Articles - Interview with Newcomers Alliance
AO-Universe: When was your org founded?Plugz: Newcomers Alliance was found almost 4 years ago by Optfixy, a now retired AOer
Rootcommand: A long time ago!
Soultrap: NA is about 4 years old now, but ive only been part of it for the last 2 years
AO-Universe: Who is your current leader?
Jartoo: Plugsz
Seshas: The Pistolero known as Plugsz
Rootcommand: Plugsz is the bossman
Plugsz: I am the current president of NA. NA has only had 3 presidents: Optifixy, Ferrell and myself. I have been running NA for over 2 years now
AO-Universe: Describe any past growing pains.
Plugsz: NA like any org that is froob based has had several growing pains.
Plugsz: At one point, there were other orgs looking to merge us into their folds so they could merely gain our player base, but we've always seemed to want to stay on our own.
Plugsz: Some of our biggest growths have been acquisition of our city in Upper Stret East Bank and the towerfields we hold.
I mention these since it was froobs who accomplished this, not a paying member base. It's something that makes me very proud of org mates.
Jartoo: There have been several i have been able to witness. One more recent would be our city and the amount of people it attracted another would be the time consumptions it caused our original leader to back down where ferrell took over until he ended up taking time off to the eventual leadership of Plugsz.
Seshan: The closest thing to any "growing pains" I've been around to experience would be situations like new members accidentally entering open tower fields of opposing factions with auto-attacks on but then again, it's something newcomers can't help doing without warning
Rootcommand: We've had a few issues where sudden increases in numbers caused some grief.
Soultrap: Weve achieved alot as the org has grown but growing pains have mainly been encountered while developing/adapting stuff like our recruitment policy, building up proper rank/leadership structure.
AO-Universe: How many folks do you usually actively have at any given time?
Plugsz: At any given time we have from 6-30+, depending on the time of day
Rootcommand: Usually quite a few when I log on. Seemed there for a while no matter when I would log on there were 30+. Of course, I logged on a few days ago and there were only 14 on so depends on what's going on I guess.
AO-Universe: Do you participate in PvP/Tower Battles?
Plugsz: We do not actively (attack) participate in PvP/Tower battles, BUT, we will defend to our last dying breath. We have earned a reputation of NOT being another 'pushover' froob based org.
Jartoo: While we dont actively pursue tower battles we defend our own and help others in defending at all costs.
Seshan: Those with expansions in the org usually participate in battle stations for the victory points while others, usually without, go help defend fellow Omni-Tek tower fields along with our own. Of course this doesn't mean the org isn't prepared to pvp, hostiles to our towers usually find out quickly that our froob force are not to be over-estimated.
AO-Universe: Do you participate in Roleplaying?
Plugsz: We do roleplay a lil bit in org,but not a requirement. Calls of 'Burn the Witch' and "It's Plugsz! Run!" are known to ring out upon occassion
Jartoo: While we dont do hardcore RP we do have our little org quirks like our org witch.
Seshan: If there's any role-playing done with NA, it would be short and comedic spurts within the org itself. This leads to traditions and titles towards victims -cough- I mean err, certain witches, janitors, bald clan blondies and crazy gunslingers who people seem to like running away from. Actual role-playing usually doesn't go beyond GSP parties and nutty org antics, from my perspective anyway
AO-Universe: What orgs/clans are you friendly with? Which ones do you oppose?
Plugsz: As far as I am concerned, we are friendly with any org or player who will give respect just like the expect it given.
Plugsz: We do have ties and affliations to several orgs, including Hands Of Fate, Shadowguard, Vatos Locos, Aftermath, Omni Tek Cartel,Argentum Argentium, L.R.R.P., Orbitek, World Trading Corportion, Third Faction and even some clan orgs thru some of our members.
AO-Universe: If you could change the game, selfishly for your own org/clan, what would you change?
Plugsz: I have a few of these:
Plugsz: Give froobs access to player citys so they can at least enter them, Shadowland access as well so they can experience the different playfield.
Plugsz: And, make some of the "phats" not so expensive or hard to acquire for all players, froob and sloob alike.
Jartoo: I would have to say more benefits for froobs they make up a huge part of this game and out org and I believe they deserve more than they get as of right now.
Seshan: The same as most in NA would want. More or extensive content for froobs or grant them access to more content. Other than that, our very own GS in RBA and Newcomers Alliance uniforms
Rootcommand: Froobs access to city HQ and free punch 'n' pie.
Soultrap: Froob access to city buildings. Ive been able to see it with the 37 day free trial buddy key i got from a friend but its wasted space as it is. Also to give official ownership of Rome Blue Advanced supermarket to NA, giving us the power to rename it and add more services for our members.
AO-Universe: Describe a favorite org event or incident.
Plugsz: Any activity that involves my orgmates is welcomed and favored. One of more recently noted ones was doing a MASSIVE city raid with members from level 1-220. As you can imagine, the General we received was not a very easy one to kill
Jartoo: Thats pretty tough i have a lot of good memories in this org I would have to say just the experience of the org itself has been amazing and always gotta love these few quotes you will almost always see in our org channel "Burn the Witch" "/Gank Rootcommand" "It's Plugsz! Run"
Seshan: One of my favorite moments would have to be during the 2007 Halloween event, It was very exciting to a lot of us at the time, most reaching the prime of their character's life.
Seshan: The energy that the org gave off at the time was very pleasant, everyone was communicating with each other very enthusiastically, just having fun finding out where and how to get the pumpkin phatz, some of us exploring parts of Rubi-Ka that were unknown to us previously just to find more Uncle Pumpkin Heads. The atmosphere that was given off by the org during this time has made this one of my favorite moments within NA
Rootcommand: Wow, lots of events . . . . hmmmm . . . . I will say that I was quite proud when we finally obtained a city. There were many /disco's that night.
Soultrap: Humm, this is a hard question. We do alot of things and near all of them are enjoyable. Often the highlight of the day/week is an absolutely hillarious conversation in org chat, the type of conversation noone quite remembers how/why it started.
AO-Universe: What do you do as a guild most when you are on Rubi Ka or in the Shadowlands?
Plugsz: In RK, we can and do take on all encounters with mixed forces of froobs and sloobs. TL5-6 raid uniques such as Mercs, HI, etc are not unknown to us.
Plugsz: In SL, we enjoy helping those members with access progress thru their adventures. Personally, I pride myself in helping the up and coming folks gain access to each zone and if feasibly, their Garden key to help them around it.
Jartoo: We do pretty much everything and things we dont do often we have no problem doing at a org members request we try to get everyone involved by doing any lvl range areas many of our org members have to many alts to count and on the topic of alts did you know everyone in NA is a alt of Ferrell.
Seshan: I don't believe there's anything that NA hasn't done as an org that isn't locked out by the latest expansions. The org is familiar with raids like HI, Mercs, Hags, etc. From time to time, we get groups together to help out newer members with drops anywhere even subway, totw, foreman, CoH, IS, etc.
Seshan: Those higher up on expansions help out new sloobs to the org with things like garden access and keys. Of course, no amount of raiding or camping comes close to a popular NA past times known as drowning our piercing fanatic with tradeskilling requests or having the command /gank and the name "Rootcommand" work together in harmony.
Rootcommand: I think we've done just about everything on RK, although I've never attended an org Biodome raid. We don't really focus on SL content as much, although we will get a team together to help each other with quests. I still have nightmares of the weekend that we decided to all get our Ado brain quest out of the way . . . . .
Soultrap: Chat, help each other, do any type of team activities. But what we do most and do best is probably kill the Bartender in RBA
AO-Universe: Where is your favourite hangout spot? Do your guild often hang out there together?
Plugsz: by far and large, you can and will find at least 1 NA member in RBA, our official hang out spot. So much so that different GS's are created at times due to the load.
Seshan: I always say to myself that if there were ever a time where there wasn't a single NA member in RBA, take it as a bad sign and start praying, call in sick to work and stay home, don't even leave your room. To Newcomers Alliance members, RBA pretty much sums up to home.
Soultrap: Rome Blue Advanced supermarket. Our base of opperations, our home. There is often so many NAers in rba that we end up teaming in order to be in the same GS as our friends, or have to go outside in order to trade stuff accross to each other.
AO-Universe: If there could be a server merge, would you want it to happen?
Plugsz: Well, definately FC would need to implement more tower fields and city plots. RK1 and Rk2 orgs would have issues in their ownership of each of those. I would also welcome seeing the same warm and friendly atmosphere that NA lives by shown by ALL orgs.
Plugsz: Too many orgs and players these days are focused on their epeening to realize that bottom line, its a game, lets all enjoy it and growth of the whole should bring more satisfaction then the 'mine is bigger then yours" accomplishments.
Jartoo: It would def liven up the game a lot help us all meet new people in the game and get a better overall game play the issue of towers/cities would severly hold things back but if possible 100% love it.
Seshan: If more fields and city plots were added, sure, otherwise it'll just cause a ton of issues and probably push players towards specific guilds in order to recieve benefits. Although it would make things like tower battles more player packed and exciting which has died down a bit since the expansions. Overall however, I would have to say no.
Rootcommand: That might be interesting to see implemented. Guess I'm not for or against.
Soultrap: If there could then id say yes. But as far as i can see it cant happen. Cities and towerfields can be added to accomodate both groups of people. But ALOT of player/org names would double up. Unless half of AO dont mind changing thier name/or org name it wont happen.
AO-Universe: How do you think that AO Universe could better suit your and your guilds needs in the future?
Plugsz: AO Universe is a great resourse of information now as is. As a module developer for Budabot, I have loved how AOU has been able to stay with the times in their updated guides and information.
Plugsz: A lot of the information in my Bubabot developments have been gleaned from AOU guides and for that, I commend and thank you all in your hard work.
Plugsz: For AOU directly, increase the forums to be as inclusive as the AO Forums would do wonders, bridging a gap between free and paid players to share their informations, comments and such.
Plugsz: Also, an character bio page that is similar to AUNO's that can show you who's online for ALL level ranges would be nice to see as well(I know this is an almost impossible task, but one can only dream).
Jartoo: Any newcomer to the game or long time vet can learn something new if they try on AOU we generally send a lot of people here as a reference to find things to help them learn the game better without feeling nagging by asking us in org chat while we dont really mind some would prefer not to in there own words "waste our time" I know it helped me a lot when i first joined AO and im glad i found it.
Seshan: I feel AO-Universe has been doing a great job and have basic and some advanced needs covered already. A character bios setup doesn't sound like a bad idea though I've heard that can be a hassle to do.
Rootcommand: AO Universe already does a fine job. It is the first and usually the last place I go for helpful guides.
Soultrap: AOU has most everything i need. There are other resource sites i use but they mostly focus on just 1 or 2 things in depth.
AO-Universe: Leet Pie or Chocolate Pie?
Plugsz: Leet Pie pwns!
Jartoo: Chocolate Pie
Seshan: The loving feeling you get with a trox beaten leet pie is incomparable.
Rootcommand: What about Chocolate Leet Pie?
Soultrap: Im not sure what leet would taste like tbh. Id rather have a meat pie than chocolate though^^
AO-Universe: Miir or Maria's fashion?
Plugsz: Miir of course!
Jartoo: Miir
Seshan: Maria, Mariaaaaaaaaaa. She reminds me of a west side story.
Rootcommand: Miir ftw
Soultrap: Miir. Always support the local retailer
AO-Universe: Cheesy Pufs or Cheese Doodles???? !!!!!
Plugsz: Cheese Doodles
Jartoo: Cheesy Pufs
Seshan: Maria, Mariaaaaaaaaaa. She reminds me of a west side story.
Rootcommand: What the heck is a cheese doodle? Guess I'll take the cheesy pufs!
Soultrap: *shrug* not a fan of cheese flavoured things. I like cheese though, can i have that instead?
Plugsz: On behalf of myself and NA, I'd once again like to thank AOU for this honor of recognition
Jartoo: We are truly grateful for this recognition we are all very proud of this org and pleased to be seen high enough to deserve it I have been in this org 2 years and if not for it I would have left long ago and im very happy to see some of our hard work recognized here Thank you.
AO-Universe: Thank you Plugsz, Jartoo, Seshan, Rootcommand and Soultrap for taking the time to answer our questions! It has been a pleasure reading about what goes on in RBA and gives us all the opportunity to make sure we are safely at home should we see any of you flying towards us on broomsticks with chocolate-leet pies in your hands!! *grins*
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Last updated on 12.07.2011 by Khuri
Article written by Ukblizzard
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Article written by Ukblizzard
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