Guild Monopolies In 1.20

Yup this is something we will definitely see. I think it all depends on whether the system promotes war as an effect of your greed, or instead forming just bigger alliances to make sure you hold stuff. Many might be hesitant to fight from fear of losing an HQ, but it could also motivate small alliances to fight all out for their own land.

 

If the potential gains outweigh the costs of breaking an alliance by a substantial amount, then I think there won't be any lasting mega alliances. If there's only a little bit to be gained by breaking an alliance, then it's quite likely that an unofficial mega alliance will form or even continue into 1.20 in its current form.

Salted has said that fortified HQs will be nearly impossible to take down, so as long as a guild can hold onto enough land and resources to maintain that, people won't have to worry too much about their HQs being taken over.

 

I'm not too well informed on Federation (the mega-alliance that ran rampant throughout most of 2018) but it seems to have a lot of differences with the current 2020 mega-alliance Artemis.
If i remember correctly, federation cycled frequently through various members, and it's eventual downfall became boredom after a long time. And from what i heard, what followed was one of the finest map anarchy moment in a long time. (someone who was actually in upper-federation ranks please confirm or debunk)
This seems contrary to Artemis who only gains or loses a guild maybe once a month or so, nor does it seem all to bothered by the fact that warring which at the moment is already a pretty dull activity at it's core, has gotten even more boring.

This suggests to me that especially in the Artemis era that a lot of the guilds who have a large influence are not big risk takers and prefer to take a pay-cut to stay safe or close to their bestie guilds, rather than spend a ton of effort only for a chance at an increase.

So from that perspective, the thing that would encourage strife and infighting the most would be benefits and perks of having a ton of territories as a single guild, and having little to no drawbacks from owning a ton of territories. (other than being a much bigger target)

It's a bit of a dilemma, proper mega-alliances essentially lock up the map until they themselves get bored and end it. Guilds inside the alliance become extremely passive because they have little chance to beat the alliance if they were to leave it alone (and organizing a multi-guild exit is insanely risky if you get ratted out) , guilds outside becomes passive because they have little chance to beat the alliance.
So just discouraging mega-alliances from forming alone probably isn't enough because one will eventually form despite the drawbacks, discouraging them from lasting too long by designing a system that encourages greed and conflict about who gets what, now that's both useful and entertaining.

PS: I'm being thorough in my posts because a lot of people are probably new to the whole guild politics and it doesn't hurt to explain things more clearly for those. Also if any of the wynn admins are interested in understanding the politics a little bit better, since they probably won't see much of that during the hero beta.

 

I’m trying to think of a response but you’ve really hit the core of the issue here lol. Excellent comment.