Stick with me on this update, it's gonna be a long one (:
Some say i'm very good at hollywooding. "Hollywooding" wtf? well it's basically just a term used to describe someone dramatizing something, you know like acting, making something or some things bigger and more spectacular than what it actually is - often to the extent that it may seem a little over-bearing, unreal, showboating even. Yet I say this - it's really hard not to. why? Well before I even start justifying, and also get into my update proper, seriously who can deny that they don't like it? Who can deny that they don't like their achievements shown out to the world, or let known to the rest of the people out there. I am and will always be the most avid believer that regardless of whether you are the most humble person in the world or the biggest pompous prick out there, that if you have actually gone out, and done/tried something, slogged at it, then finally achieved something, then you are entitled to get your credit. Yea?
And baby, i'm not even talking about achievement points here. Sure, Elementium's got our fair share of, nerds if you will, people chalking over 3.5k APs, and probably can start a raid with people over 3k, but today my agenda is far bigger than that. Today my notepad is exploding with Elementium goodness I do not even know where to start.
So lets start:
I guess the most overdue issue will take precedence, huh? I have always taken pride in the PvPers of the guild. People always say yadayada PvE NERD CAREBEAR blbahbalh, but what do people know? what do people know about the PvP culture we've constantly tried to instill in this guild so that our players enjoy not only the one-handed aspect of the game, but the other side too? And I am even more proud to say that we once again house the most number of Gladiators on our server. I say once again because if you scroll down you will see that we achieved this in season 3, and to those who say "hey season 3 was a fluke cause they lowered ratings blahblahbalh", well we did it again this season, and we got even more Gladiators this season.
So to all the PvPers there was and those who made it to Gladiator in Season 4, I congratulate you for yet another successful run.
I present to you, our Gladiators:
"Oh, yes, be very afraid. We got more than 20 of these people.."
(credit to byrne/horniee for great help with the picture editing! actually he basically did everything LOL)
For those who prefer pixels, well, thankfully we saved a version just for you here. And yes, once again, if you don't count more than 20 it's because not all the glads could show up and also because some have alt glads on the same account ie. special mention to VEXI who also owns IXEV.
Some people have also asked me, "hey what's that gamepath banner doing up there in your front page?" Well, the answer to that, will bring me to my next little update, which of course deals with the ever so delicate topic of sponsorship. Now why do I say this topic is delicate? or sensitive? Firstly, i don't want people to think we're some kinda Sk-GAMING wannabe (not that i'm suggesting we're anywhere near their standard), or some sort of other GAMING group or clan or consortium or what have you. We're a guild focused on our raiding and WoW gameplaying, and the majority of us are just like the commonfolk alongside the other 11million subscribers to the game. Also, I don't want to fall into a trap. Guilds talk about it all the time, they go around chasing these dealers, and say POTENTIAL or LIKELY deals you know, getting their members up and excited and all, and then most of the time everything comes to naught. Nah, I don't do that.
Why?
I let sponsors come to us. I let them find us and decide with the decision makers of the guild, and then when it's all finalized, then I bring the goodies to show, then I start talking, and then I start showing. Now now, this will evidently get on the nerves of some people reading this. "LOL? Who the hell do these people think they are? Sponsors finding them?" Well, yes, we may be common folk, but I'd like to think that with the attention some of us have been receiving lately, it's a nice signal of things that may come.
For some of us however, that day has already come.
For those of you who live in the little island called Singapore, and have been gaming for awhile, I'm pretty sure you've heard of our local esports consortium - Titans. Much like the bigger clans like SK, Gravitas, Nihilum, FourKings, etc, their work, goals and vision, are the same. Already making noise in the region with their DotA and CS teams, Titans has recently signed contractual agreements with 3 of our very finest members to represent them in future global 3v3 arena tournaments. ESL, WCG, MLG, whatever you got, you name it, a team from Elementium will be there.
Sounds unreal isn't it? A local team competing on an international stage. A local team, born, raised and trained probably a stone's throw away from where you live (if you're a Singaporean), and one day you might be seeing them side-by-side the biggest WoW PvP names. It is thus in possibly what is my greatest honour, to congratulate the following three:
Jamie Ho aka Valyrian
Jeremy Loh aka Vexi/Ixev
Mitchell Cheng aka Relithh
To the 3 of you, know this. Although you represent Titans, you will have the unyielding support of the entire guild behind you all the time. So train hard, play hard, and do us all proud!
So what do the rest of Elementium get? The so-called "normal folk". Well, aside from the fact that you're all not normal but special in my eyes (LOL), yes our raiders get free Gamepath SSH accounts just because we have that banner above us. So enjoy, but although i will say this is only a small step, but yes i do hope it's a step in the right direction for more things to come.
And lastly, but definitely not least most, an update on what the guild has been doing in general.
Earlier in my post I mentioned achievement points. Achievements! At first I wonder what blizzard was thinking when they introduced this stupid thing. I mean, points awarded for RUNNING AROUND ALL OF KALIMDOR AND EK AND OUTLAND? Then I started doing one. Then another, and another. From 2k i went to 2.5 and now I'm at 3k. It is then i realized, that for some of us, we don't do achievements just to wrack up high achievement points. Some of these tasks actually involve group play, much like raiding does - the coming together of people working towards a single goal - and in that journey enjoying all the aspects of the game - especially the social part.
So what have wee been doing? For starters, we turned:
into:
Think that was easy? Well actually it kinda was, and so we carried on, until we ran into:
this, THIS, ESPECIALLY THIS, not forgetting this, and then followed by a little bit of this, and naturally i had to include one of myself in this.
I told you this was going to be a long update! and if you read all the way to here, come claim a cookie from me in-game. Part of the reason for the delay was actually cause I really had little to no idea of what to do, but thanks to some of the brainweezers in the guild and NOT in guild (hi sock), this update was possible.
Let us now put this expansion behind us, and move on into the bright future that awaits this guild. The next update will probably be made once you see us take down WOTLK bosses, but that will only be in a few weeks (projected four actually), so hang on to your panties! I will leave you all with this for now:
Much like what obama will bring to america, i hope that the future of this guild will shine equally as brightly as we did this year in '08, if not a more radiant and wonderful year in '09. To all the soon-to-be, new, not-so-new, old, and very old members of this family, thank you for a marvelous 2008.
Good luck, everyone!
By the way, in case you're wondering where I got the subject title from, it's actually from this song by evermore called it's too late. Old school but nice, check it out!
