Guild Halls and how we use them.

[Tenrai Senshi.2017]

I'll be honest. I have a small guild of my own with some friends, and I am also in a larger community guild, and whenever I visit either guild hall, it's always empty. I think people just go in to farm nodes and get boosts (when they remember/feel like it), but aside from that, there's really not much reason to spend any length of time in a guild hall, which is a bit of a shame really.

 

Part of the reason is the social aspect. For myself personally, I feel more part of the world when I'm in a busy hub like LA or DR, where I can interact with people or just see what's going on. Guild halls lack this sense of connection and feel like isolated husks. The only people you'd interact with there are your guild mates, and you'd do that just with the Guild Chat. Part of me wishes that Guild Halls could be shared with the community more, in the sense that you spend all this time upgrading and decorating them, but you never get to show others outside of your guild the results of your labors. It would be cool if halls could be listed for public visits, where players could go into them, look at how creative guild decorators can be, and interact with members (though, they'd still not be able to use all the facilities unless they belonged to the guild). Hell, I could see myself visiting various guild halls purely out of curiosity to see what kinds of decoration themes people have come up with.

 

Another reason is probably a lack of activities in the guild hall. Unless you're using the Arena all the time, there's not actually much to do in a Guild Hall, besides standing around (something that can be easily done elsewhere). What would be nice is if they added more activities or mini games that could be enjoyed in guild halls, even if they were tied to craftable items or structures from the scribe. For example, imagine being able to craft a giant chess board, which you could play actual chess on with guild mates, etc.

[Kamara.4187]

> @"Deimos.4263" said:

> I realize I didn't really address the original question. We use our guild hall for a *lot*.

>

> I pretty much lived in it for a year, when I got really into scribing/decorating. It became contagious, and we now have 6 maximum level scribes and hold late-night scribe-a-thons where several members work together and come up with some crazy stuff. Group decorating.

>

> We've held several parties there with games and races, music and dancing, and we've built so many fun projects I've forgotten them all. At one point we gave guild hall tours for new members and they took over an hour to complete.

>

> We've now given everyone in the guild decoration rights, so not only can they be creative, they can have fountain wars and try to crush each other. Get stuck in a fountain, you're out.

>

> We change halls every 6 months or so, so it's a lot of fun to start with a blank slate and see what we can create each time. We're really quite crazy with the decorating.

>

> It's our rallying place for guild missions because the portal is just so fun, and we've held several guild meetings and officer meetings.

>

> Of course there are nodes and tavern buffs and that super-handy anvil, but those are sort of an afterthought for our guild.

 

You guys sound like mad crazy fun!!! And I had a good chuckle just reading about your antics :). An hour long tour? That is some serious decorating I'd love to see some time :). In our old hall we made a beach party swimming area and it sounds like your gang of mad creators celebrated the same type of "just have fun spirit". I loved this post because it shows a group also making their own fun and content with a feature provided by the game creators. In my mind this is what makes the halls so special and escentual :). Thank you for sharing...I'm still laughing imagining you guys running around having fun lol :).

[Kamara.4187]

> @"Tenrai Senshi.2017" said:

> I'll be honest. I have a small guild of my own with some friends, and I am also in a larger community guild, and whenever I visit either guild hall, it's always empty. I think people just go in to farm nodes and get boosts (when they remember/feel like it), but aside from that, there's really not much reason to spend any length of time in a guild hall, which is a bit of a shame really.

>

> Part of the reason is the social aspect. For myself personally, I feel more part of the world when I'm in a busy hub like LA or DR, where I can interact with people or just see what's going on. Guild halls lack this sense of connection and feel like isolated husks. The only people you'd interact with there are your guild mates, and you'd do that just with the Guild Chat. Part of me wishes that Guild Halls could be shared with the community more, in the sense that you spend all this time upgrading and decorating them, but you never get to show others outside of your guild the results of your labors. It would be cool if halls could be listed for public visits, where players could go into them, look at how creative guild decorators can be, and interact with members (though, they'd still not be able to use all the facilities unless they belonged to the guild). Hell, I could see myself visiting various guild halls purely out of curiosity to see what kinds of decoration themes people have come up with.

>

> Another reason is probably a lack of activities in the guild hall. Unless you're using the Arena all the time, there's not actually much to do in a Guild Hall, besides standing around (something that can be easily done elsewhere). What would be nice is if they added more activities or mini games that could be enjoyed in guild halls, even if they were tied to craftable items or structures from the scribe. For example, imagine being able to craft a giant chess board, which you could play actual chess on with guild mates, etc.

 

You brought up some very good points concerning how a hall can also make one feel isolated and the disconnect from the main hubs of game activity like LA and major game cities. I would also love to tour other halls. In an old game now sunset called SWG I'd often spend a day here and there just visiting other homes and cities to enjoy the creative genius of others. Decorating was a very big deal in that game and there were often contest hosted by both the gamers and staff. To this day I still have screen shots I've kept of some of them (10 years later on) :). So for this I'd wish for an additional portal that could be added to a city hub with the ability to visit "if the guild would allow it". Some may prefer to remain private and that should also be respected.

 

My group also uses the guild arena extensively to work on different build vs other builds. For a fighting guild (wvw or pvp) the arena is key, and often a hub of social activity. A bank access close to the arena would also improve the utility of the arena for gear changes and such if one could be provided...In fact I'll go one step further and wish that we could purchase how many npc vendors/ banks that we wish for our halls and place them where we choose.

[Kamara.4187]

> @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> I think they would get a lot more use if they had a testing golem, placable chests for player made jumping puzzles, and perhaps a summonable weekly or daily boss or something. But we’re lucky to get guild decorations and a mostly finished new guild hall with how little they seem to want to invest into guild content. I suppose wvw guild changes are the biggest change we will see for the remainder of the franchise.

>

> With all the awkward invisible barriers in Windswept and weird terrain collision it kind of seems like they made a map, threw a few (pretty) usable buildings down and then tossed invisible barriers around the things they didn’t finish or scrapped. Seems like they might have either saved it for last, had significantly fewer people working on it than previous ones, or went through several iterations and couldn’t decide until they finally narrowed it down. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still pretty and the artists do amazing work, but it’s a little disappointing in many ways. Also, no new music or weapons? Wish they would revise Windswept a bit even if it isn’t huge changes but I know I’d have better luck wishing for the lotto. Lol

 

I am so sorry I missed your post. I'm trying to reply to everyone but somehow I missed you :/. I apologize. Now testing Golem? Not sure exactly how you meant to apply that? Player made jumping puzzles in the guild hall? Yes! My guild leader is crazy for those and made one with the super clouds in our last hall, and also the one we have now. In fact he is always working on one to go higher. I told him he's like a bird always looking for a perch lol. Unseen barriers in the new hall. Yes I've encountered one that I'm always running into close to the doorway of the scribing hall. No idea what it is but it acts like a rock in the pathway that you have to navigate around but visibly there is nothing there to indicate an obstruction. Maybe I should have wrote a bug ticket on it or something but when I'm crafting I forget about everything else except whatever I'm working on at the time.

 

Anet is actually better than the lotto in my opinion. I'm not a white knight by no means but they have made earnest strides to address players concerns in many aspects of the game. I am very happy with whoever is in the saddle calling the shots right now and it seems the game is getting back on track in both lore and original concept. I'm a diehard wvw'er in GW2 but lore still matters to me because it defines our place in the realm we call Tyria. Granted I also have strong rp roots from days gone by but I've had little time for it as I fight for my servers place on the battlegrounds where I still feel that the lore should make some sense of why we are doing what we are doing and lend significance to it. Which brings me back to our Guild Halls and wanting them to perhaps offer more of a reflection of our factions, race, and home territory rather than the new areas that are opened up with a new release. Personally I want to see more of a fort type guild hall in the shiverpeaks, but I'm also norn crazy lol.

[Yargesh.4965]

I personally have all three guild halls as private. Not going to max any of them out. I have 2 in their 20s somewhere and the last one is about lvl 6. With gliding and now mounts there is no reason to open the option to expand the area (at lvl 40 guild) since you can easily access everywhere anyway. Decorations are a very individual thing and while some like hundreds of knickknacks hanging around I like a more minimalist style so it suits me fine.

[Deimos.4263]

> @"Kamara.4187" said:

> You guys sound like mad crazy fun!!! And I had a good chuckle just reading about your antics :). An hour long tour? That is some serious decorating I'd love to see some time :)

 

Well, that particular instance of our hall is long gone.

 

We had Lost Precipice at the time, and had held an officer's meeting where we all agreed it was time to try something new. We are a fairly dramatic bunch, so imagine 7 officers gliding down from on high on meteors towards the assembled masses. As we crash-land all 2000 decorations vanish and the hall is completely empty. There was an audible silence as everyone gasped in horror. (I had the privilege/pain of pressing the "Clear All Decorations" button...) We then announced that we were claiming Windswept Haven and there was much rejoicing when they recovered from the surprise.

 

That version will be missed. We of course took many, many, many screenshots before we blew it up, and far too many to show here. But you can see *some* of it in this 5 minute Wintersday race. Plus it's hilarious, and an example of the sort of fun you can have in your guild hall.

 

[https://youtube.com/watch?v=_84gCbBBVrQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_84gCbBBVrQ "https://youtube.com/watch?v=_84gCbBBVrQ")

 

If you want to see what we're up to lately, send me an in-game mail and you can come visit! :)

 

 

[Kamara.4187]

> @"Deimos.4263" said:

> > @"Kamara.4187" said:

> > You guys sound like mad crazy fun!!! And I had a good chuckle just reading about your antics :). An hour long tour? That is some serious decorating I'd love to see some time :)

>

> Well, that particular instance of our hall is long gone.

>

> We had Lost Precipice at the time, and had held an officer's meeting where we all agreed it was time to try something new. We are a fairly dramatic bunch, so imagine 7 officers gliding down from on high on meteors towards the assembled masses. As we crash-land all 2000 decorations vanish and the hall is completely empty. There was an audible silence as everyone gasped in horror. (I had the privilege/pain of pressing the "Clear All Decorations" button...) We then announced that we were claiming Windswept Haven and there was much rejoicing when they recovered from the surprise.

>

> That version will be missed. We of course took many, many, many screenshots before we blew it up, and far too many to show here. But you can see *some* of it in this 5 minute Wintersday race. Plus it's hilarious, and an example of the sort of fun you can have in your guild hall.

>

> [https://youtube.com/watch?v=_84gCbBBVrQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_84gCbBBVrQ "https://youtube.com/watch?v=_84gCbBBVrQ")

>

> If you want to see what we're up to lately, send me an in-game mail and you can come visit! :)

>

>

 

Omgawd you all are tore up! I roared laughing. one was cheating by taking a shortcut, another was feared off a cliff, and I'll have to rewatch it to get a better look at the decorations cause I was too busy watching the race and laughing! I will be taking you up on that offer but it won't be till I get back. (I'm about to switch services and I expect to be down for 2 weeks). Oh and gliding down on meteors...epic! You guys look like a blast to hang out with :)

[Kamara.4187]

> @"Yargesh.4965" said:

> I personally have all three guild halls as private. Not going to max any of them out. I have 2 in their 20s somewhere and the last one is about lvl 6. With gliding and now mounts there is no reason to open the option to expand the area (at lvl 40 guild) since you can easily access everywhere anyway. Decorations are a very individual thing and while some like hundreds of knickknacks hanging around I like a more minimalist style so it suits me fine.

 

There is nothing wrong with minimalist as long as you and your group are happy with it :). I however am the opposite. If I see an empty spot I have to throw a shrub or tree on it. I'm tragic like that lol.

[jabberjabber.6804]

Some really excellent points in this thread.

 

I just wanted to add to this that we use our guild hall to create bespoke guild events (part treasure hunt / challenge / and past roleplay narrative) — see

for an example of what I mean. It involves giving out prizes to guild members for completing certain “quests” that we build.

 

In addition, we have created our own raptor racing track and are thinking about how to tackle a griffin race.

 

We also offer some of the “houses” in the lost precipice for members to “claim” or “own”. They then decorate them as they see fit. This has 2 major outcomes: our members feel like they have a bigger stake in the Hall; and the Hall gets to look even better! This comes in to play with the above mentioned guild hall events & quests that we run. Of course, we’d like some of the things others have mentioned (beds!) to aid role play, but we try to make the most of our Hall.

[Yaki.8450]

Anet should be add more function to the huge guild hall.

e.g. Guild champion hunter bounty, the guild version Dungeons , event like Silver Wastes, or more function can be relate to different maps.

[Kethavel.1759]

This is why my guild moved from the new hall back to Guilded hollow. Guilded Hollow has the best pathing, lots of flat space and hardly any static trash in the way of decorating. It also has far away hidden areas where you could easily chat openly and not have others close enough to read. My BIGGEST gripe about the decorating system is the local area limit for decorations is a meager 20. Meaning you can only have a maximum of 20 decorations near each other. This makes it very difficult to build large projects. For example if you make a large flat area with SAB grass slabs and surround it with rock walls, you aren't left with any spots to put trees or anything else in there. IMO the limit should be 40 if not at least 30!

[Randulf.7614]

> @"Oldirtbeard.9834" said:

> Let's say I wanted to make my own private guild, how much gold would it take to deck it out with all the amenities?

 

I levelled a GH to 40 with help from 2 others. My personal contribution at the time was in the thousands of gold (combined value of liquid gold + mats). Took 2 years

[Kethavel.1759]

It's also too bad there aren't any guild missions that occur in the guild hall such as a challenge mission to survive hoards of enemies etc. Just a thought as we do the same old guild missions every saturday after reset.

[Kethavel.1759]

> @"Tenrai Senshi.2017" said:

> I'll be honest. I have a small guild of my own with some friends, and I am also in a larger community guild, and whenever I visit either guild hall, it's always empty. I think people just go in to farm nodes and get boosts (when they remember/feel like it), but aside from that, there's really not much reason to spend any length of time in a guild hall, which is a bit of a shame really.

>

> Part of the reason is the social aspect. For myself personally, I feel more part of the world when I'm in a busy hub like LA or DR, where I can interact with people or just see what's going on. Guild halls lack this sense of connection and feel like isolated husks. The only people you'd interact with there are your guild mates, and you'd do that just with the Guild Chat. Part of me wishes that Guild Halls could be shared with the community more, in the sense that you spend all this time upgrading and decorating them, but you never get to show others outside of your guild the results of your labors. It would be cool if halls could be listed for public visits, where players could go into them, look at how creative guild decorators can be, and interact with members (though, they'd still not be able to use all the facilities unless they belonged to the guild). Hell, I could see myself visiting various guild halls purely out of curiosity to see what kinds of decoration themes people have come up with.

>

> Another reason is probably a lack of activities in the guild hall. Unless you're using the Arena all the time, there's not actually much to do in a Guild Hall, besides standing around (something that can be easily done elsewhere). What would be nice is if they added more activities or mini games that could be enjoyed in guild halls, even if they were tied to craftable items or structures from the scribe. For example, imagine being able to craft a giant chess board, which you could play actual chess on with guild mates, etc.

 

I love the open to public visits idea! Phantasy star online 2 had that and you could also lock the room with a password if you chose!

[Kethavel.1759]

I am obsessed with decorating and would love to see some of you peoples guild halls, sounds like we have decorating in common haha! I have an empty guild slot lol

[Balthazzarr.1349]

> @"Kethavel.1759" said:

> I am obsessed with decorating and would love to see some of you peoples guild halls, sounds like we have decorating in common haha! I have an empty guild slot lol

 

Hey there! I sent you a guild invite to Howl. This is the place that my co-leader of our Guild, Kamara, "lives" as well. Hope you like it! :)

[Headcase.4618]

Personally, I'd like to be able to park my toons inside a guild hall

[Kethavel.1759]

> @"Balthazzarr.1349" said:

> > @"Kethavel.1759" said:

> > I am obsessed with decorating and would love to see some of you peoples guild halls, sounds like we have decorating in common haha! I have an empty guild slot lol

>

> Hey there! I sent you a guild invite to Howl. This is the place that my co-leader of our Guild, Kamara, "lives" as well. Hope you like it! :)

 

Cool! I'll check it when I get home thanks!

[Talindra.4958]

i really really wish guild stuff eg guild hall, guild missioins etc is high light in the game .. guild missions are so long outdated. this game is guild wars. the "guild" component isn't very strong. why, theres hardly any update on it. feel that it is left abandon. if guild component isn't updated, how can we get people to play much together as a guild? people just don't really care much right. there should be making update to guild more often so many more guild can grow.. instead of just the large guild.

[Balthazzarr.1349]

> @"Kethavel.1759" said:

> > @"Balthazzarr.1349" said:

> > > @"Kethavel.1759" said:

> > > I am obsessed with decorating and would love to see some of you peoples guild halls, sounds like we have decorating in common haha! I have an empty guild slot lol

> >

> > Hey there! I sent you a guild invite to Howl. This is the place that my co-leader of our Guild, Kamara, "lives" as well. Hope you like it! :)

>

> Cool! I'll check it when I get home thanks!

 

good? bad? indifferent? ... lol, I'm curious what you thought... ;)

[Blaeys.3102]

The newest guild hall is especially problematic. It is nearly impossible to find a flat area big enough to place decorations in a meaningful way. It wasn't well thought out.

[Balthazzarr.1349]

Nope and after being in the new hall for the last few months it was time to move... We have now moved into Gilded Hollow! Much Much nicer!!!!!