The devs want to know what we'd like to see in any guild or clan system that may be added in the future, so I posted this for us to use to let them know.

Personally, I'd like to see a fully integrated system (as in, right click someone and invite them, rather than having to add a tag to your name to signify that you're in a guild). It'd prolly be a good idea to have a small fee as well, say between 10 and 20 gold to start a guild.

Guilds could open up a lot of possibilities within the game itself, such as Guild v Guild tournaments, etc.

We are thinking of adding Guilds soon. So please let us know if A you even want them and B what features you want to see from them.

I never saw the point, personally. I'd say leave them out.

[EDIT=add TIME=2204 UTC-8]

I suppose I should rephrase that. While I don't see the point, I understand that it is a common thing that a lot of people look forward to in a "modern" online game. I think it would be a far better use of developer's time to work on the client and a second set of cards, which everyone would both enjoy and use, rather than a feature like that which only appeals to a certain group. For example, I'd love to see the market get up and running long before a guild system. Or an improved chat interface. Or perhaps different AI styles to play against [aggressive, defensive, colonizing, etc] or the option to pick the army that the AI is playing. I think these features would appeal to a larger player base and see more overall use and pleasure for the casual player.

You asked for opinions, that's my half-cent. Whichever way you decide to go with it, thanks for publicly asking for opinions. I think in general you guys are doing a great job at trying to appease the most people as you modify and balance things. I may not agree with all that you guys have done, but I can appreciate the effort and the stress of trying to keep everyone happy.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys come out with next. Happy Holidays.

[\EDIT]

So there are some obvious choices to have I think. One, that you can just join a guild without having to make a new account. Two, that there be some kind of Guild v. Guild action, maybe built within the leagues. Three, I'd love to see officer titles.

I would also really love to see guildcards - some card that is specific to that guild, that can't be traded, and is only available to members of that guild (ie, if you left the guild, you lost the card). Something 'signature' but obviously without being overpowered etc. There are a few ways to handle it:

1) Provide a card at the formation of a guild. Have a set bank of new cards created so that, as soon as the guild is created, that guild is automatically assigned a random card.

2) Let the guild develop it. This option may only be feasible with the low # of players now. Have the guild leader or whoever propose a card idea to the devs, and the devs can then balance it appropriately with flux/domain costs.

3) Buy a card. Same as 1 or 2 above, but requires paying gold.

4) Tournaments. Have GvG tournaments - sealed, league, constructed, whatever - where there is a card for a prize. Once a guild wins a tournament, that is their Guild Card, and they can't enter a new tournament or change that card for say, 6 mos.

Other things that might be fun for a guild:

Ability to upload a picture to replace the 'card image' currently displayed in battle as your profile image (something along the lines of a banner)

Within-guild marketplace, where guild members can simply drop off cards they are no longer interested in, and new members can pick up cards to get started. (In order to keep up profits, you might be able to limit this to just common cards?)

Guild-gold, collected either by winning GvG tournaments or entry fees (making each player that wants to join pay some amount of gold as determined by each guild, so some can be more exclusive than others?), which is owned by the Guild and not any individual member. It can be used to enter GvG competitions, or (as in #3 above) buying a Guild Card.

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Ok I'm spent. I'm sure there are other ideas floating out there though.

_________________
-Minds

Signature card is a neat idea and has some interesting responsibilities.

Playing GvsG tourneys for a signature card IS a neat idea. And as a teaser, you could assign these signature cards from sets that are in development, but not yet released. This would also be a great way to drum up excitement about upcoming sets. So whenever you had a new set in development, you could have guild tournaments to earn a signature card... something that captures the essence of the upcoming set.

A few thoughts about the Guild Signature Card [GSC] idea, in no particular order:

• [C\sh]ould a guild be able to collect multiple GSCs? If so then a Guild Menagerie or some display case would be neat. No matter how many they are allowed to collect, I highly suggest that only one may be the official [and thereby used] GSC at a time, perhaps even limiting the frequency they may be changed to once each week or something.
• It would be neat to give each guild the option to either hide or display their GSC, deciding whether they favor "fear this" mentality or the clandestine approach.
• Perhaps the GSC is either exempt from the deck count altogether or at least exempt from the 3-card limit?
• If any advantage is given for having a GSC then each player needs to be a member of the Guild of Independents by default and get what would essentially be a Universal GSC. I do not believe that a player should be penalized for not joining a guild. Alternatively, limit the GSC use to GvG games or add an option in the game setup menu to allow/disallow them.

Perhaps a fun way of working it would be as follows:

• Upon creation, each new guild may select any uncommon card currently available as their signature card [or limit the pool to selected cards]
• To join a GvG Tourney each guild must ante up their current signature card, either in addition to the gold requirement or perhaps use the guild card in lieu of gold entry fees, or change that from tourney to tourney in the same way you currently vary gold entry fees. Going back to a comment earlier, limiting the frequency they can be changed should definitely be considered so the guilds don't ante up their least desired card. There should be risk involved here, or perhaps a card can not be ante unless if has been GSC for a minimum length of time.
• The guild that wins the tourney gets the Grand Prize card [I love the idea of a card in development as teasers, or a separate line of cards solely for Champion Guilds] plus the top [5?] guilds get their cards back, the rest lose their ante. Alternatively, The prize for each of the guilds getting one may be their choice of card from the tier above the one that was ante, or from the same tier if there is another way to gain new cards and improve the tier. Perhaps a guild may collect gold from the members and use that gold to open the tiers? Larger and/or more active guilds have a distinct advantage in this case, which I'd advise against.
• At any point after creation, a guild may buy a new common [or uncommon if you are feeling generous] using guild gold to be their signature card if the guild either lost theirs as ante or decides to trade their current one in.

This system could be fun to track stats such as longest run with a given card, or a given domain as guild mascot, etc. It also opens the option of limiting tourneys to equivalent antes to keep the playing fields level.


I need to run but those are a few points to consider.

[EDIT time="28Dec @ 1814UTC"] Fixed formatting. Sorry about that, had to leave in a hurry. [/EDT]

Love.

_________________
-Minds