Perfect World Faction Tips and Tricks

Perfect World Faction Tips and Tricks by Tiaque

Each faction has their own way of doing things. What works for some, doesn’t work for others, etc. Thus, the advice I’m gonna give is taken from personal experience as a faction director, and is yours to use as you will :)

Before you begin:

1. Write up your faction rules and policies. How long can a member be inactive without warning before they’re kicked from the faction? How does your faction feel about PvP and PK? Are you going to allow alts in faction, or only one character per account? Keep the list short, but don’t let yourself skimp on what you feel to be necessary….too many rules can makes your faction seem arrogant and militarist, but too little can lead to things getting out of hand.

2. Choose a director. Running a successful guild is a lot of work, and its very easy to get in over your head. Your director should be someone you trust – a real life friend, your significant other, a close in-game companion. For my faction, I became second-in-command for my boyfriend, and a close friend from in-game became our first marshal. A smoothly run administration is key to a successful guild.

3. Splurge on a few telecoustics. Trust me.

4. Make a mule character. This is entirely optional, but having a faction “bank” is always nice for holding money and faction-owned items.

Recruiting:

1. Open your faction to all levels. Some of the best players in my faction we got at level 3 or even lower. Yes, some will never log on again, but that’s what activeness rules are for :) Those that stay will be among your most loyal and enjoyable members.

2. Run FB19 runs with your faction. A lot. You’ll not only be putting your name out there, but you’re likely to get a good amount of unguilded people interested.

3. Related to the above, be helpful. Help with Fbs, bosses, instances… Even at higher levels, when most people are already in a faction, some people still need help – and some are just hoping for a faction better for them then the one they’re already in.

4. Before you recruit over WC, start a chatroom. Then, when all the whispers start getting in, instead of inviting them straight to faction, invite them into the chatroom, where you and your director and marshals can get to know them first – and they can get to know you and your faction.

5. Remember always: A faction is for the players. Players that fit into your ideals as a faction are the ones most likely to stay for a good long while. Whenever I see someone shouting “looking for faction” in any chat, my first whisper is always, without fail, “what are you looking for in a faction?”

Making money:

1. Ask your faction members to donate money. You can make it mandatory if you want, though that’s entirely your choice. Let them know that all money will go to the faction – paying for upgrading the faction and bids for TW. How they do this is up to them – selling rare pets or molds, farming gold, a percentage of what they make in overnight cat shops, whatever.

2. Be creative, but don’t beg. Especially, don’t beg random people. Yes, I have known people to shout in the common chat in West Arch “PLZ DONATE $$ TO MY AWESOME FACTION, PLZ!!!” Its annoying, and likely to get more people to blacklist you than help you.

Being Successful:

1. Always stick to your principles, as a faction, and yourself as a leader. There will always, always be people who will argue. You will gain enemies, but you’ll also gain a lot of respect as a leader, and as a person.

2. Enforce your rules. You don’t want to come off as a push-over, but try not to be too harsh. Finding the balance between the two is difficult, but once you do, you’ll find it easier to run your faction.

3. As an international server, democracy is not practiced by everyone. However, give your players some say in how their faction is run. How you do this is up to you – for us, guild rules and policies are decided upon by the leader, director, and marshals as a whole; and marshal positions can be held up to guild vote.

4. Get to know your members. In fact, make sure everyone gets to know everyone else. There doesn’t need to be any personal information spread around, but general information brings everyone closer. Know what region of the world your players come from, or what state, if they’re US. If you have college students, chat them up about their areas of studies, and the older players love to go on about their kids and families. Ages are a good thing to know as well, so you can get a general idea of what your members have been through.

5. Be chatty in faction chat. You’ll always have the quiet ones, but even they learn to speak up. Just talking gets everyone involved, and makes everyone feel more comfortable approaching higher ranked or higher level players in faction with questions or when they need help.

6. Try and keep guild drama out of faction. It happens to every faction, no matter how hard they try to avoid it. If a problem comes up, don’t avoid or ignore it. Settle the problems as best you can, and remind both parties that involving the rest of the faction usually is unnecessary and only creates more problems.

7. Be helpful and respectful to all members. If your faction is open to all levels, be prepared to patiently answer any questions anyone may have, and expect to repeat yourself, especially with the lower levels.

One last word of advice for you, from personal experience: Running a faction is hard. A wise person once said that the hardest thing to lead is your own peers. Its true – leading your peers in real life is hard, but it’s even harder to run a faction of people you have never met. Never, ever be afraid or ashamed to admit that you’ve gotten in over your head – its best for you, and for your faction.

Good luck with your faction, and I hope my advice helps ^^