The Sword's Edge

Issue 26: 9th April 2018 - In Ferro Veritas

Welcome to the 26th issue of The Sword's Edge.

This issue is quite heavily dominated by the results to our Call to Arms, though I have to say I am happy it is. We were very thankful for the amount of responses, the time our members took to provide feedback and also the follow up conversations we have had with members in-game.

This issue of course also has space dedicated to Cabal Pride 5 which is scheduled for the end of this month! On top of that - we have a summary of "NEW DAWN" the new story content released this last week and links to areas in our forums which are discussing lore and achievements, as well as a fantastic edition of SWL in the Real World from Cordite.

We hope you enjoy reading! 

Call to Arms Responses

The Call to Arms 2018 9S Survey ran from 10th March to 31st March 2018.
At the point of finishing the survey, our in-game roster had xxx members.
36 members responded to the survey.

Availability

The times shown are in UTC – the main activity areas stated here match up with our experience in game. Our most active in-game times are between 18:00 and midnight UTC. What I can also imagine, is that from 06:00UTC and 09:00UTC we have the most members going to work, eating dinner or going to sleep!

Our general availability shows that our recruitment efforts for the US time-zones have been effective. We do have members who have availability that span most of the day. As both of our most active Recruiters are in the US time-zones this can only continue to balance out – and will be aided by the efforts that have been increasing from our PvE team to schedule events in US evenings.

Character Roles / Character Role(s) Interest

Based on the 36 members who responded to the survey, 80,6% have a main role of DPS. 22,2% have a main role as Tank and 16,7% have the main role as healer.

In terms of what roles our members that responded are interested in learning however, shows that many of those DPS would also like to Tank and or Heal. – We also had a few members who suggested other roles they could play ... for example “Designated Smartass”. With regards to the team roles our members wish to take on – we can only help people learn when they speak up. Our Event Request forum area is the perfect place to request training runs and ask which other members in the cabal could support learning. Remember: We are a cabal with lots of members. Do not only look to our leadership team to lead you to glory in your role. You put the effort in yourself!! If you want to work towards something, you must be motivated to put in that effort to step forward. And when you step forward, to also take the rolls with the punches. Learning how to tank can be brutal if your DPS do not come in all overpowered and make the kills fast. Ensuring you learn the mechanics, your ability in the role happens over time – not overnight.

Story Progression / Current IP

The responses show that almost 2/3 of our members consider themselves to be Endgame. This means that they have completed the story through to the end of Kaidan. While our survey was running, the new South Africa content had of course not been released.

SWL Interests and Achievements

This links together quite tightly with the previous section –

Here is what our 36 members that replied to the survey most enjoy doing in-game:

So, based on the outcome of the previous section and with so many of our members at end game, what does this mean for our lower level members?

Well, we already have at least weekly scheduled runs for dungeons where our higher level members offer to reduce their IP so that the experience is more realistic than if they were wearing their 800+ IP talismans. What our members benefit from this is that those members do have experience with the mechanics in the dungeons and can help learn without the boss just melting from a few overpowered shots. In addition to the dungeon runs, we also have many scheduled achievement runs which of course will boost peoples AP gained and be a fun way to spend time together.

What would of course increase what is happening in this area is if more of our members stepped up to organise scheduled events of this nature. We can only provide the amount of events people want if more of our members contribute to the scheduling in our forums! The reason we need more of our lower level members also stepping up – is because a lot of our higher level IP members also want more E5+ content happening.

Now I don’t know about you, but last time I checked there are only 24hours in a day!! We REALLY need to figure out ways within our PvE team to address this. PvE only has 2 leaders and 2 members who are scheduling events (with hopefully another member incoming *winks*) – right now though, that is only 4 Swords! Granted, we have members from other divisions also planning things … but this means that their time is being taken away from doing things in their own divisions!! I think the main point we see highlighted here is that we need more Swords in our divisions who will actively contribute to the organisation and running of activities in our cabal.

A often said phrase in our previous guild in Anarchy Online was that – we want to help, and support… but you will not be simply handed Frederickson’s Head on that silver platter! Our leadership team are here to lead, not to hold hands 24/7. We concentrate our efforts into building up an active and fun community, running surveys like this so we have an idea of where we can reorganise ourselves and brainstorm new ideas we can try – but without all our members contributing to the efforts, the cabal ceases to have the special spark and activity that so many of us crave.

SWL Struggles / SWL / 9S Goals

Thank you to all our members that took time to comment here in these non-mandatory fields in the survey. Many of the comments here are on a quite personal level – so we will do our best to contact you personally if you have offered help in any areas or requested very specific things.

Event Ideas

Thank you again here too for the multiple ideas shared. We will filter these further into the division teams so the division members can see what is being asked for.

Feedback

We are incredibly thankful for all the feedback given. There are some cases where a bit more detail would have been helpful, especially where there was negative feedback – but in those cases we can of course contact you individually to discuss how you think we can improve.

For the most part though, lots of very proud and happy members have contributed to our Call to Arms 2018. It was therefore a pleasure to reward you for your contribution to the survey by handing out the container keys that were donated to our prize pot. I would again like to thank the following members for contributing their keys:

• Phanth
• Cherrie
• Katelin
• Ezraell
• Neural
• Teddybear
• Durendal
• Mellified

And special thanks go to GhostChilde for also donating an Agent Dossier to our prizes.

The prize allocation can be found here: https://www.nine-swords.com/forums/42/11298

If you still have not claimed your rewards – get in touch with any leader you see online and they can trade from our cabal bank to you.

How we go forwards after the Call to Arms

As I already mentioned above – the main area we will now be focussing on is gaining active members into our divisions to ensure we can meet the demands for all the different activities across many different IP levels of interest.

Sharpening the Blades is a great monthly event that can assist this if you have questions about the cabal or what you can do to help. You are also of course also encouraged to talk directly to the leadership of each division / to Durendal in the case that a division is without a leader.

Additional information about joining our divisions can be found here:

• Division Overview
• Enlisting in divisions

Cabal Pride 5!

Cabal Recruitment Event, 28th April 2018 - Bee Legends!

Nine Swords, together with DJ Drina of Happy Tentacle Radio are excited to announce the 5th Cabal Pride!

Location: Axel’s in Agartha

Following the success of the last 4 cabal recruitment events that we have run, we are doing it again. Cabal Pride is coming to Secret World Legends!

Cabal Pride is a cabal recruitment event for your cabal to participate in, or for you as a member of the SWL Community to come along to and find a new cabal to call home.

During the event, each signed up the cabal will get the chance to stand up and show you why you should join their cabal. /chat join cabalpride during the event for a running commentary of the event and what’s going on, listen to Happy Tentacle Radio for their overview of the cabals taking part and watch out for the #cabalpride5 hash-tag on Twitter.

Cabals can sign up here in the official SWL Forums.

COMPETITION: Create our look!

Cabal Pride provides us another opportunity for us to hold a competition in our cabal!

There is nothing more awesome to show your affiliation to something, than to wear a uniform / an outfit that matches with everyone else in the cabal. Therefore - we are challenging you all, Swords - to create an outfit for our cabal for Cabal Pride.

The competition will run from 1st April through to 20th April 2018 and we have a prize pot of FIFTY container keys up for grabs for the winner. You can find out more information about how to enter here in our forums: https://www.nine-swords.com/forums/53/11300

SWL in the Real World 

This issue’s highlight is the Mayan invaders of Solomon Island, as seen in the Darkness War dungeon.

Funcom drew upon many words and concepts from the ancient Mesoamerican civilization in designing the dungeon’s denizens. These are a few.

Batab — seen in the first boss, the Batab Crusher, as well as the Batab Bloodletters — was a Mayan term for a lesser noble or chieftain. Batabo’ob (plural) had local authority over towns or villages (batalibob), and could form councils to govern larger regions. It is also noteworthy here that bloodletting (shedding one’s own blood for therapeutic or ritualistic purposes) was far from a batab-only practice in Mayan society; it was in fact the province of royals, undertaken by kings and queens to mark important events.

Nacom — seen in the Nacom Warcallers — was the word for the war-shamans of the Maya. These contributed strategic leadership in times of war, owing to the Mayans’ penchant for religious warfare, and also oversaw the capture and sacrifice of enemy captives to commemorate military victories and other great events.

Balam — seen in the Balam Bloodletters throughout the dungeon — was the Mayan word for ‘jaguar’, an important animal in Mayan cosmology and culture. Jaguar motifs were common among the Mayan ruling class and priesthood, appearing in names, apparel, ornaments and even throne designs; the night sky was even thought to be symbolized by a jaguar pelt, according to Mesoamerican expert J. Eric S. Thompson. In addition, further attesting to its importance, ‘Balam’ was a common Mayan surname.

Chilan — seen in the Chilan Psychopomps at the final battle — was the word for the oracles of the Maya. These priests were of a considerably higher rank than their nacom brethren, serving the functions of divination and prophecy. Indeed, certain preserved prophecies of the Spanish invasion of the Mayan empire record a ‘Chilam Balam’ as their author: ‘Chilam’ being a variant of ‘Chilan’.

Cordelia “Cordite” Harper
Twitter: @lilcordite
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dawn of the Morning Light

On the 4th April 2018 the next chapter of our Secret World was launched and it took us to South Africa!

If you have not logged in to start on the new content yet, then why not?! Without giving away spoilers and attempting as closely as possible to quote Funcom - Philip Marquard, leader of the Morninglight, has been making moves in a hotbed of cultist operations: New Dawn. In this new chapter, you will infiltrate the New Dawn compound. Rise up within their ranks. Experience brand new, fully voice-acted missions, defeat new creatures inspired by ancient folklore, and uncover the sinister truths of the Morninglight cult.

Now if you do want some spoilers - they are out there. And we have some too in our forums (though the threads are marked up as such so you cannot just stumble across spoilers if you want to experience it all for yourself first). We have threads in our Guides, Research and Lore forum in addition to information gathering for our Pen Division members to ensure we can continue updating the timeline.

Looking forward to seeing you all in your incredibly sexy jumpsuits and riding pink Zebras!