Next we took a flight over to Castanica, so we could properly represent Ostgarath.

We gathered up… luckily it only took about 10 minutes.

Can you spot the Popori? We also had a visitor…

Overall lots of fun… and Oneill – you were a great sport!

P.S. Worst circle-makers ever.

Malum Factum is proud to announce Pimsley as an official candidate for Vanarch of the Ostgarath province!

For the sake of originality, I will keep this as short and sweet as possible. Every post created thus far has been a wall of text detailing all the promises the candidate may or may not be able to uphold if voted into Vanarch of their province of choice. The one thing I will say is that I intend to keep all shops open with a very fair tax rate to ensure every player gets maximum benefit out of being in the Ostgarath zone.

I also have no intentions of disabling all the safe zones, ensuring that lower level characters going through our zone will still have the option of hiding out in case a high level character feels the need to gank. I want the leveling experience in our zone to remain fun, active, and entertaining.

Last, but certainly not least, Malum Factum has every intention of farming our policy quests to ensure we are capable of providing every bonus available in game to our province. As guild master, I can guarantee we will be working around the clock to keep our zone as entertaining as possible. I encourage anyone questing/hanging out in Ostgarath to whisper me, Pimsley, if they feel something needs to change, etc.

A quick bit about MF and Pimsley:

Malum Factum was founded 10 years ago by Pimsley and a few other like-minded gamers that enjoyed one thing– PC gaming. Over the years, we have built a home for other adult gamers with similar interests, to come and enjoy every aspect of PC gaming together, as a team. Our leadership and MMO experience runs very deep and we are here to have fun. We want to earn the people’s respect and feel that if given that chance, all will enjoy what we plan to do with our province!

Thank you for your support! I cannot wait to have the opportunity to serve you guys!

Sincerely,

Pimsley,
The easily found GM of Malum Factum

In the interest of full disclosure, it should be known that Command Channel is an official sponsor of Malum Factum, but we aim to provide an accurate and unbiased review of their services.

What is Command Channel?

CommandChannel.com is a premier Mumble server hosting company, in fact that’s ALL they do. Sound strange? It’s not. The Internet is filled with server hosting options, all of which will be more than happy to overcharge you for Ventrilo, TeamSpeak or Mumble services which are actually an after-thought to their primary service (game servers). It is a breath of fresh air that Command Channel specializes in Mumble server hosting, because it has enabled them to leverage all of their resources towards creating a powerful, functional and feature-rich back-end for administration and offer a level of quality we have not seen in other similar hosts.

Why Command Channel?

Experience in the field of trying and failing to find reliable, high quality voice communication for Malum Factum has shown that all hosting services are not created equal. There are four major reasons Command Channel commanded our attention and ultimately made choosing them to house our Mumble server a no-brainer:

• First and most importantly to your end users is up-time. Since moving over to Command Channel we have not experienced a single issue which might qualify as downtime.
• Second is their technology. Command Channel’s technology has already been discussed a bit above, but to expand on that all server admins know that a good control panel can be the difference between a nightmare or a dream when setting up and maintaining their servers. The control panel is an elegant mix of simplicity and detail where even the non-technologically inclined could easily manage their Mumble server.
• Third is their pricing and payment system. The old adage, “You get what you pay for” is still true, painfully so sometimes if you dare to choose server hosting based solely on price per slot. Currently Command Channel has a flat rate of $0.18 per slot, per month. Do the math, for the cost of 1 MMORPG subscription you could have an 83 slot server (more than enough for most guilds out there) with the best Mumble server hosting company we’ve seen to date. Additionally there are no 1 year contracts to get that $0.18 per slot price, instead Command Channel has a simple month to month payment system which strongly encourages even the non-believers to try them out.
• Fourth is outstanding customer support. There’s nothing worse than paying for a product and receiving unresponsive or simply unavailable customer support. Not a problem with Command Channel as they offer direct phone support, a robust ticket system and a support forum with company representatives posting frequently. While we have not had need of any technical support, we did correspond with Brad at Command Channel quite a bit leading up to our migration and he’s shown they are dedicated to personalized support regardless of the time or day.

A glimpse of the Command Channel control panel/dashboard. 17 days and counting. Aside from the basic information regarding the server, administrators also have access to a detailed event log showing each action taken on the server.

The Idle Scanner is one of the greatest pieces of technology available which is rarely offered by other hosts. The administrator is able to specify a time after which, if a user has not transmitted any voice chat, they will be moved to a channel of your choosing.

Command Channel has multiple options for Mumble viewers/plugin on your guilds website. Aside from the more web-savvy jQuery and PHP versions they also offer extremely easy to use plugins for Joomla!, WordPress and EQdkp Plus. You can see the Malum Factum Mumble viewer on the right sidebar (using the PHP option).

In short Malum Factum has been nothing short of amazed at the quality of service, responsiveness of customer service and we cannot endorse Command Channel enough to those of you looking to replace and upgrade your current voice chat service.

Looking forward to sharing your Spine and Madness kill with the rest of Malum Factum very soon. Best of luck guys!

MF Member Abraxis summed up the weekend… and I must say, many of us agree.  Overall we’re loving the live action combat style that TERA brings to the table (OMG you actually have to dodge attacks) and we had fun and excitement during Guild vs. Guild battles with Aeria Gloris, Bunny Girls, Chaotica, Epic, Fallen, Illuminus, Luciform, Ragnarok, Vicious and a number of other guilds.  (Hey! We had a lot of GvGs going on, I can’t remember them all!)  Here are some screenshots from our fun times this weekend:

The Malum Factum leadership is super proud of the team this chapter has become in just a few short days of playing.  In fact, we had a recent applicant who mentioned how impressed he was with our organization in game.  “I was actually in a guild war versus Malum Factum and was very impressed with the teamwork you used.”

While we do hope Enmasse fixes some features here and there (raid teams, health bars, guild management, chat bugs) we’re loving things so far in the world of TERA.  Bosses feel like bosses, the environment is gorgeous, and we’re all having fun representing Malum Factum.  See you on Saturday!

P.S. Hoax loves Popori.

Last I heard they’ve been on a win streak in rated battlegrounds.  Grats again to Zzyzxx!

It is about time for the next installment of the Malum Factum Community Newsletter – A place for you to be in the know of the inner happenings here at Malum Factum.  We have got a lot of information to cover since our last newsletter ranging from a breath of new life into the MF WoW chapter, the continued success of MF SWTOR, and the upcoming games that we are keeping our eyes on.

Games to Keep an Eye on

2012 has been in the news for the past few years and has become synonymous with the end of the world thanks to our old Mayan friends getting lazy and discontinuing their calendar and leaving us hanging, waiting for what will happen on December 21^st, 2012.  Well here in the gaming world, we are calling 2012 one of the biggest years for blockbuster game releases.

The year started out with quite an explosion with the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic.  (Yes I know, technically it launched in 2011 but within a mere week of 2012 so we’ll count it as a 2012 title.)  SWTOR launch was quite a busy time and has helped Malum Factum grow our community tenfold.  We will dive into more details later on in this newsletter about how the MF SWTOR chapter is trucking along.

The next big game set for release in the spring of 2012 is TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arborea.  Advertising itself as the first true-action MMO, Malum Factum has a strong player base looking forward to release.  Closed BETA testing has been ongoing with TERA and a lot of MFers are eagerly counting down the days till we can draw our swords and slash some throats.

Another game stirring up quite a buzz with a 2012 release date is Guild Wars 2.  Guild Wars was a game changer for many MMO players.Guild Wars 2 anticipation is driving eager gamers crazy.  Boasting a huge world PvP zone that will allow Server vs Server vs Server type PvP and huge castle sieges and battles, the PvP to come in Guild Wars 2 will leave those weak at heart behind.  Many MFers have ruined their keyboards, drooling, as they watch videos and pray to be invited into the GW2 Beta.

Shhhh!  I have got a secret to tell you!  Are ready to join some of the world’s most elite secret societies?  Are you Illuminati?  Maybe a Templar? Or a member of the Dragon?  Whichever society you wish to belong too, Funcom’s new MMO, The Secret World, will give players the choice to join a society of their choosing in a modern MMO sure to please.  The Secret World has a release date of June 19^th.

Before MFers can join the secret societies of The Secret World, they’ll first have to trudge through the evil, the dead, the demonic, and the dungeons of Diablo 3!  Diablo 3 is set to release mid-May and has generated quite a buzz about it.  One MFer who has been a tremendous help in keeping our website in top-knotch shape has an amazing Diablo 3 fansite up and running with fantastic features!  Be sure to check out Shiftey’s Diablo Underground.  The Diablo franchise is one of the greats and we’re all expecting great things from Diablo 3.

Looking ahead a bit, closer towards the end of the year (and hopefully not the end of the world) ArcheAge Online has piqued the interest of several members of our community.  This game is expected to launch in 2012 yet no definite date has been declared.  ArcheAge is building their game foundation based on choice and free will.  They want players to be able to make their own decisions that have lasting implications on the game world for everyone.  We will keep our ears to the ground as future developments on this game continue to grow.some

There are many other big title names that have released or are scheduled to release sometime in 2012.  We can’t possible play them all; although I’m sure we will try!  Other notables for 2012 include Mass Effect 3, Tribes: Ascend, Blade and Soul, Planetside 2, and Mech Warrior Online.  Some games will prevail and be lifelong favorites, while others flop and become what I like to call “One Month Wonders.”  Either way, the Malum Factum community will continue to grow and experience everything the gaming world has to offer, for as long as own world continues anyway.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

The SWTOR chapter of MF has become quite the ride.  Starting out as one of the most anticipated games of probably the decade, our SWTOR member base was through the roof!  We could barely contain all our little MFers in one house.  The game boasted some incredible storylines and invigorating gameplay.  After a few months of hardcode pew pew and light saber sounds, things began to level out.

Some of Malum Factum’s veteran members decided it wasn’t the game for them.  Fortunately enough, the vast community that we’ve become, we were able to swap out to a few new leaders and keep the ball rolling!  MF SWTOR has been kicking ass and taking names, seriously.

In the raiding front, MF SWTOR has got several raid teams running and clearing content on the daily.  Well, not necessarily “on the daily”, but at least “on the cooldown” as the raid zones reset each week.  SWTOR even opened up end game testing for some upcoming major patches and MF has been shooting interest in that direction.

PvP sides of things are just as great.  Malum Factum’s PvPers are out in force keeping our enemies at bay and reminding them why they wish they were an MFer.  Several PvP teams are running regularly, competing in warzones, and gearing out waiting patiently for the launch of rated warzones.

We are all looking forward to Patch 1.2 and new content to conquer. Our PvP Generals are making plans for ranked War Zones while our Generals prepare their troops for what’s to come. Haize, Naberius, Connrad and Skorn are recruiting to strengthen our ranks and keep MF a name everyone on Veela is familiar with. For those thinking of coming back to see the new Operations and “features”, there’s always room. If your character was removed from guild, just get on Mumble and ask an officer for an invite.

MF Representing at Bioware Guild Summit, From left to right: Dregs, Holly, Pimsley

In other SWTOR news, our very own Pimsley, Dregs, and Holly were able to attend the Bioware Guild Summit in Austin Texas.  This was a fantastic event hosted by the SWTOR developers to give its player base a look at what’s to come.  SWTOR has some pretty bold patches coming up and will be implementing some much needed features to its community.  This was also a great outlet for players to give feedback to the developers, letting them know what it is that we want.

During the event, Bioware handed out some crazy great swag to give out to our community.  We decided to hold a contest, asking members to detail some of their best memories so far as a SWTOR MFer.  Malum Factum members can view entries on our Official Forums.  We had some commendable responses to the contest and we have got to thank Bioware for giving us enough gear to pick out several winners.  So congratulations to the following MFers:

• KimboFett – Poster
• Connrad – Coin
• jjactag – Poster
• Dahmer – Poster
• Kyrena – Poster
• Skorn – T-Shirt
• Voccio – Poster
• Lukeaws – Poster
• Abraxis – T-Shirt
• Sassykins – Poster
• Ghost – Coin

World of Warcraft

Our longest running MF chapter is the World of Warcrafters.  The WoW chapter has undergone some big changes in the past few weeks, new officers, new members, same old agenda, WIN!  The Cataclysm expansion is nearing its end as the next WoW installment, Mists of Pandaria, is set for release sometime this year!  Adding new playable races, new classes, and a completely revamped talent tree system.  Some are a little reluctant to accept that Kung-Fu Panda wannabe class/race being introduced, while other can’t wait to play a cute huggleble killer Kung-Fu master!  Whichever side of the fence you’re on, just know that our WoW chapter will be as strong as ever and ready to dive head first into mists!

The Scroll of Resurrection has been updated and veteran MFers are taking advantage!  For a limited time, when you get “resurrected” you get a free character transfer to your friends server or you can create a new character and automatically be level 80!  Some veteran MFers have used this service and resurrected a new raid team that plans on diving into the cataclysm raid content as soon as possible.  This helps boost the MF WoW chapter numbers, and gives us a greater representation on the Korgath server.  We are looking forward to catching up to the current WoW raid teams and keep the loot rolling!

One of the biggest things happening in the MF WoW chapter is the newly implemented council of leadership.  We found a few things lacking, and some standards not being met.  Instead of throwing a hissy fit (well I’m sure someone threw a hissy fit), the MF leadership came together and overcame an issue that would tear lesser guilds apart.  We fixed our issues, set up a new ring of leaders and hit the ground running.  At this time I would like to introduce our new MF WoW leaders:

• Chavez
• Abbigale
• Lyfeblood
• Kishi
• Camaxtly

With their insight and leadership, we hope that our WoW chapter continues to grow, maintain our high MF standards, and make a great name for them!

Outro

This about sums it up for the 2^nd installment of the Malum Factum Community Newsletter.  I hope everyone found this to be an enjoyable read while educating everyone on what’s happening behind closed doors.  Malum Factum continues to be a well-respected community of gamers and is looking to expand our influence across other great titles as they release.

Godrik
Public Relations Officer (PRO)
Malum Factum

P.S. Is that a photo of the Austin skyline or Nar Shaddaa?

We will continue to have a presence in SWTOR and World of Warcraft. Stay tuned for more updates about our TERA Chapter!

Artefact – Holy Paladin
Doodmcdrood – Resto Druid
Isvann – Survival Hunter
Lyfeblood – Disc Priest
Meteoröid – Fury Warrior
Stronzo – Enhance Shammy
Ryluba – Paladin Tank
Tranzformèr – Bear Tank
Treemoe – Resto Druid
Zzyzxx – Combat Rogue

Thank you for the hard work and there will be more Heroic Modes to come to reach the ultimate showdown that will lead us to… MADNESS!

* Posted on behalf of Tranzformèr