When will this madness end? (wow)

[FatuousTwat]

I think the days of relying on the aggregate attention of individual gamers are over. The more recent strategies include going after as many guilds as possible (not just the ubers) and trying to get more people who've never played an MMO before (of which there are plenty, as long as you're not trying to sell a fantasy-based diku).

The thing about marketing though is you need to have, like, a good game to back it up 

Humm, I just had an idea....

I've always read on these boards how important being in a guild / online friends in game are important for keeping players, or adding new ones.

Instead of a MMO company supporting guilds, what if they 'secretly' started forming guilds and recruiting?   Not by hiring people, but buy 'paying off' existing players / guilds leaders in some way to actively recruit, help new players, keep players interested.   Pay via free accounts, special in-game items, prestige, etc.

They already tried that in EVE. HEYOOOOOO!

[Ragnoros]

Well played Sir.

[Dren]

I don't know much about a "small boost," but I'm seeing evidence from most servers (including my own,) that their queues are back with a vengeance during prime.  My server (strawman) hasn't seen this since about 3 months after the BC release.  Even then it was on the weekend during prime time, not during the week.  Now it is every damn night.

Has Lich King been released in Asian yet?  Either way, that "small boost" had to have been nearly all in the NA servers because we are packed full now.

[Dewdrop]

On my server (Mal'Ganis) I think the que has actually gotten worse since the traditional holiday break has ended. I was hoping that it would lighten up once the HS kids went back to school and whatnot but ive had 600+ que's and and hour or more of waiting time.. And I log in relatively early, mid week. Forget Sunday afternoon, if I'm going to be playing I jump in the que and go grocery shopping or catch up on laundry.. Its insane. Anectdotally it seems alot worse now than it was when LK first came out 2mo ago..

[Venkman]

The queues were horrific. Four years and a hojillion dollars later and the best they can do is open up more servers. Makes sense since their server architecture was probably decided like eight years ago or something, but still, quite annoying. The queue has gotten shorter since the holidays, but the players are standing in line for longer. As such, no net gain since right around Christmas. Much gnashing of teeth.

This is not a problem I think that can be solved technically at this point. What they should therefore do is something they should have been doing forever: recognize guild alliances and offer to move them en masse. That's about the only way you're going to get many of the established large guilds to budge. Right now most of them are like us: waiting to see who else ditches.

Instead of a MMO company supporting guilds, what if they 'secretly' started forming guilds and recruiting?   Not by hiring people, but buy 'paying off' existing players / guilds leaders in some way to actively recruit, help new players, keep players interested.   Pay via free accounts, special in-game items, prestige, etc.

Too much integration between developers and players leads to UO volunteer crap, the EQ2 guild server move/buff thing and the Eve nonsense. Your idea is good, but I'd rather see it internalized. Hiring GMs and assistants to create guilds can get pricey though, so really, I think one of the better solutions is the NPC starter guilds from Eve. Just doing that gives a sense of camaraderie that being dumped nekkid and alone in a new world does not.

What will naturally happen is a few players will become the defacto leaders of the guild anyway, feeling like they "own" it alongside the NPCs. But this is players doing what they want, not something the company sanctions. As such, they are protected from the legal bullshit of pissed off players who think they're more important than they really are.

[Nebu]

How about offering incentives for the creation and support of seed guilds?  Giving players free subs for the maintenence of successful newbie guilds would seem to be a nice marketing tool. 

[Fordel]

WoW sorta already did this, no? Maybe I'm high, but I thought Blizzard went out of their way to invite some of the largest and most notorious EQ guilds of the time into their Beta process?