One of the great pleasures in any MMO is when you belong to a quality guild that, as well as “getting things done” and featuring some top PvE and PvP gamers, also has a strong social side.

The picture below is the result of members deciding to get together for a group photo. In other words, 33 members (half the guild, or thereabouts), who thought it would be fun to simply meet in a central location and get some cool screengrabs. The group then dispersed. Some to do PvP; some to run dailies; some to go back to lower-level alts; some to craft; some to RP. Such is Beskar. We aren’t beholden to one playstyle and we wouldn’t have it any other way! Interested in us? Visit this page for more.

We love knocking over world bosses in The Old Republic.

BOSS: The Primal Destroyer
LEVEL: 50
LOCATION: Belsavis
CORDS: -450,-3450 (In the middle of the lake)
MAP: Click
PICTURE: Click

Eternity Vault? No problem when Beskar’s around.

We love knocking over world bosses in The Old Republic.

BOSS: Battledroid R4-GL
LEVEL: 32
LOCATION: Nar Shaddaa
CORDS: 2000,2800 (The map explains how to get there)
MAP: Click
PICTURE: Click

We love knocking over world bosses in The Old Republic. Sometimes we even do it shirtless!

BOSS: Grandfather
LEVEL: 22
LOCATION: Balmorra (Empire Only)
CORDS: -1900,1300 (A bit off shore in the very bottom left of the map)
MAP: Click
PICTURE: Click

We love knocking over world bosses in The Old Republic.

BOSS: Trapjaw
LEVEL: 30
LOCATION: Tatooine
CORDS: -1700,410 (Click the mysterious skull in the centre of the dead jawa to summon him)
MAP: Click
PICTURE: Click

We love knocking over world bosses in The Old Republic.

BOSS: Grandfather
LEVEL: 22
LOCATION: Balmorra (Empire Only)
CORDS: -1900,1300 (A bit off shore in the very bottom left of the map)
MAP: Click
PICTURE: Click

Given the fact that The Old Republic only launched (officially) nine days ago, it’s pretty amazing that this guild I created to be devoted to the game, Beskar, has just turned three years old.

As I’ve said before, had I known TOR wasn’t going to be released until late 2011, I don’t think I would have started the guild as early as December 2008, however, at the time, no one really knew what was going to happen. All we knew was that the game had been underway in semi-secrecy at Bioware for some years, so a launch in late 2009 (when the guild would have been established for a year), or maybe early 2010, seemed as likely as any other guess we could make at the time.

What this meant, of course, is that the guild had to stick together over a long period of time without an “official” game to play. This was no easy thing. Someone might join in, say, mid-2009 and, by the end of that year, be bored with the concept of a guild that existed primarily as a forum community and would walk away. Two years before the game was even due. Two years. It’s a wonder those of of who stayed the course over two or three years didn’t go crazy. Yet somehow, against the odds, we kept the faith.

And I guess, looking back, it wasn’t all hard-work and suffering; there have been some very clear advantages to starting so early. The game has barely just begun, for example, yet Beskar is extremely well-known at all levels: within Bioware, within the TOR community, and within our server environment.

This is useful as our members are a generally very sociable group of people and if that tag under our names in the game can “mean” something to people (and it seems to), then it opens doors for us to talk to people from outside our group and, more importantly, have those people want to talk back to us. It helps build community, inside and outside our server, and that’s always a very good thing.

So here we are. Happy third birthday, Beskar. You make me proud.

With great thanks to LittlePowell (#1234) for designing and producing the following, I would like to present the following Honour Roll to commemorate all those who set sail with Beskar at the time of The Old Republic’s launch. I am very proud of the group we have built and the camaraderie forged here.

We will return to the ‘honour roll’ section each year to produce additional plaques to celebrate those members serving in the guild at that time. Ke barjurir gar’ade, jagyc’ade kot’la a dalyc’ade kotla’shya.

Well, we got there in the end.

Close to three years skipping down the yellow brick road with a changing cast of faces to accompany us along the way, and we’ve finally hit our destination.

Today, December 20th, 2011, marks the moment when, after a week of early access for some, every Beskar member now has access to enter The Old Republic.

For me, this is the end of something. Primarily, it’s the end of running a guild for a long time without a game to play which, I can assure you, is no easy thing.

So it’s actually in a slightly wistful mood that I write these words, standing here at the divide between what Beskar has been so far, and what it is to become.

Looking back over three years, this guild has given me everything from great pleasure, to great pain. It’s shown me the best in people. And the worst. There are moments I wish I could purge from my memory entirely. There are moments I cherish wholeheartedly.

But that’s life, isn’t it? You take the good with the bad. You accept that things won’t always stay the same. You learn that some people, even good friends, don’t stay consistent over time. You relish the growth you see in others as they become better mates.

Looking forward, who’s to say where it will all go? Most of us have played TOR in beta and have decided that it’s a game worth our time in the months, and years, ahead. But by what method will we proceed? What will Beskar evolve into, over time?

That’s for the future to help us work out. It’s exciting to see where it will take us.

I want to thank my beautiful wife Leo for all her support behind the scenes. Even when I have been at my lowest ebb, whether through exhaustion or pain (or a combination of the two), she has been there for me so that most of my struggles have been ‘off-camera’. She has been the one to keep me sane through this whole adventure.

I also want to thank the membership of Beskar, past and present, for helping to carry the load along the way. From those guys and gals who joined us in December 2008 and helped carry the guild in its early months, through to the people who have joined only in the past couple of weeks and who now help shoulder the weight. Thank you.

Beskarians, TOR is finally here for everyone. Jump in. This is YOUR day. I will see you in there.

– blur

PS: By the way, where are all those self-appointed TOR forum philosophers who regularly told me over the last three years that, “pre-launch guilds never make it to the live game…”? *Chuckle*