I have a special treat today in the form of a guest post written by Honeym about the hometown she shares with a number of your very own guild mates.  Its an enchanting sort of place, and I hope it gives you a fun sense of how some of your guild mates experience everyday life.  Enjoy:

I would like to tell you some about the wonderful town that Shadesta, Thoranbrook, Itamar, Kalessa and I live in. We are in the very top north west corner of Ohio. It is a 20 minute drive to Michigan and 20 minutes to Indiana. I arrived here 3 years ago and see the town with new eyes unlike the rest of them that were born and raised here.

Bryan, The Fountain City is like stepping back in time, back to the 60’s. It is amazing. Kids still ride their bikes all over town and must be home before dark. Most of us only remember that from our childhood’s and would never dream of letting our kids do that now. You never hear a car horn, you never see tempers rise. Once a week on the radio they announce all the arrests for the week, normally only 5 or 6 and mostly for non payment of child support or traffic violations.

The town is a mix of “Townies” and “farmers”. We even have a well rated winery to boast about (at the end of our road if we ever need to get smashed) The deer run freely and watch out at dusk as that is the time they like to cross the roads and car vs deer….the deer always wins! Want to meet anyone?….need to find the perfect spot?….well that would be the largest thing in town…Walmart!! Easy to find! We do have chain fast food but no chain sit down restaurants. For that you would have to drive 45 minutes to Toledo

Bryan is called the Fountain city as it sits on over 400 artesian wells, most of which have been capped off now. We have 18 police officers for the whole city and most people know all of them by name! We do not have hurricanes, earthquakes, mudslides, forest fires (just the odd field fire) or BIG bugs! Still too many bugs for Shad but then again one is too many for him! He says he doesn’t fear spiders but just has a STRONG dislike of them. Sadly none of his friends believe him.

We do have a newspaper that is printed 6 days a week, not on Sundays and is normally about 10 pages. Home delivery arrives around 4pm. They do not print during the night like large city papers but in the morning when everyone comes into work. The entire county has 39,000 people as of the 2000 census. The city of Bryan had 8,333 in the last census.

Yes….we have the classic town square were a band plays on the bandstand every Wednesday night during the summer months. At Christmas time they deck the square with lights and displays. PC has not found it’s way here thank goodness.

I have found so many kind and helpful people here. People do not turn their backs on you, they reach out and help anyone they can ( feels kinda like ECC)

Shadesta and Thoranbrook were born on the same day, in the same hospital, and their mother’s shared the same room. Talk about friends for life. This is something that can only happen in small towns anymore. Time has skipped over Bryan and we are so much better off for it. I have found my home here and plan to never move away.

Okay, enough with Ecco’s lovey-dovey intro. He’s skipped town this week, and so it falls on my inimitable shoulders to update you all on what’s been going on in ECC this week!  Your very favorite Warlock, Ronzily Q. Clackworth, is at the helm this week, so buckle up and enjoy the ride! (Don’t mind the demonic whispering in the backseat. If you ignore it, it won’t hurt you.)

Achievements:

Unfortunately, I was less than attentive with notes on Achievements this week, thinking that I would go through a few people’s profiles in the armory and grab out some good ones. Unfortunately, as I write this today, the Armory is totally borked, and I can’t look at anyone’s profiles.

I do know that Kanoe spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen and finally nabbed her Hail to the Chef achievement, though!

And see the raid section down below for details, but here’s a little hint of what’s to come: a number of people got Call of the Crusade this week!

New Members:
Another week without any new initiates to speak of, but that’s not a bad thing. We’re still busy indoctrinating welcoming aboard the last batch, and these things tend to come in waves.  Keep on enjoying the current membership, and we’ll keep an eye on the forums for new recruits.

Raiding:
Third Time’s a Charm ventured further into Icecrown Citadel this week, making a number of valiant attempts at Sindragosa.  Between her stubborn insistence to turn all of into blocks of ice over and over again, and the tasty-sounding in theory but very painful in practice Mystic Buffet, they weren’t able to seal the deal. They made some significant headway though, and will keep  Sindragosa as their goal next week with a fresh lockout.

After a long set of weeks with fairly low signups, there seems to be renewed interest in our “starter” raid team, The Cherry Poptarts, and they were able to field a team this Saturday evening! Our “lovable” leader Arch filled in for Luenyar in a pinch and brought the team into Ulduar this week.  Arch may not have known all the fights enough to give perfect explanations, but they persevered and cleared all the way through the crazy cat lady herself, Auriaya! Congratulations especially to new-to-raiding Isabeaux, who got nearly a whole new set of clothes out of the ordeal, and performed admirably to boot!  Keep those signups coming to ensure that runs for the Poptarts keep happening!

Cornerstone was led into the fray again this week by the wonderful Handimus, and they kicked the proverbial ass of Trial of the Crusader and Onyxia.  After previously struggling with Lord Jaraxxus and then the Faction Champs, they steamrolled right through ToC, putting Anub’rekhan back in the ground where he belongs, before storming to Kalimdor to teach Onyxia a thing or two!  Sounds to us like Lord Marrowgar is on notice…

Guildie of the week:

“The dedication and good humor he has brought to his leadership of Cornerstone and how he has made commitment to make it work every week. We are all better players for his insistence that we can be.”

Thanks for those kind words, Nym!

If you’d like to nominate someone as member of the week, please PM Ecco your reason for supporting your nominee.

Forum Post of the week:
Since I’m in charge this week, I’ll take the opportunity to remind folks that the class forums are a great place to catch up on the latest news about your class. Our class leaders keep them up to date with strategies, news, and the like, so keep checking in.  This week, Shadestajr’s been posting some Hunter news, and I updated all three of the talent spec threads in the Warlock forums, so check them out!

Also, while it was a relatively slow week on the forums this week, don’t forget to check in often, or you might miss gems like Honey’s cheesecake recipe!

Coming up:
Well folks, that brings my fill-in to a close. Ecco should take the reins back for next week’s happenings, but before that, since he still has a little bit of slacking time on the calendar, our very own Honey will be presenting a look beyond Azeroth and out into the real world area she lives in, so look for that to come soon!

Keep tuning in, keep checking the forums, and most importantly, keep sending Ecco information for the blog!

Yours demonically,
Ronzily Q. Clackworth (esq.)

[Ecco]: Are you ready to start your interro… err interview?

[Thoranbrook]: Sure thing.

[E]: Okay then, lets talk WoW, how did you get started playing?

[T]: I suppose the love for UO (Ultima Online) wore out for me. I mean I still think about it but the game never advanced with the ever growing advanced hardware that was coming out to really spice up the game. I heard about WoW, and followed it all the way up to beta where I signed up and got in just a week before they opened it up to the Open Beta testers. I’ve been hooked ever since!

[E]: Wow! So you went from the original to the mammoth of MMOs?

[T]: Yes and no… My first MMO I suppose would have been “Legend of the Red Dragon” from my old BBS days, but yeah you could say that.

[E]: You’ve out-geeked me. I’ve never heard of that one.

[T]: Legend of the Red Dragon or the BBS? Ok how about Trade Wars? That was another really fun one to play, but again this was all pretty much ANSI text based. Very fun for the time.

[E]: I’ve never heard of any of it, but let’s dig way back here: do you remember when in your life you fell in love with gaming? Clearly it’s been a big part of your life.

[T]: I’ve been gaming since I was roughly 15 years old… the old Pen and Paper DnD style. Ithamar hooked me up with a new kid in the neighborhood who showed him this new game called Dungeons and Dragons. I opened up the first edition of the Players Handbook and read about a few classes and was hooked. I probably spent the next 4+ hours making up my first character!

[E]: I love that feeling of flipping through books and working up a new character.

[T]: Our new friend was an awesome DM! He took all the time needed to answer questions and help out. He made the whole experience fun from start to finish!

[E]: Do you recall the class of your first?

[T]: Mage!  Niltsiar was his name. A name I borrowed from Dragonlance and took a characters name and flipped it backwards.

[E]: Nice! Do you still play pen and paper games?

[T]: I would love to but it’s hard to find time to dedicate to it anymore in the capacity that I would really want to in order to make it feel like it used to. I wouldn’t mind gaming here and there but if I RP’ed we did campaigns and those are the best. I’m hoping that when my sons get a little older I can suck them into it though.

[E]: You must be looking forward to DM’ing for the next generation of geeks.

[T]: Oh yeah in the years of playing I did my fair share of DM’ing and as I said I’m hoping my sons can find the enjoyment out of it that I had.

[E]: Any favorite pen and paper RPGs outside of D&D?

[T]: Settings? I’m in love with the Forgotten Realms setting and Dragonlance Settings the most…

[E]: No world of darkness or shadowrun or anything like that? You’ve been loyal to D&D.

[T]: For the most part. I did Spell Jammer for awhile does that count?

[E]: Not as a different game, no, but it was a very cool setting. Anyhow, getting back to WoW, has Thoranbrook been your main since launch, or did you switch it up at any point?

[T]: Well at launch I started off on Argent Dawn with “Stillfinder” the Dwarf Hunter.  Played him for some time then Blizz made me do a name change. So I did, but at about that time Argent Dawn was getting a little to stuffed so I hit Kirin Tor Server with Ith and Shad who had already moved over there.  I made me up my Horde Priest who has just recently became number two in time played behind Thoranbrook.

[E]: You mean Thor passed him, or have you been moonlighting a bit?

[T]: Thor the toon passed him with time played. I’ve been toying with the idea of the faction change and leveling the 10 levels with my priest but haven’t brought myself to it yet.

[E]: So when did you come to Farstriders, and how did you hook up with ECC?

[T]: Well much in the same way as my switch came with Argent Dawn only this time around Kirin Tor was stuffed with folks, and again started getting waiting lines. Blizz did the free server moves so I moved all my horde toons.

From there Shad, Ith and myself got into a fairly large guild, the Plagued Disciples, and had a blast. We were with them for roughly a year or better as we all made the move from Kirin Tor to Farstriders together but at that time it was more in game friends moving to enjoy the game together. Once we moved we decided to just make a nice guild and see what we could do with it. We hit Kara and did dungeons but eventually a large faction of the group decided they wanted to do another server change. I didn’t want to move anymore and decided to stay here, but without many of the folks I gamed with, playtime really dipped down. I ended up taking a break for roughly 4 to 5 months until Ith one day said he started playing again.

[E]: I am “listening” raptly, go on.

[T]: He’d made up an alliance toon and hooked up with a great bunch of people in a large guild and told me I should try it out. I had my doubts to be honest because the “large” guilds as I knew them had all been very strict and very one sided meaning we do this or we do this and if you didn’t you didn’t fit in. Ith told me more about the guild and I finally gave in and got back into the game. I jumped alliance and made up Thoranbrook

[E]: Was this mid Burning Crusade?

[T]: Easily in that time frame for sure. I leveled Thor up to around the 60’s without even looking at ECC as I tend to be a loner when I level but when I could do some of the BC instances that is when Ith finally convinced me to do some runs with his new guild.

[E]: And you’ve been happy enough with ECC to eventually become an Executive Officer in the guild… I guess that means you like us.

[T]: No I don’t like us.  I love us! ECC has been great! From the time I met Mac and Kit to the time I started moving into Raid Leading in Kara as a Team 2 Lead! It’s been a blast and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything else i’ve done in game.

[E]: Sweet! I wonder if we could back up a second. You’ve mention Ith and Shad a couple of times, and I know you know them both in “real life”. How many other folks in ECC do you know outside of the game?

[T]: Well lets see… Ith and Shad… I grew up with them since I was about 10, Honey, Jaileth, Luenyar, Kalessina…. I believe thats about it.

[E]: Honey and shad are together I know. Kal you met through work right?

[T]: Yeah I met Kal through work because he is a vendor we use to help us with our network when we have issues. We had some issues one night and while he was there on the tech call Shad pretty much talked him into playing. I think Kal already had it set in his mind he was going to but Shad wouldn’t let up. I pushed a bit as well but not nearly as much as Shad.

[E]: I feel like The Boston Crew and the Cincy crew might need to have a dance battle if ECC ever pulls off a meet-up.

[T]: If you don’t mind poorly done YMCA dance choreography then I think you would have a fight on your hands!

[E]: Which village person are you? The construction worker?

[T]: I would think I would be more the cowboy….

[E]: Niiiice.  So, before we finish up, is there anything else about you that you think people should know?

[T]: Well… I started the study of the martial arts, Kenpo, back in 1989 and earned my Black Belt then some since. I hold 2 other honorary BBs in Taekwondo, and Aikido. I nationally ranked fourth in the competition circuit when I was 18 going on 19 but my real love came from training others giving back what I was taught.

[E]: See now thats interesting.

[T]: I gave up Highschool sports for that…

[E]: How often do you teach?

[T]: I try my best to do what I can to pass on what I know to folks but now I don’t “teach” in the same capacity as I used to when I was younger. My instructor passed away after his fight with cancer and I had to step out for a while due to a job I had taken that conflicted with training times. I have spent time with some people one on one but nothing hardcore anylonger. Mostly a “self defense” type setting for a few lessons to get their feet wet.

[E]: Any cool tournament stories?

[T]: That’s a tough one… I think my first tournament was the coolest because I was sooo nerved up.

[E]: Thats an awesome story. If you’re open to more, I’d love to here what you like about gaming in general, what you value about pen and paper, what you value about electronic social gaming. Where do you see overlap between what you like about the two?

[T]: I love the social aspect a lot. Just enjoying something that I find to be really fun with others that share that same feeling as an over all for both Pen and Paper and electronic gaming…

For the Pen and Paper aspect, I really like the fact that if you have an excellent DM, you can honestly change the outcome of an event based off your actions. As much as game developers try to do that for MMO’s, they can’t honestly do that because the game can only have so many endings. So you’re still going to have a group of people that end up with the same experience because the game drove them that way based off their actions. A great DM can adapt and go with your choices and make the game work with what you give him and not make you work with what the game gives you.

As for electronic gaming, the satisfaction comes from taking the images out of your mind that you play out and actually put them in front of you. You cast fireball in PnP and you imagine what it looks like. In an MMO you get to see that awesome effects of the fireball from the time it is being cast to the time it lays waste to your enemies!

The other thing that really draws me to electronic gaming is bringing a group (or a mass in our case) together to enjoy the type of environment as a group and have a good time. I love the large scale social aspect that MMO’s can get.

[E] In a broad sense I am interested in your personal values and how they relate to gaming.

[T] Well I like the old “All for one and One for all” idea, which is honestly something we have here in ECC that sets us apart from the majority of the larger guilds that exist in WoW today. You always hear about guild breaking up because this person got all this and nobody cares about that person, but here in ECC I think the above statement works out really well for us. We have many that love to help everybody out and that’s simply amazing. I think that attitude fits right in line with how I feel everybody should handle everything. I know there are times when folks need that “me” time but for the most part we live by that rule and that’s just fine by me.

Oh and the other one I live by that I try to live by is, “Lead or get the fuck out the way”. I don’t think anybody should follow blindly because that’s just what one person says. Again, with ECC that makes this place great. ECC is open for anybody to do damn near whatever they want for the guild to make the guild experience awesome! Please note your Fantastic Blog that you have brought back to life! Please note Manski’s contest! These aren’t things that followers do these are things that people do because they lead or do what they can to make everybody’s experience that much more enjoyable. For folks that do that, I thank you as you have made my day and my online experience that much better!

[E]: Is it true that you’re hung like a horse? Arch wants to know

[T]: No, but I’m not birds in an eggs nest either!

After a vigilant effort of noting guild announcements for last weeks happenings, I totally missed the boat this week.  I’m guessing that had a lot to do with a self imposed restriction on my number of log-ins this week as I am starting to feel a little burn-out from grinding my way to my now complete ICC healing gear set… well almost complete.  Sindragosa needs to give my shield like a good little dragon, but thats not something I can control by amassing gold or frost badges obsessively. 

Enough about me.  On with the show!

Achievements:

Xeleres has a kinky pursuit that I never suspected, but its out now.  Hopefully it doesn’t ruin his political career.  Apparently there is a long line of assorted woodland creatures lining up to tell their sordid tales now that his secret is out in the open.  He popped To all the Squirrels Who’ve Shared My Life, and there’s no hiding it anymore.

Eielesaria let me know that she has for the first time ever brought an alt up to the level cap.  Thorine, her soon to be guilted into tanking pally dinged Level 80.

Finally, I ommitted mention of it last week because I was trying to focus more on non-raiding achievments but huge congratulations are in order for Achievment Heads Kalessina, Kanoe, Manski, Griz, Shadesta, Bryn and Kode who managed an Obsidian Sanctum victory with three drakes up to enter The Twilight Zone.

New Members:
Its been a quiet week on the new member front.  We may finally have gotten past the influx of new blood on Farstriders from the free server transfer that had been up.  In light of that, I’d like to take a moment to give Jaileth a fond faretheewell.  She announced this week that she had to step away from WoW, and she’ll be dearly missed while she’s gone.  Maybe we can still get her to come on vent every once in a while and speak to us in German.

Raiding: 
Third Time’s a Charm had another breakthrough week, opening Saturday with a convincing domination of Blood Queen Lanathel.  They also managed second kills on both Valithria Dreamwalker and Professor Putricide meaning they have all but three bosses in ICC on Farm Status, and have only Sindragosa and Arthas himself left to conquer.  Many members are taking a much needed half week and will spend Tuesday getting some learning attempts in on Sindragosa, and light willing get their first glimpse of mr chilly pants himself if they are once more succesful.

The Cherry Poptarts have a raid scheduled for Friday and Saturday this week, but still have a couple of open spots in the Roster.  This is your golden opportunity to get started raiding with ECC for the first time  (Justclick right here!) or lend some expertise to the Pops if you’re one of the Third Timers that Isn’t indisposed this weekend.   

If you’d like to nominate someone as member of the week, please PM me your reason for supporting your nominee.

Forum Post of the week:
I have to go with Sinfall’s post announcing he was patching and updating his game and getting back into WoW this week.  He’s been on such an extended WoW break that I had an embarassing moment where I forgot his DK was him, and totally gave him the cold shoulder when he whispered me for a reinvite to the guild for the alt.

Sorry Sinfall!  We’re psyched to have you back, and I promise to memorize the names of all your alts by this time next year.

Coming up:
The blog has been a bit behind the schedule I’d hoped to keep, and I’m going away over the weekend, so things may take a while to catch up.  I’ll definitely have an interview up for you this week, but I may need to beg borrow or steal a guest blog post for next week.

Be well and love fiercely,

Ecco

I’m happy to say I had a much more successful week in terms of capturing news of achievements and a little more flavor of non raid related news.  Its always a tender balance between raiding and non-raiding content.  Raiding tends to be the most organized aspect of group play generating the most planning, forum posts and overall buzz.  That doesn’t mean it even represents the majority of the most hardcore raider’s time in game, though.  Luckily I was able to keep a better ear to the ground and found out about a ton of awesome successes in ECC this week.

Achievements:

Ari is in the middle of a march towards Loremaster of Northrend on her Shaman, eliviani.  This week she checked off Might of Dragonblight and Veteran of the Wrathgate in the process.

Cicera and Naiadmuerte each popped achievements that make my mind boggle: Lance a Lot and 1000 Fish respectively.  Anyone willing to Joust or fish that much has a strength of will and depth of patience that I will just never be able to approach.

Speaking of patience, Shengli and Jaileth have both been getting their PuG on with Looking for Many and Looking for Multitudes.  Titles and cute pets abound!

Anarche (AKA Kitten Tits) popped 30 exalted reputations this week.  He seems to have a knack for getting both NPCs and humans to like him despite his gruff exterior.  I wonder if he’s found a way to make NPCs laugh with buady stories…

Haian is getting his start down the same road with 5 exalted reps himself.  I’m not sure if fables of finding people fornicating with foul will help you as much as they did Arch, but its worth a try.

Egodina has been dishing out some PvP pain to earn That takes class.  Hopefully she’s been able to avoid letting too many hordies return the favor.

Bakku is seeking the Holy Grail, and picked up Its Just a Flesh Wound en route.  Hopefully he already knows his favorite color, or Terry Gilliam will pwn his arse.

Finally Avvala either has OCD or is incredibly lucky… or maybe a lot of both.  He finished off Bloody Rare this week in the kind of killing spree that will have the NSA recruiting him as a spook in no time.

Please PM me or leave a comment here if you have an achievement or other significant character accomplishment to include in next weeks column.

New Members:
We only had one person pass muster and join the ranks this week.  So, please give an extra warm welcome to Rothwell.  According to the Armory… Roth is a Blood Elf Paladin who’s joined ECC on the Kilrogg server.  Perhaps he’s a spy, or he’s going under the knife for a soul change operation… Either way, it sounds like there is one less Pally around to gank me in Wintergrasp while I farm, so lets all be glad for it.

Raiding: 
Third Time’s a Charm hit a technical bug with one of their scheduled raid days getting dominated by instance server crashes.  They still managed to get the Blood Princes down Saturday and are extending the lockout to renew their domination of Valithria, and show Blood Queen Lanithel how its done…  and by it, I mean dying… and by showing her how, I mean doing it repeatedly in her presence until she decides to try it herself. 

If you’d like to nominate someone as member of the week, please PM me your reason for supporting your nominee.

Forum Post of the week:
Shadesta took this one in a landslide victory.  A couple of weeks after his stellar post on hunter gearing stats, he went far beyond the call of duty by looking up a good sample of ECC hunters on the armory and proactively finding general tips that he felt would be useful to many of them.  Who puts that much work into providing informational resources to their guildmates?  Apparantly Shad does, and he deserves some recognition.  Give him a high five next time you see him in Dalaran trying to degrease his sausages.

Coming up:
Later this week I’ve got another treat for you in the form of an interview with one of our very own XOs, and I’m working on an editorial on how to be the best asshole you can be.

Be well and love fiercely,

Ecco

Thats the plot twist.  Well actually its the first plot twist.  ECC, despite being a large guild that continues to grow rapidly, doesn’t raid 25 mans like many other guilds.  We raid 10s, and for the last 5 months or so, pretty much only 10s.

That has a lot to do with the second twist: Ex Cinis Cineris is not a raiding guild.  From inception, ECC has identified itself as a social guild first and formost, and that continues to be a very important part of our identity.  That doesn’t mean we don’t raid at all.  It just means that the point of being in ECC isn’t to raid. 

We don’t recruit people to raid.  We recruit people to be part of a community, and to follow their interests alongside players who share their values and want to have fun.  It’s no small coincidence that people like to raid.  Raiding has become the backbone of Blizzard’s design.  Its where the stories reach their climax.  Its where they put the most time and energy in development.  Its what they balance the classes around.

So ECC raids, but we do it our own way.  We’ve tried 25 man raids.  We’ve tried 10 man raids.  It seems that the majority much prefers the 10 man experience, and its not hard to see why, if you think about it. 

In a 10 man group there is ample time to laugh and chat as we progress along.  In 25 man raids, its much more common to ask people to clear vent because its hard for leadership to get a word in. 

In a 10s, we have the option of running multiple different schedules.  In 25s, you need everyone to commit to the same rigid time each week. 

In 10s, you have a small tight knit group learning to work together.  In 25s you have something more akin to a mob, where indidualy familiarity is trumped by  the need for group mentality and supression of indivdual playstyle.

Perhaps you think I’m being too dismissive of 25s, and its possible that I am.  Whatever the reasons though, every time ECC has tried to run 25 man raids, it has not lasted.  People don’t sign up for the runs, or when they do, raid leads burn out quickly from the frustration of choreographing a larger group and leading them to victory.  The main draw seems not to be that 25 man raids are more fun, but that they offer the best gear.  For ECC, gear is apparently not motivation enough to raid in a format we don’t find fun and enjoyable, and to that I say bravo!

In our mission it says quite clearly: The ultimate goal is to have fun playing WoW with other gamers who enjoy the experience as well. 

Thats what we do.  Thats what we embrace, and I believe its because we raid to have fun that we have become so very successful at it.  Even in our progression raids, we are constantly joking and cracking each other up.  That, to me, is just as important as our ability to play the game well, because when you get right down to it, progressing as a raid is very challenging.  You are always moving on to harder fights, wiping, recovering and trying it again to see what you can do better.  If you’re not doing that because the challenge and experience is fun for you, its just too easy to get disheartened.

Its nice to be tops at something like strict 10 man progression.  I think it helps frame our sense of accomplishment, and that accomplishment is not small.  Frankly, I think strict 10 man raiding is much harder than 25 man progression raiding.  You don’t get the top level gear to help you overpower the 10 man content.  You don’t have a way to see the fights on an easier setting before you try them on a harder level.  Its you and the raid boss, toe to toe, and you have to find a way to beat him while he’s the toughest boss available for you to fight.

The fact that ECC has taken the top spot in that field confirms that we have great players.  It confirms we don’t take the easy way out.  It confirms that what we put our minds to we achieve.

That said, I think whats really impressive about our accomlpishment is that we do it our own way.  We stick our values of community and fun.  Raiding is not the tail that wags the dog in ECC, and we aren’t really strutting around trying to impress anyone else with our phat loots or our world firsts.  There are myriad other guilds with better gear and more achievements.  We don’t raid just to compare ourselves to anyone else.  There are plenty of other guilds that exist just to raid, and we don’t want any part of that. 

Furthermore, while some may have seen our different teams as divisive at points, over time it has born out that players from each of the other two teams have worked their way up into the progression team, and in that way all of our raid teams have become integral to the progression of the top team.  We wouldn’t have the raiders we need to be so successful at the top end of progression if we didn’t have so many excellent leaders providing raiding opportunities at every level of experience and gear.

Those of us that raid, do it to have fun.  We face challenges together because we want to be pushed.  We want that feeling of breaking through and doing something that just didn’t seem possible before we found a way to do it.  Then we celebrate together with the kind of joy you can only experience among a community of people that care about each other and enjoy each others company.

None of that means the journey is over though.  The challenge with organizing raids for a guild of people who believe in fun and community first is that there are always different needs and different interests to manage.  We do not all have the same goals and interests.  We do not all have the same motivations. 

So my call to action for everyone is to think honestly about what it is you enjoy in the game.  If you are getting it, thank the leaders and your peers for helping you reach that level.  Then think about ways you can give back.  There is always a need to help lead and support activities for other people.

If you’re not getting what you want.  Communicate that to the people you see as leaders.  Don’t tell them whats wrong, and hope they fix it.  Take an active part in finding ways to meet your own needs.  Be clear with your raid leaders and officers about what it is you really enjoy and what your goals are.  Whether or not they have the power to make it happen, I promise you that your officers and leaders care about helping you find ways to have fun within ECC.  To find enjoyment in a communal activity, you have to find a what you have in common with the community.  Start by communicating.

Be well and love fiercely,

Ecco

I just wanted to post a reminder for everyone, because there are two badass events happening this Sunday.  If you mssed the initial posts, or thought “I’ll sign up for that later… well you’d feel like a damn fool if you missed them.

Don’t worry, thats why I’m here for you: To make sure you know about the all the cool stuff and avoid awkward social situations with tips like this one:

When you’re in an elevator and you feel like you might have gas, try to wait until the door opens and someone very old or very young gets on before letting go.  People will forgive those they expect foul odors from much more easily than they will forgive those living between puberty and dimentia.

As for events, here’s what you don’t want to miss this Sunday:

1) Kickin it Old School in the ruins of Ahn’Qiraj at 2 PM Server

2) Do you Know what I Know: Trivia with Beansey on ventrilo at 5 PM server

Be well, love fiercely, and spread the word,

Ecco

It was an exciting week in ECC.  Yes, yes they were some raids, and some great achievements earned, but it was also the week that Arch and Lauro got totally smashed Friday night, and entertained us all on vent.  Easily the highlight of 2010!

The rest of this week’s blog is skewed largely toward raid content as those are the easiest events for me to track without direct input, but there are many many other awesome things going on in the guild.  I just need YOU to tell ME about them.  the next time you do something in game that excites you, or you are excited by another player or something in the forums, please do take a moment to shoot me a PM on the forums, an in game email, or leave a comment here or in the Public ECC forums.  I’d love to share your achievements and news with the guild in the Weekly Happenings on March 15th.

Achievements:
Kalessina followed in Ronzily’s footsteps from last week and finished off his Glory of the Hero meta-achievement by Picking up Share the Love on Wednesday. 

While I find the Red Proto-Drake to be quite sexy, I know Kal, Myself and many many others have long coveted the Rusted Proto-Drake awarded from Glory of the Ulduar Raider for quite some time.  Well Kal and many others are got within striking distance after picking up Knock, Knock, Knock on Wood last night, so big congratulations are in order!

Please PM me or leave a comment here if you have an achievement or other significant character accomplishment to include in next weeks column.

New Members:
Welcome to the family!

Ambassador Cassandrad - 80 Night Elf Priest
Daedzi - 15 human Priest
Carthery - 56 Human Mage

Please keep an eye out for them and send a warm greeting the next time you see them on.

Guildie of the week:
The guildie of the week (chosen entirely by me) is Honeym (AKA Zookeeper).  Many know Honey as a mentor coordinator, and long time member of the guild.  I chose to single Honey her out this week for a couple of reasons.  Chief among them is her unending kindness and warmth.   Unlike many of us who push the bounds of bawdy teasing at every opportunity, Honey always seems to offer hugs, friendly ears, and heals for anyone who needs them.  Of course, she doesn’t shy away from the occasional innuendo or outright tawdry tale, either.

She’s a great example of what ECC is all about: Good hearted, community minded people that like to relax, have fun and share laughs.

If you’d like to nominate someone as member of the week, please PM me your reason for supporting your nominee.

Forum Post of the week:
I’m going to go with a quick little post by Thoranbrook from this past Monday about Wowpopular.com.  Its nothing earth shattering or significant in the history of ECC, but its the kind of helpful resource sharing that thoughtful WoW veterans can always do more of to help out newer or more casual players.

Coming up:
Later this week I’m planning my first editorial column, on 10 man raiding.  In the longer view I am looking for an interview victim subject brave enough to follow Beansey’s act in the “Getting to Know ECC” segment. 

As always, this column is littered with requests for your information.  Please.  I am begging here.  Take a moment to follow through with sending me any achievements, suggestions or even just general thoughts you’d like to share.

Be well and love fiercely,

Ecco

Beansey (you may know him as Gnurman or Manski as well) was kind enough to be my first victim for the segment.  I hope you have as much fun reading about him as I did interviewing him. 

When you finish reading, please take a moment to check out the trivia contest that Beansey is running.  Its called “Do You Know What I Know?” and its happening Sunday, March 14th at 5 PM Server time.

[Ecco]: Would you mind starting by telling me a little bit about yourself outside of your WoW life?

[Beansey]: I’m a father, a husband, huge movie buff, Raider Nation Passport Holder. I like onion rings and shooting Nazis in Call of Duty

[E]: A Raider Nation member?  How do you feel about Gradkowski getting a 2nd round tender?

[B]: I am going to stay mum as mentioning my beloved Raiders makes me see blood and poop nails, but I do like Gradkowski and hadn’t heard.

[E]: What got you started playing WoW?

[B]: I was a huge Warcraft buff before hand, had never been disappointed in any Blizzard game to date. I figured it was worth a shot.

[E]: Had you played any MMOs before?

[B]: Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot

[E]: Do you miss either game?

[B]: As I slap my arm trying to make the vein come up for WoW… I mean… No

[E]: So with 3 MMOs under your belt now, it seems like you’ve been gaming for a while.   How “out” are you as a gamer in your real life?

[B]: Oh no, let’s see, EQ, DAoC, Champions Online, City of Heroes and Villians, and Star Trek Online… and WoW.  But to answer your question, I met my wife in BRD

[E]: Wait, back up.  Can you tell me the story of meeting your wife in BRD?

[B]: Absolutely.  I was a healer at the time (Druid) and in a huge guild. I was asked by a friend to help out with some BRD. I logged in and there was this Gnome mage named Thimblefinn.  I liked her name, thought it was clever, and so I started talking to her.

That night I kinda thought she thought I was an ass and wouldn’t want anything else to do with me.  We talked alot, dunno why. She would find me online and discuss her day, or issues with her love life… kinda drove me nuts.

Then one day she asked me to jump on vent and told me she was so in love with me she couldn’t see straight. I moved two thousand miles to be closer to her.  That was the beginning of the best thing that’s ever, EVER happened to me.

[E]: Wow! Thats amazing.

[B]: Also there were two other guys who were kind of into her to some extent, and I got to tell both of them that they lost.

[E]: How much time was there between meeting and moving?

[B]: About four months

[E]: That’s pretty quick.

[B]: Makes it sound like a [Match.com] thing eh? It should be told that she lived in BC, and my best friend lives in Northern Washington

[E]: That doesn’t make it any less daring.

[B]: There were some rocky patches, and there will be more. But Joy is the most awesome person ever, and an incredible lay… just saying.

[E]: Do you mind if that last bit makes it to print?

[B]: Nope.  She’d be the first to tell you.  She’s laughing now.

[E]: Maybe I should be interviewing her.  Why hasn’t she joined ECC?

[B]: Her account is down right now.  Our son is a needy boy, and doesn’t seem to like me much.   She does have a rogue in the guild though, and she’s coming back for Cataclysm

[E]: Maybe down the road when she reactivates, we’ll get her side of the story.

[B]: NO!  I mean… Ummm, she’s shy… yeah… that’s the ticket.

[E]: Will you play together when she gets back, or do you need your space from each other in WoW?

[B]: Hell no, I love playing with her, and she’s a slammin pally healer… and a great tank too.

[E]: I want my wife to take lessons from your wife.

[B]: It makes for some stories we cannot share with out families, though.  We can’t really brag about a vacation in the barrens.

[E]: Well that gets back to the question you never answered: How “out” as a wow player are you to friends, family, work?

[B]: I am not a shy person. I love to talk about what I love, and I love gaming.

[E]: Are you comfortable telling people you don’t know well that you play WoW?

[B]: Oh hell yeah, how else will I meet gamers?  Last night I told the guy at Taco Bell that he needed to transfer here so we can get another pally healer.

[E]: You’re our British Columbian recruiting office!

[B]: I live in Alabama now, but I’ll work here too.

[E]: Speaking of working for the ECC, can we plug your event coming up?  Talk a little bit about what drove you to do it, and why a trivia contest?

[B]: I was in the last guild meeting, and I saw some people upset at a loss of a “family” feel to the guild.  Honestly I disagreed. I feel that with a minimal effort on my part I was a part of the family.  However, I remember being younger and how hard it was to just put myself out there. How hard it was to risk talking to people for fear that I would be rejected.  So, I wanted to put forth a touch of effort to get some people who may not join vent and be social an excuse and a format to come on. A way to introduce themselves to us as a body.

Its a trivia contest for two reasons:

  1) I can do it in vent, and people do not have to stop farming or instancing or boppin around and come to Ironforge, or Stormwind or whatever.  They can keep doing whatever it is they want to do.

  2) Trivia means that those of us that have a nerd flag can raise it high.

[E]: The funny thing is I had been talking to a friend before you posted and we were talking about how getting on vent makes such a difference for newer folks but it can be so hard to get them on and comfortable.  I was thrilled to see you were 5 steps ahead of that curve.

[B]: I hope it helps; I want the new folks to hear us and know that we’re just gamers, like they are.

[E]: Can you give a tiny preview of what to expect… a category heading or two?

[B]: I’m working on that honestly. I work 50 hours a week and have a wife, two kids and a plethora of other excuses.

[E]: Okay, keep your plans close to the vest, I see how it is.

[B]: Well, suffice to say Video Games will be there… Movies, some sports stuff… You know, topics that people who like couch sitting would know.

[E]: Are 8-bits fair game?

[B]: I wasn’t planning on reaching that far back

[E]: Drat!  That’s my long suit

[B]: I will be putting on my announcer voice and getting crazy though.  I just hope a few new people come along.

[E]: I’m looking forward to it.  Is there anything else about you as a person or player that you really want others to know?

[B]: Yes, yes there is.  I like pudding.  I like pudding A LOT… and hamburgers.

[E]:  Any Particular flavors? Butterscotch?  Pistachio?

[B]: Chocolate is okay, vanilla with caramel sauce is king though

[E]: Ah, so you dress it up a little.

[B]: There’s another way to eat it?

[E]: Sugar free or full on sugary?

[B]: I’m Diabetic.  So, sugar to the free is all for me, but as a warning for you kids out there who don’t know: Sugar free chocolate is a laxative… seriously.

[E]: This interview is supposed to be about you, not me, but I just have to say: A bag of sugar free Reese’s PB cups, and an airplane flight are a bad combination.

[B]: HOLY CRAP!  That was the first candy that I ever ate sugar free.

[E]: Did you have to throw away your pants too?

[B]: No, but I had to hold myself off of the seat.  It was all raw and sensetive

[E]: We’re going to have to rate the blog “PG-13” now… unless you say “asshole” again; then we’re at “R”.

[B]: And you used up my last turn there.

[E]: Well, in that case, maybe we should wrap things up. I think we should leave people wanting MORE Beansy, but I do have one last question

[B]: Shoot

[E]: You use Gnurman, Beansey and Manski as handles… can you pick one for all of us to save on the confusion?

[B]: Mystery is my calling card…. ::POOF::

[E]: How about we use Beansey.  That’s what you’re listed as up and down my chat log now.

[B]: Sounds good.

[E]: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Beansy.  You’re going to be a tough act for the blog to follow.

[B]: Nah, and I had a good time yo, but my shy wife is giving me looks.  So, I’ll have to say g’night.  G’night!

[E]: G’night!

This is the first installment of what I plan to use as a weekly Monday column.  Please see below for ways you can contribute.

Achievements:
Ronzily after months of being stuck on one-achievement-to-go for Glory of the Hero, finally managed to secure Split Personality last week, and has a fiery new red proto-drake to show off.

Please PM me or leave a comment here if you have an achievement or other significant character accomplishment to include in next weeks column.

New Members:
Welcome to the family!

Arrielle - 80 Draenei Hunter
Goewyn (the patient) - 80 Human Warrior
Korok - 65 Human Warlock
Jehezzel- 62 Draenei Deathknight

Please keep an eye out for them and send a warm greeting the next time you see them on.

Luenyar announced that the Cherry Poptarts have seen some slowdown in their sign-ups and as such will be switching to a less frequent schedule.  If you want to get in on some official raiding with ECC, I’m sure they’d be excited to have some fresh blood.  Last I checked they were clearing ToC, and hoping to make some attempts at Marrowgar at some point in the near future.  If you’re interested in joining an official ECC raid team, the place to sign up is right here.

Guildie of the week:
The guildie of the week (chosen entirely by me) is Avvala.  Avvala has been with the guild about 10 months now, and amidst working his way up to Third Time’s roster he has run with all three official raiding teams in one capacity or another, and has made numerous unofficial raiding teams a success at every level, and has recently opened up his own unofficial raiding team Kickin’ it old School to lead folks through old school content.  Many thanks to Avvala for being dependable, humble and above all helpful.

If you’d like to nominate someone as member of the week, please PM me your reason for supporting your nominee.

Forum Post of the week:
Manski is going above and beyond in responding in a positive way to the hunger folks have to get involved and laugh together and has announced a truly exciting event (with great rewards) on the general forums.  Check it out, RSVP and help spread the word.

Coming up:
Later this week I’m planning the first in a series of interviews with your very own guild mates, so keep an eye out for that.  In the meantime, I want to share with you a little bit about my vision for this blog.  My hope is to make this a place to celebrate the awesome community we have here in ECC by highlighting the cool things going on, and the inspiring people that make this community what it is.  In order to do that, I need you to help.  The column is littered with requests for your information.  Please take a moment to follow through with sending me any achievements, suggestions or even just general thoughts you’d like to share.

Be well and love fiercely,

Ecco