Highlighted Guild
- Defenders of The Faith – Galactic Republic
This week we get introduced to the guild, Defenders of The Faith. We will talk to their guild master, Velox and learn how they got their start, what their focus is on in SWTOR and we will even get to learn about some of their “unique” events (Cliff Jump anyone?). Just as diverse as the community itself, this guild has its own way of doing things, their own set of goals and rules, but yet their main focus is having fun!
More about Defenders of The Faith from their leader Velox after the Jump…
- Guild Q&A
How did your guild get its start? Does the guild play any other games together?
Defenders of the Faith was founded just over one year ago, a few days before Bioware released their pre-launch guild program. It all started as I (Velox) decided to try to create a guild for SWTOR that maintained a casual environment while striving for consistent progression. At the beginning it was a one man show, and recruitment was hard. Somewhere along the line all of the footwork on the SWTOR forums paid off, and things exploded. I was lucky enough to attract a great group of both officers and members that keep the guild together, and thriving.
Before SWTOR came out some of our early members spent their nights playing League of Legends together. Since then we have continued to play the occasional LoL match and have dabbled in Beta tests for upcoming games together, but have stayed fairly focused on Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Can you tell us a bit about the guild’s backstory? Do members use this backstory or mentality when making their choices in the game?
Honestly, no. Developing a guild back-story was something that we wanted to do during the early life of the guild. However, we quickly noticed that we were attracting players who were much less interested in Role-Play as we had anticipated. As a result, we stopped developing our guild story and set RP on the “back shelf” while we focused on other aspects of the game. With that being said, we do have a few players who like to take on the role of their characters in-game and make their choices accordingly.
Do you find Legacy a good thing or bad in that it is sort of forcing you to play the opposing faction to get all the rewards?
I personally think that it is great incentive to give the other faction a try. What I don’t like is the social separation from your main guild. We do have an alternate guild on the Empire side but it receives little attention, as we are all much more focused on our main faction, and characters. I think a great feature for the game, moving forward, would be a way to link those two guild chat channels, so that players can experience the other faction without separating themselves socially from their main guilds and friends.
What faction is DOTF playing and what server does the guild call home?
We play as part of the Republic on US-Juyo (East Coast PvE)
Your guild strives to provide the “avenues” for members to play the game as they want. How and in what ways does DOTF make this happen?
To start off with, we have an open invite policy for anyone over the age of 18 that agreed to our rules. If you would like to join us, you may do so with no application required. We have two “Member” ranks in DOTF one is the rank of Initiate, and one is the rank of Defender. Members who have joined us in-game but have not registered at our website receive the rank of “Initiate”, while those who decided to register at our website and take the next step towards getting involved with the community receive the rank of “Defender”. Defenders enjoy several perks which Initiates do not such as access to the Guild Bank, and priority invites to raids. We believe that a system like this allows members to decide what level of involvement that they would like to take on within the guild themselves. If someone would like to join DOTF in a purely casual capacity, they are certainly welcome to do so!
Would you say your guild is casual in nature and attitude? Do you feel DOTF sacrifices in any area to maintain this casual approach?
We do consider ourselves casual in both nature, and attitude. Maintaining this casual approach to the guild atmosphere has had an impact on our rate of PVE Progression. However, racing for server firsts is not something that interested us in the first place, so this is a trade-off that we will gladly take. Our casual approach to raiding means that our groups only raid twice a week, for about 2-3 hours each night. With a schedule like this, it can sometimes be difficult to keep up with the cutting edge of PVE Progression. However, we have managed to go 5/5 in both EV and KP Hard-Modes and are now working on EC with our rather casual schedule, which we consider an accomplishment.
While the attitude and togetherness are casual, you do have two Operations groups that are serious about taking down bosses correct? How does the guild and these OP groups, maintain higher level gameplay along with casual approach and keeping it fun?
“A casual attitude has become essential for maintaining the positive attitude of the Operations as a whole. If everyone finds themselves getting frustrated or stressed on a particular encounter, a casual attitude allows for them to voice their individual concerns and learn from the Raid Leaders who maintain a positive yet forward moving attitude. While many of the members of the operation groups have had both a hardcore and casual experience, they found themselves preferring progress at a reasonable pace and enjoying the experience with people they have become friends with. In Defenders of the Faith many of the guild members have become good friends or have been friends for years through other MMOs; the guild has allowed new friendships to form. We all enjoy each other’s company and through the Operations a positive experience is possible.”
-Arelia (One of our Raiders)
Bonethrasher 8-man Hardmode
Speaking of fun, I saw where your guild had a raffle in-game for pet Tauntaun code? How did this go and what other events has the guild done or are planning for the future?
It went great! Kasey was kind enough to retrieve several extra Exclusive Tauntaun codes from PAX this year and decided to raffle them off to the guild. We had members select numbers and purchase lottery tickets, and then rolled randomly until we had two winners. It a fun event that gave out two exclusive prizes all while directly benefiting the guild. All proceeds went directly towards the purchase of more space in our guild bank. Marlaina and Arelia have also been great about running a “Guild Night” event on Saturdays where everyone gets together to do something silly, often with booze involved. These events range from getting all the Datacrons, to jumping off cliffs on a level 1 alts (or your main if you prefer) aiming for a target hundreds of meters below for a prize.
PAX code TaunTaun raffle
Datacron Run Event
Below is a pic about their Cliff Jump event. I had to ask how it got its start. Well, the story goes, a guild member, Marlania, was on Tython walking on some ledges as a lvl 2 character and fell…Don’t laugh, WE all have done it lol. The “unique” aspect is the guild decided to make an event out of the mishap. Several alts were created and soon Tython’s population grew as they climbed to the exact same cliff and jumped off. The skill came in by seeing who could land nearest to the corpse. Now so far, that takes the prize for a unique guild event 🙂
What are some of the guild’s major accomplishments in Operations, Flashpoints etc.? Does your guild want to see more guild based achievements in-game?
Of course we do! We think that more guild based achievements would be a great addition to SWTOR, and would keep guilds working together for a long time to come. As far as our own achievements are concerned we have managed to take down 10/10 Normal and Hard-Mode bosses in the first tier of raid content, and we are currently delving into Explosive Conflict, which we consider to be pretty good, with our semi-casual approach.
What is your main character class/advance class and what level are you at? With Legacy System in live game, have you and other members started playing more alts?
My main character Velox is a level 50 DPS Guardian that rotates between Vigilance/Focus. I also have a set of mediocre tank gear to pull out when necessary. I have recently rolled both a Smuggler Healer, as well as a DPS Shadow and have been thoroughly enjoying both. I think the addition of the Legacy System is a unique way to reward players for exploring the game from multiple angles. However, it is not my primary reason for playing alts, simply an added bonus.
How has the guild found the changes to be going in Patch 1.2? What are some things Bioware needs to work on more? What are some things DOTF would like to see in SWTOR in the future?
I have loved all the changes that came in 1.2 and believe that it is a solid step in the right direction if Bioware wants SWTOR to continue to be a competitive title within the MMO market. I asked for input from several members for this question and will include their responses.
“Personally speaking I think everything they added in 1.2 was a huge step in the right direction. Plenty to be done still, but the foundation for a great game has been fortified. You should not have to sit on the Fleet shouting in /1 every 2 minutes that you’re LFG, or that your looking to build a group and need a healer… for the past hour… A LFG channel, or, even a better tool tbh, where you can “Flag” the instances your LFG for and have people send you tells asking if you want to group. ANYTHING at this point, would be better then shouting on fleet. “
-Sidant
“The changes have been great so far and I look forward to upcoming patches. Our guild has increased in size and people are looking for end game content completion. I personally was looking forward to rated PVP for the 50+ area and I hope that system will be out soon, to ensure all players enjoy PVP. More Diverse warzones would add to the game as well.”
-Anubis
Is DOTF currently recruiting? Are there specific classes/advance classes the guild is looking for at this time? Do these needs go along with what your two Operation groups need?
We certainly are! However with our two raid groups essentially full, we are primarily looking to recruit active PVPers, casual players, and raiders who are comfortable filling in as more of a backup role until we are able to expand our Operation group(s) to a 16-Man format. All levels, classes, and specs are welcome!
DOTF Recruitment video
How can a potential recruit best get in touch with the guild to apply?
Anyone interested in joining Defenders of the Faith can check out our website for more information or contact any one of our officers, in-game for more information, or an invite.
I want to thank Velox for all his help getting information from the guild and allowing me access to their forums. Also thanks to all the members of Defenders of The Faith for helping with the answers and just making me feel welcome in the forums. All the best to the members of DOTF in-game and in all they do!
Are you in a guild or a leader in a guild and would like to share it with the community? If so please contact me and see if we can tell the community about your guild. Just submit your guild’s website and some basic information in an email to me at, jason@corellianrun.com. Look forward to highlighting more guilds here at Corellian Run Radio. Thanks and see you next week!