[slowalrus]

Back after about 8 months (love the game, RL and social life preclude any free time over the temperate months). This is the only MMO I have ever played.

PUGs seems pretty difficult compared to last year. Big issue when I left was getting the right level/mix, heck, now it is even impossible to get a response at all.

One of the issues seems to be a stratified player base, with most players at the 80/playing-alts stage in well established guilds.

Personally, I would like to join a startup guild. Or start my own guild. I would like to be an architect, building everything from scratch.

Can the user base support this? Or, are there any guilds out there just starting up?

Thanks (Sotram in game, 34 DT)

[Varkarian]

I would be weary of trying to start one up at the moment. Most of the larger guilds themselves are struggling with numbers. There just aren't as many players around as there were 8 months ago.

Of course, if you really want to you should. My simple and honest answer to your question though is no. It will be really hard to ever get to a t3 city and even recruit enough people so that your guild doesn't feel empty.

Sorry if that sounded overly negative, but you should know the truth up front if you are concerned about it.

[February]

i would honestly say that starting a brand new guild, especially hoping to recruit newer players, would probably be a struggle right now. as vark mentioned, even those of us who have spent the last year with lots of members are suddenly finding ourselves having to rebuild our own player bases...

i'm not saying you shouldn't try, just pointing out that it isn't a great season for it. you may have luck building a guild up if you look for 80s who are looking to level alts in a different environment (rprs might be good for this) - but new players are snagged pretty quickly right now.

[slowalrus]

Thanks for the replies, I do trust your evaluations.

But, grouping aside, I really have a hankering for the architect craft. Gathering and building sounds fun and really fits in with my solo explorer personality (grinding resources, baby!!!). Other than asking alts to temporarily join the guild to reserve a space, what other options would I have?

Sometime last year, on Cimeria, there was a rumor of a toon that single handedly crafted a T3 city. I believe she actually did a siege one time. Not sure whatever happened with that.

[Prima]

Here's my manifesto about small/new guilds, written during a lull like this a year ago: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=173591

This game seems designed with the assumption that guilds will average at least 50 active members. You can see this in lots of ways; e.g.:

• the siege requirements (48 per side);
• polls like this one;
• the upcoming Renown system, which tries to help "smaller" guilds by capping the number of contributors at -- you guessed it -- 50.

While many (all?) AoC guilds survive with fewer actives than that, most don't, esp during content lulls like now that hurt raid alliances, PuGs, and PVP. The game just isn't oriented toward them.

If you still really want a new guild: find a niche (RP, movie-making, prebalanced PVP, etc.), come up with an original but non-stupid name, and use correct spelling in your guild ads.

If you just want to be an architect, your better bet might be to find a medium/large guild that needs one.

[Mabus]

Nice article prima, that really sums it up!

But yeah, not to rain on your parade but I do not think it is possible for a new startup guild to succeed. The guild that have battlekeeps, full t3 cities, and the leadership and strats to clear all of tier 2 are ALL still hurting for numbers and commitments. With what everyone has to offer, and the fact that they are still struggling, I don't think a fledgling guild would have much of a chance.

[DregTheFlat]

That *is* a very well written article Prima. I take it you're an irl writer of some sort, or at least as a not insignificant sub-skill of what you do.

[AthyrBast]

Currently architect is a pretty useless profession. Each guild only needs one (usually the guild leader). It's also BY FAR the most expensive and time consuming profession to master. Since all the guilds already have their architects you also wont be selling any of your wares on the auction house unless you're selling parts for less than the raw resources go for.

My advice is to just join one of those guilds that indiscriminately invites anyone to their gild like Dark Fury and get a feel for the game before you make any big decisions about starting your own guild.

[RufusSondheim]

Multiple architects are useful in a PVP guild.

[Swordborn]

As has been stated even the "bigger" guilds are now hurting for players. The lack of new raid content and the buggy sieging for so long has killed numbers. Here is to hoping t3 brings everyone back.