Is there any particular reason why the clan is being kept at 100 members instead of expanding it to the next level?
Is it a money/resources thing? A self imposed limit? Or is there some type of additional upkeep going to the next level?
Granted I haven't read up on there in and outs of clans in Warframe, but I'm just curious.
I basically think 100 is the perfect size for the level of demand we get from the forums. Normally, we'll get 3-4 people a month asking for an invite, and maybe one of them sticks with the game long term, so growth from 100 to 300 would never happen organically. Over the past 4 years, demand has proven to be very cyclical. Sure, we're busy right now because of PoE coming out and renewed forum interest, but two weeks ago, we had members with 45 days offline, and two weeks after PoE comes out, it will be the same.
Yeah, resource costs for research would triple, and 4-5 people usually pay all of those, but the bigger cost would be the recruiting we'd (mostly I'd) have to do to get the clan to 300 and keep it there in order to be competitive during events and to keep us in an alliance. No decent alliance wants a mountain clan that's a third full with members having over two months offline.
Perhaps most importantly, and the secret I don't often share on the forum(s), is the fact that the real core of consistent veteran players (mastery 20+ who log in at least every few days) in our clan is at least 50-70% non-forum members who I've recruited over the years in order to keep us viable during Destiny launches and such. When I took over clan leadership, it was a few months after the first Destiny, and we were essentially a dead clan. Basically, there hasn't historically been enough demand from GAF to keep us full at 100 without outside recruiting...maybe that will change, but I kind of doubt it.
I don't even ask that people play the game. Just log in once every 10 days or so, and there's a near zero percent chance you'll be kicked. And the higher your Mastery Rank, the more flexibility you get.
For transparency's sake, I have one person waiting for a spot right now, and I have 3-4 vets that I'm pretty sure will ask for a reinvite before PoE. I also don't see these high demand periods as a bad thing. It's when we're most healthy as a clan, and hopefull I've earned folks' trust to manage it.