*sniff* This is going to be the best Xmas ever...
I never really played with Guilds before in vanilla, as I bought BtS purely for FFH2. As a result, I had no base reading to go on for what Guilds would be like. But these are amazing. I couldn't have imagined better, honestly. I love events, and these seem to capitalize on them. Loki's event structure sounds like a good way to organize it all, as well. I think everyone can like atleast one of those themes for their play style.
Looking at it on paper, my concerns are few. I had the same question as Xienwolf did about how to get your first mercenary. Looking at all the up coming changes specifically with Shadow, it is obvious that stealth and assassination are going to be strong. Sidar with Aerons Bounty and the Council of Esus comes immediately to mind. I know that certain combinations work better than others, but nothing has really been said about effective ways to counter espionage. As things stand right now, I am a little worried at how powerful stealth will be.
The fort idea and the pirate harbor idea are ones that have been talked about on the forums for a while, and I all for them. Forts are generally useless, so this tweak you mentioned is very nice. Any chance of making them specialized even further as others have mentioned? (i.e., Malakim ones creating fireballs, Elohim keeping back hell terrain. I forget who first put out that idea...)
All in all, it looks amazing. Nine more days...