Activity and CGA Q's.

[Fade]

I'm unfamiliar with how Christian guilds get started.
How many people are actually going to be playing Aion from here and how do Christian guilds (or in this case legions) go about recruiting?

I'm sure Aion has a policy against religious recruiting (like we have to advertise as family-friendly rather than Christians only). If not, then I don't see a problem, lol, but how does this normally get done?

Looking at other guilds (even from CGA) that are 'Christian guilds' that i've looked into, I've seen many flame posts, but then also a lot of 'respect' posts. For example, "u gais r christians? pfft goody too-shoe momma boys!" (to be polite, hah) followed by "Dude, these guys are chill. They are always great to pug with and always have a good attitude, leave 'em be!"

Honestly, for me, right now, I don't know if I'll be rolling Elyos or Asmodian. In another thread, I defend asmodians, but am readily prepared to roll either. I just want to make sure this legion will get off the ground nicely. I'm far from a hardcore gamer, but an inactive guild goes nowhere, amiright? The beta seemed very very inactive. I stopped playing halfway through lvl 19 because there seemed no point in going any further (and rolled a couple chars to 10 to check 'em out, on both races).

Now, i'm not bragging at all, just don't wanna get to lvl 50 and wonder where everyone else is. will this change @ retail? I mean, I'm busy too..! Church, wife, child, house, etc. So don't get me wrong, I know people have things going on and jobs to work and what have you. I hope everyone understands where I am on this.

I'm not asking for a garauntee, but I also have no clue about how things have happened in the past when games are freshly released. What happened with WoW, LotRo, WaR, etc?

Well, I better post this before it turns into anymore of a giant wall of text. Hopefully I can get some feedback. This kinda stuff, although maybe even childish, will affect what i roll and where i go. i've always just endured previous guilds with the swearing and BLYAAA! i've not been fortunate to find a good clean guild that still progresses (even if slowly). You guys all seem like a bunch of kind, nice people and I hope the best however it turns out. Please forgive me if I've offended any of you here! God bless, and i'll click post before this carries on any longer, hah!

 

[SKLURB]

In WoW, Narrow Path is affiliated with CGalliance and they have both a Horde Guild and an Alliance guild on the Thunderhorn server (The Narrow Path, and Narrow Path). Each has over 450 members (I am sure some are alts), but both are pretty equally active. When I am online in the evenings on the alliance guild, there is typically around 45+ online most of the time with as many as 60+ as far as I have seen in my several months being with them. I heard the Horde guild has similar activity.

I am sure the WoW guild started small and gain momentum as I would expect in Aion as well. There is not 200 servers in Aion for Christian guilds to sprawl out on, so I would expect our Legion to more than likely steadily gain members.

I am also a part of 'Band of Hope" in LOTRO which is also affiliated with CGalliance. They have several members with a somewhat smaller (but steady) amount of activity and it is usually between about 7-15 online at a time, and often times its more than that.

Aion is a very well made game, it has been tested already heavily in the Asian market and good games have good player retention. I expect we would retain more members than we would say, in a game like WAR/AoC from release till now.

Narrow Path on Thunderhorn will allow non Christians to join the guild, but they must understand and respect where we are coming from and abide by the rules. Yeah, sometimes you get a bad apple who wants to cause trouble, but that gets worked out and is temporary (and very scarce).

I have never been in ANY guild in my 12 years of online gaming that has been as welcoming, helpful, and selfless while maintaining a steady progression with in the games we play. There are going to be rough patches, but nothing you would find in a typical progressive guild.

 

[janc]

I have never been in ANY guild in my 12 years of online gaming that has been as welcoming, helpful, and selfless while maintaining a steady progression with in the games we play. There are going to be rough patches, but nothing you would find in a typical progressive guild.

Sklurb put it very well. I've been in several ToJ guilds (DAoC, Guild Wars and WoW), and the activity level has been great. Not only that, but active with people I enjoy being around.

I'm no expert, but from what I've seen getting more people into the guild/legion is a matter of word of mouth and connecting through this site (that's how I found ToJ). In game, you'll end up connecting with people not necessarily because we're a Christian guild, but because of the friendliness and quality of the players...without the other behavior you see in players. Some of those people will be drawn to the guild, some won't.

 

[SKLURB]

PS: Bakmei, you KNOW I am a very vocal, die-hard Asmo fan.

I would be Elyos for these people! They are that great to play with.

 

[Fade]

heya, thanks for the input. i'm still unsure what i want to do and it will be a battle inside my head till i figure it all out. i sometimes still get the issue of glad or cleric to roll as a main. i mentioned in another post how i can't stand alts anymore and that i'da rather put all my time into one character and that's what i'd like to try and do with aion. i got a lot of things going on in my head right now in my life so even little things like this feel giant inside my poor little brain, hah.

PS: Bakmei, you KNOW I am a very vocal, die-hard Asmo fan.

I would be Elyos for these people! They are that great to play with.

Alright, I'll talk it over with my wife (she sometimes helps me sort things out in my head, with all the issues going on as mentioned above). no, im not crazy or insane, lol. you might just persuade me to roll elyos afterall. things that i will miss the most (since i've not played end-game): the legion banner on the shoulder, flipping through the air, the mane (grows on u after a bit), the claws (not the feet tho, that's the worst part of them ;D)

i sooo wanna be a cleric. cool gear, heals, needed for groups, etc.
gladiator...... 2h swords..... /drool (i love swords). /tear

i *might* have to make a cleric main with a glad alt..

UGH, why am i going on an on about such little things. hopefully u all DONT think im crazy, hehe ;D

 

[improvedai]

Alright, I'll talk it over with my wife (she sometimes helps me sort things out in my head, with all the issues going on as mentioned above). no, im not crazy or insane, lol. you might just persuade me to roll elyos afterall. things that i will miss the most (since i've not played end-game): the legion banner on the shoulder, flipping through the air, the mane (grows on u after a bit), the claws (not the feet tho, that's the worst part of them ;D)

i sooo wanna be a cleric. cool gear, heals, needed for groups, etc.
gladiator...... 2h swords..... /drool (i love swords). /tear

i *might* have to make a cleric main with a glad alt..

UGH, why am i going on an on about such little things. hopefully u all DONT think im crazy, hehe ;D

Haha, I make my wife scour over the Character creation screen with me to make sure I've picked just the right eyes, face, features, etc... Its the little things that count sometimes. Insanity?! Particular is what she calls it.

Anyways, nice to meet you, I am another gamer interested in joining in on this chapter. I will be rocking the ten ton 2-hander if you can bring those heals???

 

[Fade]

i liked the cleric gameplay much better than the glad. if it weren't for my interest in swords, i wouldn't give it another thought. at least the end-game swords i've seen (possibly lvl 30ish swords perhaps) are kinda ugly. some of them are really bad. i don't like maces but the warhammer types are pretty cool. love the shields. i love the cleric gear. it's like gothic, but not goth, if that makes sense. kinda like, chain instead of leather ofc, something you'd see in transylvania or something, someone living in a castle-esque mansion. cool stuff without being too 'vampiric' in nature.

edit: oh, particular ;D i'll have to remember that haha.
i feel OCD about things. i was just talking to my family about it last night. one of my biggest issues was our old TV set. (we don't have cable, use it for things like wii, ps3, etc). Anways, it had numerical values for the volume. to have the perfect volume, i'd HAVE to have it at 50. sometimes we'd have to turn it down for some reason or another and when i went to adjust it back up, it'd hit 49. so i'd click it once, and it'd goto 51. ARGGGG!! rofl. i would actually sit there and mess with it till it actually landed on 50. i dunno if particular would fit that or not, but i'll give it a shot and see what my wife thinks, hah!

 

[Zera]

I did not join Aion till open beta and had some lvl 16, 12, 7, 5, 4 toons by then end of the week trial. So from that you can see I spend some, but not a ton of time online. I'd expect a similar involvement when the game officially starts. I definitely prefer regularly running with the same group of like minded players hat know how to teamwork and behave decently, over having to find random dudes to team with. So I hope we will have enough players to have groups together most of the time we log on. I play more for the social aspect and the challenge than for the particular need of my toon. But of course the game is balance for groups only making sense if all players are about the same level. Which of course we will be at least at the start.

To his the ground running w need to
(1) decide this week if we want to be east coast or west coast, elios or asmod. I prefer the first each time, but at least on the time zone I am flexible.
(2) And then we need to get a chat server up (teamspeak or ventrillo) and
(3) build a guild roster with preferences for what type of toon to build, so we make sure we have a somewhat even distribution of professions
(4) have a set date for a launch party to start teaming up and working together, i.e. something we can put in our schedule

 

[janc]

UGH, why am i going on an on about such little things. hopefully u all DONT think im crazy, hehe ;D

No crazier than most of the rest of us.
You should see the number of alts I make.

 

[pendragyn]

Ill be there on game day. I did create a character on the open beta but sadly I didnt play beyond that. I started playing wow again a couple weeks ago and thats been taking up my game time.

Ill be rolling spiritmaster on what ever side we all decide upon. Right now im assuming Elyos but I know theres alot of interest in Asmodean and Im ready to create a character there if that is what is decided.

Im currently raiding evenings with Narrow Path on Tue, Thu, and Sun but the other days I will be jumping on Aion to give it every chance to draw me in.

 

[Tek7]

In WoW, Narrow Path is affiliated with CGalliance and they have both a Horde Guild and an Alliance guild on the Thunderhorn server (The Narrow Path, and Narrow Path). [...] I am also a part of 'Band of Hope" in LOTRO which is also affiliated with CGalliance.

I just wanted to interject with a few clarifications.

The Narrow Path, Narrow Path, and Band of Hope are not Christian Gamers Alliance affiliates; however, I'm definitely open to the possibility of these groups joining the Alliance. When a Christian gaming group is not a member of the Alliance, it's usually for one of three reasons:

1. The group allows non-Christians to join as members, meaning the group is led by Christians but not exclusively Christian.
2. The group's leadership elects not to join the Alliance.
3. Communication between the Alliance and the group in question has not yet been established and no offer of affiliation has yet been made.

The third scenario is the most common and a fault that rests squarely on my shoulders. I've had "Invite Christian gaming groups" on my task list for a long while now, but an already full plate of online responsibilities, an ongoing job search, and a shortage of staff in both Tribe of Judah and the Alliance have left me with little time to push for growth in the Alliance.

Side note: If anyone is interested in helping recruit new Alliance affiliates, please send me a PM. I'm always on the lookout for new staff members for both CGA and ToJ.

For a list of current Alliance affiliates, please check the Christian Gamers Alliance Affiliate Directory thread.

On a related note: Some members, especially those new to ToJ, have expressed some confusion about the difference between the Christian Gamers Alliance and Tribe of Judah. The Alliance is a gathering of Christian gaming groups and web sites; Tribe of Judah is a member-group (more often referred to as an affiliate) of the Christian Gamers Alliance.

I hope that clears everything up.

SKLURB: If you'd be willing to send me contact information for Band of Hope's guild leadership, I'll contact them this week to discuss joining the CGA.

 

[Taran]

Zera, here are some answers to your questions:

To his the ground running w need to
(1) decide this week if we want to be east coast or west coast, elios or asmod. I prefer the first each time, but at least on the time zone I am flexible.
Currently, its been selected as Siel (west coast server) for Elyos side. I suppose it could change, but that's where the majority of people have expressed interest.

(2) And then we need to get a chat server up (teamspeak or ventrillo) and
Currently, there's no news on this question.

(3) build a guild roster with preferences for what type of toon to build, so we make sure we have a somewhat even distribution of professions
That is being put together in the thread called "Aion Christian Legion (Guild): The Beginning" http://www.cgalliance.org/forums/showthread.php?t=33568

(4) have a set date for a launch party to start teaming up and working together, i.e. something we can put in our schedule
Most are planning to be ready on game day. Since the head start begins on Sunday at 1:00pm, I would imagine most people will try to be available at that time.

 

[SKLURB]

Oops, my misunderstanding! I have always been directed here by them whenever a new game is released, and from prior discussions of ToJ, I guess I just assumed there was an affiliation.

Very sorry about that!

Band of Hope's website:
http://www.bandofhope.info

 

[Tek7]

Oops, my misunderstanding! I have always been directed here by them whenever a new game is released, and from prior discussions of ToJ, I guess I just assumed there was an affiliation.

Tribe of Judah tends to add new chapters for new games more quickly and more often than other affiliates as we have more members, but other affiliates have branched out to other games. For example, TF (a.k.a. The Forgiven) started as a Counter-Strike clan originally called Tribulation Force.

On a side note: A larger member base has its advantages and disadvantages, so I don't mean to imply that joining Tribe of Judah (as opposed to joining other Christian gaming groups) is the best choice for everyone. Obviously, having started the group in May 1999, I'm partial to ToJ, but I've participated in and played alongside members of other Alliance affiliates and have had a great time with them all.

That being said, I don't know of another Alliance affiliate starting an Aion guild at this time.

Regarding Lord of the Rings Online: Tribe of Judah used to have its own LoTRO chapter, but we retired it after interest in the game died off. Since then, several ToJ members have pointed to Band of Hope as one of the few remaining Christian LotRO guilds.

Very sorry about that!

Band of Hope's website:
http://www.bandofhope.info

No worries!

I'll check out the Band of Hope web site.

(2) And then we need to get a chat server up (teamspeak or ventrillo) and
Currently, there's no news on this question.

If you all would like a channel or set of channels on the Christian Gamers Alliance TeamSpeak Server, send a PM (private message) to me and Stc95 (the CGA's TeamSpeak Server Operator) with your request.