New Supply Officer: Strings!

For many months now, Strings has been helping us out with maintaining the harvest spreadsheet and updating the information in game to tell everyone what we need to harvest.  This is an indepth process that does take some time to update, and it was a huge weight off of our shoulders.

After some recent discussion we determined that Strings has been stepping up to the plate to handle a lot of guild administration, even if just to tell an officer that something is going on. This has been instrumental in keeping things running smoothly.

To recognize all of her hard work, we've promoted Lutestrings (and Hamstrings) to the rank of Technical Director.  She'll still be in charge of the same things she always was: maintaining the harvest depots and letting us know if things are going wrong there.  As time goes by she may wish to expand her portfolio, but for now that's it.  This does not mean she deserves any less respect than other officers; just that she does not choose to handle some of the more stressful bits of guild management.

Please continue to direct questions regarding the running of the guild itself (questions about the hall, or about points, etc) to Rosaphina in Jazabelle's absence. If I'm not on Rosaphina, I'm usually in the /hat channel on any of my alts. Strings and Meeba are also able to contact me through FB.

While the guild may be in a lull right now, this happens and is common.  As the mood and certain in game holidays strike, attendance will sweep back up and things will seem to progress faster. For now, enjoy the easy pace and laid-back atmosphere that makes Homes and Tomes such a great place to play.

Guild Updates

Hello friendlies. It's been a while.

GUILD POINTS UPDATE

Many moons ago, there were requests by some members to be able to see their points histories or have access to the spreadsheet we used to track points.  For many reasons, we were unable to allow that sort of access.  At the time we were using a spreadsheet on Google Drive, and while we thought we'd finally achieved a method that would allow privacy for members while showing the necessary information to officers - it just wouldn't work.

According to our guild window, we have 229 accounts in the guild.  Imagine how big the spreadsheet has grown to be with a tab for every main character.  It was starting to take ten minutes just to load the thing.

Jazabelle and Rosaphina talked, Rosaphina pulled some strings, and Rosaphina's husband Xakane created a database on his personal website for points tracking.  It took some time to transfer all of the information over - and historical data has not been pulled in.  That said, the page is now ready for people to take a look at it.

Please note: This is nothing important to most people, nor was it designed with aesthetics in mind.  This is simply the way to answer some people's concerns that they need to see the points they've been assigned in the past, as well as allowing the entire points process to be much more streamlined.

You can get there by going to the top of the Homes and Tomes webpage, choosing Links, and clicking on Character Points. Or, you can just click here. If you have any questions, please see Rosaphina (not Xakane!) and she'll do her best to help you.

MEMBER OF THE MONTH

Now through February 2, we're accepting nominations for the Homes and Tomes Member of the Month. Please send a mail to Rosaphina with any nominations you have and a brief explanation of why you feel the member deserves that honor.  The winning member will receive a spotlight on the front page and a personalized book.

GUILD HALL

The guild hall is still being updated, slowly.  This particular hall is a beast in both its size and its propensity to eat tiles.  With Jazabelle on break, and Rosaphina involved in other things that are taking her time, it'll be a while before it's finished.  If anyone has any requests or suggestions, please talk to Rosaphina and we'll do our best to see what we can do.

Remember our Crafting Depot?

Yes, that says 'remember', as in past tense.

The Homes & Tomes crafting depot was hit yet again by someone who cleared it out.  Now, the good news is that we do not lose everything.

Last time we were hit, we lost approximately 3.5 million resources.  After that, we set up a tiered depot system where deposits go into a large depot, and then Strings in one of her many incarnations works to keep a smaller depot updated with 5k of each resource.

As a result, Homes and Tomes is only down about 900,000 resources.  While that is a huge amount, we still did not lose everything and as such we are grateful.

However; we will not be reopening our depots immediately for server crafting use.  Both crafting depots are currently set to Trustee access, while we discuss and assess when we should reopen the hall.  Guild members, please talk to an officer if you have an immediate crafting need.

Please understand that we are NOT looking for people to replenish our depots.  As stated above, with our tiered system we did not lose everything.  At the same time, we do not wish to reopen immediately just to watch another 900k resources go pouring into someone else's pockets.

We do not know who did this. Based on the fact that imbuing materials and things such as milk were left behind, we can assume that someone did this through crafting.  Likely Raffik's amalgamations, as those require a huge quantity of resources.

If anybody hears anything, please do talk to Rosaphina or Jazabelle immediately so that we can talk to a GM and get this little matter handled.

In the meantime, Jazabelle is on the road to recovery - thank you to everyone who sent your good wishes to her.  Enjoy the Heroes' Festival and hold onto your britches for the new expansion!

Speaking of Terrors of Thalumbra - if you have not done any heritage quests please prepare to do them after the expansion drops.  Guild level max increases to 150, and after level 101 writs will not increase guild level! We'll need all the status possible pouring into the guild to level it.  You can do as much of the HQs as you want before it drops, just hold off on actually completing them.

Important News Regarding Jazabelle and Guild Points

It is my unpleasant duty to inform you all that Jazabelle's player is currently undergoing a bout of Shingles. She will, as a result, be out of game for a week or two while she deals with the unpleasant illness as well as the side effects of being on prednisone.  Please keep her in mind, but never fear! Our awesome leader will be back as soon as she can.

In officer notes, Iosabella's player (that's me) is pulling Iosabella out of Homes and Tomes shortly for roleplay reasons. Her main character will be replaced with Rosaphina, who has long been Jazabelle's harried secretary.  I apologize for any confusion this may create, but I am still an officer and still in charge of points, just under a different name to you all.

Speaking of points, Xakane has created a database system for us officers to use in handling point management.  The first good news is that this will take hours off each week of the time it takes me to update points. The second good news is that each and every one of you will be able to view your (and others') current points in real time, simply by going to a webpage and searching for the name of a main character.

There is, of course, always bad news. In this case, it means that points will not be updated for a week or two while I work on transferring all of the old data into the new system.

Guild Hall Portal Wall

PARDON OUR CONTINUED DUST!

Guild hall construction is chugging along as planned. Thanks to everyone for all of the black marble tile that has been donated thus far.  We seem to have a good amount of black marble tile on hand for finishing the hall. However, we are still counting double points on any black marble tile donations made before Midnight PST, Sunday, October 4, 2015. 

The Crafting area is almost complete. The walls have been constructed and all that's left now is some tweaking of the crafting circle and general room decoration/finalization.  The general depots are now located in 'drawers' along the northeast wall.  Harvesting depot locations have not been finalized, nor has the location of some of the NPCs such as the harvesters, banker, and broker.

The Portal Wall is Coming Down for Relocation!

In order to streamline the hall design and try to cut down on counted items, we will be renovating the portal wall.  This is the wall intended for portals to our members WIP (Work-In-Progress) projects only, in order to facilitate easy transportation.

As part of this process, we will be taking down every portal that is currently up on the wall. Note, this does not include the 'office' portals in use by Site Managers and up that are along the second floor of the main room.  Those will be redone at a future date.

Once the portals are down, we will only be replacing those requested.  Talk to an officer to get your portal replaced if you wish.  Again, this is only for WIP projects.  If there is enough demand, we will consider updating the guild's portal hub for use for finished projects.  If you do not ask for your portal to be replaced, it will not be replaced.

Please, let us know what you think of the hall redesign.  We love feedback and suggestions!

Homes and Tomes News and Guild Hall Update

PARDON OUR DUST

Homes and Tomes is redecorating the Guild Hall. Well, more specifically, Jazabelle and Iosabella got to talking and one idea lead to another, and now we've got a massive backlog of ideas that we'll be working on implementing.  In general, you can expect the hall to feel a lot less industrial, and have much more usable wall space for offices, portals, and the like.

What does this mean for Homes and Tomes members?

DOUBLE DONATION POINTS for anyone donating (square) Black Marble Tiles thru 10/4/15.

That's right.  We're woefully short-stocked on black marble tiles, and the Freeport City Fest isn't until November.  From now until Sunday, October 4th at Midnight PST, anyone who donates Black Marble Tiles can get 2 points per 5 black marble tiles donated. (That's 0.4 points per tile, for you non-math people.)  This counts for both the DBC (Daybreak Cash) tiles, and the ones normally obtained through the city festival.  If you need to donate DBC tiles, please note that these are heirloom and you'll need someone with trustee status on the hall to help you drop them for use. Check with any officer for that. This is for the tiles only, if we end up needing other black marble blocks we'll let people know.

Be sure you make your post detailing your donation on the Homes and Tomes forums under the Guild Donations section, or you will not get points credit. We cannot reiterate this enough. Having an officer help you does not mean they'll give you credit for it, as they'll assume you are making a post.

Speaking of points, we apologize for the backlog of crediting points and getting promotions handed out.  That has been taken care of and everyone should be up to date.  Iosabella also responded to all emails that she still had in her inbox regarding missing promotion books.

If you're missing a book, that means your email poofed. Bug Iosabella again.

In other points news, we have changed the amount of points that people will get for donating DBC items.  This is going forward only.  We will not be retroactively rewarding extra points for previously donated DBC items.  Now, each DBC item donated is going to be rewarded at 1 point per every 50 DBC worth of item. (0.2 points per 10 DBC, for the non-math people again.)  This brings it in line with the credit received for donating treasured items.

Be sure to indicate in your donations post if an item you donate is treasured/mastercrafted, or a DBC item.  We will not look items up for you, and you will get basic credit if you don't let us know.

We've now opened a THIRD item warehouse, Warehouse C in Athema's Skyblade Skiff, thanks to all of the donations we've been receiving.  Don't forget, these Warehouses are for anyone to use in decorating their houses.  If you're a foreman or higher, you should have trustee access to the warehouses. If you do not, please talk to any officer and they will give you access.  All you construction workers, you're allowed to get items from the warehouse too - just ask a foreman+ for help.

Thanks to everyone for holding the guild together during this past month. All of your efforts are truly appreciated, and we are constantly amazed by the generosity and friendliness of each and every Homes and Tomes member.  You guys rock!

Seeking Volunteers For Monthly Crafting Faire

Homes and Tomes is planning to start hosting a monthly crafting faire on Antonia Bayle on our very own Carnival Cruise ship! We are currently seeking a variety of volunteers to help get this up and going and make this a monthly event!

Volunteers Needed:

• Crafters to man the various booths within our Fairgrounds. 
• Roleplay inclined actors to go out and about within designated zones and offer "quests" that can be done to obtain items from our Faire.

We also have several booths at our Faire that are available to be rented! Fee (in status for the guild hall, platinum for future events, or harvests) to be determined on a case by case basis. These extra booths can be for pure roleplay, quests, crafting, or anything else that one might come up with that fit with the theme of a "Faire" or "Carnival." 

For more information or to sign up to volunteer please visit the Crafting Faire planning thread found here. If you wish to volunteer and are not a current member of the guild please register to the site and post to the thread with the name of the character you'd like to help with and what you'd like to sign up for! All questions, thoughts, and ideas are also welcome!