The problem with a "zerg" guild, and the challenge before us
 

The problem people talk about is that it is impossible to contest another guild if their numbers are sufficiently greater. However, that is not the true problem. If that were the only problem, the obvious solution would be to recruit enough members to beat them. That might be difficult, but it could be done.

For a game to be fun, one must have permission to do one's best. In EQ, that means recruit as many players as you can, bring as many of your members as you can to raids and PvP, gear your members as well as you can, and use every tactic you can to win (without getting banned). Only if we all do our best will we know who played best that round and thus deserved to win.

You can't fault a guild for trying their best to win, so you can't fault a guild's leaders for recruiting. So what's the problem?

The true zerg problem arises when players are given the overwhelming impression that they must join a particular guild to enjoy the game. This, of course, would lead to a vast majority of players joining that guild, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and preventing other guilds from successfully competing.

Several members of Holocaust have claimed they are the only guild getting major raid targets on Red99. These players are trying to create that self-fulfilling prophecy and prevent competition. This type of statement is detrimental to the server. In other words, that's bad!!

Other players on the server are afraid of this happening because they want to be able to try their best and have a chance to win in PvE and thereby earn the right to down PvP targets. As a result of this fear, they protest the zerg guild.

This leads to a meta-battle in which the zerg guild tries to show they are the only choice and other guilds try to present themselves as good or even better choices for moral reasons.

So what do we do? As for me, the only defense I know is to show new and current players the fun we are having; and to show them how exciting the server would be if there were more competition between guilds - competition in which both sides have a fighting chance and no one can be completely sure who will win.

The rest of us must out-recruit <Holocaust>, then out-play them. It will be a great challenge and therefore worth doing. Let's do this.

I welcome any other thoughts and perspectives on this matter.

Talk to a guy called Lite ingame, he has great ideas for beating the "zerg" and has managed to beat the zerg many times over.

Can contacted on:

Vantage, Bernard, Novus, Lite, Seekn *insert guild members name here* and many sub 50 toons plotting and planning.

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P.s ur right on the fact that to beat the biggest guild you need to out recruit them; of the 200 players not in Holocaust that play on the sever you could make a guild with surplus players to contest.

Wont happen though. The other-side just likes to cry foul non-stop and try and poo up the server.

http://i1.wp.com/media.tab.co.uk/blo...size=510%2C508

http://bookriot.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/why.gif

Inb4Flamed.

Good luck man, honestly the real issue also stems from how long this server has been in kunark. A small option of raid mobs = EZ lockdown for one zerg guild. Velious should change a lot of this, but it is up to us as "the resistance" so to speak to really change this. At this point, every major guild outside of holocaust should be talking alliance, and rallying for Velious. It will be a lot easier to stop a zerg come velious when raid mobs take longer than 15 seconds to kill. As a member of The Curse, I don't speak for our leadership but I speak with a outside point of view, the smaller guilds need to be talking strategy for the future. For instance, (not saying this is necessarily true in all aspects but..) Fresh may have half the numbers of Holo, where Azrael/Friends/Curse have a lot of the good pvp'ers/raid strategies it could be a good mix if combined, but the guild leaders need to first squash their qualms in the next month, otherwise it will be the same trickle just with different pixels.

well, holocaust really is the only guild getting raid targets outside of sim repops where we lose like three low-tier mobs out of the fifteen that spawn

that statement isn't false

P.S.: To members of <Holocaust>, I'm not mad at you for kicking too much dragon tail. How could I fault you for doing your best? Red99 is a fun competition, like a competitive sport or a board game. I look forward to some healthy competition with you, topped with good sportsdwarfship! This is to Gradner and the others like him.

Though I can't help but wonder what it would be like if some of you joined other guilds to even it out. You could be partially responsible for making Red99 a lot more fun and exciting!

The major issue people are failing to see, is that holocaust has been preparing for winter for months in advance hearing that it was coming. Getting the proper steady 50+ members online at whatever times needed to down all content, is a step they took in advance.

Spilling members out now when the officer core has put in work gearing out blue transfers for this very purpose would be counter-productive. I'm not sure why fresh's numbers took a giant hit recently, they actually would have just as much as if not more during peak times a couple weeks ago.

I've seen <Fresh> do Ixiblat and Zordakalicus Ragefire and I believe Chardok royals. So, it's imbalanced, but not a lockout.

Secondly, that itself isn't the problem. The problem is that people think one guild getting a majority of raid targets means they can't enjoy the game playing with other guilds, and they join <Holocaust>, thereby contributing to the perception. If enough people joined <Fresh> and <The Curse>, or started their own new guilds, we could actually open up the higher tiers of raid targets and have more truly entertaining PvP. Would you support that, Colgate?

P.S.: Sim repops drop the same loot as weekly/times spawns. I just don't want anyone to think that they'll never down a dragon with <Fresh>, <The Curse>, or other new guilds that may spring up.

with velious coming our level req is 55+ for high priority classes and 60 for everyone else, so that will help people a lot in the sense that they'll (new players) probably be building ties with people before they even think about Holocaust.

though you won't be able to hold their attention if you can't do much. if you can, that's cool.

Every guild knows, every guild is and has been recruiting and raiding as hard as they can, and there is no reason for anyone to believe they can only enjoy Velious with <Holocaust>.

I'm not asking <Holocaust> officers to send members our way. I'm unabashedly inviting like-minded PvP-positive <Holocaust> members to be part of something exciting and revolutionary. :-)

I'm not sure why you have this impression. In fact, forgive my suspicion, but I'm wondering if you raised this question in order to cast doubt on <Fresh>. I think we have two or three raiders on RL breaks, but <Fresh> actually has more 50+ now than ever before.

Please know that despite my suspicion about your post and my deliberate bid to recruit you and your guildmates, I respect you as a player, Salt; and you seem like one of the most intelligent posters on this forum and I appreciate your contributions to discussions.

Azrael basically has the hyena approach as most of their members give up after a loss or two and don't really play for PVP, they play for pixels like everyone else - that was historically speaking I don't know about the new guys.

Best just wait till Velious and a second guild will naturally develop based off excess content.

Will probably be Fresh? or Azrael? That will be the closest guild PVP come Velious while Holocaust snowballs into something unstoppable.