I Just came from MAG (actually I'm still there) and I'd like to tell you a little tale.

Mind you MAG is the largest FPS ever made, in terms of players in game. 128 vs 128, 64 vs 64 (A couple of times), etc etc. The scope of the game is huge. There are clans that have member lists in the hundreds. But the game itself only has this for clan support:
Tags
Roster
Clan deploy: this allows clans to deploy up to 32 players (the smallest game size is 32 vs 32) at once, thereby filling an entire platoon.

What the devs there (Zipper interactive-lulwhat?) swore up and down they would never do is institute clan wars because then the "clans would take over the game" and thus penalize the casual gamer.

So let me tell you what happened. The clans took over the game. With no outlet, ie clan wars, the clans had no choice but to roll in regular rooms against all those clueless casual/random players. Guess what happened? The clans, with some structure, talent, and leadership, without fail, always win every game.

There is a Clan in MAG that regularly rolls 32 deep and generally wins every game they play (unless they end up going against another clan with numbers...this clan, KEQ, doesn't have a lot of skill comparative to their numbers, they simply commit to a "zerg" rush mentality and keep coming till they break you-mind you they have some great players, it's just not proportionate to their 200+ man roster). Now, how would you, as a casual gamer, feel about getting steamrolled in under 5 minutes on a 20 minute match (unlike CoD, MAG is an objective based game-those of us that are tired of it's problems are looking forward to all kinds of new problems over here on Brink-I'm bringing as many of my clanmates as can afford it) time after time after time?

My own clan does this (steamroll) all the time with 15 to 20 players, and we'll run into the same guys 3, sometimes 5 matched in a row. Do you think they feel it's fair?

I know I didn't. that's why I started a clan in the first place.

Now, Brink is much smaller in numbers, so the math doesn't apply, but the theory still does (if anything it makes it worse...one or two guys can't beat 32, but one or two guys can totally wipe the floor against 8...if there's 8 of such clan members in one room...pffft game over man). If there is no place for clan wars and at least a forum to support it (I'm against leaderboards in general since every leaderboard I've ever seen only leads to cheating, glitching, and hacking-but there needs to be someplace to let epeens be measured....and nothing settles a dispute like queuing up), the the clans will rule the open rooms. Thus, you sad sack "casual gamers", that aren't going to put a 1000 hours into a game will get your lilly white backsides handed to you more often than not by the competitive clan members screaming for clan support.

Point is, competitive guys that get wrapped up into and hooked on tactical game play don't casually play the game. Brink should do everything in it's power to keep those competitive players away from the general population. You don't mix serial killers with wallet snatchers in prison for a reason. They best way to do this is to support clan wars.

Competitive players end up in clans. That's natural order on a video game. Good players get sick of playing with bad players or players that don't take the game seriously. So they gravitate to others like them, and then they form a clan. Next thing you know they have a website someone paid money for, a recruiting officer, a clan leader, an ambassador/emissary officer, and vested interest in growing their numbers. And faceraping the opposition so they can fully and correctly "represent" their tags.

Just some food for thought. I know the game is likely already set how ever it is going to be, but I just wanted to pipe in as a Clan Leader of a former 100 man roster and a current 40 man roster in a game with no clan support and tell all of you how things work in the real world, not one you pulled out of a hat.

^^ yes

Having the ability to put your clan logo on your T-shirt or even tatt's would bring more compation into the game that's for sure.

KEQ has 300+ members, usually 30-50 online at any time. It's true that there are a LOT of players who are newcomers, or just straight-up aren't good. Sure, there's a lot of skilled (or at least passable) guys in the clan, and though they can sometimes carry the team, they aren't necessarily what earns us the wins.

KEQ wins matches so easily simply because we have a LOT of players, most of whom have mics...

And it's not like we're all running around doing our thing. We're either listening to our Platoon Leader or Squad Leader's directions, following familiar tactics and strategies, or forming our own tactics within our squad - and even with just 8 players all playing on the same page, you can make a huge dent in the enemy's defense or assault, let alone an entire platoon of 32. Because we remain so coordinated and responseful, that's why most matches playing with KEQ are a 20-minute redline defense or a 3-minute steamroll attack.

Thing is, because clans like KEQ exist in MAG, it's suicide to play solo and it turns into a huge drag. You either find a clan or get stomped by other clans, quite a lot of the time.

It's gonna be interesting to see how this pans out in Brink... I'm kinda hoping there's zero clan support, but then I know people will still roll together so it makes sense to introduce something like Clan Wars...

I would hope for a clan system in a future FPS that is as devoted as MGS4's online was. Anyone else remember that game?

Very dedicated, combine that with KZ3's clan system, put in some tweaks, and I will be satisfied.

Having an in game clan menu, clan ranks, clan ranking, clan tournaments list, even your own clan hideout to chill in with your buds is something that shows me that a developer has put some time and effort into expanding there online community.

So I basically agree we need everything on that list.

I think clan replays would be amazing, and for clothing options I think it would be more appropriate to have a certain color combination you can choose at character customization. In other words, your clan could have a set shirt and pants, or a set of colors and u can choose stuff that are those colors(say shirt and shorts) automatically.

As for the more competitive side of play, Tournaments would be more like it, as there won't be many people totally interested in the leaderboards.

As a former MAG player, I agree with BattleCry1791. There needs to be full clan support that keeps the most competitive players away from the most casual. That means developer-organised clan tournaments and clan wars.

Perhaps even get each player to distinguish themself as a Casual or a Competitive player regardless of whether they belong to a clan. Then games could be distinguished as Casual, Competitive or Open and you could choose to join either your own skill level or Open games (clans would automatically be classed as competitive and would only be allowed to play in Competitive games).

That way casual players can choose to avoid competitive players. Single competitive players can choose Open or Competitive games, and clans can only play in Competitive games.

Therefore everyone happy

design clan logos and tournaments

Wanted new posters input

I don't currently belong to any Clan but i think that,a Leaderboard will change everything.

I mean it changes everything just by beign there.

Many don't care about them but still it changes the philosophy of a game by beign or not there.

Leaderboard is a pure competitive stat manager i could say,i can't see it in other way.

"Hey he is first,hmmm..."

I just don't care for Leaderboards when playing.

Well then you get hackers that hack the leaderboards, put them at the top, and as a result, makes people rage. If Brink had a legit leaderboard, I don't see the problem with it then.

Agreed but at the same time I am not talking about individual leaderboards I am talking about clan leaderboards. It would have stats about the entire clan as a whole like a clans W/L fastest win, fastest loss ect and allow maybe smaller clans ect to gauge who is on there lvl and which teams are out of there league.

Well then a statsboard for the clan only to see?

Anyways,i don't mind,i think full clan support is something imporant,i agree 100%.My only concern is the leaderboard for the reason that i mentioned and again,personaly i don't care about leaderboards in general.

I would love full blown clan support, but I doubt it will happen. It seems that very few console games have full clan support. I think it will probably be up to the community to organize competitions.

Yea its unfortunate that game devs do all these crazy things for casual players but simple things like a little clan support for the hardcoe players is out the question and those are the people that stick around and end up buying dlc ect. they stick around for the long haul once they find a good game. I hate Devs that say there is in game clan support in there game when really all they have is clan tags thats just a glorified friend list I don't need another friends list to look at what I need is the option to setup custom matches, challenge clans, setup tournaments, clan leader-boards ect.

One game that did this amazing on consoles was Killzone 2 that game will always hold a special place in my heart.