Alright, everyone,

So, The Guardians have been rocking along in The Old Republic for about 8 months now and we've got several things going on. We have alt groups leveling, Legacy Imps being leveled for the new HK companion this Fall and PvP taking place.

But what I want to know is what MORE do you want to do and who will participate. In the past the officers and members of the "event committee" have staged some great events and such but some were not as well received as others. So, let's hear some ideas from you? What do you want to do?

http://rohan.lotro.com/pre-order.html

If you're interested in checking out LotRO or are currently playing without a subscription and haven't bought the other expansions, pre-purchasing the new Rohan expansion may be the best way for you to get all that extra content you would normally purhcase through the in-game store for a relatively low cost.

If you purchase at a minimum the Heroic Edition ($49.99) you receive not only the new Rohan expansion, but you also will receive the Evendim, Moria and Lothlorien quest packs to level through. To me, this is an excellent purchase for anyone interested in the game, but doesn't like sinking the credits into the store to purchase additional content.

Riders of Rohan opens up a completely new area of Middle Earth for players to explore as the Ring makes its fateful journey and also releases mounted combat for the first time. Several other extras have been added as well. Looks to be a very promising expansion.

Hello Members of TG,

As stated above this is a letter to you and it's F2R (Free 2 Read). What you get with this is the ability to read this letter and to leave comments at the end. If you wish any answers to questions from me, you'll have to send some credits to my cash store for an answer to any of them.

All joking aside, though, I think most of you have probably already figured out what this letter intends to address: the recent news of The Old Republic moving to a Free to Play model this upcoming Fall. I know many of you are disappointed about this change, and I am slightly, but for me, this changes nothing. I will still maintain an active subscription to the game, and I will continue to play it as though it were not Free to Play. I am still enjoying The Old Republic, and I am looking forward to many of the promised updates and content the devs have talked about recently. So, if you had any worries about where this put TG in regards to the Old Republic then let me state this clearly: we ARE maintaining a presence and I will still be active in game as your Division Leader.

In regards to it moving to an F2P model, it remains to be seen how the game will do. Many games have met moderate success with the F2P model. One such game, that I still play from time to time, is Lord of the Rings: Online which is releasing the Rohan expansion this September and continues to hold community events in game, despite having a F2P model. Games can be successful without a paid subscription. Guild Wars, LotRO and others have proven this. And yes, "success" is a largely arbitrary term and is primarily viewed from the eye of the beholder. Nevertheless, many games have continued a lengthy tenure in the game world with frequent updates and expansions under an F2P model. I personally feel that if The Old Republic had been released before World of Warcraft, the tables might have been turned in this current day. One will never know, though. World of Warcraft is a mega-power when it comes to MMO industry with millions of subscribers around the world. Let's face it, most people like to only pay for one subscription and with a tenure like World of Warcraft has had, it may be difficult for people to let go of all that time spent on their beloved toons to pay for another sub or it may just hurt the pocketbook too much to add an additional monthly expense. I know it was tough for me after only playing for two years in the realm of Azeroth. They'll likely remain at the top for many years to come.

Another point I would like to address are those making comments about the game "failure" to our members here in TG. I ask you to stop doing so. Many of our members are still enjoying the game and comments made about the future move to F2P in a degrading way to our members is extremely uncooth for a member of this community to make to anyone else, especially to another member. I expect any of our members to act accordingly in a similar type situation no matter what game it is. We're all Guardians here and we will support each other, not demean or insult them when and if their game doesn't meet the majority of members expectations.

Despite what many people might say, The Old Republic is still a great game, but they have had their disappointments. They missed the bar on several areas, mostly in the realm of PvP, but hopefully those will be amended in future updates. The devs still have lots of content coming... and I plan to be there playing it when it releases. I hope other members, both new and old to the game, will come back and try the game again in the future. I'll be there waiting.

Sincerely,
Drenarb

Super Golden Friends	Small | Large

Let's go boss hunting Thursday afternoon/evening.

Post to join with best times.

According to today's Q&A, requirements for the HK-51 companion include a galaxy spanning quest, and at leats one level 50 character, and one mid-level character of the opposite faction in the same Legacy, among other things.

Time to crank out my Sith alt I guess.

It appears that in the wee hours of the morning, an alt of a member logged in and took the maximum amount of items allowed for a member of their rank. Many high level crafting materials, mods and gear were taken by this individual. It does not appear that the theft was one of malicious intent from the actual owner of the character, but as the result of an account hack.

I have already contacted a CSM about the theft and requested the items be returned. Also, I have moved all inactive characters to a new rank titled "Vacant Account" which has no bank priveleges in the hopes to alleviate this type of activity in the future.

In addition to the new security measures taken by the new guild rank, I have also altered the guild bank settings to not allow a stackable item with mutliple stacks to count as only one withdrawal from the guild bank if you remove them all. This is completely my fault to allow this option as I misread the tooltip when setting up the guild bank permissions, as it allowed the character to remove more items than he should have been allowed.

I'm sorry that this has happened, and I am doing everything in my power to get our items back and to increase the guild bank security while still allowing our members the freedom to use the bank without heavy restrictions. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.