A New Year's Reflection.

It's late, and I really should be going to bed soon... But, before I head off to the wild land of Nod, I thought I'd encourage us all to - in this topic - share our favourite moments of the guild so far. And share what we are looking forward to in the future.

It's been a brilliant first few months for the Guild but there are many things to reflect upon. We've established ourselves on the server, at least amongst the RP/forum community, we've seen many faces come and go - but equally we're still go the 'Core' at our heart. And I think it's a promising outlook as we approach 2010, Cataclysm and much more...

So... We'll try and do this in an orderly fashion. Divide your post into:

Highlights:
Memorable experiences within the Guild and good times you've had with The Apothecarium.
Future Hopes:
Things/events/storylines you're looking forward to developing within the Guild.

Successes:
Personal or community-wide achievements within the Guild. Or things you consider our "strengths".
Failures:
Perhaps most solemly and most importantly... what could we be BETTER at.
If you can offer -simple- solutions to the problem, DO SO!

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ME FIRST!

It's... LONG... so, erm, a genuine "Contents" here, for navigation. If you're bored, just have a look through. But I urge, or insist... that all officers read "failures", at the very least. Some very important things to be discussed in this section. Please offer your thoughts in your own responses.

Highlights:
- Visiting Agrammar.
- My First Farewell.
- The Crimson Storm.
Future Hopes:
- Casual RP.
- The Colour of Blood.
- The "Other Lot".
Successes:
- Integrity.
- Out of Character Banter!
- Events!
Failures:
- Guild Stability.
- These Forums!
- "Random" RP.

Highlights:
- The first time Bekka and I went to visit Agrabodak in Agrammar... as new members of this strange new world of inter-guild RP relations... I can remember my skin crawling as we moved through the, then alien, forest of Ashenvale. We were greeted by some grumpy Grunts.
And the RP that followed was memorable firstly because: it was the first of Bekka and I's many outings as the Dynamic Duo. Serious and silent guard with egotistical and talkative 'diplomat'. They have always been some very exciting moments of RP which we've shared and which never fail on the confrontation side of things.
And secondly because that encounter was the very first time we dipped our rotten toes into the big blue sea. And it makes me chuckle to think how 'in awe' I was of Agrammar then. And now, while I still think they're a decent RP Guild... I smile at the thought of worrying how we may appear to them.

- On my first departure from the Guild some of you may remember the "farewell" party held in the Inn at Brill, Gallow's End. Now let me tell you... I've always hated the fact that Darsy can't really 'dip into' what I call "Soap Opera RP"... A bit rude maybe... But, I've built this very austere, arrogant, 'serious' character and it is restrictive in that he can never let his greasy hair down.
Well this one night I really decided, what the heck... I'm gone for 5 weeks soon. I'll just enjoy a new RP spin on things. I -even- gave people a rare tale from my past life. I expect most of you shall not recall this, since it was so very long ago. But these social RP gatherings are something I intend to do more of, since it was so much fun. (see the "future" section!)

- The RP PvP with the Scarlet's at Vengeance Landing, was quite frankly... AWESOME. I was incredibly pleased with how we conducted ourselves and just thought the whole thing went really well. When I look back at how I trembled at the thought of overseeing an event in Ashenvale where we killed a few Satyr's... and now here we are, standing in Northrend, slaying Scarlet's and having a great time. I cannot help but chuckle. It was a sweet reflection on how far we'd come. Especially when compared with our first encounter with the Scarlet's.
Does anyone recall that? We tried to be all theatrical, "appearing out of the dusk"... and it just failed. EPICLY. I mean seriously, failed. It was a mess, there were OOC arguments - God forbid! - and it all got so horribly heated. And now... look at us! If we can manage an event as complex as this. I'm confident we can manage most things to come.

Future Hopes:
- More "casual" RP... Seriously, when I chastise people for going to Sillymoon, and they say... "What else is there to do?" at 23:00 at night... I have to rub my chin and give up. Because in response, I can only confess that most of our RP is very erm... serious. This is why I find Kel and Claud's little storyline so endearing and intriguing. It's great to see people, even though we are undead, chatting away more casually alongside all the action.
How do I hope to spread this? Well... Firstly, once we're settled at New Agamand (with summons so people can get the damn flight path!) they'll be an Inn. Our first, fully operational Inn. It has chairs and everything! With any luck... this'll mean when I bark "dismissed" people don't translate that as, "lolz gtfo to SMC". We'll have our own place to "chill" IC together. Secondly, I've just recruited a lovely RP named Werran. Say hello to him - he's our new Innkeeper, or "Leisure Manager", as I addressed him IC. In essence he'll, with any luck, become one of many planned facilitators of this casual RP. I want to start reaching out to all kinds of people. Let's put it this way: we're no longer looking for crazy scientists. We're looking for people to serve the crazy scientists drinks, clean their mounts or even just have a chat with them. I hope this "civic" RP sees rapid expansion in the Guild. Or we might all become so bored we'll bury our heads in the welcoming bossoms of Sillymoon...

- Now... I present to you, my master stroke... "The Colour of Blood."THIS. Shall be our final, epic, several-month-long-'til-whenever-Cata-finally-shifts set of events focussing on... If you haven't guessed yet. The Scarlet Onslaught. Now... As usual, I'll miss 75% of it. But I still, poking around New Hearthglen (and our final, final, FINAL objective) Onslaught Harbour, see plenty to play with. Oh yes... For weeks have I planned our progression as meticulously as any Raid Leader. And it's looking wonderful from here.
So yes, not much else to point out at this stage. But Venomspite is simply wonderful, and some of the areas around it (herbs from the Emerald Dragon Shrine, anyone?) are perfect for our RP - much like most of Northrend.
One thing I must say I am worried about... Is encouraging the 'non-regulars'/'lowbies' to shift themselves to Northrend for RP inbetween events. For now, it's fine. The Landing is easy by Zep'. But I guarantee come Agamand we shall start to see problems arriving as we hear... constantly... "no Flight-Path". Have the summons at the ready 'Locks, I fear it's the only way.

- Greater external interaction. Just as I hope our inter Guild relations might shift more towards the day-to-day stuff... At the moment it's rather, "Oh, hello! I haven't seen you since yesterday when we slaughtered that Storm Giant..." So I hope that our more epic adventures can be shared with others in the community. We have already attempted this on numerous occasions. The Hallowed Ball is a shining example. Looking back, despite those damn lollers on mammoths, I have to smile at the wonder of the occasion. A brilliant turnout and a brilliant evening, after a lot of fast and rude typing. I think, as the only all-Forsaken, almost, Guild (never forget that!) we are uniquely placed to offer our "Evil RP" around. Just as Wapasha kindly accepted our cordial invitation to the realm, so I trust that more... non-vampires... shall step up with reasonable requests to enrish our - and their - RP.

Successes:
- I think we're great at many things. But one of the most brilliant and underplayed is our ability to retain ourselves as a Forsaken-only, almost, Guild. And I know I've mentioned it so many times... And I know it seems like I may be overdoing it. But just look around you for a moment and let me explain.
Dagger and Totem, widely and correctly recognised as a splendid "Old Horde" RP Guild has buckled under the demmand of, presumably, members wanting to shelve alts somewhere homely. Agrammar sold themselves, in my humble opinion, with the whole "Foreign Legion" thing... it just sounds all tinny, like a tacky spin-off show. The Sunfire Vanguard, again brilliant at RP, gave up juggling around with their "integrity", as I call it and member activity, long ago. All these guilds are now a bit... messy... But I always feel, when I RP with you lot, that our IC and therefore OOC goals are very clear. As She says: "We are the Forsaken and we will slaughter anyone who stands in our way." And sure enough, we've somehow managed to keep to that along the way!
Some of you may have grumbled at me from time to time. "Witchdoctors", you cry, "Just an Alt", they say. But I feel that, hopefully, you feel that the proof is evident - we've maintained this unique "market" in keeping true to our original ideals. Sure it's a struggle, I don't think the larger "Old Horde" RP Guilds quite appreciate how frustrating it is to see them embracing Forsaken Warlocks and still having the guts to brand themselves "Old Horde" or "Shamanistic". I know I'd have lost sight of our RP purpose long ago, if we had Tauren amongst us, even as alts. And this is important to remember as a triumph for us.

- Out Of Character liveliness. This cannot be denied. You'd think that, as I've experienced with some past Heavy-RP Guilds, the players become quite dry and severe, particularly given the rather 'heavy', in the serious sense, nature of our RP. But not us! Quite the opposite in fact. Sure... When I'm not in the mood Garyd's "your mom" crap can grate a bit... But -usually- it's thoroughly entertaining. And I think the Guild as a whole is stronger for this OOC community.

- Event attendance. Though I moan... a lot... and though I groan with some of the -quality- of RP from some of our less experienced members. Some of the recent turnouts have been spectacular. Unfortunately sign-ups seem "out of fashion", but I'm always impressed by the number of people who eventually, although always belatedly, muck in for the final show down with some great villain!

Failures: (if you're an officer, and you haven't read any of this... READ THIS AT LEAST!)
- Guild 'stability'. Now, I've observed something. The quicker you desperately scoop up new members, the quicker the old, loyal, 'veterans'... become slightly alienated from the whole thing. It's like scooping sand up as quickly as you can. But instead of shoving it in a bucket, you're putting it in a collinder and you can watch as the sand at the bottom gets pushed straight out and the rest tumbles through the little holes. But you're just so busy scooping up more sand, that you don't notice this for a while...
Azentyr's sudden loss, and thankful return, demonstrated this. And I think... that slowly we are "stabilising". What do I mean by all this..? Well, we're 'good' at recruiting. We actually average 1 recruit /day, which is... "impressive". But when you look for these recruits in a week... they'll be strangely absent. We've been recruiting the alt's for far too long, and only around 10% of them "stick" as members for a while. Now I know I'm preaching to the converted - since you're the ones that have definitely "stuck". But I do feel that the Guild, currently, is constantly shifting in terms of names I can't even remember. Sure, we've got plenty online, but far too many are new recruits who will log off and never log on again. So we rush to plug this hole with another level 5, and the process is renewed.
What can we do? Well firstly I think it's about time we said at least level 10+ for recruitment. This has gone on for far too long, and we've been trying to ignore it. Secondly, I think when these low levels are online it's REALLY important that you get to know them, if you befriend them, you become an "anchor", something that makes them come online. Someone who keeps them coming back for the OOC banter - which they're now involved in and the RP, which you've led them into. Next time you "core" are online, and you notice someone you don't know, send them a whisper - introduce yourself and see where a little chat gets you. It helps.

- These damn forums! I'm guilty myself here - most definitely. Until this evening, I only gave these a brief glance to make sure they still existed. But I think, as the guild "evolves" it's about time we shifted our attention to this new medium of communication. And I was at first, quite suprised (believe it or not) at how much these forums -were- actually used... And then I noticed... they were always the same 5 or 6 people posting. The Loyal Core, as always, chatting amongst themselves. This is wonderful. But I cannot stress we need to start "hooking" these lower level players and dragging them in to, what feels increasingly like, the hallowed upper circle. When you're in the circle - you don't notice it - but if you take a step back, you'll realise that in a guild of around 50 active players... the fact you only talk to 10 on a regular basis, and only 5 check these forums more than once a week... is -bad-.
What can we do? Easy - if there isn't an event on it's way, I now implore you to stick this site on the message of the day. If someone unfamiliar logs on, give them a wave, as above, and encourage them to come and have a look here. But most importantly - keep using them yourselves! DO NOT GIVE UP, I'm actually amazed you haven't already... If you keep using these forums -and- (here's the key bit) chat about them, as you do occasionally, online - you'll give people a reason to come and look at them themselves. Make them curious and get them involved.

- "Random" RP... I know it's a Guild and we're supposed to get together for events. But I sometimes feel, perhaps incorrectly, as if I'm dragging people along. They groan with, "Oh but's" and... "In a minute". And then, amazingly, they apologize to me. As if the events are just for my satisfaction and I'll be terribly depressed if they don't go, althought it does sadden me if there's a REALLY bad turnout - we haven't had one for a while. The "non-Core", as I shall call them, don't ever seem to go: "Oh, damn. I can't make that event - and I really wanted to go to it...", always it's "Oh, sorry. I can't come. Really sorry, so sorry... etc. etc." And it just gets a bit confusing. And y'know what I think it is? I do those things I always do at events, "need to go AFK now - kk? So just RP amongst yourselves", I suddenly realised I've never actually witnessed what happens without me. I have a sneaking suspicion the Core, that's 'you lot', sort of chat amongst themselves and the "non-Core" just go AFK themselves... Perhaps it's not -that- bad, but I hardly think you start doing the conga together. In any case, even when I'm around there's a distinct lack of "chattyness", I have to remind people to RP with one another... which gets quite confusing.
What can we do? Well next time you're at an event, don't bother galloping up the front with me - go to the back, find a "lowbie" you've never seen in your life. And get chatting IC! I don't need help "running" these events, that bit's easy, I just get anxious when people don't seem to be enjoying themselves. When they run away with themselves, set up a campfire without instruction and start nattering away about past lives - that's magical. But when we're riding along to silence and I have to /rw "TALK?!" before someone will comment on the weather... it get's quite annoying.

CONCLUSION.
Firstly, be proud- we've done really, really, well. But the trouble is this "we" is becoming far too narrow. In this, now fairly large guild, it's about time some of us stopped - quite frankly - ignoring half the membership and began extending our welcomes to these strange level 8's...Or else they disappear after a day.
And then what happens? We end up with nobody to boss around. It's scary the number of times I've looked on the Guild rooster to find not a single Skulk, nor an Afflicter online. It happens all the time. These ranks are being crammed with inactive alts or new members - who then fall prey to the same virus and become inactive themselves. We need to do more than spam Welcome macro's, guilty, or "Whalecum", not-guilty, at new members. We need to send them happy /w's to say hello. We need to urge them to get onto these forums. And we need to help them, not simply 'come along' to events - but actually engage with them once they're there! This might sound daunting, but it really, really, isn't. I'm not asking you to come online any more often. Or plan anymore events. Or make anymore macro's. All it means is that when you -are- online, you devote your attention beyond this lovely 'inner circle' to the 'wider community' that's waiting to be embraced: before we're the only ones left.

Happy New Year and remember these words!
And now... Add your own comments and opinions below!

Well, here's my two pennies. Please note that anything I say here (and yes, I'm going to be critical) is said in the spirit of helpful criticism and should hopefully be taken as such.

Highlights:
- RP
Future Hopes:
- More varied RP
- More inter-racial interaction
Successes:
- Membership
- Level advancement
Failures:
- RP
- 'the clique'

Highlights

- I have written RP because of the fleeting moments of RP I could get involved with quite early on, when I first joined the guild. The failed event at Southshore and various pieces of RP here and there. Although it wasn't much, it was generally friendly RP amongst guildies which was almost completely inclusive and I liked that. This of course, was before I was shipped off to university.

Future Hopes

- Here I have written more varied RP, because as harsh as it may sound almost every character in the apothecarium has the same story. The same superiority complex, the same sadism and the same hatred for everyone except themselves. Its almost as if the Apothecarium exists solely to cater for the bad guys in us all when that is not why I joined, or how I chose to RP.

Obviously I am not having a go at how people RP their characters, I'm just saying I'm sick of the same old story, and feel alienated when I try to RP as my character with characters who, although are the same race and have the same goals, can't even have a conversation. I joined the apothecarium because the undead (to me) are a very funny race, their sadism is ironic and comical and they have such amusing characteristics; but everyone I speak to in the apothecarium (everyone that are to speak that is) either have their head up their arse or are so full of angst and anger, they either can't take a joke or will bite your head off. This leads from what you have mentioned as 'Serious RP' Dusk, I don't like Serious RP unless something 'serious' is going on, but people so far haven't caught on.

I may sound somewhat embittered but I believe I have a valid reason for this which will come later.

- I would like to see the Apothecarium branch out of the Undercity. I think we are big enough now to start reaching out amongst the Horde for other allies (as the forsaken have done,) maybe some of the more seasoned members can ambassador themselves to other guilds on behalf of the Apothecarium? Depending on which apothecarium member you speak to you can either have a positive experience or a negitive one (as mentioned above) but, perticularly in terms of where we are upto in lore (just after the wrathgate, and about to kill arthas) I believe its time for the Apothecarium to start mending the bridges and reaching outside the forsaken for allies.

Successes

- Although I would agree in part with you Dusk, I don't think the situation is as dire as that. For every three new members we get, its usually at least one of them that stays in the fold and while this is only a small increase, over time it has become quite lucrative on the membership front.

- Everyone sems to be advancing their levels in leaps and bounds. This may not be important for an RP guild, but it does open up oppertunities for storylines in northrend and outland and other high level content.

Failures

- Ok so, as I mentioned above, I do not like the RP at the moment, its too serious for me. This is of course, just me, everyone else seems to be fine with it so maybe I should consider my position in the guild and if it is what I am really looking for.

I should state now though that usually I am one of the 'Sorry I can't make it' lot, I am in university full time, which means I get very little time to myself and in the evenings I am busying myself with assignments and society things which take up a lot of my time. I know it is the mantra of the guild that attendance to events is prefered but not mandatory, however; that isnt really the case...

- Ok this is something thats been on my mind for a while, what you refer to as the 'core', I call the clique. I have been a member for a few months now, have a rank, have taken part in events and what not and I suppose by your definition would be a part of the 'core' of members, however, I am not in the clique. The clique seems to be reserved for people who are able to attend regular evens, the makers of those events, and essentially anyone who is or ever has been an officer. Some of these memebers may or may not be elitest at times which isn't in itself a bad thing but it all serves to alienate new members. If you wanted a contributing factor to whether new members are willing to stay or not, just hang in guild for a while as a new member and see how easy it is to get involved in general chat, or how welcome you are in the labs RP.

I have done this recently and had a horrible experience, I felt very unwelcome by the people in the guild, and was using a toon with a well established character (from the royal deathguards actually, all those moons ago.) The RP was always one sided and a power trip to the established members and although if you were watching t, it would have been very entertaining, I wanted to leave the guild there and then.


I am not bitching about anyone in perticular, and depending on how you see the guild, you can argue that things are going in leaps and bounds since I joined a few months ago. But my situation at Uni will not change for the next four years, and if it means I will be spending four years shunned in chat, on the benches and a general ghost as far as guild RP is concerned, then I will probably leave (which is more a reflection on me than any of the members.)

There you go, talk amongst yourselves.

And merry christmas

I would certainly agree with what Deveran has said, in fact some of it sounds pretty damn similar to mine.
One thing I'd disagree with, as you'll see from that section in my "successes" is the 'recruiting new allies part' you didn't really specify whether this meant literally having Orcs and Tauren as members, or simply having them interact with us or come along to events.
The first - recruiting them - I totally disagree with, if you look at Forsaken Lore (even walk around the Landing or New Agamand) you'll see they are incredibly distrustful of their "allies". However, I agree with you fully if you meant just seeking more 'involvement' with them. And in case you didn't know already - Dagger and Totem are coming to our event on the 27th. So we're making a start there!

As for your criticisms - they're almost identical to my groans about "casual/random" RP. I really hope that by getting our Innkeeper Werran involved in some things we can have some more relaxed RP interaction. As for the "similar character stories" - I'll disagree that we're all like that, but what I would say is that the, so far, serious nature of our RP means that these types of character find it easier to interact and therefore are promoted. And therefore they become the most 'prominent' members. I think there are plenty of more subtle characters, Claudine is one I can think of, who have more "soft" story-lines. But I'd agree we need more... for want of a better phrase... "Tavern RP".
And finally the "clique", yup agree with you - as you pointed out - 100% here. We need to start turning round those hunched backs and saying hello to the some 50 members who now call The Apothecarium home. That's really, really, really, important. Get them on these forums, get chatting to them, and get RPing with them in a more casual environment (start chatting at events!).

Grand Master Duskmantle wrote:

I would certainly agree with what Deveran has said, in fact some of it sounds pretty damn similar to mine.
One thing I'd disagree with, as you'll see from that section in my "successes" is the 'recruiting new allies part' you didn't really specify whether this meant literally having Orcs and Tauren as members, or simply having them interact with us or come along to events.
The first - recruiting them - I totally disagree with, if you look at Forsaken Lore (even walk around the Landing or New Agamand) you'll see they are incredibly distrustful of their "allies". However, I agree with you fully if you meant just seeking more 'involvement' with them. And in case you didn't know already - Dagger and Totem are coming to our event on the 27th. So we're making a start there!

As for your criticisms - they're almost identical to my groans about "casual/random" RP. I really hope that by getting our Innkeeper Werran involved in some things we can have some more relaxed RP interaction. As for the "similar character stories" - I'll disagree that we're all like that, but what I would say is that the, so far, serious nature of our RP means that these types of character find it easier to interact and therefore are promoted. And therefore they become the most 'prominent' members. I think there are plenty of more subtle characters, Claudine is one I can think of, who have more "soft" story-lines. But I'd agree we need more... for want of a better phrase... "Tavern RP".
And finally the "clique", yup agree with you - as you pointed out - 100% here. We need to start turning round those hunched backs and saying hello to the some 50 members who now call The Apothecarium home. That's really, really, really, important. Get them on these forums, get chatting to them, and get RPing with them in a more casual environment (start chatting at events!).

No no, I did mean being involved with other factions, I would prefer the guild stays undead only (although I logged on today and saw a blood elf rogue, maybe we allow for exceptions? I don't know) I'm glad to hear that dagger and totem are on board, they have some awesome RPers.

And perhaps your right about the 'usual suspect' character type. Deveran is a comical, laid back character and therefore is less prone to make waves, that is probably why he is in the background most of the time. I suppose the friendlier characters are more submissive, we need to make sure the friendly characters know that the hard-faced characters do not rule the roost (although in the current situation, they kinda do.)

I would love to plan some events with an injection of comedy in them, see if they catch on.

Highlights:

Visiting Agrammar
I agree with Darsy - our visit to Agrammar was amazing. Being escorted deep into another guild's territory gave me goosebumps. Grunts staring at us, guards, and of course the leader himself. This kind of RP also fits Rebekka so well - she's not fond of speaking, but is (usually) alert and keeps her eyes and ears open. Add the fact that she's (sometimes freakishly) loyal, and *BAM* there you have her perfect occupation. Bodyguard!

The Hallowed Ball
Even though it was almost impossible for me to interact with someone properly on a character like Rebekka during an event like this, I enjoyed it very much. It was so much fun listening to the other roleplayers - some of them, had, let's say... very interesting conversations (*coughs* Harry and Zane *coughs*).

One of our visits to Fenris
I must say, I love the scarlet sigil. If I could bother playing alliance and had time to spare to dedicate myself to yet another character, I would go and join them ASAP.
During one of our visits to Fenris Isle, we had some excellent RP PvP with them. Especially when we were pushed down to a little hill by the water on the south side of the keep. I was baffled, because the tactics used seemed so realistic.

The Crimson Storm
More scarlet love! What can I say, this evening was amazing.


Future Hopes:

Interaction with other guilds
From what I can remember, we haven't had any "big" cooperation going on with a guild since Agrammar in Ashenvale. It was interesting RPing with another guild in an event, especially when not all the orcs were too fond of us dead people... ^_^

Less non-forsaken
I know there will be more elves and possibly even goblins among our ranks in the future. As long as we have members of these races, we cannot avoid recruiting more of them. I just hope we will keep this at an absolute minimum, and only give exceptions for people that have roleplayed with us for a while and have -really- good reasons.

Roleplay with a more casual feel
This bit is hard. The Forsaken as a race is generally not jolly and chatty. Most of them does not even have the same feelings as humans do, and therefore, they will not interact with each other in an entirely human way (a lot of people tend to forget this. Of course some will be more human than others. But everyone can't be like that - a balance is needed). Of course, you can create a character with strange quirks that makes them somewhat comical (like Cadmiam) or a character that is nice and friendly, which makes it much easier to interact with people. But I'd hate to see the guild turned into a bunch of comic reliefs/sweethearts. All of us who play a more serious character need to find reasons to just visit the inn, drink some wine, and chat. Even the most grim Forsaken should be able to do this, without "loosing" his/her personality! You just need to figure out how! Trust me, I'm still trying xD


Successes:

Events
The events have been awesome (especially the RP PvP ones, mostly because I have been positively surprised), and a big thank you for all you who spend time creating them. I guess I should too, it's not more than right. I'm afraid of a massive failure though >_<

Guild chat
I enjoy most of my time in the /g channel. There's a bunch of great people in there who at times make my day with their weird conversations and thoughtful comments. Sometimes it's a little too busy, but not in a "bad" way. If I need to concentrate on healing, RPing or something else, I just turn it off. I've rarely seen anyone fighting or being rude in there, and I hope it remains like this.


Failures:

The core/clique
I have to agree with Darsy and Deveran here. As a new member, it can be hard to join the community when there is such a solid group in there - especially when a lot of "core" members have officer positions. I do not dislike this group though and have no intention to dissolve it (partly because I consider myself one of them), and it's only natural that people who are online and involved a lot get to learn each other better and form close(r) bonds. But we need to learn to be more open! To stretch out a hand, to roleplay with someone we've never roleplayed with before! I try to do this - mostly OOCly though, since I, as stated above, is still trying to figure out IC reasons to interact with people, especially people Rebekka do not know. But I can always get better at this! Introducing our new members, so they feel at home and welcomed, is absolutely one of our most important tasks!
But I'd also like to add that even though the "core" has it's responsibility not to remain a closed group, the responsibility is not only theirs (or, if you prefer, ours). All members can say hello, ask how someone is feeling today, join in on some random RP etc. etc. Everyone need to give and take to make this work!

Guild chat
A few months ago, guild chat was at times an absolute nightmare (in my opinion). I felt like I was in a belf cyboring guild, filled with horny hentai-lovers in their early teens. The conversations were far from civilized and the participants did not show respect to the rest of the members. At that time, I -did- leave the /g chat not because it was busy, but because it annoyed me and made me feel uneasy. Luckily, I have not seen this in a long time, but I always fear that some new member will trigger this type of behaviour again. My suggestion would be making a rank below skulk, which would not have access to /g chat, and officers could demote people to this rank for a period of time, temporarily "banning" them from guild chat. This might seem harsh, but it would be used sparsely and with caution.

My responses... (Again, I will try and do this inbetween everyone's post to keep a handle on ideas and make a definitive "list" at the end! Hopefully you don't mind me bursting in with my opinions the whole time...)

To Rebekka: Some very good comments, again strangely similar to Dev's and mine, which is a good thing because it means we're all starting to recognise the major problems in the Guild. As for the creation of a silenced rank... I'd love to but, because of the "departments" we've used all the ranks available to us already.

To Deveran: Glad to see you weren't asking for us to start recruiting Orc's. As far as B-Elf's go we do indeed make notable exceptions, Leah being the most obviously brilliant one. But only where we feel they are really good RPs and are really ICly "part of" the Forsaken. As for wider interaction - I couldn't agree with you more. I've got a few things planned with Dagger and Totem, as noted, and we have interacted with the Sunfire Vanguard recently. In addition we, in the past as we mentioned, did have a lot of RP with Agrammar. And finally... events like the "Hallowed Ball" and the, incoming, "Woeful Winterveil" are my attempts to draw in others from around the wider community.
The main 'problem' is, it's really not down to us or to me. I can ask these Guilds to join in, I can ask individuals to come up to V'Landing for some RP (as I have done numerous times), but it's simply up to them, at the end of the day. That's the reason I'm unwilling to throw us fully into this inter-guild interaction. If all our events were reliant upon other guilds, I'd hate to see us dissapointed, since it's completely beyond my control.
In conclusion: yes, I'll continue to organise large scale RP events with other Guilds. BUT, it's important for individuals to see to it themselves. If you have an Orcish friend you wanna RP with, I have no problem at all with you inviting him up to the Landing for some IC reason. That's how I see us reaching out to other races in our RP.

I really want to bring everyone's attention to this post! The Wedding tonight was fantastic, but I'm now dying to here about your favourite moments in the Guild! QUICK! Before the New Year strikes!

Highlights:

The battle against Death to Winter
Shortly the best rp pvp I seen, with an awesome battle and Rebekka that never wanted to listen to the "we got to retreat!". I think I got their guild name right...

Ambush at menethil/Northern reaching
An awesome attack on menethil with four great guild members, Me, Leah, Darcy and Grogo. After some fighting in menethil we ended up on a boat to the howling fjord and got the guilds first expose to northrend. After a long and awesome work the four apoths reached new agamand still unliving.

Dusk of the dragons
One of the few events I hosted myself, only Anth, Crilly and that elf Anth had as slave showed up, but their rp skills alone was enough to make a great evening.

Loch modan, Darsolenew vs. Troll
Cool battle, great and flashy finish, and then the fun run down when allies hunted us. Only the loler hunter was bad.

The hallowed ball
The biggest gathering of rpers I seen. Exept the mammoth people it was totaly amazing. The feeling of looking around and see rpers everywhere was prizeless.

Future Hopes:

Venomspite
Small sized forsaken town without the new aga slime pines. I really hope for the rp there as it is an awesome place to be at.

Zul'drak
The zone got a good feeling, and the planned base is good, wont say more.

Successes:

Hallowed ball
There was over 50 people there, the community was watching, and no one was disapointed on our efforts. That was when we fully took a place as a guild worth of knowing.

Events in the big whole
They been many, and they been awesome. The Apothecarium have given me the best guild event rp I ever seen.

The story line of the guild
It have been great, and it includes us all. I feel honored to be a part of such a great story.

Failures:

Idiotic non-rpers that mess with events
Not much can be done to these people, exept reporting. They been in the way so many times and nearly everything I call failures happened due to this sort of people. I dont mean oocers are bad in the big whole, but there are idiots among them.

Activity
Under periods, our activity have been deadly low, but after the latest month, I think this is no longer a roblem and hope it wont go as low again.

Groups in the guild
I got to agree with the others that we got problems with making the new people feel wellcome and get them into the group. I guess I am one of the worst officers on this due to the fact I gotta say I am a little asocial and paranoid. I will try better under the coming year. (( ))

Teorius wrote:

The battle against Death to Winter
Shortly the best rp pvp I seen, with an awesome battle and Rebekka that never wanted to listen to the "we got to retreat!". I think I got their guild name right...

If I'm not wrong, the guild is called Dead of Winter.
And what, I didn't want to listen to the order to retreat? x3 I don't remember that. Really. *Coughs* If I'm thinking of the same event you are thinking of... and I recall it correctly... then I (and a few others) were left behind to let the more important guys get away.

Thank you very much Teorius! At last! Someone else has taken an eye at this, self-proclaimed, very important topic. And once more you've made some very valuable points.

Your highlights include many that were on my "short list" but didn't make the final cut. Dead -of- Winter, you almost got it right, were indeed great in providing some valuable RP PvP. I think, on reflection, our time in Ashenvale worked really well. One thing that failed there was "random RP".

In between events Ashenvale was just empty, nobody wanted to remain there ICly - it was a pit of bottomless boredom. In Northrend, things are looking much better. I predict summons to New Agamand shall be necessary - but thanks to the wedding many people should now have the flight path! I'd really encourage you all to keep RP "up there" as much as you can. Publish tasks that need doing in between events as announcements to keep ideas flowing.

I really, very, VERY, nearly, put down our "boat trip" in Menethil. The event on the 3rd "re-lives" that memorable experience, but we'll be making it all the way to Valgard with any luck! For those of you who don't know, we tried to board the ship to Northrend, but fell off and ended up in a cave in the heart of the Fjord. We had to swim to safety and arrived at New Agamand tired, cold and angry.

Dusk of the Dragon's is one of those I've heard about, but couldn't attend (obviously). I really hope event attendance is succesful in my absence. It's just dependant on keeping the GMotD updated and making sure that the Guild is aware of the event. I find that just mentioning it in Guild chat is the best way to get the word around. You'll notice this if you're ever gone for the whole day, log on an hour before the event, and find that (despite the Message of the Day and the Calendar) there's only 6 of you online. People just need reminding throughout the day.

The Loch Modan duel was awesome - end of. Shame Zuljo never really took that storyline further before he hopped ship to the Blue Side!

As for your future hopes. Zul'Drak is half on the list at the moment. I envisage it as a sideline plot. We'll be based in the empty necropolis - for those of you that know it - and will carry out a few events there in preparation for the final assault on Onslaught Harbour.

Venomspite is set to be our final main base for a -very- long period of time. And I must admit it's really exciting. Once you get that deep into Northrend there's so much around you, we should never tire of ideas of "things to RP with".

Your successes are equally valid Teo! I agree absolutely with your comment on the Hallowed Ball. At the end of that evening I went to bed thinking: "we've made it now." There was no way I could doubt anymore than, in some form, The Apothecarium was going to continue. I'm not claiming we're invincible, I just knew then that it wasn't a "passing craze".

Finally the "Storyline of the Guild/Events as a whole" are very good points and they're often overlooked. I think that's the main thing we take for granted within the Guild. Even within very good RP Guilds, it's very rare you get a wholesome coherent storyline.

We may not have 100% brilliant RPs in our Guild but we do have a very strong "purpose" which I've always tried to force down your throats. At the end of the day, when you log on, you're more likely to stick around if you know IC "goals". It's far easier to think of an RP concept with these aims in mind, and our strong identity as a Forsaken only RP Guild means that RP as a whole is more consisted and coherent. It's not about individuals. It's about the path we're taking our characters down together.

As for your failures, I'd agree that Activity and "Groups" within the Guild are the two big issues. Activity is simply a matter of getting things done when you are online. A common misconception is that "activity" is about just being online more. That, somehow, if we were all online 24/7 it would be a better Guild. I see it quite differently.

Activity is about what you do when you are online. There's plenty of "active" people in the Guild who go completely unoticed. Because they don't come along to events and they don't RP often. No matter how much they're online, if they're not "doing" something with the Guild then they're as worthless as someone who's never online, in my harsh opinion.

But it is down to the Officers, yes including you Teo, to make sure that when a big group is online and someone says "I'm bored", you do something. Take them to New Agamand and go and hunt a storm-giant. Anything to give them a reason to become "active". That's how we keep it all going.

Finally the "group" thing is a recurring theme here. What can we do? You need to drag others along to your RP. You need to march people onto this forum and most importantly you need to chat to them OOC. Sometimes a "Whalecum" just isn't good enough. It's very telling when you join a Guild, get spammed by Welcome macro's (guilty) and then there's a wierd silence. You should be getting to know the newcomers, asking questions about other characters, RP style, anything and everything to get them involved.

Make new friends - it's really simple.

That's about it for now. Thank you Teo! Really appreciate this, I think this thread it quite important, as you can tell from my walls of text (which I'm sure few shall read).

NEXT!

Highlights:

- The guild gathering in Crossroads
- Leading the Implantation department
- Creation of "The Spine"
- Geriand's "take-over"
- The funny discussions on guild-chat


Memories:
Well, there are so many.. Like the fight in Shattrath, i know, i know, it's not long ago, but i kinda feel that it was somewhat of a "highlight" in Lea's rp line.
Hihi, when we raided the town in Wetlands of which i cant remember the name of, and we got the good idea to jump on the boat xD now THAT was funny, splashing around in the water.. And a certen someone taking the glory of finding the path to safety :l <3


Future Hopes:
- I hope we can have some Ghostlands rp, and i will (i think) make this happen.
- That Dars keeps up the good work, as well as the rest of us
- ... I don't know if i want anything more I will let you know, k?

Successes:
- Our massive Rp gatherings, the Hallowed Ball as a perfect example, we have shown our faces to the masses, and i would even be so harsh as to say we are perhaps one of the best known guilds on the Horde side.
- Our good social tone on the guild chat.
- Ashenvale was a great success, especially rp wise when it came to relations within the guild.

Failures:
- We could perhaps, and this is a shout to everyone.. Try to show up more for events, or atleast let everyone know if you can't make it, i know we have the tenative button, but still, we are a large guild, more than 10 people should be able to meet!
- We failed when it came to the defence of Lordaeron in the "Lordaeron campaign" by the Alliance, this however, due to the other guilds not showing up i think..
- Not doing more to show that the Alliance breaking the Rp/PvP rules is NOT ok. Talking to them is not enough, we should do something more strict, like urgeing other horde guilds not to rp with them if they break the rules more, cuz ill tell ya, IT IS VERY ANNOYING.

Conclusion:
I love our guild<3


I know it is a littol short, but live with it :p happy newyears!<3

Finally assed to write something...

Highlights:
-The Shadowsworn issue
-The guild chat
-All the people (I'd switch most of my IRL friends with you all!)
-Moving to Northrend
-The wedding
-The Crossroads thing

Memories:
Well, simpy all different events during Shadowsworn's takeover, and all the joy and drama between Claud n Kel. When I was first in Ashenvale as a skulk, I felt it for the first time... this rp guild is pure win.

Future Hopes:
-Like Lea said, Ghostlands RP.
-Venomspite RP.
-Whatever works, as long as it's as badass as everything has been so far.

Successes:
-Most of the events. Along with the big gatherings, like the Crossroads thing and Hallowed Ball.
-All the big drama, and everything. This guild makes rp feel like a story which ALL of us writes, and I wanna continue it forever!

Failures:
-People not showing up on events some times.
-The lack of usage in these forums.
-The Black Dawn.
-Most RP-PVP events. A couple of guys break rules, make an accident OR some random loller shows up and kills people, and before you know it, hell breaks lose. The Crimson Dawn went well though.

Best guild ever!