The History Book
Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 2:03 am
The History of the Guild
(Also, when you are done here check out this old "History" post from 2007. Tons of screenshots from way back in the day.
Chapter 1: One Does Not Simply Walk Into Molten-Core
The origins of our guild were in the decisions of a number of smaller guilds, such as Nightscape Assassins and Out of Order, to merge together to form a raiding guild large enough to tackle the 40 player raid demands of epic loot instances such as Molten Core. Leaving their old guild titles behind, these groups came together to form a guild called "Strife". This guild proved to be very successful at raiding and came to be one of the premiere raiding guilds on the server.
"LOOT THE ******* HOUNDS" could often be heard ringing over teamspeak as the motley crew turned high performance raiding team ventured through the earthen bowels of Azeroth. Ragnaros soon became a farming staple as the guild progressed into Black Wing Lair.
Even as the guildies gear and spirits were boosted from a Molten Core on farm status, drama abounded. Many guild officers with different visions for the guild, led to an irreconcilable web of issues that drove many a wedge into the officer core. Before long the differences became too large and divisive for the guild to simply continue as it had, a certain fire resist libram may or may not have contributed to the overall drama. Soon the time for compromise was over.
Chapter 2: From Strife to Timeless
It was now apparent that a parting of the ways was inevitable for both guildies and officers. And so, on Dec. 29, 2005, a new guild was founded, it was called "Timeless". Led by one of the Strife officers, Atelo, the new guild had a solid start. Strife then began to empty out as guildes decided who to follow. In the end, the overwhelming majority of guildies joined Timeless, and with the additional recruitment of a number of friends from a guild called Intense, we were able to continue raiding within days of the Strife break up. With the guilds first official raid in Zul'Gurub a success, it was decided that the new guild was here to stay.
A friendly raiding atmosphere and long nights of hardcore raiding were the hallmarks of early Timeless (Look at how fast the raid group fills!), with many guildies electing to use both vent and teamspeak so that they could goof off on vent while leaving teamspeak open for more important matters, like clearing the suppression room, the mere mention of which would cause raiders to fall asleep, right after putting Amarie on follow. The guild spent weeks working through Blackwing Lair, quickly reaching the progress that Strife had reached before, and eventually downing Nefarian himself... This was the first major accomplishment of <Timeless> as a new entity. As the dragon fell, <Timeless> also received the very first Ashkandi (asscandy) on the Hyjal server. Watch Nef die (and the loot get revealed here. Then, See the first Ashkandi vs Ragnaros' Hammer Duel here. After thrashing the proverbial "bleep" out of BWL, the motley mosh of merrymaking Mexicans moved like mega Mario maxing on mushrooms to the malevolent mistress of many moccasins, Maexxna, mashing the menacing miscreant into a maroon marmalade. Or so to say, we downed Maexxna in Naxxramas, either way. Of course, we still had fun playing epic games of Duck Duck Goose along the way. Oh, and we weren't always perfect while raiding. Exclusive footage of a major screw up (Atelo's fault I am sure) here.
In Ahn'Qiraj 40 player content, the guild got the Twin Emperors down before the end of Vanilla WoW, as well. Yet all was not double rainbows and unicorns for the guild, (that didn't stop anyone from getting high though) as the guild leader then left the guild looking for a change of pace, and circumstances slowly took shape that would not bode well for the guild in the new expansion, nor for merrymaking Mexicans. (Guapa notwithstanding! >.> )
Chapter 3: The Eternal and The A Team
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade game expansion brought with it a surge of enthusiasm about the game. People came out of the woodwork from all directions to marvel at Blizzard's latest multiplayer masterpiece. The simple joy of mindless questing and all-nighter farming crusades was soon shattered though, by a single Blizzard decision, which would send shock waves through the entire World.... of Warcraft. The new 10 and 25 man raid zones did not mesh well with guilds designed to raid 40 player content. It was at this point that almost every major guild on the server split, and Timeless would be no exception to the rule.
Drama within the guild formed quickly, as players reaching the new level cap of 70 were pitted against their fellow guildies for raid spots in the only doable raid zone at the time, which was a 10 man instance called Karazhan. As tensions ran high, a complex web of issues once again seemed to cast a shadow over every aspect of guild life. Some felt left out and un-helped by people who had more time to play, some felt unfairly branded as "elitists", and everyone knew there wouldn't be enough raid spots to go around at the end of the day.
In an effort to keep the guild from splitting in every direction, some of the members decided that the guild had to be reformed to survive. In order to do this, they set in motion a plan to start a new guild and invite everyone from the old guild to it, and so "The A Team" was formed. The A Team shot up quickly in numbers from the ranks of Timeless, yet the opposition from Timeless proved to be stiffer (heh, stiffer) then the organizers of The A Team had expected. Thus the guild was now split sharply down the middle, with each group left short of people for the 25 player content.
Both guilds now scrambled to re-organize and recruit, and proceeded to progress through Karazhan separately. The A Team punched through the Karazhan content quickly but Timeless managed to last much longer then it's new sister guild. After a good run of a few months, The A Team too, fell pray to a toxic dose of drama. Some of which had to do with two officers going through a break-up. It's hard to explain the level an animosity felt between those two so I will just say this: beds were pooped on. :/
Meanwhile, back in Timeless, raiding continued long into the Burning Crusade era, and the people in charge decided that it was a different guild, with different people, and it needed a different name, and so the guild was then renamed: The Eternal. Eventually progress and attendance slowed, as it usually does late in an expansion, and the old raiding locomotive slowly steamed to a stop. However, the original guild leader of Timeless then rejoined the guild along with a number of other old guildies, who either played the game or kept in touch on the forums, the guild had not seen it's last raiding days yet.
Chapter 4: Can I Get A Rez Plz, Bro?
The release of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King breathed new life into the guild. Many of the old time raiders from both The Eternal and The A Team came back together to form a totally renewed guild. The planned 10 player raiding of Naxxramas quickly turned into 25 player raiding due to popular demand within the guild. Thus recruiting commenced, new officers were promoted, a tremendous amount of Jew gold was made, 22 slot bags were crafted, raid rules were revised, on time bonuses were given, and life was good.
This time we had been around the block a few times and we were going to do it right. The plan for this go-around could be summed up in one word: casual. The genius of this plan was in it's simplicity, no more dkp, no more high attendance requirements, no more 5 hour raid nights, just casual gaming at it's best. The casual gaming plan suited us well, and while we didn't have a stellar progression record to boast about, we outlasted just about every other guild on the server, including Casual. Then, joined by our friends from a guild called "Legion of Stone", we finally downed the big boss of the game, The Lich King.
In what was probably our longest, most peaceful, smartest run of all, the Wrath of the Lich King chapter finally came to a close, in success. This time, we did do it right. A good time was had by all, and no beds were pooped on.
Chapter 5: Rock Out With Your Ragnaros Out
Yet another expansion promised to renew Azeroth and set the forest fairies buzzing with excitement, but enough about Xion. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm set many an old-world npc ablaze as the Onyxia daddy himself lit up both continents with his overpowered chicken-cooker. We in the guild only wished that our fellow guildies shared the same enthusiasm about killing our newly formed fiery foes that our post-apocalypse npc counterparts seemed to have.
The guild as a whole did receive a big boost for the expansion release, but it was not of the size we had hoped for. As the expansion continued through the first set of instances, we found interest in the game to be immediately waning. Recruitment slowed to a standstill. Even so, determined to make it work, we continued to raid, and so dividing ourselves up into two groups of ten, we worked our way through the three new raid zones. We knew that the recruitment / attrition issue was bound to catch up with us but our high spirits were undeterred, probably due to the large amounts of chardonnay and various herb-based "muscle relaxation aids" consumed during raids.
After a couple months of raiding the two raid groups became one ten man group, and about three months after that, the guild once again ceased to be able to field a full ten man raid group. This ended the teams long and eventful run as a World of Warcraft raiding guild.
The guild still continues today, mainly thanks to the bold exploits of Pidgey, and his ongoing quest to find and stop the evil beaver. However, many of us still chat on the forums, play other games together, and a few of us still raid WoW instances on other servers. All said, we're hoping that a new online game will come along again to bring most of us back together. This has proved to be easier said then done, but who knows... It wouldn't be the first time we've made a comeback.
(Also, when you are done here check out this old "History" post from 2007. Tons of screenshots from way back in the day.
Chapter 1: One Does Not Simply Walk Into Molten-Core
The origins of our guild were in the decisions of a number of smaller guilds, such as Nightscape Assassins and Out of Order, to merge together to form a raiding guild large enough to tackle the 40 player raid demands of epic loot instances such as Molten Core. Leaving their old guild titles behind, these groups came together to form a guild called "Strife". This guild proved to be very successful at raiding and came to be one of the premiere raiding guilds on the server.
"LOOT THE ******* HOUNDS" could often be heard ringing over teamspeak as the motley crew turned high performance raiding team ventured through the earthen bowels of Azeroth. Ragnaros soon became a farming staple as the guild progressed into Black Wing Lair.
Even as the guildies gear and spirits were boosted from a Molten Core on farm status, drama abounded. Many guild officers with different visions for the guild, led to an irreconcilable web of issues that drove many a wedge into the officer core. Before long the differences became too large and divisive for the guild to simply continue as it had, a certain fire resist libram may or may not have contributed to the overall drama. Soon the time for compromise was over.
Chapter 2: From Strife to Timeless
It was now apparent that a parting of the ways was inevitable for both guildies and officers. And so, on Dec. 29, 2005, a new guild was founded, it was called "Timeless". Led by one of the Strife officers, Atelo, the new guild had a solid start. Strife then began to empty out as guildes decided who to follow. In the end, the overwhelming majority of guildies joined Timeless, and with the additional recruitment of a number of friends from a guild called Intense, we were able to continue raiding within days of the Strife break up. With the guilds first official raid in Zul'Gurub a success, it was decided that the new guild was here to stay.
A friendly raiding atmosphere and long nights of hardcore raiding were the hallmarks of early Timeless (Look at how fast the raid group fills!), with many guildies electing to use both vent and teamspeak so that they could goof off on vent while leaving teamspeak open for more important matters, like clearing the suppression room, the mere mention of which would cause raiders to fall asleep, right after putting Amarie on follow. The guild spent weeks working through Blackwing Lair, quickly reaching the progress that Strife had reached before, and eventually downing Nefarian himself... This was the first major accomplishment of <Timeless> as a new entity. As the dragon fell, <Timeless> also received the very first Ashkandi (asscandy) on the Hyjal server. Watch Nef die (and the loot get revealed here. Then, See the first Ashkandi vs Ragnaros' Hammer Duel here. After thrashing the proverbial "bleep" out of BWL, the motley mosh of merrymaking Mexicans moved like mega Mario maxing on mushrooms to the malevolent mistress of many moccasins, Maexxna, mashing the menacing miscreant into a maroon marmalade. Or so to say, we downed Maexxna in Naxxramas, either way. Of course, we still had fun playing epic games of Duck Duck Goose along the way. Oh, and we weren't always perfect while raiding. Exclusive footage of a major screw up (Atelo's fault I am sure) here.
In Ahn'Qiraj 40 player content, the guild got the Twin Emperors down before the end of Vanilla WoW, as well. Yet all was not double rainbows and unicorns for the guild, (that didn't stop anyone from getting high though) as the guild leader then left the guild looking for a change of pace, and circumstances slowly took shape that would not bode well for the guild in the new expansion, nor for merrymaking Mexicans. (Guapa notwithstanding! >.> )
Chapter 3: The Eternal and The A Team
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade game expansion brought with it a surge of enthusiasm about the game. People came out of the woodwork from all directions to marvel at Blizzard's latest multiplayer masterpiece. The simple joy of mindless questing and all-nighter farming crusades was soon shattered though, by a single Blizzard decision, which would send shock waves through the entire World.... of Warcraft. The new 10 and 25 man raid zones did not mesh well with guilds designed to raid 40 player content. It was at this point that almost every major guild on the server split, and Timeless would be no exception to the rule.
Drama within the guild formed quickly, as players reaching the new level cap of 70 were pitted against their fellow guildies for raid spots in the only doable raid zone at the time, which was a 10 man instance called Karazhan. As tensions ran high, a complex web of issues once again seemed to cast a shadow over every aspect of guild life. Some felt left out and un-helped by people who had more time to play, some felt unfairly branded as "elitists", and everyone knew there wouldn't be enough raid spots to go around at the end of the day.
In an effort to keep the guild from splitting in every direction, some of the members decided that the guild had to be reformed to survive. In order to do this, they set in motion a plan to start a new guild and invite everyone from the old guild to it, and so "The A Team" was formed. The A Team shot up quickly in numbers from the ranks of Timeless, yet the opposition from Timeless proved to be stiffer (heh, stiffer) then the organizers of The A Team had expected. Thus the guild was now split sharply down the middle, with each group left short of people for the 25 player content.
Both guilds now scrambled to re-organize and recruit, and proceeded to progress through Karazhan separately. The A Team punched through the Karazhan content quickly but Timeless managed to last much longer then it's new sister guild. After a good run of a few months, The A Team too, fell pray to a toxic dose of drama. Some of which had to do with two officers going through a break-up. It's hard to explain the level an animosity felt between those two so I will just say this: beds were pooped on. :/
Meanwhile, back in Timeless, raiding continued long into the Burning Crusade era, and the people in charge decided that it was a different guild, with different people, and it needed a different name, and so the guild was then renamed: The Eternal. Eventually progress and attendance slowed, as it usually does late in an expansion, and the old raiding locomotive slowly steamed to a stop. However, the original guild leader of Timeless then rejoined the guild along with a number of other old guildies, who either played the game or kept in touch on the forums, the guild had not seen it's last raiding days yet.
Chapter 4: Can I Get A Rez Plz, Bro?
The release of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King breathed new life into the guild. Many of the old time raiders from both The Eternal and The A Team came back together to form a totally renewed guild. The planned 10 player raiding of Naxxramas quickly turned into 25 player raiding due to popular demand within the guild. Thus recruiting commenced, new officers were promoted, a tremendous amount of Jew gold was made, 22 slot bags were crafted, raid rules were revised, on time bonuses were given, and life was good.
This time we had been around the block a few times and we were going to do it right. The plan for this go-around could be summed up in one word: casual. The genius of this plan was in it's simplicity, no more dkp, no more high attendance requirements, no more 5 hour raid nights, just casual gaming at it's best. The casual gaming plan suited us well, and while we didn't have a stellar progression record to boast about, we outlasted just about every other guild on the server, including Casual. Then, joined by our friends from a guild called "Legion of Stone", we finally downed the big boss of the game, The Lich King.
In what was probably our longest, most peaceful, smartest run of all, the Wrath of the Lich King chapter finally came to a close, in success. This time, we did do it right. A good time was had by all, and no beds were pooped on.
Chapter 5: Rock Out With Your Ragnaros Out
Yet another expansion promised to renew Azeroth and set the forest fairies buzzing with excitement, but enough about Xion. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm set many an old-world npc ablaze as the Onyxia daddy himself lit up both continents with his overpowered chicken-cooker. We in the guild only wished that our fellow guildies shared the same enthusiasm about killing our newly formed fiery foes that our post-apocalypse npc counterparts seemed to have.
The guild as a whole did receive a big boost for the expansion release, but it was not of the size we had hoped for. As the expansion continued through the first set of instances, we found interest in the game to be immediately waning. Recruitment slowed to a standstill. Even so, determined to make it work, we continued to raid, and so dividing ourselves up into two groups of ten, we worked our way through the three new raid zones. We knew that the recruitment / attrition issue was bound to catch up with us but our high spirits were undeterred, probably due to the large amounts of chardonnay and various herb-based "muscle relaxation aids" consumed during raids.
After a couple months of raiding the two raid groups became one ten man group, and about three months after that, the guild once again ceased to be able to field a full ten man raid group. This ended the teams long and eventful run as a World of Warcraft raiding guild.
The guild still continues today, mainly thanks to the bold exploits of Pidgey, and his ongoing quest to find and stop the evil beaver. However, many of us still chat on the forums, play other games together, and a few of us still raid WoW instances on other servers. All said, we're hoping that a new online game will come along again to bring most of us back together. This has proved to be easier said then done, but who knows... It wouldn't be the first time we've made a comeback.