Hello, sorry to make my first post a question, but I've been recently asked to join an alliance. Unfortunately, the guild I'm the leader of is fairly small, and while all the guilds that are involved in this alliance are only playing for fun I'm kinda embarrassed about it.

So, I was wondering if the number of people in my guild actually matters. Can members in other guilds in the alliance see our guild roster, or even the total of people in the guild? I know they can see faction points we've earned, and that they can visit our guild hall, but aside from that I'm unsure just what benefits alliance member get.

Questions start conversations, so there's no problem starting off with a question. I did move this discussion to the 'Ask Tank' forum, as that's where Guild Wars questions are supposed to go.

Welcome to the Photics forums!

First off, I think that most guilds are having this problem. The game just isn't that popular right now. There are some hardcore players who are grinding away at titles, but the game just doesn't seem as active as it was. My guild, roughly 1000 players strong, is now down to 3-4 members. I don't see this as something to be ashamed of. It's just the natural progression of the game. When an MMORPG is popular, it's easy to have a large guild. Right now, Guild Wars popularity is lessened.

It's pretty easy to tell the lesser guilds in the alliance. Just watch the guild chat. If only one or two people are chatting from that guild, they're likely a small / inactive guild.

What do you get from an alliance? GRIEF!

Unless you're farming for your Luxon / Kurzick titles, there really isn't a reason to be in an alliance. Oh sure, you might have a more active chat channel, but I found that to be frustrating. Once you're in a group with hundreds of active players, it becomes noise.

Can someone help me with my quest?
Does anyone have some weapons they could give me?
Did you see Palin on Saturday Night Live?
No, Palin sucks!
No, you suck!
Shut up you Obamabot!
Can anyone please help me with my quest?
Who's Palin?
Does anyone have any weapons for me?

The height of my Guild Wars experience was leading my alliance to the conquest of Cavalon. The low point of Guild Wars was watching that alliance deteriorate into greed, racism, apathy and anarchy. Joining an alliance is not a requirement to enjoy Guild Wars. It seems that you are unsure about joining. That's a bad sign. Although, you might make some new friends if you join the alliance. Remember, it is a game. It's important to relax and have fun. Otherwise, why play?

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

Welcome to the forums!

Unfortunately I'm going to have to disagree with Photics here, on just about everything.



What do you get from an alliance?


What you put into it, the chat is usually moderated by the leaders of the respective guilds, but usually everyone just has a good time. I've only been in three or four alliances over the years, and they were all the type you described, we all just wanted to have fun.

Photics is familiar with the big alliance i know, the kind that wanted that kind of faction farming, he didn't like it as you can see, but he didn't mention that when it was just him me and The Knights of something or the other, we all used to chat (I don't know about him) and make jokes and have a lot of fun taking the edge off of the more boring aspects of the game. There wer eonly 4 of us, but at times that seemed more than enough.

It really doesn't matter about quantity really, just quality. As long as your players are good, respectful and with a sense of humor, they usually fit right in.


What benefits do alliance members get?


Not many, really just to be around other players, and shared faction. I like to compare it to this: a guild is the family, the parents, the children, and maybe the grandparents. the alliance is the extended family, the uncles and aunts, somebodies great aunts nephews cousins brothers wife, that no one knows, you can still talk to and chat with and feel like family.

You don't get very much information on the other guilds, just the faction, the emblem (cape/flag), and the name. You will however get notified if theres another alliance member in the same town, as their guild tag at the end of their name will be gold. Other than that, not much info is shared publicly.



Activity and recruitment of guilds:


I agree with Photics, the base went way down, the game is no longer new, theres no hype anymore. But in my opinion that is a good thing, the new-game people left, to some other mmo, the hardcore braggarts are still here unfortunately, and the l337 people to. There IS however an influx of about a couple hundred new people per day if I had to guess though. You just really have to get out there and try to grab the people who want to be in a tight community rather than a booming guild.



These are the facts and opinions I have gathered, use them wisely, may the force be with you.

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I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman,"Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.-George Carlin