I just snagged this bit from EQ2:

Just as player characters have levels that reflect their achievements within the game, so do guilds. Guild members earn experience toward their guild’s level primarily through the completion of special city tasks. Unique rewards and items become available at reduced prices as the guild advances in level and its members gain prestige and status within the city.

I’m sure SOE doesn’t like the insane (and deserved) success that World of Warcraft is getting and I believe now they’ll battle back with all the resources they have.

I underline these lines I reported here because one aspect that in WoW is completely missing is the guild relevance inside the game. In WoW a guild is nothing more than a tabard (that is also graphically horrid and badly animated) and a shared chat channel. There’s nothing else you can consider in the guild, it’s a system emptied of any use or relevance. An afterthought to have just because it’s strongly part of the genre.

This is something that EQ2 can consider and develop because it’s a definite advantage that may deliver a more involving gameplay instead of just transforming these guilds into egoistical tools you can use for solo play purposes (in WoW guilds are publicized with “free loot” offerings).

I won’t delve more than this here but the guild system is one of those aspects of a mmorpg that is still completely underdeveloped. It’s again my opinion going against Raph’s idea. I believe that communal gameplay where more players band up to achive a real communal goal can offer a more involving type of fun that till now we’ve never seen in this genre and even outside of it. It’s one of the main strengths that still need to be discovered and expanded.

And what I write here directly connects with what has been discussed on Ubiq’s blog. A way to compete with WoW is exactly by making your unique traits and qualities stronger. Instead of trying to desperately catch up with something you’ll never reach.