Update: Check out my full piece here.

Alveterzane Readers!

As I shared with you last week, Upon the Pyre (my column at Hammer of War) has been moved to Mondays... and that's today! As of this posting, the good folks over at HoW are working to get this week's article up and ready for viewing. We're covering keeps this week; why your guild should care and what you should expect of your guild leaders. If you're just getting into RvR, or Warhammer in general, definitely give it a look. Even if you're a veteren, hop on over and let me know your takes.

For the time being, check out their homepage and my article will be on the top when it's up. I'll update this post with a direct link as soon as it's available.

Take Care!

I enjoy that travel to rank40 (currently having a rank 16 Runepriest, a rank 16 Engineer* and a rank 10 Bright Wizard), but I am without a guild up to now. So I'm missing some of the core element of the game.

As I already wrote, the communication between players is rare. (Just as I'm typing this Syp wrote something about it ;) Getting to T2 and Altdorf improves it a bit, but not enough to get in touch with some people and getting them/their chars to know.

WAR has tried to cut the need for some Addons or out-of-game activities with introducing guild calendars, Alliance chat or something like a guild tavern for meetings. What I'm really missing (and getting no hint if it exists) is that I can't get a list of guilds and "browse" their descriptions to see if there is some guild I might be interested in.

So far I've only seen guilds which where formed outside the game. There is hardly any in-game recruiting. I've heard it once in Altdorf on the general chat channel, that was all. This is not the right place for it, but apparently the only possibility. Again, an upgrade to the search menu to see some guilds and their self-made descriptions (maybe with a recruiting officer to talk to) would be nice. (Maybe the search stuff is just bugged. I already did some searched and got weird results.**) An easy alternative would be some recruiting channel like in WoW. Better to have just a chat channel than nothing. But there has to be some advertising for such a channel and I don't find it appropriate if this would be done by players. There is no world wide chat channel to advertise this recruitment channel, because something like /order is no default channel. So it would be really painful to get in contact with every player ..maybe ending in being banned for spam!? ;)

I find it irritating that a game that is so much focused on group and guild content offers so few possibilities to get in touch with them. No communication + no chance to get an idea what sort of guilds exists out there = frustration. At least for me. This dilutes the first M in MMO.

This is the first time that I will have to search for a guild in the interweb in some forums. This is some spooky experience and I wonder how this will turn out.

*The Engineer is in a guild (core non-RP), but as I'm more focused on the RP server (the engineer is waiting way to long in the queue ;) ) he doesn't count to my statistics and he can be labeled as measurement error. ;)

EDIT:

** I never dealt much with WARDB and right now i found the guild-profile search option. That's again a out-of-game solution and doesn't count all guilds, but it's ok. Doesn't start the "wohoo"-feeling but at least a list to browse. No info on RP, gaming behaviour, etc. there.. Just make me go "hum hum"..

It's been ten years to the day that I founded my guild.  During that time, we've founded 8 different chapters across six different games, maintained a mailing list which held over 500 addressees and had archived over 14,000 emails before we shut it down 3 years ago, and have seen more than 2,000 members fly our flag in various games. 

Currently, we hold two official chapters and a couple of casual chapters across four different games.  Our flagship chapter is our Regal Chapter, currently on the Guk server of Everquest II, while our Imperial Chapter calls the White Tower server of Warhammer Online home. 

With online gaming so relatively young, it's very, very rare that we see guilds which are even 5 years old.  I can count on my fingers how many guilds I know of that have reached 10 years old or older...across all games.  I'm proud that I can now count one more.

Happy birthday, Legion.  I can't wait to see what the next 10 years have in store.

Et tu Tobold.

I just found out my hero, my mentor in this blogging universe, is my enemy.

http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2008/10/ranking-war-guilds.html

I feel a little like a young sith apprentice that must take out his master.

I guess it is my destiny, the great changer of ways has deemed it so.

RogueRaider's Tips to Raiding with Respect

Yes, WoW is JUST a game. One thing you have to remember when you decide to commit to a guild's raid schedule is that you are affecting the fun of the game for 9, 24, or however many people....

1-If you sign up, show up.

You'd think this would be common courtesy. Sure real life emergencies happen, but I doubt they happen once a week. If they do, some life changes are definitely in order.

2-Don't ninja log.

In other words, don't just randomly fake a disco to get out of raid. If you need/want to bail, be upfront about it and LEAVE the instance so you aren't taking up raid replacement space.

3-Keep loud exclamations on vent to a minimum.

I wear my headphones most of the time for a raid. I don't need you to quicken the deafening process. It'll be fast enough.

4-If you're reaching burnout, take a break.

Trust me. Your guildmates would rather see you take a step back for a couple days, weeks, months then continue to raid, gear up, and randomly go psycho one day.

5-It's a game. Enjoy it.

Most burnout, flip out, psycho drama happens when everyone forgets we're playing a game. We're all PAYING to play a game. Enjoy it or change things it's all about choices.

I'm not going to put one about show up prepared, knowing what to do, all that jazz. That's a given to even get or keep a raid spot now days. Common courtesy shouldn't be dead, and just because someone is far away behind an avatar isn't an excuse to be an asshat.

Enjoy the Reset! Happy Raiding!

This might be the first guild/convergence/corporation/whatever that I actually feel inclined to be active in. More on this as it develops. ;)

So, I said my goodbyes last night and bid them adeu. I'm now applying to a guild that's also RP RvR but looks to be much more active at all times of the day. They're called Anti-Sanctus Chaotica. Anyone heard of them? Their site looks top notch and they have a great history, structure, and purpose. In all honesty, I was really impressed by their website.

Their recruitment process is a little more involved than a lot of other guilds. You have to fill out an application (of course) but it doesn't ask you the standard questions. It doesn't even ask why you want to join. Instead, it's kind of a webquest around their website to learn their lore and what they're about. Once that's done and posted on their forums, the officers come ask you a bunch of questions that are never quite the same for every person. It really ensures that they're only taking people who are really interested. I really like that. If they have so many members and they have such a recruitment process, it seems like it would be a quality guild.

I'll refrain from linking to their site until I can speak to some of their members directly, but this one looks promising!

Two examples to illustrate what I feel are two ends of a spectrum:

The Meticulous Style

This is many group's default, at least while learning content. Every pull is marked, every tank and CC'er has their target, everyone is careful. There is very little FFA healing, each healer assigned to a specific person or group/party and sticking with it. It's also very much healing by the rules. Lots of cancel-casting, letting hots tick without being overwritten, there's a general focus on doing what is needed and conserving resources. Healing is not a competition, you're doing what is most needed to get the boss down cleanly. This style is very good when things go wrong, there's usually a back-up plan in place. Also, this style is very friendly to low-healer groups. Doing content with fewer than the recommended number of healers pretty much demands this style of gameplay.

The Aggressive Style

This is almost the opposite of Meticulous. It's perhaps best considered a controlled chaos. This is much more common on the instance you've farmed to death and just want to get through as quickly as possible. Tanks fight each other for aggro on multiple targets (Tank A decides he wants all his targets, plus a few of Tank B's) AoE occurs more often than single-target DPS, and beyond assigning tank heal assignments, the rest is FFA healing. Most pulls have a "seat of your pants" feel, and you spend a good deal of the evening riding the line of something going very wrong. This sort of style usually occurs with a very strong, overgeared group. However sloppy it may look, however, it is done by people who know their capability. Tanks will steal targets, but not more than they know they (and their healers) can handle. Healers will cross-heal with abandon, but only as far as they know their mana will stretch.

The Problem

As is probably obvious, problems can occur when someone who is used to raiding with a group who uses one extreme applies to a group who goes the other way. If you were happy with the style of raiding of your previous guild, you need to also ensure your application goes to a guild which follows the same style. (If you're not happy with the style, by all means, find a guild of the opposite style to apply to.)

If you are a meticulous healer, you're healing by-the-books, the right way. Your target is staying up, you're doing everything the right way. However, if you join an aggressive guild, you're either going to be bored (because someone else is always going to have a heal land first, or overwrite your hot) or going to cause red flags with your class lead when WWS reports your effective healing numbers are half that of those who share your spec/assignment.

Conversely, if you're an aggressive healer and join a meticulous guild, you're going to spend your time feeling like you're surrounded by a bunch of slackers. You're not going to want to watch the DPS's health slowly climb as hots tick, you're going to want to give 'em a boost now. You're also likely to cause just as many red flags with your class lead for your flagrant cross-healing. At the end of the day, your healing numbers may blow everyone else out of the water, but you're going to cause people to worry about your conservation and what will happen if things go wrong.

The Solution

Neither healer nor guild in either of my previous examples is wrong, they are only wrong for each other. Where the wrongness occurs is before the first raid, it's in the interview, or even the application. It is the applicant's responsibility to know what their style is, and to find out if that meshes with the guild they are applying to. Guilds also have the responsibility to be open and upfront with what sort of healing environment they will provide.

No guild is going to follow either style 100% of the time, nor are they always going to adhere to the extreme. Most guilds are probably somewhere in the middle. Know where you stand, so when you apply, you know you're not setting yourself up for failure.

You may not be applying to my guild (if you want to, e-mail me an armory link--ha!) but every guild has a gatekeeper; if you want the keys to the kingdom, you need to put your best face forward. Don't worry, gentle reader, I'm here to tell you how.

Before you apply...

1. Do your homework.

How much do you know about the guild you're applying to? Do you know the GM's name? WowArmory will tell you that. Do you know how they rank on their server for progression? How far into Sunwell are they? How long has it been since they had a new boss kill? Have they completed the ZA timed event? WowJutsu will tell you that. How long have they been around? WarcraftRealms will tell you that. Do they have a good reputation on their server? Make a level 1 alt and ask around.

This is more than just peace of mind when it comes to applying to a raid guild. Raid guilds have big egos, and if you can subtly stroke their ego by saying you've heard good things about them or are impressed by their level of progression you'll make a good impression.

2. Dress to impress.

First, evaluate your gear. Is it on par with the level of content the guild is running, or are you a T4 Priest that desperately wants to see Sunwell before Wrath? With the expansion looming on the horizon, a lot of folks are trying to get into current "end game" content before everyone moves on to Northrend. Before you rush to the head of the line, do whatever you can to improve your gear.

Sadly, Holy Priests cannot really use PvP/Arena gear to fill in gaps the way other classes/roles can because it is so weak when it comes to mana regen. The 2.4 Badge gear, however, is awesome and having even a few pieces of it if not all of it demonstrates to the review team that you've put considerable time into gearing up and are dedicated to improving your gear outside of raids.

Do not ever, under any circumstances, apply to a T6 raid guild wearing the 3-piece Primal Mooncloth set.

Once your gear is in order it's time to give it a little polish. You should have the following enchants for your helm, shoulders, cloak, chest, bracers, gloves, pants, boots and weapon:

• Helm: Thrallmar/Honor Hold Healing Glyph (Revered Reputation required.)
• Shoulders: Aldor/Scryer Shoulder Inscription (Bonus points for the Exalted version.)
• Cloak: Subtlety
• Chest: +15 Spirit
• Bracers: +30 Healing
• Gloves: +35 Healing
• Pants: Golden Spellthread (+66 Healing & +20 Stamina)
• Boots: Boar's Speed
• Weapon: +81 Healing

When it comes to gems, use the best quality gems that you can afford. If you have badges to spare (or a trust fund to tap), socket epic-quality (purple) gems. Otherwise, use rare-quality (blue) gems. Do not ever apply to a raid guild with uncommon-quality (green) gems or empty sockets.

Pre-Sunwell, there are really only 3 stats that Priests need to worry about when it comes to gems: Spirit, Healing & Intellect. Intellect is a somewhat distant third; the only time you want to consider socketing an Intellect gem is for a set bonus. (Usually an orange Healing/Intellect gem for a yellow socket.) Do not socket mp5.

Did you catch that? Allow me to repeat: Do not socket mp5.

If you have any mp5 gems leftover from pre-2.4, you should replace them. 2.4 went live in March, you've had plenty of time! Slacker.

3. Spec for PvE.

Don't apply to a raid guild with a PvP spec. Talents like Martyrdom, Improved Mana Burn, Blessed Recovery/Resilience and Spell Warding really don't belong in a raiding build.

If you routinely swap between specs for PvP, Raiding and Questing/Farming/Dailies, try to stick to your Raiding spec for at least a day or two after you submit your application. Alternately, instead of (or in addition to) linking directly to your armory profile, provide a link to your preferred raiding spec in the Talent Calculator of your choice.

When you apply...

1. Write a good application.

Answer questions as completely as you can. Use punctuation/capitalization. Avoid "133t speak." Use carriage returns. Format your response so it is easy to distinguish your answers from the questions; don't just put a space after the question and start typing your answer unless you're going to use color tags to make your reply distinct.

Be sure you read through your answers after you are finished. Run it through a spell-checker. Make sure you didn't skip any questions while you're at it!

Don't be afraid to toot your horn a little bit, but try not to come off as overly boastful/arrogant. Your application may be the only chance you have to sell yourself, so make it count.

2. Don't pad your resume.

Most reviewers can smell bullshit a mile away. When listing your raid experience, don't pretend you have more than you do. Avoid making blanket statements for instances you haven't cleared--don't claim "MH" if you PUG'd a Rage kill once, or if your previous/current guild couldn't get past Archimonde. Reviewers appreciate your honesty and candor, so try to be specific. Your reputation with associated factions will usually betray you if you embellish, and We do not appreciate it.

After you apply...

1. Log out in your PvE/Healing gear.

Once you've submitted your application, make sure you log out in your healing gear (and un-equip your Riding Crop!) while your application is pending. Reviewers will be accessing the armory to look you up, probably several times, and they don't really care about your DPS/PvP set or your RP clothes.

If you want to cover your bases, you can always use a tool like CharDev or WarCrafter to save a gear profile you can link to in your application.

2. Follow up, but don't turn into a stalker.

Different guilds have different review processes, but if you don't hear anything at all for 3+ days after you submit your application you'll probably want to follow up. The best way to do this is in-game via whisper to an Officer or via Private Message on the guild forums. Do not whisper an Officer or the GM during a raid! If you can't seem to catch them outside raids, then PM (or even in-game mail) is probably the better way to go. When you do talk to them, see if you can find out how long the process usually takes and when you can expect to hear back. Beyond that, try not to make a nuisance of yourself after going through all the effort to make a good impression. These things do take time, and if you feel it is taking too much time (or if a better offer comes along) you can always retract your application.

Bonus points!

Ok, so now you know what you can do to avoid looking like an idiot on your next raid application. You might be wondering what you can do to stand out from the pack--trust me, if you do all of these things (or even most of them) you WILL stand out. However, for the over-achievers among us, here is a brief list of things that will win you bonus points with reviewers of the T6 variety:

• Exalted with Cenarion Expedition, Sha'tar & Aldor/Scryer. (Also desirable for T5.)
• Possession of a 2m PvP trinket. (No, you need not log out in it, just mention it on your app somewhere.)
• Completion of the old BT attunement chain for your Shadow Resist necklace.
• Possession of Shadow Resist gear or materials (with or without Hearts of Darkness) to craft it.

Have any other tips to add? Horror (or success) stories to share? I'd love to hear them!

Besides which, my post this morning was clearly pretty rushed, which I apologise for. Much as I did earlier in the week (Hi Sam!) I got distracted on the bus and found myself unable to write. But since I always take pride in updating at least something on this blog at 8am Australian Eastern-Standard time, I crammed a whole bundle of words into the last fifteen minutes before work. So let's crack this subject open: Why run, or join, a role-play guild? Simple: To gain support with role-playing. The problem is, and I think is what causes the storyless role-play guilds that I discussed this morning as problematic, is that so many players see as purely about finding more people to role-play with.

Now, this is certainly a nice feature of a good role-playing guild; certainly you'll be spending more time amongst others who enjoy role-play as well. But it's a limited definition of the support that a role-play guild can offer. A good role-play guild should offer at least three services to its members, in my opinion:

1. A stable platform for creating plots. One of the common arguments against role-playing in World of Warcraft by role-players from other media is that in a static MMORPG world there's no point to constructing stories. Everyone always ends up the same, after all! What these people don't understand is that stories can be constructed inside the shared game world that are agreed upon many of the participants. This is the first and foremost thing that a good role-play guild should be; a shared understanding of what plots are going on.

   Good guilds foster this with guild forums that allow players to further plots offline as well as on, by creating in-guild events that further guild-wide plots, and (on PVP-RP realms) liasing with opposite faction guilds to create RP-PVP events that play into those plots.

2. A team for creating wider-world open role-play events. Good role-play guilds should be aware that an MMORPG can easily start to become schismed into tiny guilds, and in many cases this results in a less connected, environment. The key to reaching out beyond this is a good open role-play event. These events are usually created by one guild but are open to all, and there's lots of good reasons to run them. First off, they're excellent recruiting mechanisms to pick up unguilded role-players. (This is the primary reason Jess and I made open role-play events the mainstay of our own guild while it waa active.) But the more valuable reason is that it builds up alleigances between role-play guilds and ultimately leads to more role-play being available for everyone in the long run. It's the slut effect, if you sleep around a lot, in the end the whole community comes together for the good of all.

   What? It's an awesome metaphor.

3. A support mechanism for helping role-players create their own role-play. Basically, helping people achieve the in-game goals they need to achieve to keep their own role-playing happening. At a very simple level, this can be helping out other guild members with getting all the pieces of their role-playing gear. At a higher level, it can be about setting up dungeon runs that tie into a plot, or encouraging individual guild members to create subplots that should (ideally) tie into the guild's main plot.

These are challenging goals. And to accomplish all of them, you need two really good things in place.

First, you need a good concept for your guild. How are you meant to create a good platform for plot development if nobody even knows why the hell you're all hanging around each other? What kind of form can your open-events take if your guild has no identity? (OK, so it's less important for point #3, but still.)

The second, though, is it needs a really good, dedicated guild master. Perhaps even moreso than a raiding or PVP guild, a role-play guild lives and dies on its guild master and officers. They need to be creative, doing a lot of writing (or making machinima or audio plays!) to further the guild's plots, while listening to everyone within their guild and ensuring they don't tread on anybody's toes. Players need to be reached out to and encouraged to develop their own plots and instructed on how to broadcast them so that others can participate. Funds and systems need to be put in place to assist guild-members with putting together their own role-play while not being open to abuse. And they need to liase with other guilds as well to organise cross-guild events, either intra or inter-factional.

It's a huge role, and above all it requires dedication and fortitude. To anyone running a successful role-play guild, I salute you.

(My one hint? Don't run a role-play guild when you don't live in the same time-zone as most of your guild-mates.)

(Please, for the love of the light, Blizzard, give us an Oceanic RP realm.)

[1. General] [Imagm] New Warriors of the Guild recruiting! We're a heavy RP guild looking for members in all races and classes.
[1. General] [Katafray] That sounds cool! What's the story behind your guild?
[1. General] [Imagm] Huh?
[1. General] [Katafray] I mean, what kind of group is your guild?
[1. General] [Imagm] We're a role-playing guild!
[1. General] [Katafray] Never mind.

Sigh. It's frustrating, because in a lot of ways these guys are good role-players. They often have a great command of dialogue and the actual mechanics of play. But for some reason they can't make that connection between the game mechanics and the game story. But a story is important. It governs the notion of how guild members interact, what guild meetings look like, what kind of open-for-all RP events you might throw, and how you handle the in-character chat channel issue. Above all this, the biggest reason is simple: Without a concept, there's no in-character reason for all of your characters to hang out.

And there are so many good concepts! You can easily think of a bundle without any trouble:

• A Trade Guild: The original notions of guilds were trade associations, so why not make up a guild based around that same notion? This concept works wonders for groups who don't really have any major goals over thatn roleplaying itself, since while it doesn't lend itself too strongly to raiding or PVP, it accomodates both in-guild meetings (trade association meetings to discuss pricing issues, supplies and general gossip) and open-RP events (sales days) well, plus, it's a great opportunity for the crafters to have a chance to shine. In-character chat channel ideas aren't quite so strong in this concept, but the idea of some engineering based solution makes a degree of sense.
• A School or University: Jess and I have done this one ourselves, and we're not the only ones. It's a doozy of a concept, one of the best because it works so well for pretty much everything. Raiding? Excursions. In-guild meetings? Classes or teacher discussions. Open-RP events? Open days! If you're a magical university (ala Hogwarts, but for adults) then you can have magical devices for in-character chat channels, or maybe even a school only long-distance telepathy spell, which has to be learned. (That way you can have fun with new students trying to get it right.) The only thing it doesn't quite handle perfectly is PVP – Unless you have a rival school guild in the other faction. Then they're clearly sporting events. You get extra points if you even have cheerleaders for them, /dancing in the sidelines.
• A mercenary outfit: If you're a hardcore PVP-RP crew, then a set of mercenaries is one of the best setups that you can develop. There's a clear sense as to why you exist, you can hire yourself out to other groups for raiding, and you have a built-in-mechanism for PVP of any sort: Just say you've been hired. In-guild meetings as easy to imagine, with discussion of current contracts and battle strategies; while open RP events could be either dueling demonstrations to show skill or the like. (A really fun entry requirement to the guild may be to beat one of the current members in a duel to prove your worth at one of these events.) There's not quite the same justification for an in-character chat channel, though.
• The Renegades: Grr. As a Midnight Reverie, I have to give The Blacktooth Grin their due; they're a fantastic PVP-RP guild, and they use this device. The notion is that they're a breakaway political sect, one who doesn't agree with the Horde/Alliance. They may be allied to the dissenters in Theramore, wanting to take the fight more directly to the orcs, or (like the Blacktooth Grin) focused on smashing the humans again. This has a lot of potential for guild meetings but it lacks somewhat in open-RP events. If you don't want to host those, though, it's brilliant for PVP-RP because you have an open mandate to participate in Battlegrounds and world RP.

There's any number of options, and all of them can be fantastic. The point with all of them, though, is that they provide context. They link the role-play lore with the in-game guild mechanic. As such, they are emphatically better than some amorphous "RP guild". If you're playing a role-play guild, then give it a story.

GOA's done a good job

There was a slight delay to the Collectors Edition Headstart, a couple of hours. Standard Edition headstart went well with people getting in smoothly. Queues haven't been horrible (we've had none, but we're Order and Core-RP), just haven't seen too many complaints. And everyone who got an email back from a GM was very happy with it. Just Thursday to go and signs are positive! Also, there is nothing about it in the gaming news - which means it's going well. (Obviously there are stories that the game is launching, but strictly they're focusing on Thursday).

EA problems with keys an exercise in why to order elsewhere

I really feel for people who went with EAStore, because hey, it's EA and they promised all sorts of goodies and for a while they were the only Standard Edition seller (soon joined by Direct 2 Drive) who said they were offering the headstart. Sending out the wrong keys was a cock-up, I hope everyone is in now and it wasn't too painful. Having problems with manufacturing so that not all CEs have been sent out on time isn't great either. On another note, looks like Play.com has some CE copies left. (This may be out-of-date when you get to read it).

Standard Edition Headstart

Because of Games Day, I started playing a few hours before the Standard Edition people came online. I was out of the starting area and at the first Dwarf PQ. Had to ask in-guild for some help finishing it and someone headed back to help (yay, guild). By the time we got to Stage 3 it became apparent the Standard Edition had come online as suddenly a whole gang of people entered the PQ, meaning we stormed it. Was a great sight and feeling. So enjoy that today America!

Guild

We have a separate post coming with names, screenshots, guild details - just making sure of Hawley's first. But quickly, would just like to pause for a moment to say the guild is great. We've done a few things together and lots of things in smaller groups. Chat levels high, as is excitement. The guild is full of people we haven't yet met, and Teamspeak is full of unfamiliar voices, but it's going to be a hell of a lot of fun learning about and meeting them all.

The Game

The game remains insanely fun, with a few collywobbles as I realised this character isn't getting deleted so I better take it a bit more seriously. Scenarios have been plentiful (more so at night), open groups have invited me along, rather than waiting for me to invite myself, have done a bit of exploring in the mornings - but I intend to do more. I'm not sure why, but it feels better than either beta. I have a suspicion it's the number of players and general level of excitement. Good stuff!

If so, what's your criteria for joining a guild? Maybe it's just a small group of friends that you've gamed with before or you want to for the very first time. Maybe you're continuing on with one of those mega-guilds that hop from MMO to MMO, laying their eggs and spawning new chapters of a guild that goes back to 1899 and Thomas Edison's famous <Chess-Tastic!> chess guild.

Maybe you sought out a very specific type of guild. A guild that caters to your language or society, a guild of like-minded individuals who secretly sneak into zoos and toss pudding at penguins, or a guild that has set age limits. Perhaps you wanted a completely casual, carefree guild that lacked drama. Perhaps you simply could not enjoy the game unless you were in an ultra-hardcore raiding/PvP guild with a stricter schedule than NASA puts on their shuttle launches. What about guilds that are all about enforcing roleplay, family togetherness or griefing? Got all them, too.

Whatever guild you sought out (or are still seeking), they all have something in common -- they offer you the chance to belong and to enhance your enjoyment of the game. There's something so comforting about guild chat scrolling up your screen, or hearing familiar voices in vent, or seeing a guildie /cheer while you run by them in a zone. It's comforting to know that if you need help or support or advice, you have the backing of a guild when you (hopefully) need it.

I've said in the past that I'm notoriously picky about guilds, and the reason why is that a MMO that I play guildless seems empty and pointless to me. A MMO where I'm part of half-hearted, mostly-silent, non-helpful guilds will see my cancelled subscription sooner rather than later. But a MMO where I find a great guild full of special friends, unique experiences and special memories is one I'll play probably long past the expiration date.

I've been in guilds that have had application processes longer than my app to grad school. I've joined guilds on a whim, just because I've liked the name, and ended up making that my online home for years. In the end, only you can decide what's the best guild mix for you, and nobody else -- like all social circles, there's a little something for everybody out there.

Commendation: "I know your afflictions and your poverty, yet you are rich!

Condemnation: Not a Word!

Counsel: "do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days"

Challenge: "He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death."

They Smyrna period was probably the greatest time of persecution the Church of Christ ever known. Satan unleashed a violent attack on the church in effort to to obliterate it, for it became evident to him that the apostolic church, because of its faithful preaching of the gospel, had become a serious threat to his worldwide godless empire.  The more he persecuted the church during this period, the more the church overcame the one condemning characteristic of the apostolic age, that of having left its first love.  Not one word of condemnation was hurled by Christ at this church.  From this Satan learned a great secret: Persecution will not stamp out the Church of Christ!

As predicted by the Lord, Himself in verse 10, "you will suffer persecution for ten days". The church age saw eight of the ten periods of persecution under the Roman emperors.

Nero (54-68 AD) beheaded Paul and crucified Peter; Domitian (81-96 AD) exiled John; Trajan (98-117 AD) burned Ignatius at the stake; Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD) killed Justin Martyr; Severus (193-211AD); Maximinius (235-238 AD); Decius (249-251 AD); Valerian (253-260 AD); Aurelian (270-275 AD); Diocletian (284-305AD) led a violent attempt to destroy the Bible from the face of the earth.  During the second and third centuries this persecution age saw hundreds of Christians bought into the amphitheater of Rome to be fed to hungry lions while thousands of spectators cheered.  Many were crucified; others were covered with animal skins and tortured to death by wild dogs.  They covered with tar and set on fire to serve as torches.  They were boiled in oil and burned at the stake.  One church historian has estmated that during this period, five million Christians were martyred for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The Church of Smyrna was a thriving church as it reached its greatest numbers during this period.  This church distinguished itself by its production of many hand-copied manuscripts of the sacred scriptures and the translation of many scriptures into many languages.

The message of Christ to Smyrna is, "These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again". It's interesting to note that Christ introduces each message to the churches by reaching back to the vision of Himself in chapter one and picking out one of the characteristics of His nature.  To Smyrna He emphasizes His eternal nature, "the First and the Last"; His death for their sins - "I was dead"; His resurrection - "and behold I am alive forever and ever".

The commendation of Christ is that He does not condemn it.  Christ's commendation highlights three characteristics of the church: tribulation, poverty and affliction.

1) The Church of Smyrna was a Persecuted church.  "I know your afflictions ".

2) The Church of Smyrna was a poor church.  "and your poverty," It appears that this church went through a severe period of financial persecution.  Smyrna was not only a trade city but also a city of guilds that closely regulated the craftsmen of the day, much as the unions do today.  Because of the intense hatred for Christians, when a man took a stand for Christ, his shop was boycotted or his employment was severed or some other means was used to limit his economic opportunity. Those Christians who were rich in this world's goods went bankrupt.  Consequently, the church enjoyed few monetary assets. " yet you are rich!" highlights a divine principle that, regardless of one's economic state, knowing Jesus Christ brings wealth in this life and in the life to come! Many who are poor as a proverbial "church mouse" are rich in this life in the things money cannot buy: joy, peace, happiness, contentment, and eternal accomplishments.

3) The Church of Smyrna was an afflicted church.  "I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan". This church was afflicted by false teachers who had claimed to be Jews but really were not.

Satan has his own religious faith.  He also has his churches called "synagogues of Satan".  Any church that preaches a gospel other than the gospel of Christ is a synagogue of Satan regardless to what it is called.  Two basic heresies emanate from the synagogue of satan.  These heresies are a false doctrine of Christ and a mixing of law and grace.  Either people are confused about the personal diety of our Lord Jesus Christ, suggesting that though He was a good man, He was not the virgin born Son of God who lived a sinless life, died a sacrificial death, rose bodily from the grave, ascended physically into heaven and promised to return physically to this earth some day. Or they add to salvation "by grace through faith", saying that in addition to believing on Jesus, we should also keep the Sabbath, observe certain rites and ceremonies, eat or not eat certain kinds of foods, etc. The church of Smyrna withstood these two teaching that are decieving many today.

Jesus counsels the church of Smyrna saying, "Do not be afraid" and "be faithful, even to the point of death". Jesus predicted that they would suffer, telling them that the devil will put some in prison to test them, telling them some would suffer persecution for ten days. This is the same counsel given to every believer today.  When grace is needed, grace will be supplied.  When courage is needed, courage is supplied for we have the divine promise that our God is able to meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Jesus Christ.

The Church of Smyrna is challenged to hear what the Spirit has to say and to overcome.  "He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death". God's people have His personal promise that they will never be hurt. The second death is that state when people who have died in unbelief are resurrected and cast alive into an eternal state of separation from God in the place called the lake of fire.  The second death need never to cause the child of God to fear, for it will have no power over them.

Back in 2004 when KSWN picked Icecrown for WoW, we ended up with just this kind of decision. Icecrown soon became known as Icedown and along with a handful of other servers, suffered all the tribulations everyone else did and then some, just for added buggy fun. We considered moving, but really, once a guild hits a certain size it becomes almost impossible to do without enormous amounts of effort and usually hassle.

Looks like CoW are just going to pick one Core-ruleset server for each side of the guild, Order and Destruction, and we'll ride out whatever happens. It won't please everyone but you never can do that anyway, especially not if you want to stay sane and prevent guild management from becoming a second (or third) job.

No, there's no real point to this post. If you read this far, I'll give you your money back. I'm just hoping the WAR launch is smoother than the WoW one was -- which almost nobody seems to remember for the steaming heap of downtime, lag and ocean deaths it was -- and that nobody has to consider a server move with a guild of more than about 5 people.

All you medium and large guilds out there -- good luck.

It's interesting to note that the names seem much changed from the beta server names, so if your guild had planned on a certain server before yesterday, you may want to take another look at things.

In any case, guilds right now are huddling to plan their next move. Do they pick a server now, which most definitely will be completely full by the end of next week, so they can get it up and running on Sunday? Do they play "the waiting game" (which, according to Homer, sucks) and hold off until lower pop servers are launched mid- or late-week and then get in on the ground floor then?

For many people, myself included, this is a time of great uncertainty. There's a lot standing between us and enjoying the game while secure in the knowledge that everything's gone just right. There's what guild you join, where the guild wants to call home, picking up the box copy of your game (or getting it in the mail) on time, putting in the right codes into your account manager, the stability of the game on the head start and launch days, getting out of the crowded newbie zone with your sanity intact, getting the guild in-game up and running, and getting all your guildies signed up. To say it's a bit hectic is to say that Martha Stewart is a bit anal-retentive.

So as much as I'm incredibly excited about Sunday, now more than ever the notion of launching into WAR gives me a stomach full of snotlings. That came out grosser than I'd hoped. I'm not exactly sure what the next week will entail, but I'll be on the front lines, dying for a cause that probably has to do with elves.

Seriously, we'd have world peace RIGHT NOW if it wasn't for those smarmy Vulcans.

The best and most standout parts of WAR are undoubtedly the Public Quests and the whole RvR setup. This is not to knock the questing or tome, but the activities I was enjoying the most by a long long way in game involved hanging out with other people. I found during beta that I didn't much log on in the mornings and preferred to be around prime time, purely because the game was less interesting to me during the days. What pleases me is not necessarily what pleases others, but I do feel that the game needs other people. It's both a good and a bad point. On the one hand, it's an MMO, and playing with other people is THE major selling point. It's incredible to finally find a game which plays so much to that particular strength of the genre. On the other, it won't be so much fun if you play far outside prime time or in a very low populated realm/side. Scenarios will certainly help out here, by offering the option of numerically balanced(ish) RvR in capsule form. Plus they are fun.

I like single player games, and I think it's handy for there to be activities in MMOs that don't require lots of people. But there are some great single player games out there and I don't need to get that particular fix from an MMO. I think that this aspect in particular of WAR will shape how people play it. The fact that it's significantly more fun with other people and less fun solo will encourage people to moderate their hours. I don't think that an MMO needs to be all things to all people, and I'm happy with the design decision to focus on the core strengths. That's something I am taking away from Open Beta, with its increased number of players and servers.

What we did last night

No, I mean the printable stuff ;P Most people by now are getting their open beta access sorted out here (not all, though) and we had a lot of guildies online. So we decided to do 'something' together, and formed up a warband.

Then it was out into the unsuspecting world for some world RvR and objective taking. I don't personally belong to the set of people who believe that zerging is evil. It can be quite fun in moderation, and it's a nice gentle introduction to RvR for people who haven't done much before. As long as they stay with the zerg (and the zerg waits for them if they get lost) then they can get a sense of what it's all about.

As it happens, we had some good fights in Nordland, some of which we were outmanned and flanked from all sides. We took the ship objective (which is probably the most fun because of it being a ship -- PvP areas are like playgrounds and the terrain and ships etc are like toys and climbing frames, at least that's my theory) and the Festenplatz. Chaos did finally outzerg us so we decided to move on to High Elf lands.

In the Plains of Bone (earliest Elf world RvR area), we did outnumber the pitiful forces of Destruction. So naturally we chased them all over the map and took all the objectives. This is WAAAGH! They'll probably do the same to us tomorrow.

Apart from being surprisingly good fun just to be running around and joking with guildies in game (at last), I was struck by how much the RvR newbies enjoyed themselves. And it wasn't just a random group outing, there was a decent amount of renown and xp involved from taking those objectives and doing the associated quests, so everyone also benefited. To me, that's good game design. Make it beneficial to do things that are fun. And vice versa.

And one last screenshot. This is our zerglet, having just taken one of the elven objectives (Altar of Khaine, I think). You see the dashing archmage in the background? I took this shot because someone had just commented that male and female high elves looked similar, and noted that pretty female archmage as an example. We pointed out that was actually a bloke :)

1. Get in a store of coffee, Red Bull, and pizza before calling your guild on speed dial.  This is going to take a while.
2. Njub!  Dragons got boring last patch...
3. Take a few screenshots.  No-one's posted Dragons on the guild forum before.  Yay!

You approach an Orc village.  You and your fellow guild members:

1. Wait for the zerg.  This looks like an ambush.
2. Crush them beneath your iron heels, before the leeches can get here.  This is your Renown!  Take it!
3. Ensure the orc women and children are relocated to a place of safety, where they can live their lives away from the hideous face of war.

There are 5 of them, and 10 of you.  Do you:

1. Wait for the zerg.  This looks like an ambush.
2. Njubs! Dominate them, whilst waiting for their zerg.
3. There's 10 of us?

There are 10 of them, and 5 of you.  Do you:

1. Wait for the zerg.  This looks like an ambush.
2. We outnumber them 5: 10. Dominate them, whilst waiting for their zerg.
3. There's 5 of us?

You see a chicken crossing the street. Do you:

1. Wait for the zerg. This looks like an ambush.
2. Laugh because it's your GM and you lured him into a low level RvR area under pretext of helping you with a quest.
3. Rescue the chicken from the oncoming traffic because you've always wanted a pet.

A mob drops an epic weapon.  Do you:

1. Link it in guild chat - it's so cool!
2. Njub!  I got better last week.
3. Sell it to an NPC by mistake.

It's 3 in the morning.  Do you:

1. Log off.  It's late.
2. You can log off?
3. Surely you mean 3 in the afternoon!

The Emperor Karl Franz is:

1. Some NPC in Altdorf
2. On farm
3. My liege lord.

You plan to reach level 40:

1. Within a month
2. Within a week, you'll be gkicked if you don't
3. There's a level 40?

You run into someone who wants to join your guild:

1. Can he balance a spoon on his nose? He's in!
2. First they have to join the feeder guild for 6 months, and there's a three tier application form process that every newbie has to fill in. After that, the two months of 2am-3am keep guarding duty and then ... maaaaybe ...
3. We have a quick in character interview at a pub in Altdorf.

What colour is your guild emblem?

1. White or Yellow
2. Black! (I'm Mr Black!)
3. Purple

The perfect number of guildmates is:

1. Half a dozen of my best friends
2. The exact number and class breakdown necessary to beat the game
3. There is no perfect number, as long as it's friendly

Tonight, we start a fourth weekly raid night with a slightly different goal. I'm calling it "reverse priority raid". At least some of my members have already referred to it as our "group five raid night".

For me, I'm calling it a reverse priority night because my goal isn't to progress the overall raid force per se. In fact, I fully expect to bench some of best geared and most veteran members tonight. The reason for this is because I set up Wednesdays specifically to have one night each week that those members who get benched on other nights ("priority nights") get to raid. This is also why some of my members are calling it "group five night".

Because in Everquest II, there are only four groups in a raid. As we form up the raid, we have members joining specific groups (Laldail to Group 2, Rapscal to Group 1, etc.). In my guild, when members are asked to sit out, they've taken to jokingly referring to themselves as "Group 5".

Whatever it's called, tonight is their night.

It's an experiment really, the idea that we set aside content that we consider relatively easy for us and make it a priority just one night per week, where those members who have been benched on other nights during the week have one night they can look forward to because they have a guaranteed spot.

I want it to work out. I think it will. At the very least, it makes it easier for me to ask someone to sit out on other nights, because at least I can tell that person, "remember to show up on Wednesday".

From a guild standpoint, it's a bit of a win-win situation. On the one hand, we keep hitting content that many of our top raiders might be a bit bored of. Certainly, they're almost never actually bidding on any of the gear that drops in some of those zones anymore, anyway. This means that our younger or newer raiders have a chance to pick up gear without having to bid against 3 year guild vets who have amassed massive amounts of raid points in our bidding system.

It's also a chance to teach and train these younger raiders without risking the patience of the more experienced raiders. Even if veterans show up for this night, they already understand that the very nature of the reverse priority raids will be such that extra time will likely be needed - even against targets many of us are used to blowing through.

Even though tonight's first target is slated as Protector's Realm, a zone I've been through dozens of times, I'm actually pretty excited about tonight. I might even bench myself if enough of our healers show up. Wouldn't that be different!

Reverse priority? Group five? Whatever we end up calling it, I'm glad we're giving it a try.

Lots has been made about how important guilds are to WAR, and how important -- and more enriching -- it will be for you to join a guild instead of going solo from 1-40 and beyond. Let's hop past that and look at Syp's guild situation.

First of all, big big *thank you* to all of the people who dropped me a line when I last asked for good guild suggestions. I've checked out a half-dozen great guilds and bookmarked them for safe keeping. However, right now I'm being loyal to a few friends and am going to test out guilds they picked for launch day.

On the Destruction side of things, Dame Snafzg has reteamed up with a bunch of old DAOC buddies to form Enmity. I don't know them very well, and they are leaning toward an open RvR server (yechh), but the chance to run around with Snaffy and blog about how many terrific ways he gets himself killed is a hard one to pass up. I'll probably make either a Magus, Squig Herder or Marauder at launch.

My main will probably be Order, however. Two friends from WoW, Moxie and Mike, are making the defection over with me, and I'd be remiss not to team up with them for the third MMO so far (we first met in LOTRO). Over the past month we've "sampled" a number of promising-looking guilds, trying to find that right mix of friendly, casual, mature and fun. The Mistwalker's (sic) was quite welcoming and looks to have what we need in spades.

Still, I feel uneasy. Partially because I miss my guildies from WoW -- not the game so much, but the guild members who kept me interested in that title long past its expiration date. I'm sad that many of them seem to be sticking with it instead of trying WAR out, but who knows... maybe that will all change in a few months. Logging in was a lot like TV's Cheers... I'd instantly see about 10 "SYP!" yells across guild chat, and I couldn't help but smile and then /gkick someone because I'm a heartless officer in need of a good power trip.

It's also partially because I hate starting over in guilds. If you can't tell by now, I'm a bit of a smartas...terisk, especially in guild chat. But when I join a new guild, I feel as though I need to mind my manners, pay my polite dues, and become an accepted enough staple before unleashing random penguin ballads in the middle of guild raids. Joining new guilds is essentially undergoing a testing process for a whole batch of new friends, and it can be an exhausting, somewhat terrifying social experience. You don't know if these people get your humor, you don't know who's the ego-maniac who needs validation when they get good loot drops, and you are clueless as to the real power structure and relationships. You are, really, an outsider that everyone looks at warily and makes an unannounced judgment upon by the end of the first or second week.

So I don't know what the future holds with either of these guilds, but I'm willing to give them a good shot. If not, the hunt will begin. It would just be a lot easier all around if the first time's the charm.

This was crucial to my preparation to playing WAR. In past MMOs, I have always looked to join a guild once I have played the game for awhile but the success of this decision has eroded with each new MMO. Not since my first time round with WoW, have I been involved in a guild with a good vibe & that was way back in 2005.

My feeling for this lack of finding a stable guild is that the bigger/more stable guilds that survive, move from one MMO to another. While new guilds that last, are ones that prepare well before the next MMO is released. Guilds that are formed during gameplay alone can be a disaster because of the lack of forethought, with too many important decisions taken too lightly.

Unfortunately, CoW was not a guild option for me in the end. As I mentioned in a previous post, CoW are setting up camp on a US server - the hassle this would cause me, as a EU based player, made the decision for me in the end.

With this in mind & some great assistance from a friend - I applied & have been accepted into the ranks of an Order EU guild, Insult to Injury. It's a growing guild for players aged 25+ that have plans to choose a RP Core rules set server. The guild, as a whole, have a casual approach to RP & are aiming to keep a fun, mature & healthy guild experience at the forefront of their WAR experience.

So all is looking well with the preparation towards the 18th September release date of WAR. I just have to decide on what my main will be - hopefully the open beta will give me the chance to explore the class sets a little bit more.

During the Preview Weekend we experienced some difficulties with monster pathing and or pets running off into the woods to look for that doggy bone we buried. We had a couple crashes to desktop. Also, we found out what happens when our graphics card is a "Rainbow Brite" fan and wants to see the world of WAR turned peachy. Mythic said sorry and gave each other a "bad game" slap to the rump roast (I really don't think Mr. Jacobs went around spanking his employees, but you never know). With all bugs aside, what the heck am I talking about? Ahh, let me tell you a grand tale of Sir I l-So-L33t:

From past experiences with other MMOs, I know some guilds are sponsored to play video games. Why? I have no idea. Maybe to sell Pepsi or farm for gold? Like I said, I don't know why people pay to have others play games. I must suck or something because nobody has called me to see where to send a check for playing WAR. I got a little off track there (Curse you Wordpress Application! I think I'll be doing that all day). This weekend there were instances of guilds laying claim to Public Quests. They even went as far as telling players that intruded into "their" Public Quest, they will die if they interfere with their PQ. I wonder how much Gatorade that guild drank to pee in a circle around that area? I wonder if anybody got electrocuted for really peeing on their computer? I wouldn't put it past them to do something that stupid. They obviously think WAR is made for them. Their excuse was, they were mapping out the PQ for strategy. I don't know about you, but the Chapter 2 PQ can be mapped by my 4 year old son.

The game has a month before release and we already have people so worried about being the first to break the code of all raid like game play. I understand the need to feel important, I am a blogger after all, but going so far as to ruin somebodies initial game experience in a not even released yet game, is just rude to all of us as a community in the shadow of WoW and AoC. I might be over dramatizing it a bit, but so were they. It is like me telling them to stay out of the adult diaper section at their local Super Pooper Store. It's not nice. They are going to need their pull-ups.

In defence for the "Super Pooper" guild (that wasn't their name but it should be), I understand they didn't have to heal or help anybody doing that public quest. So don't, but don't announce your a jerk beta guild in a beta game. They call the type of game a MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game and they call those quests Public Quests. If that doesn't break it down enough for them I hope they know what a Wikipidia is and looks up the meaning of all those big fancy words. I can even start the chain of evens by giving out a free bee Wikipidia definition of game:

A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes also used as an educational tool. Games are generally distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas. 

 I do hope this type of guild is squashed before release or once word gets out about them and their type. I know this type of stuff is bound to happen but in beta? I am just crushed. I thought WAR was going to be a field of roses with everybody holding hands playing a loving game of dodgeball. Instead a team of Cobras (Dodgeball the movie reference) come into our field of dreams (Kevin Costner eat your heart out) and rip a hot, steamy shower fart in our faces. Oh it smells bad. I just ask for  people to think twice before letting loose in the shower, I mean in a fun game.

If you happen to ever encounter a Bad News Bear (not not the one with Billy Bob), during your smelly rose infested WARification (Red Hot Chili's I love you) time, drop your character's drawers and give them a big wink for me.

What had I done, I know I was a complete newb that had to be told to stop backing up to get range in SM but kicking me out? Found a ex-guild mate and she was as surprised as I was. It seems they had just disbanded and the explanation on the guild website was rl issues but since all the core group disappeared from the server I think that maybe trying to teach us bunch of newbs wasn't all they had hoped it would be!

After that with the mistaken assumption that all guilds were as drama free, helpful mature, etc. I went through four or five more attempts to find a home. That's when I learned what drama meant. Some of them were I'm sure fine, I just had no idea what they were talking about, there was a definite generation gap too much leet speak for me.

I was in one large guild and had a few guildless alts when I realized that almost every time one of the alts had an asshat ninja something from them or group with them and leave as soon as they got what they wanted it was someone in my guild which made me kind of embarrassed to be one of them so I quit.

I know that people say you should join or start a guild with your friends but trust me, my rl peers don't play MMOs, most don't manage to check email without drama and don't know what url means.

So I'll keep looking, I'm sure there are other married women whose husbands don't play that want to raid at 7:00 AM!