EQ Chronicles: Guilds
Not long ago I discovered the amazing world of guilds. My Bard (now level 28) has joined an Australian/New Zealand guild with a large number of likeminded players. Not only does membership offer access to lots of friendly help, it opens up the opportunity to participate in raids. A recent dash to The Hole with a group of insanely high level characters resulted in a piece of the Shaman Epic weapon for a friend - and lots of colourful screenshots.
I was conscienciously taking out gnolls with a group in South Karana recently and working the experience points when a higher level Ranger came along. He saw we were struggling a bit, and offered us his help. As he would have taken all the XP if he had joined our group he continued on his own, waiting until we had taken more than half of each creature’s hitpoints - thereby claiming any experience once it died - and then finishing it off for us. He did this for hours, which was great for us but of no benefit to him. I was impressed by his selflessness
Being a Bard I was filling my usual jack-of-all-trades role, making up for wherever the group lacked, and was surprised after several hours to get a private message (/tel) from the Ranger asking me if I had ever considered joining a guild. Er.. no I hadn’t. He asked me if I would be interested in joining his. After a careful conversation I made it clear I would on the condition it was a trial period only. He agreed, and I was presented with a window asking me if I agreed to join the guild. I clicked the yes box, and suddenly I had a guild name in angular brackets next to my name.
That in itself was pretty cool, but even better was the new stream of bright green guild chat filling my text window. I was part of a likeminded group, and privy to their exclusive guild chatting. Suddenly an entirely new dimension of gameplay opened up to me. If I needed help, guildmates were there to offer it. If I needed binding at a new location or ports to zones across the other side of the continent (which could take hours to gain on my own), guildmates were generally more than happy to oblige. I even gained access to a common pool of items - in theory anyway.
After disconnecting from EQ that night I spent several hours on the web discovering the amazing world of guilds. I was already aware of the high level uber guilds that dominated the top spectrum of the game, such as Enlightened Dark. A friend of mine in ED spent a good portion of his life participating in highly organised “raids” with scores of other immensely powerful players against the most potent mobs in Norrath (generally dragons). As exciting as it sounded, that part of the game had always seemed remote and foreign to my experience. Now however, the benefit of ingame community was becoming obvious, and the more I read the more excited I became.
Ironically, the guild I had joined - being based in the USA and rather small - wasn’t the best choice. Only rarely were other members on during the hours I played, and the majority of them were obviously far younger than me. After some careful research, I found a local Australian/New Zealand guild with many more members of similar age and approach. I reluctantly removed myself from the US guild and accepted an invitation to the local one - to the (surprising) chagrin of the first. I learned that guilds covet their members and don’t lose any happily, even temporary ones. Nevertheless I gained more than several new friends and - to my way of thinking at least - a sister guild I consider part of my collective online identity.
So welcome to the world of guild raids, and not all is what it should be. My first medium level raid with my new guild turned out to be a bit of a waste of time. Bad organisation and coordination resulted in a fairly severe routing. Several of us died in the first few areas of the zone, me included. The raid disbanded disappointingly after several hours without achieving anything. All I gained was a bad bite of lost experience, though I did enjoy the new level of cooperation it required. Now I understand why ED and guilds like it seem so militant - they have to be that way to avoid time wastage (hours can be lost waiting for others to turn up and get ready) and failure. All power to them.
My next raid, a much more high level affair coordinated outside guilds to help a friend get a piece for his Epic Weapon, was a resounding success. I moonlighted on a friend’s spare 39 level Druid and witnessed possibly the most powerful group I have ever seen take down an entire zone in hours less than it takes full guilds to do it. It was awe inspiring (details and pictures available here).
Guilds, while seemingly good ideas, have never made sense to me until now. Many games have them, but the collective power of likeminded players in MO’s is immediately obvious. It takes online community and the game itself to a new level. Now all I have to do is level up so I can join more raids.
posted by monty · at 4:11 am · filed under EQ Chronicles