Prevent guild membership till level 17/Guild coins

[lordloocan]

We have all seen the daily ritual of new players, many in single figure levels, coming onto global-1 and asking how they can join a forum. This then involves MOD's messaging that guild recruitment is on forum, click guild shield etc, by which time they have received several guild invites anyway. The same happens even if they do not have a guild tag.

I would like to suggest is two things:

1. Players are cannot join a guild until they are level 17.

This means that they have to learn the core skills of the game properly, learn to be more self-sufficient, and not simply become a dormant account sitting in a guild so that the guild members gain free guild coins from them. It means that questions on help chat will be more openly answered making newer players more generally welcomed, rather than the often heard 'why don't you ask in the guild?' hence they would be more likely to stay in the game long term.

2. Players in guilds who are inactive at the start of a guild quest should not count towards the guild coins to be paid to guild members.

The present arrangement encourages guilds to grab players to get as many members as possible. They do not care if those players progress or not, it is merely a case of packing the members in. Why? Simple, the number of guild coins paid out at present depends on guild membership total not the number of active members. So there are guild of 80 to 100 members with large numbers of dead accounts who get a nice pay-out when the few active players complete the guild quest. They may need say 35/50 for the quest to complete but they are then paid guild coins on the basis of 100 members.

What I hope is that by making these two changes we stop the current vicious cycle of new players joining, being dragged into a non-supportive guild, quitting and thus rewarding the very players who led to them quitting.

[jip1976]

Great idea will save newbies from making a massive mistake and quitting the game early and a certain guild from preying upon them

[dahmmy]

know any good guilds?

[lordloocan]

There are loads of good guilds out there dahmmy. But new players need time to find which they are rather than the current grab fest we have.

[Alsh]

I think this is a great idea! We probably all know of guilds who "pounce" on newbies the moment they ask for help or friends in G1. This would allow new players to gain some experience in the game and actually know what it is they are accepting. How many times have we seen newbies ask what a guild is or how it works- when they already have a guild tag?

So many new players must leave the game due to a bad guild experience, thinking that they are all like that. There are so many good guilds out there but a few not so good ones are ruining the TSO experience for a good number of players (BB, read that as "gem buyers"). So BB lose money, we lose the potential for good players and the server loses out, generally- all because of the greed of a few who will spam unguilded players just to get their membership up.

I would even go so far as to suggest the possibility of removing the ability to invite/apply to a guild from the game altogether, and only having it possible from the forum. Maybe with an auto mail to the leader of a guild every time they get an application from the forum. This would mean that players would be more likely t obe properly informed of what guilds offer and demand from their members.

Either way, not being able to join (and also not being able to build a guild house) until the tutorial is finished is a great idea that can only benefit players. I fully support it!

[Tiamatini]

Really good idea.

People should finish the tutorial before they join a guild, find out what sort of player they are and which guild would suit them best. Guilds shouldn't be able to pounce on new players who have no real idea what they're doing yet, and all too often those players get abandoned or ignored by their new guild, and, as Alsh said, probably get disillusioned thinking that all guilds are the same. I can't see a downside to preventing entry til L17...

[Bluesavanah]

point 1 I'll agree with the same guilds on the 2 servers I play on (Sandycove and Northisle) are repeatedly guilty of rounding up every new player they see and to a large extent ignore them once they are in. This I feel has a detrimental effect on player retention.

As for point 2 sounds somewhat like sour grapes and doesn't effect anyone's game play in the slightest. I suppose in theory once a player has been offline for a long period there might be a case for deleting the account but variables such as real life money invested in the game come into play.

[Mortallicus]

I agree unsolicited friend and guild invites should not be allowed and I have bought this up on other threads. But I would say that I have found only two Guilds ever sent my members invites and they were both connected. What they do in G1 and help I am not sure.

1. Joining a Guild at level 17

I think this is a bit high maybe. I think it should be when they can build a Trade Office. But a cap would be good. I have taken on players in the last couple of weeks from level 12 that have levelled up nicely and are thoroughly enjoying the game.

I think there are many very very good guilds who spend a lot of time helping low levels and actually encourage them to keep playing the game. I have seen players in help to my astonishment say to others "go and ask your guild" and this is appalling and reflects very badly on those that say it The Help tab is just that a place where anyone can ask for Help. Bear in mind that you can start a guild at a low level it is entirely feasible that they may need information.

I think what stops a lot of people continuing to play the game are the few very rude people in G1 and Help. Also the negative comments about the game. This is the front of House.

2. Inactive Members in Guilds

The present arrangement encourages guilds to grab up to 10 members only. It is then possible for that guild to earn more guild coins than a larger guild with adventures to do. As the quests can easily completed in one day. Many larger guilds take 3 or more days to complete. (There are always exceptions).

Where you get the idea that guilds dont care if their members progress or not I really do not know , there are excellent guilds who care very much.

I also think that dead wood actually harms a guild and when that happens active members are annoyed that they are doing the quests for the 'dead wood' to then get guild coins. All guilds surely want active, chatty members.

I also think you are vastly overstating the problems , very few guilds do as you suggest. But what I have seen are members of guilds falsely naming and shaming other guilds in G1 and help and to what end just to be nasty or to make themselves look better than they are who knows. Any guild this happens to I suggest take screen shots as I do.

[SeaBee1964]

I definitely approve of the minimum level rule, though personally I would set it at 20, that way the player has progressed past the tutorial stage and has shown a degree of self sufficiency and staying power.

With regards to inactive players all four guilds I have been in had weekly roll calls and you got booted if you didn't reply but I do see the problem where a coin hungry guild could harvest new members purely for the hike in payout. The other option would be to make the completion requirement reflect the total number of guild members not the total of active members. In this way a guild with 100 members would need at least 80 to complete the GQ to get any payout at all. This would encourage those with high levels of inactive members to boot them out. This would then force the payouts down.

[corona88]

no, low level not means bad player


only rule for guild invite must be friend list.
if you want invite someone, that player must be on your friend list