Black Serpent

Well... truth be told interest level in Aion has officially reached exhausted levels for many people. Some people are enjoying leveling lowbie toons again and I want to encourage that for those that do enjoy it! I won't be leveling an alt because I did that in AOC to hit level cap and be disappointed. I've learned my lesson in past games already :/

I personally won't be actively recruiting but I won't be shutting down the branch all together. I'm staying subbed (six month wings damn you), but after playing ME2 and playing a game that I actually enjoyed playing has shown me (personally) that there's a level of self torment that I'd rather avoid in Aion when there are games out there I can actually enjoy. I'll assess Aion again more actively at 6 months.

I survived the grind to 50, but my patience is thin. I'm still in vent every night and I'll still be willing to help anyone either:

a.) Find a new home in an active guild for those who want to actively play.
b.) Help you with any existing content in Aion that you would like to explore.
c.) You are welcome to bear the Black Serpent tag for as long as you like (I'll even get some current inactives re-invited in if you're feeling naked without a tag).

It seems a bulk of us are trying out Global Agenda. Slaughterdog, Dierdre and others re-earthed their traditional tag "WeCantWin" and we've connected it with the DooSH alliance (with PL feat. Mastyx, Kuronese) and a few other guilds from the Aionsource boards.

It plays like TF style games (it's a shooter game) but you level in it. It's a fun enough distraction. I can't think of another MMO I'd be willing to migrate the Black Serpent tag to other than the Star Wars MMO (which is due out approx Spring 2011). It's the kind of game that you can just play casually for a few hours (or even a few matches) and then go about your business. Leveling is a perk (not a requirement). I was still fragging people at level 5 when I was pitted up against level 17s lol.

On a personal level, there are politics in Aion that I'd rather not deal with for the time being. A merger of servers is in order to really breathe new life into the game. PVP is avoided except for fortresses and fortresses tend to be a menial task where everyone is the boss but no one has a clear direction or priority listing. I respect those that want to take up the charge, but for many it's for selfish undisclosed reasons. That's all I'm going to say on the matter.

We launched into Aion with an alliance of 11 guilds down to 4-ish with activity levels petering to obscenely low levels. This isn't the fault of any of the guilds. It's a game that people are leaving because it isn't fun.

Like AOC and WAR before... pains me to say it, but Aion disappointed and failed to deliver.

Side note: I'm tempted to tag up with Black Serpent in GA. Not to slight Slaughterdog, Diedre and company by any means, but I think it might be wise (depending on alliance limitation sizes) to splinter the guild into people that plan on paying the monthly fee for the AvA content and people that don't. This is just my initial thinking on the matter. I don't personally plan on paying the monthly fee... but I'd love to play with people outside of that content. The taxes on guild members help fund a bid for the AvA content, but if people don't ever plan on doing that content perhaps it's prudent to not impose the tax.

The other side of me is thinking that we can help fund those that actually want to pay the monthly fee. Meh. Either way I don't truly care. The last thing I want to do is personally maintain a branch in GA. I'll leave this up to open discussion. I don't mind being apart of "WeCantWin" and we can continue to facilitate this website to communicate either way.

My ultimate goal is to keep those together that want to stay together and I can already hear bickering from other folks in other guilds in GA where the current leadership is hardcore AvA with 90% taxes and people who aren't and they are vocalizing concern over not getting money back for content they won't explore with the community. I'm not familiar enough with the concept to accurately weight in.

I've kept the Black Serpent domain alive for the last 3 years and I don't plan on shutting it down even if we aren't active in a game

so basically, I am awesome

#2176705 Squirddle wrote:

so basically, I am Jakol Bitch

Fixed it for you

I'll have to try that game.. After I lost the use of my windows computer, after a few days I just lost interest in the game, it just didn't appeal like I thought it would, nor progressed like I had hoped. I still have a 12 month subscription, just in case (and yeah, I really want those 6 month wings). I look forward to more end-game focused MMO's.. Cuz I just couldn't deal with the leveling MMO. (maybe I'm too spoiled from WoW or something, but whatever).

I'm sticking around for whatever happens next. We'll see what comes along.

Shit where am I going to find $50 for this???

AHH ill find a way hopefully

So wait I understand you have to BUY the game it doesn't say anything about subscription though. Can I get some clarification here?

12.99 a month for the AvA content. It's a large scale battle for control of a map to give your alliance strategic points of interest.

Other than that the game is just a flat cost. You can still do the PVP matches and it's a fancier TF2.

It's like....sci-fi TF2 with leveling if you go with the non-sub version. It's not exactly like TF2 since it lacks the humor and speed of that game, but it provides team-based objective play without a lot of lone-wolfing. It also has a lot more weapons and options than TF2, which I am really enjoying. The medic is a very dynamic and interesting healer. I've been trying to find things to complain about in it, and I haven't found much, simply because this game caters to my playstyle very well. Right now people are still new so they aren't working together, which is annoying, but it's getting better and people are starting to use the VOIP feature and the like.

Kind of slow-paced, but still a shooter, and there are a lot of different options for loadouts for your character. Leveling happens without much effort, and if you enjoy just jumping into a fight then this game is pretty fun.

What it isn't (in the non-sub model) is an MMO. You won't find things like endgame raiding or fancy loot (though there is some cool stuff you can get for your guy), nor will you get much story or roleplaying out of it, but you will find good co-op play with your friends, which is why I'm playing it.

I can see some people looking for epic character progression getting bored in this game after a few weeks with the non-subscription model. However, if you're like me and can play the same map 3000+ times just because you like to frag some noobs than this game will work for you. The leveling and customization is a cool bonus, though once you hit cap you'll find yourself bored if the match aspect isn't enough for you.

The subscription model provides you with content beyond the pvp matches, in the form of map control. The point of this is to get as much territory as you can, within your agency, and then defend it from other agencies attacking it. If you hold on to it long enough (I think it goes in 45 day cycles) and gather enough resources, you can build a forge on the land and some kind of reward shit goes down (nobody is sure what exactly yet). The defending and attacking is done via pvp matches, like the ones you get in the non-sub model, but the stakes are higher. You can bring in siege equipment (that is very expensive) and you have to fight it out with other agencies to keep your stuff. If your expensive equipment breaks, it's gone.

The key to the sub model is being in an organized and dedicated agency, otherwise you're setting yourself up for a world of hurt (and taxation). It's kinda like they threw a little bit of EVE into this game, giving agencies a chance to control the world, which I can see being popular with certain people. I haven't tried it yet, but once I do I will post more about it.

Oh and the red team is OP.

Sard, if you want to create Black Serpent in game, I'm all for it. We just usually default to WCW (and other names like Limited Order) when we join games for the first time. Nothing ever comes of it, except for rare times like when we dominated TBC in WoW as Limited Order.

I agree with the taxation thing, but honestly, I don't expect us to ever be the size of agency that can do that. Kuro and Mastyx dropped like 800k last night getting hexes for AvA. Little out of my league...

The AvA stuff was a fucking blast though, and I would definitely like to participate in whatever way I can with that.

I am still playing Aion, but I did not level cap as fast as yall did... so I guess I am not bored with it yet. At the same time I usually have a shooter loaded on my PC for variety. I have not played TF2 for quite some time so I think it will be replaced with GA once payday comes around. Can't wait to play with yall again (I have been lonely in Aion lately )

I didn't want to press the issue or offend Dierdre . It was just like wait wut at everyone heading MULTIPLE directions in alliance chat.

I'm still getting my bearings on the class/maps/game and figuring out spec/weapons/leveling. Also wondering why I have all these little armor scraps in my bag and wonder how to put them on the auction house. I typically head to the auction house and search for the item... then by the time I'm like "OK this is going for X price" the match queues before I get to put it up. Plus, I'm perfectly fine and capable of not having any "responsibilities" or "obligations" in the game (diplomatic or otherwise) =)

I'd rather be killing some folks I'm a turtler by nature so the robotics class really suits me. And beating someone in the face with my electrified mace is always funny.

I was just going to suggest the plausibility of those that wanted to go hardcore for the AvA content and those that didn't perhaps split, so the taxation can be set high with those people in agreement of it. So people who will be doing the 12.99 a month in one branch and people who won't in the other. If people decide to do the 12.99 we just move them. Regardless we still have vent as a focal point of meeting and that doesn't hinder anyone from queuing up together (heck Brooklyn joined Goon hehe)

The lack of friends list disturbs me, but I like having the alliance chat. In essence, the clan tag itself doesn't matter. I'm just happy to be playing with everyone again, but knee jerk tax increases are like "woah!" stop (and that's what I get to hear in vent).

For the time being I plan on treating it like a regular shooter. The lack of organization was apparent from Alliance chat last night. That can improve, but I'm not going to get involved unless I want to get involved and I'm not sure that's what I want/need right now. When you have people like Cynic and Bone (who aren't Black Serpents from the past) tag up with us to have fun in the game and get high taxes for things they don't plan on being apart of (or know they are being apart of), I just want to keep that in scope.

And Brooklyn when you hit 25 that's when you start investing in implants to "twink" out your character. At 30 you hit a cap and it can only be circumvented by implants that you equip to your character (since you get no new talent points past 30). That's what people are going to be going for and that's also what people will be money sinking.

Thinking large scale, if everyone is being taxed to hell at the onset, you can bid on those map pieces etc etc etc but when the "new" clan hits the AvA field that hasn't had a previous presence with 10 fully implanted implanted coordinated people on vent raping your face and all your clan members are broke from taxes I think it'll be a wake up call... at the same time. It really can go either way. I learned a long time ago "gear" is only about 1/4th of what makes a decent player.

My "emotional" attachment to Black Serpent isn't in the tag but in the people I play with (this was evident when some of us joined Ruin in Warhammer). I'd never make it something petty. Having not done any research into the game and I'm sure the same is true for others still trying to grasp everything and not just follow the crowd. The taxes were the only real issue because I know some people play more than others (Vex for instance is level what... 25 now??) so he's being taxed more than anyone else whether it's set at 10% or 90%. I'd wager most of that money was from his progression and I think people need a clearer expectation of what lies ahead.

For me (personally) it's not AvA for the moment. I'm done with monthly fee games, but I can probably play the crap out of this. Queue up for a few matches go toss in some laundry in between etc. It's low commitment. I don't feel like I'm holding anyone back from being able to play the game. The AvA is going to have that sort of obligation tied into it (good, bad, or indifferent) plus making sure people play nice to each other that are supposed to. I agree with Brook that's the AvA looks "EVE" like and you'll start to see segmentation of alliances. Agreements not to touch each other and agreements to take out other peoples. It will get cut throat. On one hand it sounds intriguing. On the other hand... I'd rather just sit back and data mine from the back burner and gather intel on the situation.

If three alliances team up to take down one other alliance by attacking 3 nodes owned by said other alliance it could cripple them if they don't have 30 players online at that time capable of working together. [The numbers of players may be off]

And it's a shooter... so epeen will fly... the website that tracks your stats will be used against you to determine if you are a good or bad player. The number of stars you have (however you earn them) will also be used against you. Smells like epeen spirit!!

Or I can just log in to kill people and realize I can buy a shiny every now and again and have low commitment.

Side note: And none of these AvA plans/dreams/goals have really even been outlined between the guilds that are currently in the alliance and that's what I was talking with Kuro about. Neph wants to go hardcore. PL seems to want to (Mastyx is leading their branch in GA I believe). DL... I'm not even sure who is leading their branch over here... there's no consistency currently. It's ready, fire aim. When you're dropping a lot of money on something ready, fire, aim is... situational. Not saying it will fail but ... I have enough headaches.

Long story short: I expected to log in to queue up for some matches with some friends and there was much vent hopping explosions and money being tossed around in alliance chat. I was confused and if I was confused by it I know damn well other people were.

Yeah the main reason I haven't put in my lot with kuro and those other guys is because it seemed rather unorganized to me, and while I'm interested in the AVA aspect, I'd rather let people who are experienced at organizing this kind of thing do it for me, instead of worrying about the drama that goes on in a group that isn't used to it. I primarily joined Goon because I figure they'll be a big, organized presence that I can benefit from, but I still plan to play with my BS friends when that stuff isn't going on. Goon has years of experience in EVE, so they'll probably be able to get things going on their end and I won't have to do crap.

All power to the people who want to do their own AvA thing with Mastyx - they'll get it figured out and it should be fun. I just intend to run with a giant zerg instead and let them do the figuring out for me (because when I don't run with a zerg I end up having to think).

#2180019 Brooklyn wrote:

because when I don't run with a zerg I end up having to think.

This made me LOL

And yes, probably over thinking everything but I need something where I don't have to think about things for a while

[+1 post count]

Thinking is over rated.

Ok, just so we are clear. We are talking about the game Global Agenda, right?

Yeah Global Agenda

Yea we are

At 50% DL

HURRY UP!

Just got done educating myself on what Global Agenda is and i have to say im interested in playing. I love shooters and this one looks pretty good. I've been waiting patiently for Huxley to come out but GA definitely looks like it will suffice. So has a guild/clan been formed yet?