Everything Ends

It’s been awhile since I’ve written. I’ve watched guilds struggle. I’ve watched guilds come and go. I’ve seen a huge decline of 25 man guilds as they dropped into 10 man raid groups, or just 10 man raid guilds, never completely making the transition back. One thing holds true – No Quarter Given has – to itself. We are still a 25 man raid core. We still have our same principles that this guild was built upon. We still go through the same effort to keep things just as drama free and as transparent as possible, while maintaining calmness – not always an easy thing when someone is ranting to you about a pixel or fails to realize, you’re just as human too.

Cataclysm has brought so many changes to World of Warcraft and it’s no where near being close to the end of many ripples Azeroth will feel. I’ve met so many great people through this game. I’ve sealed off some friendships, but I’d also like to point out – those friendships are only sealed as long you let them be. I took this last week to remove those barriers. People leave guilds for a variety of reasons- and they give a variety of reasons. This last week, well, I’m losing yet another dear friend to the “real life” raid boss. It happens.

The irony is this is that I’ve seen it many times. I’m not mad about. I, of all people, do understand. This is game. It’s a game I’m often told I take a bit too seriously – and it’s a game that I put allot of myself into by way of this guild, its day to day organization, and its structure. I would never want anyone to stay in this guild that is not happy, but more so, if real life takes you away from us- and I mean us, this guild, this extended family, it is just the way the dice roll. We pride ourselves on being adults. We will hate to see you go, but it doesn’t mean we lose all contact. There is real id, we have our guild Facebook, and there’s email. The best compliment even on the way out is that, while we all realize the commitment cannot be made anymore or the dedication to raiding, you enjoyed your time here. The atmosphere you described is what every officer in this guild works very hard to try to maintain as behind the scenes as possible.

I can think of many people that have passed through our “doors” to other guilds, or even just to leave game. Quite a few I still indeed call friends. They are still on my Facebook pages. I still chat with them when time permits. Nothing is forever. Enjoy your friendships while you can, and enjoy raiding with your friends. You never know when the “real life” raid boss may come for you.

The Wind Down of Wrath

Looking back over the content that Wrath brought us, the several changes that rippled through guilds, the different versions of raids and dungeons, and constant emblem changes with each content patch release, it's finally drawing to a close. This sense of impending closure is more brought on by the release of Operation Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall events. It seems by no means complete, but it is the start. These events bring back several memories of the last two expansions, and everything leading up to the expansion release. It also puts a sense of urgency in completing things.

We are shifting focus. While we want ICC 25 completed on hard modes and our drakes, it's also time to finish up the Ulduar ones as well. It's time to focus and buckle down on the few hard modes that are left, a drake waiting, and a very cool title. As we look ahead, there are also other things to consider. Guild dungeons to complete, quests, and achievements linger on the horizon. The entire guild perk system is looming ahead, to counter balance the ease of a faction change and/or server transfer, to disappear forever.

We almost have our first Frostmourne in guild, which will be quite an achievement. I'm excited about the future. There is a strong loyalty base in this guild, and with that, it means we have allot of new opportunities about to pop on the horizon. We are seeing our second Pirate's Day as a guild – with a new guild picture in the works. We're working on some cool new ways to recruit but honestly, while we had a drop in attendance the prior week, the roster is back to being very solid this current raid week. We've got an influx of healers, which is probably good because who knows what main changes Cataclysm will bring.

Many people say that Cataclysm will fix most of the things that Wrath broke. There are also many skeptics about, thinking this will be yet the end to this game. Personally, I don't see the game in a downward spiral, just a shift of focus. From a business perspective, it makes sense to cater to the masses then the few. Hopefully, Blizzard will have balanced that with the folks that want notoriety which comes from spending the extra time, pursuing the harder things that the game can provide, and offers a way to at least give some sort of way to differentiate between these players that strive for a higher level of game play, and the player that logs in on occasion. Something should be there for the effort. In a 25 man guild, I'm hoping the extra time we've taken on recruitment and to mesh up players with 25 man interest has paid off.

Looking back, this guild was formed for Wrath. I'll need to revamp our website opening pages, because at this point, we have weathered the many storms that Wrath has thrown at us. It's been a roller coaster of a ride. I know what challenges we faced as a brand new guild for Wrath. I'm glad we are facing a slightly different set of challenges for Cataclysm. I know some people may go but I also know we've many people that have raided together for more than a year. That fact alone gives me such faith in this guild for what we can accomplish in the next expansion.

Downsizing

In an interesting blue post today, I found that in Cataclysm, while 10s/25s do share the same id - you can only shift down. Basically, a 10 man guild can't shift up. The real thought would be is this going to be on a per boss basis, or once you shift down, are you stuck on 10 man versus 25?

How does this work for end bosses? Take for example Lich King. Sure you have a 25 man raiding guild -and you are consistently getting to and working on the end boss- if you have 10 people who are available and want to put in the extra time, do you let them?

How will this impacting ranking sites? If you share the id, what happens on the achievements/ progression marks? I already know of guilds that will halve runs so that both guilds get credit for the 25 man progression/achievement. In this scenario, I could easily see guilds shifting down to 10 to get the credit.

Interface – First Looks

The first impression I had of the beta was "WOW" – why? Because they really changed a few things on the User Interface. I copied over my shaman – with a bit of gold – as premades aren't available yet. There was so much to explore – it was hard to decide where to start. Upon logging in – I naturally got the "Your talent points have been reset" message. This found me hitting the P button.. and WOW, what a difference.

Check it out- you couldn't visit the profession trainers, and you couldn't find the archeology trainer yet – but hey it's new yet.

The next awesome find was the talent tree itself. It resembles the Add On Talented – so if you're used to that type of interface, you'll find yourself right at home with the new talent point UI.



I'll add a post on once you spend your talents - the top changes but I've got to download the updated version.

Cataclysm – Beta?

I have an acquaintance at work – that posted to an internal workgroup that he used to play in Cuties Only (Horde guild) and that a few Bliz devs played there. He said he had contacted them for the Friends and Family Alpha for Cataclysm. Each Blizz employee got 20 invites, and while he couldn't guarantee invites – he stated that if we sent the battlenet name, he would see what he could do. I know the alpha is out – but when I checked my battlenet account – under games, I found a Cataclysm beta. Let the fun begin!

At first, just the screenshots while it was downloading was pretty exciting. As you can see my screenshots below – it did take a while.

Even more awesome – being able to mount in Stormwind on my drake -even more awesome!

Check back for some incoming screenshots and posts.