Sword of Azeroth

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.