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Here's the email from yours truly to our leader Brakkish. I was very impressed with his answers, so impressed I thought I'd put it in an interview type form and post it for everyone who may of had the same concerns as myself. Needless to say, I'm going to finish unpacking my bags and putting pictures on the wall. I'm here to stay.
Q) Do you plan on obtaining a battlekeep at some point in the game? And do you plan on building a city?
- A) Yes, most definitely. Any self respecting guild should have this in their list of goals.
Q) I'm concerned about guild size, we're growing steadily and healthily. Are we going to become a huge guild?
- A) "huge" is a relative word. Huge referring to a guild is normally considered a derogatory term, also in common with "zerg" guilds. Huge in this case is often thought of as Huge: adj., 1. Having more than enough to do the job. 2. Overkill, for the sake of having a larger count.
However AoC breaks the mould. It's time to think of Large, Huge, and even "Zerg" in a positive light. People will need to re-define what they consider "large".
Due to AoC's new and innovative design, and it's setup, large guilds among Hyboria will not be uncommon. Acquiring/building cities and battlekeeps require enormous amounts of power and resources to build. Defending them, will also require large amounts of troops with varying time schedules so as to keep the battlekeeps's vulnerability windows down to a minimum. While smaller skilled precision groups will be an asset to us in PVP type battles, large "muscle" forces will aslo be needed to defend, conquer and siege with.
Q) What concerns do you have for the guilds who are planning to keep things small with only 60-100 members?
- A) I'm very concerned for them if they wish to have any serious role within Hyboria. A guild of that size simply will not have the manpower needed to maintain a keep, or lay siege to others. Keep in mind even though a guild can claim they have 100 members, it's a rarity to ever see more than 20% of your entire guild mass online at any one time. Not so important in all previous MMO's by nature. But in AoC, it's of great concern when you consider there are only 9 keeps per server. There will be much war and sieging, every guild on the server competing for a small "slice of the pie" if you will. Imagine a guild of 100 trying to defend against an alliance of 3 guilds, together equaling 500+ war ready players, just chomping at the bit to lay siege.
Q) Ok, so it sounds like we'll be rather large and always on the lookout for more members who meet our criteria for acceptance. What sort of effect do you expect that to have on our "Tight Knit" community that we currently enjoy?
- A) Community is important to me first and foremost. I strongly believe in community. Without a good community any guild is just plain rubbish. I have the utmost confidence in our recruitment system.
At no time should we ever intend to randomly just accept anyone into our family. Maintaining our high standards is paramount. With our application review process, and member participation in screening new recruits, our community will retain it's support, respect, and closeness to one another. With this system in place our new, prospective recruits are already getting a first hand, introductory meet and greet with our members right from the get-go. I see no reason why "TIght Knit" should have any pre-defined limitations and can't encompass a large body, done right.
Q) What is your take on recruiting? And how often should it be done?
- A) Recruiting is always an issue that stirs mixed feelings within a guild. As a member, usually one becomes comfortable with how things are and doesn't always really see the need for more members as long as their day goes smooth, or they have a few friends to group, craft with etc. But the reality of it, from an officer's point of view it takes a lot of hard work to keep those members happy and content. And recruitment is the most often overlooked and under emphasized process of building a good solid community and guild.
Like the leaves of a tree, after time the tree sheds it's leaves and they fall to the ground to be swept away. Guilds are much the same way, except members are the "leaves". Members drop off from time to time for various reasons, family issues, money/subscription issues, fall out of love with the game etc. And just like the leaves from the tree, old ones that have fallen off need replacing, or the tree will cease it's growth and eventually die off.
Q) Keeping strict recruitment policies and maintaining a good sized community seems to be contradictory. How do you expect to achieve this?
- A) With active exposure of our guild in many threads and websites spanning the AoC community in general, and with help and support from our current members, keeping our community thriving and healthy will be an obtainable goal without sacrificing quality or recruitment standards.
Don't forget the "word of mouth value". Our guild has already created a buzz, and respect among the AoC community, and it's my hopes we continue to do so for years to come.
Q) I haven't seen any posts regarding these issues before, how is it you've determined them to be of any concern?
- A) As the guild leader it's my duty to have my finger on the pulse of the community and understand unspoken concerns. It's not always what our members say, it's more often than not, the things they don't.
[TRIN] WILL YOUR GUILD BE AWESOME????!(proceeds to throw files down on desk) 
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, I didn't mind answering. I know there are others who've had similar questions, but didn't want to ask.
