The Grand Master's Royal Guard has been a Society for the Gamers of the club for a while. Unfortunately it kind of stagnates once you hit that top ranks, giving little real incentive to keep amassing precious Clusters of Fire... until now...
I've been looking forward to the opportunity to adjust the whole GMRG for some time, some may remember a few reports from back in the summer where I talked about incorporating PoBs into GMRG promotions. I hope you all find this new system even more engaging and enjoyable than our previous one!
Before you get into this though, make you read the Plot Update and Voice Report posted by Pravus. They've both got plenty of awesome in them, and have been bumped a few rows down the News Page by other Posts (which you should also read!).
Ranks 1 through 10 will become permanent Ranks, based off of the Total CFs and PoBs earned in a members career. PoBs will come into effect at GMRG 5, in order to allow new members to progress through to GMRG 4 before DJK (similar to how the SA Society functions). Quantities required for each rank are posted on the GMRG Wiki Page (or will be in the few minutes after I post this report).
Rank 11 and 12 will be determined each Quarter, starting April 1st to June 30th. The Rank 10 member who has earned the most CFs in the past Quarter on July 1st will be promoted to Rank 12. The next highest eight Rank 10 members will be promoted to Rank 11. These nine individuals will be the Guardsmen assigned to the Dark Council for the next 3 months (July 1st to September 30th). They will get to choose their Dark Councilor assignments in order of who earned the most CFs during the quarter.
At the end of the Quarter they'll drop back to Rank 10 (unless they rank as one of the top nine CF earners again) and new Dark Council Guardsmen will be assigned, however past Guardsmen will get to keep their...
Each member who Guards a Dark Councilor will unlock an accessory specific to that Councilor. That accessory will remain permanently on the Guardsmen's Dossier.
The accessories will be determined by each Dark Councilor, with the help of the Herald. They will also be specific to that person as a Dark Councilor. So when I step down as Fist, the accessory the Guardsmen got for being assigned to me is gone from circulation forever, no one else gets to earn it anymore. The new Fist gets to design a new accessory with the Herald.
Naturally all Dark Councilors won't step down at the same time GMRG Assignments update, so the Guardsman will get the accessory of whichever Councilor they selected when they are initially assigned to that position. To get the new Councilor's accessory they need to place again in the next quarter.
Gamers now have something to compete for, the Dark Councilor Accessories. People can choose to try to collect as many as they want by routinely placing in top CFs and rotating through the Councilor they choose each quarter or they can try to block everyone else from getting a specific Councilor's accessory by repeatedly choosing them, because they love it so much or something.
The new system allows incoming members to reach GMRG 4 at their own pace, and requires a more dynamic Gaming experience to advance past GMRG 5 when PoBs come into play (either max leveling Characters, running Nightmare End Game TOR Ops, or winning the Weekly PoB).
Special thanks goes out to all of the Clubs Gamers who pulled my ear at one time or another talking about how they wished GMRG Ranks didn't drop if they missed a month's activity. Also special thanks to Ood, who in an IRC conversation with me where I mentioned making some changes to the GMRG suggested that some kind of accessories for the Society would be cool. Lastly, much love to the Dark Council who were willing (or forced?) to listen to me talk about this idea endlessly on G Hangouts, WhatsApp, and email. Without all these folks input this system may never have come about.
The moving pieces to this system will be getting implemented throughout the weekend. So keep your eyes open for changes going live. As we get closer to the start of the first GMRG quarter the Herald will likely be teasing a few of the Accessories that are in the works for the first set of Dark Council Guardsman. Also plan on seeing some edits to the GMRG Shadow Academy Course. Anyway, that's the whole story folks, I hope you like it! Game on DJB.
First, as mentioned in my last report the DJB TOR community has been quite active lately! They're still looking for a few good Raiders, so if you're interested in running some Operations contact Cethgus or Valkish. They are planning to fill out a second Operations Team and split the existing group across the two, to allow more folks the opportunity to see the Operations TOR has to offer. I'm sure from time to time the two teams will be combining to run a 16 person Op as well! As always, Healers and Tanks are in demand!
The other bit of TOR News is that we will be adding another layer of Partially Completed Operations rewards. Currently members can receive 40% of the CF reward for Partially Clearing an Operation (defined as at least 2 bosses defeated). A second tier to this will be a 70% CF reward for a Partial Clear where only the End Boss remains alive in the Operation. This still puts a pretty sizable chunk of those Clusters on downing the end boss, but gives a bit more reward to folks who are sticking out the event for hours trying learn final boss fight mechanics, which tend to be the most complicated in each Operation.
In my last report I explained a bit about our Starcraft II Clan/Group. The Diablo 3 Expansion will allow us to set up the same things (only with Group renamed as Community, because Blizzard says so). A few other interesting changes coming with the expansion:
They will be introducing Bounties into the game, it sounds like they're short side quests which you can complete for some rewards, one of which lets you create a new type of portal. This portal is called a Nephalem Rift, there are also some bad demon dudes in there for you to kill. The changes should make Diablo 3 a bit more interesting and more involved than running on a predetermined route that has the most mob density murdering demons at ludicrous speed while hoping for a Legendary Item to drop.
We'll be testing these changes once the expansion comes out to see if it makes sense to adjust how we reward Diablo 3 CFs from a "per elite" basis to a "per Bounty/Nephalem Rift" basis. The expansion is planned for mid-March. It will be available on PC, Mac, and PS4 (sorry looks like Xbox One got Xboned).
Gorefest is running through Sunday, January 19th. One clarification (thanks for Kazmir for letting me know it was still there) I have removed the requirement for you to be GMRG II to participate in Gorefest. Any member of the GMRG can earn compete in the PVP portion of the competition and earn bonus CFs for any Gaming activities!
Found this quiz on a friend's Facebook page and I couldn't resist taking it. Who am I according to it?
Boba Fett. The galaxy's most feared and accomplished Bounty Hunter, you know how to get a job done. You don't say much, but you don't have to. You're just that badass. From humble beginnings, you've made yourself into the warrior you are today. Just steer clear of those Sarlaac Pits!
The Boba Fett fathead poster next to my desk, Boba Fett robe I got for Christmas (which I was wearing while taking this quiz), and I all approve of this. Funny enough while taking it I was hoping for a Force User, but I didn't know Fett was an option at the time. Who are you?
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I love it. This is a great incentive. Thanks, Val!
Awesome changes to the GMRG system. Nice work, Val.
Bravo!
Thanks gents, glad you like the concept! The Wiki is now up to date with new rank requirements. I got a little caught up with adding some other links and stuff so it took a bit longer than planned.
Might inspire me to work towards that Dark Sage a little faster, too. :D
I really like that Top-Level idea for the Guardsmen, especially the "Gotta Collect 'em All" nature of the accessories. Really speaks to the OCD of a gamer! heh. And yay for no demotions!
Nice to see totals going into account. It doesn't penalise those who can't run ToR.
I think I'm rank VII now?
I'll be rank VII when those PoBs get handed out. Which is nice. Highest I ever got was VI before.
I like the new system too. The mixture of the more hardcore stuff for Ranks 10+ with the more relaxed totals for those beneath is a nice combination.
Would have liked to see something for earlier flash points to be put in. The ones on korriban and jabba world is hard to find teammates for due to low levels and have to be done before a certain level.
Great report though
The new ranks have been implemented. Those affected should have received a mail about it.
Great changes to the GMRG, excellent work Val!
Just one minor comment, the way the rank 11 people get to choose a DCer can sound unclear when you read the text on the wiki article, changing it to what you used in the report "They will get to choose their Dark Councilor assignments in order of who earned the most CFs during the quarter" would ensure that there wont be any confusions.
Fixed on the wiki. Thanks for the feedback Malik!
I LOVE THIS thank you so much for doing this I was getting a little tired of the group seeing as I would go up a rank and drop it because I don't have tons of time to game. How ever I feel more like gaming now. This should be fun!!!!!
Love the GMRG changes, Val :)
To continue heaping on the praise... thanks so much for this update Val. I know the demotion system (and limited promotions per month to boot) really wore down on a lot of people's wills to try to advance in the GMRG. I'm sure this will help continue the upward trend of gaming in the DB for years to come. Extremely well done sir, thank you.
Brimstone - there aren't any flashpoints on Korriban/Hutta/Tython/Ord Mantell, only Heroics, but you can get 1 CF for completing a heroic instance with at least one other DJB member :) Heroics are much shorter than the usual flashpoint, so thus they're not as much as the usual 4-5 CFs.
I stole the feedback from Vaar, Val. But you're welcome. :P
Awesome changes overall! The one thing that sorta concerned me (as a new player to D3) was this:
Setting aside any concerns about how that'd specifically work after having looked at how bounties/rifts will function, my one question is this: Do we know if this game content will be available to those that don't purchase the expansion?
1) Great changes to the system. Seriously, well done.
2) This also covers something that has been brought up recently (and I never thought of) more potential for dossier goodies for our newer members.
Love the GMRG updates! This should bump me up to rank VI!
Selika - Based on Blizzard's FAQ for the Expansion I think these will be available to people who do not have the expansion. My impression is that the main changes with the expansion will be the increased level cap (to 70), Act V, and the Crusader Class. They're talking both about items which will be available to everyone, and ones which are specific to the expansion in the FAQ, but they don't give the specific answer for the activities I mentioned.
If these don't transition, it may not make sense to transition to a new CF system. So we'll need to wait and see.
That said though... the expansion looks pretty sweet. As long as someone has the $40 for it, I'm not sure why you wouldn't buy it if you play D3 :p
1) I like the new system. I joined the GMRG a while ago and only just started worrying about my rank in it but now I don't have to worry. I can now relax and have fun. Thanks Valhavoc and the rest of the team.
2) Suprisingly nobody responded about the quiz. They usually do. I got Darth Vader.
I just did the GMRG exam just so I can qualify for the GMRG due to these new changes. Much love, Val!
These improvements to the GMRG are very appealing. Best enchancement to the GMRG ever. Bravo!
Vaar, i meant heroics, but still the problem is not too many low levels on when quests need to be done. Maybe allowing just these low level quests being turned in with just self, as long as it shows guild name in screenshot
Val rocks. 'nuff said.
Omg!!!
I took quiz
I am so never going to hear the end of this.
I'm princess leia
I was darth vader
Okay....something new! Good work!
Apparently; I am Palpatine... now that's just depressing.
Boba Fett: http://www.zimbio.com/quiz/Ukldm8Pi5Ub/Star+Wars+Character/result/BU0rd3-Gabr
I'm going to take that as the pre-EU mando raping of the character :P
Double Post!
Val/Staff: Is there any way we can get a clear description of what Pendants of Blood are awarded for? The wiki page for PoBs seems to be very out of date, and that's the first place most people (or just me) look for information.
Shad: I think it's currently
* Best win/loss ratio each week on pvp platforms
* Reaching max level in ToR
* Completing an operation with a full DB group (not sure, it may also be nightmare mode)
* Reaching max level in D3 (again, not sure. But the gaming portal has an option for this)
The Pendant of Blood Wiki Page is now updated with how to earn them! Get after it folks!
Val and co., this is truly a step above the previous function of the GMRG, and adds so much more to the gaming community here. Thanks for the hard work in making this come into being! I love it!