Bealtaine (May) 2012 Edition


Cead Mile Failte!

If your month has been anything like mine it's been one heck of a rollercoaster. There's a lot of new exciting things on the horizon and quite a bit that has happened over the past month. The hard part is figuring out where to start off. This month we gained our 3,000th member, saw the release of 1.8 in RIFT, and those of us that pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 have seen their first NDA Free Beta Test event. In addition Gaiscioch delivered the Double-Up Charity Event stuffed animals, and kicked off their second football team in Portland. Oh yeah and somewhere in all that we launched the new Adventure system and even managed to pay our taxes.

So to kick things off let's celebrate our 3,000th!


The Gaiscioch Empire
3,000 Warriors Join The Family

Gaiscioch10 Years ago, we decided to form this family in hopes that it would bring people together by using a common medium and interest. We've continuously grown over the years and have been through rushes and pitfalls, we've seen each other gain employment and lose employment. We have rallied behind those in need and held each others hands through family losses and illness. We have helped children with cancer, victims of domestic violence & child abuse, displaced families, and given a friend to children in their loneliest moments.

If one thing stands out the most about our community it is that we may have met through a game, but the ties that bind us out of game are much stronger than those in game. I could have never imagined that 10 years after I started this family we'd be here. I thank you all for making this adventure so memorable and I can't wait to see what the coming years bring. I am proud to call you all my family.


Gaiscioch Charity Event
Double-Up Delivered, ExtraLife Approaches

ExtraLifeThis month we delivered 405 stuffed animals to 4 local Portland, Oregon charities as we wrap up the Double-Up Charity Event. Next up, we'll be targeting $10,000 raised for the ExtraLife charity event this fall. We're getting an early start. This year our family will aim to be placed in the Top 10 fundraisers list. Be sure to register, facebook, tweet and blog about the event. Let's mobilize our army of social titans! Registration is now open and you can signup to participate at our organization page.

Register Now at:
http://www.gaiscioch.com/extralife


Register Today
PAX Prime 2012 Registration Opens

Our 2012 Meet-and-Greet celebration will be held on Friday night on August 31st at FADO's Irish Pub in Seattle, WA. On Saturday the Gaiscioch will take to the PAX Floor and shake hands with the developers of RIFT and Guild Wars 2. This is an awesome opportunity to meet the family, meet the minds behind our favorite games, and see what is in store for the next year in gaming.

Here's our tentative agenda for the event:

Friday, August 31st 2012 @ 7PM PST:
FADO IRISH PUB
801 1ST AVE
SEATTLE, WA 98104
206-264-2700

Saturday, September 1st 2012:
PAX PRIME - Registration temporarilly offline as of this morning. Will go back up soon.
Washington State Convention & Trade Center
800 Convention Place
Seattle, WA 98101-2350

If you plan to attend the event be sure to pick up a couple Gaiscioch buttons on Zazzle. Wear these around the floor and if you see anyone with the same button introduce yourself. As time nears we will try to set up a main meeting spot the day of the conference. Most likely we'll trade phone numbers at FADO's the night before.

You will want to register for PAX PRIME asap as it's a sell out every single year and typically sells out in the first few weeks registration is open. We will likely be able to attend parties with Trion and ArenaNet during the weekend so this will be a great time to get to know the minds behind the game. I'll be happy to introduce you to anyone I know . Be sure not to miss this event!


New Gaiscioch Feature:
The Adventure System Launches

Adventure SystemUp till now running dungeons has been the bane of every new leader. The leadership system has been overwhelming at first glance. It usually resulted in new leaders entering in objectives incorrectly either awarding too many points, or not enough points.

Now enter the Adventure System! The Gaiscioch launched their new adventure system to make leading dungeons a sinch. Coming this next month leaders will be able to add notes on each boss and dungeon you run across thus helping new leaders in overcoming the challenges that lie within.

The Adventure System simplifies leading into one easy to use console where you mark of each boss as their completed. Best of all you can resume a dungeon you started on Monday on Wednesday so raiding HK or GSB can all be put on one event record instead of putting one for each day. Thus allowing people to claim the entire completed dungeon in one record. We also award more points based on the number of people involved so a 5 man will be less than a 20 man in credit. In addition the Expert bosses award more points that Regular but less than Master.

If you haven't tried it already be sure to check out the adventure system in the leadership menu. Simply click "Begin Adventure" on the leadership page. It's perfect for any progressive adventures you might have. Currently only Dungeon's are available but soon we'll make up some new open world adventures that can be shared. This system will eventually plug directly into the Battlegroup system. Stay tuned for more!


Chapter 3: RIFT
RIFT Launches 1.8, Introduces 2 New Professions, A New Item Slot, A Guild Recruitment Tool, and A New 20-Man Dungeon.

Ok so our Guild size didn't break the guild recruitment tool like we expected instead it not only shows that were 6 times larger than the largest guild on Guardian side but it also shows that our Defiant side is the largest on the server as well. The guild recruitment tool has brought over 120 people to the family in the first month. Membership seems to be steadily growing our end game raiders have continued to lead our server and multiple GSB, ROS, GP, DH, HK, and IP groups are forming and successfully running.

Times are good on Faeblight right now and many are finding new friends, new adventures, and with 1.9 on the horizon with talk of open world pvp improvements things couldn't be better. Membership wise we have over 1,300 active characters who have played in the past month.

For those of you who haven't been playing RIFT lets give a quick glance of what's new in 1.8:

New 20-player raid: Infernal Dawn

Maelforge, Laethys, and their mightiest lieutenants await in the boiling veins of a great volcano. You and your allies must face seven deadly bosses to conquer the most advanced raid in Telara.

New tradeskills: Fishing and Survival

Live off the land as you explore and defend Telara. Catch fish, artifacts, and even companions with Fishing. Then use Survival to cook meals for in-game buffs, or to craft fishing poles and lures! Fishing and Survival do not count against the tradeskill limit.

Instant Adventure: Ember Isle

Teleport on-demand to the lost home of the Kelari for heart-pounding action and the richest Instant Adventure rewards yet.

Guild Finder

Looking for a home and allies for your Ascended? Use Guild Finder to find like-minded immortals. You’ll be seeing that green text scrolling by in no time!

Infernal Dawn World Event

The Carnival of the Ascended ends in fiery catastrophe in RIFT 1.8, when the Wanton Maw launch their final, frenzied assault. Can you halt the allied cults and their Blood Storm masters?

There's a lot of neat features in 1.8. Be sure to look over the full patch notes on the official forums for more details. The family continues to run their rotating PvP Rift Hunt & Tutorial every Tuesday at 6PM PST rotating between Guardian and Defiant side. In addition our Telara's Last Stand Zone Invasion hunt runs every Thursday at 6PM PST on both sides of the ball. TLS received some love in 1.8 with several all new zone invasions. There's even one where players can turn into giant robots and lay the beat down on some bosses. If you haven't tried RIFT in a while now would be a great time to try it for a month and see what you think. For those PvPers out there RIFT 1.9 is quickly approaching and is looking to be the patch that brings us open field warfare. Port Scion maybe? Cross our fingers!


Guild Wars 2

Chapter 4: Guild Wars 2
Gaiscioch Declares War During Beta Weekends Saturday at 5PM PST

For those of you who pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 you will be invited to join the Beta Weekend events. During these events on Saturday Night at 5PM PST the Gaiscioch Family will be taking to the battlefield for some WvWvW action. Join us on the Eternal Grove server for some intense fighting, learning, and fellowship.

The excitement builds every day and new members are flocking to the family as the day nears that we take to the battlefield. For now we will call Eternal Grove home, but as an official list is released we may change the server we launch on. If the server "Rall" makes it into the final cut that is where we will call home in memory of the great Roger "Oldroar" Rall.

I want to ask you all to be on your best behavior during the beta weekends and realize that this is going to be the introduction to our family for many of the people we come across. Remember to care, when others don't, give when others receive, teach where others ignore. A community is only as strong as the effort you put into it. Lets get out there and show people the Gaiscioch way.

For those of you who have been joining us for the Legend of Guild Wars event in the original we'll be running this event on the off weeks splitting our time between the beta weekends and Guild Wars 1. So we'll be continuing our quest to unlock those Halls of Monument awards while we partake in the Guild Wars 2 beta parties.


The Gaiscioch Family

Stopping Rumors Before They Get Started
The Elephant In The Room

I know a lot of you have been wondering what will happen to our RIFT Chapter when Guild Wars 2 goes live. I want to put your mind at ease that we have no plans to close the RIFT chapter. There is a lot of exciting things on the horizon and TRION is an exceptional developer who I personally have a lot of faith in. Guild Wars 2 is not a replacement. At the moment we have 450 active registered members playing RIFT. There are over 2,650 of our members currently in limbo between games or waiting for Guild Wars 2.

It is our hopes that we can use Guild Wars 2's WvWvW to bring back those of our family who enjoyed RvR in DAOC and Warhammer Online with us and rekindle the Siege Warfront of our family. This however does not mean that we will not remain committed to our crew in RIFT. It just gives us the ability to get more family involved in what we're doing on another front that has no monthly fee or commitment.

Our family is in nature a band of entertainers. Our focus is outward on community building and leading public events for the server as a whole. When the day comes that our activity drops below 100 active members and we can no longer provide a service to the community we will bow out. This is how we've run in all of the games we've existed in.

In addition when we bow out we will transfer the guild off the server and then transfer back under the Saighdear (Pronounced "Say Jer") name to protect brand integrity. The members that remain will be given control of this guild and it will be used as an unofficial branch of our family. We have also been playing with the idea of launching the Saighdear program into other games to provide members of the family a common ground in other virtual worlds without having to have an elder governing the playerbase.

Again this only becomes an issue when our membership drops below 100 active members. I don't foresee that happening unless something terribly goes wrong. I suspect that RIFT will become our Pay to Play game of choice and Guild Wars 2 will become our Free to Play game of choice. We will run both at the same time. Those playing in both worlds will be able to claim participation, use the marketplace and be a part of the family in both titles.

This will be a very exciting time for all of us. I am proud to say that the Gaiscioch Family stands behind Trion Worlds and ArenaNet two of the companies that are bringing the MMO Market into a new era. I look forward to our ongoing relationship with both companies.


In Closing

These are some very exciting times. We are about to enter some of the most memorable times in Gaiscioch History and I am proud to share this moment with all of you. As always I'm happy to have any comments, suggestions, or questions so please feel free to reply to this email if something comes to mind. If I'm annoying you and you no longer want these emails there's an unsubscribe link below. I promise if ya click it you'll never hear my jibberish again :). If you like my jibberish then you'll love the podcast which should air sometime this month. Keep an eye on our website for the link. We're still working out all the kinks but we're making progress. I look forward to sharing our adventures with you, your friends, and your family here in the near future. See you next time!

Slan Go Foill!
(Goodbye For Now)

Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley
Ceannard De Gaiscioch Treubh