[Delvie]

Well maybe folks will belong to a guild, several associations, and a family? I think it's going to be extremely hard for anything but the biggest guilds to cover all possibilities. When you add in all the group activities and regional differences the possibilities get pretty enormous. When you add in the fact that each sphere is supposed to require approximately the same amount of time to level most guilds will probably want people to specialize.

I can see where for example a blacksmith might belong to a guild, an association of crafters focused on weapons, an association of crafters focused on construction, and even maybe a family for their closest friends. Belonging to the associations is actually a benefit for the guild, because the blacksmith will have ready access to crafters focused on what they are trying to make - for example weapons will take different components not all made by the blacksmith.

Families are something I've always wanted in a MMO because I play with members of my real life family but we have very different gaming styles. Some are heavy into raiding, some crafting, some in-betweeners, etc. But we still like to stay in touch in something other than tells (we are spread across the US) so often we all end up in a guild together but not necessarily the right guild. Or we end up making our own channel - some games make this easier than others - I see a Family as a way of having a persistent channel available.

One thing I've wondered is how guilds will handle the fellowship concept? Will they require members to only belong to fellowships consisting of other members?