The Great WOTLK Cataclysm

The Great WOTLK Cataclysm is a period of time in CSM history that began two weeks after the release of WOTLK and ended with the release of patch 3.2. During this time period, the guild went through more raiders than it probably did during the entirety of TBC.

Blizzard's decision to capitalize on its casual player base contributed greatly towards this period. WOTLK's introductory tier of raiding included a recycled and heavily dumbed-down version of Naxxramas, and two brand new instances that were each 1-boss in length. These instances were so easy that they could be pugged, resulting in many members feeling like one of the main reasons behind hardcore raiding (the near-privilege of doing content that no one else is doing) was completely gone. This, coupled with the recycling of the once great Naxxramas, which plenty of us had already run to death in Classic and even during TBC, were too much for many people to handle.

In addition, Blizzard decided to follow on their TBC philosophy of balancing the classes around arena. During the early stages of WOTLK the changes were so plentiful that people felt the game was changing way too fast. Some classes, like Paladins, Hunters and Death Knights received a ridiculous amount of changes through many hotfixes and mini-patches before Patch 3.1 was released.

The announcement of Ulduar and the subsequent BETA testing session sparked new hope in many CSM raiders who were aching for a return to hard content. However, and barely 3 months into Ulduar, Blizzard decided to crush all hopes by announcing the next tier of raiding, the Crusader's Coliseum. Pressed to start a new season of arena and true to their philosophy of having PvE and PvP progression go hand by hand, Blizzard scrambled to design a new, half-assed raiding instance to justify the start of a new arena season. The Crusader's Coliseum is best described as Ring of Blood 2.0, with NOT ONE, but TWO Jormungar Worms! as well as Anub'barak thrown in as the last boss to keep lore nuts interested. The instance was so hastily put together that the traditional teaser trailer for the patch consisted of nothing but footage they recorded from the players that BETA tested the instance on the PTR.

Major members who quit or went casual during this period

• Zelf: Grew increasingly dissatisfied with the WoW raiding game since the Sunwell days. The recycling of Naxxramas as the WOTLK introductory instance, and later Ulduar, sealed the deal for him.

• Cromich: Tired of playing his mage switched mains to his rogue, Verick. After a couple nights of raiding completely lost interest in the raiding aspect of the game and went casual for good.

• Atena: Another victim of the recycling of Naxxaramas and the absurdness that was the first tier of raiding content in WOTLK. The release of Ulduar renewed his interest in raiding, but this interest was crushed with the announcement of Patch 3.2 and the Crusader's Coliseum. Now spends most of the day AFK in Crystalsong Forest.

• Haywire: Never a fan of the Achievement-driven difficulty of WOTLK raids, and completely appalled at Blizzard's decision to reuse a once great instance, decided to call it quits a few weeks before Ulduar was released.

• Darkspectre: Expressed his frustration with the state of the game to several officers. Agreed to stay a bit and help while a new priest was found, but couldn't take it anymore after a long night of Firefighter wipes and logged off, never to be seen again. We'll miss you Bandwagon.

• Samjay: Quickly grew bored of Ulduar and decided to spend more time with his girlfriend (now his fiance) instead.

• Destros: Switched mains to his Death Knight, Vampz, at the start of WOTLK. After a few raids decided that PvE wasn't his cup of tea anymore.

• Vossler: By his own admission, never enjoyed WOTLK raiding. The absurd amounts of RNG found in some Ulduar hard modes (Freya, for example) took a toll on his attitude, deteriorating it. Despite this, he tried to stick around and help as long as he could. He called it quits 3 weeks before 3.2 was released.

• Supa: Ulduar hard modes and Isiah's raid leading proved too much for him.

• Faex: Got progressively angry and frustrated during the later stages of Ulduar progression, eventually exploding in a tornado of curse words over Vent, causing Timmers to gkick him.

• Bloodreign: Another player who is not a big fan of Achievement-driven difficulty. Loves new content, but hates raiding the same instance for Achievements over and over. He was always available to help whenever needed, even though he continuously threatened to fill the officer's front yards with the corpses of dead niggers every time he was called to raid.

• Asmodean: His work schedule made it impossible for him to raid.

• Minimoose: His new job had him working very late at night, way past the raid start time. Still helped with several raids whenever needed.

• Scynzy: With a work schedule that changes from week to week, he could no longer commit to a full time raiding spot. Later returned to help and raid semi casually during the last few weeks of 3.1.

• Kendoch: His work schedule and lack of quality ISP options in his area forced him into early retirement.

• Churagar: Moved to the East Coast after finishing his University degree. Started training that had him waking up at 7:00 am and could no longer meet the raiding requirements. Eventually decided to put his personal health and his career over the game.

• Isiah: Appointed raid leader early in WOTLK, first quit a month before 3.2 when he felt frustrated over the little help he was getting from the other officers. Was convinced to come back by some members only to quit 1 week after by transferring off to another server, in which he lasted all of 3 raiding nights before realizing how much he missed CSM.

• Sadou: Faced with an ever-changing work schedule or raiding and starvation, finally decided to quit raiding in favor of hard work.

• Hbx: Not exactly a major member, but worth mentioning nonetheless. The self-proclaimed "best healer in CSM" sucked major donkey balls. Grew increasingly tired of never getting invited to raids, claiming that "Atena doesn't invite me to raids because I'm CSM's best healer and he's afraid of me". Decided to transfer off to Nightmare's Asylum and went casual/quit the game 2 weeks after.

• Goris: Despite being a good player, decided to follow his friend Hbx to Nightmare's Asylum. Later regretted his decision and went casual.

• Batgirl: Switching mains from his hunter Tobeh to his druid, Batgirl at the start of WOTLK. Despite being an exceptional hunter and a well loved member, his performance on his druid left too much to be desired. Decided to call it quits and transfer off to play with his RL friends after his raiding spot was given to a more experienced druid, Xanth, by unanimous officer decision.

(Probably Incomplete) List of minor members who came and went during this period

• Klaimed

• Socialize

• Creepingdeth

• Powrslave

• Saga

• Deja

• Nost

• Thraxia

• Nycca

• Immaculate

• Billmoyer

• Oponn