The Guild Recruiting Window Demystified

Discussion in 'Developer Roundtable' started by ARCHIVED-Rothgar, Jun 11, 2008.

  1. ARCHIVED-Sinafe Guest

    Nek server.

    I just checked ours a few minutes ago. There were 26 guilds listed. We actually were one of them. Yay :) I did find out that you don't have to have a new character to see who is on the list. There is a little shield icon next to the checkbox for I am recruiting for the guild at the bottom, when you click on it it pulls up the list. I will check it again sometime this weekend when it is sure to be a little more busy to see how many are listed.
  2. ARCHIVED-Noaani Guest

    Rothgar wrote:
    I am logged in right now on 2 accounts, one I have a level 80, the other a level 10, both on Guk server.
    The guilds recruiting page for both of these characters is identicle. The same guilds are listed, and in the same order.
    Should this be how it works, are there factors we are unaware of, or is it broken?
  3. ARCHIVED-PsychoKitty Guest

    I am almost certain that the guild cap of 40 is not working, but I will wait until peak time over the weekend to see if I can give you something solid to chew on Rothgar. With the population drop atm though, I am not sure if our guild will 'vanish' from the recruiting list as it normally does in peak times, but hopefully it will and I can report back how many guilds are listed at the time.

    It took us (as a small guild) quite some time to actually make it onto the list. It did seem to coincide with us rising up in guild level and vary according to the amount of players we had online. But I know for a fact that we did not appear on the list at all until we were reasonably high in level, and there were certainly not 40 guilds listed as recruiting at that time.

    This tool may have functioned once - and things were obviously different then. At the moment it simply serves as a lesson in futility :-/ People know that the tool does not work, and they generally do not bother to use it: hence all the guild spam in the channels. And that assumes they know the tool exists in the first place!

    P.S. Guilds that are listed using this tool and have it set to 'currently not accepting applications' and so forth, should be smote from above by a giant lightning bolt.
  4. ARCHIVED-Rijacki Guest

    If it actually did show 40 guilds (I get only 2 "pages" of about 10 each page, definitely not 40, never been 40 as long as I have looked at it) and actually was weighted to show guilds (top to bottom) with online members around the level of the character viewing it, having guilds with a message of "not recruiting now" wouldn't be so bad since they wouldn't be preventing other guilds from being showcased.

    I'd suggest one more filter, how many new additions to the guild they've had within a month. Fewer or no additions, the guild goes down in the metrics.
  5. ARCHIVED-SisterTheresa Guest

    Rothgar wrote:
    I am in a smaller guild ... the number is capped. Why? Because people get on right after the server reset/patch ...
    So no, this guild window stinks big time.
    Why not have it like the old EQ1 bulleting board, or Vanguard where it lists every guild set for recruiting?
    I get tired of seeing the same ... dang ... guilds ... each ... day ... Nothing changes. And I have never, ever seen any member close to my unguilded alt's level range. All 80s on there. Must be bored.
    There should be options to pick guilds. Would sure as heck slow down the chat channel guild spam, because people can't get on the window. Don't see those spamming!
  6. ARCHIVED-Ryuuza Guest

    I checked the Guild Recruiting window today on my unguilded alt on the AB server -- 24 guilds show and that is it -- and my guild never shows up.
  7. ARCHIVED-GrunEQ Guest

    Ok on Nek server I tried out the guild recruiting to see how it went....well only 17 guilds were listed and I know mine was not one of them. So I would say it failed as far as helping to recruit. There were definately not 40 listings.
  8. ARCHIVED-Melora Guest

    I never understood the recruiting window before so I was grateful to see a discussion on it's demystification. Regardless of how the guilds get weighted I don't think the overall system functions properly. I've never ever seen 40 guilds listed (right now there are 23) and 75% of the time (now included) my guild is not among those that are. I could understand our smaller guild not being listed among the top 40, but to not even be included when there are "free" spots available is insulting.
  9. ARCHIVED-Mordraeth Guest

    I just logged on to AB on 6/14 at 10AM EST. I'm flagged as a recruiter, we are checked as needing all classes. I pulled up the window and it showed 19 guilds. My guild was not one of them. Our guild is level 27, if that has any impact on the listing.
  10. ARCHIVED-Lord Montague Guest

    There are problems I've had with this tool from its inception. No algorythm no matter how sophisticated is still going to have its limitations and will drive off of assumptions. Whatever that algorythm is, it clearly does not work for the majority of the player base. It weighs its decisions to the advantage of the guilds that really don't need the tool. In the end, most guilds still rely on word of mouth to do the bulk of their recruiting. The parameters of the search cannot be changed or customized. This is a horrible limitation. What good is a tool to "search" for a guild if you can't "search?"
    All that being said, I felt like the tool has always been someone's side pet project that was decided to be implimented on a whim, and that it has always been incomplete. I've submitted feedback on this before, and I do believe it warrants consideration. Give this tool some real functionality or take it out.
  11. ARCHIVED-Rashaak Guest

    Rothgar wrote:
    So questions for you...
    Why does the GRT only show 40 guilds 'online' at that time?
    Why does the GRT do the searching for you?

    Almost everything else has search functions in the game for players looking for what they really need/want. Just like the LFG tool, Broker, and even the TS menu has lots a variables to search for.

    The GRT wasn't done right and needs a major overhaul. Otherwise it's just a useless tool except for the high-end guilds that already level 50+! You won't see many guilds on that GRT below level 30 at all! It leaves the small guild in the dark which makes a lot of them die out because they are not able to be seen when someone is looking for a guild. Or have to use ooc channels to try and recruit...
    The way the GRT should be set up is to allow for both guilds and players to search for each other. On the player side, the player should be able to select what it is he is looking for. Small guild, rp oriented, casual, raiding, large guild...etc. They need to have that ability to search, not let the game do the searching for the player. With the way the GRT search's it's basically telling the player these are the only guilds for you, when there may be so many smaller guilds looking to increase their player base so they can show more activity that are probably just as good if not better than some large guilds out there!
    For the guild side...the guild recruiters should be able to use a 'lfg' (looking for guild) feature similiar to the LFG tool. Players searching for guilds can put their info up...and recruiters can search as needed. Right now as it stands....most small guilds have to go outside the game to other resources such as the EQ2players Server forums just to try and recruit.
  12. ARCHIVED-LouisMarkham Guest

    I know this weekend my guild was actively and heavily recruiting. We had 2-3 recruiters on all weekend and I did not see our guild on the list at all once. I didn't count the guilds on the list sadly.

    I really would like to see some more option for guild leaders to have access to. Let us specify level ranges, let us specify certain tradeskill classes and levels, and please take away the 40 listing cap. Let the level 1 guild with 6 members show on the list. What is the harm?

    Give the players a way to search. As it was said, we can search on everything else. Take this b#st#rd child tool and make it useful.
  13. ARCHIVED-Anordil Guest

    Heh.
    In over a year of my guild's existence, we still struggle to recruit new players. We've never, ever once shown up on the GRT and all of my characters and practically everyone who has been with us for longer than a month has the guild recruiter ability and is set to do so. :-/
    So, the result is we can either seek new members in the level channels, post on the forums, or we can try to find new guildmembers as we run around Norrath. With the wildly diverse plentitude of guilds on LDL, it makes it difficult to find folks. I've seen a variety of really great ideas here in this thread on how to fix the GRT.
    Just my 2c worth.
  14. ARCHIVED-Gilasil Guest

    Thanks for the explanation.
    I have one suggestion for future development. Give the player a query ability based on those icons that show up with each guild (currently recruiting fighters, currently recruiting craftsmen, hardcore, RP, etc.)
    My 38 monk is currently looking for a guild on Lucan D'Lere. I want an RP guild and won't consider a guild which isn't RP. It would be great if I could specify that. Perhaps it would allow smaller RP guilds who don't show up on the tool to show up in such a query too. In my case a list of 40 RP guilds would be a gold mine of information for my guild hunting. Chances are others who are looking for guild have a rough idea of some things they're looking for (hardcore, raids alot, family friendly, whatever). Such a query tool would be handy for them too.
  15. ARCHIVED-Rothgar Guest

    It certainly sounds like a problem if the guild recruiting window isn't showing all 40 guilds. I will check into that.

    As far as all the suggestions for the tool, definitely good ideas. We don't normally talk about changes too far in advance, so supposing I did put some work into the recruiting tool even before making this post about how it works, I probably would not tell anyone that I was doing this.
  16. ARCHIVED-Writer Cal Guest

    Thank you for checking into that, Rothgar. It's much appreciated.
  17. ARCHIVED-PsychoKitty Guest

    Ok, my returning feeback

    Amazingly over the weekend Unsung Heroes managed to stay in the recruiting list (typical as I was trying to prove a point grrr).

    BUT ... today, which was Tues 9am in the land of Aus, we were no longer listed. There was a total of 23 other guilds listed which I think is interesting as Melora also mentioned his/her window cut off at 23 on page 2 of this thread.

    Also, I 100% agree that the guild recruiting tool should NOT do it's own little seach unless instructed to do so from variables the user has set.

    I was kind of hoping that something would come out with guild halls that would affect the guild recruiting ability, so to see this thread and all it's interest is great :)
  18. ARCHIVED-Amphibia Guest

    Rijacki wrote:
    You're right.

    When I came to AB, I looked at the guild recruiting window a lot. I was looking for a RP guild, but I also noticed that it was always the same guilds that would show on that list. Of RP guilds, only the relatively large ones seemed to appear on the list regularly. The smaller ones just don't make it in there, sadly.
  19. ARCHIVED-TsarRasputin Guest

    Rothgar,
    There is a bug I've seen with the Guild Recruiting Tool, and I don't know how to explain it other than this.


    Say we have 3 recruiters on, and they are Bob, Joe and Tom

    Now is someone goes to our guild and clicks on Bob

    You'd expect it to be the following:

    Bob sees : Someone would like to speak to YOU (paraphrasing don't remember the exact wording)
    Joe sees : Someone would like to speak to Bob
    Tom sees : Someone would like to speak to Bob

    In Actuality what we see is:

    Bob sees : Someone would like to speak to YOU
    Joe sees : Someone would like to speak to Joe
    Tom sees : Someone would like to speak to Tom

    Being a computer engineer, and having seen bugs in my own coding very similar to this, it looks like it's a simple case of the "Someone would like to speak to %n" %n should be the person they pressed, instead it's the character's own name. I'd hope it's an easy fix, and it's really obscure unless you understand the coding behind it.
  20. ARCHIVED-sirmamabear Guest

    I would recommend leaving it alone and having a fancy search on the website.

    Uruishol