The Tyrian Chronicle: Building Better Guilds .

Welcome back for another issue of MMOGames’ weekly Guild Wars column, The Tyrian Chronicle. Last week, in the first issue, we discussed the release of the Living Story’s second Season of content and the Gates of Maguuma episode. A lot happened for the Living Story, including the release of a new zone and a brand new way of playing Living Story content in and of itself. For this column’s second entry, we will discuss the guild system from a broad sense, then go into detail about certain areas that could be improved.

Let me preface the rest of this column by explaining that, while I have been both a high-ranking and low-ranking member in guilds within this and many other games, I am far from a dedicated guild player. I play a lot in small groups with friends, play by myself, and just generally mix up my play time in lots of ways. Perhaps some of my recommendations will be considered bad ideas by those that engage in guild content more, so feel free to let your voice be heard down in the comments if that’s the case.

In The Early Days

Back in the beginning – beta, headstart, and opening months specifically – the guild system was far from advanced. While it made some improvements over this time, once the game had been out for a solid few months a lot of what’s currently in the game didn’t even exist. Despite the name of the game being Guild Wars, it played an awful lot like a game that wasn’t sure what it wanted to do with its guild system.

I fondly remember when the guild I founded before the launch of the game did it’s first big event together: fighting the Shatterer. A group of us got together, many of which were on voice chat, as the then seemingly large dragon swooped down to do battle with us all. Several dozen other people were present, as the amount of projectiles streaking the sky seemed unreal. This was the next-generation of MMOs, finally.

After the honeymoon period wore off though, things started to settle in. Despite the fact that Guild Wars 2’s predecessor already had real dedicated guild battles and massive guild keeps, Guild Wars 2 was utilizing an archaic system by comparison. Once we could finally get weapons and armor that featured our symbol emblazoned across and started taking over outposts in World vs World with our banner hanging from the rafters, our fun was at an all-time high.

Creating a Community

After the launch issues got ironed out and the game had been around for a while, content releases started getting more frequent. As those started to pick up, new features soon followed. Finally guilds were getting what felt like a purpose – guild missions. You could save up the experience points earned with your guild to purchase upgrades to use in battle, for economics, and for several other things. Most importantly of all though, you could actually embark on small adventures together.

Guild missions allowed players to engage in dedicated content specifically tailored for guild play. These missions involved activities such as bounty hunts and fun races. One of my favorites had us turn into spiders and use our web-shooting abilities to traverse a tricky dungeon of platforms and enemies to reach the treasure at the end.

ArenaNet is exceptionally good at creating bite-sized content for you to enjoy in many different ways with Guild Wars 2. Everything from guild PvE adventures, giant WvWvW battles, or small PvP tournaments are all available for you to do – but what about the sense of community? It’s easy to press G and pull up the guild window to see who is online and what everyone is up to, but how does that really feel like you belong to an in-game family?

Home to Call Your Own

The most glaring omission from Guild Wars 2 thus far is undoubtedly one of the most requested – guild keeps. These structures, which are already enjoyed in the first Guild Wars, instill a sense of community and camaraderie that nothing else truly can. Most of all though, they create a place for guilds to call their home.

When you’re not busy in the game with other activities, most people usually find themselves in Lion’s Arch as the social hub of the game. While this is great for the world as a whole, a center for great interaction, it’s not effective for small-scale group meetings or roleplaying. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an extravagant and detailed guild keep or palace to visit whenever you’d like?

The guild keep could function as a hub for guild members to not only congregate and ideally play silly minigames together, but a place for members to spar and train together, have their own quarters determined by rank, decorate the surroundings, and so much more. The potential for customization and immersion is difficult to really grasp.

To top it all off, the very thing that the franchise is named for could finally make a proper return: guild wars. Don’t get me wrong; World v. World is a great server-wide contest that pits thousands against thousands. But when you want to scale back the action and have a dedicated battle of just your guild versus a rival, or form official alliances, there is no in-game structure for doing that.

What’s Next for Guilds?

Ironically enough, a game named Guild Wars 2 is actually lacking a few key guild features. While the first game has been around much longer and has had time to develop and cultivate its ecosystem, Guild Wars 2 is coming up on its two-year anniversary. After two years, you’d assume that the game would at least have the main big features its predecessor already has active.

This isn’t meant to criticize Guild Wars 2 too much, as it is currently my favorite MMO on the market, but it has plenty of room for improvement. Stuff like guild halls and more intricate management features would go a long way towards pushing this game even farther forward in the genre.

Next week I intend to refocus back on Guild Wars 2’s Living Story and the upcoming Entanglement content update. This new episode will focus on continuing the story set forth in the Gates of Maguuma episode and should involve lots of great new content, like giants! We also intend on experimenting with a hybrid video/article format. Leave your comments below with your thoughts on the guild system!