How Our Guild Has Matured
It's a little hard to believe, but TC is actually over ten years old as an online guild. That's right, we can now claim that most of our original members are at least 18 years old. Most of 'em. Our little clan formed on the Lake Superior shard of Ultima Online all the way back in October of 1997!
So, after ten years of being online, its nice to see how far our guild members have, well, . . . matured.
You might think that after all this time we would have given up our past reputation of griefing other peaceful online players. Nope.
A perfect example is shown in yet another whiney letter from another whiney noob who thinks that camaraderie with other players is determined by whether you rolled Horde or Alliance. Yeah dude, we both picked Horde characters so we're on the same side, and that makes us friends. Nope.
So, yes, the core of our guild still plays Warcraft, because what other game compares at this point? As you can see, guildies like Cypress are still taking advantage of every opportunity WoW provides to grief other players. The sad thing is that the lands of WoW are still populated by quality gamers who are not only dumb enough to get killed twice by the same method of grief, but also naive enough to email one of our guild leaders and provide us with even more text-formatted tears.
Gratz to Cypress on a grief well done. I suggest an honorary guild rank of "As Bad As Ally!!" for Cypress and any TC member who can demonstrate that griefers are still alive and well in the MMPOG universe, especially in a "consensual" world like WoW.
World Of Warcraft Expansion
Only 2 or 3 more weeks and Warcraft's first major expansion will be released (January 16th, 2007). So, will The Cabal be reforming on Stormreaver you may ask? Short answer, no. Long answer, also, no. There is little to no interest among the IC in returning to WoW for Burning Crusade or any other future adventures in the lands of Azeroth. Although this expansion will certainly provide a ton of new PvE content, it only offers one more extremely repetitive battleground, an equally repetitive dueling system, some outdoor contests for control of a city or two that will turn out to be as lame as Silithus dust, and no long-term mechanism for world PvP. Oh, there will be a ton of world PvP on any Warcraft PvP server during those first few weeks as people level up in Outlands, but only 10 levels worth. Unfortunately, that is not enough to peak Cabal's interest.
Some TC members will still play WoW on various servers (myself included), but we will make no guild-based efforts in Warcraft. For now, Cabal members are spread out in other pursuits such as Eve Online, BF2142, and the like. We hope everyone enjoys whatever they are playing right now and that Warhammer Online lives up to it's potential. Sarcasm? Who knows?
Well At Least It Has A Good Name
No, we didn't finally get pissed and design our own MMORPG. Cabal Online is a new / no-so-new RPG from Korea, of all places. They are one of Asia's most successful RPG releases that is starting a beta for english-speaking countries right now (Europe, but I guess we can try). Could it be fate that The Cabal will have to play in an RPG that bears it's own name?
It looks like it was designed for the Xbox style player rather than the MMORPG community, but perhaps that's a good thing. There isn't a lot of information on their website about Cabal Online. All that is certain is that their logo and forums look better then mine, god damnit. Interested players can register for the beta (good luck) and access their beta forums to keep track of what this RPG is really all about. The name for Cabal Online is certainly a good one, and it seems very action-oriented, but only time will tell if this will be TC's next big venture.
High Warlords & Ice Cream
Gotta acknowledge Bunn, Dreadwolf and Morbidgorbag for making the long honor farming march to achieve the rank of High Warlord. At least Bunn had the company of TC players on his HWL run, but Dread and Morbid both had to do it after TC departed Stormreaver. Still, they did it with the TC tag over their heads. Gratz. Those three have all seen enough of Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin for sure. And what new BG is Blizzard developing to keep PVP interesting? None. They are too busy coding orphans and ice cream vendors to go with their holiday decorations and firecracker stands. Nerds. Can you see why we left?
Out Until Burning Crusade
Although the TC guild tag can still be seen on Stormreaver, the guild as a whole is no longer active in WOW. It can honestly be said that TC stretched it's interest in WOW as far as we possibly could. However, we just can't stretch that out any further. Massive burnout from Warcraft's focus on high-end PVE gear grinds and Blizzard's failure to create a true sense of world PVP on "PVP" servers (*laugh*) has caused most of our active roster to go looking for "something fun to do". And no, weekly 40-man raids of the same PVE instance dungeons over and over and over and over again is not considered "fun". At least not by our guild. Neither is fighting the exact same PVP instance fight over and over and over and over again. I think I should use the word "over" a few more times so that Blizzard's designers understand how truly repetitive and boring it is to be a 60th level toon living in the World of Snorecraft.
So, the IC decided to call a break from Snorecraft until the Burning Crusade expansion is released in a few months. If the expansion rekindles our interest in WOW, we'll be back at that time. Until then, the majority of TC's guild members can be found either playing an old favorite, Counterstrike, the latest new fad, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, or PVPing on an alternate version of Azeroth, good ole Warcraft III. A few TC members are still going to play WOW, but the Alliance groups on Stormreaver can relax and not worry about seeing a TC pain train coming straight at them . . . for now.
The Gates Of Ahn'Qiraj
This weekend witnessed the long-awaited opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj in Silithus. Two new high-level raid dungeons full of big insects, spell upgrades, and purple loot were finally available to members of both the Alliance and Horde on Stormreaver. Here at TC, we're kinda proud that our server was one of the last Warcraft communities to complete the "war effort" contributions (aka bloob resource farming) required for the gates to finally be opened because we certainly didn't help. That kind of jumping through hoops needs to be performed by the type of mindless lemmings found in other guilds, so TC left the tasks of rolling bandaids, frying up fish, and picking flowers to players with less brain cells and more free time. Of course, The Cabal will take advantage of the change of pace offered by the AQ dungeons and their valuable spell / ability upgrades. Thanks for opening that up for us guys!
As was expected, the opening day event was marred with grief perpetrated by Cabal on both Alliance and Horde players alike. We camped the entrance to pounce upon the peace-loving Alliance guilds of Stormreaver that just wanted to quietly ride by on their way to PVE bliss. At the same time, our 40-man raid was busy tagging all of the faction-rich entrance guards of AQ, kiting them with hunters and then taking them down before the other Horde guilds got any of those fat one-time-only reputation bonuses. Once again, TC would like to offer our sincerest heartfelt thanks for all that Brood of Nozdormu faction provided by our fellow brothers in the Horde. You're super. Never stop being you, :)
"Just Stop . . . Just Freaking Stop!"
Some noob rolls a toon on a PvP server and has the lack of sense to cry about getting camped on the Stormreaver forums? It's almost no surprise that the offending party was one of our own. I'll let the words of Tashlan the Noob describe life on a PvP sever where TC makes its home . . .
"It has gotten so bad in Duskwood that i couldnt travel 5 feet without being killed by lvl 60Horde. There should be honor penalties to killing such low level ppl. They act like i dont pay my money each month. A certain warlock killed me about 60 times, stalking me and was unrelenting. I guess you have something to prove do you? Well Vlesko you are making this not fun, im tired of the bull, just stop. We all know your a big bad lvl 60 just stop. you arnt getting honor, just stop....just freakin stop."
The Way Is Shut...
...not because it belongs to the dead, or the dead keep it, or anything that poetic, but rather because the dead were stacked up so high at the entrance to Blackrock Spire that you almost couldn't zone in the door. Yes, TC engaged in another night of griefing Alliance players that wished to enter Blackrock Mountain. As can be seen to the right, the skeletons and rotting corpses of elves, humans, dwarves and gnomes are stacked one atop the other higher than yours truly. You'd think that as they were dying, the Alliance players would actually have to leap in the air to land on that pile, but somehow they managed to keep dying and falling atop our previous victims.
Amidst the carnage, one Alliance player was so upset as to log on to his Horde alt account and complain, challenging Cabal rogues to one-on-one duels right there in the halls of Blackrock. These challenges were accepted and as the angry Alliance rogue arrived for his beatdown, he was met with multiple ambushes and backstabs provided by TC rogues . . . over and over and over again. Alas, we reserve such griefing tactics to inflict only upon the immensely stupid. TC has some of the best rogues on Stormreaver that would be happy to duel Alliance players, but use your brain cell when picking the time and place.
Warcraft Patch 1.9 Released
Patch 1.9 was released today, making one of the most remote and overlooked zones in the world, Silithus, into a potential battleground of its own. With two new high-end dungeons and both Alliance and Horde flight paths landing in the outpost of Cenarion Hold, the road to the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj is sure to be strewn with bleached bones and rotting corpses. Lots of new magic items and spell upgrades will be found in Ahn'Qiraj, with the 40-man dungeon on a 7-day timer and the 20-man resetting every 3 days. Cabal members can download the patch from Kinniver's link posted in the members forums, and look for AQ raid times to be posted in the new online Raid Management System.
Blackwing's Lair Officially Closed
Last night, a TC raid closed down Blackrock Mountain, killing all Alliance players hoping to enter the Spire, walk down the chain to Molten Core, or to farm purples in Blackwing's Lair. For over three hours, Alliance players would have to die, rez and repeat several times over if they wished to enter their dungeon of choice. And if they finally made it to the entrance of BWL, they found clicking the orb quite difficult when its surrounded by several large, sexy Tauren.
One guild in particular, Requiem, spent most of their evening as ghosts outside of BWL wondering why Blizzard saw fit to put the entrance to so many major dungeons in one confined space. Most of their raid died so many times that they weren't even worth any honor for killing, but we killed 'em again anyways.
If you've ever wondered how many players it takes to beat the Cabal when we're out in force, the answer would be roughly 3 to 1 odds. To the right is a screenshot of the Alliance zerg that finally had to come and escort poor Requiem to the entrance of Blackwing's Lair. There was so many of them, you can't even tell the names apart. The zerg of 100 alliance 60's finally arrived to push 32 TC members out of the way so that Requiem could do what they couldn't do for themselves . . . play WoW. The halls of Ironforge were emptied with nearly a half-a-dozen entire guilds answering Requiem's pitiful cry for help, including Hail, Force of Will, Vanguard of the Alliance, Impervious, and others. All-in-all, a fun night for TC.
The War Of The Shifting Sands
That's right, Patch 1.9 for Warcraft is coming. One of the coolest features of this patch is that players will be able to enter multiple battleground queues, so you can queue for Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley at the same time, then join whichever becomes available first. They are also linking the auction houses so that you can buy and sell the same goods from any of the three major cities. And finally, there will be two new high level dungeons that don't involve Blackrock Mountain, which is quite amazing. Ahn'Qiraj will house two massive, unique dungeons - the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, a 20-man raid dungeon, and the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, a 40-man raid dungeon. No new battlegrounds, however, I'm sure the gates of Ahn'Qiraj in Silithus will be an interesting spot those first couple of weeks after patch day.
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