Guild interview : Arcanum Vox

When and how did your guild was created? If it's not a guild created for TCoS, in which other games can we meet your guild?

Arcanum Vox was founded in Feb-March 2005 on the US PvP realm of Shattered Hand in World of Warcraft as horde by madpickle, Aglio and Fribainar. It was our intent (at the time) to make a social guild for real-life and in-game friends to hang out in-game.

We have since then left SH to join TCoS in September 2006, and have resumed playing WoW in January 07 on the US Gorefiend realm, horde side.

Which is the main activity of your guild (PvE, PvP, Roleplay, Trading / Crafting)?

By and large, PvP is the main motivator -- many of us (in particular me) enjoy the crafting and economic aspects of MMOs, and we find that all aspects (PvE, Trading/Crafting and PvP) all have their places. In WoW -- especially now that TBC is out -- there are new options available for those of us who couldn't endure the sandboxed nature of PvP in WoW of old.

What attracts you in TCoS?

The interactive, FPS-like nature of combat. The idea of having to aim spells will provide new tactical means of fighting in PvP and PvE.

The story and lore is extremely interesting, and hopefully it will provide a more dynamic experience as a guild (and guildmember) than WoW, where having a forum is really the only requirement to be successful.

The notion of a proper guild house complete with trophies, vendors and an arena is very alluring and will certainly provide another angle in attracting talent to the guild.

Ultimately, the PvP aspects are what draw (or drew?) us to the game -- whether the game will feature as much PvP as they said it would, only time will tell. Hopefully the end result is an enjoyable game for both PvP'ers and non-PvP'ers alike.

Will your guildmates be free to choose their own House or do you want that all guild members choose the same House?

If it is feasible (given game mechanics), members are free to choose their own house. We'd probably recommend an evil house, but ultimately it is up to the decision of the individual player to determine their house allegiance.

What do you think about TCoS combat system?

It's an interesting concept, though my only concern is how it stacks up when it's played under real-world conditions -- in particular latency, especially transatlantic, can be brutal.

What is your opinion about TCoS classes?

They look OK. Having said that, my only concern is ensuring that the class I pick holds up in PvP combat. Some classes may excel at that where others might not, and it's not something I can really comment on, as I'm not in the beta.

The concept of all classes having healing and combat abilities is certainly attractive, though it does make you wonder if that will really hold up once the game's out.

Is there a prefered class in your guild? If yes, could you explain why most of your guildmates prefer this class?

Hrm.. the trickster's probably garnering the most attention; then again, that might have something to do with the fact that a lot of enjoy ganking -- and we all know rogues are great at ganking :)

What do you think about TCoS crafting?

Seems under-utilized and poorly explained. They haven't said a terrible lot about it, and it makes me wonder just what they have planned. I've heard that people turn in recipes to NPC crafters along with materials, and that the player get a crafted item in return. This seems like a very inefficient way of handling things, as the player-economic interactions are minor. There is no cost associated in skilling up your character's profession, only the cost of gathering (or buying) the materials and the recipe.

Hopefully they will expand it to include real professions, as having a MMORPG without a crafting economy seems a bit silly.

What is your opinion about TCoS PvP?

Well, that's the big question (for us). The latest interview did little to shed light on the actual mechanics of PvP combat in the game, though they did confirm that the one word they've been chanting for months now -- "mines" -- is indeed the only place PvP combat will take place. This seems wholly unacceptable that world PvP has been reduced to "one" place, no matter how big. The fact that world pvp isn't available on a greater scale has left many of us severely disappointed with the direction that TCoS has decided to take the game.

Their argument is that there will be rare resources available for players to get, which combined with the non-existant player crafting leaves me up in arms as to its true purpose. All this will do is fan the flames and result in the anti-pvp crowd crying foul over the decision to place strategic "resources" in an "inaccessible spot" to them. I'm sure the end result will be that PvP will be entirely optional or confined to arenas.

With the inter-house battles postponed and delayed indefinitely, there isn't much reason to PvP at all, except for arena "trophies".

Overall I'm quite disappointed with this decision. TCoS' forum was brimming with PvP chat (despite the fact that not a whole lot was known about it) from enthused PvP players looking for a game with decent PvP mechanics in place. Sadly, though, this game might not be it.

If you had one suggestion to send to Spellborn NV, what would it be?

More emphasis on pleasing the PvP crowd. Their website stated that PvP was to be an integral part of the game; and while "PvP" is fairly nebulous and could mean many things, I'm still left wondering what exactly "integral PvP" was supposed to be.

Sadly, the TCoS team hasn't done a lot to promote their game nor the features in said game.

So to summarize: more PvP and more information.