Small, tight-knit guilds are fantastic. They’ve become my preferred guild of choice and I’m glad that Blizzard made them a viable structure to raiding in Wrath of the Lich King. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my mega-hardcore guild in vanilla, but the sheer mass and competition for spots sapped my ability to make personal connections. The atmosphere of my current guild, Bonus Lizard, couldn’t be more different.

The Lizard is incredibly small, maybe 20 core members, obviously making personal connections far easier. Voices are easily identified, alt character names are mapped to their mains’ name without a struggle, etc. I’ve even been able to learn real names, something I am notoriously bad at. All the camaraderie means the bank is fairly open, members share resources and even though the membership level is anemic, someone is always there to lend a hand in heroics or to deal with the damn dirty horde.

The diminutive membership number does have its drawbacks. The major one occurring on raid nights. Should just one or two core raiding members be unavailable, there’s a chance that the raid could be outright canceled. So far, we’ve had fair warning during Cataclysm raiding, allowing us to continue our raiding schedule with a little bit of guilt tripping or even a PUG or two. The replacements are not necessarily any worse, just inexperienced and out of tune with the rest of the guild. This has inevitably caused poor pulls, bad coordination, and wasted time. In short, wiping. But, you know what? I don’t give a Valiona’s tale.

I treat these rare off nights with much less vigor and passion than I normally reserve for raiding. We’re still out to get the purpalz, but the guild, seemingly as a whole, relaxes during these raids. We joke more, difficult given how much we joke normally, with seldom heard voices chiming in. Raid and guild chat aren’t dark, unused channels and I get to bring my horribly undergeared rogue to soak up loot. Win-win. It’s these times that additional bonding happens. Wipes are shrugged off – “Eh, we’re not full strength” – and we regroup to try again.

Now if this were a full PUG run or even my vanilla WoW guild, I may be running for the exit or have a “Comcastic issue.” But when you’re dieing with friends, it’s so much easier to see the light.

The second part of any three-part series is sluggish. Viewers have already been introduced to the characters and everyone knows there’s another installment coming, so nothing is going to be finalized. To keep the audience captive, creators enjoy wrapping character development in a neat sandwich of action. Consumers have their experience of Part 2 bookended with memorable pieces, while they subconsciously absorb a deeper understanding for the hero/heroine in the “boring part.”

In a nutshell (too many food analogies?), that’s exactly the experience that Episode 1.2 of Blackfathom Deeps will deliver. You’ll be engrossed by the excellent use of Life Tap and bemused by the shamans ability to never run out of mana while barely healing. All while listening to the tank tell every mob what it can and cannot do during pulls.

Today brings us the third, and final, part of the proof of concept for The B Team (first and second installment).  It records <The B Team> running through the final areas of Wailing Caverns, culminating in the most epic dungeon pose in the history of World of Warcraft.

Again, it’s proof of concept, so bare with the letterboxing, erratic cuts and things of that nature.  The video was created to see if our goal was possible.  We had many other ideas in mind to better organize, edit and develop the series.  Assuming there is interest, we hope to fulfill those desires.

Please, let us know how much you liked (or dislike) the show.  Your input and constructive criticism will help make future episodes possible, and likely better.

For instance, should we focus on recanting the lore and quest lines surrounding the instance?  Or would you rather see us awkwardly plow through the dungeon on classes we have no business playing?

Shortly after Blizzard officially announced Cataclysm and the incoming devastation to Azeroth, I came up with an idea.  It’s fairly simple, and based entirely on Deathwing‘s upcoming destruction.  At the time, we had no idea how far reaching the changes would be.  Would Deadmines cease to exist?  What would become of Blackfathom Deeps and Ragefire Chasm?  Would we see these dungeons in a new light, play through them as is?  Or would Blizzard simply remove content that was believed to be archaic?

No one had any idea, so I figured it deserved a last hurrah, just in case.  Obviously, a new toon was in order and I needed teammates.  Then I thought, “If I want to absorb the original design, won’t other people want to see it too?”  Things needed to be documented, categorized and recorded into the annals of history.  Quickly, I went from passive observer to an historian on the level of Brann Bronzebeard.  No dusty tome, or articulate transcription of the “Old BFD” would do.  Video was needed.

Hit the jump to read more about the initial development of <The B Team>. Continue Reading