A message from Arianni 2014 has been a very exciting first year for Social Operations, also known as SOCOP, with good and bad experiences that we took along the road to where we are standing now. As one of the newest divisions within Operation Support, we are - as most people know responsible for TAW’s Social Media, moderating and maintaining the official Facebook group & page, Twitter, Steam group, Youtube and Twitch streaming. Together with our counterparts from the NEWS division, we try to keep you informed about everything happening within TAW! SOCOP has been founded in March this year in order to gain some structure and consistency within our media, mainly to improve our image even more towards people that are not (yet) in TAW. Having close to 1200 likes on our Facebook page for example, of which several new people joined TAW afterwards, I believe that we have succeeded. One of our goals for next year is to improve our standing on Facebook and start giving our Twitter a bit of a boost too to gain public followers. Another thing we have greatly improved on, and probably the most spoken about, is streaming. With currently 630 followers on our TAWTV Twitch channel, which has been active since july, we are very pleased with the amount of viewers we see on bigger streams. We are planning to do a big giveaway at 1000 followers, so feel free to share around: http://www.twitch.tv/tawtv Any donations are very much appreciated. With these, we can afford our giveaways on streams, sponsor our divisions during tournaments, plan trips to conventions (maybe even have our own booth) and much more! Together with the shop, we are also hoping to eventually be able to cover all of TAW’s server and administration costs. SOCOP is striving to gain new likes, followers and subscribers every day, so we can have a bigger outreach when announcing updates and events - and potentially more people joining in with us! Last but not least, we want to thank all of you guys that are reading this Newsletter - the streamers, followers, Twitch viewers and all the rest - for your support and for sticking around with us, and are hoping to see much more of this in 2015! We wish you and your families a happy holiday season and a great start into the new year. BGN Arianni Social Operations Corps Lt. Commander Want to help out with our media? Join our SOCOP channel on Teamspeak or send a mail to Social@taw.net and let us know what you can do for us!
TAW on the Social Media Scene The community of TAW has been expanding outward by means of social media. We are involved in, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and also Twitch. (If you do not know what twitch TV is. it is a free place for people to stream games as they play them.) If you are interested in checking out any of these exciting progressions for TAW; all you need to do is click on the appropriate link on the TAW website. They are located on the top left corner of the TAW website.
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INSURGENCY Plot: Two teams pitted against each other to secure point in certain locations, Destroy caches or just annihilate the whole anymore team, Which is everybody’s first and last resort .However what insurgency brings to the rather large and ever increasing FPS genre is its realism. From scouting the battlefield with the array of rifle scopes. To suppressing the enemy’s charge onto your territory with your trusty heavy machine gun, The game covers all bases with flying colours and in some cases…Bullets. Price: At a somewhat low price of $14.99 AUD the price is well worth the game play. With multiple game modes such as PVP and PVE you will easily get immersed in not just the growing community and friendly servers but also the raw action of a true realistic FPS that you can’t find in all FPS games. Play style: With a unique point system meaning you have to work for your guns and attachments in the heat of the battle make even the simplest of missions into bloodshed in a matter of seconds. This is a unique play style that not many other FPS games share. Every weapon, attachment and bullet type has a different value. To get more points you must accomplish a mission or objective. Simple you must be thinking? Well not quiet. The enemy will do everything they can, Player or AI alike, to stop you getting to powerful to handle. Its a very simple system but dangerous to the new players.
Interview with New: Spin up leader For Insurgency How does it feel to now be the spin up leader and what different jobs does that entail from your previous job as Executive officer? The promotion was very unexpected, but one I gladly received. SUL is a big responsibility. It's on me to make sure everyone does their job and our division succeeds as a unit. That being said, we have such an outstanding bunch that I have no doubts we will be out of horizon in no time! OK so now you’re in charge of Insurgency what goals have you set not just division based but also personally? We are currently prepping our guys to join in on the competitive side of things. That's something I've wanted to do since I first joined TAW, but with other priorities at hand it wasn't possible. We are now at that stage where we can finally focus on the fun stuff and make our mark on the community. The tournament was one such event. It was the first public event we've been to and, I'm proud to say, we turned heads! Where most groups showed up unorganized, we came off as very professional and a group that knows what they are doing! What makes insurgency different from all the other first person shooters such as Counter strike, Battlefield 4 and Heroes and General’s? While those are GREAT games, what really sets it apart is the realist, unforgiving, portrayal of the fight. While I personally have never served, through stories from friends who have and, of course, the big screen, most games are way too forgiving. With Insurgency, keeping your head down is a must! What are some of the highlights from insurgency that defines the game? I have always prided myself with being a good gamer. Perhaps, not PRO worthy, but better than the average gamer. Insurgency really sized me up! The first week I did terrible. The thing I had to over come was all the bad things the other games had taught me. Call of duty is probably the prime example. Running and gunning, leaping out in front of your enemies, and living to tell the tale is something that you won't hear much of in Insurgency. With one or two hits, at most, you're dropped and out of the round. It encourages you to work with your team; Not in the sense of Team fortress 2, or something, where roles play a big part, but rather which ever team has more organization and communication will win!
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INSURGENCY So if you were to give a new person who has no idea how to play the game, Well properly at least, Such as myself. some tips of how to play the game to beat some of his friends, What would they be and what is a good strategy to bring into all matches? The first would be your load out. Grab the armor piercing ammo and, while not permitted in league play, the heavy armour. Rushing blindly will get you killed. Speed is key, but until you know the maps take all the time you need to watch your corners! Now for a personal question but what is your favourite Christmas carol? Jingle bells, of course! And with that Gamer girls and Boys. That wraps up this insightful look into the new game to take vanguard by storm.
See you on the frontlines Havoxa[NEWS]
Server infrastructure change Our team has finished analyzing the data from last Sunday when our Teamspeak server crashed throughout the day and I wanted to update everyone on what we’ve found. During peak scheduled practice times, when the Teamspeak bot is accessing the database updating everything from promotions, attendance, onboarding, email, etc., the resources on our current server are maxed out by this interaction causing Teamspeak to crash. We’ve had the same server since 2009 when we were 600 members and quite frankly we are a victim of our own success and have out grown our server’s capabilities. Also the database has exceeded 9 Gb and is over 90% fragmented which contributes to the instability of the server. We had intended to upgrade our server when the new website was rolled out but, recent events have forced us to do so now. We have purchased a new server and are in the process of migrating the website and Teamspeak. This is going to be a huge project and our IT team is in the early stages of starting this process. In order to assure the stability of Teamspeak on Sundays and in part due to the fragile state of the database and to avoid corruption, we are unfortunately going to have to turn the website off on Sundays only until further notice. I apologize for the huge inconvenience and we will do everything we can to get back to normal as soon as possible.
Bravehardt, General of TAW Please notice that the teamspeak password changed if you don’t know the new one contact your CoC Smypm
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In the Scope Interview with 2LT JellyMish
Let's get to know you - can you describe yourself in five words?
Overly enthusiastic poro lover ♼ Tell us about your history in TAW.
I joined TAW almost two years ago and been here ever since. Became a DI after about a month and became SO after around three months. I was promoted before my CO had even asked me if i wanted to become SO because he had gone ahead with asking for my promotion before talking to me about it, so one of the first things i did as an SO was yell at my CO. What was your initial impression of TAW?
Was a bit overwhelmed at first by the amount of people, but i have not ever regretted joining. My battalion.is full of awesome people!
Tell us about your current division, and what you do there.
I've always been in the league of legends division and like I mentioned earlier I am the SO of my battalion.So I get to meet and talk to all of the new members, which I've always enjoyed. What would you like someone considering joining TAW to know?
TAW is just an awesome place to find people to play with and has something to offer both to people just wanting to play for fun and for people wanting to play to improve on their game. I really love having the code of ethics around cause it makes everyone around me much calmer and enables me to enjoy my game instead of being yelled at by random people. Do you have any special hobbies or activities outside of TAW?
What's your favorite thing about TAW?
The people in TAW. I get sad every time someone disappears or transfers away from my battalion. How does TAW affect your offline life? I have a kind of sick obsession with checking the onboarding for new applicants and bumping the recruitment threads, does that count? What's your favorite retro video game? Why?
Final fantasy 9 is by far my most favorite retro game. I grew up watching my father and sister play videogames and that is one of the first ones i remember ever played myself. If you could choose any TAW member to be stranded on a desert island with, who would it be and why?
I'm going to be greedy and mention several members. Blondie and Quagon ALWAYS make me laugh when they're in the same room so I'd definitely bring them along just so I wouldn't be bored. They would probably end up throwing coconuts at each other in an epic fight till the ends of time. There's a guy who used to be a TAW member named Mortem, I'd bring him along so I would have someone to sing songs with while the epic showdown is going on. I would also like to bring Urkosh so he could make random funny/interesting remarks about all the stuff going on and so I would have someone to get into pointless discussions with. Do you admire any celebrities? Why or why not?
I have a hard enough time remembering the names of people I've met. Ain't nobody got time for remembering people I will never ever meet.
I sing and do voice overs with a group of friends.
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In the Scope Interview with CPT Dalektaera Let's get to know you - can you describe yourself in five words? No I can't. I'm a longtime gamer, started gaming at an early age. Started teamplay with my friends in "highschool" and was in different clans and guilds in many games over my casual career. In RL I'm a German dude, doing some programming for a small company. Tell us about your history in TAW. I joined TAW back in January 2012, shortly after Planetside 2 went public. I joined TAW, because I looked for an outfit back then (and you have to do teamplay to achieve anything in this game) and ... well TAW asked me first. After about half a year I took over a job as DI and was quickly asked to do the job as SO (you know how the players don't like to take positions, so there's always a free job). Seems I did good and when our CO stepped down, I was asked to do the job. With some experience in leading and organizing (I was once a clanleader for a Quake 3 clan), I was chosen. Here I am still, loving to play with the EU battalion. What was your initial impression of TAW? Nice guys, cool rules, good organization, sooo many games and players, no clue what the ranks and position do. But I had fun from day one and love to play with the same people. Tell us about your current division, and what you do there. Captain Dalektaera, commanding officer of the PS2 EU battalion, 3rd corps, TAW reporting for duty. Planetside is a game in constant flux. As such, players come and go. As CO I try to keep my battalion alive and well. Looks like the same everywhere, though our Australian buddies seem to have a good time. In general I'm only with my battalion (playing on NA or OC servers is not as easy due to ping) and try to get people to play together with us and to join us for even more fun. What would you like someone considering joining TAW to know? It can be hard not to swear, but the atmosphere that is thus created is, in my opinion, totally worth it. Else we are like any other gaming organization if you only stay with your game, but once you try to look into the rest of TAW you will be amazed what is going on and how big we actually are. How does TAW affect your offline life? Not much, but that is mostly because most of my spare time I'm online. Sometimes there is stuff to do, to organize, but that takes not as much time as one may think.
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Do you have any special hobbies or activities outside of TAW? Of course. Programming I made into a living, doing it as a job in RL. I still do read a lot (mostly fantasy and science fiction), watch movies and TV shows. I did several different sports: fencing (floil), archery (recurve) and recently took up some climbing (boulder). Of course I like to hang out with friends, chatting drinking a beer or two and doing one or the other partey. If you could change one thing about TAW, what would it be? The website. Still! I know people are on it, but it's been two years now and there are some things that could be improved. Else: TAW is awesome! Tell us about some of the people you've met during your time in TAW. The first guy I met was my DI, Hectic, who unfortunately had to leave us. His invite (some whisper in game) was what hooked me from the beginning. Dakta, also already left, a very patient dude who explained a lot to me about the game. Monsta, my first CO, who had the confidence in me to suggest me as his successor. SeRoMcArthur, my first DC who guided me a lot in the beginning of being a CO. I also like to work with my commanders, so a shoutout to Otter, Lokithelost and Misdoubtful. Special thanks to all the officers who helped and help me run my bunch of misfits, most of all my current XO Strangeworld. What's your favorite thing about TAW? That's a tough one. It's hard to name a thing, I just feel good with TAW and I think that is special. I do like the rule about no swearing, as I do not like the harsh words (even if I sometimes slip). What might our readers be surprised to know about you? Perhaps not the readers per se, but if you had the opportunity to listen to me in the TS, you might be surprised I'm actually a dude. There was some debate going on in the beginning, as I sound a bit female and prefer female avatars. Else I think there is nothing out of the ordinary with me. If you could choose any TAW member to be stranded on a desert island with, who would it be and why? I'd strand Strangeworld with me. First and foremost I think together we can make it off again and if not, I doubt we get bored much with each other, having many common interests.
Planetside 2 What is planetside? Planetside 2 is a free to play massively multiplayer online first person shooter with a focus on combined arms warfare. This includes infantry, vehicular and aircraft gameplay similar to battlefield but on a much larger scale. All players play on one single server where battles can range from 12 vs 12 up to over 100+ vs 100+. Most players never forget the first time they see platoon size armour and air movements crashing together. There are three factions or teams that you can join. Vanu Sovereignty, Terran Republic or the New Conglomerate. With all three sides now reasonably balanced though each with their own distinctions. These factions all fight for control over four continents which hold 1000 players each. These continents can be locked or dominated granting a bonus to the faction which locked it. TAW currently has 3 battalions for planetside. One US (Emerald), One European (Miller) and one Oceanic (Briggs). What Is server smash? Server smashes are huge community organised competitive events pitting servers against each other. Each server is tasked with organising their team for each match. With a requirement of the servers that the teams are representative of their servers and an effort made to ensure they are fair to all members of their server not just the elite. Recent match sizes have been a 288 v288 tournament for the two european and american servers. A large test Three way of 240 players a side but with three sides Briggs (oceanic server), Miller (european server) and cobalt (european server). The matches are two hours of grueling combat with flash points on the 64 square kilometer map ranging from squad versus squad (12 v`12) to full force engagements. These matches are draining and brutal affairs to to how in planetside dearth is an inconvenience and not a problem and down time for players can be a short as 10 seconds after death the fights come down to a mixture between individual skills of the players involved, the tactics of the various platoon and squad leads and the over force allocation of the overall force commander. These matches are truly combined arms as typically for a 240v 240 match each side often brings between 24 and 48 dedicated pilots which for the infantry can lead to some brutal counter offences as a single platoon (48 players) on an offensive push close to capping a base can be can have a large enemy infantry force redeploy to attempt to defend the base while at the same time being hit but dozens of aircraft. Where else can you have a ground battle involving over an hundred players that might also have 50 aircraft dogfighting above for air superiority. These matches are all streamed by planetside battles the community organisation that does all the organisation to make them happen. All the members of planetside battles are players themselves and all volunteers. TAW Participation in Server Smash The various battalions for TAW have had differing levels of participation in server smash. With both the european and oceanic battalions getting in as often as they can. The oceanic battalion has been in every server smash briggs has participated as the smaller server pop makes it easier to get in. The division commander has even had the dubious honour of force commanding two of the the Briggs teams for server smash. For those that want to know more about the matches here are a few recorded streams and videos from previous matches: The three way match: http://www.twitch.tv/planetsidebattles/b/598766262 Briggs versus emerald hightlights (240 v 240): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CW3T2F3Opo (Content warning: has multiple player point of view together and a couple of them do swear a little.) All three battalions will welcome any member of TAW that wants to drop by to come play with them. All three battalions are currently recruiting. https://www.planetside2.com
Lokithelost [PS DC] Taskaa [PS PI]
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League of Legends Hello fellow TAW members! My name is Quagon, and I’m the current XO in our League of Legends battalion for Europe Nordic and East, and I’ve been asked to do a small article to inform all of you guys, just exactly what we’re doing. We’ll, currently we are having an in-house tournament for our members named “Kings of the League” and have been streaming the matches we’ve had in our “Round Robin” setup. We’ve experienced hardships, we’ve experienced sorrow and of course we have experienced a great deal of happiness from all of the teams, as they have fought their way over Summoners Rift for the victory. In this tournament we have 5 different teams, all with quite interesting names: 1.
Wrong Direction
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Fire Angels
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The Predators
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Banana Menace
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Everything is a Joke
As the Round Robins progressed we had an obvious favorite, as everyone seemed to believe that “Everything is a Joke” would be the winners of all of their matches. And as we neared the remaining two matches for our Round Robins, it was all-or-nothing for “Wrong Direction” since not only did they have to win their last match to stay in the tournament, but they also needed another team, “The Predators” to lose their last match. Having a lot of tension and stress for the last match of the Round Robins, “The Predators”, only needed to win, but there was one big issue. They were matched against the favorite team “Everything is a Joke”, the only team so far in the tournament, to not have lost a single match. But as only an underdog can manage, “The Predators” came out on top, finishing the last match of the Round Robins, with one win against the juggernaut of the Round Robins, and progressed onwards to the Semi-Finals. Thursday, 18th of December, 2014, the first Semi-Final was completed where we had a “Best out of 3” match between: “Everything is a Joke” and “Banana Menace”. The first match was started, and the teams started out slow, but somewhere in the mid-game, “Everything is a Joke” took matters into their own hands and pressured forwards, finishing the win, and claiming the first win of the SemiFinals. And just like the 1st match, the 2nd match between those two teams looked quite the same, since once again, “Everything is a Joke” took matters into their own hands in the mid-game, and pressured for the win. With “Everything is a Joke” as our first Final team, the whole battalion can’t wait to see the match between “The Predators” and “Fire Angels”, to figure out, just which two teams will finish on top, and fight against each other to claim the price, the honor of winning, and all the bragging rights it entails. Everyone is free to come join and watch the stream as always, and Good Luck to the teams. Quagon [LL 2XO]
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The End of the Year BF4 EU Event Welcome to the End of the Year event from the Battlefield 4 EU Battalion. On Sunday the 21.12.2014 between 18:30 and 21:30 gmt we will hold a Event where we would like to see you all. We are going to play some different Gamemodes in Battlefield 4 and we do also have some cool prizes to win. Battlefield 4 Premium DLC 2x Assassins Creed - Black Flag Counter strike: GO Rome Total War II - Emperor Augustus Edition Thief - The Master Thief Edition The Last Remnant Metro Redux Bundle
Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light Deus Ex - The Fall Nosgoth - Warlord Pack BioShock Triple Pack Witcher 3 Endless Legend Murdered: Soul Suspect Pricers might change*
So if you are interested in some new gamemodes for Battlefield 4 and if you like to join us at our End of the Year Event then meet us on the 21. of Dezember in the Battlefield HQ on the TAW Teamspeak and check your Event page for further Information See you on the Battlefield The Battlefield EU Staff
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