The Old Republic: One Month In ( A Lengthy Update)
written by Azazzel
Having spent nearly a month in TOR, I feel now is the time to update the guild on what we have currently achieved, what changes we are currently doing and what we are aiming to do. I will also expand on our current application system.
Raiding
As of last week, two eight-man raid forces were established. This will come as no surprise as this has been part of our plans for many months now. The A-team raid force has currently been assigned players, to provide maximum flexibility for each boss encounter. Initially we announced that positions would be temporary, but given how the team works so well together, this is looking to be a permanent fixture.
The B-team also established last week with a view to expand to 16-man as soon as it is feasibly possible. This team too, also has made impressive progress, whilst retaining a light hearted "casual" atmosphere. The changes to this team are mainly from a leadership perspective, with Fluxx being the driving force instead of GawFang.
Both teams have three things in common however;
1. Time management.
2. Preparation.
3. Perseverance.
If you lack just one of these qualities, chances are you won't be raiding in the future. Just a friendly heads up from Uncle Az.
Applicant Status
Now the big question for some of you, "Why am I still an applicant?"
We are promoting people to member status in 3 waves. If you didn't make member yet, don't worry! Chances are we just haven't got round to speaking to you yet. But more importantly, chances are you haven't got round to speaking to us, your own Core Leadership.
I want to remind everyone that whilst it is not mandatory to be on TeamSpeak, it is a requirement to interact with you own guild, either through the site forums, the guild chat or TeamSpeak itself. I won't lie, the only officer that even bothers with guild chat is Teyo and that's because it's her job to keep people smiling. The rest of us grumpy old gits (officers) solely rely on TeamSpeak to communicate. If you're not using it, you could be potentially jeopardising your spot in the guild if you haven't already got references from an officer already.
If you log in and find you are currently classified as an applicant, ask yourself "why?".
Do I use TeamSpeak?
Do the members know me?
Do I PvP with my guild?
Do I raid?
Do I constantly act negative around my guild mates?
Whilst this isn't a conclusive list, it's a generally a good check list to work through. If you have any concerns, why you're not yet a member, whisper Teyo, Fluxx, Lumino or myself (Azazzel) to see if we can give you some pointers based on what we've seen so far.
The decision to promote someone to member is done on internally within the leadership (we actually just vote on it), so it's important to get your face known to all core members as well as the regulars too.
Remember!
There are still two more waves of selection! Get out there and make yourself known!
See you in a galaxy not too far away.
The Core
Successful Start To The Raid Season
written by Lumino
So, after a bit of confusion and a series of game crashing bugs (Yeah, don't force charge a turret on the first boss, 50%+ of your raid instantly crashes), we got our shit together and killed the first boss. This boss is mostly a DPS check, and with the tactic we found necessary, it needed some AOE healing. Special thanks here to Lamoav for stepping up so quickly and helping us out, and to Hexinas for leaving the raid so this could happen (Two tanks not necessary at all here).
Trash is super easy, same HP as on normal, and does not seem to do any more damage. Don't ask.
Second boss, somehow I managed to not call out an island switch so the raid stood there and took submersion like a boss. Props for dying with the captain! Second try he was down however, seems the only thing they did to this boss in Hardmode was to increase damage on the jumps (by quite a bit tho), and maybe lessen the time between island swaps.
Thank you all who attended, and great job! We will continue the lockout on a later date we will discuss tomorrow as arranged.
SWTOR Update, 2 weeks until launch
written by Lumino
With 2 weeks until launch, I thought it would be time for me to make a summary post about the SWTOR branch and write a bit about Group A.
SWTOR General:
Considering we are hitting 100 members for SWTOR, I would just like to point out the importance of integrating yourselves by using the forums and logging on to teamspeak as much as you can. This counts for veterans as well as applicants! Make yourself known, we want a community of active and social players who want to be an active part of the community and help make it a living, thriving community. Make an effort to make this happen guys and girls!
Therefore, we are also calling a meeting for all members, veterans and applicants, on Sunday the 4th at 16.00 CET (that's 15.00 for you UK people :).
The meeting is scheduled to take approximately 30-45 minutes, and the agenda for the meeting will roughly be:
- Running through the roster to make sure everyone is onboard for the launch and still alive.
- The ~4 week application status for all members except the designated core
- A few points about the raidforces and social members
All raidleaders and leaders will be available for any questions about the SWTOR branch that you may have.
Attendance to this meeting is mandatory, unless personal issues are in the way. We will make a summary of the meeting on the forums on a later date, but please do attend if you are able to. If you are simply not able to attend, please state so in the comments section.
Group A Raiding:
I have created a thread here, to gather information about the people who are interested in raiding with Group A. No final decisions regarding lineups or raid setup will obviously be made before endgame has been reached by the majority of our raiders. This is just a pre-launch assessment of the interest and classes that "group A" people will be rolling, so that those of our members who have not yet made a class decision can be influenced by a lack of them, and so that I can get an overview of the situation.
As some or most of you may know, the raids will be 8/16 man. Group A will as a result need around 20 active people initially, consisting of 3 tanks, 6 healers, 11 dps. Some DPS will be able to offtank and heal, so this should cover it.
If you haven't read Azzazel's newspost further down, please do. In SWTOR we are going to go for a competitive group that will be raiding fulltime, and a group that will take a more casual approach. This is not to say that Group B will be some sort of slacking group, where people come unprepared and repeatedly mess up, there will be strict requirements for raiding with GawFang as well, and in some ways they will probably be more strict than Group A, however, they will be focusing on less raid days and more of the casual "fun", than Group A, which are a focused group going for achievements at the cost of your social life. Your soul will be mine, and I will abuse it on a daily basis.
Main requirements for a group A spot:
- High availability. We are looking at raiding 3-5 days a week depending on how raids will look (how many/how long will they last, whats lockout timers etc). So you should be able to raid 90% of those days on average.
- Ability to raid late, 2300 CET as standard. This is one of the only areas where we will differ from the pure hardcore guilds. We will not raid untill 3 am in the morning to get a first kill, unless its weekend and everyone is up for it.
- High morale, we are going to consecutively wipe on a boss for 6 hours straight if necessary.
- Preparation, showing up with all required items and consumables from your own pocket, by doing instances with randoms if needed.
You must also have the ability to independently:
- Look up strategies for any and all boss encounters
- Watch videos of boss encounters until your eyes bleed and you know the timers by heart.
- Find and acquire the best gear available for your class
- Find and use the best talent setup for your class, depending on what the raidforce needs.
- Assist the team by running quests/instances for drops that improve the team's strength.
As a personal note as a raidleader, there is one thing I do not accept. No-showing. You can decide not to sign and write a reason in the signup, or cancel, even send me an SMS if you had something come up. But simply not showing is disrespectful for the entire group that is waiting, and will not be accepted at any point.
I hope those of you who have participated in the beta this weekend enjoyed it, and we look forward to seeing you all on Sunday!
SWTOR General:
Considering we are hitting 100 members for SWTOR, I would just like to point out the importance of integrating yourselves by using the forums and logging on to teamspeak as much as you can. This counts for veterans as well as applicants! Make yourself known, we want a community of active and social players who want to be an active part of the community and help make it a living, thriving community. Make an effort to make this happen guys and girls!
Therefore, we are also calling a meeting for all members, veterans and applicants, on Sunday the 4th at 16.00 CET (that's 15.00 for you UK people :).
The meeting is scheduled to take approximately 30-45 minutes, and the agenda for the meeting will roughly be:
- Running through the roster to make sure everyone is onboard for the launch and still alive.
- The ~4 week application status for all members except the designated core
- A few points about the raidforces and social members
All raidleaders and leaders will be available for any questions about the SWTOR branch that you may have.
Attendance to this meeting is mandatory, unless personal issues are in the way. We will make a summary of the meeting on the forums on a later date, but please do attend if you are able to. If you are simply not able to attend, please state so in the comments section.
Group A Raiding:
I have created a thread here, to gather information about the people who are interested in raiding with Group A. No final decisions regarding lineups or raid setup will obviously be made before endgame has been reached by the majority of our raiders. This is just a pre-launch assessment of the interest and classes that "group A" people will be rolling, so that those of our members who have not yet made a class decision can be influenced by a lack of them, and so that I can get an overview of the situation.
As some or most of you may know, the raids will be 8/16 man. Group A will as a result need around 20 active people initially, consisting of 3 tanks, 6 healers, 11 dps. Some DPS will be able to offtank and heal, so this should cover it.
If you haven't read Azzazel's newspost further down, please do. In SWTOR we are going to go for a competitive group that will be raiding fulltime, and a group that will take a more casual approach. This is not to say that Group B will be some sort of slacking group, where people come unprepared and repeatedly mess up, there will be strict requirements for raiding with GawFang as well, and in some ways they will probably be more strict than Group A, however, they will be focusing on less raid days and more of the casual "fun", than Group A, which are a focused group going for achievements at the cost of your social life. Your soul will be mine, and I will abuse it on a daily basis.
Main requirements for a group A spot:
- High availability. We are looking at raiding 3-5 days a week depending on how raids will look (how many/how long will they last, whats lockout timers etc). So you should be able to raid 90% of those days on average.
- Ability to raid late, 2300 CET as standard. This is one of the only areas where we will differ from the pure hardcore guilds. We will not raid untill 3 am in the morning to get a first kill, unless its weekend and everyone is up for it.
- High morale, we are going to consecutively wipe on a boss for 6 hours straight if necessary.
- Preparation, showing up with all required items and consumables from your own pocket, by doing instances with randoms if needed.
You must also have the ability to independently:
- Look up strategies for any and all boss encounters
- Watch videos of boss encounters until your eyes bleed and you know the timers by heart.
- Find and acquire the best gear available for your class
- Find and use the best talent setup for your class, depending on what the raidforce needs.
- Assist the team by running quests/instances for drops that improve the team's strength.
As a personal note as a raidleader, there is one thing I do not accept. No-showing. You can decide not to sign and write a reason in the signup, or cancel, even send me an SMS if you had something come up. But simply not showing is disrespectful for the entire group that is waiting, and will not be accepted at any point.
I hope those of you who have participated in the beta this weekend enjoyed it, and we look forward to seeing you all on Sunday!
8 Weeks Till Launch (Massive Post WILL Crit You For 9000)
written by Azazzel
With just two day remaining till I move to Denmark, I felt a nice lengthy news post is in order as this will be one of the last ones I make prior to launch. Now with that said, there are some issues I wish to debate with you all. I am breaking this post down into sub categories so you can simply read which areas affect you.
Let me spell this out plainly. Guild Cliques WILL happen. 90 people aren't all going to be super friendly with each other, it's a fantasy, especially at launch. So if I were you right now, I'd be wanting to make efforts to stand out from the crowd. People who are waiting till the very last minute to use Teamspeak or the forums (preferably both) will find themselves very isolated. This isn't a threat it's a fact. Let's take Biglobes and Paxxo. Both players were relatively quiet individuals, but chose to use Teamspeak. When Ice Crown Citadel was released, we needed to appoint healers who we knew we could rely on. At the time, both of these players were not the best healers in our guild, but they were active, they were present and yes, they got selected (they became critical to our success).
The exact same issues will happen in SWTOR. If you are the best player in the world, if nobody knows you, they won't group with you. One of the problems TBH has as a community is the fact that we are now 12 years old. Most of us are in our late 20's/early 30's and like stubborn old men, we stick to what we know.
Even if you are not confident behind a mic, post on the forum. Get your names known. 2 months ago, Carsomyr, Panix and Vadikun joined TBH. All of them use the forums daily, so already I feel I semi know them, even though they are straight off the bus. Returning members like Hexan are posting; again people recognise the name and will be able to connect having had discussions with them either through Teamspeak or the forums. You've gotten into the guild, now it's up to you to get known by the others. If you don't want to bother, then this won't be the guild for you and you will most probably not pass application (even if you are a returning member or an old veteran), not because we want to be assholes, but because nobody will vouch for you.
Applicant Status
I'll keep this short. Everyone, par elected officials will be an applicant until 20/01/12. This has already been explained twice, but for newer members, it is designed to act as a buffer to prevent members who are quite old expecting special privileges due to their length of time within the guild. This is a clean slate for everyone, not just the new guys. That pretty much sums up the changes I want implemented for launch. I want to make note that if you take the position and begin to rely on others to fulfil your role, you will be replaced. To quote an old saying written by Bloodwire, a core role is a responsibility not a privilege.
Guild Leadership
With 90 people already signed up for this guild and with 8 weeks still remaining, this is probably going to be the biggest TBH project since we merged AO, SWG and EQ1 into a super branch for the launch of EQ2. I'll certainly be asking the likes of Pippin, Lootar, Andarielle and Bloodwire on what went well and what didn't. Similarly, if you are new to the guild and have rich experiences in both positive and negative elements of guild community feel free to give your input.
The big elephant in the room is the fact that we have just 5 core for this project. If all 5 of those core were unemployed and online 24/7 this would be barely manageable, so with a core who are either in training or full time work, this needs to be fixed now, otherwise we will end up going down the path of RIFT.
I know we had a meeting 3-4 months ago (it's gone quick eh?) concerning the 5 core council system, but with real life responsibilities and all core all grown up we will have to expand the leadership or risk neglecting members and burning out existing officers in the same stroke. You have all known me to be a very hands on leader in the past and I will continue to be in this game also, just not as much as I'd like.
It is with this act that I am disbanding the core council and electing specific roles.
I am doing this based on the feelings of past officers, but more notably an inspirational outlook from Iza when I visited Denmark in July. She told me when she was a core it was awful sitting in a daily core council meeting discussing the same issues over and over with no outcome. Feedback from others is also welcome.
Class Leaders
We need class leaders. People who can help others who may be struggling with understanding their class without adding to the burdens of higher management. So as of now I am looking to appoint 1 class leader who has the time and patience to counsel others on how to improve and support those who may need it.
Raid Leaders
We will have multiple raid forces. We will have a standard competitive raid force which will have increased raid times, ran by Lumino. For those who do not know him he is firm but fair, if you don't know something simply ask and he'll give you the support you need. GawFang will be running a more casual group, for members with high work patterns or demanding family life. As a side note this will be the group myself and Teyo will be part of, given our free time will fluctuate at best over the coming months. Just because this is not the primary team it does not mean a free ride. GawFang at times can be even more stern than Lumino, so walk into his club knowing that he is giving up his time to ensure we all have fun.
However, we might need more! Burnout is always a factor, some officers might not like the game, etc. If you have leadership qualities let us know!
Social Officers
The people who do not have to worry about offering advice about class, setting up raid times or deal with recruitment. They ensure the cogs between the members are running smoothly and that any drama is snuffed out instantly. This is probably the most important part of a guild as an unhappy guild is an unstable one. Currently have Teyo in this role. If you've been a core in the past and want to contribute here speak up!
PvP Officers
Currently there is only Linea, but I am hoping Fluxx steps up to the plate and deliver us the same results we got from Warhammer Online. Similarly, if you have PvP leadership qualities, speak up!
I will be setting up at least one meeting prior to launch (roughly 4 weeks prior to launch) to gauge where people are and ensure positions are filled.
Thanks for reading,
Azazzel
Guild Founder
Let me spell this out plainly. Guild Cliques WILL happen. 90 people aren't all going to be super friendly with each other, it's a fantasy, especially at launch. So if I were you right now, I'd be wanting to make efforts to stand out from the crowd. People who are waiting till the very last minute to use Teamspeak or the forums (preferably both) will find themselves very isolated. This isn't a threat it's a fact. Let's take Biglobes and Paxxo. Both players were relatively quiet individuals, but chose to use Teamspeak. When Ice Crown Citadel was released, we needed to appoint healers who we knew we could rely on. At the time, both of these players were not the best healers in our guild, but they were active, they were present and yes, they got selected (they became critical to our success).
The exact same issues will happen in SWTOR. If you are the best player in the world, if nobody knows you, they won't group with you. One of the problems TBH has as a community is the fact that we are now 12 years old. Most of us are in our late 20's/early 30's and like stubborn old men, we stick to what we know.
Even if you are not confident behind a mic, post on the forum. Get your names known. 2 months ago, Carsomyr, Panix and Vadikun joined TBH. All of them use the forums daily, so already I feel I semi know them, even though they are straight off the bus. Returning members like Hexan are posting; again people recognise the name and will be able to connect having had discussions with them either through Teamspeak or the forums. You've gotten into the guild, now it's up to you to get known by the others. If you don't want to bother, then this won't be the guild for you and you will most probably not pass application (even if you are a returning member or an old veteran), not because we want to be assholes, but because nobody will vouch for you.
Applicant Status
I'll keep this short. Everyone, par elected officials will be an applicant until 20/01/12. This has already been explained twice, but for newer members, it is designed to act as a buffer to prevent members who are quite old expecting special privileges due to their length of time within the guild. This is a clean slate for everyone, not just the new guys. That pretty much sums up the changes I want implemented for launch. I want to make note that if you take the position and begin to rely on others to fulfil your role, you will be replaced. To quote an old saying written by Bloodwire, a core role is a responsibility not a privilege.
Guild Leadership
With 90 people already signed up for this guild and with 8 weeks still remaining, this is probably going to be the biggest TBH project since we merged AO, SWG and EQ1 into a super branch for the launch of EQ2. I'll certainly be asking the likes of Pippin, Lootar, Andarielle and Bloodwire on what went well and what didn't. Similarly, if you are new to the guild and have rich experiences in both positive and negative elements of guild community feel free to give your input.
The big elephant in the room is the fact that we have just 5 core for this project. If all 5 of those core were unemployed and online 24/7 this would be barely manageable, so with a core who are either in training or full time work, this needs to be fixed now, otherwise we will end up going down the path of RIFT.
I know we had a meeting 3-4 months ago (it's gone quick eh?) concerning the 5 core council system, but with real life responsibilities and all core all grown up we will have to expand the leadership or risk neglecting members and burning out existing officers in the same stroke. You have all known me to be a very hands on leader in the past and I will continue to be in this game also, just not as much as I'd like.
It is with this act that I am disbanding the core council and electing specific roles.
I am doing this based on the feelings of past officers, but more notably an inspirational outlook from Iza when I visited Denmark in July. She told me when she was a core it was awful sitting in a daily core council meeting discussing the same issues over and over with no outcome. Feedback from others is also welcome.
Class Leaders
We need class leaders. People who can help others who may be struggling with understanding their class without adding to the burdens of higher management. So as of now I am looking to appoint 1 class leader who has the time and patience to counsel others on how to improve and support those who may need it.
Raid Leaders
We will have multiple raid forces. We will have a standard competitive raid force which will have increased raid times, ran by Lumino. For those who do not know him he is firm but fair, if you don't know something simply ask and he'll give you the support you need. GawFang will be running a more casual group, for members with high work patterns or demanding family life. As a side note this will be the group myself and Teyo will be part of, given our free time will fluctuate at best over the coming months. Just because this is not the primary team it does not mean a free ride. GawFang at times can be even more stern than Lumino, so walk into his club knowing that he is giving up his time to ensure we all have fun.
However, we might need more! Burnout is always a factor, some officers might not like the game, etc. If you have leadership qualities let us know!
Social Officers
The people who do not have to worry about offering advice about class, setting up raid times or deal with recruitment. They ensure the cogs between the members are running smoothly and that any drama is snuffed out instantly. This is probably the most important part of a guild as an unhappy guild is an unstable one. Currently have Teyo in this role. If you've been a core in the past and want to contribute here speak up!
PvP Officers
Currently there is only Linea, but I am hoping Fluxx steps up to the plate and deliver us the same results we got from Warhammer Online. Similarly, if you have PvP leadership qualities, speak up!
I will be setting up at least one meeting prior to launch (roughly 4 weeks prior to launch) to gauge where people are and ensure positions are filled.
Thanks for reading,
Azazzel
Guild Founder
Force Corruption, Item Modifications, Raid Content & Open World PvP
written by Azazzel
A juice bag of tricks this week has been revealed from the Bioware staff at Comic-Con. Before I continue, this isn't breaching the NDA as the majority has now been lifted and all these details can be found on various sites which covered Comic-con.
Force Corruption
Let's kick off with the first and foremost, Force corruption. Many who've played the beta know that regardless how evil your actions may be, your visual appearance did not change. Now you're character will begin to look more corrupted as you fall to the darkside. However, Daniel Erikkson did state that this feature will be optional and will be able to turned off, if you are a vain bastard (yes I'm looking at all you lepers on TS that actually like the art style of Vindictus).
Item Modifications
Item modification is still being tested but it seems that components of advanced level, both PvP and PvE will be available, so if you prefer to wear the robes of the lower levels, you can still be competitive at the end game. Another cool option they've kept in since beta is the option to have all items adopt the same colour scheme as your breast plate, so no out of place looking items for you at the lower levels. I guess this mean's I'm back to rolling a sith warrior... maybe :)
Raid Content
It's now officially confirmed that The Eternity Vault will not be the sole raid available at launch, so PvE lovers rejoice! It's now confirmed that there will be a casual and hardcore mode for the raid content, so players will have the chance to get stuck in should raiding be your primary joy in this genre. As for items, they did state that gear from hardcore instances will have better stats to act as an incentive to attempt the more challenging content.
Open World PvP
Reconfirmed the need to attain items through the badge system. Re-highlighted to the audience the need for Open World PvP for the best gear as an incentive to not do warfronts as well as open world PvP objectives. An arena system is also being added but it's unclear as of yet if it'll make launch. With just 2 months to go till launch, many will find this information reassuring, but Bioware are still dodging the all important topic: when will early access start!
Let's kick off with the first and foremost, Force corruption. Many who've played the beta know that regardless how evil your actions may be, your visual appearance did not change. Now you're character will begin to look more corrupted as you fall to the darkside. However, Daniel Erikkson did state that this feature will be optional and will be able to turned off, if you are a vain bastard (yes I'm looking at all you lepers on TS that actually like the art style of Vindictus).
Item modification is still being tested but it seems that components of advanced level, both PvP and PvE will be available, so if you prefer to wear the robes of the lower levels, you can still be competitive at the end game. Another cool option they've kept in since beta is the option to have all items adopt the same colour scheme as your breast plate, so no out of place looking items for you at the lower levels. I guess this mean's I'm back to rolling a sith warrior... maybe :)
It's now officially confirmed that The Eternity Vault will not be the sole raid available at launch, so PvE lovers rejoice! It's now confirmed that there will be a casual and hardcore mode for the raid content, so players will have the chance to get stuck in should raiding be your primary joy in this genre. As for items, they did state that gear from hardcore instances will have better stats to act as an incentive to attempt the more challenging content.
Reconfirmed the need to attain items through the badge system. Re-highlighted to the audience the need for Open World PvP for the best gear as an incentive to not do warfronts as well as open world PvP objectives. An arena system is also being added but it's unclear as of yet if it'll make launch. With just 2 months to go till launch, many will find this information reassuring, but Bioware are still dodging the all important topic: when will early access start!