Coming Soon(™)

After several years of hints, speculation, and ‘they’re still in the works’ talk from devs… guild halls are finally almost here. The next Game Update (48) will introduce world events at the docks of Commonlands and Antonica, essentially helping build the halls – veteran players will remember similar events just prior to Kingdom of Sky, with the building of the spires. GU49 *should* have the guild halls available for purchase. Here’s the basic rundown of how they work, and what’s available to spice them up (subject to change prior to release, as always). As updates and changes become known, this overview will be updated.

Guild Leaders will have the ability to purchase the guild hall, and the hall’s location will be dependent on the guild leader’s alignment. Guild halls have the same access levels as player housing, with one minor adjustment – the default access levels are Trustee for Officer+, Friend for Member+, Visitor for Applicant+, and No Access for non members. The Guild Leader can change these levels as he/she sees fit.

Guild halls will have an escrow account – any member can donate cash or personal status to this escrow account, but just like with personal housing, once you donate it, you can’t take it back out – it can only be used for amenity purchase (more on that later) or upkeep costs.

Player made furniture may be placed in the guild hall, and there’s a glorious new feature just announced – in both houses and guild halls, you will have the ability to scale up/down your furniture’s size… So, you can take your fancy fireplace from Frostfell and turn it into a massive inferno, or possibly take your cute little Frostfell snowglobes and turn them into giant bubblegum machine sized decorations to line your main hall’s entry way… maybe. There isn’t any info yet as far as what the upper/lower limits of this resizing will be. Also, status reductions will not apply to guild hall upkeep costs – the devs are working on possible options for status cost reduction in the future, but that may not happen before release. Tradeskill tables (purchased from status merchants in town) can now be placed in guild halls also – they were originally intended to be allowed as amenities only.

Guild Hall Costs/Requirements:

Tier 1:
Cost – 50p
Upkeep – 50g and 50,000 status
Requirements: Guild Level 30
Location: Every home city
What ya get: A 5 room hall, originally planned to use the standard 5 room house model, but new artwork is being designed.

Tier 2:
Cost – 250p
Upkeep – 2p,50g and 100,000 status
Requirements: Guild Level 50
Location: North Freeport, in Stonestair Byway, and South Qeynos, in the Hall of Thunder
What ya get: a 10 room hall

Tier 3:
Cost: 1000p
Upkeep – 10p and 200,000 status
Requirements: Guild Level 80
Location: Just off the coast of Antonica or Commonlands
What ya get: Basically, your own castle – its huge (number of rooms unknown), with a courtyard, and your own dock for placing Mariner’s Bells on

Amenities

Amenities are what really make the guildhalls worthwhile – these are items, NPCs, etc that you can purchase for use and/or decoration. Amenities are purchased by Trustees, with cash and status taken from the guild hall’s escrow account first, and then from the purchaser if the escrow account doesn’t have enough to cover the cost. The number of amenities you can have is restricted by guild level and hall size, as listed below. There are currently 41 available amenities, but a number of them are purely decorative. There is an excellent Guild Hall Cost Calculator tool available over at http://clockworkgamer.com/

Tier 1 - Max 15 Amenities
Tier 2 - Max 25 Amenities

Gulid Level - Max Amenities
30 - 5
35 - 7
40 - 10
45 - 12
50 - 15
55 - 17
60 - 20
62 - 21
64 - 22
66 - 23
68 - 24
70 - 25
72 - 26
74 - 27
76 - 28
78 - 29
80 - 30

Decorative:

Courtyard Landmark: Statue
Cost: 300p and 30,000,000 status
Upkeep: None
What ya get: A big ol’ statue for the center of the courtyard in a T3 Guild Hall
Worth it? Nope.

Courtyard Statue: Sentry, East
Cost: 50p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: None
What ya get: A big ol’ statue for the east end of the courtyard in a T3 Guild Hall
Worth it? Nope

Courtyard Statue: Sentry, North
Cost: 50p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: None
What ya get: A big ol’ statue for the north end of the courtyard in a T3 Guild Hall
Worth it? Nope

Courtyard Statue: Sentry, South
Cost: 50p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: None
What ya get: A big ol’ statue for the south end of the courtyard in a T3 Guild Hall
Worth it? Nope

Courtyard Statue: Sentry, West
Cost: 50p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: None
What ya get: A big ol’ statue for the west end of the courtyard in a T3 Guild Hall
Worth it? Nope

Uniform Mannequin
Cost: 15p and 3,000,000 status
Upkeep: 30g and 15,000 status
What ya get: 5 display mannequins, similar to the crafted ones for displaying armor/outfits
Worth it? Nope

Maj’Dulian Planetary Orrery
Cost: 100p and 10,000,000 status
Upkeep: None
What ya get: An orrery. If you’re part of the 99% of us that have no clue what an orrery is, head to the Tower of the Moon in Maj’Dul and check theirs out =)
Worth it? Nope

Hall Guard
Cost: 1p and 500,000 status
Upkeep: 2g and 2,500 status
What ya get: 20 NPC guards
Worth it? Nope

Status Gains:

Kunark Adventure Writ Agent
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: An NPC that gives city writs for Kunark zones
Worth it? Definitely – pair it up with the teleporters and you have a fast source of status to pay for all of this.

PVP Writ Agent
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: An NPC that gives player-kill writs if you’re on a PVP server
Worth it? Nope, unless you’re on a PVP server.

Tradeskill Writ Agent
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: An NPC that gives non-timed tradeskill writs
Worth it? Nope – Any experienced tradeskiller can knock out rush orders easily once they get a feel for the process.

Tradeskill Rush Order Agent
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: An NPC that gives rush-order tradeskill writs
Worth it? Definitely if you have any dedicated tradeskillers.

Status Executor Hireling
Cost: 25p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: 50g and 25,000 status
What ya get: An NPC that buys status items
Worth it? Possibly – this will save you the time of running around to the various buyers, but it would never pay for itself unless the NPC pays higher than the regular status merchants, which is highly unlikely. The only upside is if your primary source of status items is the broker, in which case it would save considerable time.

Transport:

Druid Portal Hireling
Cost: 25p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: 50g and 25,000 status
What ya get: An NPC that opens up teleport portals to any druid rings
Worth it? Definitely

Mariner’s Bell: Shattered Lands
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: Transport to any of the original zone docks
Worth it? Not likely, unless you regularly hunt the contested Avatars

Mariner’s Bell: Faydwer
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: Transport to Faydwer zones
Worth it? Only if you have a lot of guildies still leveling up.

Mariner’s Bell: Kunark
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: Transport to Kunark zones
Worth it? Definitely

Magic Carpet to Sinking Sands
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: Transport to Sinking Sands
Worth it? Only if you have a lot of guildies still leveling up.

Portal to Member Housing
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: Transport to your own house, regardless of its location
Worth it? Definitely - There are plans to add a house item that lets you port back to the guild hall as well.

Localized Guild Hall Teleportation
Cost: 25p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: 50g and 25,000 status
What ya get: Transport pads to place around your Guild Hall
Worth it? Possibly – early views from Fan Faire show the Tier 3 guild hall to appear to be ‘ginormous’, larger than some city zones – it it really is that big, these mini teleporters may be useful.

Guild Translocation Beacon
Cost: 1p and 250,000 status
Upkeep: 2g and 10,000 status
What ya get: Allows guildies to teleport directly to the Guild Hall, grants a 'Call to Guild Hall' ability, with 15 minute re-use
Worth it? Definitely

Teleportation Spire to the OverrealmCost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: Transport to Kingdom of Sky zones
Worth it? Only if you have a lot of guildies still leveling up.

Guild Strategist
Cost: 100p and 20,000,000 status
Upkeep: 2p and 100,000 status
What ya get: An NPC that gives you a ‘rally flag’, which you can place at any non-instanced location – guild members will be able to teleport to the flag from the guild hall for a period of 2 hours.
Worth it? Absolutely if your guild does any raiding.

Tradeskill:

Havesting Supply Depot
Cost: 25p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: 50g and 25,000 status
What ya get: Storage space for tradeskill components only - Update: Holds 100 unique items, and can hold up to 20,000 of each of those
Worth it? Definitely

Fuel Merchant Hireling
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: An NPC tradeskill fuel vendor.
Worth it? Definitely

Hunter Hireling
Cost: 12p and 2,500,000 status
Upkeep: 24g and 12,500 status
What ya get: An NPC that takes harvesting orders – it gives you 100 harvests’ worth of supplies after a 2 hour delay. Update: This hireling will gather from den and fish harvest nodes, no rares/imbues - common harvests only.
Worth it? Awwww yeah…

Miner Hireling
Cost: 12p and 2,500,000 status
Upkeep: 24g and 12,500 status
What ya get: An NPC that takes harvesting orders – it gives you 100 harvests’ worth of supplies after a 2 hour delay. Update: This hireling will gather from ore and stone harvest nodes, no rares/imbues - common harvests only.
Worth it? Awwww yeah…

Gatherer Hireling
Cost: 12p and 2,500,000 status
Upkeep: 24g and 12,500 status
What ya get: An NPC that takes harvesting orders – it gives you 100 harvests’ worth of supplies after a 2 hour delay. Update: This hireling will gather from root and bush harvest nodes, no rares/imbues - common harvests only.
Worth it? Awwww yeah…

Misc:

Commodities Exporter Hireling
Cost: 12p and 2,500,000 status
Upkeep cost: 24g and 12,500 status
What ya get: Unknown – speculated that this is essentially a broker mule for selling items for the guild, with profits going into the guild bank, not yet confirmed.
Worth it? Most likely, unless you’re tight on amenity space restrictions.

Guild Hall Banker
Cost: 25p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: 50g and 25,000 status
What ya get: A banker – sorry, lollypops not included
Worth it? Definitely

Farseas Express Mailbox
Cost: 10g and 250,000 status
Upkeep: 2g and 1,250 status
What ya get: A fully functioning mailbox, free spam included
Worth it? Definitely

Stable Hand
Cost: 12p and 2,500,000 status
Upkeep cost: 24g and 12,500 status
What ya get: *UPDATE* Grants +5% Mount Speed, does not sell mounts - unknown how long the boost lasts *UPDATE*
Worth it? Possibly, depending on amenity space.

Guild Hall World Market Broker
Cost: 25p and 5,000,000 status
Upkeep: 50g and 25,000 status
What ya get: A broker with access to everything on the market – unknown at this time how broker markup will be calculated through this broker.
Worth it? Definitely

Guild Market Broker
Cost: 12p and 2,500,000 status
Upkeep: 24g and 12,500 status
What ya get: An NPC broker for sales ONLY to guild-members
Worth it? Do I even have to answer this one? It’s a godsend for tradeskillers who want to provide supplies to the guild at lower-than-standard rates, eliminating the hassle of tracking them down.

Guild Hall Mender
Cost: Unknown
Upkeep: Unknown
What ya get: An NPC Mender. Mending costs can be subsidized with guild funds – excellent for raid guilds that wish to pay for repairs with funds gathered on raids.
Worth it? Almost definitely, cost/upkeep and any increased repair fees will determine that, once they’re known.

Training Dummy Supply Chest
Cost: 5p and 1,000,000 status
Upkeep: 10g and 50,000 status
What ya get: The ability to spawn training dummies – excellent for testing out AA lineups and weapon combos for fine tuning dps.
Worth it? Awwww yeah….bout time =)

Creature Conjuror
Cost: 5p and 1,000,000 status
Upkeep: 10g and 5,000 status
What ya get: Unknown, speculated that this is similar to the training dummy, but spawning general mob types that may fight back, rather than a static punching dummy.
Worth it? Possibly, depending on how it works

Guild Cloak Designer
Cost: 10p and 2,000,000 status
Upkeep: 20g and 10,000 status
What ya get: A NPC that lets you design guild cloak designs.
Worth it? Definitely not

Slayer Poster
Cost: 1p and 250,000 status
Upkeep: Free
What ya get: One of those nearly impossible to click creature slay-count posters
Worth it? Nope

Guild Hall Stylist
Cost: 5p and 1,000,000 status
Upkeep: 10g and 5,000 status
What ya get: An NPC that lets you reset your character’s appearance
Worth it? Nope

Guild Hall Bartender
Cost: 1p and 500,000 status
Upkeep: 2g and 2,500 status
What ya get: An NPC food and drink vendor.
Worth it? Does anyone actually use that stuff anymore? Now, if he actually serves beer, it may be worth getting one (or 5-6 if you have any thirsty dwarves in the guild)

Gigglegibber Goblin Gamblin’ Game
Cost: 1p and 500,000 status
Upkeep: Unknown
What ya get: A lottery NPC
Worth it? Nope – its hard enough to drag folks away from the goblins on the docks when its raid time =)


Now, with the 18 amenities I recommend as being worthwhile, if you get a Tier 3 hall (which you know you’re going to unless you’re in a very small, casual guild), the grand total comes to:
Initial Cost: 1309p, 10g, and 62,500,000 status
Weekly upkeep: 16p, 20g and 566,250 status
Amenities: 18

If you want to add on all of the transport options, and all non-decorative options other than the stylist and cloak designer, the totals move to:
Initial Cost: 1423p, 10g, and 85,750,000 status
Weekly Upkeep: 681,250 status
Amenities: 28

That means a lot of folks will need to do some serious calculation of just how much status the guild is earning – do you already gain enough to keep all that going, without having to work extra? Or will you need to start having folks do more writ work/status raids/etc? Also, keep in mind that these totals don’t include the cost of the Mender, which is still unknown.