Category Archives: Games

It’s been challenging co-leading my gaming clan (Australia in Diablo Immortal) over the past few months. Lots of ups and downs, but as of this morning we’re the Immortals of our server! I wrote up this announcement on our clan discord to thank all 100 of our members.

Hey all, this morning we woke up as Immortals!

Just wanted to say thanks to all who stuck with us through the leadership change, and to all members both new and old who put in the energy to push Shadow Wars over the past few weeks, we did it!

Special thanks to all our officers for morale support, especially Lunate for being our rock through our climb to the top. Thanks to Tazz for pushing me to be a better co-leader. Tazz and I are different people, with different values. We’ve butt heads, but we’ve worked through our differences and come out stronger each and every time.

In the past, in multiple IRL businesses I’ve run, I’ve found myself walking away from it all when shit hits the fan with my business partners. I think that was immaturity on my behalf. Working through stuff with Tazz. Listening to his ideas, thoughts and values in relation to the clan has been both challenging and highly rewarding.

The proof is in the pudding!

Loving the vibe in-game today. It feels like a reward for all the hard work and also a fresh start. Sure, not all of you will enjoy being an Immortal, but let’s just enjoy it whilst we can, and be happy for those who have never tried the Immortal experience in Diablo Immortal.

Have a great week all!

We won all our wars this week and we’re back in the top 10 clans on the server. SO GOOD! Very proud of my clan!

A post I made on reddit gets read out in it’s entirety in this video.

I’ve read through a LOT of complaints people have with DI since launch, but there’s one problem which I believe is greater than all, and that’s the Shadow vs Immortal mechanic.

Our clan was once super competitive and we became Immortals on our server. At some stage, due to politics, our leader crumbled under the stress involved in running our clan. The same thing happened to our next leader. I now find myself as the leader and I’m trying my best to not let the politics ruin the fun, but it’s not been easy.

At this stage of the game (especially since the server merges) it’s quite clear that only the strongest clans will become Immortal, and the Immortals will only align with the 2 strongest Shadow Clans. This means that it’s now probably impossible for many players to experience what it’s like to be Immortals in the game.

Since launch, after each rite we lose our strongest players who leave us to join the new Immortals. Never mind how much we’ve gotten to know each other (we have a very active discord and in-game chat, some of us have even met up IRL), and all those hours helping each other get our characters stronger. For some, the desire to become Immortal is above all.

The devs have created a game that pits us against each other and it’s obvious that this is by design, but in reality we’re more like minded than people may realise. Most of us in our clan live in the same country and we love playing Diablo, yet the mechanics of the game creates tension, much of it negative.

When you’re an Immortal you sometimes feel like many players on the server despise you. When you’re competitive you’ve got to have spies to manipulate and collect information on potential alliances which need to be made in order to become the next Immortals.

You can get lost in all the politics of the game, or you could simply choose to have fun and ignore it (and potentially lose a lot of clan members who desire to become Immortals). Personally I’ve tried to focus on what my clan does have, and that’s a great community of great people, but I’m also facing the reality that we’re probably not going to be Immortals again any time soon (or ever) as most of our clan are low spenders (I’m now the only one left with 3K res in the clan).

Whilst I understand that this is the nature of the game. I’m not 100% sure if the devs truly meant for it to get to where it’s at right now. IE: That in order to be Immortal you’re going to need a clan full spenders, and if you’re a F2P player, you might never get the chance to experience what being an Immortal is all about.

Would especially like to hear thoughts from other clan leaders, and whether or not you guys and gals might have suggestions on dealing with the politics.

/rant.

PS: Happy New Years!

I made this post on reddit, it’s getting some great responses! Check: https://www.reddit.com/r/DiabloImmortal/comments/1006yl2/the_one_true_biggest_problem_with_this_game/

Happy New Years all!

I’ve read through a LOT of complaints people have with DI since launch, but there’s one problem which I believe is greater than all, and that’s the Shadow vs Immortal mechanic.

Our clan was once super competitive and we became Immortals on our server. At some stage, due to politics, our leader crumbled under the stress involved in running our clan. The same thing happened to our next leader. I now find myself as the leader and I’m trying my best to not let the politics ruin the fun, but it’s not been easy.

At this stage of the game (especially since the server merges) it’s quite clear that only the strongest clans will become Immortal, and the Immortals will only align with the 2 strongest Shadow Clans. This means that it’s now probably impossible for many players to experience what it’s like to be Immortals in the game.

Since launch, after each rite we lose our strongest players who leave us to join the new Immortals. Never mind how much we’ve gotten to know each other (we have a very active discord and in-game chat, some of us have even met up IRL), and all those hours helping each other get our characters stronger. For some, the desire to become Immortal is above all.

The devs have created a game that pits us against each other and it’s obvious that this is by design, but in reality we’re more like minded than people may realise. Most of us in our clan live in the same country and we love playing Diablo, yet the mechanics of the game creates tension, much of it negative.

When you’re an Immortal you sometimes feel like many players on the server despise you. When you’re competitive you’ve got to have spies to manipulate and collect information on potential alliances which need to be made in order to become the next Immortals.

You can get lost in all the politics of the game, or you could simply choose to have fun and ignore it (and potentially lose a lot of clan members who desire to become Immortals). Personally I’ve tried to focus on what my clan does have, and that’s a great community of great people, but I’m also facing the reality that we’re probably not going to be Immortals again any time soon (or ever) as most of our clan are low spenders (I’m now the only one left with 3K res in the clan).

Whilst I understand that this is the nature of the game. I’m not 100% sure if the devs truly meant for it to get to where it’s at right now. IE: That in order to be Immortal you’re going to need a clan full spenders, and if you’re a F2P player, you might never get the chance to experience what being an Immortal is all about.

/rant.

It’s been a heavy few days, but Tazz and I are starting to make some progress with picking up the pieces, and working on a new shared vision for the clan. This is my draft piece, and since writing this Tazz has edited it to add some of his input, and where it’s all “I” and “me” in my original piece, our final piece is “we”, and man I feel good about it!

“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”

The dust hasn’t settled, but I think now is a good time to discuss clan goals going forwards. I think our greatest strength as a clan is not how well we perform in Diablo Immortal, but how interactive, beautiful and amazing our clan members are in real life. We’ve built up a pretty special community here of like minded individuals and we’ve created a safe space for members to share their lives outside of the game (no small feat!).

At this stage of the game, especially with the server merge, it’s obvious to see that the clans with the biggest whales on the server will be the ones who win future wars. For us to work so hard at going for the #1 spot at the detriment of both our mental and physical health makes no sense at all to me. With this in mind I’d like to propose that we focus on what we do have, and that’s each other.

“We’re here for a good time, not a long time”

I feel that our goal going forwards as a clan is to nurture our community and above all just have fun in the game with each other. Ultimately, people will always come and go from the games we play. Those of you who insist on becoming Immortals might not align with our new clan goals, and if it came to it, I’m sure many would be sad to see you leave, but I’m also sure everyone would both understand and respect your decision.

Thanking all of you in advance for your support and patience. Let me know what you all think, let’s have an open discussion in clan-chat.

Spilling the beans.