raphael.cruger Wrote:I think the number of castles is fine.
I think that the actual amount of time required to get a guild of say 20 WoE active people WoEing at an EXCELLENT level is STUPIDLY small, say 3 months?
It could be that we hold two different definitions of excellence. That's the time it would take you to get a group geared. Maybe. But then consider that if you're recruiting 20 new people you're doing one of four things: 1) pulling from other WoE guilds (this will not increase competition, it will just shuffle team membership around the same player base), 2) pulling from social/non-WoE guilds (more about this later), 3) pulling from other servers (more on this later), or 4) pulling from outside of RO in general.
1) Pulling From Other WoE Guilds
Does not increase overall competition for the most part, especially not in the long run.
2) Pulling From Social/Non-WoE Guilds
This may actually be the ideal situation, but what is the likelihood of most social players (who are willing to try WoE) being excellent right away? Very small. I'm not saying that non-WoErs lack the (srs) skill(z) to succeed in WoE, but they typically lack experience. The ones with experience who make the choice not to WoE (i.e. the ones who would require less time to become excellent) are also the hardest to recruit because they obviously know about WoE and are not interested or they'd already be in a WoE guild.
3) Pulling From Other Servers
While a totally viable solution in theory, good luck recruiting PvP/WoE players to move to a low-rate with no guild incentive. Especially when there's numerous god items and MVP cards already involved - it's not very inviting for new guilds unless they're looking for a challenge.
4) Pulling From Outside RO
Similar to point 2), except now you need to teach them RO first, then teach them to WoE, then get them the experience with their class/teammates to become excellent. Not a 3 month process.
Excellence is not something you achieve over night in almost anything. A team-vs-team competition in an online game is not likely going to engender excellence in participants without the right combination of gear, experience, and time spent with other knowledgeable players.
Sorry, long post.