So you want to be a Transcendent

[Dedolito]

As a recent graduate of the Famous Adventurers' Correspondence School for Heroes, you begin your Quest for Glory in the quaint, alpine barony of Spielburg…

Wait..  Wrong game, but you can still be a Hero if you want.  I mean, I’m not sure if ganging up on Illidan Stormrage with twenty four of your friends is quite as epicly heroic as confronting Baba Yaga with a dagger, but if that’s what it takes for you to look at yourself in the mirror in the morning, who am I to judge? 

Where was I?  Right.  Joining the Transcendents.  First let me say we’re flattered that you are considering us as your new guild.  I’m sure you have some questions, we do too but most of ours will be answered if you would be so kind as to post an intro about yourself on our New Applicants forum and tell us a little about yourself:  what you are looking for in a guild, why you think we’re the guild for you, what you are hoping the guild will do for you, and what you can do for the guild.  If we need to know more, we'll ask.  Not too hard, no?

As for your questions, well first let me give you our spiel:

We are a family guild that puts emphasis on relationships and seek members who would share that mindset.  We raid, but we are not a raiding guild.  We PvP, but we are not a PvP guild.  We have no class leads, we don't force people to spec one way or another, we don't recruit for certain classes or builds.  This slows our progression down some, but as I said we are not a raiding guild at heart. 

Most of us have a long history with one another, World of Warcraft just being the current incarnation of the medium in which we interact.  As such, an application to this guild is a commitment to this guild and the relationships you will be expected to forge.  We expect you to put the concerns and needs of this guild ahead of other in-game relationships.

That said, we are mostly a group of people who enjoy each other's company be it raiding a new zone, smashing horde face in BGs, or just shooting the breeze in /gu.  If this does not sound like your idea of what you want from a guild (and we've found that many do not want these aspects in an on-line game they play to escape many of these same things) then hail and well met, and good luck out there!

If this does sound like what you are looking for then head over to this thread to get the nuts and bolts of the application process.  I welcome you to befriend our members and seek out someone who will be happy to put their name and reputation on the line with the rest of the guild to be your sponsor.  If you want to know more about the guild you can read a little bit more about our history below.

[Dedolito]

A Brief History of Transcendents

The Transcendents were first established in 1998 as one of the first guilds in Everquest beta 3.5.  When EQ went live, we formed up on the Karana server where we had a long and distinguished run.  We merged with a sister guild -- Sisters of the Circle -- and later joined the Ashborne Alliance raiding group to experience the competition of end-game raiding.  Eventually we migrated to the Ayonae Ro server to get away from the over-crowding.  Later, during EQ's decline, the remaining members migrated back to Karana.

After Everquest, the Transcendents have had official chapters in many of the big-name MMORPGs:  Anarchy Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes, and Everquest II.  Handfuls of members have also been involved with other MMOs like Lineage II, Final Fantasy XI, Lord of the Rings Online, and the like.

Many of our original members from Everquest are still with us today, and with each new game we play we meet new friends that have joined us for the long haul.  As you might have guessed, membership is lifelong and lasts until you quit the guild.  Just because you quit the game de-jour does not mean you have quit the Transcendents, and you will be welcomed back with open arms if you return to any game where we have an official presence.

Most of our members are connected in some way in Real Life.  We have several “nodes” of players, oftentimes family or family friends, which helps hold us together.  It’s my belief that this is an important component of our decade-plus success; people on the other side of the screen aren’t just strangers in the nether, but people you care about or at least people that people you care about care about.  This keeps us civil and this keeps us honest.  This also means that we often share and receive support for our personal problems in guild channels.

That’s not to say we don’t have brawls on our private forums from time to time.  Like any other guild there is the occasional drama but where we shine is that even though we may not agree on some topic, we all still trust that the opposing side has the best interests of the guild (not the individual) at heart.

[Dedolito]

The Reputation Game

Reputation is the currency of MMORPGs.  When people trust you and your guild, avenues of opportunity are opened.  Throughout our long history we’ve strived to live up to our moniker in all that we do. 

You’ll not see any of our members displaying any of the base attitudes or actions that plague MMORPGs.  Indeed, /public channel obscenities or spamming, ninja-looting, scamming, harassment, exploitation, and the like are grounds for immediate dismissal from the guild.  Nearly all things are fair in PvP of course, but we do not corpse-camp, “tea-bag”, /spit, or GY camp.  These are not necessarily bannable offenses, but a pattern of such behavior may lead to dismissal.

The WoW guild-tag club may not be nearly as exclusive as it was back in our EQ days, but we will still strive to be known by our server-mates for our uncommonly friendly demeanor, in-game knowledge & ability, and general helpfulness. 

Remember – it’s not only your reputation that is on the line, but that of the entire guild, all the time.  People remember slights and offenses far longer than kindnesses.  That our reputation is what it is means that negative instances are few and far between and our positive encounters effusive.  And it’s up to each and every member to uphold that reputation at all times.

[Dedolito]

The Once and Future GM

Our organizational structure is somewhat amorphous.  We currently have one publicly-voted officer position -- GM.  The rest of the officers are something of a cabinet of appointees that the GM calls upon to help make decisions.  In reality, the GM position is often little more than an administrative position that on rare occasion requires the coordination of the officers and membership to solve some pending issue. 

In general I allow people that have shown the talent and motivation to lead the privilege and responsibility to do so.  This is my current government philosophy, even though it’s bitten me a few times, and it may well change when someone else takes the reins or the membership campaigns for such a change.  We’ve had other styles of government in the past so there’s no reason to believe the current mode is the only way to do things. 

In reality, the leaders that have the most to do with your day-to-day gaming experience are your raid leaders, currently Flinter and Exeter for the 25-mans and a number of others when it comes to organizing the 10-man content.  These leaders are responsible for organizing raids, from signups to loot distribution and everything in between.  On any given run that run’s leader is the ultimate authority be it loot, tactics, or lineup issues. 

And where Flinter and Exeter are concerned, they are also responsible for seeking out the mutual-benefit relationships we enjoy with a number of other guilds out there.  If not for the efforts of these two we’d probably still be back in Kara, farming loot on alts.  All of our raiders owe them a debt of gratitude.  We can begin to repay them for their service by showing up on-time for raids we sign up for, prepared with stat foods, flasks, and having read the relevant boss strats ahead of time