Well, it’s a slow day today with Washington, D.C. getting pounded with snow all morning and afternoon. My normal 1 hour commute, which is already 40 minutes over, was 3 hours this morning. I’ve got a slight head cold that will probably keep me out of the gym for a short while, too. This makes it a perfect time for trying out RF Online, a science-fiction/fantasy MMORPG that went free-to-play a few months after its official release.
I didn’t expect anything amazing and that is why I wasn’t nearly as disappointed as those who were anticipating its release a while back. Nevertheless, it is by no means a “bad” game. For starters, it reminds me a little of Ryzom, another MMORPG that has been under the radar for most gamers. The visuals in both games have that science-fiction/fantasy with a twist of anime. I haven’t progressed far enough to give an opinion that I would be confident supporting, but I will say one thing–when you’re sick, nothing feels better than some mindless grinding.
Now, on to the point of this post: guild membership. I’ve been in a number of different clans/guilds/teams during gaming career (yeah, I said career), but I’ve been on a loner streak lately. It has been a nice break and I’ve enjoyed just hanging out and casually playing TF2, Hellgate: London, and other online games with my friends. Unfortunately, my friends aren’t nearly as active as I sometimes enjoy being and that is why I’ve made a move. That’s right; I’ve applied to an MMO guild!
The Exodus Syndicate is an online guild that plays World of Warcraft and is recruiting for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (AoC)! Seriously, I’ve never been so involved in debating a game’s development more than with Age of Conan! I’m more active than I was with Tabula Rasa and I was at least beta testing that! Anyways, there’s a lot of hype surrounding Warhammer Online as the next great MMO but, based on what I’ve been reading and watching, Age of Conan looks to be more up my alley.
Anyway, I haven’t been a part of a large-scale guild/clan for a while now and moreover, I’ve never been part of a guild that specializes in PvP-oriented gameplay. Well, I figured it’s never too late to start, right? So after the past week or more discussing topics on the official AoC forums, I started to notice a lot of forum participants with guild signatures. Later, I decided that I would at least check some of them out and see what they were about. There are a few that caught my interest, but none of them as much as The Exodus Syndicate. Yeah, I’ll admit that their name doesn’t fit very well with the whole Age of Conan thing. They do sound more likely to belong to Hellgate: London or Anarchy Online, but not everything is in a name.
Organization is everything a guild and without it, nothing gets done. I read their statement and took a look at how they organize themselves and I was impressed. They take their AoC members and break them into small 16-man “houses” or teams. The idea is that each house will work together and be made up of a variety of in-game classes. Then, when it comes to fighting together, specific houses will be able to function and coordinate with each other.
Of course, age and maturity is a high priority for me. I’ve been in many guilds that didn’t have age requirements and let me just say this–babysitting isn’t fun. Exodus Syndicate requires members to be at least 18 years old! Thanks God! However, they will and do make exceptions for those who are able to prove themselves to be excellent contributors.
One of the most alluring aspects of this guild was their membership application. Not only must you fill out an application, but if they feel your application is good enough, you have to be interviewed over their Ventrilo server! Interviewed?! Are you serious! That’s freakin’ awesome. Yeah, you hardcore types might be thinking, “LOL, Alex, only a noob guild wouldn’t interview their applicants,” but I’ve never been required to do such a thing and I’ve been on competitive teams for FPS games and the like.
Anyway, none of this is important in the here and now because AoC isn’t even scheduled for release until March 2008. Personally, I’m hoping I can at least get into the beta well before then, but who knows.
Filed under: RF Online, Ryzom, The Exodus Syndicate
