[Buhbuh]

Originally Posted by Drakaris [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Well versed response. Unfortunately Empire deems the few leaders that step up from time to time as 'toxic for the box' and abuses their number and gear advantage to grief the other guilds into either collapse or submission, which is what happened with Good Guys and to a lesser extent TMO.

One thing I would like to point out is that any new guild leader that has tried to step up has been bashed on the forums by elements within Empire. For example, look at the up and coming guild leader Gardur, who has recently formed 'Casual Scum'. He made a plea for his friends that went to Empire to come join his guild for fun and was bashed in his thread and is still being bashed in his guild recruitment thread.

A similar thing happened to TMO and Tiggles / Zeelot, however the straw that broke the camels back came from Apps that were swayed by <Friends> free-styled pvp-focused leadership that worked towards the easiest achievable gains with minimal PvE commitment compared to TMO's ambitious feats.

If the Red server pop is to increase, the #1 guild needs to improve their culture on the forums and in game since no one actually wants to lead with the amount of harassment that has been going on.

The only guild leader that is resilient to that kind of treatment and has persevered through every challenge faced was Nizzar, but he is permanently IP banned for leading a guild (or disrespecting staff).

As it stands the majority of players that join R99 will eventually feed into Empire, which is why the population has been steadily dropping. If players have a variety of guilds that operate at different timezones and different guild culture, they can pick and choose which guild suits their play styles. Unfortunately Red server's peak numbers generally consists of Empire's raid days where people generally only log on for raid gear, never to participate in the community until the next raid.

Empire has actively recruited ex leaders from a number of former guilds, going back to Smoke Break/Blaze , Azrael, Good Guys, Fresh and even TMO with Fael being the latest addition.

In my honest opinion if the population is to increase again, Empire, being the #1 guild that is bumping this post and attempting to appeal for people to join needs to address why people quit R99 and discourage behaviour that is sending people off the box; lets look at Eccezan and Jinger from TMO as a case study.

I'm always interested in improving R99 server population, however any action taken needs to be a 2 prong approach. Find out what is making people leave and address the issue, I guarantee once the underlying issues are resolved, you will find that R99 server population will increase on its own. Let's face it, Red just a more fun place to be than blue when people aren't being griefed off the box! You want an item camp? Fight for it and the loser can call LNS and do something else.

The greater truth he's illuminating here is that when you're on a PvP server and you're looking to raid, you are subject to the dominant guild's leadership and what they want to see from you. If you want to move around freely or unharassed, treat the #1 guild with respect, and you'll get it in return. This is something a vast majority of people on this server have never really understood.

Good Guys, for example, was created with the expressed purpose of "destroying Empire" and then was meant to disband back into smaller guilds once the task was completed.

Things did not go well for Good Guys. Not only were they threatening our guild from their inception, but they were also comprised of and led by the same players who have threatened us and proclaimed a lot of really stupid things in the past.

That, in essence, is the problem with up and coming guilds. You cannot come onto a PvP server and try to flex and disrespect the top guild - it's not only bad form, it's a death sentence.

If there is no willingness to bend a little as a smaller guy, you're going to have a bad time.

TMO is the most recent guild to find this out. We had about a dozen of them come over from Blue and join up with us, raid, get loot, have some fun, etc. A good majority of them left our guild when TMO started up, and everything was pretty cordial. We were talking amongst ourselves about feeding TMO some dragons/ discounted epics from our guild bank that we didn't particularly want.

Then: Good Guys falls apart.

Naturally, many of the players we deemed scummy are now looking for a place to go and lots attempt to get into Empire. They're denied. Lots apply to TMO. These are the same players that we literally just worked to eradicate by annihilating Good Guys. In an effort to warn TMO, we advise them, quite strongly, not to accept these people into their guild, because accepting those people translates badly to our members as harboring the server's scum, and it not only would leave a bad taste in our mouth, but would incite a lot of grief. Those people we advised against were considered poison to guilds/ the server. TMO accepts them anyway, against our wishes.

Consequently: TMO is smashed into the dirt all day everyday for months leading up to Velious.

On day 1 of Velious, the exact group of people we advised TMO leadership not to take in as guildies all go anonymous and raid Kunark dragons while their fellow guild members/ leadership are left with 30 people in rags trying to get Derakor down. They wipe over and over.

TMO's leadership finally gets it, and they send our leadership tells, "just so you know, we kicked out all the ex- Good Guys people you hate" as if that would give them an insta-pardon.

It's a little more mafia-esque on Red than anything. Your secret goal can be to overthrow Empire, but don't ever make it known to us. That's never a good idea. If you don't have a terrible history here and want to start a guild, Empire isn't inherently mean or horrible to new up and comers. You just need to be careful who you associate with.

Empire wants a competitive guild on Red, but like with any PvP server (at least at first), it's got to be on our terms (i.e. you need to be cordial with us, take our advice, don't overstep, etc.) We tell you how it's gonna be, not the other way around. It's actually better that you do take our advice, because we would like to throw a lot of good content at the little guys that have strong faction with us. The idea is to make it so that a newer guild can build slowly, get gear, and get PvP experience to the point where they can actually hold their own. It's not about amassing bodies and attempting huge targets for massive gains (this has never worked on Red). This isn't Blue. Throwing bodies at targets is overly aggressive, and it's not only playing beyond your means, but disrespecting the #1 guild simultaneously.

Despite not seeming like it, there is a decorum you need on Red to succeed. TMO is just now starting to get it.