On the 30 March 2011 Carnage Inc celebrated it's 2nd birthday, and this week Tapps and I celebrate two years of being Guild Masters.
Its been quite a journey, and one that I have been proud to share with many of you.
Back in March 2009 Tapps text me excitedly to tell me how he'd bought us both a present, and boy oh boy was I excited. My mind was reeling over all the possibilities of what it might be.... matching designer watches, his and hers perfume and aftershave, maybe even a holiday! But no such luck, when he arrived at my house he pulled out a world of warcraft battle chest! All I could think was how we'd been together just over 3 years and he buys me some crappy game!!
Needless to say I was not impressed. However not wanting to seem ungrateful I decided id indulge him and at least try the stupid game. After all if I tried it and he could see I didn't enjoy it I would have to play it again right?!
To add insult to injury the game took over night to install.... oh boy was I bored, and still not sharing Tapps enthusiasm.
The following morning having a lay in was clearly not on the agenda, Tapps was up and keen to get playing. So I made my first character.... a level one human mage called Michelemarie on Alliance side naturally. All the other races were soo ugly, and the thought of fighting for the baddies wasn't too appealing! lol
So there we were two lowly noobs running about Northshire Abbey killing kobolds for the pricely sum of 1 copper each. I have to admit I was quite enjoying it, but I didnt let on to Tapps!
Shortly after completing all the quests in Northshire our journey took us to Goldshire, where Tapps decided to tackle a cow along the way and met his first death in the game! lol
Whilst discovering what Goldshire had to offer I noticed a /yell "paying 1g to anyone who signs my guild charter" 1g? Holy crap thats the equivalent of killing 100 kobolds! Not knowing what a guild was, nor did I care I /yelled back "We will sign" We managed to track down the person who was offering such a generous pay out.
Her name was Maz, and there she was, this amazing level 75 Draenei Paladin with the most amazing gear we had ever seen, and.... she was on a horse!! OMG I was in complete awe, this person was like soo totally cool and to top it all off was giving us 1g each!! Neither of us had a clue what a guild was, but we didn't care we had 1g.... whoop!
Maz answered many of our questions about what a guild was etc and we thought it was pretty damn cool, our own little in-game gang! A few hours later Carnage Inc was complete.... Maz, Banehammer, Roy, Thilon, Jobe, Nexumbra, Tapps and I, (there were a few others but their names escape me now).
In the next few days that passed Banehammer bought Tapps and I a guild tabard, we we soo proud. I remember us thinking that Banehammer must have thought we were great to buy us a tabard as they didn't do it for everyone!
Another great memory was the day Jobe lent us the money to learn our apprentice riding skill and buy our first ever mounts. Being able to finally ride everywhere instead of walking was amazing, and back then you didn't learn this till 40!
As the days, weeks and months past the numbers within Carnage Inc grew, we made lots of new friends in 2009, many of which are still members here today; Thilon, Runningbear, Bodhisattva (aka Romulan) Davaai, Dartrei, Trillby, Stillwater, Evysa, Deatheagle, and Cremation.
Very early on in our wow days Maz and Banehammer made the decision to make Tapps and I officers. This was just amazing!
In May 2009 Maz decided she was going to move on to form a new raiding guild as we were nowhere near a raid guild in the early parts of 2009, we were just a group of friends levelling and running instances and raids for fun! Although we did manage to achieve Onyxia'a Lair (Level 60) on 14 June 2009 while still current content... now thats old skool!!
At this time Maz handed guild leadership to myself and Tapps. This was like mega mega big... from complete noobs to guild masters of one to the biggest levelling guilds on Saurfang EU in little under 2 months!
As time passed we made our mark on Carnage Inc, we bought out all 6 bank tabs, changed the tabard... back then we picked a black tabard with white lightning. That only lasted a few weeks as I didn't like it and felt it wasn't very representative of Carnage Inc, and as Tapps wasn't keen on a pink tabard I settled for purple with a very carnage like skull - perfect!
This make me laugh... one our earliest recruitment macros was <CARNAGE INC> Recruiting. We have 6 bank tabs and a guild tabard /w me! And the funny thing was I didn't know how to make a macro so I just use to type it out in full each time I wanted to broadcast it in trade! lol
We spent a quiet summer learning our classes, levelling professions and recruiting for raiding! By September 2009 we had a guild raid team in Naxxramas, and by October 2009 we got our first full clear. We were praised by Maz and Grammer for the progress we had made with Carnage Inc in such a short time. And we were really beginning to feel we could make the change from a social levelling guild to a raiding guild!
Denique were the number one guild at the time... and oh boy were they good! In my eyes they will always be the best guild Saurfang has ever seen gaining many realm first kills and sitting in the top 500 in the world in current content!
We had our sights set high, and Denique to look up to, but we were determined. We battled on throughout 2010 through Naxxramas, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, and then ICC. We managed to bag server 3rd for Heroic Gunship Battle on April 14 2010, and finished up the expansion as 11th Alliance guild and 16th overall for 25 man progress. Not bad but not quite where we wanted to be!
We knew what we were aiming for in Cataclysm and we were a strong force, the strongest we had ever been. We began on 10 mans, swiftly making out way to Nefarian, and shortly after transferred to 25 man progression as this was always the goal for Carnage.
We have done amazingly well, just as I knew we would and I am so so proud. So far we have gained realm first workign as a team, realm 3rd Al'akir 25, and we are currently 2nd alliance guild and 4th overall for 25 man progression!
I am positive that this is just the beginning for us, and that we have only just begun to show Saurfang what the wrath of Carnage can achieve. Firelands is upon us and I know that we stand every chance of achieving realm first kills.
Its been one hell of a journey for me, and we have been through a lot. I've made many friends along the way, some old, some new and i'm sure many more i've yet to meet. But between us all just look at what we have achieved.
It has not been through my efforts alone, I could not have made Carnage Inc what it is today without each and every one of you. And I just want to take this chance to thank you all for your support and determination, for sticking it out through the good times and the bad.
Turns out that the crappy box set was a lot more of a gift than I was expecting it to be. It bought me new found friends from all around the world who I have been proud to share many late nights with. Nights filled with laughter, frustration, tears and cheers, but it's been amazing. And we will go on to share many more days and nights like these, because we are not just any old guild, we are a wow family and I love you all!!
Thanks again guys, for everything!
Happy belated birthday.....
GO CARNAGE