32 replies to this topic

[Turbo Corvair]

I've read most of the dev blogs and Q&A's and not sure if I missed something or if this hasn't been addressed.

I love the sound of the house/merc/lone wolf system, but....

Mercenary units sound like they are the equivalent of an MMO "guild" or FPS "clan" in MWO, but what about the folks fighting for a house instead of a merc unit? Do they also get to form their own "guild" units within the faction, simply remain "unguilded", or (really cool maybe) is the faction itself kinda like a big dev created meta-guild that has no guild master?

I can see how the faction might be sortof a meta-guild, and the special units within that faction that they mention you can join (once you earn it) could be more like a guild equivalent except that they would be dev controlled. That sounds really neat to me.

So, anyone know the facts?

[SweetJackal]

From the sounds of it, a Faction is like a Racial Corp from EVE, or in terms of WoW imagine if every human had the option of starting in the Stormwind Guild at the start of the game, but with every race. There is talk about faction players beign able to be 'promoted' into units, smaller groups of players within the faction that may function like a guild.

But really, not 100% sure.

Edited by SuckyJack, 02 April 2012 - 05:25 PM.

[Opus]

http://youtu.be/umDr0mPuyQc

say NO to Drugs too

http://www.youtube.c...e&v=lgI2ZQVyrBo

MercCorps, and House groups are your equal to "ugh" Guilds

but you lose 10 cool points for mentioning a WoW reference

Edited by Opus, 02 April 2012 - 05:36 PM.

[FinnMcKool]

no one knows the facts.

[Ranek Blackstone]

FinnMcKool, on 02 April 2012 - 05:35 PM, said:

no one knows the facts.

We just can't handle the facts at this stage.

[Paul Inouye]

Merc Corp - No faction alignment but will take contracts from the highest bidder and will earn loyalty with factions they support more often than the others.

Faction Players - Aligned to a faction and fight for the honor of that house.

Lone Wolfs - Like long walks on the beach and horseback riding.

[Turbo Corvair]

Aww.. come on Paul!!! That was a lawyer answer.... the kind where they don't actually answer but try to make you think they did!! The question is whether or not there are player run "guild" equivalents within the factions, and if so how they work =)

Opus, on 02 April 2012 - 05:22 PM, said:

http://youtu.be/umDr0mPuyQc

say NO to Drugs too

http://www.youtube.c...e&v=lgI2ZQVyrBo

MercCorps, and House groups are your equal to "ugh" Guilds

but you lose 10 cool points for mentioning a WoW reference

Where did I mention WoW? Oh snap, I didn't YOU did! =P I date back to EverQuest (the first one) and then SWG in it's early days. I'm not saying I didn't play the unmentionable game, only that I wouldn't utter it here!

I've also played EVE so I understand the concept of the racial groups. That does sound like a fairly close comparison except for the units within the houses we can apparently earn the right to join.

Thanks though =)

PS- love Dr. Cox!

Edited by Turbo Corvair, 02 April 2012 - 10:38 PM.

[firestorm119]

Lore wise, there is plenty of room for 'guilds' within canon. Factions have specific military units with their own histories and structures. Take for example Davion's Light Guards or Kurita's 2nd Sword of Light (rereading the Warrior series right now )... It should be permissible for various other non-canon units to be created under loose supervision of the devs/mods.

[Naduk]

Turbo Corvair have a look over here Pilot tags
while we dont know specifics on how they will handle it, we know they have heard us and understand what we want
they are after all players them selves and nobody knows better than the players

[Dihm]

Paul Inouye, on 02 April 2012 - 07:50 PM, said:

Merc Corp - No faction alignment but will take contracts from the highest bidder and will earn loyalty with factions they support more often than the others.

Faction Players - Aligned to a faction and fight for the honor of that house.

Lone Wolfs - Like long walks on the beach and horseback riding.

To expand on this.

Merc Corp - Player controlled
Factions and Faction units - Not player controlled.

Edited by Dihm, 03 April 2012 - 04:55 AM.

[Salesninja]

Has been a big factor in me not signing on with a unit yet. I most likely want to play under a house flag, but a lot seems up in the air on this subject.

[NightFallsOnU]

Paul Inouye, on 02 April 2012 - 07:50 PM, said:

Merc Corp - No faction alignment but will take contracts from the highest bidder and will earn loyalty with factions they support more often than the others.

Faction Players - Aligned to a faction and fight for the honor of that house.

Lone Wolfs - Like long walks on the beach and horseback riding.

Paul did it again...

[Anastasius]

Paul Inouye, on 02 April 2012 - 07:50 PM, said:

Merc Corp - No faction alignment but will take contracts from the highest bidder and will earn loyalty with factions they support more often than the others.

Faction Players - Aligned to a faction and fight for the honor of that house.

Lone Wolfs - Like long walks on the beach and horseback riding.

I gotta lol at the lone wolf comment.

[Outlaw2]

Paul Inouye, on 02 April 2012 - 07:50 PM, said:

Merc Corp - No faction alignment but will take contracts from the highest bidder and will earn loyalty with factions they support more often than the others.

Faction Players - Aligned to a faction and fight for the honor of that house.

Lone Wolfs - Like long walks on the beach and horseback riding.

I think we all know how these 3 different categories will affect the individual player, but I think he wants to know if you can create in-game "guilds" regardless of which of these categories you fall under.

I always read it that the merc corps are MWO's player run "guilds". Faction players all just fall under a large communal "guild". I think if you want to be part of a player ran guild and a faction, you'll have to form up a merc corps and align yourself heavily with a particular house.

Edited by =Outlaw=, 04 April 2012 - 09:48 AM.

[IceSerpent]

I think (just a guess though) that House/Merc/Lone Wolf are factions (LW being a sort of "no faction" faction) that you pick when you create a character - like Empire/Republic in Star Wars, Asmodian/Elyos in Aion, etc. Players will probably be able to form "units" within their chosen faction, which are equivalent to guilds in other MMOs.

[Salesninja]

I wish I knew more about the house units and how they wiIll work. Why would I want to be in a house unit vs a merc unit (besides role play reasons). Will there be some higher level direction to a house unit? Will that matter? Will anyone care?

Edited by Salesninja, 04 April 2012 - 12:26 PM.

[renegade mitchell]

Paul Inouye, on 02 April 2012 - 07:50 PM, said:

Merc Corp - No faction alignment but will take contracts from the highest bidder and will earn loyalty with factions they support more often than the others.

Faction Players - Aligned to a faction and fight for the honor of that house.

Lone Wolfs - Like long walks on the beach and horseback riding.

All good except Lonewolves. I have posted my concerns about it, I feel you Devs should remove.
My main concern is Lonewolves joining other lonewolves against an experienced, veteran team. How do you think they will fare against said team? Anyway to get said lonewolf to join a faction, clan, IS house, Merc team, etc...?
Quite honestly, being a vet from past MW games, and various leagues, I can say, these lonewolves stand no chance, and may push them away. Just a suggestion.

[Tannhauser Gate]

Seems to me that the term guild falls in the same list of terms used to describe player-created groups in general.

So far we only know that MWO will have House Factions, Mercorps, with lonewolf players unaligned. But, I cant imagine that PGI would force players to join their predefined groups or none at all. Players have always formed their own brotherhoods, some are well known in MW circles and are more than a decade old, so my guess is that these "clans" who reform in MWO will align themselves with a House faction (or a Clan later). They could consider themselves as an irregular or regular division of the House’s forces.

Based on that, what I expect to see is that most new players who joined a Faction at first will be attracted to a player-created group eventually because they want brotherhood, camaraderie, personal training, and organized leadership that may be harder to get in a Faction that has potentially thousands of players. Also, player-created groups will have age/maturity standards and they will keep their ranks free of griefers and problem players.

I think it’s a given that Mercorps will be player created and player lead units unless MWO forces players to choose from pregenerated canon-based merc units.

Perhaps PGI will allow more flexibility in how a player-create group can define itself in game and maybe a Guild can exist with its own merchant marine defense forces. These wouldnt battle for planetary control but they would probably battle like a Merc in the interest of their guild.

Edited by LakeDaemon, 04 April 2012 - 02:53 PM.

[Vollstrecker]

Salesninja, on 04 April 2012 - 12:24 PM, said:

I wish I knew more about the house units and how they wiIll work. Why would I want to be in a house unit vs a merc unit (besides role play reasons). Will there be some higher level direction to a house unit? Will that matter? Will anyone care?

This is a concern of mine as well. I would be interested in being a member of a House army, but it frankly sounds like being in a Merc Corps is so much better.

[Arturus]

Paul Inouye, on 02 April 2012 - 07:50 PM, said:

Merc Corp - No faction alignment but will take contracts from the highest bidder and will earn loyalty with factions they support more often than the others.

Faction Players - Aligned to a faction and fight for the honor of that house.

Lone Wolfs - Like long walks on the beach and horseback riding.

Classic and simple guild/player unit system...The Skye Rangers approve

btw, Thx for all the hard work...I/we can't wait to take this puppy for a test drive!