We’ve discussed guilds before a few times on the forums, and I thought I’d update you on where we are.
What I’m outlining here is our ambition for the core Guild features, but there are more features we would like to add later which I will mention in the “Extras” section at the end.
Headlines
Guilds exist to help players to collaborate in the game, and provide a framework for competition between Guilds.
Guilds are versatile – they allow small groups of friends to work together on a build, as well as many players fighting, trading, crafting and building together on a large scale.
Each character in a Guild can be given one or more “Privileges” (see section below).
Guilds have their own totals of Beacon plots and Coin, and can control their own beacons.
Guilds can have Beacon plots, Coin and Items donated by their members. In the future they could earn them directly (see “Extras” section below).
Guilds can have “Factions” to set up more complex sets of permissions (see section below).
Privileges
Guild members can be given any number of the following privileges:
Builder (can add and remove non-interactive blocks and props)
Worker (can interact with things)
Master of Beacons (can add and extend beacons for the guild)
Master of Coin (can distribute coins from the guild’s reserves)
Master of Citizens (can add/remove Builder and Worker privileges)
Captain (can add/remove Builder, Worker and all the Master privileges)
Overseer (can add/remove all the other privileges, but cannot remove another Overseers)
Factions
Factions are Guilds within Guilds, and work in much the same way.
Characters can be members of any number of a Guild’s factions, and / or the parent Guild.
Factions have their own beacon plot and coin amounts, and can control their own beacons separate from the parent Guild.
Privileges for the parent Guild allow access to the Factions (e.g. Master of Coin in the parent Guild can transfer money in and out of the Factions).
Factions are used to set up more complex permissions. For example:
Have an HQ with a storage facility that only members of the parent Guild can access for the most valuable loot, and less trusted members are all in Factions.
Set-up separate Factions for mining, hunting and crafting groups each with their own resources.
Have a newbie Faction for those yet to prove themselves.
Joining and Leaving
Characters can be in as many Guilds as they like.
Characters can nominate one of their Guilds as their Primary Guild, which shows up on their character profile, and may benefit the Guild and the character in some way (see “Extras” section below).
Characters can request to join a Guild, and anyone in that Guild with Master of Citizen, Captain or Overseer privileges can grant them access.
Characters can leave a Guild when they choose, but they forfeit any Items, Beacon plots, Coin and time that they have put into the Guild.
A Character can be kicked out of a Guild by anyone with the relevant Privileges, but only after they have been given back any Beacon plots they have previously donated. Any Coin and Items previously donated are forfeited.
Extras
These are features, that we would like to do, but how or if they fit into the release schedule is to be determined:
Guilds producing a unique emblem using the Glyph system to represent themselves.
We would like Guilds to be able to “level up” and gain their own Beacon plots and Coin using special Guild Objectives.
Setting a Guild as a Primary Guild, could give the character a gameplay benefit chosen by the the Guild Overseer, and possibly related to progression / levelling up.
A Guild could benefit from having certain numbers of characters who have designated the Guild as being their “Primary Guild”, possibly related to progression / levelling up.
We are currently using the term “Guild” to cover any kind of group that you might want to be in, and the term “Primary Guild” to mean the Guild you are most closely affiliated with. What do you think of these names?
thats cool and all but keep the solo players in mind.
not everyone wants to play with others. i like doing my own thing, and i shouldnt be penalized by the game for it.
not being able to do all jobs efficiently on our own seems kinda uncool. I am not the type of player to want or rely on others in my personal projects be it in game or in real life.
please consider those of us who may not want to join a guild
thinking about it for a minute,
the reason i am not so interested in the guilds idea here in boundless is mostly because i dont want to live in a city of players, right next to someones builds or a large collection of them. in a game like this i like to have a little bit of space between me and the next persons construction. i like to have total control over what im building and dont want to infringe on anyone elses opportunity to have the same.
i hope that players like myself who may not want to be a part of a large collaboration dont suffer in some way, and in fact it would be cool if players could declare themselves a solo player, rogue or something… and while they may not get the benefits of the guild-life perhaps get some alternative effect in game.
I think the benefits of focusing on one task is good as it needs to be right now. Solo play is good, maybe I can be improved, I don’t know how. But in my opinion there exists enough incentive to specialize in one task, no need to limit jobs, or give more benefits to people only doing job in my opinion.
looks like core ideas are sound - looking forward to it, although I’m a solo player most of the time myself, just like T4LCOMX; I hope both sets of players (guild lovers and loners) find enough space in game and enough growing opportunities:sunglasses:
It looks as of a great many of the original concerns about guilds have been resolved here. I particularly like the factions within a guild and the extra about primary guild benefits.
I have a handful of thoughts regarding this. Primarily, as a “rogue player” what if you set up a one-man guild for yourself, calling yourself what ever suits you, and raise your individual professions and guild bonuses yourself? Secondly, by not being a part of a colaborative effort, you will inherently always be at a disadvantage. I don’t think it’s fair to those who work together for a solo player to receive a boost of any sort to match the perks they had to work together toward achieving. Thirdly, is it really a “punishment” to solo players if they elect to not join a guild? Why do solo players deserve alternate benefits, and wouldn’t joining a guild remove these benefits? Wouldn’t that then technically punish a person for joining a guild?
This has long been a design goal. The game is intended to be social. If you choose to play solo, that’s your choice, but even hermits have to sometimes trade for supplies.
(Not saying your feedback isn’t welcome, just stating what the devs have stated several times over the last year or so)
My main concern here is if professions remain capped / the only way to get plots. Then people are going to have to be really careful about donating plots. Especially if a guild becomes inactive (as they tend to) and you’re the only one left but you don’t have permissions to get your plots back so you’re kinda stuck.
I think the devs intend the whole “relying on others” bit to be part of the full game though. I’m not sure you can avoid part of the game and then say it’s impossible to experience the full game b/c you’re explicitly avoiding that part of it.
Again, just arguing from their perspective. I’m an MMO player myself but MMOs these days hardly ever make you lean on others too much so I have mixed feelings on the topic. Implemented well it will be really cool. Implemented poorly it could be a nightmare.
What you are discussing is not guild mechanics but whether or not people should be forced to specialize, specialization is not a guild bound thing and is something independent players can enjoy too.
The existence of guilds is to allow easier cooperation the guild mechanics themselves are not enforcing it.