130023-morning-coffee-1708-rebirth-community-guilds

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I know this thread has essentially disappeared in recent times, probably because it's summer and people are too busy doing fun things in the outside area. But as I'm on vacation for a bit I thought it'd be fun to revisit an old tradition.
 
So here's some benny and oolong for your morning! (yes it's tea and not coffee; the aesthete builder in me needed to colour match the photos :P )
 
 
 
 
 
 
So as I've been finalizing my Dominion plot for the ongoing Lifestyles housing contest, I also feel it's time for a bit of a change. We're near the end of a drop (which always means a lull) and there aren't a ton of people actively playing right now, so I've been looking for new games to enjoy. Sadly, good RPGs that can keep my attention are few these days... getting older I feel like the social component of an MMO is becoming very significant in my gaming life. A lot of single-player RPGs that I would have loved as a kid just aren't that appealing when no one else is around to enjoy them with me or talk about them.
 
This leads me back to Wildstar. Last night I spent about an hour or two going over various things on the PTR and I have to say, although the gameplay changes don't seem very deep, there are some absolutely amazing changes coming to housing and cosmetics collection! I won't post too much right now because I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to share pics or detailed info about the PTR here in genchat (correct me if I'm wrong mods, as I'd love to post some pics of new decor). So instead I'm just gonna say that if you're a housing enthusiast, you have a lot to look forward to when drop 6 comes in the fall!
 
I also watched the new trailer and rewatched some of the older media for Wildstar, which got my blood pumping for more. The ho-hum sitting around at 50 thing that's so common to MMOs has had me a bit bored and avoiding the gameplay aspects of WS. So, to end this, I'm thinking once more about making an Exile character, who will build my new plot when D6 comes (I'm getting a bit tired of blowing up my Dommie plot every time). I really enjoyed seeing the Spacious Exile house on the PTR for the first time (always been Dom) and that, combined with the new huge plot size, inspired me to give myself some fresh air and see what's happening on the other side by starting anew.
 
So I'm looking for opinions... which guilds are still active? Which do you recommend? Do you know of any social communities (like WSRP on Dominion side)? I'm thinking I should probably join a guild for once, as I've been running solo in WS for the last... twelve months or so. :P
 
 
That's it from me, feel free to jump in and talk about your experiences with MMO social dynamics, or make circle/guild recommendations for current and future Wildstar players. :D 	
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As a guild leader and raid leader myself,  the dynamics of MMO players and coming and going thereof are of significant interest to me. As I tend to work mostly within the context of my guild (excepting WSRP of course), I've made several findings. 
 
1) Guilds are made by voice-comms. I've been a part of several guilds and been leadership in at least 4 or 5. I've led raid guilds (WoW, Wildstar) and RP guilds (ESO, WoW). When I started MMO gaming, voice comms were less important, you used then for raids and casual conversation, but a lot of discussion went on in guild chat as well. Now, I find that players who don't actively use the voice-comms, tend to feel isolated from the guilds community and generally end up leaving.
 
2) As a raid leader, understanding the motivations of players is important. This includes understanding attendance for loot day (farm) v progression day. Player morale is also very important, and so, even when you're feeling a bit burnt our yourself, you need to reflect that everything really is ok. Right now, I've found that guilds are tending to be in 1 of 4 areas of progression. The 5/6 guilds that haven't gotten ohmna (lose players to attrition and other guilds), the 6/6 guilds that can't get SD (hemmorage players due to low morale and lack of progression), guilds that are in the 4/9-8/9 DS range (tend to be the most stable), and 9/9 guilds (tend to lose players to attrition and lack of progression available in game). 3) Inter-guild and social ties. I've also found that having ties with other guilds and communities can lend give you significant help in a pinch. When we are short for raids, I know of several people I can ask, both from other small guilds who might want to bring alts in as well as from social circles like WSRP. We've actually had a lot of fun bringing those raiders in to fill our 19th or 20th slot.  	
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The WSRP channel Exile side is usually a pretty hopping place.  I'm only on Dom side briefly in the early evening to farm my plots and have only occasionally seen any activity there.  As for guilds, depends on what you're looking for.
 
Man what a weekend.  Friday night we (TCO) stomped GA all the way through Convergence and the Ohmna minis.  Heck we one-shot all of the mini's.  Saturday night we got close to getting to the last Ohmna phase.  Next week.  *sharpens claws*
 
My slinger's coming along nicely.  Finally broke down and bought the blue pvp healing gear and went full heals for a couple of matches.  Finished Attunement (and all-gold vet. adv.) healing Seige of Tempest Refuge and Crimelords... in my pvp gear.  Healed Crimelords a second time for a guildy that also needed the all-gold ability tier unlock.  Ugh... CRB I neeeeeed more bag space.  Four sets of gear is painful.  Now she needs that X-89 kill :lol:	
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Glad you mentioned voice-comms, Melawen. I've also noticed that folks in MMOS are using voice chat way more than they used to— sometimes to the point that, as you say, I've felt isolated.
 
When I first started with MMOs it was DAOC and WoW, and mumble/vent were used almost exclusively for raids. Even then, many people didn't have voice apps or any interest in using them, so it was often a chore to get folks together on a voice server. Fast forward a handful of years and I noticed PVPers were frequently using voice to chat between games or to organize games. I also noticed the rise of many cross-game guilds like Crimson Cross, who maintain a playerbase that can shift between titles, and they too seemed to use voice chat more often to keep in touch.
 
Fast-forward again to today, and I'm seeing various groups that use voice predominantly, or even exclusively. So yea.. it might be safe to say that things done changed. :P
 
Is it a good thing? Well, I tend to think it is, though it feels like I'm a bit 'behind' and need to get up to speed on modern communications (like getting an unobtrusive mic, haha). Mostly I just want an online life more integrated with the lives and experiences of others; as much as 'real' people are uh, good to have in our lives, I believe 'net relations are going to be a big part of our future selves as people continue to niche-out and deveop very particular sets of goals and interests.
 
Which guild is TOC, John? Are the Saddles still around or did it fizzle out?
 
Right now I'm looking at Crimson Cross, Black Dagger Society, and Final Frontier for a new home. All seem friendly and community-oriented.	
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As a raid leader, understanding the motivations of players is important.
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Voice comms are great, and they certainly help build ties in today's MMO world. That being said, our gchat is also active at times (and super quiet at others). We only require voice comms for group content, but I find folks that are involved in the guild often wind up chatting away the time in there just as those of you above said. It's nice.
 
One thing we've done is branch out to other games to fill time between raids to help with some of the boredom factor for our end gamers. Our current favorite is HoTS, which is nice because you don't have a high entry bar or massive grind to play. A few folks are experimenting in other MMOs. As I tend to get attached to guildies, particularly ones I group with a lot, my heart hurts a bit anytime someone takes a break from the game. Luckily, most of them keep in contact with me through Twitter, FB, Steam, texts or whatever. And many of them come back after a few weeks away. I find forging friendships within a guild is really what keeps people playing together even through the slow times. It's awesome to run around smashing things with people you like :)
 
As a raid leader, I've learned it's important to set expectations clearly as well as to get to know your raiders. Knowing what motivates your raiders helps you to guide them. Setting expectations helps your raiders to be realistic. For example, one thing I tell my raiders is that gear is a means to an end - the end goal being to down more bosses. The better geared the raid is as a whole, the easier it is for us to succeed. To that end, folks tend to be fairly cool about loot distribution. Last night, for instance, medic healing resonators dropped off a DS mini. Our main medic healer has them, and normally off specs can nab them. But, we have another medic that is most often called up to be our backup medic or second medic healer if needed. No one was remotely unhappy that he got them over other off specs that don't raid heal. In the same vein, folks with Ohmna weapons have given DS drops to folks with less than Ohmna weapons because they understand the value of gearing up the raid vs themselves first. They also all know they will get loot (and at this point, we are salvaging so much stuff it's not even funny). Figuring out that you can't please everyone certainly helps decrease your stress levels as a leader. Being as consistent as possible with "rules" helps the raid know expectations and act accordingly.
 
We went 5/9 in DS last night which was unexpected and pretty exciting. I'm hoping this week goes a little smoother (we had a little trouble on Limbo, of all bosses, last week!), so that we can make even more progress :) Even with our trouble, we got farther in DS than ever this week, so that was a huge morale boost for our raid team.	
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			Oh, the main frustration I have with voice comms is I don't play with headphones while soloing or with my wife. Since I use a USB headphone, jumping into TS requires a restart of the app. Very frustrating, and it keeps me from casually jumping into TS as much.	
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Good to see this thread crop up again! :D
 
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1) Guilds are made by voice-comms. I've been a part of several guilds and been leadership in at least 4 or 5. I've led raid guilds (WoW, Wildstar) and RP guilds (ESO, WoW). When I started MMO gaming, voice comms were less important, you used then for raids and casual conversation, but a lot of discussion went on in guild chat as well. Now, I find that players who don't actively use the voice-comms, tend to feel isolated from the guilds community and generally end up leaving.
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And we may actually do some raiding on tuesday??
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			Oh I don't doubt it is. I'm just feeling anxious about committing to something like that again, when it's been so long since I last did. xD	
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			The worst thing about Voice-Comms becoming the main line of guild communication is you never get that big reveal, where after chatting with someone for weeks or months in guild chat you finally get to hear their voice, only to find it defies all perceptions of what you imagined them to be like from chatting in text. 	
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Which guild is TOC, John? Are the Saddles still around or did it fizzle out?
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			Voice comms limits your community............ It may seem to strength it in a way, increased bonds and what nots, but it is also a barrier to growing your community. The amount of times in-game I have felt more connected with a Domie player (me exile player mostly) who I cannot talk with and it gives me a greater sense of community then anything else. 2 players, not able to understand are able to pull together to take on a task... BIG SMILE :D  I just jump and jump to say thanks,	
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Talking about rebirths...
 
C.H.U.A was almost non-existant 2 weeks ago.
Barely online with the 4 founding members.Today we are rocking a solid 25 active members.
In 2 weeks we went from nothing to having a stable group that's online daily and actually doing dungeons and instances together just for the heck of it.
We're hoping to get our hands on a few more people to actually start considering a raiding team again and clear content.
Best part so far : Many old members are even returning and joining us again.
 
I'm still skeptical about the whole F2P though.
Many of the changes I've seen so far on the PTR are not things I'd actually like.
Especially the crap being pulled with crafting.It's like every drop Carbine tries to find something new to screw us over.	
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