Opinionated as ever I see!

Oh well, you can't please all of the people all of the time I guess.

I get the feeling that your not looking at the bigger picture here. Yes MA is a 2 player game, but with a little imagination, its not difficult to come up with ideas for how to play the game an make it more of a team/social event.

Take chess for example, it's a two player game but they manage to have teams. Simple example would be that each week/month each clan fields their best 3 or 5 players to play in a league. First clan to 2 or 3 wins, wins the day.

The other suggestion that I like is that we have a bigger map, not on the game, but on the website somewhere and every so often each clan fights anbother to try and increase it's teritory.

Happy of cousre for you to have your own opinion, but it's not overly helpful to bash others suggestions. If you don't want to participate, fine, but we don't really want to hear about it!

Rant finished.

Guess I should have gotten out of the other side of bed this morning!

i dont care about what you want to hear morton who the heck are you to tell me what to say

One word: Camaraderie. Having a clan to play with allows you to really get to know a few other people that really love this game. I for one would like to see it survive, even thrive. I'm not saying this is the only way MA will be able to do this, but it certainly can't hurt. And having others around you (even though we're spread across the world) that feel the same way really helps.

I have just made three of the best friends by joining this clan, none of whom I knew before. These guys are great. And its always fun to have someone to tell all your war stories to. We discuss strategies, talk trash about the games we are playing with each other, and plan out how we're going to make sure this game sticks around. We also enjoy planning out how to bring about Tiger and his clan's downfall (all in good fun of course ).

So if the clan system does nothing else than establish groups of friends and a sense of purpose (and I contend that it does a lot more than that), it is worth the short time it takes to form a loosely organized clan. 2 have been formed this week, and 2 others are in serious planning stages.

I would love to hear dissenting opinions as well as positive ones. Everyone has the right to speak their mind. If this idea can be improved upon or changed entirely to make it better, I want to hear about it.

I'm not going into detail here... I don't think it's necessary.

1. Camaraderie
2. Fun

I would rather lose and enjoy the support of friends than win and enjoy it alone.

Brashen

so there are two main arguments for clan system - Kameraderie and fun
can't see just another argument - practical use..all what Morton talked about - clan vs clan tourneys etc is just another way of sending the same challenges.
and if that's all just for fun..well i can understand it...

I would also add to the simple list:

1. Camaraderie
2. Fun
3. A sense of purpose

As is right now (or a couple weeks ago), the online environment was pretty much a free for all, everyone against everyone else. In one sense, the only people that truly feel perfect about whats going on are the ones on the top of the list. A clan system can add more of a purpose, as the people you are competing with are limited in number, and it is easier to determine if you are winning.

i am on top 4 place so what? actually i not feel perfect about what's going...damn why the heck i am not second...grrrrr...
(lol i suppose you see - even current ranking system has it's motivating potential)

For you maybe . I look at that list and just cringe. With the current system, there is absolutely no way for me to catch up to you guys, because I can't play as many games. At this rate, even if I beat the higher ranked guys consistently, it'll take me months to become a General myself, and by then there'll probably be 15 marshalls, so it won't mean much. Just imagine what it would be like for someone new to the game?

The only thing I've got going is that tournament, and boy is there going to be some stiff competition there... Having more tournaments and leagues will help, but the clan system will add one more motivating factor. And this is a factor that new people to the game can have, if they join a clan early on.

I think it's a good idea to grant certain score points for the first 3 places (or so) of the tournament. Thus participating in the tournaments will also be bringing additional points.

I have to admitt that spontaneoulsy formed Clans was a piece of good news to the developers. We were planning to introduce such "clans" a little later, but it turned out that the players came up with that idea by themselves.

Wargaming.net's experience tells that those Clans and Teams (as we called them) is a great idea. The "team" feeling of pride or grieve when your team, not only you, is winning or losing - is a very emotional stuff.
It brings the community members close to each other and really adds another dimension to the game.

I can reveal our further plans a little: As soon as Massive Assault is released in some other territories (like Australia, Scandinavia, China, Germany- AND NEW ZEALAND) - we will start the World's Team Cup - dramatism and satisfaction guaranteed!

Chomping at the bit...

Hungry for blood...

I could not agree with you more, Maelstrom, I am ranked 8th and am one game away from General. I am pretty sure that I will never be ranked higher since all the players above me play more games than I do (and there are a few below me who will soon overtake me). I really could not care that in another 60 wins time I may change my title to Marshal.

I am slightly wary of clans though - for many new players there is always a feeling of alienation, of not being part of the in-crowd. Whilst the suggestions are fine to get the clan system going (and to support the game I will join any clan that wants me!) if clan wars or team wars are developed it will be important that clans are open to anyone and that there is some balance of skill level between clans - unfortunately the real problem we have with the current ranking system is it is not a barometer of skill but a measure of experience!

That's why they need another tournament and to have them start in a regular fashion, say one new tourney each month. Then new people will have something to sign up in and take their measure against the herd. With a regular schedule someone just starting will never have to wait more than 30 days to get into a tournament. Leagues similar to European soccer setup with promotion/relegation from one level to another could also give people a place to join in right away. I think that you'd have to have the league "season" remain fairly short so that people new to the game don't have to wait too long to join in.

Very good points! Yeah, we definately don't want anyone to feel alienated, because that totally defeats one of the purposes of clans, to bring everyone together. I hope we haven't done that. The only reason the NWO isn't recruiting right now is because we are hoping to see a few more clans formed (2 opposing clans aren't enough for this system to work well, in my mind). It is nice to see there is some interest out there, and maybe at some point a few other people will take some initiative to start a clan.

As far as the skill level issues, I totally agree. We need to make sure there are people from all experience levels in the different clans to make the clan tournaments more fair, but we haven't come up with a good way to do that yet. We don't want to do too much clan regulation because that will limit the ability of clans to be creative. In the clan war that we've been designing, we do have some encouraging factors to make sure your clan members play against well matched opponents, but that doesn't work if one clan has all veteran players. Any suggestions you or anyone else has to make this system better would be welcome.

Another point I've been thinking about is that clans don't really solve the problem of not being to rate ourselves individually. It is more of a team effort geared towards having more interesting matches not following a traditional league setup.

So I agree with Dracovious on the need for more tournaments, leagues as well.

I know that having more tournaments just increases the work load of the dev team but I really think it will increase interest. I missed the first tournament and am really looking forward to the next one. You could do different levels of tournaments...a "Maiden" tournament open only to those who have never won a MP game. Run these weekly to get all the new players involved in the online community right away. An "Open" tournament for anybody that wants to join. A mid level for those with no more than 10 wins. That way people that are newer to the game have a chance to win something and compete against their peer group.
I think clans do tend to intimidate some newer players. The key is to be sure that they know they are welcome even with little to no experience. Maybe a special clan with some of the dev/help team providing the back bone and all new players open to joining. Some will like the group and stay on, others will find different clans that appeal to them and move on. Or limit how long people can stay in Clan Noob so there is always plenty of room for the newest players.

All good ideas!

Hi,

Two players join to our clan: Vadim and Mrakobes.

I continue search new players with small rank for our clan.

May I join to you clan, Tiger?

Hi,

I'm glad to declare that two players join to our clan:
Zabber and Borealis.