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Articles
WoW The End of an Era summary in terms of both people and progression, 2 weeks before TBC What Became of BG? after a year of WoW, how are things? Moving On leaving the biggest part of our lives behind, and hoping for something better FFXI FFXI Outlook on the brink of quitting The Promathia Problem a reponse to Sundi's weak claim that everyone hates Promathia Five Values five changes that could repair tons, and cost little |
Y2K7 Report - 01/02/2007
Here we are, on the brink of The Burning Crusade. In sum, what do we have to show for it? I'll take a look at our strengths and weaknesses over the past year plus (bragging a ton more instances of the former) and discuss what I consider to be the beauty of Blue Garter in WoW. Legacy Members Without the members who joined at our inception and stuck with us the whole way through we would be just another failed reroll guild. These are the people who, joined by many others more recently, form the heart of our guild, and from whence they came. Adarin, Druid - FFXI Fairy Jason, Mage - FFXI Bahamut, Blue Garter Bert, Warrior - FFXI Bahamut, Blue Garter Fira, Shaman - FFXI Bismarck, Lunarians Geezie, Warlock - FFXI Midgardsormr, Paradise Oblivion Tib, Druid - FFXI Asura, Machina Mavv, Warrior - FFXI Midgardsormr, Paradise Oblivion Kuai, Mage - FFXI Bahamut, Blue Garter Tim, Rogue - FFXI Midgardsormr, Paradise Oblivion Jess, Rogue - FFXI Midgardsormr, Paradise Oblivion Ranan, Priest - FFXI Kujata Scunsion, Mage - FFXI Bahamut, Blue Garter Twin, Shaman - FFXI Bahamut, Blue Garter Tsu, Priest - FFXI Fairy, Those Guys Twentytwo, Hunter - FFXI Bahamut, Blue Garter Zeroo, Warlock - FFXI Midgardsormr It is with nothing short of love that I thank these guys and gals for consistently putting their all into the guild from start to finish, of WoW 1.0. Yet these people, the original vanguard of the guild, would not have been able to do it without the rest of the core members, most of whom have done beautifully since coming on board. Toward Family I don't emphasize, value, and strive for this style of guild for any in-game or personal advantage. I like to operate this way because I feel it's the way these games are meant to be played - together. When we started, I knew we were coming from lots of directions, and that assimilating would be an incredible challenge, but we have come together in a surprising way, one that has kept stability, success, and camaraderie close to nearly all of us. How has that gone? There are still lots clear lines segregating people from groups outside their previous ones, but I can comfortably and proudly say that the number of meaningful connections made among people meeting anew are profuse and far reaching. While I think wishing everyone would get along, and now having typed it realize it 100%, is complete idealism, working toward that is what I'd like to continue. There are a lot of people who greatly dislike me back in FFXI, but we came to the same conclusion I still believe today - no guild is going anywhere if they aren't friends with each other. We have a core of 30 or so, of people who realize whether they'd like to admit it or not, that cohesion matters, being friendly to people in the guild helps, and who go beyond any role in a raid or pvp or otherwise in being mine and the guild's friends. This aspect is by far my favorite of the game and the genre, and by far the driving force behind why we're all still around. People Who Quit - Balance A year ago I'd laugh at anyone who told me we'd go through as many members as we did. People move on; people have to go. Over a long enough time line quitting is inevitable for everyone, but I like to see people stay until they're fated to go - not until they play so much that they're evicted, or have a sub 1.0 high school or college GPA, or lose their job. Lots of people had trouble finding balance among these important factors, but lots of others found it or are on the right track. RL pressures were a much greater challenge than executing positions for Thaddius or working our transitions for Four Horsemen. They were the most taxing factor on the entire guild at pretty much all times. The majority of recruiting was done in a unique and effective manner, though, to overcome this obstacle. The Social Drinker As of this article's writing there are 14 main raiders who were once this guild rank. It basically meant that one had a free ticket to wear the guild tag and hang out and chat with us, but no raiding or looting rights whatsoever. Originally we called on Social Drinkers, then only friends of friends, to fill the spots of raiders we hadn't planned to be missing. Over time they filled these spots so well that we instituted the rank as an official recruiting policy. It became a hybrid rank for friends of friends who were potential recruits. With circumstance on their side, all hard working Social Drinkers earn their spot at the top of the raiding ladder. I'd strongly support keeping this dazzling system of support in place, and hope for the same dazzling results in the future. The once Social Drinkers Aki, Arv, Deadsy, Doobiedoo, Foof, Ty, Kiel, Mdn, Crunchy, Tape, Russta, Sanou, Setsuko, and Bus - those who remain with us today - were there for the guild when it needed them most. They have kept it alive. And Toward Raiding
Once upon a time our goal was to kill Nefarian before The Burning Crusade came out. Laughable. Our raiding milestone timeline went a bit like this. vs. ourselves Zul'Gurub entered - December 2005 Azuregos killed - January 6, 2006 Molten Core entered - January 22, 2006 Onyxia killed - February 9, 2006 Ragnaros killed - February 21, 2006 Ysondre killed - March 1, 2006 Blackwing Lair entered - March 5, 2006 Kazzak killed - March 12, 2006 Emeriss killed - March 16, 2006 Lethon killed - April 17, 2006 Taerar killed - May 5, 2006 vs. Azshara Nefarian killed - April 10, 2006 - Horde First Temple of Ahn'Qiraj entered - May 5, 2006 Naxxramas Spider wing entered - June 25, 2006 C'Thun killed - July 21, 2006 - Horde First Viscidus killed - July 27, 2006 - Azshara First Naxxramas Death Knight wing entered - July 31, 2006 Naxxramas Plague wing entered - August 7, 2006 Maexxna killed, Spider wing cleared - August 24, 2006 - Horde First Ouro killed - September 4, 2006 - Horde First Naxxramas Abomination wing entered - September 7, 2006 Heigan the Unclean killed - September 28, 2006 - Azshara First Loatheb killed, Plague wing cleared - October 30, 2006 - Azshara First Thaddius killed, Abomination wing cleared - November 30, 2006 - Azshara First Gothik killed - November 30, 2006 - Azshara First vs. WoW So there's our raiding history in terms of accomplishment. We made it to Horsemen and that was that. No Kel'Thuzad like many other elite raiding guilds were able to do, just Horsemen. But we did unbelievably by our own standards, extremely well by our server's standards, and decently by WoW's standards. Now Onward & Upward
We did it. We came together, blew away our goal, became a cohesive cooperative group, and remain for The Burning Crusade. The leveling of the playing field that will take place on January 16 will give us a true test as we're confronted with the same challenges as the entirety of WoW, given the same amount of time and preparation this go. I wish nothing more than to be able to write similarly about my guild, my friends, our doings, and be as happy as I am now about it at the dawn of the second expansion. |
