Arcane Awesomeness

Things have been going really well lately over in the Order of Arcanes. I've been happy about the amount of activity going on, new members joining and general atmosphere within the organisation. This was best highlighted by over the weekend where we all three of our leaders leading successful runs with a total of seven different members joining in on the action.

The first run was led by Ashetaka our number one to the Mountain of Lost Souls. The aim was to make some shades of light which are always in demand. It had been a long time since I had done that run myself. Despite a couple of minor hiccups along the way it went well. Using my barbarian I managed to get a couple of killing blows on some of the mobs along the way like this:

Your rending grip injures The bringer of Salvation!
The bringer of Salvation is DEAD!!
With the final blow, Salvation pulls back its mask revealing the face of a demon imp!
The bringer of Salvation says 'You have brought me the Salvation I sought.. '
The bringer of Salvation says 'Here is the Redemption you were looking for... May it bring you closer towards your own deliverance.'
From inside a gaping wound, Salvation pulls out a large object.
The bringer of Salvation gasps his last breath and blood spurts out of his mouth and ears.
The bringer of Salvation has no gold.
The corpse of The bringer of Salvation holds:
     (Glowing) the darkened robe of atonement
     (Humming) a small rune covered symbol named, 'Salvation'
     (Humming) a large rune covered symbol named, 'Redemption'

After this run I led a run to the Barren Wastes to make some leather leggings with a feathered trim. The first part of this involved killing the enormous winged beast. This part was easy enough though I learnt it is a lot easier with either 2 barbarians or 2 thieves instead of one of each. After this we did the giant serpent. Most of the run notes I see for this mob suggest using barbarians but I've found thieves work much better. With three thieves running in, circling and fleeing out when necessary we brought the serpent down with no problems. In the end the wanderer turned up and made the leggings:

You give a roll of feathery beige fabric to The wanderer.
The wanderer ruffles his fingers through the feathers of the roll of fabric, then bend the scaley hide back and forth, testing its pliability.
The wanderer thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
The wanderer says 'Shouldn't be too difficult.'

The wanderer takes a few unidentifiable tools from a small pouch and begins to work on the fabric and hide.

The wanderer tugs at the finished product, testing its durability.
The wanderer says 'Not bad, I'd think.  If you like feathers.'
The wanderer gives you leather leggings with a feathered trim.

Finaly Sarakin led a run to Salburg to kill the trees that pop parts to make the Ancient Breastplate of the Forest Wanderer.

These mobs aren't too hard to kill but they take a long time even with three people. In the end though we killed them without too much difficulty:

Your slash rips an old willow tree!
An old willow tree is DEAD!!
An old willow tree falls, cutting off a few of its whip-like branches.
An old willow tree catches its guts in its hands as they pour through its fatal
wound!
An old willow tree has no gold.
The corpse of An old willow tree holds:
     the curled branches of an old willow tree

I am far from the best run leader though I like to think of myself as competent at most of easy runs and a few of the harder ones. Between these three runs it reminded me of a few of my aims when leading a run:

• Make everyone feel welcome and that they are contributing
• Be extra prepared when leading. Have extra tank potions, ice girths, back up characters, etc.
• Be patient and explain everything - don't assume people have done this run before or remember all the details.
• Don't waste time. Once set get going and go so you don't get caught out with a repop hitting at a bad time.
• Know what to do when things go wrong (which they will at some point)

What I am most excited about though with these three runs is the potential of where we are going as an organisation and as individual players. We are improving our teamwork, learning each others strengths and weaknesses, building up knowledge of different areas and mobs while gaining some nifty new equipment. If we can keep this up we'll be able to run bigger mobs for better equipment in these areas. Hopefully in the not too distant future we'll be able to go after Khiurn'hai in the Mountain of Lost Souls, get the wanderer to make us some facestompers and dense wooden bracers in the Barren Wastes and maybe even take on Zharruk'din  in the City of Salburg.

Random Roundup

Been busy working on a few different projects within the Realms of Despair since my last post. Here's what I've been doing:


Murg's Tulip Collecting
The deadline for Murg's tulip collection came and I managed to hand in nine different bouquets of tulips. For this gained 18 glory from Akael who said that I came 25th overall in the quest. I really enjoyed this quest and thought it was a cleverly designed quest for the following reasons:

• It was open to everyone of all levels of experience. People with their first character at level 10 could attempt it at the same time as people with over 100 avatars. While those with more experience and resources had an advantage everyone could participate.
• It was open to people of all locations. One thing that I can find frustrating is when quests are run at 4am my time. This quest could be done at any time of the day for anyone.
• Increased in difficulty as the quest progressed. The first few tulips were fairly easy to find but then you needed to keep track of what combinations you had handed in and what spare tulips you had.
• It encouraged teamwork. It was difficult to do well in this quest on your own. Trading tulips, tips on mobs that popped the rarer tulips and teaming up to kill the hardest mobs was required.
• It got people out to places and mobs they don't normally go to. It's always a good thing to do this and the rarer tulips could be found mostly in more obscure areas.

To me this was one of the best quests I can remember. The only downside was it did encourage a little staking and spam killing of some mobs. Overall it was a great quest and I came away with enough glory to get me a damage roll chunk added to an item. It just means I will need to work harder to get in to the top 10.


The Deck Again...
I found the deck again. Here's the result:

The Deck of Many Things lies in wait for a brave soul.
The Deck of Many Things says 'If you can find a card within me, you might be lucky enough to draw something of value.
However, once you submit to chance, you put yourself at the mercy of the cards.
The Deck of Many Things winks suggestively.

>g key deck
You get the Key to the Deck of Many Things from the Deck of Many Things.
The Key to the Deck shudders menacingly.
You drop the Key to the Deck of Many Things.
Vl'aresch gives you one gold coin for your sacrifice of the Key to the Deck of Many Things.
Be Forewarned : You could lose all that you own.
Sashell has been given the chance to draw from the Deck of Many Things.

>g card deck
You get a card from the Deck of Many Things.
A mystical being appears and points at you. Your senses reel as you are flung through the void to another place.
The card twists and wriggles in your hands.
A great flash of light envelopes the room, blinding you momentarily.
When your vision returns, you see that the Deck of Many Things lies before you once more.
It is highly recommended that you examine the deck before drawing from it. When you are ready, simply take the card.

>g card deck
You get a card from The Deck of Many Things.
You see that you have drawn the Ten of Swords.
What this card bodes for your future, only an immortal of level 57 or above can discover for you.
>tell loril hi loril can you please help me out with the deck?
You tell Loril 'hi loril can you please help me out with the deck?'

>eq
You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) (Humming) Golden Plate
<worn on head>       a fallohide's leather cap
<worn on legs>       a fallohide's leather breeches
<worn on feet>       (Glowing) demonscale Boots
<worn on hands>      (Red Aura) Sin
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a shadowy pair of dragonscale arm guards
<worn about body>    a fallohide's cloak
<worn about waist>   a fallohide's pipeweed pouch
<worn about waist>   a fallohide's waist sash
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) a crystal dragon bracer
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) a crystal dragon bracer
<wielded>            (Red Aura) (Glowing) darkness
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) darkness
<worn on ears>       ears of the fox
<worn on eyes>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) Visage of Bloodlust
<worn around ankle>  a turqoise anklet
<worn around ankle>  a blue, glassy chain
(type 'garb' for a list of all wear locations)

Loril tells you 'Oh damn...'

Loril bounces in on a fluffy, white cloud named Nine.

The deck of many things is once again shuffled and dealt by the Gods.

>smile
You smile happily.

>where
Players near you in The Deck of Many Things:
| Loril          (God)                   | Within a Small Circle of Mystical Stones
| Sashell        (Guild of Spirit)       | Within a Small Circle of Mystical Stones

>i
You are carrying 8 items and have room for 12 more:
     a rat tail
     a small birch chest
     an icicle wand
     a journal
     (Glowing) the mystic lantern of the ages
     an ancient dagger
     the Art Gallery key
     a card

>eat card
You try to nibble on a card...

Loril says 'I sure hope it's quick! I was just prepping to leave.'
>give card loril
You give a card to Loril.

Loril apologizes for her rude behavior.

Loril drops a card.

Loril sacrifices a card to Adendra.
Whispering voices fill the room and a faint breeze blows from somewhere...
There can be no escape from the destructive power of the Ten of Swords.

A cold breeze from the winds of never washes through the void.

>hrm
You hrm. Hrm.

Loril says 'crumb'

You watch Loril gaze thoughtfully into space while rubbing her chin.

>say bad?
You wonder 'bad?'

Loril says 'Not great. What I need, though, is to remember how.'

Loril says 'Sorry. This may take a min or 2.'
>nod
You nod solemnly.

Loril chuckles politely.

A cold breeze from the winds of never washes through the void.
>say builds the suspense...
You say 'builds the suspense...'

Loril says 'I always check for the deck in the morning. :P'

Loril laughs.

Loril seems to agree.
>nod
You nod solemnly.
>hrm
You hrm. Hrm.

>say last time i got this card i got -5% resist magic to an item
You say 'last time i got this card i got -5% resist magic to an item'

Loril says 'Win some... lose some ... :)'

>nod
You nod solemnly.

>say a small loss is ok
You say 'a small loss is ok'

Loril forces you to 'save'.
Saved...

Loril says 'Welp, that should do it! :('

>hrm
You hrm. Hrm.

>say what happened?
You wonder 'what happened?'

Loril wonders 'Sorry for the wait. :( I can send you back to the deck or to the
[]. Which would you prefer?'

>say [] will do
You say '[] will do'

Loril says 'Ah, that's half the fun! Figuring it out! ;)'

Loril hugs you.

>say thanks for your time
You say 'thanks for your time'

Loril says 'Take care. :)'

Loril says 'Oh, you're so welcome. :)'

Loril says 'Thanks for your patience.'

>say you too - and thanks for something to blog about
You say 'you too - and thanks for something to blog about'

>wink lor
You wink suggestively at Loril.

Loril says 'ahhhhhhh'

Loril seems to get a laugh from something saying, "heh heh heh".

Loril says 'Be kind. I'm an avid reader. ;)'

Loril says 'Read: fan'

>thank lor
You thank Loril heartily.

Loril says 'OK. Trans in 3 ...'

>wave lor
You wave goodbye to Loril.

Loril has transferred you.

I should have known from before that the Ten of Swords was not a good card and just disconnected that character until after the next reboot, but Loril was very polite and friendly about it. Maybe next time I'll have better luck...


Druid Dressups
Last week I finished off levelling my first character for the year - a sea-elf druid. The druid is the only peaceful class I don't have at least one avatar of before this one. They are not my favourite class as I find them a "Jack of all Trades but Master of None" kind of class though they do have a few niche uses I wanted to test out like tanking at Belial. After sorting through storage characters, a quick killing of some basic mobs and a couple of items from the donations room in Arcanes I had my druid dressed as follows:

You are using:
<used as light>      the sigil of A'enari
<worn on finger>     a scorched band of glass
<worn on finger>     a scorched band of glass
<worn around neck>   (Magical) (Glowing) a golden torque
<worn around neck>   (Magical) (Glowing) a golden torque
<worn on body>       (Glowing) (Humming) a dragonscale breastplate
<worn on head>       the shade helm
<worn on legs>       (Magical) Leggings of Arcane Magicks
<worn on feet>       (Magical) moccasins
<worn on hands>      (Magical) (Glowing) Blessed gauntlets of the Templar
<worn on arms>       (Glowing) (Humming) a pair of dragonscale arm-guards
<worn as shield>     (Glowing) (Humming) shield of the Valkyrie
<worn about body>    (Glowing) (Humming) a Cloak of Light
<worn about waist>   a blackened, mangled belt
<worn around wrist>  a lion-crested bracer
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) (Humming) a Bracer of Light
<wielded>            an icy metal flange mace
<held>               (Magical) the Ruling Sceptre
<worn on ears>       (Glowing) a sliver of glass
<worn on eyes>       the shades
<worn on back>       [nothing]
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  a blue, glassy chain
<worn around ankle>  a turqoise anklet

A very basic, cheap and easy to get setup for a new druid. I'm looking forward to dressing it up properly though I will need to make some gold so I can create some items like Ravager Plate & Shield plus an Edo Helm. And on the plus side I should have plenty of free time to run some stuff this weekend.

Arcanes Quest Roundup

Two days ago was the deadline for submission of my Arcanes quest for January. I found the quest to be an overall successful endeavour and thought provoking exercise on how quests are ran in the Realms of Despair.

Before even starting the quest I took into consideration what my aims for the quest were. I wanted to focus on players developing the achiever side of the Bartle Test accomplishments. To do this my aims included:

• Getting less experienced players with only a few avatar characters out and killing mobs that are a challenge but not too difficult so that they can learn from it.
• Encouraging small teams to work together for the slightly harder mobs.
• Giving people something to do that they can attempt on their own.
• Making it challenging enough for more experienced players to keep them busy going after items they haven't bothered trying to get for a long time.
• Getting some publicity out in the game about Arcanes being an active and inclusive organisation.
• Having decent prizes that will help people equip their alts better.
• Getting people to have some fun and enjoy the game.

From this I chose a list of 30 items to send players after. The full list of items was: a set of icy leggings, blackened blade of the corruptor, bloodhunger, bracer of light, cloak of demons, cloak of light, crusade, crystal dragon bracers, crystalline teardrop, darkened gauntlets, demonscale boots, demonskin ankle bracer, doomgiver, godskull shinguards, golden torque, moccasins, a shadowy pair of dragonscale armguards, platinum band of the draco viridis, sash of the magi, scorched band of glass, sets ring of power, shield of the Valkyrie and shifting black flames. Each of these items I can get on my own from a variety of strategies and each of these items is useful for an avatar character to get a basic equipment set up.

In the end I was happy with the results I got from the quest. Activity within the order improved from a slow December and those who participated all responded positively. One of the unexpected bonuses was that to get some of the items in my quest it overlapped with a quest being run by the Immortal Quest Council over the month resulting in players making a little glory too. This experience also did lead to an increase in appreciation for the time and effort the Quest Council members do put it into the planning and building for some of the more elaborate quests they release every now and again.

With the positive results I'm already working on a couple of ideas for another quest in a couple of months time.

Arcanes Quest

For the last couple of months I've been toying around in my head with the idea of a quest to run for the Order of Arcanes. I've been wanting to do something that is:

1.  Accessible to everyone regardless of how many avatar characters they had.
2. Would encourage people to go out and kill mobs they haven't killed before or for a long time.
3. Not too difficult, too easy or long.
4. Would promote teamwork with other members.

I had been thinking of doing some sort of quest that focused on killing mobs but didn't want to just have a "go kill mob X" sort of thing. My first idea was to give the description of a mob with the name removed and have people figure out what the mob was, kill it and bring back an item from the mob. The problems with this idea were:

1. It got very spammy on the notes.
2. Some mobs didn't have a proper description.
3. Most of the mobs had their descriptions fully covered on Rodpedia.

In the end I decided to place 30 item names into a wordsearch using a website I sometimes use for my remedial classes who struggle with basic literacy (using MUDS to improve basic reading and writing skills... interesting idea)  to make worksheets for. I also needed to find some decent prizes to use as an incentive. After searching around my storage spaces I'm offering up the following as prizes for the first three placegetters: Maniacal Tendencies, the dagger of metaphysical deliverance and the Breastplate of the Ravager and various gold prizes to other participants.

The notes I posted on the Arcanes noteboard for the quest are shown below:

 

Hopefully this quest will be a success and get people working together to kill some stuff plus maybe even get some people interested in joining us.

And finally Happy New Year to anyone reading this. I hope 2015 is a good one.

Monkey Business

During September the Order of Arcanes ran a competition to increase the knowledge on our forums board. This included information on low level to avatar challenges. This got me thinking about the mysteries of the game that I don't fully know about but sort of know a little on. This list included the following:

• Low level mysteries: Golden Gauntlet, eight monkeys, Sapphire Blade, troll hide helm and Macmillan Family Farm.
• Avatar mysteries: Long Lost Boots of Ranger Thoric, dark matter, acidstroke, Absolution, Orcus/Hastur, Underworld beyond Satan and KoTR armor crafting/Starre's project.

The one that has been bugging me the most is the mystery of the eight monkeys. They are spread mostly though the Southern Mountain Ranges geo with trips to neighbouring areas for some of the monkeys and parts to make them. These often involve mini-quests of differing sorts. For example to get the quartz monkey you need to do the following:

>Inside The Run Down Shack
This structure barely qualifies as a shack. Bits and pieces of trash are poorly hammered to cracked strips and timbers, all of which would collapse were it not leaning against the cliff face outside, plainly visible through the cracks in the walls. The shack sits in the low trough against the cliff face and what is left of the rotting floor is very damp. An unkempt bed rests on stone blocks in one corner and a crooked square table stands with the help of the wall. It is possible that this is someone's home.
Exits: north
An old ranger stands very still here.
Begbee looks up at you, seeming a little surprised.
Begbee thinks, 'Hmmmm.'
Begbee says 'I don't often have visitors...'
Begbee says 'Are you lost or is there reason for this intrusion?'

>say cress
You say 'cress'
Begbee looks a little shocked.
Begbee wonders 'Oh, you know Cress. Tell her her daddy would love to see her soon, wouldya?'

A Low Spot On The Canyon Rim
This natural low area on the canyon rim provides a beautiful view of the canyon stretching far to the southeast and the canyon floor below. A small fire has been built here and still smolders warmly. The rim trail follows the higher parts of the rim, passing this spot by. The east wall of this depression has a slight overhang of the sandstone at the very top, providing a tiny space of shelter, just enough for one person vertically.
Exits: north
(Glowing) A fire has burnt down to a bed of hot coals here.
(Hide) A young girl hangs by her feet in the shelter of the overhang.

>say begbee
You say 'begbee'
Cress says 'Yes, he is my father. He gave me something but I've... I think it fell into the canyon. I search for it every night but I think it's...'
Cress looks very sad.

The Northwest Corner Of The Enormous Canyon
The canyon floor is rather flat here, devoid of the hoodoos and other rock formations that fill this canyon with wonder. The high canyon walls are extremely crumbly and climbing here would be impossible. The balancing rock formation to the southeast looks precarious as if it ought to topple to the east into a nearby hoodoo at any moment.
Exits: east south

>search
You begin your search...

Your search reveals a quartz monkey!

>give monkey cress
You give a quartz monkey to Cress.
Cress says to you, 'That's it. That's the little monkey! It's not broken, it's perfect.'
Cress looks both happy and very sad at the same time.
Cress says to you, 'Thank you for showing me. I'm glad I didn't break it. You keep it, though.'
Cress gives you a quartz monkey.
Cress says to you, 'Take good care of that, I can't keep it, it makes me sad.'

As you can see it involves talking to various mobs and searching in random rooms to get the monkey. Similar missions are involved to find the other monkeys, but I am stuck on the last two monkeys. The jade and sugilite monkeys still have me stumped but hopefully they will pop up soon for me.

One of the good things about joining an organisation in the game is that players can share information and put questions out there like the above for others to answer or solve themselves. Hopefully someone will have the answers.

Arcane Adventures

I've been really enjoying myself in Arcanes lately. There's a great group of players who get along well, are active and I feel as if I'm contributing to the organisation while still getting something out of it. New members both experienced players and newbies are joining up, the Arcane Forums are filling up with information and there have been plenty of successful killing of some of the larger mobs in the Realms.

While I haven't managed to be online at the right times to join in with kills of the Fire Elemental I have joined in with kills at Justice, Corsterix, Percival, Overlord Graajchzrakil and an unimaginable nightmare. Out of these my two favourite kills were:

Your rending grip wounds Overlord Graajchzrakil!
Overlord Graajchzrakil is DEAD!!
Overlord Graajchzrakil utters an obscene shriek as its lungs poison their last breath of air. Its body falls out of the shadows, revealing a twisted blackened exoskeleton, slowly withering away.
Victory has been achieved as this source of death and decay has been defeated. But evil cannot be beaten this easily. Rest assured that this creature will be given unholy life once again. Evil is forever.
Overlord Graajchzrakil catches its guts in its hands as they pour through its fatal wound!
You get 84755 gold coins from the corpse of Overlord Graajchzrakil.
You split 84755 gold coins.  Your share is 28253 gold coins.
The corpse of Overlord Graajchzrakil holds:
     (Red Aura) A blood-covered cleaver
     (Red Aura) clinging strips of parasite fungus

and:

Your slash gashes An unimaginable nightmare!
An unimaginable nightmare is DEAD!!
The shimmering forms coalesce into an aged gnome.
'Free' he says 'Of the nightmares, of the Demon Prince. But the nightmares he will unleash on this world, I pray my children survived what he tried to bring to pass.
The gnome spits black blood from his mouth.
The mage pulls a shimmering key from his rags as he slumps over.
The eyes of the mage close as he breathes his last.
An unimaginable nightmare drops the key of fear.
Light flashes over the gnome's hand, then vanishes.
An unimaginable nightmare hits the ground ... DEAD.
An unimaginable nightmare has no gold.
The corpse of An unimaginable nightmare holds:
     a ring of gnarled wood

I enjoyed killing the Overlord as it was a run I hadn't done in several years and I'd like to do more of for the items he sometimes pops (including his ring). The second kill above is one that I've had trouble with in the past getting to pop those rings. The unimaginable nightmare is an enjoyable kill as his combination of powerful attacks and his sleep attacks keep you on you toes. Previously I've done about 10 kills in a row without any rings popping but in recent weeks the pop rates have been better. Seems to be one of those mobs that you either have a lucky run with or no luck at all with nothing in between. I'm happy I've now got rings of gnarled wood for my cleric.

Leadership

Recently one of my characters – Jessyl the lizardman ranger was appointed as the number 2 of The Order of Arcanes. Having never been a leader of any organisations it has had me thinking about leadership and what one should be aiming to do. Around the same time I found this article about leadership in MMORPG’s on Massively in their Guild Counsel that got me thinking as well. It breaks down the different qualities the author believes are needed for successful leadership into being visionary, motivating, coordinating, arbitrating, fairness, listening and prepared to make mistakes. My thoughts on each point are as follows:

Vision
I agree that having a vision in mind of what you want your organisation to be is needed to make it better. Having goals, plans on how to achieve them and celebrating when accomplished will help any group. For Arcanes my vision includes having the best knowledge in the game, allowing new and experienced players to develop their own skills, a sense of belonging and community for members, the ability to take on the biggest mobs in the game and having a reputation for these things through out the Realms of Despair.

Already Arcanes has many of these aspects of my vision but there is always room for improvement. our forums have a lot of information on them and many of our members including myself are trying hard to add to them. We are welcoming to new players and help each other out with equipment, gold and other items. Lately there have been more activity killer some of the newer and multi-avatar mobs in the game. There is an opportunity for us in the latest incarnation of the Cry of Despair to help promote ourselves and our ideals in.

As for the sense of community and belonging it is definitely there.

Motivating
Motivating myself let alone others can be a challenge. There are different type of motivation – intrinsic/extrinsic and positive/negative motivators which can be represented on a two dimensional continuum as shown below:

Intrinsic and positive motivators are the most succesfful – things like wanting to figure out some puzzle or kill some new mob so that you feel good about yourself. An extrinsic/negative motivator would be being told to lead X runs or log in every day or you will be removed from the order.  In short doing things that make you feel good and give you a reward work best – threatening with punishments is least successful.

One of the most common responses I get from people who read this blog is promotes interest in parts of the game they may not have seen before. The motto of the game is “Endless medieval adventure” – just sometimes people need a point in the direction of an adventure they haven’t yet seen.

Coordinating
Coordinating a group of players is another challenge. Between in game note boards, ordertalk, tells and mudmails plus out of game forum boards and emails this is doable but does require constant monitoring. One of the big complaints with some organisations at times are when leaders don't log often enough to monitor all communications. Arcanes has got leaders who are on regularly.

Arbitrating
Being able to settle disputes is at times necessary for a leader though this issue doesn't concern me much. Last week in real life I had to deal with two 15 year old girls who wanted to beat each other up because the first one's boyfriend had like and posted a flirty comment on the second girls facebook page. I'm not saying that Realms of Despair players are like angry, catty hormonal teenage girls but, well, maybe sometimes. Still I'd rather them than any real life issues as in a game you can use the ignore command.

Listening
A good leader does need to be prepared to listen to other members. There's few things worse than when the people running an organisation will not listen to the members and think they have all the answers, or worse will not listen as they feel it is personal if people don't like their direction.

Fairness
People are always most unhappy if they think that a situation is not fair to them. In an organisation like Arcanes people will complain about fairness of equipment loot and access to running bigger mobs. We have systems in place to make this as fair as possible and sometimes as a leader you do need to put members and the organisation ahead of your own particular wants.

Making mistakes
Finally it states that a leader needs to be prepared to make mistakes, learn from them and move on. Risks do need to be taken and things will go wrong. For the members I believe it can mean a lot for people in power to admit to mistakes and fix them when they do occur.

Those are my thoughts on leadership. Feel free to send me a tell or post a comment, and if you are interested in joining the Order of Arcanes.