Discuss: What can alts bring to a guild?

[Orlock Bloodthorne]

After reading through this discussion over at Warhammer Conflict.

And as it doesnt fit really into the confines of that discussion the thought occured to me, what can alts bring to guilds, in general and specifically in the Guild System being made for WAR?

[Svoald]

Well from my experiences while playing Dark age of Camelot alts were used to play different roles within the RvR Combat and in Raids. However, because raiding will not exist in Warhammer Online anymore or at least not anything past a 2 group PvE encounter (in the hardest dungeons), it will only be useful for RvR (or at least from the knowledge I have right now and from interviews I have read).

Now, I do not know how classes will have an affect on tradeskilling or if there are advantages and disadvantages to each of them in the economy market of the game.

Alts in DAoC were generally used if a class was missing in a well-formed RvR group the guild always made sure to have some type of class they could sub-in from having an alt handy.

It is fact though that EA mythic had planned for the end-game content to be RvR though once a player hits rank 40. PvE, although an important aspect of the game, should not be the focus of a player once he/she hits max rank.

[Karl]

In WAR's Guild System as it has been revealed so far alts can be a negative since the scaleing of the Guild xp is related to population of the guild.

In gheneral though I like alt in guilds so that when I play my alt I still can chat with my guild (still have guild channel)

[Arkane]

In WAR they can add a lot! Think about it, your realm needs to own the lower zones in order to progress the war into the higher zones, so you can eventually take your enemies city. It would be ideal to have an alt or two for each tier bracket. Just a though ^^.

[Karl]

In WAR they can add a lot! Think about it, your realm needs to own the lower zones in order to progress the war into the higher zones, so you can eventually take your enemies city. It would be ideal to have an alt or two for each tier bracket. Just a though ^^.

If they are not used enough to generate thier share of guild xp many guilds will nto let them in even with that. they will do an alt guild that will compete in low tiers.

[Tonzin]

Here is what my guild plans on doing. Build up the ranks of the guild from the early release and once the guild nears level (rank) 40 we start making level requirements for the guild. Very shortly after I hit 40 my guild will be level 40 only. What we plan to do for the alts is create a separate guild for them and just form an alliance with them. This solves the problem of having our guilds exp scaled too much for alts that hardly get played (since we are going to be a hardcore guild), as well as the need/want to control lower bracket keeps and strategic points. I'm not sure if being in alliance with another guild will open up an alliance channel chat, but if it did that would be another perk.

[Zanduar]

A guild might need a class, people like playing different styles, etc. It is kinda disturbing that they are making negatives for having alts.

[Morgan]

From what MBJ said, the system is made to discourage alt guilds, rather than encourage them. Perhaps we are over looking something. Personally I could see the being a great benefit to alts being in a guild. Why? Because even if they are playing an alt, they are getting guild rep. Now this does discourage alts that are inactive, but if someone can't even log on once every couple of weeks to play for a few hours on their alt, then it doesn't need to be in the guild.

As far as the talk of having alts to cap lower tiers, yes, I could see this happening, but not with any great frequency as you have to remember that PvP gets XP in WAR. This isn't WoW where you can deck a lvl 19 out in lvl 60 gear and go wreck the bgs, you'll have maybe 1 good day of PvP at the max level before your bumped up to the next bracket. Thus eliminating the twink issue. Mythic has learned a lot from their mistakes in the past, and yes, they were numerous. But with as much testing, developing, talking to players, reading boards like this where EVERYONE has mentioned the idea of having a 10, 20, 30 character to quickly clear tiers, do you honestly think that they would let something like that happen? I really doubt it.

And while the highest PvE dungeon OUTSIDE of city siege may only be a 6 man instance, from what they've said, its one hell of an ass kicker. So don't be so quick to disregard it. Just because it doesn't allow 24 people in, doesn't mean it won't be a challenge. I don't know about you but after the later days in raiding, I'd rather get together with 5 of my close friends who I know know what they are doing and have honest wipes, and advancement, over getting 23 people that I kind of know, but have good gear sit there and tap 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3 all night long ya know?

All in all, I feel an alt in the guild would be a welcome addition, especially with the reveal that you can only have 1 crafting and 1 gathering profession. Most will have 1 alt, many will have multiples, but I feel 1 alt in the guild would push the guild forward, while not dragging it down to the point of hurting guild advancement.

[Tonzin]

You're right, everyone will have an alt. I know I will have an alt, but he won't be in my guild. 1 alt in the guild, even though I will be active on him, doubles the amount of work I have to put out to pull my weight in guild exp. Basically what those of us who are saying - ewww alts - really mean we want our guilds to advance as fast as possible. If everyone brought 1 alt into the guild, even if they were active on both toons, would have to play double the amount of time as if they had their alt in a guild designed for alt characters (like my guild is doing). Basically it doubles the advancement time even if they are active. Besides if they are members of the guild it isn't as though they won't offer the alt services just because he isn't in the guild so it doesn't really matter if the alt is in the guild or not other then he is slowing the advancement down.

[Karl]

You're right, everyone will have an alt. I know I will have an alt, but he won't be in my guild. 1 alt in the guild, even though I will be active on him, doubles the amount of work I have to put out to pull my weight in guild exp. Basically what those of us who are saying - ewww alts - really mean we want our guilds to advance as fast as possible. If everyone brought 1 alt into the guild, even if they were active on both toons, would have to play double the amount of time as if they had their alt in a guild designed for alt characters (like my guild is doing). Basically it doubles the advancement time even if they are active. Besides if they are members of the guild it isn't as though they won't offer the alt services just because he isn't in the guild so it doesn't really matter if the alt is in the guild or not other then he is slowing the advancement down.

If its done by account and not by toon then there is no issue. Also many guilds are nt all about max level as fast as possible, There are benefits to levels but they should nto be that powerful to mandate that.

[Tonzin]

Well like you said there are benefits to leveling, a few of which are the number of standards you guild can carry and how many abilities the standard bearer can use. I would rather level up very fast and get access to those as fast as possible.

[Karl]

To me thats the biggest issue with rewards for guild levels. People then feel the have to rush. Rushing makes a game a chore not a game. Getting to higher level is great but it loks like this game is fun from level one. Including RvR from level 1.  I bet even if you try to rush it will take a long time to get to all the skills or it would if I was designing it. It would take a power guild 4-6 months to fully level a guild in my mind. Its should be a long time. I do not think it will be game changeing with the standards. Or itshould nto be game changeing. As some oomph but if a battle group has a standard iot should not mean they win.

[Albrecht Kroft]

Well hm.

If I'm reading what it says correctly, that the more people you have the harder it is to level, probably because you have so many putting Guild EXP into it, giving the smaller guilds a chance to catch up and not feel penalized if they wish to be a small, knit group.

As for putting in alts, I never was one that really liked that.  I think there should be some sort of restriction on alts, so the guild doesn't end up with more alts in it than mains. You know the type with 100 characters but 11 or so distinctive accounts.  And since you really can play only one character at a time, I cannot see the point at least in this game's reasoning.

Perhaps guild can have a rule that alts are for crafting?  Or like another suggested, make a secondary guild for alts.  Either way I am sure the players will be able to come up with something they can work with.

[Witty]

Alts bring variety and flexibility.

e.g. If my guild is short on tanks and I have an alt tank, I can just relog and that will certainly benefit my guild.

[arbitrary]

I think also that alts can help players stay motivated and that's always good for the guild. If I cap early and then make an alt, I get to play with potentially a new set of people and that brings better camaraderie. It just depends on the guild and the alts!