Club leaders and officers are the heart of our social activities on Trove, this Spotlight series aims to help find out about some of our top leaders and get some insider tips on how they manage their respective communities. This time we are talking to Arion4K, SummerHaas  and Hierophant the leaders of .

This club was chosen based on the nomination by Chronozilla, we aim to have nominations for each club interview to help us select the target.

What can you tell us about yourself and your club?

Arion:

Hi, my name is chicka-chicka, not Shady. My real name is Laurentiu Andrei, I am from Romania, but I have been living in Denmark since 2013. I am 25 years old and I am currently working on my own business since 2018. I like owls.

Laezaria is a popular high-end / end-game club since early 2016. It was founded by Trovegasm simply as a club for him and some of his friends to hang out. Nowadays it is managed by SummerHaas, Hierophant & me.

Laezaria has grown up a lot in the early stages due to the competitive nature of speedrunning back then, there was a big rivalry between Influence, Laezaria, and a few other clubs. I think we're quite famous for our absurd club requirements, but we wanted to make joining Laezaria to feel like a Trove achievement, something to be proud of. Nowadays, not so much due to the lack of content, more people are leaving the game than they are joining.


Summer

My name is Summer. I have been playing and building in MMOs for over 10 years. I am particularly fond of open sandbox games like Trove and Minecraft.

Our club, Laezaria, is one of the oldest clubs in Trove and has even extended to other games. There is also a Laezaria group on Steam.


Hiero

I'm currently 24 years old, living in Australia and I go by the ign Hierophant. Most people just call me hiero. Our club Laezaria has been around for a long time now and I believe it will be around til the end.


Where does your character name and club name come from?

Arion

Back from the counter strike 1.6 hide'n seek days I made a mistake when I shared a config file to the public with the line name "Ex3cuTioN", and everyone else got that name, many cheaters and my name quickly assigned to cheating in the community, so I had to change it. I wanted something that starts with the letter A.

The reason why I have chosen Arion is because of a school supply store in my hometown that's called Arion. Initially I was copying MKBHD from youtube, and added ArionHD, but in Trove I upgraded it to 4K, hence Arion4K since 26 September until a few months ago. Now I go by the name of Autumn.

We still don't know why Laezaria is called Laezaria, it'll always be a mystery to everyone.


Summer

I’ve been using the name Summer Haas in most games for many years, long before Trove. Haas is Dutch for Hare or Rabbit, so you will usually see me as a character with bunny ears :).

The club name Laezaria was created by our founder without much explanation. One thing we do know is that Laez spelled backwards is Zeal, which expresses our culture of determination and perseverance to play to the end game.


Hiero

I've frequently been asked if my ign was a reference to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I actually got the name Hierophant from the movie Operation: Endgame. As for where Laezaria came from, it'll have to keep being a mystery!


What's your favourite part of Trove? What keeps you coming back?

Arion

The community keeps me coming back, that's the reason I never quit for too long. The friendships I made are strong and it FeelsBadMan when a dear friend is quitting the game :(

I could never go away from the Laezaria community, it will be around as long as Trove is around, therefore I will stick around. Many of the members I got to know them personally, some I have even met in person.


Summer

The community. The great friendships I’ve made and all the amazing creative and caring people who always serve as inspiration to keep playing.


Hiero

FISHING!!!!~~~ I know it's a chore for mastery points and it's boring to most people, but I absolutely love fishing. I think it might be because it allowed for multi-tasking while still progressing in game. I could read while fishing in trove or chat with guildmates and randoms in the fishing chat.

The community is easily the thing that keeps people in the game. Personally I've set myself my own 'endgame' goals for trove, and at least until these have been completed I'll keep coming back.


How did your club start out? and when did you start being responsible for it?

Arion

I am not the founder, I joined in December 2015 as a Member soon ranked up to Officer and then Leader among him. I was promoted because I was simply doing things, out of my own willing. And I was promoted to Leader when Trovegasm had to leave for a holiday, he left me in charge of the club, and I've been a Leader since then.


Summer

Laezaria started as a branch of an older club called BabeCity. That club was somewhat known for its trolling and pranking other players. Trovegasm started Laezaria as something more serious that could be focused on the end game without the drama. I was one of the original members of Laezaria and was invited to help lead its direction as it started to grow. With Arion and Hiero, the 4 of us really built Laezaria into what it is today. Even though Trovegasm isn't around much, we still all hold the same principles and plan to continue leading as a team. It's not about any one of us but the group as a whole.


Hiero

Well Trovegasm founded the club, I only joined after. I would say that the moment I joined I was responsible for it. The way I see it, a club isn't a club without it's members... everyone is responsible for it. From members and the way they act in public chats, to the leaders and what they decide are club rules. In terms of leadership responsibilities, I can't give an exact date but if I remember correctly I was the last to join the leaders.


Have you managed clubs / guilds in other games?

Arion

Yeees. I've started with my own community of counter strike 1.6 for Hide'N Seek back in 2007-2010 where we had our own private servers (a lot of private scripts done by me to make us exclusive towards the competition).


Summer

Yes. I used to run a very large RP community in an MMO with 10s of thousands of members.


Hiero

Yes. It's quite often that I find myself in managerial positions without intending to. I would say I have dedicated more to trove and Laezaria than the others.

What motivate you to continue managing a community on Trove?

Arion

The amount of work and time I have put into the Laezaria community is insane. I could never let it go. Of course, the reason why Laezaria is where it is, it's because of the collective effort of our staff, especially the leadership team (Trovegasm, SummerHaas, Hierophant & me)


Summer

It’s not so much Trove as the community we built with Laezaria. As games evolve and life changes, Laezaria will continue. I’m certain we will keep expanding outside of Trove into other games and arenas. My motivation to keep going is definitely the friendships I’ve built, especially with my co-leaders, Arion and Hiero.


Hiero

Laezaria has a special place in my heart. I've gained friendships that I would not have otherwise gained. I would say that my desire to maintain Laezaria's unique culture is what motivates me.


Which other clubs would you like to highlight and why?

Arion

This depends on the period, today? From the past? I would definitely highlight Influence, that was the first end-game club I've ever joined and if it weren't for that, I would've probably never stumbled upon Trovegasm, never joined Laezaria and things would be very different today, both in-game and in my personal life. Also, the competition between Influence & Laezaria is what made both clubs grow exponentially. We've changed from being rivals to being friends since a few years ago.


Summer

I think The North is worth highlighting. They have grown really fast and have done an amazing job building one of the friendliest clubs. I very much enjoy being a part of the speedrun community there.


Hiero

There are many clubs out that and one I would highlight is The Trovian Maestros. I admire the people who have the skill and patience to make full songs on this platform.


What is the most challenging thing about running a community on Trove?

Arion

Drama...definitely d-r-a-m-a. I have messed up many times with the drama factor. Discussing sensitive topics in the public eye is an awful idea and I recommend you avoid it at all costs, always diminish the drama as soon as you identify it by contacting the person in private and talk it out there. Be nice, listen and put yourself in their point of view.

Another big challenge is taking decisions with a long term vision in mind which might negative consequences in the short term, therefore making people angry now, but later on, they might realize why those changes had to be done.


Summer

You can’t please everyone. We have had to make some tough decisions over the years and lost some good people over disagreements. We don’t always get it right, but we really do our best to make sure things run smoothly. Often, we are accused of not doing enough or it may appear that things aren’t moving fast enough. Managing Laezaria can be a full-time job. Arion, Hiero and I have given up countless evenings working on things in the background that most are completely unaware of.


Hiero

Conflicts. The more people that get together, the more varied their beliefs are. Dealing with the fallout can get pretty messy.


Are there any club members or particular builds in your club world you would like to highlight and why?

Arion

This would be an insanely long list... So many dear friends have left the game, it's sad, I wish they would still be around.

I would like to give a shoutout to Rose, the person who built our current spawn, and the previous ones as well. She is an amazing builder and we are very fortunate to have had her. I wish she would still be around Trove/Laezaria.

Of course, a shoutout to the leadership team: SummerHaas, Hierophant & Trovegasm, each of us with their own strengths and weaknesses, we complete each other, save each other from messing up, come up with different ideas for the best solution.

A big shoutout goes to the Officer team for their efforts over the years, taking care of the club, especially the discord. We would've been dead long ago if it wasn't for their involvement.


Summer

Most of the prominent areas of Laezaria were built by a member named Rose. I think she did a fantastic job and doubt anyone could ever come close to the amount of work she put into making Laezaria such a beautiful club. It’s worth taking the time to explore. We also have an amazing group of captains who have managed our applications. That is a thankless job and they deserve a lot of recognition for how much effort they all put in. There’s no way us leaders could have ever kept up with it all.


Hiero

There are too many club members that I would like to name here, but they know who they are. Some are unfortunately no longer in trove with us.

I'm sure most people are familiar with the spawns at Laezaria. While we were fortunate enough to have Rose as our architect, I would like to give a special shout out to the many members past and present who did help with the building too.


How do you like the current Club Building and Management tools and what would you like changed?

Arion

The UI that came with the club update is definitely a great improvement, especially the permissions panel. I wouldn't change much about it, just a few tweaks, but no major overhaul.

Regarding club building, I am not a builder, so I do not really have an opinion about it.


Summer

I could probably write a book on what I would change. In fact, I probably did if you count my thousands of posts and suggestions on the Trove forums.


Hiero

I liked the ability to turn on and off permissions for certain roles. It's definitely something that helps in clubs with more members. For what I would like changed, I find the UI too clunky - changing some people's ranks would require using arrow keys as the mouse won't click it, mouse wheel scrolling speed at a snail pace and would refresh back to the top frequently. Maybe that's just my potato acting up.


How do you find the Club Adventures and Fixtures?

Arion

I haven't done adventures since the Pirrot lord cheesy ways. But now there is a big discord about trove club quests, it seems people are still leveling clubs, which is unexpecting. I thought this system would completely kill new clubs from being leveled, but I am glad to be wrong.

Fixtures are ok, but they could be better. Again the same concept of, give players HP buffs when there is no need whatsoever for a tank role, making the buff obsolete and therefore useless for the majority of the player base.

I would say most of the fixtures are okay, depending on the type of club.


Summer

Quite honestly, I feel like that entire process is a bit of a pain. It puts a lot of stress on the club leaders to have to come up with rent every week. You are always having to create compelling ways to get members to donate Clubits meanwhile other clubs are buying them off players. I think the entire rent system could use an overhaul.


Hiero

It was definitely fun when first released with all the new things to explore and level. Right now as everything has been leveled and maxed we don't really think too much about it. If more fixtures get added in future I just hope they take players' feedback. It would be fun to get more in the system so clubs can have more choice of fixtures for the week. Overall I think it was a step forward, who can complain about more damage after all?


What advice would you give to people looking for a Club or thinking of starting a new Club?

Arion

Starting a new club -> When I leveled Laezaria it was very different from how it is done today. I have not kept up to date with the current ways, but I would say using the trove club quests discord is a good way to start getting some XP.
Looking for a club -> Depends on your goals and what friends you have. Simply ask your friends for club recommendations, or you can loo at the top PR clubs if you're looking for end-game.


Summer

For those looking for a club, Discord is going to be the place where you find the strongest clubs. Many clubs have open Discord channels where you don’t have to be a member to join. Get on there and network. Find a club where you enjoy the culture and then apply. For those thinking of starting their own club, don’t do it alone. Make sure you have friends that are just as motivated as you are to keep it going and have the energy to not give up.


Hiero

To people looking for a club - Just join one! If it's not to your taste or you don't gel with the members just move on. I'd say the most important thing is to be in a club with members that you can communicate with. After all, what's the point of joining a community if you aren't going to join it!
To those thinking of starting a new club - There's no rush to expand. There are plenty of players out there and finding like-minded or positive ones will be more rewarding in the end. Most importantly, the more people in the club, the less intimately you'll get to know them.


Is there anything Trovesaurus can do more to help support your club?

Arion

I am not sure how Trovesaurus can help Laezaria specifically, as we have never had any partnerships with anyone. We've always used the lowkey, word of mouth advertisement strategy. But for sure Trovesaurus is helping our members a lot.


Summer

I think doing these interviews with club leaders is helpful. It is a way for players to get a better perspective on the way’s clubs are led and what the leadership is like. I think the art contests are a lot of fun as well. I really appreciate all the work everyone does to make this community so much more than it would be just in game and am thankful of Trovesaurus giving us the opportunity to shed some light into the inner workings of Laezaria.


Hiero

Keep doing what you guys do! You've all already been a great support to the trove community~

Comments and Likes Comments 0

You must be logged in to add a comment.

liked this!

4y

liked this!

4y

liked this!

5y

liked this!

5y

liked this!

5y

liked this!

5y

liked this!

5y

liked this!

5y

liked this!

5y

liked this!

5y