I think the term "Clan" has a big stigma because of MMOFPS. Really what I would say would work better with Destiny is an MMO-style "Guild." Where it is more organized and communication friendly, and friends/family have a tendency to influence guild-choice more than clan-choice. My advice: play with people you like. Enjoy the game and [i]interact with people[/i] that will determine whether you really want to be part of an online group (be in a clan/guild/team/flesh-eating monkeys) or just want to interact with random people, or just want to play by yourself mostly.

I want someone to play bitch and collect loot for me while someone carries me through town eating grapes in a bath robe and a cuban cigar.

I think that there should be two settings. One setting is a group for playing with friends or clanmates. That would be between 2-12 players and called maybe a squad. And if they wanted then they could join a larger group, let's call that an alliance or clan. The alliance/clan would be more like 30-100+ members and would consist of several squads. Of course the size values can be modified but you get the concept. Sorry to do this but honestly I oppose the idea of aggressive competitive clans. It would ruin Destiny by making it far too similar to other MMORPGs. The best clans are always exclusive and make others feel weak and inferior. They prey on the weak (a lot of the times) and are too powerful. I think that this should be about fun, and I'm not saying that competitiveness isn't fun. I'm just saying that ranking clans and such is over the top. I've player Kabam games, Imperion, Kingdoms at War, etc. and I hate those games for their invincible or oppressive clans/alliances/guilds. It only encourages the best to group together. Now I am ok if the best group together, just not to be super exclusive, oppressive, and arrogant or mean. I really believe in the leader, officer, member ranking format. Maybe to solve the problem, by default the ranks would assigned by skill or activity? But honestly, just because someone doesn't play 24/7 doesn't mean they should have a low rank. They could be better than you, just without a lot of free time, and they shouldn't be excluded or punished for it. So I think that the ability to promote on character or merit is very important. The solutions for dictatorships or oppressive leadership is introducing democracy or other forms of power-splitters so that the members can be heard better and the power not given to a single-party state. Sure you can rank players on their usefulness or accomplishments but excluding or judging/deciding what they are as a result is very uncool. Now commenting more on your post, I've seen the suggestion of objective markers before and I like it. Maybe the leader of a group or clan can set objective markers to coordinate his allies. Say, "Hey guys! Attack this alien!" or "Target that ship!", or perhaps "Hurry and get to the objective!". This could be cool.

Best way for a Clan to work, is to not have one. Find a group of cool people and hang out with them.

It would be kinda cool to be able to give out custom armor or weapons to clan members. Assuming some sort of in-game currency, the new recruit would pay for half the cost and the clan itself pay for the rest. This way you could also distinguish between higher ranking clan members by insignia on / color of their armor.

rank and file would be a bit much clans should be groups of people that work together when they see fit; using a leader to put some bit of organization together is feasible. however, giving people rankings and such just doesn't work out; that is far too much for video games. it's supposed to be fun, not military practice

I would like to have only factions... Then in the factions have clans. Make this into a leader board system So it would work like soccer in other country's. Example... Brazil has like 20 or more teams in one city so they have leagues. League 1 is the best then 2 and then last is 3. The worst of a league always plays best of the of league lower then them. So to put this in the game competitively I was thinking.... Each clan member will receive points doing adventures, challenges, and competitive fighting. And also leader of the clan could give points to there clan for doing awesome things. Each clan member's points will be totaled and placed on the leader board. Remember if your number one in a faction (league) then you have to compete in some way. What do people think of this?

doesn't anyone go lone wolf anymore?

In fact, your talk is similar to the ideal we're going for with our Community; Guardians of Destiny. We have myself as the leader, known as 'The Keeper', below me is a council system in which they represent each class (Hunter, Titan, and Warlock), below that is the Monetary council (including the Treasurer as lead with a representative for Shopkeepers, crafters, and the like, this is still a work in progress idea). Over all we are going for a true faction/guild feel more so than a militarized feel, we will have ranks here and there for certain situations, but more over it's basing simply off Member seniority and skill. We will also find ways to help new members get gear right off the bat and work out a way to set up missions as we receive event info or get missions from people or groups to find a piece of loot and so on. We're still looking for people who can help us build this community up, so if you want a community/guild feel in which you can help us build up on then join us!

i find the best way to get a clan to work as one team is to put the ranks aside, if a member is better at, lets say, driving, make him the designated driver if another member is good at sniping he can be over-watch. i have a clan in halo and we don't use the ranking system we just specialize our skills into divisions. in destiny im going to keep the clan running the same but ill just tweak it for the mage,hunter,and titan characters.

They should work like they did in Lineage 2, IMO. Where you were able to take over cities with your clan.