The King is dead. Long live the King!

It is a rare occurrence indeed to find myself at a loss for words when talking shop about gaming, but I found myself sitting at my desk for the last 25 minutes, staring intently at the flickering caret, who is patiently waiting to dance across the screen at my every whim.

Yet how to begin? What can possibly be said to express in written form, the emotional feeling of finally completing the culmination of an entire expansion of raiding; two years of effort, joy, disappointment, relief, fun, and elation?

For those that attended or perhaps watched clips of BlizzCon this year, I am reminded of Chris Metzen's opening ceremony speech about the word Geek. For those that didn't see it, I'll be the first to point out it wasn't incredibly moving nor insightful, and was more or less of a glorified slideshow showing iconic images of geek-esque movies, toys, books, characters, and other accoutrement the mixed-generation crowd would recognize and thus cheer for.

Still, I think while it was certainly difficult for Mr. Metzen to present his idea in a meaningful way, I can appreciate and connect to his apparent message: That the inspirations and joys gamers and geekdom as a whole appreciate are not to be discounted or unappreciated, but embraced and reveled. Moreover, the true nature of a geek is not necessarily one who plays Dungeons & Dragons or watches Battlestar Gallactica, but instead one who simply allows him or herself to be consumed by the excitement of being truly passionate about something. Whether it be slaying magical dragons or cooking fantastical meals, LARPing with friends or carving wooden sculptures, writing detailed game guides or playing with your kids, falling in love again or producing YouTube videos, moving away from home or learning to play guitar, wiring intricate networks or helping family in need -- being a geek is really about being enthusiastic and spirited toward those things you love in life and feel passionate about, and to Metzen's credit, I think that is a fantastic message.

That same sort of geeky drive and determination brought all of us together over the last 2 years if Wrath of the Lich King to accomplish some incredible feats that very few others, if any, can also lay claim to. Over the course of WotLK, Vox Immortalis has tallied up over 310 raids totaling 530 total hours of raiding in that time, an absolutely astounding statistic if you ask me.

Yet as glorious as Ulduar was (and to a much lesser extend Naxxramas and Trial of the Crusade), the real focus was Icecrown Citadel, which managed to soak up 160 hours of raid time since we began plowing through last December, and after a brief stint of Normal then Heroic progression, we came up against the biggest challenge World of Warcraft has seen to date: The Lich King.

For seven months we toiled, schemed, and battled against the might of Heroic Lich King and for seven months, while an assortment of over 25 Guild Raiders came and went, each giving a little, or in a few cases a lot, to the war effort, we were defeated by the Lich King's might time and time again. We spent hours and hours practicing, discussing, and strategizing to perfect our craft, accumulating over 37,000 words of discussion on our Heroic Lich King Strategy Notepad thread alone; enough to fill a 135-page-long essay, with dozens of tactics, strategies, and various successes & failures we discovered over those seven months.

Finally, after many long months and over 413 attempts, all our efforts and sweat, anguish and frustration coalesced into a victory over the mighty Lich King and brought Vox Immortalis success at the pinnacle of the Wrath of the Lich King!



After all was said and done and the moment came when we knew victory was ours, the sense of elation and adrenaline was almost overwhelming, and this is an accomplishment everyone in Vox, both past and present, should feel exceptionally proud of.

Yet, in spite of the amazement and finally defeating something that had seemed so impossible for so long, I realize that what I really love about Vox Immortalis raiding is not so much the slaying of old gods and converted death knights, but instead it is all of you, the Guild Members and Raiders that make the experience so much fun in the first place. Family is too corny a term, but I truly enjoy Vox raids almost entirely because I get to hang out with this handful of cool, fun people for a few hours every week and, no matter how dire the situation in-game or how many attempts are left for the week or how high the repair bill gets, the group remains positive and is able to continue having fun, joke around, and laugh together. That is a truly rare thing, and in my 10+ years of playing MMOs, I have never experienced such a sociable atmosphere as we've seen in Vox raiding throughout WotLK.

By and large, I think we owe it almost entirely to the smaller 10-man format in conjunction with our easy-going style of management for things like loot, guild bank, materials, etc. This bond makes it so difficult for me to ponder why so many people are so angry and vehement about the idea of 10-man formats in favor of 25-man, and while I don't want to project my own bias on the subject, I can't help but wonder if many of those people have never had the chance to experience the sense of community a smaller raid roster brings with it, and if that is the case, I admit that I truly pity those individuals.

With such a massive accomplishment finally under our belts, I must give a few thanks where they are due:

First and foremost, to Ugra and Kilwenn, my fellow Officers and the only two individuals still with us that have been through the entirety of our WotLK experience (and basically the entirety of Vox as well), and who have both provided much needed advice and support when times were tough -- without your guidance, we almost certainly would've given up our quest to conquer HLK before Cataclysm and for that, I am in your debt.

Second, a very big thanks to Fides, who has been with us since the very first days of ICC and in spite of our jibes, is a constant source of uplifting humor and spirit.

Also of course those that have pushed for HLK for quite some time and were with us for the final victory: Guide, Bunny, Harkle, and Kain; and even the newcomers Xelaski and Boheem, who both performed admirably while still getting used to the fight and our Guild style as a whole.

We also owe a big thanks to those that put in tons of effort on this fight but for many reasons, were unable to be with us for the final victory: Khrashdin, Katheon, Thawfore, Kheelan, Rofldat, Galethorn, and Critgasm -- much of our progress and what led to victory would not have been possible without the efforts of you folks, which in spite of everything, we must appreciate.

To my fellow Vox Members: You should feel exceptionally proud of yourselves and your efforts. We have conquered Wrath of the Lich King and other than Heroic Halion (which I hope we can find time to bust out in the next month), we have literally accomplished every single challenge this expansion has thrown at us! We are fairly comfortably #1 in the World for 10-man Strict Achievements and with a little luck, we'll be able to maintain our standing until the last days and the Cataclysm is upon us!

Hold your head high.