Years-late-to-the-game question about Guilds and influence?

[SteveMND.1754]

Am I correct that there really isn't any reason to "represent" you guild anymore? Way back when, I know that if you were representing your Guild, then your day-to-day events around Tyria (world bosses, dynamic events, etc.) counted towards giving that Guild Influence (albeit slowly). From my understanding, however, Influence was later just removed entirely, and you now only generate 'Favor' for a Guild by doing specific Guild Events when they are being run?

 

That's saddening to me, as I am not particularly a 'social' type of gamer (I'm not a particularly good player, and my competency in then typical 'guild events' would be middling at best, even if I were online during those times). But I loved the idea that even if I wasn't a very good player—or didn't adhere to the 'you have to be participating in X guild events a week or you are useless' mentality that plagued so many other MMOs—I could at least be helping out my Guild by just doing the sorts of event I could do.

Am I missing something else here—a new mechanic, or setting, or something?—or is the only way to help out your guild just by doing those specific, mandated Guild Events anymore these days?  If so, that change obviously was years ago and is not something we'll be seeing coming back, but it's still sad they introduced that approach when the lack of it was one of the defining, selling points of the game in the first place.

[Ashantara.8731]

You are correct: Influence was removed permanently and there is no replacement, and Favor is used merely as a guild currency and nothing more.

[Farohna.6247]

I've played for four years, so I missed out on that being in place.  Why did they do away with that system and just go to guild missions?  It seems like it would have been preferable, especially since there are many players who can't make it at a designated time for missions due to real life.  Were people being unpleasant about not repping guilds?  

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Some were. 

[Danikat.8537]

It may be helpful to know that many guilds don't care about favour and certainly don't see their members purely as a way of producing it, so they won't call you useless if you can't make it to their event night, or can't contribute much.

Look for a guild that focuses on the parts of the game you enjoy, or a social guild that does a bit of everything and doesn't expect their members to be top players. Many guilds organise their own events and times to do specific activities together and are more interested in that than farming favour.

[Cuks.8241]

1 hour ago, SteveMND.1754 said:

That's saddening to me, as I am not particularly a 'social' type of gamer (I'm not a particularly good player, and my competency in then typical 'guild events' would be middling at best, even if I were online during those times). But I loved the idea that even if I wasn't a very good player—or didn't adhere to the 'you have to be participating in X guild events a week or you are useless' mentality that plagued so many other MMOs—I could at least be helping out my Guild by just doing the sorts of event I could do.

In general guild missions dont require skill and you cant hurt its success. So no worries about your performance with guild missions.

[costepj.5120]

Also I'm sure my guild isn't the only one to have maxed favour anyway!

[Ashantara.8731]

2 hours ago, costepj.5120 said:

Also I'm sure my guild isn't the only one to have maxed favour anyway!

Favor is a currency and there to be spent. It gets replenished with each new guild mission accomplished, so there is no logical reason to keep it sitting there, unused.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Ashantara.8731

[Khisanth.2948]

For the larger guilds they could end up with more Influence than they could use so Influence provided by some people are essentially worthless as well.

 

[fenriswolfman.5486]

Guilds have seen nearly no support since launch beyond one or two halls per xpac. No new missions, still no gvg.

[Astralporing.1957]

16 hours ago, SteveMND.1754 said:

Am I correct that there really isn't any reason to "represent" you guild anymore?

There is, but it benefits you and not the guild. When you represent a guild, you get different buffs (like wp discounts, or wvw bonuses) that this guild has researched. As such, of all your guilds you should represent the one with the best buffs. Of course, if you are in more than one maxed out guild (and at this point in game's history a lot of guilds are fully built up) you can freely choose which one you want to represent.

In the end, representing a guild is better than not representing any. For you, that is - for the guilds in question it does not matter anymore (outside of guild missions, where you often do need to represent in order to participate).

[sokeenoppa.5384]

Also for the love of gold anet give us More guild missions. Use HOT/POF/EOD/lws maps for those and use all the cool and updated features/mechanics we have ingame.

[StormyFae.2761]

Then why do some guilds still have a percentage rep requirement? 

[Danikat.8537]

31 minutes ago, StormyFae.2761 said:

Then why do some guilds still have a percentage rep requirement? 

You'd probably have to ask them because all guilds are different, but some reasons I've seen for requiring representation include still seeing it as a way of identifying 'active' guild members and wanting to get their name out there. For example WvW guilds often require their members to represent them while playing WvW so other players get to associate their activities with the guild.

A few years ago I was briefly in one guild which still required 100% representation. Literally - the leader saw me switch for a minute to access my private guild bank and even after I explained that's all it was he said I'd either have to stop using the private guild or leave his guild. I was already having second thoughts about joining so I left. I thought it was weird personally, but as long as they're not going against the rules of the game itself guilds can set whatever rules they want.

[AgentMoore.9453]

On 9/6/2022 at 5:55 AM, Astralporing.1957 said:

There is, but it benefits you and not the guild.

Yes, and in addition to this, representing a guild allows you to interact with that guild's hall vendors, claim rewards/participate in certain activities, and some vendors sell decorations that will automatically be sent off to whatever guild you happen to be representing at that particular moment (Wiki appears to be down right now, but the Elonian Bed decos come to mind). Also of note, if you're not repping a guild while raiding, I've heard that KPs will not drop for you (unique deco tokens/boss loot for the guild hall).

Repping is a mostly dead system; apart from the benefits listed above, guilds that demand it are just being weird.