EverQuest 2 does Guild Management Right

At Dragon*Con I had the opportunity to spend some time with Ashlanne, Brenlo and several members of the SOE community staff. Not only were they super kind to me, they also reminded me just how much I love SOE games (well, mostly just EverQuests). Upon my return I fired up my PC, purchased the “all in one” EQ2 package and renewed my subscription post haste (Companies still seem to undervalue how much awesome community staffers affect players). I’m still collecting my thoughts on the game and new content but I wanted to discuss just how great the guild management tools are.

I still remember the day that SOE rolled out the new guild management system to EverQuest 2. The system prior to that was alright but the new upgrade was quite amazing and robust. It was clear that the developers had made a commitment to improving the lives of guild leaders and members. I’ve been out of the game for about two years now and they have continued to come a long way. They’ve done so well that the list of “must have” features for guild management I’ve built over the years is almost already in existence there. It is due to this fact that I want to compare EQ2 to my Guild UI 10 Commandments and hopefully suggest what new MMOs should strive for.

I. Guild rank names shall be customizable and you shall be able to create new ones.

It blows my mind when MMOs don’t allow you the simple courtesy of changing the names of the guild’s ranks. This goes a long way to adding flavor to your organization and making it your own. It is also extremely frustrating when a game locks you into a few ranks and doesn’t give you the ability to expand them. EverQuest 2 kindly lets you rename your ranks and gives them little icons that make sense (a simple feature that I like). Also, while it has a set amount of ranks (eight + the leader), it is enough to where even a heavily organized guild doesn’t feel shoehorned. It would be nice to have one or two more, though!

II. Guild rank permissions shall be easily assigned and customizable. There should be no set assignments other than the guild leader.

Any MMO that forces certain powers on a rank really makes it difficult on the guild community. Every guild leader has different ideas of who should be able to do what. EverQuest 2 does an exceptional job of permission management. It would be fair to say that they do permission management the best, actually. The guild leader is presented with a list of items and ranks and can simply check them on or off. Everything you can imagine is there. SOE couldn’t meet this requirement any better.

III. The guild interface shall have a log and it shall be filterable.

No guild administrator can be online all day every day. There needs to be a way for them to keep tabs on what happened while they were gone. Due to this fact, it is extremely important for events to be logged. Some of the most important items are when a raid mob dies, raid loot is assigned, a member joins, a member is promoted, demoted or leaves, and obviously transactions in the guild bank. Fluff events are also important for casual guilds and morale. Levels, achievements and things of that nature are all important but, like everything else, should be filterable. Once more this is an area where EQ2 excels. The log contains all these things and more and is also easily customizable.

IV. There shall be a guild bank with a log and permission settings.

It is frequently a surprise when there is no central guild bank in MMOs. No matter what type of guild you administer, at some point you’re going to need a transparent guild vault. Members want to know where all of the surplus items are going and what is happening to them. They also want to be able to look at that occasionally. Putting all your guild goodies on a mule that belongs to an officer just won’t cut it these days. EverQuest 2 didn’t have this immediately when they put in the new guild management system but they did patch it in rather swiftly. The game has all the functionality required and even goes so far as to give a guild four vaults so an increasing level of security can be applied.

V. There shall be a roster that is worth viewing.

When it comes to a guild UI you would assume that the roster would be the first item that developers would focus on. Sadly that doesn’t always seem to be the case. Any guild roster should be easy to read and have a large amount of sort-ability. Members should be able to be hidden by “offline” and “online.” Class, guild rank, level, and all of the related fields should be sortable. Details like location, last log in and other useful information should also be easily viewed. In short your roster should actually be of use to you. The majority of these features can be found in the EQ2 interface and work quite well. Once more it strives to set the standard that others should follow.

VI. There shall be a central and meaningful guild meeting point.

Whether you call it a guild hall, city, or tavern, every guild needs some place to focus on and call their own. These areas can be cosmetic but in general they should offer a benefit to the guild that spends time building and working on them. I am always pleased to see additional guild storage, quick travel options, and other features that would draw guild members to their personal space. It is quite acceptable (and preferable) that these rewards must be earned through actions. This will build a guild’s morale and keep them focused. When I retired from EverQuest 2, guild housing was not an option. Now that it is I am simply blown away by it. The guild halls are so impressive and the amenities really add value to the guilds that work for them. Top marks here!

VII. There shall be at least an officer channel.

Many players seem to undervalue the importance of built in officer channels in MMOs. Given their solid permission controls via the guild UI they are not easily exploited like player made channels. Guild administrators can be reliably sure who can see officer chat and this is key. I would personally like to see that guilds are given at least two additional channels with permission controls beyond guild chat. This could allow numerous additional functions such as discussing recruits, creating tiers of officers or just having a reward for special members. EQ2 thankfully provides a permissions controlled officer chat and that is good enough.

VIII. There shall be something that non-members can view to get a sense of the guild.

In the age of a million guilds and hundreds of games it can be very difficult to get your message out and attract recruits. It can also be daunting for a new player to find the right guild for them. Guilds should be able to set some sort of basic in-game recruiting page for others to view. It should at least show the guild’s website and points of contact so a potential recruit knows who to talk to. One of the more interesting features of EQ2 is that it has a robust recruiting tab in the guild UI. It allows a guild to assign recruiters and really makes it easy for players to search the guilds.

IX. Guilds shall be rewarded for existing long periods of time and achieving goals.

One of the features that I’ve been advocating for a while now is that guilds should provide tangible benefits to their members. By this I mean bonuses that actually provide a power increase to a character. These bonuses should be earned over time and from achieving things in game as a whole. Just existing and being active for years should offer achievements. Others could be gained by defeating raid targets or having a certain number of members complete the same quest. They can be generated through anything as long as it takes the guild to do it. This would attach players to their guild and they might think twice about leaving if it meant losing good bonuses. EQ2 doesn’t really have this functionality yet but, then, almost no game does.

X. Guilds should have some way of knowing where they stand and it should be evident to all.

Competition is generally at the heart of MMOs yet no design company seems to be eager to actually create a ladder. Guilds should know at any given time where they rank on the server and game-wide in several categories, even if nobody else does (i.e. they can disclose those numbers or not). Who is the number one guild for server or game firsts? Which guild has completed the most quests? Who has the most active tradesmen? What organization kills the most raid mobs consistently? These are things that players want to know! Positive competition can go a long way to keeping guilds active. I’ve seen it numerous times over through our competitions with other guilds and in loot systems. A more active guild means a greater sense of community in them and that means more subscriptions. In my eyes it is a win-win situation.

It warms my heart to see that EverQuest 2 does such a wonderful job with meeting my expectations. My commandments are pretty rough and require a lot of development time and yet SOE still does a great job creating an incredibly rich guild experience. Going forward I hope the industry sees just how important guilds are to player retention and start doing a better job to make them more attractive.

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