7th edition

Interview of Steve - Questions Draft


Elloa: Greetings Steve
You are the one, the unique Steve, a name that everyone on Samael know. How do you explain than a normal player can rise to fame like you?

Steve: Well I did not expect that at all. All I wanted was to play a game in my spare time, and since a friend of mine showed me Tera back in February, I thought I might try it out. And when it happend to me, I just played along. I don't want to take this game to serious, it's just a game, and when they fooled around with me I thought I might as well fool around with them. They where so cool to play along as well the Elin Dance Squad. One of them gave me a town portal by accident, and I just used it to see where they all went and that'a how I got to their hometown in the north.


Elloa: Was this character your very first character ? And this event initiated by <Elin Dance Squad> your very first experience of Tera?

Steve: This is my first and only char, but since I have seen my friend play some Tera Beta, I knew about the different races and how the combat worked and that there is a political system, don't know how it works though.



Elloa: What was your thoughts about this at that time?

Steve: "WTF!!!" was my first words I believe, but I just thought it was awesome. I have never tried anything like it before, and it made me feel special. I originally looked at "Steve" as a trial char, to see if I liked the Archer or not.. But after that welcome how can I ever delete that char.

Elloa: Steve is now one of the most emblematic icon of Samael, what will you do about this ? Any plan to use your name to improve your gaming experience ?

Steve : Haha! I will try to keep it that way. I have some plans about a guild I would like to make, can't tell you about it though. It's gonna be epic, and well fitting to Steve. But yeah Steve is not gonna fade away and I hope soon to have the time to be more ingame and on the forums. There are of course some haters... But seriously, there always are, so they don't bother me. And I'm getting so much love, especially from EDS. Minx (from EDS) made me a set of armor and a bow and Nasdur (also from EDS) made the bow +9


Elloa: How are you enjoying the game today?

Steve: I really like it. I'm solo fighting some BAMs at the moment, so that's really fun. But can't wait to hit end game content and do some PVP. And then there is the graphics in this game... It just looks so good.


Elloa: How do you like the Samael server. Do you want to try out another server and see how things are going there?

Steve: Hmm. I never had that tought.. And if I am It's not gonna be any time soon. I really like it here on Samael, even though I don't know much about what's going on. I can always find someone to speak to.

Elloa: Why did you choose a Barakha Archer? Have you tried another class, and another race that you enjoy more?

Steve: Haha! I don't know if I should tell you the origin of the Almighty Steve. All I can say is that it really fit him, and there can be only one Steve. And no, I have not tried any other class out yet... Though I'm considering making a lancer or sorcerer.. They look cool as well.

Elloa : Now, tell me a secret…Why Steve? Why this name?

Steve: Damn.. am I really to reveal the secret to the origin of Steve..? Hmmm.. NO!! All I can say is. that I was listening to "Flight of the Conchords: The Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenocer"... And that song coment on Steve. And I just thought it would be Epic to be called that.. though I don't think I can explain how suprised I was when I found out no one had that name and when I found out I simply just had to try it out.
So put very simple... It is Steve because it is Steve, and it could be no other way.


Elloa : One day, will we see Steve Vanarch ?

Steve: Yeah sure. Don't have the time right now though, but as I said earlier... Steve already got some plans.
But first I'm gonna save the world. All the current Vanarch seem to focus on PVP and taxes... But what about the world we are all living in? What if this nightmare gets the upper hand...? What if Shara and Arun are to wake up..? What will there be left to rule? This threat can't be repelled by books...We need a united force..!! And I seek to find that.

Elections

The second election of Samael has been surprising! Vanarchship were assured for all participating guilds on both Sharan continents, with five guilds for north Shara and only four for the South, while a dozen guilds competed for the five Arun areas.


The only competition left for the Sharan guilds was who could obtain the best zones. Several new guilds became Vanarch this time without any worries, nor the need of any sort of campaign. Essenia ended up without any ruler.

Slot, leader of <Force> is slightly disapointed by the election: "4 guilds for 5 places, that's not a victory. Many people leave Tera...it's not good."

This could result in an economic blowback. Indeed, why make any promises or effort when there's no rivals anyway? The situation not as bad as it could've been, however some areas offer very expensive services, such as <Force> taxing 15% for the Val Parada teleporter, or <Darkness> opening most of their shops with 10% taxes. Most other areas vary around 5%. Only <Tangra> and <Whitestar> kept the taxes of all services to the minimum.


The real deal happened in Arun. Surprisingly, <Elin Dance Squad> preferred Osgarath over a high level area like in the previous election. Being the favourite, their presence in the competition ruined the chances of less known guilds trying their luck in the election for the first time, such as <Lunatic>, <Exodus> and <Fairy Tails>.
<Big Eyes, Small Mouth> allied with <Vikings of Midgard> and <Divine> struggled to gain back their place in the top. They finally beat <Fairy Tails>, and managed to keep their vanarchy of Isle of Dawn.
The alliance made between <White Lotus>, <Fearless> and <Exodus> didn’t bring the Arun competitor enough votes.
<Insane>, while being disliked by many players for having too high taxes and too many outlaws, kept a honorable second place after EDS. It’s probable that most of the <Insane> votes came from <Malectum>, one of the biggest guilds on Samael.

All previous Arun Vanarchs stayed in office, with few changes in the area distribution.


1. Tangra - Deathie (Lorcada)
2. Divine - Katsu (Val Kaeli)
3. White Lotus - Freaky (Sylvanoth)
4.Outer Heaven - Byff (Val Tirkai)
5. Harbingers - Sakr (Helkan District)



1.Darkness - Magister (veritas District)
2.Vikings of Midgard - Brutusbrutal (Westonia)
3.Fearless - Kisangyal (Val Elenium)
4.Force - Slot (Val Parada)
5. // (Essenia)


1. Elin Dance Squad - Mikichi(Ostgarath)
2. Insane - Code (Poporia)
3. Whitestar-Acharial (Val Aureum)
4. Sould Eater-Neal (Arcadia)
5. Big Eyes Small Mouth - Chobits (Isle of Dawn)


Freaky, leader of <White Lotus> comments: "Me and my guildmates wanted to win in the first election. Sadly, people backstabbed and scammed each other and we didn't have enough experience to know about the guilds. In the end, we became 8/17, wich is pretty neat for a new guild (compared to others).
Now - we had a trusted Alliance. One of them, <Exodus> which sadly is a very good/nice guild, got to 7th place only. And of course we had only 5 guilds including us fighting for the place. So we couldn't lose. We eventually got 3rd place wich I'm very proud of. We do support people with BAM's/Merchants 24/7 /Motivation Zone messages/ Low taxes like we promised."


What can explain such disinterest in becoming Vanarch ?
Many of the guilds that was elected during the first three weeks had known issues or stopped to play the game. Some areas were left unruled without any shops or brokers open, like Sylvanoth (Honour Bound), Val Auneum (Rigor Mortis) and Val Eleni (Outlaw). <Hentaï Pornstar> is not participating in the second election, needing the time to deal with their forced name change. Also, some guilds had problems gathering the 3 000 gold needed to participate.

Being Vanarch is a difficult job with minor rewards for the elected guild. Fame and a nice horse isn’t always worth the time consumed to grind policy points. The taxes when left low aren’t even enough to cover the initial expense of the Vanarchship inscription fee. To become Vanarch isn’t offering you access to exclusive content, as suggested many interviews and trailers. The quests are mostly World Bosses in open world accessible to everyone. All of this may explain the lack of interest for this thankless position. This issue should be adressed to Tera developers and different solutions should be proposed to make the Vanarch job more appealling.

Flash News

• Several bounties has been ordered and executed with the help of The Bounty Board, an original idea and initiative of Araella <Pwnography> (ex Hentaï Pornstar). The first bounty was placed on Kittycat, the leader of <Exiled>, and was collected by Devour from <Bad Manners> before both stopped to play Tera. Two other bounties has been posted, but are not concluded yet. The reward is quite generous: 200g for Darkx, and 500g in total for Jaiden (with a possible bonus of 150g).
  
  "It's harsh to be honest" commented Jaiden when we asked him what he thought about the bounty on his head "I've no clue why. Maybe because I gank low levels?"
  
  If bounty hunting sounds interesting, dont forget to regularly check the Bounty Board. The idea is definitively very good and deserves more attention.
  
  
• Congratulation to Thremero, horny human slayer from <Whitestar> who earned the first Black Panther of Samael. He obtained his new mount the 9th June, after have farmed enough points to be friendly with the five factions you can meet in game (exept Nexus),
  At this day, very few players can flatter themselves to have such a beautiful mount. We know that Kumagi from Elin Dance Squad have earned his panther one week later.
  
  
• 12-06-12 Devour from <Bad Manner> has been banned from the forum and the game. He was well known as a troll on the Samael forum, as an infamous outlaw in a guild unbeatable in guild wars. After several attempts to bring a more aggressive PVP life on Samael, Devour spit out his frustration in a thread that cost him his account. Using diverse pictures of the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik to prove his point, Devour crossed an uncrossable line. Several players on Samael has directly or indirectly suffered from Breivik's madness, and some jokes just go too far. Frogster did the only thing they could in such a situation.
  
  
• 13-06-12 <Whitestar> organised a small deathmatch event dedicated to low level players in Arcadia: «Fight in the Woods». To ensure the security of their event in a zone where outlaws and griefers are the most active, the organisers kept the exact location secret 'till late in the evening. In addition, <Elin Dance Squad> had been invited according to their request to hunt any outlaws that would want to ruin the event. Kat, who was still an officer in <Outlaw> at that time, spontanously joined the event to protect the area.
  The event went fine, with several fights between players around lvl 20. The participation of some notable persons was noticed: Steve, the Almighty, and Akakakushi, an infamous Arcadian outlaw.
  The event ended with <Elin Dance Squad> and a squad from <Whitestar> teaming up in a guild war against <Divium Furor>. An epic battle ensued on the Lumbertown bridge.
  
  
• The activity of the guild <Outlaw> is declining. Several of their members left and joined other guilds. This is due to an unfortunate technical issue. Sam, the leader, is unable to play Tera for now.
  « Yeh frogster for some reason took away my game time, I'm hoping to get it fixed but yeh, I don't know what's going to happen about that. »
  
  
• Like many other guilds on the server, <Innocent> had serious interest and activity issues. In contrast to other guilds, they hasn't given up, and are continuing no matter how challenging the problems encountered will be..
  What happened to <Innocent>, happened to many others. First, the ex-leader, Zombie, reached the maximum level fast, and grew bored of the game as they weren't many other level 60 to enjoy it with him. Then Diablo3 came out... The game created by Blizzard is stealing many players. It's a well known problem. <Innocent>'s core members started to play that game more and step by step lost their interest in Tera. Lopaya took over the guild, but was too busy with schoolwork to save the boat. Many players preferred to leave than to stay in an inactive guild.
  The remaining members refused to give up. Today, Bound is the new <Innocent> guildleader. Together with Elija, they're working hard to recruit new members, even low levels, to blow some dynamism back into their community. They have different projects going on.
  
  "These are hard time for players: soccer, diablo3, summer in general, the lack of content of the game, long queues for instances, aswell as no PVP options. We have yet to find out if our plans will succeed" concludes Bound.
  
  
• 18-06-12 The leveling guild <Epsilon Vigilence>, changed their leadership and announced it on Samael forum. "Due to personal reason and lack of time to dedicate himself to the guild and game Gumi last night passed the reins on to me, Caladiel. He deemed me the natural choice because I was already being the guild "mother" (his words), and had the right dedication to bring some change to the current state of affairs" declares Caladiel, the new leader. <Epsilon Vigilence> is a relatively unknow guild so far, hopefully not for long.
  
  
• 20-06-12 After many struggles and weeks of negotiations with Frogster customer support, <Hentaï Pornstar> is finally renamed in <Pwnography>.
  
  
• 23-06-12 Deathie, the leader of <Tangra> announce the end of his guild on Samael forums. While <Tangra> was disliked by many to have used the "enchanting bug exploit", or by their behaviour in PVP, <Tangra> was certainly one of the most active guild on Samael, and Deathie was one of the best Vanarchs, keeping his word and keeping the taxes low. Deathie lists a serie of problems that explains his guild's lack of interest in Tera. "When a guild leader like me logs one day into vent and see 100 people and noone playing Tera.. instead Dota, Diablo 3, WoT and w.e. then something is wrong "
  
  
• 24-06-12 Due to lack of interest, Grimy had been forced to cancel the tournament he planned to organize Sunday evening. It's sad that of the three tournaments organised so far (others were organised by <The Crimson Eye> and <Bad Manner>), all had been cancelled. Motivated guilds and players are losing their dynamism because of this lack of support. Our server can not afford to see active players give up.

Dear readers!

Samael News apologies for the last week edition that has never been edited. Indeed, we are a small crew and when real life strike on all of us in the same time, it's difficult to keep our promises.
We hope that this edition, more complete, and featuring new sections for the very first time will compensate this missing edition.
We are very happy and proud to present you the first interactive story, writen by Konachibi from <Elin Dance Squad>.
As a reminder, we are still looking to collaborate with writters and reporters. If you are interested to participate in the Samael News project, do not hesitae and contact either Elloa, Karneelya, Rhashazi in game, or sent a mail to samaelnews@gmail.com

Enjoy the reading!