Aibreán 2016
(April)


Cead Mile Failte!

Most months things are chaotic and flying a billion miles a minute. Well this month I had some time to do some things I've been meaning to do for a while. So this newsletter might be a bit longer but I want to make sure everyone knows what's up.

Gaiscioch Family News

Gaiscioch Family Summit April 2016

As there's a lot to cover I wanted to encourage everyone to attend this month's Gaiscioch Family Summit.  We will hold it on April 2nd at 5pm PT on Discord.

Participate on Discord http://gsch.info/voice

Watch the presentation http://gsch.info/twitch or http://gsch.info/youtube

New Tutorial Based Mails

Through your Gaiscioch life you will receive a few different Gaiscioch Mails directly through the site. I've reduced the amount of Email based notices and moved the majority of them to the Gaiscioch Mail system within Gaiscioch.com. If you have a new mail you'll see this at the top of your Command Center.

By reading these mails you'll learn the next step in your membership progression as well as learn about various systems within our website. It is designed to introduce you to systems slowly over time so that it's not so overwhelming as a new member.

Topics include:

  • Joining a Chapter
  • Adding Characters
  • Adding your Account Name for In Game Invites
  • The Marketplace
  • Leadership
  • Claiming Participation
  • The Loot Vault
  • Credos
  • Warlord Ranks


I will be adding more over time but for now this is the core list I created to help people be effective in our community.

Gaiscioch Structure Changes

Time to shake the old tree again! Run, hide, the sky is falling! Ahhhhh! No wait that's kinda cool. Some of you may know that our former ranks were a hodge podge assortment of Irish, Middle-Irish, and Scottish. Without a reliable person to help me translate them all into Middle-Irish i've had to rely on various translations found around the web. There are 7 versions of Gaelic still being used in the world today and that doesn't even include the dozen or so versions that have faded over time.

In an effort to build consistency in our language use I've decided to migrate all titles to modern Irish as it's easier to find reliable sources for grammar and translation. In addition I've fixed (reordered the names) the ranks to be more in line with where they should be.

Repositioning the Laoch Rank

Laoch specifically has been moved back to the top where it belongs. We initially added the 3 leadership ranks above Laoch. However we have opened up rank 11 to all members serving as the pinnacle of a Gaiscioch members rank progression.

The word Laoch, describes a legendary hero of Ireland. Legendary figures like Cuhulain and Amergin bestowed this title.  In Celtic Society a Laoch was more important than an Ard Tiarna or High Lord. Their mere presence could sway a battle. This is why I am moving it back to it's rightful place at the top of the family ranks adding it to a new role of Legendary Members. This rank as well as our Finsceal, which is the rank for our "ascended members", will serve the pinnacle of our membership ranks.

I have also adjusted the requirements for this rank to now be obtainable by leader and follower alike. I have created a new point value called "Core Points" which are the combination of both primary point values. So your Leadership + your Fellowship will equal your Core Points. This in turn allows me to set a single requirement that you can earn through either path or both if you like.

This rank currently requires the accumulation of 150,000 Family Honor Points, 125,000 of which from your Core Points (Valor + Fellowship), 730 Days, and 150,000 contribution. I may make some adjustments to get it in line with the others and also make this a challenging accomplishment. Being this is the highest rank a living member can obtain I want it to be something people are proud of accomplishing.

Warlord Ranks

I've changed the titles and positioning of how warlord ranks display in your Family Title. Instead of being Totem animals they are now colors. Yay for teaching you all how to say basic colors in Irish! So depending on your rank you will have a color or tier assigned to your title.

Devotion Ranks

I have finally added these. You may have heard me talk about wanting to do this a few years ago but i never got around to it. Well, some room to breathe allowed me to finally incorporate it. These ranks are given based on the number of months you've been active in the family. You accrue these by logging into the website every 7 days. If you lapse in logins the counter stops counting. This works entirely on the Days Active metric on our family tree requirements.

These are where the Animal totems are now. There are 10 devotion ranks, the first you receive after 90 days of activity. The last after 15 years. This should keep all of us growing for a good long while.

Proper Names

So for years we've used the masculine form of rank names for ladies of the family. Now if you flag your account as being female, you'll have the feminine version of the word instead. So instead of being a lord you'll be a lady.

Putting it all Together

The end result of the new Family Ranks, Devotion Ranks, and Warlord Ranks is to generate your Family Title.

The next step is to create emblems for each of these in 2 sizes. For those that didn't factor the math that's a different graphic for each combination of 7 Roles, 11 Devotion Ranks, and 11 Warlord Ranks. Needless to say I'm going to attempt to employ some leprechauns in creating these for me.  The end result should give just about everyone a unique badge they can be proud of.

Here's some examples of the final product.

  

Moving to Discord

After a month of running it and GameVox side by side it seems that most of you prefer Discord over GameVox and our numbers of active users support that. Discord is a much easier application to get public groups involved in what we're doing and with the changes upcoming in April in Guild Wars 2, i'm certain we'll be doing a lot more community events. We have begun migrating our usage from GameVox to Discord. I understand some people have had problems getting it to work and as such i've done investigating into some of the common problems. I have created a post available for you that will walk you through downloading, setup, and configuration of Discord.

Please feel free to post your questions or issues there and we'll try to help you troubleshoot them.

I'm hoping this is the last time we have to do this. I for one am tired of having to change games and voice communication packages every few years. On the bright side, I really like the mobile app and it's ability to let me stay in touch with all of you while i'm on the road. It has been a huge help so far and their fast development cycle is continuously introducing new features.

Join & Download Discord at: http://gsch.info/voice

See the Tutorial and Setup Guide at: http://gsch.info/aboutdiscord

Gaiscioch Family Promotions:

I wanted to take a moment to say congratulations to a few members this month for accepting their next credo and stepping into a new role in our family.

Legends of the Family (Laoch)

Among the most devoted in the community are the Legends. They have devoted more than two years of their lives to playing along side the family and have shown their devotion and commitment to our families beliefs and best practices. They encourage the new, teach the learning and support the community. These are the most trusted advisors to the elder council and occasionally they will request feedback, ideas and perspectives to help guide the future of the community. Above all else, Legends are shining examples of what all Gaiscioch members should strive to be. This role can be obtained by both leaders and followers and is the pinnacle of ones Gaiscioch career.

  » Kitty   » LeslieoftheStars

Guardians (Seaimpín)

The Gaiscioch Family Guardians are an advanced part of the Veteran Members group and serve as the front line of our family. They help newer members learn about the family, our website, and our belief system. They occasionally will need to help get conversations back on track, or report misdoing's to the family elders. They act as advisors, guidance providers, and overall protectors of the family name. By this time a member should be involved in the family for more than 6 months and has been an active attendee in family events. For those who prefer fellowship over leadership this is the last stop on the family tree. Members must prove their leadership ability to progress to the Leadership ranks through the accumulation of both Valor Points (Earned through leading events.) as well as earning Tokens of Valor from lower ranked members of the family.

  » Darcy   » Frysta   » Hygeliac   » Isha

Veteran Members (Curadh)

Veteran Members have proven their devotion to the family by participating in events and contributing to the family's success. They have been active more than 90 days and have continued to be contributing members to the family.

  » DexterMorgan   » Feathers   » FSR   » GreatTeso   » Gwynhefar   » Gwynhefar   » Jayvenpup

Official Members (Lorgaire)

Official Members have earned the rank of Lorgaire and have accepted the Mark of the Kindred credo. They have officially decided to become members of the family and start their journey to ascend the roles of the Gaiscioch Family.

  » Breganna   » Ghost   » Kasheera   » Katerinne   » Kickbak   » Kinnear   » Lion   » Malthol   » MisterUrth   » Moozgu   » Plunkett   » Salanaii   » SirSheep   » Tanek   » VaultDweller   » Vellain   » Wosie

Guild Wars 2 News

Prepare for Quarterly Update

As Mike O'Brien mentioned in his AMA on Reddit, the plan is to release the next big quarterly update in April. So this month sometime we should start seeing announcements of what is to come. From his AMA we know things we might see could include:

  • Reducing grind
  • Improving rewards
  • WvW improvements

Additionally on the official forums he posted stating that they were looking to return the alpine borderlands or fix the biggest complaints about the desert borderlands.

Needless to say until we see what's all happening, I've pulled the commander on deck system from the SOR site as I don't want to recode it to handle the time change yet again to have them up and change it again mid april. I want to see where they're going with this before I invest my time.

Regardless what the future holds, we'll tackle it head on. Together.

Please Welcome Our Newest Members

Please welcome our newest members to our Guild Wars 2 family.

  » AlexK [BulgarianThrow.7801]   » Brandon11232 [likemike.5074]   » FAJRO [FAJRO.3201]   » Frostblaze7 [Guinevere Wonderous.3825]   » Greg [gdgsm.6072]   » Griffith []   » Kefca [kefca.6417]   » Lion [Saudi.5320]   » Lorax [Lorax.9547]   » Mecka [mecka.1823]   » Mikey [Mike.1207]   » Moozgu [Moozgu.2391]   » PinkPoison [rangikujaegin.6352]   » Roguexx [Roguexx.3254]   » Saudi [Saudi.5320]

Guild Wars 2 Events at a Glance

Mon

9:00AM:
Jae's Monday World Boss Hunt

12:00PM:
Jay's Randome Achievement Night: Jumping Puzzles

2:15PM:
Gma Fog's Leveling The Playing Field

Tue

10:30AM:
Findan's Map Clear [Malchor's Leap]

1:00PM:
Mid-range map clears with Rayne

5:00PM:
Open Community Guild Missions

6:00PM:
The Siege War of Sanctum of Rall

Wed

11:00AM:
Fractal Teaching [now including AR] :)

1:00PM:
Jae's Wednesday World Boss Train

5:00PM:
Smitty's Sabres WvW

Thu

8:03AM:
Shmi's Slo-Mo HoT: Dragon's Stand Achievos (mid lane)

12:00PM:
Star's Raiders WvW

3:00PM:
Dungeon Reset

4:30PM:
Teragriff's for Tyria

6:00PM:
Fractals Teaching Group, late edition :3

Fri

10:30AM:
Findan's Map Clear [Malchor's Leap]

11:30AM:
Star's Raiders WvW

1:00PM:
Mid-range map clears with Rayne

7:00PM:
GW2 Raiders Spirit Vale

Sat

6:00AM:
Raiding at Spirit Vale

8:00AM:
Gma Fog's Leveling The Playing Field

2:00PM:
Story Saturday

3:00PM:
Monthly Guild Wars 2 Event Leaders Meeting

5:00PM:
Hella Vanka's Daggers

11:00PM:
ClubGaiscioch Missions & WvW

Sun

9:00AM:
Jay's Meta Madness

11:00AM:
Rylssa's Map Clear - Bloodtide Coast (45-55)

2:00PM:
Dungeon Master Sunday

4:00PM:
Star's Raiders WvW

Top Guild Wars 2 News For March, 2016

  1. Encounter Design: Killing Players in Fun and Interesting Ways
  2. Guild Wars 2 Update: Game Update Notes - March 8, 2016
  3. Animation in A Summary
  4. Guild Wars 2 Update: Game Update Notes - March 22, 2016
  5. Tune in to Guild Chat on Friday
  6. Watch the Salvation Pass Cinematic
  7. Raid Storytelling on Guild Chat
  8. New Hair Colors, Dominator Weapon Set, and Classical Glider in the Gem Store!
  9. Season 2 of the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League Begins March 21
  10. Community Showcase Live: March

Elder Scrolls Online News

Please Welcome Our Newest Members

Please welcome our newest members to our Elder Scrolls Online family.

  » Dougie []   » Gigard [@Arthearius]   » Peanuts []   » Singlemalt [@single.malt]

Elder Scrolls Online Events at a Glance

Mon

Tue

5:00PM:
Vet Level Zone Delve, World bosses, Public Dungeon

Wed

Thu

Fri

6:30PM:
Undaunted Keys Speed Runs

9:00PM:
Friday Night Lights w/ the Emperor

Sat

1:30PM:
IC dungeon normals with Jairone

5:00PM:
Crazy Prissy's Trial of Lorkhja- Saturday Edition

Sun

8:30AM:
Gold/Silver key run with Jairone

5:00PM:
Crazy Prissy's Trial of Lorkhja- Sunday Edition

Top Elder Scrolls News For March, 2016

  1. Meet the ESO #MillionReasonsToPlay Grand Prize Winner!
  2. Meet the Character – Silver-Claw
  3. Creating ESO: Maw of Lorkhaj
  4. ESO Live’s Next Episode: 3.25
  5. Thieves Guild is Now Available on All Platforms!
  6. Meet Your New Assistants
  7. Thieves Guild is Now Available on PC & Mac!
  8. Crown Store Showcase: March 30th, 2016
  9. Celebrate ESO’s Anniversary!

Social Adventures News

The Livestream

The Social Adventures livestream has been taking off lately. Both Elder Scrolls Online and Warhammer Online saw double digit viewers and quite a bit of interaction. Our Black Desert livestreams we're a bit of a catastrophe and left many of our members questioning my sanity. So for the time being I've put the Black Desert livestreams on hold until some large group content is introduced or we are ready to take on the large scale content currently in the game. In the meantime Return to Reckoning is about to launch Tier 4 and we're going to be rolling our  efforts towards getting to Tier 4. Additionally I will be in Las Vegas the last thursday of the month so I won't be hosting a Social Adventure that night.

So here's the tentative plan for April and the Social Adventures livestream.

  • April 7th: Warhammer Online - Tier 2
  • April 14th: Elder Scrolls Online - Part 2 of Aldmeri Starter Zone
  • April 21th: Warhammer Online - Tier 3 or Black Desert Node War (If Released)

 

Black Desert Online Update

As you can imagine, Black Desert Online guild member slots have been in high demand. The game so far has been far more successful than anticipated. Black Desert's guild system, is to put it lightly, not very large guild friendly. It took us the better part of a couple weeks to get the limit to 100.  Now that it's at 100 there's no cross guild communication, no multiple guild membership, no custom chat channels, no alliances, and no ability to help in other guilds do their guild missions. In all intents and purposes cooperating between multiple guilds in PvE is not possible. Once node wars come out, we will see what can be done. From what i've seen in the Korean versions it looks like allies fighting on the same objective might get bloody as guilds can hurt one another. Even if allies.

That's pretty much the only bad side we've found. Trying to run multiple GSCH's has become a rather painstaking endeavor and getting people into the Guild is an even bigger challenge with the current member limit. So we have a couple side guilds to help ease the burden until we can get everyone into one.

Jace has created one called Teaghlach for the highly active. It's designed for the masses that want to run daily missions and level together. This will be where all active players will go when GSCH is full.

I am currently leading the original second room called ArachDubh and we've pretty much decided it is going to be the casual (Non-Daily) player refuge. We'll do missions when we can but our main focus is going to be on hanging out with each other and socializing.

In the end all 3 will likely join forces for some pretty awesome battles and hopefully through discord we can continue to bridge the gaps caused by the less than desirable guild system. They did a lot of things right in Black Desert but the forced exclusivity of guilds is a challenge that is very hard to manage.

Regardless, we're having a ton of fun and sharing some new laughs and adventures together so the adventure has been worth it. Just be careful while performing stunts on the top of towers… yeah I fell off that.

Join us for some fun in Black Desert by going to:
http://gsch.info/g/blackdesert

Sign up for the social adventure and request to join by contacting Briseadh in Discord at:
http://gsch.info/bdo

Warhammer Online Update

Those of you that have been playing with us in Warhammer Online again, we've almost progressed our way out of Tier 2 and with another 2 weeks I think the majority of us will be ready to advance to tier 3. Which is great timing as the game is launching Tier 4 shortly. In addition we've run across our old friend Nation who has Blessed Empire up and running again. Some of our alliance kin are surfacing again and it won't be long before we have the good ol Warhammer feeling again. Just last week we managed to successfully perform a Pandora's Box defense driving away 2 full warbands with less than 1 warband.

If you're interested in getting up on the action head over to:
http://gsch.info/g/warhammeronline

New Adventures

Popular Adventures

Join a Social Adventure Today!

Gaiscioch Magazine News

Next Issue In Production
Exploring Futures

In the next issue of Gaiscioch Magazine I will be revealing an inside look as to how we select chapters for the Gaiscioch Community. I will also be writing a piece about the demise of games past that highlights the changes that decimated games in hopes that modern game developers can take note and steer clear of these changes.

Join the Magazine Team by heading over to:
http://www.gaisciochmagazine.com/about/join.html

Popular Stories:

  1. Winter 2016 ClubGaiscioch: Best in New Trance & Epic Music
    747 Reads | By: Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley
  2. Das Tal Brings PvP To New Heights
    364 Reads | By: Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley
  3. Master X Master Hands On Preview
    203 Reads | By: Edward "Screenager" Orr
  4. Crowfall: Reinventing The Throne War Simulator
    169 Reads | By: Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley
  5. Ambition Meets Innovation in Chronicles of Elyria
    162 Reads | By: Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley
  6. Aetherian Archive Trial Guide
    151 Reads | By: Robert "Jairone" J. Mann
  7. Heart Of Thorns Survival Guide
    150 Reads | By: Susan "Lakshmi" Warren
  8. A Guide to Heart of Thorns Masteries
    118 Reads | By: Susan "Lakshmi" Warren
  9. Captain Fall Damage: Origins
    117 Reads | By: Esther "Humble Misty" Foley
  10. Cooking with Chef Grunt
    4 Reads

Popular News:

  1. Guild Wars 2: Colin Johanson - Proper Closure Requires a Real Goodbye
  2. With Everquest: Next Dead, What’s the Next PvE Sandbox MMO?
  3. Guild Wars 2: Living World to Hopefully Return for July Update
  4. 2016 Upcoming MMOs
  5. Guild Wars 2: Colin Johanson Leaving ArenaNet
  6. Black Desert Online's Dynamic Movement Defies MMO Expectations
  7. Daybreak pulls the plug on ambitious MMORPG EverQuest Next
  8. Successful Kickstarter Ends In Payment Disaster [Update]
  9. The Daily Grind: If an MMO has a cash shop, when should it launch?
  10. Battalion 1944's Kickstarter Stretch Goals Include Single-Player Campaign

Be sure to check out our latest stories and gaming news at: gsch.info/mag

Gaiscioch Livestream News

New Show Launched
Weekend Warriors

It's with great excitement that I present a new show to highlight the StreamTeam MERCs! Taking place every Saturday 11-1PM PT, the Weekend Warriors pits our StreamTeam Mercs into 5v5 battles against each other in various games each week. While the Streams of Epic Adventure are based on Cooperative Gaming and MMOs, the Weekend Warriors will be focused on small scale PvP. Our first battle took place in Bierzerkers. Here's the lineup for our Weekend Warriors.

  • Apr 2nd: Orcs Must Die: Unchained!
  • Apr 9th: Loadout
  • Apr 16th: Battleborn Open Beta
  • Apr 23rd: Dirty Bomb

Learn more about the Weekend Warriors or even JOIN THEM! at:
http://gsch.info/p/188989

Recent Livestreams:

Mondays at 6PM PT
Streams of Epic Adventure

Episode 51:
trinium_wars

Episode 50:
fortified

Episode 49:
blackdesert

Episode 48:
warhammer_40000_eternal_crusade

Tuesdays at 6PM PT
The Siege War

Mar 30th
3/29: The Siege War - SoR vs BP vs DR
Mar 22nd
The Siege War on Sanctum of Rall
Mar 15th
The Siege War of Sanctum of Rall - Guild Wars 2
Mar 8th
3/8/16 - The Siege War of Sanctum of Rall

Thursday at 6PM PT
Social Adventures

Mar 25th
Social Adventures in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Mar 17th
Social Adventures in Black Desert -
Mar 11th
Aldmeri Social Adventures in Elder Scrolls Online
Mar 3rd
Social Adventures in Black Desert

Daily at 3PM PT
Side Quests

Mar 18th
Assassin's Creed Syndicate on Side Quests - Part 11
Mar 18th
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception on Side Quests - Part 1
Mar 18th
The Last of Us on Side Quests - Part 4
Mar 15th
Dragon Age: Inquisition on Side Quests - Part 4

Sunday at 8AM PT
Smitty Streams

Mar 26th
Smitty Streams - Episode 21: Labyrinth
Mar 25th
Smitty Streams - Episode 21: Labyrinth
Mar 18th
Smitty Streams - Episode 20: Dub Dash
Mar 12th
Smitty Streams - Episode 19: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

Closing Notes

I want to thank you all for being a part of our community and family. I know change is never easy, and there was a lot of change over the past 30 days and will be a lot of change over next next. Being able to adapt and grow is what has kept us alive for one and a half decades. I hope some of the changes we implemented this month will help drive us forward over the next 15. Thank you for being such a warm, loving and supportive community. This is more than just a guild, this is a family.  

Slan Go Foill!
(Goodbye For Now)

Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley
Ceannard De Gaiscioch Treubh