In that Cataclysm we’ll be getting a Guild Talent Tree. My original assumption is that there will be two primary types of builds available a PVE / Raiding type build and one for PVP. Having my coffee this morning, I was reading a post on Just My Two Copper alluding to the impending Guild Talent Tree being designed. It also made me go back and read another article on Cold Comfort as well was WoW.com to ponder the subject. I’m not sure if Just My Two Copper is on target, but it definitely got me thinking about economic talents that would be worthy of consideration for Blizzard.
After the break we are going to dig into the art of the possible where the Guild Tree allows for not a Gold driven build but probably options that allow for a Socio-Economic type build or options PVE and PVP guilds could grab that they felt most complemented thier guild’s charter.
If you were at Blizzcon, watching on TV or caught some clips. You noticed they had a screen shot of talent page and it had only one talent sheet, so if we want to think of some talents that would fit well in here and allow Guild Management to make some economic decisions what do we know and what could some other talents include?
Known Talents as seen in WoW.com Blizzcon Archives:
- Penny Pincher (3 Talent Points): Reduce Repair Costs By 10%.
- Everybody’s Friend (3 Talent Points): Removes the reagents requirement for all raid wide buff spells
- Cash Flow (3 Talent Points): Increase the Gold Drop Rate by 7% from all kills on creatures or players that reward experience or honor.
- Mount Biscuits (Unknown): Mount speed is increased by X%. There is a mount picture in Blizzcon Archives, we assume that this would be the reason.
However there are some additional possibilities and please note: I am only speculating here and have no inside information.
8th Wonder of the World: Earn interest on the gold in your Guild Bank (1pt/X%, 2pts/Y%, 3pts/Z%). This talent would appeal to raiding guilds who pay for mats and repairs using the Guild Bank. For Casual Guilds it would be good points to take to sponsor events and stuff that would appeal to that segment. *** Note – I’m probably going to expand on this Talent in a separate post, there’s a few things to think about here as well ***
I Know A Guy: Reduce Auction House Fees (1pt/10%, 2pt/20%, 3pt/30%). Designed for those Casual guilds one that has no serious raiding schedule, just doing 5 man /10 man content and this has some nice appeal for the farmer and traders.
Get your Proc On: If you’re guild members have a profession with a chance to proc, the proc is increased by (1pt/50%), (2pt /100%). Basically if you’ve got 5% chance to proc a transmute or something, this would increase that to 10%. That 10% chance would be a great decision for that Casual guild. Proc’s could be extended to mining, herbs, leather, cloth drops, fishing, etc.
The Goblem ATM: Access your bank from any Inn Keeper, fee’s apply (1/pt). This would be a huge convenience especially for the Socioeconomic Players. I’d say the access should be granted by Guild Management decision but this would also be a spot where Blizzard could suck gold out of the game much like repair bills. What should the fee be, let us know by leaving your thoughts in the comments.
Smooth Negotiator: Reduce Goblem ATM rates by 50% (1/pt). Purely designed for the Casual type guild, PVP and PVE guild may want to pass and just say hearth.
Retention Bonus: For every guild member you retain for more than 1 year (or for X% of Guild Member Retained), the Guild shall XXXXXXXX. The end is blank – too many possibilities (1/pt). I originally wrote that the Guild shall be awarded X gold, I mean wy not?. Then I thought why not it be Improved Penny Pincher above to say 25 -50%. Then I thought wait, what else could it be? I think some sort of bonus for retention should be awarded but maybe not just limited to economic rewards. I like the idea there is a carrot out there for Guild Management to run a Guild with high retention figures. People would have an incentive to stay put and work things out like reasonable people. Guilds would undoubtedly be more careful about the type of people they bring in, people really aligned with the talent build and goals, well behaved (woah no way), I mean it seriously has potential to clean things up on both sides of the equation.
So what do you think that Retention Bonus should be?
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by mesh, on November 6 2009 @ 10:23 am
nice review!
Just a tip though.. you can’t see yellow text at all when reading from RSS readers that use white background. Might want to rethink using it.
Cheers!
by Cazenovia, on November 6 2009 @ 10:59 am
The retention bonus bothers me a bit. Most of Blizz’s bonuses seem intended to encourage the player to stay within the guild, rather than encouraging the guild to keep the player. At what point do guilds start offering monetary rewards to members for staying longer when they want to leave? What would ensure that it doesn’t turn into a business model for guilds in itself – recruit a bunch of lowbies/alts/terrible players no one else wants, pay ‘em to stay, reap the rewards for the guild.
I’d hate to see a guild be punished because people leave to find a guild that better meshes with their personality/raid times/etc. If it’s based on individual members, you face the possibility of monetary rewards for staying ’til a certain time/date/whatever. If it’s based on a percentage – what does that end up doing to guilds that have a trial period? Either they invite people later or end up more inclined to keep the people they invite, regardless of how well they fit/how good a player they are.
Interesting thoughts, though, and I may be back later once I’ve mulled over the rest some more.
by Java, on November 6 2009 @ 11:43 am
@ Mesh, future posts I will try and go with Bold / Italics so the text isn’t screwed up. This is a template, and I’ll take that into consideration in the future.
@ Cazenovia, excellent points. I’m not sold on how Blizzard should do it which is why I didn’t really commit to a gold reward (not tabling it) but when you look at basic action/reaction type principles, you can change behaviors and who’s not tired of being a guild jumper, dealing with guild jumpers, dealing with unruly guild members, bad guild management and what not. I like the concept because I think if it’s used properly Guilds and Players can benefit. Of course what it should be, I posted on it because I’m very interested in the art of the possible.
by Rahl, on November 9 2009 @ 3:51 am
Retention bonus is too easy to fake.
Sign up a load of level 1s log in for a few seconds per week to keep em “active” and 1 year later you get big bonuses!
The other thing i remember Blizz mentionng is that only the to 20 guild members will contribute towards guild progression. I doubt retention would work for more than 20 players..
by Cuddlebunny, on November 9 2009 @ 11:12 am
I don’t think the retention bonus would be something you would necessarily plan for, but rather a reward for guilds who already meet the requirements.
I can’t think of any reward that could be implemented which would cause such a misuse of the system, especially where the rewards for other “talents” are merely “nice” and not “ZOMGgamebreaking”.
Gold? Sure, it would be a one time nice thing, but in today’s WoW gold all but falls from the sky. Instead of logging on once a day on 20 alts, running a few dailies each day for that year would net gains so far and beyond anything Blizz would give away.