Revamp Class & Guild System

Celas

So I am a returning player, and as many have probably noticed I am having a hard time settling in. I really wish there were options for classes like Bard (which I adore) to join a guild early on in the game. Without a guild, new players are missing out on a great deal of training and emersion. At least this is my opinion. I find myself quickly getting bored without tasks to work on and the engagement of guild members. I know you can join a guild after a hefty lesson investment into your initial class skills, but I feel like this is a little unfair and isolating for anyone that wants to play an untethered class as their main class. Maybe I'm wrong- but I feel like the class-to-guild system in place could be much better.

My proposal is for each city/council to have a "class pool" of valid options that can be played from the start. At the end of the academy system, you would be prompted to choose a city/council-affiliated guild to join, regardless of your class, as long as it is from the approved pool.

Legyn

I've had similar experiences with alts. All the cities have some way to get people involved, but it's hard to find an in when you're a new character. Foci combat is the easiest one, but combat isn't for every player or every character -- I would not recommend it to someone who wants to try out Hardcore mode. Becoming an aide to a ministry is the next option, but some ministries require knowledge of specific mechanics (war, security, trade, chancellor), heavy bookkeeping (chancellor, trade, security, war, steward, treasury, research), or knowledge of city lore (culture, cardinal, ambassador) that an experienced player might not have, much less a new player. Sending a minister a message asking to become an aide when you've never really had the opportunity to interact with them is hard. You don't know how they're like and they don't know if you can be trusted with the ministry's budget.

Joining a guild means you get to directly interact with a major aspect of your city's lore and learn more about it, which means you're more competent for certain ministries and city activities. It also almost guarantees that you someone in the city government that you can interact with regularly and who can help you find something to do in the city. Guilds are smaller and more focused, so it's expected for characters who are in the same guild to have more overlapping interests, which makes it easier to strike up conversations with people. Guild advancement tasks also create more opportunities for people to talk and get to know each other.

Damonicus

Is class mastery still needed to join guilds? If so, perhaps the removal of that could be a decent option. I really do not see a reason to keep a player from a guild with the majority of neutral classes.

Teani

I have not made an alt in a good long while, so I'm not sure what prompts are given during the introduction. Wayfarer, Indorani and Bard are the only classes unaffiliated with guilds, save from Shapeshifter (which is a different beast altogether). Isn't there some kind of prompt given during the intro regarding this, so that people are made aware of it and can opt for something else if they feel the need for guild interaction? (That's just me being curious)

Also, what is it, exactly, that is preventing someone from joining a guild one of these classes? If it is mastery, as Damonicus said, and you plan to main with the class anyway, it wouldn't take too much to achieve, I thought? It's not tri-trans at least.

With that said, though, I'd say remove that restriction if someone wants to join via Aaranu in Esterport straightafter graduatingfrom the Academy. It shouldn't be a problem in that case.

Keroc

There is also the option of joining clans, as some guildless classes do have open public clans that you can join like the Astral Walkers (for oneiromancers) or the Wayfarers' Starmap (for wayfarers).

Although there is none for bard as of yet...

*hint hint players*

Iazamat

Clans are, in my opinion, a poor substitute for guilds and often do not have the support necessary to replace them or even give a similar experience. This is further impacted by the fact that they simply do not receive the necessary player maintenance, oversight, and energy due to players being far more invested in mechanical organizations such as an actual guild, their city, or both.