News and Updates

(Pics incoming when back on my computer with Photoshop)

Rumours of our demise have been greatly exa.. oh wait they're true.

Well, kinda. About 2 months ago our Officer core came to the conclusion that it was largely time to move on from the game. For one I personally was looking at an upcoming move to another state that has been largely life changing, and I did not forsee myself with the time or ability to effectively manage a top-end progression guild after the fact. Moreso however, we just felt the drive was no longer there.

Heroic LK is an incredibly tuned challenging fight that pushes the boundaries as the toughest WoLK fight created yet. We knew we could just sit back and wait for the zone buffs to rack up if we really wanted, but we pushed ourselves hard to get a top kill, night in night out. Soon though however a lot of us realized we just didn't want to do it. The grinding, unforgiving, and momentum sapping nature of the fight was wearing down on us. End of expansion syndrome was kicking in, new and interesting games were coming out that made us woe having to log off for a raid time that was not as enjoyable. A lot of us were unhappy with Blizzard's tuning and recent raid model, and there seems to be little hope of it getting better in the future, be it Ruby Sanctum or Cataclysm. Summer was starting, and the usual attrition bug from all these factors were kicking up. Faced with the choice of recruiting like every other 11/12 guild out there was to keep the grinding cycle of throwing ourselves at LK RNG wipes going, or recognizing this perfect storm of life changes and fading interest for what it was, we decided to throw in the towel.

I'm proud to say however that our members were respectful enough to stay a bit longer and finish our 2nd and last Shadowmourne. Big congrats and well deserved to Hirokal on this great achievement. Thank you everyone for staying long enough to finish this off for a long time dedicated Raider in our guild.



Of course not all of our members agreed and wanted to continue on, and I once again apologize to you guys. A few weeks later I'm happy to see most everyone who wanted to continue on has found relative success with high end raiding guilds and have moved on. We had a lot of members move onto well-respected guilds such as Phoenix, Blood Legion, Casual, and Raiding Rainbows, and I wish all you guys best of luck. I did a count the other day and figured about half of our raiders moved on to other guilds, while the other half has largely quit for RL or other games. I'm sorry this had to be the end of the home we created for everyone who wanted to keep playing, but know that you're always welcome here no matter where your raiding careers take you.

I'm going to go into some homo nostalgia mode now because this will probably be our last front page post for a long time and that's how I roll. I'm EXTREMELY proud of what we've accomplished as a guild. I cannot repeat that last sentence enough. We started back in Feb 2007 (TBC release) as a ragtag group of ex-Kupo FFXI'ers and a few friends that we had made from a brief stint in Classic. We were never meant to be a raiding guild: I had just gotten off a grueling tenure leading a FFXI linkshell for 3 years that had taken all desire to even touch guild management out of me, and just wanted to play with friends. Being a competitive group of excellent players though, it became obvious quite clearly that we wanted more than just heroics.

We started recruiting to fill out Kara groups and soon expanded into the realm of 25 mans, where we were quite terrible through a long period of time. But we had a solid core and slowly recruited some decent talent that stayed with us for a long time and contributed to our success. After a successful retooling we turned a stone and were able to take down Lady Vashj and soon after Kael. We caught up in Hyjal and BT and entered into Sunwell well behind the other Ner'zhul guilds at the time. We finished with a server 3rd M'uru kill before succumbing to the end-of-expansion Sunwell blues. All in all a great leap from where we started, no where.

Entering into WoLK we rebuilt into Naxx and retooled for a stronger pushed in Ulduar. After shedding some fat and recruiting we experienced our best progression push of all with the Ulduar hard modes, taking over a Server 1st position we'd never give up. We finished Yogg 0 Light in the top 20 US, and continued that success in ToGC with a top 20 US Kill on Anub and top 20 US kills in the ICC Hard modes, excluding LK of course. Overall despite not finishing ICC we're extremely proud of the level we pushed ourselves to in WoLK as a whole, going from a mediocre guild to a top tier US guild in the course of months.

Most importantly though is the relationships we've built over the years. Of course we can't forget the departed members who made us who we are. From the early days (Empeekay, Zennie/Eclairs, Zxt) the TBC fixtures (Hotblooded, Midori, Payload), to the great players in WoLK who had to give it up early (Mish, Solkid, Facts), we would not have gotten to where we are now without the help of of those members who shaped who we are over the years.

And of course a great thank you to the core of members who helped push us to the next level over the past few months, from Ulduar to ICC. A huge thank you to the guys who've been with us forever; The FFXI crew that stood with us through it all (JC, Patty, Book, Wolves, Killa, Yumi, Zepp), the dedication of the great TBC pickups (Rej, Qou, Varn, Ello, Rill, Nightfright, Tier, Melb), and of course the great WoLK recruited players who were responsible for pushing us to that next level this expac (Rallik, Meaning, Martyr, Cherob, Nello, Ngata, Apoc, Joe, Niko, Kal, Cptn, Methios, Ippon). And sorry if I missed anyone. Each and everyone of you guys, and all the others who were a part of our great progression over the months and years not mentioned, were responsible for the success and great times we enjoyed, and I'll never forget you all.

To anyone curious, we're not going anywhere. We still plan to be around in other games, ideally one without as strict time commitments and set schedulels. We've got a lot of us planning on being very active in SC2 and HoN, and a large majority of us are extremely excited for D3. We'll still be playing together for a long time. We'll also be back in a much smaller fashion in Cata, most likely as dirty casuals doing 10ms. We look forward to moving on exploring other games and the next expansion as a group.

So long for now Ner'zhul. It's been a great ride and we had a blast. We'll see you guys in Cata! Best of luck to everyone till then.

http://www.oskarblues.com



This is a very unique little brewery. They have managed to stand out in a sea of new and imported micro brews. The first thing youll notice is they use cans. Yea seriously shitty little cans. Its hard to imagine anyone being taken seriously using cans. The image I get in my head is of a product demo, everyone is in suits and of course the beer aficionados are in full force reeking of douchebaggery. Then the product is brought out and its a ghetto lookin can called "Ten-FIDY". Im pretty sure everyone in the room would just reach down their throats and turn them selves inside out at the sight. Like how can you market it as premium, I really can't imagine Timothy Dalton CRACKING OPEN A Ten-FIDY. Yes when I think of high class I think of Timothy Dalton, what can I say. He was the best bond right? RIGHT?


Moving on I was at this little pub pizza place right near my place and after a bunch of drinks the overly insane, hot waitress(She was a win on the hot crazy scale) comes over to our table and asks if I want anything else. I said to her "surprise me" hoping for a Bj or some shit but she gets this insane look on her face and runs over to the racks of beer they have and grabs of all things A CAN OF BEER. Now this place is known for having unique and pricey imports and so on. So at this point I assumed I was actually passed out on the floor drooling on my self. But again no BJ so clearly I was awake. Anyway she brings it over and asks if I know anythgin abuot it and ofc I diddnt. She makes a comment about the founders being stoners and they choose cans so they could have beer and a pipe while hiking. She continued on to make come comment abotu stoners taking over...yea.

The Taste
Well this is where it all gets intresting. I poured my ten-Fidy which is an imperial stout into my glass. Seriously it looked like flat coke. It viscosity was terrifying, like spiders. I mean this wasn't the avg dark beer thickness. It was fucking like that dark water shit from pirates of dark water(if you dont know what that is plz die). The smell is insane, the look is insane but the taste YEA ITS STILL FUCKING INSANE. Its picasos vision of a stout. You get the idea of what it is but holy god is it bizzare. I let everyone at my table try it. Many faces were made. That being said its not too bad. I would drink it again of my own free will, unlike their second offering of the night. I tried the Gubna(think guv'na but retarded or if a deaf guy said it). This.....thing..... If I were to mix you a drink of Busch light, pine sol and smelly pot, would you drink it? WOULD YOU? Fuck no you would not, well at least not if you were living on this plane of existence. Well gubna tastes like that. I don't mean a hint of the forest, its punch you in the face cleaning agent. They list it as an imperial IPA. The fuck is that, does it go around eating all the other IPA's and shitting out their caps. Actually it might. That shit was intense, about as intense as beer tasting can get so like the intensity of your dryer, empty. I don't envision people with foam fingers at the edge of there seats for beer.

Now both of the products mentioned are 10% ABV. They are fucking strong in all ways. No matter what I said if you like new beer and want something completely unique. Oskar Blues products are the way to go. Seriously try them even if you don't like it they are completely worth it. You'll be hard pressed to find something so unique and powerful. Their shit is over 9000.



Edit: I forgot to mention that the Stout forms a head like most shit lagers do. It was bizarre to see a 10% foam so much.

So in an attempt to gay this up like Palin, ITS NEWS TIME.

Tonight ICC was determined to keep us down, in 11 bosses we only got 3 shards luckily that was all we needed to complete our most recent legendary. A big grats goes out to Swarley, he is now the proud owner of the guild and server first [Shadowmourne]. Swarley or as he is more commonly known Wolvie is a classic SF member and a well deserved recipient of what is clearly a hunter weapon.

After pushing down Sindragosa on Wednesday of last week, we set our remaining attempts on Putricide Heroic, knowing it'd be a challenge. We took the day off Sunday and come in focused and driven to get our chance at a top 20 US kill on Monday..

Things started out well. The week before we had barely been able to handle transitions, our first pulls on Monday saw us getting into P3 and handling our transitions much better. We slowed down a bit as the night dragged on however, and started getting sloppier. A 10% wipe turned into a 7% wipe, followed by a harrowing 3% wipe with just 7 attempts left or so. We knew we were close, but running out of time.

Sloppiness and mistakes continued however, and we found ourselves at 2 attempts remaining. The time had come, it was do or die. We could either pull out a kill and get ourselves into the top 20 US ranking, or wait another week and surely fall closer to #30. Knowing what was at stake, we pulled..



WoL

It was sloppy, but in the end it doesn't matter. We had a less than stellar-P3 and still pulled it out with sheer will and determination. And in classic SF style, we pulled it out on the last attempt of the night.

Great job and great learning and progression everyone. One last hurdle remains!

..We were determined to push her down quickly the following week. Unfortunately, Blizzard decided to kick us in the nuts by implementing Hellscream's Warcry far too early. With an extra 5% in every category at our disposal, we had no excuse not to get a quick kill..

And we did. After some practice runs but an early end to Tuesday's night due to server lag, we walked in last night and dispatched her in two tries. It would have been great to get the kill last week in order to not have the lifeline of the zone buff, but in the end we're proud of the progress we made on her. Nice job everyone pulling this out and performing well on her from the start.



WoL

We finished the night with some strong progression on Putricide HM, and expect to have him soon. Stay tuned!

Great job overall guys. We were slow out the gate and have had some stupid moments, but overall we've been performing pretty well in ICC Heroic. Let's finish the progression with a Putricide kill this week. Bring your A games and let's get 11/12!

Some of this is kinda late. Oh well.

A bit dejected that we wasted a week by not getting LK down the first week he was out, and subsequently one shotting him the next night, we enterted into Heroic Icecrown two weeks ago looking to make a splash. We found ourselves challenged by Lady Deathwhisper and put two solid nights of learning on her before unfortunately deciding to move on in the sake of focusing on larger targets, Deathbringer Saurfang.

After getting a feel for our positioning Wednesday night with a few attempts, we went back in on Sunday and ironed out the kinks, but kept falling at the last few % to the unforgivable nature of Mark of the Fallen Champion (and only having two Holy Paladins). The end of the night was drawing near, and it was looking like we'd need to give up and move on to clear the other bosses in the instance. The realization that it would have been a massive failure to have to skip the hardest bosses in Heroic on the first week set in, and in classic SF fashion, we pulled it out on our last attempt of the night:



WoL

The funny thing is, that kill had very bad Runic Power luck and he put out 6 marks total, while on other attempts we had failed with only 4-5 out in P3. And we had subpar DPS with a disconnect. Go figure.

That kill seemed to be a turning point in our minds, as we sort of woke up and realized that we couldn't half-ass our way through some of these Hard Modes. Our morale restored, we followed up our Deathbringer kill with a quick Rotface kill before going in on Monday and downing Blood Prince Council, BQL, and Dreamwalker on HM. We finished our first week 7/12 Heroic ICC, but we accomplished what we wanted in downing one of the hardest bosses in the instance that week.

The day after we went back in determined to get a Deathwhisper kill this week, or bust. Expecting another full night of learning, we somehow managed to be able to see ghosts and move from them, and quickly downed her in 5 pulls.



WoL

Worried a bit that we'd need a good few hours to repeat our Saurfang kill, we were happily surprised to down him in two goes. It seemed that the Deathbringer kill the week before truly had been a turning point for us. We moved on for a quick Festergut kill, and spent the rest of the week practicing for Sindragosa HM. Unfortunately we deviated a bit and blew some attempts testing ourselves on Putricide HM, so when we got back to Sindy, we only had a few attempts to work on her. The first pull we got her to 8%. Unfortunately we ran out of attempts for the week, but stay tuned, because..

Should have had him last week, we one shotted him on our first pull after the reset. Balls.





WoL

Also, this describes the state of Ner'zhul on Tuesday and Wednesdays lately. Fun stuff:

It's hard to believe that just over a year ago, we were contently farming Naxx and just had gotten our first kill on Sarth +3, enjoying the new WoLK content. It seems so long ago, as we're now 3 Tiers deeper and a good 60 ilvel above Naxx gear. Goes to show how fast WoLK has moved compared to TBC.

2009 was a big year for Spike Flail. Initially unsure if we'd even be a 25man raiding guild come WoLK, the more casual raiding schedule, coupled with solid performances giving us time off, allowed us great success while not burning ourselves out on hardcore progression. While other guilds complained, whined, and became jaded with WoLK's Hard Mode system, we took advantage and jumped out the gate in Ulduar, securing a server first and top 50 US position that we've been fortunate enough to maintain over the following 6 months. We look forward to 2010 and the progression races it brings, as after three years of raiding, we'll finally begin a year near the top of the pack, competing at the level we've been striving for since Karazhan.










2009 was also a year of rebuilding for us. It seems no matter what level you play at in this game, you can't get away from the constant cycle of attrition and recruitment. We were hoping WoLK would keep us a more long-term stable roster, but the strains of raiding and real life took its toll on us as well. Just take a look at our raid setup during our first Sarth +3 kill a little over a year ago to see the difference in our roster then and now:



With fond hearts we say goodbye to our fallen friends. The likes of Payload, Swole, Mish, Facts, Actovision, Solkid, Ettoo, Nox, Denic, and Naosu were mainstays in our raids for a great period of our history, and we wouldn't have achieved the success we did without them. You guys are missed.

That being said, with every attrition cycle, we gain the opportunity to meet new friends and add them to our family. We've been blessed with great recruits who have made their home with us in 2009, and we're honored to have them with us: Ngata, Meaning, Apoc, Neonjoe, Cptn, Genuin, Cheroba, Nello, Martyr, Kaleena, Ippon, Methios, Rallik, Cptn, Eightseven, Nikolaii. You've all been wonderful and welcome additions to our guild, and we're glad to have you guys in our family as we start the new year.

Of course, we cannot forget our veterans either, who's stabilizing and long-term presence kept us going no matter what roster attrition was thrown at us over the year. Big thank you to our guys who've been here forever: Tier, Melbu, Zepp, Aelin, Nightfright, Qou, Rejekt, Patty, JC, Rill, Wolves, Varn, Book, Killa, Ello. It's been an amazing ride raiding with you guys over the years, and I sincerely hope that I'll be repeating all your names again in next year's post. Thank you for everything!

So I'll end this tribute to 2009 by again thanking every member of our guild, both past and present, who helped us have the wonderful 2009 that we did. No one expected what we achieved out of this year, or even how much fun it may be. Here's to an even better 2010. Happy New Year!



Edited for swole nig

We hate Immortal-style progression.

We should have had this 3 weeks ago unfortunately. Can blame it on a roster hiccup and logistical problems, can blame it on whatever. The truth is we just dropped the ball and had 3 weeks of 49-tribute clears, including two weeks in a row where we one-shotted Anub and lost our tribute on stupid Twins wipes. Knowing we had cost ourselves irreplaceable US ranking, we knew we had to get it this week; or risk losing our chances at the Realm First title to the other Ner'zhul guilds that had made great progression on the Tribute run. We knew we couldn't be complacent, lazy, and take things for granted any longer. Building off our mistakes from the past few weeks, and continuing our great performance one-shotting Anub from the past 3 weeks, we pushed and made it happen.





WoL

There's not much to say about this, because we're all still a little disappointed in ourselves for not having this a few weeks ago and solidifying a top 20 US ranking. There's still much to praise in our solid performance over the past few weeks in the grand scheme of things, even though small silly mistakes held us back. However we learned a lot from what we did screw up on and took it with humility, and didn't give up. A lot of people would have grown frustrated with our mistakes and missed opportunities and given up in anger or disgust, but we kept our heads down and pushed on, looking to learn from our setbacks. And we finally were rewarded, even if a bit late. Thank you for not giving up out of frustration or anger, Spike Flail.

Now to farm and rest with a bit of a load off our chest until 3.3's release, where we're anticipating a strong start and another push for top 20 US. Just remember, don't get complacent with our shortended raid schedule and "easy" farming. We still have to repeat these 50-Tribue runs for our cloaks, and we still need to stay sharp for ICC's release, which will be quite a race in itself. Use this time to relax SF, but be ready for 4-night raid weeks and progression-mindsets very soon.

On a lighter note, new newspost feature! "On this day in Spike Flail."

On this day in Spike Flail:

Two years ago to this date, we were pumped and excited to be venturing into a new instance after an amazing performance in TK, we finally had keyed enough of our raiders to start our T6 push. Spirits where high as we entered Mount Hyjal, marveling at the amazing sites and actually enjoying the waves of trash (oh would we learn). Rage Winterchill fell without a sweat, and and a few hours later after some strategizing, Anetheron did as well!




Who can forget such lovable names as Formose, Roty, Balluh, Summonlight, Hotblooded, and Illist. Oh happy times! And of course, much love for our fallen friends, as we remember names such as Krispyable, Zxt, Payload, and Swole. And behold a myserious Vaprak sighting! Wait who? Also many laughs at homosexual Nattyice trying to be a real Shadow Priest.

On a sidenote, where the hell was Tier on this date? And Nightfright?!

Stay tuned for more "On this day in Spike Flail" in the future!