What happens to the guildless?

I disagree. The only part of this game which requires a guild is PvP for the ladder and events. I too created a guild of one just to stop all the random blind invites when Im in pug's or towns. I don't think people will be required to join a guild for the event, but you probly will have to pick an aliance.

Many of the problems in this thread could be solved with a few changes such a built in guild info page that keeps stats on actual number of players/amount of time in game per player/rank/exp/self info page/etc.

Be considertic to other ppl

Well yes, the only part that currently requires a guild is GvG. But that doesn't mean that Anet can't or won't put in content for guilds only. As was said, the game is called Guild Wars and expanding on that theme shouldn't be unexpected.


There's also the fact that many, many complaints on this forum, among others, could be very much solved by people simply trying to form or join a guild. Perhaps Anet has simply decided it's time they more actively encourage guild groupings in a more pro-active manner in order to alleviate the unhappiness of current players that have problems in PuGs.

Again, this is not to say this is the way it's going to be or that I'm not sympathetic towards those that are guildless. I just don't think people should be surprised or disappointed if/when high end content is not available to them solely because they are not in a guild.

I think a lot of people here, myself included, were not complaining about missing out on a little action. I was simply stating why some people do not join a guild.

As the name implies, this game is about guilds, and if I had the time I would gladly join a guild. As it is, I am content playing in PuGs and with friends that I have.

How about because he and hundreds like him, payed the same money for this game as you? You'll be surprised how many people out there are guildless, and if the game will be geared ONLY towards people in guilds, then there will be this much less guildless people buying the future expantions. I dont think
Anet would be interested in loosing all those potential buyers.
You have to understand that just because someone cant contribute much to his guild due to a busy lifestyle, doesnt mean he has no place in Guild Wars.

Most importantly, when I bought Guild Wars, I didnt see a sticker saying: "DESIGNED ONLY FOR PEOPLE IN GUILDS" anywhere on the box.

I understood your point, Boots. Apologies if it came off as criticizing you. I tried to use your post as more of a jumping off point to a reply that was more generalized.


I stand by what I said. I don't understand how someone could not see how being in a guild in a game called Guild Wars as not advantageous.

I can't believe there are other people like me that created a guild with only them in it so others would leave them alone. We should combine into one guild just to be stronger but let everyone do there own thing. You wanna solo, do it. You want help from guildies ask and see if anyone wants to help. Just make it so there is no pressure to do or not do anything. That is the guild I want!

well if you need a guild, and are a noob or a pro, we are recruiting
Fierce Alliance HQ aka Bring Back the Smites... 2 guilds
one is for Pro Ladder battles, and the other is a good gvg/ pvp / pve guild that does alot
vent server, and lots of R3-6 players

visit us at www.teamfahq.com

Good Luck
and for gods sake, why play guild wars without a guild?
you wouldnt play monopoly without the little lead car would ya, lol

I may be reading the FAQ wrong but, I remember there was a part where they were explaining how Faction is going to work. Like lines on a map, certain areas will be open to people who side with one "country" or another. Once a day the servers will adjust the lines to reflect towns/outposts/mission spawns/"what have you" that your country (ingame instead of real world now) has taken through PvP content, assisted by mission completion by PvEers. Like UW on a larger scale, though you are not part of the guild that actually opened the--lets say farm--to your "country" you will have access because you are allied with them, as a "soldier in service to country X". Otherwise, Elite missions would be locked out to all but a few hundred people and their guilds in a game that has sold millions of copies.

In short: good guild, bad guild or no guild at all, I think everyone will get to play everything. But thats just my interpretation of the FAQ.

EDIT: BTW, my guild needs me a lot more than I need them these days (and they don't like to RP; which bites), so I know where some of this comes from. People outgrow guilds, or get tired of the constant favors from guildies who don't want to do for themselves/have the time to build their characters to their fullest (lesss complaint from me on the latter). As for griefers, bashers, n00bs and napoleon; a good Guild Leader can nerf that in the bud with a quickness, and should. Being RL friends with the Guild Leader doesn not reserve you the right to act like a jerk to Guild members who aren't, and favortism by a Guild Leader is a swift means to lose his best players.

Replayability to a large extent, is due to friends being made within the game. In a business sense, they'd rather encourage people to join guilds.. so they make friends.. so they continue to buy games. The people who interact with nobody and just do their own thing have much less incentive to continue playing. It's harder to stop playing a game when you have friends that you play with.

There's a very small part of the game that requires a guild, although it helps with a lot of things. If they continue to add more guild only content, that will still be a very small part of the whole package.

Think of it as added content.. nothing was taken away from you, and if you want to participate in guild only content.. join a guild. The content is going to be geared towards groups of people anyway. So even if it was open to you, it wouldn't be your thing obviously. So what's the problem here?

Now that scares the SH*T outta me. Forcing people into guilds is no better than forcing people into marriage at the point fo a shotgun. "I have to be with a group or I can't do this?" For the very reason the guildless exist now, they would leave in droves if there was forced guild content. By the same token, where do you think all these bad people would go? The Griefers, the n00bs, the napoleons would become even more the leechers that they are now, since you have to be in a guild with them.

Imagine if every guildless person suddenly started spamming you in game "Can I join your guild?" LFG, no longer looking for Group, but looking for Guild. Worse still, guilds becomeing a necessity for people, so guild membership becomes a commodity. "You want to join my guild? We'll need 2k in advance and another 1 k every month from non-RL friends please. Don't want to pay? The i guess you don't need this farm that bad after all.../ignore."

Try this. Theres a sudden invasion of griefers into your own guild, good that it is. Use the RL friends to your Guild Leader example I gave before if you say it can't happen.

They aren't going anywhere. What do you do? Do you suck it up, keep playing with this suddenly bad guild full of jerks and noobs who only want you to powerlevel them, give them items or buy items from them? If you leave, you lose access to content, not through your own fault, but because your guild turned to crud. If you stay, you stay with a cruddy guild that can't handle upper tier content anyway, so you're doubly screwed. "Well, I can leave this guild at any time," you say. "I'll get invites all the time if I don't have a guild suffix attached to my name." But what guarantee do you have that that guild will not be infested/will become infested with the same problem?

Suddenly you become a guild nomad, staying in a guild just long enough to get what you want of them and get out, i.e one of the people that so many of us dispise. The alternative is to become a workhorse, used and used up by a guild you don't like until they grow tired of you/kick you out or you become so fed up with the guild politic that you stop playing the game.

Before anyone else throws out the "Just join a guild already" argument, put yourselves into their shoes. You can't say for certain you won't be walking the same road some day.

I think the guildless are fine with groups of people, they just have a problem with attachments to a specific group. Good point though.

Seems I have a talent for getting into 10-year-old gangbang guilds

Then start using your wits, and start looking for a guild that has an age requirement.
Pick your guild carefully, and make sure there is a match with what you expect from the game and what the guild does.

~ Makk.

Well, it's been a concern of mine. I'm in a guild, but it's a small family guild that I'm kind of stuck in. Since Anet has been all about balance and fairness, I'm hoping it plays itself out so everyone is happy.

I too have been concerned about the need to be in a guild to really enjoy Factions, and am glad to see this discussion about it.

My experience with guilds so far, with the exception of a few really great people, hasn't been so hot. Often I'll get invited into a supposedly "mature" guild and give it a try, but I've yet to find a good fit.

Here's what I've encountered:

- Most guilds are looking for "active" members, which seems to translate to "I'm online three to five days a week" with little tolerance for those who have real lives and family/work schedules.

- All of the guilds I've been in advertised themselves as being mature, yet ended up having a lot of unnecessary drama going on behind the scenes.

- It's very difficult to find support for those who are wanting to really RP, even when the guild encourages PvE.

- Many guildies treat GW as if it were a competitive team sports league, and take PvP way too seriously. Guilds can easily become a petri dish for control freaks and "napoleon" wannabes. While there are many benefits to having rules and a militaristic hierarchy, without good leadership it simply becomes an avenue for abuse and powertripping.

- Teamspeak as a requirement... talk about blowing the RP mood. While it certainly could help in GvG, my actual experience with TS is that it's simply an easy way for control freaks to boss others around, argue with each other and yell at members.

Anyway, I hope that Factions doesn't require us to be in a guild to enjoy it. Or if it does, that I'll find a guild which is a little more relaxed.

I was part of a pretty good guild that moved up to rank 100-something, but then we all got sick of a few of the people in it who wouldn't leave or leave us alone, so we all pretty much dissapeared. Following that, I joined a SomethingAwful guild, but we never did anything so I left... then I met a girl who plays Guild Wars so in the name of cuteness, we've created our own guild that only her and I are a part of.

I imagine that once Factions gets rolling, I'll have an undying need to GvG.

Yea, this is EXACTLY the thing I was talking about earlier.

To be honest, that guild I was a part of that exploded enforced the use of a 50-person Ventrilo server, which worked more than not having one at all because it made it a lot easier when GvGing. I guess it all depends on who is running the show...most of the people who'd be leading our groups would demand a lot out of us but then would have a reason or purpose for everything, and if we listened, we'd win.

I feel sad for all who have had negative experiences with guilds, and understand those who wish to remain guildless.

As a guild leader I can tell you it takes a lot of effort to mantain a quality guild. Choosing officers based on helpfulness and contirbutions in time to helping others, establishing a charter, weeding out the griefers and scammers, and finding new quality members.

To those looking for a good match in a guild, I hope you find it. To those wishing to remain guildless, enjoy the game as you wish.

Peace

Thank you.

Ya guild drama is a kill joy at sometimes.