Guild Leader
Profile

Xaices of Reverenced Ire

style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">[Ten Ton Hammer]: style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> Tell us a little about your history
as an MMO gamer. What was your first MMO, and what others have you
played since?



[Xaices]: I started playing
MMO’s somewhere in late 2000 with EverQuest. A few friends at work had
been playing the game for a bit and introduced me to it. I didn’t play
much since the only computer I had at the time was a laptop that soon
died of old age. So I fooled around as a noob on my friend’s accounts
after that.  



I really didn’t get into the MMO genre until EverQuest Online
Adventures came out. EQOA really captured me and compelled me to keep
playing. Stumbling threw Tunaria on my own, I rolled a few toons (SK,
WAR, MAG etc.), but it was not until a rolled a Monk that I found my
niche. I played a 60 Bravo Monk named Wrathdealer until the day I left.




EQOA was the first game that I had the opportunity in to experience
raiding. I think I must have tried to squeeze myself into any and every
raid possible from the time I hit 50 on. From the depths of Naggy’s
lair to the top of the Plane of Sky, I wanted to raid it all, and I
think I accomplished most of it before I left. Raiding really drew me
into playing, more so than the quests and casual group play. It really
pushed the limits of what you could achieve with your toon in game and
I lusted for more challenge.



However with FFXI’s release and more alluring games coming out, my
guild soon dwindled to just a few people and my raiding days were
over.  I moved on to Dark Age of Camelot, and soon after EverQuest
II. In EQ II I (not surprisingly) rolled a monk and sought out another
Raiding Guild. I found one, though after having raided with them on a
continual basis found that they really lacked the leadership and the
teamwork it took to function well enough to take on more challenging
content. I was not the only one who felt this way as soon after I left
the guild it split.



All in all EverQuest II lacked something for me it turned out to be a
game I’d just rather not play, not because of the guilds I was in, but
rather something in the game. So I am back playing Dark Age of Camelot,
a game that I will probably never quit playing.  DAoC is by far
the best game I have had the opportunity to play to date. It has
offered me more than any other game in the past. Almost unending
content, detailed storyline, numerous raids, and of course Realm vs
Realm PvP.  If I want to quest I can go quest; if I want to raid,
I can go raid; if I want to test my skill against another player I can
do that too. Actually the RvR mechanics of DAoC are unrivaled in my
opinion and are probably what keeps me coming back for more.  I
have played other MMO’s such as World of Warcraft, Irth Online, Saga of
Ryzom, and a few others, but the two most prominent games for me where
EQOA and, still today, DAoC.  





[TTH]: style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> What drew you to Vanguard? What
aspects of the game made you decide Vanguard was the game you wanted to
play?



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hspace="4" vspace="2">[Xaices]: What drew me to Vanguard?
Well let me tell you a tale. It was November 2003, a rather cold and
stormy Washington day, and I was left to sit in the OB/GYN to watch my
oldest daughter while my wife was in for one of her pregnancy check
ups. Being bored out of my mind I looked for something to read to pass
the time. All I was finding was family health/New Mom magazines. Then
it appeared--a computer gaming magazine. Finally some thing I could
stomach reading!



As I was flipping through he pages I came across an article no bigger
than a third of a dollar bill crammed in the middle of the magazine
right next to the binding. I almost passed right over it, but for
whatever reason it caught my attention. That article was about the game
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. It talked about Brad McQuaid briefly--who he
was, where he came from, and what he has achieved--then it went into a
description of the game.



[The article] described an adventuring party that had set out to
vanquish evil. The usual stuff, right? Wrong! It talked about how this
adventure party had come up to a suspension bridge that they could not
cross without it being repaired. Luckily they had a crafter in their
party and he quickly began repairs on the bridge. However, as soon as
he began repairs it triggered some spawned mobs which the party had to
defeat while the crafter was repairing the bridge. Of course, the
crafter repaired the bridge and the mobs were defeated.



They continued on, and then they came upon a huge gate guarded by very
powerful guards which the party could not defeat by magic or the
blade...but which could be fought by words and a sharp tongue. The
Diplomat in the group quickly talked their way past the guards and the
adventure continued.  That article is what drew me to Vanguard,
and the aspect of team work and a vision of new and difficult challenge
is what keeps me wanting to play.



[TTH]: style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> You run a pre-launch Vanguard guild:
Reverenced Ire. Can you tell us a little about your guild experiences
before RI?



[Xaices]: The first guild I was
ever in was Good Players Against Bad Grouping (G.P.A.B.G.); in my mind
one of the best guilds I have ever had the opportunity to be a part
of.  You really learned a lot about what it was to be a good
player in an MMO: conduct management, skill, class development, group
dynamics and mechanics, raid dynamics and mechanics, and teamwork. That
guild taught me a lot more about how to play, and fine tune my class
and my skills to maximize effectiveness, than any other guild I have
been in. They were really in it for each other not for themselves.
G.P.A.B.G. fell to FFXI--within 20 days after release there were all
but 3 of us left in guild.



I didn’t move over to FFXI because I was not ready to leave the game; I
had much to accomplish. I moved on to Dark Realm Warriors during their
rebirth into Dark Realm. I raided with them until I left the game. I
would run with Exiled once in a while but was never a member of the
guild.



When I made the move over to DAoC I was inducted into the guild
Ascendance; more of a group of players that just knew each other than a
guild. I quickly left when I discovered that [some of the guild
leader’s activities were a little shady]. A few friends that I had
known since my early Days in EQOA decided to put together a guild of
their own. On the day of guild creation they made six of the founding
members, including myself, all guild leaders. It was doomed from the
beginning, having 6 GLs, all with the same amount of say, got the guild
nowhere; no one was at top to make the final call. Even though two of
the other guild leaders were real life friends [of mine], I made the
decision to move on.



I was solo for a while until I started grouping with Legion of Doom,
and am still with LoD. LoD is unlike any guild I have been with. For
the most part, most guilds I have been a part of in the past have all
been about PvE and raiding. Not LoD; it’s all about Realm vs Realm.
They are a great group of people, always trying to help you out, [even
if it involves] helping you template or spec your toon, and sometimes
they even leave the fields of battle and do a little raiding.  



In my EQ2 days I was in a few guilds early on that quickly died until I
was inducted into Exodus, a server transfer guild. The guild really had
it going on when it first appeared on the server. Finally, [I’d found]
a structured raiding guild with team work and talent...or so I thought.
The guild underwent three changes in command; cliques started forming;
backstabbing happened; [players made] plots, etc. I bailed--that was by
far that the worst guild I have ever been made a part of. They had all
the talent in the world when it came to knowledge and players being
able to raid; but damn, they just could not work as a team. The guild
even came complete with its own gold farmer. Yeah, not a guild I wanted
to be a part of or even associated with. The guild split soon after I
left which was no surprise as a battle for leadership and control was
always present.      





[TTH]: style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> Is Reverenced Ire connected with, or
an extension of, an existing guild? Or is the guild a new development
specifically for Vanguard?



[Xaices]: No. Reverenced Ire
was founded in November 2005--by, well, me--for the soul purpose of
playing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Not wanting to experience another
exodus, I decided to put my best effort forward and start a guild my
self and build it on the ethics and principles that I have carried with
me from G.P.A.B.G.





[TTH]: style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> What sort of guild is Reverenced Ire
(family style, raiding, etc.)? What goals do you have for the guild as
a whole?



[Xaices]: Reverenced Ire is a
raiding guild. Our goals are simple: take on the most challenging
content the game can bring and be successful; continually work and
thrive as a TEAM; and last through the test of time. I stressed team,
because that is what we are.  We are not necessarily all friends,
we may not even totally like one another; however, we must all work
together to succeed and we all understand that.



[TTH]: style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> How many members do you currently
have in Reverenced Ire? Tell us how you went about growing your
membership and building a community.



[Xaices]: We have 20 members
and 6 applicants currently. When I founded Reverenced Ire it was just
me. So much reminds me of that WoW video with the Dwarf asking the
Gnome how many members he has in his guild, and when the Gnome replies
“Just me,” the Dwarf scolds him [saying] that you should never tell
someone that your guild only consists of one player. There is some
truth in that. No one really wants to join a guild that is not a guild.
So I had to really think of what it would take to build a guild from
ground up, having not a single friend from another game help me do
so.  The first thing I did was build the charter. In my opinion a
guild will fail if there are no clear guidelines to follow. I built the
charter on the principles of being a good player, even more so than
that of raiding. The reason for that is if you have players that fit
and can abide by the guidelines of good players then more than likely
you are only going to attract good players. The name actually came
second.



I wanted to name a guild that is not to be confused with any other
guild already in existence href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=vtth-screenshots&id=beta0_12a_wm&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt=""
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hspace="4" vspace="2"> and one that players would recognize. 
I also wanted the name to say something about the guild, to be more
than just a name. Eventually I came up with Reverenced Ire: Reverenced,
[representing being] respected and respectful and Ire, [representing]
the fury, anger, and rage with which we will take on the most
challenging of content and which lends to the fear of our presence.
Once I had a name and a structured charter I needed to make a place
where I could converse with would-be applicants and where future
members could meet and converse. I needed a website with forums. 
Not knowing the eventual outcome I initially went with Guild Portal.
This was the time to get the word out about Reverenced Ire, a Vanguard
Guild. I posted a few times on official Vanguard forum (OVF), and got
the guild listed on some sites that were hosting pre-release guilds.
Then I waited. I am sure you have heard the phrase “If you build it,
they will come.” It could not be truer. I built it and they keep on
coming.



I am building a raiding guild; not a “mom and pop” family guild, not a
casual friend’s guild, a raiding guild. How do I get the right people
in the guild that will help make the guild successful? I set up a three
part application process to assist me with applicants. First the
applicant must fill out an application form on which key questions are
asked. The application is then automatically posted in a thread on the
forums where we Q&A and discuss different topics with the
applicant. If the applicant demonstrates the qualities, traits and
experience (or potential) we are looking for, then we move to the final
phase of the application process, a Ventrilo Interview. The Ventrilo
interview allows for us to communicate first hand with the applicant.
Sometimes understandings and misconceptions can be better handled over
voice chat, where you get a better idea of a person’s personality
through tone of voice, than in text form. We like to get a little
better feel for our potential members than what they put on their
application. To us it’s more than people coming together to play a
game; we are in it to win it and that means every member must be
team-oriented. Without a team working together we would surely fail. We
are a raiding guild and as such all members must (in some capacity)
have the same goals and, even more importantly, be able to work in a
collaborative team environment.



When asked about building a community I think you are referring to
Vanguard Vent. I did not set out to build a community; rather I wanted
to keep my guild involved and to also communicate with other players
about the game via chat versus just the boards.



[TTH]: style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> As you see it, what are the biggest
challenges of leading a pre-launch guild?



[Xaices]: Involvement! Being a
pre-release guild leader probably has a more difficult job than that of
an in-game GL. Without a game to be played there is nothing to really
build camaraderie and to keep members active and interested. So how do
you keep everyone interested and active, build camaraderie, and lay the
foundations for teamwork with no game to play? It’s difficult; I’ll
tell you that--I’m still trying to figure that one out. However I have
done some things that I think are helping. Once I moved from
GuildPortal to a more forum-friendly website, vBulletin customized the
site to be more relaxing and professional. If your forums lack
functionality or are too loud in color or have a lot of “bling,”
members will tend not to be as active, as I’ve found. The next thing I
did was get a Ventrilo Voice Chat server. This allowed for members to
actually get on and talk person-to-person rather than the distancing
that text chat can create.  It keeps them more involved with one
another and the guild. 



[TTH]: style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> Tell us more about Reverenced Ire’s
weekly Ventrillo chat and how interested players can get involved.



[Xaices]: Vanguard Vent, as it
has come to be known, started some time in February of this year (2006)
when Reverenced Ire opened up its Ventrilo server to the community. We
had enjoyed talking in guild chat about the game so much on every
Sunday we thought many others in the community would enjoy it as
well...and they have.



Think of Vanguard Vent as a voice forum. Just like you would go to a
message board and post, here you can actually speak to people rather
than type at them. Every Sunday Night we host this event. People from
all over the globe log into our Ventrilo server to talk about Sigil,
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and other related topics. It has become well
known enough to seize attention from Sigil and on few occasion we have
had guest appearances from Cindy Bowens and Nick Parkinson. With Nick’s
last visit he stated that he will from time to time drop in and as
Vanguard Vent grows. We hope that more visits from Sigil
representatives will occur. If you are interested in being a part of
vanguard vent you can …[Ed: See href="http://www.reverenced-ire.com">Reverenced-Ire.com for the
details.]



[TTH]: style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> One last thing: cake or pie?



[Xaices]: Sometimes the sweeter
things in life are just not better. Pie!