Posts with tag guild bank

Our Guild had been going downhill for a while now. At the beginning of the year, key officers and members, cornerstones of our raiding team, quit the game for one reason or another. Some of our members got hacked, just like WoW Insider's Amanda Dean. This took the wind out from under our sails, despite great success in Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep. As 2007 closed, I envisioned us taking down Vashj and Kael within the first quarter of 2008. I was stoked. There were good times when we'd take down two new bosses a week. Of course, Murphy's Law happens. While key team members quit the game, others took extended (sometimes unannounced) leaves of absence, and with diminishing raid attendance and obviously performance, other members looked elsewhere for better raiding opportunities. And when it rains, it pours.

A little over a week ago our Guild bank was robbed. It was cleaned out -- so empty I could almost imagine the sound of flies buzzing about -- well, okay, it wasn't that empty. On the third tab, the robber was kind enough to leave us ten stacks of Roasted Clefthooves. At first it struck me as odd because we had fixed our Guild permissions somewhat after our GM left the game to take a shot at a relationship and play with his Nintendo Wii. In what order exactly, I can't be sure. He passed the mantle off to one officer who passed it to another officer who later passed it on to me. So for a while, I was GM of a Guild that wasn't quite doing anything but waiting on people to come back to the game. So imagine my shock (more like anesthetized indifference, to be honest) when I was going to deposit items into the Guild bank only to find that it had nothing. Well, nothing but those clefthooves.

Guild banks were initially intended to go live with the Burning Crusade launch. Apparently Blizzard wasn't happy with them and postponed their implementation until "a later date." That date has been confirmed by a blue on the WoW Europe forums as Patch 2.3.

According to this preview article, guild banks are designed so that every member of the guild can deposit or withdraw cash or items. Limits on transactions can be set so a new recruit doesn't walk off with all the good stuff. Also, all activity will be viewable by the guild so the guild officers can't keep the best things for themselves without everyone else knowing.

My favorite feature of the new guild bank system is the ability to use guild funds when paying for repair costs. A new button will appear on all repair NPCs and repair-bots. This function can also be set by the guild leader to work for only certain ranks within the organization.

Soon we'll be saying goodbye to the guild mules and hello to an era where guild resources are viewable, if not available, to all.

Update: we have tons more patch 2.3 info!

Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

Hello, fellow officers! For a change of pace I'm going to forgo the usual Q&A format this week. Instead, I'm going to share a few random tips that have served me well in the past. Let's jump right in, shall we?

1. Use the guild UI to keep track of your members' alts.

A lot of serious guilds don't allow alts, or only allow raiding alts. In these cases it's pretty easy to keep track of who's who. But most guilds don't restrict how many alts a player can have on the roster. Eventually you're going to wind up with one of those altaholics who is compelled to roll a character (or two) for every class. It might not seem important to keep track of all those alts, but if that player causes a big problem down the road, you'll want to know exactly which toons he or she plays. Also, it's just handy to see which main characters are available to your party or raid, assuming that player is willing to switch over.

Whenever an alt joins your guild, make sure the officer who invites them puts their main character's name in the officer's comments section of the guild UI. Assuming you've set up your ranks properly, you'll be able to see who's playing that level 12 Draenei warrior or which member is leveling up a Blood Elf paladin to help out with raids.

And speaking of ranks . . .

"Games for Windows" magazine has released an second article regarding further implementation of features post patch 2.1. Guild banks, a feature we've been begging for for years, will finally be a reality! Get ready to free up some character slots and delete those mules!

In every bank, a new NPC will appear where guild members can deposit and withdraw items. Offering potentially hundreds of storage slots, this will offer players the ability for free storage. At repair NPC's, a new button will appear allowing players to repair using guild funds rather than their own money.

Blizzard even has methods for hindering the abuse of this system. Using a tab system, guild leaders can allow certain levels of players access to certain tabs in the bank. This will prevent players from stealing and selling or transferring guild items. "But what if the guild leaders do the thieving?" Blizzard's website will track EVERY transaction, so their customer service can respond if there is a dispute.

I think this feature is a long time coming, and I'm excited to see it finally implemented. I'm not sure how it will work for those of us who have private mule characters to consolidate our auctions, funds, and storage between many different alts, but we'll see what happens.

You can read the article here.

The feedback to my first Officers' Quarters column made me realize something that was floating around in my head for a while but that I never fully acknowledged: It's usually the guild leadership that causes a guild to collapse. I don't have any hard data to prove this statement. However, from what I've seen on my server and heard about on others, the cause of a guild's demise is much more likely to be its officers than its nonofficer members.

It's obvious when you think about it: A guild's leadership defines not only the guild's rules and regulations, but its philosophy, purpose, and culture. When its purpose is to do what the GL wants and its philosophy is to do what the GL says, that is a guild headed for extinction.

From time to time I'll be bringing you a feature in addition to my weekly Monday-morning posts. Today's feature will explain how to destroy your guild in seven easy steps.

1) Invite everyone. That 10-year old warlock whose dad obviously helped him fill out the app. That warrior in Serpentshrine gear who wants to switch guilds so he can raid more. That guildless hunter who melee'd his way through the Ring of Blood quests with you. There are often many warning signs that someone may not be the right fit for you guild -- ignore them at your peril.

Recently I donated a character slot to the cause of guild management. One of our guild officers thought it was a good time to start a guild bank system, and since I had an extra character sitting around (goodbye Fela, I'll miss you) I offered my services for managing the guild bank. So we created Donations, an officious little gnome with a penchant for bureaucracy. Our system is highly organized, thanks to minds that are substantially better at these things than mine.

We built the donations system along the gold standard. Each item donated is assigned a point total based on how much gold it is worth in the auction house. I downloaded Auctioneer, and that has cut my research time in half. The guild bank accepts certain crafting supplies along with monetary donations. Any greens or blues donated are auctioned and the player is given points corresponding to the amount of money it sold for. The points are a lot like DKP, you spend them on items or gold whenever you need them. The more points you have, the more points you can spend on items donated to the guild bank, or withdraw in the form of cash should you need to pay for some hefty purchase in the future – epic flying mounts anyone?

So far the system has been pretty successful in its beta phase. Several of us, myself included, were able to save enough points for mounts for our alts. I am hoping that when Blizzard instigates its guild bank system in the future it is something that is this intuitive. I know personally I like being able to get value from items that I cannot use (exactly how much Knothide leather does an Alchemist need?), and it's important to me that we are able to provide supplies to those in the guild who need them. What are you guild bank systems like? Do you tithe, or are the donations all voluntary? And what would you like to see in the guild bank system Blizzard is proposing as an addition to the game?

Guild banks are inching closer and closer to reality. According to Enoyls in this thread, Blizzard initially planned to implement guild banks for the expansion, but that has been pushed to the back burner, and the banks will make their appearance in a post-expansion patch.

Sure, it is a little disappointing to hear that they were planned for the Burning Crusade but have since been pulled, but it is great news that they are very much on Blizzard's radar. The current system of storing items on alts works, but it is annoying...and wouldn't it be nice to have a guild bank everyone could send items to? Instead of having MiningBank or ShardVault alts?

What features would you like to see included in a guild bank? Should everyone in the guild be able to view it? Do any other MMORPGs have a well-implemented guild bank feature you'd like to see Blizzard copy?