GBanks not coming to major cities - Design choice or limitation?

[Turbi]

Guild Banks not coming to major cities, is this a design choice or a limitation?

By all reason, this is most likely a design choice, so this brings me to my next question:
Why are we not going for guild banks in major cities? What drove you or the team to this decision?

[Defiant]

I'm assuming it's a design choice, and it's the only decision they've made that actually bothers me. I don't really see the reason for it apart from maybe wanting to make Booty Bay appear more active?

For me it's just annoying having bank alts and all that in the first place, and now I'll need another one sitting in Booty Bay on top of the one I have in Org. I can't see my guild bothering to spend the gold on one if there's the convenience of it is offset by having to deal with Booty Bay. It's also going to discourage average members from checking the gbank themselves and lead to less engagement with it in general.

I think they should be making operating a guild easier, not more difficult.

[Kestrel]

As discussed seconds after the screenshot in question, this is a design choice.

Guild banks will be available in your guild house when they are released and will not be added back to cities. There are no technical limitations to spawning an NPC... They were actually functional in the major cities still for over a month after our close beta started.

The game that we love is born out of friction, and while some quality of life features are great, we believe that some still should have some friction. Guild banks being one of them. Having the guild bank in your guild house not only makes sense from a lore perspective, but also forces resource coordination to happen at the guild house.

Of course this is all about a feature that is not yet live, so we don't expect everyone to agree with it at the moment, but there is a plan, and a reason for the decision.

[Mareb18]

I'm not a veteran wow player; I'm pretty new. I actually only started playing toward the end of turtle wow, so this seems kind of odd to me. Forcing this is pretty much what the second commenter mentioned it's just going to lead to less interaction. Hardly anyone uses it besides the higher ranked members of our guild, despite it being constantly advertised. People simply don't want to go out of their way to use it, and honestly, I don't really blame them.

[Turbi]

As discussed seconds after the screenshot in question, this is a design choice.

Guild banks will be available in your guild house when they are released and will not be added back to cities. There are no technical limitations to spawning an NPC... They were actually functional in the major cities still for over a month after our close beta started.

The game that we love is born out of friction, and while some quality of life features are great, we believe that some still should have some friction. Guild banks being one of them. Having the guild bank in your guild house not only makes sense from a lore perspective, but also forces resource coordination to happen at the guild house.

Of course this is all about a feature that is not yet live, so we don't expect everyone to agree with it at the moment, but there is a plan, and a reason for the decision.

I can see the vision here. It increases guild activity and I assume you would want to offer more guild-specific activities alongside guild houses, other than only a guild bank?
It does seem like an interesting choice. Not many will agree with guild banks pushed away from major cities, but I'm also a sucker for adventure, so I can't say I'm mad about it. This plan sounds better to my ears.
Thank you for the response.

EDIT: Mareb does have a point there, but I'd want to see how it plays out first.
Though I'd want to say that, if it still goes by old TWoW standards, guild tabards will be used to teleport to your guild house. It would give ease of access to it in a way. Just not near an auction house.

[Aridhil]

Guild bank being accessible in Guild House seems logical and lore accurate...

...if Guild Tabard teleports you to GH.

[Kestrel]

...if Guild Tabard teleports you to GH.

It shall <3

[Kestrel]

I can see the vision here. It increases guild activity and I assume you would want to offer more guild-specific activities alongside guild houses, other than only a guild bank?
It does seem like an interesting choice. Not many will agree with guild banks pushed away from major cities, but I'm also a sucker for adventure, so I can't say I'm mad about it. This plan sounds better to my ears.
Thank you for the response.

EDIT: Mareb does have a point there, but I'd want to see how it plays out first.
Though I'd want to say that, if it still goes by old TWoW standards, guild tabards will be used to teleport to your guild house. It would give ease of access to it in a way. Just not near an auction house.

Thank you for the measured response and being open to seeing how it develops. We hope that it all pulls together and feels good once the full system is implemented!

[Rathotdog]

I am not crazy about the idea of moving Gbanks away from the cities, but I am willing to respect the design choice you guys come up with and see what have cooked up. I hope you will listen to the community voices on this issue, too.

If the G Tabard teleports you to the G house, like you said, wouldn't that create LESS friction in order to access your Gbank? A one click teleport from anywhere vs. having to run to the city? Sounds like less friction to me. Maybe even less thematic and immersive.

To have an on demand access to the Gbank from anywhere is almost Cataclysmic in it's design. Obviously a HS to a capital city serves the same purpose, but an access to capital city is multifaceted, teleport to a guild house might be primarily just to access the Gbank.

I might be biased, I have never experienced a game version without the TBC style Gbanks, I don't have any nostalgia or experience with a game with no Gbanks. A vault in a major city is the norm for me when it comes to WoW.

Not having Gbank in the city definitely robs us of that feeling of a new, leveling or a casual player occasionally checking out what the guild has gathered, accessing the free 'garbage' tab for a new leveling green or a stack of free pots, every time they venture back into city. Or just aweing at the wealth his comrades manages to gather up.
Something I always loved about leveling in a guild.
That's the experience I had in original TBC, Turtle, and also in Epoch.

[Mullygrubb]

Player hubs are possibly the most important component of any MMO, they shouldn't be watered down in any way imo!
WoD did this and they reverted to major cities in the very next expansion because of how much it negatively impacted the 'MMO feel' in the MMO.

Planning to have important player services that complement existing services inside cities, outside of those cities, is 100% a mistake imo.