Congratulations to Yokomus on his first child!  His son was born at 7pm on June 6th.  Little Yokomus weighed in at 8lbs 13oz and measured 22 inches long!  Family is doing well and I’m sure very excited!  Welcome to the family baby Sword!

As one of the founding members of Sword of Azeroth it’s my privilege to have been asked to write this post celebrating our three year anniversary.

Sword of Azeroth started soon after Greymonkey and Jbtrucker met and formed a lasting friendship.  Jb was already a member or a leveling guild and convinced Grey to join him.  I followed a few days later.  Soon after I cliqued with another member of this guild, Jayceon.  We became quick friends and leveling buddies.  It wasn’t long before the four of us, Grey, Jb, Jay and I frequently found ourselves  traveling Azeroth together.

The leveling guild we were all involved in was wonderful as it did provide the platform for all of us to meet but the four of us agreed this type of guild did not suit our playstyle or our personalities very well.  We decided to form our own guild, incorporating our values; focusing on recruiting players who enjoyed the game without the drama, something we all felt strongly about.  A few days later Sword of Azeroth was created.  Traightyn and Diezel were Sword of Azeroths first official recruits.  Between the six  of us SoA was born and grew.

Over the years SoA has had many ups and downs.  We’ve gone from struggling to have enough folks online to raid Kara to running two Kara teams .  I remember our very first Kara run when we waited outside of the instance trying to pug a healer.  Sione and Diezel were the main tanks and Greymonkey was a lolret.  At that time anyone who had a paladin that didn’t heal was a moron!  Through it all we always knew that SoA would be successful.  And so we continued to push forward, never giving up.

I remember our first real gquit came in our Kara days when incorporating our rules we managed to invite two hunters to a raid.  Needless to say the one who was unhappy left the guild.

Thinking about Kara reminds me of Diezels wife being overdue with their first baby and us trying to fit in our raids hopeful that she wouldn’t go into labor until the next boss down, Chronius always being naked and dancing, Grey never talking on vent and me always complaining about how hard it was to call out a raid while tanking a boss in bear form.  (Those of you with a druid know what I’m talking about here)

We’ve shared our gold for repairs on those raid nights when we just can’t seem to get it right.  We’ve shared our frustrations about everything in chat and vent, we’ve shared our encouragement and our excitement but mostly we’ve shared each others company.

We’ve had a wedding, helped to welcome new babies into the lives of several of our guild members  and continue to share the joy of each others real life successes.

As a group of folks we’ve certainly been through it all.  We’ve developed real friendships both online and off.

As a guild we’re strong.  We may not be the best of the best but we’re certainly the best of the rest. /wink

We’re not far from topping the leader boards as a raiding guild and that is totally due to our wonderful group of raiders.  We’ve got a solid structure and a fun atmosphere.  For many this is our home away from home.  I’m happy to have been part of such a wonderful guild from its creation and to share in it’s success.

It’s not often that you form bonds with folks you meet in your life and I’m very fortunate to say some of my real friends are right here within this guild.

Just wanted to say your donation was appreciated as is your contribution to the Guild overall!

Now, let’s go wipe some more on new bosses – woot?!!

Today in game mails were received by several players directing them to ‘check out a guild recruitment video’ and linking a website.  The website ends in .exe, an obvious hacker to those who know but perhaps not so obvious to some.  Secondly the mail was sent by Sione however the i in Sione was replaced with a character.  It’s such a subtle change that it could go unnoticed.  

Sione never spams the guild with mail, only links to OUR Sword of Azeroth website and quite frankly doesn’t start any sentence with ‘Ay mates’.  

Please don’t follow any links you get in game.  Please invest in an autheticator.  Remember account security is YOUR responsibility.  Hackers are getting better and better as Blizzard works harder and harder to stop them.  If you recieve an in game mail directing you to a website please click the report spam button so that Blizzard can track down the scum.

I would also ask that everyone take a moment to warn folks about this potential problem so that they can avoid the possibility of being keylogged.  The official world of warcraft customer service forum is filled with folks trying to get their accounts back after falling for this scam.  Don’t be one of them.

Prizes for this event are as follows:

·         Grand Prize – 2000 gold

·         First Prize – 1000 gold

·         Second Prize – 500 gold

·         Third Prize – 300 gold

Disclaimer: Not responsible for the dice Chronius or his alts may use!

As always we will have our FIND GREYMONKEY event for additional gold prizes! 

And now for the rules! A 1 gold ante will be collected by Sione {or one of her many alts} just prior to the start of the event! Squires {those of you who are still new to the guild} will not be able to participate in the lotto drawing but are eligible to participate in a squire drawing with a grand prize winner of 100 gold.  You must be present to win.  If for some reason Real Life is making it hard for you to attend please send an ingame mail to Sione.  We’ll do our best to work something out.

Among the prizes listed above we have several decks of Darkmoon Trinket Cards to give as additional prizes and a few other prizes to be announced.

Please be prompt and dress to impress. {Naked is not impressive!}

Date: Tuesday, April 21st

Time: 8 pm {server time}

Place: Just outside the gates of Stormwind

NOTE:  Raid group for this event will be formed around 7:30.  Please do your best to be prompt.  As always a big thank you to all of our guild leaders for making our lotto events possible.

For those of you who are new, please take a moment to register for our forums. For those of you who are registered please read the newest post under the raiding section.

Hope you all had a safe and fun New Year! Thank you for making our Guild as fun and sane as it is and I hope to see you all in bigger and better stuff in 2009.

Yes, it’s the time of year for resolutions, but sadly it’s also the time for bills. So, just wanted to remind folks, that any contributions towards the cost of hosting, Vent, etc. can be made via the “Donate” button in the right column and are greatly appreciated.

Every little bit helps!

Homeworkz:

• The Path to Jan’Alai
• Jan’alai – WoWWiki