Kil’jaeden Is Down: TBC “Complete”
by Lume ~ August 12th, 2008. Filed under: Raiding.
Yesterday was my birthday. I’m not sure I could have received a present better than the one I beheld last evening when Kil’jaeden was banished back through the Sunwell. The reward is immaterial, but it is one I will remember for years.
Many people have come and gone through the guild. Some still persist as friends, and some as fellow raiders. Building and keeping this guild together for the past year and a half has felt like a full-time job for Silver, myself and Siafu. And, finally, we have been blessed with adrenaline-based euphoria and pride to reward the work we’ve put into the guild. To reward the work put in by everyone who helped us get this far: our members, our raiders, our core. They are just as deserving.
Our kill was the 64th in the U.S., and 144th in the world. While we did not place as well as we did for M’uru, I am still more than content with the results. We endured many people leaving or taking breaks as a result of burn-out or real life. What surprises me most is that we actually had to call off a raid last week. And, yet, people still put in the effort to show up for the rest of the week, work through the earlier bosses, and then put the entirety of their hearts into Kil’jaeden. And so we’ve defeated the final boss of The Burning Crusade.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t expect us to get this far. Did I have my doubts when things seemed bleak? You bet. Anyone I’ve confided in can attest to that fact. But one of the very reasons I set out to create the guild was to fill a hole left by my server after vanilla WoW. In the original iteration of WoW, Proudmoore never got beyond the Four Horsemen. Some think even Gothik, but I have conflicting reports about that. Apparently, at least one guild kept their Gothik kill secret intending to surprise their competition with “Naxx Complete!” But they never defeated the Horsemen before raids began to dissolve with the impending release of TBC. So where Proudmoore failed to complete vanilla WoW when the cap was still 60, we have managed to become the first to achieve such a feat for the server in TBC. And I hope there will be a few right behind us. Our goal was to create a better server in this regard, and we have succeeded.
What has surprised me, however, is our placing. Particularly on M’uru. We were 40th in the U.S. and 98th in the world with that kill. That’s certainly not top tier in the sense of placing on the front page, but I could care less about that. We’ve done it as a guild that raids with a rather relaxed atmosphere. And for this, I had many of our members approach me after the kill grateful for the calm and collected raid we run. It was a change from their previous kills. A change from getting chewed out after every single wipe.
Criticisms about the Sunwell aside, playing through this level of raiding has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had in my time gaming. Thank you, Blizzard. And thank you, Lunacy!
August 13th, 2008 at 3:37 am
I’m first in line to congratulate you! About the birthday as well as about the guild. May you live and prosper in the expansion as well. Awesome achievement, considering you describe your atmosphere as relaxed. It’s a good example for others to watch and follow.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Congratulations! Well done!
August 13th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Happy Birthday and a HUGE congratulations!! :)
August 13th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Congratulations and happy birthday!
August 14th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Happy birthday and congrats! What a great birthday present. I’m sure your raid planned it amirite? ;)
August 14th, 2008 at 5:15 am
Is big-arsed hairy congo rats ta you and yer guild, Lume! Job well done!
August 16th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I killed him solo in a private server months ago. Me solo > your raid guild.
Think about that, and then ask yourself if it was really worth all the broken friendships, drama, anger, rage, arguments, etc. that it took to get to this point.
Raiding gives a very FALSE sense of accomplishment that often results in people letting their real life accomplishments falter. Everyone has a certain amount of accomplishment they want to attain in life. When they get it from a game, they stop seeking it in real life.
HOLD THE FLAMETHROWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything I have written above is an exaggeration. I wrote it to make a point. Raiding and gaming should be about fun, not about some kind of titanic “achivement” that feels like you just gave birth.
-Cambios
Blogging about Online Gaming and Virtual Worlds:
http://www.muckbeast.com
August 17th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Maybe you’ll find this one more interesting:
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Raiding Provides a False, Deceptive Sense of Real Accomplishment
http://tinyurl.com/6nw8a7
.
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-Cambios
Blogging about Online Gaming and Virtual Worlds:
http://www.muckbeast.com
August 18th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Do me a favor and read my response to your comments in my recent entry.
You’re trying to tell me how I should come away from the experience. You’re trying to act as though you’re an expert psychologist accurately assessing the cognitive processes I experience playing MMO’s. And you’re trying to sell your personal preference antagonistically to people who don’t agree with you.
Furthermore, it seems like you’re trying to sell your blog through comments like these. On blogs that have generally different audiences. I’m sure many care about your views because they disagree. But I don’t appreciate the bombastic manner in which you advertise. Linking an article and then signing off in a commercial manner is unnecessary. There’s a reason you’re allowed to link your blog through your name on comments.
Thanks.
August 18th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I’m very behind on my blogroll-reading, and I know I said congrats in chat at the time, but: congrats, and I’m very glad your faith and dedication has been vindicated. :)
Regarding the above commenter, he left the second comment on my blog as well, on an entry that didn’t even have anything to do as raiding. I therefore categorized it as spam, and filtered it accordingly.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
A big congratulations; I am of the mindset that finishing content is an achievement, especially since I’m well aware of the work one needs to put into raiding to make it successful. Hopefully you’ll get some good farm-time in before WotLK.
August 19th, 2008 at 3:01 am
Congrats! Hopefully I will be able to share the experience of downing Kil’jaeden in the near future too.