The Guild Sphere: Carnage

Where did your guilds name came from?
Carnage was a compromise between a number of dedicated gamers. Decided on almost a week after we were formed, Carnage was the most accepted name among our ranks. Knowing our name would be unimportant in the long run, we decided to focus on substance from the inside, rather than having a flashy exterior. It worked out well.

Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild?
Carnage is an adult power-gaming guild that sets lofty goals, and then achieves them. Our entertainment is gained through raid level encounters and chances to exercise our teamwork. Be it a high end raid encounter, or coordinated PVP nights, we strive to be the best in all facets of our focus. We are never satisfied with the status quo, and do everything in our power to maximize our skill, builds, and talents.

How did your guild come about?
Carnage was formed when a void of leadership between multiple power-guilds occurred in Sony’s Vanguard, many years ago. At the time, a new leader was needed to lead the servers various talent against the servers established “uber guild”, Ebonlore. After a few short weeks, we presented them with a force that did not only challenge, but many times overtook, the servers established guilds. From that point forward, we have been a powerhouse in any endeavor we choose to partake as a team.

What kind of play style do you focus on? PvE, PvP, RP:
We are a PVE Progression guild that plays on PVP servers. We do this because we will inevitably max out our raiding career and be waiting for content, so the PVP server allows us to participate in other forms of competition. We are not a guild of roleplayers, but we do ask that people are respectful, honorable, and tasteful when conquering various aspects of our server, be it encounters or other players.

What is your guild set up? How do you run your guild?
Our guild has an established rank system that allows movement based on dedication, experience, and talent. The guild is lead by myself, Cohh. I am backed up by a class officer for every archetype, and three administration officers. All the officers together form the Leadership Council. All major decisions are finalized by myself, and we present ourselves in unison to establish a consistent outward front.

How serious do you play and/or run the guild?
Carnage is comprised of students, web developers, IT administrators, and company owners; we are in this guild to maximize what we accomplish when we are in game. As such, we are a serious guild when presented with serious issues (Advancement, potential dramatic situations, etc). However, as you’ll quickly find out in our Vent, we tend to play around… to an extreme 🙂

Do you have ranks or a certain hierarchy in your guild?
Our guild is comprised of a Leader, four Class Leads, a DKP Officer, a Recruitment officer, and a Web administrator. All Officers are not only in their positions based on their officer title, but also because they have demonstrated leadership capabilities in some facet.

Why did you choose The Sith Empire?
We likez red Lightsabers.

Why do you run a guild?
I run a guild for many reasons, but at the end, it comes down to control. I’m a person who wants to know things will happen for certain. I enjoy being the one that is responsible, since that way I know it will get done. I tested myself when I accepted the title of Leader in Vangaurd, and never looked back. I run a guild so I know it will accomplish everything we want it to.

How do you approach Raid Planning?
With gusto. It depends on the raid. If it’s a first time encounter (World First competition after a patch), then I go about it very similarly to the ways I did as a member in Ne Plus Ultra in EQ2; with a note pad, a pen, and 3-5 hours of wiping. Meticulously attempting different stresses on mechanics or attacks to see what they do; writing down every buff effect we can find for further research; wiping to certain mechanics over and over just to confirm information… Basically we do what we need to do to win. If it’s a raid we have already done before, we will most likely follow a strategy that has been established by either ourselves or an allied guild. We do prefer to learn ourselves, however, if the encounter already hasn’t been blown inside-out by web walkthroughs.

Are you always open for new recruits or do you want to keep a certain guild size?
We are a restrictive guild in terms of recruiting. Although we do not have a planned class list yet, we will quickly establish this as we test various raid makeups on our way to 50. We ask that all members play at least 35 hours a week, and that they are able to make at least 75% of our four day raid schedule (with 100% asked). This method not only blocks out numerous people from applying, but makes sure that those who do apply are going to be on enough with us to become a cohesive addition to our team.

Age Requirement?
Although we do not have a strict age requirement, we do ask that members are in their early 20s, or at least over 18. We do not allow small children into the guild for any reason; this is an adult guild that frequently talks about adult themes. We are also only looking for those that can be corpse camped without bitching about it, and that can go on a killing spree without spamming zones about how amazing they are; we are a respectful guild, and are only interested in recruiting respectful people.

Guild size?
With a hard raid size of 16, we anticipate the guild to be around 25-30 players (this may increase if we decide to field a second raid group). These numbers, just like anything in the guild, are always changing and adapting to our current situation and needs. Currently we are recruiting all classes, with over 20 members confirmed to roll in with us day one.

What makes your guild stand out from everyone else? What makes your guild unique?
Our dedication and core makes us stand out. Comprised of numerous World First levelers of their classes, spread out among multiple games, Carnage is designed from the ground up to facilitate power-gamers in accomplishing their goals. Be it server dominating PVP groups, Server/World first raiding, farming of Heroics for guild loot/advancement… whatever it is, if there is competition, we will be there. Also, due to our stringent entrance requirements and recruitment period, we tend to get mature, respectful, and dedicated individuals into our ranks.

How do you spend your time until release? Do you know each other in real life or do you spend a lot of time on forums?
Although our core is comprised of RL friends, we spend most of our times on the forums and playing other games. We recently stopped our scheduled raiding in Rift, as many of our members have began the process of SW:TOR anticipation XD. We encourage our members to stay active on the forums, and plan on expanding the functionality of our website to include more features conducive to that goal.

What Other Games are you currently playing as a guild?
We recently stopped our raiding in Rift, and have a small arm in Battlefield 3 (PC). Besides that, we’re pretty much zeroed in on the imminent SW:TOR release.

If somebody is interested now how and where can they apply for membership?
Our application can currently be found on our main website (just click the big Apply graphic) at http://www.carnage-guild.com . Our recruitment officer, Laena, can be reached via PM on our forums. In addition, there is a thread in our Recruitment forums (http://www.carnage-guild.com/forum) that is available for any questions or comments.

One last question, if there was one thing you could ask the Dev’s to include, what would it be?
Bioware, do not make the mistake of so many before you; focus on the end game too. These games are not all about 1-20; you need to a reason to play to 50 to actually slug through the hours it takes! Many developers fall into the same trap of just focusing on the lower level stuff “to get subscribers”, but that’s why these MMOs fail; they don’t give a reason for the people progressing through the early content to stick around. Don’t make the mistake of your predecessors!