Welcome to Cove

*Heavy disclaimer: You're allowed to be critical and point out items for improvement but no negativity will be tolerated in this thread. This thread is intended for new ideas and improvement, not to bash some people's hard efforts!*


What do you absolutely adore about BoC? What makes you coming back for more and what can you simply not get enough of?

What do you believe to be a great new idea for BoC? (Please refrain from posting ideas that are not worked out in some detail or are clearly not feasible in manpower or for other reasons. For instance we'd all love a cavalry regiment, archery regiment, footsoldiers, pikemen, artillery, etc etc but there simply aren't enough members for that. Think about ideas that'll actually work! Also think out-of-the-box and not simply spout another Squad. Think larger then just the Army as well)

What area or item in BoC could use some improvement, and why and how? Once again, be respectful of other people's efforts!

More women?

I think events that are none-PvM are good, and in slightly too short supply. Eve and Qom's beer fest winter banquet was very, very, very good. I also think the Church should be boosted with some events, I've for a long time contemplating having a Churchie. Also a more respectful attitute towards the Church would be spiffing!

I love verything about the guild. The hard working loonies that hld it together, the fresh young minds bringing ideas in.
Tbh, this is the best guild i've ever taken part in.

Absolutely! The whole point of the church's existance is for people to be afraid of it. And the whole thing about being a Covian is that we are a God fearing people, if we were not. We would just be Vesperians or worse, Trinsicians. :o

What do i adore?

All the fun I've had and friendships forged IC and OOC - especially the Grenadiers!
There's nothing quite like sharing a whispering circle with Octi and half a dozen bronze clad heroes ;)

As for new ideas? It's more of strengthening an old one.
I'd like to see the citizenry grow and develop even more - don't get me wrong it's doing fantastic considering it's only been around for a few months.

More pure citizen chars is what i'd like to see!
Citizen chars with Guardsman alts rather than the other way round! ;)

I guess the only way around this is to recruit, recruit and recruit again?
Can we make recruitment aimed more at civilians without taking away from the military element?
I have tried leaving leaflets at forges and shops in towns etc - what else can we do?

I don't know what  the state of civilian life is around the RP community? Is it based mainly on alts or pure civilians?

Something that i think is worth a shot is a Power Hour!
I think Hrothgar tried this a while back before the new citizen element began - a "power hour" once a week at a prime time to get most civvies in game. They can repair guardsmen's gear, hold a market, drum up activity hopefully encourage some civilian sign ups?

I think i've asked a lot more questions there than i've answered but hey! :P

Regarding the lack of respect for the Church, Truthfully? I know Erik would be a lot more respectfull of the Church if they were around more. (old debate about the usage of alts) It's just difficult for me to play along with the awesome power associated with the church when it's someone you rarely see.

I like Sir Hugo for instance because he really does instill a sense of fear in people (though we could see the bugger a bit more!) I like Roland as well because although he's strict in a church sense he doesn't have the ....'powerhungry' features attached of most of the other churchies. I'm probably wrong here, but you have to earn the right to go megalomaniac and expect me to play along with it :)

That's true. But perhaps the Church could recruit a member or two from the guardsman ranks? I know it's been banned on the thread, but if the Church had their own division-ish thing, that recruited from the guard ranks. Then we'd have more churchies without draining the armed forces! Templars or summat.

Well, what they -could- do is recruit inside the military ranks but not remove them from the ranks itself.

Meaning that they can use shadow-contracts, and the pro-church guardsmen work for the church perhaps officially or unofficially.

 To start off, I adore the BoC community for many different reasons.  The quality of people, the visualization of the guild itself, or the appearance, rather.  And the rules set for the members which they follow without fail.. I do wish however that BoC was more serious, in the sense that instead of making silly jokes, or trying to be funny all the time, the members should really try to see what it would be like to live a thousand or so years ago.  People weren't always happy, and they certainly wouldn't be "Too" rude to they're commanders and/or friends.  Just a thought.

The Church is something I've always liked.  It basically takes the noble paladin concept and turns it on its head by making them as ruthless and pitiless as the enemies they fight - whilst still convinced they are good. 

I like the infrastructure we have outside the walls of Cove i.e the buildings like the Barracks, tavern, Church, townhall etc.  I plan on getting the Stable up to speed and making more use of it.

Thanks for the feedback on the church, it's an element of Cove that requires care, to prevent it from becoming a joke, but also to keep it from being too oppresive and overbearing.  I'm hoping to get some more church events going in the very near future.

There should be issued punishments to low ranks and higher ranks alike that back talk a superior.  It gets pretty annoying when Recruits question what my char does..  I try to issue a punishment like running laps and pushups.  When they refuse to do so I do more strict punishments such as punching or the ever so popular "backhand."  Doesn't help for to long though...  Thing is recruits should not be able to speak their mind against the older more experienced guardsmen, and if they keep doing it for to long they should be issued punishments like community service or even jail time.

I'd also like the church to be more active, but it doesn't need more members.  A clergy is usually small, but still has some command over the army.  What the church says in game should be almost as equal to the Baron's words.  The Covians should be afraid of damnation if they oppose the church.  Like a certain squad in the army should be tied to the church like knights in the middle ages.  Don't need to make a new one just a requirement like for the Dragoons.  So I feel that the church should be explained better to the members of the guild.

To stop this from becoming ALL about the church...

The Promotion System - This really impressed me upon first entering the guild, and after being part of the GM team it is amazing to see how much work goes into keeping this as fair/challenging and most of all fun. I remember fondly the days of working towards promotion of any kind.

Companionship -I have made many a great friend through this guild and hope to continue in the same way, though some people come and go there are always oldies about and its nice to see people sticking at it ^.^

The Covian Colours! Hell YEAH!

Well, this is it for me really, the forum.
And as long as the news keeps being this great then I'll check back at least once a day.

As for the guild IC, well... to be honest I am kind of fed up with it.
BUT I do believe that is mostly me who's to blame as I always tend to play "exotic" characters. My characters were never part of a ranking system and there never was anything go gain (rank/reward-wise) except my own gratification. Although I think a large-ish majority of the civvies might agree with my, this is simply a non-issue with the guardsmen (which is good).

There needs to be a similar system for the civvies like we have for the guardsmen if you ask me.
But... it's been debated, it's been tried and it's been given up on time after time and the guild is still here, so perhaps that's just how it's gotta be. :)

BoC is truly a wonderful guild because of the people who keep it running.
Personally I am working on my own surprise, should that surprise ever get readt I'll be well happy (yes, I am still talking about my detective char).

What I adore? Hmmm...

People - the Guild is YOU ALL OUT THERE! All the good things (and few not-so-good) are possible and they exist because of all of you and I think you're doin great job! The variety of characters, friendships, antagonisms (like constant battle between Khae and the Goblins), sense of humour of people (I've had loads of laugh during the last Baron's Court Meeting, the emotes were incredible...) makes playing UO a great experience! Being honest, I'm not sure if I would still play UO if Lord Paidric wouldn't introduce me to Vince Valentine some months ago...

Command - Their (and of course all involved individuals) creativity on making new events and tasks for civilians is incredible, I'm most impressed with the amount of time they must spend making this great enterprise called BoC going on.

Citizenship - Although a bit less important part of BoC, but is still improved, new things come (or return) to life. I very like the fact that we have some new faces (although still some of them are alts) which bring in the new ideas, "fresh blood", and more gold to spent in the Goblin emptying oceans of various liquids. Worth to notice is that people playing civilians doesn't end with saying "I don't like that, I'm out" but raise the discussions on forums, and I'm happy that when it comes to discuss some issues, the ratio of Replies/Views grows towards replies :)

Now, my other thoughts...

Church - to be honest, BoC society is quite similiar to early American - it consist mostly of immigrants. Not many chars (at least of those, which have their bio posted) are said to "born" in Cove. That's why not everyone feels the need to follow the Avatar - they came from more or less distant lands with their own habits and beliefs. If you don't respect Avatar, you don't respect his organisation. Presto. Even more, when that organisation is preaching using sword and whip.

Recruitment - I will focus on civ part, since it's much closer to me. Ask yourself: What can you offer to a civilian in BoC? Training skills? Yeah, but you can do it unguilded. Market for your craftables? No, most people have crafting alts. Shillings? Great, but fun of earning nonexistent money ends when you start to think how the hell are you going to afford building even a 7x11... I'm not saying this because of greed, but military got their loot and wages. What earns a civvie from his work? About overall recruitment - IMO it would be good to focus on recruiting 'young' players - it was a great fun for me to learn the mechanics of the game, RPing etc etc between you!

But overall, as I've said couple of times - Gamin online with you is the best internet activity I've had (and hope to have for long time) in my life.
Damn, how I like you  ;D

Well when I first joined BoC I had loads of spare time and I really enjoyed being part of it. It's one of the most continously active guilds I have been part of.

I left UO for almost a year and now that I am back I have considerbaly less time. I still enjoy training, hunts and parades etc but the one thing that bothers me is the sheer amount of reports. I understand that the militia is based upon real foundations but I would rather not have to sit and write a report about a training session, taking up time that I could use rp-ing.


(edit)  It has also just occured to me, Yue Yan is from another culture and whilst she speaks the language of Cove she doesn't necessarily know how to write it. Yet not writing reports holds me back from promotion.

That's hardly an issue seeing how I got to Junior Guardsmen with Dell (This was well over one and a half years ago.) and he can't write and didn't write a single report himself. (Obviously I did. But IC he never did.)

Yes but the main point is *I* don't have the leasure of plenty of spare time to write lots of reports. My life is way to busy now. And it's only an opinion after all.

Aye. I did have time to write reports (not anymore though) so I guess where your coming from.

However, if you would not be graded on the reports you make etc the option is being promoted for how good your role play is. Which in my head makes a lot of sense but will take a lot more time for a promotion.
I.E you won't be promoted after a week of hard work if your promotion requirements are to be a great role player. But you can be promoted after a week of hard work attending hunts, writing reports etc.

And in difference to Grd, BoC has decided to go for a system that promotes activity. Not saying you can't have both, which BoC promotes in other ways.

As far as I know, all the humans worship the Avatar (or the Guardian=P ). It's how it is in Sosaria. And the Church in the middle ages christened heathens with the sword, and it creates a certain realistic aspect. The Church could perhaps come to some deal with the Church of Yew, letting them hold masses in Cove?

NEVER!! Kill the Yewians!!

I think they did something like this when Cove and Yew was allies ages ago. Not as much though but it happened (Maybe I dreamed it all!). It would make sense, at war or not the church should work together.