OK, it is hot in Europe! Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot! The perfect time to go into the pool/sea/lake to cool off or go and have a BBQ and some beers with friends. Also it is the Worldcup and with lots of football afficionados we actually had to delay our raid schedule for 3 hours on the day Germany played against England, but apart from that, we raided constantly with full raids. Sometimes certain classes were a bit short, but we continued to work on the next event and refine our strategies and on Thursday it paid off as we managed to beat the event A Cunning Plan in Lichen Creep as fifth guild serverwide!

As usual I suck with pictures of the event itself, since we don't have any corpses after victories anymore, so instead I give you a shot of the happy crew that downed the Taskmaster Yeorick and his legions of minions, keyholders and miners and spoiled the "Cunning Plan":

How did we manage to get our members online every raid day in times like these? Let me show you in this awesome movie:

OK, I admit it, I stumbled across this little gem when I was looking for a movie scene about a taskmaster and his vicious whip, because that is precisely, what made "A Cunning Plan" a challenge. The Taskmaster Yeorick with his nasty bullwhip, who was responsible for the loss of much XP during the last weeks for many a Raging Fury member. Nonetheless we stayed focused on this event while still downing all the farm targets until we managed to get all the pieces into place to overcome the Taskmaster and his whip - where there's a whip, there's a way after all!

So in the end we could finally say "Alas, poor Yeorick! We knew him well." (some Shakespeare FTW for all those illiterates out there - I promised Qujam I would quote this, after all he IS a teacher IRL)

So, what did we get for our work? Apart from the usual 2 armor pieces we got us these nice new shinies:

We also have shown once again that as usual RF starts slower than some others, but once we roll, we are hard to stop - so expect some more news soon! Finally a little quote which shows that RF has some strange people in the guild (as if you hadn't noticed before):

So, if you aren't easily embarassed, we might be the right guild for you! We are filling open spots pretty well at the moment, so don't wait too long to apply! We are still looking for

We do accept applications from exceptional players from most of the other classes as well, so speak to our recruiters Brilhasti, Illandra, or Nalelini or talk to an officer.

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to their specific owners.

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Feel the excitement, watch the adventure in the newest episode of the Raging Fury epical saga:

See your favorite characters in a spectacular feature, which has everything the EverQuest fan can only dream of!

Action: See RF fight giant robots and ants!

Suspense: Feel the thrill while officers ask themselves: "how many people will die because they can't react fast enough to emotes?"

Drama: Witness Meemers in his Oscar-nominated role as "Mad Raidleader" crying and pulling out his hair while trying to explain to our warrior team, who is responsible for what mob

Mysterious story-twists: Try to follow Kikthin on his path to discover the riddles of the temple - but don't follow too closely or you might end up in the wrong place:

Mass-scenes: Watch the biggest exodus since the "10 commandments", when the melees frantically try to scramble away from a gigantic Robocopter!

Triumph: In an anti-climactic display of pure simplicity see your heroes prevail against all odds and comment on its proportion wisely:

Watch treasures beyond any imagination, some of them never seen before around the world:

Get YOUR ticket now and join the dozens of enthusiasts around the world in "Raging Fury and the Temple of Brells - Part I: The Trial of Deconstruction" today!

Ask for our special tickets for Shamans, Clerics, Rogues and Wizards at our box-office or contact one of our lovely sales representatives Illandra or Nalelini. There are seats in almost every class left, but hurry up or the show will be sold out!

Be ready for the stunning second part of the "Temple of Brells"-double feature: "The Trial of Creation" which is about to be released this summer - and stay tuned for other adventures of your favorite heroes: Raging Fury!

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to their specific owners.

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We have seen quite a few bugs/ants in this expansion so far, but the latest raid we had to bang our heads against had the biggest of them all: The Cliknar Queen!

This raid was even harder than the previous events, we were overwhelmed by the brutal hits of the Queen and her minions quite often, so indeed this picture showing Cerberus (ya it's a female toon) tanking the Queen is fitting:

Anyway, after dozens of tries and countless deaths we managed to refine our strategy more and more and finally tonight we got the Queen down!

I was so excited that I didn't get a good screenshot of the Queen with low HP and even forgot to make shots of the loot, but here it is: Gleaming Cliknar Pincer, Sacred Engraved Hoop, Queen's Prime Minion Saddle and 2 armor pieces.

To make up for my slackness in good screenshots (I might add one or two of some of my guild mates later), I am adding an adaption of an old song by Queen (sic!:

Cliknar Queen

She keeps aphits and young ants
in her pretty cavern hive
"Let them eat dirt" she says
just like every other night
A built in remedy
for mana and level expi
At anytime an invitation
You can't decline.
AEs and rampage spanks
well versed in raping tanks
Extraordinarily fierce

(chorus)
She's the Cliknar Queen
biggest ant you've ever seen
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your raid (anytime).

Recommended at the price
insatiable appetite
Wanna try?

All you guilds out there who haven't had a look at her yet: Feel free to try her, but be prepared for a long and harsh learning process. This can be said for almost any raid in UF so far (well at least in their first incarnations), this expansion is defintiely giving us the challenge we (and most of the other bleeding edge guilds) have been asking for.

I find it rather pathetic though, when one of the most prominent US guilds had to use exploits for their first wins and continued to use other exploits to give them an advantage on fast loot and flags. The same guild which bragged that 4 groups of her members could outtank, outheal and out-DPS any full raid of every other guild, now had to whine when they were finally punished after years of exploiting, manipulating lockouts and using graphic bugs for their advantage. I won't even comment on their obvious attempt to throw dirt at other high end raid guilds to make themselves seem less shabby, because "everyone did this". I will only say that I myself would feel totally lame if I had resorted to buff-blocking or geometry tanking to beat an event first time.

So, if you want to join a high end raid guild which is still among the top after so many years without sacrificing its dignity on the altar of progression then don't look any further, just check out our recruitment section for details or talk to a recruiter or an officer.

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OK, this Sunday afternoon Raging Fury had a really nice show going on. For the past few weeks we had been working on Brath (aka the big bad golem event) and the Cliknar Guardians (aka ants).

We had had Brath at 45 percent on Tuesday and on 4 percent on Thursday, so we were quite optimistic that today he would fall. Being the leet minimum-DPS-guild we have been known as for ages (5 pallies in the raid FTW!) we managed to wipe at 0 percent on the first go today, but on the second run we did better and he finally fell on his face.

Feeling brave after this victory we thought "why not visit those pesky insects and exterminate them?" so we moved to Arthicrex and after some fine tuning on the execution we managed to make it two first kills on one day - a real Sunday afternoon double feature!

Afterwards we went for a fast look at the Cliknar Queen herself, but she was a bit annoyed about the havoc we brought to her underlings and gave us a royal spanking. Well, 3 in a row would have been too much I guess, although it would have saved me the trouble of having to write another news update soon.

PS: We have filled some of the open spots lately with some nice and skilled new folks, but there are still some slots open, especially for

We do accept applications from exceptional players from most of the other classes as well, so speak to our recruiters Illandra, or Nalelini or talk to an officer.

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Here I was today, trying to find a movie featuring the animal which was the main ingredient of the raid we had beaten last night (called "Masked invaders"). So I entered "movie, badger" into the search engine most beloved by the chinese government and see what I found:

That video summarizes pretty well what happens during the hours of boredom and annoyance one has to get through to win this event. The next quote is also a fitting summary:

Although the idea for a raid after a stupid song might sound funny, believe me it is not and my guild mates shared the feeling:

So the reason why we stayed on it until almost half past midnight to finish it off was only so that we wouldn't have to come back the next day. After somewhere around 3 hours (which felt like 30) we finally were at the big boss badger:

Normally after beating an event for the first time (OK, admittedly we had beaten it a week ago when it was in a totally gimped state, but that doesn't count) people cheer and are exhilirated - on the badgers though it was only a sigh of relief going through the GU that it was finally over. Did I mention I didn't like the raid? Guess so...Anyway, at least we got some loot for all the tedium:

4 events down, but a few more to come and although I might seem a bit annoyed with the last raid, all in all I do enjoy the current expansion from a purely raider's point of view - events are hard and challenging and need people with good attention and focus, with the skill to play their class and the will to work in a team to achieve something.

You think you do fit into that description? Good!You want to become a part of Raging Fury? Even better!You are among the following classes?

Pure awesomeness, as those are the classes we are mainly looking for, but we have a few limited spots open for other classes as well (especially another Beastlord or a Necro), so check our recruitment section for details.

Not among the classes we have currently open? No need to wimper "Badgers badgers badgers"! We do accept applications from exceptional players from most of the other classes as well, so speak to our recruiters Illandra, Nalelini or Zorland or talk to an officer.

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Once upon a time in Norrath there was a guild called Raging Fury. It was among the most daring guilds existing in all of EverQuest and so one day it ventured into a cold and desolate place in the domain of Brell Serilis called "The Cooling Chambers". Down there our guild found a gargantuan beast resting on an island in the middle of the cave:

Daring as our guild was, it attacked the fierce beast with all its might, learning by pain and suffering, that for some victories you have to labor hard and long. During the fight the guild found out many details about its fearsome foe, not the smallest of it being about the female gender of the giant creature:

Many an attempt was made to strike down the gargantuan enemy, until on a glorious night the valiant guild didn't succumb to the claws of the Beast, its mate or their hungry children. They stood strong and finally stroke down the last of their foes, so that a mighty cheer of victory arose:

'The harder the foe, the bigger the triumph' can be said, and truly, a formidable foe the Beast had been! So all assembled on the spot, where once the Beast had had its lair to see which treasures it might hold:

There was much rejoicing when Raging Fury could behold what was hidden inside the creature's lair apart from two sets of gauntlets: a precious ring and a mighty sword

So much for this week's 'Fairie Tale Hour', in a historical context I can just say that this raid was the hardest I had to work on for quite some time, so keep up the good work on those raids in Underfoot, SOE!

And now a final word from our research department:

That's all for now folks, next update when we got enough flags for the next tier raids!

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The new expansion is out since the 15th of December officially, so you are waiting desperately for news from Raging Fury?

OK, I don't want to disappoint you, here we go:
Shortly before our annual christmas break (a few people in RF actually DO have a life outside of EQ!) we went to that overgrown puppy in Brell's Rest and sent it home with its tail between its legs. Fippy never was an adversary worth mentioning, but this incarnation at least provided some resistance looks at the bite marks in his armor. Slack as I am, I haven't made any screenshots, so no more information there..

Of course you would! So the next adversary was a bug army and it had some nasty surprises ready:

So after we blasted through the millions (so it seemed) of smaller bugs, finally also the big one woke up:

As we had some of his nastier underlings also plowing through our ranks, I took it upon myself to deal with this mighty adversary! Look at this picture and you see what I am about to do:

But as we finally turned all of our attention to Mr. Big Ugly Bug himself, we exterminated him easily, thus ending the Cliknar Invasion

So, 2 down, 1 to go in T6, stay tuned for the next news!

PS: We are still looking for a few players to fill the gaps, but hurry, they won't stay open forever.

are the classes we are mainly looking for, but we have single spots open for some 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 Zorland or talk to an officer if you would like to know more ;)

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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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In the summer time when the weather is high
you can chase Giants and kill Mindblight
when the weather's right
you got phat loot, you got phat loot on your mind.
Get a ring, get a shield
go raid and see what you can find

So much for the EQ-adaption of an old Mungo Jerry song, which more or less shows what we are doing in the game during this season.

It is farm time and noone can deny it, so apart from the freshly implemented event Giants, Giants, Giants nothing really new out there, so people are enjoying the nice weather, drinks and relaxation outside of EQ. Of course we keep up our schedule to kill everything worthwhile, but we all are looking forward to new challenges in the next expansion Underfoot.

Speaking of the upcoming 16th expansion of EverQuest: if you want to become part of one of the leading guilds in this game, a guild that has managed to stay among the top 5 serverwide for 9 expansions in a row, now is the time! We are looking especially for Wizards, Rogues, Berzerkers and Clerics, but do accept applications of exceptional players from many of the other classes also, so speak to our recruiters Illandra, Nalelini, Abadonn or talk to an officer. if you want to know more.

That's it for today, only a short update, gotta get out into the sun!

*goes out humming "Da da da da da"

Imrahil

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On the 16th of March 1999 a new game was launched: EverQuest!

10 years later tens of thousands of players all around the globe are still wandering the lands of Norrath, so a celebration was indeed appropriate

10 years of EverQuest - this means almost 10 years of raids, from those first feeble attempts on Naggy and Vox over the really massive raids during PoP (sometimes 100+ players) till today.

For me (as for most members of raid guilds probably) raids (and of course my friends) are what keeps me playing this game after all these years, a game which certainly doesn't look as good as some of the newer rivals or attract the mass media - when did you last read an article about EQ in a games magazine, even when a new expansion has come out? Seriously, SOE, you guys need to make some advertising for this game, some hot girls are always good for ads, and we in RF have some ladies who would probably be suited very well:

Well, anyway, coming back to raids: What raids do stick out in your memory? Those that were attempted and won on the first or second go, or those that made you swear and scream in front of your PC, because you wiped again, until you finally were able to win after numerous tries? For me certainly the second part is what raiding is about - that exhilaration when everything falls into places, when on that one evening after endless tries you just reap the reward for all the hard work and your 'brothers in arms' cheer together with you in joy over a well-deserved victory.

Raids that brought that feeling to me were numerous over all those years, but some will always stick to my mind: bringing down the Rathe Council in PoP, finishing Uqua in GoD, beating the performer (pre-nerf) in DoDH or Aprosis in TBS. For other people certainly OMM in OoW will stand out, a mob Raging Fury had over 70 tries on until it finally went down.I can only imagine the great feeling of accomplishment at that moment, as I wasn't in a bleeding edge guild at that time and we struggled with the Jelvan-script. All those raids had one thing in common: they were hard and challenging and needed a full and focused raid force to finally see the loot chest:

Fast forward to the current expansion: all the raids in SoD were simply too easy, the only mildly challenging event being the Zek brothers in the Earth Theme - and the trains of our leet puller team. Listen to Yakha teaching a new app the secrets of the trade:

The Devs have admitted at the Fan Fair that raids in SoD were undertuned, and promised us that the next expansion would see more of a challenge to raid guilds. How much this is needed can be easily seen by the 'solution' they provided for the lack of content and challenge in SoD: they simply took those all-to-easy raids, cut the maximum number of players by one third and VOILA: SoD raids in 'Hard Mode' were created. How 'hard' those raids even with only 36 people are, can easily be seen when you look at the fact that the same day they were patched in, Raging Fury went ahead and cleared the complete tower as 'First guild serverwide' (yay us and the time zone advantage!) and grab the fat loot:

And here are the stats of the charm:

While it was nice to link those first new items and get tells from people from other guilds from numerous servers, nonetheless I myself wasn't overjoyed. This had mainly two reasons: first it didn't feel like such an achievement, as it just showed that the Tower of Discord with 54 people was indeed the Special Olympics of endzone raiding (after being handicapped by 1/3 it was still comfortably doable), second and much more important: I felt with those people who had to sit outside on the bench. Those people had brought us to that point where we were actually in the endzone, they had worked as hard (or farmed as long) as those who were inside on that evening. Our guild (as most successful guilds) has full or close to full raids most of the time, even in the summer period and after 6 months of farming the same content.

All those who were now only cheering from the side would have had a much better chance to be inside the raid, participating actively and working towards the common goal, if instead of an arbitrary cut of participants the difficulty of the raids themselves would have been raised.

The Devs assured us during the Fan Fair that this change of the raid size was merely a fast patch for the obvious lack of challenge and content and that raids in the next expansion 'Underfoot' would still have the size of 54 (and would be tuned more appropriately). Let's hope they stick to their words, the big raids are what makes EverQuest unique among all those MMORPGs on the market. Speaking of the new expansion (the 16th since the release of EQ back in 1999): during Fan Fair a few very early zones were shown, as the name suggests it will be set in the realm of Brell Serilis, so I certainly hope we get the chance to kill some dorfs (maybe even unDead dorfs? A paladin's dream!). It is supposed to have 13 new zones and one entrance will be through 'The Hole'.

I have been mentioning the Fan Fair a few times in this posting, this has a fairly simple reason: Raging Fury attended it this year in even bigger number than in 2008: eight Furies assembled in hot Las Vegas this June, six of them from Europe!.

OK, one of the persons on the picture is actually not from RF (Vilianna had to leave early), but nonethelss I think this shows the enthusiasm and passion for this old game which many of us share, being able to pay for such a trip or not. It also shows the friendship one can achieve across borders and time zones with fellow players from around the globe, a friendship people who call it 'only a game' can hardly understand. This is why people like us take this game so seriously, debate with passion and criticize changes we dislike so harshly.

So let's hope that indeed the chant celebrating the tenth anniversary of EQ from this year's Fan Fair will become true: '10 more years!'

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