Message from the Fist

Good morning/afternoon/evening, DJB. Today marks my one-year anniversary of taking on the role of Fist of the Brotherhood. The past 12 months has been extremely busy, with changes to platforms, new additions, policy changes, voice server changes, and more. I’m fairly proud of the work we have done, and I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the past year, and highlight all the things still to come.

Before we get into a review of the past year, I’d like to thank my staff for everything they have done to help me drive my vision for gaming within the DJB. I’ve had some incredibly talented, intelligent, and driven members serve on the staff and without them I’d have never been able to get where we are today.

To Ernordeth: Thanks for agreeing to come back for a short time to help me learn the systems for adding and modifying our gaming platforms. Without your help, I’d have been completely lost.

To Edgar, my right hand man: Your passion for gaming is infectious. I’ve sincerely enjoyed working with you to change how we run competitions at this level, and am looking forward to everything we will accomplish in the future. Your accolades are too numerous to mention here. For those of you reading this report, take a look at Ed’s Sapphire Blade recommendation here. Ed’s work is nothing short of extraordinary, and I am extremely fortunate to have him serving as my Praetor.

To my former Magistrates: Irfy, Beef, Aexod (Evelynn), and Ranarr- You both held the shop together for over a month during the search for a new Fist. You welcomed me immediately, and were ready to show me every initiative you’d taken. Aexod and Celahir both received well deserved awards for their efforts during the transition. Ranarr received an award for single-handedly managing our Galaxy of Heroes competitions. Click their names to read those write ups. Thanks to both of you.

To my current Magistrates: Uji and Junazee - You are both two of the best that this club has to offer. You work off initiative rather than direction. I couldn’t have asked for a better crew to keep on for the GJW, and I expect more from both of you once the war is over. I had the opportunity to take a role in both of their recent promotions, and while my part was small, you can see the depth of their contributions to their clans and the club at large. Click on their names to read the write-ups.

To the two Jedi Academy Server Admins: Turel and Blade- Your willingness to fork over actual money to manage and operate our Jedi Academy servers goes unappreciated at times. I want to thank you both for providing a service to our Jedi Academy fans.

I am truly fortunate to be surrounded by such talented and excellent people. Everyone on this list has made the last year as Fist fun and rewarding.

Year in Review

The original plan was to build an awesome infographic on everything the Fist office has accomplished over the course of the past year. Due to limitations (I am writing this on a phone), Here is a standard graphic showing overall activity by platform/activity. Below the graphic is a summary of what we worked on each month. After reviewing this, I’m amazed at how much we accomplished and how much we still have left to do.

October 2016

• Diablo 3 Buffs and Destiny Nerfs
• New PoB levels and a Mode for Battlefront
• Massive Wiki Update
• Admin update on submitting for unsupported game modes

November 2016

• How Cluster Caps Work
• More Destiny Updates (PoBs and Private Matches)
• Major change to Star Conflict PoBs
• Overhaul of the GMRG levels (Permanent Levels XI and XII)

December 2016

• Fist Staff no longer eligible for GMRG Quarterly Placement
• New Overwatch Mode
• Update to the GMRG History Course
• Overhaul of the Rites of Combat

January 2017

• Edgar replaces Ernordeth as Praetor
• The Club First Wiki Page is completed
• TOR Advanced Shadow Academy Course goes away
• I handle the “Turbo Pazaak” Phenomenon

February 2017

• An explanation of how games get supported
• I stop Fist staff support of game-specific Telegram chats and bring everyone to DB Gaming
• Destiny, Overwatch, and Galaxy of Heroes see changes.
• Titanfall 2 and Star Wars: Force Arena become supported platforms

March 2017

• Re-queuing for the bot goes live after a test. (Thanks, James!

April 2017

• Heroes of the Storm becomes a supported platform
• Weekly Cluster queue becomes visible on the site (thanks again, James!)
• GMRG Accessories page gets a facelift

May 2017

• Three games get nominated for and then subsequently retired. So long Halo, Killzone, and Resistance.
• Destiny recieves some heavy-handed changes after a potential exploit is discovered.
• Galaxy of Heroes goes on hiatus

June 2017

• Heroes of the Storm gets PoB support
• Incentive Clusters stop. Only normal gaming awards clusters from this point on.

July 2017

• Pazaak and the GJW get a very healthy discussion
• The gif/sticker/image ban goes into effect in DB Gaming.

August 2017

• Cluster races will not be a path to GJW Gold.
• Teamspeak is out, Discord is in!
• Blade establishes a new Jedi Academy Server
• The separation between T1 and T2 games goes away. All games are eligible for use in large-scale events.
• Force Arena becomes a PvP platform

September 2017

• Destiny 2 launches with full support on day 1. Raid and PoB levels follow within a week.
• I halt the Magistrate rotation indefinitely
• Free-for-All rule clarification
• Overwatch gets two new modes

October 2017

• GJW XII begins soon!

Game Updates

Destiny 2

The opening weeks of Destiny 2 are proof that adding this game was exactly what the member base was looking for. Hundreds of activities submitted. Multiple groups that meet regularly to tackle the endgame content. Daily discussions about the game in DB Gaming.

Right now, the site supports submissions for Crucible, Strikes, Nightfalls, and the Raid.

The requirements for the raid might be a little fuzzy, so I want to reinforce the expectations. Read this for the how to. Reminder: For the shots for partial clears, I just need to show proof of what encounter you made it to but didn’t complete. For the final screenshot for a full clear (defined as cleared in a single sitting), I’m looking for a shot of your party in the throne room. Think of it as a sort of victory pose. The image should look something like this:

Battlefront 2 Beta

People are playing the BF2 Beta now. I’ve already seen a few screenshots from the game (which I won’t share here), and based off some of the discussion I think we’re looking at a vast improvement from the previous installment.

One thing I’m particularly excited about is the disabling of auto-roll in Fighter Squadron.

What are you most looking forward to for the upcoming BF2 release?

Speaking of BF2...the old version that you all know and love now has full multiplayer support on Steam and GoG! Go bask in some nostalgia and have fun. Oh...and it’s totally acceptable for Clusters. Don’t forget that!

Admin and Policy Reminders

Fist Supplemental 11.1 - Teamspeak is out. Discord is the official DJB voice server.

Fist Supplemental 11.3 - Updates to the RoC and Wiki. The T1/T2 game delineation has been removed. All games are eligible for use during GJWs and Vendettas.

• Gifs, stickers, images, charity solicitations, and being a jerk are all banned from DB Gaming. The Gif, Sticker, and image ban is non-negotiable. I stated in this news post what the rules of engagement were. If you post something that you aren’t supposed to, I’ll simply delete it. If you do it again, I’ll restrict your posting ability to text only. It’s that simple.

• The staff has 24 hours from the time you submit gaming activity to approve it. If your submission has been sitting for longer than that, there is a problem. If it hasn’t, there is no problem. The staff do their best to process gaming submissions as quickly as possible, but they are real people with real lives. I do not expect them to sit behind a computer processing gaming submissions all day, and neither should any of you.

• Solo submissions are never acceptable for Clusters of Earth/Fire. I will reject any that come in. You must play with at least one other DB member, no exceptions. This is not changing any time in the near (or far) future.

• Reminder: Feel free to run Gaming competitions DB wide. Gaming is a slightly different community, and is one of the few that consistently brings club members together outside of the competitive environment. Most of the people I currently game are all in different clans. By opening up your event DB-wide, you increase the pool of possible participants, which could allow for a crescent upgrade!

• Reminder: While I sincerely appreciate having proposals sent to me via telegram, please email the staff list (email is at the bottom of this report). I ask that your House and Clan leadership take a look at your proposals before you send them up. This isn’t to add a layer of bureaucracy, it’s because I’m sure they’d like to know how you are trying to help the club improve...helps with award and promotion recommendations and all that. Feel free to cc them on your email to me and my staff.

GMRG 4th Quarter Results

The GMRG Leaderboard Results are in! Congratulations to the following individuals on their placement in the top 10 for this quarter! Additionally, the GMRG Accessories Page has been updated and recieved a slight facelift courtesy of Slagar.

• 1st Place: Guarding the Regent: Rulvak Qurroc of Clan Arcona

• 2nd Place: Guarding the Grand Master: Nobilus of Clan Taldryan

• 3rd Place: Guarding the Herald: Kelly Mendes of Clan Plagueis

• 4th Place: Guarding the Fist: C’ree of Clan Odan-Urr

• 5th Place: Guarding the Voice: Turel Sorenn of Clan Odan-Urr

• 6th Place: Guarding the Headmaster: Ranarr Kul of Clan Tarentum

• 7th Place: Guarding the Master at Arms: Andrelious of Clan Taldryan

• 8th Place: Guarding the Deputy Grand Master: Maximus Alvinius of Clan Odan-Urr

• 9th Place: Guarding the Justicar: Jurdan Krennell of Clan Naga Sadow

• 10th Place: Guarding the Seneschal: Aiden Dru of Clan Odan-Urr

September Weekly and Saturday Pendant of Blood Awardees

Congratulations to the following individuals on earning Pendants of Blood for the highest overall PvP score for the weeks/Saturdays listed!

Weekly PoBs

• 3-8 Sep: Noblius

• 10-15 Sep: Noblius

• 17-22 Sep: Noblius

• 24-29 Sep: Xantros

Saturday PoBs

• TBP

Ask the Fist

Couple of great questions this time. If I didn’t answer your question, it’s because a) it was silly or b) I missed it in my search. But more than likely, it was option a.

Kelly Mendes asks: How are you feeling about the GJW from a gaming standpoint? What would you say is the most encouraging thing you’re seeing from the community?

Answer: I’m excited. We’re going to do a couple of things people expect, and a couple of things that haven’t been done before. The plan was to give the club the GJW they deserve, and I think that gaming will provide that. I sincerely hope the club enjoys what we all have in store for the events.

From the community side of things, I’m thrilled to see people communicating in DB Gaming, finding people to game with, and going and having fun. Whether it’s for clusters or not, the gaming community in the DJB is extremely supportive and helpful. It’s great to see.

Warp asks: If you had to pick any other position in the DJB, what would you choose? Also, if you were forced to support WoW, what would your initial action be? Lastly, do you think Battlefront 2 will finally fill the gap for our Star Wars needs in (current gen) gaming?

Answers: A. Toss up between MAA and DGM. I actually like our awards program/process and DGM is pretty much like what I do in the real world. I like shaping organizational change and (hopefully) bringing new ideas and concepts to fruition.

B. Jump off a bridge. Kidding. If I had to do it out of necessity (SWTOR dies completely and there is no MMORPG to fill the void), I’d start by determining how I want to manage it. Do we require members to be in the DJB Guild? Guild management is a tricky thing, and can cause a lot of heart and headache. After that, it’s the normal support process. Time per cluster checks, difficulty modifiers, etc. Don’t get your hopes up...WoW isn’t getting supported anytime soon.

C. I sincerely hope so. The 2015 release of Battlefront was good from a pick up and play perspective. But it was definitely not what people wanted here in the DJB. Was it fun in the beginning? Yes. Did it have tons of replay value? Not really. But from what I’m seeing and hearing, SWBF2 is a vast improvement over BF1. And if nothing else, there’s always the original BF2 that now has active servers...and people loved that game.

Uji asks: What are your thoughts on what makes a high-quality gaming community? what traits are most sought to ensure that a community is welcoming and helpful for new and veteran members alike?

Answer: I think that high-quality is a balance between people who are good players and people who simply want to have fun playing games. Common across the entire group is that no one is a jerk. They help others, bring new gamers into the fold, and self-police against the people who aren’t in line with the “don’t be a jerk” rule.

Wally asks: It's now been a year. Looking back, is there anything you'd have changed or done differently?

Answer: I don’t think so. Some initiatives were easy to implement right away. Some ideas took time to bring to fruition due to approval requirements, or finding the right team member to put brain power against them. Looking back, I’m really proud of what the team accomplished, and I think we’ll do even more in the next year.

Justinios asks: What accomplishment are you most proud of from you first year?

Answer: The changes to the GMRG. I like that the ranks are permanent which puts us in line with the other societies, and I am also glad I made the Fist staff (and myself) ineligible from the GMRG quarterly competition. Any concerns that the Fist staff was only worried about its own gaming went out the window almost immediately.

Helpful Links

• [DB Gaming on Telegram - Log in to view join link] on Telegram. Come be part of the discussion in the one and only official gaming channel of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood!

• Send us an email at [Log in to view e-mail addresses]

TL;DR

1) Thank you to people.

2) Year in Review

3) Some admin things

4) Question and Answer time!

The past year has been a blur. I’m excited to kick this year off with a Great Jedi War, and am really looking forward to adding Battlefront 2 to our supported platforms in November.

There will not be a November report, as we will be dead in the middle of the Great Jedi War. Remember, all competitions other than the GJW events will be denied during the GJW run period. Howie put out a report on it.

Thank you for all of your support over the past year. I wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for the gaming community. Keep supporting each other, and keep having fun.

See you all after the war!

-Dracpool, out.