Dying guilds

[netsike]

It's sad, but true... I tried to find my place in AoC, get some friends, but somehow the few guilds i tried were not for me. So that's why I decided to start one. I knew that it wouldn't be easy, but I never thought it will be this hard. I'm not gonna write about the details, but I'm afraid my plan to create a helpful, social-casual but also actively raiding guild has failed. I think I've done and offer all I could, well it wasn't enough obviously...

I don't want this game to die... I don't want the guilds to die, cause that's also something what makes people to play more often and not just like they log in once in a week for T4. There are several small new guilds and the big names - I think I can say that almost all of them have problems... I'm pretty sure it's because of the low population and the lack of new content. What can we do to save them? That's the question... I was thinking about maybe allowing to be in more than 1 guild could help, but I guess it's impossible (because of the game mechanics). Merging guilds? I would support it, but I don't think that anyone would come to us or would accept me as a second leader and would take all my guildies. So I have no idea anymore...

And last but not least: the guild rank bug... what you guys are "working on" (at least that's what I read last time). Please take it serious, it feels pretty bad that we won't be able to reach the next rank...

Anyway, feel free to discuss it here if you want to. I would like to read some comments/opinions.


(PM: I know the death of the guilds is normal and it happens in every game. I just wanted to know if there was any way to save some of them!)

[sugarspice]

I do not know why you are not retaining your player base, so some reasons WHY might allow us to come up with more solutions.
If your a starter guild for new players then offering successful guild raids almost every day (T1, T2 and progression T3), and help with six mans should be enough to keep most beginner guilds going.
But people will out grow the guild and move on to T3/T3.5 and T4 guilds. Its a natural progression unless you also progress your guild to those levels.
There is a guild leader thread on the forums under NPH, which does answer a lot of questions from some pretty kick ass guild leaders which also may help.
Most of all don't get discouraged, its hard to keep rebuilding a guild, but even t4 guilds have to keep rebuilding because of the lack of content, folks here one day and just don't log on anymore the next. You also need to build a team of officers and co-leaders that you trust to help fulfill the goals that you set for your guild.

[cins]

MMO genre is itself dying as people getting fed up with all the ******** that stands between them and the thing they actually want to do ingame. DotA and sons took pvpers, Minecraft and ripoffs took virtual worlders, it's only a matter of time before the pure unadulterated raiding game is invented and the last great pillar of MMO industry collapses. The slow decline you can see in every single MMO is proof of this. There's not much a guild leader can do about it.

As for nondoomandgloom talk: You're gonna have to sacrifice either friendly-casual atmosphere or raiding. They don't stick. One will eventually overshadow the other and next thing you know, your guild exploded. Also, merges are a thing. They happen between likeminded guilds sometimes but I couldn't give tips on how exactly that happens if you paid me. Alliances are also a thing. Likeminded but not that likeminded guilds band together for raiding on T3+ content. Though that has its own dangers with splitting the guilds and the general crap drama that's the staple of high end raiding everywhere.

I would suggest you stick to friendly casual atmosphere and forget about raiding. Raiding is just a ****ing headache and a few pink pixels ain't worth putting up with all the **** it takes to acquire them. You can be a relaxed and friendly guild where people hang out and generally be chill without messing things up with pointless pink pixel hunting and dumb greed for imaginary numbers.

[Belsvard]

leave the raiding for the big guilds, joing PUGs, or make alliances to fill up the raids

if your guild is small, focus on 6mans grous, most khitai content is good enough to jump to T4
of course, if your members are new to the game, they'll need to know how raiding works in AoC
t1 and t2 are great places to learn that.

Perseverance is key. good luck!

[Chaman-bourru]

Guilds dying out is also a stigmate of a game growing old. The player base isn't as dynamic and motivated as it was when discovering the game. Playing has become routine.

Building a guild from bottoms up nowadays is utterly tedious especialy if you don't have a solid bulk of players to start with. In my opinion the best way to go is to find a suitable enough for you and your friends (considering the state of the game i doubt many social guilds would refuse a few more players) and "colonise" the guild. No need to be an officer or co-leader to "build". It might seem like a rather abrubt way of proceeding but i find it to be the lest time consuming and frustrating.

[CimmerianHoX]

Guilds dying out is also a stigmate of a game growing old. The player base isn't as dynamic and motivated as it was when discovering the game. Playing has become routine.

Building a guild from bottoms up nowadays is utterly tedious especialy if you don't have a solid bulk of players to start with. In my opinion the best way to go is to find a suitable enough for you and your friends (considering the state of the game i doubt many social guilds would refuse a few more players) and "colonise" the guild. No need to be an officer or co-leader to "build". It might seem like a rather abrubt way of proceeding but i find it to be the lest time consuming and frustrating.

Everything here rings true. And you don't want just a couple people either if you want to start your own guild. You want to get to know a good number of guildless, like-minded people or people unhappy with their guilds who want to join in on your project. Usually ten active people is a good number to grow out from. I've tried to build three or four guilds over the years and they've all failed within a matter of weeks. Too many core members went inactive, turned from recruiting in person to recruiting in NPH, couldn't be on often enough myself to keep the new members interested, and the whole thing fell apart.

Keep in mind you're competing with every guild with a big city out there in order to catch new players who have never met you before. You're gonna want a lot of reasons for why they'd pick you, when there are other guilds with T3 and 80s with time to spare who'd help with getting through pre-80 dungeons at a given moment. Be active and helpful yourself and if you have money to throw, see if there's a T1 or something already made to purchase. I've never bought one myself, inherited the one city I had from old, inactive guilds with high-rankers willing to donate a city to a worthy cause.

[Aylis]

Its unfortunate your having this trouble with your guild. Without knowing the details i can only give a few ideas and comments.

If your a US guild i would say forget the idea of being a raid guild. Find or form and alliance for your guildies who want to raid. Keep in mind casual and raiding do not mesh for most NA guilds.. Euros seem to be able to turn on "hardcore" for there raids and turn if off for the other stuff. US it seems your a hardcore raider or your not. Also alot of rpers just dont raid. The last RP raid alliance i know of as i was an officer in it died a couple yrs ago when the leader got sick. So if your rp friendly expect some of those rpers just not want to raid.

Stay casual and friendly. Concentrate on 6 mans and building a core group and finding some like minded ppl who want to do that kinda stuff. Dont keep with the same stuff. Try harder 6 mans now and then and dont be affriad to wipe. My 1st guild was small and we did the hard stuff and wiped alot but we got better. Keep trying to recruit and keep in mind not everyone you do recruit will stay. And try to form or join an alliance for raids. If you form an alliance obviously guildies will get in 1st. If you join 1 then it could be 1st come 1st served or whatever is needed.

Finally if it does "die" leave a toon in it and move other characters on. I have my own guild where i keep some of my toons and i have my main raider in RA for raids. It works for me.

[Karla]

I have to agree with Aylis. In the US, it seems like you are either a hardcore raider or not. In the early days, a lot of smaller guilds made alliances that allowed their guildies to join in the limited amount of raiding available and they mentored new players. Typically, those guilds could not hang onto some of the players that reached 80 and who wanted the prestige of a larger raiding guild. There is nothing wrong with either, but I saw small guilds break apart as they tried to hold onto these new 80s. I think that there is a place for small guilds that are essentially "starter" guilds that assist players in their growth. Some players will stay in the starter guild and support it, others will move on. However, I think that any guild needs a clear and realistic expectation of what they are going to be, and they need to retain that expectation.

At least this way, people have an option to grow (guild leaders, new players, and future guild leaders) and people can explore content.

[MajorAppleSauce]

This smells like another "This game is dying thread"

The game's not dying ... that is all.

Guilds are "no easy" If you don't have the leadership in place that can put in the time, it is difficult to keep up. There are many out there that just want to play and not have to worry about running anything (which you cannot blame them for). For any guild to be successful there are two main elements that need to be present ... time and payoff.

If there is no time to lead and organize, you will fail.

If there is no payoff for members or leadership, you will fail.

No different than small businesses vs larger ones. It's convenient for many to shop at the walmart, its massive...easy...etc. Nevermind that the quality maybe lacking there is plenty to invest time into it and there is a payoff in the end. No different than with larger guilds vs smaller ones.

[raist718]

This smells like another "This game is dying thread"

The game's not dying ... that is all.

Guilds are "no easy" If you don't have the leadership in place that can put in the time, it is difficult to keep up. There are many out there that just want to play and not have to worry about running anything (which you cannot blame them for). For any guild to be successful there are two main elements that need to be present ... time and payoff.

If there is no time to lead and organize, you will fail.

If there is no payoff for members or leadership, you will fail.

No different than small businesses vs larger ones. It's convenient for many to shop at the walmart, its massive...easy...etc. Nevermind that the quality maybe lacking there is plenty to invest time into it and there is a payoff in the end. No different than with larger guilds vs smaller ones.

your right it is not dying, it is dead