[SIZE="5"][B]Iconomicon [U]Recruiting[/U][/B][/SIZE]
[SIZE="4"][B]What[/B] is Iconomicon?[/SIZE] We are reformation of DrK which was a gaming organization formed by a few old friends of mine and myself. Some of us have known each other for years, and DrK was never a required "sign up" protocol to be considered one of the communities members. We went off the idea that if you had any interaction with the group of friends that were the core of our organization you were a member of the community. Thus, we have had many community members pop in and out over the years, many come back and leave again when things change. Only a few of us stay together forever, and to be honest not everyone is meant to stick with each other for ever. We encourage people to stay with us as long as they want, and not to be an "official" member, but to just be our friends and be part of our events, etc.
After a three years we decided to reform because we wanted to reorganize some stuff and change our name from DrK (which stood for nothing) into ICON which is short for Iconomicon. The real motivation behind the big change was our primary website and ventrilo provider was going out of business, so we took the opportunity to do some spring cleaning, per se. We have been ICON since early 2009. The same people still drop by, some new some old. People part of our community often get to meet people from many different areas of the web. Many of our core members at one point were top competitive Counter-Strike, WoW Arena/Raider, DotA/HoN, and Starcraft players. With many of our friends friends' you can imagine the diversity we see. We are not really all too full. Our vent usually has some HoN players in nowadays in a 3-6 man squad playing. Sometimes more than one party of players. We usually got a few people just doing nothing, watching Anime/browsing the web/listening to music, people playing CS:S, and a few on AION beta. Anytime you come into ICON vent you usually got 2+ people around, even at the oddest hours of the day, sometimes it spikes to 30ish, but never really overcrowded. We have a 100 man vent because when ever new MMO's come out each of us usually go at different paces so there is the possibility we will all be having our own 6 man groups and you can imagine how big it can get at these times. WAR was a good example of that ha-ha.
[SIZE="4"][B]What [/B]experience does ICON and its leader have?[/SIZE] The people who form DrK have all had a pinnacle point of awesome in the past they can refer too. Many of us can claim to have gotten into CAL-M+ in CS 1.6, other can claim tournament wins in Starcraft, others can show their skill in HoN that reveres them as professionals, and many of us who played WoW had at one point been a top raider in a top guild and have been above 2200 arena rating. What have I done personally? I'm X-CAL M cs 1.6, 2200 every bracket in WoW season 2, leader of main PvP raids and events in WoW, WAR, AoC, guild master of DrK in WAR (#1 guild on server until I quit), first 40 zealot on Bechafen(WAR), avid fan of anime, forum troll, 4chan lurker, the list goes on in my department. All of us are unique and have many things in common. We have some people who are relatively new on the internet gaming scene, and others like myself who are not.
While I do not have as much experience in MMORPGs prior to WoW, unless you include Diablo 2 being your typical MMORPG, which it isn't, so I cannot say such is true in the past, but the game releases I have been part of I have always ran the guilds/clans I ran in a particular fashion that attracted skilled, friendly, and fun players and usually lasted long term depending on the game meeting the players' needs. You could call some of my plans for ICON Legion "secret", but in reality they aren't. We are going to go through the same process we have always gone through that has worked for us and helped us reach our goal of being the top community on the server.
[SIZE="4"][B]What[/B] "secret plans" do you have in mind?[/SIZE] I'll be straight forward. Fact is, most guilds at release approach the game [B][U]wrong[/U][/B]. They plan to have a certain criteria meant as far as what they need and don't need. People go into the game with the expectation of having near all or all of what they need to start immediate end game content. Fact is, that [I]rarely[/I] happens. People aim for immediate success and lose sight on how to really accomplish success. We plan on entering the game with less than three of each class and leaving it at that until we have enough cap levels to start finding out exactly what we need to do. If we have more than two of one class we don't stress it, nor do we stress it if we are lacking a certain class. In time all the necessities will come if you do not overestimate your goods.
In every game release the first "major" guilds see one of two problems. A) Too many people. B) Too few people. In scenario A), the guild leader makes a rough choice of either letting them stay or kicking them. If they stay then overcrowding effects the raiders and eventually a primary role in the guild leaves for a better one. In scenario B), most guilds attempt to fill those spots as soon as cap level is reached, or even [B][U]before[/U][/B] cap level is reached. This is a "NO-NO". Just because you were good in WoW does not mean you will be good in AION, or even enjoy the game enough to put forth the effort to be as successful as you were in any other game you might have played. Go in with a few numbers, and expect some of them to not pull their "expected" weight.
I've talked with many other GMs in the years that ask about my communities success in their respective games, and an often brought up question is, "So if recruiting a lot before release is bad, should I wait and only recruit cap levels?". No. The filtering process of players causes dramas for guilds. The small time a player is in a legion/guild/clan they will make friends with people and when they have to be removed because they are problematic, do not meet requirements, etc., then people get upset. Not necessarily /gquit upset, but enough to where if it builds up enough even small drama can be damaging to the legion. So how do you get around this? Easy. You let other guilds/legions do it. Let us put into account that 90% of the legions will fail. Also put into account that not all these "failed" legions were bad, or even consisted of many bad players. With this in mind the perfect time is to recruit is when people start leaving guilds or when guilds crumble. When guilds die many smaller guilds jump at the chance for scraps, but really they only go one of three places. 1) A "better" guild, AKA another guild that will die. 2) A scraps guild that will die because of badness. 3) The smallest percentage of them all, a guild that will live on.
Most players aren't "dumb", but they do not understand that most preformed organization for new release MMORPGs do not go where they were planning to go. Many of these players realize once they are guildless that going to another "TOP NAME DOWNED FIRST BOSS IN SO AND SO INSTANCE WITH 40 PLAYERS ON AT ALL TIMES" guild isn't going to work, they look around. They eventually find guilds that will not fail.
[SIZE="4"][B]What [/B]makes ICON separate from the "Scrap Guilds" and "Fail Guilds"?[/SIZE] We have been around the block, and many others can claim that too, but we approach things completely different. Our method works, and if others replicate it that is fine, better competition in the future. Guilds that go with this approach are much more likely to succeed in the long run versus guilds that mass recruit or go into a game with a near full team of players. We will not being recruiting blindly, and we have a very different requirement for our members than most legions/guilds. Members we aim to pick up after guild collapses and such will be their star players. Research is always done beforehand. We try to avoid the drama and try to avoid the situation of telling a player he does not meet our standards. We go through a lot of protective measures to insure our stability, but that doesn't mean we don't expect drama. Drama happens, it is healthy for a guild to have some different point of views on certain issues, but too much of it can be a [I]very[/I] bad thing.
[SIZE="4"][B]What [/B]are your views on legion power, loot, PvP, and days we raid?[/SIZE] My view on power is simple, and has been the same for years on end. It is only granted to those who can use it to further a cause for the good of the people that grant them that power. If you cannot do something with your officer role, then it will be stripped from you. Power is not a toy, it is a responsibility to act out a duty given by the leader of the organization. The leader's job is to distribute the work among the legion, make decisions on serious topics, support the legion members, and to make sure the environment is suited for good performance. How does one do this? Assign officer positions, have good intentions for the stability and life of the legion, promote good behavior and positive results, and rid people who taint the chat logs and ventrilo logs with hate and annoyance.
My view on loot is also simple. Loot council. Before raiding with ICON you have to understand the responsibility you are given as a raider. Much like a democracy, if the loot council is not working in favor of the guild then the members have to seek out a way to change it. However, think of Loot council as the democracy, that will not be changed, but priorities of loot and possibly who is on the council is always up for debate. Understand though, that the officers will review feedback on both sides "of the chessboard". Unless there is a problem in the eyes of the majority of officers, then there is no real reason to fix it. To add onto this, we always want people to understand that [U]there will always be a second drop and a third and so on of every item.[/U] A common complaint is with loot council is "That should have gone to so and so." The best way as a responsible member is to declare there is a problem, back it up with your opinion and possible facts, and offer a solution if you can come up with one. People who live in the past do not get far, if something "bad" happens, let the leaders know and we will try to do better next time. The decisions will never be made because of "officer greed" or what not, that is just silly.
My view on PvP is if you can heal or do damage you can participate. In organized events for #v# there will be no real guild strict code to follow, it is play with who you want to play with. If you are not as good as your buddy and he replaces you on a team you wanted on, well shucks, sucks to be you that day. However in world PvP we just want anyone who wants to have fun. If you can yield a sword and shield and have the will to fight, then you can fight! Many would say this view is "noob", but to be honest, if you have potential I can safely say with time I can make you a pro, there is no urgency to never die and be #1 in PvP.
My view point on raid days are simple. We do not raid Saturdays. We will most likely be like most guilds, raids starting anywhere between 7-9PM server time and ending 11:30-1:30 server time. Sunday raids will be earlier and depending on content will be shorter or longer. You can expect 5-8PM starting and ending 9-12PM. What days we have in store, well we will have to see. Nothing is set in stone yet. If you wanted a prediction I would say Tuesdays, Wednesdays,Thursdays, and Sundays. Mondays may be a possibility, who knows, but nothing is set in stone so anything can change.
Congratulations! You have now finished reading the [B][I][U]BIG BLOCK OF TEXT![/U][/I][/B] If you skipped to this point, however, then go back and read it. If you refuse to read it then we refuse to recruit you, simple as that. If reading is a problem for you then you wont be welcomed here. I have dyslexic friends who would read this if it was something important like finding a guild. Now the requirements, what to expect, how to join, and contact info.
[B][SIZE="4"]Requirements[/SIZE][/B]
[U][B][I]NEEDS[/I][/B][/U]
[LIST]
[*]Can dedicate four hours a night three nights a week for raiding. [ONLY APPLIES IF YOU ARE WANTING TO BE A RAIDER, NOT A F/F]
[*]Can farm consumables, attribute to the legion storage when needed, and help others out.
[*]Have a working microphone. If your mic breaks we expect you to be able to get a new one within a month.
[*]Ventrilo installed, and know how to use it.
[*]Understanding of the English language.
[*]A stable internet connection. We understand we have no power over our ISPs, but if you know you have a chronic lag problem then we will advise you not to apply for raider position.
[*]Mature attitude when needed. We do not have an age requirement because I have some very chill friends that are nearly five years younger than I am. How mature you are in ventrilo and in game is more important than your actual age.
[*]MMORPG experience, preferably two+ years under your belt and at least one of those in one game for an extended period of time.
[*]Agree to the raiding TOS (basically this except more professional).
[/list]
[B][I][U]WANTS & THINGS THAT MAKE YOU MORE APPEALING FOR RECRUITMENT[/U][/I][/B]
[LIST]
[*]Dedication time wise. If you play a lot and use your time wisely and not sit in a city all day waiting for raids then this is an appealing factor.
[*]Accent. Diversity is a big thing to a successful community. If you have an accent that is out of the United States, American accent, on top of meeting the needs then this is appealing. (Sorry, not hitting puberty yet is not an accent...)
[*]Wealthy players. No we do not mean rich IRL, we mean people who monopolize the markets well. We do not expect anything from our individual players as far as Kinah, but having that power in our Legion is supporting. It also means we have a player who we do not have to worry about lacking consumables, etc. Definite appeal factor.
[*]History of being a top player. While having raid experience is nice, if you have some hands on reaction/strategy skill you would like to share then do so. Were you good at an FPS or RTS? Did you do well in the Arena pre-Season 5? It is an appeal factor.
[*]Leadership role experience. Do you have any experience of being a leader of a group, guild, community, anything? Well it is an appeal factor. Not only does it mean you might have more mature and understanding views towards reasons for such and such in the legion, but it means we can count on you if we need someone to lead a small group of legion-mates for what ever purpose. Big appeal!
[*]Do you have a hobby that is directly related to a computer? This is a HUGE appeal to us. We have everything from music to designing photos and websites. From the low and the high ends. A lot of us are spending off time working on multimedia programs and edging our skills. If you happen to be good with website design, photoshop, movie/music making, etc., then it is a big appeal factor!
[*]People who speak up. If you have a problem with something, then speak up! We do not want some revolutionist who thinks he is the **** trying to crash our community, but if you honestly have suggestions or want something to be fixed or altered then speak up! Were all here to help each other and the first step is knowing what to fix. Big appeal, but doesn't show up enough to pinpoint right away.
[*]MSN/Windows Live Messenger or cell phone. Good appeal. It is nice if we can contact you if you are missing, sometimes you forget, sometimes its an emergency, nonetheless it is nice to know. Also it promotes meeting others if you are into instant messaging.
[*]People who can look past the book's cover. The biggest example I have ever experienced is biased opinions from people in their late 20s against people in their mid teens. There is an obvious reason for it, but know that the only people you will have to deal with are people mature enough to be with ICON. Sometimes were vulgar, sometimes were silly, sometimes were mature, but we know which mood to apply and when. Look past the cover and see a person for who they are. Big appeal.
[/LIST]
[B][SIZE="4"]What to expect[/SIZE][/B]
We will be a top legion, but we have no aspiration to be the #1 guild to down the first wave of end game content. The first wave of content is just to occupy time, and why clear it so fast? We are going to get our stuff set and ready for the real stuff, wave #2 of content. That will be the real race of a skill and the organized legions versus legions who have more insanely fast levelers. Expect dedicated gamers, who are out for the real goals and being reasonable. Once we are there for strictly PvP and PvE, basically when everyone is cap level, expect people to be doing other things in their off time, hopefully many of us will share times with each other on similar hobbies. Expect serious raids, with little to no leniency towards lazy people. Forgetting and running out of time, or being unlucky with profit is understandable, but being lazy often is not. Expect laid back times often, and expect ventrilo to be full of lively chatter a lot of the time.
[B][SIZE="4"]How to join[/SIZE][/B]
We wont be opening our forum's application section until a few weeks after release. All recruitment will be done via PMs in-game, e-mail, MSN, or ventrilo. Expect your major interview, as well as possibly many interviews to be done via ventrilo. The easiest way is to send me a personal message on these forums. What your message should include is:
[LIST]
[*]Your timezone
[*]Brief gaming history
[*]What class you plan to play in AION
[*]What do you hope to accomplish in the next three months? In the next six months?
[*]Tell us something about yourself that would make you a good candidate for recruitment.
[*]What was your longest attachment to a guild/clan you can remember and what was the most recent guild/clan you were in and why did you leave it?
[*]What is the easiest way to get in touch with you? Reply to forums/vent/MSN/e-mail?
[*]Any addition information goes here.
[/LIST]
Answer all these questions truthfully.
[B][U]Contact info[/U][/B]
MSN:
Ko_eh@hotmail.comE-Mail:
Ko_eh@hotmail.com
