Comments on: The changing role of guilds in WoW

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:54:42 +0000

I have been using LFG nonstop, but the one time I used it with 3 guildies and a pug tank it was successful but… not as successful or fun as some of my pure pugs. I guess that just speaks volumes about my guild. I hope that I’m in the minority there. I would hope that most people are guilded with people they prefer to play with.

By the way, I hear that you can form a full group of 5 guildies and still use random LFG for instant teleportation and bonus badges. FTW!

By: Kring

Kring — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:14:52 +0000

Two reasons.

a) If you sign up 15 minutes before lunch, a tank will actually get a group. DD (and Heal) probably not. At least not in my pool.

b) As DD you can improve and do more DPS. Heal can improve and get a better mana reg (not needing mana breaks). The only way a tank can improve is by making the run faster.

By: weenie

weenie — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:48:19 +0000

3.3 seems to have strengthened our guild to be honest – the ease that emblems of triumph can be collected has meant that many 80s have become better geared so we’ve been able to do say ToC10 as a guild, instead of having to pug. FYI, we’re a social guild that occasionally raids, usually once a week. Seems to suit our members.

I’ve had some fun pugs since 3.3, but some haven’t been so fun, eg rudeness, namecalling, spamming of Recount and players not knowing how to play their class. And why are pug tanks always in a rush? “I only got 15 mins then got to eat” they say, so they rush, they pull too many mobs and the healer still hasn’t had the MB he asked for after the last fight, we wipe. Yes, even in Utgarde Keep…

Guild random runs are best – fun, quick and no hassle!

By: PUGging Away « Joel's Scattered Thoughts

PUGging Away « Joel's Scattered Thoughts — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:56:55 +0000

[...] number of people have commented that the Dungeon Finder makes WoW even more solo-friendly. This will doubtless affect the role of guilds. I’m still waiting to see how it all plays [...]

By: Kring

Kring — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:34:56 +0000

Whenever I see a person without a guild, my first reaction is: “What’s wrong with him? Is he such a dick that no one is willing to have him in his guild?”

I think a guild tag will still be helpful because it gives the impression that other people think that this person is at least tolerable.

Plus, it protects you from the “would you like to join my guild?” whispers.

By: Brian Inman

Brian Inman — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:13:35 +0000

I have never been a real fan of guilds. It always involves way too many politics, and sucking up to the guild leader, and officers.

I have to do enough of that in my real life job, and I shouldn’t have to do it while playing a game.

It never fails that guilds most of the time aren’t flexible. You are either a pvp guild, pve guild, hardcore, casual, etc. You can never do some of each.

I like the idea that it is going to change the way guilds operate. It was almost to the point of forced guilding to accomplish anything, and now everyone can.

By: ZachPruckowski

ZachPruckowski — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:13:07 +0000

There will be plenty of non-easy content come Jan-March, when we get the rest of ICC and hard mode ICC. If Christmas wasn’t “in the way”, we’d be seeing that stuff even sooner. And I don’t think anyone outside of Ensidia-level guilds will have hard-mode Arthas down within the first few weeks, so it’ll be enough content for most people to last until Cataclysm.

By: Scarybooster

Scarybooster — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:05:30 +0000

I think big guild will still be needed for progression and weekly random raids, but smaller friend guilds will have a chance to survive. I think the new system will make the game easier to get bored. And where does Cataclysm fit in all this gear progression? The game is getting too easy and people are going to get bored faster. Cataclysm will be the drop off if subscriptions about 3 months after.

They are walking fine line of ease and bordom

By: Dblade

Dblade — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:09:10 +0000

In FFXI you can belong to as many linkshells as you like. You just equip a different one. The only problem is that. You can’t listen to them together at the same time. If they fixed that allowing multiple pearls equipped, you could very well get your multi-guild system.

I think spinks is right. Grouping is just too inconvienent now. What worked in the earlier days with a small, homogenous community with a lot of disposable time simply can’t on a more diverse, mass market one.

By: Brian 'Psychochild' Green

Brian 'Psychochild' Green — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:58:50 +0000

There’s a schism between “social” guilds and the more hardcore (“raiding”) guilds in most games. It’s a choice between playing with your friends and playing with people who are interested in advancing to the highest levels in the game; I always thought this choice sucked.

I thought the best way to handle this seemed obvious: Let characters belong to more than one guild. Have two different groups of friends who have guilds in the game and want to raid? If you can just join all three guilds, not a problem. Of course, there are some potential support issues: people who join too many guilds then get overwhelmed, or guilds that have strict requirements that you can only belong to them and no other guilds, etc. But, the requirement to only belong to one guild always seemed artificial to me, a holdover from tradition from previous games.

Spinks wrote:
…it was the lack of confidence that some of the pro-grouping guys have in the mass appeal of their gameplay.

Part of the problem is that grouping has gotten a bad name for several years now. Admitting you like grouping is kind of like admitting that you believe in global warming to a group of political conservatives. I don’t think it’s so much confidence as poor PR trying to convince people that it’s really not all that bad. After half a decade of soloers first laughing about how stupid groupers are and then screaming bloody murder every time someone suggests that grouping might not be the worst thing possible, there are a lot of dispirited people who just prefer playing with others in a game.