Blood Pain Money [BPM]

Sun sets over Tyria, and from a sinking blood red sun emerges a gang of bold, battle-hardened fighters ready to offer their swords to anyone willing to pay... Such was the role playing idea which lead to the foundation of Blood Pain Money [BPM] in September 2005. Starting off with only a few founding members, the guild currently sports 40 active members.

Even though the role playing idea of a mercenary guild has become a much less prominent aspect, the members still act as (unpaid) mercenaries of some sort: In April 2006 BPM officially launched the initiative "BPM bietet Starthilfe an" (BPM offer assistance to newcomers), the basic idea of which is to help struggling Guild Wars newcomers to better understand the mechanics of the game. The initiative was born out of many of the guild's members' realisation that a lot of newcomers were facing major problems when starting the game - especially with regards to the basic cornerstones of gameplay and game concept.

It comes as no big surprise that many of the typical questions BPM's members help new players with are of a very basic nature. The guild's main aim is to enable players to engage in the simple aspects of Guild Wars. BPM's members attempt to give young aspiring adventurers a feeling for the game and to that end are very happy to accompany the young recruits through the game world. The different kinds of assistance they offer to players are as varied as the players themselves, and introductory sessions can last anything from 20 minutes up to an epic three hours.

But BPM's initiative goes beyond simply jump-starting players, they offer all participants to include their tutors in their friends list, to enable the former protégés to get back in touch with their tutors at a later point, should they encounter any insurmountable obstacles. In doing so they ensure that players are really having fun with Guild Wars - both in the short and the long term - and will ultimately become better players.

Play and let Play

The general philosophy of the guild is quite simple and always takes priority over the guild's "formal" rules: Have fun, live the adventure and play - together. Mutual support and the will to offer help to others is an essential and important goal that many guilds aspire to, but only very few manage to live up to. BPM also attempt to carry this philosophy into their Luxon alliance, since they believe it encourages better gameplay. Playing = Fun - it really can be that simple.

BPM's philosophy infuses everything they do and as a guild whose main focus is on PvE, they particularly enjoy "hanging out" in some of the more dangerous areas of the game. A vital aspect of their forays is to never impose a certain build or skill-set on the participating players. What really matters is that all participating Characters can participate in and live the adventure. Mutual support and playing together characterises all of the guilds activities - whether it be the acquisition of a special item, getting a character to a specific location in the game via certain missions, or to simply help a player obtain a mission bonus - volunteers are never hard to find. This is what really makes this guild a sworn community of players, which everyone is happy to be part of.

On rare occasions BPM also venture into GvG, where they are frequently shown their own limits. Being the true sports that they are, defeats are only minor hiccups and are seen as way to improve and learn through avoiding past mistakes in future matches. BPM won't get easily discouraged by a lost match, since they are well aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, and the fact that they are mainly a wild bunch of highly diverse personalities united by only one goal: To have as much fun playing Guild Wars as they possibly can.

PvE-Discussion

We asked BPM to share some of their insights into PvE with us. Being the helpful guild that they are, they have come up with the following game tips for you:

It may sound obvious but always read the mission descriptions. A lot of players just click them away and then don't really know what is asked of them to complete a mission.

Know the other characters in your party. Knowing which skills each of the party members has equipped will ultimately benefit the whole team. A lot of pick-up groups fail because players simply don't communicate. In the worst case, none of the 8 players of your party will know what the others are capable of and the mission practically fails as soon as you start it.

Know your enemy. If you know are about to enter an area with lots of Mesmers, you should equip skills that will counter most of the nasty things opponents of that profession can do to you.

Some Builds work better in certain regions than others. Have faith in your party members and their ability to play their own characters.

Never just copy a build without really understanding how it works. Adjust it in a way that allows you to fully understand and play it.

Analyze the make-up of your party. Even parties with a rather unusual combination of characters can work very well if players work as a team. Immediately after Nightfall was released, you could find some teams that contained multiple Dervishes or Paragons. This is not a problem as such and even a team with four Paragons may work very well. The important thing is for players to communicate. In a good team with good communication any challenge, mission or area can be mastered.

Use the map and the terrain to your advantage. It can be very useful to include Bridges or narrow areas in your Aggro strategy.

Make sure that, before starting a mission, every single player in your party knows which role they will be playing in the team. Any given party should always contain the following elements: offense, support and backline.

And last, but not least important: Play as much as you can! In Guild Wars, there is not one single profession that is by nature stronger than another one. This is the core aspect about Guild Wars you must understand. The more you play and the better you understand your own profession, the more successful you will be.

Member Profiles

Meet the people behind the avatars:

Calim Sharce

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: I have been playing games since the 1980s and laid my hands on everything from the Atari console to the C64, Atari ST and finally the PC. My other big passion is P&P role playing games such as D&D, Vampires, etc.
Favourite Character: My favourite Character is my Elementalist, followed by my Ritualist. I also like playing Monks and my brand new Paragon. As you can see I really like playing support characters, even though I like equipping my Elementalist with Fire skills from time to time to go monster bashing in the Fissure of Woe.
Position in the Guild: Guild Founder

Bai Wong

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: I mainly play PvE with the occasional game of GvG. Apart from Guild Wars I also like playing P&P role playing games.
Favourite Character: Necromancers/x. I like playing any profession using spells, but my absolute favourite is the Necromancer. My Necromancer has ventured through Prophecies and Factions mainly as a Necromancer/Mesmer, and now she is ready to explore Elona. I really love the Necromancer/Mesmer, as it allows you to play some very nasty combinations.
Position in the Guild: Officer/Website-Admin

Boromir Gimpel

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: My gaming career kicked off with games such as Neverwinter Nights and Dungeon Siege and now Guild Wars has totally cast its spell on me.
Favourite Character: My very first and most favourite character is my Warrior/Monk. I have been playing this character for over a year now and mostly equip an axe or sword. Skill-wise, I mostly use Adrenaline skills.
Position in the Guild: Guild Leader/Website Co-Admin

Dan Noland

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: I mainly play PvE and a massive fan of support-characters. From my point of view any class can act as a support-character, as long as you know what support really means.
Favourite Character: Ritualist. I just love the whole concept of the Ritualist. Unfortunately, you won't find many Ritualists in game because most players do not really understand how they work and therefore think that they are useless.
Position in the Guild: Officer

Cute Kurai

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: I started off with Adventure and Action games but then got bored of playing alone, so I decided to give Guild Wars a try. It was a more than pleasant surprise to see how much fun playing in a group actually turned out to be. This was also one of my reasons for joining BPM.
Favourite Character: My Necromancer, definitely. I like all professions that use spells, but she was my first character and I think she best suits my playing style. She has explored Tyria and Cantha and has now set out to conquer Elona. I'll give some other combinations a try though.
Position in the Guild: Officer

Nefarious Sixsixsix

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: FPS and racing games, but the only game I have currently installed on my PC is Guild Wars.
Favourite Character: My main character is a Necromancer. I have tried various other professions but the only profession I really play apart from my Necromancer is the Assassin. The thing I like most about Necromancers is their versatility. What other profession is there in the game allowing you to command an army of undead, rotting minions while sucking the life out of your enemies and agonizing them with hexes?
Position in the Guild: Officer

Iron Maiden V

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: I have been playing since I was five or six. It all started with an Amiga 500. I had my first multiplayer experience with Command & Conquer. I was playing against a friend via null modem ... that really was ages ago. I also played CS in a team and the absolute highlight of my CS-career was defeating a professional German team during a tournament and making the top 10 of the German ESL-Ladder.
Favourite Character: At the moment I mostly play a Ranger, which - in my opinion - is a pretty flexible profession. I also discovered the appeal of the Ritualist's weapon spells for maxing out damage. For a bow I prefer using the longbow to stay out of trouble and support my team by bothering the opponent's annoying spell casters.

Bartuc der Krieger

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: I mostly play PvE with the occasional game of GvG.
Favourite Character: Most of the time you'll find me playing my Warrior, which also happens to be my very first character. My favourite skill is "Watch Yourself!" because you can use it with almost any Warrior build to support your team.

Osbf X

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: I started out with Diablo 2, which I am still playing today. I mainly play PvE but never turn down a good game of PvP.
Favourite Character: I mostly play a Necromancer, which to me is the profession with the biggest potential and the highest versatility.
Position in the Guild: Officer

Der Con

Location: Germany
Gaming Background: I mainly play PvE.
Favourite Character: Warrior. I just love playing a Warrior - and looking good in the process.