Developer Blogs

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the Guild Spotlight!

As we explained in our introduction, in each Guild Spotlight we will feature one guild from Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ and invite them to tell their story. In this spotlight we sit down with Ben, the Guild Leader of Hope’s Light. Hope’s Light has a special fondness for cookies and their own unique story to tell…

Tell us a little bit about the beginnings of your guild. When and how was it founded? What is the origin of your guilds name?

Our guild has taken on a couple different names throughout the years; our longest stint in a game was City of Heroes (CoH) where we were known as the Luminarians.   We started as just a handful of fun loving people, and grew rapidly due to the laid back atmosphere and the casual friendly nature of the people we invited to join us. 

We often bumped up against the roof for guild members (as we do now).  Due to our attraction to casuals players though we tended (and still do) have to clean out the roster every few months to make room for more.  We have a rank set aside for those people who plan on returning to the game later to protect them when we clean house.

Choosing to mix our old theme with the Star War’s feel, we changed our name to Hope’s Light.  We signed up right away on the The Old Republic website when guilds were allowed to register, making us tied for oldest remaining active guild with only a few others still on Begeren Colony.  Once the game launched we decided to go with a mirror theme for our Imperial guild: Darkest Night.

What brought your guild to Star Wars: The Old Republic?

Fandom, geekdom, the love of Star Wars™, BioWare and the KOTOR games…   So many things contributed to our joining Star Wars: The Old Republic that it would be hard to list. 

For many of us it was the focus on story, and smaller team requirements (4 is a great team size).  With CoH we had a duo system set up (which worked well with the game mechanics there) that carried over very nicely with the 2 players plus 2 companions here in The Old Republic.

How would you describe your guilds play style? (ex: Progression PvE, PvP, RP, etc)

We are a social guild more than anything; a place for people to come and chat and learn about the game and have fun together.  We do a little of everything: Endgame PvE, Ranked PvP, Light RP with other guilds.  For the most part though we are not the most well-known guild for any of those things.  We understand that face, and are proud of it to a certain extent. 

We see ourselves as teachers and trainers to get people involved in whichever aspects they are interested in, and expose them to some they may not have considered.  Part of this process inevitably leads to members ‘graduating’ from us and joining other guilds that are strong in one or two areas.  While it is sad to see them go, we know that it is what would be the most fun for them and would never think of holding them back if we can’t provide what they need.

What has been your guilds greatest moment or proudest achievement?

Our proudest achievement is the fact that we are well known enough as easy going and friendly, that when a new member is having issues or causing trouble on the server most other GMs feel comfortable coming and talking with our GM about the situation.  This lets us solve problems and use them as teaching opportunities instead of just leaving a nasty taste in people’s mouths.

Also though, we are proud to be known as the ”Cookie guild.”  Many players can instantly recognize some of our alts simply by the fact that we offer cookies to new members, and during our recruiting shenanigans.  We don’t have a pre-canned recruitment message; instead we joke around and give a little bit of our flavor so people can see what we are about.  Then we hand out cookies and other digital treats.   

(v^-^)>O   here is a cookie for you in thanks for still reading this far into our spotlight!

What would you say sets your guild apart from other guilds in The Old Republic?

Our laid back joking style is probably our best attribute.  We don’t take ourselves too seriously and aim for fun above all else.  This has led to raids taking 30+ minutes more than they should have simply because we goof off along the way and get wiped as one of our members does something completely silly.  There are a lot of laughs involved, so much so that guildies not in the run will just hang in vent with us for the fun of it all.  This makes us easy to approach and we tend to get new members after our Group Finder Ops and FPs.

Our other main difference is a lack of a long list of rules.  Our only rule is: Don’t be a jerk. 

Describe what an average day would be like for a member of your guild.

Players tend to hop in chat for and see if anyone is interested in doing what they want for the day and just playing together, or separate as they desire.  All the while joking in between missions and battles and taking breaks to help the lower leveled/geared players take on some of the tougher content.

Are you currently recruiting? If so, what kind of players are you looking for?

We always welcome anyone who wants to join us and can abide by our rule, and can enjoy the silliness. For a more detailed description, we have a forum post on our website that you can take a look at: http://hopes-light.enjin.com/forum/m/5343410/viewthread/3322256-how-who-to-recruit

Where can someone go to learn more about your guild?

Our website: http://hopes-light.enjin.com/home  is a nice place to just surf around and chat with us.  You are welcome to make an account with us even if you aren’t interested in joining the guild right away.

Anything else you would like to add?

Have another cookie (V^-^)>O

In fact have all the cookies!

O<(^-^)>O

Oh, and wear sunscreen.

We want to thank Ben and all of Hope’s Light for taking the time to talk to us. Don’t forget, if you are interested in having your guild featured in the Guild Spotlight you can submit an application on our official forums right here.

Thanks for reading.