Message from the Fist

Aloha DB Gamers! There is a lot to cover this month. Some pretty substantial changes to the DB Gaming portal, a test comp, and a new PvP platform, and a game that is scheduled for removal.

Plenty of great stuff coming out of E3. I’m personally excited about Anthem, but Cyberpunk 2077 also looks fun (I love CD Projekt’s games), and i’m also pretty excited about Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (because who doesn’t want to be Spartan?).

Anyway, plenty to cover, so here we go...

Gaming Portal Update

As most of you are aware, there is a daily/weekly cap on clusters of earth and fire for every game the DB supports. What you may not have known is that this cap only limited the number of clusters you could earn from a single activity, not for a single platform. To help clarify:

When playing Destiny 2, you could earn 30 CFs per day for playing Crucible (PvO) and 30 CEs per day for playing Strikes (PvE). You could also earn an additional 30 CEs each day for running a Raid. Because of that, you could earn 60 total CEs per day, instead of the intended cap of 30.

That changes today.

If you look at the gaming portal, you’ll see that under each game mode (PvE/PvO) there is only a single activity available for each game (two if the game awards Pendants of Blood). Each activity now has a series of modifiers that you can select to delineate what type of activity you are playing/submitting for.

So now, instead of submitting a World Boss kill in SWTOR as its own activity, you would now simply select “World Boss” from the selector, add any additional modifiers, upload your screenshot, and boom!

You still can’t mix activities in a single submission (so no, you can’t put a Destiny 2 Raid in with all of your Strikes). If that happens, the staff will remand your submission and tell you separate things out.

So, why did I do this? Short answer: because this is how the system is supposed to be set up. When building games in the system, it’s very easy to simply add an activity to an existing platform, then use existing modifiers to set it up the way you want. Every time an activity is added, a new pool of available clusters comes into play. Additionally, if you take into account that SWTOR had five PvE activities that were each capped at 50 CEs each and two PvO activities capped at 50 CFs each, you see the real scope of the problem. That added up to an available 250 CEs and 100 CFs for SWTOR available each day. In GMRG terms, that’s 450 GMRG points per DAY if you took the time to cap each activity. This update will get the system in line with game-wide caps, which was always the intent.

If you have any questions/notice a Cluster value for an activity you habitually submit for is off/missing, please let me know. I did most of this work early in the morning, so I fully admit something might be off. Email the Fist staff email (listed below) or send a PM to Junazee or me. We both have the ability to tweak the numbers in the system.

Hots 1v1 is Live

HotS 1v1 has been a relatively popular method of play for a while now. We have used it in two major competitions so far, and it is always well received. Now that I’m certain the mode can be equitable for all who want to play it, i’ve decided to make it a permanent, cluster-earning fixture in the DB.

Effective as of this report, Heroes of the Storm 1v1 is live. The RoC is still the governing ruleset for PvP games. Members may play on whatever map they want, and may fill out their team in whatever way they want. If you can’t agree on maps or servers, default to the RoC for how to handle that. If you still can’t come to an agreement, the Fist or P:Fist will arbitrate for you.

Game Test: Fortnite

I’ve seen enough activity and interest to run a test competition for Fortnite. This is being viewed as a potential addition to our PvO category, so teams of two or more are the focus. The competition details can be found at the link below. As per protocol, I’m looking for overally interest/activity. So if only five people take part, I’m taking Fortnite off the table. If 15-20 people are playing, that’s a very good indicator that the platform has some potential.

This will run for a full month, so you have a lot of time to get those submissions in!

[Fist] Gaming Test - Fortnite

Platform Removal: Destiny 1

Destiny was once one of the DB’s most popular games. With the release of Destiny 2 and the reduced support of Destiny 1, the game has been dead in the water for months.

Destiny 1 will be removed from support on the 15th of July unless I see a sizeable (and sustainable) uptick in activity. Two to three people playing together a few times isn’t going to be what keeps this game in the library. I must see that there is some real club-wide desire to keep this platform going.

This one is tough, as Destiny was the game that brought me into the DB Gaming community. Before that I usually played D3 with friends and never actually branched out. Destiny was sort of a gateway drug to everything else the DB offered.

15 days. Starting on 1 July.

Fist Sponsored - Gaming Competitions:

[FIST] 2018 Monthly Gaming Challenge - July

• Hearthstone-Witchwood

• Paint Hit (Mobile)

• Overwatch

• Unpuzzle -Flash Gaming

Diablo 3: Season 14

• Solo Greater Rift

• Solo Greater Rift (Hardcore)

• First to Seasonal Completion

• Highest Level Survived (Hardcore)

Brotherhood Gaming League: Season 1

• Jedi Academy

• Heroes of the Storm

• Overwatch

• Hearthstone

Gorefest- July 2018

Member Run - Gaming Competitions:

MAA Puzzle #19 - Run by Howie

Summer Puzzle Series - Run by Kordath Bleu

Dozens of Games II - Run by Mark

Brotherhood Sporcle Series - Run by Mark

Admin and Policy Reminders

All current Gaming and Fist Policies can be found on the Gaming Information page. I suggest that all members read this page as it has some great info. I will make sure this page stays updated to reflect all current office policies. I do not want to confuse anyone, especially with what is and is not allowed in the DB Gaming Telegram room.

Other items of note:

• 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. My staff and 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.

• Pendants of Blood are not acceptable for submission to cluster-counting competitions. If we see them, we will remand the request.

• 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/great ideas 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.

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. Gaming Portal updates...cluster caps now in line with intent
2. Fortnite Test. Want it added? Participate.
3. HotS 1v1 is now a thing. Go do it!
4. Destiny 1 going away unless a lot of people suddenly start playing it again.
5. Lots of competitions. Highlighted some being run by members!

The house is set up, the consoles are active, the internet is slow. I’m working on that last one, because I want to be able to run some strikes or play some HotS with all of you! Until I get my spotty connection worked out, Gaming with the Fist will be put on hold. I promise that when that event returns, it will be worthwhile for members to take part. The first one will still be on PC, and Heroes of the Storm will be the game. More on that as I work through technical difficulties!

The gaming portal should be up and running again, so everyone go out hand have some fun.

Until next time.

Mahalo.

-Dracpool, out.