Another week have started, and another Guild took the time to answer our questions. Being an old SWG gamer my self, it’s nice to have a chat with some old timers again. So with no further ado, I bring you Death’s Fist:
Where did your guilds name come from?
Originally we were going to call ourselves Revan’s Fist, after a guild that existed for a few months on the Corbantis server in SWG. I was a PvP officer in the guild, and always thought it was a great, unique name. However, when we went to create our guild on SWTOR.com, it wouldn’t let us use Revan. So after some quick brainstorming we came up with Death’s Fist – still a unique name with an edge to it.
Death’s Fist is an international, adult guild that will focus on PvP but tackle all aspects of The Old Republic. We are a guild of adults who are treated like adults, with all members having an equal voice in the direction of the guild and given unparalleled ability to organize. While we are generally laid back, we stress excellence and teamwork tackling in-game challenges.
We have our roots in Pre-CU and CU Star Wars Galaxies. We were a collection of close knit Imperial guilds on the server who kepts in-touch after we stopped playing SWG with the New Game Experience. We tried to come together a few times – most notably for World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online – but were never able to find a game that filled the void of SWG.
Now, with The Old Republic on the horizon, old friends have come back together under a single banner. Many are bringing friends they made playing other games over the years – resulting in one of the larger Empire guilds in the game right now – despite strict recruiting criteria.
Our focus will be PvP, especially Open World PvP, and we will be playing on a PvP server. But we also have a diverse group of gamers who will be tackling all the challenges The Old Republic presents – including end-game PvE progression.
The big difference between Death’s Fist and other guilds is the degree of freedom we give our members. Our goal is to not micro-manage players or their play styles. Part of being comprised of intelligent, veteran gamers is trusting them to make decisions about how they should play their characters and classes. Along these lines we also give all members the authority to create guild events – something usually only designated for an elite inner circle. But our philosophy is the guild is there to server the players and their needs not the other way around.
We also have regular meetings to discuss hot topic issues and make guild decisions. These meetings ensure all members are on the same page and understand what the current state of the guild is, and also whenever possible we look to come to a consensus on any issues that arise.
Ultimately we realize gaming is an escape from the real world. So we are very laid back most of the time – joking with each other, ribbing this player or that, and generally enjoying each other’s company. With that said, there is a time and a place for being laid back – and on the battlefield or in an operation is not that place. That doesn’t mean we’re turn into a bunch of “negative 50 DKP” leaders, but again we’re also there to be successful.
A good example is a baseball team. In the dugout players laugh, joke and tell stories. But once they step foot on the field, its time for business. Same for us.
We do, with titles based on the Imperial Navy ranks. It’s a bit complicated, and we’re putting the finishing touches on it now, but the idea is to have a guild leader, guild officers, a group of secondary officers, a guild veteran rank, members and probationary members. We also have a rank for alt characters.
As former Imperial players in Star Wars Galaxies the thought of going Republic just felt dirty.
I’ve asked myself this on a number of occasions, because it is hard work and running a guild does mean sacrificing the progression of your character to a certain extent. (In Warhammer some guild members used to poke fun because whenever I was discussing something important you could find my character running around the capital city aimlessly).
One reason is I think I’m good at providing the organization needed for a good guild. I also have the type of job that allows me to spend time outside of game setting up a lot of the tools guilds need to be successful – like forums and a web site. I am also a coach by nature (I coach baseball in the spring).
The biggest reason? I know what its like to be in a shitty guild that doesn’t care about you. The forerunner of Death’s Fist was created for that reason. Myself and others were members of a guild that had lost its way, so we branched off and created a new guild based on our ideals. That resulted in not only our guild flouishing, but Imperials on the server as a whole flourishing like never before. And I had a couple of other similar experiences in WoW – part of a guild that looked at you not as a player, but as another piece of the puzzle of end game progression for their inner-circle.
So if I can help ensure my friends and I are part of a guild that makes their game play more enjoyable, that certainly out weighs any negatives in my mind.
From a micro point of view … I don’t. My strength isn’t in endgame raiding. We have a number of guild members who have a lot more experience and success with raiding than I do.
From a macro point of view, we believe that end game teams progress together. So no leaving a guild member behind because you were lucky enough to get your last piece of armor. We also believe all members should be prepared and on-time – that is the other side of being part of a team and respecting your guildmates.
We are looking to keep the guild size around 100 or so people – ensuring there’s room for alt characters with a guild size limit of 500. That might change down the road (when an alt guild might be needed). Right now we are around 90 players.
With that said, we will always accept a new member who appears to be a good fit with our team. And we have a probationary period for all new members that makes sure they’re a fit with our team.
All members need to be 18 years of age or older.
Approx. 90 members.
Our calling card is treating you and all members like adults. Part of that is being able to hang out and talk alike an adult without fear of somebody’s Mommy getting on the voice chat and giving you the “how dare you use that language” speech (which has happened).
Part of that is realizing you have a real life and real life obligations. And the other side of the coin is we don’t babysit you. We won’t tell you how to play your class or what spec you need to be. Etc.
Our members are spread out all over the U.S., with a couple from the UK and Australia. We communicate regularly via our guild’s forums and also on our Mumble server. We’ve actually already started having guild meetings on Mumble in the run-up to The Old Republic.
We have a handful of players who are lucky enough to be in the beta. A few others who are playing Battlefield 3. But most are just passing the time until The Old Republic. Almost everybody has quit WoW or other MMOs by this time.
You can head to the About Death’s Fist section of our web site (http://www.deathsfist.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=28) to learn more about us. Applications can be submitted through our guild page on SWTOR.com: http://www.swtor.com/guilds/66420/deaths-fist
The former SWG player in me would love to see TOR add the ability to decorate our ships like we could decorate houses in SWG, and instead of having a guild hall let us have a guild capital ship to hang out on.
