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CHANNEL VIEWER SETTINGS

This tutorial is optional, but it will greatly improve the look and feel of Mumble.

1.  Click on the Configuration, select Settings.




2. Click on User Interface at the top left of the Configuration window.




There will be several changes made on this User Interface window.





3.  Make sure the Advanced box is checked at the bottom left of the window.




4.  In the Channel Tree section on the  right side of the window, Click the drop down box and select None.   This will make the channel list easier to navigate by keeping the  channels closed, until you open them.




5.  Select the box Users above  Channels.  This puts the public room for the chapter at the top of the  groups instead of at the bottom.  This clarifies visually which chapter  room you have joined.

6.  Select the box Show channel user  count.  This displays the number of people in a channel (room) at the  right of the channel (room) name.

7. Click Apply, click OK.


Next Step:  Push-To-Talk Settings

Recruits, please read and then see below for further instruction on how to apply. (En francais aussi)
 

Brief Introduction.

The Covenant of the Phoenix is a multi-game guild that maintains high standards of game play while still maintaining a close-knit family atmosphere.

The guild's goal is to meet and keep gaming friends, and move along together to other games as member interest dictates. The guild was founded on the principles of loyalty, honor, and brotherhood and thrives because on-line adventure games are more fun in the company of kindred spirits. Our membership ranges in age from teens to the late fifties and geographically spans the globe (although most are adults residing in the North American continent). Most of us have jobs or college commitments and families, and therefore we support the premise that real-life has priority over game-life. So power gaming isn't required.

Expectations.

We will give you the tools to become successful as a member and you will use these tools to build your character into a respectable member.

Role-playing is encouraged but not forced. Respect other people's choice to role-play. However, role-playing is required during guild meetings. Jumping around, chatting or anything that is considered disruptive while the meeting is taking place is unacceptable.

Trash talking anywhere will not be tolerated period. As a member of CotP your actions reflect on us all.

As per our charter you are expected to treat all your fellow players with a certain level of respect and dignity regardless of guild.

We have members of all ages here. Profanity is unpleasant for most members and will not be tolerated in the forums or guild text chat. (There are appropriately rated Teamspeak and Ventrilo channels.)

We will not tolerate begging, scamming, intentional deception, strong foul language, sexual remarks, derogatory or prejudice remarks involving, not limited to, gender, nationality, religious and political beliefs, or sexual orientation.

You and you alone are responsible for your ingame and forum accounts.  If access to any of the aforementioned accounts has been given or compromised by a significant other, a friend, your pet or any other sort of acquaintance, you will be held accountable for their actions.

We will assist you with leveling your characters, but we do not exist as a power leveling service. In turn, you will be expected to help others do the same.

This guild is a family, you will treat your fellow guildmates as such, at all times.

Requirements For Full Membership.

By replying to this thread, you are agreeing to abide by the Expectations listed above and the rules set forth in the official Covenant of the Phoenix charter and Forum Rules.

• You have to register before you can reply to this thread.
• Please be sure and use a gaming email account to register here on these forums.  From time to time, CotP Guardians may send out mass emails to inform CotP Membership of guild events and happenings.
• The first line of your reply to this thread should state what chapter you are applying for (AC, Star War, Darkfall NA, etc...). Skip a line and answer the following.
• Please state where you heard about the Covenant of the Phoenix.
• Include the names and types of all your characters.
• Tell us a little bit about yourself. Your gaming history and so forth.
• Keep in mind that CotP membership begins with your application in this thread being approved.  All future promotion considerations will be based upon the date of said application approval.

Please make note that by replying to this thread you are agreeing to abide by and defend the Covenant of the Phoenix Charter

 

Exigences pour devenir membre.

En repondant a ce fil de discussion, vous acceptez les exigences listees ci-apres, ainsi que les regles de la Charte Covenant of the Phoenix et les regles du Forum.

• Vous devez vous enregistrer avant de repondre a ce fil de discussion
• Verifier que l'adresse email utilisee pour vous enregistrer soit une adresse de jeu. Il arrive que les Guardians CotP envoient des emails pour informer les membres de CotP d'evenements ou activites de guilde.
• Les premieres lignes de votre messages doivent preciser dans quel chapitre vous postulez (AC, Star War, Darkfall EU, etc...). Sautez une ligne avant de repondre aux demandes ci-dessous.
• Comment avec vous connu Covenant of the Phoenix
• Le noms, types de tous vos personnages.
• Parlez un peu de vous. Votre histoire dans les jeux videos et ce que vous souhaitez.
• Vous devenez membres CotP une fois que votre candidature dans ce fil de discussion a ete aprouvee. Toutes les promotions ulterieures seront basees sur cette date d'approbation de votre candidature.

Notez qu'en repondant a ce thread vous vous engagez a respecter et defendre la Chartre Covenant of the Phoenix.

WHAT DO YOU WANT US TO BE WHEN WE GROW UP...

Recently we saw our guild go through some growing pains with the departure of quite a few of our end game players.  When I started asking around as to why they left, I was told that it was because they wanted to raid.  This really got me thinking...  What do we want to be as a guild as our ranks increase in level  50 characters.  We need to plan for this.  I strongly believe that in life if you want things to happen, you have to set goals to meet that end result.  So I'm asking that we, as a guild and as individuals, come up with (a) what we want to be and (b) what we can do to achieve that goal.  

Let's start with (a) 'what we want to be.'   Do you see our guild raiding in the future?  Would you like to see us running weekly dungeons or rift runs?  When you hit max level, what do you have your sights on?  Whatever that may be, it will require planning and infrastructure (you really can't just decide that we are going to raid and go out and do it the next day).  It will take patience, preperation and hard work.  We need to come up with majority guild goals and put a plan in action to make these happen.

This brings us to (b) what we can do to achieve that goal.  I am more than willing to try and make our guild everything that we as a whole want.  I am willing to put in the hard work in order for us to achieve our goals.  However, I cannot achieve these goals alone.  (((This is where you come in)))  I need help to see these plans to fruition.

In order to make all of this happen, I need input from every single active member.  I need to know what you want and what YOU are willing to do to make this happen.  Reply to this post and let me know!  Tell me what you want to see happen.  Most importantly, I want us all to be part of our future here at CotP.  I am willing to work as hard as I can to make this guild something extremely special.  I want for all of us to be able to take pride in the fact that we are COVENANT OF THE PHOENIX.  I want each and every one of us to hold our heads high, knowing that we have this amazing plan for our future and that we are all excited about meeting our mutual goals!  

Help me craft our future!

Ellewyn
Sr. Officer, CotP, Rift PVE Guardian Chapter, Byriel Shard

Quick background: For a few years, I was the guild leader of a family-style, casual-gaming guild in the original EverQuest. From that description, you can see it was very similar to our CotP. Our focus in that guild was on having fun. We weren't concerned about hardcore raids, or the end game, or having the top rankings on the leader boards. We were only concerned with enjoying the game and getting the most fun for our money. Besides, there were always plenty of raiding guilds for people that wanted them, so most of our members knew coming in that that wasn't our focus, and it's why they wanted to join us.

Anyway, one of our favorite things to do was to run special events, from Buff & Bandage (Meet-n-Greet) events to various little games and puzzles I'd make up and run in various zones, like the Arena or Plane of Knowledge. I've been a game master for several years in a pen & paper game called Rifts by Palladium Books (if you've heard of it), and I love making up stuff for people to enjoy! One example: I created a gnome mage called Newblet, sat in PoK, and kept calling out riddles in /ooc. Anyone that could find me in the zone and answer my riddle got a prize. It was simple, but a lot of people said they enjoyed it. I think we'll find a lot of our members and even non-members would really enjoy fun events like this.

So, with the permission of our leadership, I was thinking we could do something to spice things up a bit and to possibly help rebuild our guild membership. Some examples:

- Scavenger Hunts: This could be either actual items that can be found in the game, or having guild officers create un-guilded alts to play a sort of "hide-and-seek" scavenger hunt. In this, the members are given clues to locate one of the hidden guild members. When they solve the riddle and find that person, they are given new clues to find the next person in the chain, and so on. To make "everyone a winner," in EverQuest I would buy a ton of jewel crafting gems, ranging in value from cheap to expensive, and every time you solved a clue and found a hidden guild member, you'd get a gem. The first person would give you the cheapest gem; the second person would give you the second cheapest gem; and so on. The further you got, the more gems you got as a reward, which you could sell to a merchant for cash. We could have other loot, special privileges, or something crafted especially for the winners of these events (I prefer games where there can be multiple winners too, such as in these scavenger hunts). EQ2 gives extra options that would be cool, such as a personalized greeting card (like the one you can make from Frostfell recipes) that can be displayed in the players' houses and could maybe have a message like "Winner of the March 2011 CotP Scavenger Hunt!" Just an idea; could be lots of options there.


- The CotP Artisan Tour ^™: We gather some of our guild crafters, build a bunch of portable crafting devices, grab ingredients from the harvest depot, and head to various newbie zones/starting cities and set up a crafting bazaar where we offer to make baby players free gear and stuff. We would announce the tour in appropriate server-wide and zone channels. This lets us advertise our guild in a very positive way and gives us an opportunity to recruit new members. In my EQ1 guild, I'd say at least a third of our membership came from meet-n-greet activities like this. This can capture both new players and veterans, particularly veterans that just copied over from the live servers and have to start from scratch.


- Heritage Quests raids: We really need more activities going on, and I think this is a great one. Lots of people still need their HQs and have been asking for help on them, and completing them provides a great benefit to both members and the guild in the way of status and experience. Unfortunately, our members aren't all on the same page and are asking at times when there just aren't enough people available to accomplish them, especially the harder ones. We could fix this by picking one or two Heritage Quests each week, announce what they are and when the "raid" will be, and that will be our focus that week. Have some of our higher level players mentor down to help out, and then run through the Heritage Quests.


- Holiday Events: We could do something special related to particular holidays. Many holidays have special items you can earn or create, and we could use those as rewards. The event itself can also be themed after the holiday it is hosted on. It could be events similar to those I listed elsewhere, or other things. There is a lot of potential here. I'm typing this on the fly, so I will try to come up with some more ideas, and maybe you guys can offer some suggestions too!


- Guild Hall Bazaars: Similar somewhat to the CotP Artisan Tour I mentioned above, but this would take place in our guild hall instead of newbie areas. We would set up crafted tents and counters in a room (or rooms) to make it look like a bazaar. Our crafters would make things as prizes or make things for people for free (if they supply the materials; free as in no tip). We could offer door prizes, free treats, and maybe some games, like riddles or mini-scavenger hunts. This would also be another great recruitment opportunity, and with all the announcements accompanying activities like these, we can get our name out there in the chat channels more often and build a reputation for being a fun-loving group of people (which I think most of us are, right? ).


Those are just a few ideas that have been on my mind. There are obviously lots of other possible events we could do, like writ raids and real raids. I don't know where people stand, but there is also the possibility of helping members get their Epics. We need to schedule them a bit more regularly, give plenty of advanced notice, and make sure they run on time out of respect for the people that show up on time. If events always start late, or last too long, people will be less interested in future events. In combination with the other things, I think it will also encourage our members to check the forums more regularly to make sure they are aware of our upcoming events so they don't miss anything.

Now obviously, this will require people to volunteer their time to help out with events. I'm not trying to offer suggestions just to let someone else have to figure it out. I have a lot more time available than some folks, so I'm volunteering to get a lot of these things set up and going, if permitted. I of course would always love help from anyone that is interested, and welcome any ideas you guys might have!

Morning all,

I meant to post this last night, but forgot...

If you customized your UI or Keybindings in any way, and want to keep them come live, you should login and export them now.  You will need to do this for each character you created that has a different setup or that you want to carry forward.

• log into your character
• in the chat window type in (without the quotes) "/exportui <name>-ui" (where <name> is the name of your character)
• in the chat window type in (without the quotes) "/exportkeybindings <name>-kb" (where <name> is the name of your character)
• log into your next character and repeat steps 2 & 3

The export files will be located in your game install folder (mine was C:\Program Files\RIFT Beta).  Save those files (2 per character) off somewhere as the client you have now will be getting uninstalled and re-installed with their release client (or at least that is what I have heard and been told).

Once the release version of the client has been installed, copy the above files into the install directory (guessing something like C:\Program Files\RIFT).  Once the live systems are up, after you have re-created your character and logged in:

• log into your character
• in the chat window type in (without the quotes) "/importui <name>-ui" (where <name> is the name of your character)
• in the chat window type in (without the quotes)  "/importkeybindings <name>-kb" (where <name> is the name of  your character)
• log into your next character and repeat steps 2 & 3

Your new characters will now have their old look and feel all ready for you to tear into some Guardians.

1 - Is this game focused on alot of weapon swapping? It seems like the best way to be effective is to continously swap to different weapons in the middle of fights to fire off different powers throughout the fight based off what I was reading, more so for certain classes...

Swapping comes into play more for some professions (classes) than others.  My Necro switches between Staff (2h) and a 1h/Focus combination when I want to focus more on AOE DPS or Single-Target DPS.  Overall in GW2 I probably spend 80% of my time using the Staff.  Some other professions like the Elementalist have a different mechanic that allows them to swtich between 4 elements (which changes the weapon skills for whatever weapon you have equipped).  The game is as complicated as you want it to be.  You can play some classes and only use 1 or 2 different weapons, while others you may be working with 7 or 8 depending on your situation.  Either option is viable and has their benefits / drawbacks.

2 - Is the server you're on a Open PvP server or is it purely consentual all the way to max level? If it's consentual with special open pvp zones, are there enough non-pvp zones that you never feel required to go into the pvp zones while leveling?

PvE vs. PvP is very different in GW2.  Unlike other MMO's, there are no "PvP" servers.  All servers are PvE, but with the additional function of "World vs. World vs. World" (WvW) zones called "Battlegrounds".  You can play exclusively in PvE, exclusively in WvW, or a combination of whatever you wish.  You will not find random ganking while people are doing PvE in GW2.  If you played DAOC, think of WvW as akin to the "New Frontiers" zones that DAOC used for RvR.

In WvW you are automatically allied with everyone from our server in that zone, and you battle against enemy players from the two opposing servers in the battle.  Out there it is large group PvP with objectives such as taking Towers / Keeps, and siege weapons are a fun twist as well. In the WvW battlegrounds everyone is auto-balanced to be level 80, but you still use the same skills and gear from your normal PvE adventuring.  It is important to note that you gain experience while doing WvW, and some people have even been able to level faster in WvW than PvE in some situations.  What this allows is for players of all levels to participate in WvW without the glaring balance problems of a level 10 player fighting against someone who is level 80.  The higher level players have small advantages due to better gear and more available skills, but it is still very possible for a lvl 10 player to beat someone who is level 80 in a 1v1 fight.

If you like more "instanced" PvP, there is a GW2 option referred to as "Structured PvP" (sPvP).  In the sPvP matches you have small teams (like 10 vs 10) competing in a time or objective-limited match, similar to warzones or arena-style PvP in other MMO's.  The different aspect of sPvP is that everyone is on completely even footing.  Everyone is set to full level 80 and given a full set of skills and equipment.  With everything unlocked by default, some players go into sPvP to test out how their PvE character will perform at "endgame" levels.

Long story short is "Yes, it is consentual PvE all the way from lvl 1-80".  All of the "adventuring" zones are 100% PvE. More on that later.

3 - Are a majority of the players already at max level? Is the game that easy to get max level so quickly?

We have 230+ members in the guild right now.  I'd say about 20-30 of them have one lvl 80 (max) character.  Most of them also are running alts so don't play their 80 at all times.  In general, the game is pretty easy to level.  One of the "out of the box" strategies of ArenaNet with GW2 is that leveling experience is linear - not progressive.  In other words, it takes roughly the same amount of time to get from level 14 to 15 that it does to go from 79-80.  There are also a lot of different ways to gain experience in GW2 that are somewhat unique.  For example, I leveled my Necro from 73-77 exclusively using crafting.  At high levels you gain a ridiculous amount of XP from things like crafting.  To explain further, when I went from 74-77 it took about 45 minutes since I had the crafting mats on hand.

4 - Is the game Alt friendly, in that it allows for enough variance in zones and available quests/etc. so that the game is not consistantly repetitive when leveling several alts (disregarding the PvP and WvW content)?

I would definitely say yes.  I hit level 80 on my Necro recently, and in looking back I realized that I missed roughly 60% of the PvE game.  Through the different options in leveling, and the speed in which your character advances (experience), you can move pretty quickly if you want to.  This does mean that you may breeze through zones and miss content, or bypass some zones altogether.  In general for every level bracket there are 3-4 different zones you can go through.  GW2 also has a very interesting "Exploration" system that gives you experience, money, and item rewards for exploring specific places on the maps.  Through "Points of Interest" and "Vistas" you will find yourself searching through every zone to try and find all the important parts of your current map.  As opposed to breezing through zones, some of our members really enjoy taking their time and doing all the exploration achievements for all zones.  It may not sound like fun initially, but I can definitely attest to the addictive fun of doing exploration.

I also think it is important to note that your character is always auto-leveled down to whatever zone you are in.  For example if you take a level 50 character into a level 20 zone, the game auto-balances your character to be lvl 20.  You still keep your gear, skills, etc. - but your stats are reduced to match the zone you are in.  This allows you to go to a lower level zone than your character and still feel the challenge and excitement that you would normally expect.  Because of this, you also gain experience appropriate to your level.  You may not get as much in a lvl 20 zone compared to a lvl 50 zone, but it is still definitely substantial and makes it worth doing.  This allows you to play with lower level friends without feeling like you going to a lower zone to help out is holding back your character.  Other than "critters", you will not see any grey con mobs in GW2 that do not give you experience for killing them.


Trust me, I could go on for hours - but I think I answered your questions above.  Feel free to ask if you would like to know anything else!

Just wanted to share some of the things I've learned along my travels the past two weeks. May be known to most, hopefully will help a few. Please feel free to add or correct as you see fit.

• Gather everything you come across as you travel, and travel by foot as much as possible. This saves on Waypoint travel costs and the mats you don't use make for great coinage on the Trading Post.
  
• Along with gathering, holding down the left Ctrl key will highlight the name of gathering nodes and most anything that can be interacted with, such as items that you needs to collect for collection events.
  
• Craft your own first four 8-slot bags/boxes. By the time you hit level 10, you'll likely have enough leather/cloth/ore mats to make them from Leatherworking, Tailoring, or Armorsmithing at crafting level 0. You can drop once you're done if it's not a profession you were planning to level.
  
• Not only can you right click items to send to your bank, but you can also sell to the Trading Post from anywhere. Putting any green drops that you can't use on the Trading Post slowly builds plenty of cash daily. Every day I log on, I have anywhere from 50s to 1g waiting for me to collect. Now to just find a way not to spend nearly as quickly as I earn.
  
• Vendor white and blue drops instead of salvaging, at least until level 80. I don't know what it's like at 80 content, but normal salvaging doesn't tend to be worth the return compared to the vendor return amount. You can gain plenty by salvaging mat drops like salvagle hide and the bags dropped by humanoid mobs.
  
• Complete each map to 100%. Along with transmute stones, fairly decent gear is rewarded. And you get to see some really great views with the vistas. Plus it adds more travel by foot, meaning more chances to gather.
  
• When you finish an event, unless it was to defend an area or structure, do not leave. Most non-defense dynamic events continue onto more events. I've lost count of how many events I have done to see everyone but two or three stick around for the next one, missing out on further rewards and story.
  
• Don't simply tag an event by doing just enough to earn bronze, silver or gold medals, and then go off elsewhere. It's a douche move and something people are paying attention to, and in turn will likely cause Arenanet to modify. Events scale to who is present when they begin, it does not scale as people come and go into the event. So if the event starts with 50 people, and half way through there's only 10, it becomes that much harder to complete when the big boss appears. Granted queues, disconnects, real life, etc. happen; this is mostly regarding people who see an event starting, stick around just long enough for a few kills or turn ins, and then move to the elsewhere.
  
• Don't be afraid to help kill mobs. Experience and drops are not altered by how many players killed a mob. They developed the game to get people to be friendlier in the gaming world, and this is one of the keystones behind that. And while someone may be doing ok with a mob, as most melee players can attest, a fight can quickly turn ugly with a poorly-timed dodge. I have yet to meet someone who was killing the same mobs as me for a heart that didn't appreciate the help.
  
• Don't think of yellow-text mobs as lovable creatures that haven't earned a whoopin'. The game rewards you for killing a mob that has been alive for a certain amount of time, and considering most people just run by them, most that you come across have been walking the earth for far too long.
  
• Once you complete a heart, go back to that person to see what they sell for karma. If you haven't out-leveled the zone by too much, the gear is often a good upgrade, and a few sell crafting recipes and uncommon/rare crafting mats. Make sure to check regular merchants also. I have found a few that also sell recipes/mats that aren't sold or found elsewhere.
  
• If you find cooking mats that can be bought in bulk for karma, buy ten and bank the 250. Rarely are those same mats found on more than one or two other vendors and the last thing you want to do is have to remember who sells them when you're in Lion's Arch doing a run on your crafting. Don't go to the Trading Post for them, people realized they are uncommon so they buy them just to sell for huge profits.
  
• The karma vendors in the major cities all sell the same three chef mats. Don't do what I did and visit each one, thinking they'd be different. I don't know if this results in the latest changes to the Chef profession, or if the items change at all, but it was a huge let down after all of that traveling.
  
• While in a group, you can Ctrl+T to place a marker on a mob to either kill or whatever. I'm not sure if this is limited only to the party leader.
  
• Reviving downed players should be a priority during a big boss battle, especially if you're the closest. It is faster to get them up from a downed state than when they are dead. It is also faster if more than one person helps revive.
  
• Along with reviving others, if a boss is locked onto you, try to kite it away from any downed/dead players. This will greatly aid those trying to revive.
  
• When tackling a boss in a group, don't stand off to one side by yourself or at max range. So many professions have abilities and traits that also affect those around them, being in range will greatly boost your performance.
  
• Download the PDF from this reddit post: http://www.reddit.co..._karmaunlocked/ It lists all crafting recipes sans those bought with Karma and Legendary. It has been a godsend for me and helps with building my crafting database of what I can make.
  
• Great interactive map for findings nodes of particular crafting mats: http://gw2craftmap.bteamgaming.com/ They are currently working on the next version as it needs a significant overhaul, but once it is completed, I can see it being extremely useful, at least until GuildHead has a more completed database.
  
• Having problems with a particular jumping puzzle? The official wiki has the answer: http://wiki.guildwar.../Jumping_puzzle
  
• Also, you'd be surprised as to what info the wiki has by typing in game chat /wiki *, replacing the asterisk with just about anything in game.
  
• I found the best way to get help with Vistas are to search on Youtube for "gw2 *", replacing the asterisk with whatever the area name is on the map that's the closest. By now, nearly all vistas have been recorded.

Now Clerics 'can' tank, and I could 'have' a tanked Cleric with 60+ toughness if needed, BUT I have no taunts, and the mages would pull the mobs off me and die. - Is there a taunt or 3 that I am missing?

Yes.  Bolt of Radiance is an 8 second CD that is a single target taunt when under Mien of Leadership (as you would be while tanking) while there is a 44 point called Rebuke - it has a 1 minute CD that gets 5 enemies within 7 meters and taunts them.  There are then different ways to spec based upon where you need help.  8 points in Shaman is a must and then at least 44 points for Rebuke in Justicar.  Then you can go for points in Cablist for more AOE threat or Inquisitor or even go deeper into Shaman to get Jolt.  Apparently tanks crit more then you would think and it procs quite a bit.

Clerics can definitely tank the T1 content easily and T2 should be fine too, but they start to fall behind Rogues and Warriors in late T2 and raids at this moment in time.  But games change and a few tweaks here and there would see Cleric Justicar tanking a lot more feasible.

Following found here at clenched fist.

Quote:
What are the glowing rainbow lights?

They signify where an artifact may rest.
How do I get the artifact?

You examine a scrying stone near the rainbow light. When you do, three runes (Tree, Sword, Coin) will pulse a specific intensity (Dim, Soft, Bright, Brilliant) and color (White, Red, Blue, Green) and one of three things will happen, you find nothing, you get attacked by mobs, or you find an item. If you are really fast you can get 7 scrying attempt from one rainbow effect. It seems to start a timer when you start the first scry, and cuts you off after a set amount of time. So if you get the mob spawn, go ahead and start your next scry attempt while you are fighting it.
Ranking the colors

This part is a work in progress, judging by data we have so far I am going to attempt to rank the colors. (ex. white seem to give better rewards than green) Any data you an provide to expand this would be helpful.

* Red - Lowest
* Blue
* Green
* White - Higest

Where do I get scrying stones?

You buy scrying stones from an NPC vendor, who is also the artifact vendor (possibly the artifact collector). There is one vendor on the docks in Thundering Steppes, and another on the docks in Nektulos Forest. This vendor sells scrying stones and buys artifacts back for 100% value. He does not sell artifacts.
What happens when I use a scrying stone near a rainbow effect?

There are several outcomes:

1. Nothing - You find nothing of value. Basically you just wasted a scrying stone, kiss 10s goodbye, thanks for playing.
2. Spawn - You disturbed something... A disturbed corpse spawns and attacks you. It is either a skeleton, zombie or ghost mob, level 16-24 and may be normal or have a single up arrow. The mobs tend to have normal loot for the mob type.
3. Item - You found something.
1. Coin Purse - The coin purse comes in various sizes. You get Ancient silver coins or Ancient Gold coins. The larger the coin purse, the more coins you get. The silver coins are worth 10s at the artifact vendor. As an alternate choice you are offered scrying stones at a 1 to 1 rate. There is a rare find when you get Brilliant White for all three runes, the reward is a Gold coin worth 10g or 100 scrying stones. Also reported is Brilliant Green for all three runes gives a reward of 50 coins or 50 stones.
* 3 Brilliant Red ???
* 3 Brilliant Blue ???
* 3 Bright White - 50 An Ancient Silver Coin or 50 scrying stones (value 5g)
* 3 Brillliant Green - 50 silver coins or 50 scrying stones (value 5g)
* 3 Brilliant White - 1 Gold coin or 100 scrying stones (value 10g)
2. Artifact - You found a damaged artifact. As an alternate choice, you can choose to receive scrying stones at a rate of 1 stone for every 10s of the artifacts value. The following is a list of artifacts found so far:
* An intact ancient comb - (value 40s) (Brilliant Red, Brilliant Blue, Brilliant Green)
* A damaged ancient basket - (value 10sp)
* A damaged fetish - (value 10sp)
* A lightly damaged ancient medallion - (value 30sp)
* A damaged ancient vest - (value 20sp)
* A perfectly preserved ancient lobster - (value 1g)
* Well preserved Clown shoe - (value ?)
* A damaged Urn - (value 10s)
3. Equipment - You found an actual equipable item with stats. These items do not sell back to the artifact vendor, but will sell to a regular vendor. The following are items found so far:
* Ruined Ancient Bangle 2 sta 3 agi 3 str 12 health 16 power 34 ac 80 cold 60 divine 40 mental usage skill 125 mastery 150
* Ancient Ruined Ring 2 sta 3 agi 3 str 12 health 16 power 32 ac at level 32 60 mental 60 disease 60 heat
* Ancient Chainmail Shoulderplates 188AC at level 35 5 sta 5 wis 15 health 13 power 134 cold 168 heat
* Ancient Hardened Gauntlets 7 agi 7 wis 17 health 27 power 242 disease 339 heat ac 208 at 24
* Rusted Ancient Boots 4 sta 2 agi 5 health 6 power 40 magic 80 mental AC 96 heavy armor skill 100 mastery 125
* Ancient Hardened Helm 5 int 9 wis 34 health 9 power 290 divine 290 mental AC 208 at 45 Heavy Armor skill 200 mastery 225 (value 4g96s) (Brilliant Blue, Brilliant White, Brilliant Blue)
* Frayed ancient sleeves: 14 health 14 power req 150 mastery 175
4. Books - You found a book. It is unclear what the ultimate purpose of these are at this time. What they do when you examine them is give you a timed mission to kill X number of mobs in X minutes. There is a set of books for each archetype. When you find this you will get to choose which archetype's book you will take, or as an alternate prize, you can choose scrying stones at a rate of 1 stone per 10s of the books value (Neophyte and apprentice books sell for 10s, Initiate books 20s, Accomplished books 30s). The books found so far are:

Book Types:
* Marshall for Fighters
* Archanist for mages
* Diviner for Priest
* Outrider for Scout

Book Titles:
* an initiate xxx's lesser training tome(kill 5 centuar in 5 minutes)
* an initiate xxx's standard training tome(kill 10 centuar in 5 minutes)
* an initiate xxx's greater training tome(kill 20 centuar in 5 minutes)
* an apprentice xxx's lesser training tome (kill 5 undead in 5 minutes)
* an apprentice xxx's standard training tome (kill 10 undead in 5 minutes)
* an apprentice xxx's greater training tome (kill 10 undead in 5 minutes)
* a neophte xxx's lesser training tome(kill 5 animal type in 5 minutes)
* a neophte xxx's standard training tome(kill 10 animal type in 5 minutes)
* a neophte xxx's greater training tome(kill 20 animal type in 5 minutes)
* an accomplished xxx's lesser training tome(kill 5 bixie type in 5 minutes)
* an accomplished xxx's standard training tome(kill 10 bixie type in 5 minutes)
* an accomplished xxx's greater training tome(kill 20 bixie type in 5 minutes)
* an experienced xxx's lesser training tome(kill 5 lizardmen type in 5 minutes)
* an experienced xxx's standard training tome(kill 10 lizardmen type in 5 minutes)
* an experienced xxx's greater training tome(kill 20 lizardmen type in 5 minutes)
* an master xxx's lesser training tome(kill 5 Thought Feeders type in 5 minutes)
* an master xxx's standard training tome(kill 10 Thought Feeders type in 5 minutes)
* an master xxx's greater training tome(kill 20 Thought Feeders type in 5 minutes)

Where do I find these rainbow effects?

Rainbow effects seem to appear only in certain zones and generally in the same areas. It is theorized that the spawn locations are on the same table as resource nodes. They spawn and remain in place for a certain time frame then disappear. You can get as many as 7 scrying attempts from one rainbow effect before receiving the message that this location is not active. Each person can get the same number of attempts, the effect does not diminish or despawn when someone scrys it. Some of the confirmed locations for rainbow effects are:

* Enchanted Lands
o Fairy island
o Halfling lookout post
o Goblin Ward Statue (The big head)
o In the farm fields near Foomby
o On hill overlooking Chompers pond
* Everfrost
o Island just to the left of the bell
* Feerrott
o Near Murdunk Falls
* Nektulous Forest
o Citadel of Gul'Thex
o Funeral Pyre
o Bone Lake
o Blackwater Pond
o Behemoth Pond
o Near Fireguard
o Camp Leeot
* Rivervale
o Scarecrow area
* Thundering Steppes
o Entrance to Ruins of Varsoon
o Sabertooth Den
o Graveyard just south of Sabertooth Den
o Crater Pond (near Goliaths, verify name please)
o Gnoll Cave (zone to Antonica)
o Grave Pool near Cove of Decay
o South Bandit camp
o Qeynos Tower 3
* Zek, the Orcish Wastes
o Spirit Lake
o The Pit mine
o Next to the Grenn Hood Trap Master
o Top of Deathfist Lookout (Titan's Tower)
o Near Druid Rings
o Around the Orc Camp where Tusk is
o In the nook containing the shattered mage spires


Cheers
Grim

The Anniversary of our great guilds founding in quickly approaching. The event will run from 3/26 to 4/2. To celebrate this occasion, there will be contests events and trivia here on the forums. As a bonus, I will be setting up a couple "In Game" Events and contests. I will post more information on these once planning becomes gets underway. If there are any ideas for in game activities let me know. If you have any ideas for forum activities, send a private message to Delmar.

I would agree with b0rg that I wish there was more we could do as an organized guild event.  Sure we can get together for WvW, sPvP, or events like the Halloween "Mad King" events lately, but the game itself does seem to be missing something without an endgame "raid" system.  I realize why they didn't do it, and at first I was all for it...  However, now I can see where no endgame raiding system for large groups limits the "guild grouping" options for once characters hit max level.  Right now the main choice at max level is whether to go level another player or try to play through Arah explorable.  Since Arah explorable gear (from tokens) isn't much better than crafted gear, there is not much of a drive to do it.

All in all I still really enjoy the game, especially since this may be the first game in a long time I level more than one character to max level (after launch).  Otherwise, we can try and get together for small events, but right now it looks like most people are playing alts and "waiting for more content" to be come out.

Guild events don't necessarily need to be revolved around end game content or even WvW... I find it funny that no special Guild events were scheduled for this last weekends Halloween stuff...

You could organize Weekly Zone Exploration Events where once per week the guild goes through a zone and finishes all the Exploration points (i.e. Vistas, POI's, and Waypoints - Not necessarily hearts) in a Guild zerg regardless of level... Or perhaps even organizing a Dungeon Run each week starting with the lowest level dungeon Story Mode without having a stipulation that only 80's can join and then each week working through that same dungeon till all versions of it are complete and then moving on to the next dungeon up, and when all dungeons have been done rinse and repeat, etc... Some other ideas are Lowbie Naked Races through Higher Level Zones, Hide and Seek, Guild Lottery, Seasonal Event Organized Guild Grouping, Guild Recruiting Contests, regular Guild Raffle Contests, Public/Guild Costume Contests, etc...  You just need to stop thinking end game only stuff and think about involvement of all levels and be as creative as you can be...

Plus, Leadership and Officers need to be a bit more active with the events, like advertising in Guild Chat in-game leading up to an event days ahead of time and hours before the event, and plugging the event in Mumble leading up to the events... You can't rely on the Forums as your sole means of communication, because a majority of guild members rarely even check the forums on a daily or regular basis... It is a minority of our membership that checks in the forums really regularly... When Leadership and Officers get involved and stay really active in their jobs, the members see that and it helps keep most members feeling like the chapter is still going strong and that keeps them motivated to stay involved themselves... When we rarely see chapter Leadership and Officers actively doing stuff, logging on, and regularly engaging the members (even outside of events), it tends to make the active membership feel abandoned and wondering if the chapter is either in a lull or starting to go down hill... I'm not saying this is happening, just reminding folks that this is a necessary tool for keeping a chapter active and involved... And not just by scheduling some events and hoping peeps join, but being realy regularly involved with all guild aspects at all levels... Typically Leadership is the Glue that keeps a Chapter going...

It seems to be a regular thing these days that most new MMO's are lacking in long term end game content out of the gate... They promise more end game stuff, and as time goes on, they slowly come out with more... We just need to get out of the mind set engrained into us from WoW, EQ/2, and DAOC where they have tons of end game content for folks to play... It typically takes a game a couple years to come out with enough end game stuff to keep peeps occupied for long periods, nowadays... Peeps have to start being more creative on ways to keep happy and involved rather than relying on the end game as your primary means of keeping entertained and intetested in most new MMORPG's, especially in the first year...

I'm an altaholic, so the end game is not typically what keeps me interested in a MMORPG... It's the replayability of the game... So far I think this game has plenty of replayability for a new release... And beyond the Halloween Dungeon, i've yet to even touch any other dungeon and I have a ton of alts already as well as a level 80 toon... So for me, there is still tons of game content I've yet to tap into... And I play alot... In a game with so much replayability, what would kill it for me is lack of Guild Activity... Right now we're doing ok, I see lots of peeps in mumble that I can talk to while playing, a few members I play with on a scheduled basis, and so on... But I do see a decline in how may folks used to be in Mumble when the game first started compared to now, and I don't hear much from officers and so forth in game too much... Which does have be worried a tiny bit, but so far I'm having fun...

Zip

Well, now that I've had a day to collect my thoughts about the BWE this past weekend, here we go:

The Good:

• Character Creation - While not quite the best I've ever seen, there were a very large number of options to choose from.  I can honestly say that I didn't see two characters who looked exactly alike during the beta.  Size, physique, coloring, etc. - all of that was good to see.  Slider bars also give you an extra variation to work with.  Thus far I have to say my favorite part was the dye system with the armor.  No more running around with mismatched armor colors looking like a clown...
  
• Storyline - Many of us have been forever ruined by the amazing storylines in SWTOR.  I think we will all be hard pressed to find a game again that had quite that involvement and exciting storyline writing.  That being said however, I did really enjoy what I have seen thus far with the GW2 storylines.  The "Personal Home" instancing isn't my favorite method, but I can certainly see the reason for it... Having your Personal Home Instance change from each step to step in the storyline was cool to see.  From what I understand, it only gets better at the later levels.  I ran through the openings for an Ash Legion Char, a Wolf Spirit Norn, and a Human "Street Rat" Thief (which by the way fit the "Kvothe" name very well).  I'm really the most excited to try a Sylvari when that becomes an active race, so hopefully that will be unlocked within the next BWE or two.
  
• Graphics - I know some people were expecting more realism, but personally I liked the graphic style in GW2.  I also know that many people weren't quite grasping the idea of a Beta Event in their critiques.  From what I understand, the BWE was utilizing a toned down version of the graphic engine for GW2 (which is to be expected).  All in all though, I love the graphics as they were.  The scenery was very well done, and I honestly feel like the zones and cities all had their own unique "character" to them.  I'm more into the fantasy realm than "techie", so personally I preferred the Norn and Human starting areas over the Char.  Overall I'd give the graphics a 7/10 at this point, with obvious room to improvement once the full graphics engine is unleashed.
  
• Combat - One thing that GW2 has definitely stepped out of the box with is the Combat engine.  I loved the idea of running around with my Thief dual-wielding daggers, and then in a challenging fight switching over in mid-combat to swords and doing a few nasty evasion maneuvers to confuse my foe.  This made more of a difference in PvP than I expected, because your enemy could come at you thinking you were ranged focused - and then you could swap out some heavy melee weapons and dish out the DPS up close and personal!
  
  PvE this all comes down to how you play your character.  I've heard from Dev interviews that they designed the combat system to be more than just "button mashing" that you would expect in most MMO's.  At low levels sure you can get through with pushing the same buttons, but at higher levels with more challenging foes you can make a world of a difference by playing your character WELL.  What I mean by this comes down to weapon styles, dodging, and knowing what kinds of skills you would use in each situation.  Your skill bar might be limited to only 5 skills for your weapon, but by clever weapon swapping and equipping different types of weapons you can really expand your combat ability.  I heard some people in game that were upset they lost a fight in the lower levels, as if they expected it to be ultra-easymode like WoW.  Personally I liked the challenge! It more or less made you learn how to play the character better; to try something different and be more than just a kid pressing buttons.  For me, if the challenge can be beaten by using a better strategy (but still possible in at least one way), that makes the experience all that much more rewarding.
  
• The Map Travel - At first I was a bit put off by the idea of not having a mount system.  However, the more I played the game the more I realized that GW2 doesn't need mounts, and may be better off for it.  The waypoints (rez locations) are more spread out in the zones rather than the one or two you would find in most MMO's.  For example, one zone had 5 or 6 different waypoints - all of which I could teleport myself to whenever I wasn't in combat.  The cities are massive, but thanks to the waypoint system you could teleport at any time to one of the 15-20 different waypoints in the city.  No more 30-minute cooldowns on my "Hearthstone" or anything like that.  I could simply port to whatever waypoint is closest to where I want to go, and I'm right away able to join in on the action.  What I guess I didn't think about prior to this system is that in games with mounts - you still wasted a lot of time traveling from place to place.  Yes you could move faster than normal walk speed on a mount, but you still spent at least a couple minutes riding from place to place. GW2 essentially takes that wasted time out of the picture, so you can get back in the game faster.
  
• The Experience System - I've heard Devs say that the experience system is quite a bit more linear than what you would see in most MMO's out nowadays. Thus, it should take the same amount of time to level from 9 to 10 than it will to level from 79 to 80.  Obviously that remains to be seen in the higher levels, but from what I've seen thus far the system looks pretty solid.  I didn't take the time to write down the XP points between each level and compare that to how much XP I was getting per kill (or per event), but it seemed to scale really well without losing any momentum.  The concept of "sidekicking" is pretty cool as well.  When at higher levels I can sidekick down to my fellow COTP member's level, and while fighting alongside him I'm still getting solid XP. Thus, I don't feel like helping out is holding back my character's advancement. Nice!
  
• The Professions (classes) - I've played a Necromancer, Thief, and Ranger thus far.  One new character each day of the Beta, and I plan to continue doing that during each event so I can try them all out.  Necromancer is probably still my favorite, but I would be lying if I said that I wouldn't love playing either of the other two classes just as much.  The different professions handle very differently, not only in comparing one profession to another, but also within the profession itself.  I did some PvP to get an feel for the endgame skills available, and there really was quite a big difference based on how you spec out your character.  Obviously different specs is nothing new to MMO's, especially with games like Rift that allow you to switch specs whenever not in combat.  GW2 has taken this one step further however, in that you can swap out your first five skills with a number of different options - all on the fly during combat.  It definitely lends more of a "thinking man's game" feeling to how you play your character.  I'm sure some players will prefer just to stick with one setup that they like and really get good at that, and that's cool in and of itself. For me though, I love the idea of reacting to a combat situation and switching up my approach.
  
  Personally I was kind of excited to not have a typical Priest/Cleric.  I've never really been much of a tank player, so I tend to lean more towards DPS and Healer archetypes.  I usually ended up playing a healer because that is always a class that the majority of players shy away from.  The reason why people don't pick healers as often as other classes is that they are very difficult to solo with, or feel like you are contributing to the fights in the DPS area.  GW2 has effectively thrown that out the window.  By allowing all characters at least some form of healing, it greatly broadens your options for playing a character that specializes in healing.  I'm sure at some point people will start focusing on skills for their character to help healing a group in PvE / PvP, that's just going to be too hard to break away from in a MMO.  The amazing part about GW2 is that your character with all their healing skills can switch in the middle of a battle to a full DPS weapon and start smashing faces with the rest of the DPS players!  Wait, a healer than can suddenly be a powerhouse DPS in just a momentary change? WHAT?!  For me, that makes a healer seem quite a bit more interesting to play.  It basically frees your healer from doing more than just staring at health bars and mashing a few buttons.   Now, you can swap out DPS for the times when your group needs to put out some extra damage, and then at any time switch back to healing skills if someone starts to go down. Win.
  
• Server Queues (or lack thereof) - The concept of not having server queues is downright amazing to me.  I haven't seen a good MMO launch in a long time... well, never... that didn't have some form of waiting in server queues before I could play.  I remember back in the days of WoW launch where we would be waiting for 3-4 hours in queues, or sometimes not even able to play for a day or two due to server down issues.  I used to log in to Rift an hour or two before I wanted to play, just so that I could get through the queue while still spending that time afk with my family.  GW2 is not going to have any form of server queues.  Instead they have "Overflow Servers" where your character logs into a zone and is able to play the game, even though your home server is currently full.  While on the overflow server, you are simultaneously queued to join the main server as soon as space becomes available.  I'm not sure exactly when that changeover occurs between servers, but I can at least confirm that it isn't a sudden teleport in the middle of a fight or anything like that.  From what I've seen, it either happens seemlessly or it occurs when you teleport to a waypoint / zone change.
  
• PvP - World vs. World vs. World.  FINALLY a game that does PvP right.  I've always really enjoyed leveling up a character in PvE, finding different weapons and armor, and then facing enemy players to see who will come out the strongest.  Most MMO's have that aspect, but they always fall short on the last part - the point.  I always test a game's PvP system at some point, because in general I love playing PvP.  However, the only game I've ever really consistently enjoyed the PvP in was Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC).  The concept of a wide open battleground with keeps and objectives to take really appeals to me.  It gives you the challenge of fighting against other players, but with the ultimate goal of taking objectives and defending them with your lives.  I'm not talking about a "domination" match where you stand in a big red circle until you "capture" the point, and then waiting for enemy players to push you out.  I'm talking about getting a group of friends together, setting up the siege engines to smash down the gates (or the walls ), storming the keep to wipe out the defenders inside, defeating the keep lord, and then planting your guild's flag in YOUR new keep.  Then you can upgrade the defenses, make sure the walls are repaired, and make sure none of your enemies ever sets foot inside your keep again.  You hold that objective for your realm (server), and that gives bonuses to the gameplay of every single character on your server.  It's the concept of ownership and being able to actually contribute to how your server performs that really gets me interested.  GW2 also makes it available to all players of all levels, so even at low levels you can join the battle in WvWvW and still be an active contributor to the fight.  In the instanced PvP Matches everyone is auto-leveled to 80 and given all the gear/skills needed, but in WvWvW all you get is the health/damage buff to 80.  Your skills and your gear from PvE are still what you wield in WvWvW, so there is still a point to doing PvE and improving your character's effectiveness in PvP.

The Bad

• The login server going down was pretty frustrating.  There were times where I would be waiting an hour or two for the login server to start working so I could get back in.  The good news about that is the Dev team at Arenanet realized the issue, communicated to the player base about their impending fixes, and then resolved the problem.  The Customer Support in that situation was a welcome surprise in comparison to many other MMO Developers that are active nowadays.
  
• While the overflow system is really cool, I did notice a glaring problem with it when in a group.  There were a few times where I was grouped with someone, and then occasionally I got separated from the group when porting to a waypoint or changing zones.  All of the sudden I was no longer running with the rest of my group members, with no easy way of getting everyone back on the same server.  Hopefully they resolve that issue somehow before launch.
  
• "Big City Lag".  To be honest I very rarely saw any lag while playing the GW2 Beta.  I'm not saying that nobody in COTP had lag, but most of our members who had bad lag were international connecting to US servers.  There might be other factors involved, but I wasn't able to ask each individual person 1 on 1 to find out exactly what their connection situation was.  I can only really speak for my personal experience.  I have a mid-tier computer with a decent Nvidia 460 graphics card, but I still was running the game at High Detail for a majority of the time.  That all being said, the larger cities like Divinity Reach had some lag at times.  It was never anything like a slide show, but there were notable skips when moving through a large number of players.  I've heard that people noticed the graphic card processors were not optimized with the game yet, so instead of utilizing the graphic CPU the game was predominantly using the main computer CPU.  Arenanet has already said they are working on the issue, and again we are hoping they will have that fixed before launch.  The good news is that in combat I never really saw any lag, and that's where it mattered.  I was very impressed with how well the game handled during the larger WvWvW battles.  Recently in SWTOR I was reduced to a slideshow of 3-4 FPS whenever a large group came together in PvP.  In GW2 however, I was still fighting without really bad lag in every situation other than the battles with 75+ people on the screen at once.  Then it did slow down to probably 10-15 FPS, but for me that is livable in large group PvP.  I've seen much worse in other MMO's, and this was only the Beta client for the game.
  
• In General - Yes, there were a few pretty big hiccups with the server. Honestly though if we expected anything other than a few problems with a Beta then we were missing the entire point of why they do it.  Beta Weeekend Events allow players to test a game for free, and in return the players uncover issues that need to be worked on before the game launches.  That is "Beta" in a nutshell, so I was not in any way expecting a completely polished game to show up to the Beta Weekend Event.  The issues with the game that I saw all seem to be on ArenaNet's radar, which is a very good sign indeed.  I'm sure more issues will come up over the next couple of Beta Events, but at this point I am very confident in ArenaNet as a developer.

Alright I've said my piece... See you all in the next GW2 Beta!  

I asked mumble support about this very thing.  We have a solution for it. Goto http://blog.mumble.i...-1-2-3a/  There is a fixed exe file and an explanation.

http://lotro.mmorsel.com/ has a lot of information that would be useful to new players. Particularly, http://lotro.mmorsel...count-type.html gives a rundown of what you retain and what you lose when you downgrade from VIP to Premium with the "F2P to 30 day VIP to Premium" tactic.

Every game is different, and within each game, every guild is different. This should help all of our members - new and old - with some of the basics of our chapter and the game.


THE GUILD HALL

Our guild hall is located on the top level of Gorowyn (in Timorous Deep) next to the crafting area. Feel free to ask for a guide if you have trouble locating it.

Only full members have access to 100% of the guild hall amenities. Recruits are restricted until they post their application in the Recruitment Thread. Once your application is approved, you are promoted to Probie (probationer). Once you read and sign this thread, you are eligible for promotion to full Member, granting access to all of our amenities.

From the lobby of the guild hall, take the stairs up to the second floor to find our transportation network. We have teleporters to virtually every zone in the game located there. We also have a teleporter that takes you directly to your house (if you have one). While you are in the lobby, make sure you click on the white angular sculpture on the first floor under the stairs. This will give you a Guild Hall Recall spell, which will take you directly to the guild hall from anywhere in the game (15 minute refresh timer).

The east side of the guild hall is where almost everything else is located. You'll find: a broker; a merchant (who also buys those status relics you sometimes find as loot); a mender; a banker; and our extensive crafting area.

These two areas are where you'll find everything you'll need. The rest of the guild hall is mostly just for looks.


THE GUILD BANK

This amenity seems to be the most underused, overlooked and misunderstood of all of our amenities.

Every member is free to use the guild bank to deposit items, AND to withdraw anything that you can use! That is the purpose of the guild bank. Many members leave things in there for others to freely use. Obviously, "use" does not mean "sell." We employ an honor system. If you truly need the things in the bank, feel free to take as many as you can use. If items aren't being pulled out, they aren't benefiting our members.

Some items that we often have are recipes for crafters, spell & combat arts, lore & legend items (for quests that benefit your Master Strike ability), collectibles (which give you experience and sometimes items when you complete them), and more. The 4th bank tab holds harvested rares which any guild crafter can use to make upgrades for guild members. Do not be afraid to ask to use them for upgrades. That's what they are in there for.

At the end of every month, we pull most of the items out and sell them for guild funds. So make sure you are checking regularly for anything that you can use. We would really like to see the tabs a lot emptier than they are. We feel that members aren't getting the full benefit of these items or the amenity.

If you wish to donate coin to the guild, please see the GUILD HALL DOORS section below. We have disabled the depositing of coin into the guild bank.


THE CRAFTING AREA

We love crafters! Crafting benefits you, the guild, and other members. Once you are a full member, you will have access to everything in the crafting area. The tradeskill writ agent and rush order writ agent give writs that you can complete to earn a little coin, faction, and most importantly status for both yourself and the guild. Gaining status is how the guild increases in level, just like gaining experience levels your character. Normal writs give less status, but are much easier to complete for players with less crafting experience; rush order writs give more status but are on a time limit, ideal for people with more crafting experience.

We have a harvest depot which we keep stocked with everything you could possibly need for crafting except for rares (which are kept in tab 4 of the guild bank). If you wish to deposit your harvested items in the depot, please feel free. There are three harvesting NPCs standing around the depot. Once every 2 hours they will return with items they've harvested. If you hail them and they say they have resources, go ahead and accept them if you like and just drop them in the harvest depot. Hail them again to send them back out for more resources. They will ask for a level range of resources to gather; pick any one you wish. Just make sure to send out all three as they must be sent out separately; sending one out will not send the other two out automatically.

We have several experienced crafters in the guild, so feel free to ask any questions you might have. We love to help out in any way we can.


THE GUILD HALL DOOR

At the entrance to the guild hall you'll find the doors (obviously!). This is where we keep all guild funds and status the guild earns. If you would like to deposit status or money, click on the Deposit tab, and then click the button in the bottom right corner. This will open a little window that resembles a calculator. Simply type in the amount you want to add, then click on the type of coin or status (the blue crown) you are adding. Click OK when you are ready to add it to the escrow account.

The escrow is what we use to pay for amenities and the guild hall upkeep. On the first tab you can see what our current balance is, and what our upkeep is. You can also see why it's so important to earn status, as it takes a lot of status to run a guild hall!


THE GUILD CHARTER

Last, but not least, and if it isn't already obvious, make sure you have read the Covenant of the Phoenix's Guild Charter. It explains a lot about who we are, where we came from, and what we stand for.


MUMBLE

I would also like to remind all of our members that we use Mumble, a voice chat server similar to Ventrilo. It is free to download and use; all you need is a microphone of course. We have a great tutorial for setting up and customizing Mumble located here: Mumble Setup & Support

We encourage all of our members to join us in Mumble for additional fun and socializing! Mumble is not required. However, when we are doing guild events such as raids, we will likely require everyone that is participating to be in Mumble.

I would like to hear from others of like mind on this subject and find guildies interested in doing 5 man grps for instances and dungeons for their toon.  Mains or Alts doesn't matter but lvls do.  I'm going to list my toons so we can match up to others who have in and around the lvls I have for runs.

Mage lvl 29 (3 rolls on this char 2 are active both are DPS)
Rogue will be lvl 40 today (have 3 rolls here 2 active Ranged & DPS)
Warrior lvl 26 (have 3 rolls here 2 active Tank & DPS)
Cleric lvl 44 (3 rolls here also, 2 active (Battle & Healer

Any replies should list their char and their lvls and what the char is dps, ranged, tank or healer then maybe we can come up with a plan to grp together list days when you think you can play so we can all get together for grps.

I'm here all day & night 7 days

FIRST!!



It was a rogue

Good article, worth your time if you run Android or iPhone. Here are the important bits, but take a quick look at the article to see some more information about what puts you at risk.
http://www.tomsguide...eview-1623.html

Also... this was just given to me today. We are looking into using it for our students here at the University. At first glance this appears pretty cool.

http://preyproject.com/

Prey lets you keep track of your phone or laptop  at all times, and will help you find it if it ever gets lost or stolen.  It's lightweight, open source software, and free for anyone to use. And  it just works.

Prey works in all operating systems (well, at least all popular ones)  and each one of them has its own installer and configurator.

Securing Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

        On iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch) you can enable a passcode. Tap Settings > General > Passcode. For maximum security, set Simple Passcode to OFF so you can set and use a longer passcode with letters.

        Encryption is supported and automatically active when you set a passcode on the iPhone 3GS and later, the iPad, and the iPod touch 3rd generation and later. However, on iPhones and iPods you should verify it says "Data protection is enabled" on the passcode settings page, such as the screen shot below shows. Plus for maximum security, set Require Passcode to Immediately.

        

        Automatic wiping can also be enabled by setting Erase Data to ON, which will automatically erase all data after ten failed passcode attempts.

        For remote wiping and device tracking, signup and use the MobileMe service from Apple (free for 60 days, $99 for the year). On the device, tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account > MobileMe. Once signed up and verified, go back to the MobileMe screen (such as shown below) and set Find My iPhone, iPad, or iTouch to ON.

        

        Before wiping your iOS device (for example, if sending it in for  repair), backup by synchronizing with iTunes on a PC and right-clicking  the device in iTunes and selecting Transfer Purchases. Make sure it’s fully charged or plugged in and to wipe: tap Settings > General > Reset, and then select Erase All Content and Settings. Then to restore the device, synchronize with iTunes and restore from the backup.

        If you want to store sensitive info, like your passwords or credit  card details, you should use an app that stores the info encrypted, such  as Keeper Password & Data Vault. Even if you have encryption on for  the device, it’s best to have double security.

        iOS 3.0 and later devices natively support VPN connections. To access the VPN settings, tap Settings > General > Network > VPN. You can use a VPN network from work or home, or use a hosted service.

        Apple is very protective of iOS and gives developers’ limited access  to it for running their apps. Thus it’s difficult for viruses and  hackers to infect and intrude iOS devices. At the same time, third-party  developers can’t create anti-virus software  that runs on the devices. I did find some firewall apps (Hackulous  Security and Firewall IP) in the Cydia app store for jail broken  devices, but I don’t recommend jail breaking your device.

        I assume Apple will release its own security software if it’s ever  really needed. Until then if you’re really concerned you might consider  the free Smart Surfing app from Trend Micro that scans web pages for  malicious code. You may also consider the anti-virus software called  VirusBarrier X6 (starting at $49.95), which can scan iOS devices after  plugging them into your Mac computer.

        Download Keeper Password and Data Vault here.

        Download Trend Micro Smart Surfing here.

        Download VirusBarrier X6 here.


Securing Your Android
Google gives you three phone locking methods in Android: 4-digit PIN, password, and pattern (see below). To access the locking settings, tap Menu > Settings > Location & Security.

        

        Unfortunately, Android currently doesn’t have any hardware-level  encryption like provided by iOS and Blackberry. Thus you shouldn’t store  any sensitive emails  or information directly on your Android. However, you could use a  third-party encryption app like the Keeper Password & Data Vault to  store passwords and other sensitive information inside it. If you want  to setup the phone with your work’s Exchange or messaging server,  consider using Touchdown to encrypt the email, calendar and contact info  that’s stored on the Android device.

        Android supports automatic and remote wiping, however you must use  third-party apps, such as free or premium security suites that we’ll  discuss later. These features can also possibly be set via security  policies when connecting your to your workplace’s Exchange or messaging  server.

        Before wiping your Android (for example, if sending it in for  repair), backup your phone and application settings by ensuring backups  are active in the Privacy settings, login to your  Google account, and make sure it syncs. This saves most settings, but  doesn’t include your call logs, SMS messages, and the apps themselves.  You’ll have to manually redownload the apps from the Market. To save  call logs and SMS messages, you might consider other third-party  apps/services, such as McAfee WaveSecure. When you’re ready to wipe the  phone, make sure it’s fully charged or plugged in and select Factory data reset in the Privacy settings. Then to restore the settings, log into your Google.

        To access the VPN settings in Android, press Home > Menu and touch Settings > Wireless & networks > VPN settings. You can use a VPN network from work or home, or use a hosted service.

        Unfortunately, Android devices will likely be more susceptible to  viruses and intrusions than iOS, due to the openness of the platform. At  any rate there are many anti-virus and security suites out already.  AVG, NetQin, and LookOut are free ones you might consider. McAfee  WaveSecure, Kaspersky Mobile Security (includes firewall) and Trend  Micro Mobile Security are some premium choices. DroidWall is a free  firewall app but requires rooting Android, which I don’t recommend.

        Download Keeper Password and Data Vault here.

        Download TouchDown here.

        Download McAfee WaveSecure here.

        Download Lookout Mobile Security here.

        Download NetQin Mobile AV here.

        Download Kaspersky Mobile Security 9 here.

        Download Trend Micro Mobile Security for Android here.

        Download Droidwall here.

        Download AVG AV for Android here.

Hrm... Mine shows a "Warn Status" and I can increase (red) or decrease (green). Clicking them brings me to a page where I can make all sorts of crazy adjustments to Grim's warning level.

Figured I could shove it up to max warning for super amazing effects... but thought I should stay my hand for a little bit...

It's not in the profile section.  It is located in the bottom right corner of the post.