Over the years, my guild has carved out its place in the world of Norrath based on what works, and what its members want--it's sort of defined itself. As my friend (one of the two guild leaders) says, "We're not a raiding guild. We're a guild that raids." Essentially, the raiding that we do is relatively casual. Whoever signs up gets in. People aren't turned away if they don't have such-and-such gear, AA's, etc. We make due with the classes that show up (with some obvious key roles reserved). The time we spend raiding is focused, but we're not pushing hard mode stuff. We focus and have fun doing it. Outside of that, we are a casual guild with all types of players, many of whom don't raid. Raiding has simply taken on a larger role in the guild because more people are pushing the top end of the content after so many years.
I always thought my guild was special -- pretty hard to come by... dare I say, "unique."
Well, apparently we're not as unique as I thought we were.
Lately I've been catching up on some old episodes of various podcasts (A View from the Top and others). Several of the early episodes feature various guests in the guild leadership category. At the start of the interview, the guests would each describe the guild they lead. I started to notice a pattern--they all sounded like my guild!
Here I was thinking my guild was so special and different -- maybe I've been wrong all this time. Maybe it's super easy to run a casual guild that successfully raids current content, and people are basically really happy. Maybe that's what most people are doing.
I'm wondering, are there really that many guilds out there that fit this description? Or is it that people generally use the same terms to describe a range of possible types of guilds.... when really they are as different as pizza vs. ham sandwich vs. cheese souffle. Or, perhaps it's that the player base is roughly from the same demographic as me, and those types of people gravitate to the same type of guild. Or maybe it's simply that I tend to gravitate toward stuff (podcasts) that appeals to me because those folks are like-minded.
A related thought came up during our recording of Episode 9 of EQ2 Talk (which should be up in a few days). We were talking about server merges and Dell asked how I felt about them. Being totally honest, I don't perceive a problem with population on Unrest. But that being said, I really don't get out that much. Primarily because I get everything I need from my guild, which is fairly active.
I wonder, am I so insulated by my guild that I am actually totally out of touch with what's happening on the server? Have I crossed over from "sheltered" to "clueless"? How many other people are in the same boat? And is any of this "good" or "bad" for the game in general?
Hi Ali,
ReplyDeleteI have to say I really liked this post. One of the things that "turns me off" about eq2 is how insulated everyone is. Go to every major city in the game, and it's empty. With the ability of guilds to provide EVERYTHING a player needs in the guild hall we end up spending more time playing with our guild mates than seeing the larger world on our servers. I try to group my my guildies first rather than trying to PUG a shard run (which can be hard these days). It's a real shame and in my opinion hurts the greater eq2 community.
A couple of ways I'd change this:
1. Move crafting back to the cities. Allow guild crafting materials to be accessible in the cities.
2. Get rid of Brokers in the guild halls. Make people go to cities to sell their stuff. It will generate more traffic and perhaps more player to players trades. (on the down side it will also create lag in the cities.)
Thanks for listening,
Metcroft 82 Warlock Crushbone Knights of Marr