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Fun in a MMORPG for long periods of time with no Guild?
Aerowyn
Member Posts: 7,928
I don't care what the game is, whether it be themepark, sandbox, pve centric, pvp centric I have never found a single one able to hold me over very long UNLESS i got in a good guild.. Sure many would say well no "DUH" that's what mmorpgs are all about playing with others. But it's shocking to me to see many people complain about various games without joining or sticking with a guild.
What I'm curious about is have others been able to play these games for longer periods of time 3 months+ with no guild at all? and if see why do you enjoy playing this way? me personally don't see why and what the point would be as I might as well just play a single player game. MMORPGs even if they are designed to allow you to level to cap and complete a lot of content alone are meant to be played with others and in my experience the enjoyment you get out of them is a 100 fold more enjoyable if you play with a good group of people. Hell i played Rappelz for longer than I have played many big name games simple for the fact I stumbled into a large active guild that made the game incredibly fun.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Comments
I use to join a guild, but with my new work schedule I hardly play at all.
If your not planning, or able to find time to raid, or pvp, you don't really need a guild any more.
besides instances, and raids, all mmo's play as single player games now days. The lfg dungeon finders let people pop in and out as a group with almost 0 conversations besides a quick strat rundown to burn thru it as fast as possible. You don't enjoy grouping up and meeting people anymore, you group up so it's faster and because it's required to run the instance. it's no longer a game, it's like a job. Sure you have your friends you hang out with sometimes, but more often your with people you wouldn't hangout with but have to until the jobs complete.
It's just how mmo's feel to me now. I guess I'm burned out.
70 monk eq1
80 bruiser eq2
43 druid wow
Currently playing : rift
Its all down to preference. Guilds are one way of 'playing with others', another is pugs, others just like to talk to people while solo'ing, others just like to be among people as they do thier own thing.
Personally I dislike guilds and guildruns, unless they are a vital part of a game. On a server with thousands of people, why limit yourself to a few dozen or few hundred in a guild/clan? I log into a game, and I chat with people i meet in towns, while trading, while leveling, or on global. I que for an instance and bam! I meet 4, 9, 14, 24 new people. This also makes every pug run different, for better or worse.
I find a healthy friends list, from people I have met in pugs, much more socially satisfying than any guild.
but the thing is you don't NEED to raid or PVP or anything with a good guild sometimes it's great to just be in one for the conversations. I have been in several guilds in games that were raid centric yet I almost never did raids. I stayed with them because everytime I was online we had some great talks in guild chat. They also would help me out anytime I couldn't complete certain quests or needed some help in a dungeon as the PUG was getting wiped over and over.. so you don't need to be in a hard core scheduled guild but just a bunch of cool people can really change your view on a game and how enjoyable you find it.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
curious how are you limiting yourself in a guild? you can do all that other stuff you talked about AND be in a guild at the same time.. often in games I have a long list of friends on top of my guild
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I played Mabinogi for years without a guild. The graphics are childish but the game play is interesting. Guild system is not very well done in that game since poeple have to pay sub fee to be a guild owner, guilds are shutting down daily. I don't think anyone has ever held a guild long enough to buy a castle.
On the other hand Runes of Magic would be useless without guilds. The game is so damnably boring.
I played EVE Online solo for about 2 years. There is so much you can do alone.
I play all games solo. Why? Time constraints. When I log in, I want to be in control how my time is spent in game. Doing anything as organized group takes too much time.
I want to log in and play.
I normally avoid guilds altogether.
I have found that, like in real life, you have your "clicks" that run together and will not help any of the other guildies out. I have actually seen guild groups boot someone after their buddy logged in and asked to run with them.
i could see that if the guild system just wasn't easily accessable.. although most games nowadays it's very simple to start one. I have played a couple games in the past where it was really a pain to even start a guild but seems newer games this isn't much of an issue.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
i actually believe that when you start a mmorpg you should be automatically guilded into npc guilds that represent your race, class and other interests. This doesnt mean you cant join a player guild too, but it does give you a basic group of people to draw from.
if they made it so you could actually do things in these organizations that could improve them, youve just made a reason to keep playing. Theres no reason why you cant be part of multiple organizations to multiply your content and social contacts.
i do agree though, without a good guild you probabally will move on alot sooner.
seems you guys confuse hard core scheduled guilds to casual friendly guilds.. some guilds are like that and want people who only can do X content at X day of the week,, but most I have seen and joined are friendly casual and it just gives you a more stable group of people to talk with and ask for help if needed
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
I played LOTRO for six months with no guild and it was pretty fun. I have also dabbled in EQ1 with a non active guild off and on for years.
Overall, I do agree though you will need an active guild to have fun in most games past a few months.
My wife is much more social than I am and she won't play a game at all without a good active guild.
in this case I'd just search for another guild.. yes there are elitist guilds out there but in my experience these are few and far between and you can look around at various websites online or just search around ingame and easily find a more casual friendly guild
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
That's one thing i haven't seen people utilize much, the out of game search for a good guild. from trying to recruit in the forums and from what i read i dont see people doing that a lot, and i think you can get a better sense of how you would fit in to a guild with that little bit of research
GW1 (granted, not an MMO per se, but plenty of guild stuff) -- Played two years. Got tired of random guild invites (guild spam was pretty bad at the start) so created a "vanity" guild with my husband. Never bothered with guilds beyond that.
WoW -- Played four years, never joined a guild. Leveling my first character I felt pressured by friends I made to join their guild. Frankly the fastest way to get me to not do something is to make me feel pressured to do it. Pretty soon I'd turned down every major guild on my server and felt if I ever joined one I'd end up with too many others hating me, not worth it. I'm very good at what I do, or I don't do it, my rep was sufficient to get me into whatever content I cared to do, so wasn't really an issue to me anyway.
WAR -- Played for a year. Basically the same as WoW, never joined a guild nor felt at all limited by the lack.
AoC -- First game I ever joined a guild in, mostly because with no LFG and global being the worst troll channel I've ever seen in an MMO, there didn't seem much choice if I had any hope of doing content. Guild turned out to mostly be a channel where the primary subject of discussion was respective porno collections and the contents thereof. Left in disgust.
Fallen Earth -- Played for six months or so. Loneliest game I ever played (albeit GW2 is vying for that title). Joined a clan just to see a semi-active chat channel, watched clan dissolve -- even when FE was at its healthiest clans had an average lifespan of a couple of weeks at best. Tried a couple of others before giving up.
Eve -- Have played on-and-off for years, albeit rarely for more than a month at a time. Joined EveU, found it about as personal as the real universities I went to in my youth, and about as useful. Got tired of the constant wardec games, left.
Rift -- Played nine months or so. Joined a guild fairly early on that was run by a husband and wife team. More by happenstance than design, the guild leaders and most active membership was close to half female, so it lacked the frat house crap typical of most guilds. Husband and wife team left the game in disgust after the massive T2 content nerfs, I ended up being co-leader. Was a great group and we had a ton of fun, but the game, the server, and our guild bled players at an astounding rate. Eventually it wasn't sustainable, we couldn't even get a raid ready group together on a regular basis and there wasn't really any new blood on the server to recruit, so the guild dissolved. Though I'm still in contact with a number of people I knew from the guild, making Rift the only game besides WoW where I've met people I stayed in contact with after leaving.
SWTOR -- Played three months or so. Was in a guild there formed by a few people I knew from my Rift guild and people they'd known from SWG. Unfortunately the guild leadership, well there really wasn't any to speak of, and the server we'd been assigned rather quickly went belly up. We did a few raids and such, but the guild fairly quickly evaporated.
That's been my experience with guilds, not much to write home about. The only guild I've been in that I liked and was really useful from a gaming perspective was Rift, and that one I ended up having to co-GM, something that took so much time and energy I frankly wouldn't be tempted to do it again. Every other MMO I've played, including several not on this list, I either never bothered joining a guild and never felt the lack -- most of them -- or joined a guild and found it made my gaming experience worse, not better.
UO worked well(in the past) without a guild, because you got a lot of social interaction with all possible ppl and guilds anyway, and it was easy to affiliate with different guilds without being part of it. Nowadays this isnt easy, and therefore there is in most games not easy for long term fun without a guild.. in some guilds are a requirement for even the slightest fun.
But the "problem" is even deeper. Nowadays it is even hard for small guilds to have a lot of fun longterm or be valueable to some degree. A good game should allow all sort of game play, it should possible to play solo(without playing alone all the time), small scale(2-10 ppl), mid scale(10-30) and large scale(30+) or super scale(100+).
Not at all.
If a guild is so casual that they don't do anything together, it is reduced to chat channel - don't see much point to join such group.
If a guild does something together, it is time demanding/consuming - there must be some group formed up and that group must be suitable for you, etc.
When I play solo, I can just log in and play.
Sounds like you were in the wrong guild.
I have played with a smaller guild ( 40 or so ) for several years. Casual, most are around my age ( 39 ), have full time jobs, married, kids, ect. It fits for me. I have played several online games with them for around 3 years.
If the guild your in doesnt fit you then look for one that does.
in my experience it allows you to have that social interaction but also a general more stable group of people to rely on.. yes you could do this with a friends list but overall in most games being in a guild has other benefits as well which usually include boosts and guild banks and various perks.. to me you are just missing a lot fo what a game has to offer by not joining a guild at all in this regard but obviously others don't see it this way. To top if offer most offer so sort of banner or guild crest to make yourself feel part of a team more.. i guess it is really just personal preference but I really couldn't see myself playing a mmorpg for more than a month or two without joining a guild.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
EVE Online and a couple of other MMOs already do this. IMO, it's a great way to get people started.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
aside from all the guild perks it's not really about being "limited" or not being able to complete content.. but instead to me it's about having a more stable group of people to rely on if you need help with questing, crafting, PVP, or just chatting about things.... Seems like you just had some bad luck with guilds and I have as well in some games and in this case I just left and found a better one. All in all though my experience in all these games as far as longevity has come down to how involved I got with a guild and after playing some for 100s and 100s of hours being in a fun/helpfull guild can really change your perspective of a game.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
I think "Guild" might be the wrong wording. Unless that is exactly what you are talking about?
But, for me, I feel that it is the people/friendships that I have made in an MMO that has kept me playing for so long. I have friendships from MMOs that are going on 8-12 years now. Friends that I have made and still game/keep in contact with (even visit IRL) since the days of Ultima Online and Horizons (now Istaria).
MMOs for me will always boil down to people. Not guilds. Not raids. Not PvP or PvE. But many great friends I made along the way.
I probably do not take it as seriously. I am not playing games to make friends, I play it to have fun. No more, no less.
To rely on people is time demanding - I am dependent on others and their time schedules.
I played WoW trial while back and absolutely loved Dungeon finder - I queue up and get into a group of people for raid. Excellent.
Same experience I had in SWTOR, there were always people around to join for heroic or flashpoint because the game was designed to naturally team up people.
That is true, MMORPGs without a good guild is not the same. However I feel the game should have incentives for people to form guilds and frankly most recent MMORPGs do not as you can pretty much do everything you want without a guild.
I liked Asheron's Call system where the person who you swore allegience too got some exp while you were leveling. Pretty cool system which encouraged guilding and even raising in ranks. Right now guilds are nothing but a social club, and that is not enough imo.
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