LAGWAR | GAMING'S BEST IN TOP NOTCH MEDIOCRITY

Only one day after the final wing of Icecrown Citadel opened Arthas was killed.  As WoW players we are now officially entering the post-Arthas era (for witty insightful commentary on this monumental achievement I will direct you here).  But what does that mean for us as a WoW community?  It’s now officially time to begin obsessing over Catalcysm.  Just like the day after Thanksgiving starts the Christmas season, Arthas’s death brings Cataclysm to the forefront.  So in celebration of Arthas being served up with a side of cranberry sauce, you (loyal readers) will get a few hefty helpings of Cataclysm flavored articles for the next few weeks…Bon appétit!

Without the multiplayer MMO's feel a little desolate

WoW is a good example of an MMOG – but we often forget exactly what that stands for – massive multiplayer online game.  Take away the multiplayer and all you have is a massive empty world, and an even harder time getting people together for group quests.  In the end WoW is only as much fun as the people you play it with: your friends and your guildmates, which is why I am so excited about the changes coming to guild structure and management in Cataclysm.

Photo proof of new guild ui's - sighted at Blizzcon

When WoW first debuted guild management and functionality was in its infancy, the guild interface was little more than a list of players who happened to be in the guild.  Now the guild interface is much more, we can display guild info, player info, player ranks, guild messages, and we even have guild bank tabs.  Guild structure and management in Cataclysm hopes to push this trend even further.  Unfortunately, this is yet another topic where some of the info is a little sketchy and there is still a fair amount of speculation, however, there is a lot to be excited about as well.  The first major change is in guild-wide items and crafting.  Blizzard is hoping to implement a system where players can view all the recipes and craftable items available from members within the guild.   No more spamming gchat looking for someone to do an enchantment, now you have access to the crafting portfolios of all your guild members!  In addition to sharing information Blizzard hopes that guilds will also share items – guild bound items.  While the specifics of this are still uncertain it seems like guilds will have ways to accrue guild currency.  This currency, attainable through unlocking achievements, doing quests, downing bosses, and PvPing will be able to be used by the guild to purchase guild items.  These items have been rumored to range from rare mounts to new heirloom items to cool aesthetic pieces to identify your guild.  These items will be bound to the guild itself, not the individual players.  If someone leaves the guild, all the guild items on their character will be stripped and returned to the guild bank – so you can’t loot and scoot.

A guild talent tree - this guild put three points in "angry face"

Now for the really novel part, in addition to accruing guild currency, guilds will also be able to earn guild experience.  This experience will be used to…yes, level up your guild.  Currently a 20 level system has been proposed where guilds will receive an additional talent point to spend in a guild talent point tree with each new level gained.  The guild talent points give passive convenience bonuses to the guild.  Some examples floating around the interweb include 10% reduced repair costs, guild wide summons, 10% more gold earned in raids, and mass resurrections.  Blizzard was careful to state that they don’t want the talents to change in-fight dynamics, level 20 guilds shouldn’t have an advantage over a level 1 guild, they just want to reward the level 20 guild with additional conveniences.  To make sure that guild leveling is available to all guilds, experience will be earned by individual players completing quests, killing raid bosses, advancing in professions etc, Blizzard was quick to say that levels wouldn’t be dependent on progression, meaning you probably won’t have to kill Deathwing to pimp your guild.  Additionally guild experience won’t be a zerg affair as only the top experience contributors in the guild will count toward guild experience gained.  That will allow smaller guilds level just as fast as uber guilds with hundreds of members.  Finally to make sure you can find a guild, Blizzard is going to implement a Looking For Guild interface that will allow guilds to advertise (like the raid browser now) themselves.  The guilds can communicate info like how often they raid, when they raid, if they raid, their long term goals, etc. to potential members.

Remember it's the people you play with that make the game.

But how does the new guild system change the way we play?  As I said before, WoW is really only as fun as the players you get to play with.  One of my long standing criticisms of the game was the transient nature of guilds.  With exception to a few very famous long-running outliers, guilds are generally short-lived in the game.  The departure of a single player can often lead to the ruin of a whole guild.  The introduction of guild bound items and levels hopefully will enable guilds to be more stable and unified.  Common goals like leveling should bring guildmates together.  For an example just take a trip in the way back machine to the Ahn Qiraj gate opening event; a common goal brought whole servers together.  Hopefully levels will do the same for guilds.  Cool guild bound items will offer incentives for players to stick around as well.  Leaving is tough when you are ditching your guild and a bunch of equipment.  Before progression was the only metric to measure a guild by, a tough night in ICC feels a lot like failure, with the new changes in Cataclysm players will have progression and guild advancement to look forward to.  No new bosses downed this week?  Well at least I still gained a guild level with my friends.  People working together?  Sounds kind of like a multiplayer game to me.