Newsletter (February 7, 2010)

[Saelios]

A Long-Expected Party

Okay, maybe it's a recent suggestion, but by the time it happens it will be long-expected. ASF is considering having a real-life party! The proposed date is December 31, 2010, in Dallas, Texas. Please respond to this poll and let us know if you'd be interested in attending.


ASF Milestones

It's been quite a while since our last newsletter, so there isn't space for all of our achievements since then, but most recently ASF knocked off both Dâr Narbugud and the Watcher! You can read more about the Watcher run below, and you can get details about the DN run in this thread.


ASF Stories

Whenever ASF does anything particularly noteworthy, someone will usually post to the forums about it, and our first victory against the Watcher was no exception. For reasons that escape me, however, some of your very own kindred are not spending their time scouring the web site for the latest updates. This column will therefore be dedicated to giving everyone an extra chance to hear about our most interesting and/or impressive exploits.

Last Sunday, the following group took on the Watcher:

Troli (GRD, leader)
Aryanne (HNT)
Beloraen (HNT)
Daevin (BUR)
Artameis (BUR)
Inariraith (LRM)
Andelle (CPT)
Wulfwynd (CPT)
Starshadow (MNS)
Arwenli (MNS)
Windsake (RNK)
Skifur (CHN)

After the Watcher wiped the party twice using unsportsmanlike tactics (a.k.a. "corruptions" -- it doesn't even have the decency to lie about it), the writing was on the wall. Sensing its imminent destruction, the Watcher exceeded even its usual treachery by crashing Skifur's client. There may have been some exasperation among the intrepid adventurers at this point. Skifur may have frankly stated that his graphics card suffered the same tragic flaw as Oedipus. Regardless, Windsake was able to keep him alive until he went link dead, and when he returned, Stage Three of the fight was So On!

The Watcher tried dangling various party members in the air, but we would have none of it. It tried achieving a critical mass of corruptions, but that was denied it too. Daevin kept calling out the changes, until finally Troli overrode him: "Kill him. Kill him now." And that's really all there was to it. The thread linked to above includes some screenshots from after the fight, if you'd like to see them. The usable housing item that drops from the Watcher is called the Ominous Pool, and can be found outside 4 Twinfall Path, Gúndalaf, Falathlorn Homesteads.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the many runs that led up to this first successful one for ASF. Barad Guldur is now in the crosshairs.


Flotsam and Jetsam

This will be a regular section of the newsletter, and will include miscellaneous updates and news.

First, the current balance of kinship funds is 25 gold, 23 silver, and 32 copper. As always, donations to ASFBank are welcome, but we have plenty to cover kinship-house upkeep and ASF events for the near future.

Second, recent officers' meetings have resulted in a few points to be communicated to the kinship at large:

• Remember to add your main's name to your character's Player Note in the kinship panel (or indicate that the character is your main).
  
  
• If you have one or more characters that craft in-game, please reply to this post if you are willing to help other kin members by crafting things for them.
  
  
• Remember that, in addition to the items that are available from the kinship house chests, ASFBank has many items available, including class-quest items. Send mail to ASFBank to check on the availability of any particular item, or contact Puai or Trinitie when they are online.
  
  
• Scheduled raids can be accessed through the Rapid Raid option on the web site. By default, the raid leaders will tend to post raids for the end-game content, but you can request other raids by contacting Indruiel, Aryanne, or Lachonaus (or their alts) via in-game mail.
  

Finally, there have been a few significant changes to the kinship lately:

• ASF has joined MEU! If you're not up on your TLAs, that means that All Shall Fade has joined the Middle Earth United alliance, a league of kinships. To take advantage of our membership in the alliance, the two main things you need to do are to join the MEU chat channel in-game, and to claim your characters on their web site. Details can be found here.
  
  
• To reduce the amount of bookkeeping time required of the officers, the inactivity policy has changed slightly. The rule is still that members are ejected after 90 days of inactivity, but this rule will now be maintained at the character level, not the player level. This means that you must log into each of your ASF characters more often than once every 90 days, or they will be removed from the kinship.
  
  
• The descriptions of the ASF officer roles have been updated, and can be read in the Kin Charter.
  

Looking Forward

There are no raids currently scheduled for the next two weeks, so feel free to hassle the raid leaders!

Two birthdays coming up in the next two weeks: Gabi, who (ahem) has no claimed characters on the web site, and Terolas. Happy Birthday!

[Windsake]

Good Read! Thanks!

[ASF Trinitie]

Windsake wrote:

Good Read! Thanks!

Thanks for acknowledging the fantastic job Everen is doing. He's awesome

[Marithil]

Excellent post here everen.

[Jenofonte]

This is the most entertaining newsletter I've read Everen, keep up the great work.

[Popaa]

Awesome newsletter AND useful with all the great links!! Thanks so much, Everen

[Rhevor]

Been too busy at work to play. Great newletter.. nice to see what you guys are doing. I'm crawling my way up the levels.. hit 20 yesterday and one day will be happy to help out..

[manello410]

Thanks Everen!

[Catchely]

Excellent write up thank for putting it together!