Server:The Venture Co US

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Did someone say Heavy RP?! -Kite

The Venture Co is the first RP-PvP realm to go live since the initial four. Thus it originally had a large flocking to its shores. It seems that the new arrivals have finally slowed down, but there are still plenty of people around to quest with, PvP with, and RP with.

Demographics

The Venture Company's population has stabilized resulting in a medium population server with a robust Role Playing Community gradually working through the levels. Some of the more prominent Role Play guilds have disbanded on the Alliance side, however, the Horde retain an extremely active community.

The Venture Company boasted a bi-weekly newspaper published by Nectarine, known as the Venture Co. Times. This periodical dealt with many of the major events and concerns facing the server population and took time out to deal with issues such as botting and other detrimental practices. The paper released 5 issues before going inactive, with Nectarine leaving the server indefinitely. Nectarine recently made several post on the server forums, including a preview page for the next Venture Co. Times issue, but since has vanished again..

Prominent Raid Guilds

According to Wowjutsu.com, PvE raiding has become a tight race between three guilds: The Horde guild <Chumbawumba> and the Alliance guilds <Mah Butt Cheeks> and <Don Johnson>. All three are virtually tied in terms of bosses downed, with Hogger being the next major hurdle. However, Ve Co.'s raid progression is terribly poor, a fact often pointed out by forums gnomes. These attacks are typically shrugged with the simple statement "Ve Co. doesn't care." Although the above mentioned guilds have come a long way in terms of raiding, it is doubtful if the guilds will ever progres through Ragefire Chasm, or even Deadmines. This is due to the fact that there are now more lesser known guilds who have virtually caught up in raid progression, such as <Dude Wheres My Dwarf> and <Midnight Snack Run>, who provide a more stable, one on one leadership role.

In terms of PvP raiding, the Venture Co. boasts an active World PvP scene. The <Grunts> were an early PvP raiding group, but have become more dormant in recent months. The Blacktooth Grin revitalized World PvP with the Shadows Over Khaz Modan campaign and was long considered a significant menace to Alliance players. However, the Grin was recently dissolved due to the inability of many of its officers to regularly play. Many Grin members would form the <Shattered Guard>, which intends to carry on the Grin's legacy, but is currently busy getting stable. As of now, the <Thunderlord Clan> has become the PvP leader Horde-side.

The Alliance has much less organized World PvP, but maintains several active guilds. <Parappa Da Rappas> is considered by many to be the leading Alliance PvP guild, while the <Jeepers Creepers> were noted due to their RP storyline of viciously defending the city of Stromgarde. Other Alliance guilds, such as <Ho Chi Mihn>, also participate in PvP, especially since the home base of the Blackfathom Deeps meeting stone.

Recent Events

There exists a significant rivalry between the prominent Horde and Alliance raid guilds which often spills over into world PvP. Pitched battles rage for many hours over world bosses.

On September 16th 2007, <The Blacktooth Grin>, <Grunts>, and many other guilds attempted to quietly summon a huge raid into Ironforge in an attempt to down Magni Bronzebeard. While the summons were underway, The <Grunts> kicked one of the GMs of <Expect No Sympathy> out of their specific raid. In retaliation for this, Heltor and Khronn, the offended players, led a handful of civilians to the area the where the raids were summoning, causing dozens of high-level guards to spawn in the midst of the unprepared Horde. Subsequently the raid wiped and the community blacklisted their guild. This led to multiple Horde members placing a bounty for 30 individual kills on the heads of Heltor, the Undead Rogue that were responsible in the eyes of the VeCo community.

Recently, the Human Warlock Bloodpool has organized PvP battles in various zones, calling the events "Bloodfest". The first Bloodfest was held on December 19th, 2007 in Stranglethorn Vale (Though it spanned several zones in the end) with "Bloodfest II: The Revenge" to be held on January 19th, 2008, in the Stonetalon Mountains. The first event was received with general enthusiasm, though Bloodpool admits there were a number of improvements that could have been made.

On December 20th, 2007, Dawnblade, the leader of the Horde guild <Venom> challenged the <Midnight Reveries> to defend their home base of Aerie Peak. The event was postponed once, but held on December 30th. <Venom>'s initial attacks were repulsed by the numerically superior <Reveries>, until additional Horde reinforcements arrived and overwhelmed the Peak's defenders. With multiple Horde raid groups already formed from the battle, their forces went on a rampage, killing Archbishop Benedictus, King Magni,Jaina Proudmoore, Prophet Velen, and Priestess Tyrande. The next day, an Alliance PuG raid led by <The Grim Covenant> retaliated, killing Lady Liadrin, Lor'themar Theron and his entourage, and Cairne Bloodhoof. While some Horde players pointed out that the Alliance did not down as many raid bosses, the Alliance forces defended themselves by arguing that they had fewer people and Horde faction leaders tend to be more difficult.

Factions and Rivalries

The earlier days of the server saw a number of successful PvP guilds concentrating on premade battleground groups. While that tradition continues, Ve Co. also has an active World PvP scene, something that many other servers lack. Currently, <Senjin Village People>, <Blacktooth Grin>, and <Grunts> have the most PvP activity horde-side, while <Much Too Much> and <Keepers of Stromgarde> continue to be very active for the alliance.

One of the oldest and largest guilds on the server, from either faction, is <Grunts>. They formed on server launch day and have maintained a strong presence throughout the servers history. Focusing mainly on world PvP, and especially world defense, <Grunts> members, given the nature of their guild and the size of their member-base, are generally among the first to arrive in defense of a Horde town under siege. <Grunts> have a strong world PvP raiding history and have participated in the largest world PvP events the server has seen, along side such guilds as <Blacktooth Grin> and numerous others, many of whom formed the intra-guild Horde coalition of <Warmongers>.

The most predominant role-playing rivalry on the server exists between <Blacktooth Grin> and <Keepers of Stromgarde>. The <Keepers of Stromgarde> are a heavy RP guild that focuses its guild events within Stromgarde Keep for roleplaying reasons, and they have had numerous run-ins, including an organized event that fielded at least 200 players from either side, in which the Horde attacked Stromgarde Keep. See: the Battle for the Keep Although the Grin dissolved as an active guild in October 2007, and there was a good amount of instability on the part of the Keepers, the rivalry between them was never fully put to rest. The recent reappearance of the Grin's Warchief brought battle to Azeroth once again.

Guilds

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