I think the Guild Perks backfired because;
What is the point of Guild Perks if they do not amplify a community (guild) in a social game?
For the majority, Guild is = perks, no longer a community to find equal players to socialize with.
So in the end, more guilds that are less social in a social game, for the sake of perks (+ gold income for some, through a guild perk)
My suggestion would be, why not just make all the Guild Perks baseline for a character with or without a guild.
Every guild has all the perks if it's been around for long. If not, those people wanting those perks just join a perk guild.
So what does it really do in the end? I would say it backfired.
Guild reinforcements should be to make things better for the guild community.
It would be enough to have 1 function that would be gold income to the guild vault for repairs,
the rest could be player bonuses baselined instead of perks for guild.
Am I the only one who feels people become more self-centering and little troublesome about the guild they're in, it's more important and easier choice to just be in a guild for perks? What if guild perks are baseline for a guildless player, what would that player choose to do? Would it be easier for the rest of us to find a good community without looking through 1000 very little social guilds that are there for one thing, the perks or for gold income by members?