Everquest 2's Maverick Hearts

TTH sits down with Sepentius, guild leader of <Team Maverick> - Oggok Server.

Some say they're overbearing, some say they're off-the-wall, but as guilds go on Oggok server, <Team Maverick> is probably one of the tightest. And at the center of the mayhem is an Iksar Berserker named Sepentius, founder and leader of this energetic guild of around 120 active players. Forget the "Ice Man" and Tom Cruise Top Gun references; this guild takes its name simply from its free-spiritedness. And from its accomplishments, you'd never guess that its leader has never played a Massively Multiplayer Online game before EverQuest 2.

If there had ever been a recipe for creating a long-lasting guild, Sepentius would have cheated on all the measurements. "I've been in about 20 guilds before I started <Team Maverick>. Starting the guild from scratch was the hardest thing," the guild leader remembers. "I started this guild when I was level 50, spamming the Commonlands and Antonica; recruiting every gamer possible. Everyone was level 8-14 I would say. That was when the mentoring system came out, and I really took advantage of it."

From those low teens players in early March of 2005, the guild boasts 17 (original) players exceeding level 50, with eight more ready to hit the semi-centenary milestone within the week. <Team Maverick> is one of the few half-year or greater guilds that hasn't been devestated by a consolidation of casually-guilded, high-level players into hardcore raiding guilds in the slow months (slow, for maxed-out players) before the "Desert of Flames" expansion raised the level ceiling to 60. The derogatory name for this practice is "poaching"- and Sepentius feels it has no place in the game. "Guild poaching is wrong, it's mostly using other characters' classes to accomplish what the original players need done." And the players that choose to switch loyalties? "I call them scabs, benchwarmers, second-string." Still, he understands the motivations. "Wanting fabled gear, raids, and always being LFG... but to leave a guild because 'oh, I don't wanna wait till 24 are level 50 so we can all raid' is just wrong."

Who's to blame for the seemingly commonplace, painful breakdowns in guild communities on Oggok? Sepentius believes part of blame is attributable to the poor example of several of the guild leaders who've abandoned their guilds for the seductive charm of the raiding guilds. "The leader of the old [guild] <Apocalypse> Remma quit on his 150 members for his own personal greedy needs and joined <Nerfed>. <Phoenix Rising> is more like 12 guild leaders put into 1. All sorts of guild leaders quit because they couldn't hang... <Illuminati> and <Saints of Norrath>." Not that guild leadership is easy. "It really is hard work...the pressure comes from keeping [the guild members] active; making sure they're all included and doing something, and having fun most of all. They're paying money to hand out and have fun in a game they enjoy."

Loyalty among its members and a stick-to-your-roots approach aside, <Team Maverick>'s hierarchy is also uniquely integral to its tight stance. "All that have 5,000 standing [status point contribution] are officers, and everyone was a patron too [before the patch]." To put this in perspective, a Mav member would have to complete roughly 2 5-15 hour quests for an item of questionable worth in order to attain the requisite amount of points to become an officer, and the progress of "guild levelling" would have been slow... nay, glacial... with 50+ patrons under the old ruleset, which imposed a penalty on guild experience earned if the number of guild patrons exceeded twelve. "If I'd had 12 patrons it would have been easy, but I believe that we are one unit. All deserved their own standing in the guild."

<Team Maverick> has done well with guild level despite their self-imposed handicap, racking up enough points to place them just one and a half levels shy of the prismatic-requisite guild level 25. The overwhelming source of their status points? "I don't care for writs," quips Sepentius. "Contested guild raid mobs- mobs that pop in certain zones on various timers that give guild status points for the kill- are where a majority of our points comes from. We were averaging about 10 epic kills a day, and I do at least eight raids a week- just on these contested mobs."

The ride hasn't been altogether smooth for the Mavs, however. Another unfortunate resurgance in the Oggok guilds is that of long-departed guild personalities returning to vy for control. It's happened to <Hands of Time>, and it's happened to <Team Maverick>. "[Googamoonga] got me started playing online games. We grew up together, went to the same school and church... I've known him for 22 years," recounts Sepentius. Googamoonga originally left Team Maverick because "he wanted to form a guild using my first guild name idea: <THE GOONIES>." According to Sepentius, Googamoonga returned after the expansion / combat changes were released on September 13th and attempted an insurrection of the guild. "He tried to end the life of the guild. He tried to tell everyone to leave the guild because I was quiting due to being unhappy about the recent combat changes." Owing to the Mavericks' character, they stuck together and the crisis passed as quickly as it arose. Incidently, Sepentius rejected <THE GOONIES> in favor of <Team Maverick> because it "sounded more like a fun name for kids" and he wanted something more in the character of his free-wheeling guildies.

And since the "Combat Changes" are the hot topic, how does Sepentius feel about the fallout from Live Update 13? "How you feel really depends on your class. It's hard for me to tank, my dirge hates his run speed, my guardian and fury quit and made other alts, assassins and paladins love it, monks did good. It was mostly positive for all but the original fighters- mobs are doing more damage than our gear is able to defend against- but I'm dealing with it. Each class is an individual now; to me it feels like every class has an ability that you're gonna need. I do like how the [heroic opportunites /skillchain] wheel is more potent now, because noone can match <Team Maverick> for combo efficiency."

Finally, I asked Sepentius if he had any words for those who thought <Team Maverick> was too boisterous / energetic / aggressive for its own good. The answer: "Team Maverick is the best overall, original, team-oriented, combo-executing, helping-each-other-daily, need-before-greed guild EVER!" And we'll quote him on that! Thanks to Sepentius for sitting down with Ten Ton Hammer, and we wish him and his guild good fortune on Oggok!