Hi everyone, I currently help run ETL, or rather ETL's SEA division of SC2. It was formed in May or so, and I took a pretty big risk by joining it as only it's 3rd member (although this was fate. I applied for ipr but Arrival was late in getting back to my email. He eventually accepted me...a couple of days after I joined ETL.)
However, I went and recruited a few people, including 3 GMs. One of the GMs we recruited was FeartheSky (not to be confused with the ETLFearTsky currently in SEA GM, who is Wehrmacht) who apparently (I just found out today) is actually TAVoices. What the ****. We had ******* VOICES on ETL and he never thought to say "SUP! I'm Voices." He mentioned he used to be on cR but jesus >_<
We actually played a couple of clan wars and had good practice nights, and although we didn't win those clan wars, it was a great experience and it looked like my risk paid off and ETL was definitely going to be a name SEA could expect to see for a while. Typhoon (ETL's SEA manager type person) appointed me as the Captain due to my efforts in recruitment and organizing clan wars.
It was around this time that everything went to shit. FeartheSky (Voices) got ChowMuddha's alternate account that we generously provided him as one of his stipulations for him joining ETL into Diamond and suddenly...vanished. Gone without a trace. Disappointing, but okay. When Fissure joined ETL he said he had family issues and would not be able to play much. That's fine. At least he told us. We recruited Branno and Halt, but then Paradox (another GM) decides that he's bored of SC2 and stops playing. Relic (a guy who was pretty much a mainstay for ETL's first few weeks) is "not motivated" to play and Rawrser and Lithium just plain never get on. (We also had a Diamond Terran named Psych and he decided that ETL wasn't good enough for him and that he would jump to TCP)
Now, I'm not angry at those people. StarCraft is only a game after all, and real life takes priority. I would be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated though. That's half our roster that is inactive. ETL was going SO WELL and not only does half our roster vanish, I am unable to get any new recruits either.
SEA has too many damn clans, which makes it really hard to get new members. Out of the five or so people looking for clans I've PMed recently, the two who actually bothered to reply were like "I got like five offers but I'll give it a look." and then you just feel hopeless, because you genuinely know that ETL offers nothing over ******* sR or mGG or whatever with their 1 billion GM players for practice. We have our own TeamSpeak server! We have our own team jerseys! But no one gives a damn.
It's really brought about a lot of stress recently, because I've really been trying to get ETL some new members so we can actually start having clan wars and good, solid practice nights again. I'm highly envious of sRGRiM. He's like 14 and runs what is currently the most powerful clan in SEA.
It's also damned frustrating when people post in the 'Looking for clan' thread, you PM them with details about ETL and then they...don't reply. There's quite a few people guilty of this. If you're going to turn down the offer, have some ******* courtesy and take the 30 seconds to say "No thanks." or the 2 minutes to explain why rather than leaving me in the dark.
But to end this blog with something positive, I would like to say how happy I am to have the active six that we do. At the moment ETL is less of a clan and just 6 friends having fun and playing games together. ChowMuddha has gone from Silver to Platinum thanks to ETL. Thanks to Wehrmacht, Branno, Typhoon, Halt and ChowMuddha for sticking with ETL even when it's not currently going anywhere. You guys inspire me and stop me from basically ragequitting ETL. Thanks a lot.
___________________________________ The Transformer Zerg, Jadron Burgerman @Soundwave
You are an extremely hard working player and manager and I can feel your frustration. I managed HT back then and I had trouble leading my clan to success. In the end it just takes a lot of effort. At the moment, I'd say ToR are probbaly stronger than ToR or TA in terms of community's and their core players. Spartaz and Baldie have put a lot of work into the scene like casting, setting up clan wars, actively scouting and the rest (which I don't doubt that you don't do) that have lead them to MVP status and an amazing Team + Clan.
Try and set up and ETL thread so that people know more about ETL and how to get in. I'm happy that the ETL players have been sticking with you and that they help you to reach for higher heights in the scene ^^
You are an extremely hard working player and manager and I can feel your frustration. I managed HT back then and I had trouble leading my clan to success. In the end it just takes a lot of effort. At the moment, I'd say ToR are probbaly stronger than ToR in terms of community's and their core players. Spartaz and Baldie have put a lot of work into the scene like casting, setting up clan wars, actively scouting and the rest (which I don't doubt that you don't do) that have lead them to MVP status and an amazing Team + Clan.
Try and set up and ETL thread so that people know more about ETL and how to get in. I'm happy that the ETL players have been sticking with you and that they help you to reach for higher heights in the scene ^^
I thought about setting up a big ETL thread complete with stuff like interviews so people could know more about our players. I kinda lost track of it recently though.
___________________________________ The Transformer Zerg, Jadron Burgerman @Soundwave
To me it's always been quality over quantity.
Not to say GRiM is wrong, he's done a good job with grabbing people and convincing them to join sR, no doubt a very strong clan. That's how he's recruited. mGG is also one of the biggest clans on SEA, they took in just about anyone who asked. Again, not wrong but a different approach. Others are specialist clans (i.e SPR for Koreans, ToT for Chinese).
All clan/teams have different or varied ways in which they look/take in players.
Good example is aLt, who do a lot of observing before they invite players.
FaDe, we have a 3 officer recommendation system that judges character over skill.
Being a recruitment officer is probably tough, but you have to have patience. Look for the gems out there, the awesome dudes with great character and work ethic. Sometimes it just takes time to find the right person/people. Teams can take months of planning to form together.
So don't give up, chin up and chest out!
Also, FaDe will be happy to war you! We're in channel 'Clan FaDe' if you're looking for us and we can organise a time =D.
All the best mate.
___________________________________
And You Will Shed Tears of Scarlet
Clan FaDe always in my Heart
To me it's always been quality over quantity.
Not to say GRiM is wrong, he's done a good job with grabbing people and convincing them to join sR, no doubt a very strong clan. That's how he's recruited. mGG is also one of the biggest clans on SEA, they took in just about anyone who asked. Again, not wrong but a different approach. Others are specialist clans (i.e SPR for Koreans, ToT for Chinese).
All clan/teams have different or varied ways in which they look/take in players.
Good example is aLt, who do a lot of observing before they invite players.
FaDe, we have a 3 officer recommendation system that judges character over skill.
Being a recruitment officer is probably tough, but you have to have patience. Look for the gems out there, the awesome dudes with great character and work ethic. Sometimes it just takes time to find the right person/people. Teams can take months of planning to form together.
So don't give up, chin up and chest out!
Also, FaDe will be happy to war you! We're in channel 'Clan FaDe' if you're looking for us and we can organise a time =D.
All the best mate.
I feel like there is a lot of potential in the BSG scene and GPD scene. As Soundwave said, a lot of his players mentioned that their players lacked the will to compete or continue playing. I think a good step is paying attention to players that frequently join BSGs and GPDs because those are the players that want to improve and compete. I feel like UnDone's second last paragraph mentioned something great though.
Shit sucks man. I, for one, have massive respect for not only yourself, but how much effort you put into ETL, and that really speaks to me personally man.
Here at IXL we've been having a few minor problems that are similar to yours, but by the sounds of it, nowhere near as extensive.
I, personally, believe in ETL, as well as that you will pull through this and help an even more powerful clan emerge after all the problems get sorted out.
imo if ure gonna continue with etl maybe lessen the joining requirements for now. you can increase them as time goes by and offer jerseys/accounts to only the best / most loyal members. a recruitment thread might be good too to bring more attention to your clan. gl with it
*oh snap thats exactly what you did already, haha awesome!
imo if ure gonna continue with etl maybe lessen the joining requirements for now. you can increase them as time goes by and offer jerseys/accounts to only the best / most loyal members. a recruitment thread might be good too to bring more attention to your clan. gl with it
*oh snap thats exactly what you did already, haha awesome!
The only requirements at the moment are getting TeamSpeak and Xfire, and those are enforced by the EU management and is something I have no control over.
___________________________________ The Transformer Zerg, Jadron Burgerman @Soundwave
Haha I felt like he exaggerated our clan is no where near close to being the best most likely most improved as we went from a 5-8 member clan with Plat-GM to a 30+ Dia/Masters/GM clan.
I can tell your a really hard working person Soundwave with the current SEA yeah there is alot of clans and recruiting can be hard but it was also difficult for us when we needed to expand from a small clan to a bigger clan as we had to compete with ToR/mGG.
From what I can see you and GriM sort of share the same leadership charisma you should definitely go for quality over quantity as UndoNe mentioned. I feel like you shouldn't do all the recruiting yourself and should also have someone to support you as well we were lucky to have GriM to know many players that weren't in a clans and went through alot of effort to convince them to join sR. We also had luck with the GPD scene where Dante won the GPD with Benji casting which got players on Benji stream interested in us then Junho won GPD which got some more players interested. GriM also had alot of support too from the clan which is how we got the clan to where it is now it took us months so you should be patient too
I can feel you soundwave and yeah it can be tough
If I were to look at all the players that joined FaDe then left for another clan or game (even the founder of the clan up and left to play LoL) then those numbers would exceed the members in TA two or three fold I suspect
At least 3 former FaDe members have switched to sR which is much more disheartening than guys leaving cause they want a more casual or relaxing game.
But don't let it get you down too much - a small group of core members will sustain you and if you keep doing your thing then more members will join.
Best of luck
Why don't you try to look into the GPD brackets and PM players that aren't in clans I'm sure players in the GPD are quite competitive and are looking to improve. You too also played in the GPD and I'm sure you'll get along with the GPD players. Starting at the GPD area should be a great start it's what I recommended GriM to do when he wanted to expand and most of our GPD players has improved to Masters/GMs now
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