In early May 2008, I became convinced Age of Conan was an MMO I would be playing for a long time.
My game name here is Musk. I am a veteran of numerous MMO's, including multi-year stays in Asheron's Call and World of Warcraft. In the latter game I led two guilds... the first attempt showed me how NOT to lead a guild, and the second (on Frostwolf PvP server) was a modest success, and a lot of fun.
After short looks at Eve, LotRO, D&D and Guild Wars, I formed a English-nationality guild in the seagoing Pirates of the Burning Sea, set in 1720, named The King's Raiders. For several months I enjoyed the ship fights and guild, but grew tired of the slow pace and obsolete avatar combat, handed over the leadership (that version of TKR is still going strong, by the way) and took a look at Age of Conan.
I was hooked in the open Beta, got the pre-order, and started play out of the gate on May 20, 2008. I was joined by Rillos, who came with me from PotBS to Bluesteel Server at the same time.
Running a guild takes a fair amount of time and effort, and I had no intention of creating another. But, somehow, I wound up forming one with Rillos when I didn't find a group I liked. At level 20, having rejected invites from guilds with names like Scum, I faced the problem of a name. Since I was out of ideas, it seemed to me that transferring my loyalty from the English King George to our own King Conan would work. A guild was born.
Many problems surfaced at once. The AoC beta had produced groups that already knew the game and each other. It seemed clear that a big guild would be better to have than a small one. Thus began my policy of open enrollment and mass recruiting (the unkind term is 'spam invites') which, though crude, has proved effective in the long-term.
One of the first thus recruited was Kazakar, a player of high energy who was quickly made officer. With Kaz's assistance and tireless effort, TKR reserved a city plot by the start of June and less than a week later had built it's first keep! These were heady times for the Raiders, as the struggle to build and grow became of prime importance. In the middle of June, the Tradepost and Temple went up.
Players like Babd and Deji were promoted to officer rank, as well as feisty girl-gamer 'Poision'. In July we progressed from a full T1 city into T2, as our ranks swelled. But raiding didn't come quickly, as the job of Raid Master (beyond my skill, frankly) had to be filled correctly. By August the job was taken by Phalanx and Persefone, who became highly skilled at taking down Kylikki- and the dragon Vistrix, the key to T2 Raiding.
The September advent of the MMO 'Warhammer' put a hurt on the guild (and AoC in general), just when we were starting T2 raids and advancing in sieging. Here again, we started slow in battlekeep fights, but have never lost the keep in our history as a guild. As summer turned into fall we became more confident, and took the offensive against guilds like Rising Shadow and Bad Karma, advancing to the undisputed masters of the server in siege fighting by brutally leveling keep after keep. And with new recruits and the Raid leadership of Beem (and a host of helpful others) we are currently advancing further into T2 raiding than ever before.
Recent guilds coming aboard like Rated M (whose help- thanks to 'Reckless'- was key in regaining our full raiding complement,) Anvil of Crom and several others has assisted us in the process of becoming the leading guild on Bluesteel. With server mergers looming by Christmas, the Raiders are furiously constructing a magnificent T3 city which will allow our professions to max out... an arduously-gained, yet extremely important goal.
The future will test us in various ways, as we face the unknown power of guilds from other servers. But as I look back at the friends I've made, and the good times past, present and future, I can say I'm proud to work and play with the best group of people I've ever known in this, or any MMO!
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Subject: History of The King's Raiders: An AoC Bluesteel guild 
Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:02 pm
who cast doubt on our achievments. But one by one they all fell and our dedication and leadership took us to the top.