Greetings Everyone,
Our old friend "the rumor mill" has started circulating about Gaiscioch leaving Elder Scrolls Online for ArcheAge. First and foremost I would like to put your mind at ease that, that is not the case. We will still be moving forward on Elder Scrolls Online. The ArcheAge Saighdear is an Unofficial Recreational division of the family for players who want to play to play together. It does not have events, leadership or participation or a marketplace. It is purely to keep members playing together who are no longer playing one of our chapter games. We also had people doing the same in Neverwinter and Final Fantasy XIV.
As of right now Elder Scrolls Online is our primary focus along with keeping the Tribute to Roger "Oldroar" Rall going in Guild Wars 2. Now that said I will break down the Chapter cycle for you all so that there are no surprises and you know where our boundaries are. A while ago I made a nice post about What makes a Gaiscioch Chapter? Here are some highlights.
We have a simple scale for all new and old branches:
Active Member Population | Potential Chapter | Active Chapter |
---|---|---|
1-250 | Saighdear Grade Recreational Division Only | Retired. Any Existing Chapter that drops below 250 active players will be retired except for Tribute Chapters. |
250-500 | Potential Seed. A Seed if Activated into a chapter is a 3 month trial period to measure the potential success and growth within a title. If after 3 months it exceeds 500 active people it can become a chapter. |
At-Risk At Under 400 we begin investigating additional chapters. |
500-750 | Minimum Requirement for Chapter If a seed exceeds 500 players it becomes a full branch and is eligible to become a chapter. |
Healthy |
750-1500 | Optimal | Optimal |
Couple Things To Remember:
- We will only expand into a new game when necessary to survive.
- We will only have 2 chapters open at a time maximum. For a new one to open, an old one needs to fall below 250 active players.
That said what would have to happen at this point for us to consider leaving ESO would be:
- Active Elder Scrolls Online Participation would have to drop below 250
- A Saighdear or Pioneer would have to pull in over 250 people with no website support, no promotions, no events and prove it would be worthy of becoming a seed.
To put your mind at ease I see no evidence that ESO is doing "That" bad. We've had our hardships but the decline has nearly stopped and we're starting to get more people in with our low level events.
We aren't a community that jumps from game to game because it's newest and coolest. We only jump when it's a means of survival. We can not do the things we are designed to do with less than 250 active players. We are an inclusive community built from the ground up to engage audiences and perform on the grand stage. As long as there are people to entertain we will remain in our chapters. Remember we've had 5 Chapters in 13 years. Most other communities have played or branched into dozens of games. We are specialized in our approach and do not take new chapters lightly. They must be necessary for our survival.
Additionally each new chapter requires about 300 hours of my time to get setup. I do not look forward to launching new chapters unless absolutely necessary. That's 300 hours of programming, db admin, complex data models, and data entry instead of leading events and being with people. That's not a small undertaking and I don't look forward to doing this every time a new shiny comes out. As long as we still have people to entertain we will remain where we are. Look at our past track record.
- Warhammer Online: Dropped below 250 and we closed
- RIFT: Dropped below 250 and we closed
- Guild Wars 2: Still over 400, still open.
- Elder Scrolls Online: Still over 400, still open.
Population dictates our fate. If you love Elder Scrolls Online then keep playing it and we'll keep holding events for ya. But if the day comes when we must consider other options to survive we will. We still have a long ways to go before anyone needs to be worried. I still have faith that ZeniMax will fix the glaring issues preventing our success and we will once again grow. Until then your support on the battlefield tuesday nights is tremendous to keeping us going. Each tuesday we are gaining 4-8 players as we help the newer players out in their campaign. We haven't had the same luck with any other event so If you can lend your Tuesday night to be a green shirt on the battlefield please do. It helps keep this branch alive and healthy.