Revision as of 13:17, 30 November 2006

Al'Akir the Windlord

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Al'Akir (PvP, Europe)

Al'Akir is a Player versus Player server for Blizzard's MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The Al'Akir server was one of the original servers included with the release of World of Warcraft. It is named after one of the Old Gods, Al'Akir the Windlord. It's more commonly referred to as Lag'Akir by its playerbase though, because of its history of being very prone to lag and long queues.

Al'Akir has a very active community -which contains some of the most recognizable names in World of Warcraft-, a wide variety of guilds ranging from casual to hardcore and a history filled with incidents, events and drama.

The early days

Raid Progress

Al'Akir has, and always had, a strong raiding community. Outdoor raid bosses have always been heavily contested and competition for serverwide first kills shines every time a new instance is added to the game. The fastest progressing guilds that emerged on both factions are Darkstorm (DS) for the Horde and Stature of the Gods (SotG) for the Alliance. Currently, other notable raiding guilds include Kalevlased (Kale), Explicit Content (EC) (both Horde), East Dragon (ED), Midnight Reveries (MR) and Defenders of Valor (DoV) (all Alliance).

The Molten Core

As Horde players leveled significantly faster on Al'Akir, they were able to form the first raids to explore the depths of the Molten Core. The two dominant Horde guilds, DS and The Forgotten Few (TFF), collaborated and raided together tackling encounter after encounter with no notable competition. They killed Ragnaros on May 18, 2005 (Movie). It wouldn't be until 2 months later on July 22nd that their kill was followed by SotG, closely followed by MR.

Blackwing Lair

Hungry for new content, Blackwing Lair was eagerly anticipated by both factions. A bugged Razorgore fell to The Void (TV) early on with a proper kill coming later on from DS, who had merged with TFF by this time. The first Alliance kill tells a more interesting story.

The Razorgore incident

MR, still bitter being beaten by SotG on Ragnaros by less then 24 hours, made it their mission to beat SotG on this occassion and they succeeded, but not without the use of the commonly known [Divine Intervention] paladin exploit. Their initial claims of the kill were received with sceptism and when definite word spread they exploited the encounter, the community was quick to burn down any MR member that had shown arrogance after the kill or denied what had happened. Not all MR members had supported the 'approach' to the encounter and this lead to internal guild troubles which resulted in many of their core members leaving to form Edge of Eternity (EoE). On top of that, many members rerolled on another server or quit the game following the community's reaction, leaving MR severely crippled, but alive.

A turning point

Eventually, the first legit Alliance Razorgore kill came from SotG. Both DS and SotG were hammering on the next boss, Vaelastrasz, night after night (for an hour tops, as that was how the Vaelastrasz fight worked in those days). This eventually resulted in a turning point in server history: the first time an alliance guild achieved a server first, as it was SotG that killed Vaelastrasz on August 29, 2005 (Movie). DS was quick to follow though and killed Vaelastrasz soon after, followed by a server-first on Broodlord Lashlayer that same night. It would be their last achievement in Blackwing Lair, since SotG killed Firemaw, then steamrolled over Ebonroc, Flamegor and Chromaggus in one night and eventually downed the final boss Nefarian. It would take considerable time, due to various interal issues, for DS to follow.

SotG's kill on Nefarian put them among the 10 best guilds in Europe. Their achievement was criticised though by, most notably, DS who accused SotG of using guides (which were unavailable at the time, but stemmed from the friendly relation SotG maintained with another EU top guild: Inner Sanctum (IS)).

Ahn'Qiraj

The opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj was a well coordinated serverwide event on Al'Akir. The dedicated pages to view progress on the war supplies gathering and cross faction trading of materials resulted in Al'Akir being the 7th guild in Europe to open the gates on February 17, 2006.

Restoring the Scepter

Receiving great support from other guilds on the server, Astaren (alliance priest from DoV) and Lylz (horde shaman from DS) completed the quest for the Scepter of the Shifting Sands on Al'Akir.

War supplies

Horde gathered the bulk of the supplies, including a notable portion of the Alliance supplies. This had several reasons. Besides being the bigger faction, in numbers, on Al'Akir, certain Horde guilds (DS amongst others) put considerable effort into the farming process through supplies 'lotteries' that proved to be very popular. Also, a considerable amount of farming time was wasted because two major guilds (DS and DoV) were completing the time-consuming quest.

Temple of Ahn'Qiraj

When the gates eventually opened it was SotG that rushed in first and cleared up to Princess Huhuran that same night, claiming server-firsts on The Prophet Skeram, Three Bugs, Battleguard Sartura and Fankriss the Unyielding. Princess Huhuran died to them the next day. DS progressed quickly as well and both guilds were working on the Twin Emperors for 3 days before DS took it down first, followed by SotG just over an hour later. Both guilds were now stuck on a bugged C'Thun and a bugged Ouro. Meanwhile, DoV were stuck on Princess Huhuran.

Being stuck on bugged encounters, DS killed the optional boss Viscidus, as did SotG (albeit the encounter was severely bugged for them at the time). The C'Thun and Ouro hotfixes provided two server-firsts for SotG, with a top 10 position for Europe once more on C'Thun.

At the time of writing 3 guilds cleared Ahn'Qiraj (DS, SotG and EC) and 10 guilds killed C'Thun.

Naxxramas

Every guild knew that Naxxramas was the last new raid content to be released before The Burning Crusade and thus many were eager to perform well. With 4 different wings available guilds had a lot of possibilities for progression.

SotG took a headstart by killing Anub'Rekhan, Instructor Razuvious, Noth The Plaguebringer, Grand Widow Faerlina and Maexxna. Meanwhile DS had worked on Patchwerk for days, with no success. After clearing the Spider Wing, SotG continued their streak by killing Patchwerk and Grobbulus, leaving DS stumped until they finally killed Patchwerk some days later. While DS and SotG worked on Gluth, Kale and DoV were fighting for a server first on Heigan the Unclean in the Plague Wing. In the end, both Gluth and Heigan went to the Horde faction. Later it would become clear those 2 kills was all that Horde would get.

Thaddius being the logical next step in progression posed severe problems. Known to be an incredibly lag sensitive and prone to disconnects encounter, it was deemed impossible on Al'Akir in its state at the time. Not having received any hardware upgrades since the game's original release, Thaddius of Al'Akir was undoable. Hope was on the horizon though, as hardware upgrades were announced and nearly there. After the arrival of the hardware upgrades the lag on Al'Akir was significantly decreased and playability increased. SotG could now continue their strong performance and did so by killing Thaddius, Loatheb and Gothik the Harvester within a week.

DS slowly caught up to SotG by killing Thaddius, Loatheb and Gothik, while SotG was unable to form a raid with the proper setup for the 4HM. When SotG eventually did kill them, DS approached so close that they were able to kill 4HM the day after. With just Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad alive, the race for the first Naxxramas clear was on.

SotG killed Sapphiron first, on Sunday October 22, and proved to be more then ready to face Kel'Thuzad, as they downed the chief lieutenant of the powerful Lich King just 2 days later on Tuesday October 24 as the 15th guild in Europe. DS followed their footsteps by killing Sapphiron 1 week after SotG and killing Kel'Thuzad 3 weeks after SotG as the 25th guild in Europe.

At the time of writing 2 guilds cleared Naxxramas (SotG and DS).

Player versus Player

Al'Akir is notable in housing some of the most famous PvP movie makers in WoW. Notable: Azgaz, Grim, Mastatrigga, Zalgradis.

Guild List

Alliance Guilds

Ancient Dreadmist: http://dreadmist.foleys.dk

Alterum Tantum: http://x.pbf.hr/frik
Guild Master: Caiounas

Baby on Board: http://www.babyonboard.eu.com

Black Knights: http://www.BlackKnights-HQ.com - merged. See Consurgo.

Conclave of Shadows: http://www.conclaveofshadows.net - disbanded. see Relinquish.

Consurgo: http://www.consurgo.net - merged, see The Gnometrotters.

Crimson Order: http://crimsonorder.fragzunlimited.com

Defenders of Valor: http://www.defendersofvalor.net
Guild Master: Astaren, Crazygamer

Desperate Housewives: http://dhw.ddonq.dk

Destiny: http://destiny.fr.pl - disbanded

Det Jævla Runde Bord: http://jvlarundebord.forumsplace.com

Dreamers: http://www.dreamers-guild.eu
Guild Master: Shalidhor

Enlightenment: http://www.enlightenmentguild.com

Fear: http://board.the-fear-guild.com
Guild Master: Laurin, Arcadia

Freeborn: http://www.freeborn.cc
Guild Master: Adyin

Global Titans: http://s12.invisionfree.com/global_titans

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Immortal
Guild Master: Devasena

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Legion of Lost Souls: http://www.tbb.org.uk - merged, see The Gnometrotters.

Midnight Reveries: http://mr.defines.us Guild Master: Puhupux

Moonlight Agony: http://www.moonlight-agony.nl
Guild Master: Fireblast

Necrosis: http://setbb.com/necrosis
Guild Master: Lithrian

Nerubian Hunters: http://www.bikouonline.com/wow
- disbanded Guild Master: Jasper, Jester

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Phased: http://www.phasedwow.co.uk/
Guild Master: Bicceh

Pure: http://forum.pure-guild.com

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Reincarnation: http://reincarnation.page.vu
- disbanded Guild Master: Conzole

Relinquish: http://relinquish.2tl.net/ - disbanded

Renevatio: http://www.renevatio.net - disbanded

Sharp Meadow: http://www.sharpmeadow.se

Sisters: http://www.guildsisters.com - merged, see The Gnometrotters.
Guild Master: Kwik

Sisters Allies: http://www.guildsisters.com

Soldiers of Fate: http://www.SoF-wow.tk

Solution: http://www.guildsolution.com

Special Circumstances: http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=sc_guild

Stature of the Gods: http://sotg.sauft.org
Guild Master: Monkeybeer

Strength and Honour: http://www.wow-sah.eu

Guild Master: Shivan

Strength and Valor: http://www.strengthandvalor.com

The Ancient Defenders: http://s10.invisionfree.com/Ancient_Defenders/index.php?

The Crazy Eights: http://www.thecrazyeights.com
Guild Master: Oki

The Gnometrotters: http://www.alakir.org
Guild Master: Sari

The Kamikaze: http://www.the-kamikazes.com/forum

The Pandion Knights: http://www.Pandionknights.co.uk
Guild Master: Aldor

The Round Table: http://www.trtguild.com

The Silent Flame: http://www.thesilentflame.com

The Wyvern Kratos: http://www.the-wyvern-kratos.co.uk

Guild Master: Kane

Tyrael Sacred: http://Tyraelsacred.site.vu

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Voice Of Reason: http://wowvor.trendfocus.be

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Horde Guilds

Alterac Gankstars: http://www.alteracgankstars.com

Angels of Death: http://www.angelsofdeath.co.uk

Apathia: http://www.tghc.co.uk/tghc/Forums/index.php

Aztecs: http://aztec.blarf.net

Black Soil: http://www.Blacksoil.org

Bloodline: http://www.wow-bloodline.com

Brains: http://www.kiwi.vg/forums/viewforum.php?f=11

Carnival: http://www.carnivalguild.co.uk

Convicted: http://www.convictedguild.co.uk/forums

Cowboys From Hell: http://www.cfh.nu

Dark Clowns: http://www.darkclowns.net

Dark Horde : http://www.ffighters.com

Darkstorm: http://www.darkstormguild.com
Guild Master: Hades, Lylz

Demonic Hand: http://www.demonichand.co.uk/forum

Elusive: http://www.soulsofsweden.com
Guild Master: Sekasi

Expect No Mercy: http://www.netstorm.nl

Fatal Fury: http://www.wowfatalfury.tk

Facing North: http://www.endoftheweb.se/fn/forum/index.php

Fists of Retribution: http://www.rockstable.de

Furious Angels: http://www.furious-angels.com
Guild Master: Hinch

Gifu: http://www.Gifu.Fi
Guild Master: Andurell

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Immortal Souls: http://www.immortalsoulsclan.tk

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Kalevlased: http://www.kalevlased.net
Guild Master: Romeo

Kaaos: http://bugi.oulu.fi/~hcp/krieg

Killer instinct: http://killerinstinct.forumsplace.com

Køter for Livet: http://www.xn--kterforlivet-vjb.dk

L E Scourge: http://www.le-scourge.co.uk

Mesmerize: http://mesmerize.tt.cx

Night Shift: http://ns.gameon.no

No Danger: http://www.nodangerguild.com
Guild Master: Amonchakai

Northern Hordes: http://www.znow.dutchman.dk/phpBB2

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Pat Sharpes Potato Rodeo: http://www.patsharpespotatorodeo.com

Puppeteers: http://www.puppeteers.dk
Guild Master: Gurkahealer

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Rigour Mortis: http://www.rigourmortis.com

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The Grey Company: http://www.thegreycompany.co.uk

The Last Stand: http://dofwow.proboards43.com

The Overlords: http://www.alienunderground.nu

The Saints: http://www.red-explode.com

Train Robbers: http://www.trainrobbers.dk

Transcendeny: http://www.transcendency.nl