Ten Ton Hammer's Warhammer Online Guild of the Month

June's Guild - Mongbat

So there you are. Just made up your character and he/she looks cool. DAMN cool. You can't wait to get out there and play and level up! Oddly enough though, you start to find that the game gets boring for some reason. You log in and you're all alone, soloing or putting up with cheesy pick up groups just to get into some of the higher end content. You thought there would be more to Warhammer Online than just questing, ganking, and getting loot. This is where guilds come in. Guilds have many functions in MMOG's. They're a way to see higher level content. They're a means to get a chance at gear that you may not have ever seen othrwise. Most importantly, a good guild will become your online family. Full of friends you can't wait to jump online with and tackle the challenges of your game of choice.

We here at Ten Ton Hammer realize the importance of guilds in the world of MMOG's. That's why we're featuring a different Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning guild each month to give you a chance to get to know the different guilds of WAR and possibly help you find a group of like minded folks to make your gaming experience that much better.

This month, we introduce the only guild to have laid siege to the EA Mythic headquarters, Mongbat!

What kind of guild is Mongbat and what are they all about?

The members of Mongbat aren't all hardcore gamers, but we wouldn't be considered casual either. With the majority of our leadership coming from a background in Dark Age of Camelot we are very excited about RvR and intend to emphasize on its PvP aspect more than anything. We are also a worldwide guild, having members from the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, Korea and other countries around the globe. Our intention is to have a guild presence in the game at all times so that even while most people may be sleeping we are still plugging away on the front lines.

What other games have you been involved in and what sort of success have you seen in those games? What are the goals of Mongbat in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning?

Mongbat was formed back in August 2006 for the sole purpose of playing Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Having said that, a number of our members have been gaming together for quite some time through many different MMOs spanning from the days of Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot all the way up to the recent release of Age of Conan. We also have nearly 20 of our members currently participating in WAR beta. I would tell you how that's going, but that would undoubtedly lead to us getting flogged and booted. No one wants that.

What sort of time commitment are you looking for from members per week? Are there level requirements or restrictions for members?

We have no hard and fast rules on how much time you have to put into the game or what level you have to be. All of that is a bit moot at this point since the game is still in development. We also feel that neither of those are any real reflection of the person themselves. Someone may want to play the game more than real-life circumstances might allow and we don't feel people should be punished because they have their priorities straight. In the end, who we want are people who WANT to play and WANT to help make the guild a success. If both of those are important to a person they will make time to play and contribute. They may not be able to put in as much time as other people, but it's really what they do with the time they are able to spend that we are concerned with. We do have a set of guild rules, but many of these are what we feel should be common sense. If you have a good attitude, respect others and respect the game then you should have no real issues with meeting our criteria.

What level of importance do you place on the social aspect of your guild? Is Mongbat all about the end goal or more about the people involved?

Our community is our number one priority. You only have to spend a few minutes on our website or forum to see the morale that exists among our members. We've been waiting for WAR together for a long time and we don't want to just sit around, wait for new info to come out each month and risk becoming dormant. So to counter that we do a lot of things to keep our community active and interested. We run regular contests, hold giveaways and have even gone so far as to "lay siege" to EA Mythic's headquarters in Virginia, planting our banner in their office and leaving them with a claim notice and a bag of "trophies". It was a lot of fun and the entire community got behind the whole process. It's these kinds of things that really bring the community together and helps to develop a true sense of guild pride. Yes, we're serious about RvR and we want to be a success. That's something every guild hopes for. But we feel that going about it like some kind of fascist regime is counter-productive in the long run. So by fostering good communication and focusing on making our community something people really enjoy, we believe success in-game will come naturally.

If someone wanted to join your guild, what would be the best way to do so? Who should they get in contact with? Do they need to be a part of the Warhammer Online Beta test to apply or can they apply prior to release?

The best way to go about joining Mongbat is visiting our site at www.mongbat.com, registering on our forum and getting to know us. Beta access has no bearing upon eligibility whatsoever. As stated before, the primary qualification in joining Mongbat is fitting in with the community and really being a part of things. We try to discourage people from even submitting an application until they've spent a good amount of time on our forums. Recruitment really works both ways. We have to make sure a member is right for us, but we also feel it's their responsibility to take the time to make sure that we are the right guild for them.

Slade and Tober
Lord Generals of Mongbat