No idea if this was brought up before and rejected, but I've had an idea to make sub-clans.

An official clan could make an unofficial clan to bring in some recruits. The sub-clan would be under control of the official clan, but training the members until they are strong enough to join the main, official clan. This would encourage newer players to join clans because they know they will eventually become strong enough to join an official clan, and the official clan would benefit by getting more recruits that are at their standards.

I'm thinking that to make a sub-clan, the official clan would pay for it and have to be X months old since being official to prevent over-use of the sub-clan(s), and to make sure that a new, weaker official clan doesn't just jump into one.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because I've met many bold players that are scared to apply for my can, or any other because they are too scared to be rejected. With sub-clans, you can be as weak as you want, apply, *hopefully* get in and become skilled enough to join the bigger clan they always wanted to.