Nollaig (December) 2011 Edition

Beannachtaí an tSéasúir

Seasons Greetings From All Of Us At The Gaiscioch Family

As we near the close of another year, I ask that you look to your family, your friends, and those around you and celebrate life. This year has shown us the joys that life has to offer as well as the just how much we all mean to each other. This year we've lost one of our greatest friends and brothers in Roger Rall (Oldroar) but his legacy continues in all of our lives both in game and out. No accomplishment or victory can compare the relationships we've forged through the past 10 years of our families History. I ask that you all celebrate life this holiday season and embrace it.


Year in Review

The past year the Gaiscioch has been booming. We've grown from 1,700 to over 2,600 people without recruitment campaigns, or blanket texts. We have grown because of our actions and because of who we are as people. The media and even gaming companies have noticed us. Articles have been published by Massively.com, MMORPG.com, TenTonHammer.com, GameBreaker.tv, and even mentioned in an interview with Trion Worlds Executive Producer, Scott Hartsman.

If you've played Rift with us, many of you remember the utter chaos of opening day in Rift. We had hundreds of new people from all different walks of life, with little to no knowledge of how we operated. Within time, they have found the Gaiscioch Way and today we sit with one of the most honorable bunch of players we have ever had.

Conquest wise, we've seen the slaying of the Defiant Leaders, snuck into Sanctum and killed all 6 of the epic squirrels, we've slain the Dwarven leader on Ember Isle, we've killed Greenscale over 30 times, High Priestess Hydriss over 40 times, Alsbeth over 20 times, Uruluuk over 25 times, and have slain 4 of the 11 bosses in Hammerknell. All of which we've done not as a Raiding Guild but as a family that raids. Our family has celebrated victories over the toughest foes in the game from both sides of the battlefield.

Raiding hasn't been the only place we've excelled at in the past year. Our crafters have been unmatched and have produced nearly 18,000 items for the use within our family. Their "Crifiting" events have become a Rift Phenomenon and even players from other servers now use the Gaiscioch coined phrase "Crifting" to describe crafting rift events. The crifting events have become a social event that has brought several members to our family and have helped build relationships among our people.

This year has been quite an exciting year and one of growth. Friendships have been made, memories have been forged, and we all have benefited from knowing one another. This holiday season as we travel to be with our families, and friends I want to thank you all for making this year one of the most memorable years in the recent history of the Gaiscioch Family.


Giving Life Through Gaming

The Gaiscioch Family Raised $8,527.01 For The Extra Life Event Benifiting the Children's Miracle Network

Extra Life Charity EventOn October 15th nearly 100 members of the Gaiscioch family played RIFT to support the Children's Miracle Network in the Extra Life Event. Our family managed to earn $8,527.01 and ranked 13th in the World for top contributors ranking higher than Activision, Paragon Studios, and Wizards of the Coast. We thank you all who participated and look forward to doing it again next year! See our final earnings at: http://www.gaiscioch.com/extralife


New Frontiers For Many Of Our Family

A Fond Farewell To Those Venturing To Galaxies Far Away

This fall / winter has brought with it many titles that have effected who plays what and how often we see people. Skyrim has effectively placed it's players in a Skyrimcoma with them disappearing for days at a time to resurface and vanish once again. Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3, Assassins Creed Revelations, and the list goes on also have consumed quite a bit of our members playtime and the list is only growing long.

Several of our members will be venturing into Star Wars: The Old Republic on December 20th. Toros has formed the Draighean Shochai, and several others are looking to create Gaiscioch influenced guilds within the old republic. While Gaiscioch itself will NOT have a presence within SWTOR, we hope that all of those venturing into these new lands can find each other and continue the Gaiscioch traditions within their own guilds and families. We wish them all well on their adventures and hope to see them again soon. To share your plans or to find the plans of others head over to: http://www.gaiscioch.com/starwars


Rebirth of a Legend

Saturday RvR Chronicles in Dark Age of Camelot Continue!

In November we spent our Saturdays venturing into Dark Age of Camelot, returning to where we began 10 years ago. What did not expect was that since we departed from Dark Age of Camelot in 2004 the game was essentially rebuilt to ease the major hangups for many of the players of the old Camelot. Trials of Atlantis historically was the silver bullet that killed the population of Camelot. Spending hours waiting for an encounter to spawn for a chance of getting an artifact which you would then have to find a type of creature and grind it's level up for days on end. Since then they have made all artifacts obtainable using bounty points. They have changed the game so that if you do not enjoy PvE you can experience all the game has to offer by PvPing your way through the game. You can effectively level up, gear up, and experience the wonders of siege warfare without ever stepping foot in a PvE zone. The speed at which you can level up has greatly been improved and you can now buy a mount and then decorate your mount with gear you can craft or buy.

Our ventures in Dark Age of Camelot have caused many of the participants to get a taste of True RvR and many want to continue our Saturday events. The players that have given up on Rift's PvP have found a home with us in Camelot and have asked that we continue to keep the one night of RvR open. From the feedback I've gotten from various raid leaders in Rift it seems that they would rather have an open Saturday then have a family event during one of the only times that most people are available. So we've decided to keep our RvR Night going in Camelot and every Saturday we'll be progressing through the Battlegrounds until we reach level 49. At level 49 we will /xp off and start taking the fight to the battlefield.

If your looking for a taste of RvR feel free to Download the Trial to Dark Age of Camelot and join us in Hibernia on Ywain 1. The game play is a bit slower and takes a bit to learn but if you give it 2 weeks you'll figure it out and begin seeing the appeal of this classic title and birthplace of the Gaiscioch Family.


The Days To Come

The Future Of Our Rift Division

Nobody can deny that we're going to see a decline in active membership over the next few months. We will continue doing what we've always done and continue to grow in the days forward. We will make adjustments as the fluctuations come to a rest and we see the true effect of the winter shakeup. Depending on population we'll be examining what type of events people would be interested in doing.

After the conclusion of the Second Season of the Telara Saga we will be placing this event on hold while we wait for new content to be introduced to help write a story around these new adventures. The Telara Saga has be heralded by news sources around the globe and had found great success in it's 2 season running, and we want to ensure the same level of quality and community that we have presented in the past 2 seasons moving forward.

For the time being, we will be replacing it by our widely popular Telara's Last Stand. Our fan favorite zone invasion hunt will be taking over the Tuesday slot. On Thursday, we will introduce a new progressive shorter event which will take on 2 zones per week each for 1 hour and progressively move from one to the other walking players through the important areas of each zone. We'll be testing this out to see how well it works. If it's welcomed and the community enjoys it we may expand the event and continue it.


What's New In The Family

Credos, Badges, and Other Improvements

Over the past couple months we've begun reworking the "About Us" section of the site. We've begun to break it into 3 main groups of content. Content for the media, gaming companies, and people looking to blog about us; Content for people looking to join us; and lastly content for those who are one of us. With this improvement we've added a few new sections and cleaned up some of the confusion around the always baffling "Structure" page.

The Structure page has been reworked to better describe each rank and we have broken out the "Warlord Ranks" into their own section being they do not have any effect on the family structure and did not belong there. The warlord ranks page has been expanded to include larger descriptions of what each rank provides.

The other new addition to the about section is "The Gaiscioch Way" which describes life as a Gaiscioch. From what's expected to the challenges we face. The Gaiscioch Way page is a wonderful overview of who we are, and what we do.

For existing members they will see a new section under "Membership" called "My Credos". These credos must be accepted to be eligible for promotions within the family. These important little pages will inform you what your current rank means and what your getting yourself into before you reach it. It provides you an overview of what is expected of you at each stage and lets you know of the new abilities and responsibilities you will gain by advancement. Be sure to check these out and accept each one that is available to receive future promotions within the family. If you do not want to accept one, feel free not to. Not everyone desires to give up play time for maintaining the family. Remember always play how you want, when you want, as long as you want. It's not about what rank you are, it's about having fun, making memories, and making friends. Everyone from Buirdeiseach to Draio is part of our family and we will continue to look after you regardless of your rank.

Lastly, we've added new marks to your profiles for those of you playing RIFT. These little badges chronicle your adventures and show your accomplishments. Check them out now.


Moving Forward

For those of you continuing your adventures in RIFT I look forward to sharing many more adventures with you all. For those family venturing into unknown worlds, I pray your adventures be full of memories and friendships and hope our paths cross again in the future. I thank you all for the time you shared with us and hope you continue to keep in touch through your coming adventures. Thank you all for 10 wonderful years of family, friendship, and memories. I look forward to making it 20. Happy Holidays and safe travels to you and your families!

Slan Go Foill!
(Goodbye For Now)

Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley
Ceannard De Gaiscioch Treubh