AIE Podcast Ep 117

We cover the latest guild news, Acuzod tries to flummox Alludra, and we take a deep dive into AIE’s newest game, Guild Wars 2!  All that and more coming up right now. THIS is the A-I-E Podcast…

AIE NEWS

Secret World’s 2nd ‘issue’ release hits tomorrow, Sept 12th! With a reduced team, it’s nice to see that they’re still trying as hard as they can to hit their monthly release targets! Group finder among other things included, so check it out soon!

The AIE Azeroth forums has a Jana Proudmore tides of war thread for those who have read and wish to discuss the book. So far the thread has been somewhat light on the spoilers, but if you don’t want to know anything about this amazing book I’d suggest not peeking in!

AIE World of Warcraft has finished their great 6 month purge and would like to remind all members that they will go back to their three month inactive policy in October. That means that all characters who are inactive for 3 months or longer will be removed. If you find yourself suddenly outside the guild upon log in, just hop into the aielfo channel and your friendly officers will be happy to get you back in! Blizzard also decided that guild rep was too difficult to earn and buffed it, so you can earn back rep much more quickly!

An old thread which is still active from time to time, is the AIE Exercise Plan! I recently started up trying to get off my rear end and be more active, so started posting things as well. Its been interesting to find out what is motivating folks and what they’re using as tools to get in shape!

Taxillus Transtellar is planning a roam Friday September 14th at 9pm Pacific time. They are asking all participants to bring a pvp micro warpdrive fitted frigate. They expect to die in fiery death explosions as Tuku and Lanctharus are leading this event.

Speaking of EVE, Dust 514 in beta and free to play on the Playstation 3! This FPS takes place in the EVE universe, allowing players to earn ISK and take part in battles on planet surfaces. Unfortunately this is a playstation exclusive game, so you have to have the console to take part. There’s already some talk about it on the forums.

Rift is expecting it’s big 1.1 patch tomorrow! What’s that mean? Well it means factions are a thing of the past! Seriously! All races are now open to both factions! It is important to note that currently the AIE guild and UMAMI do not support Guardian characters, word on when and if AIE will be opening it’s doors cross faction will be coming soon on the forums.

Storm legion, Rift’s first expansion, will be released November 13th! The basic edition is only $39.99 with a collectors edition only $59.99. If you are new to rift and are thinking of joining in on the fun with the expansion you can pick either edition for only 10 dollars more to get the base game and 30 days of game time! And remember, if you buy a year of rift up front, you can get the expansion for free!

AIE Steam is sad to announce that TF2uesdays have been cut. With the influx of new games out there and Mists rolling around, attendance has been a little low. (Thanks for tuning into the podcast instead guys!)  Even so, don’t miss out on your chance to battle with and against your favorite AIE’rs on TF@ Thursdays.

AIE steam also wants to help you get your co-op groups going for next week’s borderlands 2 release! How? By using the AIE steam group chat! That’s right folks, steam gives chatrooms to their groups and AIE is no exception. So if you find yourself looking for a co-op game this week for borderlands or any game just head on over! It’s the same community you love, now just on steam! Just go to the AIE page if you are a member, and click the shiny button.

Big announcement!  GW2 has gone from settlement status to official DOMAIN status, with Durus at the helm!  And it’s time to bring him out, along with Cakuu who has joined him, and special guest Stigg!

GAME NEWS

Brief Prologue: GERPdom,  Road to Settlement, and Beyond
GERP is great ~ Day minus zero involvement in game and community ~ Industry trends and many new shinies ~
Core group involved in the initial thread and involvement in BWEs (Velinos, Zeewire, Zerbious, and others) and subsequent “Oh, hey, look: Stress Test in 5m!” events. Exploring all the options, preparing for head-start.
The involved discussion of communities in GW2, websties (gw2guilds.org, guildwars2guru.com, reddit, etc.) and the choice of “world.”
Future: pop will normalize, activity will fall into a more relaxed pace as new titles occupy members’ time.

State of the Game
Nearly two weeks after launch marks some milestones for AIEx:

  • Full UMAMI integration
  • Maximum guild license of 500 was purchased with over 400 members invited.
  • Guild Stash deposits active once more. Funds at just over 1g.
  • Earned influence through representation of Dragonbrand members makes all the guild unlocks, boosts and banners possible. Activity and contribution of both coin and effort from AIEx members to achieve what we have in the last two weeks has been great and much appreciated.


Account Security
Game updates from ArenaNet on the state of GW2: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_status_updates

Note the blurb about security of your account. Do not reuse passwords from other games or web forums with any account, including your AIE UMAMI account.


Recruitment
All of September: open recruitment.
Moving forward: like other games, first week of each month for new members of the AIE gaming community.
Existing AIE members in other games:  apply anytime.

Yes, we are already discussing the logistics for growing into another guild should we reach the 500 person limit before the end of September.


Apply for Guild Wars 2 on Your UMAMI Account
Please visit https://gw2.aie-guild.org (http://umami.aie-universal.net/ ) to apply for Guild Wars 2 on your UMAMI account if you have not yet done so already.
New to UMAMI? Please visit the same website and chose “Need an account?” to create your account and put in an application for the Guild Wars 2 game.
You will need to do this even if you have registered during head-start and the first week of launch with the Google Docs application.
After 31 September 2012 we will reconcile the current guild roster with players registered in UMAMI, and may begin removing unregistered individuals. We will let you know what the plan is well in advance. Reinvites will also be as easy as sending an email or speaking to an officer in-game.

Events
AIEx Guild Boosted Weekends:  +10% Magic Find, +5% XP for all Guild members for the whole weekend, with additional +10% Magic Find +5% XP for 30 minutes with Guild Banners.  With over 300,000 Influence made in just two weeks, we can afford it.  🙂
About Influence (Guild currency made from members playing the game):  http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Politics#Politics

Kelseer and Bishless’ Skill Challenge Event (in Queensdale, the human starting area) that happened the first week, the 29th August: (http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/46859-skill-challenge-farming-wednesday-august-29th/)
http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/46913-west-coast-skill-challenge-farming-wed-29th/
Dgtlreaper’s Monday Night Map Completion event, Plains of Ashford (Charr starting area):
http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/47095-mnmc-event-1-details/

The Skill Challenges in GW2 are special blue waypoints on the map, and completing said challenges rewards you with an extra skill point (towards unlocking utility skills).  The Challenges in Divinity’s Reach ranged from defeating strong NPCs to simply ‘communing’ with the area (read: clicking on it).
About Skill Challenges:  http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skill_challenge

The Map Completion achievement rewards you with a loot chest when you unlock every Point of Interest, Waypoint, Vistas, and Reknown Hearts (ie. quests/events) of a given map.
About Map Completion: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Map_completion

World versus World fun
http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/47000-aie-wvw-pvp-group/

Sharkmaw Cavern Tours and Achievement
http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/47094-event-sharkmaw-caverns-tour-achievement-sunday-sep-9/

Shoutouts:
Lavagod for his AIE Signature generator, now supporting GW2! :  http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/46803-aie-signatures-generator-2-new-site/
Dee Dee’s Show off your character thread:  http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/46934-show-off-your-character/

Two ArenaNet items of news
1. Account Security
2. The game is back (on sale)!

CLOSE

And that’s our show for tonight, We want to thank Durus, Cakuu, and Stigg for joining us! Next week we’ll be talking to those big important people of AIE!

Quick mention! We have some great iTunes reviews! Thanks to Ahinia, Lionchild, Nosjer, Deaderin, Madelyn Man, Alachaas, and SecksyNachos. Want to get a shout out? Just give us a 5 star review on iTunes! And so you know, we often turn to our iTunes reviewers when it’s time to select someone to win something from the AIE loot chest. And speaking of loot, it’s time for a giveaway!  Congrats to Nojer for winnign an awesome WoW miniature game starter set, and big thanks to Mewkow for donating it!

Stay tuned, as we’ve got some great AIE member segments coming right up, including…
Epic Diapers
MegaMinute
Ask Miss Mulgra
Overly Dramatic News
Epic Achievements
Alludra’s pets

But first, if you need to reach us, we can be found at…
– Email: podcast@aie-guild.org
– Twitter @aiepodcast, @shownotfound @acuzod @alludra_aie
– Guest Twitter: @thedurus @stigg
– Podcast website: www.TheAIEPodcast.com

Shoutout to Darthrex for this week’s show title!