The Ashen Herald - Issue #5 - Guild Spotlight, Part 3

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The Ashen Herald - Issue #5

Guild Spotlight, Part 3

by Daedelus

The Ashes of Creation is a diverse and global community.  The response to our spotlight series has been really positive so we’re taking some time to do more!  In this issue, three more guild leaders are on deck to share information about their guilds.  This time around we have gone global with two of the three guilds being from the EU.  The Herald greatly appreciates these guild leaders sitting down with Makinoji.

Guild: Checkmate / Leader: Shaze

Shaze, founder of EU-based Checkmate, describes his guild as “large hardcore PVX.”  They previously were known as Ascendance in Revelation Online where they enjoyed a position as one of the top guilds on their server.  They were known for their skill in diplomacy and highly valued their ties with others.  The core values of their guild are three fold – efficiency, organization and respect.  Their guild is built with the idea that they provide service to their guild members – a service that focuses on improving the experiences their members share together.   While diplomacy is important to Checkmate, one of its goals also is aimed at military strategy – ensuring their guild members “create a legend, a legend that never dies.”  To that end, they also are looking to take advantage of the castle sieging features the game has to offer.

Shaze and Checkmate keep their guild members interacting with each other in a variety of MMOs, honing competitive skills.  However, that doesn’t mean that a Karaoke night is out of the question – Shaze describes that as the guild’s “specialty.”  Once the game opens up more broadly, their focus will be laser-light on building a presence in Verra.  Shaze feels that his background as a guild leader should motivate people to follow him.  His qualifications as a leader have everything "to do with the rush of adrenaline when leading multiple raids in large scale PvP.”  His approach to PVP is far removed from the zerg mentality and he believes that structured PVP, where smaller raiding parties work in tandem to precisely achieve their desired objective, is his strength.  He does go on to say, his guild does not focus itself enforcing a strict hierarchy – leadership and membership are peers in their eyes.   Leaders don’t “pull rank” and believe “in standing beside our members, not above them.”

When asked to advise the potential members out in the community on choosing a guild, he has this to say.  “Do not look away from a guild that you are interested in just because they are labeled as hardcore or casual. People have their own definition for each of those labels. Always reach out to guilds that you are interested in, you never know, they might be just what you were looking for.”

Those interested can reach Checkmate on their website or Discord channel.

Guild: Enmity / Leader: Goat

For those of you that don’t know Goat, he’s that lucky bugger that seems to get a least one of his questions asked in just about every monthly developer livestream!   Enmity is a semi hardcore PVP focused guild – however their plan is to also take advantage of the broader offerings of the game (PVE, raids, crafting) as they feel this will be a means to bolster their presence in PVP.  Since Ashes aims to have open world PVP, it means that players “must be ready for a fight at all times.”  Enmity started with a few guild members who played Lineage 2 and wanted to create the same type of positive atmosphere they experienced in that MMO.  They believe Steven and the development will help them facilitate this.  They feel the PVP aspects between Lineage 2 and Ashes are similar in many ways and the guild founders wanted to their experience from Lineage 2 (and other MMOs) to “show Ashes what a skilled open world PvP Guild with a strong core is able to accomplish.”  Their goal, similar to other military focused guilds, is to hold a Castle or Node.  They also feel that developing relationships will help them meet and exceed their goals in the game.  Their guild philosophy is summarized below in Goat’s own words:

“The Guild comes before all, including the leaders.

We will take no time in establishing our dominance.

We will make sure our Guild is at the top of everyone's list for "Do not mess with".

We will be structured and well organized.

We will answer to nobody.”

Goat feels member engagement can be a challenge for any guild that hasn’t been established in previous games or is built for Ashes alone.  That said, Goat and Enmity are doing what they can to keep their guild and members alive in the community in a positive way.  They currently have 9 members (and counting) in Alpha Zero.  They also had 5 members at PAX West, being some of the first to play the game.  The prestige doesn’t stop there as 2 of the 4 VIP package owners to first play Ashes were members of Enmity.  In the meantime, Enmity’s members are occupying their time with whatever “flavor of the month type game” that comes up.  However, the guild as a whole is here to play Ashes.  They recruited with that in mind, so they plan to be in the Alpha and Beta stages in force.

Goat is a guild leader because he wanted “to be a part of something bigger.”  In Lineage, his fellow guildmates and he had a very negative experience with their former guild leader.  Long story short, the guild leader kicked everyone out and absconded away with the guild’s “hard work.”  Not ready to take that lying down, Goat and his fellows took every opportunity to return the favor in kind.  Their actions eventually caused their former leader to abandon playing.  It was that catalyst that kept Goat a part of a “core group of people that have a hardcore L2 mindset” and also helped him “lead a like-minded group of men and women.”  When he and co-founder, Winter, started Enmity, they felt they should impose an 18+ restriction at first, but they ended up changing their mind when a 15 year old applied.  It made them recall when they were both around that age and started playing Lineage 2 and ended up playing for over 9 years.  They came to the realization that making their guild a positive experience for this young member would be something that he would remember for the rest of his life.  They both grew up in a top tier PvP environment and many good memories came from that.  Now they feel it’s their turn and honor to create those “forever” memories for their fellow guildmates and the Ashes community.

Goat closed the interview with a shoutout to Winter, GxFaithz, Guildhart, Oxillion, Dexta, Samzaki, Hoax, all those who have committed early to Enmity as well as his good friend jajujo.  He very sincerely expresses that the guild would not be where it is today without all of them.  He also wanted to take the opportunity to thank the community members publishing articles and making a positive impact on the community as a whole.  Well, it’s definitely a pleasure to get to know fellow members of this great community!  So thanks as well, Goat!

You can find out more about Enmity on their official forums post or discord channel.

Guild: Home / Leader: Harue

Home is an EU based semi-hardcore PVX guild and Harue, its leader, doesn’t waste any time with formalities and gets right to the point on the focus of his guild.  “The main goal is to collect information throughout the world, [whether] it be concerning history or geography, writing story books or maps. “  A large portion of the guild’s time will be dedicated to exploration and adventuring, essentially finding where the “information” is in the world.  As mentioned in a previous livestreams and blogs, the information mill will be one of the catalysts for community interaction. They also want to establish commercial roads between cities and villages throughout the world.  Home is taking exploration as a guild focus to the next level , recruiting explorers who have sought knowledge in the past and concentrate on trying to understand the world.  While their members have a good foundation in adventuring, they are especially talented at finding “hidden paths” or gathering information wherever it may be found.

For Harue, keeping members engaged means maintaining a small, “tight” community within the guild.  The guild fosters playing games together in order to cultivate camaraderie.  Recently, members are playing Dark Souls 3, Pubg, Overwatch, CS:Go, Fortnite, FFXIV.

A man of few words, Harue sums up his focus as a guild leader and why potential members should join – he feels gaining knowledge will allow his guild to help people and in turn gain the guild a positive reputation within the community.  It is clear that Home is a membership of pathfinders, wishing to blaze trails in the world of Verra.  It is an attitude that fits right in with the game.  In recent livestreams, the developers have already pointed out that exploration and discovery is expected to be an integral part of the experience.

As far as what he has to say to potential members, he believes “Whatever your path may be, you do need not walk it alone. To join Home is to gain a network and a group of friends…Home offers aid, teaching, training, companionship and in some instances, to help you on your path. Equally, we seek members to aid the guild in providing these services.  If one path has come to an end, Home can aid you in finding a new.”  Quite the poet, Harue!

If you’re interested in exploring more about Home, you can find them on the official forums or on their discord channel.

The Final Word

Well, folks, that wraps us up this time around.  Quite an intriguing group of guilds this time, from those motivated by conquest to the other end of the spectrum where blazing trails in a new world is most important.   With every new guild that is part of the spotlight, it’s amazing to see what a wide range of play styles the Ashes community supports and will support in the future. 

As always, if you have any ideas for future features, we are happy to hear them! Please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Check out Makinoji's channel "Anthology" on YouTube.