule of various players ..... game that want to be sucessfull and appealing to get a lot of players MUST be SOLO FRIENDLY. No matter what you guild lovers and group play lovers would like to have. Period.
Unless in real life somebody manage to make all players or at least great majority to have ALL working/school hours between, let say, 8am and 4pm and staying at home between at least 5pm and 22pm to be able to play "group games" of yours. Then game could count being sucessfull if "group or guild friendly". Period. This are simple facts of life.
So far swtor is on throne of all games of all times together with wow. But I still love a lot Rift.
The only reason I nearly left wow years back, as i was so frustrated, would be if stayed to much group oriented with to many elite quests. Never ever ever ever In any game would like to spend WEAKS to find group to do that silly guest for fire mount of warlock. Never ever. in second i realize I'm in such game I'm never returning subscriber.
I admit the only game heavily relying on guilds and group play can be the one where MAJORITY of members are also REAL LIFE FRIENDS. Otherwise forget about.
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
Ummm...the problem is that the subject calls for an extensive analysis of guilds in a game format. There are numerous problems both for a company (cost/time) and for individuals in a guild (RL time zones/availability/level etc..).
I am a former game designer for TSR and Pacesetter Games (PnP), now retired and enjoying my free time with oline MMO gaming as my hobby. I have extensive ideas about guild systems in a game along with RL understanding of corporate abilities - and limits. NO - I am not applying for a job. And NO - I do not belong to a guild in SWTOR, yet. I fully enjoy the solo w/companion system.
But I also understand the vital necessity of both PvP and guilds in a game. I can't apply to represent a guild at the summit - couldn't afford the trip anyway. But I can give a little input as an example of ideas - which the OP article asked us to submit.
Have guild ships be able to 'flag' for PVP. There should be a minimum percentage of active guild members on board (10% for example) before allowing the guild to flag. Once flagged for PvP then a window showing any other guild ships who are flagged would be available. This would allow the guild time to organize their activities based on RL - round up fractions for nitpickers. The window list would also include the number of active players on the guild ships. Guilds could arrange assaults between them as well.
Combat would be a boarding action. Since the computer architecture seems based around '5' this would be a factor in a boarding action. Each guild would post a 'victory bond' from guild funds which would go to winner. Mutually agreed on victory conditions would come from a list provided by Bioware. It would also be interesting to allow counterboarding as a basic option.
There also exists the possibility of a PVE ship to ship combat, not for mutual destruction but to provide 'events' that would occur on the ships being boarded. Hull punctures that smash corridors, falling structures, blocked doors forcing alternate routes, explosions, power failures etc...affecting all combatants.
There are far more details to be considered for this idea but you get the point. Guild players should have more in the future for the health of the game. Period. Really sorry for the wall-of-text.
I am afraid they might be too late when they release guild features ))) I liked the bonuses provided by guilds in Warhammer Online - really made you want to join the guild even while leveling and even if you won't be raiding later on ))
I have to ask...who does the beta testing for these games? do they get real vets like the posters here, or just grab a bunch of twelve year olds who just wanna blow stuff up?
I ask because it seems to me these things really should have been obvious in beta and fixed before release. It's not like these games are new with no history of what works and what doesn't. Do the devs listen to the feedback? I've never been in a beta test so am wondering why something as basic as a guild system would have been missed.
Some guild features (like ranks and banks) are obvious quality-of-life things, but other guild systems have to be handled with care, imo. My husband and I tend to play MMOs with a small group of family and friends, and we always get excited when we have enough of us playing the same game at the same time that we can get our guild created.
We were really excited when the talk of guild leveling in WoW came about. And then we discovered it pretty much squished small guilds, because the perks you could get from being in a huge raiding guild (which I wouldn't join if you paid me; I don't need that much drama, lol) so far surpassed what we could achieve with the number of players we had...in spite of the fact that we were all regular players.
To be clear, I'm fine with the idea that some uber raid items are out of my reach as a small guild player...I get that those things take a lot more time and effort, and if I'm not putting that in, I'm fine with not getting the rewards. But guild rewards are supposed to be about enhancing your social/team/guild experience, and the team feeling our small group of close friends is no less valid than a bunch of strangers filling out an application on a website and running raids two nights a week.
WoW's system could actually have worked really well if they had given a little more thought about the rewards tiers and how that would affect different guilds. Some of the lower level tiers brought rewards that would have been meaningless for us as a small non-raid guild, and some of the rewards we really wanted were effectively out of our reach in any reasonable time frame.
I hope Bioware uses their customary genius and finds a way to make it so that playing with your friends is an enhanced experience, but playing with 150 strangers isn't required to get the good stuff.
If I am not mistaken your ship is your player housing. (I am sure somebody else jumped on this and i haven't scrolled down to it yet.)