Kevin McHutchison

SorenStarkiller

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Cruist,

I am glad you joined our guild for starters, but remember that this is not a complete seperation. There will be nothing holding you back from grouping with your Jedi friends. I know it may seem like a harsh serparation but both guild will be linked by the same players as well as on the Stonewall chat lines. We will encourage cross guild grouping.

My own fiance' is a Jedi and I am a Smuggler so I know exactly what you mean about being perfectly matched for each other. I know that any time I want to join him on a story mission or to help him catch up on a particularly hard planet we just need to message each other. I am friends with players from other guilds, such as our ally guild Rough Trade, and it doesn't faze us that we aren't int he same exact guild sect. We all have a common goal, saving the galaxy from the tyrany of the Emporer and the Sith.

My advice will be to wait and see how it all shakes out and then the guild leaders can address any specific issues such as yours once everything comes to light.

Besides don't you want to be in the kick ass guild of guns and tech? Those Jedi may be able to hurl large rocks at us but they are no match for a quick blaster and good ol' dirty kick.

We are one guild united through acceptance and community.

-Kevin ~ Captain Xal Starlighter
Tunc

cruist22

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
I heard about this guild from a friend of mine for the first time and decided to join right away to play with him. We have been together with him in almost every MMO and we've played and quested together, joined guilds together, organized new gay guild chapters (like Mystic Alliance) when there weren't any and finally here we were enjoying playing under the same guild. His character as a Jedi Consular completes my smuggler perfectly.

Today I find out that I can no longer be in the same guild with my friend unless I stop playing my smuggler level 30 which I invested so much and enjoy playing, and restart as a force wielder from scratch.

I have been informed that I am no longer good enough for this guild and my knighthood is overnight taken away from me and I'm made a plain soldier.

Mind you, a soldier of XYZ or a soldier of ABC does not equate to the meaning of a "soldier of fortune" which is a noun and has a separate meaning. The correct form would then have to be "Soldiers of Fortune of Stonewall" if you want to go the length and try to squeeze a smuggler (which in no means is a mercenary or a soldier of fortune). A soldier, whether it's in an organized army, a privately held merc company or a criminal gang is a warrior who fights under a form of hierarchic structure, ranking system and is strictly bound by orders from their superiors.

I do not see how my smuggler is a soldier of anything here. If anything, a Jedi knight is more of a soldier than a smuggler will ever be.

I do not know why I am no longer a knight.

I do not know why I can't be with my friend in the same guild anymore when we started the game together.

I do not know why I am asked to leave my guild which I joined months ago to open up space for someone new.

I understand the sudden growth pushes our organization to conform the needs of the new comers... and I want to trust our guild leadership that they will find not just a quick solution, but a FAIR and satisfactory solution.
Edited January 13 2012 by cruist22

karmacycle

Re: Hey Stonewall

January 13 2012
Cheers all, that is super kind of you all! :)


...Also, :voy: is the best!
Kevin McHutchison

SorenStarkiller

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Nick said, "I would hope that helping each other out, answering questions, and sticking up for each other would be something that all members do for one another. We're very grateful for the Lieutenants help with inviting characters during this busy time. When we promote the new Captains, there will be an induction meeting where we introduce them to and explain our process and management techniques."

One point I would like to add to this thread is that a reason we haven't seen a multitude of Officer involvment is because Officers are still being worked out for both guilds. Zepari posted earlier this week that he was lookign for volunteers. So while this game is still being worked out with the guild it is good to remember that leadership is not lacking and is not sitting ideally watching as some members flounder about the galaxy.

We have a strong leadership presence in this guild, as we have seen from all of the helpful comments they have posted throughout this thread. They care about our opinions and want to see this guild grow and continuously accept new like minded players into the fold.

I have read a lot of great ideas int his thread, as well as many others, and I put to those members who are contributing to in game help and advice to apply for a leadership role and get involved in the guilds management. I know that for myself I am a new captain and still learning what that entails but I am always available through the forum as well as nights and weekends in game. I have been consistantly in game at those times and have had some great interaction with everyone in the guild. I am on board with this change.

One thing I will suggest to members of both guilds is to change the color of the Stonewall general chat text to a different color than the normal chats so that it stands out more than party or guild chats. Mine was by default yellow and it blended in with loot information. To do this simply right click on the General chat tab at the top of the chat window and go into the chat preferences. Stonewall will be listed at the bottom with the defaut color on the right of it. I made mine a bright purple so it is not confused with any other chat text.

I look forward to seeing you all in game and May the Force be with us all.

-Kevin ~ Captain Xal Starlighter
2 people liked this
Edited January 13 2012 by SorenStarkiller
Patrick

Van

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Quote by bluewraeth
Who doesn't like a healthy debate.

I think one thing to keep in mind through the course of the rapid growth of the swtor guild is to suggest having level-set expectations for what is in essence a voluntary organization for not only like minded swtor players, but for larger population of LGBT gamers.

When you look around and see the organization and design of the website alone I think everyone can agree a lot of effort has been put in by what is again in essence a voluntary organization.

As many have pointed out on both sides of the equation, the game is only a month old; roughly. Take some time and enjoy the content and set your expectations accordingly for a volunteer group working with the dynamics of a new game and new guild implementation not seen before in other MMOs.

To provide a real world example I have not experienced or managed a product launch, application implementation, or other projects go from launch to implementation in 30 days without a lot of wrinkles and gotchas. And this type of work is by paid professionals that can devote themselves 8-10 hours a day.

If anyone feels the need to leave the guild, than I will tip my hat and say good luck, but I would urge continued patience as the officer corps works out their communication channels and organization, and just enjoy the game with your fellows.

Cheers!


Nicely worded and I agree.
Jay Eudy

Six-of-Nine

Re: Need Computer advise please (plan to buy a new)

January 13 2012
Quote by Izzarra
I would recommend the HP, I have had lots of computers and the HPs have always been the most reliable pre assembled computer imo.


Really? I used to do desktop support for HP. They use hard drives that are designed to be cheap and to fail after only 2-3 years. I suggest if possible, build a new system from scratch, get a new mobo and proc, and make sure they're compatible with your old ram and gpu. You can reuse most of the old pc components.
Jon

Justjon

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Quote by NicholasJohn16
Doing things such as this can be very difficult considering that our community is so large, we have members from across the US, Europe and Australia. Finding a time that all of them, or a large number of them, can attend is very difficult. That said Zepari does want to have regular guild wide meetings.


Since a lot of the Officers will be available at different times it might be a good idea to have different meeting times. Then the Officers can discuss all the concerns between them and represent their time slot of players in a sense.

I know this is in the future but figured since it was mentioned and the idea was there I would put it out there.
nicholasjohn16 liked this

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Quote by ryyven
First of all, I want to dispel the notion that I am impatient. The launch of this much-anticipated game was nothing new... My question is, with so much run-up time before the launch of the game, why were officer/recruitment issues not first ironed out? Why was nothing communicated clearly up until these couple weeks?

The guild and custom channel systems were some of the last features that were added to the game and when they were originally added, they were incomplete. For custom channels, there's very limited abilities even now.

We simply didn't know how the guilds would work at launch. There was little information about it other than "more would be coming". Sadly, that seems far off. The guild system in TOR is very limited. We didn't know what we'd have till the game actually launched. There's no mass mail features and even the ACL system isn't very advanced with limited options. It's taken sometime for us to adopt how we do things to the tools at our disposal.

On top of that, TOR launched 5 days before Christmas and just 11 days before New Years Eve. With the officer's holiday schedules, we simply didn't have the time to meet and discuss many of the topics that needed discussed. Last weekend was the first time sine launch that we had time to meet and discuss topics. This is when we finalized our plans for the alt guilds. As KoS had only a few spaces left, it was necessary that we decided then.

Quote by ryyven
It came to a point where I was frustrated with the lack of clear direction and stepped up to offer to at least help out with invites simply out of necessity due to the sheer number of hours I am afforded to play this game, and am able to provide this minor assistance... I know I'm not alone in this, and I acknowledge other Lieutenants' efforts when the task fell to them as well...

What lack of direction?

Quote by ryyven
Clear lines of communication and membership buy-in are key to any well run organization... To say that members have a say and "feel included" but not have any say in the guild they have invested so much time in is the beginnings of a PR nightmare... Especially in a large guild such as ours...

We have clear lines of communication. You're using one of them. :) We listen very much to what our membership tells us. In the future, there will be more opportunities for the membership to be involved in decisions. Right now, we're taking a big step in that direction by getting more people as Captains and Officers and expanding the leadership team.

Quote by ryyven
As a case in point, there were times where the officers and GL in my previous guild took the time out on a raid night to get everyone together to announce important subjects, like changing our loot system. Questions were asked and answered, considerations were made, and suggestions deliberated before any final decision was made...

Doing things such as this can be very difficult considering that our community is so large, we have members from across the US, Europe and Australia. Finding a time that all of them, or a large number of them, can attend is very difficult. That said Zepari does want to have regular guild wide meetings.

Quote by ryyven
I've pretty much gone well above and beyond my duty as a "regular" member - accepting invites, helping people out, answering questions, taking time out to speak to adversarial people, and so on with hardly any guidance or direction from the top brass... All in the past month of the game...

I would hope that helping each other out, answering questions, and sticking up for each other would be something that all members do for one another. We're very grateful for the Lieutenants help with inviting characters during this busy time. When we promote the new Captains, there will be an induction meeting where we introduce them to and explain our process and management techniques.

Quote by ryyven
With as much in-game time I've invested in the guild, including missing out on parts of the wonderfully immersive story, perhaps it was presumptuous of me to assume I would even be asked for my opinion? Even with an issue that would affect the guild I've invested much of my in-game time so far to hopefully build.

As I stated above, in the future there will be more opportunities for membership to weigh in and get involved.
Jon

Justjon

Re: Communication

January 13 2012
Quote by NicholasJohn16

We have a Facebook and Twitter page for Stonewall Fleet and will be creating one for Knights of Stonewall shortly.


Awesome news... I would suggest checking out http://twitterfeed.com/ I have used them before and they work well if you can setup the Council Chamber thread to an RSS it will automatically read new topics and post them to your social media sites for you. It makes the update process even less work.
Edited January 13 2012 by Justjon

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Quote by Jedilicious
The problem I had today was when you announced the split in gchat you explicitly told members (who were surprised by and questioning that decision) that there had been an open discussion on the forums and that no one had complained - thus you had made the decision you did. When a few of us came to the forums to see this public discussion, there was not one to be found.

Thus my feeling of a bait-and-switch... that we were told one thing in-game to quiet any discussion/questions that did not end up being true when we got to the forums.

There wasn't even an announcement on the forums about the split. Thus I created this topic asking what was going on.

Even tonight, Justjon was the only 'Captain' in-game doing invites. One of the other members asked about the guild split and a discussion ensued... and there are no Officers around to field questions or discuss what's going on with the guild. Poor Jon got ambushed, and I feel bad for him.

I think there maybe a little confusion on what was said. I believe Zep stated that it had been mentioned on the forums that we'd need to create additional guilds in-game. Zepari would not have said that there was an open discussion on the forums about the topic because he knows very well that there wasn't. I think this was simply a miss-communication.

We were planning the announcement sometime this week, but making recruitment posts for Captains and Officers were more important and Zep only has so much free time to make the posts. This past weekend was the first time we'd been able to meet for an Officers meeting since the holiday season began and there was when we made the final decisions about the alt guilds.

Quote by Jedilicious
The game is 3 weeks old. Major changes are happening with the guild. Where are you guys? In-game, I mean. Not here on the forums. Players are looking for you in-game.

(And yes, I too believe more people should read the forums; the age-old dilemma of gaming websites. But the truth is, 75% of your players will NEVER come to the website. They get their info from gChat.)

It's only in the past few days that you were named as GL, and in your defense, I've seen you log into the game since then. So thank you for that. But where are the other Officers? I don't see them much at all.

What major changes?

Our Officers span multiple time zones and continents. They may simply not play the game at the same time as you or even the same days as you. This is not something for which to fault them. Running this guild is a hobby for them, something fun for them to do in their spare time and requiring them to be in-game during certain times or amounts of times is simply not feasible.

Actually, we have rather good website usage across all of our sites among our membership. Our sites aren't just a guild site, but rather a community portal where they can interact with other like-minded people and that has attracted many people to use our sites more frequently.

Quote by Jedilicious
So what happens is, in the lack of Officers in-game, when questions arise, or problems arise (which has happened) the helpful non-Officers among us try to direct people to the forums. They come here, then come back in-game and say they a) couldn't find any info related to their question or b) couldn't figure out who the Officers are (who, in all fairness, were only just announced on the forums a few days ago as well).

This creates further frustration in-game. Not just for the players, but for those of us who are trying to be helpful. That's why I started the other discussion topic asking who the officers are, so we at last know who to direct people to when they get here.

My own frustration results from having to start topics to ply you guys for information that really should already have been readily available somewhere on the site.

If members have questions or can't find information, that's exactly why we have this resource. It's for asking the questions that you don't know the answer to. We have the contact form to send us an email, the forums, private messages and in-game mail. You aren't prying information from us. We have no idea what information to give you unless you ask.

The Officers weren't just announced. Every time I've promoted a new officer(s), I make a matching post congratulating them in the Council Chambers, such as this or this. We'll be adding an Officer's page to the Welcome Center shortly.

Quote by Jedilicious
That's where my concerns are rooted for this 2nd off-shoot guild; It seems you're having trouble keeping up with the two you already have (or at least the Republic one)... and now you're adding a 3rd?

Perhaps I and my frustrations should go. :unsure:


We aren't having trouble keeping up with either guild. We have a great set of officers. Zepari was an officer in Stonewall Fleet for over a year and half on top of being a Fleet Captain and a very early member. Halish has been a major part of our community for several years, including being a Fleet Captain in Stonewall Fleet. DakonKor has helped our community very much in the relatively short time that he's been an officer. As well, I am helping KoS and LoS as much as I possibly can. The leadership team in Knights and Lords of Stonewall is perfectly capable of handling any issues that we come across. I have complete faith in them.
Edited January 13 2012 by nicholasjohn16

Unknown Person

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Quote by Jedilicious
It's only in the past few days that you were named as GL, and in your defense, I've seen you log into the game since then. So thank you for that. But where are the other Officers? I don't see them much at all.

So what happens is, in the lack of Officers in-game, when questions arise, or problems arise (which has happened) the helpful non-Officers among us try to direct people to the forums. They come here, then come back in-game and say they a) couldn't find any info related to their question or b) couldn't figure out who the Officers are (who, in all fairness, were only just announced on the forums a few days ago as well).

Quote by Jedilicious
And yes, before everyone jumps on me, I understand real life schedules, and I understand I can't expect an Officer in game 24/7. But the past few days I've been playing the game 8-hours straight (work has been light), and not seen one Officer log in... aside from Zepari and Taelyn for today's 'announcement.'

Just making the point that I was online yesterday night, while you were also online, and I always say hello when I log into a game.
Edited January 13 2012 by nicholasjohn16

Unknown Person

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Well it's clear that people are unhappy, and I do see valid complaints. What I'm not seeing (or seeing vary few of) are solutions? What our your solutions to these issues. What do you want to see?
Edited January 13 2012 by Unknown Person
Josh

ryyven

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
I've expressed my concerns in guild chat and vent and I shall reiterate them here for the purpose of continuity...

First of all, I want to dispel the notion that I am impatient. The launch of this much-anticipated game was nothing new... My question is, with so much run-up time before the launch of the game, why were officer/recruitment issues not first ironed out? Why was nothing communicated clearly up until these couple weeks?

In the course of my play time since launch, both days and nights, at various hours of the day, I have seen officers log in and out, spend a few hours in-game, log out, with nary a whisper... Honestly, aside from Doogie, no one seemed to take the lead or have any interest in handling the business of the guild (ie. invites, conflict within/outside the guild).

It came to a point where I was frustrated with the lack of clear direction and stepped up to offer to at least help out with invites simply out of necessity due to the sheer number of hours I am afforded to play this game, and am able to provide this minor assistance... I know I'm not alone in this, and I acknowledge other Lieutenants' efforts when the task fell to them as well...

I guess, that's the main issue I have... It's not so much WHY decisions have been made but rather, HOW they're being made...

Clear lines of communication and membership buy-in are key to any well run organization... To say that members have a say and "feel included" but not have any say in the guild they have invested so much time in is the beginnings of a PR nightmare... Especially in a large guild such as ours...

I've been an officer in a semi-large guild and I'm familiar with how things are run. I can tell you, it is a thankless, unenviable task, so consider what I've said as the most constructive of criticisms coming from someone who's been there, and is familiar with the burden of leadership...

As a case in point, there were times where the officers and GL in my previous guild took the time out on a raid night to get everyone together to announce important subjects, like changing our loot system. Questions were asked and answered, considerations were made, and suggestions deliberated before any final decision was made...

I'm a huge fan of adopting a consultative approach to leadership decisions but using this relatively minor issue as an example (and we haven't even started raiding yet), makes me even more troubled... And it takes a lot for me to feel the need to speak up on something...

I've pretty much gone well above and beyond my duty as a "regular" member - accepting invites, helping people out, answering questions, taking time out to speak to adversarial people, and so on with hardly any guidance or direction from the top brass... All in the past month of the game...

With as much in-game time I've invested in the guild, including missing out on parts of the wonderfully immersive story, perhaps it was presumptuous of me to assume I would even be asked for my opinion? Even with an issue that would affect the guild I've invested much of my in-game time so far to hopefully build.

- Josh (Daryyn)
Unknown Person liked this

Unknown Person

Re: Communication

January 13 2012
Quote by NicholasJohn16
Quote by Justjon
Future Suggestions:
Twitter
  • Most cell phones/PDA devices can access them
  • Quick and easy access to important info summarized

Email list
  • Ability to communicate quick announcements
  • Usually have a noreply email option so that members can still be directed to the threads in order to get all the concerns in one place


Thank you for posting this Jon! I might add that it's not necessary to check the forums on a daily basis, but every other day or so may be beneficial. Though checking daily is awesome! If you're subscribed to the Council Chambers, then you should receive all important communications.

We regularly send out newsletters when we have important guild or community wide announcements, but we try to keep them sparse, not to spam people's inboxes. A good example of this is the monthly Stonewall Times which we send to all community members. None of our email address are 'no-reply', all of them redirect to our personnel account so if need be, we can answer any questions or concerns sent to us. If someone sends us an email and its a no-reply, we see that as a missed opportunity for communication.

We have a Facebook and Twitter page for Stonewall Fleet and will be creating one for Knights of Stonewall shortly.

Don't forget google+
Jon

Justjon

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
I know a lot of people are taken back by changes happening. We are in a new game and a new guild changes are going to need to be made quick a lot of times (at the beginning) as well as situations occur.

As far as tonight goes I didn't really feel ambushed. I was directing people to the forums to express their concerns and see the really detailed explanations as to why these changes were being made and for some reason had half of the people take the advice the other half demand a presence now to tell them why.

We will over time have a stronger officer presence in the guild but even when we do it is not fair to anyone to have to sit in game all day and repeat information over and over in order to inform players. I strongly urge people to get in a routine to check the forums even if it is just to skim them as it will make communication in the long run better. I really love this guild and will stick around in order to see it through. This is just a rough period which all organizations have especially ones that grow so fast. So please just be patient and expect the unexpected as of right now as nothing is truly set in stone as the current and future way to handle things except for "Making this a safe and fun place to play your favorite game!"

Much love,

Jon
Unknown Person liked this
Kidd Kasper

kiddkasper

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Quote by bluewraeth
I would urge continued patience as the officer corps works out their communication channels and organization, and just enjoy the game with your fellows.



I've said this very thing to a few on vent. I've known people in Stonewall for quite a while and know that they care about the guild and want to do the right thing. There are going to be bumps and things will not be perfect. But, as blue said, this is a game that is meant to be enjoyed.

Re: Communication

January 13 2012
Quote by Justjon
Future Suggestions:
Twitter
  • Most cell phones/PDA devices can access them
  • Quick and easy access to important info summarized

Email list
  • Ability to communicate quick announcements
  • Usually have a noreply email option so that members can still be directed to the threads in order to get all the concerns in one place


Thank you for posting this Jon! I might add that it's not necessary to check the forums on a daily basis, but every other day or so may be beneficial. Though checking daily is awesome! If you're subscribed to the Council Chambers, then you should receive all important communications.

We regularly send out newsletters when we have important guild or community wide announcements, but we try to keep them sparse, not to spam people's inboxes. A good example of this is the monthly Stonewall Times which we send to all community members. None of our email address are 'no-reply', all of them redirect to our personnel account so if need be, we can answer any questions or concerns sent to us. If someone sends us an email and its a no-reply, we see that as a missed opportunity for communication.

We have a Facebook and Twitter page for Stonewall Fleet and will be creating one for Knights of Stonewall shortly.
Unknown Person liked this
Josh

bluewraeth

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Who doesn't like a healthy debate.

I think one thing to keep in mind through the course of the rapid growth of the swtor guild is to suggest having level-set expectations for what is in essence a voluntary organization for not only like minded swtor players, but for larger population of LGBT gamers.

When you look around and see the organization and design of the website alone I think everyone can agree a lot of effort has been put in by what is again in essence a voluntary organization.

As many have pointed out on both sides of the equation, the game is only a month old; roughly. Take some time and enjoy the content and set your expectations accordingly for a volunteer group working with the dynamics of a new game and new guild implementation not seen before in other MMOs.

To provide a real world example I have not experienced or managed a product launch, application implementation, or other projects go from launch to implementation in 30 days without a lot of wrinkles and gotchas. And this type of work is by paid professionals that can devote themselves 8-10 hours a day.

If anyone feels the need to leave the guild, than I will tip my hat and say good luck, but I would urge continued patience as the officer corps works out their communication channels and organization, and just enjoy the game with your fellows.

Cheers!
3 people liked this
Brad

Jedilicious

Re: Splitting KoS into Sub Guilds?

January 13 2012
Quote by Zepari
Hi Jedilicious...


Hi there. Thanks for the reply.

Quote by Zepari
I was hoping to have an answer for all the suggestions that have been posted and talked about in guild chat before I posted a full update in the Announcements forum. However, I'll answer all your questions relating to the Alt guild and chat channels here first. Oh and the thread I was talking about in guild chat earlier where I said we would be splitting the guild is here:
http://www.knightsofstonewall.com/forums/cantina/37831-chat-channels


I don't think anyone expects you to have all the answers to all the suggestions. Just having an Announcement about the details (before a public statement in-game) would have been helpful.

Incidentally, in the thread you reference above there's an assumption by a member in that thread (the first post) that the guild will have to have some kind of split. There's no confirmation, certainly no discussion, about the split. In fact the split really isn't his question; it's how to use custom chat channels.

I realize that there can't be input from all members on all decisions. And I understand too that this decision had to be made quickly. I guess I'm less concerned with the decision itself, but in the process, and methods of communication, that followed.

The problem I had today was when you announced the split in gchat you explicitly told members (who were surprised by and questioning that decision) that there had been an open discussion on the forums and that no one had complained - thus you had made the decision you did. When a few of us came to the forums to see this public discussion, there was not one to be found.

Thus my feeling of a bait-and-switch... that we were told one thing in-game to quiet any discussion/questions that did not end up being true when we got to the forums.

There wasn't even an announcement on the forums about the split. Thus I created this topic asking what was going on.

Even tonight, Justjon was the only 'Captain' in-game doing invites. One of the other members asked about the guild split and a discussion ensued... and there are no Officers around to field questions or discuss what's going on with the guild. Poor Jon got ambushed, and I feel bad for him.

The game is 3 weeks old. Major changes are happening with the guild. Where are you guys? In-game, I mean. Not here on the forums. Players are looking for you in-game.

(And yes, I too believe more people should read the forums; the age-old dilemma of gaming websites. But the truth is, 75% of your players will NEVER come to the website. They get their info from gChat.)

It's only in the past few days that you were named as GL, and in your defense, I've seen you log into the game since then. So thank you for that. But where are the other Officers? I don't see them much at all.

So what happens is, in the lack of Officers in-game, when questions arise, or problems arise (which has happened) the helpful non-Officers among us try to direct people to the forums. They come here, then come back in-game and say they a) couldn't find any info related to their question or b) couldn't figure out who the Officers are (who, in all fairness, were only just announced on the forums a few days ago as well).

This creates further frustration in-game. Not just for the players, but for those of us who are trying to be helpful. That's why I started the other discussion topic asking who the officers are, so we at last know who to direct people to when they get here.

My own frustration results from having to start topics to ply you guys for information that really should already have been readily available somewhere on the site.

Quote by Zepari
1) The guild is not struggling. We have a great group of people here who regularly go out of their way to help each other... We currently have 15 Captains with multiple characters who are in place to help with invites and we still have a lot of Lieutenants as well with invite ability.


I just had an epiphany... I guess I'm the one struggling here.

The perception (and I know I'm not the only one) is that the leadership is not present in the game. Granted, I'm really only playing Republic side, but from the sounds of it, that's where most of your members are too (if you're having to split Republic into 2 guilds already).

Doogiegood has already departed out of frustration, and in all honesty I actually thought HE was guild leader up until a few days ago. He was in-game a lot, he was present to answer questions, he handled situations with grace and ease, and he was helpful. With him gone... no one seems to have taken over those roles.

And yes, before everyone jumps on me, I understand real life schedules, and I understand I can't expect an Officer in game 24/7. But the past few days I've been playing the game 8-hours straight (work has been light), and not seen one Officer log in... aside from Zepari and Taelyn for today's 'announcement.'

That's where my concerns are rooted for this 2nd off-shoot guild; It seems you're having trouble keeping up with the two you already have (or at least the Republic one)... and now you're adding a 3rd?

Perhaps I and my frustrations should go. :unsure:
Jon

Justjon

Communication

January 13 2012
After a discussion with some members tonight about communication of changes I thought I would make this thread in attempts to help people be better informed as well as give suggestions for the future on ways we can keep people better informed.

As far as in game there really isn't much other than welcome messages to tell people and that is limited to a very small character limit. Also this method does not allow you to communicate your concerns about it.

Currently there are a lot of limitations UI wise that many other MMO's do not have. We do not have the benefit of addons or integrating IRC so a bit of leg work is needed in order to obtain and give information. Also keep in mind that currently there is a lot of changes being made in order get things better organized.

What members can do:

Check the forums on a daily basis
  • There are many things that get posted here from guides to finding people to group with.
  • All updates are normally given here as it is the best way to inform 2 guilds(currently) with members all over the world

Subscribe to the Council Chamber Thread
  • Any important announcements pertaining to either Knights of Stonewall or Lords of Stonewall are posted there
  • Most topics are left open so if you have concerns you can express them and have an Officer answer them when they can. (This also helps others out with the same questions)
  • You will receive an email upon any new post made there

Note: In order to subscribe to the thread you must open the Council Chamber Thread. Locate the Subscribe button at the top of the thread and select that.




Future Suggestions:

Twitter
  • Most cell phones/PDA devices can access them
  • Quick and easy access to important info summarized

Email list
  • Ability to communicate quick announcements
  • Usually have a noreply email option so that members can still be directed to the threads in order to get all the concerns in one place
Edited January 13 2012 by Justjon