Takhisis Faction instant boss raid: just add one (1) Gerero!
So there we were in TK around midnight, happily leveling, when deputy faction leader Lecat began bopping around several fairly well-known maps, looking for trouble. As it turns out, trouble found him: Gerero in Gehenna Bridge, Channel 2!
I'd never even seen "Rero", the boss's nickname, before, so on a whim, I rushed to join Lecat and AlphaOmega there, and this is what we all got dropped into:
We were eventually joined by Mitchin, making for four families whacking at Rero. That meant we took a little while doing it, but in the end - it was done and ding dong the boss is dead! No one else was on the scene at that time, so all the spoils went to TK ^^
Great job TK! Let's do that again soon!
The seed for this column came from a slightly panicky email I received from a good friend of mine, who is a writer attached to the Creative Writing department at the university where we both studied:
I’ve been asked ... to write an article about online communities, and in looking around the web I realized that MMORPGs [Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games] have their own community of players called guilds.
Now, since you’re the only hard-core player I know, I was wondering if you could help explain to me how a guild is set-up and how having a guild affects game-play.
The comment on my gaming habits notwithstanding, haha, I gave him what help I could. Afterwards, I found myself continually returning to the topic and the answers I gave him:
Most MMORPGs encourage players to form a group, commonly called a “party” – as in adventuring party – in order to help each other reach desired goals within the game: to kill monsters, to find items that are either tedious to collect or extremely rare to find, to venture into new areas, etc. However, on the whole parties tend to be a temporary arrangement, and once the group’s goals are accomplished, the former party members often go their separate ways.
What happens when players want to have a more permanent grouping? That’s where the “guild” system comes in.
In the Philippines’s online gaming communities, the word “guild” is commonly used to refer to permanent player groupings. This is partly because that was the term used for that particular game mechanic by the first MMORPG introduced in the country, Ragnarok Online (RO). Other MMORPGs have different names for this permanent player grouping, such as “faction” in Granado Espada (GE), or “clan” in Perfect World (PW).
Overall, though, the word “guild” seems to be more commonly used, as is the case with World of Warcraft (WoW), currently the world’s biggest MMORPG with over 10 million players worldwide.
Many games also allow guilds to enter into treaties or alliances with other guilds, making the permanent player groupings even bigger!
There are any number of reasons to band together in a guild: your barkada gets together in a single online game to keep up the friendship. A group of the strongest players in a game band together in order to stay at the top. Crafting / merchant characters band together to share resources and discuss the prices of the items they create and sell.
And sometimes it’s just plain better to be in a guild. Many games include mechanics that not only allow but require guilds to engage each other in wars over disputed territories, or to meet each other in designated battle arenas. In some games, both happen at the same time! So you better believe there’s competition between guilds in a game, both to gain new recruits and to further improve / strengthen themselves.
And then, of course, this being the Philippines, here’s the best part of being in a guild: meeting up! Eye-Balls, or EBs, are practically de rigeur for all-Pinoy guilds and gaming groups, and they often get together, not only to meet the new members, but also – and more importantly – to have offline fun.
Here’s my story as a gamer who prefers to play in a guild, and I’m sure that if you play computer or console games, you may have experiences similar to mine.
I’ve been part of a barkada that became a guild; and I’ve also experienced the opposite, joining a guild that took me in as part of the real-life barkada. This is where all the pictures come in!
Ragnarok Online: the Vikings
These guys were originally friends of my boyfriend. I’d been hanging out with them for a short time before signing up for Ragnarok Online, and becoming a member of their guild. Initially, there were about two or three other girls who were also in the group, but eventually they drifted away from the game and from the group, leaving me as the lone female.
The Vikings, denizens of Iris server, were a “Boss Guild”: a guild that specialized in hunting the biggest, baddest monsters in RO. On weekends, we’d all get together at an Internet café and spend hours finding, and then trying to take out, the bosses and their attendant mobs. We had a designated leader who outlined the strategy and tactics required to take out each boss, and gave us commands to do certain helpful things such as heal injured comrades, protect the more vulnerable ones, and so on.
And after a night of boss hunting we’d go out to have breakfast together and kill a few more hours, just shooting the breeze and having fun out in the real world.
I still remember all the jokes we cracked about me having a posse of bodyguards: it’d be way too early in the morning, I’d be the only girl, and I’d be walking along with eight or nine guys surrounding me!
The group has since left RO and gone their separate ways in the world – our leader now works in Hungary, dear God – but we all still consider ourselves a barkada, and the remaining members still go out on the weekends from time to time to play computer games, although they’ve all switched over to Defense of the Ancients (DotA) now. Doesn’t matter – we still play together!
Granado Espada: From Æphemeral to WrathOfGod to Takhisis
After quitting RO, I bounced around from online game to online game, but never found reason to stick with anything until Granado Espada came along. The game’s unique mechanics and lush visuals made me stick around; and eventually a friend invited me into his faction.
I rose to become the vice-leader of Æphemeral, helping to lead and manage an international membership. But some time after I joined, the faction leader faded out of the game, and eventually the members were dispersed.
In order to fulfill a task I was doing in the game community at the time, I joined one of the strongest and most renowned factions in Cervantes server, WrathOfGod. Their specialties included both boss raids and the Colony Wars, GE’s version of the territorial conflicts mechanic. I spent many Sunday nights online with the members, doing what I could to help advance the faction, even though I was pretty low-level at the time.
I left WrathOfGod and Cervantes, and eventually settled in Carracci server with the dominantly Pinoy faction Takhisis. At the time that I joined, the members included many fellow GE bloggers. As Takhisis had been established for quite a long time (the faction recently marked its first anniversary), they were already a close-knit group, and I was honored to have become part of that group.
Special Case: Gaming Journalists
A special subset of online gaming communities in the Philippines is comprised of the growing number of bloggers and journalists who report all the news that’s fit to print from the online game companies. There is already an organization of such gaming journalists, called the Asian Gaming Journalists Association.
It could be said that this group is a guild in the medieval sense: a group of professionals who work together to define their work and set standards for it.
I always found it slightly funny that I became a recognized part of this group at a press event for RO’s first free-to-play server, Valkyrie.
Special Case: Gamer Girls
This is sort of a mini-advocacy of mine: the recognition of Pinoy girls as gamers. Until recently, popular culture held that “there are no girls on the Internet”, and certainly none to be found in online games; but maybe we girls are now gaining ground and respect as gamers on par with the overwhelmingly male demographic.
Some games have begun to bestow the recognition that is due upon the female segments of their communities.
In RO one of the most famous guilds was the Shadow Maidens, who actually did have a rigid screening process that required applicants to be female in real life – and to prove it to the guild membership. The popular dancing MMO Dance Battle Audition counts the all-female Dream Girls Club as one of its biggest organizations of players.
And GE hosted a Tribute to the Ladies at the end of March this year, as a fitting send-off to International Women’s Month.
I hope to return to the topic of gamer girls again in this column, perhaps in the near future.
***
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this mostly personal account of life lived as much online as offline, and almost always in the company of fellow gamers. If you’ve any feedback or comments, please feel free to email me at pj.punla@mediatrade.com.ph. Hope to hear from you soon!
WARNING Lots of pictures! But please do wait for them to load - they're fun and worth the wait.
Bonus points to you if you get the reference in the post title ^^
And so Takhisis Faction found itself marooned in a sea of humanity the day the members went out to celebrate its first anniversary. Sure, we're like a week and a half late, but you know how the old saying goes....
Words cannot express how the entire National Capital Region must've heard that it was our anniv EB and showed up in droves and schools and herds and I'mrunningoutofcollectivewordsherehalp at the Mall of Asia yesterday. Okay, there was supposed to be the final night of this year's World Pyro Olympics [super fireworks festival and boom-off], and since it was 31 May all the school kids wanted to get their shopping done, and it was the weekend after salaries were given out, and ... after that, I got nothin'.
But here's the intrepid group of Luzon TK members who did manage to meet up:
Hail hail the gang's all here. Standing, left to right: Rosso [my partner and a special guest ^^], Whiteships [our resident Feng Ling cosplayer], Lecat [the head XD], Fiksdotter, Nicotina, and RoseChavez. Sitting, left to right: Winterlake, NineMoons, Romanovna [yes, I know that's Nate Reclusion XD], and AlphaOmega.
There was also a simultaneous TK EB for the members in Mindanao, and I'll be adding the pics and details as soon as I get them. [Plz send me pics, VargasII!]
After a fair amount of time waiting for everyone to arrive - during which we ran into members of Outcasts faction, also out for a meet-up - we managed to draw up our plans for the day: food, fireworks, and ... KARAOKE!
My partner Rosso and I took the gang out for freshly cooked meals at one of our favorite places to eat at the Mall of Asia, Taste Asia. It was only after all the food got to our L-shaped table that we realized two things: 1) we were all ravenous by then and 2) we had all practically ordered the same things - we should have just done a collective meal, hahahaha.
When we tried to go and find a spot to watch the fireworks festival finale for free [w00t alliteration FTW], though, not only were practically all the people in the mall already jockeying for positions, but also it started to drizzle periodically. As TK is not big on getting wet and/or getting sick, we repaired to a TimeZone for games and karaoke.
Picking songs to sing for TK is serious business. Left to right: AlphaOmega, Mitchin, Lecat, NineMoons, and RoseChavez.
TK getting ready for fun with karaoke. These are two things that, in retrospect, should NEVER NEVER NEVER have been allowed to meet - but hey! A lot of fun was had by all! And hell I nearly ruptured something several times I was laughing so hard and having so much fun.
Takhisis Big Boss Fiksdotter gets the party started with Livin' La Vida Loca! [Seriously!]
Mitchin takes his singing to the next level.
NineMoons and Fiksdotter, with Romanovna under his cap.
Lecat sings his heart out.
Who knew Feng Ling could kick ass at karaoke too? Whiteships FTW ^^
Yes, TK had special guests at our EB. Sandwiched between Whiteships and the singing RoseChavez is none other than Kincaid of OC. And that's Lecat making the scene ^^
Fiksdotter clowns around with our guest from Covenant, Rivendel.
Romanovna and Kincaid duet on, believe it or not, When You Believe.
AlphaOmega brings the house down with Pare Ko! Fiksdotter looks REAL happy, doesn't he?
Rivendel: sign the man up for the next season of Pinoy Idol!
Romanovna's show-stopping performance ends the karaoke night!
I will update this post with links and further pictures as I was far from the only person there with a digicam.
Long Live Takhisis! Let's stay together!
The above photos were taken at Dom1nation II and include AlphaOmega, Puritans, Whiteships, Artaxerxes, Mena, Xei, Fiksdotter, Darkharvester, and NineMoons. [If I didn't mention you - haha sorry, please comment so I can add your name ^^] [Thanks for the correction ^^]
If you're a member of the Carracci Neutralist faction Takhisis, we want YOU to join us tomorrow at our post-First Anniversary get-together!
We're all meeting up at the SM Mall of Asia at 1pm tomorrow, 31 May. When you get there, please SMS your location to faction leader Fiksdotter @ 0927 433 1056 so he can find you - it's a damn big mall, it won't do to get lost ^^
The time is NOW!
I was going to do just a post-event picspam as I did with the post-GE PH Tribute to the Ladies entry, but I thought you might like a little more commentary with the 100-plus pics I took of the event.
Again, I'll be posting the pics at a slightly smaller size so as not to kill your browsers too much. Please click on the photos to go to the Photobucket archive, where you can view all of them.
***
Previous entry: Post-Dom1nation II, recap and review, part 1: Cosplay and Factions
After the faction honors, it was time to give due recognition to the Granado Espada PH Community Heroes.
First came the individual honors for the winners of the first Fantazzztic Film Awards:
Artaxerxes.
Behringer.
deEspania.
Familier.
Fetuccini.
Fiksdotter.
iCez.
Kincaid.
Mena.
Mortreux.
NineMoons.
Reclusion.
Sigrid.
Weisswritter.
And then the Philippine sweep of the first FFA was made clear, as the three PH teams that made the finals were given their prizes!
Veterans, Perdonato: Mortreux, Weisswritter, and Fetuccini.
Experts, Le Blanc (White): Fiksdotter, iCez, and Reclusion.
Grand Masters, Not Another Love Story: Ze Muzical!: Behringer, NineMoons, and Reclusion.
Next to be honored were the PH heroes of the GE Forums:
AUGLab, Community Crew. [IGN: Castiglione]
BlackSheep, Community Crew. [IGN: RavenBlitz]
The Colony Wars reporters were honored as well:
NineMoons, for Cervantes.
Reclusion, for Carracci.
And the GE PH bloggers with outstanding contributions to the community, not to mention all of whom were blogspotted:
Fiksdotter.
Mena.
NineMoons.
Reclusion.
Welling.
Not in photos: Craeon, Deniva.
It was just too bad that the fan artists were not present at the venue!
And I hope that Blacksword and Arcleaumont receive recognition for their fan work too! [They were the PH community members most recently honored on the main site: Blacksword for his Player's Guide to Conventions and Events, and Arcleaumont for his War of the Factions 2 poster.]
***
While the awards were going on, several activities were taking place around the GE booth and elsewhere: the Battle of the Champions 2v2 Face-Off, won by the Visayas team; the New Settlers' Battle, the War of the Factions 5v5 PvP, and the live Adelina's Booty Search.
Unfortunately, the New World Trivia Quiz did not push through, for reasons yet unknown.
RCM Hrin and pCM Veya announced that Version 2.6 of sGE, as previously hinted at in one of Hrin's earlier blog entries, would be released on 12 June! That patch will have MAJOR consequences for Colony Wars, and introduce at least 3 new RNPCs - support/bard Vicente Rio, crossbow-user Calyce, and taekwondo martial artist Bai Hu.
In the background, bands such as Imago, Rivermaya, and Sugarfree played their hearts out for the audience. The event hosts were DJs Tado and Ramon Bautista of Magic 89.9, and Nancy Castiglione.
***
After Dom1nation II, the bloggers, several faction leaders and companions, and other players went to dinner with pCM Veya, Ivee Feria, RCM Hrin, and the guests from IAHGames. Someone ordered a dish of balut and invited the guests to try it out ^^
***
I'll be writing an article on Dom1nation II and Granado Espada for a future issue of the print edition of Game! magazine, so I hope you pick that one up too!
I was going to do just a post-event picspam as I did with the post-GE PH Tribute to the Ladies entry, but I thought you might like a little more commentary with the 100-plus pics I took of the event.
Again, I'll be posting the pics at a slightly smaller size so as not to kill your browsers too much. Please click on the photos to go to the Photobucket archive, where you can view all of them.
***
I woke up very early in the morning of 6 April with a splitting headache, and at some point as the day unfolded, I wondered if perhaps my body hadn't been trying to warn me about something.
I began my commute to the venue in hopes of making it in early, and because previous advisories had said that the pre-registered attendees would be allowed entrance as early as 8am. I was soon enough joined by my faction leader Fiksdotter, Artaxerxes, Darrick and Nate Reclusion, and Mena. Along with them came Whiteships [a/k/a/ Len-len], who was going to cosplay Feng Ling, and several other friends.
From left to right: Mena, Whiteships, Fiksdotter, and Nate Reclusion.
Getting into Dom1nation II proved to be quite an ordeal, all things considered: the pre-registration forms turned out to be so much wasted paper, as no one got into the venue itself, the second floor of the SMX Convention Center beside the SM Mall of Asia, before 10am. The old-fashioned registration stubs STILL had to be typed into the computers at the entrance BY HAND, instead of just being deposited for future cataloging. The lines were long and unruly, and the tension was compounded by the hot summer sun and the sheer LACK of food and drinks stands at the venue. Honestly, the few food and drinks sponsors could only serve so many at a time, and there were long stretches during which they ran out and consequently had to resupply.
Chaos at the entrance to Dom1nation II. This was what my headache warned me about.
Our group had run earlier into RCM Hrin and the other guests from IAHGames, and soon after Nate and I were able to get Whiteships registered and into her costume, Hrin walked over to the Granado Espada booth, along with Anne DeSanggria. Anne was back in her Idge cosplay outfit, but without the sword this time.
Cosplayers and Hrin in the same place: you know what that means! Pics!
From left to right: Idge, Feng Ling, and Hrin.
Feng Ling and Hrin hanging with the GE booth host, dressed up as Lisa Lynway.
Nate Reclusion joins Feng Ling and Idge for a photo-op.
Feng Ling and me, with my very own Granado Espada jacket ^^
Bloggers galore around Feng Ling! In foreground, Mena; standing are Nate, Fiksdotter, Feng Ling, Artaxerxes, Welling, Darrick, and friends.
A few of the bloggers wasted no time in getting pictures taken with Hrin:
Hrin and Darrick.
Me and Hrin.
Artaxerxes and Hrin.
Lots of people started coming in around lunch, and that included the team behind Fantazzztic Film Awards third-place film Perdonato:
From left to right, Weisswritter, Fetuccini, and Mortreux.
Weisswritter poses with Feng Ling.
More Granado Espada cosplayers:
Male wizard in Clara Mago, female elementalist in Robe of Fire. Check out her Bracelet of Three Kings!
Posing in foreground, Idge; standing are an IAHGames guest, Hrin, stormseeks as Grace Bernelli in a Bistre outfit, and pCM Veya as a fighter in the Le Corsaire costume.
Feng Ling and Grace Bernelli: DON'T mess with them!
Quite a few factions turned up for the event; and as DeSanggria remarked at some point, this was the first event at which all five of sGE's servers were represented.
Takhisis faction, Carracci.
Outcasts faction, Carracci.
†Pinoy†AllStars† faction, Pachelbel.
Aggrressor faction, Vivaldi.
Ph Care faction, Vivaldi.
RunAway faction, Caravaggio.
Vradical faction, Cervantes.
CARNAGE faction, Cervantes.
The faction banner/tarp contest came down to a final face-off between Vradical and Outcasts - and in the end, Outcasts' banners won the day.
Most Active Factions awardees
Ph Care, †Pinoy†AllStars†, AdeptasFraternas, Aggrressor, CARNAGE, Elite, Outcasts, Revolution, Templars, Vradical, WarGodz
Most Loyal Factions awardees
†Pinoy†AllStars†, CARNAGE, Outcasts
***
To be continued in the next entry with the FFA winners and the GE PH Community Heroes!
