retiring Some Guilds for Associations

[Vazbol]

Okay, so recent posts from the Wyrvardn board has brought up this post. The idea of some guilds are that they're more gateways to RP opportunities rather than some vast mechanical benefit one can hook up with and become all powerful. There's not that much intention to update them to be so, and folks should expect this going in.

however, it seems opinion overall by the playerbase leans more towards disagreeing with this type of stance. Even some long standing members of such under featured guilds have expressed their opinions about trying to get more benefits for taking up a cause or faction. And are stuck as now leaving a guild will not allow you to hop over to another one with RP.

If we're going to adopt the idea that some guilds are meant just for Rp purposes, other games sort of have a solution for this. RP factions do exist with very minimal or no abilities granted, and generally are themed around a cause or interest of a group. This is actually commonly seen in some other muds (mainly the PVP heavy ones) like Carrion Fields and Abandoned Realms. Outside of your general class/guild choice, you can hook yourself up with these factions for the Rp aspect, with mechanical benefits very minor or non-existent.

Therefore, I wonder if it's time to just drop certain guilds as such and convert them to groups with a lot more Rp benefits, and a diverse membership roster? Taking up the Wyrvardn as this example, even their lore suggests their original founders came from varying backgrounds. However, protector's vow supports mostly the heavy armor type of player. If you axe Wyrvardn's as a guild entirely and convert it to a group that accepts most members, then you can better reflect the group's image. You can still have the heavy armored folk, but have elemancers, Dwaeden and noble rogues throwing their lot in to flood the ranks.

Same can be provided with the mercenaries, who might end up with an equally varied roster of soldiers, and would better reflect the non-evil versions of the Rabble. Rabble have a diverse set of mobiles reflecting different combat types, while mercenaries are stuck with one supported theme.

Not only that, this also can open up some new associations/cabals up with other groups. The Tse gaiyan can open up a volunteer wing for other members to take part in anti-resen discussions. Open a convert's group for the Church of Light or Worshipper's of Arana's to take part in public discussions/plottings of mass murder and terror. Open up the rabble for those just wanting that riln yo. Of course, for certain guilds, joining the guild auto-locks you into the association that might branch out of it. So no udemi Wyvardn's. All arrows must be designated towards resen lifeforms.

As one last note, I kind of know one issue is that it might be looking as if we're copying a certain idea from another related place. A familiar sand-dwelling hermit has already laid down the roots for such a plan on his game, with familiar sounding groups like Wyrvardn designated as societies rather than a joinable guild. It might be highly rude to end up copying something like this considering the extreme similarities to the concepts.

[Terris]

This is a brilliant answer to my mind.