The Guild sphere: Errant Venture

Today I had the chance to speak with Zainitopia from the republic guild Errant Venture. Errant venture plays on the server Space Slug  and is an all purpose republic guild, from the hardcore to the casual, being both accomplished in raiding and pvp. With over 100 members, we focus heavily in all aspects of gameplay – leveling(alts), warzones, flashpoints (hardmode), and of course raiding!

Essentially they are looking to recruit raiders for patch 1.2. they used to have 3 x 8 mans running and actually got a server first kill on SOA NiM as well. Since then they have had to scale back to 1 group and have been raiding every week since. They are a casual group that loves to raid (only 2 nights).

At one point they were very well respected in PVP as well.  Although the emphasis for recruiting is for raiding, they take all gameplays into the guild, whether that be alt-aholics, PVPers, or anything in between. Feel free to send them a tell in-game (same name), or apply on the guild website

Check out the interview below:

Where did your guilds name come from?
The Errant Venture was an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer captured by the smuggler Booster Terrik. Originally commissioned into theImperial Navy as the Virulence, under Terrik’s ownership she became a sort of mobile shadowport, and was for many decades the only privately-owned Imperial- or Imperial II-class Star Destroyer in the known Galaxy, distinguished by its unusual red coloring. – wookiepedia

Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild?
Errant Venture is a casual core guild that emphasis real life priorities over gaming responsibilities.

How did your guild come about?.
Most of the core played together in World of Warcraft. They all pre-ordered the game and Errant Venture was born out of that.

What kind of play style do you focus on? PvE, PvP, RP:
Errant Venture started off as an all-purpose guild but has since scaled back into a PvE focused guild — we still have people that focus heavily in other aspects, but their numbers have dwindled over the past few months.

What is your guild set up? How do you run your guild?
EV is governed by loot council — we give gear to the person who needs it the most and make an attempt to spread out loot so everybody walks out with something. Ultimately, gear is a means to an end and our main focus is to down the boss, not to get the phat loot.

How serious do you play and/or run the guild?
When it comes to content, we are very serious. However on our off days everyone likes to have fun and just relax. My philosophy (as an officer) is that people should have fun while playing but ultimately it should lead to a competitive kill on bosses.

Do you have ranks or a certain hierarchy in your guild?
Currently, we have 6 ranks that are all attainable by anyone in the guild meeting the criteria. They are; Inactive, Alt, Recruit, Member, Raider, Officer.

  • Inactive: This rank is given to toons that have not logged in for 60 days. Alts are exempt from this.
  • Alt: A secondary toon for any current members.
  • Recruit: All new toons start at this rank. Social toons are upgraded from this rank after 2-4 weeks. Toons that have joined for raiding are upgraded from this rank at a time deemed approriate by the Guild Officers. Most people stay recruits for about a month however, some have taken longer/shorter amounts of time. Recruits are eligible for raids but generally are only invited for gearing runs to ascertain their dependability. As always, there are exceptions.
  • Member: A social/pvp-focused toon. They have zero expectations for raiding but can be invited to raids if willing/able.
  • Raider: Focuses on raiding. Are expected to be present and prepared for all raids.

Why did you choose the Republic?
Alliance on WoW, it just made sense — we’re all good at heart!

Why do you run a guild?
Somebody has to! Our Guild Leader is not currently here so I have taken up most of the responsibilities for the past few months.

How do you approach Raid Planning?
First and foremost, what gives us the best chance of downing a boss. If we encounter any bugs (such as one that won’t let us re-enter), we usually switch to a gearing run.

Are you always open for new recruits or do you want to keep a certain guild size?
Errant Venture is always recruiting.

Age Requirement?
18+ but mature individuals not meeting the requirement will still be considered.

Guild size?
104 members total, about 30-40 active.

What makes your guild stand out from everyone else? What makes your guild unique?
We’re one of the few guilds to have our own website (we own the name). This ensures that our members know that we are here for the long haul. I can’t verify this but I’m also pretty sure we’re one of the few guilds that has had 3 different groups of 8 mans clear Nightmare Modes, and were also the first guild to clear Nightmare SOA on our server. We were one of the first guilds on the server to have all content finished.

What Other Games are you currently playing as a guild?
None. We’re dedicated to Star Wars presently and in the future.

If somebody is interested now how and where can they apply for membership?
Best way is to apply at www.errantventure.org. You don’t have to make an account to post on our forum (to apply or to ask questions) and I see all applications right away. Another way is to send a private message to Zainitopia either on the SWTOR forums or ingame.

One last question, if there was one thing you could ask the Dev’s to include, what would it be?
Harder fights — content right now is a face-roll. The only thing that isn’t is SOA and that’s only because of how buggy the encounter has been.