Message from the Fist

Happy New Year Gamers and other DB folks! Hopefully the fat guy in the red suit brought you all the stuff you wanted. Did you get a new gaming platform? Did you get new games? Did you get a new phone so you can play mobile games? Whatever it might be, January will be the perfect time to make that New Year’s Resolution to play more games with your friends in the DB!

Edgar is doing an exceptional job as my new Praetor. He’s bringing a lot of great ideas and creativity to the office, and I’m thrilled to have him on board as my right-hand man! He understands my position that the Fist office exists to provide gaming opportunities and activities for our members, and he has really taken the bull by the horns. A lot of the competitions coming up were of his design, and I sincerely hope you all take part. There are going to be plenty of opportunities for shinies over the course of the next year!

Ranarr has really stepped up in his new role as Magistrate. He has taken the lead on our Galaxy of Heroes competitions, and I think all of you mobile gamers will like the new format for how those are run!

Quick Admin note for all: I am aware of people playing “Turbo” Pazaak. As there is no rule that specifically prohibits this (meaning if you want to let RNG do it all for you), I will continue to allow it. That said, my staff and I are looking at this very closely, and will adjust Pazaak CFs as necessary to ensure the time per cluster ratio remains balanced.

Plenty of stuff to cover this month, so let’s get to it!

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! With the addition of the Regent, there are now 10 DC accessories for you to earn! As a reminder, from this point forward, the Fist staff is no longer eligible to compete for the top 10 spots. The new quarter has already started, so get to it!

• 1st Place: Guarding the FIST: Rulvak Qurroc of Clan Arcona
• 2nd Place: Guarding the VOICE: Ernordeth Puer-Irae of Clan Arcona
• 3rd Place: Guarding the REGENT: Stang Mach of Clan Arcona
• 4th Place: Guarding the HEADMASTER: Edgar Drachenof Clan Odan-Urr
• 5th Place: Guarding the GRAND MASTER: Turel Sorenn of Clan Odan-Urr
• 6th Place: Guarding the HERALD: Evelynn Wyrm of Clan Naga Sadow
• 7th Place: Guarding the SENESCHAL: Mac of Clan Arcona
• 8th Place: Guarding the DEPUTY GRAND MASTER: Darro Zhen of Clan Odan-Urr
• 9th Place: Guarding the JUSTICAR: Ranarr Kul of Clan Tarentum
• 10th Place: Guarding the MASTER AT ARMS: Arcia Cortel of Clan Odan-Urr

About Galaxy of Heroes

I have received a lot of requests to add Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes as a supported platform for the DB. This game has a very loyal following, and absolutely meets the “interest” requirement for support. Unfortunately, the game itself does not lend itself to normal support.

I have reviewed multiple screenshots, game modes, events (raids in particular), and can find absolutely no way to properly validate the individual time requirements (5 min per cluster is the general standard) for any of these game modes, or how they meet the multiplayer requirement for gaming within the DB. From everything I’ve seen and personally experienced playing this game, it is inherently a single player platform where you can receive minor assistance from friends/guildmates.

So until the game receives an update where players work together in real time (just like every other game we support in the club), I am not going to add it as a supported platform. My staff and I will continue to monitor this game for updates that bring it in line with how we game in the DB, but for now, GoH is simply not going to be supported for standard play.

What we will continue to do is run the weekly Squad Arena competitions and provide incentive clusters for you to work towards!

Club Firsts Wiki Page

Celahir has spent the better part of two months combing through every single Pendant of Blood ever awarded to find all those awarded for Club Firsts. This was no small task, involving nearly 60 hours of research, spreadsheets, and wiki page creation in order to help add to the body of gaming history. I’m extremely fortunate to have people on this staff who take initiative and put in a lot of effort on a daily basis. While not much, Celahir was awarded a Dark Cross for completing this project. Thanks Cel, and congrats on your new shiny!

The new wiki page for Club First events can be found here.

Gaming Related Updates

Battlefront

With the new Scarif DLC comes a new supported game mode. Test yourself in the all-new Infiltration mode and earn yourself some clusters! Infiltration mode is like Battlestation mode, so each submission will earn you four (4) Clusters of Fire!

When submitting for this activity, you will see the “Battlestation/Infiltration Mode” option. Use this to submit!

Shadow Academy Courses

TOR Advanced has gone the way of the dodo. Farrin and I are discussing what to replace it with in order for you all to earn that Dark Sage: Warfare degree! Congrats to all who earned the “Dusty Old Scholar” trophy for having another retired course in their pocket!

FIST Sponsored Gaming Competitions

The staff has done a lot of hard work preparing some competitions and events for all of you that will kick off on New Year’s Day. One thing I am particularly excited about are our long-running series events for regular gaming, mobile gaming, flash gaming, and Gorefest. Pay particular attention to those parent competitions. These will run for an ENTIRE year, with the exception of regular gaming which will run quarterly. At the end of each event, the overall winner (how to win is described in the container event details) will be awarded first-level crescents! Here’s the full list of events so far:

[FIST]1st Annual Flash Gaming

• Snowball Duel - Flash Game
• February Flash Gaming - Avalanche

[FIST] 2nd Annual Mobile Gaming

• January Mobile Gaming: He-Man Tappers of Greyskull

[FIST] GMRG Gorefest 2017

[FIST] Quarterly Gaming Challenge Q1 2017

• Monthly Gaming for Glory - January 2017
• Monthly Gaming for Glory - February 2017
• Monthly Gaming for Glory - March 2017

[FIST] Galaxy of Heroes Quarterly Squad Arena

Gaming in the DB: By The Numbers

Oh look, crappy graphics with numbers! But seriously, look at all this activity! Props to all who played this year. Thanks for making the gaming community awesome!

December 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

• 27 Nov-2 Dec: Edgar Drachen

• 4 - 9 Dec: Edgar Drachen

• 11 - 16 Dec: Maximus Alvinius

• 18 - 23 Dec: Ranarr

• 24 - 30 Dec: Blade

Saturday PoBs

• 3 Dec: Hiset Tval

• 10 Dec: Justinios Drake

• 17 Dec: Reiyden

• 24 Dec: Ranarr

• 31 Dec: Evelynn Wyrm

January Gaming with the Fist

I had a great time playing Destiny with some of our members during December’s Gaming with the Fist. I have now completed my first rotation through our platforms, so time for me to head back to PC-land!

January’s Gaming with the Fist will be a little later this month (I have two business trips, one to Hawaii...first world problems). I’ll be on my PC on 21 January from 1000-1200 Pacific Standard Time. I’ll be playing Star Conflict, Diablo 3, Heroes of the Storm (maybe) or (puke) Pazaak and taking your comments and questions. As always, I will start with whatever the main group wants to play first.

See you all on the 21st of January! As always, please come with ideas and questions. As with all Gaming with the Fist events, I will not make any decisions during these events. This is just a chance for me to take your questions and ideas back to the staff for further discussion.

Ask The Fist

You might have noticed that I didn’t do an Ask the Fist this month. That was for two reasons: 1) it was New Years and I didn’t want a bunch of drunken questions from some of you and 2) I’ve got a shiny new form that Edgar made that I want to try out!

Ask the Fist the Google Form edition is live! Post a question here anytime, day or night, and either I or a member of my staff will try to answer it for you. The best questions each month will be featured in my report!

TL;DR

• I know about Speed Pazaak.
  
• New Wiki Page. Hooray for History
• GMRG Quarter begins today!
• No additional GoH support any time soon, new BF mode, no more TOR Advanced
• Lots o’ competitions over the next year. Subscribe and put them on your calendar
• Ask the Fist is now form based!
• Really crappy charts

It’s been a great first three months as Fist. I’m really looking forward to 2017 and where we are going as a club and as a gaming community. This club is a special little corner of the internet where you are all supposed to have fun and get to know other people. Try something new every this year. Gamers, try your hand at writing. Writers, try drawing something. Generate activity. Take part in the activities provided. Get out of your comfort zone every so often. You might actually have fun doing it! I sure did.

Happy New Year, everyone.

-Drac