There obviously issues with this, but overall it is an OK thing to do. Yes, I, too, was surprised by the sudden-ness of it, and also by the very low timer for reformation. 5 minutes are not a lot. However, one can reasonably argue that a guild should have more than 5 members so that the condition of actually only having the minimum number would be the exception, not the permanent state, which makes sense, considering that a guild usually has a lot of members.
As for the 20kT: this seems really low to me. When I look at the auction channel, I see a great and quite disturbing difference to what it was before the wipe: now one tria is worth almost nothing. Items are generally being sold for several thousands of tria, and they aren\'t even rare items as mugs used to be. The value of a tria has dwindled by > 90% since the wipe! IRL, this would be a catastrophically high rate of inflation that would plunge the entire country into poverty!
Also, as has been stated, this would make a mere 4kT per member if you plan on having only the minimal number, which isn\'t a good idea. Even I will have that much within a short time, even though I spend only about 1% of my ingame time killing.
This is a problem only if the way to create a guild is the one commonly used now: One person thinks: \"Hey! I have this cool name, I\'ll make a guild from this!\", then proceeds to the \"create guild\" menu and *bang* the guild is there. Only then they might start recruiting or thinking about a background and all that is associated with it.
The IMO proper way to create a guild is radically different, however, and more like what mikewsnc seems to intend to do (which is really natural by the system now in place): at first, a would-be guild leader will seek would-be members, to both fill the minimum number and also ease the monetary \"burden\". This has the added benefit that there can\'t be invite spamming anymore, and also that people will instead of clicking \"accept\" on an anonymous popup have to actually talk, thus, chances of RP increase. Also, they are more likely to ask what the guild is about and this will speed up the creation of proper goals and background, which alkso is good. Furthermore, this preparation time is also a test for the would-be members, to see if they are actually dedicated enough, and AFAICS will further bonds within the guild a lot better.
Summarising, this new system is a good thing, just, as has been stated and acknowledged already, the anouncement and timing was not the best.
I agree that every guild should have to pay that fee. However, the established guilds will probably have this in no time.
Edit: Xordan posted while I was typing. What he said about the timing of the changes seems logical to me.
