Warden's Reprise ended their 2007 raiding season yesterday night by giving Gurtogg one last go - some of you may remember how some unnamed Paladin suggested going after him before Teron and spending about a week wiping to him as result of having seven healers. Consequently, people were looking forward to this raid about as much as I look forward to the feats of strength during Festivus.

However, bringing in Lytania and revamping the healing strategy, as well as the power of a fully operational feral spec healing turned the tide, and we were rewarded mightily. A shot of us preparing for the feast below:

And the aftermath:

Congratulations to Garainla on the Wand of Prismatic Focus and to Cinara on the Unstoppable Aggressor's Ring.

With this kill, we're officially on hiatus until 2008. However, it may be helpful to take a look back and see what we've done in what surely is our most successful year of raiding so far.

On December 4th of last year, the GoG killed Noth the Plaguebringer. That was the last major 40 man boss we'd kill before the expansion hit, and the transition to 25 man raiding took a great deal of time, effort, and patience. Gruul fell on March 25th, but we'd have to wait a whole three months for Magtheridon to die, on June 17th. Back then, we were raiding one, maybe two nights a week, and often having to cancel raids because of a lack of interest. The fact that we had gotten Magtheridon down was almost shocking, for the amount of time we had spent on him, and the number of raids we'd been forced to end early or cancel.

Things started to pick up after this, and we began to transition to a raid group that raided more often, and were rewarded with greater success as a result. The GoG as a whole downed Doomwalker and Doom Lord Kazzak in July, and WR went on a tear, killing Void Reaver, Hydross and the Lurker Below. When we finally added a third day, major raid bosses began to drop. August saw the rest of SSC fall in a matter of two weeks, with Vashj only a week after Leotheras. Al'ar fell in September, and Solarian as well, though we spent a far greater time waiting for a patch to hit than we actually spent time in TK.

October saw one of our greatest successes, as we transitioned to a steady four-day raiding schedule and downed one of the most challenging fights in the game, Kael'thas Sunstrider. The amount of effort put into the Kael fight by everyone involved is really the best reflection of this raid group, as we spent a LOT less time on Kael than is customary for most raid groups. The amount of preparation by everyone involved, and the amount of focus displayed in defeating one of the hardest fights in the game was really a joy to watch and be part of.

With the hard part done, the easy bosses in T6 content rounded out the rest of October, as we went on a bit of a rampage. Kael died October 15th, Rage Winterchill the 16th, Naj'entus and Supremus on the 17th, Shade of Akama the following week. The aforementioned foray with Gurtogg only slightly dampened our spirits, as Teron began November. We then turned to Hijjel, having much more trouble with trash than most of the bosses - Anetheron, Kaz'rogal and Azgalor rounding out the month.

And finally, we have December - two weeks to get Archimonde, and a single day spent on Gurtogg, leaving us having cleared Mount Hyjal and only three bosses between us and Illidan Stormrage in Black Temple.

Of the kills, I think Archimonde and Kael'thas really stand out as being two people really rallied around - working through a continual stream of wipes to figure out where things were going wrong, keeping positive about it and moving from wiping seconds into a fight(in the case of Archimonde) or seconds into Phase 2(Kael) to finally downing them.

What's in store for 2008? Well, our goal when we established WR was to defeat every 25 man raid instance before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion comes out. A second goal that I personally have, and I know many others share, is to defeat Illidan before the Sunwell drops. We're well on our way to doing both, and this is a goal that's only in sight because of the amount of effort put in by the people involved. But even if we're unable to meet either or both of these goals, that shouldn't detract from the amazing successes Warden's Reprise has had in 2007.

It's a good time to be a member of the GoG. WR is doing very well in progression content, and Bane of the Betrayer is being revamped to provide a casual approach to 25-man raiding, and I'll be excited to see Bane's members posting killshots on this news page in 2008. But independent of our raid groups are our casual members, our PvP'ers and our RP'ers, members of Alligare, Northrend Commonwealth, Southsea Buccaneers and Unbroken, all of whom are making this game fun to play years after launch, who are making our server a more enjoyable place to play. It's a wonderful thing to have pride in something you're a part of, and I think every member of this alliance can say to anybody on this server that they're a member of the GoG and be proud of it.

I hope everybody has a safe and happy holiday season - may your Festivus pole be bright, and your tinsel never distracting. See you in 2008.