Zeroł wants to thank SWTOR-Station for presenting us with their Guild of the Month award. We also want to thank them for taking the time to interview Zeroł.
Amonbell: Please introduce yourself to our community. Who are you personally, what are you doing?
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MaxLiao: I am MaxLiao, or “Max” for short. I am the guild leader of the Zero Zero Zero, or Zeroł, guild in SW:TOR, and one of the three founders of the overall Legion of Myth organization. I am 35 years old, and married to my beautiful and wonderful wife – who puts up with me playing MMOs for hours on end. I used to play table top RPGs almost religiously, my favorite being EarthDawn, but time and constant travel have kept me away from that hobby for the last few years. Now I spend my time with MMOs. Currently, I play Warhammer Online on the Phoenix Throne role-play server.
Etheyon: I am an 18-year-old college student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. I major in Music Technology, and spend much of my time developing my technique, learning theory, and writing music. I also have interests in film, literature, and philosophy, and more recently (with my arrival at Zeroł), learning about Star Wars lore and canon. I currently am taking summer classes, trying to boost my GPA.
Amrac: Please describe your guild in just 2-3 sentences.
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MaxLiao: Legion of Myth, the parent organization of Zeroł, started off as a guild that first and foremost wants to stay true to the developer/publisher canon and lore of a game. We have kept those roots, while incorporating a desire to succeed and achieve (through raiding and PvP), with a casual-friendly understanding that real life comes first. In fact, when we created Legion of Myth, part of the humor in the name was that it is a “Myth” that one can be both a role-player and an achiever in a given game.
Etheyon: To me, Zeroł has served as much more than a traditional MMO guild; it has served as a community of diverse, intelligent individuals. Within the first few days of my arrival at Zeroł, I was already having interesting conversations regarding Star Wars lore, music, philosophy, and more. In short, Zeroł is an organization comprised of active, mature, and distinct members who will serve a common purpose.
Amonbell: So on which side will we find you later in the game, and why did you choose this faction?
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MaxLiao: Although Legion of Myth is more known for playing the ‘evil’ side in the past, this will be the second game in a row in which we are playing the de facto ‘good’ team. We fight on behalf of the citizens of the Galactic Republic. “While the Galactic Republic is mired in red tape, and the Jedi cower on Tython - abandoning their charge to protect the Republic - ‘Zero Zero Zero’ has become both the rally cry and the organization for those who truly bring the war to the Sith.”
The best example I can cite to describe Zeroł is by comparing us to the Wolverines in the 80’s movie Red Dawn.
Amrac: So, you're playing on the Republic side, is Zeroł open for every class or are you focusing more towards the Jedi or one of the other already announced classes?
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MaxLiao: We accept all races and classes into the guild. All they need is a desire to take the war to the Sith, and play the game to the best of their ability - within whatever allotted time they have.
Etheyon: While our guild’s leadership may have certain opinions about different classes or organizations (such as the cowardly Jedi :P), we have attracted people who plan to play all different classes and species. I plan on playing a Jedi (as do several others in the guild), and it was fun trying to think of ways to integrate our characters into the Zeroł lore and background.
Amrac: Alright, you already told us a bit about that next question, but what are your exact goals for Star Wars: The Old Republic? What do you want to achieve with Zeroł?
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Etheyon: Throughout my time at Zeroł, I have found that although we do have a set of concrete goals and objectives in-game, there will be plenty of room for personal endeavors. It's been my impression that our organizaton will allow for both the casual and hardcore play styles, as well as for those who role-play, and those who do not. I believe that an all-encompassing goal of Zeroł is to bring people from all different play styles and backgrounds, and use this diversity to our advantage to achieve our guild objectives, and become a great organization.
MaxLiao: We desire to succeed in high end PvE content (i.e. raids), as well as skirmish-based, or small unit tactics PvP. For PvE we may be forced into large-scale battles, you know the typical 24 or 25 person raids. With this in mind, I was able to recruit a very capable raid leader from WoW to lead these battles.
For PvP we are looking to be capable skirmishers. We’d sooner form two or three smaller hunting groups than form one large warband. We aim to surprise, flank, or ambush our opponents and habitually take out groups larger than us. In typical MMO terms, these are called ‘gank groups,’ but the word ‘gank’ leaves a bad image in peoples’ minds. The point is that we’ll leave the large ‘zerg’ hunting bands to other guilds. To this end, two very capable skirmishers, with experience in other PvP games (Shadowbane, Warhammer, Age of Conan, and Darkfall) have been brought in to provide leadership in this area.
We’d love to work our some role-play inspired PvP events with Sith guilds. But we don’t need that. Killing the Sith, and permanently removing them from our beloved Republic, is satisfaction enough for us.
Amonbell: Sounds like you're mainly PvE focused, but allow everyone to play as he likes. How do you want to achieve that hardcore and casuals will both be accepted by all guild members and there's not constant battling over play styles?
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MaxLiao: Actually, we're mainly PvP focused. At least I hope we are. We wish to get involved in the galactic conflict in support of the Republic. With that said, high end PvE content, as well as story-line questing, will be something we’ll aggressively tackle as well. We want to experience and be successful in all facets of the game.
As for the members, I think that our guild write-up and published expectations detail exactly what we are looking for. We express our ideals of role-playing, PvE/PvP success, within a casual framework as precisely as we can. So far, we have had no issues.
Amrac: So let's go on to the history of your guild. Since when does Zeroł exist and how many members do you have already?
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MaxLiao: Legion of Myth was formed by former Shadowbane players in 2003. Our history is detailed in depth on our web page, so I won’t repost it all here, but we have been around many of the popular MMOs since formation. Off the top of my head I remember Star Wars: Galaxies, City of Heroes, EverQuest 2, World of Warcraft, and Warhammer Online. We have had our share of good times and successes, as well as quite a few rough times. Through it all we have always come out ahead - leaner, but stronger.
For our accounting purposes, the Zeroł guild will not receive an official founding date until the actual game is released. We fully expect Zeroł to be very successful in SW:TOR, and we are currently meeting our goals of membership quantity and quality. I can say without a doubt, Zeroł is having the best start of any of the guilds Legion of Myth has created.
Etheyon: Although the game hasn't been released yet, and the guild hasn't been "officially" formed, we are well on our way to becoming an active "formed" guild. More recently, membership has increased, and we continually attract new members. It's been fun welcoming new and interesting people into our organization, and with each new member, we are becoming a more cohesive and familiar unit. That is one thing that I hope will stay with us throughout our activity in The Old Republic: the sense of family and friendship between all members.
MaxLiao: [As of June 2009] our current ‘approved and active’ membership is under 20. If you include spouses, boy/girlfriends, and fence-sitters – those people who don’t want to think about the game until beta or live release – we’re over 30. But this is exactly what we are looking for. We’re not looking to explode into a large army; we’re looking for skirmishers, or resistance fighters who excel at squad tactics, and who support the ideals of Zeroł. We do expect continual growth, and we are actively recruiting new membership, but we want to do this at a manageable pace.
Amonbell: See, now you already answered my member limit question *smiles*. You talked about family and friendship and some say that this isn't possible if there's a strict guild hierarchy. You seem like you have a set plan though and therefore we would like to know how you organize your guild. Is there one big boss or is it more democratically arranged?
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MaxLiao: We don't have member limits. We just want to grow at a manageable pace. Limiting membership is actually something we talk about quite a bit within the guild - it goes hand in glove with our overall numbers. Currently we see no reason to limit or cap them.
As much as possible, I work directly with the officers and members of the guild. This is not ‘my’ guild; this is ‘our’ guild. We fully take to heart that without the rank and file members there is no guild, ‘a leader of one does not a guild make.’ However, I’ve been in too many guilds that spent more time deliberating, debating, forming committees and councils, and so forth than actually accomplishing anything. Democracies and Republics work great for real world governments and for meta-game activities, but not for the military or para-military activities of PvP and raiding. With that said, the highest ranking member online has immediate authority, while I retain final authority for the guild as a whole.
For Zeroł, we wanted something that symbolized our bond as guild mates and friends, while representing the more unorthodox nature of the guild lore as well. We chose to go with a Family theme. As the guild leader, I am the Scion of Zeroł. The officers of Zeroł are called Elders. All Elders actually have meta-game responsibilities. No one gets a promotion to Elder without taking on tasks that support the guild as a whole. Approved guild members are either Brother or Sister; as we are all Brothers and Sisters in the cause.
When the game is released, and our application includes in-game criteria, we’ll use the rank of Initiate for those who wear the guild tag for communication and support purposes, but have not actually been vouched for and approved as members yet.
Etheyon: Although the structure of the guild is very regimented, and the hierarchy clearly defined, I've never felt any pressure to do or say something that I'd not do in any other situation. We are always free to voice our opinions on a matter, regardless of the topic. While we may have disagreements from time to time, we realize that our leadership truly has the guild's best interests in mind. No one will ever be kicked for simply disagreeing, and almost every time I've seen Max making a decision, he's consulted the guild via our message boards for their opinions and suggestions.
Amrac: You already mentioned that you've created some background lore for Zeroł, could you please tell us a bit more about this role playing element of your guild?
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MaxLiao: Absolutely. The characters that make up Zeroł are beings that are disenfranchised with the management of the war. We just want it over, we want the Sith removed from the legitimate territory of the Galactic republic, and we’ll do anything to make this happen.
We don't honor treaties or the typical conventions of warfare, we are asymmetrical war fighters. Some would consider us guerrillas or terrorists. Others see us as freedom fighters. We are sick of our worlds and citizens suffering at the hands of the Sith. It is time to make the Sith suffer. There is no moral high ground, there is victory!
Whether you’re a business man that wants to make a difference, a smuggler ferrying contraband to the militias, or a Jedi that disagrees with the Council – we attract all types.
Etheyon: To me, the role-playing element of Zeroł is a vital part of the guild. With a background story of such depth, it is no wonder that so many of our members wish to create and role-play their own unique characters. While RPing is completely voluntary, almost all of our members participate in the RP threads on our message boards. The uniqueness of each character is astounding, and members really put forth the effort to make their characters distinct and memorable. I think that it is only natural for our organization to wish to marry game mechanics (PvP/PvE) to our lore and background (RPing).
Amonbell: As a roleplayer this really sounds like a place to be. You already mentioned the message boards. How do you spend you time until SWTOR is released besides those forum roleplays? Do you have some games and meetings to entertain your members?
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Etheyon: Our message board is really a conduit for many different kinds of activities. Aside from our forum role-play, we have discussions of all kinds, and it is really very interesting to see the opinions and perspectives of all different kinds of people from all different walks of life. In addition, we have great contests that help to generate interest in our organization, like our current Web Comic contest.
MaxLiao: Some of us are playing Warhammer online, while others are playing World of Warcraft and other games. We also have a non-canon story thread on our forums in which we encourage all of our member to post. We call it non-canon, because until we play the game and level the characters, everything we do is just speculation and for fun. It is something to bond the more role-playing oriented members together.
Additionally, Legion of Myth is hosting a web comic contest (ending June 30th 2009). We try to host 3 to 4 contests like this per year, each one rewarding cash prizes to the winners and a good time for ALL who submit.
The rest ... well, they are probably spending what time they have left to enjoy the real world before the release of the game.
Amrac: Real life... wasn't that this thing where you go to work and eat and such weird things? So where do most of your guild members spend their real life? Or more clearly: Where are most of you are coming from? 
MaxLiao: LOL! I haven't researched this real life thing thoroughly, much to the chagrin of my wife. But I'm sure that you're right. I'll beta test it some day.
Most of our members live within the continental United States (CONUS). However, we were able to recruit a great guy from Germany to re-join Zeroł for SW:TOR. Some of us have previously gamed with him in Shadowbane and Star Wars Galaxies, and I’m excited to have him back. This may help us reach more European folks, and a better 24/7 presence in the game, but we’ll see.
Etheyon: Our member base is very diversified, in personality, background, and location. There are students, teachers, military and ex-military members, musicians, and many more. We have charismatic members and contemplative members, introverts and extroverts, artists and techies. The list really goes on.
Amonbell: I wonder if one needs a beta key for that real life thing or if it's open. *laughs* xD
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MaxLiao: 
Amonbell: So, since your guild is so diverse, you probably have a hard decision to make: If there will be different gameplay servers as for PVP, RP and PvE, on which kind will you play?
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MaxLiao: We’ve discussed this at length. We have no official, final decision, but we are hoping, praying, and calling out to the Force that there is a PvP/RP server. A PvP server that incorporates the common RP server rule sets. If that isn’t available, I think we’ll go for a standard PvP server. PvE alone gets boring, and as much as we like to role-play, without the feel of conflict there seems to be little point to leave games like WoW (PvE) or Warhammer (PvP).
Amrac: Ok, now we're getting closer to the end of this interview. Is there anything else, which makes your guild stands out, that you haven't mentioned already? 
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Etheyon: Although I may have mentioned this before, I really want to stress this: The thing that immediately attracted me to Zeroł was the depth of its lore. I believe that we have a great, intricate background that allows for numerous kinds of people from all desired classes and species to become involved. I am excited to get started in-game, because I know that my Jedi character will get to know and fight alongside many kinds of characters, from all different backgrounds. A member who recently joined commented that the background story and lore was so interesting that he wanted to get involved right away, even though he expressed no interest in this before, and had never even RPed.
MaxLiao: Well, I’m sure that every guild believes they have the best members around. In this, we’re no different. Our membership is truly who we are, and they represent Legion of Myth and Zeroł perfectly.
I think the most important thing to understand is that Zeroł is merely one aspect of Legion of Myth. Our web site and forums are for gamers of all types, including: table top & miniature gamers, computer & console gamers, collectible card gamers, and more. So, even if you or your friends aren’t interested in the Zeroł guild, we welcome you to come by and join whatever else Legion of Myth has to offer.
We also conduct occasional interviews with our registered forums members who have outside projects, we would love it if you signed up to Legion of Myth and we could return the favor of an interview.
I touched on this already, but Legion of Myth hosts multiple contests per year that award cash prizes. So far we’ve held a magazine cover contest, a short story contest, and a web comic contest (ending June 30th 2009). We are working on our next contest for the late summer/early fall, and everyone is welcome to enter.
You can find the interview process and the currently running contest on our website – as well as past contests and interviews.
Amonbell: You've already mentioned it several times: Your website. How can people contact and reach you and what do they have to do to apply for membership?
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Etheyon: For me, the process to become a member of Zeroł impressed me with its professionalism. The four steps were easy-to-follow and comprehensible, and I had fun introducing myself and getting to know everyone else during the vouching process. Unlike some other guilds' processes, I found that it was not at all difficult or tedious to be approved to become a member; rather, it was an enjoyable and rewarding experience, and everyone was more than willing to welcome me and make me feel comfortable.
MaxLiao: Website information:
~ Legion of Myth (Homepage): http://www.legionofmyth.com
~ Legion of Myth (Forums): http://www.legionofmyth.com/harbinger
~ Legion of Myth (Zeroł): http://www.legionofmyth.com/guilds/zero3/
As for the application process, it's pretty simple, but it's not an 'instant in' situation.
We have four required steps to join Zeroł. These steps can be read in detail on our web page and on our forums:
~ Step 1: Agree to the rules and expectations of Zeroł.
~ Step 2: Register on the Legion of Myth message board forums.
~ Step 3: Download and install Ventrilo.
~ Step 4: Complete out the application on our message board forums.
After completing the four steps, the applicant awaits his or her vouch from a current member, and then the final approval/denial. If the applicant receives a vouch, and no one contests it, the applicant becomes an approved guild member. It’s actually a very simple process, but one that we need to perform to recruit the same type of amazing people that form our current membership.
Amrac: Great, then we only have one last question for you, which is a little bit off-topic: If a developer would ask you, which guild feature you would like to see in Star Wars: The Old Republic - what would you answer personally?
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Etheyon: Among many other things, one idea I'd like to see implemented is the concept of full customization. If a guild has a flagship, it should be fully customizeable, both inside and out. Also, I'd love to be able to wear my guild's logo on my armor or equipment, so that when people see me, they will know which organization I belong to, without having to look at my name. I believe that it adds to the "immersion factor" of the game, and would push guilds to strive to be unique and distinct.
MaxLiao: We’ve talked about this quite a bit within the guild, and, for me, there are always three things that stand out. I can never decide which one is most important, so I just can’t limit it to one single feature.
- Player owned star ships, and guild owned (and operated) capital ships. I am not a fan of instantaneous travel from one world to the next. In fact, in the original EverQuest I actually liked the boats. It should take time to travel across the world, or a galaxy, and should include its own risk and reward. NPC or public transportation should be the last resort travel method, not the primary.
Player made abilities or options should quicken the travel time, or create other opportunities that cannot be provided via public transport. Maybe add a mechanic skill tree of some sort where one could make temporary jury rigs to a ship to, say, increase the hyper drive multiplier of a ship from x2 to x1.5 for faster travel.
Guild capital ships that require various positions to be manned in order for it to function would be amazing. The more positions within the ship that are manned, the greater the capability of the ship - up to the ship’s maximum. Of course they should be costly to purchase and maintain, and semi-rare as well. But it should be within the realm of possibility for any decently sized and active guild.
- I would like to see PvP provide territorial gains and losses throughout the war. Planets should not be switching hands on a daily basis, but there should be some loss/gain (risk/reward) that gives a reason to PvP other than, “Wow, I made your pixels fall down.”
- Lastly, and this is from the perspective of someone who has PvPed in every game that allowed it, no cross team communication. I know this is an area of heart burn for some people, but I believe that both World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online it right on this one.
Amonbell: So that's it, you answered all of our nagging questions - very detailed and it was highly interesting to read it all!
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Etheyon: Everyone at the guild really appreciates the amount of time that you guys at SWTOR Station put into your work; it's very inspiring. We all really appreciate it.
MaxLiao:I want to thank Etheyon for assisting in this interview. He is one of our newest members, and I thought his perspective as someone new to Zeroł and Legion of Myth would give a refreshing perspective to our organization. And to SoulRebel for pointing your website out to me. He's in Iraq right now, so he deserves all of our positive thoughts.
I cannot say enough about our members, their positive attitude, and their desire to see the best from Zeroł and Legion of Myth. I would be beyond thoughtless if I did not give them the credit and thanks they deserve for everything they do.
Everyone in Zeroł thanks you and SWTOR-Station for this honor. We appreciate you selecting Zeroł for your Guild of the Month and hope to represent this award, Legion of Myth, and the entire SWTOR community as respectfully and positively as we can.
Amonbell: Aww man, now you make me blush. You showed us today that Zeroł is really worthy to receive our award and it was really fun talking to you!
Amonbell: Also I'm sending my thoughts to SoulRebel
MaxLiao: We'll be sure to pass that along to him.
Amrac: Thanks a lot for your great answers! This interview really confirms to me, that we've chosen the right guild for this month
MaxLiao: Thanks again.
Etheyon: Thank you! [/pj]
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