Horde side graces us with it’s presence for this instalment of Guild of the Fortnight (although it’s been more like Guild of the Month!) I would like to introduce you all to the GM and Officers of <The Firm> who have done a snazzy group interview for Emerald Dreamers.

I want to take this opportunity to encourage all you Horde Guilds out there to put up your guild listings by filling in our guild listings form remember to tick the magic box at the bottom to be featured as our Guild of the Fortnight!

Q: What is the story behind your guild name?

Cud: <The Firm> was formed back in the early days of the open beta, which makes us one of the oldest and long lasting Guilds on ED. I think it was Drondoth (our original GL) who came up with <The Firm> as a reference to the East London Mafia of the same name. While we never condone their violence and criminality, your have to respect the er… respect they got.

Zerg came up with the acronym: From Injustice Rises Might which is a nice play on words as it works both ways. We can either be handing out the injustice or getting it (sometimes two or three times a night).

Vogelsang: Cud and Zerg are the founding fathers, they took the turkey and the corn then slaughtered the innocent native gnomes. Zerg is making tribute video’s from time to time, it’s like having a little Cameron of our own voicing the regrets of our bloody history.

Q: PvP or PvE?

Ascu: We’re a guild who have people that focus on both sides of the game but our main goal as a group is to conquer all those pesky raid bosses. We do pvp events from time to time that alot of people enjoy, also social events that could have a hint of pve if you can count sending players into trash like lemmings.

Backtolife: PvE mainly, our raid team has be able to access all that Wrath has offered us, but that doesn’t mean PvP is neglected. We have premade fun, world raids and if you’re going to hassle the low level Hordies in Crossroads you better have eyes in the back of your head.

Booshman: PvE, and only that. I’d rather gouge my eye out with a spoon than participate in PvP activities.

Necrall: PvE. I suck so hard at PvP I do more damage to myself than to the opponent.

Vogelsang: We’re not really imposing either. I suppose we might be perceived as a Pve guild but that’s as accurate as calling us a social one. Truth is we’re a jack of all trades – or strive for it – as we found diversity brings fun and fun it’s our purpose. The real purpose, I mean, we do want to find out who Cymek really is but that’s secondary. I think. Almost sure of it. Hell, who do we try to fool here….

Anyway, we try to offer our members as many possibilities of keeping entertained as we can. Mostly we fail but seems that the fails are interesting enough to maintain a healthy curiosity toward the magnitude or the next one, so i guess all’s good in the end.

Q: Horde or Alliance?

Ascu: At first we used to be a guild that was very focused on the horde side of this game, with our many PvP events going against the alliance. We had a few players who liked to take a swim in both sides of the pond but with the recent introduction of faction change we now have even more. To put it short we’re a bunch of horde who love to gank allies.

Booshman: Siding with Alliance has never even crossed my mind. If you’re playing a game, surely you’d want to distance yourself from being human or a deformed version of such (dwarf, gnome or indeed elf, i don’t even know what those blue things are). Why would you not want to be a talking cow standing on 2 legs? C’mon.

Cud: For The Horde! We are the party faction!

Cymek: Horde with a pinch of Alliance knowledge. I *looks to see if Zerg is still around*… have a gnome. It’s a level 80 gnome. I’ve played it quite a bit before the last patch. I got to know the alliance PuG side. I got familiar with their trade. I got familiar with their top guilds. I made friends on alliance, and some of these friends even faction transferred and joined The Firm. Previous gnomes are now blood-elves. I think even Zerg would agree to that one, no?

Dorkyorcy: Horde ofc, we do have an Alliance guild for fun but that has become stagnant much like the smell in Stormwind.

Necrall: Horde. I like playing the GOOD guys. Oh alright it’s for the Undead. I’m a ZOMBIE! Who wouldn’t want to play a ZOMBIE!?

Vogelsang: Horde. Played a little on Alliance with my first warrior – he was a terrible cliche, a nelf war – then rerolled horde and never looked back. Because if you look back you risk tripping on stuff and the gnomes following you might catch. Do you KNOW what those little bastards can do to a leveling cow wandering the sunny plains of the Barrens?

Zerg: Horde. The Firm has no place for Gnomes.

Q: 10 man or 25 man?

Ascu: As a guild we mainly focus on 25 but we always have room to schedule some 10 man runs, be it for some fun alt runs or some competitive heroic 10 man. At the current time we have two groups that run 10 man that are doing quite well in this patch, we’ve also got one 25 man group that is the bulk of our raiding force.

Backtolife: 25 man with a sprinkle of 10 man. As a guild we want to progress in PvE content and having as many of our guild members experiencing the journey is core to that.

Booshman: 25 mans do have more of an epic feeling to them and when things get downed, there is perhaps a greater sense of achievement, but for me, its gotta be 10 man, more relaxed and easier to understand each other and work in unison.

Cymek: Both. I don’t think there is any exclusive serious 10 men raiding guild on the server anyway, is there?

We only run 25 men raids three times a week. If some of our people do want to raid more, they get together in one of our 10 men teams, which focus primarily on hard modes. 10 men alt runs are also frequent in guild.

Vogelsang: Doesn’t really matter. If we talk canons here i suppose we’re a 25man raiding guild – as we raid on a regular basis as such. Truth is we got them all – 25 man, 10 man, weird 24/23/19 man and 9 man. You know lemmings? TF it’s exactly that, some dude will fall from the Thunder Bluff during a guild reunion and half the guild will charge after him to see what’s so interesting down there. The weird part is that it seems there’s something interesting down there every time.

Q: Social or Hardcore?

Ascu: Some people would call us hardcore, some people would call us social but we just call ourselves the middle line. Our guild is like a city, full of people with different goals and directions. We do not force any direction onto people but instead let them follow their own direction.

Booshman: I want things to be difficult and challenging, but when things start to get pretty heavy or “hardcore”, it starts to get a bit too much. Its a game after all, we’re here to enjoy ourselves aren’t we?

Cud: We formed as, and remain a Social guild. If you aren’t having fun, you’re doing it wrong! That said, our raiders take their game *very* seriously, but still manage to keep things fun which is a very tricky balancing act.

Cymek: Is that such a distinct dichotomy like left vs right in politics? We have some of the best players I’ve ever met in The Firm. They know how to do the most out of their class and gear, and pull out amazing tricks or numbers in even the trickiest situations. They check out class forums regularly, they can design strategies that win fights, they adapt to new encounters fast, they do “the impossible”. That doesn’t mean they are online 24/7, nor that they only spend their time raiding (and doing the random heroic for the extra badges, or farming consumables for raids). That doesn’t mean they are elitist pricks.

Some of these ‘socials’ are better then people in “hardcore” guilds skill-wise (I have wol comparisons to prove it ). The myth of the “socials” being all 14 years old kids that recruit in trade with announcements like “The Horde PRO TAEM is recrutiting, we are a tabards and guild bank and we can have give you boosts, want rouges and tankerz, PST for inv” is nothing more then a myth.

At the end of TBC, we were further progression-wise then other guilds on horde-side that started raiding more then six months earlier then we did. We have beaten Zul’Aman in Kara level badge gear, faster then some guilds who were farming tier 6 gear. In Wrath, we’ve downed most of Ulduar 10 hard modes horde-first, with terrible raid synergy class wise. Does that sound even remotely close to what the PRO TAEMs achieve?

Dorkyorcy: Depends on how you define them. We have raiders that attend at least 3-4 raids per week and in the past 7 days per week when chasing hard modes and drakes, we also have guys that can only attend 1-2 raids per week due to RL schedules.

Necrall: Our guild motto is “This is your game. Play it your way”. You’re getting a whole bunch of different answers on this interview from different people because our guild can’t be pinned down as just one thing.

Q: Loots or Laughs?

Ascu: Our guild always puts laughs before loots, we play this game to enjoy it and if we get too serious all the fun will drain out of it. I can’t speak for everyone but the people I have got to know follow those ideals, I’m happy to play with them since they can laugh when shit happens and just shrug it off. It’s an environment i really appreciate and a lot of our guildies also appreciate. Recently we had a 1% wipe on Festergut and just laughed it off as frustrating as a 1% wipe is, of course we managed to curb stomp him after as vengeance.

Backtolife: Laughs. Loots are short term, the Laughs and friends you enjoy on your WoW journey will live with you longer.

Booshman: Oh its nice get new shinies no doubt. But whats the point of them if you can’t share laughs and chat to those that help you get them.

Cud: Laughs. Loots is for Wintersveil, laughs is for life!

Cymek: Laughs @ Loots. It’s common for us to always get the least wanted drop in any kind of raid instance we run. We got for some reason no rogues in the raid? One handed weapons drop from every boss. The boomkin and trees are on vacation? Caster leather – check. All the tanks got Anub’s 10 men hc’s weapon drops already? They drop again, and again, and again, until there’s no class that can wield them without one.

Dorkyorcy: Loot of course.

Necrall: LOOT… *looks at other Officers answers* *cough* … I mean laughs… yeah laughs, everyone loves a good laugh.. heh.. heh..

*shuffles away nervously*

Vogelsang: Well, i’m glad you asked that question, guess what, we have both loots and laughs. My personal approach to it is grab the loot and laugh at those who didn’t. Bastards try to act all happy for me but who gets all the fun? Huh, huh?

Messing with you – we denied a DKP system as we find it opposed to our guild’s ambitions. It’s sometimes a pain in the ass for the core raiders but in the end they raid more anyway so end up better geared than the less regular ones. From what i know we’re one of the few guilds doing it while keeping decent performances in raid content. Yeah yeah, i’m the modest guy. NOT. We’re bloody awesome!

Zerg: This is a no brainer, it’s laughs all the way. It’s about the journey, not the destination. (Why else would blizz keep changing the destination)

Q: Arena or Battlegrounds?

Ascu: We have quite a bit of people who enjoy arena but as a guild we prefer battlegrounds since that way we can all play together. I feel that the achievements add another layer to battlegrounds as a guild, instead of farming it you can see it as a challenge and it will give the same feeling of accomplishment as downing a raid boss after you complete it.

Backtolife: Battlegrounds, we have a few members who do the Arena but nearly all of us head to the Battlegrounds now and again for a bit of guild PvP fun. You will see many of our members in Wintergrasp wrestling the fort from the pesky alliance.

Booshman: P*** off.

Cud: Personally I prefer battlegrounds. Having 80 players battling at the same time is what World of Warcraft should be about. It’s not called World of Skirmish is it?

Cymek: Battlegrounds. Arena gearing requires too much grinding and pre-planning. And I don’t have enough room in my bags for extra PvP gear.

Dorkyorcy: What?

Necrall: World PVP. The Firm has taken on many an alliance town. Southshore, Menethil Harbour (we renamed it Firmville) and Alliance cities have felt our wrath more than once.

Vogelsang: I suck at both. It’s the bloody CC man!

Zerg: Battlegrounds (Or preferably spontaneous world PVP) PVP is about unpredictable situations and fun. We have had a reputation of being trouble causes from time to time, rioting in many Alliance town.

Q: Eastern Kingdom or Kalimdor?

Booshman: Kalimdor no doubt. Thunder Bluff! Enough said. (Oh and that little cave thats almost impossible to get to in the mountains between Barrens and Mulgore, theres no place better!)

Cud: Kalimdor. The horde starting zones (not including Blood Elves) are a bit bland compared to Alliance, but the rolling hills and and plains of Mulgor and the picturesque clearings of Ashenvale are still amongst my favourite spots in the game.

Dorkyorcy: Dalaran – once there mages are a thing of the past, well apart from food ofc

Necrall: Eastern Kingdom. Kalimdor has the Barrens, reason enough to avoid it like the plague.

Vogelsang: Kalimdor. Although I envy a little the woods in EK. But Kalimdor will always be the place I think of as my cow’s home. Thunder Bluff is a great city for get togethers and also the city that filled me with woe when i start to play – my first recount of it is the guys in Infernal Legion giving lectures at the amphitheatre in front of Cairne’s hut. I mean, real lectures, people were sitting on it’s benches and listening to the speaker’s tirade. Can’t remember if he was explaining tactics, preaching Lord’s words or making a Dark Tower review. It’s one of the moments i love to remember.

Zerg: Kalimdor. It has Thunder Bluff. It has Orgrimmar. And most importantly, it has XR.

Q: Describe your guild in 3 words:

Backtolife: We eat Gnomes

Booshman: Awesome. Silly. Erotic.

Cud: Smiley Happy People? Obvious Gnome Haters? Up For Anything? Try Anything Twice?

Dorkyorcy: Enjoying the game

Necrall: Why So Serious

Vogelsang: Lemmings Hating Gnomes. The irony, huh?

You know, both are good!

Zerg: Best, Guild, Ever.

Q: Best wipe ever?

Cymek: It must be back in Zul’Aman days. We were running SSC / TK in 25 men at that time, and we were getting together Zul’Aman bear runs on each reset, trying to beat the timer with less then ideal gear for it (we never made it before the patch). We also didn’t have a set team for those runs, group composition varying from one go to another.

One evening, we started another bear run. Killed the eagle in good time, rushed to the bear, nuked him without any casualties. Amazingly enough, we did not miss any scout on our way to dragon-hawk, the third boss drops dead. Onwards to the lynx, timer is great, we don’t mess up things on trash.

We get inside the lynx’s room, we start the fight. He’s at 50%, I am happily tanking him and watching out for his pet, then suddenly the boss turns away from me, rushes to the healers and starts nuking them one by one, while I sit there puzzled wondering what the heck did just happen. About 3 dead people later I notice the holy pala used Divine Intervention on me, and as the rest of the raid dies we see his line in /ra: “Sorry guys, my girlfriend touched me”.

We all burst into laughter, and ever since that time ‘my girlfriend touched me’ became a guild joke.

It did cost us a bear. But a Zul’Aman bear is in the end just pixels, while we still laugh when we remember that day.

Necrall: SSC Lady Vashj attempts. We wipe and Xeno bubble-hearths then says:

Totally taken out of context ofc, he was offered the choice of dying like a man or running away screaming like a girl. I screenied without the context, I’m cruel like that.

Vogelsang: I’ll let the other guys tell you that, it probably involves me…

Q: Funniest moment ever?

Backtolife: Our first Malygos kill, we had about 5% left on enrage and Maly was 1 shotting all member of the raid that’s when we got our Wayne’s World Scooby Doo ending. Dot’s ticking and raid members falling we get him with 1 man still up Bloodykid to which a shout went out, “Maly must have thought he had got away with it, if it weren’t for that Bloodykid!”

Cud: Having my (then 14 year old) daughter logged into our other account, /w me pretending to be a gold seller. I took the bait like a ravenous Firefin Snapper….

(I’d stopped reading about 1/2 way through the whispers!)

Thanks to Mr & Mrs Necrall, this will never be allowed to be forgotten:

Cymek: Also back in Zul’Aman days, we were on our first night of tries on Hex Lord Malacrass. We already learned the fight during some painful wipes, and were closer and closer to get him down each go.

We regroup after a wipe, buff up, and pull. A few seconds into the fight, Vogelsang (resident fury warrior) starts screaming “My weapons are bugged! My weapons are bugged! I can’t use any ability!” It was mid-fight, so what can he do – he equips his fishing pole and starts swinging it at the boss. We wipe at about 3%.

A long silence in raid… then Vogelsang says: “Errr. About my weapons being bugged… They were red…” Turns out they broke after the last wipe and somehow he didn’t realise that until the attempt ended.

Fast forward to Wrath, a few days ago, right before a Marrowgar pull, and here we have…..

Vogelsang: “My weapons are bugged!”. This time it was an item rack bug that prevented him from changing what he had equipped, but man it brought back fun memories. That was his guild note for a very long time.

Necrall: Magevossie is being vossie, Dorkyorcy threatens demotion (jokingly ofc, vossie’s rank depends on how bad his jokes are that day). He says “I’m alt rank! I can’t go any lower” Dorky – “Wanna bet?” /gkick magevossie. Guild erupts in laughter.

Vogesang: Ah, that must be back in BC when our Friznight, our beloved tank responded to the “Are you ready Frizzle?” question by cracking his knuckles. Frizzle is an emote man (or what’s left of a man, he’s one of those undead guys you know, poor guys never can find a non shredded armour) so the raid happily charged Magheridon only to die in seconds. Then Frizzle returned with a fresh bottle and explained our enthusiastic asses that he had that nice Mod that emoted randomly. Think i had tears in my eyes from all the laughing.

Zerg: Again, there’s so many to choose from. Personally, I’d go with that time I destroyed Cymek in a duel.

Q: Why should people join you?

Backtolife: If you want a guild where you log on farm consumables for raids, raid them log off then we aren’t the guild for you. If however you want a guild where people treat each other with respect, help each other out, and provide a relaxing fun environment to play you may just want to visit our forums for more details.

Booshman: No idea. They must be mad.

Cud: Quite simply, we’re the best! /pride. We don’t take ourselves seriously, look out for one another and have a great time doing it. What more could you want?

Cymek: We have a rule when we recruit new people. However good an application is raid-wise, it will never get a spot if that person is an egocentric loot-obsessed prick.

You will see hardcore guilds accepting applications that simply fill in the basic questions, yet say nothing about themselves – because it’s the right class with high-enough level of gear to meet their requirements. You won’t see that in TF. You won’t see guild-hoppers that are in the guild to get kitted in epixxx, then jump ship to another guild / faction / server when they got all the drops they could have.

People work as a team. If you know your class well, enjoy many aspects of the game while not spending all your time in WoW, and like to get to know other different people from all over Europe, drop by on our site.

The guild is first and foremost a community, if all that links you to the others are the shiny pixels some raid boss can drop, you’re not looking for a guild, but for a slightly improved “LFM 25 men ICC, /w gearscore and achievement or no invite” taking place in /g rather then /trade.

Dorkyorcy: You get to see end content in a relaxed, informal guild that has plenty of laughs, spills and chills.

Necrall: We have cookies.

Vogelsang: Tough question there. Because i’m officering here? Joke. I mean I am officering here, not that my officering is a joke. Those who say otherwise are sour individuals who couldn’t recognise a real talent when they see it and will be demoted on the first random motive that lightens my still alive neurons.

Serious answer, because we care. We care beyond getting another good player I mean. That’s good also but not the highest plus in the book. We care of our guildies and what we demand of them before other facts is camaradery. I like to think we have a small community here that shows both wits and maturity. They might show them at the wrong moments but hey! who’s perfect?

Zerg: As a guild we are a contender for one of the better progressed Horde side guild. Our raiders do make the effort to progress in raids and take raiding seriously enough to get the job done, while trying to hold true to the roots of the guild. We’re here for fun and to create a community of like minded people who get along well with each other. The guild has had its ups and its downs and has been through its share of changes, however at it’s heart are officers who remember the founding ideas of the guild and a core of members who hold true to them. We’ve been here for five years and we’ll be here when any of those other guilds you might be thinking of joining will have faded into memory.

Zerg: hehe, seeing these responses, I realise I’m not part of what the guild currently is, but I feel like an honoured elder. Is it time for my sponge bath?

Cymek: * link to some sort of porn movie with sponge bathes and hot nurses*

All Officers: AFK… something urgent just came up

To apply to The Firm please head here or whisper any of the Officers above for more information.

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