When great guilds die - /salute to Affliction

[Gloriana]

My guild is ending and it's remarkably painful:

http://www.afflictionguild.com/eqdkp/viewnews.php

I was in Affliction for nearly 6 years. Except for a brief stint in a roleplay guild in my lower levels and 2 weeks in a guild called Lords of Valor that blew up right after I joined, it was my only guild in Everquest. Forgive me the indulgence, I can't let Affliction go without reflecting on why it meant so much to me.

At level 50, wearing a ragbag mix of equipment (totemic, runed mithril bracers, jaundiced bone helm), I joined an incredible guild named Affliction. I joined with my regular exp group, we had been together since level 30 when we met up in Cazic Thule.

Affliction was the perfect guild for me. I have a great job that demands long hours and I live in Seattle - the combo of 9-6 work hours + PST playtime is real obstacle to a time frustrated power-gamer like myself. My playtime was adequate for Affliction, I loved our bid loot system, Affliction put up with my random 4 week business afks. The people were hilarious - they made me want to rush home and eat dinner in front of the computer. All I ever wanted to do was log in, joke around with my friends and make big things die. Affliction allowed me to see all the content the "big guilds" saw, it just took us a little longer to get there.

The Kunark era was a really exciting time to be in Affliction. We were still doing Hate/Fear raids, starting to dig into the excitement and frustration of epic raids and all the wonderful Kunark raid targets to explore - Overking, Trakanon, Veeshan's Peak, Plane of Sky. One of my happiest memories were 1) the first time we cleared Veeshan's Peak and 2) being only the second guild on our server to set foot on the highest island in Sky. Affliction didn't have many server firsts, but we were the first guild on Erollisi Marr to kill Master Yael (which was also my first death touch). The Veeshan's Peak keyquest was challenging - frustrating and rewarding. I remember guild groups constantly in the basement of Karnors. Affliction helped me get my epic and that was really a great day.

Velious was a great expansion - we had a little guild angst picking a faction and then more guild angst when we decided to change it later. Velious had a lot of guild racing - Scout Charisa, Lodizal that was both positive and negative. We had Charisagate when another guild trained us deliberately during a fight and then killed and looted our quest mob. Turtlegate when we raced another guild to Lodizal, won and then felt bad and handed over the droppable loot. Magegate when we were racing another guild to Yelinak and our raid leader logged in his roommate's mage (who happened to be in the other guild) and summoned our guild over the other raid (because they had no other mages to log in).

Planes of Power was definitely one of my favorite expansions but the flagging was really tough on the guild. Black Sunday - after weeks failing to kill RZ in Tactics, we lost a large portion of goal-oriented types who left en masse to join more uber guilds. Rebuilding from that was tough but we did and we made it to the elementals and had a great time learning tactics in Air and frustrating times learning the Rathe Council event. Eventually, we farmed Time like crazy. Time loot was incredible and the raids were fun. That was a really good time in Affliction.

Gates of Discord was the beginning of the end for my guild - it's amazing it struggled for as long as it did after Gates. I'm not sure what it was - maybe the content was just tough and unappealing. We threw ourselves against Uqua again and again, losing people, recruiting, re-gearing, losing people, recruiting, re-gearing. Members sick of Time and older content left and it was just a constant battle of attrition which ultimately resulted in the end of Affliction. Huge kudos to the guild leader and officers of Affliction who really fought to keep the guild going.

Up until Gates, Affliction fulfilled every goal I ever had in game. There was some drama, some fighting, but mostly just great memories. 6 years of great people. 6 years of teamwork and in-jokes. Getting up at 5:00 am to kill Mith Marr because we were getting blocked by another guild. Giving my phone number to a guild cleric so she could call me in the middle of the night to log in and help her kill Ragefire. A lot of selflessness from people - with plat, with items and most importantly, their time.

Although the roster varied over the years, Affliction was an incredible collection of funny individuals. The members of Affliction hooked me completely, made me feel like I was part of something wonderful. It might sound weird to say it, but I felt closer to people halfway across the country or across the world than to people in an office across the hall from me.

http://gloriana.myphotoalbum.com/view_a ... me=album04

I'm not really sure why I'm writing this. You guys probably didn't know or even heard of my guild. Guilds break up all the time, it's nothing new or special. It's just the end of a wonderful era for me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. Work has been crazy the past 6 months, for awhile I had an hour commute (as a PST player, that's just a death knell for raiding). Watching the guild slowly disintegrate was so terribly painful it was difficult to log in. I feel like I missed most of the last 2 expansions and it seems very intimidating to catch up. I would only be happy raiding, but I don't know a lot of guilds who would take a PST raider who works until 7 most nights and frequently goes on business trips up to 4 weeks.

I would be interested to read any other stories about beloved guilds and what made them special. Everquest is definitely, definitely more than just a game. It is our relationships in game that keep the game so compelling.

http://gloriana.myphotoalbum.com/view_a ... me=album05

[Korvath]

[Unmei]

[Henora]

[Nehtaniel]

[Swobu_AB]

As a Brit I know the feeling of raid time incompatabilities, before Ant Bayle came up I was raiding on Mountain standard time which meant I was raiding at 4am and later. Nasty.

I hate to see old established guilds melt down and you have my sympathies, if Raging Fury was to fall apart it would hit me very hard after so long as a member.

[Macnair]

So sorry ...

It is just hard to watch it all fade away.

Yes it is.

[Cereall]

You will overcome. It's not unlike a death of a close friend, isn't it? I remember when my first guild broke up. I swear I didn't sleep for 3 days. I looked up at the ceiling while in bed, and had tears in my eyes ........thinking about my friends in-game that I woudn't share experiences with so often anymore.

6 years. Wow Take the good memories with you. There must have been some great ones to be together that long. I suppose the old saying fits well:

'Tis better to have loved and lost, then to never have loved at all.
/hug

[Kellenial]

[Kanamori Hitatomi]

[ThraallFV]

[Scowls]

[Ughbash]

[Mordien]

[Micker]

[Vigdis]

[Gardeltron]

[FafnerMorell]

[Jandoleer]

[Araden]

[Cannibaal]

[Gardeltron]

OMG Cannibaal

This is a shaman of legend. I first met him on a plane of hate raid where he cybered the evening away on the top floor while the rest of us camped a piece for mage epics. It was he who always slowed Klandicar by placing his head firmly in the clown's cloaca. Sad was the day when the troll left us for greener pastures.

/rude
that is all

Gard

[Lovis]

[Xaas_boneweaver]

[Gloriana]

Thanks everyone for your kind words. It was especially good to read Gard and Canni's (!!) posts I had a great time in Affliction and an ESPECIALLY good time with the Affliction shaman crew who are a great bunch of people.

/special wave to Emarr folks - Micker and Fafner

and /hug Scowls, you made me smile with your comment about using your best grammar for my guild's goodbye post!

[Younger]

Sorry to see you guys go Glori. I was in Affy for a few months and made many friends during that time. Missing Dallatar like no other : (

What are your plans now? Plan to hang with Whits End?

New age shaman formally known as Queg.