Clans Chronicle

Issue Number 7 - Published May 29, 2009



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Tip.It War Rankings Quick Info

Free To Play:

Latest Wars:

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In the Clan Board

The clan world is shrinking

The quality of clan members

Clan support

Bounty Worlds

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The Jagex Cup Final - 'The Titans' - interview with Jayzy, a proud titan

By: Gamerr

Saturday 23rd of May was the grand final of the Jagex Cup between The Titans and Damage Incorporated. Just before the final we have invited a The Titans member to share his views on the path that TT had brought to the final. Jayzy is a proud titan, and he has fought in all the rounds with TT so far. (Versus Corruption, Shining Paladins, Triforce, Violent Resolution, Shadow Elves, Divine Forces and Damage Incorporated.)

Hello Jayzy and thanks for making some time to answer some questions about the upcoming final.

Hello, no problem.

Firstly, does The Titans see the Jagex Cup as a main priority? Or is it just another fight to fill up your weekly schedule?

I think this has been our main priority every since the Jagex Cup was announced and we were entered into this competition by our officials. We were pretty focused on each fight and took every fight very seriously and cautiously.

In the first round you beat CoR, and then came VR. You lost, but eventually Jagex Mods decided to give TT the win after cheating of VR. How did they notify The Titans of it?

After beating Corruption who are a very good and solid clan, we were then drawn against VR in which we knew would be a tough fight. However things didn't go as planned and we lost the fight. Jagex mods gave us the win due to the fact there was enough evidence to prove that they had breeched the rules. VR claimed they did not cheat but we submitted our evidence to Jagex. A few days after the evidence was submitted, Jagex notified us on the Cup management forum that they had handed the victory to us (The Titans) due to multiple rules that had been broken during the fight. A Jagex Mod themselves was at the fight.

How did the TT members react on that message?

The reaction of The Titans after the fight was pretty good because knowing that VR had cheated we knew that we were most likely to go through. As Jagex confirmed this we were all pretty happy and confident that we could reach the final but we would not let ourselves get over confident. It was vital that we took on board our mistakes from the VR fight and make sure not to lose future fights in the way we lost to VR (minus the rule breaking). However VR were quite shocked that they where disqualified, tried to ignore the fact they had cheated and felt that their 60 odd man ending would not of made a difference even if they had not cheated.

So The Titans moved up to the semi finals, did the clan as a whole prepare in a special way for the fight against Divine Forces? (any special hypes, rewards for members if you won or so on)

Upon getting drawn against DF in the semi-finals of the Jagex Cup we knew that this fight would be very hard, in fact, even harder than the previous rounds due to their recent performances. However as DF have not fought much in the Clan War Arena we knew we could use this as a slight advantage. We pretty much prepared for this fight the same as any other fight, very carefully making sure we could get as many signed up as possible as this would be one of the "biggest fights" in our lives. However we knew the final was just one fight away and we really wanted that Final place. We released a small motivational video on our forums, after which DF then decided to make about two motivational videos themselves. Throughout the week we had a few fights to gain moral and to make sure we where hyped up for this fight, however the hype took its own toll and each member was pumped for this fight and ready to face DF in the semi-finals.

The hype took its own toll?

This was a semi-final then we didnt need much motivation knowing there was a final that was one fight away so then the importance of this fight was big everyone needed to perform at their best.

What would you like as a prize if TT wins?

If The Titans go on to win the final and become overall victors of the first Jagex Cup tournament, then I feel there should be some sort of recognition in game such as a banner or cape which represents TT as the winner of the first official Jagex Cup tournament. I also think there should be some sort of record on the official website about the history of the Jagex cup (and future Jagex cups) if Jagex think this cup went successfully.

Thanks for this interview and best of luck in the final against Damage Incorporated Saturday!

Aftermath

And after a brilliant final, The Titans won the first ever Jagex Combat Cup against Damage Incorporated! The war took place in clan wars, centre bounds and both Damage Inc & The Titans pulled (over) 100 people. Due to the cap, it was 100 vs 100 and The Titans took home the cup after a great fight with 53 people left. We're asking Jayzy again about the final, and about the upcoming victory ceremony!

Last Mandi Jmods

Were you surprised by the rather easy victory over DI or was it expected?

No the victory was not easy or expected, but we had confidence and believed that we could win the fight against DI who are a formidable clan. The spirit was awesome, it was a great fight.

Titan Screenshot 64806244

Did the Jagex mods contact TT yet about the possible reward?

The Jagex Mods have not yet contacted us about a reward but have contacted us over a victory ceremony to celebrate the win.

A victory ceremony?

Yeah!

The victory ceremony took place later that day, and we've thrown in some pictures! Basically the Jagex Mods formed a line of honour to congratulate The Titans. Another reward will follow later...

Jmods1 Jmods2
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Jagex Cup Final results

By: Laikrob

Combat Cup Winners 2009
#1: The Titans
#2: Damage Incorporated
#3: Divine Forces

Skilling Cup Winners 2009
#1: Divination
#2: The Experts
#3: Malkavian Scourge

Combined Cup Winners 2009
#1: Wicked Fury
#2: God Hunters
#3: Damage Incorporated

As we have covered the Combat Cup thoroughly in this and past issues, let's have a quick glance at the other two categories.

Not surprisingly, Divination X won the Skilling Cup. With 100 members, an average overall level of 2,262 and 19 maxed out members they were not exactly outsiders. They have won several skilling wars in the past, and have proven themselves once again. Congratulations on a well deserved win! The Experts - who came in second - are not very well-known, but have a pretty decent average close to 2,100 with a few high ranked skillers in the mix. They should be satisfied with having beaten some of the other favourites (most didn't even make it to the top 9), and probably are. The biggest surprise on the skilling end, must be the 3rd place: Malkavian Scourge. With an average overall of 1,936 and only a handful of players over Divination's average, they have done an amazing job. Admittedly they have been lucky with the chosen skills, but a 3rd place is still quite an achievement knowing the competition.

Jagexcup4

The Combination Cup was played in Stealing Creation, and unfortunately there were some issues with possible bugs and unfair wins. However, results are results, and these are the final ones, whether you agree with them or not. Congratulations to Wicked Fury, who beat God Hunters in the final. They were the favourites by far, with both a higher combat and overall average, and they were never close to losing. A member of God Hunters said that they never expected to reach the final, so they were not that disappointed to lose. After all, they beat clans with higher combat and skills than themselves, so they were pleased with the result. Damage Incorporated was the only clan to be on two lists, with their decent 3rd place in the Combined Cup and a 2nd place in the Combat Cup. They have showed that they are definitely still a force to reckon with, and I am sure they will be back for a rematch...

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Phoenix Elites closing

Pecopyfq9

On May 9th 2009, another clan closed its doors. This time Phoenix Elites' leaders chose to step down and let go of their members, because the clan had been slumping for a while. Many of their now former members have joined Crimson Raiders, some have joined other clans while others are still looking.

Here is their ending memberslist and this is the final unedited statement from Pureclip, one of their leaders:

Pureclip wrote:
Well guys, we have made it very far in this game called Runescape. But now it is time to let it all go. We have made many strong pushes throughout this clan world...but honestly as of now, our hearts aren't into as much as it used to be. Yes we have recovered from many falls, but our ranks brought us up from these falls, and sadly now, along with the members, the ranks just don't have it in them to keep this going.

The leaders in myself have token this into our own hands to make this decision. It could be the wrong decision but who cares. I want you all to realize how much time you have spent in this game. Think about when you first started playing Runescape, and how it has really affected your LIFE. Sadly I don't know if you guys really know your playing just a game. Theirs plenty of stuff you could be doing with your life other this game, it's time to grow up. Don't listen to the clan world's response to this, because whether you know it or not, it all comes to an end.

Of course PE wasn't the best clan, but were very successful. We definately won more fights then we lost. We learned from our defeats and always improved. We came a long ways, from having a level 80 average to 2 years later, ending with about a 118-119 average. We were pushing to be number 1 , like any other clan, but honestly, I think we've made our statement to ourselves and the clan world.

I know some of you may be taking this very hard as i am ( Believe it or not It's hard for me to even make this topic ) But think about it, all these mixed feelings over a game.

As i want all of you to migrate out of the Runescape world, i know some of you want to keep going, some of you really want us to keep this thing alive. Well to make you feel a little better. We are still discussing what are we going to do with our members. We're to keep a group together for those who want to still play. I value all of the friendships I've had with you all and I know you have some you value too, so for that we're gonna stay together and try to mass join a clan, or let the council keep the members and make there own clan if they want. And I love our council to death but Myself and Soapy44 will not leave the clan in your hands, not b/c we dont trust you its far more. Me and Soapy44 started this clan together, We're going to end it together.

I feel as if I gave you my best, and I hope you all understand this reason, it's time to move on from this GAME!!

Phoenix Elites Leader Signing Out.
~~~~~~~~Pureclip~~~~~~~~~~

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Time for Change?

By: y_guy_4_life

Recently a new CEO, Mark Gerhard, took over as head of Jagex. Instantly, many things changed. All of a sudden, JMods became involved in the community. They had more presence in game, posted more on forums, opened themselves up for questions, and promised great things to come. But how will this affect clans?

So far, Jagex has made several promises. They promise to look upon clans with a new light, to finally accept them as the integral part of the RuneScape community they are. It has now been several months since the promises were made, so what has actually happened?

Jagex promised clan chat changes. They said they were working on removing the 100 person limit in clan chats. They were also planning to make clan chats more flexible, with better ranks and more usability. This hasn't happened yet[, so we can only assume it is in the works.

One thing that Jagex has done is create the Jagex cup. At first, it was a great hit, with many clans ecstatic to see that Jagex was finally getting involved and giving clans the official events they craved for so long. Now, with the final matches approaching us, the attitude has changed. The Jagex cup wasn't a fiasco, but certainly it could have been better. There were all sorts of arguments about rules, member lists, and fight times. Jagex mods had to step in to resolve disputes several times, and many people would argue that they made the wrong choices.

However, Jagex had never had any clan experience previously. They didn't know how the real clan world worked. They thrust themselves into the clan world, and so obviously haven't always been able to make correct decisions because they weren't familiar with the ins and outs of the clan world.

An optimist would say it will get better from here on out and that at least Jagex is trying. While it may be true that Jagex will learn from their mistakes and do some great things for the clan world, the pessimists have some strong points as well.

For almost a year - from December 2007 to November 2008, the clan world suffered greatly. When Jagex removed the wilderness, clans had everything they knew torn from them. They couldn't have epic wars any more, returning was over, and dying for your items - for your clan - was over as well. They were stuck in clan wars, which was a disappointing alternative at best. Many top clans shudder at the thought of the "clan wars era" because it completely changed the way the clan world worked, and not for the better.

Finally, in November, Jagex released the PVP worlds. Clans were ecstatic; finally they could war and pk again like the old days. For a few weeks it all went well, then Jagex removed the majority of the pvp worlds. Over the past several months, clans have constantly been restrained. Small or medium sized clans can't venture into the wilderness without being found and destroyed due to the small number of worlds. This tied into a theme that many pessimists saw with Jagex - they would release a great update, and then "nerf" (ruin) it shortly afterwards.

At the beginning of May this year, Jagex re-released Bounty Hunter, which had been removed in its old form in February. Many old school players jumped for joy, myself included. It felt almost identical to the old wilderness, albeit only on a select amount of worlds. With the number of f2p PVP and BH worlds around 10, smaller clans could PK again. Alas, the pessimists were right once again. Less than 2 weeks after this great update, Jagex removed almost all of the BH worlds. 50 clans who war and pk in pvp are now stuck to "3" worlds. Many have anticipated giant cluster fights as a result and there have been some already.

Bounty Hunter

I was on the RuneScape official forums a while back and looked at the rants. The main problem with Jagex and clans is ignorance: Jagex (and many other non-clan players) just don't know much about the clan world. That's why they keep messing up; they aren't doing their homework and making the effort to give clans what they really want.

So, the clan world waits for the clan chat changes. Jagex has apparently listened to the feedback from many people. I could be optimistic and say that it will be a great update and restore faith in Jagex. However, I firmly believe that until Jagex takes a real and sincere interest in the clan world they will never be able to release satisfactory updates that remain satisfactory.

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Clan chats and easy access

By: Laikrob

The implementation of clan chats has (unintentionally) brought a threat to the recruitment to clans with it. There is now a clan chat for almost every activity in RS that you previously needed a group of people - usually a clan - to do effectively, or at all.

Want to kill a God Wars boss? Join a clan chat or mass world 6 Bandos.
Pking? Team clan chats.
Mini games? Multiple clan chats, for all kind of mini games.
CWA? Just go to world 141 and wait for the offers.
Even some random events have their own clan chats.

Do I use these chats myself? Some of them, yes. I enjoy the non combat Stealing Creation games for fast games, nice chats with friends and the ability to relax while playing. The Penguin chats help me find the weekly penguins far faster than if I searched on my own. Other than that I prefer to stay in my clan's chat if I'm in one - which I would guess was the original intent of the chats - or in a friend's chat, to utilise LootShare or CoinShare on a monster hunting trip.

Clanchat

(Picture unrelated)

Most of these chats form small communities, which make people less inclined to search for the close environment and community feeling that a clan usually offers. Some of them have their own topics on RSOF, and while it's nice that those who aren't vile pkers get a chance to do group activities, I can't help but wonder if this has had any impact on the noticeably slower recruitment to clans lately? With so many activities readily available for "free", requirements and commitments can be the turnoff for some. Maybe it's time for clans to bring out some new ideas when recruiting, or maybe review some of their requirements?

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Memberlists on Tip.It

By: Laikrob

This article is a little different from the ones you usually find in the Clan Chronicle, because it will be more of a look behind the scenes of the clan side of Tip.It. We are fortunate enough to publicly reveal one of the biggest projects that the Website Crew is currently working on, with input from the Clan Staff and a few good clan officials. The project is going to be released in a few months, and as you might have guessed from the title of this article, the main feature will be clan memberlists.

Most of you are probably already familiar with the concept from other established websites like RuneHead, so the challenge for the upcoming addition will be to rival these. Because of the continued feedback from clan officials, quite a few extra features have been added compared to what other memberlist sites offer, so the coders are busy these days.

Administration side:

  • Clan administration login is tied with your Tipit forum login
  • Other users can be added to manage the clan, however the creator retains founder status and is the only one who can add or delete users, unless they transfer that status to another user. There can only be one administrative user at a time.
  • Function to pull users, ranks, and rank colors from an existing Runehead list
  • Function set to base a list off of an existing list (choose to use either ranks, names, or both)
  • Add a new list - List name, list description, names and ranks
  • Each clan can have multiple memberlists on a single clan account
  • Edit basic clan info - Clan name, website, timezone, homeworld, MSN, Skype, IRC, leaders, info, forums, requirements, initials, short url, etc.
  • Style clan page - Clans have the option of uploading a banner, choosing colors for their clan list, or picking one of a few preset themes.
  • Options for stat tracking - Global stat tracking (track the clan as a whole), sheet specific stat tracking, or no stat tracking. Stat tracking will take a snapshot of XP and number of members every day when the list updates and then make pretty graphs with it.
  • Option to delete all stat tracking data
  • Options for applications - If this is turned on, users would be able to apply to a clan directly from the website, and and clans have the option of having the application emailed to them or posted to their clan forum (Currently only works with Phpbb3, Phpbb2, and InvisionPower boards, maybe more in the future)
  • Requirements for submitting an application - Clan-set requirements are checked against the applicant's RSN if they apply to a clan
Example of Administration
Side (large image)
Example of Clan
Information (large image)

User Frontend

Search

  • Clan search - Find a clan by clan name, sheet name, website, timezone, homeworld, short url, and/or initials
  • Requirements search - Find a clan accepting applications that has requirements matched by the user
  • User search - Search for a user, returns their stats and all of the clans they belong to.
  • Clan compare - Run two clans side by side and see both a comparison of their ranks as well as if any users are on both memberlists

Clan View

  • Banner/basic information
  • Clan stats as well as ranks among other clans in the database
  • Graph of stat tracking (Actual graph shown is just a placeholder)
  • View the memberlists. Have the ability to sort by name/whatever as well as show a skill or two and be able to sort by those
Example of Clan
View (large image)

Applications

  • Clans can set join requirements from the administration section and set processing options
  • Users can input their Runescape username and have it ran against the join requirements
  • If they apply, stats (as well as a message or whatever) is either sent in an email to whoever is specified in the backend, or it can be posted to any compatible Phpbb or IP board. (i.e. User x applies, his applications can be posted to the recruitment board on your forum's application board where it is handled normally)
Example of Clan
Application (large image)

Moderation Backend

  • A "Report an Error" button is on every memberlist
  • Report options would include things like offensive, inaccurate, etc, as well as a "Remove me from this list" option
  • The report would be passed to the moderation system, where clan moderators/whoever will have the ability to edit a clan, delete/ban a clan, delete a user, or contact the offending clan

Other suggested implementations include TWR Integration, Clan News, Clan Gallery, Clan signatures. An important detail is that when this website feature is released, RuneScript will be linked with it. That means that the commands !ml and !clan will link to the Tip.It memberlists in the future instead of RuneHead.

Which leads me to the next part: How will it compare with RuneHead? Well, the tie with RuneScript will be an obvious plus, and so will the easy import of existing memberlists on RuneHead to this one. It also has some features that many users have been missing on RuneHead, such as an expanded search, applications and an improved report error button. There will not be a cap to number of members on a ML, neither will there be restrictions such as "No level 99 Ranged team lists". In addition to that, the staff behind it are active RS players, who take an interest in keeping the site up and running, and that will work on continually improving the memberlist feature based on the feedback from the clan website users.

This is what one of the Crew members behind the project had to say about it:

n_odie wrote:
A Clan list feature has been desired for years by the staff of Tip.It, but in all honesty is/was a huge project to undertake. Now it has been started and in the discussion/works for almost a month.

We could make a basic list but what would make this any different from RuneHead? The first thing as Errdoth (another Crew member) brought out is making it easier and more friendly to use. We also have a fantastic clan support staff who in all honesty will be making this feature shine.

We are planning on releasing the Clan Memberlists as a fully functional independent feature to begin with. After this we will (non committal) start looking at an automated system of TWR. As that project will be huge as well, it will take some time. It will be freakin awesome once completed!

So, who will this benefit? It will be useful for the clans that use both their FA and warring lists in a war, and quickly need to combine two lists into one. The country clans, PC teams, fansite highscores and other clans are no longer restricted by 500 spots on a list. The members can now track and compare progress (if their clan leader want to), which is especially useful for skilling clans, or other clans that enjoy some friendly competition. If the application feature is turned on, that can be really useful for recruitment. At some point, when the TWR is included, it will be useful for planning wars, checking memberlists and finding out suitable time zones. I am sure that as new suggestions for improvement come in and are implemented, the memberlist feature will keep evolving, and it can very possibly end up becoming the preferred tool for all clans.

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The Titans

By: Gamerr
Titans-4459298

Cape Color: Yellow
Homeworld: 121
IRC: #TheTitans on SwiftIrc

For a better look on the history of The Titans I asked the help of Ward (RSN: I M Darkness), a loyal Titans member who has experienced a lot of highs and lows with his clan. We’re grateful that he wants to spend some time to explain to us everything about The Titans!

When was The Titans Founded?

It all started back in 2004 when HarveyTian founded The Titans. This attempt didn't last long and soon The Titans was closed. In Autumn 2004 Nhia212 reopened The Titans and this time it worked out better, since MK, a clan who crashed our every pk, soon went into a slump & Disciples of Zaros (DoZ), whom we were good friends with, closed, making many of their members join us.

Allaboardthetitanic

How did The Titans rise up the warring ranks?

With strong help from JBK and Casius Kai (Casius Kai = CK = Clark Kent = Superman!), Nhia directed TT towards the top 10. We beat Rune Raiders, a top 10 clan back then, which put them in a slump and made them lose their alliance with Corruption. Corruption, fed by the death of Dragonwood's allies and the slump of DragonWood itself, saw us as unworthy and thus became our first rival.

Was that rivelary the reason for your slogan: “Loved by few, hated by many, feared by all"?

Indeed, this hatred of Titans was soon to be followed by many other clans, leading TT to use the slogan "Loved by few, hated by many, feared by all". Despite this hatred, which was often displayed through clans flaming us rather than fighting us, TT grew stronger and gained numbers (up to about 250 members). After that, the clan had some problems: The leader got hacked and eventually left, new people took over and in November 2005 TT was closed again.

The Titans is allied with Collision, how did that start?

In January 2006 Nhia re-opened The Titans, and together with Collision, The Moriquendi and Deathrow we agreed to war ‘The’, number 1 warring clan back then. Because we trained together with Coll for that fight, we created good relationships with that clan and after the fight with ‘The’ (which we won) we decided to become allies.

It caught my eye The Titans isn’t very into really long PKRI’s. Is there any particular reasons for that?

We’re not really a clan that likes to hold long PKRI’s. We know when we’re going to loose, and we also know that some clans can stretch the fights for 5 hours with 30 opts and that’s not our style.

Ok, Thanks for the interview Ward!

If you want to know more about the history of The Titans, you can always read their expanded history on their forums.

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Sneak Peek

We have a new guest author or two. Maybe even... you? This is your chance to make your opinion known outside Clan Discussion. There will most likely be another skilling clan article, in addition to the usual killer content.

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Chronicle Credits

Laikrob - Editor and Clan Moderator
Gamerr - Clan Moderator
tripsis - Chronicle Editor
y_guy_4_life - Guest Author


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RuneScape 2007
Find this page on the Internet Archive with a date as close to Aug 10, 2007 as possible.

Will you use Menaphos to train your skills?



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