Hammerwiki:Guild

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A Guild, formerly referred to in WAR as a Regiment and occasionally also known as a Clan, is an association of players, providing a platform for social interaction within a game. Technically, a guild needs not be limited to any particular game, but in the context of Warhammer Online a guild is a group of players fighting under the same flag. Guilds will play a crucial role in RvR and give benefits to its members via guild banners and the members can pay back by helping the guild level through the various ranks that will unlock more banner designs and tactics/tactic slots.

General
Guilds tend to facilitate development of communities and thereby improve a players involvement in the game. Guilds are an integral part of WAR, affording players distinct bonuses and encouraging them to form social relationships with other players. Guilds will have access to several exclusive features that will mostly help them co-ordinate their in-game actions:
 * Profile - shows a descriptive summary of the guild, including website and contact details, statistics, and a message of the day.
 * Roster - provides details of all guild members and allows players to track online members.
 * News - automates guild news such as guild creation, members joining and leaving, and guild promotions.
 * Calendar - allows guilds to view, set up, and manage guild events. The Calendar can be viewed by month, date, and year, and summaries and details can be added to each event. Additionally, there is a sign-up list which allows guild members to sign up for specific events, and provides an option to allow members with the appropriate permissions to Accept and Decline sign ups.
 * Banners - the emblem or insignia of the guild will be displayed at several key points in the game. Guild members can be designated as banner bearers, and carrying a banner into combat will provide special bonuses, although the banner bearer will have to give up some of their own abilities.
 * Alliances - guilds will be able to form official alliances between themselves and up to nine other guilds in their realm (a total of ten), to aid coordination and cooperation.

Generally, guilds are organized in a hierarchical structure, with one person acting as guild leader, a small group of guild officers and a larger number of guild members. There will only ever be one leader, but other officers and members can be assigned to one of up to nine hierarchical levels.

Guilds will have access to a communal guild hall, which will be an instanced space in a building in one of the capital cities where all players in all guilds can chat and generally hang out, meet friends and form guild alliances.

Any six players of the same faction can go to a capital city and create a guild, for a nominal fee of 50 silver. All six characters must be present at the Guild Registrar for the formation process to succeed!

Living guilds
In WAR, a guild will be a living institution that will grow and thrive according to the success of its members. Guilds can gain ranks, almost the same way as player characters. A guild can gain, and progression through the ranks will allow guild members access to special perks, such as cloaks, standards and related tactics, potions, titles, merchants and other crafting resources, transportation options, and heraldic emblems.

The players' achievements doesn't only contribute to the character's advancement, but also to the guild's advancement, such as exploration and RvR. The guild's experience is tracked separately from the player character's regular, gained experience. Performing actions which contribute to guild XP does not in any way lessen the player's own experience gains.

Following is a list of actions which will contribute to Guild XP:
 * Standard Guild Experience is rewarded each time a guild member receives standard experience by accomplishing goals within the game like defeating opponents (both NPCs and in RvR)
 * RvR Keep Ownership Guild Experience is rewarded to a guild over time for maintaining ownership of an RvR keep.
 * Battlefield Objective Ownership Bonus: While a guild possesses a claimed Battlefield Objective, a bonus is applied to all guild experience gains throughout the battlefields of WAR.

Previously it was thought that doing other achievements, such as tome unlocks and Public Quests gained the guild experience, but from the Grab Bag on 24/10/08, Missy Hatch from Mythic cleared it up.

In order to prevent massive guilds dominating the game, members of larger guilds will individually contribute less to their guild than members of smaller guilds. Also, pure guild quests are not currently planned, but are being discussed.

Guild rewards and unlocks:

Claiming keeps
A Guild, assuming it has achieved the proper level, may 'claim' keeps in the game, once they are captured. Though any non-guilded player can take part in assaulting a keep and can capture it for their realm to gain the RvR benefits of owning a keep, once the battle has been won, a guilded player carrying a banner can capture the central point of the keep so that its control is switched to the player's respective guild. Claiming a keep will allow the guild to hang their banner from the keep ramparts, along with any banners captured from enemy guilds. Controlling a keep will also give a bonus to the guild's rank. Once a keep is under guild control, the guild is charged per-hour for the right to control the keep. Reports indicate that this is 2 gold per hour at tier 4, the price reducing in lower tiers.

Standards
A standard is more than just decoration on the battlefield. The holder of a standard on the battlefield is called a standard bearer, the standard bearer cannot use his or her personal abilities, tactics or morale abilities as long as he or she is holding the standard. A guild can attach trophies to the standards, trophies that can be gained from the guild's victories and achievements. The standard works as a rallying point for the guild's characters. The standard has a morale bonus given to the players in a PBAoE around the standard.

The standard gives special abilities to the standard bearer, based on the rank of the guild, the first ability the standard bearer gets is the ability to plant the standard on the ground so he can fight alongside his allies. Other abilities include speed bonuses and the ability to swing the standard to knock-back the enemies. The standard also has tactics. The guild can choose different tactic builds for different occasions, there are three tactic-slots for each standard. In RvR, a player can capture the enemy standard by capturing a planted banner. When a standard bearer is killed the standard he was carrying becomes planted at the point of his death. A guild can own up to three standards.

Guild Taverns
Powerful guilds from all over the world come to Altdorf and The Inevitable City to gather and trade their secrets in Guild Taverns. Only the most prestigious guilds are able to enter these special areas, where guilds enjoy a variety of benefits available only to them! Wouldn’t it be great to have a place to network and ally with like-minded guilds to plan and carouse until the wee hours of the morning?

Members of Order and Destruction alike will find solace in taverns at Guild Rank 6. If you’re an Order player, your tavern is located in Sigmar’s Hammer in the War Quarters in Altdorf. For Destruction, visit The Viper Pit in Fate’s Edge in The Inevitable City. Speak to the Guild Merchant just outside Sigmar’s Hammer or The Viper Pit once your guild is eligible, and he will grant you entry. Cities must be at Rank 2 in order for the Taverns to be accessible.

Within the Guild Tavern, guilds will have access to various merchants who offer many different items and services. The items and services available are dependent on the guild’s level. A few examples include:


 * Flight Master: Taverns provide flight masters who offer normal travel options, but also guild rank-based locations including: Gunbad’s Entrance, Bastion Stair’s Entrance, and Lost Vale’s Entrance
 * Guild Standard Merchant
 * Crafting Merchant: This merchant will sell various components for crafting which are not otherwise able to be purchased, but must usually be found via butchering or scavenging.
 * Renown Merchant: The Renown Merchant offers Renown gear at a discounted rate of coin.
 * Siege Weaponry: This merchant offers siege weapons at a discounted rate.
 * More: We have plans to add even more specialized merchants to the guild hall as time goes by!

Services available to guilds via the Guild Taverns are dependent on the guild’s Rank. Some of these services include:
 * Recall Scrolls: Players can buy a guild recall scroll from the store which will allow guilds to transport back to the tavern during a city’s peaceful state
 * The Leader’s Hall: At guild rank 16, this room provides Guild Leaders and Officers with a rest bonus, which gives a bonus to the player’s rested experience.
 * Guild Registrar: The fellows who help out with Guild Creation can be found right outside of The Viper Pit and the War Quarters, so you can easily find them and other guild related services there!