Guilds

As the name suggests, guilds are a core element of Guild Wars, manifesting not only as social units but also being closely linked with the game mechanics. Though a player is not required to join a guild, it adds value to the gaming time and increases camaraderie. Often, joining a guild is a good way to get help from more experienced players as the in-game guild interface allows communication between guild members.

The guild leader who creates the guild can furnish it with a cape and a guild hall; the latter may also be upgraded with merchant and storage NPCs. The leader can recruit new players to the guild, and can also promote a number of them to guild officers, who can then continue with recruitment and further promotion of officers. Guild officers can dismiss players from the guild, but only the leader retains the power to dismiss officers and disband the guild. Guilds have a membership limit of 100 members.

Up to ten guilds may ally together to form an alliance. Members of an alliance may communicate over a shared chat channel, and visit the guild halls of the other guilds of the alliance. Each alliance has a leader guild that initiates the alliance, the leader of which guild is also the alliance leader, who may admit or dismiss guilds from the alliance. Each guild is, in fact, initially an alliance of one. The ability to form alliances is restricted to guilds whose leaders own the Factions campaign, where the concept of alliances was introduced. Each alliance must be devoted to either the Kurzicks or the Luxons, two in-game factions locked in perpetual conflict. Players can accumulate faction or reputation with either the Kurzicks or the Luxons, which can either be "donated" to the alliance or redeemed for certain in-game rewards. The alliances with the highest amount of donated faction are given control of certain in-game outposts in the Canthan continent; controlling an outpost gives the alliance members access to restricted areas of the outposts, containing, among other things, merchants who sell at a discount. The best alliance-controllable outposts are the Kurzick and Luxon capital cities, each of which contains a restricted entrance to an elite co-operative mission.

In addition to membership in guilds, a player may be a guest of any number of other guilds. Guest privileges are limited to visiting the guild hall and participating in guild or alliance battles. An accepted invitation expires after eight hours.