Imrahil sits brooding in his study.

He has to make an announcement to his comrades in arms from Raging Fury and he doesn’t really know how to put the words. Nine years he has been their leader, another two years he was in the guild as a normal member and an officer. From his first raid as a recruit on the tainted islands of Solteris to these last events in the new Chardok he has been there for more than 4 out of every 5 events for more than 10 years, but he has grown weary lately.

Overall 16 years of constant battle have taken their toll, especially since the pressure of responsibility (as officer or leader) has been there for most of those years, not only with Raging Fury”, but also with Darkwind and Drachentaenzer before. He doesn’t feel the urge to battle mighty foes anymore as he used to, it shows in his participation in raids as in his fulfilment of his duties as guild leader. His pride makes him want to believe that he is still an asset in the guild’s raids, as a player and as a leader, but deep in his heart he knows that he is not giving enough anymore.

At his prime he was one of the strongest paladins to walk on Norrath, sure in his step and confident of his prowess, leading his guild into battle time and time again. Quite a long way from the young and fresh knight who went out of Freeport 16 years ago to hunt down his first rats before moving on to the orc camps, forced into retreat upon the Griffon’s approach. Following down memory lane he fondly remembers his first break in on the Plane of Fear, when all his small guild Die Namenlose Bruderschaft and their allies could do was to run towards the western area and hope a cleric would be able to save himself to resurrect everyone later. Then the first raid encounter upon the mighty dragon Trakanon in Sebilis with Drachentaenzer, the battles on the ice continent of Velious and on the moon Luclin and the first steps in the Planes of Power. The transport over from the universe of contested and aggressive Solusek Ro to the remote Kael Drakkal, where DT started to flourish, becoming the uncontested leading guild for several years, the last few under his leadership.

Finally the decline of the population had taken its toll and the inhabitants of Kael Drakkal had to flee to the universe of AnTonius Bayle, where once again the competition was fierce. His face shrouds while he remembers about how tough the decision to leave Drachentaenzer for Darkwind had been, although he regained his enthusiasm for big adventures during the race to be the first to beat Mayong Mistmoore in the Demiplane of Blood. Even though Darkwind was beaten to this ultimate goal by Raging Fury he is still proud to have been among the very few who had to face the future demigod in the Demiplane in his very first incarnation.

Then the time of another departure arrived, when he left Darkwind to exchange his officer’s mantle once more for the unadorned armour of a recruit in Raging Fury. He still remembers the frantic race towards the final fight against the gods Solusek Ro and Mayong Mistmoore between the guilds on AnTonius Bayle with RF prevailing once more and how relaxing it was, just to be a normal guild member, only to focus on his own role in each event.

That respite did not last very long though, because somehow shortly after he started to lead raids, became an officer and finally guild leader. Imrahil was not sure whether he had been lusting for power or if it was his feeling of responsibility to step up when needed or if he has simply been masochistic, most likely it has been a mixture of all three motivations which has gotten him into these roles time and time again. He just hopes that overall a majority would judge his efforts as beneficial in hindsight, knowing that there are always people who feel mistreated or neglected when a large group of humans has to be handled.

He has always tried to temper his sense for justice (after all, he is a paladin of Mithaniel Marr) with compassion, but sometimes tough decisions had to be made and while he has never liked to punish (or even expel) members, he has not shied away from this duty either. Remembering heated discussions with some of his officers in the past he is grateful for the last relatively quiet years of his leadership and the overall enjoyable atmosphere in the guild. He really can’t complain in that regard lately, but still he feels tired, so it must be something else, the dark-haired knight muses.

He ponders the real cause behind his weariness and comes to the conclusion that it is probably a mixture of multiple reasons: the burden of responsibility over the years, the feeling, that there is nothing really new to experience and last but not least the departure of so many good friends of old, who have moved into their well-earned retirement:

Xack, the godfather of tanks, the unholy trinity (Illandra, Tamarea and Illona), the “Leader of the Dwarf Legion” Grynoldy, Imhotep the lorehelmet, all long gone, same as his predecessors Dalrek and Obsqura or his good friends Klorch, the polite troll, Ninan, the selfnuking wizard, Spiritbane, the semi-evil necro, Kikthin (Paladin Pinky), Charrok, the perma-dieing bard and Manadasa, the paladin he looked up to when he was an untested knave himself.

From all those who have been in Raging Fury when he joined so long ago only a handful is left today:

Aderahl (then still as druid Aderel), always extra ordinary DPS

Jolene, the friendly bard lady from the unfriendly Universe of Rallos Zek

Bebop, the slow typing Halfling druid with the healing skills to shame some clerics

And or course his officers, Vmas, the private dancer and silent RFP master and Jarasil, the friendliest officer he has ever met, always there when needed.

Yes, he will miss them, as he will miss the other friends he has been sitting together with through one guild meeting or the other: Ismel, Pippi, Suri, Blackjaw, the list could go on and on. He will also miss the friendly talks with so many people from around the world, but he somehow doubts he will miss having to force himself to battle on days he feels no desire to do so.

“I will enjoy my freedom, maybe after some time in retirement the hunger for adventure will rise again” he tells himself.

For now his duty though is to set up a speech to announce his own retirement and to hand over the mantle of the guild leader. He decides to make it short and simple as he steps onto the balcony in the great hall of Raging Fury:

He waits for their applause and cheers to subside, then adds:

He is glad that he leaves the guild in capable hands and in a stable state, although he really hopes that Jarasil will find some more people to help him with the different tasks a guild like Raging Fury requires.

He finishes his speech with a few final words:

It has been an honour and a privilege to lead this guild for such a long time, longer than anyone before in the history of Raging Fury. I wish you all the best in your endeavours in Norrath and in other worlds and rest assured: I will visit this hall to share stories and laughter again as I will also continue to visit my friends in the other world. For now though I shall enjoy my retirement away from this alluring world called Norrath.

He grabs the sword that bears his name and that of his guild, raises it and let's it fall down in a final salute:

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...to wish people around the world a great time with friends and family, a time to relax and reflect on what has happened over the last year. Certainly it is also the time of the year where certain wishes from previous years are repeated, because they simply are precisely what you want to express and so I will just rehash a nice Frostfell message from a few years ago (I think I could be running for presidency with such awesome efficiency skills, couldn't I?).

Anyway, here we go:

To all members of Raging Fury (former and present), to all our friends from other guilds or other games than EverQuest and of course all the people who just like to read about Raging Fury:

Enjoy the season of the year with your families and friends, be jolly, celebrate and overall have a wonderful time!

For myself I can only say that while being grateful for all my friends living close by, I am also indebted to EverQuest forever, as it has brought me some new friends from around the world (many of whom I had the pleasure to meet face to face) without whom my life would be so much poorer.

People who don't share our hobby often look down upon us because "it is only a game" and "you should interact with real people more than being in the virtual world", but all I can say is that I am truly grateful for having met so many great people, some of whom I consider among my closest friends. Does it really matter if you live in the same city or even the same country? Being there when you need someone to talk to, cheering you up when you are down and in the same way letting you yourself participate in their lives - that's what friendship is about in my book!

The internet brings possibiLities to our generation that none before has had and from my point of view what could be better than to try to learn about different cultures by the people themselves? Aren't all those "internet relations are not real"-sayers closing their eyes to the new oppotunities we have?

There is a whole world of people to meet out there and during times like these I would like to express my gratitude for all the precious memories I have gotten by starting EverQuest 15 years ago.

Yes, this is a bit sentimental, but what more appropriate time to reflect upon all the great people we have been priviliged to meet over the years? EverQuest still has people playing not alone because it is such a great game, but mostly because of all the bonds which have been built over the years. Some people may leave, but many still stay in contact even years later and that is what counts.

...you have reached the end of the quote...

OK, that was by far the laziest news update I have ever done (and that does mean something), but nonetheless the words themselves are 100 percent true. It became quite clear how many good friends we have made in EQ during our usual December meeting in Nottingham last weekend, organized by Illandra, where once again we had people from different countries assembled to eat, drink and have fun together (and of course to watch STAR WARS!)

While I was in Nottingham my guild was so nice to wait with winning the final event in tier 1 of the newest expansion of EverQuest called The Broken Mirror (TBM). As I did miss the start of the expansion itself (Las Vegas > Norrath, sorry guys), I have simply forgotten to make nice screenshots, so all I can say is that I will put it on my list of New Year's resolutions to make better news in 2016!

Anyway, that's all for this year, enjoy the last days of 2015 and drink an eggnog (or two) for me, time for a last quote from my news from two years ago:

So from the bottom of my heart I wish you all a great time, may you have a splendid finish of 2015 and a great start into 2016!

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To all members of Raging Fury (former and present), to all our friends from other guilds or other games than EverQuest and of course all the people who just like to read about Raging Fury:

Enjoy the season of the year with your families and friends, be Merry, celebrate and overall have a wonderful time!

For myself I can only say that while being grateful for all my friends living close by, I am also indebted to EverQuest forever, as it has brought me some new friends from around the world (many of whom I had the pleasure to meet face to face) without whom my life would be so much poorer.

People who don't share our hobby often look down upon us because "it is only a game" and "you should interact with real people more than being in the virtual world", but all I can say is that I am truly grateful for having met so many great people, some of whom I consider among my closest friends. Does it really matter if you live in the same city or even the same country? Being there when you need someone to talk to, cheering you up when you are down and in the same way letting you yourself participate in their lives - that's what friendship is about in my book!

The internet brings possibiLities to our generation that none before has had and from my point of view what could be better than to try to learn about different cultures by the people themselves? Aren't all those "internet relations are not real"-sayers closing their eyes to the new oppotunities we have?

There is a whole world of people to meet out there and during times like these I would like to express my gratitude for all the precious memories I have gotten by starting EverQuest 13 years ago.

Yes, this is a bit sentimental, but what more appropriate time to reflect upon all the great people we have been priviliged to meet over the years? EverQuest still has people playing not alone because it is such a great game, but mostly because of all the bonds which have been built over the years. Some people may leave, but many still stay in contact even years later and that is what counts.

So from the bottom of my heart I wish you all a great time, may you have a splendid finish of 2013 and a great start into 2014!

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'Twas two nights before Christmas, when all through Rubak,

The RF force was stirring, ready to attack;

The raiders were placed at the fightspots with care,

In hopes that the victory soon would be there;

The clerics where nestled all snug at safe spots,

While necros and shamans were loading their dots;

And Meemers in his monk gear and I in steel wear,

Had just settled down for the final prepare,

When out in the guild there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my seat to see what was the matter.

Into the chat window I looked without stop,

Read the evil message "this zone will repop".

With only half of an hour left till respawn,

We said "oh whatever" and stifled a yawn

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a focused attempt with no whirlwinds too near,

With good DPS, without making a mess,

I knew in a moment it can be success.

More rapid than eagles, the emoted guys came,

And all officers shouted and called them by name;

"Now, Illa! now Jole! now, Songsa and Lana!

On, Koyo! on Alive! on, Thunder and Cana!

To the top of the pool! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the ramp-top the emoted they ran,

With the whirl on their heels, according to plan.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard in the chat

"All zealots are dieing", now how about that?

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the last of the high priests went to the ground

He was finally vanquished, because no one had tripped,

And he blabbered on with his lore in this script;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

Our eyes -- how they twinkled! our shoutings how merry!

Our cheers were like thunder, how much loot could we carry?

Our time nearly done, only five minutes left,

And the loot bids had to be fast as a theft;

The loot officer Vmas went on like a flash,

And Jarasil gave out the spells on a dash,

And Kikthin and I helped to get all items sorted,

While Meem probably thought how often we had aborted;

We sold armor pieces to Pulv and Ismel;

Though I cannot remember who all got a spell,

I do know that Thunder got Tidecaster Mooncharm,

And Noitora with Spinedriller will do much more harm

To the mobs against which ourselves in future we hurl;

I just hope that Pulvarien will get his Watering Wave Pearl.

It poofed when finally the zone was repopped,

And all the looting was so suddenly stopped;

Raging Fury was happy all nonetheless,

Cause finally a victory felt like a success

But you heard me exclaim, ere I went off at midnight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Original text can be found HERE

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After more than 9 months of farming the same old content again and again finally the 18th expansion of EverQuest called Veil of Alaris has come out – oh, the bliss of moving to only one expansion per year!

Was the long farm time boring? You can bet it was!

Did it make me slack even worse on guild news updates? Err... I guess so.

Was it relaxing? In a way, yes.

I myself have found that there are other pastimes besides sitting in front of a PC playing a game with prehistoric character models and bugs which aren’t corrected after being acknowledged more than half a year ago. Seriously: the models I can cope with (heck, EQ is old, it has other virtues), certain handicaps because of old coding I can cope with too, NP. Not removing pesky annoying bugs like the repopping sharks in SS#3 (or the adds in Al Kabor’s Nightmare), the stupid exit-mechanisms in SS (some port you outside the raid zone STILL) and event 7 door STILL shutting once events starts - all this just screams “I don’t care”. It gets even more irritating when you see that on the other hand changes inside scripts are made to make them even MORE annoying (note: not really hard), like the super spin-stun in SS#2. So you guys do have the time to change scripts, but not those parts that have been posted a gazillion times and acknowledged as bugs? WTG, devs, WTG… ah well, rant over (for now).

While I am speaking about annoyances here is another thing which has come up a LOT lately: the insane push, especially when a raid is fighting a mob. Quite often they don't get pushed slowly like in former times, but they simply warp to next position and our rogues especially are cursing all the time. Here is a quote about our best success in controlling the push:

Anyway, was I looking forward to something new to do in EQ although I had found distractions? Hey, I am addicted, one summer with surrogates like “Beergarden 2011”, “Barbecue Master 3” or even the two parts of “Nottingham Visitor” (see previous news) can’t cure me...

Also I was looking forward to new raid targets together with an awesome guild which shows so much <3 towards each other and especially to me:

Jolene would go even further:

So yes, I was awaiting Veil of Alaris (VoA) impatiently, hoping for new levels and AA to get, new quests to do and new raid mobs to kill.

Will VoA fulfill all those hopes? Two and a half weeks after release final judgment is certainly too early, but a few things can be said nonetheless:

First of all the invention of resizable hotbuttons which make clickies work from inside bags (if the item itself needn’t be worn) is awesome. Combine this with the huge bags invented in HoT and you have so much more flexibility than you used to have two years ago – very well done!

Second, the new guild halls look really nice and our decoration aficionados have already spent much time into making ours a great place – thanks for the effort guys, you rock!

Third, the group progression via language skill was less painful than expected after Beta, because some of the pressure was removed by adding a second zone in which one could get the needed skills for the higher tiers or by adding a faster respawn on quest mobs. Nonetheless I am still dubious about the requirements for everyone of 90 Alaran to be able to make armor. While it might make sense for a grouper, I think this is a burden not every raiders will like.

Last, but definitely not least (we are a raid guild after all): raids!

How can I say something about raids only 2 weeks after the launch?

Well, we have downed all encounters of the two lower tiers (although that’s only 3 raids), so at least a certain “first look” at the way raids are done seems possible.

All 3 raids share the concept, that they are simply bigger versions of one of the group missions in their respective zone. This is a new concept and from my point of view it is simply horrible!

Where are the days, when you went into an encounter knowing absolutely nothing about what would happen? Where is the surprise when everything that goes on in a raid script has already been seen by most of the raid members during some group task? Where is the challenge in finding out the mechanics of a raid if they are only a blown up version of said group task with exactly the same scripting? This new concept is one of the worst decisions in the last years as it robs a raider everything that makes raiding interesting. It is particularly sad, because the raid scripts wouldn’t be too bad if they were not already known. Sincerely: if anyone over at SOE reads this, please don’t do that ever again! It is no wonder, that all the raids which could be attempted flagwise were downed the first day they were available (ya we downed Valley raid 1 day later, as usual RF starts a bit slower, it’s tradition!).

I only pray that the higher tiers provide us with a bit more challenge otherwise this expansion will be even shorter than the last one. While I had the impression that T1 was supposed to be of similar difficulty to SS (in fact it’s easier than at least some events in there) I had really hoped for a bit more challenge in tier 2. The raid in Sarith though is sadly underpowered and the biggest challenge in Valley of Lunanyn is getting the placement of the NPCs sorted (I share Xack's thoughts that this can be a bit confusing, although I might have worded it differently):

Sorry, but I somehow doubt this will be raided more often than absolutely needed for flags, as it is rather annoying to do. As everyone can see the same scripts via grouping I wasn't even bothering to take screenshots of the raids, instead I present some more quotes:

Let’s hope for something a bit more interesting in the next tiers. Sepulcher will have some raids without an equivalent group version, so I am looking forward to that. We are farming "flags" now for the next tier and we will keep you informed once T3 events are getting beaten.

Stay tuned!

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Only a few more days and then the 16th expansion for EverQuest named Underfoot will be released. Quite frankly I can tell you that is is really about time, because 11 months of continuous farming the same content drain the motivation of even the most hardcore EQ addicts (and we have quite a few of those here in Raging Fury). But the departure of some means also an opportunity for others: if you have always wanted to be among the first serverwide to beat an expansion, now is the time to join RF!

We have been among the top 5 for nine expansions in a row and we most certainly want to continue that streak, so we are trying to fill our ranks for the tasks ahead.

are the classes we are mainly looking for, but we have a few limited spots open for other classes as well, so check our recruitment section for details. Not among the classes we have currently open? Don't despair yet! We do accept applications of exceptional players from many of the other classes as well, so speak to our recruiters Illandra, Nalelini or Abadonn or talk to an officer officer if you want to know more.

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