7 wishes for guilds in Mists of Pandaria
by Scott Andrews 
Jan 23rd 2012 at 3:00PM
For officers, the improvements and new systems that Cataclysm brought to guilds were a game-changer in many ways. The sweeping changes to raiding that came with it brought on some difficult challenges. Fortunately, WoW does not stagnate. The Mists of Pandaria expansion gives Blizzard a chance to add new features, make important changes, and improve on what the developers gave us in Cataclysm. Here's my personal wish list:
1. Treat legendary items as guild rewards, not player rewards. As guilds in WoW have matured over the years, I've heard from officers less and less frequently about loot drama -- with one huge exception: legendaries. Every legendary in the history of WoW has caused problems for officers. For some, the legendary drama itself has become legendary.
It's time to change both the reality and the perception of these powerful items.
Earning legendaries today requires the prolonged effort of the guild's entire raid team. It's time to take that one step further. Each step in the quest line should be a guild quest that requires a guild undertaking to create a guild-bound item. (See, for example, Delegation during the Dragonwrath quest line.)
There are multiple benefits to this method. Grinding out the required quest items wouldn't suffer when that one key person misses a raid. Because each guild could only do it once, a guild wouldn't have to keep running old content to earn one for every eligible raid member. Plus, Blizzard wouldn't have to prolong the process artificially to keep the number of legendaries limited.
When the legendary is created, that item would be tradeable among everyone in the guild. If someone leaves the guild with it in their inventory, it would revert to the guild bank.
A legendary should never ultimately belong to just one player. They take too much time and effort on the part of too many people. If the quest lines and items worked this way, then the perception of ownership would change and we would see far less drama over them. Blizzard can create class quests for other things.
2. Create more guild achievements that matter. I enjoyed the concerted effort that it took my guild to earn the cauldron and feast recipes. These achievements mattered because they made raid preparation significantly less annoying for (mostly) everyone. I'd like to see this idea expanded in Mists.
Give us more goals to shoot for as the expansion progresses. Allow us to upgrade our flasks and feasts with each tier so the bonuses don't become less and less relevant over time. It was great to get a mount after clearing tier 11 on normal mode, but subsequent patches never followed up on that premise. Perhaps take some of the boredom away from farming raid bosses by giving us pet versions of a boss if we kill him a certain number of times as a guild.
PvP guilds deserve more achievement rewards than they currently get. Some fun items for roleplaying guilds wouldn't be unwelcome, either. Along those lines ...
3. Guild halls -- make it happen. Send our guilds on the longest and most epic quest line that Blizzard has ever designed. Make it similar to the Gates of Ahn'qiraj quest line that only a handful of guilds around the world got to experience (only without the insane rep grind, please).
Have us earn guild achievements along the way that unlock the hall, and then upgrade it with vendors, portals, trophy cases, and other services and eye candy. With the gear normalization that Blizzard is implementing for timed dungeon runs, the developers wouldn't even have to update the bosses from tier to tier like they do now for holidays.
I understand that Blizzard doesn't want cities to look empty, so make the halls restrictive; allow access only to players with exalted guild reputation. Keep the Auction Houses and other essential services out in the world, but let us have a fun place to gather. Nothing would get players more invested in their guild that this type of ques tline and reward.
4. Design better recruiting tools. Two weeks ago, I wrote about the failure of the Guild Finder. It's just too limited in scope and too difficult to use in practice. A player looking for a guild and vice versa uses many more criteria than those the Guild Finder addresses. A better system that includes far more information and can match up in both directions would be a huge improvement.
New guilds in particular need more effective tools. Currently, they are at a severe disadvantage to established guilds. However, if they could find the types of players who would be interested in their community more easily, then new guilds would have a better chance to survive. Imagine if players looking for a fresh start could flag themselves as potential recruits for new guilds.
With all the matchmaking tech behind the Dungeon and Raid Finders, I don't see why a similar system couldn't be used to steer players toward like-minded guilds across realms.
5. Enable a "rep for deposit" function for the guild bank. It's a simple idea: You deposit a certain amount of ingredients for flasks, cauldrons, or feasts, and the bank awards you guild reputation. I know most officers would consider that a more noteworthy service than solo questing in Desolace. Players looking to rep up faster would have a means to do that -- and they'd actually benefit the guild at the same time.
6. Reward larger raids appropriately. I wrote about this last week, so I won't go into too much detail here. Something has to be done to make leading larger raids more desirable for the officers who put in the extra work. Otherwise, these guilds will simply die out or switch over to 10-player raiding, and then no one will have a choice about raid size.
7. Expand guild tabard design options. It's a tiny issue in the grand scheme of things, but the tabard designs haven't been updated since, well, ever. The original options were never that great to begin with. The color choices are very limited. Plus, with all due respect to the weeping bear, many of the icons just look flat-out terrible on actual character models.
What would you like to see added or changed in Mists? Tell us below!
/salute
Recently, Officers' Quarters has examined how strong new leadership can create a guild turnaround, the pitfalls of promising more than you can deliver, and lessons learned from Scott's own guild demise. Send your own guild-related questions and suggestions to scott@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Officers' Quarters (Guild Leadership), Mists of Pandaria
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
alan-_p Jan 23rd 2012 3:09PM
A guild hall would be absolutely amazing, i would love to hang Deathwing's head on my guilds guild hall. Not totally un-doable either and would really add a lot to the game for me
Daedalus Jan 23rd 2012 3:38PM
Agreed.
My first MMO experience was with City of Heroes, and one thing I loved there was the ability to create and customize Supergroup bases. (Their version of guilds...)
It could also be a huge gold sink, if you allowed players to invest money to create bigger and better halls, increase amenities, and add more eye candy. Add in prestige by creating items that are only available once certain guild achievements are met (Why, yes, that is Deathwing's head hanging on our wall; that's an interesting story...) and you've got a recipe for really creating something special.
Not to mention the added benefit that any system that let you build stuff like that could easily have a smaller scale version for player housing.
Gah, seriously Blizzard, why haven't you done this yet!?!
DaSandman Jan 23rd 2012 5:22PM
Excellent idea, let a guild build up their Guild Hall over time AND THEN LET VISITORS SEE IT!
Allow guildies (over a certain rep level?) to invite others into the Guild Hall for short intervals (5mins?) where they can look around the place and talk in /say but not use any of the amenities (vendors, portals etc).
Even better, allow an "open house" or "happy hour" period where the Guild Hall is left open for anyone to enter and look around (again, no use of amenities).
Would LOVE to see something like this implemented! :)
Steak Jan 23rd 2012 6:56PM
@DaSandman - That would be incredible. "I do hope that you're enjoying yourself during your visit, old chap. I simply MUST show you our - I apologize, do you need a new glass of wine? Jeffrey, our butler, will sort you out immediately. As I was saying, I simply MUST show you our epeen. It's right over here on this next wall, so please keep up."
MrJak Jan 23rd 2012 7:56PM
@Steak
I read that in my head with Stephen Frys voice. I want. Want want want.
terph Jan 23rd 2012 3:12PM
I love the idea of grand guild quests. I think this would be very well accepted by my guild, it promotes guild fellowship and it helps stave off boredom from running out of things to do. It's much more fun to work towards a big goal, and I would love more guild activities that wasn't just 'let's raid together at 8 pm on Tuesday."
Lignar Jan 23rd 2012 3:15PM
The best fix for legendaries - don't put any more in the game. Take the creative talent from the writers, quest designers, artists etc and rahter than make items that benefit a small number of players, make the raids and encounters better for all of us with fewer recycled models etc. Oh yeah...it removes that drama, too!
Really digging the idea for depositing into guild bank for rep. Would be nice as a guild leader or officer to put together a shopping list of needed items for that reward.
milindpania Jan 23rd 2012 3:34PM
Not to mention the resulting devastation in Arena and Rated BGs. Valanyr, Shadowmourne, Dragonwrath are wreaking havoc in Arena. The fight is in the balance, you could even be outplaying the other team, then the legendary procs and someone gets instantly killed ( or saved from a sure kill). Even in a game with enough idiotic random effects in the form of raiding trinkets, weapons and class abilities, the legendaries are the biggest culprit behind frustrating losses to players who in turn get away with horrible play.
moobinator Jan 23rd 2012 5:12PM
Personally I like Legendaries, but they really dont seem all the legendary to me.
The rogue one kind of fits, but take me back to the Epic Hunter Quest, I only needed a few items from the Raids back then, but the rest was up to me, no help needed from anyone else. It made me learn skills that I as a hunter had to achive specific quests to gain my item.
I would like to see a legendary Guild quest for some achivement that would help my guild, like getting a guild hall, But I think all Class specific Legendaries shoul dbe something the character could do on thier own with little or no help from the guild or raids, this would stop the drama because the only one you could complain to is yourself for not doing it.
Homeschool Jan 23rd 2012 6:20PM
Making Legendaries guild-bound is no better than having them as player-specific. You're just shifting the loot drama from the early stages to the completion.
Honestly, there's only two solutions that have a promise of succeeding:
1) Make them individual, so that each person is working on their own without conflict. Flaw: everyone will have one.
2) Get rid of them. Flaw: nobody will have one.
Honestly, each time a Legendary comes out, I either feel sad that I can't have one, anxious that I might not get it, or (rarely) happy that I'm the lucky one. Hint: that last emotion is rare.
On the other hand, Legendaries would work much better if they weren't loot/gear, but trophies of guild successes, particularly paired with Guild Halls. How awesome would it be to have a (real) Fang of the Father hanging on the wall, with a readable plaque displaying the names of the people who brought him down? Every important lore figure could have a trophy for defeating them, and as the guild mounts up their successes, the Hall shows more and more trophies.
It seems far better than a weapon that everyone contributes to, one person uses, and eventually gathers dust in some dude's bank.
AltairAntares Jan 24th 2012 1:50AM
I really love the unique quest lines for the cata legendaries, I just wish I had been able to see them...
Ilmyrn Jan 23rd 2012 3:16PM
I realize that this probably says a lot more about me than I'd like, but guild-bound Legendaries would be a deal breaker for me, and I felt the same way when the idea of loot from a guild raid being guild-bound was being tossed around when Cataclysm was still in development.
At the very real risk of sounding selfish, what I get in game is MINE. I don't want to lose all my (semi)amazing gear just because the GL got hacked and g-kicked everyone, or my current raiding guild goes casual, or whatever. If you think choosing one or two people to get a Legendary brings drama now, just imagine what it would be like if people had to worry about toeing the line with leadership or not just lose access to guild perks/bank/whatever, but also lost the gear they needed to play them game.
The Dewd Jan 23rd 2012 3:29PM
Blizzard would have to crack down on guild shenanigans - and maybe allow you to keep the item one you're exalted with the guild and have X amount of time in - so that you can keep it. Sure, the counter argument is that the entire guild worked to make it happen but that doesn't change the fact that without major changes, only one person can use any individual item at once - and currently the guild has to _choose_ who to let do it.
Vincentmagius Jan 23rd 2012 3:41PM
I can see your point. Probably something where you have to be exalted with the guild to take one out and it's yours to keep. No gold.
The building of it should be guild related. This helps out so you don't have 4 people trying to build one. Or you have an idiot of a raid leader who can't mention this before hand and has to BS once it's pointed out there are multiple people working on it.
loop_not_defined Jan 23rd 2012 4:02PM
Considering Guild Leaders are the de facto owners of a guild as far as Customer Support is concerned, the idea of legendaries being guild-bound is especially frightening.
"WTS lvl 25 guild, all bank tabs, many achievements, 4 legendaries."
SDevil Jan 23rd 2012 4:58PM
While I don't like the idea of a guild being able to strip a legendary from a person, I also think that if it's going to take 9 other people to help you build a legendary, they should get something out of it. It's frequently a task the whole guild gets involved in, just so one or two people can get these amazing items. Except if those people quit the game or leave the guild, the guild is out all that time and energy with nothing to show for it. So perhaps there should be a guild incentive in addition to the legendary, either a guild bound copy in addition to the player earned one, or perhaps a new class of item between epic and legendary open to guildies who helped to build the item in question. At least this way there are benefits for the people having to do their millionth run of a raid just to get that last item needed for the legendary.
Homeschool Jan 23rd 2012 5:02PM
Making Legendaries guild-bound is no better than having them as player-specific. You're just shifting the loot drama from the early stages to the completion.
Honestly, there's only two solutions that have a promise of succeeding:
1) Make them individual, so that each person is working on their own without conflict. Flaw: everyone will have one.
2) Get rid of them. Flaw: nobody will have one.
Honestly, each time a Legendary comes out, I either feel sad that I can't have one, anxious that I might not get it, or (rarely) happy that I'm the lucky one. Hint: that last emotion is rare.
On the other hand, Legendaries would work much better if they weren't loot/gear, but trophies of guild successes, particularly paired with Guild Halls. How awesome would it be to have a (real) Fang of the Father hanging on the wall, with a readable plaque displaying the names of the people who brought him down? Every important lore figure could have a trophy for defeating them, and as the guild mounts up their successes, the Hall shows more and more trophies.
It seems far better than a weapon that everyone contributes to, one person uses, and eventually gathers dust in some dude's bank.
JiBJUB Jan 23rd 2012 5:27PM
The counter argument here, though, is that legendary aren't YOURS. Unless you are finishing the quest on your own, you can't really say you deserve it all to yourself. I know it's hard to get away from that playground mentality ... TOYS ARE MINE ... but I think the guild-shared legendary is an interesting one.
I would rather they implement something like that or get rid of legendaries all together.
rodmin Jan 23rd 2012 5:40PM
Although i agree with what you said (finally managed to get Thunderfury last month), there's one problem:
Doesn't all gear belong to Blizzard in the first place, and not ours, due to the agreement we clicked on "accept"? I think there was something there that our characters aren't "ours", they're from Blizzard.
Ilmyrn Jan 23rd 2012 5:45PM
Building on what Rodmin says, what about people who complete their Legendary after it's obsolete, like a Thunderfury or Sulfuras today? If you're assembling your Legendary solo or with PUGs, why would or should your guild have any claim on it?