Well, before we begin let me tell you that this is one mother of a giant update. So if this intro isn't exciting enough for you that’s because I'm saving every ounce of my creative wisdom for the juicy bites down the road, and putting my muse temporarily on hold. I hope you savor them like the most amazingly wonderful, undeniably delicious morsel you have ever had the pleasure of ingesting. Because this is the last Site Update before Halo: Reach. So next time you see my words grace this page, you will probably be too ensconced in the world of Reach to even care.
(Pro)motions
This is always one of the more colorful sections of the update, and pretty full today. I find it strange, there seems to be no reason for it! Why must we advertise only the colored people as if they are better than everyone else? Oh never mind, now I remember; because they are better! But that’s not true, there are still many helpful and all around awesome members who no longer have a bright and vividly painted name. For example, we have a lovely gamer called Agamer, handing in his dark purple robes for the time being. He decided the current staff has everything covered and that his Guardian duties are no longer required. Of course there will always be people who disagree with him, so to even out our Guardian rank we have RedNeck taking Agamer's unwashed, nasty robes. Also, we have the incredibly dedicated and hard working Organite joining the highly coveted Review Hub Loyal rank and his counterpart Skisma joining the Testers Guild equivalent.
Finally, we have the oh-so-special LD also hopping on the train that is the FH sub-staff. I'm hoping he can forgive me for my transgression!
Thank God it’s Halo Reach
Well, now that we are done with the required parts of the update, things will start to get going much faster. And when I say much faster, I mean your mind will be blown. Starting the upward climb is the reinstatement of our bi-weekly Thank God it’s Forgeday (TGIF for short) and it will be an event to remember. This is nothing more than the most exciting community night there is, and a great way to promote the very best of the maps on Forge Hub. Because it is all custom creations, all the time! And you know what? The purple cloud may finally be reaching over to the fabled Customs Lobby…
Testers Guild
This time around, we have a special update straight from one of the TG Leaders, just for you! Transactionzero writes:
“Testers and map creators please pay attention, because this applies to both groups of you. There had been much speculation over what the Testers Guild was going to do when Halo: Reach hit the shelves. Stop foaming at the mouth! Stoooop it! I had only mentioned Reach hitting the shelves, it didn’t come out yet. OK, calm down! If you haven’t been paying attention, turn your volume all the way up, because I gotta say something. From September 14th, 2010 till October 3rd, 2010, all members of the Testers Guild will take hiatus to learn the new mechanics of Halo: Reach.
That’s right Testers you get a vacation and are immune to inactivity strokes at this time. Testers are NOT required to test during the dates specified above. Map creators, please steel yourselves and refrain from posting maps in the Testers Guild section during the above time period as they will NOT be tested. Please keep in mind Testers, once the calendar reaches Monday, October 4th you must begin testing again as you are no longer immune to inactivity strokes. Don’t worry folks we’ll have an announcement reminding both Testers and Map creators when the Testers Guild is back from its vacation.
This is somewhat of a separate announcement, but I figured it would serve as an early warning. *Slap* Tz you don’t have to explain yourself to them. How dare you?! The second week of every month, Testers will have a Team week, where if you choose you can partner up with your favorite Tester and combine both of your feedbacks. Testers you can choose whoever you want to team up with as long as they agree to it. I want to give a shout out to all the TG members who have put a lot of time and effort into the guild. We really appreciate what you do for the community and if it wasn’t for you guys, we’d be dead in the water. Want to join the Testers Guild?”
Review Hub
The Review Hub also has a message from the (temporary) leader. Jex Yoyo wri- wait, I don’t have to quote myself! Okay, that aside I just wanted to inform the public that the next review cycle, starting tomorrow and ending two weeks from today, will not be required for the Review Team to complete. However, because we are simply awesome some of us just may decide to do the extra work and get credit for it. And if you want to join the Review Hub before we all get going again, now would be the perfect time! Benefits include a specialized rank image, a cool new secret forum, and easy access to the new Review Hub Loyal rank. And of course, here are the wonderful reviews by our awesome team!
Best of the Best of the Best of the Best… of Forge!
The final Best of Forge for Halo 3 is coming to a close, and I personally thank you all for your wonderful contributions to this competition. It was an experience, and although some may be a little upset with the maps that did not get in or the community that didn’t vote for their favorite choice, we still have the maps that YOU collectively chose as the best of Halo 3. Tomorrow, all the results from the community voting will be posted, along with the staff picks. Thank you for making Halo: 3 such a wonderful experience!
Ready for a Brown Themed Earthquake?
Oh no, not again. But I’m afraid you can't avoid this though. It happened once, it was big, it was dramatic, for some it was a tragedy and for some it was a blessing, except that had to do with a lovely purple color. Instead, we have with us the poop brown color that has been the mainstay of our more well-known forgers. With Halo Reach coming over the horizon, we were faced with a pressing question; what do we do about the Premiums and Architects? Do Reach AND Halo 3 features count together or are they separate? Is Reach’s Premium even the same as Halo 3’s? Well, here is what will happen:
First of all, previous Premiums and Architects of Halo 3 will now be grouped into one single rank, called Architects. They will be given a new rank image that shows their achievements and lose their color. However, they will retain their more sought after privileges (say hello to the zombie barkeep!) and of course won't lose any of the respect they gained from their brilliant creations of yore. It will still be possible to gain Architect if you can manage a map that is good enough to be featured - we aren’t dropping our support!
Reach premiums will get their own special rank befitting their new title: Artisan. It will be its own color, it will have its own rank image, but it will have the same privileges enjoyed by our ex-premiums and architects. There will be a few differences however. First of all, Halo 3 features do NOT count towards gaining your Artisan rank - they count towards Architect. This is to separate the two, and make it fair for new members to gain access as well. Secondly, it will take 3 features to obtain Artisan instead of the two it takes to gain Architect. It was decided that because Reach’s forge offers many new opportunities, the Artisan rank needs to have more prestige by becoming more exclusive.
See? I told you this would be exciting!
Shock and Awe
Now, you thought we were done with all of our changes to the rank? Well, you thought wrong. The fabled and mythic ranks of Affiliate and Respected have been, in the words of Shock Theta, nuked. That's right. We decided that it was in the best interest of the site to remove these ranks and offer a much more unique reward to those unique members of our friendly partners. If you see a member strolling around our forum proudly wearing a shiny new logo stating that they are a "Verified User" it does not mean that they are more truthful than you, it simply means that we highly respect him/her and think that they deserve the extra recognition. I offer my sincerest apologies to all of those Respected individuals who are no longer so!
Reach Map Database 2.0
That’s right folks; we have the brand spankin’ new Reach Map Forum up and running, going live as of today. Alongside that is the Halo: Reach Media Forum for you to share your wonderful pictures and videos of the Halo: Reach mayhem that will be starting to occur sometime around Tuesday the Fourteenth. The Reach Media forum should be relatively the same as before with only a few minor adjustments to the Media Rules, but the Map Database is a whole new beast. Upon first entering it you will notice a huge difference from the rest of the forum; the sleek new layout is something to behold. For starters, the awesome little pictures next to every post (we will refer to them as “Thumbnails” for future reference) and the giant navigation bar. It's required that you read this set of rules for how the forum works to get yourself properly acquainted with the new Database in time for your awesome map.
Halo: Reach Forgotten Treasures
This is just a friendly little reminder that we will not be dropping Halo 3 from our forums! In fact, we will even be starting the new season of the Forgotten Treasures 2 contest to honor what made Halo 3 so great. Since this will be the first competition of Reach, we are making sure that the gravity of the event will be clear. It's a wonderful opportunity to remake and rebuild all of the past memories of previous Halo games. Starting around October 1st will be a competition that undoubtedly offers a great reward for those who choose to participate! Keeps your eyes peeled, because a crazy amount of information will be headed your way in regards to this competition. Now just may be a good time to start up those remakes of yours as well. Think of it as a free head start, courtesy of us, in your quest to make the ultimate swan song for Halo 3.
Yes, that's right. We love you that much. Here we present you will yet another one of our famous forge competitions and another opportunity to prove yourself. And of course, another chance to get one of the awesome prizes that seem to always be here waiting for you! But, as if that wasn't enough, we had to take it one step further and give you guys some extra time. That's right, we spoil you!
Counting Down the Hours
Well, good golly I’ve been typing forever! As I said, this was quite the update wasn’t it? Full of color, announcements, quotes, references to pop culture (yes, I am foreshadowing here,) purple and brown stains, and a ton of remembrance of the Halo Trilogy. Because, that awesome game that comes out in mere hours is all about remembering, isn’t it? See, you shouldn’t have questioned me when I said this was a huge update. Wait a second, you actually doubted my judgement? How could you do such a thing, I am never wrong and you still don’t believe me! This is sacrament… This is madness… No, this is SPARTA!
Gah, I've done so much writing these past two days that my mind is starting to break again. Now that I've reached my limit on Halo Puns (see what I did there?) and have to resort to bad memes, it would wise of me to say goodbye. 'Till next time!
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