For the most part, the Upper Echelon will remain untouched, however I think it would benefit everyone if I went through the ranks and described them so everyone knows what and who to look for.

Lucavi
That's me! I generally run the day-to-day management of the FC, and am the only person who can adjust the FC Ranks and discharge inactive members. I set it up this way so there's a centralized 'bad guy.' Some may not agree with how things are done and I always listen to constructive criticism, but have a zero tolerance policy for collusion and back-stabbing. I will speak to people very directly if there's a problem, but not in such a public manner that can sow discontent among the masses. If you come to me with a problem, rest assured that the problem will be taken care of quickly and fairly, and any issue is as confidential as I can make it (some issues will require input from my officer pool, but they're also bound by confidentiality).

Zodiac Braves
These are the officers in the FC. As the name implies, there will be 12 Zodiac Braves in total (plus a 13th, FF-based Zodiac sign: Serpentarius, currently held by me). Each controls their own House, consisting of the following:

Fobnel Starlite, House Aries

Keyalin Evernight, House Libra

Luka Vahlens, House Sagittarius

Morphies Nightshaper, House Taurus

Eirik Aozaki, House Leo

Tiny Cupcake, House Virgo

Tyraeus Ashaia, House Gemini

Becoming a Zodiac Brave requires an interview process held over Ventrilo and some input/discussion by any and all officers present during that interview. These people are responsible for recruitment and talent scouting within the FC, as well as rule enforcement.

While we've had several officers come and go, I've generally been pleased as to having met and played with each and every one of them, and hope that everyone takes some time to get to know them as well.

Archadian Judge
This rank is currently our recruiter rank, however it is currently vacant. Responsibilities include both general FC recruitment as well as team-specific recruitment (mainly for our raiding groups or some specific roles that would benefit the FC). They are required to attend our bi-weekly officer meeting held on Sunday nights starting at ~10pm CST to keep everyone up to speed on how the recruitment is going. They are also your first main contact within the FC, and will show you the ropes on what is expected of you, how you can improve your standing within the FC, and what behavior to stay away from. This position reports directly to me, although some may be set up to recruit solely for specific raid groups and report directly to that groups Sin Hunter (raid leader).

Sin Hunter
This rank is our raid leader rank. Currently we have one raid leader, but for the most part, officers in each of the two raid groups have taken over: Morphies Nightshaper in Clan Death and myself in Clan Pestilence. Clan War is currently being used as a weekend EX Primal clear group, but is still in its startup phases. Clan Famine is wide open and if someone wanted to start that up, contact me and I'll try to get you pointed in the right direction. In general, Sin Hunters are responsible for making sure that everyone shows up on time for their raid, repaired and prepared. They are the ones who dictate how the fights go, but if a new or more efficient strat gets brought to their attention, a discussion regarding that strat can be done out of raid times. Debate during raid times is not considerate, and changes to the game plan should be dealt with outside of raid times. Sin Hunters are also required to attend our bi-weekly officer meetings to keep everyone up to speed on their individual raid progression, problems, and staffing needs.

I'm considering overhauling the Archadian Judge and Sin Hunter ranks, but will be putting more emphasis on getting the Middle Echelon up and running before tackling these slots. Look for more updates next week: Same Prowlers Time, Same Prowlers Channel.

Middle Echelon Reformation

After mulling this over for the past few weeks, I've decided that some major changes need to be made regarding our Middle Echelon ranks.

The main issue is that as more and more people get promoted, they are already taking the initiative to progress at their own pace through endgame content, so our motto 'developing new players into endgame raiders' hasn't really been applying. Coupled with the fact that Static Coil and EX Primal groups are limited to 8 players, some people may be feeling left out or get the impression that the FC has defined cliques or pays special attention to certain members. While I can't say for certain that these things aren't happening 100% of the time, it's my goal to at least help people feel more involved with the day-to-day activities within the FC. This sort of empowerment will allow even newer members to see the chain-of-command that is present here in the FC, and hopefully will give everyone a better sense of how they fit into the grand scheme of things and also give them something to do that will be for the greater good of the FC without creating favortism or elitism.That being said, a couple weeks ago I drafted up a rough idea regarding our Zodiac Braves and their roles within the FC. As their name indicates, each of these officers will represent one sign of the Zodiac, a total of 12 standard signs plus the FF-based sign of Serpentarius, which I occupy. Each officer was granted a 'house,' or a group of players that they will personally oversee. Mathematically speaking, if we had a full capacity of 512, each house would have roughly 39 people, with House Serpentarius holding 40. This way each member will know exactly who they should talk to if they have questions or concerns, and if that person can't answer the question, it gets bumped up to the next ranking 'officer' and continues on up the chain-of-command so no one person will be bombarded with mundane questions on a daily basis.

Now to the ranks:

At the head of each House you will find a Zodiac Brave. We currently have 7 Zodiac Braves and myself, so 8 of the 13 Houses have already been started. Members making the rank of SeeD are given a link to an application and once filled out, will be reviewed by the Zodiac Braves and myself. Sarcastic answers can lead to a non-promotion vote, relegating that player into a casual status, regardless on whether or not they wish to raid. Players that just want to be casual still need to fill out the application, but will be given duties more in line with what they want to do as a member of the FC.

The first rank of any House is the House Signifer. You may have noticed mobs with this title out and about in-game. They act as senior officers within a House and also its treasurer. Their main jobs include, but are not limited to, identifyin the needs of the house (such as members' gear upgrades, procuring or making a list of consumables for raiding, and monitoring gil donations). They're more of a second-in-command within their House, and answer directly to their individual Zodiac Brave.

Next up will be the House Centurions, answering to the Signifer. Each House will have 3-4 Centurions, all of which will be in charge of up to 10 House members. These are also senior members who have demonstrated their leadership skills and game knowledge. If a member of a House has a question or issue, this is your first point of contact.

Next up will be the House Munifex rank, answering to the Centurion. These are members that have been within the FC for a while, but have decided that they do not wish to have an active role in helping to run the FC. A lot of raiders will fit in this category, or other people just wishing to play the game on a more-than-casual basis. They are equal in rank to the Legionary, but more focused in their desire to do things (be it raid or PvP or even crafting/gathering).

Lastly, we have the House Legionary rank, also answering to the Centurion. These are newer members that either haven't decided what they want to do or just want to maintain a casual role within the FC.

We are also discussing how we can streamline our promotion process, which is currently a 60-day ordeal split between the Dark Kindred rank and the SeeD rank. I've proposed to cut this time down to 30-days, but to be fair, I would like to reduce the inactivity discharges down from 60 days offline to 30 days offline. This will hopefully allow people to get placed into their respective roles sooner, and help clear away inactive players more regularly. That being said, if you need to take a break away from the game, all you need to do is speak to your superior officers (via the chain-of-command above) and let them know that you'll be gone for a while. If done appropriately, you'll simply be put into a rank that makes you immune to discharge. However, if the break is much longer than originally anticipated and no further contact from you is made, a discharge may still occur.

Lower Echelon Reformation
Currently our Lower Echelon is reserved for new members and is a 60 day process of advancement so we can gauge individuals' performance and their ability to fit in with the group as a whole.

What we've been finding, however, is that people are simply outgrowing this trial period too fast. Most members can easily get into endgame raids within 30 days with steady, consistent play. Hell, even some casual players can achieve the appropriate ilvl required for some of the entry level raids.

That being said, we're planning on reducing the trial period from 60 days down to 30 days. Granted, we'll still get a handful of people that simply don't re-sub once their free trial comes to an end, but that's to be expected. By reducing the trial period, we're hoping we can engage all the new members into the FC earlier, making them feel like they have a spot at our proverbial table rather than just being a number in an ever-growing FC.

On the other hand, however, we currently have a 60-day inactivity discharge policy. This means that if you're offline for 60 days in a row, you're immediately kicked. Several unscrupulous FCs out there keep their inactives indefinitely to help bolster their numbers to the casual observer, but that's not what we're interested in. We're interested in maintaining active, engaged players, not just collecting names.

That being said, we're currently debating whether or not to keep the 60-day discharge policy or adopt a 30-day policy much like our promotion policy above. There are many pros and cons to both methods and we're looking at having a final resolution this coming Sunday (07-13). There have been many proposals, ranging from keeping our current structure to lowering to either 45 or 30 days.

While all these are viable options, one thing will remain a constant: If for any reason you will be taking a break from the game, just let me or any officer know either here on Facebook, on our website or in-game, and we will make a note of it. If you exceed whatever timeframe we decide on regarding a discharge and you've made prior arrangements, you won't have to worry about being kicked. However, if you haven't been on for an extended period of time and THEN say 'hey, I'm not going to be on for a while,' then we'll deal with it on a case-by-case basis. In some situations, emergencies come up, and those are understandable. In the past, however, we've had players simply vanish and then say they were taking a break. It's even worse if that player is part of a raid group, as finding replacements on short notice isn't fun and is really detrimental to a group's morale. So please, be considerate enough when you need to take a break to let us know and we can accommodate that.If you've been discharged, it's not the end of the world, however. If you haven't had some weird situations in your previous stay with us (such as leaving the FC for any reason and then coming back), we'll gladly take you back in. As a general rule, however, we have several reasons why someone may not be let back in to the FC:If you've left on your own accord twice, you will not be given a third chance, so please make sure you're not just falling for a 'grass is greener on the other side of the fence' situation.

If you've been discharged from the FC for something other than inactivity that has been deemed harmful to the FC itself. This includes excessive drama, racial slurs, general misconduct (or as we call it, conduct unbecoming), or any other general douchebaggery. You were kicked for a reason, and you have to own up to that. We're not here to be your parents, so please act like an adult while here.

In closing, the ranks will most likely be changing sometime next week to accommodate the new methods we will be implementing. My kneejerk reaction would be having the ranks as follows:

Upper Echelon

Lucavi

Zodiac Braves

Archadian Judge

Sin Hunter

Middle Echelon

House Signifer

House Centurion

House Decanus

House Legionary

Lower Echelon

SeeD

Kinderguardian

Deepground (alt rank/placement for inactive players that have cleared their absence ahead of time)

Returners (demotion rank after 30 days of inactivity OR if we're discharging at 30 days, this rank would simply cease to be)

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