Under New Management

Salutations my fellow Guardians, So as you may have seen in the news today, Rub has abdicated and left me in charge. I therefore feel compelled to put a few words down in memorium. As I look back on the first year of Destiny and indeed this clan, I'm surprised. Suprised that I am here for a start. Sat here, is a solid gamer, but very much a solo gamer. Previously my biggest multiplayer experiences were (in chronological order) Mario Kart, Super Bomberman, Halo (lan parties exclusively) and Gears of War (story mode). My wife meanwhile was wiling away the wee hours on World of Warcraft. An obsession I just couldn't understand. Playing with all these strangers she claimed to be friends, but she'd never met them? How could this be? Fast forward 10 years and I purchase Destiny. As a huge Halo fan, why wouldn't I. Yet as level 20 neared and the confusing light level system approached I became lost. Pet Revenge arrived in the tower and soloing those missions was beyond my scrub-like abilities. Enter Eurogamer. As a long time reader and infrequent poster (I'm artforthemorbid there) I stumbled across the Destiny forum and signed up. It seemed if I wanted to play the game past 20, I'd have to... play with others. So I signed up to the clan and in turn the fabled Vault of Glass. While the exact date of my joining has been lost in the sands of time (or discoverable by someone with more knowledge than I) my first journey into the Vault was on 24th October 2014. I was nervous, I'd be playing with complete strangers, having to represent myself as more than a mere scrub. I was reminded of my wife's joy in playing the raids in WoW. Was this what she always went on about. Was I wrong? Well it got off to a poor start, we were a man down! Apparently the person supposed to be leading us on this journey of discovery would be on late! So I find myself on Venus, defending plates not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing. Am I enjoying this? Where are the linear paths? Why does that Minotaur have it in for me? Can we 5 man this? Then out of the mists rides a saviour. Southafrimike rocks up and helps to secure the plates and open the mighty door to the Vault. Wow! That was amazing, so dynamic and thrilling. Maybe playing with strangers isn't so bad after all, and as Southafrimike waves us goodbye, our guide turns up fashionably late. Rubthisway then proceeds to introduce himself and us to the adventure that lays ahead. Mike1980UK, Sid1567, Dazman81, Crazy_San_San and myself then engage in one of the most thrilling video game experiences I've ever had. I won't bore you with a blow by blow account, we've all defeated Atheon by now and are well versed in the machinations of the journey to get there. But that first raid opened my eyes to the wonders of a MMO world. In turn this was in no small part to our tardy guide. With infinite patience and guidance he saw us through, never shouting if we stumbled or blaming if we (me) scrubbed. Throughout this first year Rub has selflessly given up his time to support myself and many of the great members of this fine clan. As a "Founder" it would be hard to imagine someone better suited, he would always be there to steer us in the right direction. But then came the DM; Rub was stepping down. My heart sank, for our clan would be a poorer place without him. Thankfully he clarified, he wouldn't be moving on, just stepping down as founder and would I take up the mantle? A self proclaimed solo gamer. Someone who couldn't understand his wife's engagement with the MMO world of Warcraft. The friends she made but never met. Yet here I am, logging in to the world of Destiny every free moment I can. Of course to play this fantastically well crafted video game (flaws and all), but more than that, so I can meet up and chat away with the friends I've never met. I truly am constantly amazed by both the community of Destiny; it's many engaging streamers and YouTube personalities, but especially the community that makes up this quite amazing clan. I can truly say I've met people here that I consider friends. Looking back at this first year I have many of my own 'moments of triumph'. All of them involved someone in this community. So allow me to indulge in those. There's the aforementioned jaunt into the Vault of Glass. My first Nightfall where my first exotic weapon (TLW) dropped, and some guy I was playing with got their 2nd or 3rd Gjallarhorn. You'll have to ask him which it was, goes by the handle compu73e. My first blind raid run was Crota's End where we got stuck at the bridge but finally made it across before the night ended, all under the stewardship of Egrimal. A Guardian who has been absent for far too long along, and along with Rub absolutely deserves a mention in those that, for me at least, made this clan great. He also features in my next 'mot', going flawless in Trials, along with the mighty mighty back of Jambii. My nightfall cohorts and Guardians who were there when Gjallarhorn finally dropped for me on the first day of House of Wolves, compu73e and highburygooner. The members of The Dream Team (no not Rhabby_V, BlueWestlo and Mr. Fruit) compu73e and Sniper, who worked with me on a weekly basis to punish Skolas for all his indescetions. And back to Rubthisway, who helped on many an occasion (along with at various times, Restart_Reborn, compu73e and Wolfsbane14) get those all important 5 wins on a single Trials ticket, so my Titan can look as good as she does. So of course I said yes. I absolutely cannot wait to share this next year with you all as we take down Oryx, venture deep into the Dreadnaught to tackle King's Fall, and shape this community into new and exciting avenues along the way. It's something we will all do together, so please, this is an open forum and its your community that I am simply here to ensure meets your expectations. You can always contact me with questions, ideas and requests or the fantastic group of admins. Sniper of course you know, but as part of this change, brings new admins who I'll announce soon. My friends, we are only just getting started. "Eyes up Guardians, eyes up..."