For many players, community is essential when looking for an MMO home. In our latest column devoted to Guild Wars 2, we look at ways the community will be involved in Arena.Net's latest. Check it out and then weigh in with what you think in the comments.

These days it seems that a game cannot survive without a strong community behind it, as everyone can be connected through the internet. ArenaNet did a very good job in Guild Wars building a strong connection with, and for the community. They connected players to guild events and even posted links to community-run online magazines. So will this tradition continue with Guild Wars 2? There are a lot of signs that point to yes, so let’s take a look at how the game will connect players, and how ArenaNet can continue to keep themselves in touch with the players.

Read more of David North's Guild Wars 2: Community Support.

It doesn’t matter who plays what race, or what class. We all need to work together if we are going to get through the game. It’s more fun that way anyhow.

Single player can join multiple guilds?  Good for increased socialization, not so great for immersion.

Originally posted by MacroHard

Single player can join multiple guilds?  Good for increased socialization, not so great for immersion.

Being in multiple guilds isn't immersion breaking, it is no more immersion breaking than saying you have 2 groups of friends and you want to be in both guilds so you make 2 characters.  In GW2, you can just join 2 (or more) guilds on one character.

In another mmorpg I won't name, my husband and I were able to create our own guild with our alts as members. We didn't have to round up strangers and take em somewhere , along with an arm and a leg and pass an algebra test in order to have a guild of our own. Please make it easy to create a guild. :)

I love and am looking forward to GW2.

However, GW1 had one of the poorest communities out of any MMO I have played, and I expect GW2 won't be much better.  I will still play and enjoy them, but not because of their community.

Let me say again, what GW1 did it did amazingly well, but it just wasnt a community game.  GW2 will probably follow in that...  It is certainly a bit more geared towards community, however.

Here are some features that I think has lead GW1 to having a poor community:

• no monthly fees
• importance of running multiple/alt characters
• no roleplaying tools
• poor focus on persistant world
• simplified gameplay (which I think is amazing and 100% logical)
• mainstream popularity
• one giant server --> no accountability
• poor guild meta game (except for PvP of course, which is simply amazing)
• minimal interaction with other players on reg. basis (no economy, little trading, little to do aside from combat)
• total lack of 'running into' the same players multiple times

I think being able to join multiple guilds should play well. I wonder if there is a limit as to how many guilds we can join? And I also hope people don't go like: You can join only my guild and if I see you in other guild you will be kicked out (FFXI).

My hats off to ANet for not having official forums. This allows for fansites to thrive where with other games that have official forums, those fansites slowly die off over time. Having played the original GW for 6 years, I always wished I could be connected outside of the game with my in game friends and guild members. Those fansites were the connection.

How much better would it have been to have a GW fansite/social network like facebook back then. This inspired me to launch http://www.gw2hq.com, an online social networking community and fansite in one for Guild Wars 2 gamers and guilds. The fansite has received a lot of praise from it's members and almost 500 members have signed up through word of mouth only advertising.

Everyone knows about http://www.guildwars2guru.com and even ANet staff post on those forums. It is the largest and most successful fansite for Guild Wars 2 and the game hasn't even launched. If anyone is looking for more then just forums, then see my sig. below. We're talking about a live network activity feed, screenshots, videos, blogs, polls, and more. Soon to come will be an IM and live chat rooms as the site grows bigger.

Thank you ANet for allowing your players and fans of your work to be able to give back by doing the legwork and creating fansites deserving of the quality products you have been giving us in entertainment value over the past 6 years. Keep up the good work.

@wormywrym: So because one game, in your opinion, didn't have a good community you assume that another game won't have a good community. Even though both games won't share any game mechanics. I fail to see the logic behind the arguement your brought forth.

In the end all I care about are the community building tools ArenaNet have built for Guild Wars 2. I could care less about GW1, as I've never played it myself and for good reason (it not being an MMO).

Originally posted by nomss

I think being able to join multiple guilds should play well. I wonder if there is a limit as to how many guilds we can join? And I also hope people don't go like: You can join only my guild and if I see you in other guild you will be kicked out (FFXI).

Hopefully the Guild limit would be around 5, which doesn't seem like too much or too little. I personally don't see myself joining more than 3 guilds. One for just me and my friends, one for WvWvW and another for whatever...

Originally posted by Master10K

Originally posted by nomss

I think being able to join multiple guilds should play well. I wonder if there is a limit as to how many guilds we can join? And I also hope people don't go like: You can join only my guild and if I see you in other guild you will be kicked out (FFXI).

Hopefully the Guild limit would be around 5, which doesn't seem like too much or too little. I personally don't see myself joining more than 3 guilds. One for just me and my friends, one for WvWvW and another for whatever...

Cali?

Well experiences vary. The GW1 guild I was in was not any different from MMO guilds I've been in.  It did take time to find a good one because it is so easy to create a guild but I don't think thats a bad thing.  

Originally posted by Muntz

Well experiences vary. The GW1 guild I was in was not any different from MMO guilds I've been in.  It did take time to find a good one because it is so easy to create a guild but I don't think thats a bad thing.  

There was some good guilds in GW1 and very helpful, problem with a lot of people is they expect a 1 way street and always wanting and taking but never giving.

Originally posted by biggarfoot

Originally posted by Muntz

Well experiences vary. The GW1 guild I was in was not any different from MMO guilds I've been in.  It did take time to find a good one because it is so easy to create a guild but I don't think thats a bad thing.  

There was some good guilds in GW1 and very helpful, problem with a lot of people is they expect a 1 way street and always wanting and taking but never giving.

 

Thats true of any community even in RL :) 

Actually i think, Guild Wars has enough interaction with other players, if you want. There are people that do nothing but trade all day, and even an average player had to sell his stuff now and then. Of course, there are NPC merchants for this, but that's not the games fault if you prefer them even though they pay worse/cost more.

Also, i don't understand why a single server leads to no accountabilty. If you got several servers, you can just change the server if needed, instead of facing what comes for you, with one, it isn't possible. And there were and are well-known people and guilds, good and bad. More the bad for players, more the good for guilds, but there IS accountabilty.

And monthly fees..why should that lead to a better community? The amount of cursing about the community in other games, and my personal experience, say it isn't worse. Sure, it was "easier" to just check it out (remember you still have to buy it), but it also lead to that people only played when they wanted, and not being "forced" into.

And roleplaying tools..what roleplaying tools do other games actually have? What tools do you *need* for roleplaying? I don't need tools for it, only a community where it is wanted, and WoW etc. don't has that, either.

I agree that there wasn't much of a persistent world, but with people "doing instances" all the time in WoW, Aion etc., it's not much of a difference. And if you have a reason to remember some player, you notice them even now, here and there. It was better in the early days, before they toned down normal mode with the introduction of hard mode, before heroes..but it's still there. It would happen more often with a persistent world, as you surely wouldn't run into them during a mission, but a total lack? No.

I also don't understand "mainstream popularity". Guild Wars isn't exactly main stream, many people do not even touch it because it isn't an "MMO", even though it's more an MMO then half the games that get released today.

You are right about the guilds metagame though, not much you can do with other guilds.

Originally posted by MacroHard

Single player can join multiple guilds?  Good for increased socialization, not so great for immersion.

Wait.  What in the world does joining guilds with other players have to do with game immersion?  Now we're just tossing the word 'immersion' out there way too casually.  

Originally posted by Homitu

Originally posted by MacroHard

Single player can join multiple guilds?  Good for increased socialization, not so great for immersion.

Wait.  What in the world does joining guilds with other players have to do with game immersion?  Now we're just tossing the word 'immersion' out there way too casually.  

Add it to the long list of words that just get tossed around these days

Originally posted by Muntz

Well experiences vary. The GW1 guild I was in was not any different from MMO guilds I've been in.  It did take time to find a good one because it is so easy to create a guild but I don't think thats a bad thing. 

I actually had the best communitry experience ever in GW1, a lot of very nice, funny, easygoing people. It's one of the big challenges of any mmo: getting equal minded people together. I think the facts that there's no gear differences and the easy travel also make it much easier to do things together and enjoy the game as a group, casual and fanatical players alike.

What guild forming is concerned I'm not that happy. In all games where making a guild or corporation is very easy, the community tends to split up into a myriad of very small groups, which can be very limiting. Although alliances can make up for that.

And oh I hope we get tabards and not again those silly capes!

Originally posted by MacroHard

Single player can join multiple guilds?  Good for increased socialization, not so great for immersion.

Not neccesarily. 

Being able to be in one guild for PvE and one for PvP actually make sense, same thing with being in a guild with people you know IRL as well.

Originally posted by wormywyrm

I love and am looking forward to GW2.

However, GW1 had one of the poorest communities out of any MMO I have played, and I expect GW2 won't be much better.  I will still play and enjoy them, but not because of their community.

My guess is you are not an old player of GW otherwise you would know this is untrue. Currently the community is not so active as before cause the games is over half a decade old. During the prime of the game it had every outpost filled with people, and even today there are guilds that are very active. Most people come online during the holiday events to hang around with their guildies. Out all the MMO's I played from the game list guild wars still holds the biggest friends list for me.