29. My Guild Wish List

Guilds have been around for about six months now, so I thought I'd write out a short review and a "wish list" for improvements to this feature!

Overview of Guilds

On the surface, guilds are not a major change to the sandbox. Players could already create a network of friends through Discord, and since guilds provide no in-game socialization tools, successful guilds will continue to depend on third-party software such as Discord in order to chat with guildmates and organize crews for adventures.

However, more personalization is always nice, and being able to create your own trading company is a lot of fun! It also allows for a bit of roleplaying. Readers of this blog will recall that I was able to revive the Sea Dogs as an adventure faction thanks to guilds! Blurbs created the Pirate Council, a global "franchise" guild that attempted to take over the Sea of Thieves. Jon Bardcore showed how guilds have made it possible for players to create a Hunter's Call emissary... something long requested by the avid fishermen of the Seas.

Wish List

Here are a few ideas on my wish list for guilds in the future.

1. Private Servers? In the future, there is a lot of potential for guilds. Is it a coincidence that the maximum number of people allowed in a guild is 24 -- six galleons of four players, which is the maximum number of players that would be allowed on a private server? Currently, private servers are only available to Sea of Thieves Partners. Allowing a guild to set up a private server to host its own events would be a blast! With Safer Seas "private servers" already here, guild servers might not be as far off as we might have once thought...

2. Guild Hideouts? Sovereign Barnaby at Galleon's Grave claims to have a private island that can only be reached by a special diamond coracle... Will our guilds also one day have their own place to call home? We can already set up trinkets not only on our ships but also in taverns, so the tools are already there! 

3. It's the Little Things... The marker on the map when we reach Grade 5, the symbol on our emissary flag, and the emissary value icon that shows up when we sell treasure should all feature our guild symbol, rather than the generic clasped hands symbol! This is a simple cosmetic change that would really make guilds feel more personal. The current arrangement is frankly disappointing!

Of my three Wish List items, #3 is the one I hope for most. This is such a simple change that would make our guilds feel much more personal. Allowing us to choose all the branding only to get the same cookie cutter emissary flags and icons with the same clasping hands symbol was quite a disappointment!

Final Thoughts

In their current state, it's hard to say that guilds add much to the game. But they have potential. Even just one of the tweaks mentioned above would give guilds a significant boost.

More to come!

All guilds are currently the same. They are only distinguished by their branding, which, as mentioned in Wish List #3, is disappointingly under-utilized in the game world.

Next week, I will suggest an idea that would allow guilds to distinguish themselves beyond branding. Stay tuned!