Kinda disappointed with a guild scene

[Thatkid]

The whole concept of guilds needs to be looked at again to find more improvements. I would also like to see guilds get more functionality, that is greatly lacking.

 

Somehow guilds will need a progress meter or information hub on how well there members do with pvp like:

 

PvP Hub:

Guild: CrimsonVortex

Member: ThatKid (green +) increased their pvp ranking

 

Member: Bob (red -) decreased their pvp ranking

 

Member: Tony has been inactive for 2 weeks

 

Member: Tanya has increased the guilds rank by helping fellow members!

 

The Hub can be a really good way for guild members to see not only their progress in the guild but other members as well. Then again, that's only what i'd like in the future.

[Ostrago]

Lack of content is the root cause. A f2p MMO with volunteer only staff's can only grow so large. Player base last I heard is around 3k. Even if 20% paid their ms monthly that is only throwing out $3000. After server equipment, maintenence etc that doesn't leave much I am guessing. You can't have everything if Shane isn't willing to invest and take risks to increase player base -- for the added $$ -- for the added content. We can talk about ways to make things better but it doesn't matter. Even if it was to be implemented it would take forever with volunteers. Final Fantasy Brave Exvious is a phone app with 181k players. I would tell you the $$ they pull in a month from donations but you wouldn't believe me. Point is, its a very small game, very linear, less complex than this and yet it is thriving. I compare the two because Brave Exvious, as many Final Fantasy games are somewhat similar to Pokemon. It has around 900 different playable characters. The Dev has a full time staff.

 

Anyways, my point is we can talk about improvements and suggestions all day. In the end things have hit a wall. Development has hit a wall. Content can only come so fast/slow with the current staffing. Talking about GvG when there is literally nothing out there supporting it. I can't even find a guild because I don't pvp at a constant rate. Talk about discouraging. Development needs to expand. It is the fix to literally every issue. Just my 2 cents.

[Starlight]

Final Fantasy Brave Exvious is a phone app with 181k players. I would tell you the $$ they pull in a month from donations but you wouldn't believe me. Point is, its a very small game, very linear, less complex than this and yet it is thriving. I compare the two because Brave Exvious, as many Final Fantasy games are somewhat similar to Pokemon. It has around 900 different playable characters. The Dev has a full time staff.

 

Kind of a bad comparison, since Brave Exvius is an official game managed by a very big company, with full time staffs being paid by the company.

 

PRO is an unofficial game managed by regular people and a bunch of volunteers.

[Kaminokage]

Hello my dear PRO's players,

 

This debate is very interesting, and i think if you want to change it, staff needs to completely rethink the base of PRO.

 

PRO is a game with a very small lifetime and small community. Small lifetime means if you play 200 hours, you finish the game, you did the adventure, a majority of quest, your PVP team. If a player don't want to PVP, what should he do? Collector PKM. It's nice, but the player will do it maybe 1000 hours and stop, he will be finally too lazy to continue. It's bad? I don't think so, it's how PRO works and you can't change it. But, the result is players don't want to stay a long term on PRO. Only try-harder will continue to play.

This point will affect the community. Every game have a turnover for players : new players come, old players left. If you can't have players staying in long term, and a lot of new players, the community will decrease.

How others game do to keep players when the lifetime is small? Guilds! Guilds create a link between players, when players don't stay for the game, they stay for the guild, it's a sense of belonging to a group, to participate to his development. And it's PRO's main problem. When i started the game in November, i noticed it immediately : Guilds are not linked to the game.

 

What are guilds in PRO? Just a group of players to have the bonus XP: +7,5% for 75 members. My opinion is you have to remove this XP Bonus! Some players can be shocked by this remove, why do a thing like this? It will not motivate players to join guilds. I agree with the point it will not motive players to join guilds, but why a guild need players just for the XP Bonus? This XP bonus has especially a big consequence on the management of the guilds. Guilds' members want this XP Bonus : So guilds will recruit all the players they can to have 75 members even if they are inactive. They don't recruit the players for their quality, but for the quantity.

Even, if guilds want to recruit only active players, the small community with 75 members per guilds means low number of guilds. I don't have the exact number, but let say 1k active players per server (active is a relative concept, for me it's daily players, they will connect at least 1 time by day). After a big calculation: 1000/75 => 13,33 guilds.

13 guilds is nothing, it means nearly all guilds can be in TOP 10 Guild Rankings and have the others XP Bonus. By the way, if the Guild is in TOP 10, the XP Bonus for 75 members is "crush" by the Bonus in Guild Ladder: https://prowiki.info/index.php?title=Experience_System

gx = the amount of experience points that are attained—the thresholds whereof mostly depend on the member count of one's guild.

 

1 if the player is guildless or if their guild has less than 25 members.

1.025 if the player's guild has 25-plus members.

1.05 if the player's guild has 50-plus members.

1.075 if the player's guild has 75 members.

1.25 if the guild is top-ranked in the Guild Ladder at the end of the PvP season.

This point comes to destroy my argument about Guilds recruits only players for XP Bonus. But, this "crush" is not known, so Guilds continue to recruit a lot of players.

Let's come back to 13 guilds => the result is not competition between Guilds to be in top 10. Let's take the results of the last PVP Season: https://pokemonrevolution.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=68022

10 Revolutionaries Shadowbolt 3314

On Red, the last guilds with the more PVP Points is this Guild. 3400 points is nothing. Even with only players with 200 ratings, you need only 17 players in PVP to have it (far from the 75 members). If we had alt, 4 guys with 4 accounts each, you need only 213 ratings by accounts to be in TOP 10.

 

My point is: Guilds don't need 75 members to be competitive. I think the fact we can have 75 members will reduce the competitive between Guilds.

In my opinion, i'm totally against increase the number of players by Guilds. I am for a decrease of the 75 members. Guilds will not longer recruit members for the quantity by for the quality. They will have to do it to be competitive.

 

Others points: Be real, 75 members in a team, you can't know all the players. So, guilds can't be welded with 75 members. I played others games in the past with Guilds, the more effective guilds are the one with 10-20 members. This number allows to know all players, it creates a real group of players who plays for the same goal, you can organize events, wars, etc. With 10-20 members, you organize project.

With 75 members you can do it, but you need tools to organize it. And in PRO, their is not a lot of tools for Guilds' Management.

My guild has one issue: We can't handle inactive players. It's a big issue for management, we don't know who is active or not! I posted fews weeks earlier a suggestion for this:

https://pokemonrevolution.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=65520

My suggestion is to add the Last active connexion of players in the Friends List and Guild Member:

I think, this little "Last active" is vital for Guild's Management. Be able to know who plays or not, to know if we need to recruit or not. PRO doesn't help in decision making for Guilds.

The guild limit at 75 members is not an issue if Guild Leader can handle their members. If 25 players in your guild don't play since more a month, you can say they are inactive and turn them for new actives players (Can be 1 year, 1 week, but the idea is the same).

 

The fact is: We need tools to manage our Guilds.

 

And i saw others suggestions like this:

https://pokemonrevolution.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=69115

I can't see any way to see a guild pvp ranking besides being in PVP Guild Ladder, so why not add this info to the Guild Info?

He can be nothing, but it's a little tools to motivate players in the Guilds to be in Ladder (or be the number 1 Guild).

 

Another point more debatable : Be able to see the members of others Guilds.

I think it had competition between players and guilds. It's linked to this suggestion:

https://pokemonrevolution.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=69009

"Showing Our Guild Logo On Any PVP Battle"

This point is not only to show your Logo, but to represent your team in PVP. To be able to win for your Guild, it can create competition between Guilds: "Oh my guild is better, all my members beat yours in PVP." It seems a childish reflection, but it adds competition. Guilds will not want players if they are too bad in PVP, or they will choose to train their members to be good in PVP.

 

In resume, guilds will not be just a group of players for XP Bonus, but a group of players with one common goal: Be the best Guild in PVP, have the better IVs on PKM, etc.

 

I don't think all this change will come from players, we all want to have news goals in this game. Some players want it:

https://pokemonrevolution.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=69197

Let's see this new event from a player, he want competition between guilds. And i think, he is not the only one.

 

But, all this point needs to come from Staff. You need to rethink totally how Guilds works in PRO if you want more competition, more wars, etc.

I know all this competition can create others issues, i saw it in others games: One guy made friend with a guild during some months, and when they saw each others irl, he took this opportunity to steal log accounts on the others computers. Yes this kind of shit can happens when their is to much competition, game can have a bigger place than real life. But it's some bad cases in all the good thing competition add to the game. Competition can create very bad conflicts between players, but let's be mature and competitive with fun :)

 

When i played in a other game, each guilds had his own forum to communicative with players (yes, for each, their were hundred of forum for the guilds). In PRO, Guilds have only Discord, it's a big step when we see how Guilds are not linked to the game. But, it shows players want guilds to be more linked to the game.

I admit, in PRO, we can't have hundred of forum (it's just an example) because the community is small, but it shows people want to be in a active group with common goal.

 

I might forget some points, i will try to think more about it and suggest it in Suggestions part.

Thanks you for reading, sorry for my english, it's not my native language :(

[Teerav]

[mention]bladermagician[/mention] totally nailed it. As a guild leader, I honestly feel insulted by this thread. I spend a majority of my free time on this game and it's only because I enjoy running a guild. Just last month I rewarded over 400k and 550 coins as rewards for events and activities. I socialize with other guilds whose leaders organize their events and activities and often discuss how we, as leaders, can improve our guilds. To have a "Senior Admin" say he is "kinda disappointed how guild scene works around here" pisses me off.

 

At least this thread is turning constructive. I would like to mimic some ideas that others have mentioned and include a few of my own that would improve "how the guild scene words around here."

 

Increasing the Guild Member Cap

• I admit the guild member cap has hindered our progression as a guild. I often find myself increasing our requirements to join the guild because we are at our cap. However, I agree with a few people's fear that the game is not large enough to support such an expansion. [mention]Red[/mention] if your philosophy is "No one said you cant have more than one guild where each one has different squad of users such as PvP, collections and grinders" you might as well completely remove the member cap all together. With this mentality I could create 7 accounts to create 7 guilds and have a guild of 525 members.
  
• [mention]Kaminokage[/mention] I know all 75 members my guild. I know why they joined, what drives them to play PRO, when they joined, and a little something about them. I know many other's in my guild don't know everyone else, but that's okay. Things like Discord have made socializing over the internet much more effective. Decreasing the guild member count based on the inability to socialize with everyone is a weak argument in my opinion.
  

 

Guild Bank

• This would be so nice. Something where gold is stored under a guild's name instead of one player. Members can freely deposit into it, but must make a "request" to withdraw. Leaders and Officers should be the only ones with power to accept withdrawal requests. Then some type of system that makes transactions visible for Members so they can see how the Guild is spending its money.
  

 

Removing the +25% EXP Bonus

• I'm actually in favor of this. A big reason why I am skeptical of creating another guild to expand my guild community is because many would want the EXP Bonus. There is its flaw: Getting this EXP Bonus requires several guild members to be "end game" to PvP at a high level. These players don't need help with the game, nor do they really need the EXP Bonus because they already have their team, pay someone else to level, or just buy PvP ready pokemon. I want to create a second guild that focuses on recruiting new players who want to improve at the game. These players actually need the EXP Bonus, but I can't extend it to them because the guild with that bonus is full.
  Moving players around is not an option for guilds actually trying to get #1 because of as [mention]Red[/mention] says, "bragging rights."

 

Guild House / Base

• I think this is a very cool concept. It would be a great way have a physical mark in the game beyond an icon above your head (which I cant even see on myself btw...) Imagine if there was an area where all "Guild Houses" were, I think where the Easter Event in Vermillion was this year would be a great example. Then imagine if each member got their own room in the Guild House. There are so many monetizable / pokedollar sink opportunities here. I would totally pay money for the following cosmetics in a Guild House:
  
  • Statues / Fountains / Shubbery outside my Guild House to establish dominance over my guild neighbors.
    
  • For your room: Different carpeting, bed sheets, bed style, pokemon stuffed animals, tv... this of your room being completely empty when you get it then you need to purchase "Room Items" that are stored in a special PC in your room. If coded this way, you can keep your stuff if you ever leave the guild, etc.

  [*]This would completely increase the social interaction in the game. I would totally spend a day just running around other guild houses out of pure curiousity. I would encourage all my friends to play just so I can show them how dope my guild house / guild room is.

  [*]And of course all the practical reasonings. A physical place where you can place the "Guild Bank." A special PC where you can keep "Guild Pokemon" and "Guild Items," etc.

 

Ability to see activity of your Guild Members

• I know my guild has a lot of weekend warriors or people that are only motivated to PvP for a week each season then AFK. But sometimes you have members that go AFK for months at a time. It's hard to know definitely without some sort of identifier. I would hate to kick someone from my guild thinking they are inactive only to learn they simply play while Im asleep because of a timezone / work schedule difference.
  

 

Staff Involvement for Guild Events: Prizing

• [mention]Red[/mention] you speak of "very rich giveaways" as if this is very easy to do. I started playing in August and have a total of 500k between two of my accounts. I host events for 100k each week and donate at least $5 in coins each week for events and activities. I spend a lot of time on this game, and I know my members appreciate the effort I put forth, so I can justify the amount of money / pokedollars I invest into my guild. I probably spend ~10 hours a week planning and organizing events and activities for my guild. I am going to assume there are not many other guilds or guild leaders that put as much effort as I do since you went out or your way to bash the guild leaders of this game. I would gladly do guild-wars or guild-to-guild events but I already fund and spend so much time into planning and organizing for my guild.
  
• If you are so disappointed in the reward amounts, I challenge you to fund guild events. Create a application for funding of guild events. Let's say I plan a "Weekly Hunt" for my guild. I specify everything from rules, prizes, how to enter, where to enter, etc. etc. If you approve of the event, respond with your funding limit. Then once complete, I submit the winner(s) and you manually gift their accounts. Or you gift the applicant's account to gift to the winners. Sounds like you are most interested in guild war type of events, so perhaps these are the events you should fund specifically.