Ghostcrawler on guild organization in Cataclysm
by Allison Robert 
Jun 17th 2010 at 8:00PM
While you should definitely read all of his responses, there are a few points concerning the new system that really jump out:
- They didn't want to encourage guild-hopping, and forcing a guild to pick and choose among talents would have wound up suiting some players and not others (e.g. a guild leader picking PvE-oriented guild talents and alienating the more PvP-focused players in the guild). Hence the leveling system rather than the almost-inevitable squabble over which talents to get.
- Because only a certain number of people in the guild can advance your "level" at one time, there's a cap on the advantage a large guild would otherwise have held.
- "The guild bonuses used to be talents. They are now more like leveling spells. We call them perks now instead of talents. We haven't cut any content, but just changed the UI from boxes with prereqs to a list."
- The hazing ritual to get into Ghostcrawler's guild "is pretty dehumanizing."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Calieb- Jun 17th 2010 8:05PM
i wonder if there is still going to be a guild tax that we heard something about.
mcgig Jun 18th 2010 5:11AM
there never was going to be a guild tax, it is a additional 10% iirc from all money drops that would go to bank, you lose nothing but your guild gets gold, yes i know loot going to guild instead of you is a shock how dare the guild that carrys you take money you would never recive.
TheBallocaust Jun 18th 2010 7:37AM
Uhhh... a certain percentage of your money is automatically given to another, governing entity. That sure sounds like a tax to me.
Also, you can tell a guild officer with a power complex from a mile away. They always insist that the guild "carries" its members and does everything for them. A guild is a COLLECTION of people all helping each other, it's not some independent entity that deserves worship from its members.
jrb Jun 18th 2010 8:01AM
if it were a tax it would mean the total looted from the mob would remain the same. 90% going to you, 10% going to the guild bank.
However, the way it was going to work was that the mob would drop, for example, 110% gold. You would loot the same amount, whether in a guild or not.. that additional 10% would go to the banks of toons in a guild, with that talent/level.
ToyChristopher Jun 17th 2010 8:16PM
I'm glad. I still am kind of afraid of what this system might mean for guilds.
But I wish guilds were more like a facebook group or something and that you could belong to more than one.
Chukie Jun 17th 2010 8:17PM
Any serious guild would attempt to prohibit you from being in more than one. Just like raiding guilds now get pissy if you raid with other people on alts.
Ben Jun 17th 2010 10:33PM
I don't know why this is so downrated... the benefit would be to facilitate communication when you have friends in multiple guilds. I think having a "primary" guild would still be important, but if all guilds had a "friend" rank, where all you get gchat access and the ability to be invited to guild raids, it would be pretty handy.
Are there seriously guilds that tell you what you can do with your alt??? Mine certainly doesn't, and we're somewhat serious raiders (10/12 hms in 10s). That's pretty ridiculous, and probably not very smart, since it would encourage people to "hide" alts or just roll them on another server or the other faction.
Squatstopee Jun 17th 2010 10:54PM
When you say like FBs groups, you mean like FFXI's LinkShell system. You can have any amount of LSs in your bags, but only one equipped. This allows you to have a few social "guilds" and a serious endgame "guild"( the serious ones only allow holding of one endgame shell) while it sounds cool, the guys in endgame shells who also have many social shells are almost never in their endgame shell except events, and thus cohesion suffers. In WoW however, you can always make a public chat channel for friends, so the need for multiple guilds isn't really there.(opinons, I has one)
Manadar Jun 17th 2010 10:54PM
For the social aspect I just create a channel for each of my "circles of friends" that isn't in the guild. Don't really see how being in multiple guilds would be any different, except the achievement spam (which I think we should be able to choose to get for people in our FL too btw).
ToyChristopher Jun 17th 2010 10:59PM
I don't understand why people are commenting down my post either unless it is just because of a hatred of facebook.
I do have multiple chat channels. But did you know there is a limit? Also chat channels aren't very permanent. You can't easily see a roster or when people last logged on, etc...
I think it's funny that they are trying to improve the social aspect of the game with battle.net and acting like it's amazing when it is basically an instant messenger.
ViciousVodka Jul 12th 2010 11:02AM
Oh dear god! Please do not wish that WoW was any MORE like facebook....
....Big Brother Blizzard is listening.
Kole Jun 17th 2010 8:18PM
I am still curious as to what bonuses there will be for people in guilds. As compared to people who DON'T want to be in a guild. What are they going to be missing out on and will there be some way for the guildless to gain the same things or something similar...?
Death By Pain Jun 17th 2010 8:23PM
The guild perks have been talked about a lot already. The short answer is, guildless people will be missing out on *a lot* and the way they can gain those benefits is simple: Join a guild and help LTFU
Hivetyrant Jun 17th 2010 8:23PM
I'd like to know this too, I recently just created my own guild for my team and a friend or two and intend to keep it that way, but I don't want to miss out on all the good stuff the top guilds will get (granted I don't expect everything normal guilds could get, but some perks would be nice)
ToyChristopher Jun 17th 2010 8:28PM
I hope their are still personal achievements for raiding. For a while I didn't have a raiding guild and just pugged raids every week and actually enjoyed the flexibility but if you miss out on getting an achievement... that seems to really discourage pugging and despite the reputation pugs can be a lot of fun and I think a lot of people raid only through pugging. Plus a lot of guild rely on pugs to bolster their roster from time to time.
Angrycelt Jun 18th 2010 12:13AM
They were talking about "guild Rep" and getting gains with guilds you run with. Maybe you can get some of the perks if you get Rep from pugging? Would be a nice benefit from those regular pugs most raids seem to run with.
devilsei Jun 17th 2010 8:21PM
Eh, personally I want a bloody explanation for the whole "Guild Rep" thing, whoever had that bright idea deserves a medal pushed to their chest...
covered in puffer-fish venom-coated rusty iron nails.
Ringo Flinthammer Jun 17th 2010 8:48PM
You get guild rep automatically for doing what you'd do anyway in WoW. You just need to have a guild tag to get it.
Shade Jun 17th 2010 9:34PM
We don't know how customizable it is. Maybe guild leaders can control the number of points it takes to rise a level. Maybe they can control the number of points you get for doing certain things.
I think it's a good idea. It gives newcomers to the guild a better idea of the officership. "Rank 2 but Friendly" means you're either looking at someone's alt or someone who was grandfathered into the position, whereas "Rank 4 but Exalted" means you're looking at someone who's been in the guild for a good long while.
Lissanna Jun 17th 2010 11:40PM
the point is having to contribute to your guild before you get all the special items that you can buy after your guild unlocks the rewards. If you have to actually play to earn those prizes, and contribute to your guild's leveling, then it's more fair.