Losses

Well as some of you may know or not it looks as if VIA has decided to drop from the alliance. This is a loss for all of us as they have been not only good friends but an asset to the raid force.
We have also had a few personality conflicts which have also caused us to loose some players and I foresee a couple more deciding in the next few days or weeks who may decide to take their leave. I will not try and stand in anyones way but wish them well.

My one and only guidline i hold myself too is i try to avoid drama in the guild best i can. I try to work out problems that we may have the best of my abilities useing the officers in the guild but I will not consume my play time with drama. I pay approximatly 200 dollars a month for my family and myself to play this game including website and vent and i log on to have fun with friends and try to provide help to all that i can either through game play or as a guild leader. I PLAY FOR THE FUN OF IT NOT BECAUSE I HAVE TO. If I log to play a level 20 toon that day it is because that day that toon makes me happy. I raid because there are mobs i havent beaten not cause I want to be the best on the server. If i wanted to be the best on the server Id be in a elite raiding guild not a guild of freinds who like to group and laugh and have fun even when soloing or crafting.

These losses may hold us back from raiding untill we fill some of the spots that will be lossed. There is no player that can not be replaced and we as knights will move on and overcome this minor setback.

So Knights I ask one favor go out and recruit one toon a healer a coercer a trouby and mentor them, quest with them get them to raiding status and lets overcome this MINOR setback.

WARAL

Well that kinda stinks. Every alliance is tough to keep together. Seems par for the course with EQ2. Every alliance I've been a part of has fallen though for some reason or another.

I think one of the problems we're having is the day-to-day stuff. Grouping / Questing all that jazz.

We have so few tanks and healers and a ton of DPS classes. I know I've been trying to get a group going for Maidens for the whole weekend with no results. Others want to do blank / blank. Others are off doing their own thing with pickup groups.

Seems the only time folks are on is raid time. Probably because it's scheduled.

I'll start playing Raymond more and getting some groups going. Still would like to get my epic done on Rays (then I can put her to bed until raiding).

So if any of you want to get a group going, send any of my toons a /tell. We'll see what we can put together.

waral wrote:

These losses may hold us back from raiding untill we fill some of the spots that will be lossed. There is no player that can not be replaced and we as knights will move on and overcome this minor setback.

I don't think that you meant this in the way it seems to be coming across. Classes can be replaced, but the people behind the characters cannot. Honestly, if you did mean it in that form, that anyone can be replaced, then I'll have to do some hard thinking.

Raymond wrote:

I think one of the problems we're having is the day-to-day stuff. Grouping / Questing all that jazz.

Yes, that is a problem. A rather hard one to solve. Redar and I have been turned down on our attempts to go out and do things with our characters in various forms. I feel sometimes that some are too busy to help out when they've recieved help from us. I stopped offering help or asking if anyone wanted to get something together for the very fact that everyone is off doing their own thing. One can only go through so much before one tends to feel unwanted or not needed.

But, some of my problems are with some things that have been said. I won't state them for the very fact that I don't like drama and will keep it to myself. Aside from that, Redar and I can only do so much just the two of us grouping to do things. We love each other dearly, but it gets extremely boring and upsetting that we can't do other things.

But, drama is going to be part of the game no matter what direction we turn. We have it in life and we will have it else where. Even my Sims 2 game gets too dramatic at times.

You ask me, I'll tell you one thing first. Do you want the truth or a lie? Be careful in asking me then answering that question. You might not want to know the truth from my
side of opinions. In reference of my alt characters being pulled out of the guild, they're not going to recieve help, nor progress much futher where they are now. So I feel no guilt in removing something that isn't going to be beneficial to the guild. And leaving them in a guild is not going to benefit us either, they'll never be used for much of anything.

You've got my two cents, and let's leave it here as what I've had to say. Don't ask me, you might not like my opinion of things. If there's a problem with what I've said, then please say so and I will move on out.

p.s. i bet it being summer has got something to do with it too...

hiyas def hun hugggggsssss

I retract the comment dealing with player and insert toon. no toon can not be replaced.

I dont know how to do the cut paste and highlight quote thing but Ive been in the Military for 21 years and deal with tons of personailties and opinions and have never been offended so nothing! i mean nothing posted about a game will upset me so dont hold anything back if you feel that i have somehow wronged you let it loose get it off your chest hopefully it will make you feel beter and maybe just maybe we can fix what ever needs fixed if not at least it will be out in the open.

Grouping in this guild has not changed in years some call it clickish which it may be but it has been consistent so im not sure why the sudden "the sky is falling" mood. I agree we are short heals and tanks for some Higher lvl instances. I myself try and offer my services as a tank as often as possible (sorry we couldnt get a guild group Ray but i did offer my services minus last night due to the drama unfolding)
I posted earlier (guard for hire) most times when im asked to help it goes beyond just tanking a zone or a heroic mob most times Im expected to form the group and find the classes needed for the group. then stick around for the following quest and the one after that. I have never tried to hide my opion on alts and i know I have said when asked to help lvl someones alt that I wasnt interested if this is wrong im sorry but if your lvl 65 and my toons are 20-30-75-75-78-80-80-80 what am i doing but following you around while you lvl your toon so you can have another higher level alt. Not to say that i wont help with an instance or heroic mob you just cant beat of course i will and have and will continue to.
If I need help I am not affraid to ask spam channels do what ever it takes but i only ask for help on my main if i play an alt its usually just me or me and tanamae and we have taken 6 toons to 80. With Tanamaes new work schedule we have 2 hours a night together and for those two hours we like to do whatever together take lots of breaks and casualy do what ever we are doing and ill be damed if Im going to miss our time together for anything or anyone.

Hey, wasn't pointing you out waral about the Maidens group thing... Was just saying that getting a group modivated to start "forming" an instance zone is the difficult thing these days.

If we look back though the ROK expansion it was kinda nutty. There was a chiche. A bunch of us went level crazy exploring the zones. A bunch of us burned out. Out of that first ROK cliche: Oni left, Froggie left. I left there for a while.

After I came back from a break (my work travel thing), I couldn't find a guild group to save my life. When looking at the guild roster, we'd see the same group of people doing all the zones. When folks said they'd help me go through instances with my Inquis once I betrayed him for the guild, I was turned away again. Again, same subset of folks doing the zones.

This stems from a lack of tanks. If you think about it, we only have 3 tanks. Drty being "the" tank. Raymond and Gleete. Ya'll know I don't play Raymond much. Only to do instances. I've just been tied up with my two raiding alts. Thinking back, I created Xrays back in the beginning of December. I've been focused on getting him up to raid level because we needed a templar. Shoot we already had Ashers and Froggie AND Rays as a conjy. Really the only reason I rolled the templar was to help out with raiding.

I'm not sobbing here... Just saying that when focus is put on too many "single" toons, it tends to backfire when that toon leaves.

I'll throw down the gauntle here. I'll play Raymond more.... When I left the guild back a few months ago, I started doing pickup groups. I could really only get a group with Raymond because tanks are in short supply. I still get tells from those people wanting me to tank with Raymond. I hate pickup groups with a passion. It's the reason I'm guilded. So if you see me on (with any of the toons), just shoot me a tell... I don't hang out in vent all the time. Have a hard time wearing headphone for a long period of time hehe.

Im sorry if it seemed i was pointing you out Ray my point was i did attempt to help but im sure While your on vacy this week we will get your updates.
Hopefully in the aftermath of this drama everything will go back to normal and with a month of everyone takeing leave and no raids might help lso. But with the loss of via we do need to assess our current rosters and see who wants to continue raiding and help them get to the lvl they need to be at and recruit what we are short of. Mirax has offered to lvl his coercer and raid if we can keep the raids to 2 hours which doesnt seem to be a problem so I will be helping him as much as possible to lvl him.
We are going to need a raiding templar no offence to any other healers but when it come to the raid those toons are top dog I dont know why but i do know my inquis cant keep up no matter what i try. with those two classes plus i know my parents are dying to raid with their trouby and dirge we should be ok in say mid august. but we may need to start raiding T5 T6 and T7 to help these newer toons learn the raid system.. adding one or two new folks is easy but trying to add 6-9 new toons and throwing them into T8 would be a bad thing in my mind.

That is the reason we have been leveling up Suzzette and Kion, our templar and guardian. Not quite there yet, but being 77 we're getting closer.

I wouldn't mind starting out in the lower teir raid zones to get the hang of things. Or even instances to help others get higher level.

In reference to helping people level, I have no difficulty in helping with whatever is they need for quests, heritages, or gear. Mentoring isn't a problem.

If I had the funds, which I kind of do at the moment but don't at the same time, I'd setup a extra computer in order to open up a 3rd account. Something I've been dying to do. As big as my desk is I wouldn't have a problem with it all sitting next to each other. I've done well with 2boxing on the same computer. I already have a unopened EoF box that would get toons up to decent level then purchase the rest of the ones I need.

Though in the future, if they do a "all in one" expansion this November, I will probably just purchase a extra box of that and figure out what to do with this one.

Having another account for myself to play opens alot of challenges for me as well as increasing the chances of maybe converting my daughter from WoW to EQ2.

GUILD HUG EVERYBODY!!!! No copping free feels

In my experience in this game (Since NOV 2004), guilds have come and gone. Mostly those that do not last is because they lack friendship, or a small group within family guilds feel they are missing something in game content...

I have been in many raiding guilds in this time, and I would not replace the friendships I have made in family guilds with those loot upgrades I have made in raiding guilds. I know at times it may seem frustrating raiding zones and dying over and over. Raiding guilds may be doing higher content, but guess what... They are dying over and over again more than you all are (I spent 7 hours dying to one mob just so we could beat it 1 time).

You all in Celtic Knights have something really special. You have some really great people that I will always remember as friends no matter what course my games may take me. The only reason I am not very active in CK is my timezone.. So, I am playing on a euro server to go with my timezone. For over a year I solo'd most the time, and this got boring fast. It became a toon quest grind factory and that stopped being fun.

I just say to those that think the sky is falling in CK... Guilds all have growing pains. People come and they go. There is no reason to be mad at someone that seeks to choose their own path in another guild for whatever reason. If they were your friend in CK, they are you friend in <Insert Tag Here>. At the same instance a new person will come and join and be the Bamas, Igots, and even Nimmos of tomorrow. The latter being where Waral was coming from when he mentioned people are not unreplaceable. I being prior military can translate his intention, and it was not meant in a mean way. Military people are just more matter-of-fact than civies =)

CK has come a long way from when I first met Waral a way back. Together you have grown into a very nice guild of great people. Don't frown from growing pains. Keep up what you are doing and the mood cycle should never discourage you.

Best Regards,

Fetish/Wysh

Excellent post, Tony, with many very valid points.

Wysh /hugs