It's been a long time since I've seen an in-depth conversation about guild so firstly this is actually a really nice topic so thank you!

Alright after having a read, it doesn't seem to be very many people who actually understand very well how the current guild rank`s work based on some of the suggestions and replies with a couple of exceptions.

there are currently 16 different categories that make up a guilds overall average rank.

As mentioned by Papas, out of the 16 categories, a guild's worst ranked category is taken from its best.

So an example of this (based on currentnt weeks ranks) High Societys worst rank is its total Achivment Points (46th) and its PVE Kills/Members (1st) ... so neither of those rankings will count and will keep going with every category until left with a final rank.

Now looking at the 16 different categories, guild founding date and average account age just hold take up 2 of the 16 categories.

There was a time when a guilds age held more weight towards the guilds overall rankings and there is a thread about it which you can find which after lengthy discussions it was changed to what it is now where guild age doesn't actually hold as that much weight towards a guilds overall rank. (hence only 1 out of the 16 categories)

As its already been mentioned by a few now as well, keeping a guilds age as part of the rankings is imperative as keeping a guild going for many years is no easy feat and can show a guild has a strong enough foundation to have lasted the test of time but agreed it shouldn't be the top factor so the current system in that regard does well to keep that balance.

Average account age is similar to guilds age. If a guild is retaining old players then it should be something that should contribute towards a guild's overall rank as again it isn't something easily done and should be recognised. Again like the guild age, it does not have such a great weight on guild ranks but the current system in place works well and fairly as it factors 2 important but small aspects of guilds.


Now 14 categories left.

5 are dedicated towards guild activity.

This is pretty much 1/3 of a guild's overall rank so it plays a big part to play. Having such a large weight towards activity takes away from having a guild with nothing but old players... So if a guild is old and has a lot of really old players who haven't logged for 30+ days then it will matter if the guild is old and the average account age overall is good as that 2 good scores will be taken away from 2 of the 5 different activity counters and the other remaining 3 will just bring the guilds overall rank down anyways.

Same time If a new guild had just started up its activity rankings will be great (new guild so all members will be recently active) however it will only factor in 3/5 of the activity ranks as the guilds age and most likely average account age will be of much lower rankings.

9 categories remaining...

6 of those are taken up by PvP.

This section of the rankings is probably the most controversial and also the most weight-holding factor towards a guild's rankings. We have to appreciate this was implemented a long time ago back when PvP was very much alive and kicking rather than what it has become today (pretty much godless lol) so with the way the game is currently should these really hold such great importance towards guild rankings anymore?

I don't personally think so tho to completely take them away would also take away from the achievements made by players who did attain them over the years and who have been playing for a long time including the times it was relevant and a more active scene in the game.

We also have the elephant in the room in the form of players botting for those PvP kills. Now whilst PvP kills is still part of Achievements if players/guild has the manpower to able to help players get those kills to help them get those APs I don't see the justification for it to be punished as again its something that takes teamwork, resources and time. For example players in a guild who might make a seasonal character for their chance to get onto the leaderboards, if a players guild is willing to take the time to help them get those APs for a new character that can sometimes be the difference of getting onto LB and securing a position.

This also includes players who are trying to get their older main accounts onto the main top player's leaderboards as well.

Not to say there aren't players out there who "take the biscuit" with their accounts however those are easier to stop by either ban or as an idea suggested by Papas (paraphrasing)where the top 5/10 players from a guild with "abnormal" amount of PVP kills is not included at all in guild rankings. Same with the deaths as well as this can take away from incentives of dummy farming for rank improvements or the handful of players carrying a guild's rank.


Now 3 categories remaining

Considering actual PvE content holds such little weight towards a guild's rank taking up just 2 categories in today's times when PvE content is so much more relevant. This is where the biggest changes should be made in my opinion. Should really be the other way round with PVP, perhaps taking those 3 CTF categories and converting them into PVE related instead...

-Could story quests/side quests per member only counting the completed ones like completed APs count towards ranks incentives guilds members who have completed already their own to making sure people have completed or helped out in to complete all quests for others as it counts towards overall?

-Badges in guild per member (if events will continue to give out badges for players reaching LBs again another incentive for guilds to help its members to not only get to LBs but also helps count towards overall ranks

-Banners per member as again like badges you have banners earnt during events alongside those from Overall/Seasonal/Timed LBs... these numbers will go up the more active guilds are also again still supporting each other to obtain for the improvement of the guilds rank.

If you split up story and side quests that are intentionally 4 new categories that could replace CTF alone.


In regards to people guild hoping.

Now hear me out...

What if instead there was a category for the length of time members have actually been in a guild instead?

So the longer a player stays in a guild it has a positive effect on ranks and people can have more of a reason on deciding to stay in one place and also giving guilds more incentive to keep releventent and active with all its players as retaining retention will benefit the guilds rank too.

Finally, we get down to the last category which is the overall Achievement Points. Now with how it currently is, the top 50 guilds with overall APs is who makes it onto the Leaderboards.

This can realistically be achieved 2 ways... 1st way you have a large guild (based on current numbers you would need 2,000 players with 20k APs each just to make it into the top 50.) high volume of players but a low level of achievements or the 2nd way is having a smaller guild with much higher levels of achievements.

Because this is just again only 1 factor out of the 16 total for guild ranks it doesn't play too important of a role in the overall ranking however it gives all guilds a chance to choose if they want to try a with high or low numbers.

Personally, I've been in guilds in the past before I created HS where there were over 1k members and it was on the top 50 lbs (like 15th) however it wasn't the most pleasant experience I felt and the guild did get nuked (back in the day before it became a bannable offence) and I ended up in Pheonix guild which was ranked 1/2 and it around 150/200 members at most which at the time blew my mind as I was under the impression all guilds on LB must have all just been massive with thousands of players and chaotic and learnt the about quality>quantity.


With the way it is, it works perfectly and fairly so it wouldn't make sense to change that.


Yes, some improvements with taking away how much PvP and including more PvE-related criteria should be implemented but completely changing the current system is too flawed of an idea.

Ohh would defiantly love some kind of prize for LB guilds but yeah better not for the greater good XD

Management and customizations however are more than encouraged and welcomed. Being able to pay to change a guilds title colour, or buy environments in guildhall that would give all its members buffs similar to how houses do it for individual players already but these ideas are best saved for another thread


Sorry for the long one

Thank you for taking the time to read and everyone getting involved with the conversation!


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