Guilds will have some new things to look forward to with the new expansion as well. As mentioned in the initial announcement for Cataclysm, guilds will have a new leveling system as well as guild talents. Blizzard later elaborated on this new system in a later panel, and what they have in store is quite interesting. In Cataclysm, you will have the ability to help gain experience by doing daily quests, participating in battlegrounds and downing bosses in raids which in turn will allow you to level up your guild. Right now levels only go up to 20, but I’m sure it takes quite a bit to get there.

What does leveling up do towards helping out the guild? Well as you level you will be able to put points into guild talents which will give benefits to guild members such as cheaper repair bills and even mass resurrections, both great for serious raiding guilds. There will also be the ability for guilds to earn “guild currency” which they can use to purchase various items like guild standards and even heirloom items that will help you level faster, but are bound to the guild. So sorry to guild bank ninjas, but you’re thwarted there! Blizzard is also adding a new “Looking for Guild” channel, and will be updating the guild UI so that you can check out the professions of other members and even institute a percentage of gold that get’s deposited into the guild bank by all members. And not surprisingly, guild Achievements will be added as well.

All in all these are quite exciting for guilds, and I think that they will make being in a guild more valuable and keep people around for longer. All of these new factors mean that you will be putting a lot of hard work and effort into helping your guild level up, gain achievements and unlock items and abilities. It will be interesting to watch guilds compete with each other more.