I am always happy to be able to include PVP specialized guilds particularly because I know so little of how to build and maintain a guild on that premise (also I suck at PVP) the measure of a guild’s success has to be in how long it has been stable. Not static mind you but stable! If you were laboring under any assumptions about the capabilities of a PVP guild in that regard I believe Condemned and the story their GL Loudren tells of them will persuade you that their stability and growth is as much incumbent on the efforts and commitment of their leaders and members as any other type of guild. Without dropping any spoilers, if you are one of my (dear!) weekly readers of this series then this is one of the articles you won’t want to skim! (It’s ok to skim sometimes!).

I had a lot of fun playing with this title image for Condemned

Quick Stats:

Allegiance to: The Galactic Republic

PvP

English, US East (EST)

Hardcore (20+ hrs/week), PvP, no roleplaying, scheduled play sessions, voice chat requirement, forum and website usage required

Founded on January 2007, led by Louden

67 members 

What prompted the formation of your guild?

Condemned’s humble beginnings can be traced back to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Two opposing guilds, divided by faction, shared a mutual respect for one another. When the server rule set was changed, they solidified this respect by merging into the guild known as <Havoc>. In future games the tag was changed to our current guild name, but the founding leadership of Havoc has remained as the core of today’s <Condemned>.

Condemned thougthfully supplied me with the Vanguard logo. Here kindly borrowed!

How did you pick the name?

After leaving Vanguard there wasn’t a game that sparked our attention for some time, and it was not until the initial announcement of The Old Republic that our excitement levels again grew. Leadership knew we were destined to play TOR, though given the unannounced release date, our excitement may have been a bit premature. At the time, three years ago, we felt the game would launch far sooner than December of 2011, and as a result we began amassing the troops. As we had been without a game for some time, effort was placed on selecting a suitable title we could engage in while awaiting the release of SWTOR.

Warhammmer Online was that game. It also brought about some significant changes to our guild, most notably our tag, as this marked the first time we would be known as <Condemned>. While leadership and many of the core members remained from our days in Vanguard, the long downtime we faced as a guild prompted the need for a fresh beginning.

We began the process of selecting a new tag and worked to find a name that represented the feel of what we envisioned guild to be. A thread was posted on our forums requesting members to post suggestions. We knew we wanted the name to be both concise and serious in nature. Once we had a gathered a substantial amount of names via member submission, leadership whittled down the available options to a list of the top five. With list in hand we began researching those names to see if they were in use by any noteworthy established guilds, be it in a current or previous game. Due to the fact that our members have always been confident in our play level and have high expectations in what we hope to achieve, as well as the fact that we also respect the efforts of others, we did not wish to diminish an existing guild by claiming their tag as our own. Following our research, <Condemned> was born.

My hat is off to that. I know from painful experience how much effort can go into researching the name of a guild or even a character but the work is rewarding in the end when you get that tag that evokes exactly the feelings you wanted.

Sarvoth used some very stunning and epic visuals for Condemned's recruitment video (see below)

What is unique about your guild? What, in your opinion, makes it stand out from the crowd?

We are results driven. Many guilds claim success, or state intentions to be a server first guild, but aren’t necessarily able to show a track record of past achievement. While we applaud the ambition and vision of these guilds, in Condemned we pride ourselves on what we have achieved in the past.

In every game that we partake in, we work to play at a high level and aim to be the best on our server in both PVP domination and PVE progression. Here are some examples of that work coming to fruition from games at both ends of our guild history: our most recent game, RIFT, alongside our first game, Vanguard:

Ha! Not to brag or anything! (I'm not hatin' I am chuckling though!)

The server ranking for our guild in Rift. There we were World Ranked sixth in raid progression on Rift-Progress.com before the site was taken down and remained in that slot until our departure from the game.

During their tenure in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. The “Best of the Best” titles seen here are the results of a tournament to find the best players of each class

Stabfast Anhard?

I had forgotten how we were always kneeling in all games at one point it seemed

These three are pictures are of our “Best of the Best” winners in Vanguard given to a tournament winner for the best player in each class. Our guild had the most tournament winners on our server.

In addition our Youtube channel has videos of some of our other accomplishments. My personal favourite is:

Malevolence vs Condemned (Malevolence’s View of the Battle)

This shows a pvp encounter from our rival guild’s point of view.

You might ask what we would attribute that continued success to. The answer is simple: we always follow-through and we persevere. <Condemned> hasn’t reinvented the wheel, our guild is based on the same principles as many other legions.

We value teamwork and organization and feel those attributes are the cornerstone for our guild’s success. While it is easy to know the ideals a successful guild should promote, it is much harder to find players with commitment levels needed to strive to attain them, and establish a culture and atmosphere that reinforces those ideals over time. <Condemned>’s officers simply go above and beyond.

We don’t promote members solely based on their time in the guild, nor do we create positions of little value just to have more leadership slots available. While much is expected from those who possess these positions, accountability is not limited to leadership, but shared amongst our members. Team-based attitudes and the drive to excel are the main qualities we search for in all recruits. Our members represent the tag as a unit. They are held to the same standard and we don’t make exceptions based on level of skill.

We recruit players we feel possess the ability to be a contributing member of the team and who are teachable over established players that demonstrate poor attitudes or are selfish in nature. Many guilds don’t make this distinction and will simply take an established player based on them having fame or reputation in the community, even if that player is detrimental to the betterment of their guild. <Condemned> works to build the best “team,” and as a team we expect to be the best you will find on the battlefield.

I have to say reading that almost made me want to join and if you read my articles you’ll know I’m not even remotely a PVPer. It certainly made me sit up straight and nod vigorously at my screen! Good job, Louden!

I snagged this awesome background from Condemned's YouTube page

Tell us about your guild’s artwork!

As I mentioned before, our guild only focuses on one title at a time and therefore the theme of our site often changes based on the game we are playing. Currently we have a Republic based theme for SWTOR. We are using an Enjin site that offers various templates along with site hosting. I created our banner in Photoshop utilizing various still images and also cutting out characters from the animated game promo videos available from BioWare. I also created our site’s background image and re-skinned our guild’s Youtube channel in a similar nature. The most exciting news about our guild’s artwork however, would be the recent recruitment video designed by one of our officers, Sarvoth. I believe the editing was done in Adobe After Effects and the results are pretty astounding.

Here is Condemned’s fast-paced recruitment video created by Sarvoth

Have a vision. Establish goals and determine what you wish to accomplish. Then stick with it.

After you establish your goals, you need to determine how you are going to bring in new guild members. What standards are imperative and what has more wiggle room in regards to recruitment?

At first it will be tempting to take anyone who applies. While you may choose to lower standards such as required playtime or something similar, don’t recruit players that do not share the overall vision of your guild. If you are looking for any type of longevity you need to find members who drink the KoolAid.

Also, consider how you want to choose and organize your leadership structure. This is one of the most important decisions you will make. Time in the guild or being the best player you have on the roster should rank lower on the list of qualities you are looking for when selecting leadership. While those qualities are indeed beneficial you will need to select players who work to better the guild over themselves.

Also, do not create positions just to have additional leadership slots available. Make sure you have a need for that position and then pick the member most suited for it. Finally, all members need to be held to the same standards and those standards should be both clear and consistent from the initial recruitment process. Leadership needs to work to eliminate any appearance of favouritism. Cliques are one of the biggest issues in regards to guild drama. You will often find yourself faced with tough decisions, how you choose to handle them will determine the longevity of your guild.

Very good advice thank you so much Louden for putting so much thought into it. This is something worth reading not just for guilds looking to establish themselves but to all guilds in their various incarnations. Reminders can be very useful.

I grabbed some shots from their awesome recruitment video to lend a little image-KAPOW.

Are you looking for more members?

Yes, we are still selectively recruiting members, and invite anyone intrigued by this article to apply. As a fair warning, however, our process is rather thorough. Those who are interested must complete and submit an application on our site. Applications are then screened and those that pass initial review are scheduled for interviews in Ventrillo.

Interviews are fairly detailed and run about 30 minutes in length. Upon the completion of an interview leadership again reviews the application and votes as to whether or not to accept that player as a new recruit into the legion. Recruits are placed on a three week probationary period that begins when they are able to play with us in game, be it in any guild beta or actual release.

During the recruit period players are not limited in any way and share the same rights regular members possess. At the end of the three weeks, leadership meets and evaluates the player making sure they possess a team-based attitude and are playing at a level that is consistent to other Condemned members.

This is an overview of where Condemned are in their recruitment status as of writing this article, mind you.

When looking at prospective applicants and their applications, what is your pet peeve? Or what would you advise NOT to do?

Put some time and effort into your application. This is your first impression to us. If you do not take this seriously, or put thought into your answers we will assume you have a similar play style. It should be an indicator that if a guild requires an application then they may indeed be using it to screen out players that they feel would not match their play style.

Secondly, be truthful in your application. There have been occasions where we have researched the background of an applicant and we found them to be untruthful in their listed accomplishments. This has occurred both in the initial screening of an application and also during interviews in Ventrilo. Due to our past successes many times applicants feel their resume may not be up to the standard that would be required to gain access into the guild and fabricate information. While we do look at previous experience the three major factors we look for on all applications are: Does the applicants play times fall within our guild scheduled event times? Was there effort placed in the completion of this application?

And finally, based on what is written does it appear the applicant shares goals similar to our own? So to sum it up, be thorough, thoughtful, and truthful on your application.

I wonder if the smuggler comforted Satele Shan after her masters death with: S'ok! PVP happened...

How do you guys pass the time and keep the excitement and guild commitment up while waiting for the game to release?

Currently our members are staying active playing various games such as League of Legends, Dead Island and Global Agenda together in Vent. Two nights a week we play the free trial of Warhammer Online as a guild. The trial only allows players to reach level 10, but we are using it to work on coordination and to get new members use to our system in PvP. It allows us to work on target calling/assisting and also allows us to evaluate how well new members are performing. Even at low level we still are able to work on the basics.

Condemned's Twitter page

What is your guild looking forward to doing in SWTOR in particular?

Dominating our server in group/guild PvP. While we have had success in raiding in many games including RIFT, where we were recently ranked 6th in the world for raid progression, our primary focus has always been PvP. We are hoping that there will be significant achievements available in world PvP such as claiming an objective for your guild and not solely for your faction. Recently there have been interviews with the developers discussing the possible implementation of rated warzones. Once this feature has been implemented, we expect to establish a serious presence on our server.

That said, we expect to be highly efficient at raiding even if our primary focus remains PvP. <Condemned> does not make the distinction between raiders and PvPers on our roster and expect our members to be capable of excelling at both.

I still don't think that will be a feature in SWTOR but ok

Guild amenities. What does your guild have to offer its members?

<Condemned> currently has a dedicated Vent server, guild website, Twitter page, and our own YouTube channel. As a guild we are always looking to improve, both as a collective and as individuals. Because of this, our class leads as well as other members of leadership work to mentor new players in both PvP and PvE. Whether it requires working on rotations at the practice dummy or discussing strategies and tactics, there will always be someone willing to help. We have our own, in-house theorycrafters and tacticians who work daily to optimize each of our members’ output. <Condemned> works as a whole to better the guild, and in-game we will have a dedicated crafting core that will craft for free for our guild members. We also promote guild member team-based play in-game, and expect other guildmates to be given priority in grouping over PUGs, even outside of guild scheduled event times. <Condemned> is not a guild that only plays together during raids.

And that is not something to sniff at!

What was the toughest hurdle for you and your guild to get over in the time you’ve spent together?

Our biggest challenge has been downtime between MMOs. Retaining members through the drought is a challenge but our continued success in games does help in this regard. Keeping standards high when recruiting also has allowed us operate at a high calibre over the life-span of the guild. It is always a concern that our talent pool could diminish between titles but our players enjoy playing together and have established long-term friendships that have stood the test of time.

Tell us about You. What draws you to SWTOR?

I’m a closet nerd, I just can’t help it. As far back as I can remember I have always been a Star Wars fan and even if I did not read many of the novels I certainly have participated in more than my fair share of Lucas Arts titles throughout the years. When I tore my ACL my first venture into MMOs just happened to be Star Wars Galaxies. So Star Wars is actually to blame for my current MMO addiction. The pinnacle of my nerdom would have to be camping out early to score my ticket for opening of the Phantom Menace. I actually managed to get the first ticket sold. Inside my excitement soared but I still had to turn my back when the local news showed up to interview those in line. And while I was almost out of pride the little that remained just wouldn’t let me get caught on camera next to that guy sitting in the Queen Amidala blow-up chair.

Yup! louden did not make that up!

Aside from TOR just being a Star Wars game, it has the added benefit of being designed by the staff over at BioWare. This is probably my favourite game developer and I can honestly say that almost every title they produce is exceptional. Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games I have ever played. While I also enjoyed the first instalment of the series I feel they really worked to improve the mechanics to a point where the gameplay actually rivaled the quality of the story in Mass Effect 2. BioWare seems to constantly be working to significantly improve the quality of their products with each new release. I have faith they will continue this tradition for The Old Republic.

What made you decide to run a guild?

Even though I have been running a guild for multiple games now, I initially had no aspirations to do so. I was content simply playing with the team and making my contributions in a member capacity. However, players that work to improve the guild often find themselves quickly promoted through the ranks whether they are looking to have this happen or not. I found myself in this exact position when many of the original leaders for our guild began exiting the game while we were playing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. I was first unexpectedly bumped up to Officer and then later, when our GM, also decided to make his exit or more accurately disappearance from the game it fell on my shoulders to continue the guild. It was a little overwhelming at first but I was very fortunate to have a core of quality players that allowed me to keep the guild operating at a high level consistently. From that point on I have remained GM and I am privileged that many of those original members have continued the journey with me and will be making the jump to SWTOR.

I am told the search still goes on in spite of the milk carton campaign

What is it like to run a guild a year or more in advance of the game the guild is formed to play in?

We’ve been fortunate to have found titles that allowed us to remain active as a guild while we wait for TOR’s release, even if our time in these other games has been relatively brief. Playing those titles also expanded our roster, letting us acquire players we wouldn’t normally have been exposed to if we simply rode the SWTOR forums until launch. While many of our players enjoy playing League of Legends as well as various FPS games together, I did worry that a long downtime may result in a drop off in our roster. With the recent announcement of a December release, that is no longer a concern.

Condemned Header

Anything else you’d like to add?

I remember back in RIFT when we were racing for progression ranks in the first raid instance the game offered, Greenscale’s Blight. We were never accepted into any of the dungeon testing so we had to go into each boss encounter blind. We were still doing well, being able to stay in line with the top guilds, and registering top 5 in world kills.

However, we came to this one boss, Oracle Aleria that proved to be a bigger challenge than expected. Essentially, the boss splits in two and you have to separate them to tank it. One is killed by ranged, the other by the melee. It has a ability that turns a raid member into a bomb and that player has to line of sight everyone else or he/she will one shot any one in view.

We didn’t know that this was a simple LOS mechanic, and thought it had to be out ranged. We spent hours perfecting a kiting mechanic for the boss around the square encounter area.

We later came to find out that all you had to do was separate the boss, and then have the raid member who became the “bomb” line of sight the raid. Needless to say, this made the encounter 100 times easier. We were kicking ourselves when we found this out.

Here is a link to our ridiculous strategy guide we made for the encounter prior to knowing any better. Those who played Rift may get a kick out of this:

Oracle Aleria – A Condemned Guide:

Thank you so much, Louden for taking the time to share Condemned with us and for putting so much effort into this feature for us! If you are interested in learning more about Condemned you can seek them out at their recruitment page, their guild website or on Twitter.

Are you Condemned?

~~~

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