This content recounts a dramatic and ultimately divisive guild experience in an online game, triggered by a guild leader's extreme shift towards hardcore play and the subsequent fallout over early access purchases. It also touches upon the significant impact of API changes on a popular addon.
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Hola ballers and a bro to you all. It's
Friday afternoon here in the UK as the
water pours from the sky to celebrate
what has been a hell of a week with the
alpha launching. Had a wonderful
interview with Paul Cubits. We did find
out some bits and bobs about the prey
system and of course the harder raiding
that's going to be coming in a second
part of the raiding situation. Uh which
should be an interesting time for the
launch of Midnight. And of course the
alpha is underway. Several videos are
out looking at various things, devourers
and things. And I've been playing Final
Fantasy Tactics which is uh
excruciatingly hard if you've never
played it before and starting tactician
mode. But we're starting to do well kind
of. We're starting to do well. We're
starting to progress. We're starting to
learn. We're starting to adapt. We're
starting to overcome. We only wiped, I
don't know, like five times today. Uh,
which is better than what we've done in
previous days. Great success. Great
success. Oh, yeah. I definitely farmed
constantly. You guys saw I farmed
constantly for it, but it's not here
right now. Over the world, you send us
your stories and we love you for it to dramatgaming.com.
dramatgaming.com.
We really appreciate you sending these
in uh of all different kinds of tales
and uh Abbeex has put something here and
considering that the midnight launch is
coming early 2026. Um there's a big
controversy with this stuff. It happens
in a few games these days and uh the
title caught my eye.
I'm uh I'm wondering where this goes
because it has it did happen but it's
Now, is this going to be a tale of uh
the people who just thought the system
was BS and therefore they all left at
the idea of early access or did they get
annoyed? Did Did they try the game and
didn't like it? So, we're going to have
uh two stars of this going to be Pesphanany
H. Oh, three. And we've got hands
and we've got aura.
No guild name required for a dead guild.
If you'd like to type out a lovely guild
name that perhaps uh we could use
throughout sometime throughout the
story. Uh it's not mentioned that we
need one, but maybe it'll pop up. Feel
free uh to put it in. Six feet under the
tacticians. Yes. Yes. Hey, we're getting
better. I could pro I could tell. All
right, let's have some fun.
Holla preacher man and a bro fist to you
and the whole team and of course to the
wonderful audience that's going on here.
I want to tell you a tale that just
happened right now
and I figured you guys would get a great
laugh out of it like I did and most of
So I mean this can't be for midnight
then right? You see, Mike, I've been in
a mythic raiding guild called the
Tacticians since Legion. And while I
have stepped away a few times like we
all do, I skipped Shadowlands and some
IRL things going on. This guild, the
tacticians, has survived in my absence until
until
one of until our guild master, okay, Pesphanany,
Pesphanany,
threw a tantrum over a fact that a good
portion of the guild had pre-ordered the
What? I mean, most steady guilds are
pre- buying the expansions, right?
I I'm trying to process why.
It's not unusual for a guild that is,
you know, steady and got a team together
to probably see that they're going to
buy the game.
Uh, I don't know. Mike,
I'm afraid I have a confession to make
to you in the audience. One that is more
guilty than a ninja looter. I am more
guilty than someone who intentionally
wipes a raid in hardcore WoW classic.
I was frog farmer. Yes, in Mist of
Pandaria remix, I was heavily farming
the frogs. Hey, you know what? It was fun.
fun.
It was full of health. What sin did he
commit? It was a froggy boy. A froggy
boy. Never forget the hatred that
Blizzard had for the froggy boys. I only
did it for a couple of hours and I was
labeled a froggy boy. I was tred with
that brush painted in the oil.
So, one night after a good long session
of frogging out,
I was hanging out in Discord with Pesphanie.
Oh, did you get the names mixed up? It
says, "I was hanging out in Discord with
my girlfriend Pesphanie,
We were talking about what classes we
were going to main in the next expansion
so that people could figure out what the
guild was going to look like. His
I'm very confused. I'm sure it'll make
sense as we go forward. I'm very
confused. It says here the GM Hanss and
my girlfriend Pesphanie along with some
of our boys. That's what it says.
Uh we were talking about what classes we
would main in the next expansion and
that was when Pesphanie had decided that
he would announce we would make our way.
So Pesphanany is the GM. We were going
to change the guild. Yes. This is great.
I love this kind of decision- making.
I love this. This is great. It's one of
those decisions that definitely is going
to work. You know why? Because Pesphanie
has decided we're going to be a hardcore
And And so it shall be. And so it shall
be. We're going to be a hardcore guild
now. I have decided. I have sat here. I
have sat on my keyboard. And I proclaim
that we're now a hardcore guild. And
thus it shall be.
We're going to move our way from a
simple cutting edge guild to a fullblown
hardcore guild
Hm. Well, okay then
to give you I'm not going to go into the
full description of their ability. Mike,
but I will say this. If him and his
friends weren't there, it is possible we
would have gotten what world 100
or Hans both told him immediately that
they were too [ __ ] for that. Nope.
Nope.
And it was also that it would require
way more time dedication than what the
Oh, Aura is the girlfriend. Okay. Aura
is the girlfriend.
responded to this comment in the way a
leader should to invoke motivation,
inspire, drive forward, you know, hope
for the team.
If you can't cut it, then you'll be kicked.
Wow. Wow.
Wow.
That's leadership. That's leadership.
Well, you've got no choice now, right?
Well, there you go. You got to do it.
That I mean, that's the way it is. Our
looked over at me IRL and said, "I'm
going to get a drink." Because this is
not the first time that he has suddenly
decided that he is amazing while also
being our worst DPS,
which he claims is because of raid
leadership. Yes. Yes. the old I am the
raid leader excuse. Yes, I am leading
the raid, therefore I do less damage. I
am doing more than you peasants. I am
doing 85,000 things simultaneously and
therefore I am not contributing to the kill.
kill.
The conversation ended soon after uh
soon after, but myself, Hans, and a
couple of other officers were told to be
around the next day, an hour before Raid
Now, the problem is the next day was payday
payday
and I had received a big chunky
commission that month and I knew that my
girlfriend wanted a couple of Switch
games and so I bought them for her. And
I also went and got my kids some new Paw
Patrol toys. Oh my [ __ ] god. Paw Patrol,
Patrol,
dude. Why? Why bring that [ __ ] up? Why
bring that [ __ ] up? [ __ ] Paw Patrol.
I hate Paw Patrol. That kid is a freak.
He sends those animals into like the
most dire of situations. Like he I swear
to God there is an IRL remake of Paw
Patrol where those dogs die every day
and he just keeps replacing them and
he's a [ __ ] maniac in the town.
Telling you freak. Absolute [ __ ]
freak. That kid.
I then wanted to treat myself after I
had treated my family. So I decided full
send. I'm going to buy myself the
collector's edition of the new
expansion. So, I assume this is the War
Within where MK Remix was out, right? MK
Remix was pre-war Within. It was during
Dragonfly, wasn't it? I think. I'm
That night, we of course had the
important guild meeting. Tension,
mystery. What could it all be about, I
wonder? Pphanie joined the call
and began the speech.
This guild
is too casual. This guild isn't taking
its time in game seriously enough. It is time
time
to buckle down.
The guild must show dedication,
willingness to give more time to
becoming the best gamers we can be.
We're going to introduce some sweeping
changes so we can become more organized
We shall start with the formation of a
loot council.
Before this, we would just roll on loot
we actually need and trust the other
people were not [ __ ] and not be greedy.
This had worked for us for literally years.
years.
We were now going to build a website.
Yes, a website that will track
attendance points.
It will be required in the new expansion
that each player should have three alts.
and our schedule will alter from our
current two night a week raiding to four.
four.
This is the minimum that should be given
to our progress.
Okay. Which one of those is the I'm out?
The correct answer before you type it is
like pretty much all of it.
Pretty much all of it. Absolutely.
Definitely the three alts and just
doubling the amount of raiding that you
want from your raiders that week on
average. Yeah, the three alts I'm
definitely out at that point. The loot
councils, whatever. I've worked with
loot councils many times. If there's a
good one, you're fine. Um, and it's
very, very obvious to know when there
isn't one and then you're just like,
this is your [ __ ] But three alts and
doubling the amount of raid nights per week.
week.
doubling just straight doubling it. No,
absolutely not.
Pphanie then points out that he has
consulted with his IRL friends and they
are in agreement with his choice. The
only objections to this newfound target
and goal for the guild were from
outsiders as we were described, which
included myself and basically the other
officers that weren't IRL friends.
Now, as the meeting was coming to a
close and the guildies started getting
into Discord for the raid night, Pphanie
then posted the announcement in Discord. Mike,
Mike,
it was 83 lines long in the Discord when
full screen. We counted
within the document. Within the documents,
documents,
it was proclaimed that we were going hardcore.
hardcore.
It was restated that if you didn't like
the new direction of the tacticians,
then you should leave immediately
so we could start replacing you now. Oh,
that's great. That's really cool. Yeah,
just completely kill the guild. That's awesome.
awesome.
Now, of course, we wanted to leave. However,
you know, I'm totally down for this.
However, we knew what was going to
happen would be completely [ __ ] and
we wanted to see it happen. I am with
you 100%. It's the end of the expansion
anyway. You're playing Remix. Like, [ __ ]
it, man. I want to see how this plays
out. I am totally down for this, and I
encourage you all to do it. Like, [ __ ]
it. Let's see how this goes. All right,
baby. Let the bomb go off. I am totally down.
down.
Let's fast forward. I still don't
understand how early access plays into
this. Let's find out. Fast forward a bit
and we get to when my collector's
edition has arrived at my house. I was
stoked, of course, because I am a giga
nerd who went to Blizzcon and creamed my
pants when Metent read off the
teleprompter that there were going to be
three expansions. I was there, too. Did
you say hi? Probably not. Maybe you did.
I don't know. I posted pictures to
Discord along with a few others who also
received their games and almost
immediately a pinned announcement was
The pinned announcement from Pesphanany
said that while we should be working
towards our highest ranks possible,
that we should not be shaming other
members of the guild who weren't
cheating at the game by buying early
access. Now that's a take.
That's a [ __ ] take. That's a take.
Holy [ __ ]
You know what? Pesphanie is a poor.
That's what's going on. That's what's
going on. Pphanie Shalana clocked it.
Pesphanie is a poor and feels like
they're being shamed because they
That's cheating. Uh, a lot of people, to
be fair, in World of Warcraft, some
people think flasking is cheating. I'm
not joking.
Using potions is cheating. Yeah, I've
heard it all. I've heard everything
described as cheating at some point.
I've heard everything as described as
cheating. Yeah, if you're like geming
your gear while leveling and out DPSing
someone, it's because you're cheating.
If you're keeping enchants on your gear,
that's cheating.
Food buffs are cheating. Using uh food
buffs that like don't disappear after
dying is cheating. All this kind of
[ __ ] You're not doing it as the
developers intended. You know, the ones
who made those buffs, those guys.
I am curious as to what the
justification for this one is, though.
Hans responded by posting a music video
from South Park titled Safe Space and
was immediately kicked from the guild. I
don't know what that is, but uh yeah,
obviously not a
friendly thing to post. All in all,
about 50% of the guild had of course
bought the expansion early and had early
access by two weeks before launch.
A day later, while I was still at
Blizzcon, I received a DM from Pphanie
with a link to a spreadsheet
on Discord.
Now, this wasn't that surprising.
Pphanie [ __ ] loved spreadsheets.
Everything needed to go on a
spreadsheet. Loot, attendance. We never
did build the website, planned alts,
farming schedules. Yes, he made a sheet
for the members of the guild who would
liked to farm fish and food and added
But this time
it was not for something that was in game.
game.
This time it was a list of the guild roster
roster
with highlights titled needs early access.
Oh no. Uhoh.
Uhoh.
Oh, this is nightmare world. This is
this is actually nightmarish. Are they
going to suggest that other people buy
the rest of the guild early access? [Laughter]
[Laughter]
I responded in the usual manner that a
gamer would. Three question marks. What
followed was a paragraph explaining the situation.
situation.
Pphanie told me that since I had extra gold
gold
and money
that I should be one of the few people
to help others in the guild buy the
higher editions of the game
to help in the cause of the guild to
That's a That's a You You've got to
admire the balls.
You've got to admire the balls to be just
just
that ridiculous. It takes some level of
either complete stupidity or desperation
to actually type that out to someone else.
I responded three question marks. What
I like that this all is there's a
spreadsheet. Three question marks.
Paragraph of text. Just three question
marks. There's nothing more infuriating
than the three question marks. Oh my
god. There's nothing more infuriating
than just the three question marks as
you're like you just know. They're like,
"What the [ __ ] are you talking about, bro?
bro?
I found out later he had sent this to
every single member of the guild who had
posted their visual of the pre-order of
My final response was just no.
And the conversation did not continue.
As you can imagine, Pesphanie over the
next few days after I got back home was
not happy with what he had titled
From what I could tell from the
spreadsheet, barring just a few people
in the guild, every single one of the
IRL friends and Pphanie were people who
Oh, this is going to make me sick, Beex.
This is awful. I can't believe this
happened to you. This is insane.
Approximately 3 days later,
the guild message of the day changed to
we are a guild that does not leave each
other behind. If you leave for the new
content before the actual launch day,
Oh god. I mean, I'm absolutely not
leaving though. I'm not leaving. This is
incredible. This is incredible. I am
telling everybody this is happening. I'm
screenshotting it. I'm like, "Bro, you
won't believe what's happened now.
A day later, Hans returned to the guild.
with Pphanie saying in all caps that
Hans had proven himself to be willing to
When I asked Hans, he said, "I told
Pphanie that I might be able to buy them
a collector's edition of the game. I'm
In order to keep the gag going, Hans did
buy a collector's edition of the game to
send a screenshot of the confirmation of
the order to Pesphanany. What he didn't
include is that he'd set the delivery
address to his own house. Balling. Just
balling out. Just balling out. Just
absolutely balling out.
The story brings us now to our final
raid night before we got to head into
the war within. And there was a lot of
excitement, as you can imagine, that the
expansion was coming from nearly everybody.
everybody.
The saltiness from Pesphanie and his
buddies are making little snipes other
players all night about. Oh, I bet you
can't wait to get out of this place when
the game launches for us. Oh, I mean
some of us. Oh, guys. I wonder if this
boss will give us early access to his
loot. What a loser. What a salty [ __ ]
What a salty [ __ ] [ __ ] Oh my god.
Well, of course it was a little bit
annoying. It wasn't something that none
of us expected as Aura bought a bottle
of wine to prepare for this raid.
However, it did blow up as you can
imagine. Once early access actually arrived.
arrived.
The day I was prepped.
We sent our kids to their grandmas for vacation.
I booked actual vacation from work.
Aura treated us to a 1gallon cooler of G
Your house.
Your house. During this period. your house.
house.
I got a tomahawk steak on the grill so
we would be ready for dinner break.
Discord was alive and boom, the quest
popped and the race began. About 30
minutes into the expansion, our Discord
died. So, I obviously alt tab to figure
it out, only to find that Pphanie had
removed everyone that was playing early
access from the guild Discord.
I then saw something so beautiful, so
magnificent, and so glorious that it
surpassed the birth of my children.
Pphanie having a tantrum in guild chat,
crying about how they couldn't believe
that we had gone through with it, that
we had actually done it, that we had
abandoned our fellow guild mates, and
how we should be so ashamed of our
behavior to be rubbing it in the faces
of the rest of the guild, living life
like kings while they were stuck in the past.
past.
I love it. It's got to be so annoying.
Just like question mark question mark.
Approximately 20 seconds later, I linked
I linked our private Discord and we just
went there and we were all back in chat
within a few moments laughing about the
by a twist. A twist in our story, my
friends. A twist.
By the time dinner rolled around, I saw
To which I typed in guild chat, how are
After a few moments, I got the response.
Of course, I got early access.
How can the guild master not do what is
needed for the guild to get top rank in
the world? Before
I could deliver the question mark cannonball,
cannonball,
another guildy already asked, "Did you
contribute to the guild crowdfunding
I am the guild leader. I set the example.
example.
But if you can't follow through, then
I feel like that is an opening for the
question mark cannonball to go fire. I
don't even know. I don't even know,
guys. Essentially, we understood this to
mean I got mine, y'all can get [ __ ]
which was fine if it not for the fact
that he had spent all this time claiming
early access was cheating.
Aura just said enough. and since she was
still in the guild, had copied the
Discord invite and posted a link to $5
game keys for early access, which was
actually a link to some Salmon's Preston
protective helmets before she left the
What is that? Salmon's Preston
them stupid helmets that rugby players
wear. See,
it's one of the things that some
disabled kids wear so they don't hurt
themselves and can't control their heads.
heads.
God. Here, dudes. Cheap keys. Cheap keys
for your IRL friends. I left the guild.
I left the guild. I went to the more
appropriate route and just sent a link
to guides on how to make more gold,
which was actually a link to meatpin.com.
By the end of the night, every single
one of us who had early access left the
guild and joined into my bank guild to
keep the team together, minus a healer
and a few DPS after we got a hold of all
the players in Pesphanie's guild, except
for him and his buddies, who then spent
a few tokens worth of gold to get them
the upgrades. The next day, I had to
block Pphanie on Discord because he was
and the fact I had poached his players.
Mike, I have sad or may be happy to tell
you that today the ex tacticians are not
world 100.
We are right where we want to be, which
is a US top 200, which is more than
enough for a guild like ours. We make
sure to keep Pesphanie in our hearts by
mailing him bat guano and smoked
sausages whenever we see him advertising
for recruitment in trade chat to rebuild
as he describes the mythic core of the guild.
guild.
We wish Pesphanie well in their
aspirations for the world 100 mark.
That is a real mythic guild that is full
of I don't give a [ __ ] at all. I don't
give a [ __ ] He's still at it. Of
course, man. What are you going to give
up when it was just about to happen? No. No.
Cusping, dude. Cusping. Big time.
Cusping. All right.
Somebody has a confession for his
friends. I don't know whether we'll need gavvels.
I don't know whether the gables are
required. I was a brat. I was a brat.
Love it. Yeah. Oh, I don't think you'll
like this. I'm just I'm not near the
keyboard. I'm going to copy paste this
for you.
Ctrl C and control V.
The opening of our tail for today.
Yeah, there's no getting around the
guilty verdicts around here. Well, [ __ ]
you, too. Well, [ __ ] you. Yeah, [ __ ]
you. Can we not have that emote in the
the chat that looks like an ass? It's
actually a chin. All right, Mikey, I
know to tell the chat to get [ __ ]
because I am one of them. I am a long,
longtime drama listener and enjoyer.
Thank you for all you do for
entertaining, and lightening so many
people's days. I'm not a native English
speaker, so edit where appropriate.
Never a worry if you are sending a drama
story to dramatgaming.com.
It doesn't matter if you're a native
English speaker. Our Beex is a qualified
English person. Yes, she has
documentation in English literature. Uh
she will do whatever is needs be to
allow somebody as simple as me to be
able to read your tale. So don't worry
about it.
Mikey, I've been planning with uh
playing with the thought of writing you
for some time. And since I'm currently
between jobs and finding myself with
some spare time, it's time to rock and roll.
roll.
I have visited your beautiful home
country of England quite often during my
teenage years. I went to a summer school
to improve my own glaze throughout
middle and high school. And one of the
other guys that would always convinced
me to finally give WOW a try. So, I
created myself a human warlock. Ah,
you're a [ __ ] Okay. A human warlock.
Wait, human female warlocks. Okay. Not
the other one.
I created a human walk in late vanilla
but never kept. But when the Burning
Crusade came out, I finally decided to
get going, double down, be a hero, and
go hard.
I was 15 years old. That's ripe. 15
years old is serious gaming age, and you
know it. Now that friend that had
recruited me spoke of his guild in story
and tale and song, of raids, defeating
ginormous bosses, warriors all and true,
and of all the content that we were
going to take part in, that I would be
welcomed into his guild's bosom in order
to tackle these things. So, at the B
Crusade, I rerolled to a Dana warrior,
wanting to test the new starting zone,
but also play what I was playing in Dn D
at the time. Oh, yes. It was a weirdass
class choice, and I was reeled into the
alliance by social obligation, which is
I leveled at a fairly decent pace, but
my friend said he could not get me into
his guild straight away.
They were serious. No [ __ ] about, no
jokes. A serious 25man raiding guild
progressing the Serpent Shrine Cavern.
So, I joined a small, chill community of
people that welcomed me and boosted me
through dungeons to help me get started.
I have nothing negative to say about
these people. When it comes to the
casual social guild, the horror stories
that spread throughout the community, I
joined one that genuinely was a casual
social guild that just wanted to help
people level. And I was only with them
for a brief time, but they did take me
through my first run of Karazan, which I
appreciate endlessly.
Once I had traversed to the top of the
tower and felt the pure awe and
amazement of the scope and magnitude of
the place. That was going to be the next
20 years of my life.
Yeah. Yeah. It's happened to us all.
Happened to us all. Well, this is the
rest of my life. All right. Cool.
That small generous guild gave me plenty
of epics and I got a whisper from my
friend. a spot had opened up in the big
I said, "Of course,
how could I not want to do that?"
He then asked me a question that I
didn't really understand
what he was asking.
Okay, TBC enjoyers. They're progressing
Serpent Shrank Cavern.
What does he need that is not fun to
get? It's not fun to get at all.
Something that you might drop on
somebody who doesn't quite know what
they're asking for. Oh, the tanks know.
Yeah, I had to do it.
He says, "What's your nature resistance?"
Zero. I said I said, "Oh, okay. You're
going to have to get some nature
resistance for a boss called Hydros."
So, I Googled it and began killing spo
killing spore lords in Zang Marsh for
what seemed like the rest of my life.
I was there for endless hours killing
these things. I assumed because the raid
needed it. It wouldn't be that hard to
get, but it was
shout outs to my boys running.
What were we running for nature res?
Not Diamol. Where were we? The dungeon
that's in two with the shiny crystals. Moridon.
Moridon.
Yes. Get down into Moridon. Get down
into Moridon and get your stuff done.
Oh, good fun. I loved healing that [ __ ]
so good. Uh, but I got my requisite
amount of materials. I got my [ __ ]
crafted and said, "See you to the guild
that had boosted and geared me and
treated me well." I joined my first
25man raiding guild. Mike, things were
good. I worked my way up from the
You three tanked Hydros. Nups, your
thoughts. And if I had suggested that
was during my raid leader guildmaster
Absolutely [ __ ] not.
Absolutely [ __ ] not. Ain't no way.
Ain't no way. I became the auxiliary AD
tank on Hydros to main tank by the end
of tier five. I got the attunement for
tier six before it was phased out.
And we were joining the big leagues. I
was so nerdy and ran dungeons and grl
and car runs with the better guilds of
the server when they needed a tank. I
did that too, making friends with the
tanks and other players there in to try
and get better.
Mike, I didn't know it at the time.
It's a good day when you realize it
though. It is like if anybody has ever
transitioned from thinking you're really
good to like, oh my god, I'm actually so
[ __ ] bad compared to some of these
people. Like endlessly terrible. It's a
really good day. You're like, "Oh [ __ ]
I want to share with you my confession
of how bad I was.
I was aware of how to stand stance into
Berserker stance." so that I could tank Nightbane.
But I now admit to you and any of my
guild who might recognize this
Like why not? I don't understand how
somebody can play a warrior in that
period of time and not have stances
keybound. You have to swap all the time.
Do you just sit in defensive or something,
something,
Mike? I ne I had abilities that were
keybound one through six. That was it.
I didn't use any modifiers.
I could never rebind anything other than those.
those.
But this minimum effort of having my
spells and my bar put me in the top 5%
of be BC era tanks, I guess. Uh yeah.
Yep. That's actually genuinely not
surprising. Um, big ego stroke for me
here, but it was true to give context to
this is tanks were really terrible and
in short supply in CBC. Um, and that's
why me and my co- tank Arabus, best tank
I ever played with, uh, were actually
recruited by the other guilds, the other
top guilds to do their events for them. Um,
Um,
they just didn't know what to do. It was
crazy. It was really weird, but they
were still progressing content. They
still did fine. They still did
absolutely fine. But uh when I actually
played with them, I was like, "Oh, I The
biggest thing I had to show someone how
to do was how to tank a lot." You know,
the Firebird,
they couldn't figure out how I always
because I was the Allah main tank.
They couldn't figure out how I was not I
was staying in melee range when Allah
knocked you back. And they seemed
genuinely surprised. I said, "Well, stop
running in when he's about to explode
and then intercept in and go defensive stance
stance
because he spawns and he knocks you
away." So, I was like, just charge in
Like, I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know why you're not figuring this
[ __ ] out, dude. Like it's not that
complicated. Like if he's going to knock
you back, charge it after that. It's fine.
fine.
But I will say I was in one of the small
German language servers. Ah, the main
qualification for a tank was being
online, having the drops you needed to
have, and not being a total douchebag. Unfortunately,
Unfortunately,
I have confessions more to make. I
became a douchebag.
My guild was, in hindsight, not exactly
good. I wasn't the worst player in it,
but I also was not good. We did kill
Illan with a couple of weeks to go
before Wrath of the Lich King when all
the content was nerfed to
smithetherreens. Oh, that was weird.
Anybody remember that at the end of the
Burning Crusade when they just nerfed
every single raid boss to like 20% of
their health and you could just kill
everything in in a blood lust? It was
very strange. Really weird. That's how
they finished up team. You remember it
was it was completely absurd. They just
annihilated every single raid to like
20%. It was bizarre. I remember we
killed kill Jaden on like our first
pull. It was like what the [ __ ] It was
so bizarre. They nerfed everything to smitherines.
Even with all the nerfs though and the
fact that we could kill most bosses in
20 seconds, even the Sunwell ones, we
I'll let chat guess why.
did they not kill Archcomand even with
like the dramatically reduced health
cratering? Yeah, the tears.
But surely you could lose half your raid
and still kill our command at that
point, right? The knockup mechanic and
people [ __ ] up their feathers.
We could not we could only get it given
our DPS of the guild in a fully clean pull.
pull.
When wrath came around, I made a fateful
To this point in the game, I had I had
only had one add-on installed, a threat
meter, which is a fair one to have. But
after all the talk that I was constantly
hearing from all the other players, I
decided I was going to install a damage meter.
meter.
With Wrath Lich King launched, my guild
reached patchwork in Knack Ramis and I was
was
a ghast at what I was seeing. This was
the DPS race.
Our damage was so [ __ ] bad. Only a
handful of our players were achieving
the bare minimum damage necessary to
kill the boss. O, that's really bad. Is
this in 10 man as well? Patchwork was
really easy in the Lich King.
Patchwork was I think for our guild
patchwork was 25 minutes of discussion
on things to do and how to get deal with
hateful and then we pulled it and just
killed it and we were like all right.
Okay, this is a joke. Okay. Uh yeah, we
were like really disappointed in
patchwork when we pulled it and it just
was like uhhuh.
There was one warlock in particular and
I really remember her not out of a bad
way but because she was one of the only
women in the guild and she flirted with
me and a considerable amount of players
in the guild who was below my warrior on
the meters
in Wrath of the Lich King in full heroic
gear. She was doing 500 DPS single target.
target.
one night after we had [ __ ] struggled
with Stherian zero drakes.
What the [ __ ] How the [ __ ]
do you struggle with Stherian zero
drakes? Holy [ __ ] I mean, what is even
the mechanic at that? It's just the
flame wave, right? Does it do anything else?
else?
How do you [ __ ] all that? I was shocked
at what I was reading ahead. I saw
Sarian. I was like, is it just the flame
waves? I think that's it. Lag spikes on
the fire waves. Okay.
One night after we had fuggled with
Sarian uh zero drakes, I had had enough.
I spoke my mind in raid. I probably did
so like a complete [ __ ] [ __ ] For
the life of me, I can't remember how I
worded it, but it was probably really
bad. I remember taking it very
seriously. And all of a sudden, the main
tank of this guild was now guildless,
exiled. I couldn't believe they had had
the balls to kick their main tank.
I was so in shock that they had actually
called me on my [ __ ] that I took a
break from the game to start uni.
But when ICC came out, I of course
wanted to kill Arthus. I had grown up on
Warcraft 3 and the hype was so real, I
resubed and found myself a new guild to
raid with. All my former friends in the
server's top three alliance guilds were
still active, but they didn't have a
tank slot. So, I hunted and searched for
another guild and started raiding with
them. And things were going well until
we got deep into ICC. Ooh. When
disagreements about tanking started to
happen, when would that happen in ICC Heroic,
Heroic,
Uh, no, cuz Professor the off tank did
the abomination. That was my job in heroic.
heroic.
I'm thinking it's the healer.
Uh, dreamw weaver, dream walker,
Uh, could be blood counsel. Yeah, it
could be blood counsel.
Could be.
I mean, it can't be Synindra. Go, sir.
Uh, slime kiting.
Maybe. Um,
I still had a massive ego.
I was doing 10-man alt runs with my
friends. In hindsight, they were
carrying my ass. And so if my guild
leader approached me and told me I was
taking too much damage and they were
actually going to sit me for another
tank. Are you How are you taking too
much damage? What are you playing? I'm
so interested. Are you playing a DK?
Can't be playing a warrior. You can't
not be shield blocking, right? And they
were going to sit me for another tank. I
told him he was a dumbass wrong and
Now, one night
Okay, the joke is here. It's not like
turbo bad, but I mean, yeah, I was g kicked.
kicked.
The joke is here. The joke is here. Uh
yeah, it's not it's not it's by far not
like a super bigoted joke or anything
like that. It's not in that sphere. It's
just really stupid.
I'm not saying it. No, I'm not saying
it. But uh he was kicked from the guild.
This was the second G kick I'd had.
I was confused.
How would a tank in a game that
struggles to find good tanks? Could I,
who was definitely a good tank, have
This is when I decided to look within.
Yeah. Yeah. Maybe, maybe he's the maybe
it's me. Maybe it's me. It was time to
look in the mirror. I distinctly
remember that this G kick actually
I took pause and had a hard look at
myself. I was 19 years old now. I was in
college. I wasn't doing well in my
studies. I was 135 pounds so wet with my
collarbones poking out of my chest. My
diet for the last 12 days had, as I
realized, had been diet coke and instant ramen.
ramen.
How are you not dead?
Is there any nutrients in instant ramen?
What's in there? They're just like pot
noodles, right?
Uni meal. Uh, I mean, yeah, but not for
12 days straight. Where's that emergency
run to the parents for dinner?
Salt. Yeah, salt and diet coke, which is
just fizzy water with caffeine in it
essentially. Speak of the devil.
Sugar-free Red Bull. Uh, I decided it
was time to get a [ __ ] grip. All
right, we're gonna lock in. We're gonna
lock the [ __ ] in. We're gonna get some
beef on us. We're got to [ __ ] study
down and we got a crush. Or are you
going to put all your attention into
World of Warcraft? Which one will it be?
I quit. WoW immediately. I got on the
mount from ICC 10man heroic Lich King
and was happy with how that chapter was
coming to an end. I joined the
university taekwond do team and started
to meet people. Bear with me in real
life. Yeah. I started gaining some
weight. A mediocre amount of discipline.
I'm not going to bring myself up too
much. Finished my degree and went to
study in Japan for a year. No, you
became a weeb. Oh, it was all going so
well. Afterwards, I finished my masters
around the time Legion was coming out
and decided that I would move to Japan
for my first job.
When you're in your 20ies living in
Tokyo, you you don't really spend a lot
of time thinking about video games. But
after some time, I decided to take a job
in the US where I would no longer have
to play on the oceanic servers and
decided it was time. I'm coming back.
My clearly had been a long time. I had
missed Cataclysm, Mist of Pandaria,
Warlords of Drraanor, Legion, BFA, and Shadowlands.
Shadowlands.
So why the [ __ ] was I still thinking
During COVID,
I stumbled upon the Race to World first
and by proxy Growl's WoW content.
I thought to myself, that looks really,
really fun.
How hard can it be to get back into this
game? Chris, is there a war happening downstairs?
downstairs?
>> Are they angry or is it just jovial?
>> I'm not sure. I can hear it.
>> I don't think our audience can hear it,
but there is a [ __ ] thing happening
beneath me.
>> Oh, they're definitely fighting down there.
there.
a lot of noise happening around me.
There's a lot of noise. Anyway,
I made a new character on a US server
and found my way into a relaxed ahead of
the curve. What up for you? No.
>> No, it's not.
>> Yeah, they can't hear it. I was trying
to pick it up on the shotgun. It's
really loud.
>> Yeah, it is.
>> Well, maybe it's loud for us cuz it's
vibrating through the floor.
>> Well, it's in my office, too. I was
>> Yeah, they definitely sound really angry
at each other. We'll go down after this.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Going to just clean house. [ __ ] Randy
Autumn through the building. I made a
new character, Johnny Gil. After trying
out Elemental Shaman unsuccessfully and
taking another break till season two,
Fury Warrior was my was my groove. This
was a class that didn't require too many
keybinds, as it now dawned on me I had
no keybinds, and whose rotation did not
require a white board to memorize.
My guild was prepared to clear a Mirasil
on normal, and our raid leader, a
warrior main, encouraged me to learn my
spec by pugging to level 15 keystones.
Well, I did as he asked him more.
I fell in love with Mythic Plus. I
introduced myself to the low keys saying
that I was new to this game mode and
people were mostly nice. Never mind that
I was playing an off meta spec with
almost no utility. I pugged my way to
2800 rating in the first season of M
plus a Dragonfly season 3 historically.
Was it easy? Yes. Is 2,800 not that
high? No, it's not. But I felt like I
was getting better. And near the end of
the season, my guild had gotten curve as
usual, and I performed in the upper half
of the raid.
My raid leader suggested that a player
Oh god, that this is so insulting. My
raid leader suggested that a player like
me might be better playing Demon Hunter.
That's pretty insulting.
He thinks that the way I play that I
might enjoy it. That's that that's
insulting a little bit, isn't it? He was
right about mythic plus. So, I made
myself a night elf demon hunter. It
wasn't even a meta play. My warrior was
blood elf, and I just wanted a different
female character, and I started leveling
as vengeance.
I don't have to emphasize this, but
vengeance demon hunter in DF season 4
was broken as [ __ ] I pugged my way up
the ranks. How are you tanking and
pugging? What is this guild? After the
key squish, achieving 3k, going into a
war within, I was all hype. Then a war
within came. I rerolled to arcane mage
to play a new speck and roll and again
performed well enough to be near the top
of my raid.
However, I started to notice something
new, something I hadn't seen before.
There was a skill disparity in my guild.
I would often prefer pugging keys to
running with my guildies as especially
during the season timing mythic key
timing mythic keys 10 plus was harder
than it had been in the previous two seasons.
seasons.
I often get frustrated when my friends
messed up
and I felt they were
holding me back.
It started to bother me a lot. They were
stopping me playing at my full potential.
I should probably change. Yeah,
relapsing hardcore.
I was now part of a community of other
players that I had met through a common
friend and raided with them on an alt on
the weekend doing damage on my demon
hunter that I just leveled.
They played much faster than my guild.
They cleared curve really quick. And
after the raid, they would then break up
They were better than my team and I
However,
tragedy struck.
my first raid night with them in season
two. I had a very
awkward conversation.
Where is this going?
My guild master pulled me aside and told
me I made people in the raid uncomfortable.
What did you do?
You made people in the raid uncomfortable.
uncomfortable.
Mike?
I am now in my 30s. I am the kind of
person that uses an anime girl as their
which is not unusual these days. Let's
be clear. I do make jokes that are considered
considered
a little bit degenerate
I don't like that.
I wish you would have just told me what
the joke was because what I'm picturing
and translating in my head is not good.
It's not good.
It's not good at all. The humor is not
for everyone.
And in my very first raid, I must have
overdone it. This is after one raid.
This is after one raid night. They were
like, "We don't want this guy around."
[ __ ] happens. It doesn't help that I
slandered the raid design of Liberation
of It was nothing to do with that. Uh
people got lost all the time. People
were pulling dumb [ __ ] walking to the
bosses. There was random cars driving
over you. drift or whatever it's called
is a mess. And I hated Sticks Junk Bug
uh Sticks Bunk Junker. Ah, you mean uh
but [ __ ] cumbucket
and all variations like that that we
desperately kept saying at the race
world first so that Jordan would uh get
it stuck in her head and say it by accident.
Cocksticks come dumpster.
We were all calling it that if Jordan
was around. We were calling it all sorts
of [ __ ] like that constantly. We were
like trying to She kept getting it wrong
in the room.
She kept getting it wrong. She kept
going sticks bug junker. And I'm going
no sticks come dumpster. And she I can't wait to be rid of this raid.
I can't wait to be rid of this raid. Okay. I was taken aback by this
Okay. I was taken aback by this conversation. I wasn't aware that the
conversation. I wasn't aware that the things I was saying were so far out of
things I was saying were so far out of line. But I made a decision. I looked in
line. But I made a decision. I looked in the mirror again. And one weekend I
the mirror again. And one weekend I healed the recruitment forums and looked
healed the recruitment forums and looked at a guild I thought I may join that was
at a guild I thought I may join that was advertising for high plus progression
advertising for high plus progression and mythic raiding. I had some logs in
and mythic raiding. I had some logs in the 80s and I really I just wanted a
the 80s and I really I just wanted a community of players to do keys with. To
community of players to do keys with. To my surprise, they whispered me the very
my surprise, they whispered me the very next day and recruited me. My primary
next day and recruited me. My primary guild with whom I was still raiding on
guild with whom I was still raiding on uh had just cleared normal liberation of
uh had just cleared normal liberation of undermine if memory serves. So wait,
undermine if memory serves. So wait, your main guild is doing normal
your main guild is doing normal liberation of undermine. Your alt guild
liberation of undermine. Your alt guild is raiding mythic liberation of
is raiding mythic liberation of undermine is what you're doing.
undermine is what you're doing. That's your situation right now.
That's your situation right now. I explained what I was doing to them and
I explained what I was doing to them and they took the news in stride. I was just
they took the news in stride. I was just another DPS in the roster and they
another DPS in the roster and they didn't really care. Stella people, I
didn't really care. Stella people, I still am welcome on their Discord and
still am welcome on their Discord and all. I finally joined a big boy guild.
all. I finally joined a big boy guild. Now, mind you, I had never mythic
Now, mind you, I had never mythic raided. I told them that I really was
raided. I told them that I really was interested in Mythic Plus. On my very
interested in Mythic Plus. On my very first day, they told me to respect to
first day, they told me to respect to Havoc and come and do some dungeons. I
Havoc and come and do some dungeons. I did and was pumping enough to get
did and was pumping enough to get noticed. In the next week, they brought
noticed. In the next week, they brought me in on Mythic Sprocket Monga
me in on Mythic Sprocket Monga progression.
progression. And a week later, I had killed my first
And a week later, I had killed my first mythic raid boss. Mythic Sprocket Monger
mythic raid boss. Mythic Sprocket Monger was your first mythic raid boss. That's
was your first mythic raid boss. That's crazy. We proceeded to kill one armed
crazy. We proceeded to kill one armed bandit and Mugsy and are currently
bandit and Mugsy and are currently staring down the barrel of good old
staring down the barrel of good old Giwix.
Giwix. Although I'm on the bench for comp
Although I'm on the bench for comp reasons, we switched to a uh I have
reasons, we switched to a uh I have resilient 15 keystones for the season. I
resilient 15 keystones for the season. I mean utilizing control and shift
mean utilizing control and shift modifiers modifiers like a big boy and
modifiers modifiers like a big boy and most of the left side of my keyboard is
most of the left side of my keyboard is actually using spells.
actually using spells. How far one can change in just 18 years
How far one can change in just 18 years of intermittently playing the game. But
of intermittently playing the game. But now I'm moving back to Germany right
now I'm moving back to Germany right when the patch hits. So I'll lose out on
when the patch hits. So I'll lose out on valuable early M plus grinding in the
valuable early M plus grinding in the season, which means pugging my way up is
season, which means pugging my way up is going to be a [ __ ] show. I'm going to
going to be a [ __ ] show. I'm going to join a new guild once I'm settled into
join a new guild once I'm settled into my new life and my new job.
my new life and my new job. Unfortunately, I've now puged pug tanked
Unfortunately, I've now puged pug tanked enough to where I could tell entitled
enough to where I could tell entitled DPS players who can't find their
DPS players who can't find their interrupt key.
What is going on? >> I have no idea. I went down. I was
>> I have no idea. I went down. I was standing in the lobby and it's actually
standing in the lobby and it's actually louder here than it is out there.
louder here than it is out there. >> Oh, really?
>> Oh, really? >> Yeah, because obviously it's coming
>> Yeah, because obviously it's coming through the floor.
through the floor. >> There's something going on, dude.
>> There's something going on, dude. >> You heard it? Yeah, they're screaming at
>> You heard it? Yeah, they're screaming at each other down there.
each other down there. >> Yeah, it's loud.
>> Yeah, it's loud. >> Oh, Emma's going to be here in a minute.
>> Oh, Emma's going to be here in a minute. She's going to dig in, I'm sure. Uh, all
She's going to dig in, I'm sure. Uh, all I wanted to say to you all is that being
I wanted to say to you all is that being a brat and being kicked twice has
a brat and being kicked twice has actually helped me in real life. I'm a
actually helped me in real life. I'm a better person for it and a better player
better person for it and a better player as well. And it's all thanks to you guys
as well. And it's all thanks to you guys and that lovely chat that I love seeing
and that lovely chat that I love seeing every day. Thank you so much for
every day. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you again next
listening and I'll see you again next time. Well, thank you very much, my sir.
time. Well, thank you very much, my sir. And yes, uh kind of reminiscent of my
And yes, uh kind of reminiscent of my own story, that moment uh of uh being
own story, that moment uh of uh being that jerky boy who was doing all those
that jerky boy who was doing all those things. But considering there's a war
things. But considering there's a war happening here at PG Towers, at least in
happening here at PG Towers, at least in the basement of PG Towers, uh I'm going
the basement of PG Towers, uh I'm going to love you and leave you and try and
to love you and leave you and try and find out what the [ __ ] is going on
find out what the [ __ ] is going on because it sounds like a fist bite is
because it sounds like a fist bite is breaking out.
breaking out. >> Uh but uh yeah, uh we might be doing
>> Uh but uh yeah, uh we might be doing something over the weekend. Uh we is
something over the weekend. Uh we is quitting retail.
quitting retail. >> Yeah, I think let's just check Twitter
>> Yeah, I think let's just check Twitter before I go.
before I go. >> I suspected it when they said they make
>> I suspected it when they said they make it does make sense. Yeah.
[Music] The time has come there is going to be
The time has come there is going to be no weak horror add-on for World of
no weak horror add-on for World of Warcraft retail,
Warcraft retail, >> which is unfortunate because there is
>> which is unfortunate because there is definitely uses for weak horses outside
definitely uses for weak horses outside of combat. If they're just appreciating
of combat. If they're just appreciating it entirely, that's kind of a shame, but
it entirely, that's kind of a shame, but I guess I get it.
I guess I get it. >> I get it. Like most of the functionality
>> I get it. Like most of the functionality is not the cosmetics, it's everything
is not the cosmetics, it's everything else that goes into it.
else that goes into it. >> Uh let's have a look here. Uh, Blizzard
>> Uh let's have a look here. Uh, Blizzard has recently published the technical
has recently published the technical details of the API restrictions,
details of the API restrictions, granting us access to the alpha to test
granting us access to the alpha to test them out, and elaborated on their design
them out, and elaborated on their design philosophy. This has allowed us to
philosophy. This has allowed us to evaluate the impact of these changes on
evaluate the impact of these changes on weorus. The changes are unfortunately
weorus. The changes are unfortunately much more extensive than expected. Yep.
much more extensive than expected. Yep. It's important to note that these
It's important to note that these changes are not final and will evolve.
changes are not final and will evolve. Uh, it seems highly unlikely that the
Uh, it seems highly unlikely that the core restrictions will be meaningfully
core restrictions will be meaningfully reversed. As it stands, we do not expect
reversed. As it stands, we do not expect to release week or for midnight. Now,
to release week or for midnight. Now, that means they might change their
that means they might change their minds. Yeah,
minds. Yeah, >> we will continue to support weak oras
>> we will continue to support weak oras for classic. The restrictions are so
for classic. The restrictions are so severe that the core functionality such
severe that the core functionality such as conditions or actions are having
as conditions or actions are having multiple triggers in one or cloning a
multiple triggers in one or cloning a trigger and now impossible. Producing a
trigger and now impossible. Producing a stripped down version of weak corores
stripped down version of weak corores without these features would requires
without these features would requires months. That's what I said to you
months. That's what I said to you remember.
remember. >> Oh yeah.
>> Oh yeah. >> Yeah, that's what I was saying to you.
>> Yeah, that's what I was saying to you. It's not a case of the skin stuff is
It's not a case of the skin stuff is separate. The core of the the whole
separate. The core of the the whole thing is built on it.
thing is built on it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh the result would be
>> Yeah. Yeah. Uh the result would be barely recognizable version given that
barely recognizable version given that we've made the difficult decision not to
we've made the difficult decision not to create weak horrors for midnight.
create weak horrors for midnight. End of an era. Yeah. Genuine salute.
End of an era. Yeah. Genuine salute. I've met the weak horses team. They're
I've met the weak horses team. They're good people.
good people. >> Um worked with them. We've done content
>> Um worked with them. We've done content with them. They've worked with us.
with them. They've worked with us. They've been messaging us during this
They've been messaging us during this whole thing.
whole thing. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, what an absolute pinnacle
>> Yeah. I mean, what an absolute pinnacle piece of tech that's been around in WoW
piece of tech that's been around in WoW and defining for years that did get used
and defining for years that did get used for some crazy things, but also vast
for some crazy things, but also vast majority of it was great stuff. I do not
majority of it was great stuff. I do not celebrate the loss of weas and the work
celebrate the loss of weas and the work they've done.
they've done. >> The goated add-on. Yeah. And never be an
>> The goated add-on. Yeah. And never be an add-on like it unless Blizzard full
add-on like it unless Blizzard full reverses in 10 years time or something.
reverses in 10 years time or something. There'll never be an add-on like this
There'll never be an add-on like this again
again >> uh for for your video game. And that
>> uh for for your video game. And that also probably means that if you're even
also probably means that if you're even using weak or for cosmetic reasons uh on
using weak or for cosmetic reasons uh on your retail account, that is not going
your retail account, that is not going to work in midnight.
to work in midnight. >> Uh so yeah,
>> Uh so yeah, well, we'll send a message later.
well, we'll send a message later. Anyway, I've got to go. Uh right, I'll
Anyway, I've got to go. Uh right, I'll see you later. Bye, everybody. [ __ ]
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