Friday (1 Jan 2010) - New Years 2010

Friday (1 Jan 2010) - New Years 2010

Another year, and time for Wild's Sixth Annual Report. WoW enters it's second decade (yep, 2010 is a new decade, boys and girls). The game shows few signs of slowing down. The recent Fall of the Lich King patch has carried us through to the new year. On the horizon Blizzard has Cataclysm, the third major expansion pack of the game, guessed at for release sometime early this year (2010), which should keep players engrossed in the game.

As for this past year, much has happened.

On 1 Jan 2009 this thread stood at: 1,389 posts - 74,358 views

Today, 1 Jan 2010, we are at: 1,916 posts - 110,403 views

Wild's /played: Wild's total in game time is 131 days, 18 hours, and 44 minutes. He has been in game as a level 80 for more than 23 of those days.

The raw posts/views numbers are a bit off now, since back in Sep of 2009 the Sporting News forums went belly up for a time and a new blog, Wild's Family Adventures, was created to cover the gap. Now readers can check in at either site, which is convenient, but it has made tracking visitors a bit more complicated. The latest report from the blog site is as of 28 Dec, and if I counted those views it would add another 1,475.

As always, Thanks to all you readers and posters out there!

In 2008 much of the year was all about Karazahn. Wild and what was then called the "Wrath group" hit Kara twice a week with pretty steady regularity. Lady Hunter led the group, and it was a great bunch of folks that loved to have fun and did not take things too seriously, while still managing to make serious dints in Kara bosses week after week. Not since the heyday of Molten Core had Wild felt so much like family to a group of raiders. Even so, there were some guild problems, and friends left for a new guild. Wild wished them well, but ultimately stayed with his guild.

In 2009, in spite of major infusions of new raid instances and a still growing guild, things were not quite so close, there were internal squabbles, and we lost a few guildies I wished could have stayed. We also changed Guild Leaders. In 2009, very like what happened in 2008, Wild had to make a decision between staying with his guild or switching to a new guild where good friends had already moved to. Like 2008, Wild chose to stay. The guild that Wild could have belonged to in 2008 no longer exists.

In 2008 pvp became an exciting part of the Wild Family, largely due to Red wooing practically every member of the female side of the family into the pvp battlegrounds - first Jocelyn, then Merylitlbotm, and finally Phillyperdue. So I guess it was no surprise that, come 2009, it was Jezzibael that found herself wooed into the clashing battles of pvp, not to mention young Ezuh quickly falling under his spell as well. And, like a good soap opera, it looks like Jocelyn may be back for a second whirl.

It was also a year for reaching level 80. Wild did it on 13 Jan 2009. JB, given a chance when Wild's raid time diminished greatly due to the guild upheavals, added a dual spec and became an elemental shaman on 4 Sep, and then went on a tear of questing and levelling. Forty-three real life days later she was a level 80, on 17 Oct. And on 27 Nov, the family guild welcomed it's third level 80, deathknight DER.

Long queues and broken servers dominated much of the early part of 2009, but even with three significant patches installed this year, by mid-year server problems had become mostly minor and temporary.

Wild made his first run in the new Northrend version of Naxxramas on 15 Jan. Wild died 13 times, and we killed just one boss, Noth. Undergeared and under-prepared, but we were in there. Wild got his first full clear three months later, on 7 Apr. Naxx dominated guild raiding the first part of the year with the new 10/25 man raid format.

Strange occurrences involving what became known as the "Chronicles of Naithipe" began on 27 March, and persisted for several months, but were never resolved. The mystery remains.

It was on 22 Apr that Naxx had to make room for Ulduar, a bigger and badder Naxx style dungeon that arrived with patch 3.1, along with dual specs and the Argent Tournament. That transition was a tough one for the guild, and in particular, the Lady Hunter ten man group. We all struggled, but over time Naxx fell off the schedule and Ulduar became the primary focus.

During the Naxx/Ulduar transition Wild had time on his hands, going off on his own to solo dungeons such as the Underbog, and others, even bringing along a videographer to record the solo sweeps.

Wild certainly can't forget the day his ten man guild gave Wild his first opportunity to raid as a moonkin, on 20 May. We were still half in Naxx and half in Ulduar, when the raid leader gave Wild the nod. A snippet from that report: "We left Ulduar and headed for Naxx. Wild made his grand entrance, switching to moonkin form and announcing, "Never fear, your chicken is here!" Bd chimed in: "All Hail the new BOOMkin!" Priestly Jo hugged Wild, then plucked a feather for a souvenir. Silly stuff, but Wild has never been anything but a healer in every single raid I have ever been in. The guild has never seen Wild as anything else. Think of that - never in five years of play has Wild ever raided as anything but a healer. Wild can never say that again."

And does anyone think they know how many guilds the Wild family is part of, and how many they lead on Day 1 of 2010? You might want to read the post on 4 Jun 2009 to be sure.

Wild has always loved BWL, almost as much as MC. In his level 60 days the final boss, Nefarion, had always eluded Wild and the guild. He took matters into his own hands much later when Wild challenged Nefarion in solo combat. Wild lost, but at least he tried. On 8 Jun, however, Wild plus a pally and a shaman three manned Nefarion, killing him and earning Wild, at last, his achievement for clearing the beloved instance. That came about because the three of us were the only raiders wearing the old school Onyxia cloak that protected us from Nefarion's Breath. The other thirteen raiders in the raid were killed, leaving the three of us to take him on. That just goes to show that no matter the level (all of us were level 80) an Old School dungeon can still have tricks up it's devious sleeves.

Jump forward to August, and patch 3.2, and ToC. Wild got his first look at the 5 man Trial of the Champion on 5 Aug. It's raid neighbor, the 10/25 man Trial of the Crusader, competed with Ulduar for game time along with the pvp raid instance, Vault of Archavon. The raid landscape got ever more crowded, even as guild raid nights continued to shrink.

August also rung in the Wild Family's newest member, Ezuh, along with partners Ando and Lao. As evidence of the level of pvp blood now running in the family, all three were born to pvp, quickly ascended to the level 10-19 bracket, and are now pressing into the 20s.

DER and JB began hooking up more and more often, which included two man forays into old school places like Blackrock Depths. BRD may have more mobs than any other dungeon in the game, and DER and JB killed every last one of them. The battle at the end was one of the most epic I ever experienced, even if it did take us two tries to surpass the waves of mobs that had JB thinking of Spartans and Persians and the Battle of Thermopylae. What a rush!

JB making level 80 led to Wintergrasp, and more pvp, and pvp rewards that became heirloom items to help with levelling. Philly, pvp goddess at level 59, packed away her crown and started levelling again, adding Jewelcrafting to her learned studies in addition to being a Scribe. It also led, indirectly, to the retirement of one of the oldest members of the Wild family, Rheebah. The level 6 druid, older than any toon besides Wild himself, decided to retire and return to Bloodhoof Village, the starting area where she was born.

On 8 Dec the world tilted again, this time with the release of a patch with an expansion like name, Fall of the Lich King (patch 3.3). With it came many changes, the most significant being the new Dungeon Finder, which has utterly changed the way dungeon runs are organized. In addition, the raid opportunities grow yet again with the release of Icecrown Citadel, the new 10/25 man end game raiding location with the best gear in the game. Wild made a daring move, completing the three 5 man precursors for ICC the day after the release. And on 30 Dec, Wild got to see the inside of ICC proper for the first time.

As the new year dawns, there is the new raid dungeon to conquer, and the high expectations of Cataclysm expansion in the near (but not too near, please!) future. The ups and downs will always be there, but life is good in the Wild household, and all look forward to both the known, and unknown, of the new year.

Happy New Year!