Márta (March) 2012 Edition


Greetings and welcome to the March edition of the Ceannard Notes. Over the past month we've had some really exciting things come up. We've announced the first round of Maitheans, have prepared for our first ever Gaiscioch organized Double-Up Charity event, we've launched our new and improved Marketplace system, experienced the enjoyment of some new adventures and community events in RIFT, and have seen some very exciting news from the Guild Wars 2 front. Let's jump head first into some of the exciting events on the near horizon.


Gaiscioch Hosts Their First Ever Charity Event
The Double-Up Charity Event

This month we'll be taking part in the first ever entirely Gaiscioch organized charity event. In the Gaiscioch Double-Up Charity Event we will be ordering stuffed animals through the Kohl's Cares program, which 100% of the proceeds benefit children's education and health programs, then we will be donating the stuffed animals to Raphael House, Insight, and the Bears and Buddies program of Washington County, Oregon. These three charities benefit displaced families, broken homes, and Washington County police and fire department's outreach programs. Through this event we'll be benefiting multiple charities at the same time.

It is our goal to obtain 200 stuffed animals for these three charities priced at $5 a piece. Feel free to recruit your friends, family, and coworkers to the cause. We do have fallback charities that will be able to accept any additional donations that the others can not take. If this program works as we hope it will we will attempt to repeat it next year in another city or possibly setup direct shipments to the charities that are participating throughout the country.

Much like our Extra Life event we will be offering a contribution point reward to all participants in this event. If we bring in 50 stuffed animals all participants will receive 1,000 Contribution Points. For 100 stuffed animals we'll give 2,000 Contribution Points. For 200, 4,000 Contribution Points and so on. You will also receive a badge on your profile showing your participation in the event.

The Charities:

  • Kohl's Cares
    When it comes to kids, Kohl's cares. We support kids' health and education initiatives in communities nationwide. With over a decade of dedication and millions of dollars raised, we aim to give kids a happier, healthier future. From injury prevention, immunization and nutrition programs to scholarships and cause merchandise, we are committed to making a difference for kids so that someday they can make a difference in the world.
  • Buddy Bear & Blanket Program
    There are times when police officers, detectives, and Records Division personnel come in contact with children who have been involved in traumatic incidents. Often times by providing these children with something they can hold, cuddle, or wrap themselves in staff can promote a feeling of safety and promote dialogue. The Beaverton Police Department has a collection of new bears and blankets that are given to children in need of such reassurance.
    [Goal: 100 Stuffed Animals]
  • Insights Teen Parent Services
    Insights is one of the few nonprofit agencies in the country devoted exclusively to the needs of parenting adolescents and their children. Each year, we serve more than 500 young families in their homes, schools, at our office and in the community.
    [Goal: 50 Stuffed Animals]
  • Raphael House of Portland
    Raphael House of Portland is a multi-faceted domestic violence agency dedicated to ending intimate partner violence for good. We serve individuals and families of all backgrounds, cultures, ages, and orientations.
    [Goal: 50 Stuffed Animals]

To sponsor a toy for a child in need please visit:
http://www.gaiscioch.com/doubleup


The Gaiscioch Family Welcomes Their New Maithean

I'm pleased to announce that our family eldership has selected the first wave of Maitheans to help us plan, organize, maintain, and build the future of our family. The elders went through several rounds of analyzing who would be right for these positions and we are happy with the 12 we have selected. Each of these members has gone above and beyond to help their fellow kin and has also reached out to their community beyond our family. You will notice these people in our Ventrilo with the [Elder] tag next to their name.

The Elders will be our families' support network. We will be looking at trouble spots and adjusting where needed. We will be planning events and finding leaders to lead them. Most of what we are planning is for the future we have planned for Guild Wars 2. Some of the elders we have selected will assume their position in RIFT and assist our elders in maintaining the family and helping support our growth and develop new leaders within the family.

I'd like to congratulate the following members for being selected for the Maithean position within the family. You all earned it!

Casual Gaming: Corzak, Bloodmaw, Lakshmi & Leonar
Competitive PvP: Moreden & Aisrine
Competitive PvE: Berga & Kool
Roleplay: Briseadh & Izzy
Crafting: Jexia & Dargron

Our new Maithean's joined us officially on Feb 4th and have begun their 6 month trial period. We will be meeting in August to decide if these people are confortable with the responsibility and commitment required. If both the Eldership and New Maithean are happy with the position then these new elders will be welcomed officially to the Draio rank.

We will have a second phase of Maithean selection once the Draio spots in each of our rooms are filled. By the end of the year we're hoping to have 3 Draios and 2 Maithean per house.

For more information about the family structure please see:
http://www.gaiscioch.com/familystructure


The Gaiscioch Marketplace Relaunches!

This month has brought a lot of exciting things. Most of all the launch of RIFT 1.7 which changed the stats on nearly every piece of crafted armor in the game. What does this have to do with our marketplace? Well with the launch of 1.7 nearly every piece of armor had it's stats, recipes, and requirements changed making our 2,000+ item database completely out dated and out of sync.

Enter "The Right Moment" to finally give the Gaiscioch Marketplace a facelift. As many of you know we've been using the marketplace system for over 2 years now. Originally built to handle donations / claiming of gear and weapons in Warhammer Online the system has evolved to include materials, crafted goods, drops, and even the occasional giveaway. The more layers we threw onto it the more confusing it got and the more critical flaws were made apparent.

Now with Guild Wars 2 on the horizon and very minimal information available as of yet we wanted to build a system that was both fair, dynamic, and versatile to be able to handle any crafting system in the future with relative ease. What we came up with is a system where the prices are determined by the recipes to make them. Each crafting material is given a value based on the skill, level and difficulty required. Then each time the materials are processed it totals up the cost to make the item and then charges a 25% assembly fee. The more complex the item the higher the price. The Reward is calculated at 80% of the price and then split between Artisan points and Contribution based on classification of the end product. Raw Materials (Tin Ore) and Refined Materials (Tin Bar) only provide Contribution, while Composite Materials (Bolt of Spiritweave) and Products (Spiritweave Bag) reward both Artisan and Contribution points.

To augment the now much higher prices we have gone away from converting family vault credits into resources and have changed the algorithm in which credits are awarded. You will now be awarded 1 Family Vault Credit per Family Honor Point or Contribution point raising the number of credits you have to 20x what you used to have. In addition we've wiped clean all expenditures from the system so that each member starts fresh.

I would like to thank all of you who came out to help enter in new recipes and update existing ones over the past couple weeks. With your help we managed to get our new marketplace back online in a week's time. Without your hard work we couldn't have pulled it off.

There's a lot of neat changes to the marketplace and I encourage everyone to take it for a spin. It is my hope that it's a lot more user friendly and intuitive and will result in a much more effective conduit to in game crafting in whatever game we are playing. In addition we've made it a bit more personal customizing the page around you and your professions. Now you can take your rightful place by the side of Goibniu, the Tuatha De Danann's legendary smith who invented an ale so great it granted invulnerability. Over the next month we may make a few adjustments and improvements as we see fit.

For more information about the new marketplace please see:
http://www.Gaiscioch.com/marketplace/


RIFT launches 1.7 and Breaks a World Record

What a month of RIFT. We started out with the launch of the first major PvP patch which made leveling up in PvP a lot more engaging and fun. Armor is now much easier to obtain and it's effect have been greatly improved making fights last longer and depend more on skill and timing over sheer burst damage. 1.7 also brought thousands of gear improvements and even some new recipes to play with. It also introduced Weddings and on February 14th RIFT with the help of over 16,000 couples set the Guinness Book of World Records for Most In Game Weddings in a single 24 hour period. For those of you that participated congratulations on your new titles.

In addition over the past month we've experimented with new PvP Based events which have been very well received. We also launched our new Great Conquest event where we move through several zones in a single night progressively getting more difficult up to the final fights with expert and even raid rifts. These two events rotate with our Telara's Last Stand event and our Expert / Raid Rift hunt nights to bring 4 different events to Faeblight.


Castle Siege

Big News From The Guild Wars 2 Front

In February several key media agencies got a first look at the Guild Wars 2 WvWvW system which highly resembles that which we knew and loved in DAOC, except better. Destroyable walls, siege weapons, NPC factions to ally with, and Relics of Power (Orbs) which are capturable from your enemy realms. One look at the screenshot below shows not only a destroyable wall but also one heck of a massive fortification. The day the information about WvWvW went live our forums erupted with a burst of excitement.

Could this be the return to the RvR lifestyle many of us miss so dearly? Time will only tell. For now keep those noses glued to the screen and watch out for an open beta phase. Vampiresbane and I are continuing our communication with the ArenaNet team and hope to have some kind of announcement soon for us on this front. As always keep your eyese pealed on our forums. We will make all urgent announcements like last week's 2 day beta signup on our forums.

Castle Siege


Revisiting the Classic

Our Weekly Guild Wars 1 Adventure

Guild WarsHave you missed out on our exciting adventure through the original Guild Wars? Catch up on the storyline by visiting the Gaiscioch YouTube. We're recording all the story moments and placing them into a video series designed to catch people up on the lore behind Guild Wars. This video series will lead up to the events before Guild Wars 2. If you own a copy of Guild Wars Prophecies and Eye of the North feel free to join us every Saturday for another chapter of our adventure.


Episode 1: The Searing


Episode 2: The Rise of the Charr


Episode 3: The Retreat to Kryta


Join or Watch the Legend of Guild Wars Series at:
http://www.gaiscioch.com/gwadventure


Before I Go

I want to thank you all for your continued support and I look forward to our future adventures. As always I welcome any comments or questions and you can follow the ever changing developments within our family on our forums. Over the next couple of months we will be deploying our new Battlegroup system which will help organize the raid front of our family as well as give players a method to grow together and get to know each other. There's a lot of exciting things on the horizon and it feels like time is running a million miles a second. Stay tuned for more from the Gaiscioch Family.

Slan Go Foill!
(Goodbye For Now)

Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley
Ceannard De Gaiscioch Treubh