Ahead of the Curve

Ahead of The Curve

For the first time since MoP was released, the Guardians of Fellowship have successfully completed a tier before the next was released. I am incredibly proud of my guild, both as a member of our raid team and as co-GM. A huge congratulations and thank you is in order to the Defenders of the Guardians Of Fellowship. Each and every one of you on that fight deserved the kill, and I am so proud to be one of you.

The GoF had a stellar showing during Cataclysm. We held the top spot on our server for a time, earning a bronze finish for the Dragon Soul tier and completing 8/8 Heroic before the release of Mists of Pandaria. We felt like we were in a strong position to really challenge for that top spot on the server for the first time since our founding back in the WOTLK days.

 Then things got hard.

Mists hasn't exactly been kind to our team. As with any expansion, there was an ebb and flow of members when it was released. A good bit of our raid team left the game, whether due to feeling they had completed their personal quest with the demise of Deathwing, out of game reasons, burn out, or simply because they didn't like the pandas. For whatever reason, they left, and we were faced with rebuilding a new raid team from our remaining roster and adding new raiders.

Forgotten Depths: A Restospective

Continuing my fond farewell to the current Raiding tier, let me reintroduce you to the bosses in the second act of the Throne of Thunder: The Forgotten Depths.  Three giant critters make up the second act: Tortos, Megaera, and Ji-Kun.  Slaying these bosses makes me feel like we're putting them out of their misery.

According to "Lore by Bells (TM)" says that Tortos just wants to dance.  Look at all of the Dragon Turtle adds - they come whirling out from behind him doing the turtle spin breakdance - and that's all Tortos wants to do.  His body has literally fused with the cave walls around it, immobilizing him and keeping him from being able to pull out his blue suede shoes and bust a move.  Not to get too far off topic, he was just a victim to Mogu magic floating down and making him one with the wall.  What kind of an existence must it be to sit day after day, unable to move or even scratch your back?  (I apologize if this sounds too much like your workplace, guys.)

Megaera was once a cloud serpent, free to roam the skies and feel the sunshine on her scales.  She was twisted by Mogu magic into a hideous hydra.  When I picture the cloud serpents, I can't help but think of my majestic mount that I raised from an adorable, playful hatchling to a graceful adult.  To think of the agony that would transform that to a creature full of hate and desire for vengeance is sobering.

Ji-Kun I feel a touch less pity for as she is in the Forgotten Depths of her own volition.  She entered the Depths to feast on the flesh thrown aside by the Mogu.  She reigns supreme in her chamber.  I've often wondered if she feasts on her own offspring, as she is the only living creature in there when we arrive. Granted her eggs are everywhere, but you'll notice there's not another bird flitting about anywhere in the Throne of Thunder.

Stories aside, here's how I feel about the second act of the Throne of Thunder.

What Is Worth Fighting For? Part 1 of 2

“The true question, for my kind, is 'what is worth fighting for'?”

Part I: As A Raid Team

Three times a week, for three hours at a shot, ten people from the GoF come together to take on internet dragons and monsters. Three times a week, for three hours at a shot, we hurl ourselves time and again at these dragons, sometimes completing the same fight dozens of times or sometimes wiping dozens of times on the same fight. Why do we do it? Why do we not just say “oh well, I'm going to just go pick stuff from my farm in the Valley of the Four Winds”? What comes out of those dragons and monsters that is worth sinking nine hours a week – thirty six hours or more a month – that we feel is worth the time spent, the frustration, and worth fighting for to stay together as a team?

Ask ten different people and you're likely to get ten different responses.