Looking Back: Your 2009 In Warcraft
Amatera
[caption id="attachment_9427" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Nothing says forget about the past like terrible webart."]
[/caption]
As we look forward towards the new year, we must also look back. The firey, frothy rage of Deathwing seems almost inviting after spending a year in the chilly wastes of Northrend. No longer will we be relegated to a single climate in 2010 (well, except for the anomaly that is Sholazar Basin, I supposed), but that doesn't mean the experience was totally worthless. In fact, it's arguably one of the best we've ever had in the game's five-year history!
That makes it no less a bumpy road for some players out there, though, myself included. Indulge me as I describe my journey through 2009 in the World of Warcraft, and then tell us about your own in the comments section (and don't forget to check out iTZKooPA's 2009 Project Lore retrospective, either)!
I actually want to start by dipping back into 2008 for a little bit, around about the time that Patch 3.0 hit (and the subsequent release of Wrath of the Lich King several weeks later). The big split. As usual, caused by some thoroughly unnecessary guild drama.
Our de facto guild leader (in everything but title, which the absentee patriarch still maintained for some reason I can only attribute to vanity or neglect) was besieged by guilt from certain members who claimed that nobody was helping them procure a piece of loot (the Shard of Contempt, if you're curious). This, of course, after numerous attempts to help them in many other ways, organizing raids and other event notwithstanding.
It was the last straw laid upon an already mountainous pile of hay, and like the hair trigger of a mouse trap, our guild leader snapped. A fair few of house had had enough of the abuse, as well, and were no longer interested in being held back by the stragglers. Exiled Epics (now defunct) was dead, and from its ashes Severance Pay was born.
Partially due to finally "getting it together" and partially due to the class buffs provided by 3.0, we went on to several quick victories in late Burning Crusade content. It was clear that SevPay (as we affectionately call it) was working like a well oiled machine. When Wrath landed, our core group blew through the 5-man dungeons like the wind through a Scotsman's kilt. And when enough of us were at 80, Naxxramas proved little problem, either.
We didn't get any server firsts, but we performed well, and made progress nearly as quick as the server's top guilds. There was no way to go but up. Well, that's until we polished off good old Naxx (in 2009 at this point). People grew complacent, bored. They disappeared from the server, not logging on for days or weeks.
Then, a portion of our core, who all knew each other in real life, decided they were going to transfer servers, citing that our raid time, despite sticking to it for so long, had left them fatigued. A valid complaint, but no less shocking when the revelation comes too soon for anybody to properly react.
Before we knew it, they were gone, and not long after, we lost a few more people to the darkest regions of their textbooks. Midterms and finals really can be a bitch.
Where did this leave SevPay? With less than twenty regular members logging on. People were still burned out on Naxx and Ulduar was, apparently, not enough to bring them back. So for months, aside from the (very odd) occurrence, we only fielded 10-man dungeons. It stayed this way for nearly the entire summer.
The guild very nearly died, with the officer core and morale dwindling. And then, once the vacation season started to wind down, a few people came back. Trial of the Crusader was about halfway unlocked, and we started to claw our way back to 25-mans.
But I had two very big personal problems to deal with. One, I was making a huge move across the country, from (not-as-sunny-as-you'd-think) Florida all the way to the Emerald City in Oregon. This meant that I had to take several weeks leave from the game.
Likewise, my once mighty laptop was starting to succumb to the woes of intensifying content. Both in terms of the game's increasing visual complexity and the number of players we had in the raids. 10-mans were serviceable, but 25-mans caused my frames to tank, sometimes well below ten.
After the move I made a tough, but ultimately wise, decision to purchase a new rig and soon, I was back in the game. And so was Severance Pay. Since around September, we've slowly built up our membership, grabbing the odd straggler or skilled friend here and there. The wholesale transfer of the top Horde guild off our server didn't hurt, either, as some of the leftovers now sought a new place to call home.
We're still not where we want to be, but we're strong and consistent. Losing out on so many achievements in Ulduar during our bad months has hurt our rankings a lot, and it may stay that way with Icecrown Citadel now taking up most of attention.
I have a feeling that we will make strides as we march towards the Lich King and that even if 2009 was bumpy, we'll be rightly prepared and ready for all that Deathwing has to throw at us in 2010. To cite one of the worst ad campaigns in history, Severance Pay is about to make Cataclysm our bitch! May that not be a portent for an Ion Storm level of epic failure.
[/caption]
As we look forward towards the new year, we must also look back. The firey, frothy rage of Deathwing seems almost inviting after spending a year in the chilly wastes of Northrend. No longer will we be relegated to a single climate in 2010 (well, except for the anomaly that is Sholazar Basin, I supposed), but that doesn't mean the experience was totally worthless. In fact, it's arguably one of the best we've ever had in the game's five-year history!
That makes it no less a bumpy road for some players out there, though, myself included. Indulge me as I describe my journey through 2009 in the World of Warcraft, and then tell us about your own in the comments section (and don't forget to check out iTZKooPA's 2009 Project Lore retrospective, either)!
I actually want to start by dipping back into 2008 for a little bit, around about the time that Patch 3.0 hit (and the subsequent release of Wrath of the Lich King several weeks later). The big split. As usual, caused by some thoroughly unnecessary guild drama.
Our de facto guild leader (in everything but title, which the absentee patriarch still maintained for some reason I can only attribute to vanity or neglect) was besieged by guilt from certain members who claimed that nobody was helping them procure a piece of loot (the Shard of Contempt, if you're curious). This, of course, after numerous attempts to help them in many other ways, organizing raids and other event notwithstanding.
It was the last straw laid upon an already mountainous pile of hay, and like the hair trigger of a mouse trap, our guild leader snapped. A fair few of house had had enough of the abuse, as well, and were no longer interested in being held back by the stragglers. Exiled Epics (now defunct) was dead, and from its ashes Severance Pay was born.
Partially due to finally "getting it together" and partially due to the class buffs provided by 3.0, we went on to several quick victories in late Burning Crusade content. It was clear that SevPay (as we affectionately call it) was working like a well oiled machine. When Wrath landed, our core group blew through the 5-man dungeons like the wind through a Scotsman's kilt. And when enough of us were at 80, Naxxramas proved little problem, either.
We didn't get any server firsts, but we performed well, and made progress nearly as quick as the server's top guilds. There was no way to go but up. Well, that's until we polished off good old Naxx (in 2009 at this point). People grew complacent, bored. They disappeared from the server, not logging on for days or weeks.
Then, a portion of our core, who all knew each other in real life, decided they were going to transfer servers, citing that our raid time, despite sticking to it for so long, had left them fatigued. A valid complaint, but no less shocking when the revelation comes too soon for anybody to properly react.
Before we knew it, they were gone, and not long after, we lost a few more people to the darkest regions of their textbooks. Midterms and finals really can be a bitch.
Where did this leave SevPay? With less than twenty regular members logging on. People were still burned out on Naxx and Ulduar was, apparently, not enough to bring them back. So for months, aside from the (very odd) occurrence, we only fielded 10-man dungeons. It stayed this way for nearly the entire summer.
The guild very nearly died, with the officer core and morale dwindling. And then, once the vacation season started to wind down, a few people came back. Trial of the Crusader was about halfway unlocked, and we started to claw our way back to 25-mans.
But I had two very big personal problems to deal with. One, I was making a huge move across the country, from (not-as-sunny-as-you'd-think) Florida all the way to the Emerald City in Oregon. This meant that I had to take several weeks leave from the game.
Likewise, my once mighty laptop was starting to succumb to the woes of intensifying content. Both in terms of the game's increasing visual complexity and the number of players we had in the raids. 10-mans were serviceable, but 25-mans caused my frames to tank, sometimes well below ten.
After the move I made a tough, but ultimately wise, decision to purchase a new rig and soon, I was back in the game. And so was Severance Pay. Since around September, we've slowly built up our membership, grabbing the odd straggler or skilled friend here and there. The wholesale transfer of the top Horde guild off our server didn't hurt, either, as some of the leftovers now sought a new place to call home.
We're still not where we want to be, but we're strong and consistent. Losing out on so many achievements in Ulduar during our bad months has hurt our rankings a lot, and it may stay that way with Icecrown Citadel now taking up most of attention.
I have a feeling that we will make strides as we march towards the Lich King and that even if 2009 was bumpy, we'll be rightly prepared and ready for all that Deathwing has to throw at us in 2010. To cite one of the worst ad campaigns in history, Severance Pay is about to make Cataclysm our bitch! May that not be a portent for an Ion Storm level of epic failure.
Reader Comments