Player Associations Archive

My impression of the CU is similar to those posted so far. I recently cleared out the inactive people from our guild and we ended up with around 75 active players. By active I mean they play at least once a week or so.

We lost 4 or 5people to the CU i think.

We lost a number of Alts to other guilds now that combat is more balanced many wanted to try out the various roleplaying guilds on the server. I'd estimate we lost 10 people to other guilds that are RP oriented.

For damage control when the CU came out we made sure to promote the positive aspects of the CU in guildchat and have peoplesubmit any bugs they came across. Additionally, I made sure to send out a guildmail that informed them of a few things: stuff was bugged and would be improving, don't listen to all the negative people and complaints and let it bring you down, give it at elast a month before you decide that you want to quit the game. Everyone seemed to take on the CU with interest and a positive attitude, as positive as they could muster since alot of people got "screwed". We have pulled through fine so far.

The number one complaint that I heard before the CU came out and after it came out was that it was too hard to get xp and hunt or do whatever. Everyone was used to the old system of soloing whatever they want. We started nightly hunting groups almost immediatley so that those complaining would get a chance to see the point behind the CU. We now have impromtu hunting groups popping up nightly and it is bringing the guild closer together.

Before the CU we were discussing how to bring the guild closer together and promote the sense of guild. The CU seems to have gone a long way to help us out by forcing us to need help.

All in all I think the CU improved guilds and team work.

I do not agree with you.

I remember also those times where people would yell in Mos Eisly "newbee group forming, send tell to X to join".

I don't think this is likely to happen again to the same extent anytime soon. The reason why this was popular is that there were a very high proportion of the player population who was newbee back then, with only few bonds with other players and that the community was barely structured.

Things have changed with time. Guilds were allowed, and people started joining them for the exact purpose of making it easier to get in touch with the people sharing their center of interest and with the which they had fun grouping the day before. It is fun to group with strangers when you have no friends, but once you hunted once or twice with them and had fun, you tend to be willing to see them again.

Also cities were added, and you needed a lot of players to make a city flourish. In order to create strong and numerous municipal communities, mayors did tend to rely on PAs whose structure was much more adapted to it.

Nowadays the web of community is very developed and many associations of various types exist. whatever your faction or favorite activity is in game, you will most likely find the association of your dreams. Newbees know now that to start in game they kinda need to join one existing guild to have very fast a wide network of friends and relations. This is not a bad evolution of the game, this is an improvement. players did start with scratch and built an economy, they also built a community.

I agree with you when you say that it does not mean that because you are in a guild you will easily find some guildmates to help you with what you are currently carrying out.

This is I beleive the result of the grind and solo orientation that the game suffered since the hologrind madness. The capacity for players to achieve everything in game solo, to loot all the high end loot solo (which is always better than in group since you don't have to share profit) and the penatly you suffered in terms of xp by grouping, did reinforce this. The need to grind force xp also encouraged people to grind solo. being in a guild meant sharing a chat channel with friends in order to feel less lonely when solo grinding, sharing the benefits of a related player city, some discount on the guild's crafters and sometimes joining some special guild events.

This is why I beleive things will have to change and PAs will have to adapt to the CU. Everyone will need help soon or later, wiht their quest and or with their grind and to access the fun high level content. Instead of deciding alone what you want to do, and then doing it alone without communicating with your guildmates, people will soon need to help each other and make compromise. Maybe you intended to grind in space tonight, but you will be more encouraged to give it up and help your friend with his quest. Cause you know that tomorrow you will need his help with your own activity.

The PAs will need to become what they were originally which is a hub of solidarity. A priori, I beleive that a guild who will not make easier and faster for its members to find friends and buddies to help each other when needed than looking for a group in a NPC city, is doomed to vanish.

And I don't think this means necessarily that small and medium guilds will die, cause it is sometimes harder to build close bonds and solidarity in giant anonymous guilds.