NEWS

We are delighted to welcome Wraith as our newest WvW Commander.  Not only is he a great player, but he fills a Pacific size hole in our ingame leadership.

Let's all congratulate Wraith!!    

Texson

Hearty congratulations go out to Earendil and Cheetah, who both now are proudly sporting their spiffy blue Commander Tags! 

Both were 'walking the walk and talking the talk' of AB WvW Commander even before they got the AB rank, and now they can walk and talk just a bit louder.

Sadly, I haven't got pics to celebrate their achievements yet - perhaps you guys could upload some for us all to "oooh and ahhhh" over? 

Be sure to watch the PvP Discussion Thread for info on planned WvW events, and join us there! 

Everyone who has been playing WvW since release knows that Thel has been a great leader for our guild in WvW.  Now, he's ready to step forward and be a great leader for our whole community.

Introducing - Commander Thel!

The Amazon Basin, along with many other guilds, recently held a strategy meeting where we re-committed to our vision of what we want SBI to be - a server that we can all call 'home' because it makes all players feel welcome regardless of their interests in the game.

In addition to the efforts we've put into building our community, our members have worked hard to earn the various upgrades that we currently enjoy, which benefit all of our players. All of these things factored into our decision to remain a part of the SBI community.

On a very positive note, the recent changes present an opportunity that perhaps wasn't available to us before in terms of our involvement in WvW. With the departure of some of the bigger WvW focused guilds from SBI, there is a real need for others to step into now empty roles, and a chance for those who are less familiar with WvW, or who take a more casual approach to it, to dive into that aspect of the game. We have been saving funds in our Guild Bank to subsidize half the cost of a Commander Tag for our WvW Commander team. We are currently in a position to do our first subsidy, and are close to a second, and so it seems like a rather serendipitous occurrence.

To that end, we are inviting members who want to help with this initiative to join us in a "Basin Commander Tag Fund Raiser" in game. There are going to be several ways folks can contribute, should they so desire. These include:

• Organized runs of Explorable modes of dungeons, with an option to have 'reward' money be donated to the Guild Bank. This is a great chance to spend time with your guildies, tick off a few explorable dungeons on the 'in game to do list', and earn rewards for the guild, both in terms of influence and funds.
• Organized crafting material runs, with proceeds from the sale of those mats to be donated to the Guild Bank.
• Personal donations of funds.

Our first planned event is a dungeon run is set for Friday February 1st, and we'll start at the beginning, with Ascalon Catacombs. We will begin around 6 pm EST, and have parties forming up throughout the night, so even if you can't make it at that time, we should be able to make a party up for you.
 

For anyone who hasn't done it yet, AC explorable has a recommended level of 35 for explorable mode, and has 3 possible paths. The rewards for each path are 70% of the experience for your next level, between 12-26 silver (depending on level and NOT including bonuses from consumables like Omnom Bars), 60 Ascalonian Tears (dungeon reward trophy), and 1880 Karma per path, PLUS drops in game. Like all dungeons in the game, even if you don't have the waypoint closest to the dungeon, just being in the zone will allow you to join in, and since AC is set in the Charr starter area, it's freely accessible to all. Additionally, your character need not have completed Story mode to join in; only the 'instance starter' needs to be at the door and have done story mode. Each party would have a 'leader' who knows the dungeon and could help each team through as needed. Additionally, we're hoping to have some 'special guests' join us for the event......

 A sticky thread will be created where details of each event will be posted, and will allow folks to sign up and indicate if they felt they could lead a team if needed. Further 'Fund Raiser' events will be announced there on the forums and in Guild Chat as they get scheduled.

To make it clear, there is absolutely NO OBLIGATION involved. If you want to come along on any of these runs, you are NOT required to contribute to the Commander funds. If you want to donate, it can be any amount you choose. If you don't want to donate, your participation alone will be welcome and helpful!

Hope to see you then!!! 

Courin, on behalf of the Leadership Team
 

A Message from TPJ

Thankfully, our previous fund drive raised enough money to keep us running for two and a half years. However, our next server payment will use the remainder of our Basin funds.

Asking everyone to help isn't any fun for me, but y'all know the way things work by now. $99 a month keeps our dedicated server accessible to the world. That is our major cost, but there are other minor things that tend to add up as well.

As mentioned, our last fund drive netted us enough money to secure our server on a preferred rate due to being able to sign a two-year contract. It was only a difference of about $10 a month, so there isn't a huge need to duplicate those efforts. However, I do need to ask those of you who can afford to help to please send what you can to keep us alive.

Our Donation Page includes buttons to subscription plans as well as a button for just a straight 'any amount' donation. If you'd rather drop something in the mail to me, my address is listed on that page as well.

Many thanks to everyone here - not just those who contribute. We've been around for a long damn time, and our members--both Basin and Community--are the main reason people feel comfortable calling this place 'home'.

• North Americans/Insomniac Euros:  the gathering will be on Wednesday, July 18 from 9:30-10:30pm Eastern (GMT-4)/8:30-9:30 Central.
• Oceanics/Euros: the gathering will take place on Friday, 20 July, at 9pm Sydney/Melbourne time/7pm Perth time.  (11:00 am GMT)

• The Eternal Grove (primary)
• Steamspur Mountains (secondary)