Ever since the announcement of the Guild Island, I have wanted to give feedback about it, but have been unable to due to time constraints and lack of motivation. Firstly, I am upset with how long we have been promised a Guild Island, only for it to not even be available to my guild (or most other guilds!) Secondly, I have privately made my opinions known to several staff members, but in light of recent events, it seems appropriate to make my feelings public.
I am aware that regardless of the opinions of myself or the playerbase at large, the staff might refuse to make substantive changes to the Guild Island. As the leader of a guild, I was very excited when I first heard of the concept of a Guild Island around two years ago. I was excited for new features for guilds aside from the Guild chat, the logo, and EXP boosts. I was excited because there is not much for Guilds to do. All that excitement shattered when I heard that the Guild Island was to be for the top 3 PvP Guilds only. We were told that it would make the Guild PvP ladder more competitive - but it has instead had the opposite effect. PvP players have largely coalesced in three guilds on each server - making it virtually impossible for any other guild to have a chance. With regard to the work put in to 'earn' access to Guild Island - was there ever really a question as to whether or not you would make it? You would play PvP regardless for the singleplayer rewards. I agree that PvP guilds should get something, but I cannot fathom why it has to be Guild Island, which is largely PvE content.
From the last thread which was posted in March, it seems that quite a few people agree with my point of view. There should be a way for small or PvE guilds to unlock this feature. It is demotivating for Guilds that are not established in PvP to try to get into the scene as the top 3 are already full of experienced players. There are a plethora of good suggestions as to how to do this - there could be a special area within the Island for the top 3 guilds, for example - or, perhaps, guilds outside the top 3 could be expected to buy in on a monthly basis.
Furthermore, I feel that PvE in general has been neglected as of late. There have been a lot of changes tailored to the PvP playerbase, including new legendaries and a NPC which allows you to keep sets for legendaries. When will there be new permanent PvE content that isn't just another boss? Why is the only recent major PvE update restricted to PvP players? Why do staff not consult players for PvE topics, while there is a thread every other week for PvP?
Lastly, it has become ever more difficult for smaller Guilds to recruit players. When I try to recruit, the first question I am asked is always some variation of "Are you a top 3 Guild?" or "Does your Guild have Guild Island?" It's horrible and demotivating.
PvE Guilds and players deserve better.
