Welcome to the new Home of The Eternal Watch

[Darkmithoron]

I'd like to welcome everybody to the new home of The Eternal Watch.

It is my hope the new host will be more reliable than the last as well as a lot more "user friendly" once some of the basics are worked out. Many of the things are going to be familiar; however, there are some changes we'll just have to get used to. The Guild Launch people are very receptive to suggestions on improvements, so if you have any question/suggestions, please either post on their support forum or let me know and I can relay the information!

Here is a brief overview of some of the added features of the website:

• Better management of News articles. We've moved away from the separated "comments" and "read more" sections familiar with PHP-Nuke and gone to a more forum-based news system. This allows discussions on news articles to be more centralized and easier to display on the website front page. Additionally, I have more control of how the content is formatted than the previous site which required a combination of HTML code and BBCode.
  
  
• New DKP system. With the previous author of ScenRaid missing for the last 5 months, out ability to use the ScenRaid program has prompted me to look for a new DKP system. This site's "Rapid Raid" system takes a bit of getting used to; however, one you get used to it I'm hoping will be more manageable for our DKP system for future raids.
  
  
• Calendar-based sign-up! Yes, we now have a calendar sign-up feature for raids! The host comes with their "Rapid Raid" package which is a raid management system for scheduling and recording raids, item drops, boss kills, as well as DKP. This is a break from the previous ScenRaid system we used and will take some getting used to by everybody; however, it is a lot more robust on the web-side for showing DKP and raids. Once you get used to it is a very nice feature. Also there is a Guild Progression tag which records our boss kills for a better understanding of where we currently are in regards to raiding.
  
  
• Better separation of content. What this means is each section (Rapid Raid, Forums, Guild Roster, Gallery, Calendar, Wiki) has it's own menu, so the hotlinks to the left-side of the board are relevant to that particular area. In the previous site I had to have a menu-based system which got a bit crowded. This system only the links relevant to the particular area you are viewing show, so the main menu is cleaner.
  
  
• Guild Recruiting modules. Similar to how we had before, applications are posted in the Applications Forum which is member-only. In addition, we have a better listing of a recruiting "widget" to the side where we can list what classes we are currently seeking. This will provide a better overall feel of who we are looking for.
  
  
• Forums. The forum set-up is identical to the previous boards...unfortunately any posts on the old boards cannot be transferred to this one. I will be keeping the old site open (although new posts will be locked) so people can transfer over posts they want to keep. I'll be doing the same for my State of Raiding posts and other pertinent posts. The forums are very similar to the previous ones (both being based upon PHPBB) and are even more configurable with tags at the top for Item links, icons, raid drops, as well as Google/YouTube/Filefront video tags available at the click of a button.
  
  
• More accessible image/file Library. I have initially gone with the 500 Mb storage plan and am opening this up to members so they do not have to e-mail me stuff they want to link on the site...they can just upload themselves. This includes any files/images you want to upload to the site for hosting. I'm going to be watching this closely so please do not abuse it. If it starts getting abused, I'll lock it down or we may move to a bigger storage plan...time will tell.
  
  
• Guild Roster The Guild Launch roster comes from the Warcraft Armory, so much of the information for your characters should be filled in; however, as the Armory currently does not support crafting, you still need to uplaod via the GLCharacterProfiler to your characters' craftable items. Unfortuantely you have to upload each LUA file individually (directions on the Guild Roster page). This is only needed for those wanting their craftable items available...which although helpful is not going to be required. I WILL be adding the GLCharacterProfiler to the guild-required addons, so ask that everybody upload the data at least once to fill in some blanks, but not going to require it unless tmore functionality we'll use is added later.
  

What we lose. There are several things not transferable to this site or provide lesser function.

• We will no longer be able to host our own WWS Load raid stats; however, as we have a no-ad subscription on the main WWSLoads site which provides more utilization I'm not concerned at that loss.
  
  
• Previous forum posts are non-transferable. If there are posts you want to keep, the easiest way is to go to the old side, EDIT the post, copy the content, and paste it here in a new post. Since both sites utilize PHPBB the links and BBCode will work fine.
  
  
• Donation Widget. Unfortunately the current "Guild Donations" link cannot keep a tally of each month's goals. I'll be posting monthly posts and maybe a forum thread on donations and such...as that is a big part of this guild's operation for hosting services, Ventrilo, RDX, and WWS stats pages.

Overall I think the new site will be much better to manage from my aspect as well as more navigational for you. Again if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions let me know!