How good are the Guild Perks?

In my last entry, I discussed how the guild levelling system is going to work in Cataclysm and what guild members should be aware of in regard to it. If you're not already familiar with how it's going to be implemented, I recommend going back and reading it.

This entry is going to concentrate on one of the main features, if not the bona fide main feature itself; guild perks.

Below, I've listed all of the perks and the descriptions of their maximum level effects. I've also written what guild level you need to be to unlock the perk, purely to be systematic and thorough. I've also said what I think about each one individually from (I hope) a rounded point of view.

Read on to learn what your guild could soon be offering to you!

Fast Track (Levels 1 and 5): Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.

Pretty obvious upgrade here, both for levelling alts (goblins or worgen, particularly) and for levelling main characters; it's quickly unlocked to help that push to 85, but the 10% buff (plus heirlooms) will see alts levelled quicker than ever before. Better for social and/or levelling guilds, really, but always going to be relatively useful.

Mount Up (Level 2): Increases speed while mounted by 5%. Not active in Battlegrounds or Arena.

A convenience perk, not much more. Again, it'll see most benefit if you're lower level and getting yourself to 85. I'm unsure if this will apply to flying mounts, but I suspect not. Any guild will get use out of this, but it's not worth writing home about.

Mr. Popularity (Levels 3 and 11): Reputation gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%.

This is potentially a huge benefit to those who like grinding reputations, including guild reputation. It will also be of benefit when running instances with your reputation tabard, making it more of a level-cap perk. Of course, if you're chasing Insane in the Membrane! then it may be worth waiting on this to unlock to make it slightly less painful. Slightly. Very slightly. Raiding guilds will get good use from this while farming the reputations that provide character enhancements, while social guilds with reputation grinders will also see a lot in this one.

Cash Flow (Levels 4 and 15): Each time you loot money from an enemy, an extra 10% money is generated and deposited directly into your guild bank.

Guild taxes or gold generation for the guild bank, begone! At 10%, and in a large guild, this is quite possibly the biggest perk available. At no cost to the player, every member will be contributing to the guild itself simply by playing. Good for every guild out there.

Reinforce (Levels 6 and 8): Items take 10% less durability loss when you die.

A raiding guild perk. Those horribly costly nights of wiping will be a bit less of a drain on the bank and when considered over a period of a full tier, this could save your guild something in the region of tens of thousands of gold.

Hasty Hearth (Level 7): Reduces the cooldown on your Hearthstone by 15 minutes.

Another one for the levellers amongst us. The Hearthstone cooldown isn't particularly restrictive, but Blizzard seem to be encouraging those of lower level to simply keep resetting their stone to the most convenient place and then using it liberally.

Chug-A-Lug (Levels 9 and 21): The duration of buffs from all guild cauldrons and feasts is increased by 100%.

At first sight, this seems a bit underwhelming. Feasts are usually refreshed after a wipe and the buffs rarely expire otherwise. However, this could potentially be a big one for those who are levelling using the dungeon finder as they can set it down and then see a two hour buff. Also, this could encourage group questing for more combat effectiveness and would also be good for farming raid content for those last bits of gear and/or alts. One that will probably be missed if you ever end up losing it.

Mobile Banking (Level 10): Summons your guild bank. Instant, 1 hour cooldown.

I would suggest this is a raiding guild perk, one that will see the bank summoned for flasks, feasts or BoE and item dumps. I can see few other uses for the level 10 milestone perk.

Honourable Mention (Levels 12 and 18): Increases honour points gained by 10%.

Clearly for PvP orientated guilds and players. 10% more honour sounds good to me, especially for those in Battlegrounds.

Working Overtime (Level 13): Increases the chance to get a skill increase on tradeskills by 10%.

This is a wide ranging perk and is nice for everyone. We all either need or like tradeskills, so increasing the chance to get a tradeskill point makes those pesky yellow options much more attractive.

The Quick and the Dead (Level 14): Increases health and mana gained when resurrected by a guild member by 50% and increases movement speed while dead by 100%. Does not function in combat or while in a Battleground or Arena.

Levellers and raiders this one. Faster corpse runs, particularly after a wipe, will soon be taken for granted. It's another that players will miss substantially should get used to it and lose it.

Guild Mail (Level 16): In-game mail sent between guild members now arrives instantly.

Purely a convenience perk, pretty sad for such a high level. Sending things around guild will (obviously) be quicker, but I can't really think of an occasion where I was really annoyed at the waiting time.

Everyone's a Hero (Levels 17 and 24): Increases Heroism points gained by 10%.

This is one for the PvE players, pure and simple; and it's awesome. While some PvP folks may like the look of specific vendor gear and find this perk good for farming it, only those who really enjoy their dungeons are going to see the biggest benefit from this.

Happy Hour (Level 19): Increases the number of flasks gained when using a flask cauldron by 100%.

I suspect raid guilds will get the most out of this, as they're the ones most likely to be using flasks. In saying that, Battleground or arena players will get benefit, as will any leveller looking for a bit more bite.

Have Group, Will Travel (Level 20): Summons all raid or party members to the casters current location. Unlimited range, 6 second cast/channelled, 2 hour cooldown.

This is a bit of a mixed blessing for me; it's one of the trademark perks, but I suspect it will see little use. Nobody can doubt the utility of being able to summon your raid group to you, but the long cooldown means it's unlikely to be used for fear of "wasting it". This is particularly true when your raid is forming and is never all ready at the same time. I could see a niche being formed for it, mid-raid, when everyone goes away for ten minutes to grab flasks and get new gear enchanted. We shall see. Needless to say, only raiding guilds will get any tangible benefit from it.

Bountiful Bags (Level 22): Increases the quantity of material gained from Mining, Skinning, Herbalism and Disenchanting by 15%.

Awesome perk and, in my view, one of the best. Whether you're a gold farmer or a crafter, this one has the potential to provide you with a bucketload of free materials. Totally justifies its high level and is great for every type of guild.

Bartering (Level 23): Reduces the price of items from vendors by 5%.

Depending on how this pans out, it could be wonderful or lacklustre. If it applies to all vendors, including heroism or honour point vendors, it will be a great boon and will be completely worthy of a level 23 perk. If it only applies to gold related vendors, it loses practically all of its shine as vendor items are never prohibitively priced. One to wait on before judging, but will be relevant to any guild really.

Mass Resurrection (Level 25): Brings all dead party and raid members back to life with 35 life and 35 mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. 64% of base mana, unlimited range, 10 second cast.

Another raiding guild perk, and a wonderful time saver assuming someone survives a wipe and can use mana (hai, huntardz - oh wait... Focus). Needless to say, this could be an excellent way of saving time and maintaining momentum while charging down Deathwing.

So, what does that mean?

Let me put it this way. The top five perks (in no particular order), as I see it, are:

1) Cashflow. You're generating more gold, what's not to like?
2) Reinforce. You're saving more gold - doh - but this saves you more the more you need it.
3) Working Overtime. This will undoubtedly lead to quicker profession levelling.
4) Bountiful Bags. As above, and can be used by gold farmers.
5) Everyone's a Hero/Honourable Mention. Farming points will simply feel less like "farming".

The least useful (again, in no particular order) are probably:

1) Hasty Hearth. 30 minutes isn't particularly prohibitive, shaving 15 from that isn't worth much.
2) Mobile Banking. With the proliferation of banking alts, as well as raiding groups being ready before the first pull, it's hard to see where this will be used.
3) Guild Mail. Players in guilds tend to only mail their alts, which is already instant.
4) Have Group, Will Travel. I just don't see this being as useful as it first appears, and the cooldown is a killer.
5) Chug-A-Lug. Nice enough, but a minimal benefit.

So, that's it - you've now read everything I think about the new guild levelling system - what do you think?