I'm mostly interested in where this will fit into the economy. You mentioned players "making a decent living" off of selling guild related items- does this imply that the method towards getting these guild furnishings does not require keys, etc. or will it require a substantial amount or risk rather than skill?

What I mean is, does one EARN guild furnishings by playing actual levels allowing them to like you said, "make a decent living" or does one PAY to receive them, as with accessories?

And what are the relative costs? How quickly do they scale upwards, and what kind of a sink will they be? What general types of player is this aimed at?

I am still unsure of whether this is some beautiful stroke of genius, or just another strangely implemented system that doesn't work. But thank you for posting about what you're doing anyway, I do appreciate it.

I'm interested if these furnishing will serve any specific functions or interactions. Besides looking pretty.
I also want to know if you will be able to buy snipes to put into your Guildhall, to make it look like the old one.

That's actually a very interesting dilemma.

"Most furnishings will be purchased though others require additional efforts."

The problem of interest here being that there are no "additional efforts" that can be carried out better by random players wishing to than by members of wealthy guilds wishing to.

Looking at the existing sources of valuable items, the darkfang shield is the closest to meeting this goal, and attaining one is a laughable endeavor that most players would not think to take on. Implying that any one player can deliberately go for a rare item implies that any group of players can do it better, eliminating the need to purchase such items, while implying otherwise creates a situation in which no one player can attempt to make a living off of said items.

Currently, the players selling high priced items continually like you say do so by essentially cheating the system with alt accounts used to craft items, which gives them an edge over P2P players whom are either technically challenged or are otherwise morally split when given the opportunity to 'rage craft' or the likes on alt accounts. It is true that some items, e.g. sealed swords, are legitimate, but most, like wolver, are created in such a manner as I have described. The problem with making them like sealed swords, lies in that a "decent living" is not attained by playing punch- the player loses out most of the time, even with as good of odds as sealed swords give.

If it were up to me, I would probably tie in specific drops to specific guilds randomly, e.g. Jempire only finds a specific brand of table while Collusion only finds a specific brand of chair. Further emphasis on the percentage chance of receiving a drop would create a situation where players had to be a "real member" of that guild to find that guild's item, and that finding such an item would be somewhat hard to do. Guildless member's would find specific items that were not related to any guild.

Thank you once again for sharing your thoughts, kind sir.

Nick, the GM of my guild left SK for good back in December. Many attempts to contact our GM have failed. However, my guild is still run by the officers are is very active. My question is: will there be features that only the GM can change?

An arcade machine would be fabulous I suppose, fighting monsters inside the clockwork in 8 bit.... with 8 bit background music :3 The guild hall upgrades sounds a bit too expensive :S What if our Guild members don't cooperate x(

PS. why are the GF still has the wrong attack speed?

/happy /hug /cheer /joy
/buy 40k ce

Couldn't agree more, Material-Girl

Nick - there will be a logging feature to keep track of who deposited how much into the treasury, yes? I don't want nice people depositing crowns in my Guild Treasury and having random people claim credit for it.

Art, we'll need to start charging fees for every time someone moves a chair.

This sounds like something for people who have alot of time on there hands. This sure doesnt apply to me. Even if my guild where as big as others I wouldnt waste my time on it, this is just my opinion. I cant even remeber the last time i was in my guild hall!

Hope this is as succefull as you think it will be.
Best wishes,
Timeclock

So much yes.

Would there be something like a message board in the guild hall where members can post messages to other members to see? and dates for events? it's a fast and esaier way to communicate than having to mail every member and stuff like that. .-.

Then everyone in the guild wants to be a GM or Officer. Result: a guild with 99 GMs! This defeats the whole point of guild organization hierarchy, right?

The way guild organization hierarchy needs to be revised as a result of this upcoming Guild Hall update. Let's think for a sec: why do we have 5 ranks? Recruit, Member and Veteran, all seem redundant because they do not have administrative rights. GM and Officers are there to manage the guild hierarchy itself (add, remove, promote, demote). Now with Guild Treasury in place, here are what I feel the Guild Hierarchy should be like:

1. each guild should have a limit on number of GMs. It does not make sense to have 100 GMs. A 100 persons guild should have no more than 10 GMs, because you could delegate tasks to Officers. Having unlimited number of GMs not only defeat the whole purpose of a guild hierarchy, but it encourages bad process that leads to bad guild decision making;
2. only GMs should have access to Guild Treasury. Because this is part of guild's administration and in general it is a bad idea to have too much exposure of the guild's wallet. (Have you let your whole class accesses your wallet and lunch money? I hope not);
3. Officers should be delegated for maintenance of guild hierarchy only. This includes administrating promotion, demotion, recruiting and removal of inactives. Since Officers typically serve as aids to GMs, the Officer to GM ratio should not exceed 3:1;
4. Recruit, Members and Veterans should be merged into Members. They are the basic units that composes a guild;
5. a new rank called Guest should be created, which allows prospective recruits to try out the guild before joining as a Member;
6. Guild Hall should have their own "Hall of Fame" to honour distinguished members who have contributed to the guild. This is the place (and only place) that members should be rewarded unique items.

I hope this makes more sense now? The current guild hierarchy is a "hack". The new guild hall update is an excellent opportunity to revamp this old system and make managing SK guilds both fun and interesting.

In Hall of Fame (see point 6).

Because of security. Guild Treasury should be carefully managed (it's like the guild's wallet). The current rank system doesn't support security at all.

Contribution can be recognized through Hall of Fame. It should not be recognized in the form of ranks. (Maybe when you have retired, you can have Ret. GM Princeberton.) Consequentially, unique items can be rewarded either in the form of Hall of Fame, or through "trophies" (e.g. medals) manufactured by the guild itself (which you can either put in your room or a wearable accessory).

Just keep in mind that you can invite people to your GH. That's why I think recognizing contribution with ranks is a bad idea. The rank system should serve two purposes: maintenance of the hierarchy (and as a result chain of command) and management of resources (Guild Treasury). Right now, the rank system doesn't do neither very well. Therefore I think it should be revamped in conjunction with the Guild Hall update.

Alright, you have some interesting ideas. I think that they would be an improvement on the current system, but I don't see them being an absolutely necessary addition. Ranks do serve both of those purposes, it's just that increased trust (Guild Treasury) and influence (Chain of Command) are considered a reward for contribution.

PS: I'm not a GM in my guild. I'm not even an officer

Also, I'll bet 250 CE that this update will come with a promo for furniture.

"This is Nick saying you have 2 days to pony up the money or he burns your house down."

Yeah, it's a shame. I'd burn the house down with freeloaders still inside.

So, I'm having a heated debate about this "easy access to select merchants" on skype with a fellow guild mate... I know that the new Guild Hall updates have not even happened yet. But I'm so ready to get my own Snipe Garden, and possibly own special chair. But, while being as excited as I am, another player too is as excited as I am, but his reasoning I disagree on...

Apparently he wishes to have Basil, a key component in the clockworks and for most players; a reason to explore, to be placed right into the guild hall.

Now, he has his own reasoning for this which I respect, that being; Basil being in the Guild Hall, will be easier for newer players, and that newer players won't ever have to use their energy on looking for certain recipes and will save on time/crowns.

As for me, my reasoning; Basil is there to troll you. Basil, knows you're looking for your recipes, and some times Basil'll be nice and generous and hand it over to you nicely, or be a troll and end up making you search for all eternity. It's that feature of Basil that I enjoy so much. I love the fact that you would have to spend energy looking for your desired recipe. It gives me a purpose to play.

Now, all I'm saying is, me, being well aware that this update hasn't even started yet, but, OOO's if you put Basil in the guild hall, I will wipe your existence from my memory for all eternity. Yes this is a threat!!!! *o* Keep him in the clockworks, and in the clockworks only! He is the only reason why I venture down. It's nice seeing his stranger face at depth 4, 13, or 23. I bow to him every time I see him, and if he doesn't have my recipes, I start in a different gate and greet him again hoping for the best! Dear oh dear, do not bring him to Haven!!! *Prays to the almighty Boost*

I can see merchants like:

Beachamel

Kozma

Punch

Some new guild merchants

and some random strangers available tbh dont think Basil would be tho since it would defeat the purpose (especially if recipes come pre-bound)

Who needs to design a guild hall when you can get an A+ in Art?

I KNOW!! That's what I've been telling him! I don't mind a Kozma or even a Brinks or maybe even a Vatel... *gasp* or even a....*looks around* >_> Boost <_<

All I'm saying is, I like the fact that people have to venture to get their recipe. It's a lot of fun when you realize that your recipe isn't there and have to start all over again! :( Clearly, my friend doesn't agree with me and considers it a waste of time... :(

*Cough* Now I don't mean to be rude but to the person that would even suggest that bringing Basil into the guild hall should be done, I have one question, 'What the heck is wrong with you!?!??!?!?!111//11one!11!!/!' *Cough* Like I said, I don't mean to offend. It's a ridiculous idea, one of the main things a guild has to offer now is help finding these rare recipes that only Basil possesses and although after the update a guild can offer more, not gonna say much but definitley more, that would still take out one of the ways guild members actually interact with each other. Like, I don't know how many times a guildie has gone on a run, got to Basil and said in Gchat 'I found such and such recipe' and they've done a deal with another guildie so one has their Cr and the other has a nice rare recipe they we're looking for, heck even the shy ones have done this. Why would anyone think that it's a good idea :( /endrant

Looking forward to the update.

~The Mighty Cheese Knight; WeeGee

Daisy!

~The Mighty Cheese Knight; WeeGee

Wow this sounds like a really good update!! Unity will have the most expensive guild hall, we shall call it the throne room >>:D
Is this update accessible in the test server? And when will it be fully released? Please answer! :DD
Dark~