Guilds, Groups and Gangs of Friends

For many of us the best part of an MMORPG is the ability to play with friends. Whether it’s investigating mysterious dungeons for hidden treasure, riding onto the battlefield to face other players in combat, or organising celebrations and other events, some of our best in-game experiences are when we’re together. Guilds are an extension of this group play, providing various tools to regularly create more awesome moments.

With guilds being so important to an MMORPG, it was no surprise to see that they were central theme of last week’s WildStar Uplink. In the Facebook-based discussion, Carbine asked what we’d like to see from the perfect set of guild tools. There were three central themes: Identity (making the guild look and feel unique), Organization (supporting guild management), and Communication (helping members stay in contact).

A lot of the classic guild staples came out of the discussion, from having a couple of guild-only chat channels through to an in-game calendar to help organize events. There were also requests for roster lists and a way to help find members with particular professions. Several of these are now standard, although you can mitigate some by having great commuication. For example, it’s usually easier to ask guildmates if any of them can craft a hyper-coil reflector array instead of hunting through a deep interface.

That aside, what can Wildstar add to the mix? Tabards, banners and battle standards are a little old-hat these days, so how can Carbine pull things into the futuristic world of Nexus?

How about a guild patch that you can stitch onto your character’s clothing? Something that could be put on either your jacket or your pants, depending on what race you’re playing and your current equipment set. It’s something that’s a little more fun, and it helps to show off more of that hard-earned gear.

You could also add holoprojectors of different sizes and colours, all set to display your guild’s crest or logo. If you want to let people know where you are and, more importantly, who you are, then a holoprojector is the way to go. Banners are for cavemen!

Looking to customize that sweet, sweet plasma bike you’ve just bought? How about a decal of your guild’s emblem, pre-weathered to make it look like you rode through the heart of Nexus and back, just to get to the guild meeting!

Speaking of guild meetings, there’s one final theme that came up during the discussion that falls into the ‘Other’ category; guild halls and guild housing. I’ll be honest with you: I’ve never been a fan of the idea. When they start out, they’re awesome, but if a guild falls into decline, then the guild hall becomes a permanent reminder of it. There’s nothing worse than seeing row after row of discarded property, all hoping that one day the guild will return to reclaim it.

But who said it had to be a house?

In orbit near Nexus is a giant spacecraft known as the Ark Ship. It’s currently believed that the Ark is how players reach Nexus, although getting from the orbiting leviathan to the planet’s surface is probably no easy task. But what’s to say that it’s the only ship out there? Why not let a guild with enough resources build their own? After all, there’s plenty of space in... Space!

Once built, guilds could then kit out their ships with all manner of equipment. Shared vault space (with optional teleportation vortex) for stockpiling all those materials. Databanks and terminals for sharing all that precious lore you discover. Advanced laboratories and workshops for crafting items without the restrictions of gravity or atmospherics. Maybe even a meeting hall decorated with all those trophies the guild has earned.

Whatever emerges in Wildstar, it’s clear that Carbine is interested in supporting guilds, ranging from covering the basics all the way to exploring what can be done to make them even better. So whether you’re joining a guild to raid, to do PvP, or just to hang out with friends, it’s likely there’s going to be something for you on Nexus.

Gareth "Gazimoff" Harmer, Staff Writer