A Most Modest Application - Zexmenia

[Zexmenia]

Greetings and salutations, most benevolent reader! I would ask your pardon for this imposition upon your treasured time and attention. I shall commence with a brief introduction:

I'm a long-time AO player, playing since beta back in 2001, recently returned after a lengthy hiatus. I last played approximately in 2011 (some time after the release of the most recent expansion), and quit due in part to rather significant decline in population, the resulting difficulty in finding groups (particularly for older content, some of which unfortunately is essential to complete a character's toolset), minor conflicts with some repugnant characters, and general dissatisfaction with direction and state of the game.

I reinstalled AO a number of weeks ago after reading about the major changes (for a brief moment, I had a glimmer of hope of the new engine's arrival!) implemented in patch 18.7 and have been playing on a free account to evaluate them; thus far, I have been rather pleased with the new player experience and other positive changes. The population appears to have dramatically increased, which is most heartening. I have a number of inactive accounts and have been considering resubscribing.

Unfortunately, the majority of my previous friends no longer play or are occupied with other endeavours, therefore, I would be seeking a reasonably active community to join with, to call my new in-game home. I have a range of characters on the inactive accounts, including a number of 220s (though, several are woefully outdated). Primarily, I am hoping to find a collection of fellows to venture with on a regular basis. I'm a fairly easy-going fellow and I'm also glad to provide assistance as needed, as well (I was a reasonably proficient theory-crafter at my peak and have an engineer capable of performing most trade skill processes), with the caveat, my knowledge has diminished a bit due to time and post-hiatus changes.

In scanning the AO Forums for potential communities to join, I was most drawn to the Athen Paladins recruitment post. Regular guild activities would be most appealing. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, the Codes of Conduct would align well with my own personal ethos. Furthermore, I recall Athen Paladins as an organization with a superb reputation and longevity. Previous interactions with organization members were most positive.

I am in the Pacific Time Zone (UTC-7) and am typically most active during the afternoon/evening hours.

I have read the Codes of Conduct and would (as mentioned above) have no difficulty in adhering to such codes.

Currently, my primary accounts are inactive and I am playing on a free account. I am most active on a clan Martial Artist named Gracendeath. I shall enumerate main characters I can recall as follows:

• Loboloco - Adventurer 220/2x/70 - Omni
• Chemetco - Fixer 220/2x/70 - Omni
• Acetaldehyde - Bureaucrat 220/2x/70 - Omni
• Intoxicate - Engineer TL7 - Omni
• Axemurder - Keeper 103/09/xx - Clan

Additionally, I have several alts in the TL5 range, including an MP/NT/MA and Soldier. I would note the vast majority of my characters are Omni. I do have a Clan Keeper, either in the TL4 or TL5 range. Furthermore, I plan to generate a new character subsequent to the reactivation of my main account; this new character will also be clan. Prior to my previous departure, I found myself primarily grouping with and befriending many clan-aligned players.

If you have made it this far, I congratulate you! I look forward to future undertakings with you, most noble reader.

[Reapermann]

Hi Zexmenia an interesting application

First off welcome back to AO and thank you for considering AP as your org choice.

PLease look here http://www.athenpaladins.org/forums/vie ... p?f=8&t=69 and here
http://www.athenpaladins.org/forums/vie ... p?f=8&t=68 of our COC , read and agree and the next step will be to meet you in game. Ask any member for a guest chat invite, you can find them via clan OOC or head to Old Athens grid and APs hangout is just a bit west of there what we call "Vangs" (for Vanguards bid building ramp"). Some of the officers you might see for an interview are:


Toughcrat / Reapermann / Carequinha / Toughenf
Crazi / Stokken / Crazidoctor / Crazienf / Hornblower
Chrisax / Mekanos
Boomer / Bloodstripe
Bustercratty / Besaidbuster
Jetson / Politico / Noobastank / Front242
Grind42 / Bobdc / Bobdc2

Looking forward to seeing you in game.

[Zexmenia]

Thanks! I have read the CoC and do agree.

[noobas]

Welcome to AP forums

Athen Paladins holds no grudge towards players with Omni characters. However, it may be of some minor consequence if your objective is to play straddled between the factions (I assume here that when you roll a keeper that you will do so on an account that has other chars on it, mostly likely one of which being a 220 Omni).

To address this, I suggest one of these possible courses of action:

1. Start a new paid account for your keeper (less ideal)
2. Convert one of your 220 Omni chars to clan to join the org on (preferably one that you most closely identify with)
3. Convert all your 220 Omni chars (on the account you activate) to Clan and join AP on all

The reason for this is that Athen Paladins is not an "Alts" org - we want you playing on your main char, and we want you to identify strongly with AP; we do not want you to play on another char, in another org (or other faction) with a few alts placed in AP. In other words, if you want us to consider your application, you will need to show us that you intend to make actionable that AP is your "mains" org.

I hope that is clear without being pushy (if not I apologize, but the point still stands).

Regards,

Noobas

[Zexmenia]

Thank you for your forthrightness: I certainly value sincerity and transparency. My intent was to begin a new clan-aligned character to work on as a "main" for the foreseeable future. The omni characters would be used to assist in guild raiding activities and to provide materials to support the nascent "main". Perhaps my use of the word "main" in describing previous characters was somewhat misleading. My understanding of Athen Paladins policy is omni alts would be permissible, barring participation in tower wars, tara and other organized forms of impactful PVP. I would have no intention of engaging in those activities (and I would note, none of my current omni characters is affiliated with, nor has ever been an affiliate of, any pvp-focused organizations). If I have misunderstood this policy, please do enlighten me. If this is an acceptable course of action, then I would desire to continue with the application process.

Regarding the options presented, I would be pursuing something along the lines of the first (though, as you do point out, it would be on the same account with omni-aligned character--has there been some change to game mechanics making this an unsuitable choice? ). The second and third options (the third in particular) would be rather unpalatable, as the prospect of reacquiring side tokens and faction is simply beyond my current will (many of the characters acquired their tokens by way of the old-fashioned method of mission grinding--I would be highly reluctant to cast aside all that effort). I suppose, if it is essential to choose one of these options, I could level my TL7 engineer to 220 and convert (that character is rather significant to me, as it was my first level 200--alas, the character requires considerable renovation, due to limited play subsequent to the release of AI, though I have had a desire to finally reach 220 on that character for some time). Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the TL7 side conversion process, therefore, some assistance might be required.

I would state, my intent is to make Athen Paladins the focus of my current expedition into AO: I do not wish to make use of it as any other than the primary community I associate with. I'm certainly willing to make reasonable efforts to demonstrate this. If any of the above proposals would be an acceptable solution to this dilemma, do let me know. Thank you for your consideration.

[noobas]

Ok, I see that you are keen to play clan for the foreseeable future.

There is no inherent problem with you having Omni toons, and we have accepted many players who are interested in a side switch (who need a place to start out and gradually shift their toons over).

That said, some of the things you've mentioned I perceive as warnings:

* using your Omni toons to generate wealth for your new clan toon
* participating in raids on Omni toons (with AP/alliance or not with AP/alliance)

These two activities can generate mixed feelings. While farming on an Omni toon for a clan toon isn't expressly an issue, you will find that inter-faction competition extends well beyond the battlestation and notum wars arena. If you were farming on an Omni toon, you might find yourself KS'd by a clan toon which might generate some weird feelings, and even cause you to resent the clan faction (even though, realistically, it's JUST as likely that an Omni toon would KS you if you were farming on a clan toon).

The other activity can cause even more problems, however, these would be more broadly explainable, but still might discomfort raid participants. In order to generate proper factional war (which is entirely essential to maintain the actual semblance of the game), our alliance (and AP in general) usually only try to include clan, and more specifically AP and allied orgs in our raids. This does two things, one, it ensures that effort that our org leaders and raidleaders expend generates loot for our faction (and more specifically our org/allied orgs) which in turn incrementally increases our relative wealth/position relative to the other faction and other non-allied clan orgs, and two, it ensures a more consistent RP experience.

While it's not entirely impossible for the second action to occur, it's definitely not one that is regarded well - in fact, most Omni inclusions in clan raids are looked down on in general.

I am sure I speak for all of AP and all our allied orgs when I say that you would be much more welcome on a 220 with 0 tokens and clan, than a 220 Omni toon with 2k tokens.

TL7 side switch forms are available but not cheap. In the case that you would switch perhaps one toon, you could first check GMI, and secondly check the accounts "paid services" page to get an idea of a RL cost you might pay.

To be honest, the 2k Token grind would go very quickly - you might be able to get 1k tokens just on vet points alone, and doing all daily missions for a week or two in a row would quickly boost your token collection rate.

That said, it's not fair to ask our applicants to change all their toons over - and we are not asking that. What I would ask of you though, is to consider the impact and the broader mixed message you would be providing if you indeed did only join a prominently clan org with several high level opposite faction alts. It's not implausible, but it is unusual.

AP doesn't wish to penalize you for being honest with us, since it would be just as easy to re-apply but not list your Omni alts. So, we certainly aren't rejecting your application - but on behalf of AP I do hope you take the issues I've mentioned into consideration while your application is processing.

Regards,

Noobas

[noobas]

Your next steps in applying should be performed in game:

Please join the AP chatbot (bobsan), by asking for an AP on Clan OOC, or come visit us at vanguards ramp (beside OAG).

when in chat, check if any officers are online and you can politely request an interview - note that our officers do have a heavy workload so if they can't get to you quickly, don't be alarmed.

After your interview, the officers will likely have to deliberate your case a bit more than usual.

We will try to be as fair as we can in our assessment, however the president will likely have the final say. In the meantime, while your app is processed, feel free to join in org activities (level/gear appropriate).

Cheers and good luck on your application!

Noobas

[Chrisax]

Hell Zexmenia and welcome on our forums.

It seems that most information you needed has been supplied by Reapermann and Noobas. And all is fine with your application. Please meet us online now!

[Zexmenia]

Thank you for the kind welcome!