Arise TWA!

Greetings all,

TWA had it's first Kin Meeting in over 4 years tonight, and it's fair to say that it was a big success! The full minutes can be read here. 
I'd like to thank everyone who not only attended, but also those who got in touch over the last few days, it was brilliant to hear from you all and to hear so many familiar voices again!

I'd like to quote from the meeting's minutes:

The immediate goals of the kin:

• Activity: to regain a core group of active regular players in LotRO. To encourage those, and those older players who cannot log ingame but want to remain part of the community, to be active on the forums and on our Discord channel.
  
  
• Encouragement: To help all characters at all levels. With a lot of old players and lower level characters returning to LotRO, and specifically the kin, it is incumbent on all kin members to help out.
  
  
• Build: Towards regular grouping for quests and events. The principal endpoint of a restored kinship will not be endgame raiding, that must be emphasised. But it is an achievable option for those of us who want it.
  

This will require all of our input. So this thread will form a little to-do list. A miscellany of tasks that we can complete as a community to get ourselves going again.

The Council:
As you guys who attended the meeting will know, we will hold council elections in one month's time (details to follow this week in a separate dedicated thread). Until that time, I think it's important to spell out those who can help you as we get back into the game.

• Leader: Eresmir
  
• Deputy: Kairos
  
• Officers: Thoronthor, Arohtar, Crucio, Grimdoin
  
• Honourary Council Members: Belegwe, Ingaras
  

So those above are who you should contact if you have any queries, or want an invite, or an alt invited etc. We will be hosting an officer meeting in the weeks ahead. Minutes will follow as always.

Returning to the Game:
A lot has changed in Middle-Earth in the last 4 years. Players will return to find a better game in my opinion, linked intricately to Tolkien's universe, with more group content, interesting gameplay and beautiful landscapes then ever before. But trait-trees? Gondor? Mordor? featured instances? new skills?  Standing Stone Games?! It can be a lot to take in. 

So current active endgame players, where available, will post class guides to our Class Tactics Board. I will do champ (with help from Hroth I hope), Kai will do Hunter, Aro Warden. I invite every member to contribute or even start their own class thread.

A great place to start for returning/new players is Arohtar's game updates: May 2017, June 2018.
Turbine have left LotRO and been replaced by Standing Stone Games.
The most recent release notes, including class updates, can be found here.

Recruitment:
Former members have been contacted through email and via the Facebook Group (which we should all join). All returning members will be automatically promoted to their former ranks.

Recruitment of new members should (and has) start immediately. All new initiates should post an introduction in our recruitment forum. They will then be interviewed by an officer ingame before an invite. The recruiting officer should create a thread in the initiate forum. Any member who has interaction with a recruit should post feedback in the thread which will be deleted after the three week initiation. Any council member, or 3 full members, can veto a recruit.

Website and Discord:
There are some issues to fix here. 

• The website is in dire need of a spring clean. A lot of outdated stickys, forums, threads etc. from the time of our hiatus. Those hawk eyed amongst you will undoubtedly have noticed that that is already beginning to be addressed. It will continue over the course of the next month.
  
• We desperately need an even scheduler. I'll be looking into this with hopefully a little help from Crucio.
  
• The layout needs work. Unread posts does not include all forums (open council board for example where I would like to post the meeting minutes). It also doesnt appear anywhere but the home forum page. 
  
• Permission for both Discord and the website will be worked on. I made our Discord server public to facilitate the meeting, once permission as sorted with Crucio I will reverse that.
  

Your suggestions are welcome.


That'll do for starters. Its only a rough guide and all of the above is subject to change.
Please reply to this thread with your own suggestions, ideas, solutions, etc.

It's great to be back folks. Let's all push to be active ingame or on the forums/discord as we push towards our shared goal, a vibrant TWA community once again.

Le meas,

Eres

Hi Eres,

Checked Discord and you have all permissions bar renaming or moving server location...

Going to start messing around with a CMS to wrap around the forums, similar to SMF of years gone by.

Cru

How will we recruit? Who do we want to recruit? Where should we recruit and what should we say?

We’ll need to start considering the answers to those questions.

Should we discuss this here or in a new thread?

How will we recruit? Who do we want to recruit? Where should we recruit and what should we say?

We’ll need to start considering the answers to those questions.

Should we discuss this here or in a new thread?

Here is fine.

Recruitment of new players is a topic of discussion at the next council meeting. I know some of us have already been in contact with players in-game about joining. I have also received multiple emails from old payers about rejoining. If they agree to, as stated above, they will be immediately promoted.

Recruitment of new players at any level above 30 and of any class is encouraged. I'd like people's opinion on world advertising.
As for what an officer should do or say to them, here is the recruitment guide.

So, for example, whomever invited Kita or Kadharina should ask them to create a thread in the recruitment forum to introduce themselves, then create a thread on them in the initiate forum and ask a forum administrator to amend their permissions. Believe that was Kai?

I'm sorry I missed the meeting. I cant remember the reason right now but hey ho... Excuses
Regarding any help I can offer to you... I play most of my time in the Ettens just like I used to in Moria / Mirkwood so anything regarding PVP I can answer or help you with. I've also got to know a few people that do the T2C of the current raids, although I personally haven't done any myself if you plan to do that in the future I can put you in contact with the people that know the strategies.