For every gain, a sacrifice.  For every victory, a loss.  For every measure earned, a pound of flesh given in return.  Yet still we strive, and fight.  We shall not abide this fate; for in the end we shall prevail.

It has been a very long time since I last posted guild news here.

The last few months - really, the last few years - have not been kind to the Dioscuri.  Circumstances conspired against everyone - valued friends were forced to leave the game due to real world events.  Others drifted apart and left for other guilds in EQ2.  Throughout all of that, a few dedicated members continued to try and rebuild things, only to endure constant setbacks and hardships.

Three years ago, I left EverQuest 2 to help form a new guild in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.  I surrendered my position as a guild leader here because I believe that in order to be an effective guild leader, you have to be in game with your guild.  I still believe this.

But things have changed.  Times have changed.  Maybe we've all grown up a bit.  And one of the things I have realized is that we can no longer depend on the game we play to sustain our community.  In order for our community to grow and thrive, in order for us to halt the continued exodus of our friends and companions, we have to be bigger than any single game.

Shadowfire, the guild that we started in Vanguard, is now a multi-game community.  And I am pleased to announce that as of this moment, the Dioscuri is the EverQuest 2 arm of that community.  For all intents and purposes, we are one guild, one family - some of us just play different games.

Over the summer this website, as well as the Shadowfire website, will be getting a bit of a redesign.  Those of you visiting the forums here will be able to talk with players in the other games, and talk about new and upcoming games as well.

Those of you who are guild members may also notice some new faces popping up.  We have several people in our community who needed a good guild in EQ2 - and now they have one.

My goal, and the goal of your leaders here in this game, is nothing less than to rebuild the Dioscuri, to restore the former glory of this once-proud guild, and to ultimately allow all of you to enjoy the game as part of a vibrant, healthy community.  The first steps have been taken, and plans are already in motion for more.

I won't lie - sometimes, it may not be easy.  But I believe that the Dioscuri can still succeed, and still become one of the premier guilds of EQ2.  Because of that, I can say that when our members in other games want to learn about this game, they will be directed here.  When they want to join a guild in this game, they'll be directed here.  And from an outside perspective I will do everything I can to make sure that all of you have the best possible tools at your disposal to make the most of your guild.

A new dawn is beginning.  And I think it will be a brighter day ahead for all of us.

Talaen Starshadow
Guild Leader, Shadowfire (Vanguard: Saga of Heroes)
CEO, Shadowfire Enterprises (EVE Online)
Guild Leader Emeritus, The Dioscuri (EverQuest 2)

This morning, GuildPortal moved to new hardware - as a result of that move some of the forum icons are not displaying properly.  The problem may sort itself out over the next 24 hours.  If we're still getting big red X's on the icons tomorrow, then I will look into changing the icons in an effort to make the forums look halfway decent again :)

I've paraphrased the following from Talaen, one of our past guild leaders, from his post about his guild, Shadowfire, in Vanguard.  The ideals of the two guilds are much the same, and many of the same people are members in both:

Among the guilds of EverQuest 2 we are relatively unique in how we approach the game.  Many other guilds, especially guilds that have been around since the first couple of months like we have, are very focused on the end game.  Sure, some of them have people that are lower level, but the 70s and 80s are where the action is.  It was recently estimated that over 50% of EverQuest 2’s guilds at this point exist for no other purpose than raiding.

That number might be a little exaggerated but it's not far off the mark.  Take a look at the in-game guild recruiting tool and you'll see that for many guilds, raiding is what they want to do.  They're either doing it now or they're trying very hard to get ready to do it soon.  In the end, it's what they're about.  For them, this focus is a strength, and it allows them to get to the parts of the game they're looking for faster.  There's nothing wrong with that, really - after all, raiding can be a lot of fun.

That's great and all, but where does The Dioscuri fit in?  The answer is, we don't fit in very well at all, and that's something that we're actually very proud of.  Our goal is to be a guild that can help you with every aspect of the game.  We want to continue to be a newbie-friendly guild, but also one where higher-level players can attain their goals too.  We want to be a guild where it's ok if you can only play a couple of days a week, or if you have to go on business trips and can't be around sometimes.  We want to be a guild where you can be anything you want in the game - a crafter, a role player, an adventurer, or a jack-of-all-trades, and not feel like you're different or weird.  We want to be a guild where you can take your time and explore the world if you want, and not feel ostracized because you level slowly.

Likewise, even for a guild formed near launch, we're not very big.  There's a lot of guilds out there that advertise their size.  They spam chat channels and put up forum posts and say "come join our guild, it's big!"  But for us, quality is more important than quantity.  We want our guild to be a community, a big family, and we never want anyone to feel like they're just another faceless member.

But it's all well and good to talk about ideals and principles and visions that you want your guild to live up to, and quite another to actually try and make it work in the game.  A lot of guilds run into this - they have great concepts starting out, and then when they get in game there's a lot of pressure on them to start compromising on those ideals.  Every guild leader out there has to make hard choices about numbers, recruiting, and organizing their guilds, and a lot of time those ideals that we all started out with end up falling by the wayside as part of the process.

We have several people who love to quest and are more than happy to help when you get stuck.  Have a question about where to go next in a quest line? Ask Roewane.

We have several active crafters  and more on the way.  Need some new armor or weapons?  Need some jewelry or adept 3s made? Need some furniture for your home? We can help with that. 

What we're hoping, and the reason that I'm posting this, is that as more people (re)discover EverQuest 2, we'll be able to add to our family.  Like every guild, we wouldn't mind growing a little bigger - more people allows us to accomplish and help each other more than we can now.  So, if you or someone you know is looking for a guild that values community and playing at your own pace, and that isn't exclusively focused on raiding and high-level adventuring , we hope you'll consider The Dioscuri.  Either way, feel free to stop by our forums and say hi.  We'd love to hear from you!

Want to win 1 plat?

Then check out the new weekly picture contest in the members section!