TERA news » Vanarch of the People!

TERA’s historic first elections are over! With the votes tallied and the vanarchs elected, a new phase in TERA’s life begins. Today, we’re interviewing Valentio, a new vanarch on the Dragonfall server, who not only won on that server, but got the most votes of any candidate on any server! We wanted to share Valentio’s thoughts on the election, what’s coming up in the vanarchy, and how it feels to be a vanarch!

Let’s dive into the interview!

Q: Please introduce yourself and your guild.

A: Hello, I am Valentio, and this is our guild, Passion, on the server Dragonfall. We strive to bring people with a passion together to form a community on TERA, whether that passion be TERA, gaming, or just having fun.

Passion is a great community of players striving to achieve many great things. We give our members the freedom to experiment and the organization needed to grow together. For more information about the guild, please visit www.TeraPassion.com.

Valentio, myself, is a long time gamer. However, the leadership experience I have in real life as the managing director of a successful corporation is very helpful. How do I have time to play TERA? Time management. As the managing director (and partial owner), as long as I finish my job, no one has a problem with what I do. It’s all about efficiently using your time and allowing others (secretary, other officers) to help you execute your strategic decisions and general direction for the company.

The same goes to guild management: find the right people, put them in the right position, apply the correct general decision for the guild, and let it run itself! It’s much better than the inefficient and time-consuming micromanagement that many real corporate directors and guild leaders do. Micromanagement might feel “fulfilling” for some but is never an efficient method for large companies and/or large guilds.

Q: How does it feel to get the most votes of any candidate on any server?

A: I am very surprised that we are the most-voted guild on any server. I had a good idea that we will get a good amount of votes for the amount of work that we put in, but it is an absolute honor to see so many players support us and our idea and in turn give us their vote. I promise that I will not let them down.

Q: Why did you want to be a vanarch?

A: Quite simple. I am a man of ambition and narcissism. I like being the center of attention and believe that I can do a very great job at being a vanarch. When I saw the post mention “lots of power, lots of fame, and lots of money,” the light bulb went off in my head. What a perfect position for me. But of course, if it was completely out of self-interest, I can never be voted into office.

Beyond all my ambition and narcissism, I want to give back to the TERA community. En Masse created a great game. The players formed a great community. The real question is, “How can I, as an individual, and a guild, Passion, do something to make this community and game even greater?” And being a vanarch is part of our plan to deliver some player-created content and events with great rewards. As a vanarch, I will have the power, funding, and authority to be able to give back—to make the TERA community even more fun!

Q: What was the election process like for you? Any fun or memorable incidents while you were campaigning?

A: The election process is definitely interesting. Myself and my political officers spent a great amount of time planning out our campaign. Every decision to contact another guild or post on the forum is a strategic decision. I could not have done this without my campaign team. They have supported me greatly.

The most memorable incident during our campaign must be the political debate thread that soon got out of hand and turned into a flame war. Of course our guild Passion or any member of Passion was never directly involved in any debate. However, we did see our name getting mentioned many, many times on the forum. Since we are a 300-member capped guild, a big guild, lots of mudslinging was occurring on the forum. It was very disappointing to me personally to see ourselves getting called “a zerg guild,” “a troll guild,” and many nasty names in that fashion. However, that never changed our decision to become vanarch and give back to the community. I am sure the rest of the server will soon understand what Passion is truly about.

Q: What is the best part of being a vanarch? Any difficulties so far?

A: The best part of being a vanarch must be the sheer respect and power that our word suddenly carries. I can advertise an event and gain player attention, because players know that I have the funding and the right people to pull off what I advertise.

I would also like to clarify taxes. That is not one of the biggest perks being a vanarch. At 1% tax rate (which is what the player base wants), the average income in Veritas District on Dragonfall is 300 gold per day. It really isn’t a lot.

Which brings us into the difficulty of being a vanarch; my guild and myself have to spend massive amount of time “farming” for policy points. It typically involves two to four hours of daily sloth killing for me to get enough points to keep those vendors open!

How can you help? If you are on Dragonfall and think Passion is doing a great job, do a /praise passion. Every praise equals five policy points, and it will make our lives much easier!

Beyond the daily policy point farming quota, of course there are guilds that are unhappy that we are able to obtain vanarchy but not them. Our political enemies continue to nitpick problems about our province. For example, I am not opening the trainers because Veritas District is a level 60 zone and opening the trainer is a waste of 500 policy points per day. And I am not opening the noble restoration cleric, because for 500 policy points, it gives you a three-minute, +20 run speed buff...useless.

Of course, no matter how great of a job we do, or what we do, our political enemies will continue their mudslinging and attacks on us. It is definitely frustrating, but I have accepted it as a part of the political game.

Q: What policies and/or activities have you implemented or do you plan to apply as a vanarch?

A: We continue to take feedback and suggestions from player populations that are active in our region. They are encouraged to send suggestions to Valentio through in-game mails. Our policy is of course keep the broker and specialty store open, keep taxes at 1% for this term, and keep everyone happy. Because that is what matters.

In terms of activity, my guild’s event board and myself are working very closely with a few other vanarch guilds on the server to bring the Dragonfall community the biggest event this vanarch term. More details will be released very soon. But multiple guilds will be sponsoring a massive event, with prizes set at 15,000 to 20,000 gold for first place or 5,000 to 10,000 gold plus a tier 12 gold weapon of choice, and an honorable name mention on the gaming website, Kotaku (under TERA-related reports). Second place: 3,000 gold, and third place: 1,000 gold.

We are hoping to bring more active players together in the community through this event and have attending players engage in an interesting and competitive player content event. We have sponsored a massive player-made in-game event with vanarch funding and posted the details on Dragonfall server forum—check it out!

Q: Anything you’d like to say to the folks on your server?

A: Dragonfall, thank you for your support in our campaign. I promise that you will not be disappointed in your choice and support of Passion. Passion and Valentio will continue to take your input on how we can do a better job as Veritas District’s vanarch!

Q: Anything else you’d like to say to the guild members? To En Masse Entertainment?

A: Thank you, everyone in Passion, I could have never done it without you all. It is our strength together that made us achieve this amazing feat. All of you deserve this honor! Be proud as a Passion member that we have achieved this amazing and delightful feat, and stay passionate about what you believe in!

En Masse Entertainment, thank you for delivering to the North American gamer a great platform where we can really grow, thrive, and enjoy. I hope to see En Masse’s continual growth as a company and the continual growth of the TERA community. I am looking forward to what the future brings: content, community, and all things inclusive.

Thanks, Valentio, for your time and answers! We wish you and all our new vanarchs successful reigns—and many happy reelections!