I think guild perks can motivate guild leaders to be more toxic/expect gold for attendce for the maxed perk guilds
And guilds with lower level perks will be empty

Gee. Just what I always wanted. More inescapable duties that require me to play whether I want to or not. Guild duties I have to spend my playing time farming materials for. Guild duties that will require me to be playing at certain times for guild content for specific amounts of time, whether I have the time to do it or not. Gosh, all that would be ever so much fun. [yes, that was sarcasm]

What makes me want to stay in a guild?

I stay in my guilds [currently 4] because the guilds offer me other players who share my own ideas about playing the game.

One is the perfect fit for a trading guild for me; log in once a week, no sales requirements, no dues, voluntary raffle, voluntary participation at a level *I* choose.

A second guild is social, no dues, no requirements, organized events with *voluntary* participation. Very new player friendly; no one minds questions, crafters are helpful, and most importantly, *they only help when asked*. No one has issues if someone wants to solo all the content in the game.

Third one is both social and focused on crafting. Wonderfully helpful for new players or anyone wanting to make a crafter; people freely exchange trait research items, answer questions about crafting, help finding motifs. There are also organized events with voluntary participation. If you don't have time, it isn't a problem.

Fourth one is, again, social. This one is older players, very friendly and laid back atmosphere. No dues, no requirements, organized events with voluntary participation. People will help with content, and questions, and crafting.

I have multiple master crafters. I craft research items, help people making crafters, make low level gear in blue for all my guilds free of charge, because I *want* to. Not because of some arbitrary requirement. That would definitely make the game a horrible grind for anyone who isn't really interested in crafting, let alone being forced to farm or buy mats to hit "craft a bazillion items" for no real reason besides "because its a guild". Forcing players to do all the trait research when they aren't interested in crafting would turn off a lot of people.

New flash; not all the people playing this game are super competitive. Personally, zero interest here in "leaderboards" for anything, even "People who crafted the mostest bestest stuff this week". Your characters can beat all the bosses in every dungeon, delve, and overworld location single handed while drinking a mug of mead. Gold star for you. Makes not the slightest bit of difference to me. Being forced to participate in events to get on a leaderboard would kill my interest, and participation, in that guild. You have enough time to play/train/practice content over and over to get on and stay at the top of a leaderboard, that's great for you. Not activities I would enjoy. It isn't necessarily a "red-headed stepchild" because of being guild related content. It is mostly because people don't enjoy doing it, aren't competitive enough to bother with it, and don't see why it should matter. Personal opinion; I loath pvp. I don't see the point, and really don't get the mindset. Your character can kill mine by blinking at them. Good for you. I don't care. I left "I can beat everyone up so I'm teh bestest" mentality behind long about kindergarten. There may be mature minded individuals in pvp, but I have yet to see any evidence. From guild chat from people who do pvp, forum threads about how "wonderful" people are in pvp, the atmosphere of pvp is rabidly competitive, more than a little toxic, with a huge dash of malignant childish behavior [there are warnings in the code of conduct that threats of physical violence, along with hate speech will not be tolerated]. Not really a part of the game I would enjoy, and being forced to do it because "guild" would make me question if I really wanted to play at all.